Poker Night

Up early and ready to go. Trying to eat a more regular breakfast of cereal and a piece of fruit every day. I'm getting into the habit of watching an Asian news channel out of Singapore while eating. I like that it feels way more objective than any of the Chinese or American stations.

I was planning on heading to my classroom to make some new materials for the week. Yesterday was more about logistics and figuring out the new schedule. Today needs to be more specific classroom plans. I ended up working on my computer in front of the TV in my apartment. That usually doesn't work well for me, but it did today. Background noise of PGA golf wasn't too distracting and I was able to crank out an assignment for my eighth graders on some basic algebra concepts. Will still need to put in some time tomorrow, but today was productive.

I then focused my attention on poker. Got my table set up for the game tonight and worked on a digital handout for the ladies game I'm planning on hosting in three weeks. Have a peak.

I'm thinking this will go well. There are several younger ladies that live in our apartment building and I think they'll enjoy the experience. Jeremy and I talked about this venture a bit, but I've been contemplating it a lot thinking about what aspects will make it fun for them. What do I get out of it? I like the game. I watch it on TV. I also like dealing and running a game for others. Really I just love the game of poker. If I can hook one into the game I might add a regular to the weekly (or every other week) game that I plan to host, but regardless of that I think it will be fun. Tia thought it would be cool if we got Jeremy in his tuxedo to serve drinks and such.

Headed into the city to get a haircut and stop by the mall this afternoon. Maybe hit a restaurant in the mall for lunch. There's a Japanese place there I like quite a bit. I'm sort of feeling like throwing money around as I filled out my taxes today. I dropped my US income a bumch this last year while still paying the same in mortgage interest on my house. I'm getting the biggest return that I've ever seen. Lucky me? I gave the US government a big interest free loan. Oh well, I'm not going to complain about the return. The income I'm earning here in China gets taxed here. Not sure what it will be like to earn $0 next year in the US and still keep paying my mortgage. That's going to be weird. The following year I'll go back to a tiny income again in the US for only four months.

My haircut didn't happen. They're still closed for the holiday until tomorrow. Not a big deal. Will try again tomorrow. I'll take some pics tonight and share them tomorrow. So excited to try out the new table.