CARDRUNNERS

I had an amazing time down in Disney World. I seriously used to rip LatestLines about going to Disney all the time but I may be a frequent tourist there now as well. There is soooo much to do and you can drink everywhere you go! I got to meet up with LatestLines 2 down there, this is basically how my week went...

Day 1 (Tuesday)--Got into Disney and took a bus to our resort. Disney is so cool about everything, they get your bags for you at baggage claim and deliver them to your hotel room so basically all you do is get on a bus at the airport and go to your hotel and relax. We stayed at the Disney Beach Resort and I must say it was AWESOME. The view from our balcony was amazing! My girlfriend and I decided to take a nap before dinner  since we were exhausted from the travel that day and ended up sleeping thru our reservations so we ended up just taking a bus to the Magic Kingdom where we rode Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean--all were my childhood favorite rides. We got back  to the hotel around 2 am and still didnt eat so we ordered some Room Service

Day 2-- We woke up around 11 and headed down to the pool. We couldnt find anywhere to lay out so we ended up grabbing some lunch at the poolside bar. We then just went to our private beach and layed out for awhile. Afterwards we decided to check out the Boardwalk which was really cool. It basically was a bunch of stores and bars. That night we headed over to Hollywood Studies. We had a good dinner at Hollywood Vine and then watched the Indiana Jones stunt show so our food would settle. After that we rode on the Aerosmith roller coaster ride and the Tower of Terror. Both were AWESOME! The Aersomith ride went 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and the Tower of Terror was an elevator that dropped 13 stories. We ended up taking a boat back to our hotel which was really "romantic" haha!

Day 3--We decided to rent a car and head down to St. Petes Beach. It was about an hour and half drive. We got in around 1 and had some cocktails at the local tiki bar. We layed our again till about 6 and then headed over to an amazing restaurant called the Hurricane. We got to see an amazing sunset and then headed back soon after. We got back to Orlando around 11 pm and just went to bed because it had been a long day.

Day 4--We woke up early and went to the Animal Kingdom. This was an amazing day. We got to go on an African Safari, got to ride on the Yetti roller coaster which went forward and backwards, and an African river ride. Animal Kingdom was broke up into two countries Africa and Asia. It was good to see a lot of Denny Lemeiux's relatives in Africa and my buddy Josh's relatives in Asia. That night we had the honor of meeting up with Mr.Disney (Latestlines2). We had dinner at a Japaneese restaurant in Epcot with LL and then headed to a Piano Bar on the Boardwalk. They pulled my girlfriend on stage and embarassed her so that made my night. Afterwards, we headed to the Magic Kingdom because it was open to 3am. We were pretty intoxicated so it was a blast. We saw some 3D show which was cool and rode Splash Mountain.

Day 5--We were pretty tired and hungover so we ended up sleeping till about 1. My girlfriend and I went over to Epcot to walk around. We then took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to go shopping for the family. We had Cirque tickets in Downtown Disney at 9PM so we were kind of in a hurry. We got there on time and it was a pretty good show. We then met up with LL2 again and went to dinner at Planet Hollywood. After dinner, we went to a couple clubs. The first was a 70's dance club which played some old school music and the second club had a spinning dance floor, I busted a couple moves and watched LL2 and my girlfriend take a sambuka shot UK!!! I vowed never to take another in Aruba 2 years ago and I stuck to my word.

Day 6-- We surprising woke up on time for our flights which was nice. We purchased First Class tickets for this trip which may have been my best investment ever. I loved the room that first class gives you!

Other than Disney, I have been house searching. I put an offer down on my first house, it didn't go over as planned but the market is sooooo GOOD so I am in a way happy I didn't get it. I really am going to look around for the house that fits me perfect in relation to finances and convenience.

I took the past week or so off of poker, I put a couple hours of play in the other day with no success. Since the tourney, I have been struggling but I just look at it as my post tourney slump. I dont believe I am playing bad so I just need to keep putting in good sessions. Well this blog is way to long in my eyes so I will talk to you gents and ladies lata. Peace

In my last blog I talked about the beginning of my family vacation in Florida.  I mentioned that I had signed up for surf lessons but that I wasn't feeling great and it was supposed to rain, so I probably wouldn't go.  Well, I did!  It was an interesting experience.  My sister and I were the only two people taking the lesson.  We drove to a state park nearby with a lady who worked at our resort (who was very nice) and then met up with our surf instructor in a pavilion.  She talked for the next hour or so about safety, technique, and all that good stuff and then we practiced on our boards on top of the tables at the pavilion some before heading over to the ocean.  When we practiced it wasn't so hard standing up on the board properly, but in the ocean it was a totally different story.  The water made the board so much more slippery, not to mention the fact that it was moving due to waves and currents.  Also I had a nice sunburn on my stomach so it didn't exactly feel great with that rubbing up against the board.  We had an hour of ocean time, and for the first half hour I hardly made any progress and was getting pretty frustrated.  I took a few minutes out of the water to regroup and collect my thoughts, then went back in and gave it another try.  Eventually, I got up on my board a few times, sometimes on one knee, but a couple times I legitimately stood up and rode the wave for a few seconds.  This made me very happy.  Overall, I'm not sure if I am eager to try to surf again, but I'm glad I did it.  It's very difficult and there is certainly quite a learning curve, especially for someone like me who has never really even skateboarded or snowboarded, but it sure felt rewarding when I started seeing some results.  I would also imagine that it is a ton of fun once you get legitimately good.  I doubt that will ever be me, but you never know...


sister and me with our boards, unfortunately no action shots

The next day, we headed to Walt Disney World, Joe 'LL2' Ward's favorite place on earth.  I know it is commonly thought of as a place for kids mainly, but if you haven't been there at least once you are missing out.  There is some great stuff to do in Disney World.  I have been there with my family I believe 7 times now, so I wasn't concerned with trying to see everything this time, I just wanted to do a few things I felt like doing and relax.  Each night we were there we ate a great dinner out.  My favorite was at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian resort.  I had an Ahi Tuna dish that very well may have been the best tuna dish I have ever tasted, it was very rare, almost like sashimi, and featured an Asian sauce and spices that were very spicy.  I probably consumed about 7 glasses of water due to the spiciness, and at one point the waiter just started bringing me 2 at a time.  If you like spicy food, you'd love it.  My parents and sister also enjoyed their meals very much.

On the second day there, I planned on sleeping in while my mom and sister went to Disney's Hollywood (formerly MGM) Studios.  Then, my dad received a phone call around 8:30 am.  There is a new American Idol attraction there in which people can audition in the morning and maybe other times of the day in order to appear on the show.  There are seven shows during the day and the winner of each advances to a finale at 7pm, with the winner of that getting a free pass to cut the line at real American Idol auditions.  So anyway, my sister had auditioned when the park opened, and she was going to be on the first show at 10 am.  My dad and I quickly showered and then called a cab since we were kind of in a rush (we were instructed to be there at 9:30).  We called at 9 and the company said 10 minutes, ok cool.  We met the cab in front of our resort at about 10:12 am or so.  The cab driver was apparently very unhappy that we were 2 minutes late.  My dad tried to start a conversation with him, and he mentioned something about us being late.  I responded, "Sorry about that man, I tip well" or something along those lines, and I really did intend to give him a decent tip, because cab drivers are on a tight schedule and all.  Then, for the rest of the 10 or so minute ride, EVERY TIME one of us tried to talk to him, he would spin it back into guilt tripping us for being 2 minutes late.  For example, he made a smooth pass of a car on a 2 lane highway, my dad said, "Nice pass, you're a pretty smooth driver," cab driver responds, "Yeah I am, but I don't make any money because I wait around for people too much."  A PSA to cab driver's:  if you are trying to earn solid tips, being an asshole and making the passengers feel guilty for minor things is NOT the way to do it.  Just be nice.  I gave him a $2 tip on like a $17 ride, and honestly I think that was too much.  What a jerk.

Anyway, we made it to the park, and got in to see the show.  My sister was up third.  The first two people were, surprisingly, middle-aged, probably both between 35 and 45.  I don't think I've ever seen this on the real American Idol.  They were okay, although the lady who went second sang "Waiting for Tonight" by Jennifer Lopez which was kind of weird for American Idol I thought.  My sister chose to sing "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger.  Her taste in music is much better than most girls, obviously.  She did a pretty good  job and the judges (who were trying to act like the real American Idol judges) had all good things to say.  The audience of about 600 people voted and she ended up winning and advancing to the finale! 

As it was still only about 11:30am after we got out, we had plenty of time to kill before the finale.  We decided to go to the Indiana Jones stunt show, which I hadn't seen since I was 14 or so.  I was very excited for this.  A few minutes after we got into our seats, I was checking email on my phone waiting for the show to start when I heard a voice announce, "If anyone 18 or over wants to be an extra in the show, shout and wave your arms!"  I had never done anything like this in my life, but after just seeing my sister performing on stage, naturally I wanted to try.  I got up and shouted and waved, and sure enough, I got called on stage along with about 20 other people.  We signed some waivers and put on some Arabic costumes and then headed for the stage.  Most of the extras' tasks were simple, like running around as a group, yelling, pointing, etc.  But then, one of the performers said, "I need one of you to come over here and do some acting, how about....you (pointing to me)!  Would you like to come act out a death scene!"  I have never acted in anything in my life, I have never been in a school play or anything.  So naturally my response was, "Sure, I'd love to!"  I was instructed to look menacing and pretend to hold a knife in my hand and walk slowly toward the stuntman, who would shoot me with his imaginary gun, and then I would fake getting shot and act out dying in a very elongated fashion.  Hilarity ensued, as I was pretty terrible at looking menacing and acting in general but as a result it was very funny and I think the crowd enjoyed it quite a bit, for one reason or another!  I had an awesome time doing this.  Here is a pic of me with the extras on stage, I think I am in the yellow:

So speaking of Vegas, I am heading there tomorrow, and staying in a house with Taylor, Andrew, Joe, Scott (irockhoes) and a few other friends, 9 of us in total.  I am really pumped to get out there as I had a blast last year, and even moreso because I will actually turn 21 and be able to play some this year.  I will be playing the main event, likely the 5k 6max NL, and perhaps some live PLO cash, depending on what kind of games run.  Mostly, I am there to have fun though.  I very much look forward to it.

I have to run, I meant to post a few hands too but this is long already.  I will do a more poker focused post in the near future.