Driving to L.A to play their $1 million guarantee. It’s the official start of the L. A. Poker Classic, an event in which I always do well. The good news is I love the Classic, the bad news is you have to deal with L. A. but more good news is L. A. players are incredibly .. well, interesting might be the word.

Well like everyone after the holidays I am trying to get my system back in line. I am doing a detox which I love (afterwards) but which is difficult, at best, to endure. Hard to cook for everyone and just drink funky stuff but I’m always so glad I go through it. Day 1 is just awful, headache, drainy, yucky stuff. After that begins to feel better. When Don asks me about it I tell him this detox is on a graduate school level vs the liver and gallbladder flush considered elementary school level. Ugh. More as I endure it.

Had business meetings on Friday and then headed to Red Rock. I don’t play there often as they dont do tournaments, only cash and seems to be a local crowd. I went over on Friday and registered and also brought the motor home to see if I could handle it “on my own”. Registered for the 9 a.m. flight and went back to my digs in the parking lot.

The tournament was uneventful, as happens some days, absolutely nothing would or could work. Very frustrating when that happens but little which can be done about it. After several hours my 10’s run into A J off, bad play on his part to call my reraise but he caught on the turn. Happens, blinds were going on and that was in fact my very first pair. Went from there and played some cash and that was great. Got a looser than hell crazy table and made my buy in ($1100) plus .. that was fun.

Lincoln tells me his teachers heard I had a book out. I said yes, he says what is it about. I say it’s about you and Hayden. Hmmm he says. What does it say. It will show you one day how tough your mom is and how much she fought for your life. He says, where is the book, I point to it on my desk. He picks it up and says ” well, I’m not going to read it because it’s a chapter book and I can’t read chapter books yet”.

Once again my children have missed school because they are spraying pesticides. I guess what bothers me even more than this fact is that we have been told we are the only parents who have expressed concern about their children sitting in the classroom and breathing cancer causing pesticides. Well, sigh, what am I supposed to say other than the truth, I’ve already lost a child to cancer and I’ve got one who is high risk so I will keep them home. Such a ridiculous system that they can’t spray when the children are out of school.

On a cheerier note L & S had a gift card for Target from their beloved Aunt Kat. We went there and settled in for shopping. Sierra was easy with her $25 as she wanted an American Girl and that was an easy choice for her. Lincoln on the other hand is an interesting study. He finally had two skateboards, a powered boat and a pickup truck all spread out in the toy aisle. He wanted two of the items. Nope, Buddy I have to say, you’ve got $25 to spend. Finally, he decides. Then I get to the checkout and there’s a blank Target gift card in the basket. What is this guys I ask. “Oh,” says Lincoln, “I thought we could get that and we could come back and do this again tomorrow.” Ha. That isn’t quite how it works but that’s a good try …

Spent all of Friday in business meetings then drove to Mesquite. It’s a long, hard road for 82 miles when you’ve had a long day but glad to be here. There was a meet and greet then a 10 pm tournament. 91 players. I was 7th at about 3 am. It was fun. There was a noon tournament and I didn’t last as long when the turn gave me the bottom end of a straight and my opponent the top. Sigh. But had fun nonetheless. Return to Las Vegas tomorrow.