Got straight As for the first time ever. And I did it with a full 19 credit hour schedule. I also got 100% in my Diff Eq class which is a first for me. Basically, this was the most successful few months of my life.

I forsee this as being one of my last posts in my blog. I'm just not a blog person, I'll type about whats going on in my day and just erase it becuase I really don't feel like sharing. Also, gabe has become funnier than me recently so I need to focus more on out humoring him.

And also play more poker. Kinda discouraging results so far for my winter break as I had an ITM% of about 23% but my ROI remains high for my career.

Christmas should be an interesting time, I didn't give a christmas list to Santa this year so I expect my father to go crazy.

In years past he has bought me nothing but joke gifts. One year, the highlight of my christmas was a huge bundle of about 200 highlighters. Its made even funnier these days becuase I cant find a damn highlighter when I need one. Last year he bought me a wooden dog with a fake leash and was just cackling the whole day about it. Rumor has it, pink shoes will be under the christmas tree with my name on it, but I'm not sure. In any case, it should be fun.

Well, I haven't even thought about playing for the last 3 weeks. Which is a good sign since I've noticed that my biggest leaks are 1) not playing, 2) not having any patience.

I dunno what there is to say about the life or rilla.

I suppose I'll start with Turkey break and move to the present. Thanksgiving was awesome. I took a complete break from everything, something I was in desperate straights for. I was suffering from such horrible burnout leading up to Thanksgiving break that it was a blessing. Thanksgiving was one of the better in recent months. My family didn't show up becuase it was snowing too hard. My family isn't bad, but one or two of those who were showing up have a bit of a cocaine habit that's basically sending their life in a downward spiral, and no one really wanted him around the house for fear he might see something and take it. So dinner was spent between my parents and brothers. My litter brother and older brother have shared the same problems with school since first grade. They just never do all the busy work and their grades suffer but for the first time ever, my little brother made the honor roll. Which means this may be the first summer in a while that one of the two of them won't be spending in summer school. The prospect of a family vacation is floating in the air. For the last few years, vacations have been short and to places like NYC and New Orleanse. I liked it becuase I'm not built for the beach being an irish boy with fair skin. Wow, how the hell did I end up talking about vacations?

Back on track.. wait off track. I just got real pissed off.

For one of my classes, Computational Methods, our teacher is an ASSHOLE. For the first 90% of the semester, he was cool. Becuase he didn't mind that no one showed up for his class becuase it's 9th fucking grade math. Seriously, there is not one subject covered in this class that I haven't already seen. But all of the sudden, he's taken it personally. He's collected our HW, graded it, returned it and now he said that we have to find it ALL and take it back to him to get our grade. HW is 60 percent of our grade. Not only that, he decided to write his own test for our last test instead of going with the test the other teacher used and he made it long as hell. He also assigned a hw for THE DAY OF THE TEST.

Mr Sadek,

You're a fucking douche. Have some simpathy for all the engineering majors with 19 credit hours trying to stay afloat with all their work. Your class is a blow off class. Don't be personally offended when I don't show up becuase I have a test in some other class or becuase you're going over fucking Eurler's Method. It's just not easy sitting through 4 hour and 15 minute lectures and going to your shitty class instead of eating since I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. I seriously just want to kill you so I don't have to fucking bother with it.

The only class I'm going to go to is that rate the teacher class. It'll be nice since I'll be the only one there and I'll be able to give him straight zeros so he doesn't teach anywhere again.

Last week was hell, 5 tests. Some teachers trying to be huge, leaky douches. But I did really well on all but one. The last test was a Physics test covering 6 chapters of material and I only had one day to study. I don't have the results from that test yet, but even though he curves it so that the avg is a decent C, I don't think I did that well.

"We just need a day to fuggin unwind and get drunk after this week. It could be a holliday." "Yah, and we'll call it Friday."

It was a merry friday.

In a freak coincidence, the entire fabric of time and space was bent under my enormous will to cash in a multi table tourny. At the time of my previous post, I was still entered and doing moderatly well and destined to bubble in the 5r/a and the 10 FO.

But then I had an epiphany. I am simply greater than everyone at everything until they prove otherwise. In an instant, I not only became the best tournament player, trash talker, math-wiz and male model, I also became the luckiest man in the world. Using my awesome muscles, both mental and physical, I was able to wield an insane maelstrom of tremendous luck. Winning when I was ahead, bluffing successfully, flopping a set or two, even making my first royal flush ever and staying forever ahead of the competition. With the mere flick of my huge man pecs, I could determine the fate of any player at my table. Then there I was, on the bubble of each and cruising ITM with the mere buldge of my shoulders. Eventually, my focus wanned. I found myself focusing more on my beautiful physique and less on masterfully crafting the fate of my e-life and busted in both.

I think I did respectfully in both. I only came from behind twice after all the money went in and I was really just one or two key pots away from a big cash. Even more importantly, I am freed from this damned "can't money in an MTT" curse and I can finally go make some money in the sngs. I don't think I'll even find myself going the way of SCgolfer and soupie. I like the steady stream of income from sngs but if I ever secure a big cash, I might spend a few weeks trying to press my luck.

Free at last, free at last. Thank Me Almighty, I'm free at last!

Also, shout out to gritter63 who was also very close to a big cash.

In my never ending quest to win and lose every dollar on the internet, I have recently realized that I have not monied in an MTT for months. Now, granted I've only played about 16 tournies over this stretch but 12 of them are 180 man sngs. 1 was a deep stack tourny where I have 130k at 100/200 blinds and 2 Bodog 100ks with a big 20+2 for good measure.

Instead of complain about all the 3 outers and flush v flush hands I've hit, or even attempt to think about my leaks (like probably not being patient enough (Which, oddly I thought was a weak leak early in my career)) I am determined to money in an MTT. Even better, I've decided that this will be my Thanksgiving present to myself. So no MTTs til thanksgiving, then I'm going to proceed to win all the money on the internet.

In other news, school is tough. I've got hell week the week after break, then a week off, then finals hell week.

I really shouldn't have started writing a blog, I am wholly uninteresting right now. Going home to eat turkey and other shit. Whatev.

Well, this weekend was really fun. I vaguely recall a game of Flip-cup where one team started chanting something so our team started doing the "Quack Quack Quack" chant from the Mighty Ducks.

I also vauely recall having 130k in chips at 100/200 blinds in the 10+1 deep stack tourny and being out on the bubble when the big stack at the time had a stack of 130k. About an hour into the tourny, I realized that not only were stacks real deep but blinds were super slow! And I immediately realized that 2 things, 1 if I was patient enough, I could go deep in this tourny. And 2, if I reraise preflop every hand I want to play, I will win a lot more becuase the stacks are SO deep and the blinds are SO slow, people just don't want to get involved in a huge pot without a big hand. And I'd be the one representing the big pair the whole way through.

Unfortunately, early on I was acutely aware that I had no desire to play a tourny for 12 hours becuase that would involve missing the Steeler game. So early on I just kept reraising and reraising and built myself up to about 8k when I decided to take the worst of it in a 4 way AI with 99. I won ended the hand with something silly like 30k. Then I got moved to a table with to other 20k stacks who just gave me all their chips pretty easily. Then moved again and just kept absorbing chips. Then once I peaked out, variance evened out pretty quickly. Some key outdraws, some great second best hands, lots of spite callers hitting big and just the general "nothing is going right" sorta deal and I was out on the bubble. I may have missplayed the last hand, but I'm not sure.

With an avg 40k stack and blinds at 400/800 I raise QQ utg and Tx (A guy who had taken to huge pots off me with a set vrs top 2 and some other hand that did not end in showdown) calls and so does some other guy.

Flop comes A high, 2 clubs. I have the Qc. It's checked around. Turn is the 4c. I was pretty sure that no one had the ace out there and if I bet, I may have to go to the felt with it since someone might try to bluff me off the hand knowing I checked after an UTG raise. (Which probably means I either hit a set or hate the ace) So I bet somewhere around the pot (like 4k into a 5k pot. Tx decides it was a good time to raise it to 20k and I run with my flush draw and precieved top pair and push for 20k more. He calls with 44 and I'm gone.

Partially pushed becuase the guy just had my number every time and I was just kinda done with the tourny. We were only 6 hrs in and I just didn't feel like I had to stamina to go 6 more hrs to FT that tourny. I also had not eaten all day. I love my play in all my other hands I was really rolling with a big stack and if it wasn't for the key top two vrs set hand, I could have really controlled a lot of chips going to the bubble.

While I'm doing very well in sngs, I haven't cashed in an MTT in like 6 months. Granted over that period I've played about 10 Mtts, 7 of which were those 180 man sngs. In any case, I have a very easy schedule this week and I'm determined to FT an MTT. And to also watch all these movies I bought and haven't gotten around to like Raging Bull, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Hotel Rwanda.

Some time ago, I started a thread to open my eyes to some great movies that I had never seen. Since then, I've bought about 15 movies and I'm going to review them for you.

On a scale of 1 to 500.

Let's start out with the movies you've probably seen.

Also, about half way through, I realized my memory sucks and I am probably not the best person to review the movies. The general idea is, if it's rated above 400ish, you would probably enjoy watching the movie.

The Godfather (And Part II)

Great movies for reasons you probably know. Just a fantastic story of powerful men. Nothing really needs to be said.

480/500. (I only didn't give them 500s so you'd think I was actually putting some thought behind the exact numbers... suckers)

American History X

An absolutely must see movie. This movie put Edward Norton on top of my list of favorite actors. The story is about two kids falling into Nazism and White Power rhetoric and their fight to escape their ignorant past. Again, I probably don't need to say much about this movie since you've probably all heard of it. And if you haven't, now you have. I'm payin it forward, baby.

445/500


Crash

A recent release about how many different lives collide with each other and everyone learns a little bit about themselves. That lesson is usually about racism. Great movie, good rewatchability and a great story. Definitly worth the 15 or 20 bucks I dropped on this DVD.

430/500

City of God

Subtitled and therefore difficult to rewatch (knowing that you're going to be excersising your brain is so lame This is a very good movie. For those of you who though Scarface was overrated and simply a few good scenes wrapped in a long and drawn out movie, you should like this movie. Becuase we think alike and I would never lie to someone of similar mind. It's about some kids in some country, you know? I just realized I absolutely suck at explaining movies. Kids grow up in a city outside of the law, become criminals, become very deadly and rich criminals, awesome story ensues.

450/500

Well, if you're still reading my awesome reviews...

Primer

TylerK told me to just buy and watch the movie and not learn anything about it before watching it.

390/500

Friday Night Lights

Friday night football. About high school football team in a county that demands a championship. Great football action, good story, good speeches and good times.

400/500

Fargo

I can't even explain this movie becuase I just didn't "get it." Bunch of Canadians roaming around whacking each other with funny accents. Whatever gets your jollys going.

Sucked/500

Evil Dead

Totally worth it. Awesome gore. Very scary. Short sentences. Kinda old.

425/500

Evil Dead II

It was Evil Dead. Exactly the same movie. Just a slightly different setting, much less scary and more gruesome and plan old insane. One or two good scenes does not a movie make.

200/500

Army of Darkness

Easily the most dissappointing movie in the bunch. One I read the lines that were quoted from this movie, I thought, "HAHAHAHAHA, That is funny!" When I saw the preview, I said "HAHAHAHAHA, That is funny!" When I watched the movie, I realized that EVERYTHING that was funny in the movie was in the preview and quoted to me earlier. I definitly think that if I was given the motivation, using the character Ash, the premise and setting, I could definitly write a better script. It had so much potential. The last scene in the movie was great! If they could just make the entire movie more like the last scene, it would be amazing! Just.. not their. Still awesome lines like "This. Is my BOOMSTICK!" "Hail to the King, baby." and some other stuff... that I can't remember.

My memory sucks/500

Ong Bak, Thai Warrior

Awesome action. Horribly predictable story. Awesome action.

HI-YAH!!!

390/500

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Difficult movie to understand the first time through, great movie on the second watch.

440/500

And finally Dog Soilders

This movie was probably my favorite becuase I wasn't expecting much and kinda ticked since I had to buy the movie twice (it didnt arrive on the first order.)

Simply awesome movie. It's about a platoon (like 6 men) out on a training misson that get wrapped up into a werewolf movie. Great scenes like when the Sarge gets his stomach slashed open and they just pile his guts back in and keep going. Hilarious dialogue. (though, sometimes difficult to understand due to the british accents) Appropriate ammounts of gore, decently scary at times, and very entertaining from start to finish.

475/500.

In review, the movies you must see are: Dog Soilders, American History X, Godfather and City of God.

My schedule lighten up for school all next week. I plan on playing a lot of beer pong and poker. I've been on a diet for many months now, and I said that I wasn't going to touch alcohol until I had hit 200 lbs, but after a few weeks of drinking and still seeing positive results in my weight loss, I've decided excersising my social muscles was a healthy venture. The little poker I did play this week was generally good. Up a couple hundred bucks for about 6 hrs work. Though, I went 0/6 in those 180 man sngs. I can bubble those things like it's my J-O-B. I get to the bubble, decide to open it up and see if I can run 10000 chips into 20000 but apparently no one minds bubbling that tourny becuase I get way to much action on the bubble. But that's ok.

So, in review, My movies: Good. My pokers: Good. My lifes: Good.

s'all good, baby.

What a sad day in the Hokie Nation. Waking up the the realization that we now have no chance at a national championship, and we might even be out of the ACC championship. To compete for the top, you really have to be flawless in college football and one bad game destroys your rank. But it's ok, we'll soilder on.

I remember turning to the guys I was with during the end of the first quarter when the score was 10-0 and saying "We've probably lost this game already." After the Hurricane defense had managed to consistently stay one step ahead of all our wide recievers. You can only do so much running the ball and when it comes to 3rd and medium where you've got to throw it but you're still in a two reciever set becuase your top WR was injured, the Cane's defense is going to stomp you. I'm shocked that anyone managed to beat this team.

I'm going to try to play something today but I'll be more occupied with football games and studying for my big AE exam.

I've been thinking about putting together a sng team of some sort. Y'know? Get together with 2 other people who play similar stakes, play out of the same bankroll, have an even split or maybe split 50% based on performance and 50% evenly? It would take a lot of stress of the single player's shoulders, take a lot of emphasis off short term results and I know it would enable me to play more becuase I'd have to compete for the group and results wouldn't mean much of anything.

In the midst of the College Gameday High life I haven't exactly found time to play outside of the quick asswhopping handed to me by gabe in the HU tourny. He swept me in a very frustrating manner. Though neither match lasted long, I just wasn't hitting any hands of value and it seemed like gabe never folded. So any time I try to put chips in, it's looking for folds and he just refused. He did absolutely pwn me on one hand where I tried to induce a little bluff when I caught up with him on the river with a decent pair and he made a huge overbet which I read more likely to be for value than bluff.

I choose gabe becuase I knew losing to him would look a lot better than losing to say, Alibi. Right, VQ? I have some clear leaks in my HU game, but that's ok. The only times I find myself HU, the blinds are very large and I gamb0l.

Moving away from poker and back towards College. I'm not gonna get to play all weekend cuz tomorrow is the biggest game of the year for the Hokies so far and if we don't beat Miami soundly we may bubble the National Championship. Which isn't cool.

I'm going to a little party before the game where much fun will be had, and a roast pig will be devoured. I can't wait.

LETS GO!!!

HOKIES!!

...Before I find myself too uninterested with this fun little adventure. Not that I have anything against the idea of the blogs. But poker and listening to people talk about their poker adventures is usually boring unless you're traveling the world and playing super high stakes. The only times I'm traveling these days is between my desk, bathroom and sometimes I sleep.

My poker life as it exists today is trying to squeeze in a set of 8 sngs during mid day hours between classes. When I do find time to play, I usually opt out of it for something else. Poker is fun and winning money is fun. Also easy. But as with anything with any level of uncertainity, I do enjoy not losing. The days when I win, I always feel good. And that's cool. Losing doesn't hurt/tilt me or anything and usually losing isn't that expensive, it's just something I like less than winning. Finding that middle ground where nothing happens seems to be a nice alternative as of late. Especially inbetween big tests, since the swings in the world of Academia can be worse than poker.

So, to summarize, I'm not playing near as much as I need to and when I do play it's usually very unentertaining.

What would a blog entry be without gloating? I have played 183 sngs over the last two months. An average buyin of $15.7. Mostly Bodog and PokerStars turbos. My ROI is 42% and I'm profiting 7 per tourny. Pretty sweet, huh?

For anyone who plays at the 5.5 or 11 level, you absolutely must move your bankroll over to Bodog until you've bleed them out of about 1000 dollars. The play there at the 10s is of a calibur un-heard of in this day and age. Waaay too lose early, always calling huge preflop overbets and waaaaaaay too tight on the bubble. It's the dream line up. Bodog is simply an absolute must for anyone who isn't playing 22s+

Future plans are as they have been for months. Learn limit. I had said some time ago that I was hoping to put together 3000 bucks and jump head long into 5/10 and see what happens. When I hit 3k which isn't far off, I probably won't go into limit becuase I don't have a party account any more. If I can find a good site for limit, I'll probably jump at the opportunity and play 3/6 instead of 5/10. But til then, I'm just glad i'm a winning poker player.

"A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement. In this way he steadily raises his level of aspiration." But what does the man do who is willing to fail?