| Watching history |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|08:55 am] |
and I've been so used to getting kicked in the balls for the last 8 years that I keep sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the gunfire. I realize that Washington is locked up tighter than a metaphor which escapes me, but part of me is constantly braced for the horrible to happen.
edit: as of 9:04 just watched things go down. I was standing in my living room along with the folks in Washington DC. America's first black president. It's amazing that I am alive to see this bit of history. |
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| New cliches |
[Jan. 12th, 2009|04:50 pm] |
New beginnings, new presidents, new years. Blah blah blah. It's been forever since I updated this thing and much has happened since I last wrote. I'm a little extra motivated to type today as I've got about 40 minutes to kill before I have to take off for class. I'll try to make things concise.
As of the last entry in this journal, I was privately battling with whether or not I wanted to break up with Taneka. Things had been very quiet and tense between us for many months and it was getting to the point where both of us were very unhappy with the state of the relationship and not particularly willing to do anything to repair it. Well, I was willing to reach out but things were destined for failure. I had begun putting out feelers for a new place to stay and I was in luck as my former colleague from Safeway had just moved out of his old place in north Portland. In mid-november I came home from practice to find Taneka wanting to have "the talk". I was actually relieved that things were finally out in the open and I could move on in a new direction. I put my stuff into boxes a few weeks later and by early December I was holed up in a my new place. At the suggestion of a friend I also put together an OK Cupid profile and started talking to people on that site. I'm nerdking81 if anyone is interested. It's led to a lot of good friendships and a few new friends on this dusty old journal. =)
Overall I'm enjoying my new situation. I'm closer to work, more able to pursue my interests, and generally feeling more free. The loneliness can get oppressive at times but it is countered with a feeling of annoyance that I can't accomplish what I like to accomplish on a daily basis. Train at the gym, grind some poker, work. Find time for sleep and food in the middle somewhere.
In the intervening month since the breakup I have:
-made several new friends
-gotten my first tattoo (the hunter thompson gonzo dagger as shown in the RIP HST picture somewhere in February of 2005 of my archives)
-"fooled around" with my first new girl in several years
-discovered a lot about myself and my interactions with people now that I've moved out to Portland. My time with Taneka changed me and I don't necessarily know if it was in a good way.
I've also discovered that my natural reaction upon meeting new people out here is to use a friend from back east as a template. I pattern my reactions to their behavior off of that. I meet someone new and my mind instinctively thinks "oh, he's just like Jack" and I'll treat them like I treated Jack. It's weird and probably not healthy, but it's getting me by although I should probably be letting go of my old life back east... |
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| You do the things I do... |
[Sep. 30th, 2008|06:12 am] |
I'm a pretty passionate guy about the stuff that I do. Martial arts is one of them. When you see something that represents that passion, it resonates with you. I just finished watching David Mamet's "Redbelt". It's the best damn martial arts movie ever. Most martial arts flicks are popcorn movies. This one is about the spirit of what we do. It's got a laundry list of big names in it. Dan Inosanto makes a cameo. John Machado. Randy Couture. There are a couple downsides. There is some stock Mamet in there, but just watch the film. Wow. It's been ten minutes and I'm still wiping away tears.
edited to add: I looked up a couple of reviews after watching the film and I have to say something. People have been complaining about plot. They doth protest too much. Go in with a pinch of suspension of disbelief. This isn't Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and martial arts being pretty. This is about martial arts as a way of living one's life and a way of saving one's life. |
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| From my friend Jason Tershack: |
[Sep. 29th, 2008|05:42 pm] |
1. On the Wall Street crash: if W. can't be America's worst president, then he may just be its last.
2. On Sarah Palin: what do hockey moms and pitbulls have in common? THEY BOTH CAN'T RUN A COUNTRY |
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| Now, I ain't no Paul Krugman... |
[Sep. 29th, 2008|12:48 pm] |
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Two European banks failed today. Asian stockmarkets fell this morning. Is it any wonder the Dow took a 600 point header today with or without this bailout plan? |
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| Are you ready for some FOOTBALL! |
[Sep. 25th, 2008|03:29 am] |
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Wow, the old man has quite the arm on him. First he pitches the hail mary pass and picks up a quick TD with Sarah Palin. Obama's team runs down the clock, now the Crusty QB has pitched another one and "suspended" his campaign. WTF? Call off the debates? At least the VP debate? I'm blown away at what has happened here. In a time of crisis you don't run and hide if you want to be leader of the free world. The POTUS gets in front of TV cameras and states his plans for dealing with a crisis loudly and clearly for all to hear. He doesn't dash off to the back room to confer with his cronies. This just stinks of desperation, and the American Public is like a pack of dogs or a swarm of bees. They can smell fear. |
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| Macyver |
[Sep. 23rd, 2008|10:23 am] |
I can put together a bankroll from toothpicks and some bubblegum. I currently have 970 dollars in transit from Fulltilt to my apartment via check. Some of it will go to pay off a computer that I let Taneka buy on my credit. The rest will go back onto Pokerstars where I don't plan to leave for quite some time. As it stands a friend loaned me 30 dollars on Thursday. I fired up 14 tables of .05/.10 limit Thursday night and I am currently sitting on 62 dollars. Average pot sizes are usually around 1 dollar. My secret is volume. 3 years of hardcore poker playing with 2 of them specializing in fixed limit have left most of the decisions reflexive. In the blink of an eye I can analyze a hand and make a decision. Now it's just grind grind grind. I've been listening to http://www.pandora.com most of the time. For some reason I've taken a shining to arena rock anthems recently, so I put together a Rush playlist. I'll be listening to either that or the podcasts from http://www.stephaniemiller.com. Great site. Great morning show. That dovetails nicely into this:
if you're in Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico, Florida, et al, go vote for Barack Obama on November 4. Better yet, tell a friend to vote for the man too. John McCain has corporate lobbyists surrounding him. His chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, was key in the deregulation that led to the Enron debacle. McCain himself is wrapped up in financial mischief as he was part of the Keating 5 scandal. Saving and loan crisis, anyone? The difference is black and white (literally white. really really white. Polar bear in a snowstorm. Mayonnaise and white bread. Rice pudding and a glass of milk.) If you have questions about what the guy wants to do, go to www.barackobama.com and read up on his platform. The man is dynamic. He's proposed all these new plans, but he also has admitted that some of them will have to go on hold to address this budget crisis. McCain has been beating the same drum for the last month. Just do it.
In martial arts news, 2 months until we test for muay thai. Right now I'm learning Ajarn Chai's waikruu, the dance that muay thai fighters do before the start of their fights. The downside is that the fall has brought about a nasty set of asthma attacks, not helped by the cats we're watching. I'm puffing on my inhaler near constantly. On the other side, we're doing baston y daga and doble baston. Stick and dagger and double stick. It's fun but I wish we were doing panatukken, also known as Filipino boxing. I love limb destruction. Does that make me weird? |
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| Politics overwatch |
[Sep. 10th, 2008|05:50 pm] |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xbn_AXlaeY
from Talkingpointsmemo: "With Sarah Palin Alaska-bound and John McCain making his first post-convention solo appearance in Philadelphia, the lackluster McCain crowd was no match for chanting Obama supporters, and McCain was forced to cut the event short."
me: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Also, from http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOxgjoYM2D7PHjG3ZUj6ycOahTqQ. Obama campaign's 'Alaska mythbusters' lay bare Palin facts. I'll pass the hat around to get Adam and Jaimie from the TV show to star in the campaign ad. Then my life would be complete. |
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| HealPoints v2.8 |
[Aug. 22nd, 2008|10:07 am] |
I have no idea why that is my subject, it just came up in auto-fill when I hit the H-key. I think it refers to a World of Warcraft Priest-mod. I dunno. Anyway, back in Aught-Four I was frequently checking http://www.electoral-vote.com for the latest and greatest in polls. They've improved the site in the intervening 4 years. Check it out. While I was there I found a link to two other sites: http://www.mccainfactcheck.com and http://www.obamafactcheck.com. Contrasting the information I got on both sites, I get the idea that Mccain is not that great of a guy and Obama isn't that bad of a guy. I don't think the sites are all that partisan. All the information is referenced and obviously factual. Check em out for yourself.
Oh and I dropped 400 bucks in the last 36 hours playing poker. No worries, the bankroll could take it, I just ran like wet shit the entire time. I hate downswings. I played for all of twenty minutes yesterday, then quit as I was still feeling a bit numb from all of it. I'm going to head over to Deucescracked and let the fine gentlemen (and 2008 Pot Limit Omaha Champ Vanessa Selbst) |
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| In case of emergency... |
[Aug. 17th, 2008|10:37 pm] |
all nighter last night (first hand is mine):
200bb deepstack table- KK vs AA for stacks preflop
200bb regular table- AA vs KK villain flops K
100bb regular table- AA vs 94 offsuit 3bet preflop villain flops 9J9
donked off 300bb to tilt after that.
today got it all back with interest by keeping my cool, gritting my teeth and grinding like a madman. If you're a poker player, study the Jedi code and stay away from the Dark Side.
Don't have the weekend's rakeback numbers but I expect to see something in the 125 dollar range tomorrow night. Sweet bonus. |
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| Vignette |
[Aug. 16th, 2008|08:15 pm] |
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I've got 3 minutes to throw as many double kicks as I can as hard as I can. I listen to Megadeth's "Peace Sells...but who's buying?" because I can chop down trees Jean Claude Van Damme in "Kickboxer" style. But not dance like Jean Claude Van Damme in "Kickboxer" style. Jesus Christ. |
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| End of vacay update |
[Aug. 16th, 2008|07:14 pm] |
Hot as balls in Portland today. 105 heat index, air temp of 97 or so. Baguhan test went wonderfully. I had had an energy drink after not drinking coffee for three days or so and was bouncing off the walls when I went into the gym. Everyone was really nervous but I just shrugged my shoulders because I felt really prepared. The president of Lameco Eskrima International, Punong Guro Leonard Trigg strolls in around 12:15 and we get to work. We had an odd number of people spread in 2 lines, basically the man in front would partner with the man in the rear. I ended up being the odd man out so I half-worked my way in with a group to demonstrate technique until it was suggested that one of the students who had already done the first level but was not doing the second level jump in with me. I fumbled my way through the first disarm, screwing it up TWICE before Grandmaster Trigg moved on down the line. I did fine with the rest of the testing, save for one part where I confused a few tagalog terms and ended up doing the wrong technique. One thing I was extremely proud of was the Pekiti Tersia close range drill we did at the end. I had made a special effort in the last week to pick up some knife disarms specifically for the test. I also helped three other students get it down this last week and I'm really happy with that.
A quick note on how retardedly lucky I am in living where I do and practicing what I practice: 1st off, Grandmaster Trigg is not only President of the Lameco organization, he's also president of the Lucay Lucay Kali Jeet Kune Do Association. A quick note on that, Lucay Lucay JKD is 4th generation down from Bruce Lee himself. Bruce taught Dan Inosanto, Inosanto trained Ted Lucay Lucay, Lucay Lucay trained Trigg. That right there is fucking awesome. He's a Muay Thai and western boxing expert too. He's a real cool guy and I'm proud to have a connection to him through Guro Jeff.
In other news, the poker dry spell has finally broken. 16k hands of breakeven, 11 buy-in downswing I had to climb out of, a fairly dark cloud I had to swat away from my head. That combined with the incident with the keys put a serious damper on my vacation, but it all got sorted out in the end. Found my keys. They were in my gym bag. Apparently the thing has more secret pockets than a damn ninja outfit. I had emptied the thing and shook it upside down TWICE and hadn't found them. I was walking to class on Thursday, my arm bouncing off the side of my bag when I felt something that didn't feel like my regular equipment in there. I felt around, moved it around a bit and it slowly formed itself into what felt like my car key. I was ready to cut the damn bag open to get at it but I reached inside and felt the velcro section, pulled it open and there they were.
I maintain my statement about luck, though. This is coming from a guy who has been conditioned to never rely on luck. As I frequently grumble at the poker tables, "the best thing about good luck streaks is that they END." |
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| No-ah-ah |
[Aug. 12th, 2008|10:21 pm] |
1. There is only one kind of luck: bad. The rest is just skill and proper planning.
2. Threw double-kicks like I was trying to cut the bag in half today. Felt great to get rid of tension but didn't get rid of the underlying source and frustration. It was a lot like fast food, momentarily satisfying but devoid of any real nutrition. That being said, tension and frustration interfere with proper decision making so as long as I'm not hurting myself or anyone else, I'll continue to hit inanimate objects to relieve stress. |
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| Probability Storm |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|09:44 pm] |
I am a walking variance bomb today. Lost my keys somewhere at the gym. Dropped 11 buyins at poker today. Allergies killing me from girlfriend's friend's cats which we are pet-sitting. No matter how much sleep I get I'm still tired these last two days and I don't know why.
Plus side is I have a week off. Went up to Olympia and caught up with relatives. Drank a lot and had fun. Approved of my Uncle Ken's new beard. So far that's 2 votes for the beard and a million votes against. Fuck the haters. |
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| Teeheehee |
[Aug. 8th, 2008|05:02 pm] |
Every morning at work I'm wired firmly to my radio, listening either to Morning Edition on NPR or Air America. The former has done a pretty good job fellating this new documentary, "American Teen" in the last few weeks. Well, maybe not fellating, as I can only directly recall hearing one review of the film. It was a glowing review, though. Alexandra Dupont goes about cutting up the project angry-pimp-style:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37857
all I can think of in response is that I guess Heisenburg and Schroedinger were right. |
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| The long walk |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|02:03 pm] |
Just got back from the bank. I got to experience the peculiar combination of manic giddyness at the fact that I had a fat wallet of hundred dollar bills and paranoid anger that if anyone attempted to take my money from me, I would not hesitate to break several of their component parts in protecting my cash. They say that your wallet isn't worth your life. Sorry, chum, I've got anger and know-how. I will become a track star if they take off running or Bruce motherfucking Lee if they attack me. I will become a living avatar of death for the money I'm carrying on me. All of this in the 100 yards between US Bank and Bank of America. LOL.
On the martial arts front, apparently Muay Thai testing will be coming up here in a few months. I don't know many of the details but I'm kind of interested in signing up for it. Something like 90 roundhouses, 35 knees in 3 minutes for first round. I also will have to learn the traditional Muay Thai opening ritual wherein you get down on one knee and salute the four corners of the ring while doing some fancy hoodoo. There's a page full of Thai words I have to learn in there too. Salient points are be in shape and have good technique. Interest is piqued. Last week I dropped 160 bucks on eskrima equipment. Two very nice rattan sticks, a padded stick, handguard, wrist guard, and aluminum training knife. http://www.lamecoeskrima.com. The knife I got wasn't as cool as the one pictured on the website, but w/e. Hand and wrist protection are nice and the lead instructor at the gym is urging some of the more experienced students to get the facemask so we can start sparring. 4 students got to go on Monday while the rest of us went through testing stuff. I was a sad monkey. Left shoulder and neck are hurting a bit. I think I overdid it on jabs last Friday and exacerbated things on Tuesday. I'll probably go easy on it the next couple of days.
also, political noise du jour is all about Hillary. I followed the link from the article on http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com. Reading the comments section nearly broke my brain. The amount of WRONG involved in this situation is mind boggling. We have the best candidate the Democratic party has fielded for President since Hillary's husband was in office and the Clinton camp has the outright audacity to open this wound again right before the convention. This combined with Hillary supporters so shrill only dogs can hear them makes me want to punch...you know what, it's beyond hyperbole at this point. Get the fuck over it people. "Hillary won the popular vote" is a complete bullshit line of thinking. It only works if you count Michigan and you can't according to party rules. Fucking deal with it. In fact, please stay home in November as you've proven yourself too stupid to vote. Zombie Thomas Jefferson will be at your door tonight at 3:05 am to take your voter registration away.
I'm drowning my sorrows in whiskey. To paraphrase Battlestar Galactica's Ron Moore, "the bourbon tonight is Woodford Reserve and the no smoking lamp is lit". |
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| In Soviet Russia, hobby pays for you! |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|12:35 pm] |
Soooo, two weeks ago I put 300 dollars on Pokerstars to gain access to a 120 dollar (40% bonus). For all the month of July I had been playing on Fulltilt and had turned 540 bucks into 940 in 6 weeks. Elohel go me. So I took some of the roll off FTP and moved it back over to Stars. I wanted to keep a little on each site just in case I got bored at some point. I had about 12 bucks on Stars at the time and 312 allowed me to play at the .50/1 Omaha Hi/Low tables which provided some good (if a bit slow) bonus clearing ability. I quickly got bored with that and took most of the rest of my money off FTP bringing my Stars bankroll up to 812. This allowed me to play at the 1/2 games AND the 25NL tables. 1/2 holdem or O8 is great for clearing bonus as you clear about 1 frequent player point per hand. A decent run of cards brought 812 up to 1050 or so but I hit a rough patch at the 1/2 6max tables last night and dropped about 100 dollars. Cleared the bonus, though, leaving me back at 1054. Two weeks work, 120 dollars game profit, 120 dollars bonus. Cashed out last night around 3, money is wired to me this morning. I had left 120 dollars on FTP and was feeling bored with Stars one night. Sat down at some 10NL tables because I was just barely bankrolled to safely play. I've got a sick winrate at 10NL so I wasn't too worried about what I would run into skill-wise. I run into this guy who is pushing all-in preflop with EVERY hand he is dealt. It's ridiculous. He's running over the table and people are going a little crazy. Luckily I know a little thing about equity and start beating the tar out of him with hands like AJ, AT, AK, AQ, and any pair 88+. I end up taking 60 dollars off of him. Then last night I played again. I had one table with two calling stations at the opposite end of the table to me. 10NL 6max game. Guys calling down any piece of the board. I'm not running too well, then this hand happens:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Hero ($12.20)
UTG ($15.05)
MP ($23.35)
Button ($9.85)
SB ($19.10)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qh, 8h.
UTG raises to $0.2, 1 fold, Button calls $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.10.
Flop: ($0.65) Ah, Th, Jh (3 players)
BB bets $0.65, UTG raises to $1.3, Button folds, BB raises to $4.55, UTG raises to $7.8, BB raises to $12 (All-In), UTG calls $4.20.
Turn: ($24.65) Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($24.65) Td (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $24.65
Results in white below:
Hero has Qh 8h (straight flush, ace high).
UTG has Tc Ts (four of a kind, tens).
Outcome: Hero wins $24.65.
meh on the Royal. I play so much poker that I get a royal about twice a year in holdem. What is really cool is the fact that I won a gigantic pot with it.
So now I have 204 on FTP. I'm probably going to take my 1054 and only put 900 on FTP. I'll pay my credit card bill this month with the 150. <3 sitting at my computer for a few hours a day and making money while having fun. |
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| Politics |
[Aug. 3rd, 2008|09:55 am] |
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I'm a political creature. I was initiated into this bloodsport in 1992 when my dad ran for the county prosecutor's seat back in Monroe. I was raised on this stuff the way some kids were raised to cheer for the local sports franchise(s). Obviously I'm voting for Barack Obama this year. The guy actually seems like he might have the charisma, gravitas, and common goddamn sense to get the right people in the right places to get this country out of the ditch that Dubya has driven it into while John McCain can't stick to a consistent platform. The reason the Republicans were able to nail Kerry back in 2004 for his "flip-flopping" was because some of it could be seen as political equivocation. What would he switch on to get votes. Voters hate that in a candidate and just looking at McCain's voting record over the last 6 months you'll see that all over. That being said he must win the election in November and while he's leading in the national polls, you don't win the presidency based on popular vote, you win based on the Electoral College and you don't win the Electoral College unless you win on a state by state basis. This is why I'm looking at http://www.electoral-vote.com. I followed that beast religiously back in 2004 and I'm doing it again. Today my big concern is Ohio. Most other graphs you can follow the trend lines and get a general idea of what people's attitudes will be in coming months. Ohio is a complete mess right now to the point where I can't read the damn thing. This was a similar problem back in 2004 which prompted many a liberal conspiracy theory about voting machines. I'm not going to pass judgment on said theories. I'm just kind of jaded due to my usual cynical, skeptical nature and the fact that I exist on a solid diet of liberal talk radio. Bill, Link, what's the word on the ground out there? |
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auralfiend's journal
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