It's official, I am a poker geek. The World Series kicked off in Vegas a few days ago and also, a few days ago I finished my college term. I've been spending my spare time (which is just about all of it) trying to keep up on the action via the t'internet. Let's put this in perspective for a second. In America, there are hundreds of people queuing up to play in tournaments with buy ins of thousands of dollars. I am in Cornwall, destroying $3 sit and goes on PartyPoker. The one thing I can take from my nerdy obsession is that I can actually play poker, and poker is one of the few sports where the playing field is open to anyone. I spend hour upon hour reading up and watching football, but I haven't kicked a pig's bladder about in about three years.

That's the poker talk out of the way. I wish I could write about my exploits online, taking down big tournaments, but I'm still only a nipper in terms of things and I'm not risking any big chunks out of my bankroll. I'm doing it properly, following the words of Jesus. That's Ferguson, not Christ.

Yesterday was a bit odd. After feeling the effects of Friday's session, I decided not to drink. I was going to have a night off the beer. A night out, but sober. Reel Big Fish played down the road, and to my surprise I managed to thoroughly enjoy the night without the aid of alcohol. Hell, I even managed to skank for a good 45 minutes whilst sweating my arse off. After the gig, me and Lauren got talked into going to the pub. No worries, I'll have a Coke, I thought. And we went to the pub, and it was a glass of Coke that I drank. And that was all.

It got to about midnight when we decided it was time to head home. We got a text from one of our housemates saying that she was in another pub with some of the guys from the band. Being too cool for school (or too tired), we decided to leave it and go back. I was hungry.

The Who's film Tommy was on. I'd never seen it before, so we figured we'd watch it while I devoured a bowl of Super Noodles. By around half one, it was time to hit the hay. Me and Lauren were just drifting off to sleep after getting busy when we got a call from our housemate. "Reel Big Fish are coming to our house", I could overhear Holly on the phone. We started pissing ourselves. Then a little clichéd light bulb popped on in my head. I've got an excuse to watch the Hockey. I put the kettle on and sipped a cup of tea watching the game whilst the girls were... being a bit girly. To my surprise, a few minutes later, Nicky showed up with Ryland and Derek from the band. In true guest style they brought a bin liner full of beer and liquor. Bands are ace. About 24 hours after I had passed out from drinking, I found myself incapable of turning down a beer from the Fish. They did have Guinness after all. And Jack Daniels. And Absolut Vodka. (That's not a cocktail, just the order of what I drank.)

So yeah, I got hammered with some guys from California. I'm going to see Electric Forecast tonight, I wonder what will happen.