Joy

More often than not, I am happy. I think it is because a lot of things make me happy. The happiness is usually a subdued happiness, which might manifest itself in the form of a smirk here and an inner smile there. It isn't often that I have a shit-eating grin that I can't wipe off my face. This weekend was unique because it was filled with moments that made me extremely happy--moments you experience and think: I should remember this.

Shortly after my last post, I watched the Apple Cup. And it went to overtime, just like I called last Saturday. Now Jeremy's got to do 100 pushups on our first day of skiing this winter. I think I'll make it easy (and humiliating) for him by having him do ten pushups at the top of every chair lift until his 100 are done.

Poker night slash birthday night at Casa De Chako was amazing. Not to sound too mystical, but The Chakos always seem to have a glow of positive energy around them, which seems to instantly bring up the energy in a room. It might just be that whenever we're together we're giddy to play poker or go jump in a river, but I'm already looking forward to our next bash.

Zeem and Cayne's Josh filled out the poker bloggers, and a few newbies from The Wife's work joined us for two tournaments. I won the first tournament with a couple nice suckouts and then my hands held up and I took it down. Dr. Chako got second and The Wife got her money back in 3rd.

In our second tournament, The Wife and Doc both made the money again (ringers...), along with Zeem. I think The Wife took the second one down, with Zeem in 2nd and Doc in 3rd. After the second tournament finished up, it was around 11pm and we had a pretty interesting conversation about poker and styles of play. The Wife and I play a similar tight-aggressive game, but either because she is a woman or because she plays a wee bit tighter than me, she is always picked out at a table as the nit (for a definition of nit, here's a post by GadZOOKS). She provided a few stories from her casino trips where other players not in the hand comment "uh oh, look who's betting..." and guys will still call her down to middle pair when she's got the nuts. She takes advantage of calling stations by playing tight-aggressive, and it works: she is a winning player.

I'm still trying to figure out how to play multiple styles, and I think I learn a lot more by playing a small-ball style that Dr. Chako plays. You see a lot more flops and get the opportunity to test yourself with many difficult decisions. Normally, I play tight-aggressive and attempt to make my opponents make the tough decisions, but I often wonder how that makes me any better as a player. I've still got plenty to learn, and the complexity of poker is why I love it.

After poker, I gave Tacoma Josh a call to see if he'd still be up for some Guitar Hero World Tour, and he vocally nodded in agreement. I got down to Tacoma around 11:30pm and we rocked out on his new drum set and new sliding guitar until 4am. Mashing the drum set is an incredibly fun addition to the series, and I had flashbacks of my middle school percussion days. I was a terrible drummer. Still am! Highlight of the night had to be earning enough money to unlock the Tool set list, including Parabola, Schism and one other song. Tool songs are fucking epic. Parabola must have had five different outros, and all I can say is, I'm glad I was on the guitar and not on the drums.

During the second song, Schism, Josh started in on a drum solo like Animal from the Muppets...



... he was going strong for the first minute of the drum solo, while I continued strumming away on the guitar. After the second minute of soloing, Josh started to slow down. After the third minute, he started to fall apart. During the fourth minute of the drum solo, the drums were silent. I continued strumming, and noted the time the drums were quiet. 3:41am, and Josh has officially run out of gas.

Schism > Josh.

He grabbed energy from somewhere and finished out the set, possibly it was from the delicious Black Butte Porter. I drove back up to Seattle and arrived around 4:30am and fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

I awoke at noon today to a sunny afternoon and decided to skip breakfast. Instead, I took my poker winnings, my motorcycle, and rode off to Duvall for a prime BBQ pork sandwich. I didn't plan on drinking in Duvall, but the lady at Teddy Bear BBQ saw my Moose Drool sweatshirt and let me know about their Moose Drool on tap special. I decided to grab a pint to go with my sandwich and watch the first half of the Seahawks game. Their bbq pork sandwich is so good, NOM NOM NOM!!

I talked with the owner after overhearing that they are opening a second store in Monroe, which just so happens to be directly on the way back from Stevens Pass. She let me know about their website, and I headed out to ride the High Bridge Road on my way to Marc's for the second half of the football game.

My third time eating at the BBQ shack and my fourth time on High Bridge Road, and they just keep getting better. My High Bridge Road ride today was amazing because this time was the first where I could see the snow-capped mountains to the west. With the onset of winter and my first season's pass, snow on the mountains is like the pre-game show before an NFL football game you've been waiting to watch all week. So close to skiing action, I can't wait!

The Seahawks ended up blowing it again, but Marc and I got a few games of Madden in before I rode back down to Seattle. The ride was freezing, but I had a pizza and hot tub to look forward to. A soak in a scorching hot tub after three slices of pizza is definitely something that gives me a shit-eating grin that does not go away. Add a woman or two and a day of skiing to the pizza and hot tub equation, and that equals a grin that will not go away all winter :)