Still Alive

I'm Still Alive. Life is pretty crazy and hectic right now with work and the growing family. Please pray for us right now as we are seeking some guidance and wisdom from the Lord on multiple issues!

Spawn of Askew - The Countdown

T-Minus 19 hours until we are supposed to be checking into Hoag for our induction tommorow morning. It's sort of bittersweet right now, though. We were supposed to stay at the Crowne-Plaza in Irvine tonight, so we'd be close by in the morning. Abby is sick, though, so we don't have a sitter for this evening and we're stuck at home. It sucks because it was going to be our last date for a LONG time.

THANK GOD, though, that my sister is still willing to watch the kids all day tommorow. It would have been crazy without that help. We are blessed with some wonderful family around us!

How I came to love a Britney song

Rock Star: INXS (8/16)

Tonight was an interesting night for Rock Star. The band hand picked the songs for each performer for a stripped down, acousticy night. Three performances rose above the rest. Also, instead of JD being on the bottom of the top crew, he's now at the top of the pile of crap that has no business being in this thing anymore. If it weren't for the fact that we get more performances from the top four, I wish they would just cut ALL FOUR of the crappy people now. The following is a ranking of the performances from last night:

1. Mig (Baby I Love Your Way) Played with just him and the piano, with him playing. Flipping unbelievable. He pulled off one of the best performances of the competition.
2. Marty (Hit Me Baby One More Time) He turned it into sort of a Violent Femmes feeling slow, angry ballad and it worked. It was still silly and when you strip away the pop in the background, you can truly get a feel for how insanely stupid the lyrics of this song are, but Marty did it in an incredible fashion.
3. Jordis (Knocking on Heavans Door) This would have tied for second, if it weren't for her slipping up on a lyric to a BOB DYLAN SONG!!!!! How do you do that?!?!?!? (editors note: I thought the lyric was "it's getting dark, too dark to see". Jordis sang "it's getting dark, too dark for me". The Dylan website says the line is "it's getting dark, too dark for me to see". While I've never heard it like that, we'll call it a wash).
4. Ty (Maggie Mae) He did this the only way he could pull it off, turning it into a Motown style song, tamborine and all. Not bad. Not a home run.
5. Suzie (Bring it on Home to Me) Not bad. Not Great.
6. JD (As Tears go By). Bad. Not terrible, but I was longing to see Mick Jagger come rip the mic out of his hand and punch him in the teeth.
7. Jessica (Torn). Bad. Really Bad. Karaoke Bad.
8. Deanna (I Can't Make You Love Me). Proving that she actually can't sing with ANY range, she turned a good Bonnie Raitt song into complete and utter drivel. She's a one-trick pony vocally, with her sultry/smokers voice. Not good enough to lead a band.

Overall Rankings (Last Week)
1 (1). Marty
2 (3). Mig - My wife's favorite. He's great and could easily lead this band.
3 (2). Ty
4 (4). Jordis - The bottom of the group that should even be considered to win this thing.
5 (5). JD - I'm so sick of him, but he's miles ahead of the next three
6 (6). Deanna - Someone has to sit on top of the crap heap.
7 (9). Suzie
8 (8). Jessica - The older Avril might skate by again....

The bottom three this week should be Deanna, Suzie and Jessica. I predict that Deanna will be going home, after proving that she just can't sing well enough.

I was wrong on my Encore prediction last week. I'm even more certain this week that Mig will get asked to sing Baby I Love Your Way again.

Call me Miss Cleo

I predicted the bottom three AND I predicted that Brandon would go home on Rock Star last night. I rule! Of course, I didn't realize that Brandon would be going home because he forgot the lyrics to the INXS song he had to sing....OOPS!

I liked Brandon well enough as a southern fried rocker, but he clearly wasn't going to be a good fit for the band. OF the people I like the best, only Jordis, Mig, Ty and Marty have a shot at actually winning. I think Mig is the front runner, simply because he's Austrailian. Ty and Marty, I think, are the best two, though. Jordis would be killer, but she's too young and too female. I just don't see the band picking a chick.

Rock Star: INXS

I gotta tell ya, I love this show. I was pissed when they moved the monday episode to VH1. This week has been a great one and I'm excited about tonight's elimination show. Last night wasn't the most solid all around performance night, but perhaps the best performance of the entire competition thus far was by Marty, doing a solo acoustic version of Mr. Brightside. It was simply phenomenal and will be a no-brainer to recieve the "Encore" tonight.

Last night's performances:

1. Marty - Mr. Brightside
2. Ty - No Woman No Cry
3. Suzie - Losing my Religion
4. Brandon - Rolling Stones song
5. Mig - All Right Now
6. Deanna - Long Train Somethin Somethin
7. Jordis - Layla
8. JD - Crazy (the Seal song)
9. Jessica - Come as you are (she simply BUTCHERED it).

My overall rankings

1. Marty
2. Ty
3. Mig
4. Jordis
5. JD
6. Deanna
7. Brandon
8. Jessica
9. Suzie

I think Brandon will be going home tonight, OR both he and Jessica (who will be in the bottom three for the third time).

On the right side of a bad beat

Best. Tournament. Ever.

203 total entrants, I finished 16th. My goal was to make it into the money, which was the final three tables and I did that. Once we got down to 30, I was pretty short stacked and knew that I had to make a move in order to get higher. spots 22-30 all paid the same, so it didn't matter if I went out quick, I needed to try and build my stack to get to the final table. I went all-in a few times and stole the blinds, went all-in again (for about 11,000 in chips) and got called, all-in from a guy with 10,000. He had aces, I had sevens (good ole sevens, like the quads I had at MY tourney last month). Long story short, I ended up sucking out a straight with the turn and river and knocked out the aces. HUGE. I'm up to around 21,000 in chips and one hand later I knock two people out with an A-8, all of a sudden I'm up to 42,000 in chips. We condense to two tables and I'm the second biggest stack at the table. I then proceed to make a RETARDED mistake. Board comes K-A-K, three of us check around. Turn comes seven, I have Q-7, so I pair my sevens. The guy with the big stack, in first position, comes in for ten grand. I read him wrong, thinking he's trying to steal. I go all-in, he calls immediately and I know I'm hosed. He had a King and tripped up to knock me out. Still, the best I have EVER played. It's nice to know that I really do have a little skill. Maybe someday I could make a living at this.

Oh, and I lasted longer than Brian, which I had never done before, so that was nice!

My friend Brian bought me a Pechanga entry for my b-day and we're going tonight. I have only done the weekday tournaments there, so it'll be interesting to do a night-time one. The day ones usually have a little stiffer competition, since it's all the poker players who don't work. The evening game might be a little better, with the guys who work for a living and play on the side. Here's to live cards and pocket pairs!