MIA

Hey Gang.

Sorry about the protracted absence from blogging, and I have to admit that it warms my heart that so many people are concerned with my whereabouts. My inbox was starting to fill up with inquiries, so instead of answering them all individually, I'll just say that all is well, and the truth is that I just haven't felt like writing for a few days.

And although previous absences have brought about 'epic screeds that would put the Unibomber to shame', that is not the case in this particular instance. I have had several random thoughts buzzing around in the attic like electrons around a creative nucleus, but I haven't been able to organize them into any type of coherent form, much less turn them into interesting posts, so I'm content to let them run their courses and let them die natural deaths. I just hope I didn't get anyone's hopes up, expecting another story like the cruise ship/dice tale from a few weeks ago.

Sometimes I just suffer from a temporary bout of writer's block, and when that affliction intersects with my inherent laziness, well, sometimes the result is five days going by without me posting a thing. Part of the problem, lately, has been lack of funds. Tokes are down, expenses are up, and living the frugal life in Vegas just isn't very interesting. I haven't gone out and done anything new and different for several weeks--I haven't tried any new restaurants, haven't seen any new attractions, and haven't even had any random encounters with any freaks or weirdos like I can normally count on in my regular course of everyday events. It just doesn't give me much to write about.

I am, however, looking forward to seeing a few friends next weekend. My favorite Canadian, Sticky, is coming to town for a few days, along with a few other T2V degenerates, so I'm looking forward to her visit. Although my gambling budget is pretty much non-existent, my drinking budget hasn't been adversely affected by my present cash-flow issues. We have no firm plans except for a little buffoonery at the Carnaval Court one night, along with breakfast at the Paris buffet at some point during the weekend. Other than that, it's all up in the air.

In the meantime, the simple outside-observers cure for my mild case of poverty is "Why don't you get that poker dealing job you've been talking about for the past six months?". Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Since the WSOP ended, there is a glut of unemployed poker dealers in this town, and there are no jobs to be had. In the past week, I've had two of my classmates from poker school stop by the casino to commiserate with me about their inability to find a poker dealing job. And since there are no openings, everyone has gone back to school--last Tuesday there were about 28 students in there practicing their craft, where normally there are only about 8-10 on any given day.

However, since I'm not taking any time off again until March, I'm considering getting a second job dealing in the pit at another casino during the day. I just have to motivate myself beyond remembering what a drag it was last summer when I had two jobs. Dealing dice for 16 hours a day will turn your brain to mush and wear out the body, too. Luckily I'm not dealing dice every day at my permanent job anymore, so even dealing dice exclusively at a part-time job shouldn't tax the system too badly, while giving me some much-needed practice.

I think if I found something where I could work three days a week and keep my same days off would be ideal. But right now I'm still in the 'considering the possibilities and scanning the online listings' stage, not even really taking it seriously just yet.

But I'll muddle through, and hopefully be able to come up with something interesting to write about over the course of the next few days.

Mikey