It's enough to just make you blog all over yourself

I'm still alive, as evidenced by the fact that I'm typing, but my soul begs to differ.

$1/$2 no-limit at Caesars Indiana, 10-handed, middle position. $400 effective stacks, except for a $100 stack in the big blind. Guy to my right raises the $2 blind to $15, I call with TT. Guy to my left minimum-raises to $30, big blind calls, guy to my right calls, I call.

Flop: QT8 rainbow. $120 pot.

Check, check, I bet $100. There's one made draw on the table (J9) and the only person who might conceivably have it is the guy to my right (and only if it's suited), so I'm not worried about that yet. The only other hand that beats me is QQ, but unless someone reraises me all-in on the flop, I can't give them credit for it. There are plenty, plenty of other hands, worse hands than mine, that are possible around the table.

Guy to my left calls, big blind calls all-in for $70 (less than my bet), and guy to my right stews. He stews for a full minute, literally kisses his cards and mucks them. Main pot's got $300, side pot has $60 for me or the guy on my left.

Turn: 5. It's a total blank, and I'm damn near positive that if the guy on my right had QQ, he'd have raised me after the flop if he thought I had a piece of a straight draw. I'm 99% certain my hand is good, and I go all-in for $270. It's three-quarters of all the money in play, and he calls immediately.

He shows 88 for trip 8's. Awesome, he's screwed. Only one card can come that will give him the $900 in the pot: the last 8.

The big blind can only win the $300 main pot and she shows QJ for top pair with a gutshot straight draw. Only four cards (any 9) can come to give her that $300, and even if one of them did, I'd still get the $600 side pot, putting me up $200 for the hand. That'd be just fine with me, but before I have a moment to utter a little prayer to the poker gods:

River: 8.

Mathematically, 41 times out of 42, I'll have $600 or $900 after that hand. This was the other time, and I had $0.

Anyway, hello everyone! I'm trying to decide what to do with this blog business. What keeps happening is, I write all day and then I get home and I do not want to write at all. But since I'm far away from most of you, the point of this is more for keeping in touch than it is for a creative-writing outlet, so I'm resolving to set some kind of goal (30 consecutive days blogging or something) to restore your faith in me.