Days Twenty and Twenty-One: When you lose your shirt, you get sunburned

Saturday I lost about $50 at poker, in a small tournament at Reena's boss' house in Santa Monica Canyon. However, for that price I (and Randy) got almost 6 hours of fun so I wouldn't call it a complete loss. Except, of course, in the sense that I completely lost that money. See, I thought I knew Texas Hold'em pretty well from Rounders and Celebrity Poker Showdown, but apparently the people against whom I was playing knew the game from playing the game, and generally speaking, actual knowledge beats fictional knowledge. I did last long enough to be one of the final four players (out of around 10), but then I went all-in on a flush and got smacked down by a full house. Isn't that always the way? Afterwards I went to dinner with Randy, Eti, and Nancy and then went back to Randy and Eti's place and watched Silence of the Lambs, which I'd never seen before, shockingly enough.

Sunday I replaced financial loss with skin damage. The lot of us had a beach picnic at Santa Monica Beach and I figured I'd use the opportunity to allow my upper arms to get a little tanned, thereby doing away with my oh-so-white-boy farmer's tan. They didn't tan, but they did get nicely red. So, putting on shirts and taking showers is going to be real pleasant for the next few days. The picnic was fun, though, as it included lots of food, board games, iPod music (until the iPod died), and flying umbrellas. Post-beach we went for drinks, then dinner, then met up Nancy's new man-toy in Venice and hung out on a chilly rooftop while random amateur fireworks went off around us.