Well look who blogged. I think that makes it 1 more time than you posted in Korea. Good work. If I find out you are not playing The Sims and rather getting your soccer career started I will be very sad and hurt.

Now onto the more important things in life...like me.

So on Sunday night I got all dressed up in my "poker" attire that I am going to try to wear while playing and headed out to my Aunt Mimi's house to see my cousin JoJo. I spelled it like that girl singer for a purpose. Not that he fills his mind with this trash that gets written on this blog, mostly by me. Anyway after watching Stitch play with his pillow and acting like a goof we decided to call it a night at around 9 o'clock. Thinking to myself I thought that I got a good nap in that afternoon so I was mentally okay to tackle cards. I told myself that I was going to put up one in play and if I lost it then I'd be done no matter how good the game was. After all I remembered that I did have work on Monday morning at 5 o'clock.

My mom wished me good luck because when she does I seem to win more often than not. My dad scolded me for my gambling habit and I was on my way. Withen 45 seconds I was already there at Bay101. If the Zanone's don't move by the time Stitch is 21...he will develop a gambling habit for sure.

I get there at Bay and suprised to see that everyone in San Jose seems to like to play cards at 9 at night on a Sunday. I stick my name on the board and watch the higher stakes games. I vow to myself that I will one day be playing there and crushing them.

At around 9:30 my name, Brandon gets called and I'm sat down at a quiet table with a bunch of older guys. One guy kind of looked like Howard Lederer except he cried a lot more. Then two guys that were 22 and 23 years old (I asked them) sat to my right and I started up a conversation with them. After all they were white so I figured they spoke good english. After about 15 minutes talking to them they decided to finally ask me how long I have been playing cards. I tell them that I knew from WPT about Texas Hold'em and played in some home tournaments. They laughed and they started telling me about the typical low limit bullshit that I myself like to hear. Phrases like...

"I don't even raise with AK becuase they always get beaten."
"I hate pocket Jacks, they never hold up."
"My aces got cracked blah blah blah times tonight, I swear everyone chases."

To my suprise the older guy who I thought knew the game somewhat (I just saw him shuffle chips and talk about some odds so I put him on being a good player...on a side note I always put everyone at the table as the best player ever until proven otherwise) started agreeing with these younger guys. This was awesome.

I decided that I would coffee house a bit. You probably won't believe me because it sounds stupid, but I decided to raise with mediocre shit and call someone down all the way to the river. HOWEVER, only on flops where it was clear that second and third pair were beat badly. One hand I raised it up from early position with pocket 3's. I got three callers and the board came up absolutly shitty for my hand. Perfect. So the guy with the Ace and big kicker who called my raise obviously has me beat to a pulp. However I go ahead and bet and he raises me. The two other "smarter" players fold since they know someone has the ace. I look at my cards again and I go ahead and call. Now looking like an idiot I go ahead and check and he becomes perplexed. He bets it out and I raise on the turn. Now this wasn't just me advertising completely, I wanted to try a pure bluff at this table and see the reactions...hey who knows, it might work?

Yeah well he called. I checked on the river and he bet out. I called. He flipped over his aces and I flipped over my pocket threes. I swear to god people need to pay attention to their own fucking chips and stop playing my cards. Haha. The two guys on my right was like...you knew he had the ace. What were you thinking? I said that it was a pocket pair. The older gentleman who won the pot off me looked at me and smirked. He couldn't believe he got paid off the way he did. So for the record I totally have an image of being an idiot. I just spoke loud enough to the other two guys next to me so the other players might be able to hear me so it wouldn't seem fucking strange.

"I couldn't lay those down. It was a pocket pair."

So for that hand it cost me 18 bucks to make an idiot of myself. So after a while of calling a lot of flops with mediocre hands to show I was a looser player (and yes, for the record people do notice these things if it happens over and over again. Even the ones that aren't looking for signs or tells can make out whether you only raise three times a night and fold 99 percent of your hands) I was down to about 40 bucks. I decided that if I was going to make it back I better get on it.

So I got right into my normal game and adjusted accordingly to the table. And guess what...what those two younger guys said and the other people agreeing with them was absolutly true. They really didn't raise preflop and were scared of the fucking nuts every hand. This was fucking awesome.

I know your bored so to make a long story short I decided that the table was good enough for me to go past my 12 o'clock curfew. The other people couldn't believe my "luck" as I kept winning, then losing it some then winning it all back and then some. It was up and down but in general I was building my stacks of 30 chips.

By the time it was about 2 o'clock I had the chip lead at the table (I know its not a tournament, but you know how much more aggressive you can seem to be with a bigger stack) with 13 stacks of 30 and 2 one hundred dollar chips on top. The crazy thing about this game was that whenever I had a hand and every once in a while the nuts, they would shake their head and couldn't believe it. The two younger guys who were losing money because of their pussiness said they coudln't believe it and I told them I wouldn't ever come back so I can be up in poker for the rest of my life.

Well I wish I could say I left with a nickel, but I suffered some bad beats and by the time I got out of there at around 3 o'clock and I had about 370 dollars in profit.

In case you didn't know, I love poker. Perhaps that is one of my main weaknesses, I could have left with 500 IN PROFIT which is RIDICULOUS for those limits, but I loved the game so much that I sat there and played. But whatever. I ain't mad. I lost 130 bucks making more moves...perhaps in the future I can learn to love the game, but remember that the priority is making money at this point so I can continue to practice the game...rather than love the game so much that it drives me into the ground.

DISCLAIMER: Not aimed toward Derek or any other religious people I know. All of you are still my friends even though I dont' believe what you believe and that is enough to give you the upmost respect from me. Now onto the bashing.

Yeah time for me to jump all over disabled women without feeding tubes down their necks. Of course I'm talking about Terri Schiavo. I don't really know why I'm talking about this considering that all in all I don't really care either which way, but it is an interesting topic that I can humor and examine myself with.

The first thing that gets me laughing is the fact that all these religious people have come out of the woodworks and started talking about pro-life and using this as a way to get their ideologies out to people like me who don't care. I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe, the difference is that I don't push it on anyone. Besides the religious figures that are close to the Schindler and the Schiavo family, the rest can get off my television. You are using this women who is in enough pain already (Not eating for 13 days? Damn.) and you are using her as a platform for another agenda.

Second goes out to the both the families. Apparently these people have never seen Soul Food. The family has got to come together in this tragic time, but NAH. Not today. They'd rather argue and argue and argue even when she just died today. Ridiculous. For one, the Schindler family...HELLLLOOOO, wake up. She married somebody and she told her husband that she didn't want to be put on artificial life. Respect it.

Then again they could have run a simple test to see that whether or not she really was brain dead. The husband I guess decided against it. That is kind of shady in itself. But here is the real question...

DOES YOUR BRAIN FIRING OFF LITTLE JOLTS OF ELECTRICITY COUNT AS NOT BEING IN A VEGATATIVE STATE?

I mean I'm not doctor, but I'm pretty sure artificial life means any mechanical device that keeps you alive. Again take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure that Terri Schiavo not being able to eat and having a feeding tube down her throat just to survive counts as artifical life. Again I'm not sure, but I think she really is DEAD so it was keeping her alive. Perhaps God needed her for whatever special reason...as a doorstop perhaps...

Now some can make an argument about...well maybe she just couldn't speak for herself. Well getting rid of that tube is probably a good place to start (that is kind of fucked up hehe), but she coudn't write, she couldn't respond so all they had going was what she supposedly said to her husband about letting her die.

In fact I'm probably putting the blame in the wrong hands. It is neither the Schindler's fault or the Schiavo's fault. It is in fact Terri Schiavo. There I said it. She fucked up. And yet all of us are with her in the same boat since I bet none of us have even considered the possiblity of us being in a vegatative state. Of course this blog isn't legally binding, but let us set this record straight...and while I'm at it I'm going to write my obituary as well. This blog sure did take a morbid turn of events...as if a crippled dying wasn't morbid enough...

I BRENDAN OF SOMEWHAT SOUND MIND AND BODY DECIDE THAT IF I AM PUT ON ANY FORM OF ARTIIFICIAL LIFE AND I CANNOT RESPOND TO EVEN A FRIGG'N FLASHLIGHT IN MY EYES OR JESSICA ALBA NAKED IN THE GQ SPREAD THAT YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND PULL THE PLUG. IN FACT I'LL LET YOU GUYS PUT ALL YOUR NAMES IN A HAT AND WHOMEVER WINS GETS TO PULL THE PLUG. FUCK THE TESTS. THEY COST MONEY. SO WHAT IF LITTLE JOLTS OF ELECTRICITY ARE GOING THROUGH MY HEAD...THAT IS PROBABLY JUST TELLING MY HEART TO KEEP ON BEATING IN MY DEAD, LIFELESS BODY. OH YEAH, BUT BEFORE YOU PULL THE PLUG GIVE ME 25 YEARS TO COME AROUND. HAHA. THAT WAY IT CAN BE LIKE FOREVER YOUNG WITH MEL GIBSON AND I WOULD WAKE UP TO ALL MY FRIENDS PROBABLY DEAD AND NO FAMILY WHATSOEVER. IT'LL BE LIKE DEMOLITION MAN AND I'LL BE A CRAZY OLD LOON LIKE BRAD PITT IN 12 MONKEYS. AND DON'T WE ALL WANT TO BE LIKE BRAD PITT?

Now for my obituary. I thought long and hard, but decided not to make it poetic, but straight to the point...BLuckyDay styles.

Brendan was a lazy person who enjoyed life so much he didn't do anything with it. He always observed without living and him dying is probably for the better. He loved Nintendo and hated Jaguar. His skills in Lumines is unmatched. He loved Poker and was a cocky bastard that used his skills of reading opponents to his upmost advantage because lets face it...he was no fucking genius...there is no way he could calculate pot odds or implied odds or anything having to do with probability...on that note he loved to coffeehouse. Had a cellphone older than balls. Garden State is WAY FUCKING SUPERIOR THAN NAPOLEAN FAGGOT. AND ANYONE WHO LIKED NAPOLEAN CAN SUCK HIS LIFELESS DICK. Brendan cared for his family and even killed Kylie the fuckbitch who screwed Ricki over, but somehow she is still ignorant of that fact. Wondered why his parents kept him and ponders if they knew that animal skin condoms don't work that well. Or that bleach isn't a spermicide. Wait is it? Can't wait to meet Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly beyond the gates (haha Derek, I'm scaling the walls because I've played Splinter Cell) and will act like a total gentleman around them. Was a good person that loved sarcasm. In fact he was surrounded by all his friends in his time of death...they are the ones laughing and giggling like little bitches in the 11th row of the church (He had lots of family that gets priority seating). You guys can fight over who gets what, but Jonathan has taken kickboxing so watch out. Plus he really wants a television. Peace and I'll see you in spirit when your having sex with your significant other. Except for Kevin and Bryant. EWWW.

Haha.

The PSP is a wonderful little thing that makes me believe in some sort of gaming God that was fed up with the DS and lack of launch titles. Steven can't see the potential of buying something a tad bit expensive. Then again I think he should add up all the drinks he has paid for and add those up. Just as ridiculous. But once Steve sees the vivid widescreen come to life, he might just see why 250 dollars is a steal and so far I feel like I ripped Sony off.

The only thing I don't like about it is the analogue stick that is on the bottom left of the PSP. It is a little hard to get to, but I'm sure with some time it will become second nature to me.

Wipeout is fucking awesome and so is Metal Gear Acid. I haven't touched a card playing game since Jonathan and I were fighting our way through the SNK VS Capcom ranks in trying to get that special "S" card. In the end our decks were so fucking powerful that it was purely luck who won at that point since it all mattered on what cards we got in what order. However the real gem of the PSP in my mind is Lumines.

To explain it simply, squares fall that are made up of 2X2 blocks. These blocks only have two colors to them and are arraged differently. Your job is to drop the blocks onto the playing field while trying to create rectangles and squares out of those blocks that fall. The way the blocks clear the screen is by a timeline laser that "wipes" the playing field of your made squares and rectangles.

It seems simple (perhaps not by my explanation) but this is the one of the most addicting games I have ever played. It is in a way like Puzzle Fighter except think 2X2 blocks instead of 1X2 blocks. Yet this game really does reward those who really think ahead. You not only need to figure out where to put the blocks, but also when exactly you need to drop them on the playing field so the laser "wiper" will come by just in time to sweep off the blocks. Next time you see Bryant or I, I strongly recommend you check it out. It's fucking dope.

The other good thing about this game is that every level has a different background and different color scheme. How is this different than any other platform dropping game? Well the backgrounds really are fucking awesome and the sound FX change as you go through the game. So far my favorite is the Ice Stage where the sound really gives you that ambient feel with crystalized sound as the blocks drop.

If you don't care about how I organize music files go ahead and skip this. You ain't miss'n much.

Okay this next paragraph is for j.reid. I think I found a good way to organize music in the Zen. The way I'm going to tag my files is this way...tell me if you or even Jonathan has found a better way (although I know that Jonathan utilizes Winamp playlists when he uses his MP3 player).

Here are the certain troublesome situations that I have tried to deal with in putting in the tags for the Zen player.

If I have an ARTIST and their full album I will create a new folder with that ALBUM title. Simple enough right?

Yet if I have a bunch of singles that was on a bunch of different albums I will go ahead and create another folder within that ARTIST folder labled ARTIST'S NAME COLLECTION.

The reason why I stick the the music in folders instead of just dropping all the music within the ARTISTS folder is becuase if I want a specific song, I can't imagine scrolling down all the Dave Matthews songs just to get to one song. I'd rather go straight to the album it was on. By using folders with the album title and also Misc collections that I have, it cuts down on scrolling.

Now those recommendations on top are nothing new. The most trouble I had was when I had a CD that had various artists on it anyway. Let us take Jonthan's Soul Spectacular collection. It is four discs with like 15 different artists for each CD. This means that if I stuck them in as is, I would have 60 extra artists on my artist list that I have to scroll through (15 artists X 4 CD's). Most of these artists I only have one or two songs for anyway. Seems ridiculous to keep them all there to bunch of the artist folder.

So what I am going to do is put Soul Spectacular Disc One as the ARTIST in the tag files. I will then stick the artist and the track title in the Track Title tag line. This will eliminate having 60 artists in for this collection and will cut down on the scrolling.

You might be saying, well what if I want to search by artist within that Soul Spectacular Disc set? Well this could be a problem, but I have decided after putting every artist in their own folder that it takes too damn long to scroll through. I'm willing to sacrifice the very little chance that I might be saying while driving...

"Man I really feel like listening to 4pm right now." I mean c'mon. They only had one fucking song anyway.

Now that we have stuck in all the songs in the Zen player in the most efficient way possible (in my opinion) then you really need to utilize playlists just like Jonathan does. That way you can customize it anyway that you want and really is the easiest. I mean are you more than likely to say "I want to listen to Brick" or "I feel like listening to Funk."

Since second is the most likely you really want to create a playlist that has a bunch of funk songs that might have a lot of artists that only have 2 or 3 songs that you really enjoy.

And if you ever want to listen to a full album like god forbid, The Beatles 1's then you can easily scroll to it on the artist folder since we eliminated sticking in a bunch of artists with only one hit. Thus elminating excess scrolling.

Werd.

FYI - I'm a single man again. Detail more later (if you ask), but this is a thanks to everyone who's helped me in figuring out what I should do. Deep down I always knew the answer, but it helped in talking it out. Here we go again...fo realz this time...

Poker was great this weekend, happy bday to Brendan! You're finally old w/ the rest of us.

So I've been meaning to post about how the poker tourney I played in last weekend was, but just hadn't had the time until now. For those that don't know, I played in my first live tournament in SLO.

Number of players: 160 - 190 approx.
Tables - 20 - 24, 8 players at each.
Format - you start w/ 1500 in chips. Blinds start at 25-50 and doubled each half hour for 2 rounds. Then blinds go up every 20 min. 1 rebuy, 1 addon.

So I was pretty nervous playing at first feeling like the oldest guy at the table (which I was), but luckily I sat next to someone who was pretty talkative. Coincidentally he knows someone from my church, so we had some common in which to converse. The table I sat at was VERY conservative. People only bet when they had a "pretty" good hand, very little on the bluffing. No one really took a big cheap lead throughout. Our table was the only one that did not have anyone drop until after the 3rd round where as other tables were having players rebuy a lot giving the chip leader a big advantage to anyone at our table.

Worst play of the day: I was the small blind and had Q7 (2 other callers, big blind and on the button), i decided to call and the flop turned out to be AA7. So instead of checking, I bet double the pot to get people out. I had one caller who was on the button. On the turn another A comes up giving me a full house. Instead of checking to get some more info, I bet big again and the guy behind me doubles the bet. I called, luckily he was a nice guy to tell me he had the A and checked on the river which I would've folded anyway. So that put quite a hurt on my chips, but I was able to chip back but I was not happy.

Possible other bad call = spot before the dealer was really low on chips and he goes all in, dealer calls, and I'm on the small blind w/ AKo. To call was about 1/3 of my chips, and I did. The flop was 5, 2, 8. I check, the dealer goes all in and I fold. Both players had mid-pairs, so I made the right call there, but wasn't sure if playing the AK was the right thing to do.

After 2 rounds, there's a break. I add on and played a couple more rounds at my low-risk table. Then I get moved to another table. I could tell these guys were suckers with the hands they were playing, raising, and getting mad that they didn't hit (raising triple the bet w/ K8 and getting mad they didn't hit- idiots). So I was stoked, but after two hands it's time for another break. I then get moved to a table where everyone minus two people had more chips then. So I was not very happy. So at about the 6th round, blinds are 500-1000 and with me having 2k in chips I go all in on the dealer button w/ KJ suited. No one else calls except for the big blind (who was semi-oblivious to the fact I had a lot less in chips then him and he went all in haha), and he had 99. Don't remember the cards that came out because there was no J, K or diamonds. I would say overall I went out about 75-80th.

Lessons:

• I need to play more confident. I was pretty nervous the whole time.
• Need to read people a little better. I need to focus more.
• Vary up my play a little bit.
  
• Don't call just to call, have a purpose.

So I hope I take these lessons and go into my next tourney a little better/more strategic. I've been playing online tourneys to just try and practice more.

Oh right. It was Scott's. Haha sorry about that!

Tony that was a funny ass phone call. Those Sudhir's sure are funny.

Negreanu and Ivey already back in Vegas. Gus Hanson fucking steaming through the field like he can see other player's cards. Amazing. Tobey Maguire was getting mad that everyone was coming back over the top of him I heard. What a fucking baby. That is why he shouldn't be Spiderman.

16th out of 220 yesterday. I'm sitting in a tournament with 540 entrants. I'm sitting in 60th as of right now out of 197 left. What a long fucking climb to go.

That was a VERY good observation from Jonathan. I didn't even think about WHY the tables average pot size was so high...I'm an idiot...

I'll let you know how this tournament turns out...

Great story Tony. "... But you should call the number."... hilarity. I'm glad you stuck with it and didn't just agree to call back later. I hate that garbage.

I believe Andy got a better digital cable price when he was gonna leave. Apparently we should periodically try to quit all these memberships to get the good prices.

Brendan... I didn't make any benches for the church. Okay technically I helped, but that was your buddy Scott's project. My benches were for a community center near my house, where as far as I know there were no lame guys waiting for girls to ask THEM to dance. Also as far as I know, they WERE horribly defaced by skateboarders and vandalism.

Sweet painting though.

jhiro.net may indeed rise again, but I've got a different name in mind. And no real design concepts yet. Maybe I should just modify the old one. Or go back to my Street Fighter character select screen idea... To be continued once I get my computer running again.

Steve, sorry you lost your online poker money. You'd probably have done well if you had the guts to play $3-$6. Heh just kidding, that's horrible advice and goes against what I told you earlier. You just have to keep studying and learn through experience. When you're ready (read: WHEN YOU HAVE A JOB), we can talk Party Poker/Empire Poker bonuses. That way you have some cushion to fall back on if the cards screw you over.

I agree with most of Brendan's comments. However, I don't mind seeing friends lose money if it's not that much and it's because they ignored my advice. Because that's just stupid. And "closest" friends... nope, don't think I've ever had one of those.

There is just one aspect I want to address. You obviously want a table full of weak callers who play too many hands too far for too much sucker money. However, I would guess that at those really low stakes players who learned from TV shows (or not at all) are playing a lot of hands, and aggressively. This may be the key to someone like us having trouble. When Brendan and I were starting out at PokerRoom, a good $1-$2 table had 60% seeing the flop and $20 average pots (oh, those days were SWEET). If the $.50-$1 pots are really getting that big, then there's gotta be some raising going on. Give me a table with no preflop raises and I'll gladly sit there all day. But I hate it when any other player raises preflop. That's because it's now costing me more to play a hand I'll probably have to fold when the flop misses me. So remember table selection is an important aspect of winning strategy. If you can find a table with a lot of players coming in for one bet, that's where you wanna be. If they're capping it every round, either find another table or take up religion. The choice is yours, but I think you know which one I'd go with.

Nah Steve, I'm not gonna write how your dead wrong. I totally understand what you are Tony are saying about the videogame theory. They don't phsyically see the chips coming from their stacks to me. That definetely changes their play a bit. Also I'm not one to say when one should gamble and when one shouldn't...as well as where one should and where one shouldn't. Now I hate seeing my closest friends losing money (unless its to me...which makes it that much more sweeter, haha!) online with all these megalomaniacs so I'm going to put my 2 cents in. It won't be four pages but hopefully something to think about. And no its not going to criticize you or anyone else...but think of it a chance to see how I deal with them and perhaps...maybe, just maybe it will help you in the future.

IMHO, I don't think that there are such things as short term winners when it comes to playing cards. Perhaps you know of someone who has won short term. Yet the problem is that with the human brain as I understand it, learns through experience. Perhaps they won this money without playing a sound game...well the brain associates their bad play with good winnings. So they tend to play bad and ignore the fact that they might have been wrong. I think we can all take the pros advice when they say that there is a right way to play poker that will help you in the long run. Okay so where is this leading to...

Well I have been in slumps before (you are not even close to my swings) and had to tell my brain that what I was doing wrong even though I might have made some lucky draws with bad play...this is a different form of tilt, but still tilt because I myself associated winning some pots with bad play. This caused me to come to a standstill in terms of poker growth. I too thought as you did. Too many people call with shit, too many people play crazy that I can't win.

You said it that night filled with asparagus. No one in this society wants to blame themselves. It wasn't until after I analyzed my play did I start to win consistently again. This was still when Jonathan was in Berkley so it was a while ago...but so far it has suited me well online and live.

I'm not saying you didn't suffer bad beats. I'm sure there were bad beats. Everyone gets them. Yet you say that you suffered almost all bad beats. Over the past few days you have IMed me saying what beat got you crazy that night...I think I have said this before but...

Only the good players suffer bad/tough beats. This is pretty much poker law. If you play how you are supposed to play, optimize your pot, the odds are with you...there is no other beat than a bad beat. You get your money in when you have the best of it and you still lose. This is because your opponents have to outdraw YOU to win and that is the ONLY way they can win.

Over the past couple of nights I have actually played in the .50 cent and 1 dollar tables to see if there was something that I could give insight on...and the only thing I can say is that the averages at these games have sometimes reached higher than the 1-2 games back in the day. What does this tell you? Well you can be the one that says...

"Man, the pots are huge for this level becuase so many people stay in with stupid shit and will probably beat me."

OR

"Man, the pots are huge for this level because it has so many idiots staying in with long shots, but I don't mind because the positive expecation of each hand goes way up since I don't have to invest too much to begin with. The way I play I WANT calling stations."

Okay so no one talks like that...but I think you are starting to fear callers. I did for a while when I was in the slump. Why does no one give me respect? Well guess what. Calling stations are weak players in my mind. Give me weak players any day than 9 other people who respect my raises and let me win the blinds and only the blinds.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't even know poker well enough to consider myself to be good. Yet I constantly look at my hand histories to see if I was getting the odds, could I have played that better etc. To just play poker is not enough to be considered practice. It can be the complete opposite if you somehow trick your brain into bad play = winning.

You have a general understanding of poker. You are probably a step up over other a lot of other people, but the way you are looking at even the smallest stakes poker is costly. No matter what level, if you playing it right, you want callers and idiots. Without them, everyone would be playing poker perfectly and this would mean all of us would even out, more or less.

On the other hand you approach the game differently than me. I want to win in the long run...over the long session. My session has lasted 5 years now. I don't measure it by how many pots I drag in. I try to maximize my winnings over my losses. It seems your poker session will be short sessions on trips to Vegas and Vegas only. That's cool. Just remember that the shorter session you play, the long run, winning tactics don't come into play as much. Enjoy the game and never hit up the ATM! Haha!

Thanks for the picture comment..I like how this one turned out also.

I'll call you up when you get your check. You know you can't resist the urge...oh yeah and so Jonathan will read this...

YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING ONLINE LATELY, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CRITIQUE WHAT I HAVE SAID. THERE ARE PROBABLY FLAWS IN THE WAY I THINK...LETS HELP THE POOKY TEAM WIN OVER THE MANIACS!

I'm not sure, but I think that last sentence that Jonathan wrote was a run on. Of course he meant to do it, but not everything is crystal clear on the internet. Then again I have NO engrish skills whatsoever. In fact it probably isn't even a run on. Sounds like a line I'd put in a paper...worth 70 percent of my grade.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!" If you know any other TV character that can do a 7-10 split on the lanes, I'd like you to name them. Balki was awesome, "Coosin Larry" was not. Raven Symone. Hell yeah she looked like a fucking brat. I'm kind of bitter since she has success now. I thought you needed eyebrows to be beautiful.

All I remember of Reading Rainbow was thinking to myself, "I wish I knew how to read" when all those nerds did their fucking testimonials for their favorite book. So fuck Jorde LaForge and those goggles that look like 60's window blinds. Yeah I know how to spell his name...I hope to God it isn't right. Nah, fuck it. I like that show. It had cool characters and some very interesting plots. I couldn't stand that guy though from Stand By Me...Wesley Crusher...I forgot his name, but he had to wear that gay ass gray uniform with a rainbow around the shoulders. Haha. It sucks to be an ensign...I guess hazing exsists in the future also.

I'm sure all you had your shows that were fucking nerdy. Saved By the Bell doesn't count. I think all those who don't like it are denying themselves of their childhood. That or it was a shitty show. Whatever, Steven and Jonathan are just pissed off becuase they probably has some stupid Boy Scout thing to do on Saturday mornings...they got to watch Hammertime's award winning animation then had to pack up in their Brownie uniform and go off and tie knots. Don't be jealous of those kids whose parents didn't want to be involved. (But both of you are better because you are Eagles...perhaps I'm bitter because I didn't get to build benches for the gymnasium...come to think of it...

If we didn't have those benches Jonathan, everyone might have been dancing than being a wallflower at our YBA dances. You messed it up for everyone and you have no one else to blame but yourself.

Shit, I forgot the measurments didn't I? Okay basically without drawing it you have about a 14 X 20 foot rectangle in which to dance. Don't concern yourself with the stalls. Between the stall doors and the main rectangle you have another 20 feet. I'll draw a picture tonight so you can see the shape.

And since Jonathan hasn't seen this yet, and apparently MentalAbstraction will never be updated again with this pace...

How are you gonna hate on Reading Rainbow? I can understand if you don't like Star Trek, smoky white eyes, or blind people, but Levar Burton was a great host. But you don't have to take MY word for it...

How about that little girl on The Cosby Show... you know, the granddaughter who was just annoying and was someone's attempt to add fresh material to the show. Like Elmo... a punk sellout new face, ruining a classic with already lovable characters. Stomp him, Snuffy. "Hi Bird... Bird, I'm sick!"

Or Balki and his lame "Oh my lord" cousin. Or anyone trying to deliver a punchline on Saved by the Bell.

Japanese robe, cool... time to start mentioning how much I like the new Prius. That would be a great moneysaver for our stupid waste of time frustrating traffic punk in the passenger seat sleeping no parking waiting in the rain smelling like peepee trips to SF.

Yeah so Steve beat me in a tournament. As long as he knows he dodged the bullet. 77% favorite in my corner after the flop. Now I'm going to hunt Steve down on Pokerroom! Hehe!

Here is an update for all those that don't care. I've been working on my Maya shit and this is the update so far. Excuse the seam in the middle...apparently my teacher is going to teach us how to fix that later. Next up is skinning and modeling the body...



UPDATE: I decided I will make the picture as big as I want it since NO ONE ELSE POSTS HERE! I AM THE WEBMASTER! Anyway I figued it was fine since it was coming down anyway. I just waited for you to confirm that you saw it. The bad news is that I think I'm going to remodel it. Lots of hours down the drain!

Nice wheels. 35,000 miles?! How long's your commute?
Ahh yes the legends of hip hop... Tupac... Biggie... Aaliyah...

That'd be pretty funny if I signed up for Mazda6Club. Total mods: 1, window tint. Or I could mention my other removable "mods" to wow the crowd... The Club, windshield reflector, emergency road kit complete with orange triangle, stack of maps, plastic bags for pukers... man, that car is DOPE!

I thought it'd be interesting to watch Raging Bull, Rocky, and Million Dollar Baby some time soon, and compare them. Maybe I will.

"He doesn't have a wife and his parents are dead... they would've been 95 but they're dead... it's a shame, it's a shame..."

Alrighty, since one day I would like to win an Oscar (yes, even with all its politics) I think I should act semi interested. So Tony wanted me to help him pick his winners for a chance to win a draw into an I-pod. So he does have to win to get a chance at winning. So here are my predictions. I'd be happy with getting 20 percent of them right...you never know what those old bastards are thinking in the Academy. (This isn't all the categories, only the ones I care about)

Best Screenwriting (Original)
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

Best Screenwriting (Adapted)
Sideways

Best Costume
The Aviator

Best Visual FX
I, Robot

Best Animated Feature
(This category is fucking retarded...The Incredibles deserves a Best Picture nod)
The Incredibles

Best Cinematography
The Aviator

Best Art Direction
OK, Kevin said I picked someone who wasn't even nominated...hehe. So my pick for this one is my runner up which is The Aviator.

Best Supporting Actor
Morgan Freeman (I had to change my mind on this one)

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett

Best Actress
Hilary Swank

Best Actor
(I had to reconsider this Tony...but I think you are right)
Jaime Foxx

Best Film Editing
The Aviator

Best Music
Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2)

Best Picture
The Aviator

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (After 7 nods in the past...this might be it)

Haha...I bet I am so wrong on these...I guess we'll see later.

So I didn't know what to blog about today, but I looked up Steve's blog to find some inspiration. You stick up that little tidbit of my pocket four's back up on your blogger. I like replaying it in my head...On your blogger...

Ong bak. Somehow Jonathan tricked me into thinking we were going to some exotic restaurant where fobby girls that look hella old and have no teeth serve to your every desire. You know the ones with the nappy hair that CEOs go to Thailand for. Shit. I jst thew up on m keybord...fck.

Okay got a new keyboard. That last sentence was because I had to dodge all the DelTaco chunks on my keyboard...so some letters couldn't be typed. Anyway yeah, I thought we were going to some restaurant...to my suprise I end up in a movie theatre. I paid with my ticket with a bunch of dollar coins. I told Jonathan that it feels like I paid seven quarters to go see exotic girls...what a deal! He had a smirk on his face like he was playing a mean joke on me... I like paying with those coins. Makes me feel like I'm in the 40's, paying .25 cents for a moving picture!

Well Jonathan's joke comes around finally when I can't read any of the people's names who worked on the film. I'm not sure what the language was...but it was in Thai I think and their "alphabet" has all these parallel lines like they are speaking in binary code...except there are no zeros. Only 1's.

LIULIULLIUIL LIUIULILIULI LUI LIULIUNLIULI

That means "hello" in Thai I think. Shit since I have the worst vision in the world and am plagued everyday by this stigmatism...it actually looks like someone fucked up on the text and decided to just black marker it out and start over.

Anyway the film is shitty as a story. The lighting is darker than a fucking ethiopian looking at another ethiopian...in the dark...and he's blind. And they got flies on their lips. The martial arts is pretty good except for one thing...I don't know anything about the Nong Pradu villiage, but they got some fucked up lifestyle. Anyway I guess the ultimate martial arts move is hitting people on the top of the head with your elbow in as many poses as you can conjure up. Now every good martial arts film needs a good sidekick to serve as either a comedic relief, or someone that needs help throughout the whole fucking movie. Well one is A.) Not funny and B.) Needs more help than a retard on fire.

The other sidekick is a monkey. I mean a Thai girl. This fucking bitch was annoying as shit. In fact it sounded like AMC's treble was set way too fucking high. Imagine shrieking out of 20 speakers around the theater. Sounded like the most annoying sound in the world. If I could go Last Action Hero style and go into the picture and I would dodge the elbow on the top of the head and slit that whores throat.

Tony Jaa who I guess is the next big thing (I thought it was Lindsey Lohan who was the next big thing...another throat I need to go for) isn't bad. He does do some pretty amazing things. I mean but how could you not be considered the next big thing when you kick someone's ass who is named BIG BEAR! GWAAAR!

Okay enough of that shit. I won a 20 dollar buy in tournament that only allows two tables max. The payout was 200 bucks. Not bad for getting past twenty people. I was sitting at 20th place for a while until the cards finally started to come. It was a bitchy climb up though...one guy on the other table decided to take out pretty much everybody by himself...so when the tables finally got consolidated down into one..he had about 12,000 chips in play. The next highest was 4,000. But he was playing too aggressively and it eventually got chipped away at. Thanks for the cash suckas.

Okay back to modeling in maya...

Organizing music files can be a pain in the fucking ass. I mean how exactly do you organize all those bands with one hit and one hit only? I mean I could create a whole new folder for them, I could create a big file named "Various" for them, but then some problems arise in the mp3 player itself when it comes to how it views organized files. As much as I like Apple's and Zen's menu system, I think they could really benefit if they had windows like a Palm pilot and we could see the folders and menus just as you do on your personal computer. That would be sick. Now my parents and my sister are going to have a shitload of artists they must scroll through a bunch of artists. Oh well. I don't even have an mp3 player anyway.

I heard Jonathan has been playing on Empire Poker. Those bonus codes do not count as winning! Haha. Also for the record I am now up 120 bucks on 1/2 Seven card. That game is ridiculously good on the risk vs reward factor.

Yay. A night full of drinking on Saturday. Be there or be square! Bay 101 likes squares I heard.

DUDE! No need to pay me back. I moved over to your table EXPECTING to lose to you (I think you're a little better than me). And besides, i like big pot games like that. I'd rather lose my money in a game with great pot odds to trips than to 50 games where i limped in and only stayed in because i had middle pair and was on tilt and bored outta my mind.

It's not a 3-6 game to me. It's a poker lesson that charges 20 bucks an hour. Besides, i still left down double digits and not triple. And that's all good with me.

Don't pay me back. If anything i owe you for the bbq and for the equisite dinner ur parents made for us. And also the new years dinner. Oh and the book for xmas when i didn't get you shit. Plus the money i jacked you from Japan. Yeah. We're more than even. It was fun playing with you anyways. A preview of the vegas trip that's going to happen in a few months, i'm sure. Except i'll be drunk, and you'll beat my Ace High with a pair of twos. Go figure.

No button charge? Sweeeeeeet.

Fuck I got a twitch in my eye. Goddammit.

So me with my poker war stories. This one should amuse you though.

I was in the big blind. The crazy girl who raises with all kinds of shit decides she wants to make it 6 in early position. Even though she raises with crazy shit, I decide that I will give her a little bit of respect. Call it intuition. The guy next to her decides to make it three bets to go. Here is where it gets crazy...by the time it is to me, we have 6 players in the pot with the betting being capped by the time it gets to me. I'm down about a bill overall for the night.

I look down at my cards hoping I find something good. I look down to find a pair of fours. Alright not too bad, but I have to put some of these other people on pocket pairs too. All of them probably beat mine. But with two more people to act after me and I know that they are both going to call...I decide to call another nine bucks to see the flop.

The flop seemed to spread very slowly. The last card on the bottom of the pile was another four. Coupled with it was a 6 and jack. Alright, so in my mind I'm thinking that someone must have tripps higher than mine with the paint on the board. Nevertheless I go ahead and bet it and everyone ends up just calling. If someone else had tripps then surely they would have raised it up with all these people in the pot.

A five comes on the turn. I'm a bit relieved to figure out that no flush is possible on the board. I bet and again almost everyone calls. The river brings one of the worst fucking cards ever. The 2. I can't really say that I'm scared of someone having the three...but crazier shit has happened. I bet into the massive pot anyway.

Now something interesting happens...the next to me calls and the guy on her left who made it nine to go pre-flop comes out raising it up. Now my initial reaction to the jack is coming back to haunt me. This player plays tight and probably wouldn't have raised it up again without a huge pair underneath. I was a bit worried about the three jacks now. Someone else calls the raise.

Great. Now I'm up against two players who decided that their hands were good enough to be capped with. I still can't really put anyone on that three anyway. The person who called the raise probably had two pair...if they had the straight they would have raised it of course.

The pot odds were fucking ridiculous so I go ahead and call with my tripps. To my suprise the guy on the girls left who made it nine to go had pocket aces. He slowplayed his hand and probably thought that his hand was good PLUS the fact that there was a four to a straight on the board could have scared us out without even showing down. The person who called on the river folded his hand face down...and I turn over my three fours. The pot was huge and pretty much took me back to even and then some...but here is the kicker for all you wondering why I'm telling you about a pot I won. The person was holding the pocket aces was indeed a tight player. You've probably seen him before around the card room...

Sorry Steve. You know you will get your money back from me. You took it incredibly well and your attitude will make you awesome at the table. I got extremely lucky, but that is what collusion is all about. I owe you about 34 bucks. I think that is how much you lost, but I could be wrong. Lemme know.

Okay so I am supposed to meet up with Hapachan and Tony for breakfast in about 2 hours or so. I'm also supposed to go to Bay 101 today also. Apparently I don't think I need to be well rested in order to play cards. Plus I have to know what is going on in the world, so I'm being kept up by the morning news...well not really the news...I could care less that on this day, Ed Sullivan fucked us over by showing us the Beatles...but I can't help but be mesmorized by Robin Meade.

Oh yeah. Anyone who has seen the Sin City trailer should think that it looks fucking sick. If not then perhaps something like The Notebook's cinamatography is more your style. But if you do have any inkling of balls then you will think it looks cool. Just with Garden State's music during the trailer, I think the music really made this trailer a lot more cool than it already is.

So after doing some research and after some downloading, I am really digging this band called The Servant. It sounds Christian, but I assure you that they are not...well I don't think they are. Although they do have a song called Jesus Says...but these guys are going to blow up here it seems. I'm sure we will see them on TRL soon. Shit...I bet Andy has already heard of these guys. The sound of them are kind of an electronic alternative.

The song on the trailer is called Cells. I can't put my finger on it, but this song sounds familiar...maybe 80ish? Check it out and let me know if you like it. The guy has a voice kind of like Maroon5, but not as fucking annoying (well in my opinion). The guitar riff in Cells is hypnotic.

The track Beautiful Thing is a little different. In fact I can't see anyone on Pooky listening to it...except me anyway. I had to let it grow on me, but I enjoy it now. Orchestra, another track is kind of a slower ballad...well not really slow like R&B but in rock terms. Liquify is another song that I think might have to grow on you if you haven't already dismissed this band already.

Alright time for my two hour nap. If you take a listen and don't like it...don't blame me...but I really think everyone will at least like Cells...I can already see myself driving faster to this track...well as fast as a 4 banger Nissan will. Just trying to expand tastes in music...if anyone has got any other recommendations for me, lemme know.

I am now sitting in my Maya 3D animation class. They were nice enough not to tell anyone that they are reversing the lab time with the lecture time. So now I have 4 hours to kill before we even get to the lecture. So if anyone read my whining and crying post on my limit game...I came across this while searching the poker forums for an answer. Before I get to the quote that I will steal as my own (unless you have heard of it yourself...then I will feel stupid) I would like to say that after analyzing some hand histories that I cut and pasted on my beats...I probably only played one pot wrong. So perhaps I am just running cold at the tables. As of right now though I bought in for 100 and am sitting with 160...30 dollars/hour...I'll take it. Here is to a comeback!

Okay before I get into poker shit that no one cares about...one announcement. Bay 101 seems to have gotten rid of the button drop as of a week ago. This of course means nothing to you people who don't come with me to play cards...haha! Except for Steve who thinks the definition of a bankroll is money to be bet on fucking numbers at the game with the ball spinning around some red and black shit...and also using two cubes to bet on some type of numbers...I think the way to go is the horn bet? I wouldn't know. I play a real game like Slots and Poker. Heh! So anyway just thought I would stick that out there for anyone interested. I'll probably go Saturday so I don't have to see Tony. Zing! (Taken from Jonathan)

Steve. I totally understand what you mean about Valentine's Day. If your birthday fell on that shit...you might not be alive today...since you are the romantic of the group haha...pretty soon you might be saying...I'm old and I'm single. Well you can always get whores. All you need is money.

There was no point in that last paragraph. I'm a little random right now. A little tired...oops...just hit 180 dollars. Perhaps the reason I am losing in the past month is because I'm writing and playing cards online...I'm an idiot.

BTW Steve...Karate Kid part 2 is fucking dope ass. Yes that dragon was made out of foam. But that Japanese guy is bad ass. It's funny how I see him in a bunch of shit, but I have no clue what his name is, but he is single handedly leading the way for the Japanese to break through. Haha. I can't wait for one of you to tell me he's Chinese or some shit.

Okay enough gibber. The quote that kind of put everything back into perspective for me...and the funny thing is that I have always realized it, but reading it made more of an impact than my memory served...

"Good players take more bad beats. Since you are ahead when you get your money in the only way for your opponents to beat you is through luck." Brendan Horiuchi (blatant lie)

I hope all of you will remember that, especially Bryant whose competitive spirit has got him signing on to Pokerroom every night. Here is to me getting my money back from the last month and to all of us who go to Bay 101 to see if the lack of the button charge is really true...or if that bitch was lying to me on the phone.

What's up guys. I'm sitting here in my Special FX class and it looks like we have enough people to keep the class. Basically this means that I will probably graduate this semester. What this means is that I must do a project this semester. My professor has already told Ari, Mike and I that we can't just get away with coming to class and playing poker online...haha. Jonathan, I know you are cracked out right now, but hopefully you can find sometime to start practicing some choreographed moves. I know that you don't have a lot of time, but hopefully you won't see it as "work", but as a cool project that both our creative minds can work on together. I will try to find out where we are shooting it, where I am going to find the lights and some camera angles that I would like to use to showcase some special effects. Let me know if you are still interested, I know that you said you were, but it is time that I start preproduction on your dancing portfolio.

I've been on a downward slope in poker. Nothing serious. Been seeing a lot of crazy beats and it is putting a dent in the bankroll. Nothing significant, but over the past month or so I've probably dropped around 4 bills. Nothing big, and I'm an advocate for staying cool at the poker table...except for Bryant catching that last jack on the river...haha! What a hand! My confidence isn't shattered, so don't think that now! HOWEVER, Jonathan asked me one nigh if I felt hat reading people has become a bigger part of game since everyone now can see in a general sense how to play poker because of television...(those might not be his EXACT words...hehe) but it is what he basically asked. I do think that it plays a bigger role in my game...I have of course taken a liking to Daniel Negreanu's play. If you find him annoying, you at least have to give him the respect he deserves. Daniel relies heavily on his ability to feel out the flop and the player. Since he can do it well...he can tend to play mediocre hands and play them accordingly. Anyway I think that I have taken my gut instincts over my mathematical decisions many times at the table. Sometimes this might not be the right play mathematical wise, I think I have won a lot of pots or rather picked up a lot of pots that I probably shouldn't have. Okay with that out of the way I think I need help on my online play.

I'm not sure if my losing streak of the past month has been because of some crazy beats (like Table Mountain) or because my online play is suffering. My no limit seems to be doing okay...I took a break from tournaments, then played in one and got eighth out of 275. I think I could have played it better...made some mistakes...but I'm talking more about my limit game. I have realized that it is almost impossible to read people online...am I losing because my mathematical play is wrong? Am I playing too many hands? Am I just getting outplayed after the flop? Am I just on a bad streak? I don't want to bore anyone here with my own poker loopholes in my game...hopefully I can just bug Jonathan one night when he's not going crazy. Not to say that you Pooky players couldn't help me also, but Jonathan has played more online and could probably give me a straight answer.

Okay back to class.

Our huge non-member followers...don't listen to Eecs. He has no clue what he is talking about. I PLAY CRAZY SHIT! NOTHING BUT CRAZY GAMBLE DRAWS! Yeah the smoking definetely got on my nerves. The shitty thing was that the room was not inside the huge floor of the casino. It was on the side in another room with even lower ceilings. I didn't see anything close that resembled a vent of any sort which didn't help my breathing at all. Oh in case you guys were interested, my dad made 3 dollars in eight hours at a 2/4 game. Let the fun times roll!

Tomo's food is just around the corner by the way...

Our huge non-member followers...don't listen to Eecs. He has no clue what he is talking about. I PLAY CRAZY SHIT! NOTHING BUT CRAZY GAMBLE DRAWS! Yeah the smoking definetely got on my nerves. The shitty thing was that the room was not inside the huge floor of the casino. It was on the side in another room with even lower ceilings. I didn't see anything close that resembled a vent of any sort which didn't help my breathing at all. Oh in case you guys were interested, my dad made 3 dollars in eight hours at a 2/4 game. Let the fun times roll!

Tomo's food is just around the corner by the way...

Re: Brendan @ Table Mountain

First... I'm pretty sure no one in Team Pooky thinks you'd gamble crazy money away or that you're a bad poker player, so enough of that nonsense. And if that rep protection is intended for our massive non-member audience... you want them to think you suck, in case you sit down at the same table one day. Empty their pockets with slowplayed rockets.

Smoking at the table is really irritating. Especially if you have jacked lungs. Second hand smoke... it's like a fat guy who's sure to blow an artery any second picking some cheese from his triple deluxe bacon burger off his plate, tossing it down your throat, and saying, "hey it's up to you to sit there or not, but this is gonna keep happening for the next 1/2 hour." Dirty devil dogs spreading single serving smog.

The odds against your opponent going from nothing to trips from flop to river are indeed close to 180 to 1. I'm guessing the pot wasn't $540 on the flop. But he could also have drawn out with two pair against top pair, improving his chances to about 71 to 1. You don't see a lot of $200+ pots at the flop either though, so in the long run that sucker should lose out. Heavily. To our benefit. One long session, we all have bad nights... just keep your line out there, let the fish take glad bites.

I told Steve I would blog about Table Mountain. The big picture of it is that it took me eight hours to lose one hundred dollars. I think the eight hours is an important stat so you can know that I didn't just gamble crazy money away. Here are the thoughts on Table Mountain...and whether or not I think it is worth a trip down to Fresno.

THE ENVIRONMENT

We didn't start playing until around 11:30 to 12:00 it seemed. We didn't get there until late since we waited for my family who was getting back from a Bulldog game and working at Tomos. The casino is fairly close and easy to get to. We had to travel the freeway for about 5 minutes and then get on another road that took us pretty far from the freeway. You turn a corner and there it is. First impressions was that it was cold as fuck. But the casino turned out to be relatively nice. I definetely wouldn't but it on par with Cache Creek, but it was fairly huge. Now for the bad part, I didn't really seem to mind the smoke at Cache Creek, but Table is pretty bad. A assload of slots and other card games. My dad and I made our way to the Pokerroom.

THE ENVIRONMENT PART 2

Did I say pokerroom? I meant to say poker cubicle. No matter. How ghetto is this. You sign your own name on the board. Perhaps everywhere else does this, but my spoiled ass always has some asian guy who can't spell Brendan remotely close. The games they had running were as low as they come. Well that is somewhat exaggerated, but I was hoping they were running a 4-8 game. The tables if I remember correctly...6 running 2/4, 3 running 3/6 kill, 1 running 6/12 kill. Not exactly my cup of tea, but what better way to check out 6-12 swings than by playing a 3/6 kill. I opted for that. In the meantime I signed on for 2/4 since 3/6 seemed to be moving very slow.

2/4

Within 15 minutes of sitting at 2/4 I was already up around 25 bucks. It is amazing how bad people play poker. You can believe me or not, but these guys only bet when they had it. So if it came down to check, check, check to me...I bet and I win. Amazing. After looking back on it I should have stayed at 2/4, but 3/6 was calling my name so I asked for a rack and got up.

3/6 KILL

Now I don't want any of you thinking I am a bad poker player so I'm going to just lay it out on the table. I'm not whining, and I have no excuses. I honestly have no regrets with the way I played and always got my money in with the best of it. With that being said, nothing I am going to tell you right now is exaggerated. I know my memory isn't the best, but I was paying very, very close attention to this table...

This was the best table I have ever seen EVER. Online, live, different card rooms, playing against John Ho (haha)...without a doubt the best table I have ever seen. So how did I lose money and not come up? I will honestly say that someone like Jonathan probably would have made around 300-400 bucks in that eight hour session. So why not me?

To put it simply, I have never been drawn out on so many times. I'm not sure exactly what the odds are and Jonathan will probably correct me, but in four hands, COUNT 'EM...FOUR, people stayed in with no pair on the flop. I bet into it figuring out that all four my hands at that point were in the lead. The turn brings some blank card that is still not higher than my holding pair. The river of course brings the same turn card. A 180 to 1 shot I believe (correct if I'm wrong) and in the end they all had a set. Well I lost money that way.

There was this one girl who everyone gave credit for being a good player. I will say that being lucky does make you a good player. I'm not going to criticize her at the table, but I will here. At the peak I saw that she had about 600 dollars in chips in front of her. You must be thinking, "wow, what a player." Well I saw her get down to about 100 dollars in chips at one point. How did she accumulate that many chips? I swear to god, when she went on her 600 dollar spree, she made nothing but full houses and gutshots. I kept track in my head because it happened so many times. It was truly a site to see. By the end of her spree that got her about 600 dollars in stacks...she had (and I could be off by 1 or 2) made 5 full houses, 6 gutshot straight draws, 5 flushes AFTER she needed a runner, runner.

So she was having a good day. I can't fault her for that. The only problem was that I couldn't get any cards after her luck streak ran out. She dumped 500 dollars to everyone else at the table except me. Truth is after I sit there for a long ass time without a hand to play, I try to make something happen just to keep my mind mentally ready in case a hand comes up. So every 30 minutes I might play a questionable hand to try to make something happen. For the next 6 hours I won 6 pots total. One of them being a KILL pot which kept me in the game. But in the final hour and a half or so I started getting cards and then getting drawn out on.

The session was brutal. Was I ever on tilt. Nah. I was more angry at the fact that it was such a good table with everyone gambling like crazy and I couldn't get a decent run of cards to take advantage of them. I could go ahead and say that I only lost one hundred, but looking back on it I can honestly say that I probably lost about 300-400 dollars...or the oppurtunity anyway. It hurt.

I told my dad who actually staked me the money (and he reassured me he would do it again in which actually means a lot to me) that at a certain point I'm sure I would have gotten up and left if I was at Garden or Bay, but it has been a while since I have been frustrated at the card table so I stayed at that table to test my tiltability. Well I'm happy to say that I was fine. The people at the table were prime for the taking, but you cannot rely on bluffs if everyone at the table is gambling. In this case you need ammunition. It didn't come to me that night and I'm cool with it. AND yes I believe you can be a bit frustrated (like I was about losing all the action) but not be on tilt.

CONCLUSION

Table Mountain is an alright place. I'm more interested in their other, real cardroom, CLUB ONE. I'm sure there is a button charge there though. Would I say we should all go there for a trip? Well for me the food (TOMOS) is worth it. I wouldn't have gone so late and wouldn't have stayed as long, but like I said we got a late start. I like Cache Creek a million times better since at least their poker area is smoke free. Table Mountain had people smoking next to me which was not pleasant at all. I'm not sure how to spell it, but Chachancee is also right there...okay never fucking mind. I just called Club One down in Fresno and they are strictly a cardroom with some event rooms and shit, AND THEY ALSO DON'T HAVE A FUCKING BUTTON CHARGE. Okay so yes, I do think that we should go to Fresno one of these weekends after hearing about that shit. Tomos then Club One. Fuck me...I'm glad I was smart enough to call to see...so in conclusion, FUCK TABLE MOUNTAIN. Haha.

Okay I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I do have one in progress on Word. I just thought I would let out some steam here real quick...of course it is nothing serious. I don't even really know the meaning of drama...unless you count Hapachan playing RE.

EA gets ESPN for 15 fucking years. Which means Sega no longer gets the right to do ESPN games. I will say right now that I hate EA. EA is garbage. Fuck Madden and fuck all their other sports titles. Well actually I don't give a shit about football games, but this fucks up my NHL game playing.

For those who don't keep up with video games...EA decided that they couldn't make a god damn decent game on their own so they decided to become a publisher. The SOLE reason they are the most successful game company is becuase of what they have published, not their own in house games. What got them to the top?

Names like Harry Potter, The Sims, Medal of Honor and Lord of the Rings. Yet they didn't make any of these games themselves. Shit they didn't even technically make their own EA BIG games. They went out and bought studios to do their own shit. All I know is that I used to be an EA fan. Fuck I even played Jordan VS Bird on my EGA monitor, but since they knew that SEGA sports was catching up to them (that's exaggerated I know, EA pretty much had a lock on the sports titles, HOWEVER they knew that SEGA was gaining ground and they fought back the only way SEGA couldn't...and that was with money.

So fuck EA and good bye NHL2k series. You were the best and even made me hang out with a Korean for nights in a row to win the cup.

Gift Ideas:
I'm not big on "gift exchange" games as being our form of giving gifts to each other solely because someone may walk away from the game not getting what they want. I know Xmas isn't about receiving, but watching others get pretty cool things and you getting something small isn't that fun. I'm game for whatever everyone wants to do, but I still plan on buying gifts for some people. I am with Jonathan that we probably have everything that we need, but it's nice being able to give gifts between friends. I enjoy giving presents, hoping that it's what someone wants and if not that is the beauty of gift receipts. Gag gifts could be fun, but it wouldn't be as fun because I'm not that creative. hehe

Not sure where the dinner thing should be, but we should bbq sometime! Maybe a potluck for a Xmas dinner? I dunno.

GTA - San Andreas
Overall, the game is pretty damn fun. There are a lot of things you can do that you can't do in real life and that's the beauty of videogames. If I feel like beating some bitch on the street I will damn do so. I didn't go through every little detail like the spray painting and picture taking because that would take me forever and I didn't find it fun.

One thing that helps the game is the "skip trip" feature. It allows a user to not have to fail a mission and drive 5 - 10 min again just to start it. This cuts down so much time and I love it. The missions themselves were pretty fun. Though I wish I could've had more missions in San Fiero and Las Venturas.

Another thing I liked was swimming. It wasn't instant death when you went in the water and I thought that was cool. It expands what you can do in the game as well.

The big downer to the game is pop-up. It was a bitch doing a time based mission then all of a sudden a car pops out or a tree appears. I understand the game is huge in terms of design, but damn, it was pretty bad. I'm interested to see a PC or Xbox version to see if that gets cleaned up at all.

Unlike EGM, I don't think the game is a 10. I would probably give it a low to mid 9.

Next:

• Halo2 Clan Matches! - Once Brendan, Brian, Ari and whoever else get done w/ finals and projects, hopefully we can kick ass w/ our clan ratings.
  
• Metal Gear Solid 3 - Already started the intro part
• Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories - Just started the intro part
• Mario 64 DS - 29 Stars, apparently only 120 more to go or so. I heard I can beat the game w/o all the stars, which is a relief to me.
  
• Mario Tennis - need to unlock more mini games and people
• Paper Mario - I need a lot of time w/ this one
  

I think all these games should keep me busy over my vacation, which btw rocks!

Clubbing:
I had a good time going out last time, hopefully we can go again sometime soon. Unfortunately, we all didn't have fun, so that is something to strive for. I don't think I've ever been out clubbing or dancing where all involved had a really good time. Though I'm not a great dancer, I miss doing it from time to time. Getting the perfect buzz and dancing is awesome and good exercise. haha.

New Years Resolution - Gym.

Alright I'm out.

Good luck with finals! Also - good luck w/ the relationship Farmer B...don't let it clog ur halo2 playing like Andy! haha jk. Congrats!

So we all agreed that we're not doing gifts this year, huh? That's cool with me.

Okay I made that up. But I don't know what to get anyone. We already have more than we need and most of what we want since we all spoil ourselves til the rot stinks up the pantry. And I don't need 5 copies of the Seinfeld DVDs.

I still think it's fun to exchange gifts of course. I like the element of surprise more than the actual receiving. I suggest we do one of the following (if anything):

(1) That thing we did in elementary school where you bring a wrapped gift and then everyone puts their name in a hat and when your name is picked you go choose a gift from the pile and open it in front of everyone and if you're not the first person you have the choice of stealing from someone before you and they go choose another gift and a gift can only be stolen two or three times and there could be a price range I dunno maybe $20 to $40 and everyone has a good laugh unless they got their dream gift stolen from them in which case they are bitter the rest of the night and for the rest of the next year they only think about stealing the best gift back from that jackass and laughing in their face and how sweet it'll be. Sound familiar?

(2) Same thing with gag gifts. Funny.

Actually maybe we could do both. The point is the whole shopping and giftgiving can be made fun and affordable for everyone, without the stress of recalling what everyone already has in their DVD collections.

And to those who already bought me a gift... it better be beef flavor. And remember, 'tis better to give than to receive, you lucky dog you.

Here you go guys

http://www.mmodating.com/

Me and Jon will stick to the old fashioned method, cuz that seems to be getting us far.

Happy thanksgiving guys. There's so much to be thankful for! I guess.

FYI - don't put this demo disc in my PS2!!! Dirtiest trick to play on somebody...haha

Sony warns of major glitch in Holiday 2004 Demo Disc

SCEA alerts public that playing the Viewtiful Joe 2 demo will erase memory cards.

Over the past few weeks, members of the PlayStation Underground--Sony's US fan club--have been receiving copies of the Holiday 2004 Demo Disc. One of the premier demos on the disc was for Viewtiful Joe 2, which arrives on the console December 7.

Unfortunately, gamers eager to sample the cel-shaded beat-'em-up were in for a very nasty surprise. That's because the demo contained a glitch which will erase all saved games on the memory card or cards currently inserted in the console. Considering many PlayStation 2 owners are currently shooting their way through Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which takes at least 40 hours to finish, the glitch sparked an uproar among PlayStation Underground members.

This week, Sony acknowledged the glitch via a mass e-mail to PlayStation Underground members. Besides conveying the corporation's "sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused," the e-mail also suggested that gamers "please remove your Memory Card(s) from your PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system before you load the Holiday 2004 Demo Disc." Speaking to GameSpot, a Sony rep clarified the situation further, saying, "You can play all of the demos including VJ2 as long as you remove the mem cards."

Why can't there ever be nice ghosts. Ghosts that look like Olivia who tend to your every need. Instead Nihon is filled with nothing but ghosts that hold grudges. Fucked up grudges at that. I am pretty disturbed. Let the shambles continue...I'll write a more detailed, unspoiler review tonight. Peace.

OH DAMN! From what I've been reading, (Thanks for buying those mags for me Jon...) I hear a Mazdaspeed Mazda 3 is in the works. This may be what I need instead of hunting for the 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege. Me = Happy.

Edit:
Eh, sorta happy at least. A lot of it is just specuation and rumor. I'd be nice if they came out with the mazdaspeed3, but my car would probably be dead before that.

On a realated note, I finally saw a Dodge SRT-4. Damn, it has a powerful sounding engine. It's a possible, but not likely. The Ion Red Line from Saturn got a few bad reviews and Nissan's SE-R V-Spec reviews say poor interior. So I might be back at square one. Whee.

One More Edit:
Jon Stewart on Crossfire.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831

A quick shout to everyone that helped move or came over and just celebrated~ I hope you enjoyed the new place.

Kevin - thanks for everything. You were more than a great help and I was glad you could make it this weekend. Our house would be so much worse off if it weren't for you. Thanks again and I miss you already, come back soon! hahaha

Brian and Terri - thanks for the sushi, it was super yummy! Glad you actually got to see my place for once.

Brendan - thanks for going w/ me to the store. I needed a breather from the stresses that some call my parents haha.

B3 - playing pokerroom w/ me, that was fun! Though you couldn't be in San Jose, you still found a way to keep me busy. I'll practice COD so I can get used to a mouse and perchance see why everyone jocks it. =)

Thanks to everyone else who has talked to me, hung out w/ me, and just overall kept my mind off the crappy things in my life. I appreciate it more then you will ever know.

It's been very interesting hearing everyone's views and advice. Some differ a lot more then others and I found that enlightening. I know I have to find my own path and others who give advice, sometimes go off their experiences, but I think that's how we learn in life. We learn from others experiences and it's our job to take that knowledge and see if it applies to us. There are so many different situations out there and there will probably never be one that matches us exactly.

Back to work, I actually have stuff to do for once.

Well this is just a post to say that I've once joined the land of the single. Tiff broke up w/ me last night. Though I am not ready to write about the details of why, I just thought everyone should know about it.

Time to enter a new phase of my life w/o her. I say this only because I really don't know if we'll get back together or not, but I will start preparing for the worst.

Take care...

EDIT:
So I wrote about some of this in my Xanga, but still didn't really go into detail to why.

The reason Tiff broke up w/ me was because ever since we broke up and got back together the first time she had been feeling kind of weird about our relationship. Things didn't feel totally natural. Reason being was because we set some ground rules when we got back together especially where I needed a little bit of space so that I could have some time to myself. In turn, this left Tiff in a state of "how much is enough" type of situation, where she didn't know if she was crowding me or not, therefore she was scared to call, hang out, stay at my place, etc. Unfortunately this is something that I really couldn't fix unless somehow I put measurements on how much I hang out with someone, which would be ridiculous in a relationship. The unfortunate part of it all was that I thought our relationship was fine. I was really happy w/ the way it was going therefore when she told me that we were breaking up, I was left it total shock.

Another small reason was that the distance was getting to her. I think she wanted to have me around a little bit more then what I could provide. This is quite unfortunate because this is another situation I really couldn't fix. I wasn't ready to give up my job at IBM just so I could live in SLO for a couple years.

So now I am left here alone again and single. I haven't been for a year and a half and some say this could be a good thing. This is my first time truly being single ever since I got back to San Jose. I didn't realize this until Brendan said it to me yesterday. If you read my Xanga, I think I will just take this time to evaluate my life and see what I've accomplished so far.

Well here's to a new journey in life...can't wait to see most of you this weekend. Thanks for helping me move =)

What kind of world do we live in when Superman, Man of Steel, dies at the age of 52? I'll tell you...a pitiful, pitiful world. That is why you don't ride horses. Relationships don't work out and you become paralyzed from the neck down. Christopher Reeve, may you have much luck in the big phone booth in the sky. Do they allow wheelchairs in phone booths?

Alright, I just got back from a video game store and I'm going to bitch for a bit.

The State of Video Game Stores
I do not like the direction these stores are headed. I've noticed it for the past few years, but here are the top reasons I hate them.

First of all, I usually go to the store to browse through the games. Sometimes I want an old game, sometimes I'm there for a release date. But now, the geniuses up above realize they are losing money in inventory. The business side of me realizes that they are trying to get zero inventory in the store, but this does not work to the average gamers advantage. Everything is Pre order this, pre-order that. What if I don't want it now? What if I'd rather wait for a review? Ohhh, they're sold out, because the dumbass store only bought 4 extra copies. Like there are only 4 others out there like me. Fuck that. See, and I found out another sneaky thing... I was at the store two weeks ago and saw Silent Hill 4 was $50 pre-order only. This week, it looks like it's $35 and they have multiple copies left. They get the suckers that need the game the day it comes out, and then entice the others to jump on the bandwagon with a lower price. Granted this strategy would work if it was an A-listed game... But with all these games coming out before the holiday rush, guess what? They're losing out. Bottom line, if things continue the way they are right now, the only way we'll be able to buy games older than 6 months old is by going online. And that's no fun either. Who wants to buy a game and sit around for 3 days waiting for it to come by? I did that once, for Sam and Max. But I spent more on shipping the game to me next day than the game itself. FedEx wins. I remember in my marketing class there was some sort of graph showing the product life span, but damnit, everyone gets placed differently all the time. Sometimes, we'll buy the game first thing, other games are not high priority, and sometimes we always wanted a game, but never bothered to buy it, but it caught our eye in the bargain bin.

Another thing. Strategy guides. They all ask you if you want a strat guide for a game you just bought. I understand the chances of getting one of us to buy the game is fairly high during the time of game purchase, but DON'T TRY to shove it down our throats. Most of these guys at the stores are gamers as well... They should know that unless it's an uber complex game with hidden stats and fucked up secrets normal humans would never get, WE DON'T WANT TO SPOIL THE GAME. I didn't spend $35 just to go through the motions of playing a game. Maybe that's why adventure games are dying out though... Too many people are turning to walk=throughs strat guides to beat a game? Interesting. But something to blog later....

Finally... I DO NOT WANT TO PURCHASE A USED GAME FROM YOU BITCHES. Yes, I realize I can save myself a whole $5 on a game because some sorry sap decided he wanted $3 for a game he bought for $40. I do not want to fund you bitches in your quest for higher profits. I'd rather support the people that actually made the game, not the bullshit stores that are fucking things up for everyone else with strat guides and pre-order crap.

*sigh* I'm sure I'd be more coherent in a few hours, but I wanted to get it out there right now.

Star Wars:
What I found that went wrong w/ Episodes 1 and 2 is that everything was in computer generated. The worlds, the non-human characters, the environments, everything. Like when you watched the Episodes 4 - 6 and saw the making of them, you think, "Wow, George Lucas is a genius." You saw his imagination go wild in how he created some scenes. Now, it seems so easy (in relative thinking terms) to create a crazy world w/ crazy aliens without any real effort. I 100% agree w/ Brendan about Yoda. The fight scene with him was cool, but I thought that was more a cheesy fan appeal thing that Lucas did so that people wouldn't hate his movies.

Episode 1 - I would need to watch this again, but a few things come to mind.
-Darth Maul - I wish he had more interaction w/ the Jedis in terms of speaking. Why he's after them. I would've liked a little more background on the Sith in general and what their deal was.
-Acting - I know Star Wars isn't known for it's acting, but damn that little kid was terrible. I guess he had the look Lucas was looking for, but nothing he said was really believeable.
-Qui-Gong or whatever his name is - the desert scene where he's fighting Maul and then he jumps on a plane and is hella tired. What a weak ass, no wonder why he got killed.
-Darth Mauls death - You go through this long sabre battle and how does he die? Obi Wan jumps and slices him in half. That's not really dramatic, that's not really what I was looking for.
-Jar Jar was annoying, but this one is obvious.

Episode 2
-Anakin's crying - boo hoo hoo all movie long. I know they wanted to try to show his confused feelings, but his whining was no good.
-I've already mentioned Yoda's CG.
-The story was ok, but it was a little too much at times.
-I'm sure there was more that I didn't like, but I can't think of it at the time.

What I did like:
-I like Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan. I thought he was an excellent choice and he plays the part (as much as he can) well. A lot of writing in the movie isn't great, but I think he does a great job.
-Natalie Portman - ditto w/ the addition of the scene where her shirt rips. Good for the movie? No. Good for the fans of Natalie? Yes.
-I liked the scene where all the jedi's actually fight. I also liked the portion of the clone wars that they showed. I thought it looked awesome. This goes the same for the Gungan Battle.
-Pod race - went a little long, but it was entertaining and it looked cool.

Overall I hope episode 3 at least ties in the story well and brings it all together. Almost every question should be answered for me to think this movie is good. I like B's scenarios below and I hope Lucas is smart enough to incorporate them.

Sony PSP
I think both the PSP and DS are going to be overpriced, but I will most likely buy them anyway at some point in time. The opening games haven't blown me away just yet, but the new Mario games look fun.

Sony isn't known for it's high quality gaming stations and I agree taking the PS2 apart to clean the lens isn't the greatest thing. Also their DVD player sucks ass at times. Though did anyone see the new PS2? It's hella slim and comes ready w/ network capability. It I played my PS2 more, I would definitely consider getting it hehe. What a stupid purchase! ?!

Poker
I'd be interested in hearing your theory on K5 suited, etc. I am having a hard time deciding whether to raise pre-flop in low stakes games. I find if I do that and the flop doesn't hit me I'm screwed. Anytime I raise pre-flop and it doesn't hit, everyone checks to me, I bet and usually I get raised because someone kept their 72 offsuite. One reason I don't like raising pre-flop in late position is people have already bet, so a raise to them (especially in low stake games) is nothing, so they call regardless and that's what gets me in trouble.

Also I would be interested in hearing thoughts about online vs poker room playing. I find that I play a few more hands and play much more aggressively online. But when I'm in a poker room, I play super conservative waiting for good, quality hands to play and I lose. I'm trying to find my balance and maybe take a few more chances in a poker room. For now I think I will keep working on my discipline online and bring my confidence back up to where I think I can hang in an actual cardroom.

Brendan's Hair
I've always dreamed about talking about this one.....haha I really don't like that look. I guess I would have to see it in person before I made my final decision. But let's remember who's had the same haircut for 8 years and counting and who's pretty ultra conservative when it comes to hair. Being creative has nothing to do w/ your haircut, it has to do w/ what you put on the screen and what you put on paper, tablet, etc. Brendan is one of the most creative people I know and you can read his blogs, look at his damn icon and see his creativity. So Brendan, I vote no on the hair. Though it would be fun to call you 'Streak' or something cool like that haha.

Alright I'm out.

Actually a few notes:
-Happy early Bday to Jonathan because I know I won't be blogging again that day haha. See you soon ROOMMATE muhahahahah
-Steve, have fun in SD. You can have my ol' microwave for X-mas. It smells like curry.
-Derek - How'd you know I was the onlooker? You found out my secret haha. Glad to see you blogging again. At least more then a sentence =)
-Brian - Love the videogames reviews, but now you need an Xbox.
-Andy says he cant' blog because he found out he has 124 spyware programs on his computer hehe. I'm going to try and help him with that.
-Kevin - congrats on your CPA exam, now finish the rest you slacker! Stop replacing me with Sean! =)

Episode III - The Return of Darth Vader

There were a couple of things that I actually did enjoy from the first two installments. Mostly Obi-wan fighting off Darth Maul who in my mind was kind of a retarded character. Just goes to show that a dual lightsaber really brings you respect in a galaxy far, far away. In the second one I have to admit that I did like Anakin wielding two lightsabers. Yoda was kind of cool fighting even though I really, really, really hate how they CGed him instead of use Frank Oz to control him by sticking a hand up his green ass. Looking back on V and VI, Yoda looked fucking good for a puppet and more believable at that. So what exactly do I need from Episode III in order to restore all faith in Lucas...at this point in time I don't even know if I can trust Lucas taking Indy to Atlantis. Okay back to the point. Here is my list of things that must be done.

- All true Star Wars fans (of course I mean geeks and nerds alike) know how Anakin ends up in the Vader suit. If you don't know then you have a life and I wish I were you. The question is then (and if you think this will be a spoiler because you have absolutely no clue how Anakin ends up in the Vader suit...please scroll down) The question is not whether or not he gets fucked up burned, but IF Obi-wan takes Anakin's limbs as a parting gift as well. According to Lucas the lightsaber battle between Obi-wan and Anakin is the longest sword fight sequence in cinema history. It is also supposed to be on par with how fast Obi-wan fought with Darth Maul. All this better be true.

- Anakin obviously turns to the Darkside. This might be a tad wishful, but I seriously hope that Anakin will use the Dark side (lighting) in his attack on Obi-wan. After watching Star Wars again on superb DVD, it finally hit me that Obi-wan somehow got Anakin's lightsaber. Considering that the two of them are going to have a major falling out, I doubt Anakin gave it to him for fun. So somewhere in the battle, Obi-wan takes the lightsaber away (This must be true if Obi-wan gives Luke "his father's lightsaber")...the thing I want shown is how...Since Anakin has no weapon, he better bust out the Dark force.

- Padme better give birth to the Skywalker twins and we better see them at the end of the film. We also better see her die and it better be as sad as fucking "Beaches". Lucas better not try to CG Mark Hamill's face on a baby.

- I want all Jedi Knights slaughtered. I understand that there must be a shit load of Jedi knights since the galaxy is so big, but I kind of liked the fact that in Star Wars, being a Jedi Knight was a thing of legend. To see all the Jedi in Episode II fighting off those huge mosquitos looked like one god damned skittle fest. Why does Samuel L. Jackson get a purple (also known in the crayon box as the color gay) lightsaber. Is there still affirmative action in a galaxy far, far away? He gets to be cool becuase he's black? Fuck him. I hope he dies and he will.

- I need to know why Palpatine looks the way he does in Empire and Jedi. Obviously he either grows old really fast or he gets the life sucked out of him...either way I hope this is shown. Perhaps even a standoff with Yoda (yes, I'll even take a CGed Yoda if I have to) would be very interesting. The leader of the Knights vs. the newly formed Empire.

- Does anyone care about Count Dooku or Dookie or whatever the hell his name is. Lucas didn't even bother to give us some history on this guy. Lucas just kind of threw him in saying he was a Jedi knight but turned evil or some shit. Fuck it. I don't need to know why he changed or who he is. He could even be Yoda's dad...I just don't care and I hope he doesn't get 5 minutes of screen time.

- General Grievous. Apprently this guy is supposed to be type of alien, 95 percent robot and like 5 percent alien. I guess this guy is kind of the "hey Anakin, even though you won't be able to get any chicks with ur burned up body, we can keep you alive because we have the technology" catalyst. If you have never seen this guy on the Clone Wars on cartoon network then you are in for a treat. I think his design is pretty bad ass. Nothing special because they can't make him look too much like Darth Vader, but he has a cool look about him. His looks better be backed up with dope ass fighting.

I think that about sums up the Episode III blog. I'm sure more will come when May comes around, but I think for now I hope that you can see that Episode III does have a chance of being the darkest Star Wars yet. Hopefully if you haven't heard of some of this, you will be more excited about seeing it. Here's to you Lucas. Do your fans proud...unlike the Star Wars DVD's...

Okay, okay, they aren't that bad. However, I really wish he could stick the originals on DVD. I mean the films are his property so he do whatever he wants with them, but for some odd reason, the more crap they stick in there, the worse to me it looks. Yet the color and the picture has never been clearer. I can't say that I don't enjoy them a lot, I just wish Lucas would have kept the gems the way they were instead of polishing them so much they now look like plastic Moon Dreamers gems.

Sony's PSP is supposed to be ridiculously awesome. It is also going to be ridiculously expensive. Yet, it is not expensive enough to make me feel comfortable about buying it. What you essentially have here is a device that plays DVD-roms on a huge screen, controlled by using an analogue stick and essentially every other Sony type of thing (USB, Sony's memory card, some other ports for whatever reason). So what do I mean that the price doesn't make me feel comfortable buying it? Well something like this I feel should probably cost more, but Sony is so scared about putting up for too much money that they are trying to make it as cheap as possible. Is this true? I can't say for sure, I don't work at Sony's headquarters in Japan, however I do know that when it comes to game consoles, Sony's work is mediocre at best. My PS2 still can't read blue discs one hundred percent of the time (I know all you have to do is clean the lens, but I shouldn't have to dismantle the fucking thing to do so), I know a friend who had to stick his PS1 into a freezer to play his games. Also the showing in the Japan game show wasn't exactly as hot as planned. In fact if you follow videogame news you would know that Nintendo's stock jumped up after that showing in Japan because insiders are starting to suspect that even though the DS is still a risky release for Nintendo, they felt the lineup of games and the fact that Nintendo does know better than anyone else how to release a handheld, would be enough to propel the DS past the PSP. Either way I'm going to buy it because I can't help myself. Good luck Sony...you already got one customer who isn't happy about buying your cheapo shit.

Gran Turismo. THE only racing sim I play. Apparently the only racing game that isn't online. What the fuck is this? How are you going to delay releasing it, hyping it up then dont' fucking deliver? I would be frustrated too if I had to stick an online experience on Sony's servers too, but you hyped this shit up and you better deliver. Oh what is that you say Mr. Hashinoya? You will release GT4.5 later this year? Well this shit better be free with proof of purchase for GT4. In case you haven't noticed developers of Turismo...the PS2 doens't have a real hard drive. The X-Box can come out with incomplete games (ahem...ESPN hockey stand up) because they offer online service far superior than Sony's shit. They can release patches. If you just made it for the X-Box there wouldn't be a problem...but since you are on a PS2 you can't release two games that are basically the same with the only sole difference being online play. Fuck this and fuck you.

Okay I was beginning to type out this long thing about Hold'em...then I decided to fuck it. It is not that the concept is hard to understand or that it is above you or anything like that...but in a way in contradicts Lee Jones and I don't think we should be doing that right now. Lee Jones is a solid foundation and is a good way to get your bankroll going. If you think I'm being an ass on not thinking you are ready for the thing I was going to talk about...here is the bulk of it.

You play K5 suited in a loose, passive game. You fold something like AJ in there is a raise or don't raise preflop in late position with AQ when other people have limped in. Contradictive? Is that even a word? You bet your ass. If you want to know about it then ask me. I'll be happy to explain it to you. I just don't recommend playing this way yet.

Okay enough commentary...I will give a good blog about Gradius becuase it deserves it. On to more important stuff like the Love Parade...screw it...I'm too out of it to even do that. I've been getting up early for like a week now...and for all you working people out there that might not be that bad...but I'm talking about 5 o'clock every morning then not getting my afternoon nap. My dad just busted my balls for being a bump on the log. Which is true, but he is just jealous I'm getting to the card room and he isn't. Haha. It is his birthday soon (No I didn't forget about your ass Jonathan) and I'm thinking of taking him to a cardroom. That is if he can find it in his heart to let me fucking catch up on my sleep.

Also for the sake of showing Ricki that I'm not a fucking boring prick...this is how she wants me to dye my hair. Please let me have your honest opinion on it. She got all fucking pissed because I didn't say I liked it...then she fucking knocked on my directing skills because she says and I quote, "how you going to be a director if your not creative"...let me show you what she has in mind for my hair...then maybe she won't think its so fucking stupid or at least, not fucking criticize me for having good tastes. Haha.



Actually painting it doesn't make it look bad...haha. But that is becuase of my awesome paint skills. Just becuase something looks good painted doesn't mean it probably looks good in real life. Insert opinions in the chatbox. Peace.