RANDOM!

I was back up in Alaska 2 weekends ago for one of my best friend's wedding, which also happened to be a day before my mom's birthday, so it turned out to be a jampacked trip. While there's no casinos or underground cardrooms (that I know of yet) in Anchorage, there was still plenty of Poker to be found. A comic book/card shop that normally held Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, was now holding weekly NL Hold'em tourneys. It was $6 to play, and prizes consisted of merchandise and gift certificates. One of my brothers was volunteering as a dealer, and I was there as just an observer because the tourney was open to only 18 and YOUNGER! Something surreal about railbirding a bunch of 10-16 year olds and hearing prepubscent calls of All-in.

The tourney that I did participate in was my brothers' weekly $10 buy-in that they held in the family restaurant after-hours. They just slid a couple tables together and set down the padded foam tabletop w/ oval rail that they built. The last time I was up there, they had about 10 of their friends that came on a regular basis. Now the regular player base is around 25! I busted out pretty early with AJ versus AK on a AKJ board, and so I spent the rest of the evening dealing... which was fine because they needed an overly-experienced degenerate like me to straighten out some of their bad habits. String-raises, discussing the board when not in the hand, and making their own change out of the pot. I had to slap a couple of hands and scold them like a kindergarten teacher: "You guys better clean up your act if you expect to play in the WSOP or WPT someday!"

One of the funniest things was the cry of "RANDOM!" when someone would take a bad beat or catch their T3o Full House. It was also used as a verb: "You're all-in? I guess I'll have to Random your ass... Call!" with a 94 soooted, which of course flopped the Flush!

Speaking of random, as I was leaving the deli yesterday with my sandwich, I overheard some guy telling his lunch mate, "And the flop comes out King, Queen, Four..."

Oh my god, it's EVERYWHERE!!!

In current news, this week has been a helluva lot busier than I expected it to be. The boss was pretty sure it would be a slow week while he's on vacation, but every customer and their mother has called with some sort of inquiry that I have to spend an hour researching to answer. On top of that, my wife was called out to New York for an indeterminate amount of time. She has a producer boss that is currently working on a new Broadway show... she had gone out there earlier in the year to help him with some of the songs and the casting - she wasn't expecting to have to go back until September when the previews begin, but rehearsals are starting now and he wants her to be there through that process as well. So I'm wifeless for at least 2 months... I guess that means more poker fundage for me, yay!

Speaking of Broadway shows, I've currently got the soundtrack for "Wicked" stuck in my CD player. It's a show based on a book that tells "the true story" of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. She's a smart young book-worm kind of girl, but is an outcast because of her green skin. In college, her roommate is Glinda, who we all know eventually becomes Glinda the Good. But during the campus years she's the typical blonde - caring only about boys and her popularity status. Haven't read the book yet (wife has it with her in NY), and while you don't get the entire story in just the soundtrack alone, it's still a great listen. You know the music is doing its job when you realize how much empathy and sympathy you end up feeling for the "Wicked Witch." Can't wait to see the show when the tour hits the "West" coast.

It's been awhile since I've watched the original Wizard of Oz. It's been even longer since seeing it WITHOUT using Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as its synchronized soundtrack... but there's just no other way to watch it. I may just have to pop in my "Dark Side of the Rainbow" DVD tonight!

Random!

I guess that's enough rambling for now. This should get you football fans hyped up for the season: For You, T.O.!