:fist pumping: wow, what a weekend.

hahahahah.

so i dont know where to start
i guess i'll start it with the quote from Dick, "I Like to Party."

so lets get this shindig started. i was soo excited to go to vegas, mostly bc i've never been since i've turned 21. it's pretty much the thing i wanted to do, but kinda didn't cuz i dont think my family is much of a party time (over 1/2 have kids under 5) so that doesn't exactly equate easy times. anyways, i finally got to go for Russ' 21st bday and i dont think i would've missed this for the world. i mean, he is my brother and two, he is my brother. so yeah, i would've gladly quit job (had i not quit when i did) and gone to this. well, a better sacrifice would be i would have given up half my roll for this.

so we get on the plane, and did i mention that russ' parents are more than generous and baller to pay for our airfare and hotel ?!? wth. -_- too nice. this just doesn't happen everyday, so BIG THANKS to them.

it takes us a little under an hour to get there and i don't think that it was even that long. we land, get our stuff and cab it to Bally's. We dropped our stuff off and met up with the family. we hadn't eaten yet, so i suggested the Bellagio buffet. (doing it baller status, right?) and well, it was AMAZING. i <3 the lamb/crab/kobebeef/primerib/etc. so we all agreed, "it was worth it."
then after the feast, we started with the gambling.

(sidenote: i personally hate the pit games, BUT when you're with you're friends, it IS lots of fun. but i feel that i'm -ev at the games and am just a spewtard, IMO)
so we get back to bally's and pregame with some goose shots (leopard print shot cups for me, no doubt) and jack/coke. best jack/coke ever, thanks to brian. =D

we get downstairs finally and i'm feeling loose, so we start playing black jack in the "party pit" where they give you party beads and decks of cards when you spike blackjack. so i do about even and it's whatevers since i had like two beers (newcastle, mmm) then the guys wanted to walk around, and i was going to play some poker at caesar's. gosh that was so convenient it's like right across the street. so the guys ended up walking to mgm? or somewhere on the strip and i'm off to caesars.

i make my way into the poker room and put my name on the 1-3 NLH game. you can apparently buy in for 100-500 so i was contemplating buying in deep. but the stacks at my game were <100bb so i figured i wouldn't bother and just bought in for 300.
if you don't care about what the hands were and just want to know the end result...i came up 200.

if you care about the hands...here they are best as i remember.
2nd hand in, i have AKo raise to 12. guy behind me immediately flats. girl sitting on 13bb's shoves. folds back to me. i look at the guy's stack behind me, and he has 50bb. i shove my stack in and he mucks JJ face up. (what a nit) the girl shows QQ. of course, it was my first time in vegas so i spike the A on the flop and the board bricks out.

oh so right before this, i get greeted by this guy in a hat (who's at my table) and glasses who looks like the dude from big daddy, the one who steals adam sandlers g/f in the beginning who is the cook at hooters at the end...Sid was his name. actually donk is closer.

so i have KcQc in the hijack. MP makes it 20 with one limp in front
i flat. and limper folds out, he has 110 in his stack and he bets out 30 on
the flop of Jc 9c 4d
i think about it and ship it in. he tanks and folds.

- -Side hand - -
so a huge hand goes down with that same guy who i just had a hand with
[17:11] faithfulxservant: he bets like 30% of his stack PF
[17:11] faithfulxservant: and gets two callers
[17:11] faithfulxservant: flop goes J 9 5 with two spades.
[17:12] faithfulxservant: Og raiser puts his stack in
[17:12] faithfulxservant: this other guy calls
[17:12] faithfulxservant: the guy behind him, the glasses and hat guy, Cid thinks and shoves all in. the guy who called thinks and calls it was like...150 more to call. there was like 30 in PF so total of 90. on the flop it was 60 (OG All in), then 60 (tank/flat call), then 210(Cid Allin) and then a call (flat caller) so the pot was 240 main pot.
OG raiser has KK, Flat/call has AJo, and Cid has QT
board rolls 7, 8. so Cid hits his oesd and scoops a huge pot that he didn't even have his flush draw on.

so anyways, this hand occurs like...a few hands later, which is why i played it the way i did.
[17:15] faithfulxservant: in the SB i have A5o and it gets like limped 6 or 7 ways so i call 2 more
[17:16] faithfulxservant: BB checks
[17:16] faithfulxservant: flop is Jd 5d 5s
[17:16] faithfulxservant: i check
[17:16] faithfulxservant: BB bets 20 (he's the guy with AJ)
[17:16] faithfulxservant: the guy behind him (the glasses and hat (QT)) raises to 100
[17:16] faithfulxservant: folds around to me
[17:16] faithfulxservant: i ship
[17:16] faithfulxservant: in my head fistpumping
[17:16] faithfulxservant: the guy behind me folds
[17:16] faithfulxservant: and the other guy ships
[17:16] faithfulxservant: and shows me a 5
[17:17] faithfulxservant: pot was like close to 800
[17:17] faithfulxservant: turn and river goes 7, 7.
[17:17] faithfulxservant: and i'm like. if you have a jack, that's the worst.
[17:17] faithfulxservant: he shows a 6 for a rivered boat that was saved...
[17:17] faithfulxservant: and i shake my head and we chop.

the AJo guy is tilting a few hands later and ships $92 AI PF (all in preflop) and i find ATs so i call. i hit my T on the flop and that's the end of his run here. but yeah. $200. ship iT!

anyways, that's the end of my poker stories, cuz i didn't get another chance to play. so the next day, we wake up and go to the cal to play, Omg... California>justin's soul. so needless to say, other than the amazing saimin and food we have, i get killed at 21, and vow to only lose a max of 100 again at blackjack. (yea, right) so i kinda get out of control and nearly blow my roll, but i managed to salvage over 1/2 back.
so im kinda down, (in jamie language...sadpanda) so we decide to get fat tuesdays from caesars which cost like 25 each for 6shots in a 1/2 yard stick, which was amazingly delicious. so we get our drink on and it actually ends up making us feel tired, so we just go back and chill. daniel, russ, and brian play BJ for a little bit downstairs and i needed to take it easy. anyways, i take a shower and get ready for the dinner and i feel a lot better after the shower.
so it gets time for russ' party and we get downstairs and into cabs off to the hard rock...(sidenote:we also put bets down at paris' sportsbook since bally's was closed. the line was -5 lakers so we all bet 50 on them) so while we were at russ' dinner we watched as we made the easiest 45 ever, (house took 10%, yucks) anyways, we get to the place and we're early so we end up just watching the game and then we mosey into the patio area for his bday. o heck yes, we have our own bartender and it was OPEN BAR. so needless to say, we go crazy and it's patron shots left and right. i think i had a bit much, and i dont remember a lot of things i said or did, but the things that mattered was that i managed to make my way to the tables for the afterparty. but the food...was awesome. i wish we'd have gotten to have more, but it's all good. and so i'm like watching grant and i'm like, "how are you doinG? and he just smiles (no teeth) and gives the thumbs uP. hahahaha. hilarious. =D i've been fistpumping this entire time (gettin' it started)
haha, so there's a lot of good stories, but there needs to be a line drawn and it's here. so whatever happend, happened and that's the end of that here.

so russell's fam bam get us out to the tables (ugh.) and we play craps. (btw. i'm drunk at this point) and so preggers jamie has to tell me what to do, since i honestly didn't know how to play before this. i just keep asking her, " so did we wiN? what do i dO? " haha, good times. and MUCHO thanks. and about this time uncle roger ships me $100 to play. which was ridiculous. hahaha, it was funnn times talking with him though. just talking about how much BS BJ is sometimes and stuff. so we used that money for a cab (to the cal and back to bally's) and for a little game which continues here...

i ended up playing at the BJ tables @hardrock and apparently it was $25 min .i didn't care (obv drunk) and we end up running hot so i make some back from earlier ( i also won a little at craps) i also end up with a players card and dont know how i got it bc i dont remember asking for one. w/e. anyways, i'm like joking it up with the pit boss, fist pounding and dropping jokes left and right so its good times, (warning: pG13 the girls who were dealing were wearing little clothing with gogodancers behind them in the background)... but i end up winning most of my money back...

but then we go back to the cal. Russ is running like a god this entire time, but his fam bam came back to the cal...ewww. lol but for him, "ship ship."

so i make a wise decision to not play any more cuz i'm about even overall. so i am lame from here on out.

some more stories happend, but again, innocent must be protected. so i leave it there.

anyways, we end up back at bally's after eating and whatnot at the cal. so i get up and grant is sprawled on my clothes and whatnot, and he's like half awake and feet pressed up on the wall, his position caused me to chuckle and he wakes up and gives me the thumbs up with a smile, causing me to laugh harder. i contimplate going out to caesars, but grant convinced me to stay and sleep. (smart decision) i needed that for sure. the other guys get back up later (they played BJ)

so we wake up with the mister and misses who check us out of our room. while we rehash what occured the night before. everyone packs up. me and brian go to paris to cash our tickets out. Ship the 45. =D we get our change and meet up with everyone back at the rooms. we're ready to bounce and make our way to get cabs and the airport.
we get there make our parting ways sb/la with brian and daniel. say a prayer. and split.
we end up taking our tram to our terminal and eat lunch (ruby'S!) so goooD.
then we get on our flight, and the entire time...we're nothing but smiles and laughs. fist pumping and thumbs up smiles, remembering one of the best weekends for the books.
(even though i went on the gambling lollercoaster with BJ, which i don't recommend bc i learned my lesson, it was a great time all around.)

we get back, safely.

and i'll quote dick for the end,

Dick:" I'm never coming back to Vegas. Never again."
Me: " heh, reallY?"
Dick: "Nah, I'm lyinG."

:thumbs up smiling w/no teeth:

so I'm going on the sickest downswing right now and it's pretty brutal. about 20bi at the worst part, only in cash, another 10 or so in tourneys.
i don't really think I'm playing too horrible, just running into hands and i suppose a bit of tilt here and there.
I talked it over with my coach and he says everything looks fine, just tighten up a little bit.
I know I'm on tilt when I'm contemplating the AI PF call with KJo. that's just not a good situation.
ok, sorry about the poker talk for those of you who aren't interested in it. just skip this next section...

This is pretty much what's been happening to me.
Hand No.1
this is just sick, especially since i'd been 3b a lot. i think my percentage was 22 at the time, and it was mainly this guy, so when we got to this hand, as you can see, he had pretty much had it with me.
Hand No.2
this is kinda just like. well if you have an 8 or aces, you win, i dont think i ever fold this. even to a nit.
Hand No.3
i think after he called my turn bet so quickly i figured him to have like KQ or K9...something like that with a Qd/9d and so i pretty much try to go for a thin value check raise on the river. and pretty much valuetown myself. the idiot on the other end should've shoved his stack, the only hands beating him were other sets and AK. i suppose i could have AK but i would probably stack off there in his position.
Hand No.4
i think it's pretty standard, especially the way the action went down. he was running 95/22 2.6, so im thinking he's a complete donk and as such, he shipped his stack shortly after...to another player. =[
Hand No.5
this hand...was just fireworks. and of course i hit, but it's not good enough...

so i'll post a few winners just so it's not a complete depressing story like schindler's list.
Hand #6
open raise to 20? mmm...88 yea, that's good enough, i'll ship here, thanks.
Hand #7
so i'd been playing back at this guy for a while and so when this hand comes up, i figure i'll take a flop in position. sb tags along and we're 3way into the flop. the sb leads for 4 and i think a call is definitely standard, i could raise, but i dont want to put any more money without a more solid read. i figure running clubs, K, Q, or T are good here, so i bink the nut straight on the turn and i figured he had enough of the board to ship in here and so that's how it went down.
Hand #8
i was really happy with the way i played this hand because he's a reg and i had seen him playing back here and there. i decide to 3bet out of the blinds to help define his range, and to get more money in the pot. initially the 9 8 4 board was nice to see, but i thought he might have AA-QQ, TT-22 ATs+ AJo+ and i ran this through stove and it came out 66.8% for my JJ and 33.1% for his range.
so i decided to lead on the flop after my 3bet, for about a little more than 1/2pot.
turn is A, and i immediately thought this is the perfect card for him to barrel and try to steal. i figure that on the flop he folds his AJ+ and refrains from floating since he was running 18/16 4. (solid numbers i know) he bets 14 into 23 and i flat. i figured i'd let him bluff the remaining amount of his stack off and turn my hand into a bluff catcher. i check on the 2 river (a blank essentially) and he ships, i instacall and i ship the pot. definitely a read dependant situation that was more on the feel of the game as i figured his numbers would grant him credit to run this manuver of his.

back to life...

so school has been well, i actually ended up dropping one of my classes, so i'll see how that works out (930 am on tuesday just isn't for me)
but yeah, i played ball tonight and that was awesome, our team grew pretty big and it's been doing well. cody finally played and killed it, but the real props go to our girl sammie who's just sick. (of course being a ninja from the bay helps)
anyways, she's our kobe since girls points are worth 2/3 where as us guys are limited to 1/2.

tomorrow night is epic. that should be awesome. =D yay.
God's definitely been moving a lot within our SB sect and i can't wait to see what else he has in store. recently a girl came to know Christ as her Lord and Savior, pretty awesome to see. (well when is it not?) definitely made me think about my walk and when i said yes to Christ. i think that my walk has been going on the upside finally as well. i've been able to listen to sermons and dig into the word as i've been rewarded with time since i quit my job and dropped a class. =D yeyuh. i love having QT with God because it's so rewarding and just fun. also bible study is going on and i know that this will be a good one since we're going to be investing in breaking down the walls and getting into the nitty gritty. so hopefully this is pleasing to God and profitable.

i've been going through luke and james with Grant so this week is week 1 for james, which will undoubtedly be awesome like no doubt.
so that's about it i guess.

Things with me and lor have been getting a lot better as of late. i think there were a lot of things that were lacking in our relationship as far as communication goes. we definitely are trying our best to sort them out and i think the hard work is paying off. we're beginning to slowly learn the tendencies and desires of each other and as a product, we're learning how to serve each other better and more lovingly. basically we're communicating in the language that we receive love.

so yeah, praise God for that.

me and grant had an interesting talk the other night as we were both really tired. so we were talking about life and whatevers, and i mentioned the whole car deal, and he was saying how lucky i was to have parents who are willing to give me a brand new car, and have a huge range of what i can choose from. i had a bunch of mixed feelings about this as i was unsure as to how i should go from there. i definitely agree my parents are more generous than i can say. ( they pretty much will pay for everything other than poker ) anyways, this lead me to think, " in response to their love and generosity, should i take advantage of this and bomb away for the M3? or should i just keep myself in a more leveled state with my accord. i think this all made me realize how my dad thinks. when i was younger if i wanted a new anything, i would ask him and he would begin to rant/lecture about my current one, and the initial reaction to my inquiry would be, " :head shake/blink: Well what's wrong with your other one?" i think i must've heard this thousands of times. but yeah, i kinda took that question and applied it to my car at hand to evaluate whether i need a new one or not.
if there is anything wrong with my car, its that it's just getting broken into and it's got a good 100k more miles i assume. its got 121k right now. i think the only thing i really complain about is that it's too slow (i can't exactly accelerate to manuver myself through traffic or such) and that it doesn't have good airbags. (the passanger seat lacks one) there's a few other things like my transmissions vibrates when in reverse and you have to jiggle my ignition key a certain way if it gets locked, but other than that stuff, it's a solid car still. (and my audio system is horrible as well. my subs (whatever you would call them) are kinda out so my system is no bueno.
is this enough to get a new car? and if so, which one, and why?
the purpose of a car, is to get from point A to point B. i suppose it fulfills that purpose, and as such i dont need a new car. everything else is bells and whistles. although BMW's are sexy. i dont know if i necessarily need one. ( in fact, i know i dont. )
so i think after i graduate, i'll postpone my new car again. for now.

anyways, i g2g to bed...tomorrow i have...

i have to do some laundry and crap so that's gay. =[

and paper due thursday. super gay. =[

but zodo's with NSU. that is super awesome.

laters.
God bless.
jt.

so the thought that has been circulating through my mind as of late, is what is it in my life that i have been having too much of. i definitely think it's my thought life that has been consumed with the thoughts of future and fortune. the first is the car that i will eventually get...this entails realizing that a car in america is so much more than your standard transportation vehicle. it's a status symbol. it practically tells the people who see you around what kind of person you are. and this thought has been running through my mind as what does my car currently tell people?

i drive a honda accord 93' 10th anniversary edition. a co worker of mine told me his mother used to have my car. wow. that's kinda depressing, and not so cool. ( i think that this entails that my car is equatable with a 60yr old mother who used to own my car ) ironically, it was owned by a grandmother before i took the reins. but this kinda hurt my pride. not that i have a lot of it to begin with as far as my car goes, but i think this took me by surprise. today, everyone sees your car and makes a judgement of who you are.

TBH i really want a GTR. =|:sigh: so since this isn't happening...and i think i would have to put up the gross sum of money. like 70k? iono. and then be able to afford insurance for it. that's kinda ridiculous.

but yeah, i dont have that money, and i dont think my parents are that willing to ship me a brand new GTR as my graduation present. TBH i've been waiting forever for a new car, because (not to sound ungrateful) i don't really enjoy my accord. it's uber depressing to not be able to accelerate on the freeway, up a hill, or feel like it's going to rumble into pieces. it's gotten me 84k miles thus far, so it's definitely served it's purpose. i recently told my parents that it was the perfect first car for me, no matter how much i hated it because it ultimately got me through to today unharmed and never broken into or broken down on.

i guess a reasonable option is something like an A3 or IS. iono. i probably want something that drives nice because it's not really practical have a racing car in California (so cal) because the traffic is so horrendous and as daily driver, i probs want something that's reliable. in fact, never mind about the GTR. i'd much rather have a smooth driving car that has enough "umph" to quiet my palette.

so pretty pathetically this is going to be my newest blog since NY. i know i know. that was like two weeks ago. anyways, today i walked to school since my bike is currently locked up at embarcaderro. this was due to my key snapping off into my lock thus disabling me from riding it home yesterday. :sigh: TBH tho, i think i'm going to start walking to school on tuesdays and thursdays so i just stay at school instead of being tempted to ride home and back all day. (if i had my bike) plus, i have ample time to get to and from class being that im on campus already. this is making so much more sense. =D

i had a test on monday already (i know, wth? right?) so it went well enough, i hope that i do the run well and ace that beez. but i am going to be more humble about it and hope i pass. that class (btw) is the longest i've ever been (3hrs) it's pretty intsense, but i can't really say much more than that. it's pHilosophy of law. talking about the european convention and the issues over there.
bleh. w/e. (RE: i got a B)

on a +note, i put in my two weeks and i hope that work will all be over soon. i've been pretty dissatisfied with work and it's mainly because i feel that i have no personal time to do things that i want to do. for instance, i feel like my time is constrained so i don't have time to read/play/talk/spend time with God. it kinda gets pretty stressful and i think that my first notion is to allow myself to fall into sin and simply be apathetic about it. well, i've definitely been trying to change this as this is something that is plaguing my spiritual life. honestly, i've been doing a lot of revamped thinking and one thing i want to make sure happens this quarter is that i spend more time with God. the other morning (*tuesday*) i went to action theory at 930 and it was cancelled, but then it led me to think. so i have this time block that i originally thought to be used up, and now i have it back. what am i going to use this time for? so i went to the beach and had some needed catch up time with God. i love going to the beach and just marveling at God's forgiveness and the depth of His grace. it was really an awesome time. so after that i went home and ate and chilled.

on a fun note, i've been playing a lot of smash with russ, greg, and bass...it's pretty much one of the greatest games i've ever played, due to it's simplicity and always engaging action. i think the thing that i overestimate the most is how intense the games seem to get. i feel so competitive while i play, and it's kinda sick. i have to laugh at this later, but in a nutshell, it is what it is.