Yawn, what a long day today was. I can’t believe that it’s almost two in the morning and I’m still up…and I haven’t even taken a shower yet. Grrrr, this journaling stuff. Well at least I get points for being somewhat disciplined and continuing to write even though I’m tired.

Today started like almost every Sunday. Usually every Sunday my goal is to make it to church by the break and chat with people. Check, did that sort of. I made it to church while the break was still going on so I suppose that still counts even though I didn’t get there exactly when the break started. Anyway, when I got to church I started chatting to some people that I knew and I saw Sally in the Women of Hope tent. Normally I like to hang around that area because you know, plenty of women congregate in that area (just kidding). But when service started apparently Sally had to teach Sunday School and she wanted me to cover. I kid you not! I was like, “what the? I can’t cover, I’m not a girl (despite what you read in Keao’s journal), sometimes I can’t even tell them apart from boys.” Then oddly enough there was this kid that walked by, probably about 3 or 4 maybe and Sharyn and Becky started waving to it. Sure enough just to prove my point, I had to ask if it was a boy or a girl. They all looked horrified that I would even ask such a question, but the kid had glasses and mullet looking haircut so it really was hard to tell. Church remained fairly uneventful until I saw this other baby whose diaper was apparently too full start peeing through her diaper. It was really gross. The pee was running down her leg and onto her mom who was carrying her at the time. Pretty much if there were some sort of deterrent that keeps me from having kids (other than not having a child-bearing partner) that was it.

After church I took Jenny and Becky to watch Gabe (and Russell and Jon and Cory) play soccer at the Waipio soccer complex. I had never been there before and I wanted to see it. It’s right past the Ted Makalena golf course so I knew the area, I just hadn’t gone that far before. Of course, whenever I’m in Waipahu I usually like to eat at either Tanioka’s or Thelma’s. Today I opted for Thelma’s since I had Tanioka’s on Friday. After hyping up the pork adobo fried rice omelette to everyone I was sorely disappointed at how it came out. It wasn’t nearly as good as I remember. Luckily the soccer game went pretty well so I forgot about how crappy the food was. The game ended in a 2-2 tie but that wasn’t important. The important thing was that I got to see Gabe play. That man is an animal. I have never seen Gabe so competitive before. He was running really fast and kicking hard and at one point he even shoved this guy down when they were both going for the ball. He didn’t just nudge the guy, he actually made the guy leave his feet a la West Kiliikipi from last night. When Gabe came out of the game I tried to convince him that if he scored a goal he should take off his jersey and twirl it over his head like a lasso. Well, what do you know? Gabe really scored a goal when the ball deflected off his hip and dribbled into the goal. But did Gabe hold up on his end and rip off his jersey? Of course he did! You know Gabe. Actually you apparently don’t know Gabe if you believe that. He did nothing. Not even some sort of victory dance. What a disappointment.

After the game I came home in time to watch the end of the Red Sox/Cardinals game. Sea Biscuit must be pretty sad that his team is now 0-2 in the World Series. I also went over to the Bryant’s house after the game and checked on them. It was nice to see Josh, Tab, Charity and Erin all together again, it is just unfortunate that the circumstance in which they all got together again was such a bummer. They seemed to be doing okay though. We had a pretty good time there laughing and telling jokes and stories to each other. After that it was back to my house.

Sunday night at my house is usually poker night. It’s usually a closed game but recently more and more people show up to play. We’re going to have to close it again soon I think. It’s getting a little more crowded and we didn’t finish until a quarter to one. There were nine players tonight with seven on the table at once. I went out first so Danny took my spot and Reuben went out second so Tom took his spot. It sucks going out first in your own house. Sally and Nikki also came over so they could work on my bio (www.hopechapel.com). I like it, you can read the new bio later if you want. Keao also stuck around after going out third to play guitar. We tried to work on her strumming. Strumming is tough because I don’t really know how to teach it. It’s not like some sort of set pattern, it just kind of flows with the music so I was having a difficult time trying to teach her to strum. It’s more you just kind of got to go with it. But you really just have to keep playing with other people then slowly you’ll start to pick up their strum. Once you can mimic a good solid strum, the rest is fairly easy. You just have to make slight variations to that first strum. So my advice if you’re learning how to strum: play with other people as much as you can. Not only will it help you avoid bad habits, but you’ll be able to pick up their good habits too.

Wow, it’s really thundering and lightninging outside. I heard Charlie howling. I wonder if he’s scared. I wonder if there’s a storm coming in and if it will affect my attempts at surfing this week. I hope not. I’m never going to learn how to shred if I don’t get in the water. Very similar to the quote at the top of the page from one of my favorite gambling movies “Rounders”. Other good movies to watch include “the Sting”, “Maverick”, and “the Color of Money” (which teaches us that “money won is twice as sweet as money earned).