Getting Lucky
Posted on August 9, 2006 by Ching under Life.
This is a repost of an old journal entry dated January 7, 1999 originally posted on Chingay.com.. I’m reposting it in honor of my mom who recently received a speeding ticket while driving through Eastborough.
Mom is the last person I’d expect to get a speeding ticket. After all, she drives like a grandma! Oh, wait! She IS a grandma!
Those Eastborough cops are relentless. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Anyway, mom, this is for you.
Guess what. I got pulled over by a cop on my way home a couple of nights ago. It was horrible. I wasn’t even wearing my seatbelt. I never do. I know I should, but it’s soo restrictive specially when you’re wearing a heavy coat. And you know how I like to sing at the top of my lungs and dance around (as though I’m a lunatic just released from an asylum suffering a seizure) when I’m alone in the car? The safety belt, while it’s for my own benefit, doesn’t really allow for a lot of mobility and just gets in the way.
I didn’t even see the police car. He was driving North-bound on Rock Road, while I was driving South to my house. I was on the right-most lane and a bit distracted by the beauty of the full moon and the clear evening sky. Grooving to the music of Camp Lo, I wouldn’t even have noticed him had he not made the swiftest u-turn I’ve ever seen done in my entire life. All I could manage was an Oh, shit! under my breath and immediately, as sort of a reflex action, I turned down the volume of the stereo. But no, I didn’t remember to nonchallantly put my seatbelt on. As I rarely put it on, I didn’t think I was capable of inconspicuously putting it on. I just thought, Fuck it.
I slowed down, of course. Having him chase me all over Derby wouldn’t help me in the least– that I knew for sure. So within seconds, he was right behind me with the colorful lights atop his vehicle whirling away amidst the darkness that engulfed us. I pulled over off to the side, on the gravel road-shoulder, a few yards from the 71st and Rock intersection.
It took him a while to get out of his car and knock on my window. I think they do that on purpose, just to rattle your nerves. Finally, he came. I rolled down my window (I know, I don’t got power windows, doesn’t that just suck?) and squinted at his flashlight. He told me that he clocked me at seventy on a fifty-five (which I doubt is true– I didn’t think I was going seventy– I mean, I was going fast but not seventy– it might have seemed seventy from his perspective because he was, after all, driving toward me– but I didn’t argue– it would do very little good) and routinely asked for my driver’s license, which I cooperative handed him– after I fumbled through my purse for a minute or so (after I did the 32 flavors wallet project, I just hastily tossed everything into my bag– who would’ve thought I’d get pulled over?).
He looks at it, then looks at me. He begins the standard interrogation with, Do you still live on Valley Stream Drive? I nod, hoping and praying he wouldn’t check the trunk and find Barry’s body. Just kidding. Forget that last part. I just nodded. And no, I didn’t kill Barry. Although I wish he would quit stalking me already. He’s like, I know your mom. Right then I realized, he had been one of the cops that helped my parents out during that ordeal with Jen. I think he might have received a Christmas basket (you know, one of those food baskets with salamis and cheese and stuff? those things are not cheap) as a token of their gratitude.
Do you know that this is a 115-dollar ticket? he asked, glancing at my driver’s license in his hand another time and then added, What am I gonna do? He looked pensive for a moment, considering everything, and proposed a deal. He told me that he would just give me a warning ticket– I wouldn’t have to pay anything, it’s just a little piece of paper to remind me to drive safer next time, observe the posted speed limit and always wear my seatbelt. Man, was I relieved. Whew! Thank gawd, for that Christmas basket. I don’t think I could afford to pay another goddamn fine.
Am I lucky or what? I could not believe it. I was sure he would write the ticket, too. I mean, just in the last three months Jen got three written against her. They were all over a hundred bucks, too.
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Bebot’s Thousand-Mile Check-Up
Posted on August 2, 2006 by Ching under Life.
Speaking of firsts.. Brian took Bebot to his thousand-mile check up the other day. I worked night shift that day so Brian brought me Chipotle for dinner. I don’t know what I will do without Brian. He takes such good care of me.
Yesterday he went to Books-to-Go to pick up my books for fall. Then he asked what I wanted for dinner. I wasn’t hungry so I told him to bring two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for the CSRs. He really did. On top of that, he took Bebot to the gas station to fill up the tank. I think it’s been over three years since I gassed up my own car. Isn’t he just wonderful?
Brian is this beautiful man who takes care of me, runs errands, puts up with all my crap and crankiness, listens to all my woes (and bad-beat stories), laughs at my stupid jokes.. The list goes on. Oh, and did I mention to this day, after being together for seven years, he still opens my car door for me?
Although, he quit doing it for a while after we got Bebot. I found out that the only reason he did it was because we didn’t have keyless entry and he always had to unlock me door for me. After riding together a few times, I made a comment about how I really missed him opening my door like a gentleman. Now I realize why I don’t like keyless entry.
That was all it took, though. Now he’s back to opening my car door and letting me in like a gentleman, keyless entry or not. It’s nice to know that he still cares what I think.
Speaking of things that haven’t changed.. We still talk in bed. You know, when you’re laying there getting ready to zonk out? We like to chat about stupid stuff. That’s our time. In fact, we did this very thing last night.
He was yapping about something. I can’t remember what. I was tired, having just arrived home from work because I had to work the evening shift again. Anyway, we were laying in bed, holding each other. He was in the middle of a story when I suddenly felt nostalgic.
I go, “You know, I remember us having these talks in bed when we first started seeing each other. I used to think to myself, I wonder when he’ll stop yapping and when we’ll start having sex. That’s kind of how I feel right now.”
He started laughing. He’s like, “You can’t even keep your eyes open!”
“You know, baby, it’s not my eyes that need to be open for sex. As long as my legs are open we’re good to go.”
See I’m hilarious even when I’m half-asleep.
Anyway, I won’t elaborate on the story further. You all know what happened next. Needless to say, we both went to bed happy and content. The end.
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Molly’s First Haircut
Posted on August 1, 2006 by Ching under Babies, Flickr.
I’m just amazed how different Molly looks in this picture. She looks like a totally different dog without her fluffy hair. Anyway, I’m glad we finally got her groomed because she needed it.
We originally wanted to take her to Shampoodle on Central and Greenwich. That’s where Annette takes Lola. Of course, being ignorant about dog grooming, Brian and I figured we could just walk in. We don’t bother to call and make an appointment or anything.
We drive up there on a Saturday (this was last weekend) and, much to our disappointment, they are only open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. Apparently this is typical for pet groomers, besides pet stores, no one is really open on weekends. The problem is, these are my work hours. I pretty much have to take off work in order to get Molly groomed. Yikes!
Desperate to get Molly groomed, we drive to PetSmart. PetSmart is not our first choice, mind you. We love the store but we hate the grooming. We’ve watched other dogs get groomed there and the groomers are not the nicest people in the world. So this was pretty much an act of desperation on our part.
They were booked clear through Wednesday. Absolutely no walk ins. The sad thing is, I can walk in to a salon and get a haircut. However, you can’t do the same for dogs. My dog is more high maintenance than me! Then again, 90% of the population (yes, men included) is more high maintenance than me so that doesn’t really tell you much.
Brian and I didn’t want to take Molly to PetSmart anyway, so that actually worked out for the best. He called Shampoodle to make an appointment, but they don’t make afternoon appointments. Drop off is at 8 am and then they call us when she’s ready. So you pretty much have to drop what you’re doing to come pick up the dog. Not the most convenient for Brian and I since we both work during the day. They call themselves a “dog day spa” so it’s pretty high brow. I think their clientele mostly consists of housewives. The cost factor was average (Annette said it was about $30 for Lola’s grooming) but the convenience factor was way outside our threshold. Needless to say, we crossed Shampoodle off our list.
So I asked my coworker Jan where she takes her dogs (she has three poms and a maltese, so she is pretty experienced and knowledgeable about these things). She recommended Dog and Cat Toggery. It’s an unassuming place (kind of like hole in the wall establishment) on Oliver and Central. Jan said they can do both morning and afternoon appointments. If we end up with a morning appointment, I can pick Molly up and take her home at lunch. If it’s an afternoon appointment, then I just drop her off at lunch and then Brian can pick her up at the end of the day.
I called them up and made an appointment for Friday afternoon. So I went home during lunch and took Molly. It worked out perfect because Brian gets off work at 3 pm. I told them that if she were to get done early, they could call him up to pick her up. I told Brian that if they don’t call he can just pick her up between 4 and 5 pm. It worked out great for us.
Although, having a pet groomer open on a Saturday or Sunday would probably work out the best since it’s really the only days we are free. Of course, we will get Molly groomed anyway even if we have to take her during the week. I’m just glad we only have to go through it once every three months.
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Poker 101: The Art of Fake-Checking and Keeping Your Mouth Shut
Posted on July 27, 2006 by Ching under Games, Poker.
I should really keep my mouth shut when I’m playing poker. When I get too comfortable around people, I start being chatty Cathy and then I end up giving my hands away. You won’t even need to stare me down to get a feel for what I’m holding. Just listen to the chatter and you’ll know whether to stay in or fold.
Case in point is Friday night poker. I end up at a table with Sandy, Mary, Brian (not my Brian but a different Brian) and a bunch of other super friendly folks. Of course, there is never such a thing as a friendly game of poker. Everyone is in it to win it even though we’re all playing for free. People take their bragging rights and points very, very seriously.
Anyway, it looks friendly on the surface but you know people are still really competitive. Of course, we always have a lot of fun. I do, anyway. Win or lose, playing poker is always a good time. I really like the exciting rollercoaster hands the best. Those hands where someone is 5% to win pre flop and then the flop comes out in their favor so now they’re in the lead, and then the turn comes in the other player’s favor so now the other guy is back to being the underdog and then the river comes and the underdog wins. Those hands rock.
A few people have commented about how excited I get when I get knocked out in such a manner, they would hate to see me win because I might just die of a heart attack. Just like any other poker addict, I love to share my bad beat stories. Sometimes over and over and over again, ad nauseum. Of course, since most of you aren’t the least bit interested in poker I’ve learned to keep it off the blog for the most part. I mean, poker stories are pretty boring for most regular people.
But I digress.. Where was I? Okay, Friday night poker. We are at this table being friendly and cordial and cracking jokes. I was playing really loose that night so I was in a lot of hands — most of which I had no business being in. One hand I was in last position.
It started out being a family pot. If not, only one person wasn’t in the hand. I think the dealer wasn’t in the hand because I don’t remember dealing but I was last to act each time. There was no pre flop raise so who knows what kind of cards were being played. After the flop, everyone checked. I bet the minimum amount. Everyone called.
“What is this? You were all fake-checking!” I protested. “If you were really checking you all would’ve folded after the bet.”
So we start joking around about fake-checks. Everytime someone would check and the possibility of a killer hand existed, we would all tease each other about fake-checking.
Several hands later while still at $20-$40 blinds I find myself in one of the blind positions. I have ace-three off-suit but I’m in big blind so I play it. I think the small blind folded pre flop because I was first to act each time.
The flop comes ace, king, jack. I hit top pair and I want to know what’s up so I instinctively bet $200. This is a decent bet because it’s five times the big blind but, considering that just about everyone called pre flop, I realize now it might not have been big enough.
Sandy goes, “What happened to fake-checking?”
“Well.. I happen to have something,” I replied.
“You gotta fake-check if you have something good,” she continued.
“No, you only fake-ceck if you have something REALLY good.”
Crap! Open mouth, insert foot. You can pretty much guess what happened. It was call, call, call, call, call. All the way around the table. Definitely not what you want to see when you have top pair with a weak kicker.
The turn card comes and it is a blank. I fire another $200. It was probably a futile attempt at this point because the pot had grown in size and anyone with anything would be ill-advised not to call such a miniscule bet compared to the pot size. It did manage to scare all but one. I guess after second bet they finally believed me. Except for Mary. She was the non-believer. The river card is a queen. I visualize myself hitting my head against the table a dozen times. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I checked it to her. She bet $200. What’s $200 at this point?
“I know you have the ten but I call,” I said defeated. And she did. She had the ten. To her credit, however, she had a king-ten so she hand the second best pair post flop. I cannot blame her for calling. First of all, I didn’t bet big enough. And worst of all, I gave my hand away. She knew exactly what I had. She called because she had the second best hand and a better draw. She gambled and it paid off.
So there are really two lessons to be learned here. First, fake-check if you have a good hand. This will allow you to smooth-call and trap someone, or re-raise and send an amateur toward tilt-dom. Second, keep your mouth shut while you’re doing it (unless you are a pro and have mastered the art of table talk — which as we’ve proven here does not describe me).
As Mike Sexton always says on the World Poker Tour, “May your cards be live and your pots be monsters!” Good luck, everyone! Happy poker-playing!
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Alonsofamily.net is No More
Posted on July 23, 2006 by Ching under Web.
If you encounter a bunch of pictures that don’t show up in this blog, that is the reason. Alonsofamily.net is gone. Dad has moved his web site to Kanluran.com. And so, all the picture links are now broken.
I’m not really feeling inclined to fix all the broken picture links right now. I’m thinking I’ll just fix them as I come across them. Email me the ones you run into and I’ll fix those first.
In the meantime, you’re probably going to see a lot of old photos loaded into my Flickr photostream. That’s where I’m sending all the ones that I was able to salvage from the old Alonsofamily.net web site. The only problem is, there may be some duplication.
I haven’t been really good at tagging and labeling my photos so now that I’ve got over 4,000 on Flickr it’s too time consuming to browse them all to make sure nothing gets duplicated. If I don’t find the photos in the first try, I’m going to upload them. I just want you all to know in case some of you are wondering what is going on.
What’s going on is I have broken picture links. Broken picture links drive me mad. Now I’m scrambling. Unlike Flickr, I didn’t really have a DR plan.
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