Luck Be a Lady Tonight
Thanks to that new technology known as "the silverware tray," I am able to blog for you now. Toys? Bah! Books? Who needs them? Music? Eh. But give the Doodles a full silverware tray and he'll leave you alone for minutes--I say minutes!--at a time. He'll carefully remove the pieces of silverware one by one and shove them into drawers and cabinets all around the kitchen. True, for the next week I'll be saying, "Didn't we use to have more spoons?" and "Huh, how did that knife get in with the cereals?" But for the few moments of peace it gives me, it's worth it.
Last week was such a whirlwind of holidays and birthdays that I didn't get a chance to blog about my big event of last week. My former college roommate, whom I mentioned when this blog was young, lives north of New York City. Unfortunately, the Boston-New York trek is a little farther than either of us can make. Me, because I'm lazy. Her, because she has two young children. So we do what any two responsible, respectable, adult women would do: we meet at the casino midway between us and we get silly drunk, giggle a lot, and gamble away as much cash as we can in a five-hour period. We're trying to make this a yearly event--and we sort of are. We met last in January 2003 and then just now in December 2004. So technically, once a year. We're determined to meet up a little earlier in 2006.
So after sending Doodles and Adam off for their weekly Saturday morning swim class, I got in the car and drove the two hours to Foxwoods. After making my way through the maze of fake city streets, Jax and I find each other. Just like last time, we both ended up in opposing lobbies ("We'll find each other!") and it took many cell phone calls to track each other down. But the minute we saw each other, it was like old times. Jax is one of those people who I can pick up with after six months or a year and it seems like it's only been yesterday. There's never any awkwardness or weird pauses; we just dive right in.
Our first stop, of course, was the buffet. What's a trip to a casino without a buffet? After loading up on a winning combination of peel and eat shrimp, bbq kielbasa, spring rolls, corn on the cob, fettucine, and a hot fudge sundae, we were ready to hit the tables.
Jax introduced me to the wonder that is craps on our last trip. So this trip we headed straight there. Of course, in that time, I had completely forgotten how to play, so the cute croupier told me where to bet. Unfortunately, they rotate personnel pretty often so he left and I started to lose. I felt like an idiot shooting the dice. You'd think I'd love being at the center of things but when it comes to other people's money, I prefer to simply observe. I tossed them out and yelled, "Baby needs a new pair of boots," which actually was true as after swim class, Adam was taking Doodles to the shoe store for some winter boots. Jax was little help, having diminished her pile of chips and wandering off to figure out how some of the other games were played.
When my stack was looking too wee for me, I found Jax and we found our comfort zone: blackjack. Oh, I love blackjack. Luckily, Jax had her cheat sheet with her because I had forgotten the one Adam made me all those years ago for my bachelorette weekend in Vegas. The best thing about blackjack is just getting to sit next to Jax and shoot the breeze while being brought free drinks. Plus I was winning. Does it get any better? I was splitting, I was doubling down, I was "hit me, hit me, hit me!" Okay, so I was losing too but the winning happened more frequently, and in the end, that's all that matters.
Of course, I'm not a responsible gambler. No way, no how. I forget that those pretty chips actually connect to real dollars. We were at the $15 minimum tables (the cheapest tables on a Saturday), but I'd just take a stack and stick it out. When it came to double down, the dealer would have to count for me because I never knew how much I had out. It was completely random.
By the end of the day--maybe a smidgen later; I did have to call home to tell Adam that I wouldn't be home any time soon, never mind even close to when I had said I'd be home--I had made enough not just for Doodles's boots, but for a few things for myself.
Hey, Jax, you've been blogged! See you next year!
Last week was such a whirlwind of holidays and birthdays that I didn't get a chance to blog about my big event of last week. My former college roommate, whom I mentioned when this blog was young, lives north of New York City. Unfortunately, the Boston-New York trek is a little farther than either of us can make. Me, because I'm lazy. Her, because she has two young children. So we do what any two responsible, respectable, adult women would do: we meet at the casino midway between us and we get silly drunk, giggle a lot, and gamble away as much cash as we can in a five-hour period. We're trying to make this a yearly event--and we sort of are. We met last in January 2003 and then just now in December 2004. So technically, once a year. We're determined to meet up a little earlier in 2006.
So after sending Doodles and Adam off for their weekly Saturday morning swim class, I got in the car and drove the two hours to Foxwoods. After making my way through the maze of fake city streets, Jax and I find each other. Just like last time, we both ended up in opposing lobbies ("We'll find each other!") and it took many cell phone calls to track each other down. But the minute we saw each other, it was like old times. Jax is one of those people who I can pick up with after six months or a year and it seems like it's only been yesterday. There's never any awkwardness or weird pauses; we just dive right in.
Our first stop, of course, was the buffet. What's a trip to a casino without a buffet? After loading up on a winning combination of peel and eat shrimp, bbq kielbasa, spring rolls, corn on the cob, fettucine, and a hot fudge sundae, we were ready to hit the tables.
Jax introduced me to the wonder that is craps on our last trip. So this trip we headed straight there. Of course, in that time, I had completely forgotten how to play, so the cute croupier told me where to bet. Unfortunately, they rotate personnel pretty often so he left and I started to lose. I felt like an idiot shooting the dice. You'd think I'd love being at the center of things but when it comes to other people's money, I prefer to simply observe. I tossed them out and yelled, "Baby needs a new pair of boots," which actually was true as after swim class, Adam was taking Doodles to the shoe store for some winter boots. Jax was little help, having diminished her pile of chips and wandering off to figure out how some of the other games were played.
When my stack was looking too wee for me, I found Jax and we found our comfort zone: blackjack. Oh, I love blackjack. Luckily, Jax had her cheat sheet with her because I had forgotten the one Adam made me all those years ago for my bachelorette weekend in Vegas. The best thing about blackjack is just getting to sit next to Jax and shoot the breeze while being brought free drinks. Plus I was winning. Does it get any better? I was splitting, I was doubling down, I was "hit me, hit me, hit me!" Okay, so I was losing too but the winning happened more frequently, and in the end, that's all that matters.
Of course, I'm not a responsible gambler. No way, no how. I forget that those pretty chips actually connect to real dollars. We were at the $15 minimum tables (the cheapest tables on a Saturday), but I'd just take a stack and stick it out. When it came to double down, the dealer would have to count for me because I never knew how much I had out. It was completely random.
By the end of the day--maybe a smidgen later; I did have to call home to tell Adam that I wouldn't be home any time soon, never mind even close to when I had said I'd be home--I had made enough not just for Doodles's boots, but for a few things for myself.
Hey, Jax, you've been blogged! See you next year!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home