First Battle- getting there

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its now sat the 18th of june or friday the 17th in the usa.... and i was meant to be well adjusted to life in vegas by now... but alas i am still not there...yet.

The first hurdle was was some volcano kept all internal flights grounded in oz when all the lads from the team battler syndicate were enjoying out trip away in Wollongong. Originally wrapped with the outcome, the lads were cheering at the prospect of another day on the lagers with the lads... but we all quickly realised that this in fact was actually a very bad outcome. Particularly for me as i was meant to fly out of melbourne at 6am on the Tuesday. Two blokes having pregnant wives, one bloke racing home for his daughters birthday... it was not only me who was suddenly feeling antzy about the situation.

So... 7am wake up for us (not ideal) as the decision to pile into hire cars for the leisurely 10 hour drive back to melbourne was made. I wasnt exactly sure we were going to make it in the condition we were in.... and to say i lacked confidence in my co- pilots is an understatement. (one Joffa Casey was chundering at 20 minute intervals within the first hour riding in the backseat... not the mention shawry's minor accident.. that extra insurance just paid for itself!!!)

Arriving back at the centre of the universe (east bentleigh) round 7pm i had made the ingenious decision to hold onto the hire car to ferry myself back at 4am to catch the vegas flights from tullamarine. it was the best idea id ever had... until the text message lobbed in at 9pm... Mr O'Brien your flight has been cancelled due to volcanic ash...

what i didnt realise was this wasnt melb to l.a. it was auckland to melbourne to l.a. my bird was never leaving kiwiLand due to the volcano. The phone operator could me on a flight the next day.... with one catch... it was from sydney... I JUST FUCKEN DROVE 10 HOURS FROM THERE!!! SHIT..... so friday was the next option...
not that i minded... still had a lot to do... like do my insurance. which mon organised for me at the 11th hour once again... cheers mon x

travel wise... fortunately, Joffa Casey (yes he lived) and karen were heading to tassie the same day and gave me a lift to tullamarine at 6am friday morning.... where i had to fly on to sydney ... change there and cop the 12.5 hour la flight as best i could. did not sleep but this is real the real torture lies...

im currently in lax and have been since 7am... it now 1.20pm an im waiting for 4.50pm for my flight. 10 hours of boredom and the inability to sleep in the circus that is one of the world busiest airports... spent like $50 on the internet and junk food. awesome.

i also had a lot of trouble at customs... 3 trips to vegas in 15 months... questions were being asked. i stupidly told to truth and said i go to play poker. well.... everyone but mulder and scully were on the case. wanting to know how much cash it brought etc. whether i was a professional. what i did for income? how could i afford to take time off my job to do this... (obviously the never went to escobar) i told them i only had 3k on me (true) and the rest of my tournaments had been paid up for... 15 mins later they let me go... next time i just say holiday... and maybe have a shave

But i fear the worst is yet to come... Nick Jones and few of his mates are in vegas right now waiting to absolutely smash it up at Pure nightclub tonight. And i figure i dont know anyone else there... and it would be rude not to... oh jesus... im sure you can all see whats coming...


wish me luck.... send flowers to my grave

next entry will be poker heavy promise...

congrats to my very good friends russ and ang on there first born too!!!! (i was nearly still there for it!!)

Agro out

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