December 2009

I have to admit I forgot I even had this for a couple months! I've been using Twitter and Facebook a lot more but as usual I reserve this for the longer stuff. Since I last wrote I've picked up and moved from the studio apartment and into a house with three other roommates--all from the UNM anime club so its safe to say that I've found "my people" haha.

On the poker front, I really wanted to start playing again in November but there was just too much going on for me to focus on it. I've met so many new wonderful people the past couple months and trying to spend time with them all equally is starting to be next to impossible and expensive to say the least heh. Yes I've been eating out way too much and breaking all my promises of cooking at home more often but I did make an awesome spahgetti carbonara last week and I'm thinking of doing something Korean before year's end so I'm working on it!

Christmas Eve is just a week away and that's when I'll be flying home to Texas to see the family. Only get to be there for a few nights but at least I'll get to see some friends that I haven't seen in half a year which I still can't believe--time has flown by so quickly this year...

My next post will probably be about my new year's resolutions so stay tuned! :)

September Means...

This month means I've been here a little over two months and everything is still going great. I've made a few friends and I'm getting along with everyone at work I think and it looks like I'll be extending my lease for another 3 months until the end of December and I'll go from there about finding a new place possibly.

I've been trying very hard not to eat at the same place more than twice since I've been here since there's so much variety here there's no excuse for me to! I'm going to make my second visit though tomorrow to a dim sum place here called Ming Dynasty that does a Sunday lunch featuring the specialty that I've invited a few people over for who've never tried dim sum so I'm obviously excited about it and the other night I had the same group all try Thai food for the first time also so its like I'm their cultural ambassador now haha. Oh and the State Fair will be here next week I'm way too excited about that as well and you know I'll be eating every fried item in sight there hehe.

Can't wait for cold weather to strike already, I want to wear my jackets and coats!

Anime Club!

Just went out awhile ago to try and find something to eat until I was stuck in traffic behind an ambulance for at least a mile and I could see the woman that was in agony inside waiting to get to the hospital, safe to say that ruined whatever appetite I had going and so I just went back home. Fast food and pop music just doesn't sound so good after thinking about life and death and how fragile our simple lives really are and such.

On a much happier note, I get to meet a bunch of other anime nerds tomorrow at UNM's anime club that I hope to join this week! Supposed to be free pizza too. Parking will be a bitch though since I'm not a student--and there I go again with the downer talk! ;)

New Job New Goals!

Since I last posted I turned 26, and that was such a miserable weekend I don't even want to talk about it on here but I can tell you that I started my new job on the 22nd! Yes, I was hired at a major hotel not too far from where I live thankfully and I've been training for several days now and I think I'm getting the hang of doing the front desk, or at least the most basic of things. The property is gorgeous! Two restuarants, a bar, an big outdoor heated swimming pool, and 12 stories worth of room space, not to mention the other buildings we have for cabana rooms. We also have lots of convention/meeting room space which makes me wish that next year's SWACE will be held here instead of at the tiny and old ABQ Grand.

Speaking of SWACE, I went when I could this past Friday and Saturday and met some nice people and the speakers were great. This was the smallest con I had ever been to but it made it a more intimate setting I thought and so talking with the voice actors and directors was way easier than at say, A-kon!

I haven't played any poker in about two weeks now, online OR at Sandia but that's going to change now that I got my internet hooked up yesterday. I really look forward to getting onto SpadeClub and Pokerstars again and grinding it out for awhile...

Lastly, I started doing a lot better running-wise and I can do almost 3miles before quitting which is a huuuuge improvement over just a month ago I can assure you :)

Sandia and Sushi

Played only about two hours yesterday of 1/2 at Sandia and won $180, then promptly blew $80 on sushi right after lol. Better than losing it to a guy at the table that's for sure. There is no food right now that I really love more than sushi, it's usually light and healthy and its just so beautiful! I could eat it everyday if it didn't cost so damn much! I'm about to go back to the casino since it's about to be Sat night and that's when all the fish come out to play ;)

Argh!

I worked out for the first time in almost two month by using the apartment's gym room which consists of just one treadmill, one stairstepper, and one other thing that I have no clue what it's called. After 25 minutes on the treadmill I wanted to puke--I'm sooo out of shape! I wanted to stop after just 15 minutes but there was a really hot blonde girl sunbathing right outside by the pool where the gym window just so happens to face and so yeah that was my motivation for the day haha. Tomorrow I'll go for 30 minutes and go from there. I really need to make this a more frequent thing since I'm horrible at keeping a schedule for it and I give myself way too many excuses not to do it.

Then I had to deal with Geico again, the idiots there somehow left off a number on my address when I looked at it online. Plus they are charging me DOUBLE now what I paid them in San Angelo, it's rediculous! I can understand that this is a bigger city but geez...

Then to top it all off I went to Sandia and threw away a hundred bucks in less than an hour because I was impatient. I had AQ, he had KK, flop came Queen high and I shoved it after he already raised and I didn't think about it long enough and lost my whole stack because of it. I think it was because I had to actually WAIT on getting into the game for about an hour in the first place that led me to play so fast and poorly like that so I'll know better for next time I hope.

Tomorrow I'm going to keep on trying to find myself a job in this town. The Radisson is up next!

Poker Notes

This was a list I kept recently just to keep tabs on how I'm doing with the cash games, might as well put it here too.

6/30
runner runner straight to bust me of my $70 (1st hand) at 1/2 NL 75% fav
$40 tourney - bust in 20th place out of 100. top 10 pays. $1200 to first
$20 blown at video poker. NEVER PLAYING THIS AGAIN.
(down $130 total)

7/1
runner runner diamonds to bust me of my $100 at 1/2 NL 70% fav, i was up to $130 total before the bust hand. (down $230 total)

7/2
lost it all ($50) with set of 5s on flop to a bigger set JJ's on turn, then lost another $50 when i flopped flush AND open ended straight flush and still lost to a bigger turned flush. $30 tourney i ran A10off into AK pf while shortstacked, 113 entries/30th place
(down $330 total)

7/3
Took day off from Sandia, just played a few SpadeClub games.

7/4
Played 8hrs, lost first $50 within the first 2hrs and then w/ my last $50 I was down to as low as $22 before fighting back to $276 when I cashed out. I had KK and went all in after the flop against a guy with straight AND flush draw but survived to win and that got me to $200 before I bled down again to $120ish and then i got AA vs QQ which got me up to $276 when I stopped at 9pm. Also made a sick all-in call with J9dd against guy bluffing me the whole way.
(down $54 total)

7/5
Sandia has a noon $40 NL tourney but going to play 30k instead on SClub at 2pm. Damn, ended up missing the 30k but ate well at Ming Dynasty!

7/6
Decided at the last minute after dinner at Flying Star to play at Sandia. 1st time buying in for $100 instead of just $50. After floping top pair with A10dd I Turn the 10 and lost more than half my stack when other guy shows down set of Aces! Fight back up from $30something to finish the night with $120-ish? I stacked a guy when my JJ held up against whatv he was chasing. Then won another big pot with I limped with A8ss and flop came small but 2 spades, guy bets big, I go all in and after long time he folds, whew! Went home with est. $120 in profit.
(up $61 total)

ABQ Day 2 6/30/09

Today was all about changing and updating info with my bank, credit cards, etc. Typical relocating type chores that needed to get done but who forgot and left their car title in San Angelo? This guy! I'm having my parents mail it to me since I have 30 days to take care of my D.L. and plates. I did do a lot of driving around again and I stumbled upon The Dog House and I tried one of theirchile-cheese dogs w/ onions and it was gloriously and unexpectedly spicy! I went to play a little 1/2 at the Sandia in the evening and played well but was down for the night about $130 unfortunately. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get it back and then some!

ABQ Moving Day 6/29/09

The drive up to Albuquerque was uneventful, a nice normal day. Left the house at around 7:15am and was in Roswell, NM by 9:45am thanks to the Mountain Time change. The worst part was the drive from Roswell to ABQ, the scenery reminded me of the drive from San Angelo to Amarillo, where it was nothing but flat land as far as the eye could see. Once I got onto I-40 though, things looked a lot better, trees everywhere-rolling hills, more cars and mountains in the distance made the last couple hours of driving pretty exciting I guess.

3pm, I arrive into city limits and drive Central Ave all the way to my apartment off University Blvd, I live less than a mile from UNM so I noticed alot of foot/bike traffic in the area which was cool. I'm considering getting a bike here since the weather is so nice compared to what west Texas is like. I spent the whole day driving around and getting used to the area, while also looking for an internet connection for my notebook as I had a lot to update about! I found a Hastings store and was able to let everyone back home that I was still alive and that things were going okay--Twitter/Facebook is the best thing since well, the internet?

By 9:30pm I'm super hungry but on a Monday night, not much was open so I opted for a Carl's Jr since I've never tried them before and they stay open really late. I remember getting the Guacamole Bacon Burger and I don't remember much more than that because the orgy in my mouth made me blackout it was so good! I'll try not to go back anytime soon since I know I've already gained like five pounds in the last week alone, thank you stress! < /sarcasm>

Anyway, the apartment looks fine--I'll need to get a chair of some kind and a fan because I forgot to bring mine for the much needed white noise for me to sleep well with and a plastic storage bin for my stuff since I don't have any furniture! Right now I'm sleeping on the floor on a japanese futon and there is literally almost nothing else on my floor except my suitcases. Oh and the stovetop/oven isn't working but I already called down about it and they said they'll send someone to fix it in the morning which is okay since I still need to unpack all my stuff including my kitchen-ware anyway. The only other thing I can complain about is probably about the AC because it doesn't get as cool as I'd want it to be but the weather is nice outside so I can just open my balcony screen door if I need to I think.

I think I'm really going to like this town. Just a feeling.

Changes

I'm about to move away from a town I've called home for about 15 years! O_O

Monday morning I make the trek out to Albuquerque, NM and it just still hasn't hit me yet and it probably won't until I get there but I am very excited and really look forward to this challenge. I've always been somewhat anti-social but there are several friends here that I will really miss once I'm out there and all I have to say about that is thank god I live in the Internet Age...

I'm only bringing what I can fit into my 4-door Mirage, so basically the essentials: japanese futon, box of kitchen stuff, two suitcases full of clothes and a few more boxes of junk, CDs, books, etc. and my computer/lappy of course. My apartment is a studio so I won't have much room for more than that anyway. I'll probably go out and buy a stool and maybe a beanbag once I get there so I'll have something to sit on and then it'll be back to eating ramen noodz on a daily basis again for awhile!

Also found out yesterday that I still have 6 months left on my contract with Alltel but coverage won't be a problem in ABQ. I think Alltel switches completely over to Verizon this fall but I don't think I can wait until then before getting my hands on their new toy, the LG ENV TOUCH. The thing looks pretty awesome for something that isn't a smartphone and it's not too terribly expensive. Hmm...

Bleach Thoughts

Watching Bleach on Adult Swim right now. I noticed they started showing two "new" episodes a week and they're at Episode 126-127 right now--a full 100 episodes behind where it's at in Japan currently but it's still fun to watch. It'd be even more fun if they would have kept it in Japanese since the voice acting is far superior to that of what Viz Media put together with the exception of Ichigo's voice, which is perfect. Chad's voice makes me laugh and the Captain Commander just sounds wrong. Renji's voice is too young-ish and Kon well, I just really like the Japanese one a LOT better! < /nag>

More ABQ Pics

This one was in Roswell
Old Town




Sells for 50s at auction in SW lol

ABQ Trip

Went this past Monday to ABQ, NM to find me a home! Mom and dad wanted to come along as a pseudo-anniversary trip from themselves since their car broke down the week before when they were supposed to go to San Antonio but I didn't mind, especially since I knew they'd pay for all the meals along the way hehe. Took almost eight hours but we got there around 4-5pm and checked into our motel on the north side of town. My parents had their sights set on trying this chinese food place that they had heard great things about but was closed down for good when we got there unfortunately so we settled for some average chinese buffet place off Zuni St. instead, ehh oh well. It was really close to the Ta-Lin Market though which was pretty cool looking, it had almost everything asian you could think of and completely separated into shopping isles by country. (http://www.talinmarket.com) The prices were a bit higher than the ones I've been to in Austin and elsewhere here in TX but for ABQ that seems to be THE place to go for authentic asian stuff.






The next day, on Tuesday, we went apartment hunting and we looked at several properties that all looked okay but I wanted something close to downtown so I narrowed things down to two different places and I was pretty torn about which to pick but by Wednesday I knew which one I'd settle for, but not to jump too far ahead I have to also mention that after the hunt my mom suggested checking out the Sandia Casino on the north side of town which I hadn't really planned on seeing but I wasn't going to go against the idea! The casino was surprisingly close to our motel, maybe 10-15 minutes away and the place was gorgeous for an indian casino. I followed my parents around watching them play the slots and such until I decided to take a small shot in the largest poker room in the state there with my measly $50 at the nearest 1/2 table...an hour and a half later it was gone lol. Was up and down until I had just $20 and shipped it with top pair but lost to someone's straight draw by the river and that is why you don't buy in for the minimum folks! The buffet there was decent for the price. I was surprised at how small the check-in area of the hotel part was though, a place like Sandia really should have much more going on in the hospitality department than what I saw, especially compared to the Isleta Casino that we were able to check out the next night on Wednesday.







Wednesday we went to Old Town which is sort of like a tourist area west of downtown full of cute little shops that look like something straight out of 1800s. It's an artists dream district for sure as there are art galleries everywhere and tons of things to see and do like the museums in the area. We went into the Museum of Natural History and I felt like I was 12 all over again lol. So many dinosaur bones everywhere but there was a cool little area that showcased the rise of the computer age and there I learned that Microsoft's HQ was once in ABQ! They just moved the whole company to Seattle because Gates and his partner had family up there and that was interesting I guess. That night as I mentioned earlier, we checked out the southern casino, Isleta which was waaay nicer than I thought it'd be. I didn't like the layout of the gaming floor and their cardroom was tiny and outdated but the hotel and steak restaurants...they were gorgeous! Very stylish lobby area and their non-buffet eateries were very cool looking. Oh, the buffet was cheaper than Sandia's but it really had some great items on the menu like their green chile chicken casserole was just AMAZING as was their desserts.

We all came back on Thursday about 5 pounds fatter. Thanks mom/dad! lol

A-kon 20 Finished!

I'm so lazy about updating this but my Facebook/Twitter has officially taken over my life for all things personal in my life but there are some things I just can't keep short and simple for those apps and that's why I'm going to keep on updating this for as long as I can still remember having this blog :)

I can't believe A-kon 20 came and went already but I had a great time with friends old and new and I really hope I can make it to next year's again because this one was such a blast! I decided to cosplay afterall and went as Tatsumi Saiga from Speed Grapher and TWO people recognized me there, I was so happy for that because it was a pretty obscure show from a few years back. I felt like this year's convention lacked some of the wow-factor that last year held for us but it could just be that it was because last year was our first but we really did have a great time and it'll be the only time that I will ever ENJOY having 9 people sleeping in one hotel room...

Twitter and Flickr

I use both of 'em now! Sorta makes the need to write and post pics in here kinda worthless now unless I have a LOT to say, which I do right now!

Plans for the death star A-kon 20 trip are finally complete and I know who all is going and not going and such but I'm a little sad about not cosplaying like I thought I would be this time and that's mainly due to money and lackthereof because I am still saving everything I can for the big move this summer and I know there's no way I'm spending less than $200 on this Dallas trip so I don't need to be spending another $100 or more on a costume right now! :(

Thinh says he's going as Ishida from Bleach and I can't wait to see it done because he's one of the cooler characters and I WAS going to go as Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father but thought better of it after awhile.

We're staying in the Indigo again since it'll save all of us more money that way and James is going YAY!

Until next time...

The Austin Adventures (a.k.a. i need a flickr)

I was pretty lucky to have been able to see Austin twice last month, first with my mom and then again a couple weeks later with my good friend Thinh and below are just some of the pictures taken from both adventures, enjoy!

Rodeo White Tigers

February is Black Austin Month

Or just Austin month because I go there every year around this time and even though I was just there two weeks ago, I CAN'T GET ENOUGH AUSTIN! This time I'm going with Thinh and we're going to visit a friend who's getting married soon but I'm really going because I get to 1) leave San Angelo and 2) EAT. We haven't decided where yet but I've suggested T&S Seafood off N. Lamar(where I went a couple weeks ago) and he suggested a pho place so I'm sure we'll fit both in but I know we're going to be hungry for something else while we're there too, we'll end up driving all over to find it probably but that's whats great about Austin, there's really no shortage of good food in that town. Sushi sounds great but our wallets might be a little too tight for Uchi this time around...unless anyone would like to donate? No? Darn.

77th Annual Stockshow and Rodeo

It's that time of year again, the time when we small town folk head out to the local carnival to experience the fine culinary wares of the traveling fair! I really could care less for the crappy rides because the heart-attack food is where it's all at honestly. I went with a couple friends and we ate so well that of course I forgot to take any pictures. I did get pics and video of the white tigers that were there though so I guess I'll post that below but I really wish I could have shown you what a Cheesecake on a Stick looked like, or a greasy foot-long corndog, or a powdery cinnamon funnel-cake, or even a beef and lamb gyro all tasted like because it was all a stomach exploding blur right now. All of that set me back about $20 and it was money well spent I say! The only thing missing was maybe a little cotton candy or candy apple but hey there's always next year...

Superbowl Sunday

Went to Justin's this past Sunday to watch the big game with his family and Michelle. Justin made a ton of food...


Stuffed and ready for the oven...

Crispy and ready to eat!

Bacon, burgers, cheese fries, oh my...

Beans, beans, the more you eat...

They were acting REALLY nice for some reason...

Then that night...




If you guessed Applebee's you just won yourself a hungry stomach! ^_^