Time To Change

I guess I've had way too much time on my hands this week, because I've been getting some ideas. Probably the kind that are gonna get me in trouble. Well, if not trouble, at least cause me a lot of frustration and unnecessary swearing.

I've never been satisfied with the layout of this website, so I'm probably going to change the template again. It'll probably look a lot like Kri-Monster's when I'm done, (except maybe a little darker) as I've told her that every time I visit her website, I get 'template envy'. I want a three-column layout, and I want my main content area to be a bit wider. I also like her color scheme, so I'm totally gonna steal from her. Actually, it may not look exactly like hers, I may put two narrow columns down the right side, but we'll see. I'm still kicking around ideas and thinking about gadgets I want to include.

Also, there may be a new feature in the pipeline that I think you'll all get a kick out of, but before I make any announcements of grandiose plans, I've got to talk to my 'brain trust' of gals to get their input. But I've got some fun ideas and we're gonna brainstorm over beers tomorrow night. I hope it works out, but it may just be me smoking mental crack. Besides, I'm sure I'll need Kri-monster's technical wizardry to help me figure out how to do exactly what I want to do. I hate to be so vague, but you know, I'm more of an idea guy, not so much an implementation guy, so I'm waiting for the experts to tell me that I've either got my head up my ass or that I might be onto something. (The smart money is on 'head up my ass', BTW).

Anyhow, I guess that's the side effect of idle hands that have nothing to do all day. Yes, I could practice on that guitar, but I still haven't located all of my practice books. And I don't want to practice chords and scales that I've forgotten because I don't want to do them wrong and have to unlearn-and-relearn. And, I could do some writing, but, well, you know... And I've still got some books to read, too. But sitting around coming up with *brilliant* ideas takes a lot of effort.

Or, I could just say fukkit and head down to the casino and play cards. That's what I did last night--I was bored, my roommate had some of the loudest damn company over that I've ever experienced sitting out in the game room talking at about 110 decibels, and I feel like I'm short on cash again. Luckily, my outlook is such that I believe I can make money every time I go play poker, so I decided to get out of the noisy-ass house and over to the tranquil serenity of the casino to supplement my income. Sitting around waiting for the phone to ring has proved to be a pointless endeavor this past ten days or so, so I might as well fall back on my mad poker skillz.

I went down to the cardroom and took a seat in a 4-8 game. I'd rather play no-limit, but I only had a hundred bucks to work with, so I sat at the kiddie table instead. And I lost about $50 worth of blinds and limp-in-to-see-a-flop bets in the first two hours I was there. Seriously, I'd gone through four different dealers before I scooped my first pot. It was frustrating as hell--I almost walked away, thinking, Well, I can live on fifty bucks until the weekend...

Since I was sitting there like a rock for so long, once I got my first pot, I changed gears and started raising, scaring everyone off, so I scored a couple of cheap pots because people thought I was so tight. Then I managed to get pocket Aces on the big-blind during a Kill pot, and some dude with Kings kept betting into me all the way to the river and beyond, and I ended up busting him. I dragged a very satisfying HUGE pot.

I felt much better after that--I wasn't 'sweating' my bankroll, so I was playing more comfortably. Even though there was a complete maniac directly on my left, there were about four other players at the table who I *knew* I could outplay on any given hand, so I just picked my battles over the course of the next hour or so and ended up making a $125 profit, which ain't too shabby at a low-limit game. I finally packed it in at 2:30, headed over to the coffee shop for some free grub (I've been playing so much middle-of-the-night poker and getting triple points for it, that if things get real slow, I can eat for free at the casino for a few days!), and called it a night.

That helped--a small score like that was kinda like going to work for a few hours, except that I didn't have to wear that ugly shirt and I could have Bailey's in my coffee without having to be sneaky about it...

I've got no real plans for today--once I get some sleep, it's just the usual chores, and maybe I'll rip a few CDs to the computer and get them onto the iPod. Eventually, I'll find my way over to the O-House to have lunch with Marcie so that she doesn't worry about me, but after that, the day is mine. Who knows, I may even get some writing done.

Mikey