Shooting the bones - reprise the craps file

The early morning table at Treasure Is was NOT $5 but $10 minimum - boy I took a beating - stuck a $100.
Toward lunch, at Bill's Gambling Hall, found a $5 table and a bunch of guys having a good time. I  joined in and bingo-bongo I was up $390. Later at O sheas got into a $5 game and made $60. The stickman said I did well and knew my stuff. He said, way better than most guys he sees.  I felt kinda good.

Update 2012 7/14. The guys were friendly, and welcoming at Bill's. About 6 of us were lined up  right to left. The guys at the far right threw the dice and all did very well, making numbers three times at least. Making your number is profit for everyone covering the numbers. I noticed players 1 and 2 were cashing out. Believing you should get while the goings good, I put down my chips. The fellow to my right says " You're not throwing ?" and I said ,no. He says " I'm gone if you don't throw ". So, all 6 of us left at once.

Walking away is crucial to being successful. Woulda, shoulda, coulda will kill you in LV

Craps - the Chronicles of dem Bones... L.V. stories

So, found an empty table and real friendly boss lady, got the whole staff giving advice and reminders " cover those odds ? or take the easy money "  Neat.
In the afternoon, I was giving advice at the $5 tables, at the Nugget in downtown L.V. I was up close to a hundred

Update 2012 7/14. We rode the bus downtown. The beer was free and I met a fellow player and we were treating each other to beers. Must've had 6 at least, I think that I was playing well. We jsut barely made it home to our hotel.

the Craps chronicles

In L.V., tried the craps table - down $45

I rolled not bad but didn't cover the #s as the pros advise - got a little excited.

Update 2012 7/14 This was the first day, in Vegas

football v football

So, watching a college football game, endless minutes spotting the ball / arguing / measuring
Whereas, Arsenal v Fulham, the ref eyeballs the ball placement - heck he even eyeballs the clock and game time.

on a clear day, you can see forever - the song

"Looking out my backdoor "  CCR lyric - no a picture window on my backyard. this is late fall and it seems as tho' it were a clear day. through the trees the sightlines are clogged but images appear in the distance at probably  up to three or four miles.  the view is so different now c.f. the summer.  We get kind of closed in by foliage - private - but limiting. What a thought Private - but Limiting.

Reminds me of the StarTrek episode where a world has the elite cloud dwelling people and a miner class of supposedly lower intelligence. The princess ( Kirk's love interest ) at the end says " I will no longer be limited to the clouds "

reprise - le craps

Avidly watching the video, with great expectations - poeple now are saying at a table with a minimum bet of ten dollars - to be safe , you need $ 1500..... just in case.  JUST in CASE - As in the casinos have maximum limits so you can't keep doubling down and eventually hitting a monster take
Like that'll be my problem     Oh well, back to $1 Keno

" O Lucky Man " w/ Malcolm McDowell, music by Alan Price

" No use grumblin', no use mumblin'
Life just isn't fair

There's no easy ways, there's no easy days
Just get out there and do it "

from the theme song , music by Alan Price

Monks and such

This aft. I was listening to the replay of the Monk Debates from T.O. on a comparison of the Japanese finacial mess of the 1990's vs the U.S. / European or world repress/depressions circa, now. The best quote ?

" The U.S. will always do what is right .......... especially after they try everything else " W. Churchill

Craps, as derived from le crab ( Fr via the U.S. )

Bought a DVD, " Craps, live from Las Vegas". Yes, Vegas bound and planning to try my " luck " at the craps table. " The professionals have the game down to a 1 % advantage for the house - slot machines  15 % profit for the house.

update 2012 7/14 the origin is the appearance of the two ' ones " snakes eyes or crab eyes, hence the crabbes.

Shutter me, blu

Review: Shutter Island, the movie. Not nice, surreal, very reminiscent of  Inception w/ the same Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Scorsese. I will not watch this again, don't like cringing mentally for days after.

what you see is what you get............

Bare trees sway, life within,  life without
Leaf balls secure, hold the fluffy tail ones

Update 2012 7/14

The hope is hidden comes unbidden
What is life which doesn't rest or sleep
All the cycles of the living world

On life or what passes for life

" Do yourself no injury, other people are good for that "  K of H ( some guard dude )
" This isn't heaven ( or apparently Iowa ), there are troubles "  same guard ( quite the philosopher, eh ? ) K of H

update 2012 7/14 It is not very often a bit player gets to say the good lines. Or maybe, these aren't good lines. I liekd them, and noticed them right off in the movie.

Is there a name fro people who quote movie lines ? Bet it isn't flattering.

quotaphiles     blitherphiles  Am I getting close ???

Hero needed

" I need a hero ...... 
He's got to be strong.....
He's gotta be fresh from the fight "

Bonnie Tyler (?)

Update 2012 7/14 Is this the battle cry of the American people, Ronny Ray-gun - Barricks Obeamah

Shucks we get Stephen Harper, who plays piano and sings off-key and is a mean SOB

blurt something out

Shut the gates and man the barricades
No enemies but ourselves, still we fear

Update 2012 7/14  Whoa, where did this come from ?

Too many Sci-fi movies we thinks.

Are the gates to keep the evil out or the good in
Or vice versa
Better the devil we knwo than the devil we don't

Breaking the rules - Ode to Lacrosse

The Bag Got Away

Crosse to catch the ball
The crosse to shoot
Curved wood and hide
And skill applied
The brave, the quest
The cull, the very best

Plastimet refined
What yet remains
They slide, they ride
And so are tried
The task, the test
This game , the stickiest

published with Author's permission, me

Update 2012 7/14 The title is a reference to the Indian name for lacrosse Baggotoway, or some such.

K of H - encore

" I put no stock in religion, I've seen fanaticism of every kind called religion.  What God wants is ( points to heart and head ) right action and deed. Everyday, you prove yourself to be a good man.... or not "

Templar knight (  David Thewlis )   slightly, paraphrased ( surely ).

Turns  out that DT lives in London w/in spitting distance of the Temple Gate. DT felt he was meant to be in this movie.

update 2012 7/14 DT is a wonderful character actor, great support cast in most movies, he is in.

Capitan America - " the Best Super Hero Movie " advertisement

Voice over for movie - distracting       The shield is a fantastic prop   Is the guy at the end Nick Fury ???

Update 2012 7/14  Now having seen the " Avengers " movie, yep, that was Nick Fury. Capt. America's nickname , was the 'shield slinger'. The shield was amazing, in the comics it was good, in the movie, another actor.

K of Heaven .... reprise

" Jerusalem has no need of a perfect knight " Tiberius ( Jeremy Irons )

the reply " It is a kingdom of conscience or none at all "  Balian ( Orlando Bloom )

update 2012 7/14  And another " You will one day wish you had done a little evil for a greater good "
Princess / Quen Sybilla ( Eva Green )

Oops - a wee bit of a problem

" What man is a man that does not make this world better " is a quote from the movie " Kingdom of Heaven ".  I've been trying to think of how this motto applies to me personally, a wee bit of a problem here.

update 2012 7/14  So, " a life unexamined, is worhtless " Plato or Socrates ????

The Hobbit ... a summary

A coming of age story,  in the Third Age of middle-earth, as a hirsute footed biped sets off to seek fame and glory in a company of Dwarves. This non-romance, adventure features all the creatures you will come to know and hate / fear as well many comely folks banding to-gether to fight evil.

Update 2012 7/14  The movie is less than a year away. However, rumour abounds that they got Galadriel back in this thing. Hope you know, that I wanted Helen Hunt to be Galdariel, after the fact, of course.

cent shine

what does it take to see this world as " penny bright "
I suspect , love for every living thing,  seems right

Update 2012 7/14  These lines were menat to offset the melancholy of the previous verses.

What we believe needn't be the truth, complete
Believing is the magic and magic brings the

and On.......

See the golden hue dulled by the grey of the day
Blankets of loss from above - deepening still

Update 2012 7/14

Footfalls quieted, wind given form lifting the fallen
Insulate the earth and protect the dreaming few

Credit goes on

Now, Italy, " the highest debt load in the western industrial complex. " . Bolognese sauce is going to be hard to stomach from here.

V-II

Quiet now, pondering, waiting leaves pendant
A little twist, a shimmy readying for the fall

Update 2012 7/14

Count the dropping gliders cherry, maple, ash
Dormancy approaches and rest is nigh

Versis

Rustle the barely leafed sentinels of our view
Spiral down the last hold outs of the failing year

Update 2012 7/14  These lines originated in the late fall , looking out to back garden. Oh ,these were the dogwoods.

versus

How lonely is a long night or long dawn coming
Do we know the dark will end in rays of hope

update 2012 -7/14  More semi - spontaneous poetry

Morning comes and hope springs and springs anew
Better looking is blife in the day's new light

Martha and the Muffins - Echo Bch

Interview this AM : Martha has Parkinsons ( 10 th year now ). She is really upbeat considering Parkinson's is a degenerative disease.
So, I'm humming Echo Bch quietly hoping no one hears - never even liked the song

credit crisis

not me !!! The country of Greece. what have those people been doing - I know culturally they don't pay taxes and they don't work that often ... but criminee - I eat souvlaki now and I get an empty feeling in my wallet.

update 2012 - 7/14 The Greeks are still trying to form a government.  And this month billions of Euros were shifted to protect Spanish banks.

be it resolved

... heretowith , looking down or playing with something in your lap is not good while driving on highway 401

or if you do this - drive somewhere else

Times when your lost

Oh boy, we have a family member with ALS, going on 7 years now. Talk about not knowing what to say or do.

Update 2012 7/14 the ALS won as it always does, this year.