A good pal and regular investor had been threatening to both meet up, and also to take me out for dinner for a while, and the opportunity dovetailed nicely as he was free and in town that night also, so off we went for dinner and a catch up on life the universe and everything.
The Mesa grill is a pretty cool place. It's tough to get a bad meal in Las Vegas anyway if you have any common sense, and I'd put this restaurant somewhere between casual and fine dining, maybe a smidge more toward the casual. When "celebrity chefs" add their name to a joint, unless it's very hands on then standards can inevitably slip back over time, but I've always been happy eating here, and though it's easy to be critical, I think things like the food service industry are areas where the USA really put the UK to shame. It may be the tipping culture, or higher standards in general, but over here food is generally better and well presented, and the staff are normally a lot more helpful, knowledgeable and attentive in my opinion.
Years back my old pal Simon Galloway advised me "Don't be a scruttock, just get the New Mexican spice rubbed pork tenderloin with Ancho Chile sauce, sweet potato tamale and crushed pecan butter" (shown in the pic above) when I was visiting here for the first time. I think I put on about three pounds just typing those ingredients out. He wasn't a bad judge, and it's sadly one of those dishes that whenever I go back there I think I'll try something new, and then I always go back to ordering this because it's so damn good and it can't be found anywhere else. Pork is tricky enough to get right at the best of times, but here you can get it slightly under and not spend 3 days hunched over the toilet knowing it was not your smartest move ever. God Bless Bobby Flay and his quest to combat food poisoning. What a sales pitch for medium-well pork.
Anyway, good choice on the ordering, a nice bottle of Macon blanc villages, and a bit of good dinner company, and I found myself calling it an early night after a very agreeable meal. I've been doing travel, and in particular the Las Vegas trip so often over the years that I just don't get jet-lagged any more, my body clock having long since been destroyed by the poker/night owl lifestyle. I'm still undecided if that's always a good thing.
I have a pretty even temperament, and think I'm balanced. I try to be anyway. And those who know me will know that the last few months for me have been less than plain sailing life-wise. The poker this year has been pretty good, and let's be fair after all these years it should be. Everyone has problems, so I'm not bleating about it. I still think it's how you handle your pitfalls more than what the pitfalls actually are that determines the outcome in your life and your eventual well-being. Don't worry, I don't think the Dalai Lama is shitting himself just yet if he reads my half-assed theories on life and inner peace.
I was happy to come out here a bit early because UK life was stressing me out a hell of a lot on many levels, and I wanted to go and etch-a-sketch everything (if you're too young to know what I mean then just Google it). It's a bit of a fresh start for me in some ways, but also a bit of time to just try to chill out and figure out exactly where I'm headed... to a pauper's grave possibly, or maybe just to an early one? I know, I can be a little ray of sunshine. Just imagine how much fun I could be after a few cocktails...
Long/short? Yeah, I know I should have said that about six paragraphs ago. Try to be a good person, do the right thing, don't be petty or bitter, don't get bogged down in the past or by the bad stuff, show the people that you love that you love, miss and care about them, and hope that if you give out the right vibes enough, some of it maybe comes back your way too because the fact you're not an arse shows through to those very few people that matter even if it's not always easy. Being happy really shouldn't be as hard and complex as it somehow always seems. I'll keep trying and hopefully one day I'll crack it. Now would be a REALLY great time to start.
Don't worry...poker content coming very soon! xoxo