Reading: A collection of poems by Wallace Stevens. I'm on page 124/251. I don't like some of the poems as much as I remember. I've already read most of this book for a class on poetry, but I never finished it. My favorite poem is still The Emperor of Ice Cream. It is great. I finished a book by Charles Bukowski called The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship. It is just a collection of his journals, but they are hilarious. I think I write vaguely like him, and we share the same disenchantment with the human race. Albeit Bukowski is a tad bit more bitter than I am, and he seems to have lost the hope for humanity that I still hold on to. Maybe he had some extra insight that I am missing because he was near to his own death when he wrote the book. Who knows. I think it was a good way to get into his writing because it really got me into his head.
Listening: Millionaire by Kelis featuring Andre 3000. The heavy electronic influence in this song makes my nipples tingle. The lyrics are a great blend of Kelis' smoky, sexy voice weaving itself in and out of the music and Andre 3000 stomping on the flow for an all-too-brief solo in the middle of the track. Even his staccato rhyme still manages to wrap itself in the great musical blanket. This is one of the best produced tracks that I've ever heard. There are thirty-eight different ways that the song could have been garbage, but whatever genius put this song together tiptoed through the minefield. Awesome song.
I'm trying to follow Jesus Ferguson's ride from $0 to $10,000. He laid out a bunch of bankroll management rules that he stuck to religiously (pun intended) on his way to a stack of high society. What this means for me is that with my $140ish bankroll, I have to play $.02/$.05 NLHE with $5 and cash out if I hit $15. I won big (relatively speaking) one night but have gotten beat the past couple, so I think I'm only up like $2 if anything over 3-4 sessions. Ferguson took $150 to $10,000 in 9 months. Granted, I'm not going to play as often as he did, but if I do it in a year I'll be happy. Fuck, if I do it at all I'll be happy. Wish me luck.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
More Posts to Come
I was going to post tonight, but by the time I got home and ate it was way too late for me to try and use my brain in any meaningful way. I did want to put in writing that I have more posts coming about: old lady in the Denver airport, my thoughts on how airports should work, and that's all I can remember right now because my weekend is catching up with me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Blogs to Come...
So, I've been very busy these past ten days. I'm running my buttocks off trying to get ready to leave for Vegas on the 20th, and other things have popped up. My parents made a surprise visit that I hadn't budgeted time for, as well as a Saturday night that went horribly wrong and cost me all of my sleep on my weekend off. It didn't go horribly wrong as in jail or injury, it went horribly wrong as in the universe conspired to keep me up all night. Blog posts to follow this week/weekend: Saturday Night, Match Day, Reading/Listening, Sheets, Long Work Days, and probably others. For now, this is what you get.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Reading/Listening, Car, Stuff, Poker
Reading: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo, page 113/197. The story interests me, but it gets to be a little over the top sometimes. Coehlo definitely shows more than he tells. Descriptions are sparse and anemic, which leaves takes something away from it for me. I just finished a section wherein the main character visited an opulent tent. I wanted the description to make me feel the sense of awe that the main character had to have been feeling, but it didn't get me there. This was what I got: "The ground was covered with the most beautiful carpets he had ever walked upon, and from the top of the structure hung lamps of handwrought gold, each with a lighted candle." The story intrigues me though as I'm just getting to know the Alchemist, and I have the feeling that he is going to be an interesting gentleman.
Listening: I can't stop listening to The Train by Big Boi and Khujo Goodie off of the Idlewild soundtrack. First of all, I think I want Big Boi to give the eulogy at my funeral because I love the dude's voice. Secondly, the music makes me feel happy. Not happy necessarily, but I get this warm feeling, the type that you get when you know everything is going to be ok. Thirdly, people like things in threes, but I don't have another point. When I woke up this morning, I had the conscious thought "I want to hear that song right now," and I think my repeat count is on nine so far. Overall, the Idlewild soundtrack wasn't all that stellar, but there were a few jewels on it. This is one of them.
My car is making a bad noise. It sounds like somebody is flying a turbo-prop plane fifty feet above my car. It's going into the shop tomorrow night. I hope nothing major is wrong with it because I really like Monique and do not want her to go to the mechanic and die. For those of you thinking that I've lost it, Monique is the name of my car. You're probably right, though, I have probably lost it. It was fun while I had it. Anyway, car equals sick. I'll update later this week when I get the diagnosis from the car doctor.
A collage of my week, in no particular order: Brandon came up and we went out to eat with my parents; I've apparently been living very cheaply because I have way more money in my bill account than I thought I did, that or I didn't pay a bill; eleven days until I go visit Virginia in Vegas again; I have the next TWO weekends off in a row, I have no idea what to do with myself; one of the girls I work with had a miscarriage this week, she has been in my thoughts a lot; I've had odd dreams about random people from my past in weird situations, breaking their hips and blaming me, etc; my weight is down to around 190, down from 197 a couple of weeks ago, all I've been doing is eating smaller meals but it sucks because I'm hungry all the time.
I played poker for an hour or two today. I read an article about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and how he turned $0 into $10,000 in a year and a half online and thought "I can do that." He had rules that he followed to help him manage his bankroll which I think I'm going to try and stick to. It took him nine months to get from $0 to $100, and then nine more months to finish it off. I started today at $125, so I'm figuring it will be about eight months before I'm at $10,000. Warning: The previous sentence may contain some falsehoods. Anyway, the rules he had were that he wouldn't join a cash game or SnG with more than 5% of his bankroll, and he had to get up and leave if the money on the table represented 10% or more of his bankroll. He could only enter tourneys with a buy-in of 3% of his bankroll or less. I'll probably avoid that aspect and stick with cash games and SnGs. Today I played some $.05/$.10, $.02/$.05, and a $3 HU. I won the HU and profited $6 through the rest of the play, which actually isn't too bad. I don't have any memorable hands because I play trained-chimp poker at these levels. General tips down in the sewers of poker: people don't fold and they never believe you. So, I limp as many pots as I can and bet the shit out of it if I catch the flop. I also get tough preflop with good hands. I insta-called a $4 raise into a $1.50 pot with AK preflop. The other guy had AK as well. You wouldn't see me doing this crap at a $1/$2 table, but down here I didn't have to think about it. I'll only play once or twice a week, but I'll update as I go. Bankroll at $134.26
Listening: I can't stop listening to The Train by Big Boi and Khujo Goodie off of the Idlewild soundtrack. First of all, I think I want Big Boi to give the eulogy at my funeral because I love the dude's voice. Secondly, the music makes me feel happy. Not happy necessarily, but I get this warm feeling, the type that you get when you know everything is going to be ok. Thirdly, people like things in threes, but I don't have another point. When I woke up this morning, I had the conscious thought "I want to hear that song right now," and I think my repeat count is on nine so far. Overall, the Idlewild soundtrack wasn't all that stellar, but there were a few jewels on it. This is one of them.
My car is making a bad noise. It sounds like somebody is flying a turbo-prop plane fifty feet above my car. It's going into the shop tomorrow night. I hope nothing major is wrong with it because I really like Monique and do not want her to go to the mechanic and die. For those of you thinking that I've lost it, Monique is the name of my car. You're probably right, though, I have probably lost it. It was fun while I had it. Anyway, car equals sick. I'll update later this week when I get the diagnosis from the car doctor.
A collage of my week, in no particular order: Brandon came up and we went out to eat with my parents; I've apparently been living very cheaply because I have way more money in my bill account than I thought I did, that or I didn't pay a bill; eleven days until I go visit Virginia in Vegas again; I have the next TWO weekends off in a row, I have no idea what to do with myself; one of the girls I work with had a miscarriage this week, she has been in my thoughts a lot; I've had odd dreams about random people from my past in weird situations, breaking their hips and blaming me, etc; my weight is down to around 190, down from 197 a couple of weeks ago, all I've been doing is eating smaller meals but it sucks because I'm hungry all the time.
I played poker for an hour or two today. I read an article about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and how he turned $0 into $10,000 in a year and a half online and thought "I can do that." He had rules that he followed to help him manage his bankroll which I think I'm going to try and stick to. It took him nine months to get from $0 to $100, and then nine more months to finish it off. I started today at $125, so I'm figuring it will be about eight months before I'm at $10,000. Warning: The previous sentence may contain some falsehoods. Anyway, the rules he had were that he wouldn't join a cash game or SnG with more than 5% of his bankroll, and he had to get up and leave if the money on the table represented 10% or more of his bankroll. He could only enter tourneys with a buy-in of 3% of his bankroll or less. I'll probably avoid that aspect and stick with cash games and SnGs. Today I played some $.05/$.10, $.02/$.05, and a $3 HU. I won the HU and profited $6 through the rest of the play, which actually isn't too bad. I don't have any memorable hands because I play trained-chimp poker at these levels. General tips down in the sewers of poker: people don't fold and they never believe you. So, I limp as many pots as I can and bet the shit out of it if I catch the flop. I also get tough preflop with good hands. I insta-called a $4 raise into a $1.50 pot with AK preflop. The other guy had AK as well. You wouldn't see me doing this crap at a $1/$2 table, but down here I didn't have to think about it. I'll only play once or twice a week, but I'll update as I go. Bankroll at $134.26
Monday, March 3, 2008
Debacle/Injuries, Reader, No Poker
So...I got this text message from D'vo on Friday that said "We should get drunk and fall down on Saturday." This sounded like a good idea so I called him up around 5pm and met him at his girlfriend's apartment. She's out of town and he is babysitting her chihuahua Brody. We started the afternoon by playing Drinking Girls' State Basketball. I do not recommend this for the amateur drinker because it's hard. You take several drinks each time a shot misses the rim, each time a girl falls down, for every point, and each time there's an unforced error. You also have to finish your beer each time a girl cries before the end of the game. We were obviously somewhat tipsy by the end of the game and decided to head to a bar. We went to Thomasville, which is a bar in an apartment complex (genius). We played some darts and drank more beer. I kept calling the bartender Adrienne. Her name was Jackie. Several pitchers and shots later Jeff picked us up and took us to a bowling alley. I have no idea where it was, but it was GHETTO. D'vo and I chatted with two white trash dudes while Jeff did something. Then we left and went to another bar. At this bar, I took out the trash. I don't know why. Neither do Jeff or D'vo. While I was taking out the trash, I called Virginia. She said that she couldn't understand most of what I said, but it was sweet that I called her. Jeff then took us back to our place. D'vo and I were hungry, so we walked over to Hyvee. Somewhere on this sojourn I gashed my finger and fell down. When we got into Hyvee, D'vo pointed at my hand and said "Whoa, something happened to your hand!" It was covered in blood. This was the first that either of us had known of my finger gash. So, yeah, we did our best imitation of the two drunkest people in Omaha.
Virginia read my blog tonight for the first time. It was sort of weird listening to her as she read through it. She read back quite a ways, and I had forgotten some of the things that I wrote about her when we first met. They were all good, but it was just different to have her get a glimpse of how she blossomed in my mind. I am excited that she's going to read all of the posts. As she put it "I can use this as a window into what you were like before we met."
Virginia read my blog tonight for the first time. It was sort of weird listening to her as she read through it. She read back quite a ways, and I had forgotten some of the things that I wrote about her when we first met. They were all good, but it was just different to have her get a glimpse of how she blossomed in my mind. I am excited that she's going to read all of the posts. As she put it "I can use this as a window into what you were like before we met."
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Reading/Listening, Music, No Poker
Reading: And Her Soul Out Of Nothing by Olena Kalytiak Davis. I'm on page 84 of 94. I'll likely finish it tonight, but if not, I'll surely finish it tomorrow. Davis has amazing intensity on each of her line breaks, which is admirable. Her images are solid and concrete and very specific. The only thing that I don't like about her poetry is that she asks a lot of questions. She does it fairly well, but at times it distracts the reader by causing them to try and answer the question asked. For the novice poetry reader, Davis is on the shallow end. While her poetry is very good and she is well respected, it is not as far out there as some poets are.
Listening: The song Latyrx by the group Latyrx off of The Album. Latyrx consists of Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, both members of the Quannum label that I've been obsessed with lately. This particular song is amazing because it was an experiment that went very right. DJ Shadow produced the track, and what he did was create a rhythm that both Lateef and Lyrics Born freestyled to. Then, he put the two freestyles on top of each other. It's awesome. It's incredible to hear how the two, independently created freestyles intertwine in such a seemingly planned way. You have to check it out.
So I've taken on a job as a small-time music manager. One of my best friends from high school is a DJ, and he usually spins with another guy that I have yet to meet, but they don't book shows very often. Actually, they never book shows, which is why when I asked Matt he was totally for it. He told me that they just don't think about that type of thing; they just spin. As I'm making calls, I'm getting excited about it. Music management combines two things; music, which I love, and interacting with people, which I'm good at. If this goes well, I might look into doing this as a profession. That's a ways down the road yet, but you never know.
Listening: The song Latyrx by the group Latyrx off of The Album. Latyrx consists of Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, both members of the Quannum label that I've been obsessed with lately. This particular song is amazing because it was an experiment that went very right. DJ Shadow produced the track, and what he did was create a rhythm that both Lateef and Lyrics Born freestyled to. Then, he put the two freestyles on top of each other. It's awesome. It's incredible to hear how the two, independently created freestyles intertwine in such a seemingly planned way. You have to check it out.
So I've taken on a job as a small-time music manager. One of my best friends from high school is a DJ, and he usually spins with another guy that I have yet to meet, but they don't book shows very often. Actually, they never book shows, which is why when I asked Matt he was totally for it. He told me that they just don't think about that type of thing; they just spin. As I'm making calls, I'm getting excited about it. Music management combines two things; music, which I love, and interacting with people, which I'm good at. If this goes well, I might look into doing this as a profession. That's a ways down the road yet, but you never know.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Reading/Listening, Bowling, No Poker
Reading: I did it! I finished Barthelme! I don't even want to go back and see when I started, but I'm guessing it was about two months ago. Maybe more. Regardless, I'm done now, and I'm going to dust off a couple of poetry books this week to make me feel like I'm accomplishing something again. First up will be And Her Soul Out of Nothing by Olena Kalytiak Davis. I've skimmed this for a poetry class before, but I'm going to take some time to read it and let it marinade this time. After I finish it, I'm going to dust off a collection of Wallace Stevens poems. When those two are finished, I'm going to tackle The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. Throughout all of my recreational reading, I'm working on reading a real estate book to hopefully get licensed in the next month or so. It's something that I've wanted to do for awhile, and something that my parents have been hounding me to do for even longer. The book is brutal, however, as it goes overboard explaining everything. For instance, there were three pages dedicated to teaching me the difference between the feudal system of land ownership and the allodial system. A couple of things: 1) I don't really need to know this for any reason 2) This is covered in most elementary school history classes 3) This could be explained in a paragraph. Fortunately, I only have to read selections of this 400+ page snoozefest.
Listening: 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up by Gift of Gab. This is the first solo release by the MC for Blackalicious. If you've kept up with the blog, you know that I LOVE Blackalicious. 4DRGU has the same feel of a Blackalicious release even though Chief Xcel doesn't produce the entire album. Gift of Gab has a cool voice and relentless speed reminiscent of Busta Rhymes on Extinction Level Event. My favorite tracks are Rat Race and The Writz because of their unique musicality and solid lyrics. Tracks like Way of the Light and Moonshine show the artistry and intelligence that all of the Quannum Projects artists have dedicated themselves to (Quannum Projects is the larger collective that Blackalicious belongs to/associates with). As I've said before, if you don't like rap and hip-hop, you should check this album out. It may just change your mind.
I went bowling today. I used to be a serious competitive bowler in high school and then I just quit. UNL offered me a small scholarship to bowl there, but I just wanted to get away from it. It wasn't a conscious decision that I made, because I simply stopped bowling. Looking back though, I think that I didn't want to associate with the typical bowling types. Yeah, I'm a prick, but I wanted to start college with a slate free of stereotypes. Anyway, I have my own bowling balls (three of them) and my own shoes, but they've been at the bottom of a closet collecting dust for the past eightish years. Today I busted them out. The bowling went about as I expected. When I quit bowling regularly, I carried a 177 average with a high game of 244. Today, not so much. I bowled four games before I threw in the towel. I actually had to quit because my forearm and left ring finger were killing me. I throw a hook, which means that I cup my wrist when I throw the ball. My ball weighs sixteen pounds. If you do the math on this, it equals my left forearm being useless until Thursday. Further, my ball is drilled in such a way that my two fingers only go in up to the first knuckle. Or they're supposed to, anyway. Apparently my fingers have also gained weight since I graduated high school because I could only cram my sausage fingers into the holes just past the cuticle. Both of my cuticles were bleeding when I quit. As for the actual bowling: I bowled 165, 128, 161, and 135. I was as inconsistent as a Presidential candidate's platform. I didn't expect to be as good as I used to be, but I couldn't throw the ball the same way twice. The game that I was most proud of was the 161. Even though it wasn't my best score, I hit the pocket* with regularity, and several times was denied a strike by a stubborn ten pin. I think I'll go again on my day off next week (if I get one), because I'd really like to see if I could get back to where I was. I'll keep you updated.
*Go HERE and search the page for "Pocket". It's near the bottom.
Listening: 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up by Gift of Gab. This is the first solo release by the MC for Blackalicious. If you've kept up with the blog, you know that I LOVE Blackalicious. 4DRGU has the same feel of a Blackalicious release even though Chief Xcel doesn't produce the entire album. Gift of Gab has a cool voice and relentless speed reminiscent of Busta Rhymes on Extinction Level Event. My favorite tracks are Rat Race and The Writz because of their unique musicality and solid lyrics. Tracks like Way of the Light and Moonshine show the artistry and intelligence that all of the Quannum Projects artists have dedicated themselves to (Quannum Projects is the larger collective that Blackalicious belongs to/associates with). As I've said before, if you don't like rap and hip-hop, you should check this album out. It may just change your mind.
I went bowling today. I used to be a serious competitive bowler in high school and then I just quit. UNL offered me a small scholarship to bowl there, but I just wanted to get away from it. It wasn't a conscious decision that I made, because I simply stopped bowling. Looking back though, I think that I didn't want to associate with the typical bowling types. Yeah, I'm a prick, but I wanted to start college with a slate free of stereotypes. Anyway, I have my own bowling balls (three of them) and my own shoes, but they've been at the bottom of a closet collecting dust for the past eightish years. Today I busted them out. The bowling went about as I expected. When I quit bowling regularly, I carried a 177 average with a high game of 244. Today, not so much. I bowled four games before I threw in the towel. I actually had to quit because my forearm and left ring finger were killing me. I throw a hook, which means that I cup my wrist when I throw the ball. My ball weighs sixteen pounds. If you do the math on this, it equals my left forearm being useless until Thursday. Further, my ball is drilled in such a way that my two fingers only go in up to the first knuckle. Or they're supposed to, anyway. Apparently my fingers have also gained weight since I graduated high school because I could only cram my sausage fingers into the holes just past the cuticle. Both of my cuticles were bleeding when I quit. As for the actual bowling: I bowled 165, 128, 161, and 135. I was as inconsistent as a Presidential candidate's platform. I didn't expect to be as good as I used to be, but I couldn't throw the ball the same way twice. The game that I was most proud of was the 161. Even though it wasn't my best score, I hit the pocket* with regularity, and several times was denied a strike by a stubborn ten pin. I think I'll go again on my day off next week (if I get one), because I'd really like to see if I could get back to where I was. I'll keep you updated.
*Go HERE and search the page for "Pocket". It's near the bottom.
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