Since I don't work the conventional Monday thru Friday 9-5 lifestyle, I have a difficult time keeping track of days of the week. When I work in Las Vegas, I lose time outright and have no clue if it's the 26th or 27th or if it's Wednesday.
That's how I've felt this past week covering the LA Poker Classic. All I know is that today is Day 5 of a six day event and if it weren't for the headings on my blog, I'd have no idea the actual day.
Yes, it's the last day of February and I could not be happier because this month was one of the worst in recent years. I was sick for the entire month and had a lot of weird and penty of bad shit went down with the travel nightmare at JFK and other random things that I'd rather not discuss in an open forum.
If you include the huge hit that the stock market took yesterday, it added to the misery. I was stuck almost 3K by the end of the trading day with nothing I could do but watch as the Chinese stock market's 9% drop rippled through the world's financial markets. Luckily the bleeding was just temporary.
The only piece of good news I heard this month was my next assignment. Schecky at Poker News hired me to cover the European Poker Tour Championships in Monte Carlo, Monaco. I fly into Nice, France and then have to helicopter it in to Monte Carlo. I'm pretty sure that Otis will be there too which makes the gig even sweeter.
I'm going to spend a few extra days slumming around Europe after the gig which starts in late March and ends on April 1st. The month of March will have me on the road, in a lot of random airports, and fumbling around with another currency. I'm starting the month in Hollyweird for four days, then off to NYC for two days before a week in sunny Florida, followed by one precious week in NYC, then five days in Las Vegas before I fly a red eye back to NYC to get on another red eye flight to Nice, France. Wow, France and Monte Carlo? It has not sunk in yet. As a writer, I'm floored that I get to visit places like Australia and Monte Carlo within 80 days of each other for an assignment.
I've been eating Denny's once a day this past week and I'm officially sick of it. Although, their double-cheeseburger wasn't too shabby. I get a rare day off today before I have to go back to cover the final table of the LA Poker Classic tournament on Thuursday. First place wins... $2.4 million.
I ran into my buddy BJ Nemeth at the Commerce Casino last night. He's the best tournament reporter ever and paid me an amazing compliment about my end of day recaps over at PokerNews.com. I must say those words of validation coming from one of the best meant a lot since they are not-so-fun to write and I always wonder if anyone reads that stuff anyway. After a long day at work in media row, I have to stay up 4am or 5am every night in my hotel room writing them. Or, writing two-thirds of the draft until 5am and getting up at 8am to finish them. Regardless, it was a nice ego boost knowing that BJ had been reading. He even gave me a good note or two, which I was happy to utilize in my last article.
Check out two articles I wrote in the last two days:
LA Poker Classic - Day 3Day 3's recap was by far my favorite of the bunch.
LA Poker Classic - Day 4
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