Word Up

Winter, such as it is, hit Southern California over the holiday weekend, featuring a strident and chilling wind on Saturday night that knocked the contents of our patio to and fro and sparked the first complaints from the dear and patient wife, who, it should be remembered, lived in fucking Sweden for 14 years.

"Stupid cold country," she says. And, crazy as it might sound to those of you who live in frostier climes, she's right. It IS cold, relative to the balmy November we've had and factoring in the wind chill.

Who cares?

Um, I'm getting to that. My desert outpost is a pretty good reflection of the weather we'll see in Vegas 12 days from now. But Vegas is even harsher. If it's 100 degrees in the ol' Inland Empire, it's 110 in Sin City. Conversely, 45 is 25. And that desert wind? It'll go right through you. So dress accordingly. If the Yahoo! weather forecaster says 50 degrees for Vegas, figure it'll feel 30-35. Or, you can just never leave the casino, especiallly after dark.

Yes, pretty much every thought or event gets tied into the WPBT gathering. In that vein, lemme throw a couple things out to the group.

1. I was planning on getting in a live Vegas tourney aside from the WPBT Event and have settled on the $100+$10 at the Aladdin on Friday at noon. One reason is that it will probably be the only time all weekend where I'm not drunk and/or hungover (I'm driving in Friday morn). Anyone arrriving Thursday or early Friday interested in joining me, lemme know.

2. The dear and patient wife, after much cajoling from myself and very helpful bloggers, will be joining the festivities, though she's not flying in until Saturday night due to other committments. Generally, she takes a spa day during NFL Sunday in the Sportsbook (not a fan of Armour-Plated Wankball, the dear and patient wife). Any interest from wives and bloggers in joining her?

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After my nice score this weekend, one thing has become perfectly clear: I play better poker against better players.

This is not a pat myself on the back statement. Quite the opposite. What it really means is I fail to adapt to lesser humans, consistently putting myself in bad spots against goofballs who treat their fold button like the ebola virus. My reads are fine (as in, the goofballs are not strong), but when I can't push 'em off second pair with a flop bet, why would I try again on the turn?

Because you're dumb?

It's possible.

Definitely need work in this regard.

As for the tourney win, I'm still pretty pumped up about it. Validation, I guess. I was gonna document a couple crucial hands, but I've decided against it. One play, in particular, was fucking masterful. But I might need it on Dec. 10.

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Been a while since I updated my NaNo progress. Unfortunately, that's because there hasn't been much progress.

The primary reason I decided to take this on was to see if I was disciplined enough to sit down every day and finish the task. In that regard, I've failed. There are myriad reasons for this, but no viable excuses. I just didn't get it done. Yeah, I got stuck far too often, the words dribbling out in fits and starts. Yeah, I paid a lot of attention to my poker game, because I was on something of a roll and wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Yeah, I didn't have nearly enough forward planning on the story, causing me to get to a point and wonder which direction I needed to go. Regardless, I didn't do a good enough job of carving out a couple hours each day to bang away.

That said, I've got 35,000 words, which is easily the most I've ever written in story form before. And I work best on deadline conditions. So, I've got three days to sprint home.

The further bad news is that I estimate the tale is about a third of the way finished. Yikes. You know, some people, those with half a brain for instance, might start off with something a little lighter, a litttle simpler.

Not this jackass.

Congrats to Human Head for passing the mark with room to spare. Well done, sir. Otis looks poised to hit the mark, as well, and anyone who knows Otis wouldn't bet against him. Bobby? Well, Bobby's probably busy compiling playlists for his 72 iPods.

Also on the subject of writing, Pauly has published another edition of his excellent literary blogzine, Truckin'. As always, I'm honored he saw fit to include my story, which promises to be the feel good hit of the holiday season . This month's offering also features stories from the man himself, Human Head and Al, as well as a poem by Jaxia. Please head over and support your local wordsmiths.

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Had a hilarious and wide-ranging conversation with Daddy on Saturday afternoon, evening, a sort of cyber boko-maru, if you will, and one of the topics was how to play AKo pre-flop from the SB facing 5 or 6 limpers.

Naturally, it depends. But, I'm still gonna pump out a bunch of drivel on the subject. But probably not until Thursday.

Stupid deadlines.