Grandpa passed away overnight. Amazing how fast he went. Monday I was on the phone with him, ready to book a flight the following week to visit, and when I told him flights were $950 he said "I'm not THAT sick - check later dates." Tuesday afternoon he was put in the hospital, in a lot of pain and difficulty breathing. He was heavily sedated, and comfortable. Wednesday afternoon my mom arrived and reported he was still heavily sedated, and was going to ask the doctor today to keep him less sedated so he could at least talk and visit. 4am local time, he passed away.
Cancer's a bitch. 48 hours after telling me he's not that sick, he's dead. I'm still in shock I think. Heading to Florida tomorrow for the funeral and to be with family.
*sigh*
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Vegas mini-report + life stuff
No extended Vegas trip report yet - had a lot going on, a lot on my mind since Vegas.
Finishing up school for the quarter, and been doing some soul-searching, trying to decide whether chemical dependency counseling really is the road I want to walk down. Haven't decided, but have decided to continue with classes through at least summer quarter.
Grandpa's been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year now. Did radiation, then a brief round of chemo which he stopped due to unbearable side effects. Things have been a roller coaster: 2 awesome weeks, followed by 3 horrible ones, 3 good days then 2 bad then 5 good then 6 bad....etc.... had what we thought was a routine procedure scheduled for this week (fluid build-up in the abdomen, which is very typical in pancreatic cancer, which was going to be removed either via drugs or otherwise), but once he hit the hospital he had great difficulty breathing, and since he's been kept overnight he's been heavily sedated and unaware of his surroundings. Talk about a bad beat...
I had been planning a trip next week to visit; unfortunately I may be going there earlier to say goodbye.
------------
Had a great time in Vegas. Venetian is a wonderful place to stay - awesome rooms, nice pools, great food - we didn't leave the Venetian/Palazzo complex for the first 36 hours of the trip.
KA was one of the most awe-inspiring, breathtaking shows I've ever experienced. Simply amazing. Even setting aside the story and the performances, just the technical feat that is the Ka stage and theatre is just -- well, stunning. I'd recommend it to anyone at anytime. I'd go see it again; hell if the tickets were cheaper I'd have stayed for the 2nd show. Unreal, and marvelous.
As far as poker -- had fun playing. I ended the trip down due to a guy making a great call and my draw not making it. It was my last day, my last short session, and check-raised all in on the turn with an OESD + flush draw, the guy tanked for what seemed like 5 minutes before calling with bottom-two pair. I honestly didn't think he was as strong as that even, but he made the call and won the pot, kudos to him.
Rest of the play was totally uneventful -- the place was swarming with poker players, the Venetian poker room was even packed at 3am Saturday night/Sunday morning when I went down. Unreal. The late night action was super-loose and quite passive. I chipped up a bit each night, never any huge hands or big scores.
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Been playing online micro-stakes the past week or so ($0.02/$0.05), playing super-loose and making a ton of VERY loose calls with middle and sometimes only bottom-pair. I was the Calling Station at the table, though these were often against players who had been showing a penchant for over-bluffing. I also got some big pots (for the stakes) that allowed me to gambool a bit more than was likely prudent. My FT account took about a $6 hit over the past 7 days, much of which happened 2 nights ago.
Had some really, really sick beats too. Big-time coolers, too - like the blind-vs-blind hand where I flop top 2 and opponent flops a set, I flop a set with AA and get run down by a flush draw with Qs7s... oh, well. If I'm not in Florida I'll be headed to Tulalip for a live-session this Friday; I sometimes feel like I'm easily bluffed, and so don't mind taking a small hit online by getting the "calling-station syndrome" out of my system.
Finishing up school for the quarter, and been doing some soul-searching, trying to decide whether chemical dependency counseling really is the road I want to walk down. Haven't decided, but have decided to continue with classes through at least summer quarter.
Grandpa's been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year now. Did radiation, then a brief round of chemo which he stopped due to unbearable side effects. Things have been a roller coaster: 2 awesome weeks, followed by 3 horrible ones, 3 good days then 2 bad then 5 good then 6 bad....etc.... had what we thought was a routine procedure scheduled for this week (fluid build-up in the abdomen, which is very typical in pancreatic cancer, which was going to be removed either via drugs or otherwise), but once he hit the hospital he had great difficulty breathing, and since he's been kept overnight he's been heavily sedated and unaware of his surroundings. Talk about a bad beat...
I had been planning a trip next week to visit; unfortunately I may be going there earlier to say goodbye.
------------
Had a great time in Vegas. Venetian is a wonderful place to stay - awesome rooms, nice pools, great food - we didn't leave the Venetian/Palazzo complex for the first 36 hours of the trip.
KA was one of the most awe-inspiring, breathtaking shows I've ever experienced. Simply amazing. Even setting aside the story and the performances, just the technical feat that is the Ka stage and theatre is just -- well, stunning. I'd recommend it to anyone at anytime. I'd go see it again; hell if the tickets were cheaper I'd have stayed for the 2nd show. Unreal, and marvelous.
As far as poker -- had fun playing. I ended the trip down due to a guy making a great call and my draw not making it. It was my last day, my last short session, and check-raised all in on the turn with an OESD + flush draw, the guy tanked for what seemed like 5 minutes before calling with bottom-two pair. I honestly didn't think he was as strong as that even, but he made the call and won the pot, kudos to him.
Rest of the play was totally uneventful -- the place was swarming with poker players, the Venetian poker room was even packed at 3am Saturday night/Sunday morning when I went down. Unreal. The late night action was super-loose and quite passive. I chipped up a bit each night, never any huge hands or big scores.
------------
Been playing online micro-stakes the past week or so ($0.02/$0.05), playing super-loose and making a ton of VERY loose calls with middle and sometimes only bottom-pair. I was the Calling Station at the table, though these were often against players who had been showing a penchant for over-bluffing. I also got some big pots (for the stakes) that allowed me to gambool a bit more than was likely prudent. My FT account took about a $6 hit over the past 7 days, much of which happened 2 nights ago.
Had some really, really sick beats too. Big-time coolers, too - like the blind-vs-blind hand where I flop top 2 and opponent flops a set, I flop a set with AA and get run down by a flush draw with Qs7s... oh, well. If I'm not in Florida I'll be headed to Tulalip for a live-session this Friday; I sometimes feel like I'm easily bluffed, and so don't mind taking a small hit online by getting the "calling-station syndrome" out of my system.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
VEGAS THURSDAY!!
That's right, it's time to get back to Vegas! Just checked the weather report, and it's gonna be gorgeous Thurs-Sat, with temps in the mid-80's. Talk about perfect vacation weather!
I'm excited -- I've been going through major life-stress, with a crap-ton of schoolwork to do, a close relative in the declining stages of a fight with cancer, deciding what I really want to do with my future, and having my workload nearly doubled with no increase in hours or pay. I can't get awa soon enough! Thank god I don't drink anymore, because if I did I'm certain I would have looked forward to a 3-day blackout, and who knows where I would come to. I do think, though, I'll be looking to gambool it up a bit more than last time, though this could be partly from watching too much durrrr on HSP and PAD cash game...
I'm hoping to play some longer sessions this time around -- since we'll be staying at Venetian, I think I'll be playing a bit more, as we'll be spending less time traveling from the south-end of the strip to the central part, plus between the Venetian and Palazo it's likely we won't be wandering out of that complex for too much of the time.
At this point I wish we had booked through Sunday. But, I do have to get back and study for my finals. And we don't leave until 8:30pm Saturday, so we almost have 3 full days there.
Vegas!! Woo-hoo-hoo!!!
I'm excited -- I've been going through major life-stress, with a crap-ton of schoolwork to do, a close relative in the declining stages of a fight with cancer, deciding what I really want to do with my future, and having my workload nearly doubled with no increase in hours or pay. I can't get awa soon enough! Thank god I don't drink anymore, because if I did I'm certain I would have looked forward to a 3-day blackout, and who knows where I would come to. I do think, though, I'll be looking to gambool it up a bit more than last time, though this could be partly from watching too much durrrr on HSP and PAD cash game...
I'm hoping to play some longer sessions this time around -- since we'll be staying at Venetian, I think I'll be playing a bit more, as we'll be spending less time traveling from the south-end of the strip to the central part, plus between the Venetian and Palazo it's likely we won't be wandering out of that complex for too much of the time.
At this point I wish we had booked through Sunday. But, I do have to get back and study for my finals. And we don't leave until 8:30pm Saturday, so we almost have 3 full days there.
Vegas!! Woo-hoo-hoo!!!
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