I'm sorry for ignoring you, blogger. I played at a poker tournament tonight, at work. $10 buy-in, for $1200 worth of chips, points according to when you go out, but money divided amongst the top 4 people (or last 4 people). Anyway, I was the second out [laughs]. I'm not good at poker because 1) my luck is worse than other peoples', 2) I hate folding without seeing the flop, though it gets expensive sometimes, and 3) I hate letting someone buy the pot. So I got taken a couple times because I held on to something that wasn't worth betting on, and I lost on several good hands because someone else had a better one. Then I got to sit there for over an hour watching other people play. I was hoping that a side table would get started, i.e. a free table. No, I was being foolishly hopeful. The side table, when it started, was "buy in what you are willing to pay", chips at at .25, .50, 1.00, and 2.00. That wasn't happening at all. But it was still a fun and entertaining evening. You know, even having eaten and had other drinks, bourbon still gets me tipsy very easily. Literally, I had a plate of chips I stole from the kitchen (since the tournament was at my work), and 2 slices of pizza, and a large pepsi, and I was feeling lightheaded after three sips of bourbon. [laughs] Anyway, I finally decided that it wasn't worth staying anymore, watching the big money sharks eat each other and watching the real money people play penny-ante. I succeeded in meeting new people, but did not really succeed in getting to know my coworkers better. I did, however, (being the anal and organized person I am), print out and take the state laws about gambling. Next I need to look up the Alcohol and Beverage Association's rules about it. Technically, the only thing that is illegal about our tournament is that it's in a public location, though the property is private, and we close and lock the doors before starting, so it's not actually open to the public. (We're also legal because it's equal chances to everyone, no one gets any gain except personal winnings, and the house is making no money from it). Also, though they can require anyone to give testamony about it, if they are charging you with a class C misdemeanor for it, your testimony can't be used against you. So basically, they would have to have the willing testimony of someone making a deal to avoid charges, in order to charge us, and though a class C misdemeanor is technically a fine of no more than $500, I heard that when a pub in the north part of the city was raided, the participants were fined $60 each. But that was also a public place, and the police came in on a called complaint (they keep holding it, though the police have raided it 3 times, apparently). Blah blah blah. Life is getting better, or at least most of us are working past this crappy period of bad luck and hard times that seems to be hitting everyone. Oh, and my brother is gone back up to school for the month, until we officially move him up to Kansas, where he's going to be stationed with the air force. I don't know for what, training or something, gaining experience, whatever. I'm done typing, though I'm still bourbon happy. [laughs]