UGH

If you listen really closely you can hear it...shhhh...wait for it...there it is. Someone just said something really stupid. It happens several times a day in my life, sometimes I partake in the stupidity as well. For example on Saturday night I go to a poker game with about 2 people I know there and 20 people I don't know. The game was Hold'em and I hear this guy playing at a different table than me spew this doozy "I lose with Aces(pocket aces is what he's referring to) 90% of the time." For those of you trapped under a rock for the last 8 years and haven't played or seen hold'em played, aces are the best hand you can start with. So the idea that one would lose with the best starting had 90% of the time is laughable. That's immediately followed by this gem "When I have Aces there's only 2 left in the deck for me to hit(the other 2 aces). I'd rather have Ace/King because it gives me more cards to hit my outs." This might just be the absolute dumbest thing I've ever heard. He would rather have more "outs" to hopefully hit a hand that will MAYBE be as good as the hand he claims to lose with 90% of the time, AND SAYS HE DOESN'T WANT. So by his theory he would rather be DRAWING to a pair of aces as opposed to having them from the start!!!!! Now I would normally relish in giving this goon a ration of shit but since I knew 2 people there I thought it wise to bite my tongue.

I was giving one of my drivers his load information today and upon telling him that he had 5 different places to stop and what the load paid he says "That's a lot of work for that amount of money." Let me explain something to you about my field of work. The truck gets paid x amount of dollars to travel x amount of miles in x amount of days. The idea is to get the most money for the least amount of miles in the shortest period of time. The load in question passed all these tests but because in had to go to 5 different places he was pissed. This, in turn, pissed me the fuck off. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Brilliant Dispatcher: :"Would you rather I found you an easy fucking load that paid like shit?"
Stupid Truck Driver: "Well no, but the load we do to Beloit almost pays as much as this one does and it only has 1 stop."
Brilliant Dispatcher: "That's true and IF there was a load to Beloit, I'd have gotten it for you but there isn't and this is a good fucking load."
Stupid Truck Driver: "I'm not mad at you, I just wish they would pay more for these multi-stop loads."
Brilliant Dispatcher: "They are paying more, a straight load(this means 1 pickup and 1 delivery) to Chicago out of Denver usually pays about $1200.00 This one pays $1575.00 So you're getting paid for you extra work."

Truck drivers are a whole different breed of people. There are exceptions to every rule, but by and large truckers are whiney, full of shit, irresponsible, and long winded just to name a few. Truckers will whine about whatever load they have gotten no matter how good it may be. They will then tell another trucker how great their load is and how much money they make and yada, yada, yada. Basically if their lips are moving, they are feeding someone a line of bullshit. It normally doesn't bother me and usually I find it comical but when I have to explain to a guy that he's making more money for working hard and not spending it on fuel...it can get tiresome. Only one of my guys is this way and he's not usually as bad as I've portrayed him to be here. I do have another guy who gets diarrhea of the mouth though and I'll finally get so annoyed that I snap at him to get to the god damned point. He thinks I'm an ass. And I guess if the shoe fits...

Wicked Beatdown!!!!

I played in the Dr. Cue tournament this weekend and all I can say is......... holy-fucking-crap! I got there Saturday morning to find out there are 128 players. I heard players from Fort Collins all the way down to Albuquerque, NM were there. Looking around I see SOOOO many great players and I realize before I even take my cues out of the case that I'm dead money. Some people see this as the wrong attitude but I try to be realistic and honest with myself about my skillset and where I'm going to finish. I was like the Junior high kid playing in the NBA allstar game. Unfortunately I didn't play well at all and went 2 and out. I think maybe I let myself get too intimidated by all the great players. I know I can't win that event but if I play well I believe I could make the money, they paid out the top 32 places. I'm not saying I was in the top 25% of players there but if I played real well you never know what can happen. Both matches I got off to real slow starts and I believe that is a HUGE factor when playing short races(they were to 4). No matter how good the player if I run out the first or second rack, most people will see that you can play and it adds a little pressure to them because if they miss then they realize they will probably lose the game. I didn't do that ever. I've got no excuses for my bad play and I'm very frustrated and honestly a little embarrassed about the way I played. There were a lot of people I knew there watching me play and I choked big time. Again, not making excuses but these are some of the REASONS I believe I played poorly. I had in my mind right off I had to play great just to win a match. I put more pressure on myself instead of just going out there and playing pool. I played a more conservative game than I normally do because I was afraid to take the "hard" shot of the match and maybe miss. So in an effort to get great position to take an easier shot I would usually hook myself or leave myself a harder shot than I originally would of had. This was WAY out of character for me because it's very rare I run into a shot I don't believe I can make. Again, I allowed myself to be intimidated into not even playing the game that has gotten me to be a good player. I played scared, I played like a bitch, I was clearly not on the level of ANYONE in that room on that day. I know for a fact I can play with 80% of the people in that room and didn't, I embarrassed myself instead. It's also very hard to play without being able to warm-up before you play. Get up and play after sitting for 4-5 hours is difficult for me to do. Now obviously this is the case for everyone and not just me, so again not an excuse but something I didn't handle well.

There were probably about 10-12 people who had a realistic shot at winning this tournament and I played one of them in the first round. Mike Helmer was his name and kicken' Preston's ass was his game. He owns a pool hall in Fort Collins and this cat could shoot some stick. I would say that out of the top 20 players in Colorado, 16-18 of them were at this tournament. This was a ridiculously strong field. I'm going to Denver this weekend to play in another big tournament this weekend. I have got to try and redeem myself after this pathetic outing.

A couple things from this past weekend I'd like to note. I met my dad for breakfast at this little joint at about 9AM and there were about 10 people in there drinking a beer for breakfast! I also added another thing to my list-o-shit that annoys me.

I've got it all figured out

Have you ever thought that you had it (pool is my it, yours is: golf, sewing, poker, skipping rocks, etc.) all figured out and then come across more information that makes you feel as if you know absolutely nothing about the game? I knew I didn't have it ALL figured out but thought that I was really getting somewhere with my recent work on my preshot routine and mental game work. I'm reading a book on the mental side of pool and I'm only a couple chapters into it but I realize I've got, well, nothing figured out. There is some serious shit in this book and I feel like I need a psychology degree to understand some of the stuff he speaks of. I was also reading on a billiard forum about stroking straight, which seems easy and obvious enough but it got very deep and someone actually put a picture of a skeleton and the hands. Now I also need a damn biology degree! I'm not terribly fascinated with learning about how my mind works nor what my mind does that makes me fail when I practice. I'm doing this because I love to play the game and want to be as good as I possibly can. I guess where I'm going with this rambling is am I prepared to get neck high in a barrel of shit? Am I willing to look down every avenue, read books on all topics concerning pool, and take the time and effort to import them into my game? These are the things I don't enjoy and I'm not sure if I want to make this sacrifice. I'm not satisfied with where my game is though, but I don't know if this is even possible for me. I'm not happy unless I make every shot and get every position. This "goal" is unattainable because it's impossible for any human to do that. Looking back to just 2 years ago, my game has dramatically improved.

I think one of my problems is I need some sort of goal. This goal is usually preparing for the annual tournament in Vegas but I'm not able to go this year. I think I need to attend more tournaments and set a goal for what I would like my results to be in those. I'm also going to play more straight pool and my goal in that is to run 50 balls. I'm playing in a big tournament this weekend (should have 64 people) with lots of strong players so I'll post my results on Monday for that. I played in it last year and lost my first two matches. I'll be interested in seeing how my results stack up against last year. It won't be apples to apples as both the guys I played last year were pretty good, but people I expect to beat. I'm very excited for this tournament.

Bitter Sweet

Tuesday night league was a late night but I played well and won so that helps putting up with not getting home until midnight. This league is usually over pretty early, but the owner of the bar is on the team we played so we only play one table. I think they do this so people will be there longer? Anyways, it's what I would call a classy establishment with the stripper poles and waterfall thing in the corner. OH YES, it's part time pool hall...and part time stripper joint. I don't particularly like playing there because it's pretty tight quarters where we play and I feel comfortable around the type of people that attend this kind of place. They did recently re-felt their tables which was helpful to playing conditions. The team we played is the best in the league by a long shot and all their players range from good to real goddamn good. I played a guy who was a notch below real goddamn good and I beat him 7-4. I played very well until the end when I started choking like a dog. I was up 6-1 with 3 balls left(playing 9 ball), basically a cosmopolitan and I screwed it up and then I stunk the last 3 games. I totally lost my focus when I blew the game and never regained it. All I could think about was how I should have already beat this guy instead of trying to beat him now and how embarrassing it would be to lose after being up 6-1. Pretty disappointing that my mental game folded like a lawnchair. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with how I played but I want to be real hard on myself so I don't get satisfied with playing an average or even good game if I know I can play better. But the first 7 games I played last night were off the charts for me, I saw the table well, made difficult shots, and got good position on just about everything.

I managed to get through a game of racquetball with only minor pain from my chest situation. I shouldn't be playing but it's just too damn fun so I'll put up with the pain(except for when I come on here and piss and moan about it) for as long as I have too.

Eventful Weekend, Sorta

What a weekend, I went to a poker game, bought a new car, and spent all day Sunday sick on the couch. Friday Night was a blast, I played poker with a few friends. We played very small limits which I really like because then nobody is worried about losing a lot of money. I won $12 and another guy lost $10 so it's more for bragging rights as opposed to monetary gain. I just enjoy hanging out with my friends, talking shit, and having a few beers as opposed to playing for a lot of money. Friday afternoon we looked at an Escalade that we really liked but it had some damage to the front bumper that they said they wouldn't fix so we decided to hold off and go to Longmont/Loveland area and look at a few up there on Saturday. I'm confused as to why they still call it a bumper? These new cars are made completely out of paper mache and so is the "bumper", it used to actually be made out of steel so if you bumped something it wouldn't damage it. Whereas now, if you so much as hit a gnat the bumper explodes into a thousand pieces on impact. Anyways, on Saturday morning the salesman call me at 8 in the morning and says that the bumper will be replaced at no additional charge. So we went back Saturday and test drove it and ended up buying it. This was a pretty tough decision for me because I really didn't want to have a car payment again but it was priced right and very low miles so hopefully this will last us for 10 years. We actually ended up pretty limited on the cars we looked at due to the features we wanted. First and foremost it had to be a V8, my wife and I both subscribe to the motto "drive it like you stole it". It's really stupid because I always leave way early if I'm going somewhere so I don't need to speed but I always seem to be in a hurry while driving. We also REALLY needed the third row seating for all the kids we don't have?!? We wanted something with low miles in the hopes that this will be the last car we buy for a loooonnnnggg time. And after looking at some other cars it made sense to us to pay only a couple thousand more and find a '05 or '06 Escalade with low miles and priced right as opposed to a Mercury Mountaineer. We got our '05 for well below blue book and sold our jeep for well over blue book so that really helped as well. I've still got a little buyers remorse going on but not because I'm not happy with what we got but because I really didn't want to have to buy a new car. Our P.O.S was falling apart though and I'm sure it was the correct decision.
Sunday sucked though, I was sick and watched tv on the couch all day. I did win a couple bucks on some bets I made but other than that it was awfully miserable. And I may or may not have, but definitely did crack my rib playing racquetball. It hurts like a son of a bitch when I do anything. I guess I could have ruptured my spleen or maybe I had a heart attack, I'm not real sure what's wrong but my chesty area hurts.
I will also be adding to my list of things that annoy me so check back with that.

Pretty Sad

Last night at league I played a pretty good player and lost 7-6. I would say that we both got some good breaks in the match but he got another roll or two. I played a very average game most of the night and gave away 2-3 games by missing DUMB shots. This last statement is why I'm not pissing and moaning about my "bad luck" during our match in which he combo'd in the 9 early twice and got super lucky kicking it in another time. If I play well I'm going to win regardless of what kind of luck he gets. He was a good shotmaker but he doesn't have all the "shots". By "shots" I mean cue ball control, english, and knowing how to get the cue ball where he wants it on a tough shot. My opponent was very friendly and a good player but I'm quite disappointed that I lost to him. I picked this guy to play because this team has the raging douchebag that I spoke about in an earlier post, the really good player that complained about everything. I beat him last time and I really enjoy playing people better than me but this guy was too much so I made sure another guy on my team had to put up with his shit.
This team has six people on it and all they all came to our place, their bar is clear down south and probably a 20 minute drive and only three people can play. I don't really understand this, my team has three people on it and one guy who said he would be a sub so he would only come if someone couldn't make it. I enjoy playing pool and being around it but I don't need to drive 20 minutes to not play in a match. When I see something like this that I don't understand I like to dissect why they would do that and all I can come up with is they hate their wives and want out of the house.

I'm really annoying myself with this damn car situation. I'm waffling back and forth on what to do and if I should buy this car or fix my car or maybe get that car...FUCK, SHIT, ASS!!! Just make up my mind already and stick the fuck with it. You know that guy that you have to see sometimes that really annoys the shit out of you and want to jab your pen in his eye, well thats the way I feel about myself right now. I'm usually a very decisive person so when I'm not I get aggravated with myself.

When I'm annoyed I have a tendency to let even more things annoy me that might not ordinarily do so. For your convenience and enjoyment I'll run down a list of these things:
1. I have WebMD on my homepage and one of the headlines is "Did malaria and bone disease kill King Tut"? Well I'll start by saying this-Who the fuck really cares? Really? Seriously? Where do they get the money to do these tests that 1 in a billion people care about? Couldn't we use this money for...well ANY-FUCKING-THING-ELSE!
2. Why do I have to dry my towels three goddamn times before they're dry? I've had a guy come out and check the vent out of the house, I've had a guy come and check out the dryer(and actually replace a part that was supposedly fixing the problem), and had to speak to "Steve" from customer service who can barely fucking speak english.
3. Why are brokers dropping my loads on me? I can't get a goddamn thing done today.
4. people who type like this. Move your goddamn pinky and hit the shift key when you type your first letter of the sentence. You lazy sons-a-bitches it isn't hard.
5. PEOPLE WHO TYPE LIKE THIS...DO I NEED TO ELABORATE. This is the faggot in the bar or at work that talks so fucking loud you can't hear yourself think.
5. People who can't count.
7. Anybody name Fred.
8. People, who when counting on their hands, use their thumb for number one. HEY FONZIE, use your index finger like the rest of the educated world!
9. Grown men who wear sweats in Public. Come on people, it's not like this is something that just came up. Put some damn pants on, nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to see what you're packin'. Grocery store or convenience store= OK, running out for something real quick in sweats. Driving 50 miles to get to a pool tournament wearing sweats= Douchebag.

That's all.

Uncertainty

I'm not a very religious nor superstitious person and I pretty much believe we make our own "luck". When something goes bad I try to find what I've done wrong or incorrect to have this negative result come about. The same goes for when something positive happens, and anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I don't mind sharing how great I am! Having said that I do allow myself to be susceptible to bad "signs or omens". The same is not true for good ones though, which obviously doesn't make any sense. Yesterday we decided to get a new car but the place that had the car we looked at before and liked, had sold it an hour before we got there. So today I'm thinking that this was a sign and we shouldn't buy a new car because if we were "meant" to get a new car then it would have been there. But when we first looked at getting a new car it was there and priced right and just what we (my wife) wanted. So why wasn't that a good sign? I'm not looking for "answers", just merely stating that it's something stupid that I do. Neither the Sun, nor the Mountains, nor Simon Cowell, nor the Greek God Zeus made the car get sold before we got there, it was happenstance. This goes back to my thoughts on being self-employed and being fiscally responsible and I guess being cheap has crept into my choices on personal finances as well. A wise man once said..."That's all I have to say about that."