The Amazing Pain
Monday, May 05, 2008
Adam Carolla, after entering Dancing with the Stars, encouraged his radio show listeners to go out and try something new. He correctly pointed out that as we become adults, we begin to eschew the things that we are not good at and don't challenge ourselves to explore new areas. Think of the kid who is forced to play soccer or take piano lessons. That kid isn't necessarily good at either thing, but because its a kid, he/she doesn't have a choice and ergo is forced to expand his/her horizons.
This weekend could be seen as Jordan expanding his horizons; or it could be seen as Jordan self-harming for money.
Several months ago, wifey Kim and my mutual friend, B, asked wifey Kim to be his partner in a race around NYC. The race was fashioned around the reality show, The Amazing Race. For $25, up to 20 teams of two enter the race with a top prize of $250. B's friend is a nut for The Amazing Race, going to each season wrap-up party and saw this as a fun opportunity to play a lesser version of the game. He mentioned it to B and B knew that wifey Kim was a fan of the show. Hence, team K-B.
Naturally, that left me teammateless, so I turned to wifey Kim's bro, Marc. Brother-in-law Marc is a competitive mofo, and he is in better shape than me, playing softball weekly. He also has more natural athletic abilities, which isn't saying much, since I have the physical coordination of an awkward 12 year-old blind girl.
The race started 10am in the morning in Battery Park, down by my apartment. In each leg of the race, we would be given clues to our next location; at each location, we were given tasks to complete.
As soon as we got our first task, I hit the ground at breakneck speed. I was going to work with wifey Kim's team, at least to start, but my excitement level was too high and I left her and B in the dust, as Marc and I went looking for a statute. All we had was a photo and a five square block radius, but since the statue is located on the trip between my home and the Wall Street Game, we found it in no time. From there, we headed to the Empire State Bldg, then to Morningside Park, the Bronx, and back through about 6 different stops through Manhattan. Highlights included eating the worst caviar ever in an eating competition, and riding around a public race track riding a face wooden horse...with b-i-l Marc.
When it was all said and done, Marc and I took 7th place out of 15, after making two fatal subway errors (exiting at the wrong stop and going to a shut-down station) that collectively cost us 1 hour. We were only behind 1st by 35 minutes. But we had an amazing time and I haven't ran or sweat that much in years.
That night, I was hoping to see a certain blogger in town for his birthday, but I was in no condition to go out. I certainly couldn't drink, as that would only aggravate my cramping muscles; but worse, I could barely walk. I literally spent the rest of the night on the couch trying not to stand or walk. My apologies to that blogger. I don't have his phone number, but if I did, I would have called him personally to wish him a happy birthday.
Yesterday was no better. Both of my calves were sore as hell and a bruise on the arc/heel of my right foot made standing and walking into a chore. Even so, I met wifey Kim's friends out for brunch and then headed to the office.
When I got home later, I put some more money on at FT and player two tournaments. The first was a 90 person $10 turbo, deepstack knockout tournament. I placed 19th (9 pay) when my AJ fell to KQ. I had played great until then, though, racking up three bounties for $6, mostly through well timed overwhelming aggression. It felt great.
I later turned $6 into a token (perhaps for the MATH tonight?) at a 6-person SNG. Once again, I chose to eschew fear for well timed aggression, at times making plays based on reads, position and the flow of the game, rather than my cards.
I'm feeling great about my poker game, but I'm a tad disappointed that I do not have any opportunities to play live for a while. I'll be in AC the weekend of May 16th, and the Wednesday before that, I will be at the Wall Street Game for a 23Skidoo invitational. But until then, I guess online poker will have to do.
Oh, and I'm still in a lot of pain. Walking is still a chore and my calves are killing me. At least the arc/heel bruise doesn't hurt as much.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 11:56 AM,
