Ramblings from a writer, traveler, and insomniac

 
Third Place

It was 104 degrees when I got into the car yesterday. It's going to be at least that over the next few weeks. Why can't the WSOP be in the winter months?

We drove over to the east side of town by UNLV for a four hour meeting with PokerNews. For the first time, the entire coverage team was assembled including the new interns and the rest of the veteran staff. We ate lunch at Marie Callender's which is like a dessert place that also serves food.

Schecky led the meeting and only told one bad joke. The meeting was not as boring as I anticipated. The best part about working freelance without an office is skipping meetings. I had the occasional conference call which lasted a few minutes at most. And usually, I was emailed instructions from the people I worked for. This is the first time I'm working in a corporate structure with over thirty or more employees.


My favorite pic of Jen Leo...
taken in 2005 at one of the WSOP parties
After the meeting Jen Leo invited me to her birthday celebration at Treasure Island which included drinks at a tequila bar called Ilsa followed up by playing in the tournament in the poker room. One of our staff members at Poker News, Jonno, is a guy I met in Australia. He's an Aussie and all Aussie love to drink. He wondered what beer I had ordered.

"Dos Equis. Or the two Xs." I said.

In OZ, there's a crap beer that's called XXXX. He approved of my choice.

After two hours of drinking, we were all riled up and headed en masse to the poker room. It was a $60 tournament with four tables. I was seated at the same table as Mean Gene and Nicky, who was to my right.

I played well during the first level and was among the chipleaders. I didn't care about cashing, I just wanted to outlast Schecky. We had a last longer bet. Spaceman and I kept an eye on the Stanley Cup finals as the game was a deadlocked 0-0 tie late in the 3rd period. I also watched the Spurs whoop the Jazz. I wanted to bet the Spurs (spread was -7) but I made a promise not to gamble on sports until NFL season started.

By the second level, I busted two players including a French tourist who tried to bluff me. I made a few semi-bluffs which are hands that are not made but I still had chances left to make the best hand. I guess I bullied around my table which aside from Mean Gene and Nicky, were all tourists. Oh and the lovely Jen Leo was moved to my table.

When there was two tables left, I was one of the chipleaders. I moved to Jonno's table along with Mean Gene and Nicky. I busted a couple of more players including Nicky who was wicked pissed that she went out. I raised all in with 6-4 and she called my bluff with K-Q. I made my hand on the river and she was eliminated.

"You're walking home or catching a cab," she barked which made all the spectators watching the tournament laugh.

At least she made the money in 5th place. I was the chipleader and $750 went to first place. Sadly, I busted out in 3rd and Jonno took down second place. I won like $350 and tipped $40 to the dealers. They were happy. I was happy. I actually cashed in a tournament and won the last longer bet with Schecky.

After the tournament, we headed out to the floor (or pit) to play Pai Gow. We taught Mean Gene how to play and drank. I ended up losing only $20 before we called it a night. Nicky crashed as soon as she got home and I stayed up to write for two hours before eventually passing out myself.

The apartment is quiet at night. The complex is a weird mix. There are some older people, some kids, and a lot of strange people walking around. They could be strippers or black jack dealers. Who knows? We do have two tennis courts and two pools. I don't think I'll be using either in the next two months. I officially start work on Friday. That means I have one last day to run errands and relax before two insane weeks of work and writing and sleeping for two hours every night.
posted by Pauly at 5/31/2007 12:32:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Breaking Mirrors

There was no traffic leaving LA. It was unusual for 11am on a Tuesday. There was little resistance on the freeway getting out of the city and we made it to I-15 in record time. Driving from LA to Las Vegas takes roughly four hours. The first leg determines whether or not it is a four or five hour drive. The last time we drove to Vegas, it took six hours due to LA traffic and bad weather.

The total time to Vegas was under four hours. Yeah, we made amazing time. We stopped by the housing office near UNLV which was leasing me the apartment. I picked up a packet, dropped off my check, and was out in less than three minutes. We the car and settled into the place in less than an hour. It took less than six hours total to leave LA, drive to Las Vegas, move into the apartment, and make a run for the grocery store. That was the good news.


The bad news was the mirror that I broke in our furnished apartment at the Del Bocca Vista in Las Vegas. The decor is cheesy sort of 1970s swingers meets Ikea. I don't mind it too much. The AC works and the shower is better than average. The toilet does not clog like my toilet at The Redneck Riviera. We got a parking space and I discovered the washer and dryer. We have cable TV (minus the movie channels) along with a DVD player and a big ass jumbo TV.

I was in bad spirits after breaking the mirror. I managed to dent Nicky's car as I pulled out of the space to get dinner. I didn't notice a pole on the left side and I fucked up her front quarter panel. There's a dent and several scratches. Nicky insisted on driving after that point.

I freaked out because broken mirrors are omens for bad luck and I don't want to get into the cosmic significance of breaking a mirror in Las Vegas. I was spooked for sure and didn't say much on our drive to dinner or during dinner. We ate at the cafe at Red Rock where Nicky got her favorite BBQ chicken salad.

We played a little poker for a couple of hours. I ended up with a $19 profit before we headed home. I woke up early to write and realized that I'm going to be in the same place for the next two months. That was refreshing.

I have a four hour meeting to attend later today followed by drinks with birthday girl, Jen Leo. By the end of that meeting, I'm going to need a few cocktails.
posted by Pauly at 5/30/2007 12:35:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Twelve Minutes on Tuesday

I'm trying a new thing this summer... the 12 minute post. Let's be honest about the ten minute posts. I either wrote them in four minutes or twenty minutes. It takes about eight minutes to post, edit, add links, and add photos. I can definitely find twenty minutes every morning to write up a few thoughts or post pics from the previous few days.

Like this one:


I concluded my last free weekend in Hollyweird doing a lot more of nothing. On Sunday, I played in a Darfur charity poker tournament that helped raise over 20K. I list a crapload of money this weekend playing online poker but I'm not going to play much over the next couple of weeks so I got my last binge in.

On Sunday night, Nicky and I went to The Palm for her birthday dinner. Since her birthday is in June during the middle of the WSOP, we might not have time to celebrate. Therefore, we headed out for a nice, quiet, and delicious dinner. I'm a huge fan of The Palm and have eaten at their restaurants in LA, Las Vegas, and in NYC. They never disappoint and they have amazing key lime pie.

I also watched a few more bad flicks such as Mission Impossible 3 and That Thing You Do. I also got to see Annie Hall which is always refreshing. Woody Allen's flick always makes me laugh and think at the same time. We also caught The Doors and I got a legit flashback during one of he concert scenes.

On Monday, I woke up early after a weird dream where I lost both my wallet and cellphone in the back seat of a car. I wrote for two hours and headed over to Nick's Coffee Shop for breakfast. They love me over there because I'm a generous tipper and always leave $5 on $17 checks. I got my standard breakfast sandwich (bacon, eggs, and cheese on wheat toast) but I asked for double bacon. Daddy would have been proud.

For dinner, we were invited to Nicky's parents house for a BBQ. Her sister Mandy was going away to Mexico for a six week shoot. That would be the last time both daughters were in town until the end of summer and they wanted to have a nice get together.

I had one of those awkward moments when I spilled a glob of mayo on the napkin rack. Since the napkins were arranged vertically, the glob ended up on at least 90% of the napkins. I tried wiping off the top but that made it worse. Not only did I taint the napkins, I also had an accident with a burger.

Nicky's father made his infamous thick and well spiced burgers. I've had them before and they are amazing One exception... they are super juicy and as soon as I took a bite, it splashed and shot juices out all over the place. The damage happened my shirt in three places and all over my jeans. I also ruined the table cloth on their picnic table in the backyard. It would have been embarrassing if Nicky's parents actually cared about those things. They just laughed it off and proceeded to make fun of Mandy's weird territorial behavior as a child.

After dinner, the Yankees game was on the boob tube. Nicky's mother is a die hard Yankees fan while her father bleeds Dodgers blue. I was happy to watch the Yankees, but Nicky's old man kept taunting her mother about how awful the Yankees were and how they were in last place and were getting beat up by the Toronto Blue Jays. It was brutal. He loudly clapped everytime the Blue Jays scored a run. When the Yanks were getting blanked 7-0, he demanded that they change the channel bit Nicky and her mother hid the remote control in the freezer.

On Monday, we finished up packing for two months in Las Vegas and all we had to do was get up, load the car, and drive out of town.
posted by Pauly at 5/29/2007 08:06:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Happy Belated 5th Birthday, Tao of Pauly!


I was so busy that I forgot that the Tao of Pauly turned 5 at the end of last week. Yes, it's been five years since Dave Simnaoff encouraged me to start my own blog and the rest has been history. It's been a fun ride and here are some month-by-month highlights of the last 10 months. I'm not going to highlight May 2007 or April 2007 in case you were wondering why I was only going to cover 10 months instead of 12.

June 2006

I started off the month visiting Spacman and his lovely wife in Ashland City, TN. Nicky flew out from Hollyweird and we sampled the quiet country life. I took a few pics along the way.

Then I joined forces with BTreotch, The Joker, and Molly as we took in the Bonnaroo music festival. The highlights were Beck, Radiohead, and My Morning Jacket's epic Midnight set.

Bonnaroo Part I: Thursday Arrival
Bonnaroo Part II: Fanfuckingtastic Friday
Bonnaroo Part III: Superlicious Saturday
Bonnaroo Part IV: Sunday Finale

I also went to Boulder for a long weekend and took in two Widespread Panic shows at Red Rocks. I took more pics and posted a few setlists.

And I posted a screen cap of my article that was on the front page of Fox Sports for a couple of hours.


July 2006

I caught two Widespread Panic shows at the Wiltern Theatre in Hollyweird with Nicky.

I was super busy with working the WSOP and the Tao was neglected during the summer months. I posted lots of pics in July of last year.

Like pics of food.

Like pics of my friends playing poker.

I actually played in a WSOP event and busted out early.

And then there was the night when Otis ate Keno crayons.

Nicky and I were invited to the BoDog party at Tao nightclub. We saw ninja midgets and I watched Amy Calistri get groped by Gavin Smith.


August 2006

I had a rare day off at the WSOP and drove out to Red Rock Canyon to think. Afterwards, I ate one of the Top 5 meals of my life courtesy of Ryan at Nob Hill.

I posted a pic of the Tilted Kilt waitresses where we drank every night at dinner break because the Hooker Bar was too crowded.

Can't Find My Way Home is a somber piece about being on the road too much for work and not having... a home. I wrote it during a haze of utter despair and depression after working too many hours at the WSOP.

Dan Micahlski tried to get us a free visit to a shooting range after he wrote an email to the "gun store people" in Las Vegas.

Nicky and I had a couples night out in Las Vegas after the WSOP ended with Michalski and Jen. That's when Michalski joked that "our lives are tax deductible."

One More Week in Hell told the story of our quaint suburban lives outside of Las Vegas in Henderson, NV.

Nicky and I saw Snakes on a Plane!

I posted black and white photos from the WSOP.

Grubby finally moved out of Las Vegas. We said good-bye to the apartment. Grubby gave his furniture away to a Mexican family that lived downstairs.

Post of the Year? The Red Rock Canyon photo gallery featured some of my best photos and was is one of my favorite Tao of Pauly posts of all time. Bruce came out to visit and I drove him out there one afternoon.

After the WSOP ended, I flew out to Boulder and caught several Galactic shows. The Joker and I saw three; one up at Fort Collins and two in Boulder. Daddy joined us for the last show.

Before I left Boulder, I wrote Jon Benet Insomnia.


September 2006

I spent the beginning of the month in LA before I returned to NYC. I spent a lot of time at Zuma Beach in Malibu. I also love Zankou Chicken.

I had a contest: Which Bald Spot Am I?

I took pics in Colorado and Hollyweird.

I caught two Widespread Panic shows at Radio City Music Hall which featured new guitar player Jimmy Herring.

I turned 34.

I celebrated my birthday with my brother and friends and got shitfaced in NYC.

Then I drove down to Atlantic City and eventually to AlCantHang's Bash at the Boathouse. Hijinks ensued.

I ended the month struggling to re-write Jack Tripper Stole My Dog.


October 2006

The Yankees were in the playoffs for an 11th consecutive year. Sadly, the Yanks were bounced from the playoffs and pitcher Cory Lidle died in a plane crash.

I posted some excerpts from recent voicemails that I got.

I went out to lunch with Senor and Girtz with their wives and kids in the West Village. That's when Ang told me that I looked fat. I agreed and dropped 20 pounds in a few weeks by dieting and exercise. I starting running and was up to 5 miles a day. I also posted pics of my jogging route.

I wrote a review of Trey Anastasio's new album Bar 17 and I also caught a show at Webster Hall with Bruce.

I got dropped by a few freelance clients in the wake of the UIGEA and had to take a paycut with two of my regular columns.

I was quoted in a Business Week article about the online gambling prohibition.


Four Conversations About Nothing was about brief talks I had in one single night with The Rooster, Senor, Nicky, and The Joker.

Derek had a birthday.

I finished the second draft of Jack Tripper Stole My Dog and spent my last day in NYC before I hit the road.

I flew out to Hollyweird where Nicky and I saw Malcolm in the Middle driving his swanky car at The Grove.

I saw Galactic play at The House of Blues in West Hollywood.

We drove to Las Vegas for the Vegoose music festival and caught a great Trey Anastasio Band show to open up the crazy weekend.

I also posted setlists for Widespread Panic's Vegoose set and their Halloween show.


November 2006

I posted recaps of Vegoose... Day 1 and Day 2.

I also posted a hilarious video of the UPS Man at Vegoose.

Nicky and I went to Amsterdam. I posted several pics and photo dumps. I also posted two videos. I wrote about our misadventures such as Grey Haze and 12... where we went to 12 hash bars in 12 hours.

I stopped using Buzznet and went with Flickr as the place to host all of my photos.

I cross-posted 15 Minutes on both the Tao of Pauly and the Tao of Poker. Good piece.

I wore old clothes for the first time in a very long time during a two week stint in NYC.

I also read a ton of books.

Then there was Puppy Jerk. I love stories about chicks wanking off puppies.

Derek won the Pauly's Pub College Football pool.


December 2006

I went to see My Morning Jacket at Roseland Ballroom in NYC. Amazing show.

I had an 11 hour flight from hell on Jet Blue to Long Beach, CA.

Once in Hollyweird, I wrote about Alley Kittens and Los Potheads.

I headed to Las Vegas for a gathering of the bloggers and posted pics.

At the hooker bar in Vegas, Daddy offered up his services as a male prostitute.

Trey was busted for a DUI. Friggin' junkie.

I bumped into Rachel Bilson at The Grove.

I posted more LA pics.

I discovered that Hydrocodone was generic Vicodin.

The Rooster and I crashed Ethan Hawke's Christmas Party after a night of drinking with Derek and F Train.

I flew back to California and had to sit next to a crying baby.

I spliced together the 2006 Year in Review video.


January 2007

I started off the new year in San Francisco after Nicky and I saw My Morning Jacket's concert at the Fillmore on NYE.

I spent the entire month down under in Australia for two weeks of work and two weeks of traveling. My first 24 hours in OZ was fun.

Jules hosted a BBQ for me in Melbourne.

I went to the Aquarium. I also took a ton of pics of food.

I headed up to the Gold Coast with Brandon and Schecky.

Lucky for us... Schecky scored us back stage passes for Big Day Out! We saw Tool, Muse, John Butler Trio, Jet, and The Killers. Oh and Kate Hudson was backstage too.

I fell in love with Byron Bay. See the pics and decide for yourself.

Brandon and I stayed in a hostel in Sydney with hot French and German chicks.

I spent Australia Day with Ali at her house.

I also went to a BBQ at Nigel's flat in Glebe.

I posted a video for Shronk's Vegemite Prop Bet.

Then there was the infamous Syndey pic dump.


February 2007

I upgraded to Business Class for my flight from Sydney to LAX.

I posted more pics of Byron Bay.

I was happy to be Back in LA and Back in NYC.

Past discussed my stagnation as a writer.

I got snowed into NYC after a Valentine's Day blizzard that almost ruined JetBlue. I finally made it to LA a couple of days later.

Britney Spears had a mental breakdown and I wrote about 32 Steps to Lunacy.

I got strep. Again.


March 2007

Started the month in Hollweird and some of my favorite writings are about being in LA. Check out Rex, Blow, and Pink's and The Last Zankou.

I posted the second annual LA Truckin' issue and I finally got Wil to write for us!

I visited Jerry in Miami and went to Langerado music festival with The Joker, Nicky, Pablo, and Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot. Check out Day 1 and Day 2 ad Day 3.

Oh and don't forget about the Langerado Videos... Widespread Panic, Matisyahu, and Trey Anasastio Band and Galactic, MMW, and MMJ.

I hurt my shoulder.

The Flight of the Stripper happened on my flight to Las Vegas with Derek for March Madness with Senor.

Las Slacker captured our time at Red Rock casino for March Madness.

I flew from Las Vegas to NYC, then NYC to Madrid, and eventually Madrid to Nice. Of course I still wasn't in Monte Carlo which I had to be for a week long assignment.

I took pics of lovely Monte Carlo. I also stumbled upon Beverly Hills 90210 in French!

Lost in Translation had more pics of Monte Carlo.
posted by Pauly at 5/28/2007 09:42:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Lazy Sunday

On a three-day holiday weekend, Sundays become lazy Sundays since in reality it's more like a Saturday. For me I've been super lazy the last few days trying to clear my mind and relax before a hefty two-month writing assignment where I don't expect any days off from the grind while covering the 2007 World Series of Poker. It's my third WSOP and by now I know that I need to enjoy my last few days of freedom by doing things I want to do (in this case... getting jacked up on muscle relaxers, watching movies, lots of reading, and light writing).

Friday was a fun day because I finished a writing assignment in the morning before breakfast at O'Groats. Then we went to the beach during the day and headed to the Dodgers game at night. When we got back from the game, Nicky said, "Oh my God! I wanna try those muscle relaxers that you got from The Shrink."

I cracked a full one in half and gave her one piece. Five minutes later, Nicky was out cold after smoking tough and drinking at the Dodgers game. Me? I was up for a while before eventually falling asleep.

Saturday was mixed. I woke up early and would have slept more but I had intense pain in both of my ankles. They weren't sore and I couldn't explain why they bothered me. Nicky thought I had gout and I know there's a history of that in my family. It felt like old school arthritis. My ankle joins bothered me and probably my lack of weed consumption allowed a minor flare up to take place.

The pain eventually subsided and I wrote for a few hours. The Yankees-Angels game came on at 10am and I watched them get their ass kicked again. Nicky eventually woke up and made me breakfast. I'm lucky to have a cool chick that willingly wants to cook for me.

After breakfast I decided to play online poker at PokerStars. That was a costly decision. I lost $1K in about ninety minutes. It was not fun at all. I played the highest limits I ever played online. I won a few small hands but lost three big hands which cost me dearly. I had never lost that much gambling online. I've lost bigger sports betting or playing in WSOP events but as far as online gambling... that was the worst. I must admit I didn't feel too good when I logged off. I felt defeated because I walked away from a game I knew I could beat but I also have stop-loss amounts set to prevent me from losing more. Once I headed past the 1K losing mark, I had to stop playing. My mood soured.

We headed to Target in order for me to get my mind off of gambling. I picked up several items that I needed for the apartment in Las Vegas. I bought a storage bin, a pillow, and plenty of random items like Alka-Seltzer, a big ass bottle of Motrin, and bath towels. An hour of shopping among families of five and six got my mind off of gambling for sure.

Showcase was all giddy over the recent wave of celebrity gossip that quickly washed over Hollyweird. Just 12 hours earlier, Lindsy Lohan crashed her Mercedes on Sunset ten minutes away from Nicky's apartment. There were traces of cocaine in the car. Nice job, Lohan.

We grabbed an early dinner at Zankou Chicken. I wanted comfort food at a great price. And that's what Zankou is all about. Shortly after dinner Nicky started developing a headache. She took a nap on the couch while I watched movies. She then crashed in the bedroom for a little while longer. That's when I knew she was super ill. Her migraine eventually subsided but it meant I missed out on playing poker with Wil and The Geek.

Instead, I watched a slew of movies last night including The Family Stone (which was originally titled I Fuckin' Hate Her according to Nicky when she originally read the script several years ago), Magnum Force, Jarhead, and 11:14. I couldn't figure out why I kept watching The Family Stone which sucked, aside from the fact that Claire Danes and Rachel McAdams were both in it. I forgot that Sam Mendes directed Jarhead and I'm a fan of his work ever since I saw American Beauty for the first time. Too many ass shots of Jake. I'm always game for Clint Eastwood movies (although I prefer the spaghetti westerns to his Dirty Harry flicks). It was odd to see young actors Tim Matheson, Robert Ulrich, and David Soul play rookie cops circa 1973. 11:14 was a flick that I needed to pay more attention to. Patrick Swayze, with a beer gut, played Rachel Leigh Cook's father. There are some hysterical scenes like the severed penis or when Hillary Swank asked to get shot to save her job.

I also watched two remakes... I caught an hour of both The Omen and The Bad News Bears. The originals are still better then their 21st century remakes, but Billy Bob was kinda funny as the alkie coach Mr. Buttermaker. Oh and I watched a 50 Cent flick called Get Rich or Die Trying. That's a ton of movie viewing for me which I rarely get to do these days.

I uploaded a ton of pics to my Flickr account over the last week or so. Check out my Flickr gallery because it includes pics from the Dodgers game, the beach, and plenty of NYC pics.

I have a photo project called Pauly Food and it's coming along. That gallery has 104 photos. It's food porn and features pics of some of my favorite meals from Australia to Yankee Stadium.

Click here to see a Pauly Food slide show
Click here for the Pauly Food gallery
Click here to see Pauly's Flickr page

My other projects are slowly coming along. I'm part of a new start up company which I'll talk more about in the upcoming weeks. It is sports related and I get to work with cool guys like Joe Speaker and Blinders.

I have been updating the Las Vegas Blog including a Spearmint Rhino strip club review. I even posted something on our Nevada Business and Politics blog about a possible Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer Libertarian Party Vice President Candidate in 2008.

The Phish and music blog has been coming along despite the fact I often neglect it for days and weeks at a time. That's the one site that I let languish when I'm super busy with poker and other writing. There have been posts for eight straight days! Over the last few weeks we have posted about Phish and their band members solo projects for Fish, Trey, and Page. In addition, Nicky wrote something about the new American Idol winner along with posting a video montage of The Beatles medley that went down on the final show. We had posts about other bands such as Shiny Tony Guns, Toubab Krewe, O.A.R., Medeski Martin & Wood (with John Scofield), Widespread Panic, and Galactic.

I took a peek at my Top 5 Videos (according to views) over at You Tube. Here they are:

#1: 2006 Bonnaroo, Part I



#2: Otis Eats Keno Crayons



#3: 2006 Bonnaroo, Part II



#4: Top Gun and Body Shots



#5: Widespread Panic at Red Rocks



I still laugh my ass off during the Keno Crayons video when Wil tells me, "You're a dumb mother fucker." That was my favorite part of last year's WSOP. Click here to check out all 32 of the videos I uploaded to You Tube.
posted by Pauly at 5/27/2007 02:23:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Dodger Stadium & Pic Dump

Nicky and I had tickets to the Dodgers-Cubs game. I had not been to Dodger Stadium in over a decade and Nicky couldn't recall the last time she was there. Her old man had season tickets when she was a kid and used to go a lot.

The traffic was super light for 6pm on a Friday in LA. We got from Hollyweird to Dodger Stadium in less than thirty minutes. The game was scheduled to start at 7:40 and we had a good hour to walk around the stadium, find our seats, and get dinner and beer. The beer was $10 for a large MGD. That sucked but I didn't have a choice. I destroyed a super Dodger Dog, garlic fries, and a pizza. They had a California Pizza Kitchen stand and for the price, it might have been the best deal at the ballpark. I got a mini BBQ chicken pizza for $9.25.

There were a lot of Cubs fans at the game which was good because I was rooting for the Cubbies. The couple next to us were also rooting for them along with a family of four a couple of rows in front of us. Things got ugly when two drunks sat down. One guy was a portly drunk Mexican guy in a Nomar Garcciaparra jersey. He kept screaming, "Booooooooooooo! The Cubs suck! Boooooooooooo!" And he directed his shouting and taunting at the family of Cubs fans in front of him. A black cop who looked like Robert Townsend came over and asked him to quiet down.

"That's racial profiling!" he said after the cop left.

He and his buddy left a half of an inning later and moved over a section.

Nicky asked me a ton of stupid questions abut basbeall. I was patient and answered all of them to the best of my ability.

The Dodgers took a 5-0 lead after a HR from Jeff Kent as the Dodgers. In the 7th inning, the Cubs made a run and scored 7 runs to take an 8-5 lead. The Dodgers put up 4 in the 8th to win the game 9-8.

Here are some pics that I took (click on pics to see an enlarged view):


























posted by Pauly at 5/26/2007 02:20:00 PM | Permalink |

 
NYC Exit

Wednesday was all about crossing off items on my To Do list. The day started just before dawn with a solid two hours of writing. I went for a walk to the Greek diner and bought a bacon, eeg, and cheese on a roll. It would be the last time there for at least two months. I went to the post office, browsed at a book store, got a haircut from Vinny the barber, and then did laundry. I uploaded some more pics to my Flickr page and read several newspapers. I arranged a cab pick up to take me to JFK early on Thursday morning and made two business calls.

I also packed all my stuff in less than ten minutes (a record for a two month trip). Compared to the last two summers, I'm taking less stuff and clothes with me. It's my new philiospy to travel and life... less and more. You move quicker when you have less baggage.

I made sure all my documents, money, and passport were in order. I went to the bank on Tuesday to get a certified check to pay my rent in Las Vegas since the company Nicky and I rented from does not take personal checks. I don't blame them especially in a town like Las Vegas which is crawling with crank infested dead beats.

I'll spend a few days in Hollyweird for Memorial Day weekend with Nicky before we drive out to Las Vegas for a two month assignment. We've both been hired by the same company. Last year, we worked for rival outlets. This year we'll be on the same team. The goal for this weekend is to relax and pick up random items for our apartment. I was invited to a poker game and also have tickets to see the Cubs play the Dodgers on Friday. I'm pumped for that.

The last two and a half weeks have been fun with the exception of getting sick for the last several days. It was fun to get a couple of days to myself and catch up on writing and I got some thinking done while I went running. I read a couple of books and worked on the upcoming birthday issue of Truckin'. I also pre-wrote a column and wrote pieces for my other blogs such as the music blog and the Las Vegas blog.

I was fortunate to take advantage of Nicky's Christmas present and go to the Yankees game with Derek. I watched a ton of shows on TiVo that Derek taped for me and got to watch The Sopranos and Entourage at their original air times which has been impossible recently. I also got to see the last few epsidoes of Heroes instead of watching them on my latop. I played plenty of online poker during down moments and won a few bucks including coming in 4th place out of 267 players in a tournament on Tuesday night. I also finally made it to Dawn & Karol's home game in Brooklyn.

Spending time with friends was a great treat since I'm always on the road these days. I got to see a couple of old friends that I used to play poker with like F Train, Ugarte, Ferrari, and Toni and got to hang out with several out-of-town vistiors such as BG, Bobby Bracelet, Spaceman, Mrs. Spaceman, and The Joker (not to mention Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot). I went to the Met twice, Central Park twice, and the Museum of Natural History once. I must have drank at well over a dozen bars and ate a spicy chicken sandwich at Cafe Habana. Of course there was plenty of random chill time with The Rooster which is always an adventure. He's the personification of the always be closing mantra.

I jammed a ton of fun into 2.5 weeks and still didn't get to do what I wanted. Now, I'm off to the airport in a few minutes and arrive in sunny Long Beach sometime past noon local time. It's going to be good to be in the same place for two months. I have not had that kind of stability since last summer. Let's hope for good flight karma and no crying babies...
posted by Pauly at 5/24/2007 08:15:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Hump Day Pic Dump

Here's some more pictures that I took last week in NYC:


Ceiling of the tunnel near Bethesda Fountain in Central Park








IPod billboard off Canal Street


Fish market in Chinatownm


Hanging with the Joker
posted by Pauly at 5/23/2007 03:43:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Imagine and NYC Video

Head over to the Tao of Poker to read a hilarious piece that I wrote called Imagine.

Here's a video montage of the last two weeks in NYC.


Click here to view my NYC video via an RSS feed or Bloglines.
posted by Pauly at 5/22/2007 09:12:00 AM | Permalink |

 
ER Shithouse and the Retired Bong

I went to the ER this weekend after experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness, and serious breathing problems. It all started late on Monday when I felt like complete ass. At first I thought it was allergies. By mid-week the symptoms resembled a cold. By Thursday night, things had gotten worse. After drinking downtown with The Rooster, The Joker, Jeff, and PKPNF, I left the gang early to go home. Before I went to bed I noticed that my breathing was not right. There was heavy wheezing. I didn't think anyone of it and crashed.

When I woke up on Friday, the wheezing was worse. I went to the drug store about bought Vick's vapor rub hoping that would help me breathe better. It worked for about five minutes. Then I had one of those moments where I freaked out. My brother has one elevator in his apartment building and it's slow as shit. There was a moving truck in front and people were loading stuff from one of the floors to bring down to the lobby. I was forced to walk up seven flights of stairs. By the second story, I was out of breath. By the third, I was shaking and broke into a deep sweat. I had to rest for a few minutes on the fourth landing. By the time I got up to seven, I felt as though I ran a marathon. I was shaking, my vision was blurry, and I had difficulty breathing. I thought I was going to die and nearly collapsed upon entering Derek's apartment.

Smoking was impossible and when I went to bed on Friday night, I had a slight panic attack. I never get those, but I was freaked out because I couldn't breathe properly. With a stuffed nose, I was convinced that I was going to die in my sleep. I lathered globs of Vick's vapor rub all over my chest. All that did was make me smell like a gym and gave me an ugly rash. I barely slept on Friday. The same process repeated on Saturday. Of course, I couldn't sleep because I couldn't breathe. I aslo couldn't fall alseep because I couldn't smoke... and smoking pot late at night helps cure the insomnia.

I finally went to the ER which ended up being a terrible decision. I waited for several hours without getting any medical attention. So I walked out. At one point I was sixth on the list. When I checked an hour later, I was 12th. An old lady with a fracture wrist was being wheel in and I knew that made me 13th. Unlucky 13.

The hardest part was having to share a tiny exam room with three other people. All of them were older Hispanic women. One was in a bed near death. The second was in a wheel chair and complained about hemorrhoids. The third was in a walker and couldn't barely breathe. She had serious asthma and I thought she was going to collapse at any moment. Two of them women had at least four family members with them even though there was a strict rule about not having more than one person with you at a time.

As I waited and waited, the old lady with the hemorrhoids complained the entire time. Then it got ugly. I heard her fart for three seconds which was followed by a foul odor. That's when she busted ass all over herself. All over the wheel chair and all over the floor. Shit and diarrhea was spilling down her legs and onto the floor. It took a nurse five minutes to clean it up. At that point, I decided to leave.

I don't have health insurance and a trip to the ER would have cost me a pretty penny. Since I didn't get any treatment, I figured that I didn't have to pay for anything. After all, I never received any medical services. I just sat and wait. A triage nurse took my pulse and temperature but that was it.

I sucked it up and went home. My plan was to go to Derek's doctor on Monday morning. I called this morning at 8:15 and they took walk ins. I was there by 8:35 and sat in a crowded room. I read about 150 pages of Bigger Deal before a nurse took me in to an examination room. I didn't have to side step an old lady's shit to get there which made me feel better.

The nurse was very nice and chatty for a Monday morning. I made an Office Space joke about having the "Mondays" and she thought that was hysterical because that was one of her favorite flicks. My blood pressure was perfect (her words) and I was 183 pounds. Then the doctor finally saw me. She was about my age and a very good looking woman. She wasn't a Jewish doctor like Showcase suggested I see but at least she was American.

I explained to her what happened as she quickly typed stuff into a laptop. I imagined she was writing everything I said word for word, but in reality she could have been checking email or doing anything. I told her about all the travel both domestically and overseas and the fact I work in casinos which have lots of germs and old people. She said that I had bronchitis and she quizzed me about my copious drinking and smoking. I was honest with her about mostly everything even my drug use.

"You have to stop smoking. You have to stop smoking pot."

"Well, how else am I going to get high?"

She frowned and said that one of the reasons I caught bronchitis was due to my smoking. I didn't call her out and say, "I've been smoking almost daily for half of my life. You're full of shit."

I didn't argue and said I would turn over a new leaf. No more weed. No more hard liquor. Just good old fashioned clean living. I asked her if she could recommend a bible store and if she knew any cute Mormon girls. That made her laugh.

She gave me an inhaler and that gave me a slight buzz. She checked my breathing afterwards and my wheezing had disappeared. She prescribed me some Azithromycian and cleared me to fly to Hollywerid on Thursday. If the wheezing returned, I had to go see a doctor in LA or as soon as I got to Las Vegas. In fact she said I should see someone in a week regardless of where I was to make sure I'm fine.

Before we ended our session, I hit her up for pharmies.

"I have to work for seven weeks straight and stay up until 5 or 6 am writing deadlines. I have trouble focusing and need to stay awake. Can you give me something to keep me awake."

She smirked and said no. She couldn't help me.

I was hoping she'd whip out her pad and hook me up with adderral. Instead she told me to drink coffee but to avoid too many Red Bulls.

"Maybe if you stop smoking pot, you might be able to stay up longer?" she said.

Doctor's logic. She had no idea what kind of insanity runs rampant in Las Vegas at the dead hours between 2am and 6am. Alas, I gotta do what she says. Looks like I have to retire the bong for good, at least until after the WSOP ends in late July.

Without health insurance, the trip to Derek's doctor cost me $90. Add the antibiotics, that's another $50. So it cost me $140 to finally breathe properly and find out I can no longer engage in high altitude training.

Time to start huffing glue.
posted by Pauly at 5/21/2007 02:20:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Schanzer's Articles

My buddy Jon Schanzer recently had a couple of articles published. Check them out:

Pretoria Unguarded: Terrorists take refuge in South Africa (The Weekly Standard)
Jerusalem of (Dore) Gold (The Jerusalem Post)
Hamas: Misrule in Gaza (NY Post)

posted by Pauly at 5/20/2007 11:29:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Sunday Photo Dump

Here are 14 random pics from the last couple of days in NYC:


From the African Art section at the Met


Diablo chicken sandwich from Cafe Habana


A view from Jeff's roof
(with the Williamsburg Bridge in the background)


Chinatown door


Market in Chinatown




Jeff and The Joker get weird in Central Park


Old lady tries to flag down a taxi on 57th Street


Homage to Senor!


Nachos....


JoJo's puppy


Jeff's "Money Shot"


The Rooster's Sausage Parm Hero


Always Be Closing...

posted by Pauly at 5/20/2007 08:38:00 AM | Permalink |

 
5 Lists of 5: Google, Blogs, Subway Books, Writing Music, and Airports

It's been a while since I did 5 Lists of 5. So here we go...

Last 5 Hilarious Google Referrals...
1. Rachel Ray cumshot video
2. Milfs in Idaho to hang with
3. Woman fucks horse and her husband videotapes it
4. Greg Kinnear kick drugs crystal meth and coke
5. Kangaroo giving himself a blowjob

Last 5 Books I Saw People Reading on the Subway...
1. The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
2. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
3. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
4. The Pact by Jodi Picoult
5. The Holy Bible

Last 5 Airports I've Checked E-mail in...
1. JFK
2. Long Beach
3. Schipol (Amsterdam)
4. Cote D'azur (Nice)
5. Barajas Airport (Madrid)

Recent Writing Music...
1. Rodrigo y Gabriela
2. New Monsoon
3. Widespread Panic
4. Sonny Rollins
5. James Brown

Last 5 Blogs that I Read...
1. Wil
2. The Fat Guy
3. StB's While Drinking
4. Jonny Vincent
5. Deadspin
posted by Pauly at 5/19/2007 07:12:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Friday Photo Dump

Here are some photos that I took in the city over the last couple of days:




Spacepeople in front of Di Fara's


Garbage Day


Freaks in Coney Island


Crackhouse Prize Pool


Mac & Cheese from Chat & Chew


NWA on at McManus


Derek with the Spacepeople


Don't Walk


Sarcophagus


Egyptian Stuff at The Met


Pablo
posted by Pauly at 5/18/2007 08:07:00 AM | Permalink |

 
My Videos: The Yankees Game & Butterflies

I spliced together a couple of videos and posted them on You Tube. The first one is selected clips from the Yankees game that I went to last week. The second one is from the Butterflies special exhibition at the Museum of Natural History.


Click here to view the Yankees video.



Click here to view the Butterflies video.
posted by Pauly at 5/16/2007 06:53:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Last 5 Books I Saw People Reading on the Subway...
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
2. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
3. Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov
4. The 5th Horseman by James Patterson
5. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
posted by Pauly at 5/16/2007 05:34:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Livin'

I've been living life so fast that I don't have time to write about. Inherently, that's a good thing. Las Vegas is supposed to be America's Playground. However, when I have to work in the playground, I have to seek out alternative places to substitute as my surrogate playground. Cities like Amsterdam and New York end up filling in admirably.

There was a Cheers episode where the principle characters went on a wicked bender. They stumbled into Cheers the next day all hungover and couldn't recall what they had done the previous night. Fraser suggested that they empty their pockets to see what that accumulated in order to piece together their rowdy night. Norm found a receipt for a tattoo parlor and hijinks ensued.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed that I had left everything in my jeans from the night before. I rummaged through them and took everything out. Like a scene of out Christopher Nolan's Momento, I slowly put the puzzles pieces back into place.

I discovered in my pockets...

One banking slip from Citibank
One pack of Orbits Bubble-Mint gum with four missing pieces.
One ticket from the Museum of Natural History
One bottle of Visine
One crumpled bag of marijuana shake
One orange Bic lighter
One hand blown glass pipe
$468.87
My TO DO list
One packet of tissues
Allergy medicine
One cellphone... out of juice
One digital camera
One business card
One Brooklyn Lager bottle cap

I also checked the pictures on my camera. That's when it all came back to me...

On Monday I woke up early after only three hours of sleep. I wrote for two hours then rushed over to the diner where I woofed down a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a Kaiser roll with extra salt, pepper, and ketchup. I hopped on the train and headed towards 86th and Broadway. I had gotten paid that morning via wire and popped into the bank to transfer money between accounts.

It was 10am and I was supposed to meet Spaceman and Rachel on the steps of the Museum of Natural History at that time and was about seven minutes away. I called to tell them I was running late when I found out that they were walking through Central Park and took an interesting detour. They were at the southern most end near Columbus Circle, a good 22 blocks away. I wandered into Central Park to smoke on a bench for a few minutes before I sat on the steps and waited for Spaceman and Rachel as school groups and tourists shuffled past me into the museum. I was already hammered. My back and knee had been bothering me so I took a half of a muscle relaxer that the Poker Shrink prescribed to me the last time I was in Las Vegas.

Before we went inside, we had to take a minor pitstop. The Spaceman and Rachel had a couple of blisters. Like most people not from NYC, they don't do much walking and usually pick up a blister or two or the good old fashioned city shin splints from quickly switching from a driving culture to a pedestrian megapolis. They needed a quick trip to the drug store. That's where I bought the Visine and the gum. My allergies acted up and my right eye was dry and itchy.

We bought tickets to special Butterflies exhibition and were given a 12:30pm viewing time. We had ninety minutes to kill and went to the top floor to see the dinosaurs.


I took a few pictures and we headed down to the Butterflies. I had no idea what to expect and figured that there would be thousands of colorful and dead butterflies encased in glass. I was wrong. It was a live exhibition. There was a huge trailer in one of the galleries. Inside were thousands of exotic butterflies from all over the world. You had to walk through two sets of doors to ensure that none of the butterflies escaped. The temperature was in the 90s and I couldn't stop sweating as the butterflies flew all around. One landed on Rachel's head. I took a few pictures as I tried not to crush all the kids in strollers.




After the museum we headed over to the East Side where I stopped off at another drug store to buy more drugs. Legal ones. I picked up allergy medicine and felt much better after I popped one. We hung out with Karol at her apartment and I looked at her vast collection of books.

We drove out to Brooklyn. Spaceman wanted to check out Coney Island and Karol arranged a stop at Di Fara's pizza on Avenue J. That's considered some of the best pizza in the city and people wait an hour to ninety minutes for the pies. That's how amazingly good they are, that people would trek all the way out to Crooklyn and wait forever just for pizza. Dom, the old guy behind the counter freshly cuts pieces of basil on your pizza.


The oddest thing was running into Shaniac at Di Fara's. Shaniac is a professional poker player who lives in Hollyweird. He went to Horace Mann in NYC and even though we were both NYC guys we had never actually run into each other in the city. This year alone, I have seen Shaniac in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, and Australia. Now I can add Brooklyn to the list. He was staying in the East Village and took the train out to Brooklyn just for Di Fara's.

Dawn met up with us and the five of us crushed two pies... one with mushrooms and the other with pepperoni.




Afterwards we made a quick drive over to Coney Island before we headed to Dawn's to play in a poker tournament. She lives about four or five blocks from where I used to live in Brooklyn many many many moons ago.


I played Chinese Poker with Spaceman before the guests arrived and went down to the bodega to pick up a couple of six packs. One of them was Brooklyn Lager.

The poker game featured some old friends I had not seen in a very long time such as comedian Charles Star, Ferrari, Maigrey and Toni. I used to play with Toni, Ferrari, and Charles a lot before I started traveling a ton for work. I had a good table to start and jumped out to an early lead when I doubled up against The Rooster. I made the final table I eventually finished in 7th place and did not make the money.


Final Table (courtesy of Karol)
I vaguely recall being shitfaced in Dawn's kitchen and eating Twizzlers with some guy named Fish. I stuck around and waited for The Rooster since we were going home on the subway together. He finished in second place and I hazed him the entire time at the final table. He played OK but I gave him shit for every decision he made. I must have used the nouns "pussy" and "skirt" at least a dozen times each to describe his play.

We took the train back to the city with Mary, who gave me her business card before she got off in Carroll Gardens. The Rooster and I switched trains at Jay Street a couple of stops later. We sat in dimly lit a car on the A train with six black guys.

"Yo Pauly Drama," whispered The Rooster, "where's the only non-brothers on this subway."

It was 1am. We were in Brooklyn and The Rooster was ready for a fight just in case we got jumped. I'm shocked that we didn't. He sported his "Cuban farmer goes to the discotheque" outfit and was an obvious target. I had been jacked up on muscles relaxers, weed, and beer all day and ubiquitously slurring my speech. I should have been mugged and The Rooster should have been beaten to a pulp for wearing white shoes before Memorial Day. Thank God the brothers on the train were not fashionistas and they let The Rooster live to see another day.


We got off at West 4th Street to eat late night drunk food. We wandered past the infamous basketball playground and headed down a lively Macdougal Street. I grabbed a slice of pizza while The Rooster walked down the street to find falafel. He skipped a crowded Mamoun's and we ended up at a place where all the Middle Eastern taxi drivers ate on their late night breaks. Several yellow taxis were parked in front and I swatted away all of the panhandler's who bummed for change as I slurped another slice of pizza.

1:30am and I was faded. We considered drinking at an NYU bar with plenty of soused coeds wandering around The Village. Then the memory went fuzzy.

This was the last photo that I took on my digital camera:


posted by Pauly at 5/15/2007 12:14:00 PM | Permalink |

 
NYC Pic Dump

I took all of these over the last three days.


Somewhere in Central Park


Empty subway


A selection from Frank Stella's special exhibition


Arms & Armor


A selection from Frank Stella's special exhibition


Egyptian masks


McSorely's dark


Bathroom mirror at P&G
posted by Pauly at 5/13/2007 10:42:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Recent Hilarious Google Referrals...
1. Norwegian girls are easy
2. Harry Potter uncircumcised
3. Does Tao club Las Vegas drug test?
4. Lindsay Lohan spotted in Sandpoint, Idaho
5. Does Rachel Bilson smoke?
posted by Pauly at 5/12/2007 11:45:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Hey, It's Friday!

I slept for three hours, woke up for two, and slept for three more. I guess that counts as six hours of sleep. I spent that dead zone between 4am and 6am reading the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone. They interviewed plenty of 60s icons. I read only a handful of interviews such as Bob Dylan, Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead, Tom Wolfe, and Keith Richards.

Wolfe mentioned that he never took LSD even when he was hanging out wearing a suit and observing the Merry Pranksters. "In covering Kesey and The Pranksters, there were all these all-nigh sessions. They'd be taking drugs. I wouldn't," he admitted. I would bet that Wolfe never volunatrily took a hit of liquid sunshine. It was nearly impossible to be in that scene and not get dosed at least once.

Bob Dylan said some interesting things on creativity like, "I never tried to manipulate inspiration." Or, "I come from a time when you had to be original - you had to have some kind of God-given talent to begin with. Just about everybody and anybody who was around in the 50s and 60s had a degree of originality. That was the only way you could get your foot in the door."

Bob Weir discussed the downside of the 60s, "My generation almost let democracy disappear in this country - by not voting, by getting lazy, by going to sleep. Everybody took a big snooze after the Sixties. And very few people woke all the way back up."

There are plenty of other interviews that I had not read yet such as Jack Nicholson, Patti Smith, Mick Jagger, and Jimmy Carter. I'll get to those on another insomnia driven night.

This morning on my jog, I realized how much I missed wandering around Amsterdam in a hash haze as I'd duck down unknown streets where I'd just walk and soak up the scene.

Those 60 hours in Amsterdam were used to organize my feelings. I needed to escape to a place where I could block out everything in my life and be devoid of things like work, responsibility, and being a so-called member of society. Dropping out for a couple of days, jumping off the grid in Human Head terms, wandering around in a strange yet familiar place and trying to unwind and letting go.

The attachments had gotten intense. Work, life, family, friends, relationships, multiple sites, business deals, future projects, and instant communication. I needed to let go and float for a few days before I returned to the world.

I had a true vacation. A holiday. Alone. By myself. No watches. No cellphone. No time. Forgetting the day of the week. Forgetting my name. My monkier. It was cold in Amerstdam which helped forget. It could have been November or February. Monday or Thursday. 1 pm or 6pm. I had no idea. Day or night were the only two distinctions I realized.

Everyone passed on the street was a stranger. I tuned out the dialouge of other travelers and tourists as all their different languages blended into background noise. My curisous side tended to drift towards eavesdropping on other conversations. The pyschological sadist in me loved trying to get inside their heads and figure out who they are. The writer in me does it to get a better understand of the human race as I unwrap the outer layers.

How do people do simple things like drink coffee or talk about a previous vacation to someone who's never been to that exotic place?

I loved the ability to blend into a coffeeshops and cafes. I was able to read my book and sit, organizing my thoughts while sipping super hot coffee, or slurping room temnpature beers and losing myself into fits of creativity... trying to come up with ideas on what to write.

In Amsterdam, I developed an odd fascination with Homer, the inspiration for all of Western literature. And he wrote those works over was 3000 years ago. He was the one who influenced Shakespeare who influenced a slew of 19th century and 20th century writers that I admire.

Homer wrote about men dealing with courage, fear, pride, and sense of finding one self. All at the same time, the most common theme that ran through his works were the longing for home.

The last few years I have been longing for home I had to come to the ultimate relization that I'm not anywhere close to being there. I used to think that my next gig would be the one that will allow me to go home again where I could stay put for six months and write about my experiences. That never happens. It seems like I keep getting sent out on the road.

It's a struggle. I'm able to travel but I lack of personal writing time. I have very little time to sit at home and practice. Artiscally, I often found myself stale and that's why I need moments out of the loop to hone the craft. Yes, the challenge has presented itself. Improve on the fly or else.

When I'm on the road, I have few attachments and very little material items aside from what I can carry with me. Nomadic life interests me when I get to decide where to roam to. Being told where to go has its drawbacks. Alas, the road is what you make of it. And in the end, it's the people that you meet which refine the experiences.

Maybe I'll never get home and I'll be on the road for the rest of my life. Bob Dylan has been on the road for four decades.

"I like the originality of the road," he said. "It's real life in real time."
posted by Pauly at 5/11/2007 10:40:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Flow

After three full days in NYC, I settled into a routine where the emphasis is less on work and more on relaxation, catch up with life, and prepping myself for a two month assignment.

I don't live anywhere anymore. I migrate from gig to gig, travel and vacation in different places, and split my down time in between NYC and Hollyweird. Here's the rough breakdown of where I've been so far in 2007:

LA 5 weeks
Australia 4 weeks
NYC 3.5 weeks
Las Vegas 3 weeks
Europe 1.5 weeks
Florida 1 week

I don't work in an office environment, so I don't spend 40 hours a week with the same group of people. I don't have an apartment, so I don't have neighbors. Most of my friends are scattered all over the country and some are sprinkled on the other side of the globe. Aside from an occasional email, I don't have much interaction with friends aside from when I happen to be in their hometown or on the off chance they decide to head out to Las Vegas. In some respects, I have made more connections and cultivated new friendships in the last three years than I have ever made in my life. I'm skiddish that the quantity factor is usurping the quality factor. Friendships are relationships and each needs to be constantly worked on. For every assignment that I take, I feel as though more distance is growing between a core group of friends that I had as of a few years ago. No one has complained one bit and they've been even more supportive than ever before. But the growing distance is something I have no control over and that's frustrating.

I'm caught at a crossroads. I do my best to reconnect with old friends as much as possible but sometimes I have to decide between alone time to write (non-poker things) and create versus taking time out to hang out with friends.

My time in New York was definitely been carved up before I even got home. I knew that I had to juggle several things. I have 2.5 weeks off but I'm still unable to drop off the grid and disappear for a few days like I did in Amsterdam for 48 hours last month. I have several friends passing through NYC along with a group of old friends that I have been desperately wanting to hang out with for the past few months. Trying to arrange time to hang out has been tough when I have to factor in time to workout, write, and catch up on other projects that I've neglected over the past few months. I also have plenty of sports to watch, Mother's Day to deal with, pay bills, sort through mail, answer email, and a shitload of stuff on TiVo to get through. Then there are the books I have been wanting to read which is time consuming. Oh and then I have to get ready to move to Las Vegas to two months.

For a guy on vacation, I'm swamped with he other aspects of life that I've been ignoring or didn't have time to deal with due to a crazy work and travel schedule over the first four months of the year. I need a vacation from my vacation.

My days start out with a brisk walk and/or jog. I had a really bad allergy day on Tuesday and had to cut my outside time short and this hot and sticky morning was brutal. After the workout, I shower and eat a meager breakfast (Grape Nuts and bananas with skim milk) in my attempt to eat a little better and shed a few pounds. My goal is to drop 7 pounds and be in as best physical shape as possible for my two month stint in Las Vegas where I know I'm not going to sleep much and I'll be eating terribly and I'll be drinking on my dinner breaks.

Part of the reason I've held up so well under tough traveling conditions was the huge workout binge in early October when I lost 20 pounds and ran up to 5 miles a day. I survived a slew of partying at the Vegoose music festival and a week long excursion in Amsterdam with Nicky. I also survived the blogger gathering in Las Vegas and My Morning Jacket's magnificent New Year's Eve show at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Plus there was that month long trip to Oz and a trip to Europe at the end of March and early April. I really haven't had time to work out and take the necessary time to heal both my mind and body.

The morning workouts have been amazing for my clarity of thought. I now have the time to visualize the rest of my day and I've been working effectively. I have been accomplishing everything on my To Do list and I've been writing late at nights instead of early in the morning. I do my best work between the hours of 2am and 6am.

I've been enjoying an hour of so of relaxation and meditation before I crash every night. It's more like I get really stoned or pop a half of muscle relaxer and sit in the dark while listening to music. I let my mind wander and race and let all of the stressful or negative thoughts out before I go to bed. The last few nights of sleep have been a little longer in length and have been some of the best stint of sleep I've gotten in a very long time.

In the afternoons, I have been doing a little work and the rest of the time has been devoted to reading and catching up on TiVo. At nights I have been having dinner with my brother followed up by watching the Yankees game.

I've been living the life that most normal people live. They have a routine with a work week bookended by two days off. Having a routine has enabled me to pick specific times to write. On Wednesday, I wrote my first piece of fiction in I don't know how long. Although I was rusty, it felt a greater sense of self-worth. I made something from nothing just for my own personal amusement.

I have been working on some other projects. I did some editing work on the next issue of Truckin' and started my strip club project over at the Las Vegas blog. I've already posted a review of Crazy Horse Too and my infamous Las Vegas Strip Club tips. I've been trying to post regularly on the Phish blog and added new photos to my Flickr pages. I created a new gallery for the Yankee Stadium pics and I've added new photos to the Pauly food gallery.

I leave for Hollyweird two weeks from today. I spend a long weekend there before I drive back to Las Vegas with Nicky and we move into the apartment I rented at Del Bocca Vista.
posted by Pauly at 5/10/2007 02:22:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Last 5 Hilarious Google Referrals...
1. Lindsay Lohan cocaine binge video
2. Fisting for Dummies
3. Cottonmouth Vicodin
4. Jesus freaks kidnapped runaways Cincinnati
5. Atlantic City Hookers finger up my ass while I get a blowjob

Last 5 Random Celebrity "Nude/Naked" Searches...
1. Judy Jetson nude
2. Sabina Gadecki nude
3. Rachel Ray naked
4. Scarlet Johansen boobs
5. Trishelle Real World naked
posted by Pauly at 5/09/2007 10:18:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Monday Night Yankees Game

Nicky bought me Yankees tickets for Christmas. Perfect gift. With my hectic travel schedule, she took a guess when I'd be free and picked out May 7th. Lucky for me her gamble paid off and I was going to be home that day.

Derek and I headed to the game which ended up in a Mariners win. They came from behind to beat the Yankees 3-2 after blowing the lead. Despite a great performance out of rookie Matt DeSalvo, the bullpen let the Yanks down while Chef Farnsworth and Mo Rivera gave up runs in the 8th and the 9th as the Yanks pissed away a 2-1 lead late in the game.

ARod sucked goose testicles as well. He struck out with a runner in score position and also hit into a DP with two runners on. Good job.

Anyway, we had pretty good seats and I was too lazy to walk around. I took the majority of the pics from my seat. I refused to drink Bud or Coors, so I opted for Michelob Amber Bock which cost me $9. The Heineken drafts were $10.

Here are some pics from the game (click on the pics to see an enlarged view):


The view from my seat


The bleachers filling up


Monument Park in the distance


That's the same spot where Babe Ruth used to stand




The Action...


Italian sausages and hot dogs on the grill


Foot long hot dog = $6


2-2 count for Jeter


Joe D and Mickey Mantle used to play out there...


Cotton Candy Man




posted by Pauly at 5/08/2007 12:22:00 AM | Permalink |

 
The Hills

I was never happier to be back in Hollyweird. Although I ended the Las Vegas trip out of the hole, anything over a week in Las Vegas is tough to stomach because that mawkish town drives everyone crazy after breathing too much pure oxygen. I spent two weeks in Las Vegas and was happy to bail out. It didn't hit me until Nicky turned the car onto her palm-tree lined block and I caught a glimpse of the Hollywood hills in the distance. I was happy to be in LA and not in Las Vegas, where it was 30 degrees cooler and I was not blitzed with slot machine noises. I was even happier knowing that I was a couple of days away from flying home to NYC for 2.5 weeks before I have to move back to Vegas for two months of grueling work.

* * * * *
One night in Las Vegas on our way out to Summerlin to Red Rock casino, Nicky yelled at a slow moving car on the highway.

"What the fuck is your problem? You slow fuck!" Nicky yelled at the top of her lungs.

She passed the car on the left and I noticed the handicapped symbol on the license plates.

"Way to go Nicky. You just yelled at a handicapped driver."

"He doesn't look like a cripple. He's probably faking it."

And then on the 10 on our way back from Las Vegas, Nicky and a woman got into a spat when she wouldn't let Nicky merge into her lane.

"You're a shithead," she screamed as Nicky properly merged into her lane.

"You're the shithead!" shot back Nicky as the two looked like they were ready to throw down.

Three minutes later Nicky flipped her the bird as we passed her driving in the HOV lane.

* * * * *
It felt good to pull bingers on the couch and watch taped programs on Nicky's TiVo. Over the weekend, I caught up on several shows like the last two episodes of Heroes, The Sopranos, and Entourage. I thought everything that I watched was top notch. The last episode of The Sopranos was one of the best of the year especially since I've been critical of the what I've seen so far. I felt Tony's searing pain after he went on that awful losing streak while gambling.

In the short time I was in Hollyweird... I pitched a reality TV show, watched the Rangers lose in the NHL playoffs, won money playing online poker, watched in utter agony as my horse came in next to last in the Kentucky Derby, and I also weighed myself. I put on five pounds in Las Vegas eating too many light night meals. Perfect time to go back on a diet and exercise in NYC. Back to running 5 miles a day and eating healthy to prep for a two-month assignment.

While in Hollyweird, I ate at Maggiano's, Swingers Diner, and Zankou Chicken. I fuckin' love Zankou chicken. For like $9 you get a whole chicken. That's the best deal in LA. I always have serious cravings for the garlic bread at Maggiano's. And I had a sudden impulse for the blue corn nachos at Swingers, so we went there on Saturday night so I could get a bacon cheeseburger.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and wrote for a couple of hours before I worked on the latest issue of Truckin'. When Nicky eventually woke up she made Showcase and myself bacon and eggs. I played some online poker while I sorted (more like skimmed) everything in my bloglines folders. I ended up coming in 3rd place in one tournament which is big since I rarely play tournaments these days.

My email situation is as worse as it has ever been, but I'm taking a new approach to it. I spend exactly one hour twice a week answering every email in my satellite addresses. I answer my main email forty or fifty times a day. I'm going to cut back on that to three times a day. I read a story about how one CEO was so overwhelmed that he cuts his email down to one hour a week (to read and write) and the results have been outstanding.

I need to implement a better system for the WSOP this summer in Las Vegas. After a couple of weeks, the inboxes get all jammed packed and it takes me two or three weeks afterwards just to catch up.

* * * * *
My flight from Long Beach to NYC was on time and there was only one crying baby four rows behind me. That was my 15th flight in the first 17 weeks of the year. I read the latest issues of Entertainment Weekly (I'm giddy like a school girl for The Bourne Supremacy and The Simpsons movie) and Rolling Stone. I only got through the first few pages of RS's 40th anniversary issue before I stopped reading and watched the Roger Clemens circus show on the various ESPN channels. During my five hours in the air I flipped back and forth between poker on ESPN Classic, and hour of The Simpsons, and a special on the History Channel covering the history of science fiction. They had several slips from Superman and Star Trek. I thought I spotted Wil in one of the clips. Wesley Crusher is so dreamy.

I traveled super light on this trip and brought only a carry-on for a two week sojourn which is tough to do. I managed to pull it off and loved the new minimilst me. On my return trip, I left everything in LA minus my laptop and the clothes on my back, a fleece pullover (it was chilly in NYC upon my arrival at 12:20am), and a couple of pairs of underwear. With a light bag to carry, I rushed off the plane, which landed at 12:20 and I was in the cab line by 12:39 and that included a trip to the men's room to piss. Sadly, I waited twenty minutes for a cab since the line was super crowded.

I eventually got home and began the process of sorting my mail. I had several packages (all of which are unopened) and sifted through the magazines, alumni newsletters, and junk mail. I picked out the checks since those were the most important. I opened up only one and saved the rest for Monday morning. I wanted to start the day off with an ego boost. How bad could the start of the week be when one of the first things you do is open up a freelance pay check?

Moments after waking and baking and tearing open the check a few hours ago, I flipped on the radio to my favorite NYC radio station WFUV. The announcer said, "That was new music from Wilco. Now let's listen to Phish singing about Heavy Things."

And that's when they played Heavy Things. I never hear Phish on the radio so that was a treat. Sometimes you get to be in a place at a certain moment in your life when you desperately want to be there. That's how I feel about NYC right now and for the next couple of weeks.

Later tonight, I head to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees-Mariners game with my brother. It will be the first baseball game I've attended this year and the first Yankees game of 2007.

Recent Driving Music...
1. Widespread Panic
2. Rodrigo y Gabriela
3. My Morning Jacket
4. The Wood Brothers
5. Jerry Garica Band
posted by Pauly at 5/07/2007 12:05:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Truckin' - May 2007, Vol. 6, Issue 5

The new issue of Truckin' has been published.

1. 60 Hours in Amsterdam, Part I by Paul McGuire
I was worried that the Air France ticket agent in Nice was going to send my bags to Paris. He kept asking me if I was going to Paris and I responded with "Amsterdam" everytime he asked... More

2. Stuck in Monte Carlo by Otis Dart
It was actually the sea that I had stepped out on the balcony to see. I'd only been on the ground in Monte Carlo for a few hours. The moment I crashed into my room at the brand new Monte Carlo Bay Resort, I'd fallen into the most comfortable bed in the world... More

3. Emilio Estevez Loses His Tooth by BTreotch
Four minutes earlier, Emilio Estevez was beating his kid-brother Carlos while he was hog tied and strapped to the top rail of their swing set with cheap-itchy yellow rope... More

4. Confessions of a Man by Sigge S. Amdal
I should have asked her for a date. Any date at all. 4th of March, 6th of April, didn't really matter. As long as we could go and have a dinner, or see a movie or something. It's not like I'm craving a relationship, I've got too much to do already, but it stung inside of me knowing that I'd already lost a chance. A chance. Singular term. There could be more coming... More

5. A Grand Day Out by Susan Bently
On the other side of the road sat this German guy's car with a huge dent on the bonnet and his family sitting in the car, wife and children looking wide-eyed and pale. The bleeding carcass of a moose lay next to the car, dark patches of blood over the centerline... More

6. City of Sins by Clay Champlin
People head to Las Vegas for two reasons: salvation or condemnation. Those looking to be saved from their mundane Midwestern lives bask in the perpetual glow of the strip or gawk skyward at downtown's Freemont street experience... More

This latest issue features an interesting mix of new and old writers in one of the strongest issues of the year. Susan Bently and Clay Champlin join the staff along with familiar faces such as Otis and everyone's favorite Norwegian word wanker Sigge. And finally, BTreotch is back with the second installment of his hilarious Emilio Estevez series. My contribution this month is about a short side trip to Amsterdam after a work assignment in Monte Carlo.

I ask that if you like these stories, then please do me and the rest of the writers a huge favor: Tell your friends about your favorite stories. It takes a few seconds to pass along Truckin'. I certainly appreciate your support. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you know anyone who is interested in being added to the mailing list.

Thanks to the writers who exposed their souls to the world and wrote for free. I'm lucky that you were willing to take that leap of faith with me. Thanks for inspiring me and for wasting your precious time with Truckin'. Until next time.
posted by Pauly at 5/06/2007 12:47:00 PM | Permalink |

 
David Hasselhoff Drunk Video

Derek me about this hilarious incident and I had to post it...


Click here to view the Hasselhoff drunk video via RSS or other feed.
posted by Pauly at 5/06/2007 12:36:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Off the Job and Paris' 45 Days

I had been back in Hollyweird for less than ninety seconds when the entire city stopped. Word was out about the Paris Hilton prison sentence. She was sentenced to 45 days in the slammer for being a stupid twat. She was busted for driving with a suspended license. Paris then threw her publicist under the buss and tried to blame her help for not informing her of her legal status as she stood in front of the judge, who quickly threw the book at her. Of course Paris was made an example. The law has to bust rich folks from time to time. Paris' bartab in the last year was probably more than what the judge and prosecutor made in a single year.... combined. Oh well. Perhaps this could land her a book deal... 45 Days in the Hole by Paris Hilton.

The little tart will be serving six and a half weeks behind bars. Either she'll quickly become someone's bitch or she'll become the jailhouse celebrity and everyone there will be kissing her ass. Nicky thinks she'll get gangraped by a bunch of female gangbangers and they'll shove a broomstick up her ass. So how's that different from her usual Saturday nights?

The two week Las Vegas trip was broken down into two assignments. The Bellagio gig was seven days and the Caesar's Palace event was only three days. Nicky and I split time in between two hotels... the IP and the Excalibur aka The Castle.

Here are a couple of photos taken by BJ or Flipchip while I was at work:


At the Bellagio


At Caesar's Palace
After spending a substantial amount of time within the milieu of Las Vegas, partying and gambling as a temporary visitor is a millions times more enjoyable than living in Las Vegas for work. I understand the plight of the unfortunate souls who have to toil in resort towns or other holiday hotspots as the resentment builds against those they have to serve and be around daily... tourists.

I travel frequently and I prefer hanging out with travelers more than tourists. There's a vast difference between a traveler and tourist and if you have to ask me to clarify that gap, then I'm afraid that you're a tourist in life.

Sadly, I grew frustrated with the slew of slack-jawed tourists that flooded the Strip the past few days. It was super ugly one morning at the IP or the Imperial Palace for Inbred Peasants that I've renamed it after the scene I witnessed. It was around 9am, the nasty hour where the early risers clash with the skewed populous on the tail end of their all night benders. I headed to work at the Bellagio and had to fight my way through a dense jungle of slot machines and table games in order to clear the labyrinth of avarice.

In front of the Wheel of Fortune slots, a woman with fake nails spilling out of her jean shorts and wearing one black flip flop screamed at the top of her lungs to a hagged out waitresses wearing a one-size too large hooker pink cocktail dress circa Peggy Sue Gets Married. The accent of the smashed woman was southern, perhaps with a heavy Appalachian twang. Obviously up all night drinking, the waitress wanted no more part of her as a customer cut and her off. When she refused to give her a drink the redneck got right in her face and said, "Fuck you bitch. Where's my fuckin' Bud Light!"

The waitress walked away in the most amazing display of Buddhist tolerance and patience that I had seen in a very long time. Then again, she might not be religious, just jacked up on diazepam.

Everyone's high in Las Vegas. If you're not high, you're looking to get high. You didn't come to Las Vegas not to get off somehow. Otherwise you would have gone to see Mt. Rushmore instead.

Then there was the incident with the wasted chick who ran down the hallway at the Castle (now there's a fall from grace... just a month ago I was eating 23 Euro cheeseburgers on my terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea at Le Meridien Beach Hotel in Monte Carlo. Now I was shuffling in between the Legionnaire's Disease infested IP then the magical Excalibur. Good thing I bought a wife beater t-shirt and a pack of Skoal in to blend in). She was so shitfaced that she stumbled or crashed into every door that had a Do Not Disturb Sign on it and ripped them all off. When I walked down the hall ten minutes later, dozens and dozens of torn signs cluttered the hallway.

When I did most of my gambling and poker playing, it was done off the Strip in locals casinos such as Green Valley Ranch or at Red Rock. I had two days off in between and I gambled a lot during those off days or met up with friends around town. Nicky and I also locked up an apartment in a complex I've nicknamed Del Bocca Vista. Right next door in another gated complex is where Schecky and Jen Leo are living this summer. The best part is the location... about five minutes from the Rio Casino where I will be working for two months straight.

My last day in Las Vegas featured a four hour meeting with the organization that I'm going to work with this summer to cover the WSOP. Overall, I had 11 days of work and I had very little time to gamble. I managed to bet on NBA playoff games but didn't watch most of them because I was working while them went on.

After the first week, most of my bets lost and I chased my losses by increasing the amounts of my bets. Of course when you chase a loss and lose, you find yourself in a deeper hole. I started out betting 250 a game, then 500, then 1K and eventually 2K to get unstuck. Then I got lucky and nailed four straight bets. I was down about 4.5K and ran out of cash. I had to get a wire transfer to one of the casinos since the ATM would only let me take out $600 in a single 24 hour period. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I decided that transfer to the cage would be the lastdraw. If I couldn't turn around my bad luck I was done betting on sports for good. And that's when I rode the streak towards the positive side. My first 2K bet? Won. My second one? Won again. I went from down 4.5K to down just $400 inside of six hours. Unreal. The next day I only bet $500 a game to complete the 5K swing in about 24 hours.

At that point I decided to not bet any more on sports until the NFL football season starts. I made a secret pact with myself not to bet on anything sports-related until after the World Series is over. I can do it. After all, I have not touched a donut in almost 300 days ever since I went back on My Donut Diet version 2.0.

On Thursday night, I was invited to a preview of Lucky You, a poker flick set in Las Vegas in 2003 starring Drew Barrymore, Eric Bana, and Robert Duvall. I skipped it, even though a ton of poker pros were at the red carpet and it was directed by Curtis Hanson who happened to be at the helm of some of my favorite films such as L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys. I wanted to watch the NBA games since I had money on them. Luckily, the preview was held at a movie theatre inside a casino... at Red Rock to be exact and I was able to play poker and watch the NBA games while Nicky headed to the preview with several friends.

Not only did I win both NBA games, I also won at poker... something that had not happened since I was in Las Vegas. Actually, I played online in my hotel room a couple of times and won there! But as far as live poker went... I was down for the trip. That rush at Red Rock only cut my poker loses in half.

By the time I left Las Vegas, I turned a small profit which is significant because the last two times I was in Las Vegas... I left as a loser. This trip I packed up all my things and loaded them into the car knowing that I was skipping town as a winner. We found an apartment to live in during the summer. I was offered a lucrative job to cover the WSOP and I finally got unstuck.

The drive from Las Vegas to LA on Friday started out quick. I drove the first two hours and made great time to Barstow despite the heavy winds and sandstorms. Nicky's new car attacked those hills extremely well as we flew by trucks and I did my best to draft off of the slew of SUV's on I-15.

And as soon as we got back to the apartment, Showcase was sitting on the couch in his underwear, smoking weed, and watching the breaking news on CNN.
posted by Pauly at 5/05/2007 12:46:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Last 5 Hilarious Google Refferals...
1. Sabina Gadecki nude
2. Atlantic City Hookers finger up my ass while I get a blowjob
3. What the fuck am I doing here Iowa! t-shirts
4. Tool valium at a Tool concert
5. Trishelle Real World dating poker pro
posted by Pauly at 5/04/2007 11:49:00 AM | Permalink |

 
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.
posted by Pauly at 5/01/2007 01:12:00 PM | Permalink |