Now that I just finished the 2nd day into my second month, I was presented some new challenges. I visit my folks weekly and when I got there this week, I did not have the keys to their place. I was locked out in the cold and couldn’t get a hold of them and friends. If I had a car, I would have the keys with my car keys. No, that did not discourage me but made me realize that I need to be more conscious about having keys with me or perhaps stashed away somewhere in case I forget again. Another challenge comes from the weather. Early in the week I saw rain in my forecast. Since I haven’t purchased rain gear for riding, I’m not going to ride the bike home. Instead I’ve planned it out so that I got a ride from a co-worker after my CERT training at work. The rain has raised more awareness as far as going to destinations like the library. Luckily I bribed a friend at work to take me in exchange for joining him for a lunch out. Otherwise, that would have been coming into work later than normal and taking 2 bus rides and a train stop to the library and then work, in the rain. The last but least significant thing I am experience is that I may be socially out casted from my friends who are planning to have monthly / bi-monthly poker games during the week. There’s no way in hell I’m riding over to Culver City on a school night for a poker game. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy so I’m glad I have these challenges. But this is definitely something I’m willing to live with. My spirits are high and I can’t wait till November 14th when the 8 week is done. Hopefully, nothing will change from now until then. I’ll be glad to announce that the car is for sale!

I celebrated by having various different meals. I had the guys over for a much needed poker game. I walked away being the big winner of the night. I still think it was the fact that it was for my birthday. This broke my losing streaks at 2 levels: (1) this was the first time I won with my own poker chips and (2) this was the first time I won at my own house. There’s still one more streak that hasn’t been broken yet and that’s winning with my infamous “Poker Pimp” shirt. I never win wearing that shirt. Maybe next time.

I took time off on Monday to go to Disneyland and California Adventure. I have to say I really like CA Adventure. Maybe it was because it was an entirely new experience. Either way, I really like that park and wouldn’t mind going back again. Only regret is I didn’t get to go on the “Tower of Terror” ride. Disneyland was good too. Enjoyed the interactive Toy Story ride. It’s like being in a video game during the ride. Saw updates on Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was crowded, hot, and humid but I enjoyed every minute of it. Love that “Fast Pass” system.

As usual, I’m still going through the rigor off uploading my photos on Flickr. I’m probably at 80% complete. I’m hoping to get this done by end of this week (fingers crossed). Then I can upload some newer pictures from this year. Till then, I’ll keep chugging away.

Last year, I was playing poker on a weekly basis. Now we’re playing once every 3 months as it seems. I miss the face time to BS with the friends and catch up. I got to do that 2 weekends ago when all of our schedules allowed it.

I’m 10lbs lighter than I was a year ago. I’m more active and enjoy running and biking this year. Last year, my bike was sitting in the garage collecting dust. I was coming with all sorts of excuses not to go to the gym. It was not until the blood results that came in on my annual check-up to wake my lazy ass up. I’ve already run 2 5K back-to-back weekends. I will be participating in my first sprint triathlon relay this year and hopefully the LA marathon next year. I’ve added 2 more bicycles to encourage myself to ride them. And ride them, I do. This is one trend I don’t want to forget.

This year we’ve been actively searching for a new home for my family. Unfortunately nothing has turned up and I may have to look for property for myself. I can’t help it when my folks are so picky about all the places we’ve seen. My second offer to potentially the last house of our search has been submitted. It’ll take a miracle for the seller to accept the offer but I guess we’ll see.

I’m in this weird purging phase. My motorcycle is listed on Craigslist still. I’ve had people who were interested inquire about it but no formidable offers that I can entertain. Lots of people want to trade me for another bike and even a boat. That does nothing to someone who doesn’t know how to swim. I’m also playing with the idea of selling my trusty car and get a more fuel efficient Honda Fit. I love the fact that you can carry crap in such a compact vehicle. Maybe after I buy my first property.

I’ve lost interest in gaming from last year. Yes I still play my XBox but it’s still the same game, NBA 2K8. I love that game!

In the work front, things aren’t looking so good. I’ve inherited more applications to handle and it’s starting to stress me out. The overall company politics is making it harder and harder for me to do my job. It’s only a matter of time where grinning and bearing won’t work. Until that time, I can only keep my head up and work through this tough time.

An attempt to recapture the Vegas feeling, I went back to Hustler and played a round of NL poker. Busted out my $50 buy-in in about an hour. Man, what a string of bad luck. I haven’t won since the eve of my birthday camping trip. When you’re not catching cards, you’re not catching cards. I was fairly content with how I played.

I woke up the same morning at 8am to pack up and get ready for my Idyllwild camping trip. I was done packing by 10am and sat and waited for my ride. Didn’t leave my house until close to 1pm. We reached the camp site close to 3pm and began our feasting. It was a relaxing evening where we sat around the camp fire and just relaxed. The most ideal way of spending my 30th birthday with friends. I turned in at midnight. The tent floor was hard but I was able to fall asleep after having just 3 hours the previous night. I didn’t get up until 8am again. We made breakfast and cleaned up the place. Went into town to sight-see and ended up buying some souvenirs. We departed Idyllwild by 1pm and began our journey to our final destination, Sun City. We unloaded the remaining food in preparation for lunch. Took a long overdue shower and had lunch. I was completely surprised by a birthday cheesecake in my honor.

Needless to say, this was the best birthday I’ve ever had. There was so many people who came out and spent some time with me. Thanks to everyone who made this possible. Thanks to all that sent a card (paper and electronic). Thanks for the text messages. And thanks for all the wonderful gifts. Oh the gifts! I was fortunate to receive a Nintendo DS Lite game system, a bunch of gift cards/certificates, a poker set, DS Lite games, and a spring loaded BB gun. More are coming in the mail!

Again, thanks everyone!

Saturday night spent sometime playing so poker. Again I lost only one buy-in. I was up alot but seem to lose all my gainings in the last 30 minutes of play to Greg. This has happened probably the last 3 times I’ve played with the guy. Again, minimizing the loss was still maintained.

Sunday night I spent with my college buddies with some good BBQ and drinking games. We played a few drinking games and polished away more than half of the beer that was brought. The food was delicious and the creme brulee was prepared by Prince and Sandy. They sure know fine dining. Also congrats to them on their engagement. Like I’ve said before, this is the year is the year of engagements, weddings, and babies. The night ended with a couple of hours of fragging on Halo 2. It was fun to get reacquainted with that game. Makes me want to buy a 360 more. I must hold off on that purchase until the end of the bachelor party this year.

Monday was spent watching Superman Returns and dining out at Outbacks Steakhouse in Long Beach. Yes, a Fourth of July weekend at an Australian themed restaurant. The party moved on to a karaoke bar in Garden Grove where we sang the night away or until midnight or so. Superman by-the-way, was great! It really went back to the roots of Superman and made it better.

Tonight, we went to the local 4th of July fair in Long Beach. This featured much of your carnival games, rides, and food. Oh the food was fantastic! We had some taquitos, tacos, and elotes asados (roasted corn on a stick). Washed it all down with a cup of horchata and a churro for dessert. Yes your traditional Mexican meal on the 4th of July. As you can tell that’s pretty much what the 4th should represent. The many different culture that has been integrated to the daily lives of people in America. The fireworks was pretty disappointing this year. First of all, we thought the fireworks was going to be launched from Queen Mary. Instead it was launched somewhere out side near the coast. It was pretty far away and the palm trees were hiding parts of the show. It was a very lack-luster display. We saw better fireworks on the way back from Long Beach. All in all, a rather mild ending to my long weekend.

Unfortunately, I failed to bring a camera to all the events mentioned above. No pictures for now. I’ve just haven’t been my phototaking self these days.

The Memorial Day holiday brought a great opportunity to pay another visit to Las Vegas for the 3 days off. It was also a birthday celebration for Chanthou as well as a celebration for me being debt free. We left for Vegas Saturday morning and did not arrive until 5pm. The traffic wasn’t too bad. There was some delay’s on the way to Hesperia, but it was negligible considering we did not experience major traffic from that point on.

I played some craps and a $50 1-2 NL game when we got there. Unfortunately lost about $150 before we even went to eat dinner. We enjoyed a nice dinner at an Asian noodle place in the Hilton (our hotel). Did some saki bombs and saki shots for Chanthou’s birthday. After dinner I went back to the 1-2 NL game and bought in for another $50. At the end of the night I walked away with $377. So I was up $177. We spent the next morning eating dim-sum in Chinatown Las Vegas. Because I had won the night before, I decided to give everyone a treat and paid for the bill. We then went to see a magic show at the Tropicana hotel. This was my first Las Vegas show I’ve ever experienced. The show was okay and I’ve always enjoyed watching magic so it was a good experience.

After we finished the show, we went back to the hotel. Rich and I decided to lay-out at the pool. It was nice. The pool was cold and the weather carried a breeze towards the end of our 2 hours out in the sun. I did get a bit of color, but nothing to really brag about.

We get back up to the hotel room and discovered that the girls had received comp dinner at our hotel for signing up with a player’s club card. Sweet! We stuffed ourselves with all sorts of buffet food. There was even free alcohol at the buffet.

After dinner, we went to see Fremont Street, the original “Las Vegas Strip” in Downtown Las Vegas. I really liked it there. It was also a first time for me being there. We settled down at the Binions Hotel and played some craps. Lost another $140 there. We left Fremont at 11pm and went back to our hotel. Obviously I had to visit the card room once again after the successful night I had before. With the initial $50 buy-in, I had slowly accumulated about $650 and became big stack in a matter of 5-6 hours. Unfortunately, I had lost $400 in a matter of 2 hands afterwards. The second place chip-leader had busted me with a set of Q’s. We actually both had Q’s and I thought I was good since my cards were Q-10. Unfortunately, he had Q-A. That hurt. I grinded out my last $200 for another 3 hours until I lost it all. I rebought w/another $100 and played all the way till 5am this morning. I lost it on busted up flush draw against another Q top pair. The cool part about both poker nights, I came across a couple of regulars who were very receptive of me. The first night I had an older gentleman who joked around with me and told me all the regulars that played with us that night along with their style of play. This morning, the guy who beat me w/top pair Qs shook my hand and said, “I’ll see you in the circuit.” He thinks that I play professionally! A great confidence booster to a down weekend. At the end of the trip, I had only spent $300 of the $600 I brought. Not bad considering I had treated for dim-sum and paid for other expenses besides gambling.

Murder mystery at Aphrodisiac restaurant (formerly Lunaria) in Century City went fairly well. They used props, served a dinner, and had over the top acting. It was definitely quite an experience and I would recommend going there once. I have to say I solved the case but they gave the prize to a 12 year-old kid. A new career in detective work.

We also had a delicious lunch on Sunday at Newport Seafood restaurant in San Gabriel. A 11 course meal with lobsters and crabs. It was awesome! Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera and wasn’t able to get pictures for the event. We went to Shon’s house and had a quick poker game. I dropped $40 in a matter of 30 minutes. I was playing too loose. Too much confidence in my game. I have to reevaluate my strategy. That’s the thing about Texas Hold’em, there’s always room to learn and the checks and balances to keep you humble. I need to take a break from the game for a little bit before I test the waters again.