Winning, Receiving and Earning Money

I’ve never really understood the obsession that some people have with Texas Hold’em Poker. I know people in Chicago that play it all of the time and make or lose some serious money. I don’t gamble that much and when I do, I don’t lose more than I can afford too. I guess it is because I never have had very much money and it seems stupid to me to risk losing it gambling. That being said, my friend T invited me over to his house Thursday night to play cards with some friends of his. We all put in $10 and would play until there was a winner. I had an appointment Friday morning to have my taxes done, so I didn’t want to stay out all night. But by the time it was around 11pm, I was the one with the most chips, and so I could not leave. I didn’t really have a strategy, I was just trying to make people bet a lot when I had a good hand and I would fold pretty quickly when I didn’t have a good one. Not to advanced, but it worked for me. I ended up walking away at 1:45 in the morning with $30 extra dollars in my pocket. I still don’t have to desire to gamble even though I won. But I had a good time, met some new people and made enough to treat myself to pizza the next night.

Friday morning I went to get my taxes done. This was the first time that I was going to have someone else prepare them for me. I had a TON of deductions from acting, moving and other industry related things. Some of the stuff that I could deduct as an actor were haircuts, classes, union dues, mileage, office and exercise equipment. I was even able to deduct my Netflix subscription because it goes towards my preparation as an actor. The last six months in Chicago I worked as a 1099 employee at an office. No taxes were taken out of my paycheck and I had to file quarterly estimated taxes. I didn’t send in very much because I needed the money for the move. So when I was looking over my taxes at home, I thought I was going to end up owing the government $800, of which I have none. But after I got through talking to the tax guy I will get a return from the Federal government as well as the state of California AND the state of Illinois. I won’t get it for a couple of months because they don’t file it electronically, but just knowing that it will be coming is a big relief to me. I even didn’t mind paying a pretty high price to have them done, just because I will still come out ahead.

Friday was also April Fool’s Day. I told my father and my sister that I just got my taxes done and that I was in a lot of trouble because I owed a lot of money. They felt bad until I said “April Fool’s Day” and laughed and laughed. They didn’t think it was too nice but deep down inside I am sure they thought it was a good joke.

Saturday was my first day working as a caterer. The event was a home party in Pasadena. It was a memorial party for a woman’s mother who had just passed and it was for friends and family to mingle after the funeral. The party was being held in a house and would take place inside and by the pool outside. I was there with 3 other people and I was very nervous because it was my first time and I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily the lead person from my catering company was a very nice young lady who helped me a lot. I was there to lend a hand to anyone that needed it. When the guests first arrived, I was to be with the bartender, who was also the young woman who was the lead. We were pouring drinks and making people laugh when the woman who organized the event came over and asked if the other main guy was around. The lead bartender said that they had to leave for a few minutes but they would be back in a few minutes. She told the lady that if there was a problem she would be happy to take care of it.

“I would like to speak with you in private right away” the lady said.

She took the lead bartender around the back of the house and spoke to her for a few minutes. When the bartender came back she informed me that the lady was mad at me because I was screwing the caps back on the coke bottles after I filled people’s glasses. At first I thought she was joking. But she told me that she was serious and that the lady told her it was totally unacceptable that I was doing that. I thought to myself that I was about to be fired from my first job within 10 minutes of starting it. But the lead bartender told me not to worry and that some people were just psycho about little things like that. She told me that she thought I was doing a good job and said that it was no big deal. So I tried to forget about it, but I was afraid to do anything the rest of the day because if screwing on bottle tops was so bad, what if I did something else that was horrible. I just wandered around and picked up people’s empty plates and glasses until the party ended. While we were packing things up, the main guy came up and gave us all a $20 tip from the client. It was a beautiful day and I drove home in a great mood because I had worked and was still going to be able to watch the NCAA Final Four.

Now if I could get another job, I would be set.