"Good evening, Clarice"

If you read the previous blog and actually remember what it said (truly a feat for me and I wrote the damned thing) AND you have seen "Silence of the Lambs," you may indeed find that heading to be quite humorous.

If you did not read the blog and/or you have no idea who Hannibal Lecter is, you are wondering who the hell Clarice is and what does she have to do with anything. Let's just say she's having an old friend for dinner.

As I am writing a blog (proving that I am very much alive), you can be assured that the poker party was indeed a poker party and that there were no psycho mass murders in the mix. I thought about texting the wife with the "Good Evening, Clarise" reference (one of her all time favorite movies is "Silence of the Lambs," so she'd get the reference) but then decided to focus on losing chips during the Texas Hold 'Em free for all occurring right before my eyes. We weren't arrested, either, so the wife can now rest easy (and thus focus on the ongoing computer virus she continues to combat instead of worrying about me being served for dinner or having a new girlfriend named "Butch" in prison).

You know, it's kinda creepy weird that the wife so likes this movie.....and, it's creepy weird that "Slingblade" is probably her all time favorite movie. ("Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a Kaiser blade.") Oh, hell--my favorite movies are no better--just different genre (movies like "Best in Show" tickle my tacky, sophomoric fancy).

Back to poker.

I didn't do too badly, considering I really had no idea what I was actually doing. I screwed around a lot, thus distracting (and irritating) the "real" poker players. When I won a few hands (and some hefty pots, I might add), it probably messed with their poker-filled minds. Here is a photo of me with my "poker blinders" on, inspired by the "little blind" and the "big blind" blinds of Texas Hold 'Em. I made blinders out of the cheat sheets they handed out at the door. I also put poker chips in my glasses, effectively giving myself two big, red poker-chip eyes. I called this my "poker face." (How I didn't get thrown out is beyond me. This was serious poker.)

I ended up leaving not because I ran out of money (or because I was being chased by Hannibal and/or the police) but rather because I had to get up early for church the next morning.

Can you even believe I just wrote that?

Me neither.

Yes, I left during one of the breaks. (Who knew that poker was so well organized, with scheduled breaks and everything?) It was an hour drive home, so it made sense to leave "early" and get home "early."

Besides, you gotta know when to fold 'em......