Good Luck out at WSOP and Happy Birthday Johnny

Good luck to my fellow PPI teamates out in Vegas already-especially to Ylon, who I hope will once again crush it out there.  I am hoping to get out ASAP. Just do not know what to expect next with other work that I am involved in right now.

Also, Happy Birthday to my stepson Johnny, who absolutely delighted me yesterday by asking me if I wanted to take tango classes with him. I have told the boys over and over that if you can dance, girls will automatically adore you. I can’t believe he actually listened to me. I got a pair of great stepsons. Lucky, lucky, lucky.  Be well, e

Britains got an artist…Susan Boyle

I emailed my poker agent Randy today to tell him that I wouldn’t get out to the Series until the Main Event, if at all, with all this other caca I have going on in my other career (writing).  If you believe in a Deity, pray that I end up with the time and money to make the Main Event. Please.

Now on to Susan Boyle. She didn’t win Britain’s Got Talent. But I tell you what. How she sings is what every performer strives for in life, and she’s got it. She’s an artist. She chose songs that meant something to her; she sang them from her center without self-consciousness; she connected with her audience; and her last rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” was different from the first-technically, yes, but also because she was feeling differently than she did the first time she sang it live. That to me is art. Being in the moment and letting go. And did she do it. I am sure, in spite of all the praise she has gotten, she has no idea just how great an artist she is. Because when someone is that great, they can never  perform the same exact way twice. She really changed things for me, watching her; as a performer and as a person.

I wish she could do something for my poker game. She’s made everything else better by watching her this spring.

All the best to my friends out in Vegas-good luck and hope to see you out there.  xo e

Endorsing Richard Aborn

Folks, just want to let you know I am endorsing Richard Aborn for District Attorney of Manhattan (even though I don’t live in Manhattan anymore, I spend  part of almost every day there so what goes on in the city effects me too.)  If you live in the city, please visit his website, www.abornforda.com.  I know both he and his wife and they are wonderful people.  Apart from that, Richard is a smart progressive who understands the practicality of looking at crime-fighting in a different way.  He reminds me of Obama; I believe he looks at life with straightforward eyes, and considers human nature as part of how to deal with crime.  This, to me, is the most intelligent way of dealing with the justice system-to see people and situations for how they really are as opposed to the “way they should be”, whatever that is.  I am delighted with his policy of “replacing the failed war on drugs with a Marshall Plan for treating substance abuse” *.  I am not sure if I agree with him on every issue, but I know one thing; I trust him, and I cannot think of anyone else who would be better at the job. 

So if you live in Manhattan, please check out the website, and if you like what you see, spread the word and open up the checkbook.

Thanks so much.  e

*from Aborn campaign flier

Magnolia

Remember the scene at the end of that brilliant movie, Magnolia, that had people confused everywhere? The one where the frogs lept out of the sky and kept falling on the ground? I now have the answer. The movie must have been filmed in Virginia.

I am still here. I leave Monday. I hear there is a poker game in town tonight and I am hitting it. CANNOT WAIT.

So last night I was having dinner next door with my best friend and her family and my convelescing mother, and the tree frogs were SO LOUD you would not have believed it. I thought about when I used to live on Tenth Avenue in New York and decided that the tree frogs were louder than the trucks coming out of the Lincoln tunnel.

And then I hear my friend Tammy laughing, and pointing to her foot, and one of them had landed on her foot.

She was laughing. I was not. I do not like, in this order:

Snakes
Lizards
Frogs

and all of their various counterparts. Yet I have had encounters with all of them (a lizard ran across my face while sunbathing once and I almost went into cardiac arrest). And then there are the snakes. Many, many encounters with snakes, venemous and harmless, the worst being when one crawled through my flip flop strap on my foot and I kicked the snake and my flip flop off about ten feet in the air.

And now these frogs.

When, in the next five minutes, I felt a huge gross splat on my arm, I knew that a tree frog had landed. That was it for me. I went inside after getting the horrid little thing off.

So maybe the scene in Magnolia wasn’t symbolism. Maybe Paul Thomas Anderson lived in Virginia one time, in this damp, swampy place, and had to deal with this kind of stuff.

PS, I have discovered a new diet, and it’s great, though it can be difficult. The great part is you can eat whatever you want and drink beer. The difficult part you can figure out for yourself. I am patenting it, so don’t try and steal it, it’s my idea. It’s called the “Run Around” diet, otherwise known as “Taking Care of an Elderly Parent who is Stubborn and Supposed to be Bed-Ridden Diet”. It has almost killed me, but I am five pounds lighter since I have been here.

More Sporting News!

Congratulations to John Pardo, MY HUSBAND, for catching the largest bluefish in the HRFA Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby! And, he came in 6th in the Striped Bass category. I could not be more proud of him-this is his biggest tournament win. Ha!

I know three men-my husband and our friends Mitro and Dominic- who can outfish almost everyone I know. I am so glad he is finally rewarded with a win.

Reporting from Virginia, where I am still nursing my mother after her hand surgery. All seems to be going well on that front too.

Broadcasting from Planet Virginia (nothing to do with poker)

I was standing on the porch of my mother’s house last night with some really old friends and someone said, “when I stand on this porch, it’s like it was ten years ago. Nothing has changed.” Good to be in Virginia, where things HAVE changed, but at least not at my mother’s house. There are only about a zillion more houses here than when I grew up. At which I take personal offense. Do not get me started…But at my mother’s house, the house is still the house, the porch the porch, and my best friend’s children climb the same trees we did when we were kids. I always feel I should have to take a space ship from New York to here, it is so different, instead of a train or car.

Anyway…we are off to go get my mother’s hand fixed today. I am definitely going to stop complaining about my minor aches and pains. Old age really can be problematic, especially if you have the energy of a 20-year old, which she does. If you have the time to think a happy thought about my mother’s hand, I’d appreciate it. She does not like being a patient. So I hope she heals quickly. She is prone to calling me Nurse Ratchit when I take care of her.

Be well. Signing off from Planet Virginia, hope all is well on Planet New York and elsewhere.

Mechanics vs. Buy-ins

Well, my first husband was one, and it’s kind of like being married to a doctor.  You get calls in the middle of the night from friends who have locked their keys in their car, etc.  So I have some sympathy for them.  Plus, my current mechanic, Sam, is great.

But I swear, if I don’t  have any money for buy-ins this summer it will be because I have given all my money to my mechanic.  I went in for an oil change today and left two hours later and $450 lighter in the pocket.  I hate that.  Hate it.  Though I must say my brakes actually feel like brakes now.

Time for a new car.  Haha.  Time for a helicopter, while I’m at it.

May I just say how glorious it is to be typing away without those dratted claws I have been wearing for six weeks due to this play.  Cut the nails this morning, and now have full use of my hands.  I. Do. Not. Know. How women with nails get anything done.  It made me want to scream.  Yet I am free at last.

Gearing up for a road trip, traveling with my little canine companion Buster Rhymes, (a special hello to Aunt Sally, who can’t stand Boston Terriers, as Buster is a Boston.  He is also the dimmest dog I have ever had.  Arnold, my previous Boston, was smart.  I just say that Arnold was for me and I am for Buster.)

Will update from trip and be well… xo e

The Sleeper Sleeps

Well, tonight is the last night of the run of this play, “The Sleeper Awakens”, that I have been in.  I have really enjoyed playing this part and last night I got the favorite compliment I have had during the run.  “It was you with no taste!”,  a friend of mine said.  I cannot tell you how happy I was to hear that, because mostly people said to me “What a perfect part for you” or “You were born to play that part”  and in the play she is described as…well, I will not even go into the adjectives, but they are all pretty much perjorative.  So I was happy to hear that at least someone thought I had some taste in real life.  Oh boy.

I had a friend in the audience last night whose laugh I could hear so clearly, and it made me so happy because she is going through chemo now for cancer, and I was delighted she was out and about and happy.  One of the best things in the world is to watch someone get better from something.

Anyway.  This is short blog today.  No poker on the horizon, just making copies of a gazillion scripts to send out.  Hope all  is well with everyone. xo e

Me and the boys, etc…changes

Well, I suppose I should change the name of this blog now to “Me and the Boys, etc.” as I have stopped writing on the elizabeth.nyctruth.com blog.  That was not working out.  I had readers but MAJOR issues with the running of that blog, which was not under my control.  So for now I will be writing about more than poker here, although of course when I play you will get the same updates.

The big news in my life is that I have aquired a literary manager, Adam Chromy from Artists and Artisans, and I am EXTREMELY pleased about this.  As most of you know I am a playwright, and looks like now I will be branching out to other forms of writing.  This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I really like Adam.  He used to be a bartender in New York as well, so I think he gets my sensibilities about life.  And he is very tall.  Not to mention successful at what he does.

So I have been very busy writing, with not a lot of time to play poker.  I have something brewing for June, and the only concern I have (OH HAPPINESS!  TO HAVE THESE BE MY CONCERNS!) is how I am going to fit as many WSOP events in as I can with my writing schedule.

The word of the day, folks, is perseverence.  Never, ever too late to do what you want to do in life, trust me.  If you want to play poker, keep at it (as long as you are not threatening bankruptcy because of it) and if you want to be a writer, write.  If you decide to be an actress or a nun at the age of 60, go ahead.  It is amazing how fun life can be when you just say “yes” to it.

Hope eveyone is well, and I am going to try and keep this updated daily, though I might skip a day or two here or there.  And if you want me to write something for you (how long have I waited to say this?!) contact my manager.   xoxo e

V-day

V-day, which is a series of events dedicated to preventing violence against women (many events in the city this year are raising money to stop the violence against women in Darfur and the Congo) is holding a silent auction to raise money.  I volunteered my services to teach a poker class and have a poker tournament at someone’s home, the link is below.  Please check it out…if you don’t want a poker lesson from me, there  are certainly other fun things to buy!  Hope all is well.  I have been busy beyond belief doing this play.  e
http://www.alexisadair.com/V-Day2009/SilentAuctionCatalog.html