Why blog the good stuff?

Well things have been going pretty well in comedy and poker. Sunday I went out for one of my buddies birthdays. I was kind of shocked it was just me and one girl that made it out. He has a lot of friends, so I didn't get why no one else was there. He got a little drunk and was telling me how it was his best birthday in a long time. Kind of sad. As much as I think I've had trouble meeting friends and finding good people out here, I know I've had good birthdays before. Looking back to my last few birthdays I don't think I've done anything. I know 2 years ago I just went out with a girl I was dating. I remember because we went to the grocery store, and all we bought was condoms, a bottle of jager, and gum. It was interesting. Last year I don't even recall what I did. I know I worked, and then I think I went out with a few people who weren't really my friends and got drunk early. So I guess basically birthdays are over rated and guys don't really care.
Anyways I advanced to the finals of San Diego's funniest contest. It was cool, I got first again. I had 2 people there to support me. I didn't really tell anyone as I gambled and hoped I could advance without. I felt I had a pretty solid set, there was about one miny joke that didn't go well but overall I think I did well. I am promoting hard for the finals and I will find out how many true friends I have. I have a lot of shows and really ask people to come, I'm hoping people will realize how much this could do for me and will show up.
Tuesday I hosted the new material night at the Palace. I filled in for a dude, and kind of wish I declined. It was kind of boring and I should have played poker. I know I can't expect to make money from doing shows but hosting is kind of a lot of work. You have to constantly go up and keep the show on time. I would have liked to have been offered a beer or something. Winston's may not be the best room or best audience but we at least take care of the people that help make the show.
Anyways poker is good. I've made money both days I've played. I think I may go play now, haven't decided. I should have made more money on Wednesday. I made what turned out to be a bad call and played a little loose for the next 30 minutes or so and lost around 200$. I have to fix that pride aspect to make myself a better player.

Hosting and roasting...

Well I hosted the show at Winston's on Friday. I know I'm not the best host in the world but I think I'm a good host at Winston's. We're always pushed for time, so I basically just go up there say good job, and now the next guy. It always annoys me when a host does a bunch of time between each comedian. There's a comic, who everyone thinks is a great host, but in my opinion I think he goes on to long. He's a funny guy, but I think the hosts job is not to be funny, his job is to set up the next the comic to spike the audience with laughter. (Lame I know) I made a few inside jokes to introduce a few comics. I think that can be a good idea, because while the audience may not laugh it may ease the nervs or tension of the comic coming on stage. I did this with one comic. Most people say this guy is the personal favorite of me, I instead said he was a personal favorite of another comic. He then said give it up for your host "insert local comic's name" light. While this comic he refered me to is a good guy and funny, I kinda wonder what he meant by that. I know he was just kidding and don't really care, I am just curious, oh well.
The audience was kind of tough. They were there for one comic and basically talked the entire show and didn't pay attention to anyone until he got on. I tried some new jokes and a few jokes I rarely do. I did ok considering. They changed the lights a little bit, and I didn't wear my glasses so I could barely see out in the audience. I had a few awkward moments on stage. That happens sometimes when I don't plan my set at all and want to do newer jokes.
The guy that headlined is a really solid comic, and a good guy as well. He has done a lot with comedy but has always been supportive with me. I had talked about a few months ago when a comic asked for an additional 25$ after I paid him. The comic that headlined is in the same class as him in the San Diego arena. Instead of asking for more money he said I want to come back and perform more. And an hour after the show called me and thanked me for the time. Things like that go a long way in my mind, and wish more comics could be that way.
Well after the show I headed over to the card room to play a few hours of poker. I got hosed real fast. I dropped my 180$ down to 45$ in the matter of 10 minutes or so. I then went all in and doubled up. I then played pretty solid and got up to over 300$. I then got unlucky in a few spots and dropped down to about 125$. I ran that up to around 240$ and the night was over. Oh ya the table hated me. One guy said "Man fuck that guy." I found it comical.

Downswing over...

Well I finally ran well today, but you folks don't want to hear me be happy so I'll bitch for a second. There was a show tonight that had basically every San Diego comic that isn't a weekend regular at one of the comedy clubs. I really don't care that I wasn't on it, but it's kind of funny how little I get asked to be on shows. I heard the room is pretty terrible, and one of the guys that does that show is an uber douche but I just want to be asked. I want to have the option of saying no. I have a few random shows in June set up. It sucks because I love helping people out and giving out stage time. I have a show I was asked to be on, and want to suggest other people to be on it, but then I think, "Well would this person suggest me?" And the answer with basically all SD comics is no. I actually lost out on doing an L.A. show recently because I said I wanted to bring a fellow comic with me. The promoter said no, and I decided not to do it. I can't even get people to vouche for me in shows in this town. Whatever...
I did write two new jokes today that I am happy about. I am hoping for a decent show at Winston's tomorrow. I am hosting but hope to try the new jokes.
So after losing 250$ last week, and being down 250$ this week, I had a day of up 800$tonight. For about an hour or so I was hitting everything. I even folded a few hands that I would have won. I made a big bluff that was cool. Last night I played at a poker room I literally have never lost at. I started off making a huge bluff for a 500$ pot so I was quickly up. I then chipped up for awhile and turned my 300$ buy in into 750$. I then hit my daily fucked over hand. I flop a flush and an agro crazy player flopped a higher flush. Goodbye 350$ in 5 seconds. I then get unlucky in a few other spots, and end up even for the night, basically down 12$ but I'll say even.
When you are getting unlucky you try everything to figure out why. I alluded to having no women in my life. Well I did get a text from a girl I used to date last night, that didn't work out. But she is dating another dude. Got a text from a gal today who I used to work with but she also has a bf. A 3rd gal texted me. I never dated her, but I think she is swell. I also skipped something. I was suppose to get my oil change, but didn't go. Last time I made a bunch I called out of work. Maybe irresponsiblity is the key to good luck. Who knows.

Hello life downswing, it's been awhile....

First I'll chat about the last few shows I was apart of. Winston's Friday was subpar. I had a feature scheduled that was suppose to help promote. She backed out last minute. The other dude I had connected to the show didn't do a great job bringing people, plus the people he brought were drunk and not real receptive. I decided to not even go up. I worked on about 8 newish minutes. I had prepared two completely 2 jokes plus some jokes I rarely do. I figured this wasn't a good night to try it out.
My weekend was actually pretty fun. After the show Friday I went over and hung out with one of my comedy buds. I got a little too drunk. We woke up early and went to the casino and played a tournament. There was about 120 people in it. I got down to the final 20 or so and had a huge hand. I got all in with by far the best hand, and ended up losing. I was ready to leave, but my bud wanted to stay. I played another small tourney and got kinda of coolered. I had ten's and the other guy ended up having aces, yup awesome. I ended up borrowing a few bucks and playing at my buddies table. We were playing much lower limits then I'm used to, but it was really fun just playing and hanging out with him. We messed with a lot of people's minds and that's always a good time. We ended up going out again that night and it was a good time.
Sunday I did nothing, but I did have a show later in the evening. I was hosting plus I was doing a set. There was 75 plus people in the crowd so I was excited to try out the new jokes. I wanted to go up somewhat early as I wasn't real comfortable with it. Well I get up there and the crowd basically hates me. I try a few jokes, they miss. I sit down and tell the home depot joke and bring them back a little bit. I tried a few of the new jokes and they miss completely. A fellow comic came up to me after and said he enjoyed one of the new jokes so I have to appreciate that. I should really start doing more crowd work. I think I am a funny person, but I've come to realize maybe I can't write funny set up/ punch line jokes. Anyways after my set I still had to host, meaning go on stage after a room full of people hated me. Kind of demoralizing. Also there were a couple people there that had never seen me. They said they were coming but I didn't see them. They came up to me after. I'm slightly embarassed how bad I did.
Well as far as the title of the post. Things are looking grim. Two weeks ago I was at the top of the world. I was winning a bunch of money, and thinking "Well maybe my degree isn't getting me anywhere but the knowledge I have with poker can support my lifestyle." Fast forward to the shit. I lost again tonight. I remember now why I hated playing poker. The people are awful, and when they constantly get lucky against me and act like they know what theyre doing really pisses me off. I lost 5 times tonight in 2 hours with a few of the top few starting hands in poker. I realize I'm going to lose sometimes, but every night it happens. I can't play at this place anymore. Like I spoke about before I'm not real supersticious. But there's a dude I've been playing with that since I met him I can't win. He was there again tonight, and of course I lost another 350$.

Crazy to think how happy I was two weeks ago. I couldn't lose, I had women interested in me, I was ready to take a break from my job. How quickly things change. I lost all 4 women that had any interest in me, I've lost 1400$, I broke my glasses and am now wearing them even though half the left lens is covered in super glue, and even if I wanted to crawl back to my low wage job I can only work 28 hours a week. Oh and to top the shittyness off I have a nasty cold sore. I used to get them when I was younger every year around picture time. No idea why I got one now. But as life seems to happen to me, when the shit hits the fan it always seems to be diarrhea style. I was so close to be actually happy a month ago, now I'm at the bottom once again.

Life of a gambler..

Well I've played poker the last 6 days straight. I always buy in for the max (300$). And bring an additional 40$ in case I need more. I don't rebuy and cap my daily losses at this. I have been playing at the same place a few nights a week and hadn't lost.

Saturday I was down to my last 70$, ran that all the way up to 600$ for a 250$ win. Then Sunday I played again before my show. I was pretty card dead then 20 minutes before I had to leave I caught a hot streak and ended up 350$.
Oh and the show went ok. It started at 7, which is early plus it was originaly slated to start at 8. It was a small crowd and I could see the sun set. I found myself continuously looking over there. I did my same lame jokes, got a few laughs. I then went over to another bar show. It's ok. It's nice to hang out with fellow comics and struggle through a tough crowd. The guy that went first gained a lot of my respect last week. He stood up to some comic who has a lot of pull at one of the San Diego clubs. I respect people who are real, and doing comedy to be funny, not screw people over.
Anyways he went up and some old lady yelled at him, said he wasn't funny and called him ugly. Sweet let's follow that. I get up there and break into some dry character. It was fun trying something different. I hacked one of my comic buddies jokes, it's funny, buy sadly I can't tell it. After the show I go home and have a few drinks, because frankly I'm a raging alcoholic. I wake up in the morning and decide I don't want to go to work. Basically I can't work more than 28 hours, because I've been working 40 every week since I started and the corporate offices said either they make me full time with benefits or cut me down to 28 hours. So I decided whatever I'm not going in. I end up going to play poker later that night. I made money pretty quick and turned my 300$ into 500$. I then had a big hand where I had aces, and resucked out on a guy. Kinda funny I won the 1000$ pot, and then the dude that lost and another dude (the same dude from last fight) started to fight. One got kicked out, the other basciall admitted he has ties to the mob or some other scary people. I ended up leaving up 750$.
I decided I wasn't going to drink for the next few days, as I had to work early and it's a good idea to slow down. So I work 9-6 then play poker. I played sub par, and end up getting my money in with a set vs a made flush. I don't get there, bye bye 350$. Same thing next day, work then poker. I got unlucky in a few spots, didn't play great, and then ended up losing another 350$. Today I worked 6-3, oh and I played poker til 2 AM the night before. I was a little tired but still no alcohol. I took a nap, went to the gym, then played more poker. I was pretty card dead but playing solid, just folding hand after hand. Then I wake up with 2's in the big blind. I flop a set, some lady had 4's and also flopped a set and took my 350$. Buh bye 1000$ in 3 days. I'm not a huge supersticious person, (or a good speller) but each day I wore a different t shirt and shoes. Now I think the only thing that's consistent with all the other days I won is that I drank the night before. What the f word is luck telling me that I can't win unless I drink alcohol. I mean clearly that has nothing to do with it, but kinda strange nonetheless.
I mean the pros and cons about not drinking. Cons I wake up every 30 minutes at night and clearly unlucky. Pros I wake up tired but not exhausted even though I'm on way less sleep, also I've been thinking of new jokes. I am excited about that as comedy has not been real appealing to me lately. I think I have a solid 5-10 new minutes from this week. Let's hope it works. I'm trying to stay away from dirty. That's all I've been doing lately and I don't want to be that kind of comic.

Ugh.. I won't write what I want

So after advice from my lawyer I will not blog about the bs that happened last night. Cliff notes: I'm not good at being fake.
Winston's show was interesting last night. There was a huge crowd when I arrived. A comic asked me about getting on the show. He had never got up before. He said he had like 30 people coming. That usually means 10 or so. But at least 30 people were there. They were pretty attentive until he went on, then a lot of them started talking and leaving. I can't expect them to pay attention to a 3 hour show. He actaully did pretty good for his first time. It's always easy to make your friends laugh, but he genuinely had solid jokes.
I intended to go up twice, as I expected a good amount of the crowd to leave. Well like always people ran the light, host did a little too much time, and there wasn't time for me to go up again. Oh well. I don't need to go up. I enjoy comedy, but to say I want to grind away at comedy for another 3 years to be in a slightly better position than I am now would be false. I realize it won't happen overnight, but I hate the bs of comedy. I'm not gonna stab friends in the back to get on shows, and kiss people's asses. I do realize that is what you have to do, but I'm hoping being funny will prevail in the end. I know I'll eventually have to go up to L.A. to really make it in comedy, so all the being fake here probably helps for the present but really doesn't do much for the future. I want to keep being me for now.

Lazy day

Welp I had one of the lamest days of my life today. Stayed in bed all day. And when I say all day I mean did nothing, got out of bed at 8 PM. Went to the gym and now I'm back in bed. I'm not sick or hungover I just felt like doing nothing. I did work 8 hours yesterday, went to the gym, then played poker til 2 AM. I should have played poker today but didn't feel like it.
Anyways back to shows. I've had 3 shows that I was suppose to be apart of since I last blogged. Two last Friday and one Saturday. Well 2 were awful, and one I didn't even get on stage for the 3rd. I hosted the show at Winston's on Friday. We had a headliner from L.A. so I figured he wasn't going to promote much. I had two other S.D. comics on the bill neither who promoted much. They both were friends of mine so it puts me in a weird spot when they don't promote at all. Winston's will never have walk in traffic. Ppl that I put on the show, I'm helping them out by giving them spots on the show that they normally wouldn't get. Comedy is tough, were all basically not funny enough to not promote the shows were on. I can't say much as I'm an awful promoter, but I can promote if need be.
Well the crowd was small and not real repsonsive. After one of the more controversial comics did his normal edgy stuff. Once he got off stage some woman approached him and said, "youre not funny, youre antisemetic. It's time for you to retire." This guy has been a dick to me for the most part by has been tolerable the last few weeks. As much as I don't care for him, you never want to see a fellow comic told to retire.
Well I didn't do a set as the show and I were pressed for time. I was supposed to be on another show downtown. I was excited about this show as it was a variety show and someone saw me do a set and recruited me to do it. I felt honored. Well I rush over there, search for a parking spot for 20 minutes, run over to the venue and the doors are locked. I call and text the promoter, even try to get another comics phone number that was also on the show. After about 15 minutes I just leave. As I'm driving away the guy calls me. He tells me they had to lock the doors during intermission, and can I come back. I say no thanks and leave. The problem was there was no sign about the show or anything. Just a banner that read "Tenth Ave Theater." With how untrusting I am I just figured the whole show was made up to make me look like a jackass. The guy texted me a few hours later to apologize again. I didn't respond.
Saturday show was at some Mexican bar. I knew it was going to be bad but it was terrible. First off the band was setting up on stage the whole time we were attempting jokes. We were off the stage and everyone was there to see the band. I told maybe 2 jokes and did mostly crowd work. I did a few other comics jokes that were there, then got off stage.
That's it. No shows this week. I'm hoping Winston's will be solid on Friday.