May The Force Be With...a whole bunch of nerds

So I just got back from Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. Midnight showing opening night. Drew, Mare, and I were in the huge theater with 500 nerds. Mike and Ian were in the next screen over. Costume contests, light-up light-saber spoons, and $4 bottled water. Cheering at intro music, wookie groans, and jedi jokes. Ah what an evening.

All in all, the movie was pretty awesome. Good fights, a little bit better action, no Jar Jar. Definitely see it. Maybe twice. Okay, off to get five hours of sleep.

Oh also, I just bought Mitch's (RIP) first CD "Strategic Grill Locations" from 2002. He tells the ant joke "I got an ant farm, but those guys don't farm shit." But he hasn't invented the "plus if I rip off your leg you'll look like snowmen" part yet, which he says is the part he added on "Mitch All Together."

Cashing Out

So my sister gave me guff and reminded me that a functioning blog needs continuous entries. I guess I got lazy and kind of half forgot / half neglected writing an entry. Here’s a Matt update (a Mupdate?).

One thing that I am currently thinking to do is to stop playing poker. I think I’m going to go on a temporary hiatus for a month or three and then evaluate what I want to do. So far in the 136 days of 2005, I’ve played poker for 216 hours. That averages to one hour and thirty-six minutes per day. I’m not sure I’m the same person who 22 months ago liked to figure out the strategy and be the cool guy that plays poker. I still like aspects about it, and I did F-ing own Johning F-ing Chan at the WSOP. I just feel there are other things I want to do that the time might service better. The activities include:

Writing and Reading- I someday hope to write a movie. I have purchased some novels and collections of modern short stories. I need to read them. I also hope to start writing some short stories, creating some characters, and see how things go. Two friends from high school who I had BITD (back in the day) talked about making movies with are graduating now and I need to be proactive if we’re ever going to do anything.

Music- For a period of three or four months my junior year of college, I started playing my roommate Brenda’s piano. I played for many years as a kid and felt I was forced. Now, I actually want to play. Those few months were fun, and then in late October my roommate broke my leg. I had a hard time getting up and down the stairs and couldn’t get to the piano, and then I got sidetracked and lost my desire to play. But the desire is back, and today I went and looked at buying a guy’s used piano.

Sports and Exercise- Sitting on my ass for an hour and a half every day for the past 22 months playing poker seems to have taken up time that I played sports (which did include semi-professional neighborhood croquet for two years. When Brian moves back to Oregon, he, Kirk, and I need to have a rematch battle royale). Anyways, the year before Brian broke my leg, I had trained all summer for the Hood to Coast distance relay race and had taken multiple tennis, basketball, and running PE classes. I just remember feeling so healthy. And I never got sick, not even sniffles.

So that’s about it. To wrap up: No poker for a bit. More reading. More writing. Maybe a piano (note to new roommates JJ and Terry: a digital piano, the kind where I can plug in headphones). And more sports and running. And more blog postings. Oh yeah, and in two weeks I’m moving in with two buddies, JJ and Terry, who live up in the Sylvan Hills, like halfway between Beaverton and downtown Portland.

Oh Cold Pizza, that's just cold

So here's my morning routine. Alarm goes off at 7:00, 7:09, 7:18, and 7:27 (and sometime 7:36). I take a shower, and then I watch Sportscenter/Cold Pizza while I get ready (until 8:00). Go downstairs and pack my bag/eat breakfast/watch more sports until 8:20 and leave for work.

So a couple of weeks ago, I think the co-hosts of ESPN2's Cold Pizza, Kit Hoover and Thea Andrews died. I can't otherwise rationally explain where they went. Kit, I could have done without. She was entertaining, but Thea was a good announcer/journalist/good-looking lady (I noticed no ring--I think she's available).

All of a sudden the bring in this new lady, with a weird haircut. I don't even know her name. www.coldpizza.tv only has info about Jay, Woody, and Skip. So they canned Kit and Thea, brought in weird hair lady, and every once and a while Linda Cohn does the show for a few days. Not that I don't like Linda, because I do, it's just that it looks like Cold Pizza can't make a decision/has no faith in their female co-anchors. I hate when shows do this. Switching up the talent without explanation like I'm not going to notice.

If anyone knows what happened to Thea, let me know. And if she is unimployed, I might be able to offer her a summer internship as my assistant. It's unpaid, though.

Rid's Kids

So lately I've been taking impromptu nighttime naps. I'm not planning these naps. They just happen and it's messing up my sleep schedule. And they're not the most comfortable naps either--they're kind where you wake up draped awkwardly on the couch and your neck has a hangover.

Now these have been happening mostly during the 6:00pm or 7:30pm NBA playoff games. And three times in the past week I've drifted off with my team ahead by double digits, only to wake up in the last minute or two of the game with my team barely holding a lead. Like the Mavs in Game 5. All of a sudden I wake up, have no clue what's going on, but T-Mac is shooting a freethrow, down 3 points, with 7 seconds to go. Tonight, I wake up with 45 seconds left to see Seattle win by 4. Somehow, my internal clock must be able to judge potential game-winning Sportscenter top plays and wake me up to watch them.


Also, let's give it up for my boy Rid today. Nice 18-foot jump shots off the dribble, nice assists, and what about the harlem globetrotters steal behind the back no look pass. That's my boy, Rid! And yes, "my boy", and not just because he was a duck too. I saw him at a party once, AND I talked to him once in a Business minor class. He missed the first day of class, and sat next to me on the second day in the back corner. The material sounded harder than it was (especially if you missed the first class) and at the 10 minute class break, Rid said to me "F*** this" and left. He never came back to class. He just walked out. We could have been friends. Could have been study buddies.

After we became best friends, he would have asked me if I thought he should leave college a year early for the draft. I would have supported his decision. And although I would stay my last year to get my degree, I would have moved in with him in Seattle after I graduated. I would have been the white guy in the third row at Key Arena wearing the baby blue Fubu track suit, not paying attention to half the game because I'm two-waying Sir Mix a Lot and Chopper from DaBand on my Tmobile Sidekick. Oh what? Hell yeah, we know Chopper. And we know Dylan too, but he's got a 'tude. That kid is just trouble, man.

I could have been a part of someone's Posse. Rid's posse-- Rid's Kids (that's what we would have called ourselves). Me, Nate Jolly, and Ben Lindquist--Rid's Kids.