25th July 2010

Had a fairly nasty dream - dreamt I was at a Chinese buffet with my friends. It was 10am so the selection of foods was rather limited. Worse still, there were all sorts of unpleasant table-dyanmics going on - there were two tables and people were moving between them like idiots according to crass favouritism. I decided to stay in my own initial seat and dismiss the trivialities around me.

However, the worst was to come - after I'd piled my plate fairly substantially at the buffet section the food literally disappeared off it even before I was able to sit down. Then just as I was going to get some more (this time with my hands, having learnt not to trust my plate) my alarm went off.

Had some good meetings yesterday - one with a barrister friend of the family who had come down from London, and another with my ex-tutor. I say ex-tutor, it was literally fifteen years ago.

Anyway I actually wrote this at around 9ambut Blogger is (not unusually) having problems. I'm literally trying to sign into it as a write. Had to type this in using NOTEPAD.

Off to a breakfast engagement now (not coincidentally, a 10am one), though by the time this is up and posted I will already be busy digesting it.

S

Week in the Midlands

Have recently come back from the Midlands after spending a week visiting friends in the region. I had a great time and enjoyed a good variety of company and activity, though I am now happily bankrupt (financially, not morally) as a consequence. There's no such thing as a free lunch!

On that note, the first thing my grandfather noticed on my return was that my stomach had grown a little. My mother had noticed the same thing. They were both right, of course, but what is a holiday without good food? Believe me, I enjoy being kept hungry about as much as a haemophiliac enjoys a paper cut.

There was no single, outstanding highlight to the trip and each night was good in its own way. I don't say this to be politically correct or too polite to have an opinion; I simply say it because it is true. That is what made my time great - the variation. Had I stayed with the same person in the same house for seven days, I would have gone mad. And so would have they. Nevertheless, I am thankful to all my hosts, even those who had to take an early night due to their essay fatigue.

Actually, if I had to mention one place which stood out in particular it was the Dusk till Dawn card room in Nottingham. Apart from the fact that the blinds structure for the tournaments I played in was a little steep, it was still superior to equivalent buy-in games at other casinos. Moreover, the punters were friendly and good-natured. None of the players' games were particularly intimidating, but that is to be expected, as the buyins for the two nights I played were only £31 and £56, which may sound like a lot to the non-poker player, but to the more knowledgeable gambler, these are essentially the lowest stakes available in the casino environment.

Mind you, I am still holding to my conviction that I should not spend too much of my spare time in card rooms. I have essentially given up online play since the New Year and am rediscovering the simple pleasures of life which, I am ashamed to say, I neglected somewhat between Graduation and Christmas. I mean pretty fundamental things, like keeping in touch with my friends, being honest and open rather than secretive and meta, getting exercise and in touch with my environs rather than decaying and falling into grumpy, bloated, lonely decadence. Thankfully, the return of many of the Group of '03 during the Christmas period has brought me out of the worst excesses of idleness and antipathy, and I have been leading a more serene existence ever since.

O, yea, I look back with some pity on the later parts of last year. It always seems to happen; I flourish in the early months of the year and then gradually lose steam as it goes on. Well, this year will be an exception. Why? Because I say it will, that's why.

By the way, whoever wants to sponsor me for the Brighton Marathon may do so at this site: http://www.runningsponsorme.org/sebastianevans

It's very quick and simple and you can make a nice little vanity comment after you've donated. If you are also participating in a marathon, or some other type of charity event, then email me at sebyevans@hotmail.com and we can discuss the possibility of sponsoring each other on each other's behalf (i.e. both donating money to ourselves).

For all those who are reading this blog for the first time (having discovered it through my facebook link) I say hello, welcome to my blog. It's not much, but at least it's cheap and cheerful!

Update Soon

This is not the update itself. This is just to update my fans (all one of them) that I will be writing an update soon. I haven't forgotten about the blog, I've just been busy. Honest!

Yes yes good new year and all that. Did not make any resolutions, decided I'm perfect already. Been a good year so far so may it continue.

One thing which wasn't so perfect was my last post. Did not proof-read it and haven't read it since publishing, but my (one) fan has informed me that there were many unfinished sentences. I can't have that, so I will be engaging in a blog clean-up before I post anything new (apart from this, but by the time you read it it will be not new). Also, when making reviews in the future I will set out with more of a purpose. That last review degenerated into a self-indulgent philosophical game. I'm not saying such things are unwelcome on this blog, merely that they should be written in a different context. In fact, I have since trimmed the Burke review of some of the less relevant material, but have saved it in case I wish to use it at some point in the future to which it might be more suited.


Wow. Just checked spell check and no misspellings found! It's a mirclae!

Welcome to Royal Fish's Tilt Blog

Or, should I say, welcome back, for those that know me will recall that my old Warwick Blog boar [sic] the same name. Now, of course, I am a graduate of that university, and have moved on from being a student of history to a student of life. *RAISES EYES TO THE HEAVENS IN A PRETENTIOUS, PIOUS GESTURE* Yea, 'tis life's long examination that now I must pass; and may I not be he who sits silent in the seminar eternal, but he who speaks, he who rules. Fall not into mediocrity, but rise to neverending triumph.

And so on. Ironically I am now reading a lot of the history books which I should have read as part of my course - mainly on Medieval Europe ("if one can talk of 'Medieval' as being a distinct age in human development").

Why have I started this blog? Out of vanity, essentially. I enjoy writing all manner of nonsense and I know there are people who enjoy reading it. Even those of an outwardly cynical and seldom-pleased nature will enjoy it; they even enjoy the fact that I just referred to them.

What do I intend to write? Well, such self-referential twaddle as this. But it's my twaddle, and mine alone. It is nonsense through my eyes. It is the nonsense that is important to me.

How often will I update this blog? Whenever I feel the urge to. At one point this could be everyday for a week. There may be one month stretches with not so much as a comment. I can assure you that I won't be writing much this month anyway, as I am off to Lima, Peru, South America (, World) for a family holiday. As usual, I'm looking forward to the flight (some 14hours from London to Madrid to Lima) as much as the destination itself! Apart from attending two weddings I suspect most of the time will be spent touring Lima and the surrounding area.

Indeed, the trip is shrouded in such mystery and speculation that I'm not even sure when I'm returning to England! What I do know, however, is that on my initial departure on Thursday 8th October, I shall have to leave my house well before dawn to catch the flight. Whether this will mean getting up ridiculously early or staying up ridiculously late is something that will be decided at the time. Neither is easily practicable, seeing as I normally sleep somewhere between 1am and 9.30am.

Indeed I've been keeping fairly normal hours recently. Gone are the days where I would stay up for 40 hours "just to see if I can". Let it suffice to say that my circadian rhythms have suffered so much in the past that I can't imagine jet lag, in the scheme of things, posing too much of a problem.

Poker. Was going to be playing the £220 Deepstack tonight (300 big blinds, 1 hour levels, dealer dealt) at the Brighton Grosvenor. Alas, one of my stakers had to pull out. That plus family politics. On boasting recently to my parents about winning $981 after coming 4th in a 3600-person $5 turbo on Stars, my mother made her usual anti-gambling tirade. Variance.

There are some nice looking events coming up in December though. Indeed, I've vowed never to play low stakes live again. As I have a job at the moment, I can play higher games. Will look into 1/2 at the VIC next time I am there.

Haven't played much online since my fourth place finish. With the risk of sounding like a workaholic busybody lifeslut, let's just say I "don't have enough time". I'm simply spending too much time on other things (work, eating, meeting, watching the Palin travel series) that I haven't any nice stretches for MTT playing. My connection isn't too great either, something which I shall be resolving on my return from Peru. In a recent example, I played some 2am $20+$2 tournament, part of the MiniFTOPS. I did quite well in the first hour... but that was the last hour played. Not because I was eliminated in one fell swoop - it took me several hours. But I did not play a hand. My connection, conspiring with memory issues (probably both from my machine and from the Full Tilt server itself) meant I was unable to play a single hand after the hour. Sometimes I would be able to log on and see my hand, only for the server to freeze for a minute and then show me as sitting out again.

I should be getting a new laptop at some point. My current one has served me well since September '06. But since then, the CD drive has bust - the replacement CD drive has bust, and the screen has lost most of its suspension - effectively meaning I can no longer change the angle of the screen. Nor indeed, can I use the computer as a 'laptop', gravity will not permit anything other than a completely flat surface.

One thing which isn't a flat surface is the Earth. I shall bear this in mind while travelling the 6,000 miles or so to Peru.

Here endeth the blog post.

Will post again shortly.

In the mean time, you can read my old blog here: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/royalfish/