Traffic Jam at the Top of the World

I do sometimes write short pieces that come to rest other places than this blog. I am going to be doing a bit more of that in the coming months. Here is a bit of Himalayan fiction I wrote that my good friend Pauly used in the March edition of his blogzine Truckin'. 

I call it Traffic Jam at the Top of the World - offered for your enjoyment.

About Truckin': "The contributors at Truckin' write for the love of self-expression, which is a clever way of saying that they generated these stories for free. I'm amazed at their collective bold leap of faith, because the scribes exposed their inner souls to you. With that in mind, please spread the word about your favorite stories. Good karma and many blessings will come your way for exposing new readers to our amazing writers."

Lost Vegas

Yes this post will be about Las Vegas and poker, also strippers, drugs, alcohol and lime tossing.  A friend and fellow writer has just published a book about all of those things and so much more. Paul McGuire -- Dr. Pauly to those involved in the world of professional poker -- has been writing about poker for over five years but Lost Vegas is more about the underbelly of Las Vegas than it is about playing poker. I have seen most of what Pauly describes in his book but I saw it from a safe distance. Where I protected myself with kevlar, Pauly barely had time for the latex. This book is very up close and personal with the dark side of Sin City. He has felt the breath of a coke-up stripper and had the drunken conversations with hookers as the sun came up on another heat-stoked Vegas day.

Think Leaving Las Vegas without the cinematic touchups. Yes folks, Vegas really is this nasty and dirty. No matter how many Cirque de Soleil shows you see, the raw truth is just behind that row of Wheel of Fortune slots.

I will warn you only that there may be too much poker action for my non-poker audience but if you ever wanted to see, touch, feel and smell what real Las Vegas can be like -- this book will give you a taste you will remember. Yes, I do make a few cameos but as I said, I never go as dark as Pauly. And lest you think you have heard this all before -- I offer you my favorite excerpt from Lost Vegas:

"You having a good time tonight?" she asked.


"The possible ranks higher than the actual."


"You didn't just make that shit up?" she screamed into my ear over the blaring music. "You don't think I'm that fuckin' stupid where you can pass off a second-rate quote from an out-dated philosopher like Heidegger? He's a Nazi, you know."

My bluff had been called. There's something very sexy, yet surreal, when a naked woman debates Heidegger with you while you attempt to drown out the Britney Spears song blasting in the background.


If you want to check out the unique style of the good doctor, he pens a number of blogs: Tao of Poker, Tao of Pauly, Coventry Music and Tao of Bacon. As Bill Edler would say -- well done, my friend.

For Your Alternate Reading Pleasure

I began the month with a picture dump, for symmetry I penultimately end with a link dump, with pictures of course!

I had the pleasure to attend the inaugural seating of the Oakland Secret Kitchen, now it appears Eva has a website, which can only tempt locals and make those far from the Bay drool over their separation from the super secret suppers. I will report as the months and morsels roll on.

Lots of the olde poker crew complain that Amy does not update her personal blog enough any more. While that may be partially true, the quality of her commentary remains outrageously spot on, currently she equates bookies and Goldman Sachs. For those who need a more regular fix, you can always check out her day job. 

Staying in my olde haunts, while deeply immersed in poker I always read Dr. Pauly's Tao of Poker; I now consider it a sinful pleasure. But mirroring my own turn from poker to a more complete, if dyspeptic, view of life; I read his Tao of Pauly with a more camaraderie than before. Pauly plays with more sharp objects than I do and I wear chain mail when I venture out, he is more likely to go commando.

Somewhere in that same universe, the one described as birthed from poker but no longer there; this is where you and I find Brad Willis (Otis to his poker buddies). I get pleasure from reading, not from all reading, but when I do locate that pleasure center, well like any addict I tend to go back there time and time again . . . hence my penchant for Brad's writing on his RapidEyeReality site.

Another olde friend has launched her own website or blog or educational resource or alternate view of life on this rock. Clearly something completely different but I am back where I spent the 90s and far, far from the world both of poker and from what is often referred to as ordinary reality. If you have a passion or an interest in words like indigenous, sustainable, ecological, contra and far-out in a different realm --- you might want to check out Tina's view on the world. 

And now for yet another something completely different. One of my olde college roommates has been playing in a band for over a decade and now they are, well, nearly mainstream or at least moderately profitable, which means they can afford new sheet music. If you are fortunate enough to live the greater Boston area. I can without reservation recommend a night with the Party of 9. Check here for a sample of their faire.

And finally, I don't know him but I was sent a handful of his Hawaiian surf photos and just had to pass them on. You know I have a thing for web art that acts like a cyber flashbulb. The artist is Clark Little, his website is full of incredible images from the island surf. Below just one example.

Link Dumpling

Time to divest another glop of internet sites, articles and assorted detritus, flotsam, jetsam and other internet stuff. Use caution when using the links below, they have been proven to eat up gobs of time and will cause you to indiscriminately forward all kinds of info-knowledge of questionable use to the recipient.

First, I promised some friends last weekend that I would supply this first link. They were discussing the "renaissance" that is taking place in Detroit. OK, some were and others were mostly engaged in ridicule of this the 97th revitalization of Detroit in the last 46 years. My only comment was and will remain: "It's Detroit!" Here is the link I mentioned: Job Gain/Job Loss

Next my good friend and co-author Amy Calistri has suddenly revitalized her blog with content that is more and more not poker and more of the actual world everyone else lives in. Sometimes you lead by example, other times you just keep whining the same old refrain.

The good Dr. Pauly has once again shocked the poker community by demonstrating his grasp of things well beyond the world of flushes and straights. The truly insightful post from the good doctor on Paul Cezanne, the world's first tournament reporter.

I was hiking during the entire bubble boy incident last week, so when I eventually heard of it I assumed it was a remake of the John Travolta movie. Then I was gone for the weekend, so I missed the anti-balloon boy daddy "news" and internet furor. When all is said and done, I don't really care but my opinion on the entire non-incident was soundly captured by Otis writing on this blog Rapid Eye Reality. Although I was absent, it still is not my fault, how about you?

If you think you are a nerd, or perhaps you feel your increased computer time is beginning to sap your humanity and replace it with nanotechnology or at least plot lines from old episodes of Star Trek (the original version not the Next Generation or Voyager but maybe Enterprise but... oh shit, I've been infected!)

Sorry. My point up there was that about once I week I go and read Wil Wheaton's blog, if for no other reason than to demonstrate to myself that I am still human and not actually linked to this laptop by cyber-filamention or mind meld. Wil's writing reminds me that there are actually interesting humans who speak about technology and the techno-nerd sub-culture in ways that leave me completely baffled and greatly relieved.

Finally, my culturally subversive video of the week and one that every one should see but particularly young women between the ages of 3 and 83. Watch to the end, it gets even more creepy at the very last.

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graphic credit: archive

Sincerely Sin City

[Content Disclosure: 34% Poker & Casinos; 55% Life in Las Vegas; 26% Dark Underside of Life; 9% All of the Above]

No I am not Leaving Las Vegas, in any sense of the phrase, at least not yet. But I do hear often from friends about living here. Some won't even visit because of the dark energy of Sin City. So, how is it really? You might ask.

Well those who know me well, understand that I can stand in the middle of loud noisy crowds and be mostly unaffected. I don't have a problem with the proximity of greed, avarice, depravity or lust. About the only thing that really bothers me is being in the ongoing presence of stupidity. But Vegas does present some challenges.

First, this is a city like any other city. You can get dry cleaning done or your muffler fixed (No, that is not a sexual reference). People have normal lives here, even when 8 hours of your day might be working in a casino. But it is also true that the excesses that bring visitors to Las Vegas, do come up on a regular basis when you do the job I do.

I often leave casinos alone, well after midnight. A single, middle-aged man, who dresses normally and is in a casino alone late at night or very early in the morning does get propositioned. To deflect the lovely ladies of the evening I go with my standard response: "Why thank you Miss, but I am much too tired this morning to truly enjoy the company of someone so fetching as yourself."

Practice that line a couple of times, until it rolls smoothly off the tongue and it works wonders with out implying insult or superiority.

Now I am not suggesting that Las Vegas does not wallow in excess. It clearly does but I am a bit of a teflon shield when it comes to becoming deeply mired in the muck. Not so some of my friends, who also trod the land of glitter as writers. Should you truly wish to experience a glimpse into the dark side of my current hometown. I would like to highly recommend two blog posts from my friend and darkside resident Dr. Pauly Mcguire.

I am particularly fond of these two offerings from the Dark Doctor, as I have spent some time myself at the "Hooker Bar" he inhabits in the first piece. All the poker media have, as this is the closet libational emporium to the convention rooms at the Rio where they hold the World Series of Poker. But Pauly brings that place to life or something that resembles life.

The second piece reflects on the underside of Las Vegas, that anyone who stays up long enough is likely to encounter. I recommend both articles highly but suggest you keep a light on while you read.

1. Existentialist Conversations with Hookers: Malestrom at the Hooker Bar

2. Emissaries from the Land of Indulgence

Those Who Can't

[Content Disclosure: 111% Poker]

Those who can't do; teach.
Those who can't teach; manage.
Those who can't manage; well they can't manage.

I am not a big fan of slightly insulting aphorisms but today they apply to me. Besides listening to Mike's comments on chapters one to four; I also played two poker tournaments earlier today. The Run Good PokerListings Blogger Series began today. All you had to do was finish in the top six of twelve to earn some points towards the big finale. I didn't.

While I was there on PokerStars, I played the Saturdays with Pauly and managed to be near the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament until my brain disengaged around the end of listening to Mike in chapter four. I know, I know, I know; when you play poker online you should pay attention. I know.

Those that can't play poker, write about poker.


Next Saturday, same donkey time, same donkey station.