The Weekend

The weekend: (Fri) Drove to Alice’s. She wasn’t feeling well. Sore throat. We ate chicken, vegetables and rice, then watched half of The Trotsky, a clever Canadian film about a 17-year-old revolutionary who believes he’s the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. First half was brilliant, second half enjoyable. (Sat) We got up early and drove to Berkeley Bowl West, had brunch, shopped, went to Costco, then relaxed at my place, watching the Seattle, San Francisco and Hawaii episodes of “No Reservations.” I made guacamole for our get-together at Richard & Lisa’s in the afternoon. We hung out in their backyard for a good two hours, catching up, talking politics and life like we always do. Alice was still nursing her cold. She drank tea while we drank mojitos. At 7 we went to Biff and Rhonda’s for dinner. Jess and Jen were there. Rhonda served up a great dinner and we stayed until 11. (Sun) We relaxed, went to Starbuck’s in the a.m., ordered Yang Chow for lunch, watched TV while I did my taxes. At 4:15 we drove to Alice’s with Sandy. She made a wonderful seafood dish while I fixed her computer and brushed Sandy’s hair. After dinner we watched 60 Minutes and finished the last half of The Trotsky. Alice’s throat still bothered her. I left at 9:30 and fell asleep at 10:30.

April Showers

I’m been hitting my poker books again, watching high stakes poker when I can, and gearing up for another wave of poker playing now that we’re just a few months away from another WSOP summer. I won’t have many opportunities to compete in big tournaments this year, so I’ll have to choose my poker time carefully. One thing I’d like to work on is my emotions playing online. For the most part, I’m all right at accepting things as they are, yet sometimes that dark part of me undermines my ability to play well, and I lose control and good judgment as a result.

State Singles

I played in my first state singles tournament last weekend and almost took the Men’s A Singles title. I lost in the tiebreaker and took 2nd. Next year, the title is mine! I lost to Butch Fish, a very strong A-level player who made few mistakes and didn’t get tired, even though he’s four years older than I am.

This weekend Alice and I will be in Seattle to visit Steve, Amanda and Lindsay. Ron & Jeni are hosting and Neal & Karin, Kathryn & Tom and Susan & Jay will be there. Should be fun!

I’ve gotten lots of sleep this week. Need it.

I’m hoping to play some poker in April. I’d love to take a shot at playing in the WSOP this summer.

Another Friday Comes and Goes

It's been two weeks since submitting a revised ending to the agent who requested changes to the last chapter of Julia Milan (more Audrey, more explanation of Ben as shooter, and more resolution). In the meantime, I have four full manuscripts and five partial manuscripts still outstanding. I've sent 130 queries total, but haven't sent any new ones since mid-November. I have about 80 agents left to query and may start doing that next week as a way of keeping myself busy.

I've noticed on querytracker.net that once a writer receives an offer and gives word to other agents with partials and fulls, the manuscript is immediately read and counter offers are often made. It's really something. With no offer, nothing happens, but when an offer is made all hell breaks loose.

I bought a Kindle over the holidays and love it. What a sweet little device. I'm reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" right now. I've downloaded six Dickens novels, some Jack London, Chekov, and Mark Twain. I can see why ereaders are the future. The screens are clear and the device is small and light. I love carrying an entire library of classics in my coat pocket.

I've been reading a great biography of Richard Yates that came out in 2003 and it's fascinating. I wasn't aware just how autobiographical his stories were. It's amazing he was able to write anything considering how much he drank. Wow. He rivals Fitzgerald for crazy drunken debauchery.

I saw "The King's Speech" and loved it, saw "Black Swan" and loved it, saw "True Grit" and really loved it. I hope to see "Blue Valentine" this weekend.

Club One Fall Finals

I took the Club One Racquetball title again, beating Tyrone 15-9, 15-8 in a match that wasn’t as close as it could have been. T was off a bit and lacked some of the hunger that he usually brings to big games. He left his shots up and skipped several balls. He didn’t put shots away and let me off the hook throughout the match. I lob served about 80% of the time and T set me up many times. He made a nice run toward the end of the first game and the beginning of the second game, but aside from those two instances he was pretty much contained. There was a good size crowd and Alice, Richard, Lisa, Trey, Gerrad, Miles, Sophie, and Neil were there to cheer me on. That was the most satisfying part of the evening I think, seeing everyone there. Aaron K showed up and all the morning racquetballers were there. I worked hard for this repeat title and it feels good having that second plaque hanging inside my office cubicle.

Tonight's Finals Match

Tonight is my finals match with Tyrone. I have a strategy in place and we’ll see if it works. I’m been playing well lately, and Tyrone has been leaving the ball up on lob serves. If I can put the ball away and play my game I should take this tonight. I just hope we both come through it unscathed. Tyrone blew out his calf muscle last time. My strategy will be to lob serve his backhand and also mix things up with other serves. If my drive serve is feeling good, I’ll throw in a few of those, but it’s important that I keep that first serve from hitting the back wall for an easy setup. That’s what I was doing in Pleasanton. I couldn’t get my drive serves down. I’m practicing my serves for an hour at lunch and relaxing the rest of the afternoon. This match will be good practice going into the state singles tournament in March.

A Room with a View

I visited Sausalito for the first time with Alice on Saturday. The skies were overcast and mild as we walked through town along the street facing the water. We ordered mocha and a pastry at a cute café and salt water taffy at a place called “Munchies.” It’s a charming place to hang out for a morning. We then went to a mall in Corda Madera and looked around. It started raining around noon, so we headed back to San Francisco and had a wonderful Thai lunch on 9th and Irving. We took a nap in the afternoon, then made a simple noodle and shrimp dinner. In the evening we watched “A Room with a View” on Alice’s computer via Netflix. The film still holds up. I must have seen it many times in the 80s and 90s because so many lines were familiar to me. Alice howled at the pool scene. It certainly is funny. The details are spot on in this film, and the pacing is wonderful. Maggie Smith and Daniel Day Lewis are terrific foils. The music is perfect. Helena Bonham-Carter was star material even then. Alice loved the film. I’ll have to look for more that this one that we can see together.