I just returned from a weeklong vacation in East Lansing, MI and it can be summed up by saying: I survived. College students party to the point of near death and I found myself struggling to keep up (ok, I partied harder than anyone).

I started the vacation off by renting a cottage on a lake with my family and four of my best friends from high school. †We relaxed, played some football, kayaked, bullshitted and drank more than a few beers. †It was really great to see my friends and family again, Iíve really missed them.
After two days at the cottage, I returned to my hometown of Okemos, MI and stayed with my dad. †While I was there, I hung out with pops during the day and went out and got a little wild on campus with my friends. †For anyone who hasn’t experienced ‘Move-In Week’ at a Big Ten school, let me tell you, it’s the best party in the world, and no one’s welcome week compares to Michigan State.

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The highlight of the week was ‘Roblpolza 3.0′ (not named so by me.) †Last year, my roommates and I threw one of Michigan State’s ‘Top Ten Welcome Week Parties’ according to collegehumor.com <http://collegehumor.com>, and we were determined to keep up the tradition. †So on Friday morning I woke up, went to a late lunch with a few of my friends (where we downed a few pitchers of beer to kill the hangover), and descended on Meijer’s to buy supplies. †We first stopped in the liquor aisle where we cleaned out the store’s selection of Popov (the cheapest alcohol money can buy and the official vodka of college kids). †Then, with our cart (which was loaded with 25 half-gallons of Popov), we marched to the vegetable oil aisle and bought around 20 gallons of vegetable oil and an inflatable swimming pool. †At the store, there were many freshmen there with their parents. You could see the fear in their parents’ eyes, as they knew what their kids would be getting into that night.

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The party was probably the best parties I have ever been to. †We had free kegs of delicious beer all night and everyone who I was remotely friends with was given a half-gallon of Popov to dispense shots to the party guests. †Out of the 300+ people in attendance I can assure you not one of them was sober. †At around midnight, someone had rounded up several girls to oil wrestle (with the promise of getting some hundos for their efforts), and I, barely coherent, jumped into the swimming pool to referee. †Two extremely attractive girls jumped in (one who had on a see through wife-beater), and proceeded to go at it. †I watched, started chants (‘Show your Boobs’ seemed to be a rather popular one), and chugged beers and half-gallons. †When the girls got a little rowdy I jumped in and separated them. ††Everyone was too shy to oil wrestle at the beginning of the night, but a few shots of Popov and the sight of me stumbling around the pool handing out hundred dollars bills seemed to make several girls eager to wrestle. †I wish I could describe further shenanigans from the party to you but after the Popov and beer chugging in the swimming pool, I blacked out. †From everything I heard in the morning it sounded like everyone had a good time.
Shout out to East Lansing Michigan: the Best Town in the world. †Shout out to the dawg-pound, Joey and Mike the best friends anyone could ever ask for. †Shout out to Mark Miller for letting me pass out on his couch covered in vomit and oil.

The next day, I woke up in my friend’s house covered in vomit and oil feeling like death. †I spent the whole next day lying in bed and puking, not even able to keep down water. †I seriously considered going to the hospital, as I was certain I was going to die. †At around 8pm, I attempted to roll out of bed and chug a beer since I had rented a Stretch Hummer Limo that night to roll from house party to house party with my friends. †But the beer did not ease my pain, as even standing up made me want to puke, so I headed back to bed, counting on my friends to party hard without me. †The next day, the pain did not ease until about 6pm, and boy am I happy I no longer live in a college town.

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I, like most gamblers, have an extremely addictive personality and once I start drinking I can’t stop. †The college ‘partying’ lifestyle is a shitload of fun, but it’s hard to be a productive human being while living it. †In Vegas, I do Yoga, Weight-lift and eat exceedingly healthy and feel good and full of energy; whereas my college-life consisted of gambling, binge drinking, fast food and weed. †Certainly, the college life is fun but with my addictive personality it was hard to find a healthy balance. †I am much happier in Vegas, pouring my energy into productive outlets, and not having my social life centered on drinking. ††Between 17 and 21, I must of drank to the point of getting sick at least a dozen times, which is no way to live. †I wish I could drink in moderation but I might have to give up drinking all together. †My drinking career may be over but I at least went out on top.

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While at home, I watched both the World Series of Poker and High Stakes Poker with my dad, with me trying to offer expert commentary. †It’s amazing how the editing and commentary can alter the public’s view of poker. †My dad was shocked to hear (and a little skeptical), that many of the “big name” professionals are actually very weak poker players. †I know many of my older readers will think this is the ignorance and bias of youth, and I can see why they’d think that,†but to be a truly great poker player you have to figure out exactly how people play without any pre-existing bias. †So in my mind, player’s who make †ìgoodî or ìcorrectî plays a large percentage of the time are strong players whereas players who commit many errors are weak players. †And, in my opinion, some of the ìbiggestî names in poker are weak players; they simply got lucky in a few major televised tournaments and were made into poker giants by the media. †Of course, this not true of all the ìbig nameî pros, in general, if someone can beat high-stakes cash games they are one of the best in the world (in my opinion).

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I’ll be back in Vegas for the next few days grinding online, than I’m going to Macau to play in the APT where I’ll hopefully find some juicy side action.

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-Andrew