I've just busted out of a poker tournament in a New York home game.  A couple players are complaining about the format (a 2nd tournament is starting at a designated time and some players will have to juggle both games).  One player starts talking about going to another game.  He mentions that Tobey Maguire will be there.  "You wanna play with Spider-Man?" He asks me.  Glenn (from NYC) chimes in, "You should come Dan, you're good with pot odds and can read people."  I nod and ask where it is.  The host says the street and cross street but I'm not familiar with it.  People around the table try to think of where it is and no one seems to know.  I ask if it's north of Prospect Heights.

There's a blizzard outside and I complain to a player, "Man I wish I had a ride on a night like this.  When's the B71 coming?"  He looks down at his notebook and checks the times he's been jotting down.  "Depends on when the B70 comes first." He says.  "I hate having to go crosstown sometimes." I tell him I'm heading towards Prospect Park.  We agree to walk back together.

Outside, we walk down the sidewalk through the snow as snow plow honks and drives by behind us.  I skip down a couple steps and land in a little melted snow.  We both note that I could easily have stepped in a deep pool of water.  We get to a railing outside a school and step gingerly around a very deep pool of water.

A woman walks by and my companion stops to say hello.  I recognize her as Andy A and give her a nod.  

Later...

I'm at a fancy restaurant with Nick, Susannah's grandmother Blanche, Bobby and somewhere else.  We're celebrating my birthday & waiting for a few others friends to arrive.  There's a computer screen built into the table and a game of poker starts between Blanche, Nick and me.  I'm distracted by something and come back to the game in time to see I have an Ace-hi spade flush.  I win the pot but walk off to see if the others are arriving.  

Susannah calls to say we're going to have 7 people instead of 5 and I wonder briefly if they can reseat us.  I walk over to the stairs & look down on the first floor of the restaurant and see Tom, Lynnette, Khue and a bunch of others (including a few people I barely know) coming up.  I greet them as they pass and stop Tom to ask him what the hell is going on.  He's exasperated and tells me all these people wanted to come.  I'm irritated and tell him I was hoping for a more intimate dinner.  He yells at me, saying it couldn't be helped.  

I storm off outside and pace around.  Back inside, the wait staff is rearranging some tables into an L-shape to accommodate us all.  I decide to get over it and come back in.