Check Out My New Site Pokerheadrush.com For My Blogs

Grind Fortress Secured

Posted by Alex Fitzgerald on February 25, 2012 · Leave a Comment (Edit)

Felt real good to bang out a solid day of work yesterday. I put in five hours of one-on-one lessons and got a bunch of videos done for Pocketfives Training. I slept maybe four hours of good sleep the night before, but somehow that made me feel sordid energetic the whole day. I think I did some good work. I sure seemed to scream at my students more. In the end, it’s just nice to work a day and actually get paid by the hour. It’s crazy to me how I used to just talk cards in the back of broken ass breweries, bowling alleys, and other crap places, mostly because I had nothing else going for me, nothing else to occupy my mind. Now to get paid to talk each hour, I love it. I make a good product with the videos too, I know I put more into what I’m saying than 98% of training videos. I love to learn more about the game, and to be able to teach it means you’ve really mastered it, so I put a lot into those hours.

Today after some meetings I finally got to take a look at this house. It was still being cleaned out to rent, but the place was really big and not much more than what I’m paying now. I mean, all right I’ll just say why I was looking for a new place, my current place is really not secure. I didn’t want to publish that and have somebody maybe making a detour around my neighborhood, or going halfsies with a local here, but yeah I got a lot of things that people would want to have around here. I’ve been doing alright since I got sober. Oddly money seems to stack up when you’re not trying to light it on fire every weekend. The owner here was supposed to do a lot of things, but she informed me if I wanted a wall here that I’d have to pay for it. I have to leave my house unattended often, and there’s enough stuff in here to float someone a Costa Rican salary for a year. Losing all my databases, my scooter, my electronics…oh man it would’ve set me back so much. But hey I found a new place, and I’m going to be here all day for the remaining couple days I’m here, so yeah wooohooo didn’t get robbed for a year.

I love Costa Rica more than any place on Earth but its still Central America and there’s a lot of drug use and poverty. I mean, I hate it when Americans come here and act like they’re in Gomorrah, I dealt with the same things in the states. Actually, Korea had the same kind of security, and I’ve never lived in a more civil country than that. But yeah it’s an unfortunate reality. Electronics carry huge taxes here, so stealing them is like stealing gold, and because of my job and hobbies I have quite a few of them, and I just didn’t feel that good in this house every time I left. That wall never got built by the owner, so someone could just hop over the fence, go around the back, and start working on the bars on the windows.

That being said I left my washer and dryer out on my back patio for six months, and nobody ever took it, so I’m probably just paranoid. Still, I was about to invest a lot of money on new grind equipment, and I didn’t just want a quarter inch bar and some glass separating a thief from a year’s worth of rocks, just laying on a table.

Other thing I didn’t like about here was that the only internet I could get was a data card. I was assured a hundred times people had landline internet in my place before me, but then company after company couldn’t do it for me. The data card worked incredible, actually never went out once for an extended period of time now that I think of it, but if you run a bunch of sites on it I don’t think it’ll hold up. If I have to make a Skype call and I’m running something else it’ll go out for a minute, so if I do want to get on a bunch of different sites I don’t think this will hold out.

My dog also couldn’t run around the big property here. No matter how hard I tried, he found another way to get out onto a busy road. He’s going to have his own outside area at the new place.

Best thing about the new place is just the security. Big dog that freaks out whenever someone comes near, three lines of defense to get into any area of the house, the place is just barricaded. I don’t have to worry about neighborhood kids seeing the TV. Hell, the kids can’t see anything at this place.

It’s like that book Ready Player One. Not to get into specifics but the book follows online grinders of this virtual world, where their currency has become more stable than any world currency. The main character, some white trash kid from a trailer park, barricades himself into an apartment complex meant for a grinder like him. He goes on his mission to save the world from behind his walls, where the overpopulated ravenous world can’t get at him.

Now I’m plugging in more than I ever have. I haven’t grinded this way since I started. I’m loving it way more now. I’m way more calm and investing properly. I’m clearing up where I made mistakes. I’m building toward a future. I’m on my game, and into it.

Only problem with the new place is that I won’t have an acre of property to separate me from my neighbors. No more blasting trance all day.

You know it’s funny, I’m so worried about my house getting cleaned out, but someone would have to get through some bars on windows to do that. If someone wants to swipe a blade at my jugular on the street, hell, I probably won’t be ready for it. I don’t have bars of steel in front of that. With how much mental illness there is on this planet I’m surprised there’s not more murder. It just seems so easy to pull off compared to a lot of crimes. Not easy to escape from, but I have a hard time thinking most people ever consider the consequences of their actions. I’m this paranoid now about protecting what’s mine, but all that keeps you alive is one ticking heart. How many times in your life have you just retched, had a bad day? What’s to stop something vital in you from doing that? Then I think of everything I introduced into my body, the kind of mental illness I surrounded myself with, and man…seems so damn entitled to worry about these THINGS now. Pretty lucky to be tasting fresh air.

Man, mountain air. I’m not super happy to be leaving this place. If I could get security and landline internet I’d love to stay here. Waking up smelling fresh mountain air is a delicacy. That forest smell, walking around in a wood cabin, oh man. I’m going to bring my running shoes to my girlfriend’s parents place when I visit. They live near here, and I love my road work route here that much, that I’m going to visit it from afar. I will really miss waking up to running through these foothills. I’ve been blessed to see some beautiful places on my morning runs around the world. Seoul in winter, along that river in Budapest, forests in the northwest, white sand beaches…but, here might be my favorite. Now I’ll have to go back to running in a city again, or on a treadmill. I hate both. Oh well, maybe I’ll be able to watch training vids or study Spanish on a treadmill. I don’t know.

Whew, just abruptly ran out of gas. I gotta wake up early for my last road work/sessions in this house. Hope walking around all the moving boxes don’t drive me insane.

Check Out My New Site Pokerheadrush.com For My Blogs

Matter. Anti. Matter.

Posted by Alex Fitzgerald on February 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment (Edit)

I don’t think I want to leave here. Common sense is telling me that it’s time, but there’s nothing more chill in Costa Rica then walking down the mountain streets. The air is cold enough to remind me of Seattle. Below my street, the lights of San Jose spread out in every direction, everywhere you can look. It’s nice here, it’s relaxed. People wave to me when I go for my jog. The dirt roads are easy on the knees. The local soda (family diner) won’t let me tip them, and they always put a few extra plantains in my casado. I can see the internet tower from my backyard, and my service has never been cut off. Scratch that, it did once, and it was because I forgot to pay the bill.

That being said it’s starting to become necessary for me to move. I want to make the move to bigger monitors, more sites, more in buy-ins. I can’t be relying on one internet connection, however stable it’s been. In the city I can have two landlines and two network cards if I want, which is probably what I’ll end up doing. The one connection I’m working off is fast, but I don’t know if I trust it with five or six sites running, like back in the good ol’ days.

I like my place right now but I’m kind of far from everything, except for my girlfriend. That was attractive to me at first. The quiet of the country allowed me to undo ruin after Black Friday. I still paid off everything I’d invested in and kept investments alive when 90% of my net worth disappeared overnight, and I thank this place for that. It’s easy to keep your head together with clean air and a calm environment.

But I want to go to school in the city this place isn’t going to work. Taking the bus there or riding my scooter would take an hour back and forth, oftentimes more. San Jose traffic sucks. I don’t have hours to spare most weeks. It’s also becoming a little more crowded in here as I get more settled down.

The place is also falling apart and the owner has not helped me with anything. I spent four hours the other day fixing the hot water heaters on my showers, after not one but two of them broke. The water system has a bunch of leaks. I have to clean it out a lot because all the water can go bad places. I leaned on a wall here one time and it made a hole. A door came off a hinge. The owner never installed a few things she told me she would, never cleared my view of the city. The fence is full of holes so my dog can escape, and the fence is broken. Anyone could just come in through the fence and grab my dog, if they wanted a pure bred. When he hangs out inside unsupervised all day he makes all sorts of messes, which costs me more time to clean up every day. One or two of these things are fine, but I end up fixing this house up a lot.

I am happy to have lived here. I mean, it’s real nice wood, it’s like something a writer would rent, a hilltop escape.

After going broke I wanted to punish myself, so I pretty much rented a shack in San Jose. At first it was kind of a challenge, a grind hole to get some money together. As I got broke from things I couldn’t control, it became more of a necessity. It was crazy, going to the grocery store, counting my nickels and dimes again, something I hadn’t done since I found poker at 17. Then the money came in. I grew to really like the area. The people renting out the house to me were very nice people, and they helped me with getting me cable and a cheap refrigerator and things.

That annoyed me with Poker Hispano. I offhand said “yeah I had kind of a shitty apartment in San Jose”, which to me isn’t bad, just saying it wasn’t a great apartment. I didn’t think of how that would translate though. They had me saying “I lived in the apartment of shit.” It sounds bad in English, in Spanish it sounded much worse. I’m sure the owners read that, and I felt terrible about that, when they showed me so much kindness. I just meant to say the apartment wasn’t The Ritz, but I still liked it.

After a while I wasn’t loving that area. Every corner had a pizza place and a liquor store. I’m embarrassed by how many days I was faded, stuffing my face. When I moved to the country I just didn’t feel claustrophobic or anything. In the city, things are intense, pace of life is fast, the way people talk is more forceful. I feel rushed, closed in on, and I end up smoking and drinking, old habits. Clean air, mountains, dog always wanting to play…I pretty much stopped drinking completely, to the point now that when I have anything more than a beer my body goes “hey what is this” as opposed to “all right now where’s the other six?” I feel way more energetic in the mornings and throughout the day, and way calmer now that I don’t have a whiskey when I read at nights.

I think a lot of people like me just have a drink at nights or smoke a pack a day because it gives some relief to their ADD. I’d feel more occupied, and could sit down and read a bit. After nearly a year of just running a lot in the mornings and drinking a lot of water, I realize that makes you way more settled down.

I made a lot between my San Jose grindhole and my first three months here, which Full Tilt took most of. Eventually things have been working out however. I made a library, nice living room, love having my people over to watch a movie and chill.

This place is still really nice, and the internet’s never failed me. I’ve just outgrown it, the owner wants to charge me more, and I’m spending money fixing this up for her as it is. I can get a four bedroom in the city, have guest rooms, full office, library, place not falling apart, security guard, sick security system, a lawn for my dog to run around. It’d be nice to be 5 minutes from a school instead of an hour. I really need to start studying Spanish. I’m at that point I should really be speaking more. I can do the basics, pleasantries, asking basic questions, ordering food, guiding a taxi, making a few jokes with people…but I still get confused when people go rapid fire on me. Plus getting student status here would really help me legally. I’ve been here long enough that I’m at that point Costa Rica wants to know what the hell I’m doing here. Kind of hard to say you’re still on vacation when they open your passport to 22 different entry stamps.

So that’s really been stealing my focus the last couple weeks, budgeting how much I want to spend on my new office, then realizing I need new internet hook ups and real estate. I’ve been making pretty decent money on Stars and Merge, so I’ve gotten lazy about getting onto Party. Well, I also just don’t have much screen space. I’m debating getting two 30″s, just because Naza114 has been bragging about his dual 27″s and I want to shut his Portuguese ass up. I don’t know if that’d be excessive however, and paying the taxes for electronics here is annoying as hell. Two 24″s would probably work, or one 30″. I think I should just spring for a ton of screen space, because I think I could manage a ton of different sites then…just being able to read the stats really fast and everything. Then my dream grind pad would be complete. I could justify grinding at home 99% of the time, since most live buy-ins wouldn’t come close to my online hourly.

I don’t know why that’s so important to me. I love to be in different places, but I’m sick of travelling. I know, rich white people problems, but when you just broke yourself for four years playing so many live events, only to finish like 13th through 7th five or six different times , you grow to hate them. I’d rather go to a country and not play cards at all, just walk around and take the city in. I still love PCA, and I’m sure I’ll be out for the Main Event, but otherwise I’d rather chill at home, with my music, my podcasts, all the stats in the world, and tournaments upon tournaments to outdo the variance.

The last 20 sessions or so I’ve played, I think 70% of them have been profitable. Of course, I’m running well, but I can fine tune my game really well with huge HEM databases. I can fold A-Jo to a cutoff open with 17x and I know when to shove 7-4 suited for 26 BBs. I’ve done the math, I have 1k hands on you, it’s done. Live….uhhhhh, well hell, I’ve played fifty hands with you, I think you’re doing this but…uhhhh…well…we’ll see.

I like being able to go to my girlfriend’s place after I’m done working and just hang out, talk with her family a little, watch a movie, eat a home cooked meal. I feel almost normal, not like some guy who blows or wins thousands every day. On the road, you’re kind of always out of sorts. I don’t trust myself to really drink or anything anymore, so I just walk around, or work at nights on my laptop. You’re laying around some crap hotel (or I am because I’m cheap as hell). I love live tournaments, and seeing different places, but it costs so much, and there’s so much variance. I want to make more bread and butter bets, every day.

So yeah, been focusing on becoming a student, getting a new place, ramping up a new office, and then getting on a bunch more sites. Until then the Stars grind has been good to me. Also enjoying getting a lot of lessons in. Got three hours in today, and got three more lined up on Monday. If you want to get your hour or two done hit me up at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com. I have some extra time on Monday, would be nice to fill out the day a little more.

I just realized one of the guys who physically threatened me in an email for publishing too much in my videos and articles is actually…a huge player. A guy I used to talk to every day. I didn’t recognize his real name. It makes me sad, I hadn’t hit him up in a long time, but I thought him and I were friends. The guy’s done strategy podcasts and videos himself. I don’t like public crap, so I’m not going to say who he is or anything, I just thought you guys should know…Pocketfives Training puts everything out there. This guy’s training site, he obviously holds a lot back, and he’s one of their premiere pros.

Yeah he said if I didn’t stop giving out info he’d mess me up good at some live event. Hope he doesn’t read the Bluff article I just sent in. (See how I shamelessly plugged Pocketfives Training again there?)

But for real, I don’t know if he was out at PCA, but that’s kind of stupid shit to be saying. Phil Galfond made videos (well…before his site kicked him off without telling him. Is that what happened? I think that’s what I saw him Tweet), and I’m not 1/10th the player that guy is…I mean sure we’re making the games harder but there’s always guys who rise above all of them. For all I think I know hundreds of cash regs could probably hand me my ass in a bunch of different spots. If I want to get over that I have to study those spots, seek out specific instances where I’m getting owned, I have to carve out the time in my week. I don’t just watch a vid and get it, I have to watch 20 vids and then consciously note the situations, and then maybe I’ll get it. The people who are going to get a lot from training videos were going to get it from somewhere.

Being in business for yourself means diversifying your bets. I start with sure things most days, paid hours, paid programming, paid writing. Then I move into the smaller bets with small returns, work them every day. Once every few months I make a big investment for potentially a huge payoff. Doyle Brunson wrote Super System, you going to go after him? He started it. Where would 99% of regulars be without training videos and forums? It’s just the new era, you can profit from it, or privately not like it. What you can’t do is stop it.

Anyways, I’ve wasted a good hour writing here. Was nice to separate my thoughts again. I had a year or so there it was really difficult for me to blog. It’s nice to feel like everything’s rolling right now. Enjoying playing, making money, having good sessions with my students that teach me too, hanging out with my fam here…I feel real blessed to have my work and good people to hang out with.

I’m probably not going to play much this week, if at all. I’ve been feeling real good all year, and I think that’s shown in my play, but man…I just felt exhausted the other day mentally. I’m kind of weird about work, I don’t consider it work, I just want to work on something from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep, so it’s really easy for me to log 60-80 hours each week. Once every month or two it just really comes down on me. So, I don’t take time off really…I’m uploading videos as I write this…but I focus on low-stress things for a few days, just getting my things in order.

I did get a chance to get out to a volanco here on Valentine’s day with my girl. City was really in the country, there were nothing that wasn’t family-owned. It’s funny to me thinking that the world’s best poker player could live here in 20 years, this hidden little pueblo. Poker doesn’t care about skin color, where you grew up, sexuality, religion, anything. It’s like a sci fi novel, anyone with a internet connection can compete.

It was real windy at the top, but fun to walk around this crater. Actually caught The Walking Dead at night too.

All right, I’ve spew written for an hour or so, this was fun, talk to y’all later.

My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, hit me up for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato

Check Out My New Site Pokerheadrush.com For My Blogs

Wow, that was a trip.

I felt really slow on Sunday. I don't know why but I just hit a wall. I didn't sleep well or something. I was getting more frustrated with myself by the minute. I couldn't...put my thoughts together. My feel was just off. My girlfriend saw me getting pissed and said "stop registering" so I did. I unregged everything for the last four hours of my session, except the high roller on Merge because I've decided I love that tournament.

She cooked for me something delicious and cheered me up a bit. With less tables I was able to focus more. I talked with her, laughed a bit, felt better. She watched 21 Grams in the other room. Normally I'd have my headphones on but I listened to the dialogue for a little while. Listening to an ex-con zealously try to get on the right track reminded me poker life is pretty sweet, even on the days you lose what you used to make in five months.

Eventually I could focus on my last few tables...and I had fun again. I ran really well too. I had a bunch of my friends railing...and I want to be on when they watch, because they keep me on my game. They dissect every decision. They look over my HHs. They make me explain every action. They teach me. It's really good to have my circle of friends in poker, because alone in my office...I can blow off a decision. I've worn down every pleasure center. I've killed every cell involved in risk aversion. I don't...get it. I don't worry. I don't feel it. I don't get it. I like to solve puzzles, that's all.

Naza114 and I were talking the other day, and we were talking about how you can't take a hand off anymore. People play really well. If you don't take every pot that you can, if you don't empty the clip when you know the barrel will work...these guys will get you know. These kids play good.

For a long time I just showed up, and figured if I played well the money would come. That worked for years. It doesn't anymore. I have to challenge myself to play better every session.

I'm glad I have Pocketfives Training because there's no kidding myself. I posted my WCOOP 5k HH, a tournament I played antsy because I hadn't played in months, and boom the decisions are there for everyone to see. A retarded call down, an anxious call out of position, an overly loose play, I can't hide it. But when I pull off some of the other maneuvers I get to think aloud about why it worked. In my head, in my office, with only my voice - I can kid myself. Most humans are word class bullshitters. We do things half assed and say it's our best, and then wonder why that other guy's got it. It's because he doesn't perceive that he has anything. There's always that voice telling him to study some film, put in those hours.

I just feel blessed things are really coming together now. Cashings checks, sending money to my family and my friends who helped me out before, putting money in savings, upgrading the office, putting food in the fridge...I don't know it just feels good. I lost so damn much between all my horses accounts and mine with Full Tilt, I struggled in the wake of Black Friday...I was just winded, devastated, not feeling my best, feeling like a year of my life had been knocked out in one night, and nobody cared. It's not like I felt the pain consciously but there's something hard about going "a year of 80 hour weeks is gone." I love my work, and I learned from that time, but...damn you feel like you reach this mountaintop, and you got there clear headed for once, and you just get your ass knocked back on down to base camp in one day. What are you going to do?

One other thing coming together is Kingdom of Poker, another project I've been working on. Our official launch is February 8th, but you can get $10.00 free if you sign up before then. To claim this bonus, use the deposit bonus code “CASH10”, make a minimum of a $20 deposit and get an extra $10 credited in your Kingdom of Poker real money account instantly. No playing is necessary to clear this bonus. The “CASH10” deposit bonus will be credited instantly and can be used anywhere in our cardroom. However, players are not able to withdraw the $10 bonus until 288 Kingdom Points have been earned. Each resident can only use the “CASH10” bonus code once. On top of that, we are also offering a 100% deposit bonus up to $1000. Simply use the bonus code “FREE1000” when making your deposit.

Just click on this link if you're interested:

http://www.kingdomofpoker.com/?a_aid=d3bf4e2a&a_bid=40_d64954f6

And thank you in advance for checking out projects I'm a part of. Oh, and it should be noted, Kingdom Of Poker at this time does not accept US citizens living in the US.

But yeah it's just been good. I hope this blog doesn't come off as gloating. I just try to write to have a record of what's going on, and to have a mental line check. I really appreciate how people check out my lessons, my P5s Training videos, hopefully Kingdom Of Poker, and my articles. It's hard to make money in this economy. So many of my friends with real degrees are having a hard time finding a job that pays well. Even though work in this business can oftentimes be on spec, I just feel really lucky to be working and healthy, doing something I like.

Anyways, I should probably get grinding this 1k Tuesday. I farted around already most of Monday. Well, I got some lessons done. I'm having a harder time fitting in a bunch of lessons with a full MTT schedule, so I think I'm going to have to take two days to do a ton here soon. I also gotta bang out more P5s vids, finish the WCOOP series. But yeah I got a bunch of lessons done. I took my dog to get his first hair cut. The assholes shaved him up to look like a chick poodle. He didn't look anything like the cool dog I'd had for seven months.

Anyways, while they were wrecking my perro's chances of getting laid I went to this park near the place, got a smoothie, and read a high high level poker player's e-book on my tablet . A lot of it was repetitive or stuff I didn't think would work in the games anymore. There were other sections where the guy was clearly holding back, because anyone with proficiency with HEM would know how to work some of the things he was talking about, and he claimed total ignorance, or "try this three times on your opponent." But yeah, there were some really interesting line ideas. Just stuff that got me really thinking. I guess it wasn't much of a day off, but it feels like a huge opportunity to learn some real ideas as far as No Limit Hold'em.

It makes me feel better about my decision to stay in tournaments. I think I can make more money here. There's no way in hell the regs see some ideas ahead of time. They play really well, but finite stacks mean your learning will be stunted in certain areas. I'd get eaten alive at higher stakes cash games, but except for when NeverscaredB owns me, I really feel like I'm handling myself well in MTTs, and I'm happy to still be hanging in there when so many of my old friends have given up or been grinded out.

Check Out My New Site Pokerheadrush.com For My Blogs

I’ll Be The Tinfoil In Your Microwave

Posted by Alex Fitzgerald on February 2, 2012 · Leave a Comment (Edit)

I took a refrigerator box out of my storage and put it in front of the windows in my office. Normally I liked the view of the nature but lately the sun has been shining right in my eyes. I don’t know if my neighbor cut down a tree or what, but it was driving me insane. My office looks more like a geek hang out now but it seemed to be conducive to productive play.

I took Monday off because I played a 17 hour Sunday and I was completely wrecked. Tuesday I just didn’t have it. I don’t know what was with me but I made a lot of subpar decisions. That really pissed me off because every day you play bad in this game you’re going to have to make up with another day, so in effect you’ve lost two days, since you’re going to have to grind those losses back.

A little annoyed with myself I went hard on Wednesday, and ended up making three final tables in the late 100r, the 30 quad, and the $50 6-max turbo. I ended up winning the 30 Quad for $4.6K, so that was really fun. It’s always nice to get that all-powerful feeling when you’re running amazing, all your bluffs are working, and you get three streets when you finally have it. I just like winning too, the process of working down from hundreds if not thousands of players to just a couple, to taking their stack little by little. I guess it appeases the competitor in me. I like busting people, or the threat of me being busted. Cash games are great and all, but I like there to be that threat of, “if you’re wrong there’s no coming back to this table. You’ll have to fight for hours again to get another shot at me.”

I was a little pissed off about the other final tables. I just lost flips, but in pretty horrific fashion. I got it in with 33 against AK for the chip lead at the $50 6-max final table, flopped the set, then got runner runnered. I also had A-6o to a guy’s KQ on the 100r bubble, the board came A-6-3, turn J, river 10. That same guy ended up coolering me a bit later, so instead of coming into the biggest final table with a chip lead stack I limped in with 20 BBs, ran it up to 35, then ran TT into JJ.

It’s one of the maddening things about tournament poker. You play hours and hours and the difference between a 20K profit week and nothing is a couple of hands. You feel fortunate to even get in those spots.

I’m in a similar position this week. Pretty much break even heading into the weekend. I’m happy to be keeping out of makeup but I’m focused now. I have no distractions. I have a girlfriend whose supported me from private beaches to flop houses, and I want to make her proud. My whole family believes in me, I know what game I have, but I’ve never been a professional. I’ve never been sober, on my shit, and saving my dollars. I’ve been a clown, only making money to further my partying habits. Now it’s time for the real deal, to be a real professional, and…this last year has been a variance concussion. Making six figures over 80 hour weeks for nine months, and watching it all swept away in a day on Black Friday, struggling to make a profit live and on Pokerstars, spinning so many plates with my other businesses.

Now there’s no makeup, there’s money coming in, and no project I’m working on needs a cash injection. It’s that little headway I’ve been hauling ass for.

And my game, I feel my game on point right now. I still can mess up, but its happening less and less. I’m building up and having a good time every time I play. I love the sweats, I love working on the problems, and now I just want to flesh everything out.

I took today off to do some budgets, pay some bills, work on some other business stuff, clean my house a bit (OCD FTW), pick up my meds, talk to the academy I’m hoping to attend, maybe shoot a video for p5s, and…yeah, there’s a lot of things I need to take care of. I don’t like taking days off right now but I got a lot of things to figure out, and I don’t like that being on my mind while I work.

Also was nice to kick back and read a book. I finished this one called Ready Player One. Essentially, in a post-apocalyptic future (which is sadly really easy to imagine) people are unable to travel due to the high price of gas and its difficult to walk around the real world because most people are starving and poor, ravenously stealing from others. So people exist in this kind of Matrix, this MMORPG, this perfect simulated world, called the OASIS.

The game’s creator, a multibillionaire reclusive mental patient with a penchant for old school video games and movies, announces that after he dies he will be leaving his entire fortune to one lucky person, who…if they can discover the Easter Egg he hid in his game…will be given his entire fortune and control of the world’s favorite simulated existence.

A subculture opens up with people studying all the art this man was interested in before he died, since he tells the world that knowledge of his interests will give you hints on where the egg is located, and will also get you past the challenges he has set up. The OASIS’s competitor corporation obviously takes a huge interest in the contest, seeing as they could gain majority control and billions of dollars of their competition should they win it. The world becomes infatuated with this race.

There’s some parts of the book that are decidedly heavy, but the majority of it was like drinking a Coke with real sugar…just sweet. I had a lot of fun reading the book. The dude writing it gets really preachy at a couple different points, and that bugged me, but it was just really creative and well written, and a treat for anyone who is as big of a geek as me. There’s so many references for kids who grew up as a gamers, anime-lovers, hackers, movie hounds, etc.

I feel real lucky just to chill and read books, have my peaceful little abode here in the mountains. Probably the wealthiest I’ve ever felt in my life, even though compared to where I was…I’m broke as hell right now. It’s just so chill to kick back with my dog laying on my belly, reading a book on my tablet. My girlfriend’s the greatest, getting me a tablet to read books on (so helpful in a country where books in English are hard to find), and a dog to hang out with while I’m reading. It’s definitely really helpful when taking a break can help you recharge for the next game.