Nat Arem's Blog

I’m pretty much ready to get out of Philadelphia. It’s where I grew up and it will always be home in some way, but there are a bunch of things that I don’t like about it (well not Philly itself, but being away from my current home).

First, I don’t have my own place here (I live in Atlanta for those who don’t read this too often) so I stay with my parents when I go home over the holiday season. There are lots of things that bother me about staying here, despite the fact that I love my family and I get along with all of them pretty well. It’s things like the food they have here. And even things like the inability to set up comfortably with a computer and a TV in the same room. I could go watch TV, but the wireless signal is weak where the big TV is placed. Or I could just sit here and talk online, but then I miss a ton of TV. And the lack of TiVo tilts me too.

Second, I don’t belong to a gym around here. I could get a guest pass, but they absolutely rape you for insane amounts from what I’ve seen at the local options. I could go to like Gold’s Gym, but the closest one is something like 30 minutes and driving that far in traffic would tilt me as well. Not getting any exercise starts to make me feel really drained after a week or two. I know it should be the opposite, but I rely on exercise to relieve a lot of pent up energy gathered from sitting behind a computer all day.

Third, while I have friends here, I don’t have the easy ability to go out often. At least in Atlanta I can go out most nights of the week to a bar or a pool hall or something. Here, the suburbs of Philadelphia are kinda dead. I don’t know of a good pool hall around here that is open late and my friends will go to. Plus I do have less friends here who are willing to hang out a lot (most are working or busy with family at this time of year) so I have fewer options.

Fourth, it’s really cold sometimes. I know I grew up in this, but I’d forgotten how miserable it is to climb into a car when it’s 20 degrees out and shiver for 5 minutes until the car warms up. It’s really unpleasant and I can’t say I miss the much more mild temperatures typically found in Atlanta. Granted Atlanta does get cold, but not as cold on a consistent basis. I’m sure the people in Canada and other cold climates are laughing at me, but it’s really all about what you’re used to in your life.

Fifth, I’ve been dealing with a couple of hard business and personal problems. I know that life can be tough sometimes and I’m certainly not complaining about relatively minute problems in the grand scheme of things, but dealing with tough situations is never easy or pleasant. It would be nice to avoid these types of things altogether but unfortunately everything doesn’t always work out the way I’d like it to. It certainly isn’t the way I wanted to start off 2008, so I’m hoping things will turn around for me soon. Let’s just say that money and girls are never easy (although in my case, the two sets of problems are not connected at all despite the fact that those two problems often do actually connect). I don’t want anyone to think I’m busto or anything — the money problem is unrelated to my direct situation.

The good news is that I only have one day left here in Philly. I’m sure things will turn around soon enough and I do have some exciting things coming up in my life, so I am using that to help me get through the tougher times.

As I am talking to him on AIM and he is playing 25/50 PLO with a 2K cap on FTP…

(04:14:16) GIFAFI: i think your VPIP is pretty much 100
(04:14:22) stevesbets: lol
(04:14:34) stevesbets: thats why i always get the bulk of my money in good

Welcome to 2008.