i've been there before... knocking on the same door

I think there are a few movies that really hit the target when it comes to how we act with other people in our lives... and Closer is one of them. First of all, I must say, Natalie Portman continues to suprise me. Not only is she gorgeous, but she can act... and pulls at my strings when she cries. *claps* Jude Law delivers his usual stellar performance, and finally a movie that Julia Roberts gets to say 'fuck' multiple times. Clive Owen, who is a relative unknown to most of you mainstream movie go-ers delivers a great performance. I've always been a fan of him, and he just keeps on doing good things.

I still have yet to see Elektra, though I've heard good things about the CG and fight scenes, I'm sure a good copy will be out for me to get my thieving hands on soon enough.

To move on to some more dynamic conversation, I turn to poker. I started keeping track of how much money I actually spend on poker... it was one of my new year's resolutions that I decided to do about 5 days after the new year ;) Since January 1st I've played in 10 poker games, so that's a little more than 1 game every two days. Yeah, I've been a busy little gambler. But things are looking up... of those 10 games, I've won a total of $415 for a profit of $180... so for all of you who think I gamble too much, suck on those numbers.

Ok what else can I blather on about... I got about 2 hours of sleep last night (Saturday night), and about 3 hours Friday night... I really need to stop doing this on the weekends, it's just not healthy. Friday night was my own fault, I wasn't out doing anything of consequence, I was just relaxing and reading a book and the next thing I knew it was 3am... and yeah, 6am came quickly. Last night I was playing poker, which in hindsight I knew I should have passed on. I was tired as it was, and just frankly wasn't playing my best. I made bad reads, and it seemed like everytime I made a move at a pot, someone would re-raise me and there was no way I call. It went like that more times than I care to remember, then I had A,Kd and it held vs K,10s and doubled me up to around 3,200 in chips (we started with 5,000). By now the blinds were around 200/400, so I was low stack just from the blinds. I like to be able to play my hands not the blinds, but being short I knew I couldn't afford that luxury. Again, I made a position raise on the button w/ A,7o to 500. The SB raises to around 2,000, which of course I cannot call. So then after another round of blinds I'm sitting with 2,200 in chips with my SB of 200 in the pot. The BB was all in basically cause he had 500 chips (BB was 400). Under the gun the large stack at the table raised and made it 1,500 to go. The table folded around to me, and I look down at A,Qo. Now being short stacked, this of course is a prime opportunity for me to double through. Since I knew I didn't have to worry about the BB, I put the raiser on a low pocket pair... so knowing I was on the losing end of a coin flip, i went all in for around 800 more, and the large stack of course, called me. Turns out he had J,J, but that's just as well to me as 2,2, as he has a made hand, and I didn't. So I didn't hit anything, busted out. Then we played over at JT's for a little less of a buy in, and didn't get going till around 11:30pm. I was huge chip stacked until JT sucked out on me... I limped in with K,10o and JT was the BB and checked. Flop came x,x,10. I lead out and bet 400, which was around the size of the pot. JT sits and thinks, raises me to 1,000. I smooth call, off we go to the turn. Turn is another blank. I bet 1,000, JT goes all in. I quickly call, knowing either I have him outkicked or he was on draw. JT shows me J,10o. So of course, I have him in a crushed position with only 3 outs... and of course, he hits another J on the river giving him 2 pair. That hurt. I then got A,A and got no action... and lost, not due to a lack of hot cards, due to a bad move. I was in a hand with Coleman with K,9o. I had limped in, Coleman had raised around 3x the big blind. I put him on some middle suited connectors... Q,9, J,9, etc... but didn't think I was dominated. Flop came J,3,J. I check, Coleman checks. Turn comes an A. I check, Coleman bets 500. Again, I really think I was just tired, because there was not enough in the pot for this move, and I knew I was beat, but I was trying to get him off his hand. I was betting, and by betting I mean hoping, that he hit his A on the river and was trying to buy the pot up right there. If he hit his Ace, I knew I could push him out, but only with all my chips, so, I push them all in there. He quickly calls, and I knew he had the Jack. He of course turns over trips, and I know I'm drawing dead with King high and muck my cards. So yeah, that's 2 bad moves in 2 games. I think I'm going to take a little break from playing poker till Wednesday @ Denny's. I need to get my head straightened out. I've been winning a lot, but there are aspects of my play I need to fix, and fix quickly.

So yeah, that's about it... classes are started, and I'm now 2 weeks in, starting week 3 on tuesday... only 8 more to go... and by that I mean 8 more weeks to go this quarter. In no way am I close to finished. I so regret putting this off... but then I wouldn't have all my nice toys.

Oh yeah, some weird shit happened this morning. 1st, I have for the first time slept in and been late for work on a saturday or sunday morning. I woke up at 7:15am w/ no recollection of my alarm going off at 6:15am. Who knows, then I go outside... yeah, my car which I parked in the driveway, is fucking sitting in the middle of the street. I had backed it in at 4am that morning, and there was already snow, so what I think happened was I might have spun my tires a bit backing into the driveway, and when I parked and pulled my E-brake (i never leave it in gear), got out and went inside, it must have just gradually slid down. Thank GOD no one t-boned my car, as there was easily 4 inches of snow on the ground when I got outside at 7:20am. So tonight I'm going to test it again... cause if it's my E-brake I need to know. The remote starter on the car doesn't work if it's in gear, so this could present a problem... it's a '99 civic though, so I doubt my e-brake is gone, but one never knows.

That's it for now... go fuck yourself San Diego.

New Year's Eve is overrated

I was just wondering if anyone actually reads this little thing I call my blog... I'm guessing no, but that's quite alright. I'm finding this is a nice outlet for all of my witty, sarcastic, and down right fucking hilarious comments on life and the things we do.

So onto the title of this entry, new year's eve is overrated. I don't understand why, of all nights, you would want to be out driving around, party hopping, and getting fucked up. Wouldn't it be a shitload more fun to have a new year's eve party on a night when no one else is doing the _exact_ same thing you are doing? I guess the reason I don't think it's all that great is I was sick this new year's eve, and didn't leave my room. I've been sick since I got back from Indiana last Tuesday night at around 3:30am. I haven't had a cigarette for six days now, give or take an hour. I think I'm going to use this as an excuse to stop smoking for a while. I love smoking, don't get me wrong, and I'm absolutely great at it (it's one of my better skills), but I hate getting sick. So I think I'm going to say if I get a 3.5gpa or better this quarter in school (classes started today), then I can smoke again, but only when playing poker or while out at a bar or some similar dive/shady place. So I guess I'm going to be doing really fucking well in school this quarter, because god knows I need a cigarette. So yeah, back to new years... I guess I haven't really done anything stellar for new years since 2000, that was a good new years. And now I'm bored with this subject...onto bigger and better things.

I saw The Grudge the other day finally, and wasn't too impressed. There were some jump scenes, as well as a few that just fucking weirded me out... but what I want to know is, just about a whole fucking family disappears, and only when Buffy gets into trouble does Tokyo's finest start digging. Also, can't you come up with something creepier than that stupid gutteral (sp?) sound for the ghost to make? The special fx was mediocre, though not much was needed, and I suppose the music created most of the jump scenes, but I was expecting better from Buffy.

I also saw In Good Company with Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid... now this is a good movie. Topher finally gets a leading role, though he shares most of his camera time with Quaid, that he can show off his acting skills. I've always been a fan of his characters since I started watching That 70's Show, and even though I didn't like this character quite as much, it's still Topher, and he did a great job with it. I do have to say though, Scarlette Johansson didn't give off quite the Lost in Translation vibe I was hoping to get from her, but she wasn't horrific either. Also CSI's Marg Helgenberger was great, and man, does she look good for a 45+ year old! I was a little upset with the ending though, and to avoid any spoilers, I'll just say I was left wanting...

Ah yes, I also saw Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and once again, Depp has given me another movie to add to my must-see collection. You see, I find that so many people haven't ever seen some of the greats that most people who are moderately interested in movies have seen... so I've started this collection of movies that when I meet someone who is one of those people who's seen your typical top-10 blockbuster movies, but never any of the real movies with heart or a great storyline, and you rattle off your top 10 list and they've only seen one of them... I mean come on, who hasn't seen High Fidelity? Are you serious? It's fucking John Cusack people! Or who hasn't seen Edward Scissorhands? Johnny Depp... Winona Ryder or however her name is spelled? Jesus! So this list will be a quick and efficient way for me to say, do not engage me in conversation until you have watched these movies. Hell I'll make my kids watch them when they turn 16. So anyways, back to the movie. Finding Neverland was great. You just can't seem to put Depp and a bad script together. Though I found the pacing was a little lax at times, overall it was a well shot, well acted, well written movie that has a great ending.

Movies I still have to see: Kinsey, Life Aquatic (I saw the 1st half already), The Door in the Floor, Stealing Sinatra, and Before Sunset