170 dollars poorer, but infinitely richer

So I've told some people my theory of the US Virgin Islands, but I think it necessary to get it onto the internet so i can claim it when someone writes it up and sells it. St. Croix is like the equatorial Alaska. It should be stated here that I have never been to Alaska, but this is how I imagine it. The world revolves around respect and booze with everyone clammering to get more of both. Today I saw a boy being beaten on the side of the road by an older larger boy. I also heard on the radio about a man who was beaten with a baseball bat, but when at trial was to affraid to testify because he didn't think the police would protect him after the trial. The perpetrator got off. I tell these stories because they are indicative of how the people here deal with conflict. They escalate to fists, bats, and guns quickly. The strange dichotemy pronounces itself in the rest of daily proceedings. There is an incredible air of politeness, a genuine friendliness towards even the strangest of strangers. Its as if a band of thieves was dropped off on an island and told to act like they were in camelot. The conversational skills of the average islander are incredible. They can talk about nothing forever, and spout off hilarious one liners or detailed stories down to the most minute detail. I will attempt to recreate one of these stories in a later post about Ricky tiki tambo rambo... the grey mongoose with an attitude that Zach (one of Mark's old school friends) told at dinner the other night. Oh yes, and speaking of dinner 170 dollars later this is what happened.

...BAM!

Not pictured here are the chicken marsala, cheese platter from heaven, and mahi mahi etc. etc.

simply exsquisite.

Today we went to the beach where columbus landed and I saw another one of my future houses. The houses will get an entry all their own as I have quite a number of houses I will be purchasing some day in the not to distant future!

Now this little gem of an idea on your left is called a crab race. Step one buy and name a hermit crab...the more rambunctious the better, as they say its all about attitude and size doesn't matter. A mantra I live by...jk. Anyhows, no stomping no pointing at crabs and absolutely no stomping on crabs (yes, it happens...story to tell here as well...)

One final note for all the haters out their...

GG life

Trip report!

Aight a few pics from this sick lil island!

More later dinner time.

Virgin Islands baby! Here I come.

OKAY BLOGGERS! I'm off for a week in the sun to try to forget about this terrible month of poker...and just have fun. Got a lot accomplished today, packed, got a haircut that i actually liked for a change, lost 700 dollars got stomach pains from this diablo mexican joint in the mall...sigh i should not have strayed from the usual :/.

Hopefully many pictures to come as well as plenty of life experiences to blog about.

Soren Kierkegaard on the existance of god

Of the existentialists I studied in college Kierkegaard was undoubtedly in my top three. It has been suggested that I attempt to refute his stance on the existence of god in my blog, but it doesn't really seem to necessary to refute him. For, Kierkegaard believed that proving god's existence was impossible, and instead one must make a leap of faith in order to be a true believer. His quintessential example was Abraham from the bible whom at the request of God had to sacrifice his baby Isaac at the top of some mountain. He took baby Isaac when his mother was sleeping up to the top of the mountain and raised his knife to plunge it into the poor lil kid when just at that pivotal moment God sent an angel with a sign on his chest that read "JK -God". Kierkegaard declares Abraham a true knight of faith because his actions were "Absurd". If he were put on trial the next day the judge would have declared him insane..."hearing god's voice?...sacrificing babies???" That would have been a truly absurd/tragic case. Kierkegaard, admires Abraham for his steely resolve and declares that this leap of faith is the true religion, the absurd, the selflessness, and so on and so forth.

To this I say sure, why not, I'll grant you this argument, but if you start sacrificing babies and whatnot...obviously this won't hold up in the realm of reason, so you can count on being treated well in the next life cause we're throwing you in jail for life. Enjoy your remaining days, you knew this was coming.

As for Kierkegaard claim that God cannot be logically proved, This i totally agree with. Here's his argument in syllogism form.


An [unknown thing] is an existent thing.
God is an [unknown thing].
Therefore, God is an existent thing.
The syllogism appears to be of the form:
All B's are C's.
All A's are B's.
Therefore, all A's are C's.
Notice how we have assumed in the very premisses of this syllogism the very point we wish to prove. As Kierkegaard says, all we have done is to develop the content of a conception.

The other way people attempt to prove the existance of god is by his works. This, Kierkegaard rightly dismisses as ridiculous as well, because the "works" of God are infinite and span both the future and past, so a complete list would be impossible, thus the proof for God would be impossible. Sure, why not, if you want to believe that everything that happens to you is an act of God then so be it, there's really no reason to argue with you because all we'd be arguing is a distinction without a difference. I believe that instead of God acting upon us, its instead just the way of the universe, etc. etc. So Lizzy bean, you asked me to talk about Kierkegaard's conception of God, but the truth is the only difference is his willingness to make that leap and perform absurd actions. This does seem right up your alley :P

jumbo slice

imagine you are on a deserted island, and you can only take one thing from the mainland.
I'd take a jumbo slice
/entry

Restaurant week

So last night was a lot of fun. Went out to a french restaurant with scotty, kourt, and alexandra. The place was extremely nice and fairly inexpensive due to it being restaurant week. I had the bass which was exquisite, - the egg on top which made absolutely no sense to me. Moreso than that, the pork belly appetizer was unbelievable. It was drenched in a cheesy sexy sauce that was to die for. The wine was exceptional as well, and paired nicely with the app. All of that for $35 and I was stuffed like a christmas hen. We then went to our little irish bar by the verizon center where a good cover band was playing "fools and horses". The only downside to the whole night was that it was friggin freeeezing outside. I kept checking the weather in the Virgin Islands the whole time I was on this little excursion thinking to myself...I can't wait to be drinking on the sand and in the sun. Poker still not going well, lost a bunch yesterday, made 6 dollars on full tilt...good times.

There's an app. for that...

So today was a day full of interesting happenings. It started around 10 am as usual, when Sam came it to take his morning shower. I felt oddly awake...lucid...even perky. More than that, the usual stuffyness that accompanies my waking was absent. I COULD BREATH! It reminded me how jealous I am of the 70% of the world that is just good at sleeping. My grandmother, bless her soul, can sleep anywhere. She falls asleep sitting straight up in a chair while being the dummy in bridge. What a blessing that would be. I have two sleeping positions (one of which works). The first is a preparations position...on my side with a pillow btwn my legs. I dunno why I put a pillow between my legs, because this position never actually leads to sleep, and just gets kicked aside when i turn on to my stomach. This is where the magic happens. I can only sleep with my nose facing due south. No just kidding, but it does have to be to the left. My left arm must be under the pillow, my right at my side. I don't think i move much when i sleep. If i do move, the entire world (or maybe just my dad when he's stuck in the same hotel room...or a girlfriends sister who hates me with a burning passion) will throw pillows at me to get me to stop snoring. I'm pretty sure my body is miserable while sleeping, because during the day I must blow my nose about once an hour to clear out the one nostril that still works...damn that deviated septum. So when i'm sleeping I can only imagine that I sound like i have "APP"nea. So there you have it, the first App of my day.
The next interesting part of my day was when I decided to fire up 9 tables of UB 6max. I played for about 30 minutes and made 200 dollars. The players are just terrible on UB...I honestly don't know why I play on full tilt, the competition there is at least three times as hard. So tomorrow I'm going to grind UB all day to see what it's like. Goal: $400 at 50nl. Lofty yes, but attainable.
Then came the third part of my day...which could just be called car troubles. I reupped my insurance and paid for the 6 months in full. So i guess i have this beast for at least a half year more. She really has treated me so well though. I can't say the same for my treatment of her. For example, I let the battery die again somehow, so Sam was kind enough to let me jump the car this afternoon. At first we tried to use my jumper cables. I hooked positive to positive on his car and positive to positive on my car. Negative on his car. And as I'm reaching to put negative on my car (the grounding current) I realize that this spark plug felt colder. Low and behold the handle was missing one of its rubber grip covers....That...would have been interesting.
Fortunately he had his plugs so we went to work and I successfully jumped my poor old girl again for the umpteenth time. I rode off into the sunset to collect my prize.
A brand spankin new G3 Iphone. I must say, the thing is pretty god damn slick. I haven't figured out all the APPlications yet, but there seems to be one for everything. I finally have a phone i'll keep track of...and it will keep track of me!

Tomorrow is sharon's night to host dinner. I have to prepare a salad of some sort...god help us all. Sushi is coming again on saturday. And I'm getting a bank account at Band of America, The reeeaaal american bank as Peacock puts it.