Winners know when to quit

How could I forget to mention the highlight of my weekend?

After our morning at IKEA, Mills and I joined a bunch of expats to watch the FA Cup Final and the Super14 Final... both being aired at the same time. The rugby was streamed online and projected onto a nearby wall, the football was playing on the TV next to it. Perfect. Mills is a big Sharks fan and James (a Manchurian) was heavily invested in the football game... we were all set for an emotional afternoon.

Unfortunately for Mills and James, their teams lost - technically both of the games being decided outside of full time. [Why didn't the Sharks kick it into touch? Why?] But spirits were high (for most of us) and the weather was good, so we followed up our afternoon with a good old fashioned BBQ and a game of poker. I'm not a big fan of poker - I don't get which hand beats what and even if I did know when to bluff, I generally can't hide my facial expression... but I do like the idea of arranging my chips into matching stacks. It's pretty. I'm simple like that.

Before anyone knew it, I had managed to win a couple of big hands without paying much attention. I'd just get told when it was my turn to place a bet, would chuck in the required amount and get back to stacking my chips in pretty patterns. "Okay, let's see them... Koekie's got a flush. Damnit." Yay! More chips for me to stack!

Stacking chips aside, winning the pot meant that I had earned money for the first time since February. So this is what I should've been doing - instead of playing domestic treasure - I should've been hitting the Hague's casinos.. I'm a natural.

The poker game was followed up with a few solid hours of revisiting varsity drinking games... so when Mills and I eventually made our way home, our faces were covered in charcoal marks from several rounds of Ooblie-dooblie. A good time was had by all - even the losers whose teams lost in the finals AND got their asses kicked by a girl in poker. Sorry for them!