"Just Another Day in the Life"

So....another week of poker comes to an end....
It was a really good week with 2 very nice wins and 2 small wins....along with 1 small loss.
If every week on this trip goes like this one, I'd go home very pleased.
The highlight of the poker week was dragging a $1320 pot with a pair of sixes.
When you can win a decent pot like that, with a marginal hand like 6's, things are going good....

As some of you may know, I don't stay in the 'high rent' district while I'm in AZ.
This sometimes leads to having some interesting neighbors.
I've met a couple of them since arriving.

The first guy just happened to see me outside my room enjoying the evening air and he wandered/staggered right over.
He asked me if I wanted a beer... to which I kindly accepted.  He did make clear to me though that if I had a 'problem' with alcohol, he didn't want to 'talk me into' having one.
I let him know that I was only interested in having a single beer and that more than likely wouldn't put me over the edge.
He went back to his room and grabbed a Coors Light for me.... and then asked me if I happened to have any pot....  lol
I hated to be the bearer of bad news....but I had to tell him that I did not in fact have any pot....

We visit for a bit and he asks me what I do....
Now when people ask me that, I have a number of things I can honestly say, so I judge each situation and the person doing the asking, before I reply.  By the time our conversation was over, I had pretty much used up all my answers for that question.... with this particular gentleman.

I started out by telling him that I was an artist/sculptor.  He asked what I was doing here in AZ and I told him I was on a business trip and playing a little poker in my spare time.
His eyes lit up when I told him that, and he proceeded to tell me about the games he liked to play.

I then asked him what he did.... and he said, "I'm an RN."
I said, "Really???"  What type of nursing do you do?
I went on to tell him that I was an EMT.
I was genuinely surprised by this RN thing coming up, because this guy did not strike me as a professional anything.
He was hammered...and could hardly stand up, even with the help of the rail along the sidewalk out front.
He then clarified that he used to be an RN, but now he's just doing some home health care.
I asked him if he worked for a local company.... and he kind of in a round-about-way told me that he really wasn't working anymore, but he would when the opportunity presented itself.
He went on to tell me that he had lost his job at the hospital because of his alcohol problem.
It really is/was kind of sad, because we did talk some about health care and it was obvious that he had a great deal of knowledge and could easily make something of his life if he could give up the booze.

After talking for awhile, he summed it all up by saying, "I'm a drunk."
"If it weren't for me being a drunk, I'd still be working in the hospital."

My beer was nearly gone....and our conversation had pretty much run its course, so I told him to "Take care of himself"....and "I'll see ya later."  "Thanks for the beer!"

I went back to my room thinking how sad it was that a 40 year old guy like this, who had so much knowledge, was in all reality, probably living off from a disability check, paying rent that was being subsidized by the gov't, and getting his food & beer off from his EBT card.  Health care was probably being taken care of by Medicaid.
What a life.....

I meet this next character on the very next day after I get back from playing poker for the day.

I was walking to my room, and this guy was literally walking faster than I was, to try and catch up to me.  That's a situation that will usually make me very nervous and edgy...  I'll either make sure that I get into the safety of my room...or if I can't do that, I'll simply stop and be ready for a confrontation.

With this guy, I didn't make it to the room....  I ended up stopping outside the room and turning to meet the guy.
It didn't take long at all to see that I was dealing with someone who either needed to be on meds and wasn't... or was indeed being prescribed meds...but wasn't taking them.
It didn't take me long to figure out that he had some mental issues, so you can probably imagine... we ended up having quite a conversation.

After I turned around, he basically stopped...and asked me what my name was.
I politely told him my first name....however I didn't bother to ask him his name.
At the time, I still wasn't sure what to make of this situation.
I wasn't really scared, because this was someone I could easily handle, unless if he had a gun....

I wasn't going to open the door to my room yet, because there was NO way, this cat was getting in there.
I sat and leaned over the rail.... and he proceeded to follow my lead....
It really was kind of awkward, because I wasn't looking for any conversation with this guy.
I did notice that he kept pulling a single cigarette out of his pocket....and within a minute or two, it would go back in his pocket, protected by his hand.  I suppose he wanted to make sure he didn't break it.

He then pulls out a lighter... and turns to me and says, "Do you like my zippo?"
I'm like....  "yeah... looks like a nice zippo"
He says, "Do you have a zippo?"
I say, "I think I might have one or two back home"....

He then puts his lighter back in the pocket, pulls out his cigarette for the 5th or 6th time....and actually lights it, using a book of matches from his other pocket.
Then he kind of talks to himself for a bit...and finally turns toward me and says in a matter of fact way, "Well,......  That's the end of that."
I didn't say anything....and a few seconds later....   "Well,....  That's the end of that," he says again....
He obviously is looking for a reaction from me, so I say....  "That's the end of what?"

He says, "That's the end of those matches....but at least I still have my zippo."

The empty book of matches must have held some value to him, because he had put it back into his pocket.

A little more awkward silence, and he pulls out his zippo again.... and says, "Do you like zippo lighters?   lol
For those of you who know me, you probably can imagine by now that I've about had enough.
My eyes are probably rolling back into my head every time the guy opens his mouth.
I'm certain the guy doesn't have a gun by now, and I'm about to put an end to this visit.
I respond to his question by saying, "Yeah... zippo's are nice lighters."
He says to me, "They're kind of like little brothers, aren't they?"

Now how the heck is a sane man supposed to respond to a question like that?
I don't respond....and he says, "Do you know what I mean?"
I say...  "Noooo... not really...."
He then goes on to say, "They like to start fires."    lol
Then he looks me in the eye.... and says to me,    "Get It?"..... just like a 6 year old kid might say to you after telling you a knock-knock joke.....   lol
I just laughed and said... yeah, I guess that does make some sense...."  as my fricken eyes must've been completely rolled back into my head by now....

You just can't make this kind of stuff up.....
It gave me just a glimpse into the thought process of someone who's not mentally stable....

I'm sure this guy is also probably a guy whose well being depends on the gov't.... He is more than likely being taken care of financially by the rest of the taxpayers....and in all likelihood will be taken care of by them/us....until the day he dies....

I proceeded to end the conversation by telling the guy, "Have a good one..." as I took the key out to enter my room....

I guess you might call it.....  just another day in the life..... of yours' truly....





 

Summer Road Trip Summary

I find myself back in sunny Arizona, and thought maybe I would give you all kind of a trip 'summary' of the last trip.... since I haven't blogged since I left for home in August.

On the way home, I ended up going to California and Montana to visit a couple of the best friends I had in high school.  I had an absolutely wonderful time in both places.  In CA, my friend, Rick & I went out for lunch and then just relaxed for the rest of the day, had a couple of beers and pizza in the afternoon, played a couple games of cards with his youngest daughter and wife in the evening....and I headed out the next morning for Las Vegas.

I did get a parking ticket while at Rick's house, due to a little feud between him and his neighbor.  Upon arriving at Rick's house, I discovered that I needed a new battery in my bike, so we proceeded to find one, and while we were gone, his neighbor called the po-po and told them I was parked in the sidewalk.  His oldest daughter did a great job of trying to explain that I was from Iowa...or somewhere in the Midwest, and I probably didn't know that you couldn't park on the sidewalk.  It was to no avail though...  I found the ticket on my windshield when we got back.

I did end up getting a good laugh though, when Rick texted me a picture a week or two after I was home with the caption, "What comes around....Goes around" accompanied by a photo of his neighbor's truck partially parked in the sidewalk.  The inference was that the police had again been called, to issue this guy a ticket....

Upon leaving California, I headed for Las Vegas and spent app 3 or 4 days there.  I ended up staying on the strip in a place called "The Quads".  I wouldn't recommend it....and I wouldn't stay there again.  There's major remodeling going on, the rooms were not very clean, and it was just basically an old hotel.

To illustrate, I'll give you one little example of the condition of my room. 
Every morning, I would awaken to some gurgling in my bathroom sink....  This gurgling was the precursor to my sink being filled with some nasty, nasty, looking water....  It would eventually go back down the drain, but it would leave a totally disgusting black film over everything.....

Yeah..... I don't think I'll stay there again.....

I left Las Vegas and headed for Montana to visit my friend Tony and his wife, Rachel...
It took a couple of days to get there, but it was well worth the little detour.

Rachel & I went out for a steak dinner, with their oldest daughter the first night I arrived, because Tony wasn't going to be home from work until later in the evening.  That was an awesome meal, that was followed up by an equally great steak meal the next evening, in Tony & Rachel's backyard.
Between those 2 meals, Tony & I went canoeing down one of the many rivers in Montana.  That brought back some good memories, because we used to do that quite regularly on the Big Sioux river that borders Iowa and SD, when we were kids.

The trip was a 100% success.  I not only had a ball, but I was fortunate enough that the poker part of it went great also.

I left Tony & Rachel's house and made really good time all the way to (and almost through) Wyoming.  However, I was unfortunate enough to get caught in a bad storm with 70 mph winds, hard rain, and hail.  This is not a fun experience on a motorcycle.
Once it started hailing pretty good, I was forced to pull over along the interstate, get off the bike, and just try to protect myself as much as I could.  I basically felt like the cows I could see out in a pasture...just getting pounded by the rain and hail.

Another biker and his female companion also pulled up behind me....  There were also cars and other vehicles pulling over.  After about 5-10 minutes, I heard a car horn that beeped a few times, and turned around to see a woman motioning me to join her in her vehicle.  It didn't take me long to oblige...  I got in there to find the biker and his girl already in there.

The woman says to me, "I felt sorry for you out there, but there wasn't a chance in hell of you getting in my vehicle, until I saw this woman with the other biker."
I could understand her position....'cuz I probably did look pretty rugged....after being on the road for a few days....
I was very appreciative that she did end up letting me in the vehicle....and getting me out of the weather. 
I'm sure by the time she got home, she probably needed a shop vacuum to get all of the water off from her floor....
It was a pretty darn nice vehicle too....

By the time this experience was done with, I felt like I'd been beat up....
My lip was swollen, my face hurt, and my body was achy from being pounded by the hail.

I rode in and out of rain for several hours after that.  I was wet, sore, and ready to get home....
I was so ready to get home, that I just kept on riding until I got there.
I arrived home around 5:00 AM after putting more than 900 miles on the bike that last day....

So....just a few statistics and other notable things about the trip....
I ended up playing 29 sessions of poker and winning in 25 of them.
I had only 4 losses for the trip...so I was very pleased with the way that all turned out.

I put between 8000 and 9000 miles on the bike...with no major problems.
As already noted, I did have to put a new battery in....and the only other thing that happened was that the spring for my kickstand broke.  Not that big of a deal....

I saw a couple of things while on the road that I thought were notable.
In Kansas, there was 2 "scenic" areas where you could pull off from the highway.
That's not that peculiar in and of itself, but that fact that the scenic view was of 100's of wind towers did seem a little bit strange to me.
I don't know about you all.... but to me a wind tower or 100's of them, isn't really that scenic.  I think it looks more like a 'stain' on the horizon than anything.
When I think of a great scenic view, it consists of pure nature at it's best....with no signs of human life... such as electric poles, cell phone towers, wind towers, etc....

Another weird experience happened while I was coming into Las Vegas. 
I actually had to swerve and switch lanes on my motorcycle in order to avoid a wheel and a tire rolling down the interstate....with no vehicle attached.
It didn't take long to see the vehicle that wheel & tire belonged to.....(in my rearview mirror) sitting kind of funny.... along the right side of the interstate.

There was definitely a point in time that I remember as being the most 'scared' at any time on the trip.
This was a day when I had left my room to go play poker at the Bellagio.  I took only the money I thought I'd need with me, and left the rest in my room.  That did amount to quite a little stack of $100 bills.... that was left in the room.
When I left for the day, I happened to see the cleaning lady, and I made a point of telling her that I did NOT need any room service.  She asked if I had the 'Do Not Disturb' sign out on my door and I assured her that I had.
I proceeded to go play poker for the day and was gone app 7 -8 hours.

After getting back to the hotel and arriving on the 5th floor, my heart started racing, after I exited the elevator and thought I saw.... way, way, down at the end of the hall....the door to my room wide open.
I started moving a little faster and my heart was really racing as I could see for a fact, that my room door was indeed, open for anyone and/or everyone to come and go freely.

I  made it to the door, went in, and closed the door behind me.
Nothing looked out of place.
First thing I did was go the place where I had left all the money.  I was SO relieved to see that it was all still there.

After thinking about this experience, I have come to the conclusion that I must've left the room to talk to the cleaning lady, and not shut the door behind me.  I must've planned on going back in the room for something.  I didn't....and instead just went to the elevator....

I suppose when people saw a wide open door, they just assumed that someone was in the room....
and therefore didn't go in.....

So anyways.... it was a big relief to see that all of my hard work over the prior 6 weeks hadn't gone to waste and ended up in somebody else's pocket!

One of the things I had planned on doing if I did end up meeting my lofty poker goals that I'd set for myself before leaving, was to get my niece Jade tickets to see Taylor Swift in ST Paul, for her birthday.  I was able to ultimately do that and she was overjoyed to find them in her birthday card on August 10th.
She & I enjoyed a very nice day together on Sept 7th when we went to see the show together.  I told her, she could invite anyone, if she wanted too...so it was nice of her to want to go with me....  And I must say.... It was a pretty darn good show....

To try and bring this pretty long blog post to an end....I'll quickly fill you on the last week or so....

My daughter Kala and her husband Scott, had their new baby boy (Maverick Davis) on Oct 17th (I ~think~) in Kansas City, so I left on the bike on the 18th, while my wife Christine, drove the truck down with Jade.  We had a couple of nice days in KC visiting the family and holding the new baby, etc.... before I left for AZ.

My plan is to fly back to MN in Nov and then Christine and I will drive the truck back here after Christmas.  There's a guy here in AZ that's nice enough to store the bike for me until I get back.  This will be really nice to have the bike out here during the winter....

Since arriving in town, I've played poker twice and won both times.
The first day was a bigger win than any of the wins that I had during the entire trip this past summer.
It was a really good way to start the trip.

Now that I've got a little extra time on my hands....since I don't play poker ALL the time.... I may be able to blog again in the very near future....
Until then....