GinohnNews

G: All the news that's unfit to print. Just okay enough to make a record of, for us, mostly. Hope it's not too boring.

I've gotten a few hours of extra work the last few weeks doing "private lessons" for two women at the wheel studio. It's a good deal for me - I get paid just as much as for a class full of people and it's morning-ish so it doesn't take up another evening. Wish I had more of those.

On Friday night Dave came over with Rock Band and Kevin came over with Riff Trax (the modern version of MST2K, where you pay for and download a track of people riffing and play it along with the movie they are riffing on). Jurassic Park was riffed on by my close, personal friend Al Yankovic, plus the regular guy, Mike Nelson. It was a hoot!

Then we all played Rock Band. I mostly played guitar. Kevin did great on the drums and it was his first time playing. It goes without saying that Dave plays everything on expert and rocks out. John mostly sang and nailed it, according to the scores.

Saturday night Dave came over and we took the metro to Chinatown to go to Clyde's for Satish's birthday celebration. It was a huge bar and restaurant. Dave recognized one guy, Chris, when we got there (on time) and we seemed to be the only one's in the party who were there yet. Soon another guy Dave recognized, Steve, showed up. The 5 of us stood around drinking (Dave got a mojito, but it wasn't good enough to tempt me into getting one. I wound up with a beer at first and an almond-y hot chocolate w/liquor later) for about 1/2 hour and then we were able to get a table since Chris had asked for one when he got there. Once we sat down Satish showed up, and so did Alex and Renee, but there was no more room at our table. There were more party goers elsewhere and Satish went to join them. Turned out Alex and Renee couldn't get a table in a timely manner and were hungry, so they took off to find dinner. When we were done we joined the others near the bar. I didn't know anyone else except Dominic, and got introduced to his fiancee. We were standing at the end of a long bar, and there were two of those retractable rope stands for roping things off. I hooked the two together, and got inside the two ropes (really straps that retract back into the pole). Then I invited others into my exclusive club. John came in, and so did Steve. I danced around like I was in a club, and Steve made some bass sounds like thumping music. This went on for a while. I invited Satish in, and he came in and hung out for a while. He danced with me too. Dave got them both Irish car bombs. I tasted the dregs - bleah.

So we had fun but John got sleepy and soon it was time to go. We were saying our goodbyes when one of the (drunk) party goers started to regale us with a story. While we were listening to the story, a waiter squeezed by with a large tray full of appetizers on his shoulder. He paused long enough for the story teller to reach over and help himself to a martini glass at the edge of the tray. As I watched this happen, I expected him not to actually take it, just make a joke of pretending to take it. But no, he took it. Then he said, "What kind of drink is this?" as it turned out to be a very fancy shrimp cocktail.

The waiter went on unaware, but I wanted to get out of there. I did not want to be nearby when they came back looking for whoever took it and accuse someone of stealing. But it was funny. No one came back, and we finally left a few minutes later. There is more to the story that happened after we left but in the end the party goer totally got away with it.

On Sunday I went to yoga at RnA's and that night I went back for dance night. Good fun and exercise!

J: Welp, I've been playing poker for a little over three years and still haven't lost my starting bankroll, so I'd say it's been a good experience. I got a lot of help from exercising my mathematics and statistics lobes, playing a lot (and learning a lot of lessons the hard way), discussing games with friends, and reading lots of books from the best players out there (Dan Harrington, Chris Ferguson, etc.) who are also into the math, game theory, and bankroll management.

I just profited a hundred dollars in two days of hard evening play, in between folding clothes, washing dishes, and paying bills. In honor of cracking the $11 single table level I'll now sing my favorite gambling song— Bob Seger's Still the Same. I hope I can hit the notes right.

You always won, every time you placed a bet
You're still damn good, no one's gotten to you yet
Every time they were sure they had you caught
You were quicker than they thought
You'd just turn your back and walk
You always said the cards would never do you wrong
The trick you said was never play the game too long
A gambler's share, the only risk that you would take
The only loss you could forsake
The only bluff you couldn't fake

And you're still the same
I caught up with you yesterday
Moving game to game
No one standing in your way
Turning on the charm
Long enough to get you by
You're still the same
You still aim high

There you stood, everybody watched you play
I just turned and walked away
I had nothing left to say

'Cause you're still the same
You're still the same
Moving game to game
Some things never change
You're still the same