The Good, The Bad & The Ugly............. or, 36 hours through the eyes of a drunk....

The Good –

No big surprise here. Riggs did not disappoint. The man is everything I imagined my good friend would be and at times along the way, it was like I’d known him my entire life. From the first “BOOOOM !!” to the last “BAM-BAM” there were an awful lot of laughs shared between us. Saturday EH-fternoon, we sat together and discussed damn near anything. All culminating with the ultimate conclusions that, we both “like drunk girls,” and if you put Riggs and I in a bar with 20 fully naked women, he and I will always be the ones that fall for the ½ dressed waitress! I am so glad that we got to meet face to face. Like I said about Al after Vegas, I sincerely hope this won’t be our last get together, because I can’t wait for the next time. (I’ll try and stay, “semi-sober” for that)

Al is Al and you always know what you’re going to get. While checking out the EH-fternoon shift, we listened to some stories told by Al that had us practically rolling in the aisles. After spending such a short time with him back in December, I am truly thrilled to have had so much more time with him this weekend. It’s just great times with a great guy! I consider it a wonderful honour to have been able to steal a few extra hours with Al over the weekend. Cheers ! Every serious effort will go into me making the trip to “The Bash.” (I’ll try and stay, “semi-sober” for that)

What an absolute pleasure it was to grab IG and just hug the hell out of her. I would just walk by and grab her for a hug, and she never complained about it once. (to me anyhow ;o) ) IG is a wonderful young lady, who I truly can’t wait to see again. Reading her posts now, will take on new meaning for sure. Being able to put the person behind the writing as you read, makes the writing all the much the better. Cyber hugs will have to do for a while now. I just hope it’s not too long!
(I’ll try and stay, “semi-sober” for that)

The B.W.o.P. is not only beautiful and intelligent, but lord what a sense of humour! It was so much fun sitting back and watching her interact with a crowd. She was never at a loss for just the right thing to say and usually, she had everyone splitting a gut at just the right time. We also shared a moment, (and a dancer) late Friday night. Despite my efforts to gift her with just the right girl and then walk away, she dragged me back to share in the experience and I’ll always remember that. Someday soon, I hope we can share again. (I’ll try and stay, “semi-sober” for that)

Astin, WHAT A MEAL !!!!! This fine gentleman welcomed all of us into his home and put together an incredible spread. He had to have been working for hours to put together such an amazing meal. About 24 hours after this whole mess got started and the laughter was as raucous as ever, you could hear a pin drop during dinner. You know something must be pretty damn special, if you can get 18 Bloggers to shut the hell up for any length of time! We also had several discussions on various topics that I am very grateful for. It was my pleasure Sir!

PokerTart, there is almost nothing that I can put down in words, that will express how much I love the Yummy-Mommy! Seeing her and Banky again is just one of those moments when, all is right in the world. I didn’t get the “Baby kick on demand” that I was hoping for but then again, I got the hug and smile that just make me melt, every single time it happens.

Joanada and I did not get to spend a ton of time together one on one. That is totally understandable, as she is a treat to be with. Getting in line when I could, I tried to at least listen to what was going on in the crowd around her.

Our Hostess was definitely THE MOSTEST !! My darling Kat is everything anyone could ever want in a friend, and more! MUCH MORE! I could write pages and pages after just this one weekend. Suffice it to say, I love Kat! She’s so very special to be around and will light up any room with nothing more than her presence. I am thrilled to have had the pleasure of seeing her again. If you ever need anything Kat hun, (with the exception of helping you bring chairs over to Astin’s! I just got that message yesterday afternoon, by the way. Weird!) I will always try to be there for you. You’re just the best! (I’ll also try and stay, “semi-sober” for that)

Hunny-Bunny showed up for dinner with us on Friday night. What a special treat that was! In particular, knowing the kind of day he had on the go and that he still made the effort to be there. A doff’ of the cap Sir! It was my please to have gotten to know a little bit about you.

Then there were the regular kids, all running about town like a bunch of Tuckfards! Having Carson, DonKaaa, Suzy_Q and QueenK make the trip down this weekend and sharing the experience, well it meant the world to me. I was crushed as only Peb's and I could make the trip to Vegas last December. Having a good part of the TuckFard gang represent in EH-Vegas, just made it an even better trip. That's what they do, make things better and I'm damn lucky to know each and every one of them. Even young Matty made the trek down for the Saturday night game. More on him later.

Also good, experiencing getting kicked out of our room because of noise complaints from the neighbours. We used the Pebbles & Bam-Bam temporary cave as the central meeting point upon arrival for the weekend. We tried to have a little something for everyone as a welcome to EH-Vegas salute. It’s been forever since I’ve had that much fun with some hotel security. From the fact that they thought those two particular guy’s were going to be able provide effective “crowd control,” for the mess that was in our room at the time. To having one of them basically laugh all the way through the process was well, just a total scream. I still remember that little, ‘pffffff’ noise that young kid made trying not to laugh, every time I answered a question from ‘Mr. Serious’ the ‘bad-cop.’

The Bad !

The poker game can be broken down into three basic items for me.

1) Not knowing Astin’s live game at all, I made a read that was completely wrong for the situation. I was convinced his move into me, was a steal attempt. He’s a very self- confident young man, and he should be for many a good reason. I read what appeared to be, “advertised” strength into his posture. It was most likely because he was thinking, “Go ahead Donkey, make the call!” I was a Donkey and read it as his protection of weakness. I called his J-J with my 3-3 and unfortunately, I got lucky and hit the set.
2) My next great read was on a known player, (and eventual winner) young Matty TuckFard. Man did he out-play me here. I had lots of time to assess what I thought he might be holding, and I came up with a weak ace. Matty changed his posture, his expressions and even more importantly, his regular pattern for this one hand. He’s always had a pattern and it’s one of the reasons he’s so difficult to be very accurate against. I read his behavior as week and ran an un-suited big-slick into his pocket 10’s. I did not improve this time.
3) Finally as the blinds crept up and my stack dwindled away due to it, in my SB with no action coming around to me at all, I decided to take a chance and try to steal Kat’s BB. I pushed with 9-10 figuring it wasn’t the worst hand in the world if I got caught. I did get caught! Kat and I raced with my 9-10 up against her 10-J. Once again, no help for me and I finish the event in 7th. place.

I took some pots, I made some moves, I lost some pots, and I got caught on a move by someone else that was willing to race. More correctly, poker happened.

And now, The Ugly!

I basically spent 36 straight hours, plastered out of my tree. What a stupid waste of good times and even worse, really good friends. I feel like an Ass because quite frankly, there are times I don’t remember. That is so not like me. In fact, I don’t think anyone got even remotely close to actually seeing the real me. Yes there were spits and starts where I may have been able to put two or more coherent sentences together, but they must have been pretty damn few and far between. From 4:00pm Friday to 4:00am Sunday, I’m not sure that I even had a clue who I was.

I over did it HUGE and I sincerely apologize right here and right now, to anyone who may have felt embarrassed, upset or dissapointed to have been in my company for any portion of that 36 hour timeframe. It’s really not like me to get that over-the-top at all. I just let the extra good time’s, carry me away into a drunken stupor from which there was no return. Please understand that I am not asking for your understanding, forgiveness or any other consoling on the issue. It’s me that wasted my time with each one of you and since these opportunities come so far and few between these days, I’m clearly an idiot for that. What a waste of a fantastic opportunity to be with a great group by me.

Many thanks and apologies, to those of you that made it such a great weekend for me! I only wish I could say that I may have re-paid the favour. However, I doubt it very much!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by….