let's keep it short

that's my goal in this post.

yesterday- i reluctantly rolled out of bed at 9 am which completely sucked. i got up, went to work from 10-4, and then came home. I told myself that I was going to do my homework, but I forgot that the steeler game was on at 415 pm. What a coincedence, I really didn't get much homeword done then. However, I was able to finish reading Chapter 3 on mise en scene for Cinema Art which just happened to be a waste of time in case you were wondering. Next, I tackled statistics and it was very interesting stuff(inferential statistics) and I was able to relate almost all of it to poker which made the reading easy and fun at the same time. Isn't that one of Piaget's theories, if you can relate something new to something you already know you'll actually learn it? That's a good man right there. Anyways, I ended up getting through a few pages of the psychology and then I crashed.

today- woke up, got breakfast, did a reading application exercise, and then printed out my fake version of my second paper draft. Mickle even walked over to me and I told her that it was my draft and she completely believed me. After class, mark and ashley called me the best liar that they had ever seen. I guess that means maybe I can make it in poker? Haha. Anyways, the day dragged on and I had dinner with mark and casey and then that 3 hour theory of education class. That was that, came home, talked to anna, watched laguna beach(it appears that stephen is going to wake his dumbass up and go for lc finally) and then caught up with some emails and played a little poker. I'm pretty pumped for Sunday, it means that I'll be able to gamble legally. Trust me, though, I'm in no hurry to deposit if the bonuses are anything less than 100%. I figure that on the real fishy sites I can clear the bonus easily and probably quintuple my buyin all in a week's time if all goes well. If I'm able to do well playing it would really alleviate some of the financial tension on me at the current time, although I don't plan on losing more than I can afford(the common addage :-) )

tonight's poem is one that I just remembered before I started this post. I think joey gruber mentioned this in his class speech in june, but I loved it long before then. enjoy kids.

If
By: Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

that's one of the overall best poems I think ever written. by the way, for all you anxious blog readers out there, funniest online lines version 2 will be released at the end of the month. enough typing for now because pokerstars is calling my name.

mh

dose of reality

yeah, that's what i got today

yesterday- woke up, ate, and had a meeting with an ACE guy at PSU-Mckeesport at 12. Talk about a waste of time, I basically told him that'd I'd just get all A's and that was that. It took 15 minutes and I wasted my time on that shit? Anyways, I went to two classes and finished reading Zen and the Art of Poker which happens to be a very good read if you're looking for a book. It really deals with how Zen can be used in poker in regards to staying calm, relaxing, keeping with the flow of the game and maintaining rhythm. Later that night, I went to duquense for a party/dance thing. Came home and slept.

today- ouch, that alarm clock at 730 hurts. I got up and went to work from 9-5 and appartently I'm being discriminated against from using the paint fillers again because I spilled a little bit of paint in the middle there. Haha. After work, I came home and watched WPT for awhile and then went up bradburns to play a little NHL2K6...it's weird because I used to love to play video games and now the only time that I have time for them is when I'm at someone else's house. Oh well. I think over Winter Break I'm going to try to do some gaming. Additionally, my dose of reality came tonight while talking to immekus about poker in the fire halls. He said that most of the players were better than I was used to and it kinda hit me hard because I realized the more I read Skylansky books, the more I become like Skylansky. Skylansky was a hell of a poker writer and a great poker theorist, but when's the last time he won a WSOP tournament, made a big score in a side game, or won a tournament in general? I've realized again that the basis of all good poker players is their experience combined with the thoughts of others that they have applied to game situations. Oh well, I'll get my chance in a week to play for real as I will be old enough to gamble then. Later on, I went bowling and I basically sucked. That's all for now.

Funny thing happened as I was tearing apart my room last week. I found a book on American Poetry that I bought in sixth grade and never read. Now I'm reading it again and loving it, so the selection is from there tonight. enjoy.

Nocturne
By: Robert Hillyer

If the deep wood is haunted, it is I
Who am the ghost, not the tall trees
Nor the white moonlight slanting down like rain,
Filling the hollows with bright pools of silver.

A long train whister serpentines around the hill
Now shrill, not far away.
Tell me, from what dark smoky terminal
What train sets out for yesterday?

Or, since our spirits take off and resume
Their flesh as travellers their cloaks, O tell me where,
In what age and what country you will come,
That I may meet you there.


the line that is bolded is a great line and so true as well...everyone loves their childhood much more than their teenage years because of the simplicity of life and the constant enjoyment of the day....ahhh what i'd do to be six years old again

mh

that sucks

well it appears that my blog is starting to get spam in the comment section.....i don't really care to turn on the word verification option so i guess i'll just leave it go for now....

yesterday- went to work from 9-5 and got to talk to angie in the morning and then patty(for the last time) in the afternoon....it was busy, but it made the day go so much faster....i got a ride home and then i read and did something else that night(i have a terrible memory, if you haven't noticed already)....in regards to that, i was scanning through my blog recently and i realized that in the last month, i probably missed blogging about 10 different things that happenend in my life. I really don't feel like going back and adding them in, I'd just like to add that little line there.

today- went to work from 10-4 and had the longest day in the history of days....angie and i literally counted the seconds until 4, so that wasn't good at all. My mom called and said that she was 20 minutes away so I just decided to walk home. It was a pretty good walk, I went through the Union Park trail for the second time in my life(the first time in probably 8 years) and it still seemed suprising long to me(whenever i was 10, it seemed much longer)...you see, walking to me is what running was to forrest gump, it's more or less something that you do to not only get exercise, but also to think about everything that's going on in the world. It took me about 40 minutes to walk 4 miles, but when I got home I vowed to finish Theory of Poker. I finished the last 100 pages in about 2 hours. Skylansky's final chapters are pretty boring, but I found that his work in the Game Theory field of poker is quite fascinating. If you know anything about it, Game Theory is applicable to almost anything in real life, including games(imagine that?). It basically states that no matter what happens, beforehand you find the best mathematical plan to winning and you stick to that plan no matter what....really awesome stuff....okay, so my life and blog have gotten quit boring since college started(isn't it supposed to be the reverse?) but I certainly don't go to a party school/live on campus....some friends and i from the education group were trying to ask the upperclassmen if there were any parties at all, but they basically said "no" although they were trying to organize one. Well that's exciting. PSU Mckeesport sucks :-). Anyways, I went over to my grandparents later in the night and then just talked to people online until retreating into my room for the night.

poetry section is back....tonight is a selection from the bard himself, and a good one at that....i wish this were entitled "blow, blow thou september wind" because september seems like it is the hardest month of the year to get through....anyone else agree? I guess the prelude to winter is deserving...

Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
By: William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

oops

it has been a long time since i updated, and even longer since i typed in incorrect english. well, tonite is one of those nights that i really don't care how the grammar, capitalization, or word spelling/choice looks. college has more or less been what i expected, really easy, up until now. it is pretty draining everyday because the teachers talk about a lot of abstract things, especially in statistics and psychology. monday nights are def. the worst b/c i go from 12-9, with a 3 hr theory of ed. class at the end....that kinda sucks....

nothing really exciting has happened in my world until today of course. i don't really remember how i felt at the start of the day, i guess it was fine because fridays are the easiest days(12-3)....but anyways, im goin to school through mckeesport and there's this big ass bus in front of me in the left lane....so i go to pass him on the right and i didn't see this dude comin down in the right lane(it was a blind spot) so i just decided to go, well that wasn't a good idea....more or less i just caught him on the side and there was minimal damage to my ride minus the fact that the axle is bent and undrivable currently....what was important was that everyone was fine, and although i ended up having to get it towed, it was kinda nice to not have to do anything all day....so i was on the phone most of the afternoon calling the insurance agency and the other guy's insurance and it all worked out in the end....it actually will end up costing me not as much as i originally assumed so that's good(i guess?)...

so everyone has bad days and this was def. one of them....i think tim robbins said it best in shawshank redemption where he said something like...."bad luck i guess, floats around, just landed on me." isn't that the truth?

no poetry today, i'm kinda out of the poetry phase but i might be posting some good ones later....oh well, until next time, may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters(how gey is that?)

mh

updates

Yeah, there really isn't a good title for this update of the blogger. Life is moving faster than ever and that's good because I'm still not 18 and therefore still unable to gamble legally in our great state of PA.

monday- i woke up around 11 am after not talking to anna the night before b/c she went up to her cabin. Sounds like fun, thanks for inviting me lol. Well anyways, my dad and I went to the golf course and we ended up playing with these two kids from bethel who were both pretty good. I shot pretty good until a 10 on the 17th and I finished up with a dismal 100 for the day. After that, the family had a cookout for labor day because apparently there was no formal gathering even though both my cousins mike and dan(who i saw at work) said that they were having something over their house and they invited us over. After that I was feeling lazy and didn't want to do hw so I just chilled and then had a great convo with anna until prob. like 1(i felt kinda bad since she did have to go to hs the next day lol)

tuesday- i woke up suprisingly at 10 am which kinda sucked, but I was ready to get up at that time. Do you ever have days where you don't want to do a single thing except for sit in front of the TV all day? Yeah, it was one of those days. Around 1 I pushed myself and got comfortable and read 120 English pages and 60 Cinema Art pages plus I took care of a bunch of things for my PSU Degree Audit and managed my PSU mail account. Those emails can really pile up if you leave them go like that. Work today wasn't bad at all. There were a ton of boxes to take out and the rest of the day consisted of putting together a bird thing and loading stuff into the attic. Afterwards, Berman, Larry, Angie, and myself talked about bowling and other sports for the last 30 minutes. I really do like working there and hope to keep it until I build up a solid enough bankroll(at least 10k) and then I might be compelled to quit. After that, I went over immekuses for some good cards. It was kloby, kinger, immekus brothers, brandon, and myself which provided for good times. I was up about 100 at one point but I don't really enjoy hustling my friends(we all agree to an unspoken rule of calling with somewhat marginal hands just in case someone decides to try to bluff their ass off) which is good. I think I went up like 30 or 40 after wendys. I came home and had my traditional convo with anna at night which is always a good thing.

Poetry for today has been cancelled as I am working on a few poems of my own that I will soon be publishing. I added one more link and I will continue to add more whenever I get the time.

Well I'm getting a wake up call in 4.25 hours from you know who to read stats ch.2, so I'll talk to you guys when I talk to you.

mh

drained

yeah, that pretty much describes it...

Friday night was interesting, and that's all I have to say about that. I'm not going to elaborate, only so much to say that it was the first time that nayhouse and leigh spoke in relative human terms in quite some time.

Saturday sucked, absolutely. I went to bed at 1 am and had to get up the next morning at 730 am and well, you do the math. Work was fine I guess, Angie helped me out and kept me sane for the first half of the day and then Patty told me about her life in Happy Valley which was rather interesting. Right after that I went home and found that the neighbors were destroying their front yard so I had to park next door. I cut the grass and then watched WPT for awhile before calling up nayhouse. Turns out he was pretty burned out too, so we just relaxed and watched forrest gump. I really like that movie, I hadn't watched it since I was around 12 until then and I finally get the whole movie more or less. Good stuff. I came home and did something I hadn't done in awhile: I looked at the stars while talking to anna. Wow, is all I have to say. I don't know if it was the forrest gump or the visceral star experience, but that was a hell of a conversation.

Today I got to sleep in a little bit later, but I still had to get up at 830 am which sucks. All in all it was another quick day because there's always customers to wait on or talking to be done. Just bs'ing with mindy and patty was cool. Mindy is interesting, she's pretty good looking but she has an odd sense of humor and patty just has these weird stories to tell, but it holds you through the long day. Left at 4 and came home and the palermos came over for a "cookout" aka drinking party. I mean they're fun and all but isn't it time to grow up? Even I get tired of those after awhile. I think my parents are becoming hardcore alkies again, but whatever. I really can't wait to get out of that house, no real offense. It's like I'm the adult and they're the kids partying. Like I said, parties are fun, but there's things that have to get done. No further comment

Tomorrow is golfing and homework catching up day. That unimportant stuff can really pile up if you let it. Hehe, well I leave you with words from Wordsworth himself. Btw, I updated the links section, only two links for now, I'll add more later, it's a pain to do. I think this poem really shows the power of nature and God as intertwining forces and our naive attempts to construct things as humans. I've added denotations at the bottom for your reading pleasure, hehe.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; (1)
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, (2)
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus (3) rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton (4) blow his wreathed horn.

(1) Brought up in an outdated religion.
(2) Meadow.
(3) Greek sea god capable of taking many shapes.
(4) Another sea god, often depicted as trumpeting on a shell.

mh

ordinary day

today was what the next four years of my life are going to be like, unfortunately.

I woke up at around 10 and got some Smacks for breakfast. That cereal reminds me of the first house I lived on at 448 Macassar. After that, I cleaned up around the house for awhile before I could finally focus in on doing homework. I opened up the Psychology text first because I find Psych. a lot more interesting than Statistics. It took about 1.5 hours to read and take notes on the first chapter, but I learned a ton of interesting things about teaching and some good teaching ideas. Next, I opened up the dreaded stats book. Trust me, that is the most bland thing you will ever read in your life. It took me over an hour to read and outline 15 pages, which sucks. After that, I went to work and it was awesome again. I did some more cutting of keys and I'm now a master of key cutting and other than that it was myself talking with berman's brother and another girl there(I can't remember her name). Henceforth, I went to the carnival in St. Sylvester with leigh and it was alright. I promised myself about a month ago that I'd never go to another carnival, but I broke that promise already. I gambled a little bit and figured out that you will lose an average of 2$ for every six spins using my "pristine"(yeah right) math skills. Afterwards, I talked to anna for a little while and am typing up this blog report right now. All in all, an ordinary day(isn't that a song?)

poetry tonight is pink floyd. I decided to throw it in because I think this is the greatest song ever written.

Wish You Were Here
By: Pink Floyd
Dedicated to Syd Barrett

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
year after year,
running over the same old ground. What have we found?
The same old fears,
wish you were here.