OK, maybe not the new new black, but it was pretty damn cool.

According to poor Graham, it was cool literally. Poor thing, coming from a summery climate to this. They must have thought us mad, talking about how warm it was. And maybe we are.

Damn I had fun.

Friday night was uber fun... Jules and Graham had very little time to relax before I swept them away to dinner at Archeo, an Italian place in the Distillery District. Ed and Astin met us there and Kat and Gus swung by after their hideously long return bus trip from Rama. The food was good and the beer was excellent, but both paled in comparison to the company, complete with some drunk dialing to Pauly and someone else (who I can't remember, sorry if it was you *grin).

At one point I felt like sacrificing a small woodland creature (aka mangy squirrel) to the Internet Gods - without them I would not have been there. I met Jules on Dyslexicon, a local telnet chat that created the most amazing dysfunctional and incestuous pseudo family ever (Astin was a member as well as Hunny Bunny). And the rest of this incredibly funny crowd is there though the questionable graces of online poker.

Rather than go drinking it was decided that we would join a friend of Ed's ( a true Angel of Poker if there ever was one) at the club. The memory gets a bit fuzzy at this point, but I do remember taking some money off Ed with the hammer (made my gutshot on the river, total suckout), having pokcet aces that actually held up and making a goodly sum with ducks that turned to a set then to a boat. God what a weird lexicon of transmogrification we have... ducks to a boat.

There was a pretty surreal moment when, after overhearing Ed tell me to blog about something or other, the dealer, Nat, turned to me and asked "Kat? as in pokerkat dot blogspot? I read you!". Man, what can you say to that?

I definitely remember laughing a lot. A. Lot.

Saturday morning was very tolerable thanks to the fistful of advil followed by a litre of water and 3 Gaviscon. Gus and Kat went to Niagara Falls with some friends, and Jules, Graham and I headed out for brunch (and also to get the car we had left behind in the Distillery District).

Oh man, did the breakfast at the Mill Street Pub hit the spot...peameal bacon, eggs, baked beans, and home fries. And let's not forget the $3 Bloody Caesars. We introduced Graham to his first Caesar - I have a very vivid mental image of him licking the celery salt of the rims.


We then did some shopping, and ended up at Come As You Are (NSFW inside), where Jules and I perused the shelves of fun toys for grownups and Graham checked out the comic book section. I bought myself a little sumpin' sumpin' and a book. I kind of like the idea of using my ill-gotten gains from one degenerate habit to pay for my other degenerate habits.

After a much needed nap, we reconvened at Milestone's downtown for dinner (again, very yummy, Kobe meatloaf is to die for) where Gus, Kat and Iakaris joined us later. We met up with Astin at the club, and started the First Annual Eh-Vegas tourney. There were many hammers - I think we stopped taking pics after the third one. In order of appearance (pics by Gus):

Astin's










Kat's










And Jules'.










Me? I didn't get a hammer. I was crippled fairly early with this (I'm the 77, Astin is the TT):


I climbed up a bit (courtesy of Iak) but went out shortly afterward. Graham was the next one out, and we made an ill-timed run to the liquor store only to realize we'd left it too late and they'd all closed at 11. Damn and double damn!!

The tourney was over by the time we got back, a fact that seriously bummed me out. It appears Iak won, but I still don't really know how or with what. I do know how he took out Jules though *grin.

Jules and Graham left soon after, and frankly I should have joined them. I played well, and was up by about 250 at one point, but then stayed too long at the party and lost it on one foolish hand with a club regular. Did I leave then? Hell no. I dropped one more buyin, tilted at poor Ed, and split.

Slumber was peaceful, until EIGHT AY EM (yes, you read right. 8:00 AM. sigh.) when Hunny Bunny pried my eyes open and said if I wanted the car, I had to take him to work first.

Grumble. And of course when I got back home there was no way I could get back to sleep. More grumbling.

Managed to drag my butt to brunch with Kat and Gus, and met Astin after a cruise through Sonic Boom. It was a definite trip down memory lane...the sound of the cd cases clicking together reminded me of all the wasted weekends hanging out with my ex husband in all those places looking for something or another.

I really debated going to The Fallsview for yet more poker; I was tired and didn't really feel my best. Hanging out in my pj's and goofing around online in between naps sounded like a far more viable option, but my sillier side prevailed, and after dropping Gus and Kat off at the airport Astin and I drove to Niagara. Iak bailed, and I forgot VinNay's phone number at home - d'oh, sorry! Next time for sure!

We got some cocktails and talked so much we missed them calling our names on the list so had to wait a bit longer. We were seated at separate 1/2 NLHE tables, which may have been a good thing. It was a pretty solid table, and I think I played some pretty damn good poker. At the end I was up 275, for a total profit of 350-ish for the weekend.

So other than a few missteps in planning, I think the weekend went well. Will I do another one next year? Abso-fucking-lutely. Will I hold it in the middle of February?

Umm, no.

Brrrrrr.