May 1, 2005

• I had a busy day yesterday and not much downtime at all. I started by
  going to the bank, where I saw John Davidson (a guy I used to work with
  at AAA). He is a cool guy and I like him, but he is always a little
  weird. For example, I have lost some weight since I last saw him. Most
  people when they see somebody has lost weight, they say “congrats, you
  look great”. Not John. It was a typical John response. “Wow, you’ve
  lost weight…………are you ok? You aren’t sick are you?” Even after
  I told him I was ok, he still asked “are you sure.” Classic John.

  After the bank, I went for a hair-ey-cut. Thats right, I called it a
  hair-ey-cut, so what do you think about that? Anywho, it was pretty
  non-eventful. She cut, I sat. Pretty simple, in fact, so boring  I
  probably should skipped it all together. But, if I have to sit through
  the boring haircut, then I’m sure as hell going to make you read about
  it………..unless, of course, you stopped reading back in the first
  paragraph, which you almost certainly did since this is a boring ass
  post.

  Anywho, after that, it was the mall. First, though, I stopped at home
  for a shower. I had a goal to make it back in time for the Bulls game
  at 2 in the PM. I wanted to buy a wallet, swimtrunks, and a Cubs
  jersey. For some reason, the mall was fucking packed, at least when it
  came to parking. I found some swimtrunks which I didnt really care for
  too much………..they are ok, but its not like there is a hugh market
  for guys swimwear. Unless there is a hugh market and I don’t know about
  it. As for the wallet, it was my first new one in about 6 years. I hate
  it, it sucks.

  I went to Champs to look at Cubs jerseys. I want a plain, white home
  jersey with NO NAME on the back, and I don’t want to pay $150 for it.
  All they had was ones with players names on it. They had a really cool
  Ernie Banks jersey, but it was long sleeves, and I’m not a big fan of
  sleeves. I decided I would check somewhere else. I wound up at Foot
  Locker. They did not have anything I was looking for, but did have a
  nicely colored blue one. I bought it and by the time I reached the
  door, had buyers remorse. Its a cool jersey, I like it and will wear
  it, but its not what I wanted, and I have been told that I can’t wear
  blue underneath it, as it would be “too much blue”. I don’t know who
  makes up these fashion rules, but I don’t like them. First, I have to
  wear clothes that fits. Then, no black pants with brown shoes. The
  other day, I was told no white socks with brown shoes. Now, too much
  blue. Motherfuckers, I like to find the fashion god and punch him or
  her squarely in the eye.

  I did reach my goal of being home in time for the Bulls game, with
  about 10 minutes to spare. Not that it mattered, although they put up a
  good fight in the first half, they eventually got whipped. While I was
  watching the game, Keith called and said he had a couple of free
  tickets to the Papa Roach/Trust Company/No Warning concert at the Vic
  and wanted to know if I wanted to go. Its not until tonight, and I told
  him maybe, but to be honest, I don’t think i want to go. So, if anybody
  is interested, its 2 free passes, let me know.

  I agreed to pick up the passes on my way to play cards. I arrived at
  his house about 4:45PM and he quickly gave me what I needed. I then
  went next store to Renes to see the kids for a few minutes before they
  headed off to roller skate. Not much of a story here, but in the
  interest of keeping things boring, I thought I would add it.

  Next, I went to pick up Don at his new house, which I finally got a
  tour of. Its pretty damn nice, I like it a lot. Its pretty much the
  right size for his family. And the previous owner was some sort of tv
  freak, so there are tv stands mounted on the wall (you know, like the
  way it is in hospitals and shit) in several places. They have one in
  the master bedroom. One in the garage. And, I think there is even one
  in the shed.

  We headed over to the Carol Stream card game about 5:30ish. We arrived
  shortly after 6 with no complications at all. There were only a few
  people there when we first arrived and one of them was this cute, fun
  guy named Chip that I played with one one other time. Everytime I play
  cards, I have to bring my Rold Gold pretzel rods. He asked me if I
  brought them and I said yes. I said “do you want rod” and he said
  something along the lines of “well, see me later about that.” We made a
  couple of references back and forth throughout the night about my rods.
  It was, of course, just humor, but this dude doesn’t seem to
  be……….overly straight. Every other guy there (except me, of
  course) always talks at least a little bit about hot chicks, but not
  him. He is really into sports (then again, so am I) and has a great
  personality (he is cute, too………not hot, but cute) and he and I
  have really hit it off the couple of times we met. Unfortunetly, I
  found out later that after the card game, he was going to be meeting up
  with some chick. DAMN!

  As for the game itself, we had 13 people with a $30 buy-in. Winner gets
  $250, 2nd $80, 3rd $40. We had 2 tables, one was a 6 person table (in
  which Don and I were at) the other a 7 person table. This one big guy
  at our table jumped out to an early lead. He over-bet at the begining,
  which somebody always seems to do. I think they just want to intimidate
  and get an early lead. It always  works, but never lasts. I
  started off bad myself, but as usual, I somehow managed to hang in
  there. Meanwhile, on the other table, Chip was, well, chip leader. He
  was steamrolling over everybody. How many times, though, do people
  start off with an early lead and then lose it?

  We eventually got down to one rather large table of 10. Don and I made
  it there. Thing picked up pretty quickly after that. We lost a few
  people, and we were down to about 7 or 8. Don then lost, and I was even
  closer, but again, I still thought I did not have enough to compete
  with the big dogs. I was like the Baltimore Orioles trying to hang in
  there with the Yanks and Red Sox. I would get down and have to go all
  in, and each time, I would win. Meanwhile, the big guy from earlier had
  lost. Next thing I know, I’m once again, one of the final four. The
  other 3 Chris, who owns the house, Chip, and a unique guy named Paul
  (more on him later) who all had significantly more chips than me. Still
  the other people that were out, seemed to be rooting for me, probably
  because I was the underdog. Each time I would be forced all in because
  of the blinds, I would not look at my cards until the end of the hand.
  The first time I did that, I won. The second time, I lost.

  Chip actually ran the table. Eventually, he won. He just got out to
  such a big lead and really seemed to have it going. There was no
  stopping him.

  Now, I can tell you a little bit more about Paul. Paul is what you
  would call a throwback. He is a rare breed. Paul is 34 years old. He
  lives way the fuck out near Dixon. He is unmarried and lives in a
  $36,000 house. His car is a 1970 Camero.He does not have a steady job,
  but is not a loser. He is smart (has a college degree) and can hold his
  own in just about any conversation. The things that amaze me, are that
  in this day and age, he does not have a cell phone (of course, neither
  do I), does not have internet access and doesnt even have an email
  address. He does not even have an interest in any of this. He doesn’t
  even have cable or satellite. He said he wants to get satellite tv
  sometime (he did used to have cable) but even if he did, he would watch
  things like the history channel or discovery. Here is something else I
  found amazing. He has not drank alcohol or cut his hair since the 80s.
  He said he does smoke pot, but thats about it. He sounds like a hippie,
  which in a way, I guess he is to an extent. But, he is a very
  interesting guy (im not attracted to him at all) and I could talk to
  him for hours. Oh, and he is a fantastic poker player.

  • 2:11 pm
  • 1 Comment