July 17, 2005

  • Today was a rather interesting day. When I look back at all the days
    this year, this one will stand out as being.............unsual. First
    of all, I went to Bobby's house today. He lives in a part of Joliet
    that I have never been to before. And his house...........it was not
    the nicest house around, but was a decent size. His bedroom is in the
    basement, which was odd. It wasn't like a normal basement bedroom, it
    was like just had a section of the basement for himself. Sure, there
    was a lot of shit around his area and you couldn't see it unless you
    were in that area, but it didn't have a door. Its kinda tough to
    explain. His area also has a very low ceiling. So low, in fact, that he
    can't even stand straight up. And it only clears my head by a matter of
    inches. Still, it was pretty dark (at least if the lights were off) and
    quiet down there. It would be a great area to sleep.

    I felt bad for him, though. Friday night, he came out to his best
    friend, who did not take it too well. He hit Bobby a few times and
    kicked him in the balls. Bobby has known this kid since fifth grade, so
    he aws pretty upset about this. His friend essentially doesn't want
    anything to do with him now. I told him that maybe he just needs a few
    days to digest it, but Bobby doesn't think this is the case.

    We hung out for a few hours before I headed home. I stopped off at the
    cematary on the way home. Yesterday (or Friday if you reading this on
    any other day besides Saturday) marked the 25 anniversary of my
    father's death. Not that I'm dwelling on it or trying to be a downer,
    but I just thought it was at least slightly significant. Although, I
    didn't know him well enough to fully miss him when he died, I sometimes
    wonder what our relationship would have been like. I wonder what kinda
    man he was, as I'm only able to form opinions based on what other
    people say. I would have liked the chance to form my own opinions on
    him. I would have liked to have gotten a chance to know him better. As
    it stands, I had only 4 years with him, and most of those 4 years were
    the worst years of his life, since my brother died when I was 1. I
    wonder what my parents were like before my brother died. We were the
    all American family or as fucked-up as we are now? I don't like to rely
    on what my siblings say about it because they are so biased. For
    example, my one sister thinks things were just so awful, while my other
    sister thinks things were great. I need to form my own opinion, and of
    course, this can never happen.

    Damn, I'm pretty fucking tired. I'm fighting to keep my eyes open as I type this, but I want to get all of this down.

    I left for the card game at Scott's  house about 5:45ish.
    Construction, although very needed and a good source of employment,
    pisses me off somtimes and doesn't make sense. Normally, I take 119th
    street to rt 30. I went this way, but about a mile down 119th (after rt
    59, that is) it was closed. I turned around and went to 111th, which
    was closed as well, but this time there were signs before I even had
    gone onto 111th. Instead I took I think 95th, which, as I got further
    down, was closed as well. How can they close 3 streets for construction
    that close together and going in the same direction?

    After maneuvering my way around the closed roads, I eventually made my
    way to Scott's about 6:20ish. He already had the grill going and the
    card tables set up in the garage. His garage has no AC, so this was
    going to be a tough night. The humidity was very high, and it just wore
    me out, that is one of the reasons why I'm so tired. Of course, the
    lack of sleep can't help much either. He was grilling dogs, brats, and
    potato wedges. Everything was pretty damn good, but its food, so
    honestly, do you really want to hear about it?

    We started the first game about 7PM. We had 9 people (that hottie
    Dustin was supposed to play, but never showed up. Its a good thing too,
    because he is so hot that he is a distraction for me) and top 3 get
    money. For some reason, we had set it up really bad. We put 2 tables
    differently and akward shaped tables together. It was awful, but after
    the first person went out, we all went to the same table.

    I did so-so in the first game. I started off hot (as usual) but wasn't
    able to maintain. I think I finished in 5th place. While waiting for
    the rest of the guys to finish, a few of us played that dice game CLR.
    I must have won like $4 in quarters.

    There was a locust/cicada in the garage. They are the same thing,
    right? All I know is that there is this really old book that mentions
    some stuff on the locusts and how they do something to the world.
    Whatever. For tonight, though, this one had a death wish. It kept
    flying around the garage. This one guy, Jeff, managed to catch it and
    chase Scott around with it. During our second game, I swear, I felt
    something bite me on the back. A few minutes later, I see the thing on
    the arm of my chair. Fucking bugs.

    Both games, I was seated next to this cute dude with hot legs. He was a
    tad of a distraction, but I played through it. I was doing ok in the
    second game when I got a pair of pocket queens. I didn't have much, so
    I took a chance and went all in. These 2 guys, Pat and Chris called me.
    On the river, there was an Ace and a queen. I thought I was sitting
    pretty, but slightly worried if somebody else had an Ace, although they
    weren't betting like it. The next card up was another fucking ace, and
    I thought for sure I was done, as Pat started betting more aggresive.
    As it turned out, Chris had pocket nines and Pat had pocket Jacks. I
    win. Chris was then done and I lived on.

    We got down to 3 people. It was me, Pat, and the dude I have mentioned
    in previous posts, Paul. They were kicking my ass, but I had to do
    something to get back in the game. So, I went all in on a pair of Aces.
    Pat had a pair of Aces and a pair of sevens. I was done. But, I did
    manage to break-even on that game and left there feeling pretty damn
    good about myself..........at least card wise. It was my best showing
    in a while, so, although I'm not satisfied, i was happy.