How much longer in Separated?

[jon2911]

Had a fantastic night Friday. A friend invited me to a cash game Poker night. I played in a tournament with these guys back in January, and won 3rd place and $75. Cash games are a lot different though, so I was nervous. I got a Poker for dummies book from a friend, and it had a lot of tips on the strategy differences.

Long story short I won big the first time around, beat a guy who went all in with pocket Aces, I had a suited King 6 but flopped two pair and drew a flush on the river. On world series of poker I would have been down 5% to 95% but pulled it out. I cashed out after that (nice thing about a cash game), but bought back in with $5 later when they needed a player ti keep the game going. Quickly turned that into $50 and stayed in until 2:30 AM when we shut it down.

Best I've felt in a long time. These guys were serious players, one of them averages 3 nights a week at the casino. Fantastic experience, just talking over hands and getting advice. It was the quintessential guy night, and I needed it. I had never been gambling until GFIL took me a little while before the bomb, and I can't believe I missed out for so long. Like anything else, it can be damaging and addicting, but I'm in the black all-time, actually up quite a bit. My conservative upbringing was all about staying away from anything like this, and I'm glad to be done with that.

Called W afterwards, and we had a fantastic talk. She was excited to hear about the night, which took place in the largest house I've ever been in. We were literally a couple streets over from George W's house in Preston Hollow.

W asked me about how my first week after promotion ended up, and I had to say it was great. I love the new position and responsibilities. She said "I'm so proud of you. You fought for more money and to do something like a lot better, and got it". I'd been thinking about that. This is the first time I've fought for a raise, and there was also encountered a lot of opposition from my coworkers. It seems the only ingredient needed for workplace tension is someone making more money, and now that someone is me. And I like it.

I then took a chance and told W I'd like to get a few hours sleep and then come to see her. She sounded really sad but said this isn't a good weekend for her. GFIL was only spending one night at the Ranch and coming back the next day. I'd assumed he'd be gone all weekend like normal. Darn. I'm busy the next two weekends, which made it even worse.

Saturday I got my Harley loaded in the truck (which I didn't think was possible) and into the shop, finally. The clutch is burned out so bad it's unridable, and I'll probably have to fight them on the warranty. I hate crap like this, especially with no one else to help. Car trouble is so much more complicated with a WAS. It feels good to get it done after a month of procrastinating. Sorry Kev, wanted to call you but I didn't get it done until 6:00 and didn't have any energy after that.

Got a lot of work done today for job #2, need to rest up tonight because a new manager starts tomorrow and I want to make a good first impression.

5-year anniversary is coming up on the 19th, and I'm down about it. Another reason I really wanted to see her, and I know it's on her mind as well. She had mentioned possibly coming up during the week because weekends are hard for her to get away, so maybe I'll throw that out there. Either way it feels good to type this out and realize that things are, in fact, going a lot better.