What Is This "Day Off" You Speak Of?

I'm still chuggin' along here in Vegas-land, while I should be sleeping. It's 1:35 in the morning, and I just *know* that the boss is gonna try and call me in early in the morning. But I've got my fingers crossed that I can actually have a day off to myself. I've got so much shiat to do, and after a long day at the casino, the last thing I wanna do is work on household projects, do laundry, or run errands.

I was *supposed* to be off yesterday--not on call, free at last free at last--but on Sunday they asked if I'd be willing to work. Of course, it goes against my casino-warrior code to say no, so I will begrudgingly be the poker room's bitch until things slow down a bit. I went in at 1:00 in the afternoon, and even though I was busy, we weren't slammed like we have been over the course of the past week or so. Just listening to the players conversations all day, I get the feeling that there is a bit of poker fatigue among our regulars, as they've all been grinding it out for days, waiting for that jackpot to hit. Yesterday around 5:00 pm we actually broke a game, which is unheard of because it is usually peak time in the poker room where all the games are full and there's an hour-long wait to get a seat. And the floormen knew that I was working my day off and would be willing to cut out early.

I still made great money for only working about five hours, but I was thrilled to get off early. I considered once again going to Grimaldi's or something for dinner, but I was just too worn out. So I stopped at the local convenience store, got some DCWL and a bag of trail mix, and came on home.

I didn't do much but take a shower and relax with the tv playing in the background, then logged on to the computer to watch Sticky play in another poker tournament. She was card dead, so it was boring as hell watching her fold hand after hand, so I signed up for a $33 tourney. Of course, my luck was crummy. I managed to double up early and build up a substantial chip lead, but every time I pushed a pot with a strong pair, I ran into Aces. Yep, three times I went all-in, three times my opponent called with pocket Aces. What are the effin' chances of that? So I doubled up a lot of people before getting knocked out in 6th place, after my pocket Queens ran into that third set of bullets.

I figured that the law of averages owed me a few suckouts, so I signed up for another tournament. I did much better this time around, but got crippled once we got down to three-handed when *my* pocket Aces lost to some other jerkoff's pocket Sevens. Seriously, I could not catch a break. I played 'careful poker' after that, and let the big stacks tangle. It was a sound strategy, and I managed to slide into second place, mostly by folding.

It was a nice payoff, and I ended the day with my account about $35 more dollars to the positive, so I can't complain too much.

I was gonna call it a night and go to bed after that, but my phone was ringing around 11:00 pm. One of the many 23-year-old chicks in this town that for some unknown reason gravitate to me was calling, seeing if I'd wanna meet up for a drink.

Sleep? Nope, I'll sleep in September, I guess. So I got dressed, hit the mouthwash and body spray, and headed over towards the South Point.

She didn't say it, but my gal Kelly must've been on a date that went bad, because she was all dressed up wearing a black mini-dress and some effmee heels. She looked good! We just sat at the bar, and I listened to her piss and moan for awhile about some boy, but once we got a couple of drinks in front of us, the conversation improved and we just hung out playing video poker while she kept accidentally rubbing her boobs on my arm.

I hung out with her for a couple of hours, and while I'm sure I could've closed the deal, I could tell that she was gonna make me work for it. But I wasn't playing her game--maybe I was just too tired, maybe I didn't want to bring her back to my place where I've got laundry climbing the wall and storage totes strewn about, or maybe I just wanted her to know that if she wanted me to work for it, she'd have to work for it too.

So after three rounds and forty bucks in the video poker machine, I gave her a lingering goodnight kiss and a discrete grope squeeze, then told her we should get together again sometime. Soon.

You 'bottom-line' types may think I missed an opportunity, but the truth is, now she's lying awake thinkin' about me, I can almost guarantee it. Heh. I still got a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to the ladeez, but the downside is that I don't think I'm gonna be falling asleep anytime soon, either.

Anyhow, I'm on call today, and I'm hoping that my phone doesn't ring. I've got my appointment this afternoon to get my manicure with Beth, and I don't want to reschedule it--my nails are getting kinda skanky, so I'd like to get it done today. And I'd kinda like to sleep in, too.

Mikey