Flash Forward Boston 2007

I'm back from boston. I'm sick. I have a lot of pictures that need to be edited and linked and I've no time to do it. Heres the link to the indexed full directory for now
http://www.immediateeffects.com/blog/boston07/full

Flash Forward is usually better than this but this wasnt too bad. Boston is a great city. I played league while getting sick and lost my match by 3 balls. First league loss ever.

I have a viking tour this Sunday. I hope I'm well by then but I'll play either way.

I'm going to sleep. I may update this in the future.

Casino Fun + APA League

This is going to be a long post since a lot has happened in the near 2 weeks I've not updated.

When I say we that means me and my girlfriend Nicki and my parents. I had a good pic of my mom eating 2 desserts at once but my continued existence on this earth depended on me deleting it.

Going to Cherokee Casino!

So we were off to Cherokee casino on Saturday morning to go lose the big bucks! er... I mean WIN the big bucks. Yea. It started off really well. We had breakfast at IHOP and then got to sit in traffic for awhile. Could it be?



Maybe? Yep there's cops. Sure enough wrecks happen in front of every direction I travel even on my days off.







Poor guy somehow flipped the truck on that small road. The day was very nice though and there were a LOT of motorcycles out. I seen one crotch rocket for every 927 cruiser harley style bikes. I actually only seen one crotch rocket the entire time, but I probably did see around 927 of the other bikes.

Bearskin? Bearfoot? Bearrug?

So we stop at an authentic local indian crafted goods place. It was called Bear something. There were many cool things there... If you're an indian anyway. I thought their work was very well done. Heres some pics.













Indian Nikes!







They had some really nice work, paintings, etc. The thing I liked besides the carvings were the oil rocks. They had oil containers under the rocks and a tiny wick coming through the top and when lit it reflected the light off of the rocks.

Bank California

So we arrived at the casino! Time to strike it rich!








I thought the place was pretty nicely done. Was pleasant to look at that's for sure. I'm glad I'm not a heavy gambler though. Most of these people looked pretty rough, old, and smoke more than the worst semi's busted engine you've ever seen on the highway. And they never stopped.

The first half we got rocked and lost our money without so much as a tease. We had no slot machine foreplay what so ever. So we went and had lunch at this pretty good restaraunt inside the casino. I forget the name. That's how hungry I was.




Afterwards we went back out and found some more machines. Then the luck was turning my way! C'mon 7's!






I started to think I was going to get back to even eventually. Turns out it wasnt the case. That's why I titled this part Bank California because your money checks in but it doesn't check out. It's like sending in a rescue squad of money to rescue the other monies that got trapped inside the machine. It just gets stuck in there too.

I've never had much luck with those button machines though and preferred the card table. So I went to go play cards... Found them!




Ok so I was ready to win more money back playing good ol' fashion cards like I'm used to. I got a little closer and was disappointed.




It was all digital screens with buttons they push. The people didnt even get teased on the dealer side when they hit it's not one card at a time for the dealer it just spits out all at once. It went from King to king 2 3 2 all at once. People were rubbing the glass above where the digital cards were to be displayed for luck. I did not like this so I didnt play.




Ok so while we didnt hit the jackpot on anything, we didnt win the car, and we didnt win any of the drawings, and we never got back to even once to even kick ourselves for not quitting, we still had a hell of a fun time. I would still rather gamble at pool. At least I have more control that way.

Sunday League

So I played league yesterday. The place we played at was a new place for us and the pockets were so tight it wouldnt let 2 balls even ENTER the pocket side by side. They were very tight and the tables werent the greatest but they were 9' and I'm used to shitty tables so i adjusted. I was moved up some more to stop the protestors I guess. I was a 6 and played a 6 in 8 ball. I won 5-3. He was a fun guy to play.

I played 9 ball next. I played a guy who was rated a 7. Sevens are supposed to be strong players so I played hard. Turns out I skunked him 20-0 and never lost a game. So I get another rackless patch and another 20-0 Skunk patch (see a previous post that has those pics). He got pissed off as everyone seems to do in this league and claimed life wasnt fair etc. etc. I finally got sick of it and said to his wife and their captain how is it my fault he cant make a ball? If you play like Ray Charles and dont make a shot why is it my fault?

He bitched and moaned and protested a bit more. And of course that's 3 weeks in a row I was protested. It's getting to be quite fun now. Either way we won again in 8 ball and 9 ball as a team.

Boston

Today is Monday and I leave for Boston tomorrow for FlashForward (http://www.flashforwardconference.com/) so I wont be updating until I get back which will be Saturday sometime.


Awesome Youtube video:



I'm a big fan of this guys work. I first noticed him when he did this drum + piano video edit. Now hes moving on up like a Norwegian Jefferson.

League Protesters - Purple for you B*tches.

APA League for the first time

Well I joined an apa league for the first time ever. I've played 2 weekends now. In 2 weekends I've been protested 2 times as an under rated player even though the other teams have been playing since they were a fetus and know that when a new player comes in he/she is rated a 4. Then as you play the following weekly matches your rating adjusts according to how good or bad you play. They know this. They don't care though.

Generally APA is done on bar tables, but in this area we play on 9' tables. I joined because it's a good way to meet other pool players and just to go have some fun.... AND because on those nights I cant play because the tables are full so I went with the can't "beat" 'em join 'em. That way I can at least play on league nights.

I play on Sunday on an 8 ball and 9 ball league. Both matches are played that one day and it's called double jeapordy. Then on Monday I play 9 ball. In the APA you can win patches if you meet certain requirements in a match. Like if you break and run a game, or dont lose the lag or a game at all, etc. So far in two weekends. I've got three patches. Two Rackless patches which means I went through the entire match without losing a game and I also got a 20-0 patch which means I skunked them in 9 ball. They didnt get 1 point. Here they are:



My rating will be going up fast soon I bet. So far I've won in 8ball 4-0 and 3-0. And in 9ball I've won 19-1, 19-1, and 20-0.

Not league related, but I was watching this video and thought it was a good match so heres the link for those that actually care about pool. It's Dennis Hatch vs Donnie Mills in 10 ball finals in FL. http://propoolvideo.com/florida-pro-tour/fl-pro-tour---d.-mills-v.-d.-hatch.html

Sunday I played a lady I've never seen or met before and her captain told her I'm a 4 but I should be a 7. She is like then WHY is he a 4??? He says It's because I'm new. She says "OHHH so you're cheating!" in a playful way. I told her what I lack in rating I make up for in ignorance. So she begins asking the rules... I ask if shes new at 8 ball? She says it's her first time playing 8 ball. So I said "So you're cheating too!" She says shes established already in 9 ball so the only one here cheating is NOT her! :)

We play... she keeps saying I'm mean every 2 balls I make. Next game I break and dont make anything and she shoots and makes 2 solids and scratches so the table was still open. I fake like I'm going to take solids, and she says "heeey those are My solids!" I said but I like 'em too... I said here I'll be nice and take stripes anyway. So she says I am really nice for that game... until I ran the whole table and won. Then I was mean again. I end up winning 3-0 but she was fun to play.

Later on she comes up and starts talking and says I was actually really nice. I said "wtf ok first im mean every game over there and now I'm nice? What are you bi-polar?" She laughs and then someone else says YES really loudly then hides. It's a fun place to play with generally fun people. I enjoy it so far.

Monday I play and 20-0 the guy and the captain gets all pissed off. The conversation happened as follows... Her is his wife. Me is me and him is him:
him: "I'm protesting. You should be a fuckn 8 or a goddamn 9!!"
me: "Are you serious?"
him: "Hell yes I'm serious!"
her: "Nooooo. He's not serious"
him: "Yes I AM!"
her: "No he's just joking."
him: "The hell I am! This is ridiculous he should be a lot higher and probably a fuckn 9 so I'm protesting and I got the paper out right now!"

The funny thing about all of it is I didn't sandbag or try to hide my rating. I'm playing full speed. But what makes it even more amusing is he had a new player on his team that should probably be a 6 that was a 4 and almost beat our team's captain. He was perfectly OK with his teammate being a 4, but got all pissed off when my 20-0 skyrocketed us over the finish line. Hypocrites and whiners. Gotta love em. Still a fun night though just listening to them two.

New Carolina Cue

Well I did it. I went ahead and ordered a Carolina Cue plane jane. It's cocobolo with a black leather wrap. It seems to play really well as that's what I've used when playing league and pissin off other teams. Here are some pics of it:








It's a very well balanced cue with a Moori Medium tip. I'm going to "stick" with this one for a long time. Corny puns are always funny I don't care what anyone says!

TIMMAAAAAAY




Going into the pool hall as usual the other day I see this mustang. Upon looking at it from the front I noticed the handicapped sign in the mirror. How ironic. He must've got a good settlement. I pictured timmy from Southpark in a wheelchair getting into this car and trying to race. Either way I found this image funny because I see things like this all the time. Turns out I couldnt even tell anything was wrong with the guy. Maybe he was mentally handicapped? I base that on the fact the guy actually bought a Mustang....

First Fair in NC

We went to the first fair since we've lived in NC last night. My girlfriend was craving cotton candy to a point which no words could accurately describe. We left everything in the car so there are no pictures but it was fun. We won a frog.

Extra Stuff

From now on I'm going to be adding 2 additional things to the bottom of my blog posts. That way I can at least force viewers who are disinterested in my shtuff to scroll down to get to the extra stuff. I'm adding in a video link and a funny picture or something that amuses me and it may amuse others.

I still need to make this page friendly for firefox so I may just sell out and use a default template for awhile.. who knows.

Dumbest Criminal!

Funny Robber...

As Much As You May Want To...




Ok so maybe I'm not the only one whos thought of it? I'm sure all the baby lovers will love that...