Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis
I woke up in the middle of choking to death again; though to be accurate, it was towards the end of the process--woke up right away in a white hot panic with black spots of permanent unconsciousness swooping in across both sides of my vision.
Calm yourself, was the first important step. My lungs were soaked, steeped in the things that belonged only in my stomach, and locked up tight. My air passage was blocked and burning with bile and hydrochloric acid. No, I don't have asthma. I have a drinking problem.
Spoiler
Though, now that I think about it, is that inhaler thing any good? Maybe I'll try a hit sometime, just to see.
This was last Friday, just a few hours after I'd quit my office job of twelve years to take a shot at playing poker for a living out West in Nevada. This will not be my first shot at gambling for a living; although I have only tried something like this once before, many years ago.
Around the turn of the century I quit college most of the way through my senior year and I moved out to Las Vegas for 8 years. My experiences were somewhat of interest: rampant drunkenness, a stolen lab animal, solid card counting, North Korean meth, time spent with Mormons, advantage slot grinding, a cowardly pass on an FBI Most Wanted bounty, facing contempt of court charges, and dressing up as Albus Dumbledore. You can find that in my BBV thread.
[U][url]https://forumserver.twoplustwo.c...[/U][/URL] .
That thread held up pretty well in BBV, which is not nothing.
Starting meditative relaxation can be problematic when you're dying from choking on your own puke. I sat up straight, blind from the black splotches that had slapped away the weak light of the kitchen stove. I dropped my shoulders, relaxed my chest and upper arms, and then, projecting calm with all my might, I tried my throat. I pictured my lungs and throat opening up just a tiny passage, for just a little air to go by--something to get me started. And they did, untethering just the smallest little rivulet of air, and it made the most terrifying sound as it went through. It always does.
Whatever you've heard from actors pretending to gasp after being choked, the reality is worse. At least no one was with me this time. When that's been the case, the other person has invariably freaked the **** out when they've heard my gasping and choking routine, which only adds the burden of myself having to reassure them through nodding and non-frantic gestures, so that they won't call 911, as I hate the idea of calling the cops.
April 13th of this year was 14 months without me having a drink. During that long stretch I had honestly forgotten why I'd quit. That's right, I had completely purged from my recall the years of nighttime memories of myself almost choking to death, this happening once or twice every couple of weeks on average. Now, the terrifying night wakeups didn't happen even once during the 14 dry months. But 3 weeks back into drinking--oh yeah--there was that thing, wasn't there?.
Now, there was something else I'd forgotten about. And that's the Double Tap. The Double Tap happens when I don't force my drunk and tired and traumatized self to remain awake for a good two or three hours after a choking incident. If I fall back asleep before then, I wake up choking to death all over again. And sure enough, that happened last Friday, and I had to save myself again.
So on Saturday I jumped back on the waggy, and Cinco de Mayo is now my new anniversary date, and that's really enough about drinking. I'm not here to write about that business. I should have been done with it; and now I am.
My flight leaves for Reno in a few hours, and I'll be out there for the next 3 weeks scouting out the live poker games in the city. If I like it, that's where I'm moving to.
In the words of Jean-Luc Picard, "Make it so."
Or, in the words of one of the Redneck Comedy guys, "Git 'er done!"
Thanks guys! I'm off to work at the crack of deuce (PM)
You talk about your days of card counting, poker and slot hustling. Figure with the somewhat recent legalization of sports gambling in Massachusetts might still be some good sign up bonuses worth chasing. Also there seems to be a market for beards, guys in different markets with fresh accounts and can go into different areas to make live bets.
I listened to a recent podcast of Risk Of Ruin about a couple guys who specialize in getting bets down for groups that are professional sports bettors.
Interesting....some of the dealers are heavy sports book punters. I could ask around. The two things that give me pause are (1) the tax situation would be complicated, to say the least and (2) it smacks of working for someone else, which I don't want to do anymore.
Thanks guys! I'm off to work at the crack of deuce (PM)
Interesting....some of the dealers are heavy sports book punters. I could ask around. The two things that give me pause are (1) the taxes would be complicated, to say the least and (2) it smacks or working for someone else, which I don't want to do anymore.
Yeah although not that much of a working for a man. Probably a daily request to place X bets and probably a weekly bookkeeping request. That being said you can still do the sign up bonuses and possibly sale these accounts to one of these syndicates and let them manage it. I’d also think any of these organizations doing this have the taxes figured out.
$28.90/hour for a hobby
godspeed my friend
Yesterday was a long breakevenish day, which was better than a long losing day by a longshot. I made my second consecutive 40-hour week in a row. I'll try to start in on a third straight week later today.
The poker room will have a couple of $3000 drawings today at 6pm and midnight, so that will spice things up. I have only one entry in the drawings out of 300 or so; I'll have to run pure.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 8 hours
(-$32.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
+$78.36
2024 Running Poker Total: 156 hours, +$2036.00
2024 Running Slot Total: 92 hours, +$4888.86
2024 Grand Total: 248 hours, +$6924.86
I've been leery of Bob Marley covers ever since Clapton's execrable version of I Shot the Sherriff, but I heard this country cover of Three Little Birds on the drive home, and it was quite lovely.
You talk about your days of card counting, poker and slot hustling. Figure with the somewhat recent legalization of sports gambling in Massachusetts might still be some good sign up bonuses worth chasing. Also there seems to be a market for beards, guys in different markets with fresh accounts and can go into different areas to make live bets.
I listened to a recent podcast of Risk Of Ruin about a couple guys who specialize in getting bets down for groups that are professional sports bettors.
You can get in trouble doing this if you don't inform the casino as to whose money you are using. It can lead to false currency transaction reports. It was a while ago, but I think that's how the IRS got Artie Bodendorfer. (ray zee might be the only one who remembers Artie, but he was a great pool player.)
Re: I shot the Sheriff: a couple years ago I was on the western slope. The local radio station had an (apparently daily) feature where they played the well-known version, then a lesser-known version.
This was that day's selection:
Toots is amazing!!! The funny thing is, I actually knew the Toots and the Maytals version of Take me Home before ever hearing the John Denver one!!! I was never well versed in country music, but quite so in the reggae scene (I use to be a dj for a reggae night).
There has been many covers of Bob Marley songs, most of them good, but known as known as I Shot the Sheriff, granted.
almost any person would be well served listening to the messages Toots had to sing
Re: I shot the Sheriff: a couple years ago I was on the western slope. The local radio station had an (apparently daily) feature where they played the well-known version, then a lesser-known version.
This was that day's selection:
The perfect counterpoint to a country version of a reggae song. Well done, sir!
Toots is amazing!!! The funny thing is, I actually knew the Toots and the Maytals version of Take me Home before ever hearing the John Denver one!!! I was never well versed in country music, but quite so in the reggae scene (I use to be a dj for a reggae night).
There has been many covers of Bob Marley songs, most of them good, but known as known as I Shot the Sheriff, granted.
Thank you for introducing me to Toots and the Maytals. Apparently they're the band who coined the word reggae, so not knowing of them was a big gap in my music knowledge. Sadly, it doesn't look like they're going to have anything in Rolling Stone's Top 500 albums, where they could have easily replaced some of the acts I've heard so far.
Take Me Home Country Roads will be one of the songs that people will still be singing in 300 years, even if it's in makeshift camps warmed by the toxic fires of a collapsed world.
I took a beating yesterday, but I made some mighty folds and was shown the goods on several occasions by kind villains. I have it at around $300 saved yesterday by not using "I'm committed to call less than a pot-sized shove here on the river given my range" or "There's no way he has it this time" or "FU I CALL" as valid criteria for making decisions.
These thoughts will always come up when I'm stuck and getting beat up and agonizing over a big pot, and they will always be frighteningly compelling in the moment, so I'm proud of pushing them away and saving myself many hours of EV. I'll be back at it again on Tuesday.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 8 hours
(+$282.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 3 hours
+$131.02
2024 Running Poker Total: 164 hours, +$1754.00
2024 Running Slot Total: 95 hours, +$5019.88
2024 Grand Total: 259 hours, +$6773.88
I took a beating yesterday, but I made some mighty folds and was shown the goods on several occasions by kind villains. I have it at around $300 saved yesterday by not using "I'm committed to call less than a pot-sized shove here on the river given my range" or "There's no way he has it this time" or "FU I CALL" as valid criteria for making decisions.
These thoughts will always come up when I'm stuck and getting beat up and agonizing over a big pot, and they will always be frighteningly compelli
Well done, sir! One indicator of a very strong player is turning a would-be disastrous session into a decent winning session by making disciplined folds when necessary. The ability to stay patient and grind out a winning session when the deck is conspiring against you is quite commendable.
Not their *best* album, only excellent. The influence of this band was/is enormous across multiple genres.
Take Me Home Country Roads will be one of the songs that people will still be singing in 300 years, even if it's in makeshift camps warmed by the toxic fires of a collapsed world.
♥
I took a beating yesterday, but I made some mighty folds and was shown the goods on several occasions by kind villains. I have it at around $300 saved yesterday by not using "I'm committed to call less than a pot-sized shove here on the river given my range" or "There's no way he has it this time" or "FU I CALL" as valid criteria for making decisions.
Proud of you.
I took a beating yesterday, but I made some mighty folds and was shown the goods on several occasions by kind villains. I have it at around $300 saved yesterday by not using "I'm committed to call less than a pot-sized shove here on the river given my range" or "There's no way he has it this time" or "FU I CALL" as valid criteria for making decisions.
These thoughts will always come up when I'm stuck and getting beat up and agonizing over a big pot, and they will always be frighteningly compelli
These tax-free profit numbers make me excitable
Well done, sir! One indicator of a very strong player is turning a would-be disastrous session into a decent winning session by making disciplined folds when necessary. The ability to stay patient and grind out a winning session when the deck is conspiring against you is quite commendable.
I think this one was still a losing session but could’ve been worse.
Maybe I was confused. Didn't he say he was +282 for the session? Or did the red font and/or parentheses indicate a loss?
Regardless, even if a loss, taking a manageable loss instead of a huge loss is a definite sign of a strong player.
Well done, sir! One indicator of a very strong player is turning a would-be disastrous session into a decent winning session by making disciplined folds when necessary. The ability to stay patient and grind out a winning session when the deck is conspiring against you is quite commendable.
Maybe I was confused. Didn't he say he was +282 for the session? Or did the red font and/or parentheses indicate a loss?
Regardless, even if a loss, taking a manageable loss instead of a huge loss is a definite sign of a strong player.
Correct, Da_Nit. I done goofed and put in a + where there should have been a -. I appreciate the kind words, TopGun in VA!
Not their *best* album, only excellent. The influence of this band was/is enormous across multiple genres.
Good to know that they're on the list! I'm trying not to peek forward on that list, so I checked the Wikipedia awards section for the band, and it let me down. The article had Toots as a Rolling Stone Top 100 singer but neglected to mention their top 500 album placement.
♥♥♥
Thanks AF! The poker hourly could be better, but I started the year on a big downswing and didn't get into the black until almost February. Give me about 350 more hours and I should have things straightened out.
Part of my Year of TV Pirating involves watching classic movies that I've never seen, so I'm watching Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation today, and there's a scene where Gene Hackman visits Teri Garr in her apartment, and he joins her in bed.
While they're talking, Garr gets up and grabs a box of crackers . She returns to the bed and starts eating them.
That got me wondering about the old phrase, "I wouldn't kick him/her out of bed for eating crackers," and if The Conversation could be the origin of that.
Nope. Turns out it's much older, going back to around 1906, when a pitcher for the Phillies [U]complained[/U] in a letter that his catcher and roommate (they didn't pay players much back then) was keeping him up by eating crackers in bed. The letter got out to the newspapers and everyone had a good laugh over it, except maybe the pitcher.
Coppola must have been using the phrase as a visual joke.
Sting played Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the David Lynch version, so I took Butler as an improvement on that. I think that Lynch's Dune was underrated to a certain extent, especially after seeing the full version—the original screen release was butchered in editing to the point of incoherence. His was an ambitious and fascinating failure...but Sting? Nah.
Spoiler
I WILL KILL HIM!!!!
Yeah after seeing these films and all that I'll def have to get myself into watching the DL version in full finally, and also the books at some point, even if just to see where it really went all wrong with the 1984 adaption. Truly fascinating. So in that sense Villeneuve did a pretty fantastic job and prolly well deserved the fortunes he got for doing what he did, he got many peeps interested in it, that's all it takes. Even though I still think Dune 1 was much better. And yes, Sting was certainly a cast nobody ever asked for...
We should also note that Kyle MacLachlan's and Timothée Chalamet's Pauls were both pretty boys, so we could see Feyd-Rautha as sort of a comparable foil. I think the Baron does make some remarks about Feyd's beauty in the book, but don't hold me to that.
Well, I don't really wanna get into this discussion but as for my unimportant opinion Kyle MacLachlan certainly has some very distinct, I guess you could say pretty boy, features, whereas that thought never crossed my mind with Chalamet, he looked like a regular guy, good enough to make it on-screen but I never thought of him as a woman-magnet or whatever. But what do I know, you'd have to ask a woman. We could ask the hordes of women we have here on 2+2. Oh wait...😃 And disregarding the fact that if you ask three women you get five opinions. So there's that...
bro, stick to the slots..
