Jobs

Careers I have considered at one point or another in my life:
Veterinarian
Archaeologist
Doctor (internal medicine, pathology or neurology)
Psychologist
Teacher (high school or college)
Baseball player
Baseball announcer/commentator
Journalist
Novelist/Screenwriter
Pro poker player
Truck driver
Dog walker
Pet shop owner
Film critic
Film director
Research scientist
Construction worker
Web designer
Software programmer
Manager of a movie rental store
Bookstore worker
Law Enforcement
Lawyer (criminal or constitutional)
Firefighter
Trophy wife

Careers I have never considered and could never imagine pursuing:
Dentist
Bus driver
Janitor
Politician
Ballet dancer
Event planner
Teacher (kindergarten or preschool)
Movie producer
Dressmaker
Accountant
Hair stylist
Nurse
Door to door salesperson
Telemarketer
Receptionist
Podiatrist
Dermatologist
Pediatrician
Car salesman
Snake charmer
Entomologist
Lawyer (corporate or tax)
Babysitter
Lion tamer
Prison guard
Criminal
Violinist

Random Thoughts

I am in an abnormally good mood today. I don't know why. I keep finding myself with this stupid grin on my face and then have to consciously "neutralize" my expression so I don't get hit with the, "And what are you smiling at?" from my co-workers(the answer is nothing; I'm just goofy!)

Yesterday I received from amazon.com a CD by Griffin House (one of the musicians on the cruise, who I actually never got to see but heard good things about) and the DVD of "The Remains of the Day." Watched the commentary to RotD; it was very good. Emma Thompson is hilarious. I guess she was a stand-up comic before she got into acting (she mentioned something about this in the commentary). Also, she and Anthony Hopkins are both obviously very, very smart. Smart, creative people are the best kind of people. <--My deep thought for the day. I am obviously not one of these smart, creative people I speak of.

Griffin House's CD was awesome also. He has a very Elliott Smith-esque vibe; he seems to also be fond of the double tracked vocals. So I was listening to the CD while futzing around on the computer and enjoying it but not actively paying much attention, and then I came to this song towards the end where I could have sworn he sang "I love your butt in my face" as the chorus. I almost spit out my drink. I was like, hmmm, this is not so Elliott Smith-like anymore. But it turns out he was merely singing "I love your blood in my veins." So that was a relief.

In other news, I am sooo not feeling the work vibe today. My boss has been out sick all week with the flu. Not that I wish her to be sick or anything like that, but wow, I can get so much more work done when I'm left on my own. So I've basically caught up with almost everything on my desk. A week ago I was buried in paperwork. I've been the anti-procrastinator lately, I guess. Until today. My goal today is to complete the minimum amount of real work that I can for the next five hours. Go go go.

Here is another of these comics that I liked:

Garfield Minus Garfield

My brother sent me this last night: http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

It is pretty awesome.

Here is one of my favorites:

Satellite

I've had this song stuck in my head for the past two weeks.

Just Donating

Played a HU session last night; ended up losing about 5 buyins (NL200) to a rather fishy player, so it was pretty frustrating. I guess that's not abnormal for heads up, as it's a high variance game, but it still makes me feel like I'm the worst HU player in the universe. For some reason, it's always much harder for me to accept losing to a worse player than to a player better than me--it's like somehow I think I should be rewarded for being a more thinking player, even in the short term. Like this game owes me something. It's stupid.

Regardless, I am not a good HU player by any stretch of the imagination and I hope I can improve with more practice. I think HU is the best form of poker and the greatest test of a poker player's skills, but I find it very stressful. I hate the constant second-guessing I do about how well I'm adjusting to my opponent and how much he's adjusting to me. Basically, I think my lack of confidence inhibits my development a lot. I guess this is true in all aspects of my life, heh.

The Greats

The three things that separate great poker players from the merely good players:
1) Ability to filter the important from the trivial.
2) Understanding how other players perceive them (their table image) and how that influences their actions.
3) Most interesting to me, and possibly most important, is the ability to reassess the progress of a hand immediately upon the presentation of new information. This may sound kind of, "well duh," if you don't play poker. But if you do, you'll understand how rare and useful this skill is. Almost all players fall prey to a sort of anchoring heuristic, wherein their initial assessment of hand strength (whether it be their own, their opponent's, or both) greatly influences how they continue to view the hand even as more info is presented. A very simplified example: I am dealt AdAh. I think, ooh, nice, let's get as much money into the pot as possible. Flop comes JsTs9c. I think, hmm, kinda scary flop, but I have aces. I wanted to get all the money in. We'd better get it in!

Great players seem to be able to shake free of this almost entirely. The great player is able to objectively re-evaluate a hand at each decision point. Sometimes he ends up with a complete 180 degree change in his assessment. I love to listen to the thought process of players this good--it is remarkable how unbiased they can remain in their analysis throughout the hand.

Final truism of the day: There is no better poker training than listening to a great player talk through his thought process.

A Reminder

It is not a good idea to play poker when you are tired. You end up doing stuff like 5-bet shoving QTs into AA for 150BBs. Ugh.

A poker truism: You are only as good a player as you played in your last session.

Another: Losing hurts more than winning feels good.

Top Ten?

So two weekends ago I saw the movie The Remains of the Day for the first time. I was playing poker while watching it and not paying all that much attention for the first half of it or so...But it slowly sucked me in, and by the end I had to sit out on all my tables because I had become so engrossed in it. It was the most depressing movie I have ever seen. Devastating, in a way. The themes it touched on: inertia, regret, personal failure, subservience, defining yourself through work that has no real importance -- well, let's just say it resonated quite heavily with me. It was one of those films that I wasn't able to stop thinking about for days afterwards. I ended up watching it again (this time, no poker to distract me!), and somehow it seemed even more sad the second time.

It was the acting that really sold me on it. This is not a perfect movie (I would say the cinematography is weak in parts--there is one particular scene where Anthony Hopkins looks out a window contemplatively, and the way they filmed it makes it look like some kind of bizarre homage to a Hitchcockian psycho villain; and the flash forwards, while important to the overall narrative, are somewhat clunky as executed). The acting carries the film, though. Anthony Hopkins is amazing. Hell, Emma Thompson is too. I'm having a hard time thinking of any movie I've seen with two stronger lead actors.

Anyway, this all got me thinking about my favorite films and whether The Remains of the Day would make my top ten list. Then I realized I don't have a top ten list, which is a sad omission to my life. So now I am going to attempt to create one (you know, in case I ever need to refer to it in the future--these things can be important!). So here it is; I'm not going to attempt to put this in much, if any, kind of order.

1) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2) Fargo
3) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
4) The Remains of the Day
5) Lost in Translation
6) The Godfather
7) Taxi Driver
8) The 'Burbs (it's a sentimental favorite, OK?)
9) Chinatown
10) Manhattan

Elements of Poker

So I just got Tommy Angelo's book, Elements of Poker, and I am enjoying it quite a bit. This is the first poker book I've ever read by someone who is a talented player and a talented writer (well, OK, first strategy book--I read Positively Fifth Street by Jim McManus long ago, and it was a very good book, but it was narrative first and foremost). Angelo's book is almost like a collection of poker proverbs. I like this one:

Low Hanging Fruit

Poker is a fruit tree. Money is the fruit. There are two ways to get the fruit. One way is to climb a tree, get all scraped up, risk falling out, pick some fruit, and climb down. Another way is to stand on the ground and pick the low-hanging fruit. The Professional knows how to climb a tree. But he rarely has to.

Good table image

It's important.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5337888433: Table Bunch Grass - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:18:00 ET - 2008/02/21
Seat 1: premgolf ($400)
Seat 2: gifthorse ($429.30)
Seat 3: Nutzunurchin ($388.55), is sitting out
Seat 4: HeyPokerMan ($385)
Seat 5: Ivanei Ivanov ($410)
Seat 6: Mammola ($400)
Seat 7: famouslastwords ($765)
Seat 8: mischa_007 ($104)
Seat 9: branth24 ($1,134.90)
Ivanei Ivanov posts the small blind of $2
Mammola posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS **
Dealt to famouslastwords [Jd Js]
famouslastwords raises to $14
mischa_007 folds
branth24 calls $14
premgolf folds
gifthorse folds
HeyPokerMan folds
Ivanei Ivanov has 15 seconds left to act
Ivanei Ivanov folds
Mammola has 15 seconds left to act
Mammola folds
** FLOP ** [8s 2h Qd]
Mammola adds $4
famouslastwords checks
branth24 bets $34
famouslastwords calls $34
*** TURN ** [8s 2h Qd] [Jc]
famouslastwords checks
branth24 bets $100
famouslastwords has 15 seconds left to act
famouslastwords raises to $402
branth24 calls $302
*** RIVER ** [8s 2h Qd Jc] [6s]
famouslastwords has 15 seconds left to act
famouslastwords bets $315, and is all in
branth24 has 15 seconds left to act
branth24 calls $315
*** SHOW DOWN **
famouslastwords shows [Jd Js] three of a kind, Jacks
branth24 mucks
famouslastwords wins the pot ($1,533) with three of a kind, Jacks
** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,536 | Rake $3
Board: [8s 2h Qd Jc 6s]
Seat 1: premgolf didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: gifthorse didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Nutzunurchin is sitting out
Seat 4: HeyPokerMan (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Ivanei Ivanov (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Mammola (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: famouslastwords showed [Jd Js] and won ($1,533) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 8: mischa_007 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: branth24 mucked [8c 9c] - a pair of Eights

Randomness

For some reason this exchange from the barenaked.net board cracked me up (mostly the last response):

MrGuard:

To all the Cruise Ladies
I hope that Valentines Day was amazing and that each and every one of you would be my valentine (wink)

James
MrGuard

BrianBNL:

Thank you so much for wishing me an amazing Valentine's day...and I'm so very flattered that you want to be my Valentine, but unfortunately, I find you just a wee bit (or maybe more) creepy, Mr. Guard...

Mr Guard:

I'm not sure which is creepier, my wish to you or the fact that you consider yourself one of the cruise ladies.. LOL...

James
MrGuard

MuppetfromHell:

OOOH!!!! I'm sure!

Who's Counting, Anyway?

OK, so a day later, a week and a half later, all the same in the grand scheme of things...But I better write this down now before this vacation completely fades from memory!

Vacation Top Ten List:
10) Cab driver to the airport on our way back home who kept going on and on about how Tom Brady had once been in his cab and left his water bottle (or possibly gave it to the cabbie w/ his autograph? I couldn't quite follow), so now he has "Tom Brady's DNA" to prove to everyone that he was actually in his cab. He just has to get it tested. Funniest part: Katherine good-naturedly commenting, "Ah, I think you would need something to compare it to," and him just continuing the conversation over her, oblivious.
9) 24-hour soft serve swirlie flavor frogurt on the ship (the swirlie is the most important part!)
8)Watching Ed play Rock Band with fans, esp. when trying to sing "Say it Ain't So" without knowing all the words (he employed my brother's technique of just kind of mumbling in the right key at the fast parts), helping this little 5-yr-old girl sing Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," and failing at the drums on hard and deciding the game "needed" calibration. [Pretty funny also to see that and then see him actually playing drums -- perfectly well, from what I could tell -- with Brothers Creegan the next night.]
7)The Music of Paul McCartney thing that Steve Page and the dude from Harvey Danger did. I don't even like Paul McCartney, but this was really cool. First time I ever realized the chorus of "Maybe I'm Amazed" is not "Baby I'm Amazed" (uh, yeah, duh).
6)Towel animals!
5)Meeting Adam of the Gusters and somehow ending up discussing Puppetry of the Penis.
4)Hearing Box Set live.
3)Spontaneous second encore of When I Fall at BNL show. It was just...yeah. Crazy amount of energy in that room. Probably my favorite concert moment of all time.
2) Songwriter panel. It was totally not what I expected (which would have been a Q & A session about writing songs), but it was amazing.
1) Boothby Graffoe. He stole the show at the songwriter panel, and considering the line up, that was quite a feat. Classic British humor, perfect delivery, some of the funniest songs I've ever heard = unforgettable. Some examples: Kittens in a Bag, I Saw you on the Telly.

He Makes Me Want Her Again

I still have to write some stuff about the cruise before I forget everything, but I'm too tired tonight. Hopefully tomorrow. I'll make a top ten list or something.

Anyway, I heard this song for the first time on the cruise, and it is just ridiculously good:


If BNL ever did a country album, I bet it would easily become my favorite album of theirs of all time.

Back; Losing My Religion

Back from cruise; so sad to be back. Definitely in the running for Best. Vacation. Ever!! Too tired to try to give it justice in writing now, though.

Just saw this, though, and had to post it. Apparently it was played in the spa on the cruise ship (wtf, wtf, but it is awesome):