Lemme just get to the point.
Today was the dining in.
It was great though, there were some funny skits, and some really good times. I wish that I could share them all with you.
Because of my expertise with beer, I was chosen to be the pourer for the kegerator. That was pretty rough, as my current position is to not partake in alcoholic beverages. I poured though, and the keg's tap was less than par. There was a lot of foam for all who were trying to get drunk at the govt's expense. Not my fault, again, bad tap. My humorous excuse was that I only had experience in backyards and only after doing handstands on top of the keg, which seemed to calm everyone down. I continued my arduous task, and finally was afforded the chance to sit down and enjoy the night.
While not a combat dining in, where a food fight and alcoholic consumption is mandatory, there were plenty of chances to be all we could be. The skits were spot on, a maintenance skit was performed, where a game of telephone with the MXG commander displayed the different stages of the bullshit filter. Another skit was done with actors portraying the EFS CC and the AEG CC, as well as several other key players. I have not laughed in the last six months as I have tonight. The group commander impersonation was so dead on, even I couldn't do it better.
Yes. Even me. It was so good, I was relieved I wasn't asked to fill this position for the preservation of my career. Even the food, cooked by our regular flightline mess personnel was pretty good.
Afterwards, I went to my room and changed into some comfortable civilian clothes and came back to help clean up. I helped for a bit, but the calling of a deck of playing cards was too powerful to deny. Our flight doc and a dedicated crew chief played spades against the squadron commander and I. We routed them. After playing for a bit the community activities center told us that they were closing.
I don't know, we'll see.
In the mean time, I'm going to go to sleep, so that tomorrow, I can get my darling wife some presents from downtown Korea.
One quote to remember from my, well, just being me.
"CP!" (Cave Putorium)
"What does that mean?"
"Beware the Weasel."
"Seize the Weasel, got it."
"No, Beware the weasel."
"Right, Beware the Seize."
"No, Beware the weasel."
"Seize the weasel."
"Close enough."
Well, lets see on monday if I'm still a Staff Sergeant.
CP!
-S
8/08/2009
8/06/2009
Wandering Korea
I went to Osan today to get some junk. I bought some blankets, a shirt, some jeans, a reflective belt, some workout shorts, and some medicine for my cold.
Went back to Fogo, the brazillian BBQ joint. The food this time wasn't as great, they were cooking it a lot more, more like medium well to well done beef. No good there. The rare cuts tasted so much better. You see, people who put steak sauce on thier steak are the same people who like well done steak. A properly cooked and seasoned rare-medium rare steak doesn't need sauce. There are natural fravors there you just can't cook out, or you waste the steak.
Meh. So it wasn't as great this time. I was asked by a Korean guy as I was walking down the street if I was prepared for the end of the world. He was trying to give me a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet.
"Really? The end of the world, huh?", I asked disarmingly.
"Uh.... yeah.", he replied as if he just realized he was asking strangers if they were ready for the end of the world. I doubt anyone had replied to him like they might believe him if he could back it up.
"Is that soon?"
"Uh, probably. Here, look at this pamphlet."
The conversation ended with a friendly wave as if to say, "I'm not going to throw this away for you, but thanks for trying."
I bought shorts! I said that already, but gym shorts are important. My Fila gym shorts that i've had forever have gotten old, less elastic, and they're getting a little big on me, which is strange, because I have stayed about the same weight for the last 4 months or so. I was walking through the BX looking at potential gym clothes, and wondering why it was so damn expensive for shorts... I still haven't figured out 35 dollar gym shorts. I was also looking at underwear, and wondering why hanes decided to go from 28-30 for small sizes, to 32-34 for mediums, and 36-38 for larges. What if i'm a 31 or a 35? Hmmmmmmmm.....
It was about this time that I realized that I was staring with my nose inches away from a package of mens low rise briefs saying "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm" loudly.
I turned around, bought the cheapest gym shorts they had and left.
Oooh, and I had a peculiar interaction with a bug-thing today. I was sitting on the bench at the train station, waiting for my train, and I felt something crawling on my back. I brushed at it, didn't feel anything, so I went back to practicing looking cool. I felt it again, so I craned my neck around as far as i could and pulled on my shirt to move the bug to where I could see it. I brushed it off and stood up. The bug was staring at me. I stepped back. The bug followed, in fact, the bug walked all the way to the edge of the bench where it stopped, staring at me. Motionless, I stared back, wondering... seriously, what the fuck is going on?
Am I really having a staredown with a moth/beetle/guy? Is this happening?
Well, by this point, a crowd is drawing around me because I'm staring intensely at a bug on a bench. The bug finally decided to fly towards my face. I juked, shucked, and threw a right cross, connected, and followed up with a left, that is to say my large ice tea from the BX food court(which is probably comically large to Koreans). Two powerful blows, and I had knocked one of the bugs wings off. I realized why it was following me.
The underside of the wings and body (which was previously covered by wings) looked exactly like the splotchy pattern on my shirt. The bug probably thought he knew me or something. At this point I felt bad, but the bug was dying, so I put it out of its misery.
The crowd still stood there, dumbfounded that this American was throwing punches and giant beverages at bugs in the train station. Luckily for me, at this point the train had finally pulled up, and I quickly ducked inside after gesturing that something interesting was going on "over there."
Went back to Fogo, the brazillian BBQ joint. The food this time wasn't as great, they were cooking it a lot more, more like medium well to well done beef. No good there. The rare cuts tasted so much better. You see, people who put steak sauce on thier steak are the same people who like well done steak. A properly cooked and seasoned rare-medium rare steak doesn't need sauce. There are natural fravors there you just can't cook out, or you waste the steak.
Meh. So it wasn't as great this time. I was asked by a Korean guy as I was walking down the street if I was prepared for the end of the world. He was trying to give me a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet.
"Really? The end of the world, huh?", I asked disarmingly.
"Uh.... yeah.", he replied as if he just realized he was asking strangers if they were ready for the end of the world. I doubt anyone had replied to him like they might believe him if he could back it up.
"Is that soon?"
"Uh, probably. Here, look at this pamphlet."
The conversation ended with a friendly wave as if to say, "I'm not going to throw this away for you, but thanks for trying."
I bought shorts! I said that already, but gym shorts are important. My Fila gym shorts that i've had forever have gotten old, less elastic, and they're getting a little big on me, which is strange, because I have stayed about the same weight for the last 4 months or so. I was walking through the BX looking at potential gym clothes, and wondering why it was so damn expensive for shorts... I still haven't figured out 35 dollar gym shorts. I was also looking at underwear, and wondering why hanes decided to go from 28-30 for small sizes, to 32-34 for mediums, and 36-38 for larges. What if i'm a 31 or a 35? Hmmmmmmmm.....
It was about this time that I realized that I was staring with my nose inches away from a package of mens low rise briefs saying "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm" loudly.
I turned around, bought the cheapest gym shorts they had and left.
Oooh, and I had a peculiar interaction with a bug-thing today. I was sitting on the bench at the train station, waiting for my train, and I felt something crawling on my back. I brushed at it, didn't feel anything, so I went back to practicing looking cool. I felt it again, so I craned my neck around as far as i could and pulled on my shirt to move the bug to where I could see it. I brushed it off and stood up. The bug was staring at me. I stepped back. The bug followed, in fact, the bug walked all the way to the edge of the bench where it stopped, staring at me. Motionless, I stared back, wondering... seriously, what the fuck is going on?
Am I really having a staredown with a moth/beetle/guy? Is this happening?
Well, by this point, a crowd is drawing around me because I'm staring intensely at a bug on a bench. The bug finally decided to fly towards my face. I juked, shucked, and threw a right cross, connected, and followed up with a left, that is to say my large ice tea from the BX food court(which is probably comically large to Koreans). Two powerful blows, and I had knocked one of the bugs wings off. I realized why it was following me.
The underside of the wings and body (which was previously covered by wings) looked exactly like the splotchy pattern on my shirt. The bug probably thought he knew me or something. At this point I felt bad, but the bug was dying, so I put it out of its misery.
The crowd still stood there, dumbfounded that this American was throwing punches and giant beverages at bugs in the train station. Luckily for me, at this point the train had finally pulled up, and I quickly ducked inside after gesturing that something interesting was going on "over there."
7/28/2009
7/27/2009
Title.
Today was a good day at the gym.
We started by maxing out on benchpress.
Started doing 6 warmup reps at 135, then did 2 x 185, 205, 225, 245, and finally 2 x 265.
After that we did a full 4 sets @ 155.
Then we did a regular 4 sets on the decline, 4 sets on incline, 6 sets of burnout pushups with our feet on a stack about 4 feet high.
Then we did abs. I can't even begin to explain our crazy ab workout. The easy part was situps while throwing the medicine ball.
After that, we ran. I ran a mile and a half in about 12 minutes flat.
Good times.
We started by maxing out on benchpress.
Started doing 6 warmup reps at 135, then did 2 x 185, 205, 225, 245, and finally 2 x 265.
After that we did a full 4 sets @ 155.
Then we did a regular 4 sets on the decline, 4 sets on incline, 6 sets of burnout pushups with our feet on a stack about 4 feet high.
Then we did abs. I can't even begin to explain our crazy ab workout. The easy part was situps while throwing the medicine ball.
After that, we ran. I ran a mile and a half in about 12 minutes flat.
Good times.
7/20/2009
TO THE EXTREEEEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!1!!1!
Is what 3 cups of coffee over the span of 11 hours does to me.
We had a long day of work. Actually, i haven't had coffee for about 6 hours now, so I'm about to crash, but...
Lots of work. I customized my Styrofoam cup with marker. It had flames, and palindromes, and a label stating, Sky's Too Much Coffee Cup.
Ah, Too Much Coffee Man... Read the comic.
So, there was that, went to the gym afterward and did a low weight, high rep workout. Something like a set of ten, rest for five seconds, another set of ten, rest for five seconds, and a third set of ten.
Four of those per exercise... pretty good. It'll wear you out fast. We did 4 chest exercises today, so I'm pretty worn out. Its a good thing.
Hmmm... lets see... I'm gonna try to send one piece of luggage back to Laura today.
I'm drinking plenty of water.
I'm eating ok, but not as ok as if I had brazi-oh!
On saturday we went to a brazillian bbq place, and it was awesome. It was all you can eat, and they just kept bringing out skewers full of filet mignon, garlic beef, bacon wrapped filet mignons, and tons and tons of other extreme food. The best thing is that they were so confident in the quality of thier food that they give you butter knives instead of steak knives... and the butter knives work just fine.
So, again, it was all you can eat, and I wanted to test that. My hypothesis was incorrect, it was actually an all you can eat place. Best meal I've had since leaving Japan.
Other than that... lessee... coffee, brazillian food, working out...... um.... that's it. I'm learning the other guitar scales, i.e. Ionian, Lydian, Aeolian, etc... I suppose i should have done that, I don't know... 9 years ago. Well, that just means I'll pick it up faster.
Wasabi and soy sauce flavored almonds. Buy them. Thank me later.
Ok bye!
We had a long day of work. Actually, i haven't had coffee for about 6 hours now, so I'm about to crash, but...
Lots of work. I customized my Styrofoam cup with marker. It had flames, and palindromes, and a label stating, Sky's Too Much Coffee Cup.
Ah, Too Much Coffee Man... Read the comic.
So, there was that, went to the gym afterward and did a low weight, high rep workout. Something like a set of ten, rest for five seconds, another set of ten, rest for five seconds, and a third set of ten.
Four of those per exercise... pretty good. It'll wear you out fast. We did 4 chest exercises today, so I'm pretty worn out. Its a good thing.
Hmmm... lets see... I'm gonna try to send one piece of luggage back to Laura today.
I'm drinking plenty of water.
I'm eating ok, but not as ok as if I had brazi-oh!
On saturday we went to a brazillian bbq place, and it was awesome. It was all you can eat, and they just kept bringing out skewers full of filet mignon, garlic beef, bacon wrapped filet mignons, and tons and tons of other extreme food. The best thing is that they were so confident in the quality of thier food that they give you butter knives instead of steak knives... and the butter knives work just fine.
So, again, it was all you can eat, and I wanted to test that. My hypothesis was incorrect, it was actually an all you can eat place. Best meal I've had since leaving Japan.
Other than that... lessee... coffee, brazillian food, working out...... um.... that's it. I'm learning the other guitar scales, i.e. Ionian, Lydian, Aeolian, etc... I suppose i should have done that, I don't know... 9 years ago. Well, that just means I'll pick it up faster.
Wasabi and soy sauce flavored almonds. Buy them. Thank me later.
Ok bye!
6/25/2009
Long Distance Relationships
As far away from each other we are, the imprints we leave will never be forgotten.
Today was legs and lower back day at the gym. I enjoy leg and lower back day, these are two muscle groups that I have been conditioned for from years of hockey, lifting improperly, work, so on... They are my strongest muscle groups at the gym.
Before I started an exercise, my Brother's voice yelled in my head, "You can do more! Add more weight! You can do it!"
I obliged, and throughout the exercise, I could hear my Dad correcting, "Keep your back arched. Your back isn't arched. Arch your back."
Leg presses and calf raises and running on the treadmill continued in this fashion, and I walked back to my dorm. I sneaked into my room, careful not to wake my roommate, stumbled into the suitcase for the 1,500th time, set my MP3 player down and turned to start the shower. Muscles aching, I reached for my protein mix to feed my muscles. "Is that stuff good for you? You should read the label, do you really need all this stuff?" my Mom this time, ensuring my physical and financial health.
Idly reading the label while mixing, I was satisfied with the mixture and started drinking. The taste of the protein drink barely masked the creatine. Barely. I mused about the idea of prehistoric man eating nothing but meat, and his ancestor eating nothing but plants. The idea that we now supplement our diet with so much stuff that we can't imagine living with out it. Vitamins, what would Darwin say?
Stepping into the shower, it's hard to wash my face... I hate not being able to see. The idea perpetually dances in my head that I'll miss her if I keep my eyes closed too long. I am never able to shower without the idea of her, standing outside the shower waiting for me to see her. Standing outside the shower with a wily grin on her face as if she's about to steal my towel and clothes, or snatch open the shower curtain and take a picture, or any number of pranks and tricks that she can be so adept at. Finishing my shower, I can still picture her cocking her head to the side and reminding me to towel off my lower back. Laura hates it when I do a half ass job toweling off and then jump into bed or on the couch or whatever with a wet back. Still more voices in my head, they sound like my own, but originate from others:
"How's your blood sugar?"
Ok...
"Are you getting enough sleep?"
No.
"How's the Subaru?"
No idea.
"What's cool in Korea?"
incidentally, nothing is cool in Korea.
"We haven't talked in so long..."
I know, I'm sorry.
"What do you hear in your head that comes from me?"
Exactly what you just said.
I guess the point is, although we're separated by countless miles, you're all right here with me. And although I miss everyone deeply, I can still feel your influences in everything that I do.
It is what makes me successful. It is what makes you successful.
I wish I could have done this blog up in a fancy prose like I had planned in the shower, but alas, this is pretty much what I got out onto the keyboard. Sue me.
-s
Today was legs and lower back day at the gym. I enjoy leg and lower back day, these are two muscle groups that I have been conditioned for from years of hockey, lifting improperly, work, so on... They are my strongest muscle groups at the gym.
Before I started an exercise, my Brother's voice yelled in my head, "You can do more! Add more weight! You can do it!"
I obliged, and throughout the exercise, I could hear my Dad correcting, "Keep your back arched. Your back isn't arched. Arch your back."
Leg presses and calf raises and running on the treadmill continued in this fashion, and I walked back to my dorm. I sneaked into my room, careful not to wake my roommate, stumbled into the suitcase for the 1,500th time, set my MP3 player down and turned to start the shower. Muscles aching, I reached for my protein mix to feed my muscles. "Is that stuff good for you? You should read the label, do you really need all this stuff?" my Mom this time, ensuring my physical and financial health.
Idly reading the label while mixing, I was satisfied with the mixture and started drinking. The taste of the protein drink barely masked the creatine. Barely. I mused about the idea of prehistoric man eating nothing but meat, and his ancestor eating nothing but plants. The idea that we now supplement our diet with so much stuff that we can't imagine living with out it. Vitamins, what would Darwin say?
Stepping into the shower, it's hard to wash my face... I hate not being able to see. The idea perpetually dances in my head that I'll miss her if I keep my eyes closed too long. I am never able to shower without the idea of her, standing outside the shower waiting for me to see her. Standing outside the shower with a wily grin on her face as if she's about to steal my towel and clothes, or snatch open the shower curtain and take a picture, or any number of pranks and tricks that she can be so adept at. Finishing my shower, I can still picture her cocking her head to the side and reminding me to towel off my lower back. Laura hates it when I do a half ass job toweling off and then jump into bed or on the couch or whatever with a wet back. Still more voices in my head, they sound like my own, but originate from others:
"How's your blood sugar?"
Ok...
"Are you getting enough sleep?"
No.
"How's the Subaru?"
No idea.
"What's cool in Korea?"
incidentally, nothing is cool in Korea.
"We haven't talked in so long..."
I know, I'm sorry.
"What do you hear in your head that comes from me?"
Exactly what you just said.
I guess the point is, although we're separated by countless miles, you're all right here with me. And although I miss everyone deeply, I can still feel your influences in everything that I do.
It is what makes me successful. It is what makes you successful.
I wish I could have done this blog up in a fancy prose like I had planned in the shower, but alas, this is pretty much what I got out onto the keyboard. Sue me.
-s
6/20/2009
6/19/2009
Yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhssssssssssss!!!!!
It's time to post a new blog, aren't you excited? Huh, aren't ya?
Ok, first off, why does the internet think that aren't isn't a word?
Stupid.
I digress. Happy Father's Day!
Everybody loves Father's Day, its a time when fathers are appreciated for stuff and get bad greeting cards, usually with tools on the front, and a pseudo-witty saying inside. I don't believe in greeting cards personally, I think they're a waste of paper, and why don't you just say what you mean yourself? Slacker. You don't need a monkey chained to a typewriter to write a greeting for one of your loved ones!
Just like the best gifts are gifts that people can use!!! Now, expand your thinking on this, we're not just talking about practicality, but things that people need and will enjoy. A piece of art, DVD boxed set, tools, a Van Halen CD...
I'm on another Van Halen kick. It happens about once a year. I don't know what it is. I think Eddie is a great guitar player, but I'm just not really into it all the time. I will probably be working out tonight listening to 'Panama' and 'Ain't talkin bout' Love' all night though.
Well, what's the rundown of my time?
Sleep, PT, work, gym, sleep.
On the weekends I sleep, eat pizza, play guitar, and play poker on Sunday night.
Now you know why my blogs are always about something, and not the interesting things I do.
Truth is, I don't really do anything interesting. Well, I take that back...
Let's see, I did an organizational tour of the ROKAF's side of the base we are at. That was interesting, well, for me, I'm sure anyone else would have been bored out of their minds. It was cool though, we walked through their hangars and looked at their stuff. The best part was at the end though, when they fed us. I just about ate my body weight in kimchi. They also had fried chicken, rice, hor de'oeurves (wow, the internet didn't try to correct me on that... is it right? did I seriously just spell hor de'oeurves right?) , various fried things vegetables, shrimp, octopus, unknown meat product. That was great. I ate a lot. They gave us beer too, but since I had to go into work later I gave mine to my Chief. And by gave I mean he took when I wasn't looking.
Yep. Drinking seems to be a large part of Korean culture. At the end of the day they told us that they were out of alcohol so they were calling it a day. They also told us that we would have been drinking soju, but they were in mourning because of the former president's death.
I got Forza 2 for the xbox yesterday, I didn't realize that it's such an old game, but I guess it is. Anyhoo, I started playing it last night, and will probably continue playing it today. It sounds like it's raining outside. I plan on going to the gym today, but probably when everyone has gone out to party...my roomate will probably-
Oh wow, I just realized... hmm, this will require a little backstory...
Hokay, at about 645 this morning, we got a knock at the door. "Is Ken up? We need someone to play softball."
Uh... ok? So my roomate filled an empty spot on the softball team(yeah, we have a softball team, it's more ridiculous than it sounds.), and I was awake until about 8. Anyway, I just realized that since it is raining cats and dogs out here, the game will probably get rained out. I don't know if it's one of those games where they have to stay the night wherever they are, but that would be crappy to sub in on a team, not get to play, and have to stay at an Army base in strangeland.
Well, that's all for today folks.
Ok, first off, why does the internet think that aren't isn't a word?
Stupid.
I digress. Happy Father's Day!
Everybody loves Father's Day, its a time when fathers are appreciated for stuff and get bad greeting cards, usually with tools on the front, and a pseudo-witty saying inside. I don't believe in greeting cards personally, I think they're a waste of paper, and why don't you just say what you mean yourself? Slacker. You don't need a monkey chained to a typewriter to write a greeting for one of your loved ones!
Just like the best gifts are gifts that people can use!!! Now, expand your thinking on this, we're not just talking about practicality, but things that people need and will enjoy. A piece of art, DVD boxed set, tools, a Van Halen CD...
I'm on another Van Halen kick. It happens about once a year. I don't know what it is. I think Eddie is a great guitar player, but I'm just not really into it all the time. I will probably be working out tonight listening to 'Panama' and 'Ain't talkin bout' Love' all night though.
Well, what's the rundown of my time?
Sleep, PT, work, gym, sleep.
On the weekends I sleep, eat pizza, play guitar, and play poker on Sunday night.
Now you know why my blogs are always about something, and not the interesting things I do.
Truth is, I don't really do anything interesting. Well, I take that back...
Let's see, I did an organizational tour of the ROKAF's side of the base we are at. That was interesting, well, for me, I'm sure anyone else would have been bored out of their minds. It was cool though, we walked through their hangars and looked at their stuff. The best part was at the end though, when they fed us. I just about ate my body weight in kimchi. They also had fried chicken, rice, hor de'oeurves (wow, the internet didn't try to correct me on that... is it right? did I seriously just spell hor de'oeurves right?) , various fried things vegetables, shrimp, octopus, unknown meat product. That was great. I ate a lot. They gave us beer too, but since I had to go into work later I gave mine to my Chief. And by gave I mean he took when I wasn't looking.
Yep. Drinking seems to be a large part of Korean culture. At the end of the day they told us that they were out of alcohol so they were calling it a day. They also told us that we would have been drinking soju, but they were in mourning because of the former president's death.
I got Forza 2 for the xbox yesterday, I didn't realize that it's such an old game, but I guess it is. Anyhoo, I started playing it last night, and will probably continue playing it today. It sounds like it's raining outside. I plan on going to the gym today, but probably when everyone has gone out to party...my roomate will probably-
Oh wow, I just realized... hmm, this will require a little backstory...
Hokay, at about 645 this morning, we got a knock at the door. "Is Ken up? We need someone to play softball."
Uh... ok? So my roomate filled an empty spot on the softball team(yeah, we have a softball team, it's more ridiculous than it sounds.), and I was awake until about 8. Anyway, I just realized that since it is raining cats and dogs out here, the game will probably get rained out. I don't know if it's one of those games where they have to stay the night wherever they are, but that would be crappy to sub in on a team, not get to play, and have to stay at an Army base in strangeland.
Well, that's all for today folks.
5/11/2009
When the levee breaks
So it started raining today. It rained all day and has continued through the night, it is currently 4:16 A.M. as I write this, and it seems to have no intention of letting up.
They say that in Korea it rains like this for days and days in the summer, and when it does, it is just about hell. I can see that, it's only 64 degrees out (apparently) and 100% humidity. It feels like its about 85. I'm writing this in boxers with the window open, sweating.
Icky.
That being said, it has inspired me to play a 12 string version of 'When the Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin with a slide. The first verse came quickly:
If it keeps on rainin, the levee's gonna break,
If it keeps on rainin, the levee's gonna break,
The jets keep flyin but the tools all washed away...
Other than that, yeah, its been a while, but i'm still not terribly interesting.
I decided to save up for a 12 string acoustic guitar(the above is in anticipation) after much thinking. Reason being is that I already have an awesome acoustic guitar and 3 electric guitars, and it wouldn't make much sense to buy something I already have. I could get a 12 string electric guitar, but play it on what? I guess I could get a 7 string Ibanez, but I don't play heavy metal, and thus don't necessitate the lower string. No, a 12 string acoustic is both practical for here and forethought for being the next logical step as far as a guitar purchase. There are other guitars that I would also like to own, but to do so would take away from the other guitars I already own.
Phew, enough guitarness. Poker recently hasn't been great. Usually I can wait out an entire game playing decent cards, but lately the decent cards don't come as often, and when they do, they get counterfeit by lesser hands. Another problem is that I can usually maximize my return in a hand by careful betting, but now everyone knows that when I have a hand, I bet it very well. My best hand last night was 3 of a kind - Nines, and I didn't make terribly much out of it. I was able to extract just about as much as I could out of it, but it didn't really help out. Kinda crappy for 2 hours of poker. Whats worse is even the cards I was folding weren't hitting.
I typically like to just play my cards and stay out of the mind games, but I think soon i'm going to have to start really getting into tells and bluffing again. I used to be able to play many hands without looking at my cards... you only have to show them to take a pot after the river! Its just that playing poker like that can get exhausting and frustrating when people call whenever they have a pair, which is basically the situation here. Its way more exhausting and frustrating when you can't put together two cards to save your life, and when you do, someone gets lucky on the turn or river.
I did introduce another facet to my strategies; playing early hand positions. You see, there are advantages and disadvantages to early position. The largest of the extremes are as follows:
Advantage - Often the first person to bet at a hand will win the hand. This is simply because not everyone has great cards, so you can get them out of a hand before they try to get in it. You're just adding more incentive for them to fold a hand they may not have liked in the first place. You may be betting with nothing but people fold because they have nothing as well, or not enough to call a raise with.
Disadvantage - You don't know if anyone has great cards. Nobody has had the opportunity to make a move, and good poker players usually don't look at thier cards until it is their turn to act. This is so they don't give away their hand strength. You may look down and see a semi decent hand like Ace-9 suited and raise it up, all of a sudden there is a reraise and a re-reraise on top of what you put into the pot. Now what do you do?
I definitely tighten my starting hand requirements when there are people to my left that haven't gotten a chance to make a move. If you did play the kind of hand from the second scenario you have to look at a couple different things when there is a bet. How much is the bet against how much you've put in? How much is in the pot already? Is how much more you have to put in versus how much is in the pot a good ratio?
You also have to factor the percentage your hand has of "hitting," that is, how likely it is the cards will give you a winning hand. This is actually easier than it sounds.
There are 52 cards in the deck, and 2 in your hand. So there are 50 cards that we don't know about. After the preflop round of betting, the first three cards hit the board(the flop). Now you have 3 cards that can give you many possibilities. For a flush or a straight you need 5 cards of the same suit or 5 consecutive numbered(or faced) cards. Lets say you have 4 cards to a flush. You have 2 more cards coming, thus 2 more chances to hit your flush. Since there are 13 cards in a suit, you have 9 cards that are in the deck that will grant you the flush. These cards are called outs. Here's the simple part. Off the flop, you have 2 more cards coming, so you have 4% for every out. Since we have 9 outs, for 4% per out, we have a 36% chance of hitting that flush.
Now, we're weighing the percentage to hit against the ratio of how much money you have to put into the pot. Since we have a 36% chance of hitting a flush, it is highly recommended to call up to 36% of the pot. I like to round, so if the pot is 300, we would want to call up to about 100.
You can call more if you like, or you can call less if you like, but if you were to play this system, you would (mathematically) have a higher win to loss ratio.
To elaborate on the preflop starting hand requirements, you have roughly a 40% chance to pair the board(everyone does) with one of your cards, significantly less if you have a pocket pair(two of a kind in your hold cards). So you would be able to call up to 40% with just about anything, but know, again, everyone that is in the hand has those odds. It never fails that a pair of 8s will beat a pair of 7s at the showdown, therefore it is wise to bring cards into the hand that are high enough to win with.
If you can apply these principles to a poker game, you're already better than 95% of poker players out there. Skill-wise anyway... the cards have to fall in your favor and the other player has to be good enough to fold when you want them to and call when you want them to.
Yes, I said GOOD enough. Go out and play some poker and you'll understand what I mean.
Or you could play like Aunt Cory, honestly, that style has quite some merit to it. Oddly enough, based on the first poker scenario, it probably makes more money than it loses.
Ok, enough about poker.
Yay! L sent the PSP game that my Super Wonderful Aunt Cory got me, and I got it today. Now I need to get off my butt and buy a PSP. PSP and a 12 String.
Recap: Rain, 12 string, a whole lot of poker, PSP Game. Aunt Cory.
They say that in Korea it rains like this for days and days in the summer, and when it does, it is just about hell. I can see that, it's only 64 degrees out (apparently) and 100% humidity. It feels like its about 85. I'm writing this in boxers with the window open, sweating.
Icky.
That being said, it has inspired me to play a 12 string version of 'When the Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin with a slide. The first verse came quickly:
If it keeps on rainin, the levee's gonna break,
If it keeps on rainin, the levee's gonna break,
The jets keep flyin but the tools all washed away...
Other than that, yeah, its been a while, but i'm still not terribly interesting.
I decided to save up for a 12 string acoustic guitar(the above is in anticipation) after much thinking. Reason being is that I already have an awesome acoustic guitar and 3 electric guitars, and it wouldn't make much sense to buy something I already have. I could get a 12 string electric guitar, but play it on what? I guess I could get a 7 string Ibanez, but I don't play heavy metal, and thus don't necessitate the lower string. No, a 12 string acoustic is both practical for here and forethought for being the next logical step as far as a guitar purchase. There are other guitars that I would also like to own, but to do so would take away from the other guitars I already own.
Phew, enough guitarness. Poker recently hasn't been great. Usually I can wait out an entire game playing decent cards, but lately the decent cards don't come as often, and when they do, they get counterfeit by lesser hands. Another problem is that I can usually maximize my return in a hand by careful betting, but now everyone knows that when I have a hand, I bet it very well. My best hand last night was 3 of a kind - Nines, and I didn't make terribly much out of it. I was able to extract just about as much as I could out of it, but it didn't really help out. Kinda crappy for 2 hours of poker. Whats worse is even the cards I was folding weren't hitting.
I typically like to just play my cards and stay out of the mind games, but I think soon i'm going to have to start really getting into tells and bluffing again. I used to be able to play many hands without looking at my cards... you only have to show them to take a pot after the river! Its just that playing poker like that can get exhausting and frustrating when people call whenever they have a pair, which is basically the situation here. Its way more exhausting and frustrating when you can't put together two cards to save your life, and when you do, someone gets lucky on the turn or river.
I did introduce another facet to my strategies; playing early hand positions. You see, there are advantages and disadvantages to early position. The largest of the extremes are as follows:
Advantage - Often the first person to bet at a hand will win the hand. This is simply because not everyone has great cards, so you can get them out of a hand before they try to get in it. You're just adding more incentive for them to fold a hand they may not have liked in the first place. You may be betting with nothing but people fold because they have nothing as well, or not enough to call a raise with.
Disadvantage - You don't know if anyone has great cards. Nobody has had the opportunity to make a move, and good poker players usually don't look at thier cards until it is their turn to act. This is so they don't give away their hand strength. You may look down and see a semi decent hand like Ace-9 suited and raise it up, all of a sudden there is a reraise and a re-reraise on top of what you put into the pot. Now what do you do?
I definitely tighten my starting hand requirements when there are people to my left that haven't gotten a chance to make a move. If you did play the kind of hand from the second scenario you have to look at a couple different things when there is a bet. How much is the bet against how much you've put in? How much is in the pot already? Is how much more you have to put in versus how much is in the pot a good ratio?
You also have to factor the percentage your hand has of "hitting," that is, how likely it is the cards will give you a winning hand. This is actually easier than it sounds.
There are 52 cards in the deck, and 2 in your hand. So there are 50 cards that we don't know about. After the preflop round of betting, the first three cards hit the board(the flop). Now you have 3 cards that can give you many possibilities. For a flush or a straight you need 5 cards of the same suit or 5 consecutive numbered(or faced) cards. Lets say you have 4 cards to a flush. You have 2 more cards coming, thus 2 more chances to hit your flush. Since there are 13 cards in a suit, you have 9 cards that are in the deck that will grant you the flush. These cards are called outs. Here's the simple part. Off the flop, you have 2 more cards coming, so you have 4% for every out. Since we have 9 outs, for 4% per out, we have a 36% chance of hitting that flush.
Now, we're weighing the percentage to hit against the ratio of how much money you have to put into the pot. Since we have a 36% chance of hitting a flush, it is highly recommended to call up to 36% of the pot. I like to round, so if the pot is 300, we would want to call up to about 100.
You can call more if you like, or you can call less if you like, but if you were to play this system, you would (mathematically) have a higher win to loss ratio.
To elaborate on the preflop starting hand requirements, you have roughly a 40% chance to pair the board(everyone does) with one of your cards, significantly less if you have a pocket pair(two of a kind in your hold cards). So you would be able to call up to 40% with just about anything, but know, again, everyone that is in the hand has those odds. It never fails that a pair of 8s will beat a pair of 7s at the showdown, therefore it is wise to bring cards into the hand that are high enough to win with.
If you can apply these principles to a poker game, you're already better than 95% of poker players out there. Skill-wise anyway... the cards have to fall in your favor and the other player has to be good enough to fold when you want them to and call when you want them to.
Yes, I said GOOD enough. Go out and play some poker and you'll understand what I mean.
Or you could play like Aunt Cory, honestly, that style has quite some merit to it. Oddly enough, based on the first poker scenario, it probably makes more money than it loses.
Ok, enough about poker.
Yay! L sent the PSP game that my Super Wonderful Aunt Cory got me, and I got it today. Now I need to get off my butt and buy a PSP. PSP and a 12 String.
Recap: Rain, 12 string, a whole lot of poker, PSP Game. Aunt Cory.
4/11/2009
I'm on a boat!
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8 Do it now!
I was in a club in Songtan and they played this song... everyone was dancing, and I was like... are you serious? The songs about being on a boat! Little did I (and probably everyone else) know that its a big joke. Funny how you can throw good rhythm at a song and make it a hit. My awesome, ridiculously awesome brother sent me the video... it all came together.
Also someone who proves this fact; (Disclaimer: Naked Gunther Butt!)
Gunther was a find while researching for much of Moustache March, Aviator April, and the upcoming Moustache de Mayo.
Anyhoo, went to the BX, bought a shirt, picked up my suit, bought another shirt. Ate a personal pan pizza at pizza hut.
Well, go find yourselves a boat!
I was in a club in Songtan and they played this song... everyone was dancing, and I was like... are you serious? The songs about being on a boat! Little did I (and probably everyone else) know that its a big joke. Funny how you can throw good rhythm at a song and make it a hit. My awesome, ridiculously awesome brother sent me the video... it all came together.
Also someone who proves this fact; (Disclaimer: Naked Gunther Butt!)
Gunther was a find while researching for much of Moustache March, Aviator April, and the upcoming Moustache de Mayo.
Anyhoo, went to the BX, bought a shirt, picked up my suit, bought another shirt. Ate a personal pan pizza at pizza hut.
Well, go find yourselves a boat!
4/01/2009
Here comes a new post!
Today is my birfday, well, yesterday was my birfday, which in dog years makes me... 168. Maybe.
Well well well, what have I been up to... Work work work. I have absolutely nothing interesting to say. Maybe that's why i don't blog. I dunno. I wish that I had the excellent prose for articulating musings like my super-mother, or an interesting life like my darling wife.
I think for now, I will stick to an interpretation of an underlying element of the story in the movie Fight Club. If you haven't seen the movie (shame on you), I'm gonna drop some spoilers. I will also drop some Mad Science, which is a snow ninja skill they teach in the academy.
There is a part of the movie where the Narrator (Edward Norton (Herein referred to as "N")) beats the living tar out of the blonde guy. He really knocks the crap out of him, to the point that all the others in the club are staring silently in shock at N's display of violence.
N thinks to himself: I felt like putting a bullet in between the eyes of every panda that wouldn't screw to save its own species...
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt("T")) asks, "When did you go psycho boy?"
N replies, "I felt like destroying something beautiful."
Now, if you're familiar with the story, lets go back, just prior to that nights fight club. N, T, and the rest of Project Mayhem go and do some dirty work to further thier cause. On thier getaway, N sees T congratulating the blonde guy and ignoring N. N says that he felt abandoned, like how he felt about his dad.
Take a second to think about how I just related that. There is nowhere in the movie that just comes out and says it, but it seems as plain as day doesn't it? N was jealous of the blonde guy, felt betrayed by T, and severely took it out on blondie. But to look deeper into N's psyche, you also need to understand that T is everything that N wants to be. We know this because of the nature of Tyler Durden. We know that Tyler Durden is both Ed Norton and Brad Pitt. But T is a figment of N's imagination developed to help him cope with his own excessive inhibitions.
I'll summarize. N knocked the snot out of blondie because he was angry at T for abandoning him, and jealous of his affection towards blondie. He was angry at his imaginary friend for ignoring him for someone else, and beat up that someone else for it!
Lets go even further back into the movie (and N's psyche). Early in the movie, N and T are talking about thier fathers, and how they were raised. T makes a comment about how they grow up thier whole lives following in thier fathers footsteps to become more of the establishment that T is against. Do your homework, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids. T says no thank you to that, while N pauses to consider. T adds that all that life will get you is for you to replace your father.
Time to get sauer on some kraut: Remember how I said that N felt abandoned, like he did with his dad when T ditched him for blondie? N is replacing his father in this role with T, who is, by the way, not only his imaginary friend, but a manifestation of everything that he wants to be. In effect, N had replaced his father in his mind with how he wishes he was, and in that one action that he projected Tyler Durden on....Tyler Durden. And then he got upset about it!
Basically, at the end of the story, if you look at it this way, is Brad Pitt really the bad guy? Or just Ed Norton's thoughts running wildly through a separate personality that acts in the physical realm?
While you're thinking about that, listen to Cream's Sunshine, and then listen to Tales of the Ulysses back to back. They're basically the same song as far as chord progression goes. Off the top of my head, its something like D, C, G and then a different kind of turnaround... on "Sunshine," its an A#-C, and on "Tales of the Ulysses" its something lower.... possibly an E? I don't know, maybe an F, I would need my guitar to figure it out.
Still playing guitar in my head...even if I can't play with my fingies.
That's it for today!
Well well well, what have I been up to... Work work work. I have absolutely nothing interesting to say. Maybe that's why i don't blog. I dunno. I wish that I had the excellent prose for articulating musings like my super-mother, or an interesting life like my darling wife.
I think for now, I will stick to an interpretation of an underlying element of the story in the movie Fight Club. If you haven't seen the movie (shame on you), I'm gonna drop some spoilers. I will also drop some Mad Science, which is a snow ninja skill they teach in the academy.
There is a part of the movie where the Narrator (Edward Norton (Herein referred to as "N")) beats the living tar out of the blonde guy. He really knocks the crap out of him, to the point that all the others in the club are staring silently in shock at N's display of violence.
N thinks to himself: I felt like putting a bullet in between the eyes of every panda that wouldn't screw to save its own species...
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt("T")) asks, "When did you go psycho boy?"
N replies, "I felt like destroying something beautiful."
Now, if you're familiar with the story, lets go back, just prior to that nights fight club. N, T, and the rest of Project Mayhem go and do some dirty work to further thier cause. On thier getaway, N sees T congratulating the blonde guy and ignoring N. N says that he felt abandoned, like how he felt about his dad.
Take a second to think about how I just related that. There is nowhere in the movie that just comes out and says it, but it seems as plain as day doesn't it? N was jealous of the blonde guy, felt betrayed by T, and severely took it out on blondie. But to look deeper into N's psyche, you also need to understand that T is everything that N wants to be. We know this because of the nature of Tyler Durden. We know that Tyler Durden is both Ed Norton and Brad Pitt. But T is a figment of N's imagination developed to help him cope with his own excessive inhibitions.
I'll summarize. N knocked the snot out of blondie because he was angry at T for abandoning him, and jealous of his affection towards blondie. He was angry at his imaginary friend for ignoring him for someone else, and beat up that someone else for it!
Lets go even further back into the movie (and N's psyche). Early in the movie, N and T are talking about thier fathers, and how they were raised. T makes a comment about how they grow up thier whole lives following in thier fathers footsteps to become more of the establishment that T is against. Do your homework, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids. T says no thank you to that, while N pauses to consider. T adds that all that life will get you is for you to replace your father.
Time to get sauer on some kraut: Remember how I said that N felt abandoned, like he did with his dad when T ditched him for blondie? N is replacing his father in this role with T, who is, by the way, not only his imaginary friend, but a manifestation of everything that he wants to be. In effect, N had replaced his father in his mind with how he wishes he was, and in that one action that he projected Tyler Durden on....Tyler Durden. And then he got upset about it!
Basically, at the end of the story, if you look at it this way, is Brad Pitt really the bad guy? Or just Ed Norton's thoughts running wildly through a separate personality that acts in the physical realm?
While you're thinking about that, listen to Cream's Sunshine, and then listen to Tales of the Ulysses back to back. They're basically the same song as far as chord progression goes. Off the top of my head, its something like D, C, G and then a different kind of turnaround... on "Sunshine," its an A#-C, and on "Tales of the Ulysses" its something lower.... possibly an E? I don't know, maybe an F, I would need my guitar to figure it out.
Still playing guitar in my head...even if I can't play with my fingies.
That's it for today!
3/04/2009
Oh snap!
So I figured out how to blog on blogspot in korean.
This is rather difficult, I accidentally made the name of my blog awesomeness, which is cool, but i thought that awesomeness would be the category of which my blog would fall into.
oh well.
I think this is the first post, but i don't know. It's all in korean.
This is rather difficult, I accidentally made the name of my blog awesomeness, which is cool, but i thought that awesomeness would be the category of which my blog would fall into.
oh well.
I think this is the first post, but i don't know. It's all in korean.
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