Inside The Mind – Vincent Wong

express – grow – improve – hope – understand – know

 Within hours I will be boarding the Caribbean Princess from Brooklyn New York Pier 12. I have finished packing in less than 2 hours because recently I have been travelling between New York City and Atlantic City almost every 3-4 days. However packing for this 9night 10 day cruise is a little more intensive and takes just a little bit more thought. I know for a fact I over packed but hey, rather pack more than pack less right? I am slowly putting things together to remind myself small items to bring along such as headphones and chargers. I also need to thank a great co-worker of mine Nancy for being a huge plus for me and my family by introducing us to her sister. I cannot wait to meet them at the port and get ready to set sail! I have posted an Itinerary of my cruise on the right and will take a ton of pictures of this vacation I am going on. I will also attempt to update this as much as possible as I am on the vacation!  Check out my original post about this vacation from February 2010 here!

As many people already found out I just got a job as a table games dealer at Bally’s Atlantic City, I auditioned in Blackjack and Three Card Poker with the intention to audition for Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Pai Gow Tiles, Caribbean Stud, 4 Card Poker and holdem in the future, however I actually realized that most people do not know how to play the game 3 card poker. Its an easy game and your odds in 3 card poker are higher than your odds in blackjack in my opinion without doing any math. I also do not believe there is a strategy in this game, but just luck since each hand dealt is a new shuffle.

The game is simple, there is a Ante, Play and Pair Plus bet. The game consists of 2 decks with 52 cards each no jokers.

First the players bet on the Ante and/or Pair Plus areas.  Using a deck of 52 cards 3 cards are then dealt, face down, to each player from left to right.  After the cards are dealt the players may look at their cards.  If the player likes their cards and wants to play they put another bet in the Play circle.  After all of the players bet the dealer turns over his/her cards.

In order to win, the dealer must “qualify” with at least a Queen.  If the dealer qualifies they can then win if they have a better hand than the player.  The player wins by having a better hand than the dealer.  The amount of the win depends on the winning players cards. If the dealer does not “qualify” the player wins the ante 1:1 and pair plus bonus based on payout table regardless of whether or not their cards are higher than the dealer. If the dealer does not qualify, your play bet is ignored.

So if you play your hand you are betting 3 units.  If you fold your hand you automatically lose 2 units.

Pair Plus Payout
Pair:  Even money
Flush:  3-1
Straight:  6-1
3 of a kind:  30-1
Straight Flush:  40-1
Mini Royal:  50-1 (If available)
No Pair:  Losing bet

Ante and Play pay the same odds
Straight:  Even Monday
3 of a Kind:  4-1
Straight Flush:  5-1
All other hands:  Even money

Recently if anyone has really followed television series, there really is not too many good TV series available to watch on TV with the exception of 24. All the other TV series are interesting to watch but easily forgettable. A few decent TV series got cut off the air such as Ugly Betty, but other than that the remaining and new TV series just really repeat and have a poor story line. An example would be the whole Lost issue. Lost really just makes the viewers get lost, the story line is thin and the writers even said that not all questions will be answered before the end of the series. Are you serious?

However, if you have Starz on TV or you used some sort of online TV series streaming website to watch your TV series, then you might have come across Spartacus – Blood and Sand. If you are not good with blood and dislike excessive killings, basically blood and gore, then this series is not for you, however if you can look past that the story line for this series is GREAT! I know many people say the gladiator and roman plots are played out, but this is less of that and more of following the characters. This has to be the only TV series that is currently active where I feel the writers took time to develop characters to fit all social norms as well as building action into the characters. I actually hated social studies in school, but after watching this I had to research about Pompeii, Spartacus, and a few other things. If you really have a few hours to kill and do not mind a lot of blood, and sexual content (hetero and homo) watch the first season (total 13 episodes), you wont regret it. (SPOILER) The last episode in my opinion was perfect, after all the pain, and loss of friends, wives, husbands, sons, fathers, mothers, the gladiators led by Spartacus devised a plan to kill everyone in the House of Batiatus and begin to create their rebel army for season 2. If you actually followed the story line, you would understand why at the very end I did feel bad for the people in the House of Batiatus who were killed, they deserved it but the way it was portrayed completely goes against modern ethics.

In any case, if you got the time to kill and have an interest in seeing a great movie with a strong story line and strong character development check out this series.

After not having taken the subway for nearly 5 years (with the exception of the week or two when I do not have my car per year) I have really lost sight of why the New York City subway is great! With all the issues in the MTA with fare hikes, service cuts, and more, I now remember why everyday taking the subway in high school was a new journey, a new trip, a new excitement and always a new smile for me. There has always been many talents walking the platforms of the New York City subway system from musicians playing music on the platforms, poets reading their own poems in the train cars, dancers dancing in the train cars as the train is moving during rush hour, and more.
I was given a link by one of my friends from California that knew I hated the subway system with a passion, however after seeing this YouTube clip I have finally remembered why I once loved the subway system in High School. Acappella groups singing in the subway was something I have seen once, however it is a rare occurrence and seeing that a group traveled all the way to New York City to do a small performance on the subway now makes me want to ride the subway system once again! Hopefully to those of you who also dislike taking the subway, this performance will change your thoughts, it has for me. I do not plan on taking the subway everyday, however I will try to take the subway once in a while just to remember the talents that is all over the underground city beneath the city that never sleeps.

Here is the video that was sent to me of the University of Oregon – On the Rocks Acappella group.

embedded by Embedded Video

With the rapid advancement of technology, we the consumers and tech savvy people are expecting new innovations from the technology industry leaders. We always expect to see something new and not something old that is remade and sold as something new by expanding the size and raising my price.

Background image customization? Slide shows? Screen rotation? this is new technology, it is old technology in a new box and higher price.

When Steve Jobs presented the iPad, spectators and the audience expected something new about it.

The price might be reasonable compared to most laptops available in the market today, but the ipad is not even as advanced as notebooks that sell for a similiar price. The iPad can not even run two applications simultaneously (multi-task / minimize applications). In Steve Job’s presentation, most of his time was used to browse the web and showwing slideshows with different transition styles, but hey we have been browsing the web since dial up and playing with slideshow transitions since the early 2000′s.

and the killer of it all, a quote from Steve Jobs himself: “What this device does is extraordinary. It can browse the web with it” – Seriously? wait….. can’t we already do this with the cell phones, the laptops, the desktops, the tvs and almost anything else we have?

Now im not saying its a bad product, I think Steve Jobs is smart to market things to the general public and not to people specialized in technology, however this will soon push the tech savvy people away from apple products in the future. Personally I currently own an iPhone and hated it until I was able to finally jailbreak the phone so I can minimize apps and run multiple apps at the same time. I know for a fact that if I was ever to get an iPad I would need to jailbreak it so it can multitask. And just for my thoughts I believe I know what the next iPad feature will include: Minimize and Maximize

A few years ago I blogged about the ability to express, grow, improve, hope, understand and know what lies ahead of us. However recently due to some personal matters I have been a bit delayed on updating my own personal blog as well as many other things I have set myself forward to accomplish. However as of March 21st 2010, the first day of spring I am finally happy to say that I am finally back on my feet with everything moving forward once again!

I have worked for the Neighborhood Improvement Association for over 5 years and to be honest, it is time to move on. As we all know the recession has hit everywhere and IT jobs are next to impossible to find. Due to those factors I have trained myself in a new field with a future hope of investing into it as well. I am now a licensed NJ Casino Dealer as well as an Independent NJ Casino Dealer. This may seem like a few steps backwards for me as I have a college degree however, sometimes you need to take a few steps backwards to leap forward.

On March 16th 2010, I attended an open audition for Opus Casino Cruise Lines at the Union Dale Marriot. The audition was with Chris, and around 10:00pm I received a call to attend the second audition on March 17th 2010. I received the job offer on Thursday March 18th 2010 and submitted all the information for background check and drug testing on Friday March 18th 2010. Right now I am awaiting further information and I cannot wait to board this ship as an employee! I am a boat enthusiast and cannot wait.

As for my future and goals I am seeking to obtain a job in Atlantic City NJ or Las Vegas NV with the goal of entering as a table games dealer or poker dealer and moving up within the ranks to hopefully a VP and an investor in the future! As of right now I am also maintaining a website www.NJCasinoDealer.com which I post all the fundraisers I have attended on the blog.

I will try to keep this as up to date as possible and update as often as I can.

After viewing the Lady GaGa Telephone Music Video on its release date I felt that I had to express my opinion on Lady GaGa. After seeing the music video I feel that good music videos are dead and a memory of the past. I remember back in the day with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Christina Aguleira, Mariah Carey, Green Day, Creed, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Vertical Horizon, the music videos had a meaning and a story line. However after seeing the Lady GaGa Telephone Music Video all I can say is wow seriously?

I always felt that Madonna created very inappropriate music videos but telephone by Lady GaGa takes inappropriate to the next level. The video has nearly no story line, and the 60 seconds of singing with 8 minutes of nonsense is completely pointless. Many fans of Lady GaGa state that she has talent and is the start of a new era of music, but with a line like “See I told you she doesnt have a dick” in the beginning and random dominatrix themes through out the music video, I do not feel I would want my future children or any other child to ever see the telephone  music video.

I do not want to elaborate on the cons of her music video any further as there is so many, however there is some pro’s to her performances and that would be the performances that she performed live on the past few award shows. I would have to agree with the general public that her VMA paparazzi performance and her Grammy’s Poker Face performance with Elton John was very entertaining, though a little awkward for my taste it was very creative. Many people compare her to the future Michael Jackson, however I do not believe that is true. I do believe that she is a very artistic artist, however in my opinion she will never become a queen of music and she is just going to slowly disappear off the charts and when we look back we will shake our heads.

Princess Cruise Lines – Caribbean Princess
Brooklyn, NY -> Hamilton, Bermuda -> San Juan, Peurto Rico -> St. Thomas, Virgin Island -> Grand Turk, Caiocos -> Brooklyn NY
June 23, 2010 –  July 02, 2010

After almost one year of the Cruise to Bermuda on the RCCL Grandeur of the Seas, I am now going to be heading to a 9 Night Bermuda and Eastern Caribbean Cruise with my family this summer. This will be my first time on the Princess Cruise Lines and it seems like this is going to be a great ship! This ship is huge and has so many features and the ports of calls are great! Can’t wait to go and hopefully the food and everything comes out great as well! We will be staying on Deck 12! I will try to post more updates on this as I go closer to the trip.

Today I went to see Percy Jackson & the Olypians: The Lightning Thief at Regal Theater in Sheepshead Bay. The movie was a decent movie, the movie had flawless special effects and had lots of laughs through out the entire movie. The only thing I disliked about this movie was the fact that they failed to build upon the main characters and the storyline rushed as was the ending. There were however a few memorable scenes such as the Lotus Casino in Vegas, Medusa, and the Hydra

However, the most memorable part of this movie was Medusa. Uma Thurman portrayed Medusa very realistically in my opinion and was the best part of the entire movie. The Medusa scene was very well thought out and full of surprises. And of course the Medusa scene was followed by the AC/DC song – Highway to Hell.

All in all this movie is a great movie to just laugh in. I enjoyed the movie regardless of the failure to build up on the main characters.