Notes on a Weekend Indoors

An expected field of 48 players was slashed to 30 in the span of two days, for the PCC Fall Classic, a poker tournament at my home that I organize and play in. The discrepancy is attributable to the general chicanery that surrounds invitations and RSVP's. Last minute dropouts are commonplace unfortunately. One could speculate on the countless psychological reasons that some people initially respond in the affirmative when they, in fact, have zero real expectation of attending. I suppose its mostly done with the best intentions. The invitee assumes that the event planner might be personally or emotionally troubled by a negative response so they reply "yes" initially, sometimes going so far as to add a comment indicating just how excited they are to attend. A last minute "something popped up" translates to "I'd rather be somewhere else doing something else" is then offered 24 hrs prior to the actual engagement, as if to say, "I really wanted to come, but darn it, I had this emergency, and well... you know how it is." Thereby the invitee isn't "snubbing" so much as just being really popular and unable to attend multiple events. It should be noted that this excuse is often real... and explains why they make such great disguises for a lack of courage to actually tell someone you're not interested. Its such a laborious routine when a flat "No" is appreciated so much more. We had 10 of those. Having said all that, the "last minute dropout" is a transgression that I find 1000 times more acceptable than its ugly cousin..."the no-show", which translates to "I woke up and felt like doing nothing all day... including telling you that I'm not coming." We had 8 of those.

Utilizing a re-buy format that allows you to get more imaginary money in exchange for real money, we managed to achieve a respectably sized prize-pool to fight for. After 8.5 hours, I was eliminated in 2nd place earning $1500. Additional side bets and gratuities on top of that number made it a profitable, if not enjoyable way to spend a Saturday indoors.

Sunday brought wind and cold temperatures, nasty enough to cancel Jena Boot Camp...a weekly hour-long routine of drill-type exercises led by its namesake. Probably good for at least 800 burned calories, its absence is noticeable...especially if you decide to stay immobile and eat cheesecake all day.

Last night we renamed our dog Peter Eastgate...mostly because its a cool name to call a dog, and because he kind of looks like a little danish kid with a mouth full of marbles.