�Ironic Monkey� or �Coffee, tea, or Alani?� So I�ve been pretty quiet most of this week. There have been a few things bothering me and I haven�t been the most social person in the world. I felt bad because I was out with Rannie tonight for dinner and Iron Monkey, and I must have been among the dullest people on the planet�. After dinner we went to Starbucks--the one I went to a few weeks ago with Rannie and Kate. Naturally I fell in love with one of the counter girls. To my great surprise she remembered me--in great detail I might add. We chatted for a bit and she gave me a free white chocolate mocha. This girl is insanely cute and I�ll spend the next week thinking about what I�m going to say to her when I visit her store again next Friday. Her name is Alani, and she�s the perfect distraction from the things that have been bothering me. Ah, too bad this situation has peaked with a smile, conversation, and a free mocha. I�ll fuck it up next week for sure. Until then, I�m pretty damn cool.

"About love and the truth and what you mean to me..."

What a wonderful week it�s been. Las Vegas was fabulous. It�s funny, I wasn�t really looking forward to going since I had a lot of work to do and not much of a bankroll to work with. But I had an extremely relaxing time (logged major pool hours), lots of sun (the raccoon eyes are back), and finished up $370. My card counting skills have improved so much. Too bad I don�t have the bankroll I used to. On one hand my winning could be five times as much. On the other, I�d probably attract too much attention from the pit crew and would be asked to leave more casinos. After Vegas I went to Los Angeles for a Sony party. It was pretty interesting. There were lots of celebrities around. Here are the ones I can remember: Hugh Hefner, Tara Reid, Jaime Pressley, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, David Spade, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Crispin Glover. There were plenty more, but I wasn�t really paying attention. Celeb watching, while amusing to an extent, doesn�t really interest me. The after-party was more fun. It was far more laid back, and more my style. Tara Reid couldn�t get in and she threw an enormous fit outside the hotel (the St. Regis in LA--I love that place). She�s not nearly as curvy as she looks in the movies, but her use of profanity is almost artistic. The best part of LA was that I got to see three of my favorite (real) women in the universe. Actually, that was probably my favorite part of the week. And now I�m home again�and I can�t wait to leave. It�s not that there are so many places I�d rather be; it just seems like I�d prefer to be anywhere but here. So much of my heart stays in New York and Los Angeles, and to a lesser extent Las Vegas. I have no idea what the hell Tony Bennett was singing about in, �I Left my Heart in San Francisco.� I�m not certain it was ever here.

Okay, I'm revisiting binary mode to keep things simple. Good: My dad has recovered and is back home in NY. Good: I'm in Vegas right now. Good: I went to the Rum Jungle to see Diane. Good: Tony got us in the VIP section and we drank for free. Good: Diane grew her hair out and looks beautiful, albeit a little older. Bad: Diane didn't remember me. Bad: Diane's still married. Good: Erica is my #1 crush again. Bad: I'm back to having crushes and avoiding any real feelings I have. Good: I'm going to LA right after Vegas. Bad: It's hard to work from the road using other people's laptops. Good: The Rio is putting me up for free. Good: I collected $106 in cashback from The Rio and NY, NY. Bad: Maybe Diane did remember me, but thinks I'm psychotic. Bad: I was supposed to see Kitten last Thursday but she stood me up. Good: I'm getting my tan back. Bad: Raina's not moving to San Francisco. Good: I have a new crush on this Chinese girl from the Starbucks on Irving. Good: I'm out of things to say.

Way too many highs and lows in the last week. My NY trip was (mostly) fabulous. The only downer was the end of a date I went on (you shoulda told me kiddo!). After getting back to SF, I was off to Vegas the next day. It was fun, but not as productive as I would have liked. During the trip I found out that my dad got really sick while he was in Germany. He had surgery and is stuck there for at least two weeks. My brother is back home and isn�t handling it well. I guess I�m doing okay. I know there is absolutely nothing I can do from here, save for hoping for the best, so I�m trying to live my life. It sounds terribly cliched, but I know that�s what my father would want me to do. Thankfully, an incredible person was in town this weekend and really helped me keep my spirit up. So in trying to �just live my life,� I�ll hock my latest review to y�all. It�s not that good, but click on it (all three pages) lots anyway.