McArthur style

Before I left the Jamaican bar on Thursday, I may or may not have uttered the words "I shall return." But in anycase, that is precisely what I did.

Met up with Corinne, Tyler and Courtney at the Yonago-eki (train station) and bke-caravaned to this pool/comic library/karaoke place. Played a few games of pool, absolutely dominated everybody there. Apparently there's not a single serious cue sportsman in the Yonago English-speaking community. I may have had given the impression that I'm a show-off asshole by playing, and beating Nicole(who claimed to be a 4th year JET) one-handed. Dave (Korean 3rd year JET with Japanese good enough to have an entourage of cute Japanese girlfriends), Katherine (older British ex-JET, very talkative grey eyes), Pete (typical British soccer hooligan, 4 months in, travel-friend of Kean), and some woman whose name started with D (Deborah?), Ted(American with Japanese wife who's into martial arts) were also there.

Subsequently the gang broke up and Corinne, Tyler, Ted and I made our return to the Jamaican place. I still can't remember exactly what the place is called or where it is,


but the owner's name is Ishida, who does excellent sleight-of-hand magic;


the sumo-fan's name is Morimasa, drinks straight sho-shiu and was very good with drunken exchange of Jap/Eng gibberish;


and this is Nano, will produce a better picture of this cutie in my next escapade;


and of course, the ever-present Corinne.

(not pictured: Tyler and Scott, drummer from Indiana who may or may not be a dealer)

The bar has no more than 20 seats, but with maybe 7-8 people inside you would have to rub shoulders with everybody else. Despite the small size, we managed to stay there until 5:30am, when the Thai girls showed up en-masse (we were forewarned by a winking Ishida-san). Requests/solicitations in the form of "Go home? Go home?" were easily understood and (gasp!) politely turned down, for now(what was I thinking!?). Finally stepping out into the daylight was a disturbing and nauseating experiene after the hours spent inside that warm, dark, and strangely comfortable hole.

When in doubt, bow

Today Nishiyama-sensei brought Amy and I to city hall, where we applied for our gaijin card. The physical card itself will be available for pick-up in two weeks, but for now I have the one piece of paper (which says that I am in the process of getting my gaijin card) that legalizes my residence in Japan, so I can get bank accounts, salary, cell-phone, internet, Subway cards, and junk-mail.

Lunched at an udon place. I’ve never eaten dipped udon (like cold soba noodles) before. I would’ve slurped like a true Jap. if not for the fear of getting soysauce spots on my shirt and tie. We paid for our own lunches. Near the noodle shop at the intersection of route 245/317 was a place called Cue’s that looked like a pool hall, judging by the name and the 8-ball graphic.

Then it was straight to the Nakayama city hall. The mayor wasn’t there so I get to keep the BV cabernet for another day. Met with the head of the board of education and introduced myself to the rest of the staff. Basically it was a lot of hajimemashite, yoroshikuonegaishimas, and bowing. I found that in Japan, when in doubt, bow, apologize, or apply shame to self via other means. It is interesting how such a shame-based culture can co-exist with its history of war and aggression.

We went over the contracts in the BOE conference room. Everyone was impressed with my being born in Taiwan and my ability to speak Mandarin. In fact, so much attention was paid to me that Amy must’ve felt neglected. One interesting observation: during the meeting, I asked Nishiyama-sensei some question regarding the contract, which for some reason caused the principle of my school to nod profusely in approval, which in turn caused the principle of the elementary school to prompt (a more appropriate, and only slightly exaggerated verb describing his action would be order) Amy, his ALT, to ask questions as well. This transaction between the two principles somehow looked well-practiced. I wish I were a better writer to capture these you-had-to-be-there moments.

After that Amy and I parted ways and I went to Nakayama junior high school. I supposed I was there to work, but really I only sat in the back of the air-conditioned staff room and read Daily Yomiuri, the English newspaper (I was able to use the internet but the connection shut off before I can publish this blog entry). 5 students came by, 4 of whom were going to Temecula in 3 days, and not only their English was at a much higher level than I expected from the equivalent of 9th graders, but so was their willingness and excitement to communicate. They got excited when they understands me, and even more so, when I understand them. It was a really, really pleasant experience. One of them even tried to use an if-then conditional sentence (if it rains this weekend, there will still be festival but no fireworks)! Not to sound like a child molester or anything, but one of them looked like the kind of girl I would’ve liked in elementary school. I just realized that, those kids seemed much younger and immature to be 9th graders. Maybe it’s the water.

Nishiyama-sensei had to stay late and work on some CDs to bring to Temecula next week and did not get me home until 6:30. Hopefully it didn’t delay my party plans. Meeting Karyn in 15 for pool, ‘less it constipates and shit doesn’t go down.

Living the viva Yonago

Flew from Tokyo to Yonago day before yesterday morning. Has it only been 2 days?

On the flight, Pam(the British girl who also lives in Yonago around the BOE building, short red hair, the proprieter of missing luggage) and Simona(philosophy major from Iowa, girl with very diaphramic voice) both commented on Cryptonomicon that led to further conversations. Who would’ve thought that reading Neal Stephenson would add increments to my social life as well?

Lunch with Honda-sensei, Tokunaga(sp?)-sensei, Amy, and Tanaka-san at some Italian restaurant. Jen from Seattle was also there at the same restaurant with her group. Decent chatter considering the language barrier.

Moved into Belletopia (pics and dscp to come) the same afternoon. Honda-sensei and Tanaka-san stayed until gas and telephone were activated. Amy and I went on a brief biking excursion/orientation.

The same night, Sarah, a 1-year ex-ALT who lived in the other building came by and invited us to Doma-Doma, a Japanese restaurant in restaurant row with English menus with pictures, apparently the key to Yonago survival. There we met Kean(sp?), an Irish guy starting/working an English conversation class, and Karyn(sp?), a neo-hippy 3rd-year ALT from Northeridge, who was obviously stoned. Wow, did not think dialated pupils come this easily in Japanese countryside. 2 beers later Sarah drove us home.

Yesterday, got oriented at the train station with Honda-sensei and Amy in the morning. It’s going to cost 1.4 mon yen every month (after commuter discount) to ride the train (480 yen each way) to school.

Went to school, met the teachers and some of the students, whose names would take months for me to remember. The school only has ~150 students, but the architecture is marvelous, comparable even to sections of Stanford campus. There will be plenty to write about the school later so I won’t do it now.

Unable to start a bank account without proof of address, Honda-sensei and I went to the sake joint owned by Hata-san, a friendly woman in her 50s. The Hata family grow their own rice (in the rice paddies across the street from the shop) and brew their own sake. The shop is right in front of the Nakayama train station, with a tea house on the second floor, so I’m sure I will be spending a lot of time hanging out there. Got passport photos and shopped at an electronic store (for a next-to-useless TV antenna) and 100yen store afterwards. Honda-sensei treated me to cake and tea before she dropped me off, as a belated birthday present of sorts, at an immaculate dessert shop appropriately called Libido.

Biked along the beach with the other Yonago JETs. Myself, Amy, Pam, Majinder, Tyler, Adam, and Courtney were led by a current JET Suzana. Caught ¼ of a sunset, saw some sea cockroaches and jellies.


View from the beach.


Tyler, Pam, and Majinder.


Possible culprit from my swollen left index (see the next entry on 7/30)

Bought a few cans and hung out at Courtney’s apartment, in the same building as Tyler. A much bigger space than mine. Very animated discussion about Bush and war ensued, which I declined to take part.


Left to right: Courtney, Amy, Corinne, and Tyler. On the floor in Courtney's oversized pad.

Corinne came by later and we all went out to a Jamaican hole-in-the-wall bar for the barternder’s birthday and drank. Scott, a guy from Indiana who’s been here for 12 years were present for the festivities also. I think I had a little bit too much oolong-hai, which is oolong tea and sho-shu (burning-wine in Kanji, which I understand to be sake on steroids, bout 40-50 proof) and tasted just like tea. Drank enough to bring out some of my patented steps.

If not for Amy I would not have made it back home on the bike. Woke up the next morning, naked and hung-over around 8am, with a mysteriously big puddle of water on the kitchen floor, in which my bag was soaked. Very strange indeed.

Hiakus in Japan

Evan gets two:



No apologies

for haiku efforts; Asian

is what Asian does.



cho



--- "XXXXXXX, Evan F."

<evan.f.Meagher@bofasecurities.com> wrote:

> Cho's haiku efforts

> Bring to mind but one awful 

> Truth: He is Asian.  

> 

> 

> e

> 

> 

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Jeff Cho [mailto:thejeffcho@yahoo.com]

> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 4:26 PM

> To: Raval, Parth; Meagher, Evan F.; Kayvon Bina;

> David O'Steen

> Cc: Ben Allen (E-mail); Justin Parekh (E-mail); Jeff

> Cho

> Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Biggums

> 

> 

> Mockery attempts

> fall on my deaf ears because

> I'm inscrutable.

> 

> cho

> 

I probably needed the sleep anyway

Spent a whole day between JET workshops around the hotel. Informative yes, useful no. Did not learn anything significant enough for me to at least change or form any ideas about the year to come.

Met the Tottori people this morning but missed the chance to see them completely bombed while getting completely bombed myself tonight. I fell asleep between the 8pm general reception and the 9pm meeting time and did not wake up until 11pm. Got no one to blame but myself (although Ranier could've easily tried to wake me up on his way out). Shit shit shit shit.

It's not the end of the world. I hope. I will simply have to make more of an effort to meet the Tottori folks tomorrow... So far, there's Amy, Joe, Erin, Varsha, and those two not so intelligent guys at the lunch table. I tell myself that I needed the sleep anyway, and probably wouldn't have been very sociable or interesting even if I had gone out, but these thoughts failed to comfort. Shit.

Option 1: head upstairs to Mike's room, where there might be an in-room party. Problem: the whereabouts of his room is unknown to me. It's in the forties, which narrows down to near 100 possible candidates.

Option 2: head downstairs to AJET secretariat and play PTY. Problem: it's just simply pathetic.

Option 3: head out and wonder around Shinjuku myself, hopefully starting or joining a group. Problem: I'm just not awake enough to accomplish this.

Option 4: head up and sulk at the bar on the 45th floor. Problem: the price of the bar is too high for self-loathing.

Option 5: sleep it off. I probably needed the sleep anyway. Problem: see above.

Ran into Carry a couple of times today, with whom I had significant conversations and exchanged knowingly flirtatious moves at the pre-departure orientation in LA. Although she looks a bit older than me, she's probably my best shot at getting laid in Tokyo. I'd much rather that this option was available for several other candidates(viz. Jennifer, Mina, Kimi) but with such a short window of time it would be difficult.

I probably wouldn't have been very interesting, or in any shape or form to socialize, plus I saved some money on expensive Tokyo drinks right? I probably needed the sleep anyway.

Pics

The bandwidth springhead. The hallway outside of the JET computer room has wireless access. Only other internet options: 1) sign up for a 15 minutes slot; 2) compliment dial-up from your room.




My hotel room, shared with Ranier, ex-UCLA music major, pic to come later.




Bus ride from Narita to Shinjuku. The girl in the red sox hat (lefty second row from front) is really cute , but who is obvious way to aware of her own hotness




The streets of Shinjuku. The native habitat of 500yen ramen and 850yen Guiness.

Japanese toilets

Felt super corny about revealing my birthday to those guys at the Irish pub. It sounded like a desperate cry for attention, but it had to be done. It was my 25th birthday for God's sake!

Went running this morning, stopped by the toilet in Shinjuku central park to shit, but the sight of the squadder without toilet paper turned me back immediately.

Returned to the hotel, went to the bathroom in the basement restaurant/bar area. For some reason I simply couldn't get in to any of the stalls. Either all of the stalls were occupied and locked (in which case it must've been a horrible experience for the person(s) on the other side of the stalls, given my knocking, kicking and prying), or there's some sort of key/lock mechanism that I couldn't figure out. A kid pissing in the kiddie urinal was looking back at me the whole time, wonder what he was thinking.

The bathroom in the lobby were unlocked, and the stalls were wide open. I gladly entered and took care of business. Just as the toilet in my hotel room, these big guys have all sorts of buttons on the side, in an electronic biday/toilet combination. After the busines was taken care of, I fiddled around for at least 2 minutes to flush the toilet in vain. Minutes later, I realized that the flush didn't work because the toilet wasn't plugged in.

Reporting from Sinjuku

Last night, decided to go without my pool cue. Mom will have to ship it later.

9:30am Meet at LA airport.
Checked in baggage. Lots of random small-talks turned into more interesting serendipitous repeat encounters. Talked to Ranier at the baggage line, who turned out to be my roommate at the Kaio Plaza. Talked to Jocylyn's dad in line, who's a doctor from Taiwan, whose daughter Jocylyn sat next to me on the flight. Maybe the small talk with Jennifer will turn out to be something special tomorrow? She has a way of looking sideways at me that reall tugs at my heartstrings. When I told her that my town was famous for broccoli, she said, "Do you like broccoli? I like broccoli." Damn, I guess it's just not the same transcribed, but the way she said it...

Sat through a boring, uneventful, under-ethnolyzed 12 hour flight, landed in Narita around 4pm local time. Went through custom and all the subsequent lines without much trouble (custom only cahrged me 400 yen for the 3 additional wine bottles). Another hour of uneventful bus ride and we're at the hotel.

Checked in, hauled luggage up, met Ranier, showered, walked through Sinjuku for a couple of hours. Will upload pictures tomorrow.

Okay, ikusoo

3:11. Three hours into the last day of my American days, thirty hours before the intercontinental take-off.

Let's see what we can accomplish with the last-minute packing. Consider it my last harrah.

Pack it up and go to sleep. The wake up for tomorrow's 1pm-8pm pre-departure orientation at LAX Westin. Time is running out, is you ready?

Another $20 at Stan's house tournament was not a bad going-away present. Same goes with the Eric's saiyonara at the DB. It's now or never.

Ikusoo.

3 kinds of Men

Been reading Cryptonomicon for the past few days, and stumbled upon many insights along the way.

Men who believe that they are accomplishing something impressive by speaking (viz. Brian Frank) speak in a different way from men who believe that speaking is a waste of time once the point has gotten across (viz. Jon Wyler). Obviously, belonging to the first class, despite being more confident and fluent, aren't necessarily more intelligent, or even more educated. This is just another way of saying that there are people who talk for the sake of talking, and there are people who talk for the sake of communicating.

But there's a third, much rarer class. Men of the first category, who typically talk as if they have a bunch of stuff figured out, are often frustrated with speaking to men of the third class, who think in terms of questions rather than answers, who does not speak impressively and are in turn less likely to be impressed by impressive speech. Men of the second category, who speaks with agendas in their heads and mentally checks off boxes as they go, also get nowhere with men of the third class, because conversations with men of the third class don't typically have desginated roadmaps and, as are typically the case, go nowhere. People of this third class, more often than not talk for no particular reason at all.

Everyone think of themselves as the exception to the rule, I am no exception. Despite that, every once in a while, I find myself truly belonging to this third class. I don't speak in order to be listened to by others (because I don't talk impressively), or in order to be heard (because ideas that sound interesting to me are better conveyed through writing), or in order to hear myself (I hear myself much better without speaking). I speak as a way of making up a bunch of new shit as I go along, and generally hope that someone'll join in, which no one ever does, at least in any satisfactory manner.

Often, after I've been blabbering for a while, people ask "So what's the point?" Asking this question is an indication of completely missing the point of my blabbering, which by design have no point. However, the pointlessness of my blabbering is precisely the reason why I blabber them--so that the point can be found via a joint effort, which is the point of having a bi-directional conversation in the first place.

Being a good gambler

Eric, Jon, and Ed have all needled me about playing higher stakes, telling me that I'm good enough. I certainly think I'm better than all of them and I do so unabashedly--I have to be better, better be better after investing more than 10x in the amount of time playing, reading, watching and thinking poker. Just as in everything else, confidence needs to be earned.

But in addition to being a good poker player, you also gotta be a good gambler. One measure of being a good poker player is the stake that you play for--naturally the higher the stakes the tougher the players you're playing against. But a good gambler plays at games/tables/stakes in which he can win the most money. At this stage in my poker career, winning more takes a back seat to losing less. And sitting down at a 2-3 no limit table, commiting $100 when my bankroll is a mere $150, is not a smart gambling proposition. I have full confidence that my game is sharp enough for me to sit down and not be a underdog, but I have no confidence in winning THAT ONE particular session, and no stomach to swallow the deficit if I lose. It's much better to make more/lose less than to buy the skewed notion that you belong as one of the big boys for one night.

Here's an analogy for the above situation. Say I have $100 in my wallet and $500 in my bank acount, someone makes a proposition to me: "I'll flip this coin: if it lands head, you win $120, if it lands tails, I win $100." This is obviously a winning proposition for me: I am a 6:5 favorite, winning on average $10 for every $100 invested. But I just can't take it with only 1 bet in my pocket and 5 more in the bank before I go broke.

If the prop is $1.2 to $1, and he guarantees at least a thousand tosses, then it's a diference story. That is why I play 50/1 on PTY and 1/2 live. It simply the smarter gambling move for my budget.

So Ed, if I can budget $500 monthly for poker, then I'll more than happily play no-limit in casinos. Since I don't have a $50,000 job, $100 buy-in's seems like a long way from now.

Gambling or Skill? Edge and Investment.

There were some lessons learned last night. Lamenting about woulda-coulda hands becomes the precursor of tilt for me. I need to maintain conviction in my hand decisions throughout a folded hand. Somehow I have this problem only when playing live as it is easier for me to maintain a long-term perspective when playing online (thanks PokerTracker). Also, I noticed that when dealt a folding hand, I have the tendency to turn the cards horizontally, as opposed to keeping playable hands vertical. Surely I have a sleuth of telling postures and habits like this. Additionally, I think I found a good articulation for my poker philosophy.

People like to think that poker is a skill game. I don't think poker is a skill game: it is still, very much, and overwhelmingly gambling. IMO the ratio breaks down to 80% gambling and 20% skill (unirioncally, the same odds of completing a 4 flush with 1 card to come). But like all forms of gambling, there are good gamblers, there are bad gamblers, and then there is the house, a perpetually winning gambler. Take blackjack for example: without card-counting, the house has a .5% edge (standard casino rules). Obviously there are a lot more idiots than perfect players to boost the house edge, but even so the casino earns a minimum of 50 cents on every $100 invested. It might not sound like alot, but enough to build a city in the middle of the desert.

Notice the two key words mentioned here: edge and investment.

Edge is what a skillful poker gambler needs to stay perpetually profitable. We're not talking about 2x return profitable here. From what I can gather, 1 big bet per hour (a big bet being 2x big blind, $1 in 50/1 game) seem to be the concurrent definition of a decent edge. If you can maintain that edge for 60,000 hands, you'll make (assuming a hand a minute, too fast for live play but about standard for online) $1000 just playing 50/1 in 1000 hours, or 25 40hr, 9-5 weeks. Again, that might not sound like a lot, but if you're skillful and can maintain that edge as you progress in limit, you can earn a pretty decent hourly rate. Professional poker players like Daniel Negreanu, who play mostly 200/400 hold'em during his "working hours" on the Las Vegas strip, makes more per hour than most attorneys.

Of course, to be able to play 200/400 like Daniel, you will need 1)a minimum of $10,000, or 25 big bets, just to be able to sit down and handle the table swings; 2)a minimum bankroll of $120,000, just to be able to handle the long-term variations; 3)to be able to stomach possible cold streaks and losing both of the above occasionally.

As for me, like every other poker player, I wouldn't mind being able to make a living out of it, so naturally the big bet/hour is the holy grail I'm aiming for. Playing 50/1 online, I can handle all three of the above for $25 table stakes and $300 bankroll. If I can turn my current $150 in PTY into $300, then $600, then $1200, then $1800, then $2400, then $3000, then $6000, I can play 10/20 with regularity and turn poker into a legitimate part-time job. In the long run, if I can maintain the edge, playing poker then becomes a profitable hobby/investment.

It'll take a few years, tens of thousands of hours and millions of hands to get there. That's the kind of perspective you need to evaluate the skill in my kind poker player. Give the same bankroll, table time, and playing conditions to me and Johny Chan in a who-can-win-most/lose-less race, I have confidence that I can keep pace with him--for the first 2 months only. With this long-term perspective, I can enjoy poker even if I'm not winning, but I need to be sure that I'm always sitting down at a table with protential for profit. At the poker table, I want to be an investor with an edge.

Yup, more stories with a capital P

Shown: two nights ago, after poker with Ed, Mark and Dominik. Ed won $10 from Mark. I won $5 from him. Although just one win out of 3, it was a great win for me. With a K high flush on the turn, bet about 2x pot. Ed sheepishly asked if I would show him the cards if he folded, I responded with a resolute no. Ed though about it, went all-in with ace high, which I too quickly called. Ed wasn't too upset about it, not as upset as Mark, who cried at Ed for giving me the huge chip lead. If you cry like a loser, I'll bet on you to become one.

Poker last night at the Hawaian Garden, about 5-6 hours of 1-2 hold'em with Mark. Ed and Dominik played blackjack, paigow, and $100 buy-in no limit. From the last few orbits that I saw, Ed's play was surprisingly good with several very tricky gear shifts. He played tight in the beginning (from when I started to watch), folding A6o to small 2x blind raise, folding QTo to no raise--hands that he would've gone all in at our home games. Then he started to catch some cards--and I mean catching hole cards AND friendly flops--44 with 4 on the flop, JJ with no overcard, QQ with J high flop, A3o with A high (against an unraised big blind). Then all hell broke loose. People were afraid to bet into him, and he bluffed a couple of hands with next to nothing, and checked more than his share of maginal hands to the river (55 wins a small pot against 3 overcards). Even pulled off and showed a semi-bluff to the table: the board showed both flush and straight possibility, it was obvious that both Ed and the Angel hat unabomber were drawing at something with their 4 to 1 pot-size bets and timid calls; river was a J that would've completed both a flush and a straight; unabomber checks, Ed overbets $80 into a $30-$40 pot. Unabomber folds and turns over his Q high straight, Ed slaps down his Q high straight along with some commentary (it would've been a very, very impressive play, putting maximum pressure on straight, ignorant straight, and even low flushes--if he had known that he didn't have the best hand, which he later admitted that he didn't; so in the end it was a very, very dumb play). Ed ened up with, counting his paigow and blackjack losses, plus 91.

Dominik didn't do so well. I only saw him win one small hand with a set, and several limp-in attempts held up. Which is to be expected I guess: you can't really sit down at a $100 buy-in no limit game with just $100 as the 2-1 short stack against half of the table. He said he was down about 2 bills. Despite all that Dominik seemed to play with more composure (or maybe it was just misread resignation) than fidgety Ed.

Mark did exceptionally well with plus 70 or 80. I have no idea how the hell he does so well at 1-2. He claimed that he bluffed his share, which I saw no evidence of. Even if he did, I only remember the tabled folded to him once, maybe twice. He showed down at least 15 hands to every supposedly successful bluff (which, I guess, is a good bluff ratio for the table). Well, I suppose there were some shown down hands that would've been bluffs if not for the friendly turn or river or both. There were some unfriendly ones, but they resulted in chops--which Mark got visibly upset about, and I mean slap-the-table upset--that's the kind of night he was having. The one play that was particularly memorable was a shown down K high complete bluff(KJo or KQo)--but you still need to catch cards for these posturing/advertising maneuvers to gain action later.

I won exactly 10 dollars. My biggest pot was an A high flush that I chased all the way to the river against a Q high flush made on the flop, with at least $30 and a very displeased Asian lady in that pot (she can be upset all she wants, my flush chase was a by the book no brainer; with 4 players in a raised pot and 3 remaining on turn, I had more than enough pot odds to bet and call a 2-1 draw on the flop and 4-1 draw on the turn; it would've been stupid not to draw at the nut flush). The Asian lady was solid and tricky: checked her top-pair until the river to hustle a big bet out of my Ace high, and yet showed down the bottom pair against the loosy-goosy Armenian. I caught her watching me through her orange-tinted glasses many times after I looked up from my hole cards. Subsequently I gave her a good share of my own stare down as well. Besides her, the rest of the table were filled with obvious fish. $10 for 5-6 hours of 1-2 worked out to be exactly 1 big bet per hour, which isn't bad for a now professed grinder like me, but I would still rather catch a hot deck and double up like Mark did.

I still don't understand how he pulls off huge wins like this, 3 out of 4 times now. I guess it can't be all luck, but I just didn't see the skill in filling up full houses.

Kobe not a Clip...what's a Clip to do?

So, Kobe remains a Laker. Damn you Kobe, for getting my hopes up for something we both knew that was never going to happen. Good luck with next year, if you don't end up taking it in the Colorado penal system.

Although Kobe could be a slightly more likable player with Phil and Shaq gone. Maybe then all of his me-first, out-of-flow jumpers will stop making me cringe, because they may be actually warranted. A Kobe 3 with 15 seconds to go on the shot clock is worth more than feeding Brian Grant in the post. He just might have to take those if he wants to stay in the playoffs. With improved SA, Utah, Houston, and Denver, plus the already good Dallas, Sac, and Memphis who haven't improved YET, throw in New Orleans, Lakers should focus on making, and forget about winning the playoffs.

At least it would make the LA/LA matchup that much more exciting.

One more thing, about the Eli and House trade. True, they did trade them for nothing, both of whom they could've gotten more value than 2nd round picks from Charlotte. They cleared up what, 2.5 mil? That makes their cap at 14.5 million for next season (which was what they were going to offer Kobe). Considering that Q just got a 45 mil, 6 year offer from the Suns, that makes his annual salary at 7.5 mil. IF the Clippers match it, which I think they should, they still have another 7 million to sign...Darius Miles!? This has to happen. Elgin Baylor will be a fool not to. Imagine always having at least 2 of either Maggette, Q, and Miles on your wings for the entire game! Miles could even play some point, as Portland did try to use him as a point forward in short stretches last season. This has to happen.

An Ayn Rand Ideal?

Wackiness: 22/100
Rationality: 72/100
Constructiveness: 98/100
Leadership: 66/100

You are an SRCL--Sober Rational Constructive Leader. This makes you an Ayn Rand ideal. Taggart? Roark? Galt? You are all of these. You were born to lead. You may not be particularly exciting, but you have a strange charisma--born of intellect and personal drive--that people begin to notice when they have been around you a while. You don't like to compromise, but you recognize when you have to. You care absolutely nothing what other people think, and this somehow attracts people to you. Treat them well, use them wisely, and ascend to your rightful rank.

This is from 20 Questions to a Better Personality. Maybe I ought to read more into some of these names.

Just another day tainted with other people's stupidity.

Yesterday I got this idea that my stomach cramps and migranes were probably caused by dehydration so I drank plenty of water today.

Yesterday I also got my international driver's permit from AAA. It took a few hours through too many detours, for a simple process that should've taken 15 minutes. A lady in a blue blouse, one of those kinds with a folded collar, was talking and listening intently to the first guy in line when I walked in--a little TOO intently. The guy blabbered on about golfing in Mexico, and she was listening like it was the bishop's gospel. Definitely one of those lonely housewife/PTA busybody types that Orange County is so plentiful of. She readily admitted that it was her first day here, and when I made the request for the international driver's license, she replied that AAA doesn't do it, but they have the forms and a list of addresses where I can get it done. She even asked another coworker if she had the right form. I had reason's to doubt this person's competence since 1) all info that I received point me to AAA for the driving permit and 2)she asked me if it's a new application or renewal and 3)the title of the form is passport application/renewal. Despite my suspicions, I still took the form, tried to fill it out right there, and took it home because I didn't have my passport info.

All the way back I was troubled about the application that asked for passport info, as my passport is in the hands of the Japanese Embassy. Got home, called one of the numbers, turned out to be a post office--the usual place to get PASSPORTS. They obviously did not process driving permits, and directed me to the DMV, which I later found out wasn't open on Mondays. Came back home, checked the internet to make sure that the lady was talking out of her stupid middle-aged ass about the AAA not processing international driving permits, and left home for the 3rd time, back to AAA for the second time. This time I actually had someone competent enough to do the simple paperwork, which involved stapling my picture to a form that asked for my CA driver's license info and checking my AAA card. I was done in less than 20 minutes. Before I left, I saw the lady with the blue blouse looking over someone's shoulder in the back cubicle, but decided not to ruin her first day on the job which I by all means should've done.

Yesterday I also lost $15 to Mark, who won all three games we played and made out plus $35.

53:14 later

Front Mission 4: accomplished.

Block Buster late fees: $12.90 (including Winning11).

Time spent: 53 hours and 14 minutes (during 9-day span).

Time wasted: 53 hours and 14 minutes.

Entertainment lost: much (poker winnings, Catalina trip, golf day).

Side-quests accomplished: The adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden, secondboy of Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, Eighth House of Menzoberranzan.

Ire caused: that of Mark, probably Eric's, most definitely Mom's.

Health costs: much. Include but not limited to sleep loss, appetite loss, chronic stomach pains, migranes, dehydration, two sore thumbs, stiff neck, etc.

In exchange for: petty pride in my two-pronged melee tactics, backed up by and linked to a squad of long range shooters, causing 1500+ points of damage every round to enemy wanzers, and yet having enough flexibility for two medics and two missile/bazooka/rifle for extremely-long-range support. Taps will surely appreciate.

Meanwhile...

Days remain until departure: 13.

To-do list items remain: yet to be determined. Probably a lot, hopefully not too much.

I am feeling that ulcerous pain again.

Bowing to aches

My migrane reached its pinnacle tonight, not even a double shot of ibuprophen can ameliorate it. Apparently the only way for me to reduce the pain is to lower my head as if bowing or looking at my shoes. Being humble and self-deprecating has other benefits as well.

Spent the whole day debilitated by the headache and the waves of stomach pain. I did win seven dollars from Party though, so it wasn't a completely waste of a day.

Bought two books: Cryptonomicon by Neal stephenson and the Drizzt trilogy by R.A. Salvadore. They should last me a couple of weeks, once the aches blow away.

Decided against driving over to Mark's for the PS2. Considering the possibility of wasting more hours and aggravating the migrane, it's probably a good idea. Although since video game craving can surface at any time in any form, it's best to guard myself against it.

Ill

Sick I've been, sick I am, sick will I be tomorrow?

There was the near-fever and headache from two nights ago. And ever since then I've been having persistent migranes and stomach aches. Low energy, low appetite, felt like food poisoning. How is that possible?

I don't think I've been eating anything foul. Mom's cooking should be fine, considering that neither she nor Jack got sick. I haven't really eaten anything outside besides the Big Shot BBQ pork sandwich on Tues or Wed. Maybe from drinking? I haven't drank excessively, at least by the standards of a typical binge alcoholic. Weed? I've never heard of people getting sick from smoking weed. If anything weed should have eased the onset of the pain.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the old smelly bottle of vodka(I knew I should've paid attention to the un-vodka-like smell) from Ed's house, the one he brought out after Salick, Mark and I drank everything else, did the trick.

On top of the illness, nights of over-drinking, over-smoking, combined with days of under-sleeping, under-hydrating, under-nourishing and under-exercising have resulted in around-the-clock fatique.

I must admit, although the illness has caused much discomfort, it has not caused much dismay in my daily ritual of doing absolutely nothing. This whole week, I've split time playing Diablo II, LOD, Master of Orion, and Front Mission 4 (plus NBA2K3 and Winning11 with Mark). My neck is stiff from so much video games. I literally played Front Mission 4 (giant robot TBS game) from the moment I woke up until now. If not for Mark coming over and taking away the PS2 (for Megan and Mika to play Spiderman2), I most certainly would've have been playing still. With Japan preparation and grad school stuff lying in shambles and lying in week-old weed, the illness has not caused much chagrin either. Perhaps this malaise is not merely of the body.

It is still the fourth. There's still enough time to make a mental roadmark. From this point on, things shall change.

Now that I have gathered and listed most of the stuff I need for writing sample and other grad school considerations, instead of keep working on it to no end, I ought to just set it aside and start making serious efforts in preparation for Japan. Packages need to be shipped out by mid-July in order for them to arrive in Japan by the time I get there. Collections of pictures, omiyage shopping, book shopping etc. remain to be done as well.

$20.00

From Ed, Eric, and Taps. Not including a first-hand all-in by me(my AA against Mark's K paired on flop), voided on an Ed-ian technicality. Actually the jokers were in the deck for the hand so the technicality is not so presposterous as shuffling the deck mid-deal.

With Jon and Eric around, the night was filled with a pleasant amount of Ed-bashing, which was a nice change of pace. Mark jumped into the fray against Ed a little too. Lots of ribbing and rubbing from everyone against everyone (it was refreshing to get some jousting from Eric, being rarely in the driver's seat of the table). All in all I'd have to say that the vibe was good, an excellent way to win twenty dollars.

Swear there's really something about this deck. Again I had pocket 6's. Ed wouldn't call that all-in but I showed him nonetheless. Also split two more all-ins with 4's and 7's. I had some nice cards, 2 AA's to be exact (one won in the aforementioned technicality, the other barely won more than the blinds). Ed had four 7's once. Mark flopped a flush and a full-house, both against Eric I think, who had at least 2-pairs both times. There just seemed to be more unlikely (but exciting) combinations of cards coming out of this Kem deck. Maybe the larger numbers and letters in the card corners gave the hands that you get that much more memorable--or maybe these cards are just greased somehow.

Came back home way too drunk and stoned at about 3am. A combination of booze, weed, dehydration, too many hours of Master of Orion, and days without exercise gave me one of the worst bouts of headachy semi-sleep last night. I was sweating and overheating so much in bed I actually thought that I was coming down with a fever or something. But other than the headache that went away, weak stomach, and overtime on the toilet, I actually felt alright this morning.

Not alright enough to finish 8 more miles before Sunday, but alright enough to couch-surf all day. Better get with it.

$15.00 (A Celebration of the Devil's Deck)

Up fifteen from tonight/this morning.
Most of it from Salick (sp?) and Dominik (sp?).
Way too everything to think like a critic.
Think Mark is down too, maybe a little bit,
But Me and Ed made out with fifteen.

Each.

A Leech

Was stuck around my stack
for most of the last game.
Ed was either catching some
cards or I'm just really
really drunk and stoned.
Oh well, I still made out with
fifteen.

Some notables: pocket 6's, which showed up at an abnormally mutated rate (at least 6), had not been (two of those in consecutive hands...) kind to (correction, consecutively MY hands with which I knocked out ) Ed tonight. 66 from a fresh deck of Kem Cards. You think they grease specific cards to increase their appearance? I wonder if that's part of the appeal to Kem cards.

My Kem cards. There's a certain Japanese word for that aged-worn-in-well-used-and- well-cared-for look of things. I wonder if that is something these Kem cards can achieve? Will the Tercel, plus a carwash, acheive the said look? Will my cues? The bleached and hole-ly red volunteer t-shirt? I especially wonder about the last.

Mark pointed out at some point tonight about a story idea which sounded really interesting but I forgot. I also wonder about that, and about other things.

Other things such as why the hell am I still up and typing nonsense at 6am.

I don't know the answer to that one. I think I will wonder about it.

I also should wonder about everybody's birthdays. Probably even construct...

Oh dammit.