The Fire-Pissing Bike Thief

Tonight as I was walking down the main sidewalk that runs along the beach in Santa Barbara with a couple friends, we witnessed the most pathetic act a human being can perform: thievery. I happened to have my digital camera with me, so here's an action shot of the villian.




We also passed by a sign later that night that fit really well into the situation that we witnessed. People who steal other people's things are truly a form of scum, and are ultimately morons in the end. There's a different kind of crime feel for stealing from a store or a big corporation, or stealing something large that's worth something. But stealing someone's radio or someone's bike is absolutely retarded. Get a life you idiots.

Is it really that hard to go get a job and stop being a poor fuck?? I have no respect or tolerance for people who refuse to help themselves from stuff that's as pathetic of petty thievery. And if you're going to steal something, put some effort and planning into it. Don't be a dumbass and act like an amateur.

The kid that we saw tonight looked to be around 18, and looked to be dismantling and stealing a bike that was evidently not his. Walking down the highly-lit sidewalk, we could hear the metallic clash that would end up being the handlebars clanging against the frame of the soon-to-be-stolen ride.

As we quickly approached, the idiot hastily jumped up from a crouched position and turned to face the beach with his hands in his pockets. He let a hugely obvious sigh and stood there on the edge of the sidewalk staring out towards the beach.

As if he didn't do enough to NOT conceal his mission the first time, we had to walk past him again minutes later on the way back to the car. He was still there, and again as we neared the bike we could hear the noise of him frantically trying to dismantle a lock of some sort. I had my camera ready on this time by, and took a blurry moving picture. I made sure to put my camera on a high-flash setting, and snapped a shot as we walked by, this time actually catching him with the handlebars in his hands, which were comically still connected to the frame and back tire via a chain lock. The flash shocked him for sure, but he still didn't leave the bike alone.

It's these kind of idiots that make me want to just end the lives of all of those that are absolutely meaningless and pathetic in this world. Hopefully this person will die young and I will feel better about the state of the poor part of our economy.

Anyways. Don't be a dirtbag.

Until next time.

DVD Drought

I've been missing a few things lately, and all the advertising of new seasons of my favorite shows have clearly pointed out what it is: DVD's.

I love buying TV show DVD's, and I'm long overdue for a trip down to Circuit City. Here's what's on my list:
The Office (USA Version) - Season 2
House - Seasons 1 & 2
Scrubs - All Seasons
Entourage - Seasons 2 & 3
Dealiest Catch - Season 2

If there's one reason that I haven't bought any of this stuff yet, it's because for the past couple of months I've been broke. I feel a shopping trip coming up soon, though, so perhaps a few or all of these will be mine in the near future.

Hello There, My Minions

I know I'm such a bastard, I've heard it before. I'll hear it again no doubt. I haven't been writing much for the past week, because honestly nothing has come up to write about. I've been working a lot this past week, as we've discovered a problem in the database that will take weeks (hopefully) to fix. Exciting stuff, right?

Usually when I'm not doing things, I'll have some random thought or something from the past to write about, but not lately. My mind's been swamped by hordes of database problems, and when I get home the only thing I've been doing is sitting on my laptop or watching TV. It's been great fun, actually, not doing anything that is.

This weekend was also the first time I've stayed in Santa Barbara in a while. I've been going to Ventura or Simi or somewhere for quite a while, so having a weekend to stay at home, not answering phone calls (text messages I'll respond to, obv) was a relief. I actually didn't go to bed till around 7AM on Friday night, which caused me to sleep until 3:30PM Saturday.

When I did eventually wake up on Saturday, I received a hilarious text message from Darsky, who's currently in Vegas. It was a message of disgust and disbelief, a drunken tale of sorrow and human misuse. Basically he hooked up with a fat chick, and I was partially to blame, both for not being there to keep him in the card room and/or keeping him away from fat chicks while he's drunk.

Being as how I sat around for the remainder of the day and night on Saturday, I felt like going out for at least a little bit on Sunday. Mitch drove out to SB and we hit up a little local microbrewery for lunch, enjoying multiple rounds of brew as we gawked/talked to the millions of hot chicks walking around State Street in Santa Barbara on a Sunday.

After that back at my place, as we took shots of Casadores, we had a decision to make. We could either go to Chumash with a $100 each and see what we could do at the blackjack tables, OR....we could not. At this point, although slightly buzzed, the former option seemed much better. I had been pretty lazy all week after work, and hadn't really gone outside, so I wanted to go do something.

Now I'm pretty broke right now, but I'm not to the point where $100 will hurt to lose. Mitchell, on the other hand, didn't feel like popping $100 to go lose it at blackjack, as he had already dropped $300 a week earlier to the very same Indian tribe. It was then that I realized that if I could lose $100, it wouldn't hurt too much to lose $200 by loaning Mitch $100 for the time being. That solved one problem, and I forked over $15 in Chumash chips that I had lyin around for gas money so that I didn't have to drive.

We got up there, and within 20 minutes turned our buyins (ended up being $120 each, both supplied by me) into around $275 each. Within the half hour, we obviously lost it back plus most of our stack. We were still having a good time, so it didn't bug me too much. Eventually we lost our monies and I whipped out another $60 to go heads up with the dealer. I lost every hand.

I followed Mitch over the cage so he could cash in his gas money chips that I had given him earlier, and being the degenerate that I am realized I still had $20 in my pocket. On the way out I stopped at the 1st seat of a table after watching the dealer pull two blackjacks in a row against a sorry table. I threw $20 on the circle and watched the dealer peel me off an Ace followed by a Queen.

Sweet!

The next hand I let the $50 ride, and I hit a 20 against an 18. I let the $100 ride and I took another 20, this time against a 17. I popped the dealer $20 and took off over to the cage, up $160 from two minutes earlier, and minus the $120 I leant Mitch, only $20 down on the night.

On the way out, realizing that I was only $20 down on the night, I decided to pop into the 1st seat of a new shoe on another table. I put $20 on the first hand, and just happened happened to peel of an A10 for another blackjack. For some stupid reason (as it usually is when playing blackjack), I only put out $15 on the second hand. I ended up losing that one, and popped the last $35 on the next hand. A 20 was good for a win against a dealer 17, and I pressed the $70. The next hand, I hit AA and had to reach into my newfound cash for split money. I split the Aces for $70 a hand, and hit a King and a Queen for two 21's. The table was crackin up at my carelessness and supreme luck, and I took down the $280 in front of me, minus a $30 for the gracious dealer.

I walked over to the cage laughing my ass off at all the money I had won in 5 minutes, and we left the Chumash casino as happy as a couple pigs in shit (gross expression?.....yeah I think so). Overall I had won $165 after tipping the cashier a redbird, although I was short $120 in cash cuz of the money I gave Mitch, so technically I only left with $45 more than I came with. I was still pretty stoked.

Obviously this isn't a lot of money, and to me this is pretty much money for food around town for a couple days. But considering that I only had $20 left before we were about to leave, and considering that I've been feeling pretty down about finances lately, it felt pretty good to walk away with any kind of win.

It was definitely something I needed, since I've been pretty bored all in all lately, and I needed the thrill of gambling. I had played a little bit of poker online while I home Friday night, but within a matter of hours I took two 2-outers in NLHold'em and another 2-outer in PLOmaha Hi, so I was pretty irritated and my urges were surely not satisfied. It was then that I vowed not to play serious poker for a while, both because of the fact that I'm low on funds and have no set bankroll, and because the game's become seriously not fun for me in the past couple of months, which is the only reason I play it in the first place. I'm even questioning playing at Paul's for a while, although I'll probably still go to deal even if I don't play.

This is something I've said a couple times before, hence my headline on this blog, but I'm pretty set about this time. The game's just become not fun to me anymore and I refuse to play it in that case.

With that being said on Friday night, I got a call from Matt on Sunday evening saying that he and his roommates were playing a game, $20-$40 buyin. I said okay.

Now even though I had said on Friday I wasn't gonna play cards anymore, I had stated that I wasn't playing any serious cards anymore, as well as stating Paul's game specifically. I said that I would play Bonedoneskis for sure, and I also never said I wouldn't play small games just for fun with the right people.

So as I walked into Matt's house, I saw seven guys already deep into a game of $20 buy-in $.25/$.50 NLHE. I bought in for $20, and within ten minutes was over $50. I ended up letting go of a couple hands that I now know I shouldn't have, as I gave these guys more credit than I should have, but overall in under two hours that I was there for I cashed out for $87. All in all it was fun, and it was a fun group of guys to play with. That and they were easy money.

But like I said, that game was just as much for fun as the blackjack was, and I don't expect to be playing another other than small homegames in the near future.

With such a boring week preceding it, the weekend was a well-needed blend of personal space and fun. I'm feeling like I'll be in the mood for writing this week, so hopefully I won't be such a bastard dad to this blog in the next few days.

Until next time.

BD FTW!

More internet acronyms for you?

This weekend was our game at Paul's, and marks the second weekend in a row with a big fat donuthole for me. Luckily the past couple weekends of losses have been a bit smaller than my December-February stretch (only one zero in both instances, as opposed to two or three of them). And in fact, despite not even cashing in either of the two tournaments this weekend I actually left Paul's house with more money than I brought.

Darsky had and I had planned on meeting at PP early to get a bit of Bonedoneskis in before the tournies started. We had about an hour and a half to play, and of course when everyone started showing up they wondered why we were playing this stupid game with $200 on the table. *sigh*......they'll never understand.

I pretty heavily dominated Darsky (hahahahahaaaaa) in the beginning, and was able to defend a comeback by having him hit a big boat against my quads, and also by me making a move with the 4c on one (or two) occasions. I almost folded a BD draw, which made me feel like an idiot, but missed it when I stayed anyways. I also took a win in War to put me at 3-0 there as well. All in all with my good catches and big hands, I was able to pick $56 up off of Darsky before the tournies started.

This year Paully decided to do his $30 tournies a little differently, and because of some changes made I'm dealing one of the tables as well as the final table whenever we play, regardless of whether I'm still in the tourney or not. While this has tightened me up the past couple of weeks (good in this game), it also makes it difficult to play. Nevertheless, I'm not gonna stop playin...the game is super soft and many hands I see make me giggle.

The second hand of the tourney was pretty much my last one of the first tournament of the night. With starting stacks at T3000 and opening blinds at 25-50, we had five limpers to me and I limped the Kh-10h on the button. The small blind completed and the big blind decided to raise. How much? 50. Yup. Min-raise out of the SB to start the tourney. GREAT! Everyone called as did I and the SB behind me.

The flop came out 9h-Jh-x, and I immediately knew I was in trouble. The SB checked and the BB now bet 100 into the 800 pot. With two callers I bumped the bet to 600 and the BB called while the other two folded. The Ad hit the turn and the BB insta-pushed. I thought about it for a second before finally gambling and sticking the rest of my stack in. It was a bad call but I felt I had decent outs, and honestly I didn't really feel like dealing and playing the rest of the tournament.

I missed the river and was left with a single 25 chip which I quadrupled up to 100, only to lose it two hands later. I dealt the rest of the tourney with no worries and got tipped $15. Meh, whatever.

The second tourney I pushed 10-10 against a LAG player who happened to have Aces, and I was out of the second tourney with no cash again. I wasn't upset cuz I wasn't really in the mood to play and deal that night, though I kinda wished I woulda played better just because I haven't had a winning session in two months now and it's really taken its toll on me.

In any case I stuck around for the crazy quarter games afterwards and we played dealer's choice gambling games until around 2AM. I picked up another $50 there and actually ended the night up money after losing both tournies with no cash. That money bought me a tank of gas and that was just fine by me.

On Sunday I had a lot of laundry to do, and pretty much had a lot to do in general but accomplished nothing until night started to kick in.

In other news it's been over three months since I've had a haircut and coming up on two weeks since I've shaved. I plan on doing neither soon, as I'm sort of in a state of "not doing" right now. Whatever it is that I'm feeling now I'm glad it's not depression anymore.

And I have a feeling it has everything to do with Her.

Long Time No See...

It's been way too long since I've posted last, I can feel all of your pain! It's been a very busy week, both at work and personally, and I feel like I've been off keel sleepwise all week thanks to the changing of the time. Haha not that I've ever had an easy time getting up for work anyways...

Anyways

Last Friday night I headed out to Universal Citywalk with Mitch and couple other buddies to see 300 at the IMAX. We stopped for a few beers and chatted about life for a while (crazy ex-girlfriends, roommates, Vegas, etc.) before we filed into the waiting line. The line was long but moved fast so when the doors to the theater opened it only took minutes to get seated.

There were a few shouts and hollers when the gigantic pre-movie warning came on, but for the most part everyone quieted down for the opening scene. The movie came out with great anticipation and, after the work of art that was Sin City, rightfully so.

The whole movie wasn't shot in the same style as it's prior comic-based counterpart, but certain shots were done with certain artistic elements and all in all the movie was amazing. Admittedly, it was definitely a "manly man's" movie and the majority of the story revolves around the continuing battle between a select few soldiers from the Spartan army and the massive collective army of the Persian Empire. The actors went through rigorous training and body-building for this movie and every Spartan in the movie was ripped beyond God. Combine that with the way the movie was shot and the added effects, and you really feel every hit, kick, and sword slice (and there were many) the movie has to offer.

The lead actor, Gerard Butler, was pretty much the perfect choice for the role of King Leonidas. When he speaks in this movie, you feel it. Every time he shouts it resonates through your entire body.

When the movie was finished if you were a man you felt like walking by and delivering a thundering punch to every concession stand clerk, bellboy, and movie watcher around you. It leaves you with the feeling that you can crush and dominate anything that stands in your path.

In my opinion this was one of the best movies to have been released in the past few years. As for the historical accuracy of the movie, it's not all there; it is a retelling of a retelling and based off of a comic book on top of that, so don't look for it to be accurate. But the way with which the movie was put together and the style that it was filmed made it quickly shoot to #1 movie in my eyes. It's a definite must-see.

On Saturday night I went out with my cousin and her fiancee to celebrate their newly announced engagement. We hit up a new bar in Simi that was converted from a restaurant that used to be in its place, and it was quite alright. We had a good time and it's always fun to hang with family that you're close with, so the night went well.

On Sunday I headed down to Hollywood Park for the first time with my old man. Being as how I'm on a two-month downswing and going through a personal financial mess on top of that, I opted to sit the $3-6 with my dad and just splash around and have some fun. I wasn't looking to win any money in the game, but I wasn't looking to dump a rack either.

The building itself is pretty big. It has high ceilings, a large amount of poker tables, and the usual high limit area sectioned off to the side. They were spreading $2-4 to $8-16 Limit and $1-2 and $2-5NL in the low limit section, and much higher games in the high limit. All in all it's a pretty standard L.A. card room.

They had a free drawing in action when we showed up where they would pick a random player's card and that person would automatically win $300 or could trade in the money for a chance to pick out of 18 other briefcases, all of which had varying cash amounts ranging from .01 to $10,000. It was basically a Deal or No Deal challenge. They called a generic L.A. Mexican "Jose" for the win, and he took the $300. They then asked him what briefcase he would've chosen and they revealed his would've been prize of $5,000.

At this point I got into an argument about why he would've taken the $300 instead of trading for a chance to win more. I won that one.

As for the $3-6 limited hold them game, it was your standard live $3-6 donkfest. The first hand I sat down there was four-way action to a 9 high flop, with a bet and a raise and three players to a turn of an offsuit 10. Two more bets and the same three players saw a J on the river, and two more bets out of three players produced a big ole' Q-8 offsuit FTW. I laughed out loud as the woman (of course) scooped the pot, then I tightened my drawers so I wouldn't shit myself at the horrible play I was about to see for the rest of the session.

I took the 4s next to my old man in the 3s and we had a good time. I was up and down for the most part, playing a lot of hands all with awesome value. I saw some really disgusting plays and witnessed the most ridiculous hands that I've seen in a long time. If I had even kept some of the HHs that I saw at the table they would've been in the trash long before I had a chance to post them. And this wasn't even hands that I was involved in. Actually I was dead even until the dreaded "rack hand".

For those that aren't familiar with the RH, its definition is the last hand you play before leaving the table for that session. Usually you'll have your chips racked and counted, and will be UTG about to leave before your big blind for it to be considered a true RH. On a regular basis my rack hands seem to be AQ-AA, and I'm always forced to raise UTG and play it out.

Today would be no different. With my chips racked and a $5 profit ready to depart, I looked down at AQo . I opened for a raise UTG and got called by the button, the SB, and the BB. This is how the hand played out.

Dealt to Hero [Ac,Qh]
Hero raises $3 to $6
5s folds, 6s folds, 7s folds, Button calls, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: Qc-2h-4d
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $3, Button folds, SB calls, BB calls.

Turn: Qc-2h-4d-7d
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $6, SB calls, BB folds.

River: Qc-2h-4d-7d-5s
SB checks, Hero bets $6, SB raises $6 to $12, Hero calls.

Showdown:
SB shows [Qs,5d] and has two pair, Queens and fives.
Hero mucks.

And that was that. I wasn't completely shocked but still irritated. That's how low limit LHE goes though, so whatever. I was actually surprised that I only lost the amount played out in that hand. I flopped two straights for a couple big pots, and had AK hold up twice. That was enough to have me even until the RH and it was a fun time altogether.

After that I went back to Simi and headed home to Santa Barbara and about 9:30. I had to stop in Ventura for some DoD of course, and that was the end of my weekend.

I've been fighting a head cold for the past week and a half, which has led to a desire to do nothing at all, which is part of the reason it took me so long to update. I'll be updating regularly still, so if you're still tuned in then stay tuned!

Until next time.

Now Now

Update is on its way tonight!

300 is Here!!

Tomorrow is a moment I've been waiting for for a couple of months now. Tonight, actually, is the night when 300 premieres. I've been wanting to see this movie since the trailers hit the internet waves months ago, and I've tickets to go see it at the IMax tomorrow night. The preference would've have been to see it at the ArcLight, but they're not even showing it there.

I posted about this movie a while ago, to see the trailer click here.

I also found out that my cousin is getting married to her boyfriend of two years, which will obviously require a celebration in drunkeness on Saturday, so we'll be hitting up downtown LA to get some drinks this weekend too.

The past couple of days have been pretty uneventful as I've been home sick with a stupid head cold. I went in to work for a couple of hours today but ended up going home after I started getting lightheaded.

Anyways, I'll post an update on Saturday probably, so...until next time.

The Weekend in Reviews

Since I saw two movies this weekend, which is more than I've seen in like six months, I'll post this entire entry in review format.

Ventura: *****
I started the weekend by headin out to Ventura on Friday night. The drive out was nothing compared to the fun had for the entire weekend. I always enjoy goin out to Ventura, as that's where all my high school buddies reside and it brings back memories of a better, more easy living point in my life. I know Ventura better than Santa Barbara, and everywhere I go I know someone out there. Good food, good times, and probably the funnest group of guys ever was what I experienced this weekend. Signified by Snapper Jack's Taco Shack, a couple nights at HM's condo, and a bunch of cool friends, this weekend could have only been made better by having a longer weekend. Unfortunately Ventura can't do anything about that, so I still give this town five stars.


Zodiac: ****
This movie was long but enjoyable, and far better than 2005's "The Zodiac". There was a decent crew in the film, including America's on again off again drug addict Robert Downey Jr. Backing him was the never-aging Jake Gyllenhaal. Also included are a bunch of big-ish names that haven't been around in forever, including Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, John Carroll Lynch, and Elias Koteas.

The Zodiac killer started his reign of terror in 1966 when he killed a young female student. He sent an anonymous letter to the police department of the local county, which hadn't picked up any leads on the evidence left at the crime scene. Over decades the Zodiac killer would murder young men and women across three other counties, while intermittently sending letters and coded messages to local newspapers as well as to the local police departments. While many suspects were questioned, no one was ever convicted as the serial killer.

During the murders Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), an employee of one of the local newspapers, took it upon himself to follow the murder trail of the infamous murderer, with decoding his messages while searching for the man's identity. Even years after no one had heard from the Zodiac killer, Graysmith continued with his research and eventually led police with convincing evidence back to one of their previous suspects. Unfortunately, after nearly twenty years since the murders began, the prime suspect died and the case has remained one of California's biggest unsolved crimes.

While the story may be years old, it is still considered one of great intrigue and mystery by those who followed it. Ruffalo and Edwards played decent roles of detective buddies while showing the growing frustrations with the case that had developed over the years it was being worked on. Robert Downey Jr. is one of my favorites and he has another stand out role in this movie, playing a drunk loud-mouthed reporter. The only complaint I have about this crew is that Jake Gyllenhaal physically cannot look old. So while the entire cast ages in the movie over the two decade span, Gyllenhaal's character still looks 12.

With the story being old and played out as it is, "Zodiac" did a great job of keeping it entertaining. With a couple witty lines and a comic relief in Downey Jr., there was just enough content to keep your head locked in for the two hour and forty minute running time. Overall I'd give it four stars and a see-if-you-can.


Black Snake Moan: ***(*)
This movie serves it's customers an interesting, insensible plot with a steaming side of hot naked southern chick. With Samuel L. Jackson playing the lead, one can only wait to count how many "MUTHA FUCKA!!"'s are going to be shouted throughout the film. Christina Ricci plays a uhh....standout....role in this one as well, sort of weirdly complimenting Jackson's bold character.

The blonde Ricci has definitely slimmed down since her early childhood years, and in no way resembles her chubbier roles a la "Casper". She has no problem showing off her modern-day body in this movie and, thanks to her character being a nymphomaniac, spends most of the first half of the movie in near nakedness. Breast showing is abundant and many men were heard popping wood in the theater for most of the showing, as the blonde with the southern accent was seen in very provocative sexual scenes.

I actually laughed out loud when the unadvertised Justin Timberlake shows up for a supporting role. You can rest assured knowing that his acting is just as bad as it sounds like it would be. It was fortunate that he isn't seen much in the film, though I think they could've found someone for his part that doesn't make you smirk every time he tries to do a serious job.

The story takes us along with a slutty, trashy, southern blonde, Rae(Ricci) who goes on a sexual rampage when her boyfriend leaves town to join the Army. She ends up partying too hard one night and ends up getting left in the road at the end of the driveway belonging to the newly brokenhearted Lazarus(Jackson). Lazarus ends up finding out about the young girl's troubles and takes it upon himself to fix her up. He confines her to his farm set home and of course the two eventually take a strong liking to each other, in a completely platonic way of course.

The storyline was out of the ordinary, and Timberlake had a chance to ruin the movie, but the badass-ness of Samuel L. Jackson and the nudity of the sexy Christina Ricci brought this movie to about a three-and-a-half star rating. Since Ricci was so generous with her body in this movie, I bumped that extra half star up to a full four-star shoutout. If it were up to me, you should go this movie MUTHA FUCKA!!


Total Weekend: *****
Including the movies, the food, the friends, and the DoD'ing, I give this weekend a definite five-star pull. I always feel like I need a break at the end of the week, but returning for a weekend of fun at my "hometown" of Ventura always takes me beyond the boundaries of break and sends me right into feeling like vacation mode. I'll be hangin out with HM next Friday when we hit up the iMax for the premier of "300", I can't wait for that. If all goes well we'll have to tear up LA while we're down there.


Until next time.

Daily Update: I'm Retarded

So...as for the post yesterday, I understand. I have an estranged view on things sometimes and it takes a big, crazy slap to the face to make me straighten out. If you read it and feel upset with my stupidity, rest soundly tonight knowing that the emotional swing of the thought of my job sent me into a tizzy and I've since recovered.

Moving on.

The donation craze talked about in the Holla B4LLA!! is now up around $30K. Most of these guys are donating and re-donating. It's really amazing to me that all these poker players, guys who are looked down upon and seen as lazy, careless, degenerate, etc. etc. came together like this and donated what they could. Some of these guys in their early 20's who are rolling are just throwing thousands of dollars, and those low limiters are throwing in $20 a pop too. If I weren't busto right now I'd help too, but I'm scraping this month as it is. Sorry kids, I wanna ship it.

I'd love to see the face of the office manager at the head Childrens, Inc. office after seeing a mad flood of donations in their e-mail. To just walk in one day and be hit with that must feel really cool. What it do BBV!

I've been spending too much time on 2+2 this week, I know.

Tonight I'll be heading out to Ventura for the weekend. I gotta get my car tuned up too, as I'm not gonna let myself go on this one. I've had a history of being lazy with my responsibilities, but I'm definitely not gonna let this one slide.

This post was weak. My apologies. Brain hurts. Adios.

Until next time.

Homage to 2+2: A BBV Thread

BEAT: I'm about two weeks away from getting fired

BRAG: I'll quickly move to Vegas if I do

VARIANCE: I'm in control of my own fate?

Today I got the word from the Big Man that if I come in late one more time I might as well not come in at all...ever. I'm currently confused as to whether or not I should interpret that as a threat or as a gift. I'm only 21 and being in this position has been playing dirty mind games with me since I started working here.

I will say, however, that I don't want to lose my job. I love this place, I love how much of nothing I get to do all day, I love that I can cover my expenses and afford things that some people my age (and some older) cannot, and I love having stability. I have no girlfriend and no schooling to attend to, so work is basically it. And if I wasn't working full time I wouldn't want to be working.

The problem with this situation is that I'm late and I don't know why. I've been that way since I was younger and for no obvious reason. Obviously it's gotten to a point where it's affecting me in a horrible way, and I'd like to fix this problem, but I can't!

There's something physical happening with my body where I can't wake up when my alarm goes off. I've tried going to bed earlier. I've tried setting my alarm earlier, only to find myself furiously jamming the "snooze" button until it snoozes past my wake-up time anyways. I've been eating different diets over the past couple years, and that hasn't changed anything either.

Let me explain a little more clearly what happens. I awake in the morning to an alarm clock that has already been blaring at me for the past fifteen minutes. I jam the "snooze" button while in a state of 95% unconsciousness, and this much I know only because when I wake up the next time it's fifteen minutes later and I have no recollection of putting the alarm into snooze mode. The unconscious snooze pounding will happen multiple times if I set my alarm clock earlier than I already do, I've tried it. If I put it to a decent time to wake up in relation to my starting time, I end up "snoozing" right through it anyways and finally jump out of bed when I have 15 minutes to be at my desk.

If I was waking up and laying in bed, taking my time, and getting ready and that's what was causing me to be late, I'd fix it. If I got drunk every night and went to bed at 4AM and that's what was causing me to be late, I'd fix it. But it's nothing like that. The matter of fact is that I have a habit of being late because I actually have a physical problem that prohibits me from doing so.

The one thing that I've found that I can wake up for, or unwillingly wake up for in any case, is when I have someone in bed with me. Well...when I wake up next to a chick in bed specifically, though I've never been in a situation to wake up next to a dude so I dunno if it has the same effect. When I wake up next to a girl in bed I'm up long before my alarm is even close to going off, and it's usually a wide eyed, mentally aware kind of awake. I don't know why this is, it might be a protection kind of thing.

Whatever the reason may be, this is the only way I wake up without trouble. Unfortunately for me, I have no one to be there on a daily basis so my troubles will continue. I've always believed that a good woman is behind every man's success, and perhaps this is part of the way it applies to me.

Whatever happens, I think I'll be fine. With the financial dues I've gotten myself into (dues...not debts), losing this job would be a major blow to my financial life. Were I to lose the job, I'd instantly be in a situation where I'd have to make a pretty decent amount of money right off the bat. I've often thought about moving to Vegas, usually with the hopes to play full time, but with the acceptance to deal as well.

In my current downswing and financial crush, the playing full time definitely won't happen. The dealing may. I haven't been truly happy since I moved out here, except for during the stint I had with an unnamed girl. Outside of that shortlived relationship there's been nothing to please me out here. Santa Barbara is a nice town and I do enjoy living here, but I am not happy.

If I got fired and moved to Vegas, it would be a blessing in disguise as far as I'm concerned. The change of scenery would be nice, the nightlife would be fun, and the thought of living by the seat of your pants as a player/dealer has always sounded like a crazy fun thing to do at my age.

I don't think I'll get fired too soon, but if I'm going to be told that the axe will be dropped if I'm late one more time, I'd imagine that I'll be gone from here soon enough. Of course, all of you loyal readers will be kept updated. Wish me luck.

Until next time.

100th Post!

This is officially my 100th post! I've been doing a badass job at least keeping this thing updated every day or every other day or so, and it feels good to be writing again. Although I'm not at a point I used to be with my writing skills, I think that the more I write on here the better I'll become...again.

I know there's some boring stuff on here sometimes, and there's a couple nonsense posts, but my page hits have been tripling since I started writing again, so that's awesome.

I've been crushing DoD and Starcraft the past couple days. This laptop is my life. End of post.

Something worth reading will come tomorrow, just figure I'd toss a teaser out here.

Until next time.

Holla B4LLA!!

For those that don’t know or aren’t in the poker world, don’t ever say that nothing good comes out of the poker world after reading this post.

For those of you who don’t know Barry Greenstein’s story, he’s a professional poker player who made mountains of money in Silicone Valley before quitting his dayjob after realizing that he made even more playing poker. Once he started playing professionally, he was making enough to cover the expenses for him and his family, and living lavishly at that.

Once tournament poker started becoming a television phenomenon and the million dollar prize pools became the norm, Greenstein went on to start donating his winnings from these tournaments to charities. It was because of this that Barry has become known as, thanks to the WPT, the “Robin Hood of poker.”

Up to this day he plays in high stakes poker games and continues to play in the large televised tournaments. He donates to charities on a regular basis, his favorite being Childrens, Inc.

On the side Barry is also active in online sites and forums, one of the most notable being 2+2. This is where the story starts.

Anyone who knows anything about online forums knows that these are the places where hilarious internet phrases and endless amounts of awesome MSPaints come from. In light of the past few years’ explosion in online poker and daily MTTs filled with amateur players (known as “donks”), the term “donkaments” was formed.

Within the 2+2 forums during this time, strategies and hand histories were posted and discussed. Sometimes bad beats would occur, and steaming players would post these HHs online as well. Often time responders would feel the pain, and would post sympathies in these bad beat threads. Others would, with regard to the ridiculousness to the suckouts, post “lol” in consolation to the loser.

Eventually it became known that with as many horrible plays as there were amateur players, these horrendous beats were bound to occur on a regular basis, and could be explained by no other reasoning than the sheer numbers of donks in said tournaments. In some threads “lol donkaments” would be posted, as in it’s ok man, laugh it off, there’s just too many donks.

Needless to say, in such a cultish fashion as forum browsing itself, the term “lol donkaments” was coined as a keeper. A new internet forum phrase was born.

Being as how Barry is a sociable person and is a participator on the 2+2 board, members of the forum are in contact and are able to contact him. One member suggested that if Barry were to take the phrase “lol donkaments” to the highest stakes cash game on TV, High Stakes Poker, he would pay Barry $10,000. Barry, being the Robin Hood that he is, suggested that if he did say it on air, the forum member would donate the $10,000 to Greenstein’s favorite charity. Then the wheels were put in motion.

On Monday, February 26, 2007, the greatest thing to ever happen to the world on online poker forums was witnessed.

Click here to witness history

Within minutes of the broadcast the forums exploded. People applauded and waves of forumers ran out into the streets, waving their hands in the air in praise of the god-like Greenstein. The clouds parted in the sky and a glorious beacon of light shined down to the earth below.

Then, something terrible happened.

It’s been a well-known topic since the beginning of time, that a gambler’s word is his life’s work. If a gambler makes a bet his word is as good as his cash, and should a loss come his way, the debt will be paid. But minutes after the words “lol donkaments” were offered by God, the original bettor went back on his word, saying that he didn’t actually mean it.

Well have no fear, the poker community came to his aid. Within 24 hours, handfuls of members on the 2+2 forums had come together to gather and donate the entirety of the $10,000 to Childrens, Inc. The forces of good prevailed as the charity was granted the money it was so promised, not by the original guarantee, but by a community of poker players who believe in backing each other up and holding to the gambler’s word.

Until next time.

Bad Beats and Slowrolls for Life

It's come to my attention that I usually sound like a whiny bitch in this blog. It's not really something I try to do, but I do use this blog as a release from the stress in my life and I confide in this digital diary when I need somewhere to go. I don't have many people in life to whine to, so this is a place where, should I feel the need to, I can complain all I want and no has to get annoyed if they don't want to read.

With that said, I also post things on here that are good-feeling in content. I can't really remember if the posts are mostly negative or mostly positive, as I just write to write when I feel like writing, but I know there's also just a lot of "thinking out loud posts" on here too, which shouldn't be construed as one of my incessant ranting writings. I won't lie in saying that I like to complain on here though, so without further ado I present to you this weekend's grievances.

On Friday during the four-minute drive home from work I had a craving that required immediate satisfaction: Gordon Biersch, and poker. Seeing as how LA accommodates both of those needs, I called up Darsky and explained to him that my squeaky wheels needed grease, and shortly afterwards it was made an official plan that I'd head down to Tarzana to meet up with him.

I made it down there at around 8PM and we made our way to GB. After a fun little run around trying to find a parking spot close to the restaurant (aside from the valet, which is definitely not an option with D's Bullitt), we finally sniped a leaving spot and got to eat some food. We had our usual beer and burger (damn it's just so good...) and made our way to the Bike.

When we got to the higher section there was a few $5-5NL going and both of us had our names up on the list. Shortly after we arrived a new table opened up and I took the 8s while Dar took the 9s. We started off with only six seats filled, but the rest of the table filled up before we even got the cards in the air.

Up to this point Darsky had told me that the couple previous weeks at the Bike, the play had been soft and slow, and the general tone was that my aggressive style should make for a slightly "easy" pickup. This was not the case tonight.

We had many $400-600 pots being shoved back and forth across the table with amazing hands, and not amazing in a good way. During the night I saw three different $500+ won when called by a pair of 2's, often on boards such as K-2-8 and things of the such. The action was very fast and very loose right off the bat.

The first hand I was involved in was when I looked down at K-K after a couple rounds of complete nothingness. There was a gangster-ish Mexican guy with an XL white T-shirt and sleeved tats in the 1s who raised. It got to me and I popped it again, as he went all in for $125 while I instacalled. After the board came up 5-6-7, I felt a little something not right. A 2 on the turn didn't hurt, nor did the Ace on the river. I already knew my fate.

I stared at the guy for a second as he blankly stared back. "Okay, I got Kings."

"Oh you got Kings?" this is where he sighs and looks at his cards again. "They're no good."

He flipped over 5-5 for the winner, and I bowed down to his awesomeness in the art of slowrolling. If there's one thing I cannot stand in life, it's slowrolling. I'll rant on this in another post. For this post it's just another bad beat in the weekend.

I ended up coming up a little bit after that, and ended up doubling my under buy-in stack when this hand came up.

I had been showing down nothing but winners to this point, and seemed to be building a tight image at the table. This in itself is hilarious to me, because my general table image is very LAG. People usually don't believe me, and that's how I prefer it. Tonight, however, I had only played premiums for the first couple hours and was still getting my regular action. Maybe my face is that of a liar?

Anyways I looked down at the A-4d and raised it to my usual $20 in EP and got called by the 5s, who had not beaten me in a hand during our previous two squalls earlier in the night. The flop came up K-4-2, and somehow we ended up getting all my money in with another $160+ for him to call. He took forever thinking about it and I started my usual talk with him.

My talk can mean anything, and anyone who has seen me play knows that my table talk is the same whether I have the nuts or I have nothing. I like to think that it's hard to read me, and for the most part I truly believe that it is.

After a few minutes of debate he finally stuck in the call and said "I have a pair." I turned over my A-4 and he shook his head. He had a bad habit of only flipping over one card (another pet peeve of mine, only flipping one card when a winner has to be shown), and showed me a 2.

"What else!" I shouted at him.

"Nothing nothing, just the deuce."

"The two and what else! Come on! You got me beat I know it!"

"No no, just the 2."

The turn and river bricked and my A-4 was good for a $600+ pot. That was the last win I'd see that night. I ended up making a stupid move, though Darsky tried to tell me that it wasn't as bad as I was making it. But it was definitely a move that I am better than making, and it sucked knowing that I ended up going with it anyways. I'll blog about that later, cuz I need to complain about bad beats right now, not bad plays.

I rebought after I busto'd my stack and for the rest of the night I ended up picking up decent hands but being moved off of all of them before I finally made a move with my stack at around $180. I picked up the Kh10h and ended getting the money in on TP+FD against TP with a better kicker. I missed my heart and was busted.

After I made the questionable play the whole night went downhill and I can't help but think that the reason it turned around was my fault. Again, I'll explain the hand in a later post, but after talking with a couple people, it seems that the hand wasn't as bad as I'm putting on myself. I still think I could've avoided it though, and that's what irritates me. I know what level I'm capable of playing at, but sometimes I feel like my lack of every day play keeps me from playing at that level constantly.

We had our regular tourney night at Paullywood Park, where we were having a $20 rebuy tourney with 24 players present. We ended up with a prize pool of $1280, and I didn't get any of it.

I was cruising along with twelve players left sitting on a decent stack when I got nailed again. I raised and got called by probably the loosest, craziest Phillipino guy at our game. The flop came K-8-5 and I shoved after he checked. He instacalled and turned over 6-6. The turn was a 7 and the river was a 4, leaving me with nothing to show for the weekend.

I got beat up for another $60 in the gambling quarter games afterwards, and was treated to some Del Taco by Darsky before I went home. I realized that I had left my sunglasses at Paul's, so on top of losing a bunch of money I left my sunglasses somewhere, which I HATE doing, thanks to four previous experiences of losing $100+ sunglasses.

I finally got them back on Sunday, but then had them stolen while I was at a store on Sunday. I had left them in the dressing room for a total of 35 seconds, but when I went back they were gone. I knew a couple of non-English speaking field-worker-type Mexicans had gone in there after me, and knowing that they are the biggest thieves in this particular store (I used to work at it and we were clued in by security during training), I asked if they had seen or taken my sunglasses.

My question was, of course, responded with by a barely audible "No....soddy" and some Spanish babble as I walked away. If I were to break into rant about how I feel about this particular sect of the social ladder, most commonly seen around SoCal and definitely in the valley, it would turn into another two pages and I would end up turning out sounding like a radical racist, so I'll decline. Bottom line is those fuckers stole my $100 pair of Arnettes.

Needless to say, this weekend had more negatives than positives, so although I'd like to write about the good stuff in life after hearing about my consistent whining, this weekend is hard to turn around no matter how you look at it.

Until next time.

Taste of Chaos and the Used

Last night was one of the coolest nights I've had in a long, long time. I haven't been to a show in way too long, and when I heard the Used was headlining the Taste of Chaos Tour, I knew that I had to get off my ass and go see them. I ended up going with a little chicky I like to say that I know, and it was a great night altogether.

We left Santa Barbara at around 4:30PM, and of course, thanks to LA traffic, we didn't get to the Long Beach Arena until around 7:30. After maneuvering our way around a street that goes THROUGH a parking garage downtown, we found the parking garage for the arena and made our way inside.

We passed two security checkpoints, and three ID checkpoints to get our first round of $12 beers and then made our way up to our seats. When we got to our section Thirty Seconds to Mars was gearing up, and it was obvious that I had missed Saosin, which kinda bummed me out, but it wasn't too bad because I had gone to see the Used anyways.

Right before their set, 30Seconds sent a guy and girl up to the mic to do a skit saying that they weren't playing, and that Jared Leto was in the hospital blah blah blah, but oh wait! He's right here, it looks like Jared's going against the doctor's orders and he's gonna play the show anyways.

Yup.

His voice wasn't 100% so his singing was only par, but he still pulled it off. Their stage was awesome, and their so crowd oriented, that in his hometown nobody seemed to notice Jared's voice, or lack of it. Their set went off without a hitch and even though it wasn't everything everyone was hoping for it to be, they still rocked out.

"The Kill" was sang by the entire Long Beach Arena, and "From Yesterday" was a crowd favorite as well. And although they didn't sound bad, it is only the second week of tour so it makes you think if 30Seconds is gonna be able to pull the whole tour. he better drink lots of ginseng tea or whatever it is those singers drink...

After the set we headed down for a few more brews and then made our way back right before the intro for the main act, the Used!

The first time I saw these guys live was at the Warped Tour as a small-time band trying to bring themselves up amongst the big boys. They had an awesome following, and it was clear they were going to break big soon.

Bert (the lead singer) had an intensity that was unmatched by any other band at Warped that year, and his stage presence was incredible. The only problem was that with their debut CD there was a lot of screaming in his songs, so before the end of their set his voice would die and he wouldn't be able to finish with the fire he started with.

Since then I know they've improved immensely, and on the verge of releasing their third CD, I could only imagine that on this night they would be incredible. They opened huge with "Take It Away", a crowd-chanting rockout. They stopped to say hello, then they stringed together three songs in a row with a blend from the end of one song into the next.

The place was jam packed on the main floor, and the stadium seats were full. They were rocking and rocking hard. Bert didn't miss a beat, and even busted a beat when he broke into a crazy white-man rap with the help of the drummer ripping into a bassline. That had the crowd cheering for the sheer sillyness of it, and they went back into dominating the rock world.

They played a couple of their new songs, "Find A Way" and "Liar Liar", which both seem like they're representative of their newest CD coming out in May. If the intensity and the sound of this show are representative of their latest material, the new CD won't disappoint.

And in answer to my waning question, throughout the whole show, on top of jumping around and playing the crowd, the singer didn't break his voice or slow down at all. It was one of the best shows I've seen.

The Used, being one of my favorite bands, has had an impact on my life with their music since I first heard their music. For the moment they were playing one of their slower songs, I experienced a state of pure happiness. With the way things have been going lately in life, I started feeling very blah. But on this night, rocking out with who I was with and watching one of my favorite bands pull of a great show, it felt like there was hope.

Now I'm back at work, and although it is payday, I'm wishing I wasn't here. I wanna be back there. I wanna be back in last night standing next to a beautiful chick rocking my heart out and screaming with the thousands of fans that are there to feel what I feel when that band hits the stage and blows our minds.

I really wanna see a lot of concerts this year, and Taking Back Sunday is next up on the list. They're playing the House of Blues in Vegas on the 10th of March, so I better start getting my shit together so Darsky and I can try to nail this monthly Vegas trip thing.

Until next time.

Music Day

No, this post has nothing to do with Music Day. This post won't be filled with fond childhood memories or the monsters of boredom I square off against in every day life. No, this is just a pure, straight, BRAG post!!

Today the Taste of Chaos Tour comes to the Long Beach Arena, and I'm going! Although it's not close to where I am, it's within driving distance and is the closest it's gonna get to little ole' Santa Barbara. I've been waiting for this tour to come around for months and am excited beyond Hell that it's finally here.

I've been wanting to see The Used live again since I saw them three years ago, the new Saosin is a band I recently started giving a chance (big AG fan, looking to see Circa Survive in March too), and I do find myself to be a Thirty Seconds fan, so needless to say I'm gonna be rockin hard at this one.

I'm gonna try to get some work done and head down towards LA at around 4PM. I'll throw up another post tomorrow

Until next time.

Movie Day

There used to be days in elementary school where we would have movie day. It usually happened around winter time when it was cold and wet outside, and the mood always seemed to gravitate around a quiet, sleepy feeling. Not a whole lot of work got done on these days, and these kind of days were definitely "in my neighborhood".

We would come in in the morning, review our homework from the night before for about 45 minutes, and then the lights would get turned off and we'd watch a movie. We'd take a break at lunch time where we'd eat inside, stand out under the overhang and watch the rain fall for a couple minutes, and then head back in until 3:30PM. Then we'd turn the lights back on, get our homework assignment for the night, and leave for the day.

I always got in trouble on these days anyways, because if I wasn't talking during class then I was talking during the movie. The length and subject of the movies inevitably bored me, as they were usually stupid and/or school-related films, so of course I was doomed to get in trouble. I was definitely glad not to have to do work, but dammit did I ever get bored.

Nevertheless these few days were the coolest school days ever, both because of the encouragement of laziness as well as the mood of the weather. Today is one of those days. Years later, obviously there's no homework to review or to receive, but the general feeling is the same.

After ending the week in a Summer-esque state, Sunday and yesterday turned into a chillfest. The morning was bitterly cold for the most part, and the day-time temperature seemed to follow the same. I spent the entire morning tucked away inside my company-sponsored hoodie while web-surfing and drinking massive amounts of coffee while lamenting over my current state of poker-ivity, wondering what the hell I'm gonna do and figuring out how I'm gonna hold up Darsky and my deal to take one trip a month to Vegas. It looks like I already missed the February trip, and the March trip is seeming further and further out of my grasp.

Now it's past lunch time, and I still haven't done anything. I'm bored and antsy from the coffee, lazy and cold feeling because of the weather, and somehow utterly content with all these feelings thanks to NBC putting the entire Poker After Dark series online. I'm going to watch the past couple nights' episodes and then hopefully do a tiny bit of work.

We have our game coming up at Paullywood Park this weekend, a $20-rebuy with probably around three tables. I took first in the $30 30-person at his house last time, so hopefully with the rebuy tourney I'll be able to make a little too to get my spirits up a little bit. I've been gettin beaten up for the past month and a half and could really use a decent session or a win at Pauly's to help my mental self out.

I'm going back to movie day now.

Until next time.

Sean Connery Has To Be the Coolest Guy Ever

"Yesh...I'm perfectly okay you fucking idiot." - Sean Connery in The Rock, when asked by Nicholas Cage's character if he was okay as he's haning upside down over a deep mine pit held in place solely by one foot looped in a piece of rope.

I always loved that quote. Sean Connery says it with such awesomeness that it should make every man think about how much of a little girl we all are compared to him. Of course in that movie Nicholas Cage gets to get hopped on by Vanessa Marcil, so I guess nothing will bring him down. Except for his latest movie.

Yesterday I went to go see Ghost Rider. It's not that I wanted to see it necessarily, but Mitch actually wanted to and I couldn't find anyone else that would be dumb enough to spend $10 on it. It was basically as bad as you think it is from the previews. It's a good thing I'm a big Nick Cage fan, because if it wasn't for that I would probably never see another one of his movies after this. The graphics were cool, but that was about it. Hopefully some CG artist out there is enjoying my $10.

After that we went back to Mitch's condo and hung out for a little bit. A big group of people came over with drunk Carlos, and we drank a little and "hung out" until we got visited by the cops thanks to some neighbors who were trying to sleep or something like that, in any case not enjoying the noise we were making.

When we woke up this morning Mitch, John, and I went shooting out in Cherry Creek, which is something we haven't done for like three years. It was alright, but it was a short trip and only with a couple small rifles, nothing major. We went to In-N-Out (oh so delicious!!) and retired back to the condo to play some DoD. You can guarantee that every time I hang out with mitch I'll come back chanting "D...O...D" in my sleep.

All in all it was a fun weekend, and something I kinda needed after pissing myself off on Friday night.

When I came home from work Friday night I dumped the couple hundred bucks I had on Full Tilt, basically because I came home a little drunk and was being belligerent. It sucked because I was working the micro-limits on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and came up a decent amount for such low stakes, only to dump it thanks to having no discipline.

It's become gradually clear to me that I have absolutely no discipline. Obviously every poker player knows that with no discipline or money management you'll sink faster than you can swim. And anyone that knows me knows that lack both of these very essential skills.

I'm definitely going to have to conquer these two things if I ever want to get to the point where I want to be with poker. Part of the reason that I don't have a bankroll yet is because I haven't really been making enough working to survive in this town and play at the stakes that I want to. But part of it is also that I have little to no money management or discipline when I do win.

This is something that I've known for a while but never really considered a problem. I've done well enough for myself to afford some simple luxuries and live a pretty comfortable life so far. But in thinking about what I could have or could have done by this point really puts things into perspective.

It's difficult to think about what I'm gonna do with poker at this point since it's already become such a big part of my life and I've already put so much time into it. To this day I really have nothing to show for it, and that's really disappointing and embarrassing considering what others my age have. Of course everyone's situation in life is different, and everyone's opportunities are different, but I really feel like I should've done more with poker by now. My lack of discipline has really been hurting my success.

Luckily time's always on my side.

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This week I've gotten more hits than to this blog than any week since I started tracking it. On Thursday and Friday I got the most hits out of the week, and those turned out to be the two days I didn't write, so hopefully I'm not losing readers thanks to laziness and business. I'm enjoying this thing, so keep on readin!

Until next time.

I'm Comin

I've been pretty tired at home and busy at work all week, but I got a post comin today. Stay tuned, I'm comin I'm promise.

Happy Wednesday

I woke up this morning (late as usual) to a barrage of text messages from all of my single chick friends. "Happy V-day!!" "Happy Valentines Day!!" Why? As far as I'm concerned every one of those text messages should've said "Happy Wednesday!"

Valentine's Day is a holiday for those who are in a relationship, or at least in love if they haven't already given their time to someone unknowingly undeserving of it. Don't get me wrong, cuz I love the "holiday". But this is the first year in a long time I haven't had anyone to take out to dinner or to buy useless shit for, and to tell you the truth, it wasn't really depressing like everyone makes it out to be. It's just another Wednesday.

On this particular Wednesday I actually had a better day than usual. I woke up ten minutes after I was supposed to be at work, and decided to start the day with a different approach.

Usually when my alarm is blaring at me after I make it Sleep four times in a row, I jump out of bed and take a second to try to wake up. I'll find some clothes to throw on, dirty or clean, and if I'm lucky I'll run to the bathroom and give my teeth a quick brush. In my speeding car on my way to work I'll think of which one of the many excuses I have in my EB (excuse book) that I haven't used in a while. When I walk into the office I'll head to my desk and, if I encounter interference, I'll blurt out some unbelievable and repetitive bullshit that no one listens to anyways.

This happens on an almost daily basis, and it really gets annoying. I wanted some fuckin sleep, and it just so happened that not getting enough sleep is an illness, perhaps not on the level that I'm feeling it, but it is an illness nonetheless. So, on this most wonderful of Wednesdays I decided to pick up the phone and call in my instantaneous "sickness". Of course I gave my vow to work on the database from my laptop (which I did!) during this crazy 24-hour flu, and before I even hung up the phone, the world found a way to piss me off.

"Don't you have those brochures that Mike needed for the meeting today?"

Insert large sigh from me here

"Yeah you're right. I'll come drop 'em off right now."

So instead of my master plan allowing me to stay in bed, I actually had to rise up and face the day at my regular early time. I threw on a sweater and headed towards the office and darted back home as fast as I could. I crawled back into bed, of course feeling wide awake at this point.

As I laid there, I finished up Bringing Down the House, which is a great book by the way. It's about the MIT blackjack team and the millions they won. If you're a gambler on any level, this book will grab you by those addictive tendencies and rock your imagination into thinking that you're a professional card counter. It's a fun read for sure.

I did end up going back to sleep until about 2PM after I finished the book, which was exactly what I had been hoping for since the beginning of the day. After eating a bagel and drinking some juice, I saw that The Rock on Cinemax, which just so happens to be one of my favorite movies. The day started turning out to be one of the better days I've had.

After the movie, I made some dinner and couched it for the rest of the night, half working on the database and half playing some low limit online. I didn't put any socks on today. It was the best Wednesday I've had in a long time.

Chumash, Drinking, and Sleeping

On Friday Kirk and Darsky came up, both of them prepped and ready for a weekend of fun. We had made plans to have a home game on Friday night with a couple other friends from Santa Barbara, but instead it was decided that we were all going to Chumash instead.

I took off from work early and Darsky was waiting for me when I returned home to my apartment. Kirk showed up shortly afterwards, and after a little bit of me messin around we finally hit the road and were on our way to play some cards. Joe had already gone up earlier with the other two so we were to meet them there.

When we arrived the poker room was full to the brim, which was a welcome suprise to me. The last couple times I went to Chumash, the poker room was dead and the bastardly bottom-limit games were the only ones running. On this Friday night, however, there were multiple $2-5NL tables going, one of which was started on the very last available table, allowing Darsky and me to get a seat within a short amount of time.

For the better part of the night I was card-dead. I made a questionable move with K-Jo after dropping down to $60 with my first buy-in, and dwindled slowly over the next couple of hours after rebuying.

The tables weren't tough, but I picked up only two or three hands, raised preflop and got moved off on the flop after missing every time. I ended up getting the rest of my second buy in with a straight/flush draw and blanked both.

After Darsky and Kirk ended their sessions up winners we took off to FreeBirds, which is a locally renowned Mexican food place on the campus of UCSB. It's open 24/7, and is filled with as much hot college chick ass as good food. If you've been to UCSB, you've probably heard of it, if you haven't had it, and if you've never been then you will most definitely hear of it on your first visit. It's a spectacular foodly adventure.

The three of us went back to the apartment and readied the table for a four-way game of...yup...Bonedoneskis. Joe was waiting for us and ready to play. Joe, Dar, and I had been waiting to play BD for weeks now. Kirk was only semi-interested in the game, but he was able to scoop the first couple of pots he was in. We started play at 2AM and didn't finish our session until around 8:30AM. Darsky and I both ended up winner in that game (as expected).

On Saturday night we were planning on going out and having a night of drinking to celebrate Kirk's last weekend with us. He's moving out to 29 Palms in a matter of weeks, and this was a great opportunity to hang out with him one more time before he took off.

I slept until around 4PM on Saturday, which was a very welcome retreat to my previous week's sleep schedule. I'd been getting an average of 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night for the two weeks prior and felt pretty exhausted all last week. I got dressed and the three of us headed downtown to get some food.

We tried to hit up Arigato's, but it hadn't opened yet. I had heard of a new sushi place that I hadn't been to yet, so we decided to try to find that place instead. Little did we know that the place was all the way down the street from where I had parked. We finally found it twenty minutes later and had some good sushi with some Kirin.

After that we hit up a pub/bar/restaurant and started drinking the night away. We were able to land a pretty cool waitress, who would later join us in multiple rounds of shots later in the night. We enjoyed multiple rounds of Guinness and shot pool for the entire night. Darsky pretty much handled both Kirk and me on the table, but it was a good game nonetheless. We were able to have a couple blondes join us in pool throughout the night, and we ended up closing out the place. We were having a great time and our waitress had no problem having a good time with our group.

We stayed around for a little bit after the last call, sneaking in a couple rounds with the waitress (Melissa) and security staff of the place. All were fun people and good company, and I can only imagine what awesomely cool drunks we were to them. They eventually got us out of there, though we had to leave without the cute Melissa in tow.

The walk back to the car was wild. The world was spinning around me in multiple directions, and if there had been even two people on the sidewalk while we were walking back, I probably would have gotten lost between them.

It was definitely a good time hangin with these guys, as we'd never really hung out with Kirk too much before, and getting drunk with Darsky is always fun. I got pretty hammered, probably made some phone calls I shouldn't have made, and was quite rowdy when we all came back. Kirk got me in a wristlock, I was yelling for no reason, and for some reason Dar had his pants around his ankles for multiple minutes......

On Sunday I woke up late again. Kirk and Dar had left before I got up, and when I eventually rose out of bed my head felt like it needed to explode. We took a couple shots at the end of our stint that probably would've been best left out for Kirk and me, but Darsky seemed to handle himself like he does.

All in all, besides the massive headache for the entire night on Sunday, it was a great weekend and a lot of fun. I'm sorely bitter right now that I haven't cashed a single session since December. In Vegas last time I was the victim of bad luck and variance, while at Chumash I saw a total of six playable hands the entire session.

I don't know if Darsky and I will make it out to the city of lights this month, but I definitely wanna make it out there in early March. Hopefully by then my luck will turn around. Either that, or I'm hopin to find a good Bonedoneskis game when we go next time.