Good Weekend, Bad Poker

Spring is finally starting to show it's face around these parts. With our first weekend in the teens since January, people were out and about en force.

Friday post-work I made my way to the bar for some pre-game drinking and eating. When I got there, my buddy revealed the level of his idiocy. This is a guy who has made a point of going to the last 10 Blue Jays home openers. He loves the Jays. He was online buying the tickets as soon as they went on sale. He had a rough day and was looking forward to the game.

Then he looked at the tickets. Saturday, April 5th. Umm.. that would TOMORROW. That's right, he bought tickets for the 2nd home game of the season, not the opener. We beat him properly. He's 6'4" and big. We caused minimal harm.

So we then wandered from packed bar to packed bar looking for a place to sit and drink and eat. No dice pre-game. We spoke to the scalpers, who wanted $200 on top of our tickets for ducats. Not going to happen.

Then we cabbed to a sports bar a bit out of the way. They refused to serve our requested beer in pitcher form (too creamy/foamy I suppose). Then the menu was messed up and the nachos were hidden from view. To top it off... the big screen had the Raptors game on. We downed our pitcher of 2nd choice beer and left. Eventually, we made it back to our first bar, flirted with the waitresses, and had some proper food (wings and nachos) and made our way through some pitchers as the game played above us. Jays did a good job of beating the BoSox, and we went home with a nice little buzz on a few hours later.

I plunked down in front of the computer to watch Kat take down the donkament and Goat cash in both daily doubles. Then I think I watched some movie I probably owned on TV while chatting with other vampires that Tragedy had assembled, and called it a night around 3am or so.

I woke up at the crack of 11ish and slowly put myself togeether for the game we DID have tickets for. By the time I got to my seat, it was the bottom of the 2nd, and the Jays had tied it up at 1-1. Our seats sucked huge ass. Strike 2 against the friend. We're usually baseline, these were right field bleachers, surrounded by Bostonians. New rule Americans: If you come to MY town to cheer the opposing team, you have to be hot. I don't want to see any more hair that hasn't had a change since 1985, or people who are convinced their 300lb frame fits in that spandex outfit, or that sweat pants and a sweatshirt are in any way attractive.... unless they're cheering for my team.)

The sad part was that it was the drunk Toronto fans that were pissing us off. We get it, the guy in the Sox jersey needs to be told that the Red Sox suck. But for chrissakes, at least be creative about it! And don't spill your beer! Or throw shit at him and miss and hit ME instead. Dumb fucks.

We eventually vacated our shitty seats and stood by the railing overlooking the 1st base line. The view was much better. Especially as Boston got it's ass handed to it 10-2. That was 5th starter kicking your ass on Saturday. 5 starts, 5 guys, all quality. Jays are going to be a force this year in the AL East.

I made it home, sat in front of my computer, and proceeded to pass out in my chair (yet still took down at least 1 6.50 SnG on Stars). On my way home, I was hit by a wave of exhaustion. No idea why, as I hadn't had a drink all day, and slept a solid night's sleep. Alas, I had a cocktail party to go to in honour of one of my best friends getting married... again. At the last possible minute, I opted to back out and collapse on my bed instead. I was feeling cruddy. I slept for 4 hours and woke up refreshed. This of course led to me sitting online and watching people play poker... while I did some of the same. 2am rolled around and I decided to try that sleeping thing again.

Sunday - brunch with my best friend. Damn good homemade brunch too. We hit the store, stocked up, and cooked. Omlettes with cappicolo, red and yellow peppers, leek, swiss cheese, and portabello mushrooms. Fried potatoes, fresh baguette, and fresh tomatoes on the side. Finished with fresh roasted, fresh ground, cuban coffee. Fantastic.

Then somehow we spent the next 5 hours walking around the city enjoying the weather. It started with a trip to Kensington to get some cheese and browse. Then we just wandered, since it was too nice a day to sit inside. Somewhere in all that, I found a copy of John Woo's The Killer on laserdisc - Criterion Collection. Yes, I have a laserdisc player. It's a nice conversation piece, as are the discs :).

At some point in the evening, I realized I'd gotten some sun... as my face had that tell-tale "I'm burned" heat to it. Whoops.

Baseball, brunch, walking the city... a great way to spend a spring weekend. There's a reason this is my favourite season.

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Poker, however, has sucked balls. I've been bad beat regularly, lost almost every race, made great calls or moves and been screwed, and generally sucked all weekend. I can only assume it's a buildup of poker karma for me to take down the MATH tonight. Assuming I'm there.