Dreams, job hunting and poker

I was up late last night until about 4:30 a.m. setting up equipment on my computer to enable me to convert audio from DVDs to mp3 files. This allows me to capture songs from my large catalog of concerts on DVD and put them in iTunes, on my iPod or on CD eventually.

I'm using my portable DVD player sitting on top of my printer with a 7-inch diagonal screen as the source, and an ADS Tech Instant Music USB converter for A2D processing. This also requires me to set up a second pair of speakers on the desk for audio monitoring and a lot of cables. As I mentioned in a previous post ("Movies and music" - Feb. 25, 2009) this is something I've been meaning to do for a while, and now that it's all set up, I can start capturing individual songs, which is a bit time-consuming doing it track by track. But if it's one thing I have right now, it's time on my hands.

I had a really intense and lucid dream last night where I was being recruited to become the station manager for KUHF, the Public Broadcasting System radio station in Houston, based on the campus of my alma mater, the University of Houston. My old boss from my PR agency in Houston had recommended me for the job and he was going with me to meet the station's management. I was very apprehensive because I have no experience in radio and don't have the first clue on what a station manager does, but it sounded like too good a job opportunity to pass up. And of course I was thinking about everything and everyone I would be leaving behind in the northeast, plus all the emotional baggage I'd be stepping into if I went back to Houston.

So when I woke up this morning I was determined to crank up my job search another gear and subscribed to TheLadders, a job board that specializes in positions over $100K in compensation. One of my old bosses at Agent K suggested that I try it out, and it does seem to have several positions that I would qualify for. I submitted eight applications today for several well-known companies, and some to recruiters for law firms, since I have a specialty in that area. So we'll see if my investment pays off with some interviews.

My family came over last night to watch Heroes and Saturday Night Live off my DVR, and play some poker, which we haven't done for a couple weeks since watching our Lord of the Rings cycle. I took the opportunity to teach them stud poker, the game made famous by Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson in The Cincinnati Kid. We are slowly getting up to the proficiency when I used to play once or twice a month with Pearl, Amy and other friends from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. One year I codified all our poker rules and games and put them in a binder that I still have for reference. The difference is with little kids, they like to play with a lot of wild cards, and things start getting a little ridiculous. For adults, a few wild cards can be helpful to stimulate action since we're a small group of players, but we generally limit them to four or fewer.

I saw the Nicolas Cage movie Knowing this week, directed by Alex Proyas, who did one of my favorite sci-fi noir movies Dark City. Unfortunately, his new movie, while certainly interesting, was just a little too dark for me. I don't want to give away anything by explaining why, but this is not exactly an uplifting movie, so don't expect a happy ending.

A recovering monogamist

I think one of the toughest things to deal with in my life right now is what I call the "poly/mono schism" between Tara and myself. We continue to make progress, one small, painful step at a time, and last night and today we made a pretty big step by making a decision to try and focus on being peaceful with each other. Aside from love, cultivating peace is probably the most important factor in building a sustainable relationship. Some people like the drama and fighting and making up - I don't think we are those people. We're like hobbits after a long quest - we've both had enough drama to last a lifetime.

I'd also like to show you an article published by one of my online friends who is a freelance writer for The Truth Quarterly. She wrote an article on her exploration of polyamory with her husband titled "Rethinking the Conventions." It's a nice introduction to polyamory from the viewpoint of a recovering monogamist, as she calls herself. The article starts on page 18 of the e-zine.

The Final Issue of The Truth Quarterly

This Sunday was the last of my burlesque dance classes with Agnieszka, and it was on glove and stocking peels. We're both a little bummed the class is over. After getting back from the city, I met my family at the movie theater and we saw Quantum of Solace, a first-rate James Bond movie. I was struggling with my toothache (I need a root canal repair on an infected tooth) but I still had a good time.

Afterwards, we came back to my place where I made dinner for everyone and taught them to play poker. Bee came out the big winner thanks to a smooth bluff she made on me - I came in second. Once everybody gets comfortable learning the order of the hands and betting rules, we might expand our repetoire to include some other games besides five-card draw.

A museum weekend

I took the day off on Friday to celebrate my friend Polina's birthday - she had invited me to her party Friday night but I wasn't able to go, so we spent the day together instead. We met outside Penn Station in the middle of the tourist crowd and walked up to 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal to meet Laura, one of her friends who also came in from New Jersey, probably about the same time I came in on my train. Interestingly enough, Laura lives in North Haledon, which is very close to where I live.

The three of us headed uptown to the Museum of Modern Art, and we sat out in the courtyard so Laura could interview Polina for an anthropology project for school. After that was done, we took a short break in the cafe before visiting the marvelous Van Gogh exhibit that I saw a few weeks back with my family ("Poly public relations" - October 5, 2008) and viewing some of the contemporary art galleries. Since it was getting late and it was starting to get crowded because of Free Friday Nights at MOMA, we took off to do some shoe shopping so I could buy Polina a birthday present. We went to two stores and she picked out a pair of black Timberland hiking shoes, which will hopefully keep her feet dry this winter without having to resort to using plastic bags.

At one of the stores, we met up with another one of her friends, Patrick, who is a visual arts student and aspiring cartoonist. The four of us went to have a quick dinner before they had to take off to Brooklyn for the party, while I went home for my Friday night date with Tara. We finished our Hannibal Lecter mini-marathon with a viewing of Red Dragon and had our pancake breakfast in the morning, which unfortunately was marred by some difficult conversation.

Saturday was also a miserable day weather-wise: cold, drizzly and windy. I got my usual errands and grocery shopping done, and also got a manicure, since my dark purple polish was chipping off, and my nails were getting too long anyway. In the evening we had a nice dinner followed by a quick lesson in poker - five card draw and Texas Hold'Em - in preparation for watching Casino Royale, the last James Bond movie in advance of Quantum of Solace, which we'll go see this weekend.

I'm hoping we will have a full night of playing poker someday soon so I can play all the game variations I used to play with my old poker group (Pearl, Amy, Dominic and Little Vic) like Five Card Double Draw, Follow the Queen, Guts (or Balls, as we called it), and so many others. Good thing I wrote all these games down in a notebook that survived the two fires or else I'd have forgotten them myself. I'll have to poke around and find that.

Sunday we were planning to visit Alex Gray's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors but unfortunately we found out that morning that it's closed on Sundays. Then we wanted to visit the Picassos at Aquavella Galleries, but that too was closed - bleh! So we strolled around Central Park outside the Met and saw Cleopatra's Needle, a five-story high granite obelisk covered with hieroglyphics before going inside and touring the Philippe de Montebello tribute exhibit and the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art.

Busy long weekend, but lots of fun. Plus, I'm so happy that the weather is back to being cold and dry.