I know it's been awhile, but life just hasn't been that interesting over the course of the past month. Nobody want's to read about me laying around in bed with a fever and some funky flesh-eating virus, so we'll just skip the last few weeks, ok?
Today, however, goes into the personal pantheon of 'Good Days'. I woke up early, thinking it was just like 2am, but when I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:30, I had the smug satisfaction that I'd gotten almost seven hours of straight uninterrupted blissful slumper. That was nice.
I laid in bed for about an hour thinking about stuff to do today and finally got up and started cleaning my room and sorting laundry. Then the tractor beam of the internet pulled me to my desk and I spent an hour surfing the web and emailing friends who happened to be 'working' at the time.
I showered and got dressed, and made my way down to the Peppermill for my usual Monday morning breakfast. While looking over the menu that I pretty much have memorized, I had a Kahlua and coffee to get the day started on the right foot. Instead of the usual omelet or french toast, I decided to change it up and ordered the Eggs Benedict. I've gotta say--it was one of the top 5 breakfasts I've ever eaten. Excellent!
After breakfast I headed back to the Fireside Lounge in the back of the restaurant and took a seat at the bar. My gal Krista was tending bar, of course (the reason why the Peppermill is my usual Monday morning stop, truth be told...) and she immediately set me up with an Appleton's & Seven. I've gotta say, one of life's great pleasures is a glass of premium rum, and this didn't disappoint.
I had a relaxing couple of hours, talking with Krista, drinking my rum, and reading a sailing magazine to fuel my escapism. After a couple of rounds, I paid my tab and headed out for the rest of my day.
I'd been lugging around a couple of matchplays in my wallet since March, good at the tables at the Imperial Palace. I won a whole bunch of money in there back then, but haven't been back since. I figured that since I was already on the Strip, I might as well stop in and use 'em, and maybe double up and pocket $50.
So I parked the Ghetto Sled there in the rat-maze that is the Imperial Palace garage, made my way to the casino, and bought in at the dice table for $150. I'll make a long story short by saying I'm glad I did, because about an hour later I was cashing out to the tune of over $600. Nice!
I walked to the cage, got a fresh stack of hundies to class up the wallet, and used the mens room. Like other fellas throughout the ages, while there I had a moment of clarity and thought "Hey, I've got all afternoon...let's play some more!" I promised myself that no matter what I'd walk with at least a $400 profit, so with that bit of justification going for me, I headed back to the table.
It was a little choppier this time around, and my $200 buyin started to dwindle. At one point, I was down to having just $4 left in my rail after making all of my bets. Well, the dice gods decided that it was time to heat up the table because I started making a little bit of a comeback. A shooter at the other end of the table managed to make three passes in a row which put a hundred dollars back on my rail.
About that time, Lady Luck walked right up and perched herself on my right arm. An 'Attractive with a Capital A' young lass decided that she wanted to learn how to play craps, and she wanted to learn right there at my table right then. So I obliged...
I didn't want to talk to much and scare her away--I'm sure she'd had guys hitting on her the entire weekend, so I didn't say much except to help her with a few pointers. Fortunately, the shooters were being good to us, so she was enjoying her lessons. By the time the dice got to our end of the table, she'd introduced herself and we were chit-chatting like buddies, so it made the game that much more enjoyable. Even luckier was the fact that both she and I had *monster* rolls and managed to fill up the rail with chips. I'd have to say that it was easily the most enjoyable couple of hours I've had at a dice table in years.
When I finally sevened out, we colored up. She managed to turn her $40 buy-in into just about $300, so she is now a dice degenerate like me and my friends. When all was said and done, I managed to pocket over an $800 profit. Along with the great company, I'd say it was pretty much a perfect day. So good in fact, that it's one of those days you wish was like 'Groundhog Day'. I'd love to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.
Mikey
PS. I know what you're thinking. Yes. We made arrangements to keep in touch...
