Thursday, January 31, 2008

Got House?

For a variety of reasons, I will be moving out of my current place and going closer to work. I've thought a lot in the past few months about financing my own place and instead of procrastinating until I'm in a wheelchair, I'm now in the process of seeing what I can do in terms of owning my own place. At the moment there is nothing in Vancouver that is affordable (and it wouldn't be any closer to work). But in Cloverdale and Langley the prices are a lot better and will certainly move up in price as we near the Olympics. So let's see what the future holds.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Patience

Last night we had quite a bit of snow (for Vancouver anyways) and it continued for a bit in the morning for my drive to work. Normally since I am driving away from the grain, it takes me around 35 minutes. But today it took me over 90! And as far as I know, the roads really weren't that bad but unfortunately there were too many bad drivers on the highway. Doesn't anybody know of the "slow drivers on right" rule? Some of them had no right to be on the road. Argh.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

What Holiday?

And so ends my mini-vacation of 4 days. I just got back from coffee (OK, it was actually a Chai Latte) at Starbucks with Lily. I hope she feels better (I won't get into that here). I've spent the last two nights talking with her. Last night we had dinner at Daimasu and then just drove around, first through Stanley Park and then at UBC. She's a good friend to have as we have very similar qualities. But alas, she's married. You know, she reminds me a lot about that girl I once really liked way back in the late 80's, a girl who now happens to be my dentist. And ironically I opened up a lot to Lily about that girl too.

OK, enough of the mush, back to the real world I shall go. I hope there isn't a lot of snow for my drive to work tomorrow.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Good News or Bad News?

So there I was sitting at home in front of my computer on my short holiday when somebody asks me what I'm doing. Before I know it, I'm having a late dinner with my friends and then going to the Edgewater Casino for the first time this year. Since they picked me up for dinner, that means they drove me to the casino and would drive me home whenever everybody decided to go. Well, we were at the casino around 11pm. I figured we'd be there for a FEW hours. Normally I'd withdraw $200 or so from the ATM and play until I lose. For some reason I withdrew $400. Yikes. Lo and behold, 45 minutes later I've lost half of my bankroll. It looked bleak. But somehow someway I built the stack back up. I got four of a kind in Pai Gow, good for $125 bonus. Eventually, like 5 hours later I made it all back up and ended up even making $100. While normally that is really good news I feel a bit disappointed and (for lack of a better word) scared that I took so much money out. With my checkered past I hope this isn't the beginning of my trip back to the scary ages. Once in a while is fine. Meanwhile, I've probably screwed up my sleep cycle that I worked so hard to build. It's 5:30 in the morning and it's usually about an hour before I get up. Here we go again.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Another Death in Hollywood

Yesterday, Hollywood and the rest of the world was shocked and horrified to hear of the death of Australian actor Heath Ledger. Right now the circumstances and cause of death is still being investigated. Mr. Ledger was 28. He is the Joker in the new Batman movie due out in July. While I am saddened by the death of yet another actor way before his time, I am also saddened by the fact that (as it seems to be) drugs was the cause of demise. Heath Ledger will be boosted up to superstar status not because of his filmwork but because of his drug use. It's almost like it's cool to do drugs because when you die people will think you were awesome. Anna Nicole Smith led a controversial life and people mocked and made fun of her, but when she died, people were suddenly sad. There were so many examples. Sad indeed.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Please Leave a Message at the Sound of the Beep

I am on "holiday" until 10:30am on Sunday. I've decided on relaxation. Other than talking to friends and going out for dinner, I don't plan to do much. Remind me not to answer the phone if the call display says "FRASER DOWNS"....well, if it's urgent...

Easy Week

Ever since the Casino on Broadway closed down I've been working full time. Some weeks I even went overtime, saving up some hours. This week I get to collect on some of them as I only have to work two days, and get five days off, four of them in a row (Wednesday to Saturday)! I look forward to this short holiday, even if I end up going nowhere significant. I will check on Vegas if there are any specials, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up mostly in town. The Seattle Premium Outlets are possibly worth a visit too. Time to relax. Ahhhhh.

Friday, January 18, 2008

RIP Bobby Fischer

The last person I mourned on this blog was Eddie Guerrero. Today I mourn the death of one of the most influential people of my life back when I was young. In the past 40 years, ANYBODY who plays chess has heard of Bobby Fischer. While the latter part of his life was filled with hatred and crazy theories, one cannot deny that he was perhaps the greatest chessplayer that ever lived. His match against the Russian juggernaut Boris Spassky in 1972 stunned the chess world and the Russian chess machine was no longer immortal.

To my good friend Johnny M in Oregon, I know this news is very heartbreaking for him, because of what Mr. Fischer has meant to him. Mr. Fischer has meant a lot to a lot of people. He's probably already playing in one heck of a tournament up there with Alekhine and Capablanca. Rest in peace, Mr. Fischer

Work Work Work Work Work

We have some management shortages this week and as a result I've had to change my days off. But next week I'll get four days off in a row, I wish I could go somewhere but it's too late to plan anything. Then again, I haven't been to the outlet stores in ages. Perhaps it's time to add to my shirt and tie collection.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Bucket List

Despite some negative reviews, I knew I couldn't pass up a movie starring two of the greatest actors of our generation, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In some ways the movie was predictable but nevertheless it was a great movie. It had me thinking a lot about my own life, in particular my own "bucket list"; things I want to do in life before I have to leave this Earth. Bring your Kleenex boxes to this one, you'll need it.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Chillaxing

Finally I get three days off in a row. Today I woke up around 10am, watched a bit of TV, grabbed some lunch and went back to bed again. I did absolutely nothing productive, exactly as I had planned it. Maybe I'll go catch a movie now. Or maybe I'll go back to bed. I wish every day was like this day.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

No Red Bull Required

I managed to wake up in time to get ready for my 8:30am shift this morning (after getting off work at 11:30pm the night before and THEN visiting Albert and Mei for an hour or two). The day actually went by very quickly as it was the day of the VIP Blackjack tournament. Everything went relatively smoothly. I sure hope our winner today will win the first prize at the River Rock tournament.

Long Time No See

Today was another "first" for me, the Saturday 1:30pm-11:30pm shift. It was pretty relaxing even though there was a time when things got busy. The clincher though was when I found out that I had to go back to work at 8:30am (about 5.5 hours from now) as one of the managers called in sick. However, I'm still a bit wired and can't sleep, so it will be interesting tomorrow. I haven't guzzled down a Red Bull in a while but it looks like I might need one.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Enough Already

The biggest news today (or rather the event that garnered the most reporting) was not about the Iowa caucuses or the unrest in the Middle East, it's about Britney Spears. Who cares? Enough already. You can feel sad for her if you want but please can we just stop reporting about her 24/7? I will pay Shaw Cable extra just to block out any news reports concerning Britney or her soon to be just as skanky sister. And this also applies to Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton. These four people serve absolutely no purpose in this world, other than to be idols for American teenagers (and younger) who don't know any better. I would feel sorry for their families but the families (especially the mothers) are just as much to blame. Damn Americans (sorry Johnny).

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Pin Drop

Last night I had a very rare night closing shift (6:30pm-4:30am) at work. In fact it was my first ever at the new casino (I did have another 6:30pm-4:30am shift once but that was during a 24-hour day). Unfortunately the casino was not busy at all; too many people either broke from Christmas or still hungover. Nevertheless it was good to see some of the nighttime crew and I got to work with Sara. I do hope business picks up in the New Year, and soon.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Year in Review Part 2

So far the year 2088 has been going splendidly. Only 365 more days to go (time for that darn February 29 again).