Pardon the Interruption
We interrupt the tale 'My First Time' for two reasons, both located after the jump.
Reason the First
It pains me to say that Dawn Summers is no longer in the cellar of the Dead Pool standings. Hers was the only roster that contained Tammy Faye Baker, who undoubtedly is crying in the afterlife as I type this that more people didn't choose her. Times like this take me back to Bloom County:
Anyway, standings updated at right.
Reason the Second
Okie-Vegas! From the moment I got off my plane at Will Rogers World Airport and met a smiling Maudie, until the time I took my leave of Gracie as we prepared to board our respective flights home, I was surrounded by the best quality of people. I don't want to take anything away from the other attendees of Okie-Vegas (in no particular order: Katitude, 23Skidoo, Surflexus, TripJax, fellow New York lawyer Jordan, oossuuu, Instant Tragedy, and Yestbay1), several of whom I met for the first time and all of whom get the RTFT Seal of Approval, but I really want to shine the spotlight on the two people who made this happen: Maudie and Gary Cox.
Maudie, at this point, I have known for a long time, almost since the beginning of this poker blogging thing. She enriches the lives of everyone she meets, it seems, and although I suspect she sometimes feels a bit out of place amongst what is mostly a younger crowd for her, I have never once felt that she IS out of place or that she is any different from the rest of us. I doubt it will make her feel great when I admit that she's only a few years younger than my mother; I hope it will make her feel great when I admit that it amazes me that she's only a few years younger than my mother, since I could never see my mother having half the experiences at this point in her life that Maudie has had, many of which I've shared with her over the last several years. Maudie graciously opened her home to Gracie and me, even going so far as to get us 'Welcome to Oklahoma' gifts, and made me feel welcome from the moment I passed the security threshold as she fumbled with her new iPhone, trying to snap a picture to mark the occasion.
As for Gary Cox, many of us who met Gary for the first time last December in Vegas took an instant liking to him. He's super friendly, incredibly easy-going, extremely good-natured and can pop off a hella wicked bender. Those of us who came out to Okie-Vegas got to see a few other sides of Gary as well, sides that are evident in his writing but really strike home when you witness them for yourself: how generous he is (to throw open BOTH of his homes for a bunch of ne'er-do-wells from across the country); how he can make anyone feel welcome and at ease just about anywhere, including the most "local" of local bars I think I've ever been to (how local, you ask? One of the patrons had never used a computer, and when I heard Gary giving directions to one of the bloggers over the phone, he told them "It's 10 miles past Binger, then a left and another 5 miles". Binger, by the way, was more or less a one-intersection, no stop-light town of exactly a half-square mile in the middle of nowhere, western Oklahoma); and how doting he is on his family (his home is FULL of pictures of his wife Carrie and his two girls).
My two favorite moments of the trip both came near the end. After trying in vain to find anyone who would karaoke 'Suddenly Seymour' with me (130 Pounds of Fury Backed By 1200 Watts of Power!), I decided 'fuck it, I'll sing both parts myself', thereby further solidifying my Under Suspicion title by (a) selecting a showtune, and (b) singing the female part. In the middle of the song, Maudie, who had protested loudly and vigorously for two days that she would not sing karaoke, stepped up to the mic with me and started trying to sing a song she didn't really know. Gold, Jerry. Gold.
Later, as I was taking my leave of Gary at the end of a long two days, I thanked him profusely for his hospitality, and asked him to be sure to thank his wife as well, since she had already retired for the evening. Carrie cooked a MOUNTAIN of extremely tasty food for us, in addition to breaking the karaoke ice by belting out some impressive renditions of 70s songs. Anyway, I told him how impressed I was that she would do all of this for us, and for him. Gary grinned and replied, "Yeah, she's really great. That's why I do what I'm told."
Most of my friends in New York City, upon hearing that I was traveling to Oklahoma, reacted the same way: "Why in the hell are you going there?" If they ever met poker bloggers like Gary Cox or Maudie, they'd understand. Thanks, you guys, for making the trip a ton of fun.