Waste of a Night

Good morning everybody. I hope you all had a wonderful Friday night and it leads to a nice enjoyable weekend.

Well, let's see here... My Friday night kinda sucked, when you get right down to it. When I left work on Thursday, I saw that I wasn't even on the roadmap for Friday night--no tables assigned to me. When they did that to me last week, I ended up pushing out dice tables all night, which was basically the vortex of suck. I mean, it was fun putting the smack down on some of our more annoying players, to be sure, but I don't know why, when I *know* I'm scheduled to deal dice, no problemo, but when I'm not, and I get stuck over there, it just wears my ass out. So I was really not looking forward to working last night, thinking that the same thing would happen.

So, when I got to the casino last night, I *still* wasn't on the roadmap, and five other dealers didn't have tables assigned, either. I figured it would be a replay of the week before, so I put my name on the Early Out list, which would create a headache for them if they wanted me to deal dice.

When my shift began, I found myself standing around with five other dealers, waiting for the bosses to find tables for us. When they asked who was on the E.O. list, well, I couldn't lie, and I got sent home right then. I though for sure that I'd make it till 11:00, at least.

Well, that was fun. I probably made a pretty critical error in judgment by signing that early out list--it's Nascar weekend here in Vegas, and I'm guessing we made pretty good money last night. Of which I will not see one thin dime...

So, getting the boot at 7 pm without dealing a single card, what was I to do? Well, it's Friday night in Vegas, and I needed to make about $200 to make up for missing work, so of course I headed out to Boulder Highway to see Rob deal dice at his first night at his new job.

I hadn't been out there in over a year, back when Sticky and I were low-rolling on one of her visits. It's pretty much still the same. I found Rob standing stick on a $3 craps table, so I bought in for $50. And the table was ice cold, forcing me to buy in for another $50 just a few minutes later. Luckily one guy had a monster roll, bringing me from the felt up to $148 when I colored up.

But I had to make another $150 to justify my night out. So I headed over to the $5 table and spent the next 20 minutes or so giving it all back.

Damn.

Just couldn't get anything going. Instead of hitting the ATM and pissing away even more money, I left the last six bucks for the dealers (not worth standing in line at the cage for) and headed home.

I figure between getting wiped out at the Pai Gow table at the Flea-esta two weeks ago, and then losing again last night at the dice table, well, by the time March Madness rolls around, I'm way overdue for a monster run! No more gambling until then, not even poker. Well, it's not like I go gambling anymore--Besides those two visits in the past two weeks, and that night I spent gambling with Angy back in January, I haven't gambled a penny in several months--it's just not in the budget. And apparently, my gambling chi is a bit off right now, anyways.

The only highlight of my night was seeing one of my favorite gals at the casino--she was dressed up and looking all hot, saying she was meeting some of her friends for dinner. But when she saw me she came over and gave me a big hug in front of all my buddies, so it was a nice ego boost.

Once I got home from my losing dice adventure, I fell asleep for several hours. I woke up at 1:30, got dressed, and headed back out. I knew that a few of my friends were going out for an after-work dinner at Kenny's Chinese joint, so I headed over there. Only one of my buddies was there at the time, but then they started trickling in after 2:30.

Having not eaten a thing all day before that, I was pretty hungry. I got some pan-fried dumplings, fried rice, and sweet & sour pork (and yeah, it is lychee they use in it to add to the sweetness). Everything was excellent, as usual, and I couldn't finish it all. I was so stuffed that I had a hard time finishing my beer (which, by the way, he's still not charging his friends for...) Some of the other folks I was with ordered a bunch of different dishes, and I was forced--FORCED I tell you--to sample some other goodies from the menu. I found the Shrimp With Vegetables offering to be especially outstanding, and the Kung Pao chicken had a nice pleasant zip to it.

But I had to wave the white flag. My meal ticket came to only about $14, but it felt like I'd been nibbling for two hours. I left 'em a twenty spot and waddled out of there. Once I got home, I found Rob watching hockey highlights and eating a bowl of his famous minestrone. He had some thoughts on his first night of work, which I'm sure he'll be writing about at some point this weekend.

Anyhow, that's all I got. My Friday night was pretty much a bust--between missing work and losing a hundy at the dice table, it was easily a $300 swing, and not in my favor either. Oh well. Luckily it was the last day of the month, because that was about it for my February budget.

But March is finally here. That means that Madness cannot be far off...

Mikey