The next two months then around the world in 150 days
Now that the Aussie Millions are over it's time to look forward to what's upcoming in my life over the year 2009, and it's shaping up to be interesting.
My plan over the next two months is to play a very high amount of online poker. I'll be going to Adelaide for the first event of the ANZPT from February 4-8 and after that my entire focus is on getting up early, putting in volume, and then writing and working out at night. I've only got about two months to finish the book, so I'm going to need to develop a Dostoyevsky like writing style. In total, I've had confirmations from about a dozen guys interested in being coauthors, and I'll need to figure out what I'd like to direct them to write about and how to incorporate it into the material.
I'm thinking my schedule through February and March will look something like waking up about 9am, getting a quick run in, then grinding for about 8-9 hours, then going to the gym and finally retiring for the evening to work on the book for a few hours. I imagine my social life will take a hit, but that's alright since I'll be very social for the five months following that and I'm a little tired of going out after the Aussie Millions and everything.
After that, inexplicably, it appears I'll be traveling a full circumference of the world in a short period of time again. I know when I finished last year I wrote that I didn't want to go around the world again any time soon, but things have fallen into a sort of place where it seems to line up too well not to, plus I've got the opportunity to do some really interesting stuff. The planned itinerary for the moment looks like:
Early April: Leave Melbourne for Hawaii. I'll be stopping off for a few days to visit Cade and Kari as well as cut down the flight time to the US, not to mention making an ass of myself in our favorite 24 hour Korean place. It's possible previous to this portion that I'll be stopping off in Thailand, but that's currently uncertain and right now the plan is Hawaii.
Mid April: Arrive in Las Vegas to play in the WPT championship. I likely won't arrive in time to play the full list of preliminaries though I will be there for some. I've already got my seat as a result of the WPT preliminary event I won at the Bellagio Cup IV this summer, which I'm unable to sell or transfer, hence the necessity of this Vegas trip. Were it up to me I'd just take the 25k cash for the seat, but unfortunately I'm locked in. The only other alternative was to defer another year, but considering the quality of the management decisions at the WPT God knows if they'll even be around in another year.
Late April: Leave Las Vegas to go to Wisconsin and properly visit home for the first time in years. There are friends and family I haven't seen in Wisconsin for between two and six years, and this will likely be my last time to catch up with them properly for another few. I've got cousins who are teens now that I remember as tiny children, and friends that I haven't caught up with since high school who I'd still love to see. Hopefully most of them will be receptive and as cool as I remember, though I imagine a lot has changed. As far as most people in Wisconsin know one day four years ago I said I was going to Australia and would be back in six months then was never seen again.
Late May: Leave Wisconsin for Las Vegas to play in the WSOP and Bellagio Cup V. It appears I'll be getting a house with my "fellow" Australians, and possibly Sirwatts as well. I had a great time with all the guys I roomed with last year, but this is just sort of the way things have wound up this time. I imagine I'll be doing a shit ton of volume again this year, and hopefully that can lead to similar or better results than last year. I have a feeling I won't be able to swap as well though.
Mid July: At the end of the WSOP I'll be leaving Vegas to go visit for New York City for a few days. I've never been there and have several friends in the city, and it seems like a cool place to stop off in order to reduce the travel time to my next destination.
Mid July: Leave New York for Kenya. I've decided to volunteer in an orphanage there for roughly five weeks. I've always rejected the idea that "poker players contribute nothing/are a drain to society" but I still can't escape the idea that I really haven't done much with my life other than play cards. I've lived on three continents so far and this seems like a great way to have an interesting experience living on a fourth, plus do something that would feel a bit more rewarding than doing math problems on my computer home alone.
Late August: Leave Kenya and stop over in Dubai for a few days. I know a couple people there and it seems like an interesting place to stop off, especially since it will cut down the flight time to my next destination. From the pictures I've seen and stories I've heard about Dubai it's one of those places everyone should see once before they die. They're building a skyscraper that will be nearly double the height of the world's next tallest building. That's fucking absurd.
Late August or early September: Leave Dubai for Macau for the Pokerstars APPT Macau. They haven't announced dates for this yet but it was around this time last year and I'm told is likely to be around the same date. If for some reason it's not I'll pick some other tournament in Asia around the same time to go to and simply hang around Kenya and Dubai for a few extra weeks if it's more down the line than I thought.
Early September: This seems like the most likely return time to Melbourne. I won't know for certain for some time when the exact date will be, but around this time looks probable. I imagine I'll want to take it easy for a while after that.
So there it is, five months of non stop travel, about 150 days in total with a full circumference of the world. And of course, I'll be writing the whole thing. I won't be approaching any companies attempting to sell it this time because creative control is important to me and I know for certain the blog will contain things most poker sites don't want to endorse, such as degeneracy (not by me), sex, drug use, stereotype jokes, and the occasional rant about why such and such name player is a huge douchebag.
If some site out there wants to talk to me about buying it I'm open minded, but don't waste your time if you want even the slightest creative control. The only things I'd be willing to have edited are grammar and spelling and any cutting of the content will not be tolerated. I don't care how much money I'm offered when it comes to that issue, I will not edit it. I write because I enjoy it, not to take a paycheck.
Edit: Just remembered I really need to stop by Fresno too. I'll work that in either before or after the WSOP. See all my friends at Kyle's casino soon.