I just woke up from 11 hours of sleep and man do I feel better. It has been crazy the last few days. First off I only got 4 hours of sleep before I jumped on the plane over here which was Wednesday night, Oregon time. I can barely remember how it all went down, but basically other than a few cat naps, I hadn’t got any real sleep from the time I went to be Wednesday night until 6 in the morning on Saturday here in England!! So as I write this, it is 6 in the evening in England and I have just woken up.

Actually as goofy as it sounds to wake up at 6 in the evening, it is perfect for what I am trying to accomplish. Tomorrow at this time is when the 48 hour Big Game begins, so if I am going to be attempting to play a high percentage of the Big Game, it is best if I wake up shortly before we play. There is no sense in waking up early tomorrow, waiting half a day to play and then crapping out 1/4 the way through the game. I’d rather it feel like morning to me as it is less time I have to stay awake.

Last night’s boxing match turned out to be the European heavyweight championship which sounds like a pretty big deal to me. So basically they were playing for their national championship and I suspect the match will go down as one of the classic endings in European boxing history. I was completely stunned to witness the ending. The match was Audley Harrison vs. Michael Sprott. Audley apparently is not well liked over here. He arrived on stage to a majority of boos which I think comes from their disdain for his style ox boxing. After watching him fight, I can see where they are coming from. The guy is an absolute beast and you expect him to come out and give you a good show, but then he fought like they were playing tiddlywinks which was mildly annoying. Anyhow, Audley was getting crushed the entire fight. Sprott did an excellent job I thought. He got in several good blows and landed a number of combinations that would have knocked a lesser man to the floor. But Audley hung tough which you have to give him credit for. He stayed on two feet and in an insanely aggressive 12th and final round, about 1 minute in, Audley landed a left hook out of seemingly no where that knocked Michael not only to the floor, but had many of us in worried for his life. He did not move for at least a couple of minutes and eventually made it onto a chair where he was given an oxygen mask. Jared and I got to witness it all from only a few rows away as the folks at the Big Game once again were kind enough to get us some pretty sweet tickets.

I think I would fit right in this town. I pretty much don’t give a fuck about what I say. I stay pretty true to myself and I sort of am who I am. Here in London, it seems there are two type of people. There are those who are extraordinarily proper and those who absolutely don’t give a shit whatsoever. So far those who don’t give a fuck outnumber the proper ones about 10 to 1, but that is far from a scientific study obviously. I really like to be around people who just say what comes to mind. It’s not that I don’t like being around proper people because that certainly isn’t the case, but I guess you could just say that I feel a little more comfortable around those who just say what comes to mind. That is more my style. I guess that should probably make it a lot of fun to play with Tony G tomorrow. I don’t think many accuse him of being proper, but it will be good to get to know him as most people I have met who have met Tony seem to really like him.

I think I am going to grab something to eat. That reminds me, no wonder so many people call me a fat ass. I weight about 190 pounds and am 6 feet tall. In the US that makes you average to skinny. Well, here in the UK, yes I am a complete fat ass. I am stunned at a how fit people are over here. It’s no wonder word is that people are a lot looser here with sex than they are in the US. Sheez, the women here are gorgeous. You rarely see a heavy woman and the guys all seem fit. We complain in the US that the women are often a little harder to get in bed than in some other parts of the world. Maybe we should look at ourselves in a mirror! No wonder no one wants to sleep with us! We’re fat as shit!

Again, this is no scientific study, but I have been in London for 2 days now and have been around town quite a bit. I have not seen one single woman under 35 who had more than 5 pounds to lose. Not a single one. And as for the guys, I suspect that if I lined up 100 random guys around 30 years of age, I would be fatter than 95 of them. In the US, I would easily be skinnier than 50 of them probably. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this is. It is simple. Restaurants serve food at about half the portions that we do here in the States. Why is that? Honestly. I just think that people here have a lot more business ethics than those in the States. Apologies to any restaurant owners, but they won’t convince me for a second that they have anything in mind other than making the most money possible at their restaurant. And that means butter on everything and serving more so you can justify charging more. Well. over here I don’t know what to attribute it to- maybe it is better morals- but most places serve the amount of food you actually need and d not compromise your health in the name of a buck. Of course, it’s not like they are serving you all veggies and lean meats, but they seem to try and ride the fence pretty well between taste and health. In the US, it is 100% for taste and health be damned. It’s unfortunate really.

Anyway, well I don’t want to come off like I am bashing America because Americans do a ton of things that are great and there is a reason we have been such a successful nation over the years. Like any other American, I want to see our country be the best it can be and to do that, it is important to focus on where we are behind. I do it in poker as well. I never talk about how well I play in certain areas. I focus on where I play less than optimal. And that’s where I think so many people go wrong in the US. We are a proud people and many tend to act like you should just love your country at all costs and if you don’t like it “then you can get the hell outta here.” I think that mentality is flat out ignorant. It makes no sense to just walk around thinking you are the best and when people make valid points towards your flaws, you tell them to take a hike. No successful person thinks that way about their career or anything they do that is successful. And our country should be no different. We should be examining our flaws and commending, not attacking, those who point the flaws out. If we worked tirelessly as a nation to fix our flaws (just as any successful poker player who works tirelessly to work out their flaws) then we could only be better off for it. Of course, people have different opinions on how to fix it, so it isn’t that simple, but the first step is to at least admit you’re not perfect and you have to start somewhere, fatty :)