Oops I did it again....

(WARNING! This is a long one as I am catching up!)

Oh what a week+ it has been... Between Ken and Estie visiting I was worn out and haven't stopped since then. On Monday I went and watched the WPT Championships final table. You will get to see my bald head on TV in the 3rd row behind Klaus when it airs in July on the Travel channel. Good god is live poker boring, bet - Fold, bet - fold, bet - raise, fold. I was there for 4 hours and I swear I saw 4 rivers... it was brutal, but interesting at the same time.

Tuesday I played a little blackjack after going to see V for Vendetta (GOOD movie... wow) and started out very well before the dealer just flat out kicked me square in the face. I dropped my profit and 500 more before crawling back to only down 280 and going home.

Wednesday I went and checked out the new Red Rock casino and quickly discovered that I was not in the frame of mind to play so I dropped 250 before I managed to crawl away. Red Rock is a beautiful casino at the foot of the mountains. They spent 1 BILLION dollars to build this place which is a solid 20 minute drive from the strip.... and I wouldn't be surpised if they got it all back in 2 weeks as busy as that place was.... They have also hired the best poker dealers in town and have a 20 table room that is flat out full every night so far. After dropping 250 at the poker tables I decided to get it back at Craps. So now I am down 750 and decided to get it back at blackjack. So now I am down a grand and see an empty double deck 25 dollar table. I decide to go heads up against the dealer, so now I am down 1200 for the night and not in a terribly good mood. I play a little longer and finally ALL the bad luck from the rest of the night caught up and I ran an entire double deck heads up against the dealer without losing a hand. I wish I had been betting more, but even at 50 a hand I was up 500 on that shoe alone and managed to leave only down 880.

2 bad days and a little over a grand down is not how I wanted to start month 3, but I have learned not to panic and not to try to get it all back at once. That only makes it worse! I booked a modest 42 dollar win on Thursday night and a nice 206 on Friday before heading down to Phoenix to visit Trevor who was in town for business until Monday. Saturday I drove the 5 hours to Phoenix. Did you know Phoenix is in a desert? And there is not much IN the desert except sand, cactus and a "Forest".

Now in Georgia a forest would be something you could not see through, around, or over. A bush is something that you CAN see over. Apparently that is NOT what a Forest, Bush or Tree means in Arizona. A bush "only" comes up to your knees. Anything taller is a "Tree". Whatever you do, do NOT call any of their Trees a bush! That is a hanging offense... and they still do that there. (Luckily they ride camels and a Taurus *IS* faster than a camel). So I am driving down the road to Phoenix and I see a sign "Now entering the Joshua Tree Forest". So I look around for this "Forest" of theirs and I see nothing... a few bushes and some green leaves (unusual for here) but nothing higher than my CAR and nothing closer together than spitting distance... but you know, use whatever terms you want to use. Forest... tree... road... hmpph.

I finally get to Phoenix and after buying a map (I knew ABOUT where I was going, but the roads didn't agree.) and finally found the casino. 3 and a half hours saw me up 162 and Trevor had arrived from California where he was earlier in the day. He had been up since 4 am so for some reason we went to sleep... No idea why, it was only 1 AM. Sheesh, babies.

Saturday we managed to get up before breakfast was over downstairs. (I know it amazed me too... but we DID go to bed early) and met up with Scott Goodrich to head down to Tucson for the Full Metal Alchemist tournament that Trevor was in town to "promote". It was a sealed deck pre-release for the next set, and they had *27* players show up to a store that can seat MAYBE 16...so they got all 27 to sit somewhere (wow it was crowded, and hot,and in arizona). I played fairly well and only lost 1 game to the eventual tournament winner. By the time we finished the tournament, had dinner, and got back to Phoenix it was almost midnight. Another early night and Monday morning we didn't make breakfast. (They really should serve breakfast until 2 PM.... it would help a LOT)

Lunch at the mall and Trevor was off to the Diamondbacks game and to visit some stores in the area and I had the long drive back. Luckily the Braves game was on XM and kept me company and finished 5 minutes outside of Vegas. Hudson pitched a masterpiece... it was a good game to pickup on the way back. I caught a movie and dinner at South Coast and a little blackjack to keep my pit boss happy and giving me free meals. Nice little +65, free dinner, free movie, and an early night.

Tuesday it was back to Red Rock and another 250 drop at poker. I really need to learn not to play when I am in a testy mood. I did manage to find the patience for some double deck as I found a $10 table with a complete moron who somehow managed NOT to go bankrupt. I kept from getting distracted, played well and booked enough of a win to get back to +135 for the night net. I also picked up free dinner for Thursday.. good night indeed.

The weather has started to warmup around here and I have discovered that I like peace and quiet as well as a cool room at night. None of which are available where I am at now.... 7 AM garage opening (loudly), a sustained indoor temp of 80 degrees, and loud construction trucks all morning... It is time to find a new place to live.... So I spent some time looking and researching and driving, etc. I settled on a few things I wanted. An open floor plan (something with a kitchen that is open to the living room, like a bar/etc type), a garage or covered parking (it gets hot and sunny here), 2 bedrooms, nice exercise room, and a good pool. Everything I found that fit the bill was either 1000+ without a garage or 1400 with... way to much. I finally found a place out in the Lakes area of west Vegas which had everything I wanted,and only 1100 a month. Absolutely gorgeous and perfect... so I signed the lease to move there June 10th.

Wednesday I decided I had done enough for the week so slept in, ate at Pizza hut and took a nap. Ahhh what a nice day. Didn't make any money,but that was just fine. I even went to bed early so I could get up in time for class on Thursday. I did manage to get up close to on-time, but not really ONTIME. I got to class around 12:30 only to find out that a guy from a casino had been there at 11 AM doing on the spot auditions! What a day NOT to get to class on time. Apparently the guy was going from school to school and was ready to hire someone RIGHT NOW. About 3 PM the guy called back to the school and said he had not found anyone and if any of their top students wanted to audition to come by the casino at 6 PM for an audition. I finished my time in the box, had to run to West Vegas to drop off the apartment deposit, back to South Vegas to change clothes, and then through rush-hour to north Las Vegas to interview... Oh what a rush job that whole time was.

I managed to get to the interview 15 minutes early and meet up with Joe who got there just after me and we went in together. I got to deal 1 hand in a live tournament and was offered a part time job on the spot. 10 hours a week... averaging 30 dollars an hour. Perfect experience, and good money... Joe also got a job offer so we will be working together there. I fought the traffic to Red Rock and managed to hit some nice hands including pocket K's twice in 2 hours and cashed out up 118 and am turning into bed now. I have to be at HR at 8 AM in the morning! EGADS! Who makes these hours!