Virginia, BE11, Reading/Listening, Poker

Virginia lands at 8:00pm sharp tomorrow (tonight, whatever). I can't wait. Long distance dating sucks. Those times when I just want to see her, I can't. It does make these little visits much more exciting though, because they are like special events all on their own. It's crazy to think that I've only known her for a little more than a month because we already know each other so well. When I was coming up with different things for us to do while she's here, I didn't really have to ask. We talked about it tonight and the conversation was pretty boring. "Yeah, I want to do that. That place sounds awesome." It's kind of nice.

I've developed a beard-related tic. I find myself absentmindedly stroking my beard. I put a finger on either side of my mouth and pinch them downward, meeting just under my chin where I pinch a few hairs before repeating the process. I don't know when it started, but I didn't notice until yesterday when I realized Brad was staring at me at work. When I asked him what he was staring at, he imitated the action for a moment and then exclaimed "Beardy!" At this point, I don't know how much longer I'll keep it. For some reason, I'm always conscious of it. Today I swore I could feel the hair, which I know is not possible, but I still felt it. It is also very coarse. It's sort of like having Velcro on my face. Not quite what I imagined. The deciding factor to continue the experiment will be Virginia on her visit. If she loves it, I'll go another week and reevaluate. If she is indifferent or otherwise negative, I'll probably return to the baby face by Sunday. It's going to hurt like a bitch to shave off whenever that day comes.

In case you didn't notice, I skipped Reading/Listening this week. I couldn't stand dedicating another section to my inability to finish Barthelme (Yes, I realize that I'm doing that right now, shush). It will return Monday, likely with Barthelme still in tow. As far as Listening, I went OCD on Do You Remember by Jack Johnson, as well as the entire Nia album by Blackalicious. I'm vacillating between old school rap and sappy music right now, with much repeating occurring.

I played in a Stud Hi/Lo tourney yesterday. It was a rebuy, which nearly made me go nuclear. Bugsy's tourneys have really gone to shit since they started going all rebuy. I'm still ridiculously angry about their semi-final tourneys to win the half-million. Everybody pays the same amount to get in, but you get different chip stacks to start. Fuck. That. Anyway, I would've skipped this tourney but you had to read the fine print to see that it was a rebuy. Regardless, I added on at the beginning and told myself that the only way I was shelling out another $25 was if I had a decent stack at the end of the rebuy period. Things started out really well. I ran my 3k starting stack up to 5800 in about twenty minutes on a couple of hands that panned out well. I took down a big pot with a 76 low and AQ high for the scoop. The guy had an 8 low and AT for the high. I made another nice chunk when I took the low with a 65 in a 4 handed pot, and got the rest when I hero called a busted flush draw with 6644. Then things went bad. My first big loss was my fault. I don't remember my exact hand, but it was something like 467 with 2 diamonds. I saw 4th with 4 other people and paired my top card. Another guy paired his 2 door card and led out. It folded to me with one to act behind so I called. At this point I'm thinking one of two things: he has trip 2's (less likely) or something like A422. We took 5th and I hit a bad low card and he hit a J. He how had 2 diamonds showing, the door 2 and the J, but I didn't even think about a flush. He bet, I called. 6th brought him another high diamond and myself and ugly T. He bet, I called. He checked 7th and I caught another low pair, so I bet for what I thought was value. In hindsight, a check is the right play here. Too many times my weak two pair is beat here, so the bet was bad. I got check-raised and had to call to see the sickly diamond flush. He did start out with a low draw and just backed into the flush, but I shouldn't have been in the hand in the first place. If I had decided to stick it out, I should've been hammering the pot. From here on out, I missed everything. I'd start out with good hands that would just fall apart. The blinds got really big compared to the starting stack size (200/400; 100 bring-in, 50 ante after 1 hour). At the first break, I was down to 1800 or so and did not put in an add-on facing the ridiculous 300/600 level after the break. I dwindled to 900, doubled, and then busted on one of those fated hands. I had A24 with 2 diamonds and knew I was going with it. I got one caller for my preflop raise. The turn brought me an 8 and him a Jd and we got the rest of my money in. He had A87J with 2 diamonds. I made my bad 86 low on 5th and he caught a 2d. Sixth gave him the sick 6d against my Q and I knew I was done. 3d on 7th for him, K for me and adios. That's the sick part of stud split. Oh well. I won't be playing any more of the events, because they cheaper ones are all rebuys and I can't afford the more expensive ones. Even if I could, Virginia is in town, so there won't be any poker until Monday when I will be forced to play in honor of Martin Luther King. I like working in a bank when it's a holiday. Oh wait, I don't work holidays...