Tao of Pauly

Slow Recovery

When I got home on Sunday night after my quick trip, I found a few pieces of friendly mail. One was from my high school in Manhattan reminding me that I have until June 1st to send them my yearly donation. Three other pieces of mail were checks for freelance work. I hit the jackpot. Sort of. Poker Player Newspaper, Poker Pro Magazine, and Bluff Magazine all sent me checks for articles. The Bluff piece hasn't been published yet, and at this point I got paid so I don't care if that piece ever sees daylight. I'm assuming it is because they wouldn't pay me unless they were going to use it. The editor told me it will be in the July issue. If you pick up any current issue of Poker Player Newspaper or Poker Pro, you can find my writing.

I have one deadline on Friday morning and another next Monday. I fly out to LA on Thursday afternoon so I'll do my best to get both done before I leave, or at least the first draft of the piece that's due on Monday.

I've pushed off doing a couple of things and relaxed on Monday. I watched the Phish IT DVD and some of the Food Network. I almost jizzed in my pants watching Rachel Ray make a bacon-swiss cheese dip. I also listened to music for three or four hours mainly most of the CD mixes that GMoney gave me. I didn't write much this weekend and I took most of Monday off. Breaks from writing are good. I purchased a plane ticket from Las Vegas to LA for late June when I go see Widespread Panic. That was under $180 and I'm flying JetBlue from Vegas to Long Beach. I love that 40 minute flight.

Last night I wrote from Midnight through 3 or 4am before I passed out listening to old jazz records. I woke up to another rainy morning in NYC. The raindrops sounded like hailstones as they feel down on the air conditioner and echoed throughout the aprartment. That's what woke me up. I've been writing ever since.

I made one of my infamous lists and I'm going to try to do everything before I head to the airport on Thursday.

1. Laundry
2. Go to the bank to cash checks
3. Buy a digital camera online for my mother
4. Finish Friday's Poker Player Newspaper column
5. Call my buddy TC from Seattle
6. Convince Senor not to name his kid K---
7. Write a Truckin' story about Waffle House
   
8. Edit the May issue of Truckin'
9. Write a strip club review for Las Vegas Vegas
10. Get passport photos
11. Renew passport
12. Finish reading a book from Alan Watts
13. Food shopping to make dinner for my brother
14. Watch Andy Bloch's Expert Insight DVD on Blackjack
15. Pay cell phone bill
16. Mail book to BG
    

I told you I had a lot on my plate. I also have to squeeze in time to play poker online and write my standard two hours a day which does not include updating my blogs. And and as far as reading blogs go... I almost quit cold turkey. Watching too much bad TV messes with your head. So does reading poorly written vanity projects... especially about poker. I feel smarter already eliminating that crap from my daily reading list.

Over this weekend I finished two books including Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live. Iggy gave me a book from Anne Lamott about writing called Bird by Bird. I enjoyed her stories about being a young writer and creative writing teacher. I finished that one already.

Recent Writing Music...
1. Peter Tosh
2. Sonny Rollins
3. The Wood Brothers
4. The Band with Bob Dylan
5. My Morning Jacket