Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again
I realize that I am never content where I am. When I went to the movies with my parents as a child, I'd be asking my father where we would be going afterwards, before the previews had started. When I lived in Brooklyn, I wanted to try Los Angeles. When I got to Los Angeles, I missed New York badly.
Whenever I spend more than a week in Vegas, I long to be back home in Southern California, and when I get back to my apartment in Santa Monica, catching up on my DVR and smoking too much pot, I desire to be removed from it all, sitting next to a stream somewhere. I've been home for less than a month, and I can't wait to get the fuck out of here, again.
Compounding my desire to resume traveling the poker circuit is the absence of my girlfriend, Sheila, who left for Midland, Texas almost two weeks ago to work on a TV production. For the next month, she'll be working seven days a week as a PM for a forthcoming reality-TV show about oil-riggers, stranded in the middle of nowhere but extremely busy. And for the past two weeks, I've regressed into the ass-backwards lifestyle that simulates my former existence as a single 20-something, the dishes piling up, my takeout options becoming less appealing, the apartment festooned with various forms of debris.
Although it's a mostly selfish realization of the many things she does to make my life smoother, and how inept I am at functioning without her, I'm also acquainted with the emptiness that she must experience at times, alone at home, with a boyfriend who is often on the road and unavailable. It's also regrettable that Sheila has been unable to join me on the more memorable poker trips of 2007--specifically, Australia and Monte Carlo/Dublin. It's always due to work obligations--and Sheila is not the sort of girl to sacrifice her ever-increasing career opportunities just to hang out in a casino in downtown Melbourne--but I still feel bad that she has recently been deprived of one of the distinct benefits of being a "poker wife," luxury travel.
For the most part, we do strike a good balance in our relationship, and I think both of our personalities demand a significant amount of independence and space, so the poker mode works out for us. I think she likes it when I'm out of the house for little stretches and there is no one to cook for, nor online-poker noises to distract from her umpteenth attempt to read Anna Karenina.
For me, I believe the mental space of flying solo is occasionally important at times while I'm playing poker on the road, although I do enjoy it when she accompanies me on poker trips. I suppose that it would be nice to be a wealthy man, wealthy enough for his girl to quit her job and join him full time on the road, but I don't think Sheila would even be into that for too long; and, of course, it's always nice to have a partner who is bringing in $2k/week when you're losing $2k/day.
***
Point is, I am chomping at the bit to go to LAX tomorrow at midnight and get to Gulfport, MS early on Wednesday morning, and to play the new WPT event that the Beau Rivage is hosting the next day. After that, I'm going back to New York City for a few days before heading down to the Borgata, returning to NYC again and then going to the Caribbean for events in Turks and Caicos and Aruba at the turn of the month. It looks like a packed, but well-balanced, schedule for September, and Sheila will be getting back to LA right around the same time that I am.
Looking forward, I am considering trying to attend the new WPT Barcelona, the EPT Dublin, and the Amsterdam Masters Classics, especially if Sheila is able to get away for any of those trips. I have almost no interest in the Foxwoods or Niagara Falls events this year.
***
In entertainment news, a new version of one of my favorite movies, DA Pennebaker's Don't Look Back, was released this summer, and it features a Revisited disc with 90-minutes worth of fresh footage from the same '65 tour documented in the original release. In the supplemental addition, we see a less abrasive Dylan offstage and some truly beautiful, crisp musical numbers onstage. There's also more of the casually fascinating glimpses of Albert Grossman and the hanging-around-the-hotel-room-with-Allen Ginsberg-type moments that fans of the original will appreciate.
The new Showtime show Californication is great. David Duchovny plays a guy exactly like me, if I were published and successful, got laid every time I stepped outside, and if I still possessed the same caustic, embittered-but-sharp attitude that characterized my late teens and early twenties. So, actually, he's the precise opposite of me, but the fantasy is still tangible, and it's very well-executed: the angry young man transposed into someone experiencing a midlife crisis and enduring a creative void. The characters are vivid, both unique and realistic, and the potential to create exciting plot lines with them has been established by the third episode.
Whenever I spend more than a week in Vegas, I long to be back home in Southern California, and when I get back to my apartment in Santa Monica, catching up on my DVR and smoking too much pot, I desire to be removed from it all, sitting next to a stream somewhere. I've been home for less than a month, and I can't wait to get the fuck out of here, again.
Compounding my desire to resume traveling the poker circuit is the absence of my girlfriend, Sheila, who left for Midland, Texas almost two weeks ago to work on a TV production. For the next month, she'll be working seven days a week as a PM for a forthcoming reality-TV show about oil-riggers, stranded in the middle of nowhere but extremely busy. And for the past two weeks, I've regressed into the ass-backwards lifestyle that simulates my former existence as a single 20-something, the dishes piling up, my takeout options becoming less appealing, the apartment festooned with various forms of debris.
Although it's a mostly selfish realization of the many things she does to make my life smoother, and how inept I am at functioning without her, I'm also acquainted with the emptiness that she must experience at times, alone at home, with a boyfriend who is often on the road and unavailable. It's also regrettable that Sheila has been unable to join me on the more memorable poker trips of 2007--specifically, Australia and Monte Carlo/Dublin. It's always due to work obligations--and Sheila is not the sort of girl to sacrifice her ever-increasing career opportunities just to hang out in a casino in downtown Melbourne--but I still feel bad that she has recently been deprived of one of the distinct benefits of being a "poker wife," luxury travel.
For the most part, we do strike a good balance in our relationship, and I think both of our personalities demand a significant amount of independence and space, so the poker mode works out for us. I think she likes it when I'm out of the house for little stretches and there is no one to cook for, nor online-poker noises to distract from her umpteenth attempt to read Anna Karenina.
For me, I believe the mental space of flying solo is occasionally important at times while I'm playing poker on the road, although I do enjoy it when she accompanies me on poker trips. I suppose that it would be nice to be a wealthy man, wealthy enough for his girl to quit her job and join him full time on the road, but I don't think Sheila would even be into that for too long; and, of course, it's always nice to have a partner who is bringing in $2k/week when you're losing $2k/day.
***
Point is, I am chomping at the bit to go to LAX tomorrow at midnight and get to Gulfport, MS early on Wednesday morning, and to play the new WPT event that the Beau Rivage is hosting the next day. After that, I'm going back to New York City for a few days before heading down to the Borgata, returning to NYC again and then going to the Caribbean for events in Turks and Caicos and Aruba at the turn of the month. It looks like a packed, but well-balanced, schedule for September, and Sheila will be getting back to LA right around the same time that I am.
Looking forward, I am considering trying to attend the new WPT Barcelona, the EPT Dublin, and the Amsterdam Masters Classics, especially if Sheila is able to get away for any of those trips. I have almost no interest in the Foxwoods or Niagara Falls events this year.
***
In entertainment news, a new version of one of my favorite movies, DA Pennebaker's Don't Look Back, was released this summer, and it features a Revisited disc with 90-minutes worth of fresh footage from the same '65 tour documented in the original release. In the supplemental addition, we see a less abrasive Dylan offstage and some truly beautiful, crisp musical numbers onstage. There's also more of the casually fascinating glimpses of Albert Grossman and the hanging-around-the-hotel-room-with-Allen Ginsberg-type moments that fans of the original will appreciate.
The new Showtime show Californication is great. David Duchovny plays a guy exactly like me, if I were published and successful, got laid every time I stepped outside, and if I still possessed the same caustic, embittered-but-sharp attitude that characterized my late teens and early twenties. So, actually, he's the precise opposite of me, but the fantasy is still tangible, and it's very well-executed: the angry young man transposed into someone experiencing a midlife crisis and enduring a creative void. The characters are vivid, both unique and realistic, and the potential to create exciting plot lines with them has been established by the third episode.
posted by Shane Schleger at 12:30 PM
18 Comments:
shane i usually limit are brief interweb interactions to 2+2, but your blog is great and i have been really enjoying "californication" as well, but it is funny to me that we both see ourselves in hank and we are very different. i think in a strange what this is what i like about you the most.
thanks for a the great blog. J.Brown
the blog is back with one of the most honest and sincere posts to date. good luck!
i really think you are overrated as a writer.
awesome stuff, Shane. Glad you found your computer amidst the debris.
FU Shane for being such a sick writer. Whoever says you are overrated should sign their comments or bite me (no, that he would actually enjoy) - ok, should rly just GTFO. <3 this blog.
I'm glad to see a new post, and for your extremely delayed acknowledgment of the [little] woman behind the man. Best wishes to you both, and good luck in your forthcoming travels.
I've been reading this blog for a while and it's nice to see you back again. I hope you find the motivation to update more often in the near future.
It's usually a pleasure to read about the poker circuit from someone with a different perspective on things, and a good way of expressing himself.
Good luck, kick ass, keep it real, post as much as possible, etc, etc.
thanks for the link home slice
you write good
Good stuff, I've only read your blog sporadically but this is a very good read. Don't Look Back is a brilliant documentary.
Keep posting.
You need to write a book. I'll pre-order at Amazon. Love your writing. You poker isn't bad either.
Good to see another post Shane! I think you should check out Tom Robbins, perhaps the best novelist our day. His use of metaphors will blow you away. Check him out. My personal favorite is Skinny Legs and All, but all of his books are incredible. Good luck on your poker tour overseas, be safe and responsible.
Nice blog!!!
More people should read it. If you want, you can register your blog at www.pokerweblogs.com. It is free and and it automatically updates when you do an update, so visitors of our site can see when you updated your blog. The big advantage is that it will attract MUCH more visitors to your blog.
I dig the blog Shane. Keep up the good work and I love your writing style.
I enjoy reading your posts, always.
What I found interesting is that your tone goes up and down with your bankroll.
So, don't overbook the tournaments and, please, last longer...
Pokerweblogs.com scans all poker weblogs in the world, for your convenience. In that way you are always the first to know when there is exciting news! And this is also the perfect way to attract more visitors to your own blog
Relationships go far deeper than the +/- of poker and the situations that it creates...women dig who you are much more than what you do - don't lose sight of that during the illusions that poker/wealth creates...best wishes,
JazzPoker.
Post a Comment
<< Home