And the Reality Begins...
It's that time again. Before I knew Chisolm, I had never even heard of a reality TV show, much less Tivo'd them. I don't know if I should admit this, but we currently Tivo
The Surreal Life,
My Fair Brady (starring 2 former Surreal Lifers),
The Apprentice,
Martha's Apprentice,
Survivor of course, and last night was the first episode of
The Amazing Race, Family Edition. I'm not really sure yet what to think of it. It seems pretty cruel to put small children through some of those tasks. We'll see how they handle it.
My dad called today to let me know that my car is ready. So, Chisolm and I will be picking it up tomorrow afternoon. It actually works out great because I'm hanging out with
my friend Hatty tomorrow and he only lives a few blocks away from my dad's shop.
I took
Hikle to the airport at around 10am this morning and we got there super early, so we sat in Curby and listened to the new Sheryl album while Hikle identified the planes that came in. He'll be back on Sunday. Tripp and Vegas had a pretty uneventful evening of loafing, sniffing, chewing, sleeping, more loafing, and a little bit of barking at neighboring dog noises. I would just sneak
crabwise around them as to not disturb their peaceful slumber.
I really hope Chrissy gets better soon.
That's all for now. My book is only 2 days from completion and will be sent to the printers this week. YAY! Also, the
ClearLeaf Press site is finally up and running.
Clinic Tonight
Tonight I had my monthly Intermediate Last Tuesday of the month clinic at Table Steaks. They are the first and last Tuesdays of the month and I love 'em! I have a core group of 3-4 people that consistently show up for each clinic and I will occasionally get some new pop-ins. Tonight I had my 3 regulars, Marge, Greg, and Kevin, and two newbys, Rob and a french guy that called himself "Frenchie." It was a pretty advanced group tonight so we were able to get into some fun stuff.
I stayed for a little bit after the clinic and reviewed some things with Kevin that we had addressed in our private lesson a couple weeks ago. It was so nice because I could tell that he had been practicing and it really showed.
Afterwards, I just stayed to practice by myself for a couple hours. It was a respectable practice session. Nothing extraordinary happened.
On a not-so-light note, I don't think Chrissy is getting any better. Unfortunately, she is still floating around and not eating much (or, at all). I am very sad and worried about her. I called the vet yesterday and they said to continue with her medication for another 7 days. We'll see what happens. Janet is now beginning to shed and it looks to gross and slimy. She, on the other hand, is quite the healthy eater and has almost doubled in size since I got her. I hope Chrissy gets better soon so I can get them a new roommate.
Tomorrow morning, Hikle comes over around 10 and I'm taking him to the aeropuerto. He's going back home for a friend's wedding for the weekend. That means Vegas gets some company for the next few days. I like when Tripp is here. I think it's great for both of them. Vegas is not much of a dog-dog. He's more of a people-dog, so I like it when he likes to hang out with other dogs. Anyway, we'll, of course, be making a breakfast pit stop at Sonic in the morning on our way.
Chisolm should be home soon and I'm baking chicken for dinner tonight so I should go.
One quick thing! Please notice my new
"WOW" Word of the Week and
The Tip Jar blogs. I also have the WOW posted to the right. I will be attempting to use the WOW in a posting each week. Good luck to me.
Good grief! This is a long posting.
Wow! I had such an eventful weekend (well, for me anyway). I almost have too much to blog about. -Nah!
Friday night, I brought Vegas with me to visit his uncle
Hikle & cousin Tripp. We didn't stay for long because we were off for some last minute pirate attire shopping for Saturday's festivities. And, of course, Boba pit stop.
Hikle found some great masks & costumes, but none of them were really appropriate for the pirate party.
Saturday came and after a quick moustache job and some last minute
photos, we are on our way to Westy, to spend the evening with a room full of 20-year-old-asian-pirates. Yay?!?
Even though we were the oldest pirates there, we still managed to have a fun time. How can you not, when you're dressed as pirates?!
I enjoyed being dressed up so much, in fact, later that night, a slightly intoxicated Marko called and invited me to a "Clam Bake." "
Tom Ross was on his way," he promised. With the promise of free clams, clam chowda', and a roasted pig, how could I turn down the offer, dressed as a pirate or not.
The party was an 8th or 9th annual event and it takes place in the back yards of these 3-4 houses. They just remove pieces of their fence to make one giant yard. SWEET! When I first arrived, I couldn't find Mark right away. As I stumbled through the drunken crowd of clam-bakers, the guests were beginning to wonder if I was really wearing an eyepatch or if they had just had one too many. Both. Needless to say, it was a good conversation piece. I had fun responding with "What? This isn't a pirate party?!" or "What? This? It's my normal weekend attire." My favorite was "Mark! That #%$&* told me everyone was dressed like a pirate!"
Anyway, here are some pics from the evening. When we left Hikle's apartment, we said we would stay at the birthday party for as long as it took me, in total, to shop for our costumes. I think I got my money's worth.
Oink! Oink!
Richard, Mark, & Tom
Richard was one of the homeowners. He later said I was officially invited next year whether Mark calls me or not. S-WEET! I'll be getting there early next year!!!
A couple other residents
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Tonight, I played straight pool for the first time in about a year. I didn't play well, but it was because I haven't practiced all week. This week will be a little bit better. I've been so consumed with the book that I haven't made much time to practice. Oops.
Anyway, I'll leave you with this picture of Hikle realizing while at the party that he had used way too much glue for his moustache.
Aurora Chainsaw Massacre - Loafing w/o Loaf
Today was a somewhat unproductive day. Well, for me anyway. A few years ago, I hired a guy 
(who turned out to be a bit slimy) and his crew to "top" the very big trees I have in my back yard. From the branches they cut off, there have been huge piles of logs in my backyard that we have slowly been using for firewood. However, many of the pieces were way too long to fit in the fireplace. Yesterday, my big manly man went out and bought himself a chainsaw. It was a logging massacre alright. I did help carry some of the pieces to the garage.
I also made my way to the thrift store and to the Halloween aisle of Wal-mart to pick up some pirate gear for Hikle and I for Vina's pirate themed Birthday party on Saturday. She'll be 22. We went to Vegas this year after she turned 21. I won't give away our costumes since I will probably just blog about it but I will say that there's a parrot & some eye patches involved.
The first episode of The Apprentice was on tonight. The Martha Stewart Apprentice was also on tonight. Actually, I accidentally caught the Martha Stewart one first without realizing that's what it was and thought it was just some parody of the real Apprentice. I found it a bit dry and too stuffy for my taste. I didn't realize the real Apprentice was waiting for us on Tivo. That was a very exciting surprise. That, plus Survivor. I'm so happy that Steph is back on this season! She rocks!!! She's such a bad-ass & she's hot too.
Anyway, that's about it. I'll leave you with these pictures of Chrissy's first pool game. She did great.
A miracle happened at LAX tonight! (Yeah! What he said!)
There was truly a miracle that happened at LAX tonight.
Hikle has done such a good job reporting it that I will just refer you to
his blog for the details.
If you were watching the news at around 7:30(Mountain time) tonight, you were fortunate enough to see the lives of 140 passengers and 6 crew members saved before your eyes. What an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and excitement it was to see that plane finally come to a stop after the flames ignited the front wheel, dragging it along until you thought it would just snap at any second. We couldn't help but to applaud when it finally came to a halt. We imagined how horrified those passengers must've felt to be on the flight, knowing what was going on, seeing and hearing every minute of it. We wondered if they were watching themselves on the plane's satellite television. And, we held our breaths and cheered as the pilot pulled off an amazing landing to save the lives of his crew and passengers.
Once we saw the passengers exiting the plane and knew they were safe, we finally left for pho & boba. Our usual pho place closes at 8pm so we tried a new place tonight. It was pretty good. We then decided that we should just try all of them in that area (since there are about 6 of them within a 1 mile radius) being the true pho connoisseurs that we are. Well, maybe not tonight, but over the next few visits. Next stop was boba. I had a hot boba today since I have buckets. (Buckets = code for very bad menstrual cramps, ugh...) I got the hot Almond Milk Tea w/ 3color jellies & it was yummy!
Shortly after Hikle dropped me off, my mom came over do some late night grocery shopping with me (a favorite past time in my household). I picked up some things, including a pork roast that I had waiting for Chisolm when he got home. It's fun being domestic. I also cleaned out all the pantries in the kitchen tonight. It felt great! I started with the old pickle jars in the fridge and just couldn't stop. Even though I knew there was some super scary old stuff up there, I still couldn't help peeking at the exp date. Embarrassingly and grossly enough, some of the items had 2002exp dates. They were obviously left over from the Susan & Wendy days (my most recent roommates). Needless to say, we boxed them up for the homeless. JUST KIDDING! They're all in the trash. I didn't feel bad about it either. It was crap like kidney beans and canned tomatoes and chef-boy-r-d stuff. Bleh! As if that stuff's not bad enough when it's
not expired.
Okay, so now I'm just rambling. For the most part, I was very productive tonight (not to mention all the press releases I sent off today for my new book). As of this moment, I have been awake for almost 21 hours so I think that should be it for me. Chisolm and I did see a pretty good movie tonight that I had Tivo'd last week, called
The Good Girl, starring Jennifer Aniston. I liked it because it was very unpredictable. Even the parts that I predicted would happen, didn't happen how I predicted they would happen. I like that in a good movie.
Anyway, I should get some sleep. I am so fortunate to have so many special people in my life. I will sleep well knowing that.
74 Profile Views?!
I just noticed that I have 74 profile views. Who are these people? Show yourselves. I don't think I even know 74 people. Wow! If you have viewed my profile, please comment here. I am just curious to know what the common denominator is of these people. Are you all pool players? Most of you, at least?
CPK & Paul Reiser
Finally! I have something other than shooting pool or hanging out with my pets and friends to blog about.
Tonight we met Paul Reiser. I know. Pretty cool, huh?
About a week ago, while at Shake's, Chisolm and I grabbed some free passes to the screening of
The Thing About My Folks written by and starring Paul Reiser. The bottom of the invite said to stick around for a Q&A w/ Paul Reiser after the movie. Chisolm and I joked about how Paul would be on the screen at the end of the movie giving answers to some generic questions and that's what Q&A meant. Wrong! (I just got off the phone w/
Hikle and learned all about inserting links, so bear with me)
So, tonight we started our evening with a nice dinner at
CPK in Cherry Creek while I dropped my ring off to be cleaned. Then we headed over the Denver Pavilions theatre. We barely made it in time for the movie. It started at 7pm and we got there at about 10 till and they showed up with a list of other show times this week to choose from. Then, another lady came out to say that there were about 15 seats left, so we hurried in. There were plenty of seats left (in the front 5 rows). So, we sat in the 2nd row.
The movie was cute. Paul Reiser plays a son who spends some bonding time with his father, Peter Falk. It was a witty, entertaining collection of experiences loosely based on Paul's actual relationship with his own father.
Cut to the chase... Once the movie was over, a theatre employee rushes out to tell us not to leave. (Mind you, throughout the movie whenever someone would walk by Chisolm and I would jokingly whisper to each other "Is
that Paul Reiser?") Well, surprise, surprise. The attendant introduced him and out he came. Wow! How cool was that?!
He stayed for about 1/2 an hour and answered a handful (actually, more) of questions. He was very, very charming and funny. If you go to the
movie link and click on "Free Screenings" there is a listing of the upcoming free screenings that he will also be appearing at. I have to admit, I was a little star struck.
Overall, it was a delightful evening.
Pretty uneventful evening...
Tonight was a pretty uneventful evening of laundry, work, and jewelry-making.
So, here' s an out of focus photo of Chrissy meeting Vegas.
"Cram" Training has the same results as "Cram" Studying
As promised, Chisolm and I went on our hot date on Friday night to BD's Mongolian BBQ. That place rocks! They have Izzy there now too which just makes it that much better. Afterwards, we went to Shake's and played a couple sets and went home.
(Bettina, me, & Chris at Shakespeare's)64 men and 16 women showed up for their chance to go to Atlanta, GA where the US Amateur Championships are held this year. It doesn't seem very fair since the top 6 men qualify and only one woman can qualify. The men get a 1 in 9 chance and we only get a 1 in 16 chance. Not to mention, it's only a race to 5 for the women and a race to 7 for the men. I quickly picked up on these statistics last year and asked if I could just play in the men's division and was just as quickly denied.
I felt pretty prepared Saturday morning but apparently there was a wait-list to sign up for the tournament and I barely made it in. I won my first two matches and took a brief nap by the 3 coushion tables. I narrowly won my next one and was pretty exhausted but didn't have a break before the following match. That was be the one for the driver's seat. Unfortunately, I lost that one and then the next, finishing third overall. Third in this tournament gets you nothing. Bleh!
I know better than to expect to win when I haven't been training. I have been so busy with the book that I have hardly played much at all lately. Although, I did win a recent tournament last week (w/ twice as many players entered than this one). I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was.
My cuemaker & sponsor, Chris, was nice enough to stop by and sweat my matches. That's not to be confused with my good friend & teammate, Chris (from the picture), whom I lost to in the semi-finals. At least she beat the first girl I lost to and won the whole thing. If I didn't do it at least Chris did.
I did meet and hang out with some very cool people last night. I met the owner of Zoosters, Lenore and her pal Kathy. I've seen Kathy around but never talked to her before. She's a riot! Marko and I hung out a bit too. In fact he was working on his article for Inside Pool last night and called me this morning for material. I was happy to oblige. I'm interested in seeing what he has to say next month.
Nonetheless, it was a long day yesterday and I too exhausted to write. Well, I'm currently waiting for my very late dad to come pick me for a wedding that we're going to. Speaking of RSVPing, I don't think he did. Good grief! I think he's just been in touch w/ the bride's dad. The bride, of whom I have not seen or talked to in about 5 years, is the daughter of my dad's friend. I wish Alvina was going.
Anyway, here's some more turtle pics:(See what I mean about Janet being tough to photograph? She won't come out of her shell. She's a bit anti-social.)
(Chrissy, basking.)
(Chrissy, just hanging out. She's so photogenic.)
(Chrissy, floating.)
All dressed up with no place to go...
Tonight's Theme: "Sorry. You weren't invited."
Today was a fantastic day of great practice and good friends! It started with a really good practice session for about 3 hours at Shake's. I am not a huge fan of how those tables play, but I was really dialing into them today.
Afterwards, I went to dinner at the Jack n Grille mexican restaurant with my friends Matt & John (aka Hatty & Juan), Michael (aka Hikle, to my right) and his friend Craig (aka friend-Craig) from out of town. Man! The food is so great there, but the service is really going down hill. I LOVE the Corn in a Cup!!!!!
Craig is getting married in a couple weeks and Hikle has the role of "Captain of the Ushers" during the ceremony. Since Juan & Hatty just recently tied the knot, they were exchanging invitation horror stories with Craig over dinner (hence, tonight's theme).
Apparently, it's very common for people to assume that even though they don't RSVP, they will still have a seat for them at the reception. Better yet, try to invite 15 people with them when their invitation was addressed to them alone (without a guest).
Apparently, both Juan & Hatty & Craig have experienced running into people that said they were coming to their wedding as a guest of someone that was not invited or had not RSVP'd. It made for great dinner laughs. Thankfully, it will be some time before Chisolm and I have to worry about that stuff.
After dinner, Hikle, Craig, and I headed to our favorite Boba place, Lollicup on Colorado Blvd for some good tea, great company, and some Connect4 (the foosball game was occupied). Boy! Either I'm getting older, or the Boba generation is getting younger. Okay, it's both!
Anyway, I have a hot date w/ Chisolm tomorrow and Saturday is the tournament at Shake's.
Okay, here's another picture of Chrissy swimming, just for good measure! She's just so cute!!!
Good night!
and here is a picture of Vegas watching us take pictures of Chrissy
I didn't want this to get TOO boring, so here is a picture of my pet turtle, Chrissy. Janet is the other one but she is very shy and tough to photograph. Chrissy is currently recovering from a respiratory infection. We think she had pneumonia. Their poor roommate, Jack, recently didn't make it and we believe he infected Chrissy. They were pretty tight. So now, we have to give her injections once a night for 14 days. She doesn't really like that very much.
She is recovering though and doing much better. Thanks! (to everyone that has asked about her)
Wednesday & Rack 'Em w/ Megan
Today I met Megan at Rack ‘Em. We were supposed to meet at noon but I had so much work to catch up on since I didn’t get much done yesterday. I didn’t get there until about 2pm. She was all warmed up and I hit a few racks and then we just played for a few hours.We didn’t keep score. It took me quite a few racks before I was completely warmed up. I wasn’t fully engaged in our games and I knew it. The slightest things were distracting me. I had a very hard time staying focused and staying in the game. I didn’t feel like I was playing bad at all, I just wasn’t getting out.Then… Something just clicked and it all came together. I was making all the same great shots that I had been making and really finding my tempo. I was trusting myself and my stroke and just letting it all work for me. I continued to win the next few games.We played until about 5-ish and were both starving so we had to go eat. We’re meeting up at Rack ‘Em again tomorrow for round 2. Apparently, it’s free pool for ladies during the day from 11am-7pm. Sweet! I’ll let you know how it goes.
Boulder w/ Meg-o
Last night I went to Boulder w/ my friend Megan Minerich, where she and Laura Smith took challenges for a fundraiser for the Boulder Homeless Shelter. I ended up handling the sign-ups and collecting money for them. It was fun. The food was great!Then we ended up back at Shake’s where Chisolm was winning the tournament. YAY! He beat Melvin 5-2. It was awesome!!! I played a few sets with Jimmy and then went home. It was a long night.My book is coming along very, very well. My new illustrator is phenomenal & has a great eye! He’s already done almost 20 illustrations (out of about 75) and we’re moving at a great pace. It should be off the press by late October. I’ll write more later.
Practice at Shake's again tonight.
Tonight I went to Shakespeare's again & hung out w/ Tom while Chisolm was playing in the Straight Pool league. I feel like I played very well and I feel pretty ready for this weekend.
Dave Hughes has been working w/ Megan Minerich and told me he wanted me to practice w/ her. I love playing with Megan. It really brings my game up and I'm so flattered that he would ask me.
Later, we went to Table Steaks East and I ran 100 balls (just throwing 15 balls on the table and shooting them off in any order). I felt great. I was relaxed and confident. I had one miscue that I let myself reshoot and made, but that was it. There was some creepy old guy trying to take my picture and my friend Nate (the door guy) came over and told him to leave me alone. When I turned around to shoot, I saw the flash go off from behind me. What a creep!
Sept. 16 - I'm sorry. I should've specified... I just wanted to clarify that the "creep" that was trying to take my photo was not a creep for taking my photo. He was a creep because 1. He appeared to be entoxicated and was chasing the poor server around with his camera after she asked him to please not take her picture. 2. He was standing about 2 feet from me while I was trying to shoot and had complete and utter disregard for my practice. 3. He lied to Nate. When Nate asked if he had permission to take my picture, he said "Yes. I just talked to her." which was not true. These three reasons (and maybe more) are what made him a creep. I welcome any appreciator of this sport to respectfully photograph the game and the players (with permission, of course). But, they do not allow flash photography in the pro arenas for a reason, but just having a flash in my eyes was the least of my concerns with this man.I've been so busy working on my book lately that I haven't been training as much as I normally would. Somehow, it's been working for me. Tom says that a race horse does not train just days before a big race; he relaxes and prepares. If that's me, I've definitely been preparing. I will be playing at the Shakespeare's Tuesday night tournament tomorrow night. It's one of the toughest in town and I am looking forward to it.
If anyone is reading this, thanks.
Workout w/ Tom @ Shake's
Today I had a workout with Tom Ross (house pro at Shakespeare's in Denver, Colorado). Tom is a dear friend of mine and agreed to get together with me to help me get ready for the upcoming tournament this weekend. Before I spent my year working with The Monk, Tom and I were working together.
I learned a valuable thing today... I learned the importance of not "over-practicing." Often times, it's so easy (at least for me, anyway) to practice for hours and hours and hours. I have even practiced until I couldn't see the balls anymore.
Today, Tom explained to me how important it is to make sure I leave my practice on a good note. Do what I set out to do and once I've done it - quit! Far too often, I want to practice so much and for long that I reach that high (of dead-strokeness) and just let it slip right by me because I overworked myself. It makes so much sense to stop while you're ahead.
It's like sitting down at a blackjack table and walking away while you're ahead. Ideally, we don't want to sit there and lose all our money back that we worked so hard to win.
Thank you, Tom!
