Does This Check Call Make Me Look Fat?
Thursday, March 29, 2007
As I often say, time is money and I have neither, so this post will be hella short. I'm bust-ass busy trying to get caught up from business travel last week and up-coming business travel next week. All this makes TripJax and TripJax.com a boring boy and blog. Well, make that more boring than usual.
I missed the Mookie last night, which is always a bummer for me. It is my favorite online tourney, so whenever I'm not there a small part of me dies. It's the degenerate donkey gambler part of me though, so it's all good. In lieu of sloshing chips with my fellow blogren, I got caught up on DVR'd TV shows with ChickJax. We were 4 weeks behind on Lost and 24, but we've managed to almost get back on track. Man I loves me some DVR.
Moving on...I forgot to post a very short chat exchange I had last week while playing on the virtual felt.
Me: Does this check call make me look fat?
Opponent: No, just stupid.
I thought it was funny, so I figured I would share. I lost the hand.
I'm pondering playing a series of SNG's where I change up my play for each SNG, just to see how the change effects my play and the others at the table. For instance, I want to play a SNG where I am not allowed to use the call button AT ALL. My options for the entire game would be to check, fold or raise only. Maybe I should also eliminate the check option as well. Basically only bet (whether being the initial bettor or raising/reraising) or fold.
I also want to play a game where whenever I bet or raise the pot, I do so with an extreme overbet. Not necessarily an all-in bet, just a nice big hefty raise. For instance, instead of raising 3x the blinds, always raising 10x the blinds. Or when someone does a continuation bet, just overbetting huge. Of course, a good portion of this experiment will depend on my stack size relative to the other players stacks as well as the blinds.
Another I want to try is playing an entire SNG with my cards covered. I'm pretty sure other bloggers have done this one before, but I haven't tried it yet. I think it would be very interesting.
If you have any other ideas that might make for an interesting experiment, please comment.
This guy doesn't post often, but when he does I always get a kick out of his writing. In lieu of reading my drivel any longer, go check out his latest post.
*Addendeum*
I forgot to mention Kat's tourney on Friday, which I will hopefully be able to play...
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 1:01 PM,
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Bumping Uglies
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Yesterday's post was a lot of fun, not only to write, but to toss out there for the readers to see. The way I see it, if you can't bust your friend's chops, then they're probably not true friends. In the past, we three have done some damn good things and some not so damn good things. The key, for me, is that we did them. Right or wrong, good or bad, we did them.
I was going to add the word "together" to the end of that last sentence, but for some reason it made it sound ultra gay when I re-read it, so instead I wrote this lengthy sentence to explain why I chose not to use it. Which, in hindsight, is probably ultra gay in and of itself. My gayness knows no bounds.
Anyway, if you didn't get a chance to read them, go check out our reviews of each other...
TripJax reviews GCox
GCox reviews Jordon
Jordon reviews TripJax
I must offer a hearty thank you to Falstaff for planning a game just because I was going to be in Charlotte last week. It was quite cool of him to put something together on a whim. Having not played live in ages, I absolutely showed off some major leaks/weaknesses in my game, but at the same time, I felt comfortable with my progression. My game needs work, but it was nice to toss chips and hopefully start to fill some of the holes over time. Thanks again Falstaff.
Here's a story from this weekend…
For those that don't know, I'm a UNC fan. So, yes, it was a painful weekend for me, unlike someone else I know. As I watched the second half of the UNC / Georgetown game, it was like watching an elderly couple bump uglies. Just straight up painful and uncomfortable to watch.
Since it was a beautiful day out, we had the front door to our house open all day. The front door opens to a screened in porch, which my wife was on at the time. The kids were at their Granny's house, so I was able to watch the game without holding back. It was clear things were not going well as periodically I would yell something belligerent and incoherent at the TV.
Nearing the end of the game, UNC took another ill-advised 3 pointer that ultimately clickity clanked off the rim. However, as the ball was in the, air headed toward the basket, I yelled as loud as I could, and in a very forceful manner, "GET THE FUCK IN!!!!!!!" At that same moment a couple was walking their dog right in front of our house.
Basically it looked like I was yelling at ChickJax to get her ass back in the house and off the porch.
We laughed about it after the fact, but I feel kind of bad cause now our neighbors probably think I'm some wife beating asshole, when really I'm just a Tarheel fan. Now's your chance to head to the comments and insert joke about how assholes and tarheel fans are synonymous.
I'm out of time for today so...
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 2:13 PM,
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Low Limit Loser
Sunday, March 25, 2007
The following is a paid review of http://gcox25.blogspot.com.
Alternate Titles...
Low Limit Folder (The obvious)
Low Limit Goober (The 5th grader in me)
Oh Low Limit Grinder, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yikes, this is going to be hard. I guess I'll try a different angle with this review...brutal honesty.
If you dig blogs about bowling and pointless limit poker from a redneck hillbilly who spends his days as a cube monkey and nights as a penny poking, watered down beer drinking, auto-fold bot, then the Low Limit Grinder may just be for you. Wow, after that sentence, where the hell else can I go? Lets find out...
The Low Limit Grinder is none other than GCox25. He's the guy at the table you can rape blinds with abandon against 9 out of 10 times, then fold the one other time plays back at you. He'll be folding himself to fame in no time flat. GCox25 plays the largest* limits in poker and is a juggernaut** in the poker world. If I had to size up GCox25's blog in one word, it would go something like this...
Laughable.
I mean seriously, he couldn't even get http://lowlimitgrinder.blogspot.com. He had to take sloppy seconds on that one.
Alas, all is not as bad as it seems. He does have a sweet ass banner*** and a tight tag line**** for his blog. Actually, that's about it for the good stuff.
Did I mention he has a mullet? Man this stuff just writes itself.
Let's get this over with quick before I send a man off to his trailer weeping. Word to the wise...if you happen upon GCox25 on the virtual felt, have your way with him. In fact, put a sticky note over the cards on your monitor. You don't need them! Just raise his has ass to no end and you'll rake in nickels and dimes all night.
Until next time, GCox folds.
* smallest
** juggerNOT
*** My design
**** My idea
posted by TripJax @ 8:55 PM,
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For those that run poker leagues
Friday, March 23, 2007
This is DNasty, so there is no confusion.
I am starting a poker league that will have 1 tournament a month. We are going to have a shortened 6 month season starting in June. The year will conclude with a TOC, with prize money that has been raked from the monthly tourney buy-in, most likely 25+15. We are anticipating 18 players this season with potentially more for our second season. We really want to have this 6 month season be a warm up for the full year season, by that I mean we don’t want to change much when we expand.
What is the best point system that will allow for the better consistent players to make our TOC which might include 9 players? We had suggestions of all tournament winners making the TOC, which I am not a fan of this style. My goal obviously is to make it worth it for all players to continue playing but still reward the good players that finish in the top spots consistently.
Labels: dnasty
posted by D @ 11:31 AM,
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Detroit Recap
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I feel more pressure throwing together a post for Tripjax, than I did for my site. Since I don’t feel I can spew anything but crap right now I wont talk about the following:
How I busted SteelerJosh out of a live tourney Friday night
How I laid down Queens after an all in push on the flop at the bubble
How pissed I was when he was called by Ace rag and he showed the other Queens
What Oprah’s Secret really is per SteelerJosh
How to spell Technology the Canadian way
How I looked at 400+ houses while in Detroit in my comfy rental Toyota Crapolla
How much kick is really in SteelerJosh’s homebrew
How quickly my move is coming up
How quickly and fairly easily the Detroit Poker League is coming together
How I took third place in the tourney
I wouldn’t want to fill TripJax’s blog with that junk so lets forget about it.
Truly I could say a lot about all these, but they aren’t that important right now. School and work, both finishing up are pretty hectic. Job searching and housing is not fun right now. Not playing any online mostly because of time and partly because the junk kicking I took the last time I did. Well I am also playing a lot of the Wii, which kicks ass. That’s all for now.
Until next time, Equal Marriage...
Labels: dnasty
posted by D @ 7:21 PM,
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Leave Me Be Iakaris!
Monday, March 19, 2007
I'm working in Charlotte this week helping out while a fellow employee is on maternity leave. I am using her office and she has a bunch of pictures on her desk. It is really freaking me out because this chicks husband completely looks like Iakaris and he is straight up staring me down in every picture.
Granted, I've never met Iak in person, but I've seen pictures from Vegas and such. I swear in these pictures this Iak looking mofo is looking into my soul. I've decided to turn the pictures around so I can actually get some work done. It's like not being able to yank your chain because that picture of your family on the wall is looking down at you with disappointed eyes. Or, erm, not that at all.
Alas, time is money and I have neither so...
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 1:40 PM,
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Overhaul
Friday, March 16, 2007
Let it be known, my game needs an overhaul. It's probably 50% true game time adjustments and 50% attitude, but right now I don't feel right at the tables. This is mainly in MTT's, but honestly it is a mix of any poker game I am playing right now.
I feel like my biggest problem right now is that I no longer seem to think about why I am making a certain move or why I react a certain way to a players actions. Poker is not all about 3 X raises and continuation bets. There is so much more to it and I am hitting the pitfalls of wash, rinse and repeat. I also feel the need to evaluate optimum strategy depending on the type of MTT I am playing.
As a result, I may be missing from some blogger tourneys in the short term, but fear not as I will be back soon. I just want to get back in game mode and right now I am not there. No worries in my mind, just a chance to rethink the way I play.
On a side note, my posts and online sightings may be sporadic as I am travelling on business all next week. Specifically I will be working in our firms Charlotte office so I may not have access to blogger or poker for a while.
I was hoping a live game would be in motion next week, but I'm not sure. As I'm to understand, Special K is in Vegas right now, so that is probably out. Maybe Falstaff will have a game going on. We'll see.
I'm off to go find my game and question everything. I may also consume large amounts of alcohol in the process.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 11:13 AM,
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I Want My Zero Dollars Back
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Chat prior to Riverchasers freeroll last night...
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:42:37 PM): dude...this is tarded...208 entrants...
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:43:18 PM): all-in 1st hand for me...
Gary Cox (3/13/2007 8:43:32 PM): it's limit HORSE
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:43:46 PM): FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK
The tourney ended up with 224 runners and I ended up finishing in 28th, 4 from the money. I was really gunnin' for 24th place cause I wanted to win exactly one dollar. I thought that would be kind of cool.
Instead, I donked my stack off mixing up my hand thinking I had a tight low in stud hi/lo when in fact I didn't. I'll be the first to tell you I am not a good mixed game player. I have a long way to go to get to that point. Add alcohol to the mix and I'm grade A poo. I kept having to ask GCox questions about the games. Sad, sad state.
Still, in the end I feel I held my own.
I'm still laughing at our little chat above. I was really planning on stuffing my chips into the middle on the first hand no matter what I held. Instead I ended up actually playing well, but falling short. Such is poker. As always, thanks Al for a good time. And thanks GCox for reminding me about the game...
posted by TripJax @ 3:01 AM,
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Return Of The Retarded Lemur
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
I wish every night of playing heads-up could be like this. This was a running balance of my foray into the $20 heads-up tourneys at poker.com on Monday...
151
170
189
168
187
206
185
204
223
202
221
240
259
278
297
Not a bad run for heads-up tourneys. I went on a heater winning 5 straight matches at the end there. I'll take doubling my balance from $150 to $300 over a couple hour span anyday.
My good friend the retarded lemur decided to show up for about 4 of the above games. I wish I could say I pwned him, but I think we broke even. He is the type that will laugh in your (virtual) face when he sucks out on you, but when you dare win a hand or a game, you are obviously a donktastic idiot.
To make things worse, he is not Americam, but apparently hates anyone that is. Or maybe he just hates me. He certainly has a grasp on the American curse words however. I was a fuck, bitch, wuss, pussy, retarded asshole, fucking American, idiot. You name it, that was me. By the end of it all, I was rather enjoying myself. I couldn't care less about the results against him. Just pissing him off brought a smile to my face.
Unfortunately, many of my big hands, made draws and/or suckouts were not against him. As I mentioned above, I could do no wrong during the end of my session. If I wasn't waking up with monsters and players pushing into me, I was filling straight and flush draws with abandon. All-in dominated AK vs K9. No problem. Here's a 678 flop and a T turn to seal the deal. Thank you very much.
After the last couple of days of watching tards spike their cards at the most inopportune times, it was nice to have my cake. I just wish I could have had more of it against my new best friend xheffeyx. I usually don't list screen names unless they are part of a hand history (which I almost never post), but this guy deserves anything he can get. If you can get in a $20 heads-up tourney at poker.com with this guy, just save yourself for a monster or a very strong hand and pwn his ass.
Nuff said.
Two quick notes to finish off this post. My iPod came in Monday as I figured and let me just say I'm in love. This thing is the shit. Even after cashing in for the iPod, I still have about $100 in e-certificates built up from Poker Savvy and PokerSourceOnline so I'm going to order some accessories and iTunes cards.
While I was playing the heads up matches, I was able to put my entire book of music on the thing and still have 67gb's available. Can't wait to put some movies on their as well. Methinks Anchorman will have to be the 1st movie I add. It is the type of movie that I can just start watching anytime, anywhere.
Sixty percent of the time it works everytime.
Finally, as I mentioned in my previous post, we took KidJax and LilJax to the doctor on Monday and thankfully they don't have strep throat. Just a virus that should run its course. That will have to do for today.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 3:07 AM,
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You Want The Candy? You Can't Have The Candy!
Monday, March 12, 2007
I'm at home today with the kiddies. We think KidJax has strep throat and LilJax is strugglin' as well, though we're not sure what she has. We are taking them both to the Doctor soon, so this will have to be a shorty post today.
I played the bloggerpods tourney last night, but didn't even make it halfway through the event. I went out rather boringly, but I did have a good time while I was there. We were knee deep in the middle of sick kids so I wasn't too disappointed when I was knocked out. I never want to get knocked out of a tourney, but when kids are sick and need you, it makes it easier to take.
Also, I expect my 80gb ipod video will be coming in the mail today, so that makes my finish in the tourney a little bit easier to take. I can't wait to get that thing in the mail! Over the weekend, I put every single CD I own onto my iTunes. I don't know if I should be disappointed or happy, but I only had a little under 2000 songs to burn, which represents about 7 gb.
Granted, I have probably lost or loaned out over 50 cd's over the years, but still 7gbs seems rather low. I've got my work cut out for me in filling up that bad boy. Luckily, between songs, movies, tv shows, podcasts and audiobooks, I get the feeling it will fill up quicker than I expected.
Backl to poker...after things settled down and the kids were in bed, I decided to fire up poker.com and play some heads up tourneys. I usually play the $11 Turkey Room tables because you get the most comp points for the buy-in. You actually get 90 comp points in the $11 tourneys and only 80 comp points for the Cougar Room $21 tables. Also, the Turkey Room has the blinds go up every 8 minutes instead of every 10 hands, so it is not as much of a crapshoot.
I note the above because, for whatever reason, it looks like they've dropped the Turkey Room tables from their offering. It's been 2 days now and I still haven't seen them available. Thus, last night I decided to play the $21 tables. I logged on and signed up and immediately a tourney opened up.
Before the game was set to start, my opponent asked if I would push all-in on the 1st hand with him. At first I said no, but then I decided to go for it after he kept asking over and over. I ended up having 8 2 o and he had some other crap hand, but it was better than mine and held up, so I lost.
I logged into another $21 heads-up tourney and low and behold, there he was again. Same request to push on the 1st hand, but this time I wouldn't. Of course he berates me for being a pussy, but I just waited patiently to trap him with a nice Ace or a pocket pair. I finally caught a middle pocket pair, but of course he pushes and has JJ. Good game me.
I fired up another $21 tourney and wouldn't you know it, there he is again. Again he urged me to push, but I just kept silent. About 10 hands in my wi-fi connection started to go out on me, so when I was able to get back on the table, I typed in "next hand, all-in?" He obviously agreed and, as I promised, I pushed on my next hand. We got it all-in with my J 9 versus his J 8 and my hand held up. Of course he goes off on a chat tirade, calling my a pussy for not doing it on the 1st hand. Whatever dude.
I decided to log off down one buy-in, which was fine by me. I got my poker fix and gambooled it up with a retarded lemur.
I spent a good amount of the weekend watching basketball. My Tarheels came through winning the ACC tournament and landing a 1st seed in the NCAA tournament. The Pack valiantly played an incredible ACC tourney, but were just worn down in the end against a powerful Tarheel team. I'm looking forward to this NCAA tournament. UNC won the ACC regular season and the ACC tournement, but now it's time to pwn the NCAA tournament. Get your bets in early folks. Go Heels!
My favorite commercial during basketball season is the Alltel commercial where the two guys are playing a pick-up game of basketball and the one guy is an absolute idiot. "You want the candy, you can't have the candy...they call me the busdriver, cause I'm about to take you to school...Faeduh!" Then his shot gets blocked into his face and he breaks his nose. I swear I could watch that commercial 1 million times and never get tired of it. Thankfully they keep bringing it back each year.
Well, that will have to do it for me today. Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 9:46 AM,
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i (as in me) pod
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Taking first in a multi table tournament is pretty damn exhilarating. Unfortunately, I have not done that in a few months, so my exhilarating moments on the felt have been few and far between. I can't complain though, cause I've been focusing my play at the cash game and heads-up sng tables. My only tournaments of late have been a few of the blogger tourneys and a couple of sporadic poker.com mtt's. No excitement to report there.
In lieu of the thrills of a tourney win, tonight I was able to get my buzz from another source. I've been working on poker bonuses to build up enough points/cash to order myself a little gadget and tonight I was finally able to do the deed. Here is what I ordered...
Nothing like getting a sweet ass gadget for free simply from playing poker. Yeah, I'm pretty much grinning from ear to ear. That's an 80gb, 5.5 generation ipod video. This is my first ever mp3 player, and most def my 1st ipod. Granted, I'm pretty late to the game with this one, but I don't care. I've had my eye on an ipod for years and now is the perfect time for me to have one. My travel has increased of late so having this for the car or plane is perfect.
Apparently this bad boy can hold up to 20,000 songs or 100 hours of video (or whatever mix of the two I choose). I'm guessing those numbers probably represent the lower quality downloads, but I can't imagine putting even 2000 songs on there. That will leave plenty of room for videos, tv, movies and podcasts. I can't wait to slap a few poker podcasts on there as well as an audiobook, or eight.
So anyway, this post represents me being all giddy like a school girl on pink m&m's. And don't think I wont' still try and kick some ass in the bloggerpods tourney this Sunday as well. ChickJax would dig an ipod to ya know.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 11:30 AM,
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The Internets Confuse Me Yet Again
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Sometimes I just don't understand the series of tubes that make up the internets. Ever since our good friend Al Gore invented the internets, it's been a mystery to me. Sure I try and fake my way through html this and upload that, but for the most part, I'm clueless.
Let me offer an example of my confusion. A while back a mildly controrversial website, Review Me, opened its doors for business. I say mildly controversial because, like most things in life, some folks were down with it, while others said "talk to the hand."
For those that don't know, Review Me is a site that connects companies looking to promote their products/services with bloggers willing to write about those products/services. At the end of the day it is pretty simple. You agree to write a sponsored post about a product > The company pays Review Me for you doing so > Revew Me takes their cut > Review Me pays you the rest.
This post is not meant to delve into the issues and controversies of Review Me sponsored posts. That's been done by others and, like I noted above, each person will have an opinion and at the end of the day people can agree or agree to disagree.
What I'm confused about is my "price" at Review Me. When I first signed up, I was given a price ranking of $60 which meant, if I did a post, I would receive $30 and Review Me would receive $30. Since signing up for their services, I think I've done 3 "reviews." You can do the math to see that a few minutes of work has netted me a little bit of scratch.
After doing those 3 reviews, I declined one request, then haven't received another offer. I decided to go check out my account yesterday and see if anything was up. To my surprise, my price was at $250. And even more surprising to me was, after searching the site for "poker", only one blogger was higher on the list, at $400, while another blogger had an equal price of $250.
This is where I'm confused. I don't know what I've done anytime recently to go from $60 to $250.
At this point, let me make a couple of notes. First, I realize there are many stupendous poker bloggers out there who have chosen not to sign up with Review Me. I also know that if they were to sign up, they would immediately and deservedly rise to the top of the price ranking. Second, I know that the ranking is not really based on how craptastic or fantastic you are as a blogger, but how your traffic is ranked.
This is what I'm confused about. I don't think anything has changed so much in my traffic that I should go from $60 to $250. And I honestly don't think I should be at or near the likes of the above fellows. Maybe I'm beating myself down a beat, which I sometimes do, but I just don't get it.
That's just it though. I have no visions of grandeur when it comes to life, blogging, poker and other such shenanigans. Some peoples awesomeness knows no bounds. My awesomeness most definitely knows its bounds and, to that end, usually keeps me on a short leash. And I'm cool with that. So anytime I see something out of the ordinary, I immediately question it.
All the above duly noted, if anyone has more insight on how something like that might happen, then maybe you can shed a little light my way.
On a side note, I don't think it is any coincidence that I haven't received any review requests recently. I'f I were a company looking for reviews, I think I'd much rather have 5 sites do 5 reviews for $250 than for one site to do one review. Just my two cents. Anyone know if you can change or set your own price ranking there?
Okay, that will have to do for today. Sorry to put you all through me questioning my own stupid page rank at a random ass web site.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 10:59 AM,
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Sick & Tired
Monday, March 05, 2007
Lets start this off with some pimpage. Tonight is the MATH tourney. I've come to realize that my little gadget that displays all the blogger tourneys (shown above) does not show up in many of the rss readers. So if you want to see all the current blogger tourney details that I'm currently aware of, then click through and take a look at the top of this post. For those of you at work who can't get access to the gadget due to software blocks, I'm sorry. I have that same shit at work. If I can come up with a simpler flash banner, I'll let you know.
As for the MATH, I have only played that tourney a few times, but I have smoked pole each and every time I've played. No bad beats that I can recall...just bad play on my part or it just not being my night. I won't be able to make the MATH tourney tonight, unless someone wants to swap some cash with me. I only have money at Poker.com right now, so if anyone wants to transfer me $22 at PokerStars, I will transfer you $22 at Poker.com. My email is at the top of this blog, so just let me know if you are interested. I also have some dough on PayPal, but I'm not sure if there is a fee to do a peer to peer transfer or not.
I've been sick all weekend and, though I probably could have mumbled and grumbled my way through work today, I decided to give myself one more day to recoup. It's been a weird sickness, starting with stomach issues on Friday, but morphing into sore throat and cold Saturday through today. I've been extremely tired throughout and have slept quite a bit.
Even though I was sick last night, I was still ready to fire up the 'puter and play in the bloggerpods tourney, but it was cancelled due to the Full Tilt servers being down. What the hell is up with the servers there on Sundays? Does anyone have details on what is going wrong lately. I love that place, but it seems this comes up more often than it should.
For those of you who read the first chapter of the little book I'm trying to write, The Tempest Stone, I finally broke out chapter two this weekend. Sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to work out some kinks in the story for quite a while. I know you all have lost sleep waiting for chapter two, eh?!
Anyway, you can find the book over at ScriptJax or, to make it easier, here are chapters One and Two.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 12:29 PM,
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