Mean Gene

It's Hard Keeping a Poker Blog Going When You Aren't Playing Poker

Haven't posted in a long, long time, and I've felt rather guilty about it. I've started and stopped a half-dozen posts, some I may post eventually, some I'll just send into the eternal void with a click of the DELETE button. I just don't have much to write about, poker-wise, since I've only played once in the last 2 months. Do I miss playing? Oh, dear God, yes. But not to the point where I feel that if I DON'T play I might curl up and die.

But a night like tonight would have been perfect for a hand or two. Get home, eat dinner, scream at the cats, put the wife to bed around 10PM, and fire up Party. Put the NBA games on (I find watching the NBA on Friday nights incredibly soothing) and win myself some money with wit and verve. Sitting in a comfy chair, wearing flannel sweats, watching a little hoops, and playing some poker? Nirvana.

Alas, tis not to be. In true degenerate fashion, every few days or so I log on to Party or Empire to see if they've dumped a few bucks in my account in an attempt to lure me back. They have not. Which is just as well, because I stopped playing because I wanted to spend more time writing and, more urgently, looking for a job. I just learned my temp position will now last through the end of January, giving me more time to find that "real" job that will allow me to get back into the game. Now is not the best time to be looking, but with the election behind us, and the holidays and the New Year ready to zoom by, I'm optimistic that will come to pass.

The writing continues as well, though it does not zoom. I posted previously that I was participating the NaNoWriMo, a nationwide to-do where people try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I was gung-ho to do it, but the real world intruded. I couldn't justify writing 2 hours a night when I should be using that time to job-hunt. Plus I play volleyball 2 nights a week and I didn't want to quit that. And need I say that my Sunday's are taken up by the Steelers, who are running over the NFL like the Red Army did through central Germany in 1945?

But I have been writing, just not at a pace to finish in 30 days. I've actually been doing a lot of research of it too, though I am facing some problems. Like, to do the ending part of the book properly, I'm gonna have to go to the Bellagio and walk around and take some pictures. I know, life is hard, but as I don't have plans to go to Vegas this month, that rather precludes me finishing the book by the 30th. I pretty much have the whole thing in my head and outlined out, though I leave myself open to any flashes of inspiration. Some of it, I have to say, is pretty funny. There's a scene in a strip bar I'm especially proud of. Come to think of it, I may need to visit a strip bar to get some material. Haven't been to one in awhile. Hmm, my wife's going out of town for Thanksgiving, I'm staying here...boys night out! Or, at least, boy night out! And if I use it for my book, I can write it off on my taxes...

So I will still be posting here, I haven't hung it up just yet. I've thought about starting a new blog for stuff other than poker, but that's something I'll think over first. Boy, I miss poker. Here in Pittsburgh there are 2 groups who put on charity poker tournaments, and they've exploded in the last few months. I mean, it used to be there was maybe 1 event each weekend--now both groups sponsor at least three or four. Plus there are places that have semi-permanent games, including one place not very far from where I live. "Isn't that illegal?" my mom asked. Well, maybe a little--but when I saw that a local Fraternal Order of Police lodge was having a game, I felt a bit better. And when I saw the small Catholic college where my mom used to work and go to school was having a poker tournament, I felt a lot better. So poker is hunky-dory both in the eyes of the Law and the eyes of the Lord. Part of my book is also set during one of these tournaments, so, again, I need to do some research. Maybe I should include in my book a section where the narrator gets sentenced to 15 months at the Playboy Mansion. Hmm...that would seem a rich narrative vein to mine...

I am profoundly disappointed that I will not be defending my Grublog title this Sunday night. I may have to log on and observe the talking of trash. I feel like a NCAA team who won the title but didn't even make the Big Dance the following year. I wish all of you the best of luck, you filthy, filthy bastards.

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