Holding Down the Empty Fort

As one of the two people on the planet who actually has to work today, I would just like to get something off my chest:

&*$^%%$#^&$^$@#&^%#

Of course, back-to-back weekend benders may have contributed to my ill mood this morning, though last night's wasn't entirely my fault as I was up well past my bedtime final tabling a 180 on Stars. My finish was 7th, which sucks, because I was in control of my table for 90 minutes and briefly the Chip Leader with 28 left, at which time the poker gods decided I was going to double up the short stacks by giving them AA when I had KK or dropping an TTAAx board for the short stack's ATo when I had to call the extra 1K (into an 8K pot) with KQs. By the time I got to the final table, I had a quarter of my previous stack and basically folded to my finish. Not that I'm complaining, because it cut my evening's losses in 2/3rds.

The reason I love the Paradise Special Re-buy is because people will call off all their chips with QT on a QJx board when I'm holding Kings. Their 10K stack of chips. At blinds of 100/200. That he made a runner-runner straight to cripple me bothers me not at all. He is why I do well in that tourney. And I hope he does it again next time (same with the guy who had doubled me up on the previous hand by calling my AK push with AJ. Love those guys).

So, the poker was 'meh' during my only session of the weekend. And I didn't know until this moring that Rafe Furst won a bracelet (YAY!) and so did Rusty Boyd (^$%$#%Y$*^#%$^%%#%). Hopefully, Dutch spent some of his winnings on blow and his heart gave out and he's currently dead in a hotel with several cross dressers weeping over his rapidly deteriorating carcass. I guess Karma had the day off. Fucking scumbag.

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Getcher ass over to there and reap the reward of this vast storehouse of poker knowledge.

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Been here 90 minutes. Haven't been asked to do a single thing. Have no work backed up. Glad I came in today. As my high school teammate Vinnie Montana used to say, "Worth it."

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Has anybody seen Frank Lampard? There was this dude wearing the #8 shirt for England, but that couldn't have been him.

What a cock-up. I don't even know where to begin. Eriksson's selections, I suppose. Way to give yourself no way to change tactics, not that you have anyway in your time on the job. They were boring, without invention and rigid as fuck. When Owen Hargreaves is your best player on the day, you know you're in trouble. They have more world class talents right now than they've had in 16 years, but as a team, they're a mess. Perhaps McLaren can figure out how Gerrard and Lampard can co-exist on the pitch, because Eriksson hasn't. I was a big proponent of the 4-5-1 with Hargreaves (or Carrick) in the holding role, becuase it's been painfully obvious for a long time that neither Gerrard or Lampard were comfortable in that role in a 4-4-2. Yet, the change of formation didn't help. Where are those rampaging runs we see from those two on a regular basis? They've willed their club sides to victory on dozens of occassions, but neither have ever translated it to the international game.

Hopefully, this is the end of Beckham's international career, He's basically the equivalent of a placekicker at this point. He can't defend, he can't beat anyone off the dribble. He doesn't even have that engine any longer.

This team needed Robbie Fowler. No, I'm not kidding.

I hate PKs, but England did not deserve to win. And if you saw their expressions and body language during the spot kicks, you'd have clearly seen they weren't going to. I was pissed they lost; more pissed at their level of play the entire tourney.

On a related note, I was not surprised to see France beat Brazil. After their performance against Spain, I was struck by how organized they are defensively. Little to no space in their rear guard and they close it down quickly. Having world class ball-winners like Makelele and Vieira helps. They started the tourney slowly, but have been getting better each time out. Zizou remains imperious and Henry is a predator, pure and simple. They have a strong chance to win the whole thing and I don't believe they'll have any problems with Portugal.

Brazil looked a step slow to me and Ronaldo was not just fat and lackadaisical, but goddamn lazy as well, the team only coming to life when Adriano came on. Cafu and Roberto Carlos were bottled up on the flanks, Kaka was pedestrian and Ronaldinho just couldn't seem to find any groove. Contrast that with Zidane who pulled the strings masterfully in the second half. Dissapointing peformance from the Brazilians, lacking in flair and rythym.

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Her eyes are green flecked with gold, her lips are soft as down and as I kissed her repeatedly, my breath quickened and the heat rose in my skin.