More of Santa Monica

Home of the infamous Santa Monica Pier, this place actually turned out to be more interesting than the rest of LA combined. All you can play pier mini golf for $3 (made fun with drinking-style skins play) kicked it all off, well, after neil rode a cannon. Let me say, going on a vacation without women is a struggle. You have to strike that perfect balance of drinking just a little too much and being just a little bit insensitive in the presence of children and the elderly. Neil managed this scene perfectly. How often do you get the chance to use a cannon as a phallus, making children and their parents laugh together. The kids just thought he was riding it, the parents thought he was compensating. It was great.

And I mentioned the street performers. There was a korean guy who was doing amazing things with spinning a badminton racquet and a soccer ball together off a stick in his mouth. But he was a little pushy so no soup for him. Good free show for us. And then there was mr. genius. I don't know if he was homeless or just a pedophile, but this guy at the end of the pier stood next to his boombox with an "ernie" puppet from sesame street and had him lip syncing to music. Not children's music. Typical transient pop stuff. Now on stage, ernie and....g unit???

And do not let it escape you that ernie's lips are flat. That's some lip syncing.

So we eat (see pickle burger) and we're walking around 3rd Street Promenade, a nice family place (see police), and there it is. A cat. But no ordinary cat. This cat is old. And psychic. Yes, this is the famous Psychic Cat (It said so in the LA Times article attached to his post). And it just knew that Neil would pony up the $2 for his future to be told. I have a chunk of it on video if anyone's interested. His owner was a sleazeball but Psychic Cat was right on the money (all 2 dollars worth) handing Neil a fortune of great vagueness and ambiguity that slightly touched home everywhere it needed to. Ah, to be a psychic cat. Anyhow, it was time to get some more drinks and work on my lines. Big day tomorrow.

"The price is wrong....bitch"

LA 2

We went out to lunch in Venice Beach with Neil's friend Pooja. With the wind, it ended up being the most uncomfortable meal we ate. Plus, there was the hippy factor. First, I ordered a coke. We've all had the experience of "Is pepsi okay?" or "We only serve __________ products here". Well not this time. My "coke" turned out to be Blue Sky Cola, a "natural soda" with no sodium, caffeine, preservatives, or artificial flavors. How did this $3 can of soda taste? Like freshly squeezed lemonade, which for the same price, was what I ordered when I made the hippies take back their hippie juice. I mean, protest to your hearts' content, but I happen to favor the destruction of caffeine trees and artificial flavoring bushes when it serves the greater good.

Then tofu came in my stir fry. Tofu! And it cost about 800 dollars. And then I could feel the glow of Blue Sky Cola manufacturers kumbaya-ing around a campfire, hemp necklaces bouncing in the moonlight.

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Thoughts on LA

Pics below.
They got out of order so start with 1.

What an amazing country. Remember the elections when you saw blue on the coasts and red everywhere, then you looked at the popular vote and it didn't seem to make sense? I mean, sure, you can intellectually comprehend that the coasts are more populous, but then you go out west and you see a 50 mile stretch with no people. 50 miles...that's amazing. People will pay $1500/month in NYC for a broom closet with plumbing and there are unbelievable expanses of poorly accessible, undeveloped, dirt cheap tracts; and no one wants them. Don't know what I'm getting at really, but look at the pic. Snow capped mountain touching parched desert earth. Beautiful country we live in. You just have to look a little past suburban Maryland to see it sometimes.

So we landed in LA on Saturday. Nothing like the beginning of a week in sunny California. Except for el nino. Just as it rained in the deserts of Mexico and Arizone on me a couple weeks ago, the LA I know was transformed into a dirty gray, bringing out everything that makes it undesirable to others. It was chilly and dirty and traffic was all you've heard it to be. We picked up our Chevy Malibu (and used the horn 3 times in the first 10 mins...fun). If any of you ever buy one of these cars, prepare for etermal mock and shame from me (and yes, that's coming from someone who bought a Hyundai; the Malibu is really just that bad). We did touristy things. Nothing too exciting. We ate in Beverly Hills and managed to have some money left over for the rest of the trip. That was a cool thing to do. Despite popular beliefs, Paris Hilton WAS NOT having sex publicly on Rodeo Drive. Yes, I consider myself shafted. No, the pun was not intended. The best time in LA was Santa Monica, which coincidentally refused to join the other smaller cities when greater LA was formed. Santa Monica seems more beachy, less snooty, and it's a general good time. We met up with Tanner and his woman, and the 5 of us ate and enjoyed the Sunday night scene. I ate a pickle burger. It was pickles diced up in the ground beef and cooked together. I think I would have preferred just a pickle on the burger, but hey, I had to give it a shot. Experiences are there for the taking, and really, that's what a lot of this trip was all about. The night pretty much topped off when several cop cars rolled up at top speeds and arrested someone in a Barnes and Noble. Not sure what he did exactly, but he was black, and it was LA so let each man draw his own conclusions.

On the 2nd day we also went to Venice Beach. Once the sun came out, so did the freak show. Thankfully. For those who haven't been, Venice Beach is where you go if you want to be accosted by people in costumes, watch weird street performers, or if you feel like hippydom (which includes mass paintings of Bob Marley, more than a few references to "the pot", etc). My favorite memory is the man with a gray overcoat, yellow pants that only reached the top his knee high boots, a hat with a feather, and a pitching wedge. He requested a dollar for a pic with him, and he ran up to tourists trying to scare them by pretending to kick them or hit them with the golf club. Did I mention that he also had a 40? Or that it was 10am? Good times.

Gotta go. I'll pick this up later...

first panoramic 

politics and poker

It's late and a test week so I should either be studying, napping, or freaking the hell out. Instead, I want to expound on a conversation I had with Christine in the shower earlier. I know, I know, my priorities are irreparably damaged. For the record, this is a continuation of pre-ring times, not a sad glimpse into my celibate future.

Anyhow, read this first.

Avid card players, of which quite a few will read this, know the United States. You're in a 10 person game and one guy through luck, good play, and a ton of aggression has half the chips at the table. Everyone looks on with some fear, some contempt. US will push you around and you will most likely fold...most of the time. You see that there seems to be a greater force to his good fortune and that with nothing to lose he will call you until you have nothing left. You do not mess with the US.

So there a couple of possible strategies. The US could sit back and let the others fight for the rest of the chips, and just avoid conflict safely, inciting a reverent jealousy. This never happens. I guess people think they should "stay with what got us here", even if that might involve an uncontrollable, slippery sense of luck. So instead, the US continues to push hyperaggressively, chopping down the small stacks; loud in actions, loud in speech, an elephant in the room. Everyone hates the US. And once that guy has done it long enough, made others desperate enough, the small stacks will fight back. And something to remember is that not everyone is weak. Someone else will soon rise from the masses with wealth and support--dangerously--and some of that may be from leaked wealth from the US in its hyperaggressive misjudgements.

And now the big stack all of a sudden has some trouble. Formidable adversaries. No allies. Everyone wants a piece now, purely out of distaste. China is no pushover. Don't fuck with them with your rhetoric and your threats. They will call. And you will look foolish, because everyone knows that every time you raise, you do not have the best hand. In fact, most times you have rags and everyone is suspicious even though they aren't in position to call you down yet.

China has a strong hand and the desire to go all-in with it. How strong is your hand, US? Is this a showdown you're willing to lose big on?

Anyhow, as mentioned, the weak don't always remain so. No one likes being the small stack. The US didn't when it chopped down a big stack (Britain) in the Revolutionary War. And the US used its new wealth to start a campaign of growth and prosperity. These other small stacks aren't all going to go away quietly. Of course, some are smarter than others. For example, North Korea is representing rockets (A-A). "They don't have aces," Christine astutely pointed out. True, but they may have A-7 or K-9 or J-10 suited or something that will win some of the time, and frankly, with our current streak of getting called out with Q-5 and the likes while representing the nuts, isn't it time to just give it some thought before reraising? True, North Korea probably has shit. It's probably a smart bet to call them. But we need to be careful, and that's all I'm really saying here. China is no joke. Syria, all those countries, go with peace while we rebuild our stack with smart moves, and if you then do something foolish, we will come after you and no one will fault us for it.

After all, the US can be smart by not bullying, and it's foolish for others to pick battles with the tough guy at the table, especially when he's thinking clearly and has a lot of ammunition. This is where we should be and what we should be moving towards.

The bully never wins at cards. Not in the end. He's not smart enough.














(shower...me...girl...and this is what I think of? stop judging)

This pic kinda sucks but it's the best we have from that morning 

early morning at the beach 

always a good decision 

Snowboarding last December 

self-indulgence

Since I've gotten so much wonderful praise on the pics from yesterday, and from them in the past, I think I'll try playing with this new software I downloaded and put old pics on here fairly often.

These will be photos that are either memorable, beautiful, or I think they look cool. If anyone wants them, that's fine, but please let me know. Besides I have higher resolution versions that I can send you.

Enjoy the weekend. Study hard (if applicable).

yes it rains in the desert. thanks, el nino. 

If it only wasn't 120 degrees in the summer.... 

call me ansel 

from the room 

Just after this was taken, Wile E. Coyote put some Acme TNT underneath. Sorry to say it didn't work out for him. 

arizona is pretty 

Andre and my beautiful fiancee 

somewhere along the border of arizona and sonora 

craziness

A couple of quick things because it's a crazy hectic time.


1. Wow, I'm still getting personal comments on the 2/14 post. Strange. It's been a month. I think I'll get some posts in to create some distance from it. With this knack for the controversial, I should have a radio show or something.

2. So we're engaged now and that's good. Tomorrow morning it will be a week. So far there's been one stripper and zero freak-outs, so that's a nice pace right out of the gate. We're tentatively thinking 9/23/06 outdoors. This is progress. $till waiting on contributions... Anyone with any good thoughts or resources, send them our way.

3. About a week until Spring Break out west. Still need to get reservations. Test beforehand. Very unprepared.

4. Shouldn't all this cold and snow be wrapping up right about now???

5. Don't call all-in bets with two aces on the board.