I was completely exhausted after Vanessa's whirlwind visit, and had to work last night also. Talk about dead man walkin'. I was barely awake when I arrived, so I signed the E.O. list (Early Out--meaning, that once tables start closing after midnight or so, those people on the E.O. list get to go home if they choose. Since I'm basically working only part-time, I normally avoid the list like the plague. But I would've paid any price for sleep last night).
Luckily, I was on a very easy 'string' (A string is casino lingo for the set of tables you're assigned to for your eight-hour shift. There are typically four dealers and three tables on any string, allowing for an hour per table, followed by a twenty-minute break, then moving on to your next table, repeated all night long). Last night my tables were a $5 sit-down BJ table, Let It Ride (or Let It Die as it's more commonly called), and a $20 Pai Gow table. Yep, that was my first official shift dealing Pai Gow, but fortunately it was the higher-limit table at the far end of the pit, so it didn't get much traffic. My only Pai Gow player was a guy who'd been at my Let It Ride table earlier in the evening, and I'd dealt him a full house just before I left for break (for a $480 win!), so he followed me to my next game. I was good to him there, too, and he made a few more bucks before I left for the night.
I was at the top of the EO list, so instead of getting sent home around 2am like I thought would happen, I actually got to leave at midnight. Score! I came home and went directly to bed, not even turning on the tv to check scores or highlights. And I got eight hours of uninterrupted blissful slumper. It was exactly what I needed.
When I finally motivated myself out of bed this morning, I shuffled off to the other side of the estate (have I mentioned how huge this house is? It's like 75 steps from my room to the laundry room. I actually counted once...) for a pot of coffee and breakfast with The Captain. No, not Morgan, you degenerate drunks. The other Captain--Crunch! Normally the only cereal I ever eat is Raisin Bran, but if Captain Crunch or Golden Grahams ever go on sale, then I'll pick up a box or two of that. The cereal bowl is now empty, but I'm still enjoying a cup of the good stuff, this time flavored with holiday-edition peppermint creamer.
Anyhow--the past few days were pretty enjoyable. I always have a great time with Vanessa, and this time was no different, although I think we would've had much more fun if we hadn't just got crushed in the gambling department. We couldn't win a damn thing for two days straight. The best I did was end up even on Tuesday, but yesterday the Gambling Gods gave us the bitch-slap smack down and robbed us like they were Seinfeld and we were old ladies carrying a marble rye. I could tell lots of bad beat stories, but I guess the whole experience could be distilled into two simple lessons--One, if the $5 Wheel of Fortune slot in the High Limit room doesn't give you a single spin after $200, it's time to move on. And Two--if you're playing blackjack and get dealt 20, Blackjack, 20 in three consecutive hands and don't win a single one of them, it may be time to find something else to do.
Another bummer of the week was that my digital camera seems to have gone Tango Uniform on me and none of my pictures turned out. (I actually took a picture of my empty plate at the Peppermill after breakfast yesterday. I finally conquered the chicken fried steak and eggs! Woo hoo--Everest has been surmounted!) On one hand, that's ok, because I've wanted to upgrade to a 5 megapixel model for over a year now, so it gives me justification to purchase a new one. Unfortunately, the this week's negative experiences at the tables have impaired my ability to procure said camera.
So today is my day off--I get to relax a bit before working all weekend. I'll spend my afternoon catching up on email and doing around-the-house chores, maybe spending some quality time in front of the tube paring down my Tivo list (by the way, has there ever been a greater invention than Tivo??? I think not!).
I may post some more if I feel sufficiently inspired, but in the meantime, I just want to give a shout out to the jackass that checked out of our room at Harrahs just before we checked in. Thanks for making sure the alarm clock was at full volume and set for 5 am. We sure appreciated that. I hope you die a slow and painful death by nut cancer or something equally distasteful.
Mikey
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