Hump Day

So this should tell you something about the day I'm having today: I brushed my teeth with my pointer finger.

That's right ladies and gentlemen. No tooth brush for me! No sir. My girlfriend basically thought the idea of me borrowing her tooth brush was "gross". And that brushing my teeth with her toothbrush was more gross than me doing so with a finger. I just want to let you all know, for those that haven't tried it yet: It doesn't really work. The paste gets all over your lips, your teeth, you don't really feel clean, your finger is sticky even after long rinsings. Yeah, it's not that great of an idea. The toothpaste doesn't even foam up! I mean, how can you get clean just by "applying" toothpaste to your teeth? I don't know if you can or not. Which sucks, because I have a dentist appointment next Tuesday, and of course I've been doing a great job of flossing, brushing for at least two minutes (and trying to do so softly) and also using the rubber pick to strengthen my gums. My teeth should be in the best shape of their lives as I usually floss about once a month maybe, instead of the once to twice a day I've been doing for the past month and a half now. I mean, honestly after this whole flossing hoopla I can successfully say that I floss my teeth “every couple of days”. That’s right. 1 month straight of flossing once to twice a day makes up for the rest of the year not flossing. Gross. I know that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t care. There are people in this world that don’t even take showers…let’s not even talk about dental hygiene!

Today I played in a multi table tournament for $30 on Party Poker. I placed 32^nd out of 720 people for a whopping $118.00. But, it sucked almost 4 hours out of my day and I felt completely drained and emotionally wrecked. That’s what “going deep” in MTTs (multi-table tournaments) do to me. You have to be on the ball 100%. 1 misstep in a no limit tournament and you’re gone. That’s what is so stressful about it. I definitely made a few errors, raising when I shouldn’t have, folding when I should have called, but somehow I still made it in to the money. Skilled players can make it to the money. Skilled players who have luck on their side can make it to the final table. That is the difference.

The only reason I am writing tonight is because I am not tired. I thought I was tired, but got a second wind. I guess all these nights of staying up until 2 am during my “bereavement leave” have set my body clock to that. Unlucky for me. I have to wake up at 7 tomorrow when I’m used to getting up at 9:30 and 10:00 am now. The rain sure has a way of putting a damper on things. I need to pay off my credit card. Stupid credit card. Why do I pay for basically EVERYTHING with it? I’ve got cash in my wallet. I’ve got my check card which will pay for it with basically cash. But no, I’ve got to let a little $150-$2500 (my credit limit) hang over my head every month just so I can feel like I’m “building credit”. BUILDING CREDIT? Please. I’ve had a credit card since I was 18. That’s 5 years of doing this. Over these 5 years I’ve paid off two cars. The first one co-signed, the 2^nd fully under my name. When they ran the credit check on me to apply for a $400K loan on our house, mine was next to perfect. I think they told me the only way I get any better is if I pay off a mortgage and am over 25…40 something old like that.

Ok, now I remembered what I really wanted to talk about. I always used to say, “There are no absolute truths in life”. Someone corrected me by saying, “Yes there is, it’s death”. So, I stand corrected. The only absolute truth in life is death. Everyone that is living right now will die. What you do between the moment you are born and the moment you die is more or less up to you. Having said that, the inevitability of time was quite disturbing to me as I was lying in bed and not being able to sleep tonight. I thought to myself, “God, the last time I worked was more than a week ago. What happened to 7 days? Why is it that when I’m working the week seems to move ever so slowly, yet when I’m free to do as I please, here I am, 7 days later with not very much to show for it, but at least more to show than if I had been working? 7 days.” Just yesterday I was thinking about how well the Seahawks played and how excited I was to have 3 more days off. Just yesterday I was eating Applebee’s with Michelle and telling her how nice it will be to have 5 days off. Just yesterday I was discussing with my manager how much time I could take off. You won’t believe this, but they gave me the option of a month. They’d only pay me a week, but still, I could take a month off. That would definitely be nice. So, I took what they would pay me for. Any drop in income right now would hurt a lot. And that’s what is scary about not having a job to me. Every month we’re going to basically have $1000 between Michelle and I after the mortgage and bills. Somehow we’ve got to build up some sort of nest just in case one of us loses our jobs…has some sort of mental breakdown…has to buy a new car…enough to get by while we’re scrambling to find something basically…this is scary to me. Definitely one of those “high risk high reward” type of deals. Something I am used to I suppose.

Wednesday is hump day. I didn’t do any humping today. Definitely with the brushing of teeth with finger, but definitely not with the humping. For those that haven’t seen it, NYC beats Chicago in Nike Basketball Battlegrounds. Of course they win, NYC always freaking wins. And that’s why we hate them. Chicago had a huge lead going in to half and they blew it. I think one of their main guys got hurt though. Also, I watched about 6 episodes of “Breaking Bonaduce” while playing poker. That guy is a trip, and his wife deserves an award for sticking by him as she’s done. I guess it’s tough with the kids and all. Last I checked, the Houston Astros were up 5-1 in the 8^th inning, so unless Pujols hits some sort of grand slam + 1 I don’t think they’re going to be playing another game. ‘Stros ‘gainst the chi’sox for the World Series. What a sleeper. Sox in 5.

Did I mention I was on the road to losing weight and getting “cut”? Yeah, that’s happening by new year’s eve. I’ve cut out a lot of drinking over the past few weeks (even though it was already at an all time minimum) and I’ve been working out at least every other day, and worked out a lot during this vacation. I’d like to get rid of the gut first, but it’s shrinking very slowly. I guess it’s a lot easier to put it on then get it off. I’d like to end tonight’s post with something memorable or at least witty. On this desk there is stationary with fish on it and a cat swimming with the fish with scuba gear on. The title reads, “Fishy Business”. I laughed that “one laugh” at it the first time I saw it. Like that one “Hah!” you let out when you see something like that. Wish me luck at my next two days of work, I’m sure they’re going to suck.