Tao of Pauly

Ten Minute Tuesdays

I never have time to write on Tao of Pauly when I'm working in Las Vegas. Most of the time I have four or five outlets to get work done for and personal blogging gets pushed to the back burner. I burn out quick in Vegas.

There's a guy I know who's a poker pro and he was joking around with me about not knowing what it's like working in an office atmosphere. He's never had a desk job or had to work in a cubicle. He's been a poker pro for the last several years ever since he got out of college. Office Space is funny to him, but it's not relevant since he never had an asshole of a boss like Lumberg or had to file a TPS report. Alas, he plays poker for a living and has to grind out a steady paycheck. Some days he wins, some days he loses. It's not an easy life and he's one of the few pros that I know who is not broke.

After a week of non-stop work filled with intense 16-20 hour days, I had two days off but had one major deadline looming for Monday morning. I cranked out 5K words for that assignment over the two days off. They fell on Saturday and Sunday which sucked because I loathe Las Vegas on weekends. Nicky and I headed out to the locals casinos in the suburbs to eat and to gamble to avoid the masses.

It's good and bad that we have friends living in Las Vegas. It's bad because of my work schedule which meant that instead of a true day off, there was some sort of engagement we had to go to. The best that I could do to fix a healthy balance is to not over extend myself on the days off and have several hours of me time (to write and to relax) and then a couple of hours of them time.

On Saturday for lunch, Nicky and I went to Paris Casino to meet up with Benjo, a French journalist that we've befriended. It was his last day in Las Vegas and he had been out drinking until 7am and even admitted that he puked in the bathroom at Ellis Island. Mon Ami Gabi had an hour wait so we settled on the cafe instead. Afterwards we showed Benjo how to play Pai Gow at Bally's and get free drinks in the process. That went well. The craps did not.

Nicky and I ate sushi at Green Valley Ranch on Saturday night with PokerProf and Flipchip. I wasn't really up for sushi but that was the only eatery that had immediate seating. I ate a few pieces and talked a lot about some future projects. I played poker afterwards and dropped $200. That was peanuts compared to how much I lost betting on basketball.

On Sunday night we drove up to Red Rock to play more cards. I actually won a sports bet but lost a few bucks at the poker tables. I played the highest Limit game they had and one guy was a total dickwad. The more I travel, the more I realize that world has no shortages of assholes. After poker we met Shecky and JenLeo for Chicago pizza and drinks. I ate too many garlic knots and had too much garlic on my pizza. Pauly got a tummy ache.

On Monday it was back to work. Instead of the Bellagio, the location was Caesar's Palace. The day went smooth compared to others, but I stayed up until 4:30am catching up on work. I could have written until 6 or 7am but I needed to rest. I still had two more days of work, followed by a series of meetings on Thursday. I drive back to LA on Friday, but I have to get my column written before we head back to Hollyweird. On Sunday I fly back to NYC for less than three weeks before I have to move to Las Vegas shortly after Memorial Day for a two month assignment. At least I discovered that Widespread Panic plays in Las Vegas on July 3rd. I'm not missing that show since I have to miss a ton of music this summer such as Bonnaroo and other summer tours from my favorite bands.

I discovered that Tirshelle from the Real World is dating a poker pro. Nicky thinks that she's just a gold digger. Big surprise there.

Time up. Have to get to work.