(no subject)
Jeesus, did I just go a whole month without updating? How the fuck did that happen?
Considering I used to write like 3 or 4 multi-page entries a day, its quite a change, eh? For some reason I just haven't had any motivation to write in a really long time; the inspiration comes and goes I guess. Plus my life is getting into that happy-complacent zone, the one where I tend to do pretty much nothing of any creative worth. Not that I mind in the slightest.
So what's been going on for the last month? Hrm. Vegas with Jackie and my parents was a real highlight. The Venetian is a sight to see (it was actually the 2nd time Jackie and I have stayed there due to some fantastic specials they've been running...deals like $149 a night on the weekends. No, it's not the $40 bucks a night deals we typically get at places like the Plaza and Fitzgeralds, but for a 5-star hotel comprised only of luxury suites, its hard to pass up an offer like that. Heck, my dad spends probably close to a week every month living out of hotel rooms, in places from London to Spain to Malaysia, and he said it was the nicest hotel room he's ever stayed in.) Anyways the rooms are mega-luxe, the hotel/casino is beyond beautiful inside and out (including frescos of scenes such as the celing of the Sistine Chapel, and a canal complete with gondoleers), the restaurants are fantastic, and it's home to Las Vegas' branch of the Guggenheim Museum (I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit on Pop Art, featuring original works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and many others. I'm not a big pop art fan but I was really impressed just by the magnitude of some of the work.)
While there, we took the opportunity to tour all the major properties on the Strip, eating an AMAZING dinner at Spago in Caesar's Palace, seeing the AMAZING Cirque de Soleil show "O" at the Bellagio, and just generally enjoying the finer side of Vegas. I even took the time to partake in a few -EV games, a real rarity for me, playing some blackjack and Pai Gow with my dad at New York New York and the Golden Gate downtown. He got pretty badly brutalized in everything he played...I didn't fare particularly well either, but certainly nowhere near the terrible streak of luck he hit. And, most stunningly, we had to PRY my mom away from the slot machines...who knew!
Only played a tiny bit of poker the last day in town. Jackie's taken a real shine to the game, and she's good at it too, so we've been playing a lot, mostly low limit stud at the Plaza. I play stud so rarely that it's been good for my game to get a little practice, and the games at the Plaza are some of the softest I've ever been involved in. When the table lineup is soft enough, I'm convinced I could pull 3-4 BB/hr out of that game. Other than that, just been playing a lot online. Like most other serious players, I migrated from Paradise Poker over to Party Poker when their advertising on the World Poker Tour brought in a massive influx of new players; the money has been good, I'm saving it up for something special, but I'll talk about that another time...
It was nice seeing the parents (I'll see them in another two months for Rosh Hashana), and it's always nice spending a weekend in Vegas with Jackie (we'll be going back next weekend, and the weekend after that too). It's nice spending time with Jackie whenever, for that matter. Her parents are out of town for the next week and a half, so I've been staying at her place...it's kind of a nice preview of what life with her would be like, and I must say I'm enjoying it. Heck, if I have any complaint, its that between her going out with friends and having work to do and stuff, I STILL don't get enough quality snuggle time with her even when I'm living there. Of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm an insatiable cuddler and no amount of snuggle time would be enough ;) Going to work in the morning is killer. But it's really nice having someone to come home to. Plus she's taking an online class now, which makes things a lot easier; before, I was driving an hour up to San Marcos to visit her at class and keep her company while she worked late after I finished up work each day. There's a real possibility that she's going to move out of her parents place and start renting a room in her guitarist's house (which I've been told is big, pretty, and has a swimming pool). I hope it happens; I think she'd be happier away from her parents, and I'd get to spend more time with her. Regardless, I'm going to enjoy the next two weeks. And after that, two weekends in Vegas, including a long weekend on my birthday :)
Yes, it's my birthday coming up. I take cash and money orders. No credit, but I'm sure I could set something up with PayPay if you'd like :)
My boss is in the midst of a three week vacation. I was given the option of just running the show myself or having them bring someone in from Corporate to manage the department for the three weeks she's gone. No way in hell do I want someone peering over my shoulder for three weeks, plus if I do well with this maybe I can play it into a raise. Wishful thinking perhaps, but it's worth a shot, right? Truth is, it's easy work, if I have any problem it's that I slack too much on it. I could run this department myself (I am, for now); I don't think anyone would ever know the difference. We just finished up a big membership push, so these couple weeks are slow anyways...just processing applications and membership cards and sending out new apps and running Orientation Luncheons for the new members...it's easy work. As if you couldn't tell simply by the fact that I wrote this LJ post while on the job ;)
I got Jackie the CD of the Pearl Jam show we went to; it's fucking great, the sound is absolutely pristine, I wish every band would do the same for their fans. Still listening to a lot of them lately, and the new Fountains of Wayne has been getting heavy play as well. It's not as consistant as Utopia Parkway, there are actually a few rather abysmal numbers IMO, but the best material is as good as anything they've ever done, just pure sublime pop music by the reigning kings of the genre. No particularly good shows coming up this month, the summer seems to be pretty dead in terms of quality bands touring, but at the start of Sept. is Street Scene, a massive festival held all over the downtown area for three days. REM is headlining; also appearing are Bad Religion, Social D, Wilco, X, G Love, Goo Goo Dolls, Love, Arrested Development, the B 52s, Macy Gray, Nickel Creek, the Sex Pistols, Finch, Presidents of the USA, the Dropkick Murphys, Rev. Horton Heat, Kathleen Edwards, AND THAT'S JUST THE BANDS I CARE ABOUT! Who wants to come visit that weekend? :)
Been thinking about Law School some. Narrowing down the list. Being considered now: UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, UW, UNLV, BU, BC, UPenn, Georgetown, Emory, and maybe a few more. This coming month I'll start working on it for real, putting together applications, gathering recommendations, getting transcripts and so forth. I've already started getting random mailings from shitty unaccredited law schools, thanks to the fine folks at the Law School Admissions Council. However this turns out, it should be an interesting journey.
So, does that cover a month?
Considering I used to write like 3 or 4 multi-page entries a day, its quite a change, eh? For some reason I just haven't had any motivation to write in a really long time; the inspiration comes and goes I guess. Plus my life is getting into that happy-complacent zone, the one where I tend to do pretty much nothing of any creative worth. Not that I mind in the slightest.
So what's been going on for the last month? Hrm. Vegas with Jackie and my parents was a real highlight. The Venetian is a sight to see (it was actually the 2nd time Jackie and I have stayed there due to some fantastic specials they've been running...deals like $149 a night on the weekends. No, it's not the $40 bucks a night deals we typically get at places like the Plaza and Fitzgeralds, but for a 5-star hotel comprised only of luxury suites, its hard to pass up an offer like that. Heck, my dad spends probably close to a week every month living out of hotel rooms, in places from London to Spain to Malaysia, and he said it was the nicest hotel room he's ever stayed in.) Anyways the rooms are mega-luxe, the hotel/casino is beyond beautiful inside and out (including frescos of scenes such as the celing of the Sistine Chapel, and a canal complete with gondoleers), the restaurants are fantastic, and it's home to Las Vegas' branch of the Guggenheim Museum (I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit on Pop Art, featuring original works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and many others. I'm not a big pop art fan but I was really impressed just by the magnitude of some of the work.)
While there, we took the opportunity to tour all the major properties on the Strip, eating an AMAZING dinner at Spago in Caesar's Palace, seeing the AMAZING Cirque de Soleil show "O" at the Bellagio, and just generally enjoying the finer side of Vegas. I even took the time to partake in a few -EV games, a real rarity for me, playing some blackjack and Pai Gow with my dad at New York New York and the Golden Gate downtown. He got pretty badly brutalized in everything he played...I didn't fare particularly well either, but certainly nowhere near the terrible streak of luck he hit. And, most stunningly, we had to PRY my mom away from the slot machines...who knew!
Only played a tiny bit of poker the last day in town. Jackie's taken a real shine to the game, and she's good at it too, so we've been playing a lot, mostly low limit stud at the Plaza. I play stud so rarely that it's been good for my game to get a little practice, and the games at the Plaza are some of the softest I've ever been involved in. When the table lineup is soft enough, I'm convinced I could pull 3-4 BB/hr out of that game. Other than that, just been playing a lot online. Like most other serious players, I migrated from Paradise Poker over to Party Poker when their advertising on the World Poker Tour brought in a massive influx of new players; the money has been good, I'm saving it up for something special, but I'll talk about that another time...
It was nice seeing the parents (I'll see them in another two months for Rosh Hashana), and it's always nice spending a weekend in Vegas with Jackie (we'll be going back next weekend, and the weekend after that too). It's nice spending time with Jackie whenever, for that matter. Her parents are out of town for the next week and a half, so I've been staying at her place...it's kind of a nice preview of what life with her would be like, and I must say I'm enjoying it. Heck, if I have any complaint, its that between her going out with friends and having work to do and stuff, I STILL don't get enough quality snuggle time with her even when I'm living there. Of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm an insatiable cuddler and no amount of snuggle time would be enough ;) Going to work in the morning is killer. But it's really nice having someone to come home to. Plus she's taking an online class now, which makes things a lot easier; before, I was driving an hour up to San Marcos to visit her at class and keep her company while she worked late after I finished up work each day. There's a real possibility that she's going to move out of her parents place and start renting a room in her guitarist's house (which I've been told is big, pretty, and has a swimming pool). I hope it happens; I think she'd be happier away from her parents, and I'd get to spend more time with her. Regardless, I'm going to enjoy the next two weeks. And after that, two weekends in Vegas, including a long weekend on my birthday :)
Yes, it's my birthday coming up. I take cash and money orders. No credit, but I'm sure I could set something up with PayPay if you'd like :)
My boss is in the midst of a three week vacation. I was given the option of just running the show myself or having them bring someone in from Corporate to manage the department for the three weeks she's gone. No way in hell do I want someone peering over my shoulder for three weeks, plus if I do well with this maybe I can play it into a raise. Wishful thinking perhaps, but it's worth a shot, right? Truth is, it's easy work, if I have any problem it's that I slack too much on it. I could run this department myself (I am, for now); I don't think anyone would ever know the difference. We just finished up a big membership push, so these couple weeks are slow anyways...just processing applications and membership cards and sending out new apps and running Orientation Luncheons for the new members...it's easy work. As if you couldn't tell simply by the fact that I wrote this LJ post while on the job ;)
I got Jackie the CD of the Pearl Jam show we went to; it's fucking great, the sound is absolutely pristine, I wish every band would do the same for their fans. Still listening to a lot of them lately, and the new Fountains of Wayne has been getting heavy play as well. It's not as consistant as Utopia Parkway, there are actually a few rather abysmal numbers IMO, but the best material is as good as anything they've ever done, just pure sublime pop music by the reigning kings of the genre. No particularly good shows coming up this month, the summer seems to be pretty dead in terms of quality bands touring, but at the start of Sept. is Street Scene, a massive festival held all over the downtown area for three days. REM is headlining; also appearing are Bad Religion, Social D, Wilco, X, G Love, Goo Goo Dolls, Love, Arrested Development, the B 52s, Macy Gray, Nickel Creek, the Sex Pistols, Finch, Presidents of the USA, the Dropkick Murphys, Rev. Horton Heat, Kathleen Edwards, AND THAT'S JUST THE BANDS I CARE ABOUT! Who wants to come visit that weekend? :)
Been thinking about Law School some. Narrowing down the list. Being considered now: UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, UW, UNLV, BU, BC, UPenn, Georgetown, Emory, and maybe a few more. This coming month I'll start working on it for real, putting together applications, gathering recommendations, getting transcripts and so forth. I've already started getting random mailings from shitty unaccredited law schools, thanks to the fine folks at the Law School Admissions Council. However this turns out, it should be an interesting journey.
So, does that cover a month?