Poker, poker, poker. We've been playing tons of poker. I don't even think I've blogged about it before here, but we've been getting Texas Hold'em games going almost every week for a while now. The stakes aren't very high-- we buy-in at $10 and play with nickels and dimes mostly, but it does add up quickly. Games can go as long as 4 hours, and we've been rotating hosts too, which is nice. I had the group over not too long ago at my place. Good times.

I signed up for Netflix not too long ago. The first movie that came to my house was the Seven Samurai. I had wanted to see this for a long time, as most filmmakers grew up watching this film over and over. I saw a lot of similarities in current movies and this classic. The reluctant heroes. The local village banding together against a common enemy. In fact, I'm pretty sure that A Bug's Life was almost directly ripped from Kurosawa's screenplay. The dramatic fight in the rain that so many movies are going for now-- probably originated, or at least was refined and honed in the Seven Samurai. Good stuff.

On its way is "The Office," a BBC TV comdey series on the painful realities of office life. I caught an episode last night during a study break, and was very impressed. I laughed out loud several times. Can't wait for the next episode.

And on that note, Star Wars is coming on DVD any time now. I had more than enough bonus points on my credit card to have Amazon ship the long-awaited trilogy to my place as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to seeing the flicks on my TV, but not before I get this final exam done.

Tonight is crunch-time on the final exam for my Accounting class. I look forward to being free on Thursday, but it's not going to happen without a bit of pain today. So I'm going at it full-force.

I've got yet another project to keep my mind occupied over my week-long break before jumping into Finance class, and maybe I'll stick a day-trip in there somewhere too. Mom and Dad will likely be down for some part of the weekend. I don't know what the draw is, but they really want to see the goobers down at the Virginia State fair.

I've been to state fairs in Ohio, New York and Va now, and they're all pretty much the same to me. Funnel cakes, corndogs, prized cows, statues made of butter, quilts, barnyard animals on display, amusement-park rides and people... LOTS of people from almost all walks of life. --if you're ever interested in seeing a mix of people, from the elderly couple in shorts, loafers and black socks or kids with tank-tops and rat-tails, women with mullets- it's all there, at the state fair. Part of me loves that atmosphere, because that is more America than what I see most of the time. That's more America than the reality shows we see on the tube. So, like it or hate it, it's the country we live in.

Don't like it? Play some poker and win a ticket on outta here! ;)