24

Today is my 24th birthday. My parents are taking me out to dinner and a bunch of friends are coming over after that.

I was down at King Soopers today buying stuff for my house. King Soopers was the first real job I had, bagging groceries and pushing carts around. It wasn't a terrible job, but I dreaded every minute of it and basically tried to work as little as possible. The main reason I had the job was to get my parents off my back.

A lot of the people who worked there when I was 17 are still working there. Some of them are completely happy with that. It's really not a bad place to work, and provides escalating benefits and opportunities the longer and better you work there. Seeing some of those people - who no longer recognize me as anyone they've ever known - got me thinking about the pot of gold I stumbled upon while searching for the end of the rainbow. It was so timely for poker to explode at pretty much the exact moment I started getting really good at it. It was so fortunate for us young Boulder players, particularly Paul and I, to find each other at that same moment. It was so ridiculously lucky for me to have a chunk of Paul 's action when he made the third-biggest tournament score of all time.

I now live in a condo in Shanahan Ridge in South Boulder. It's nice. Really nice. Looking around I can't believe I live here. I get to travel all over the place. In a month I'm going to the Bahamas, then Australia. It really is absurd. Don't think I don't know it. I know how fortunate I am. I know there's nothing else I could be doing to make this kind of money with these few hours. Nothing even close. Life is good. Hopefully 24 will be the best year yet.