Sunday, March 01, 2009

Back To 'Normal'

It's such a gorgeous day in Vegas right now. I should be lying in the sun with a rum drink, getting a tan on my pasty-white fish-belly skin, but no, I'm sitting in front of the computer, bloggin'. I hope y'all appreciate the sacrifices I make for your reading enjoyment!

It's been a crazy weekend for me so far. After moving a couple of truckloads of stuff over to Marcie's new apartment on Friday, we just chilled out at A&W for lunch and some conversation for most of the afternoon. When we finally bailed out of there, it was over to WalMart to pick up a few little things like candles and light bulbs and such. Once the kids got out of school for the day, I went on home and she had them spend the afternoon and evening packing up their rooms and moving some more boxes and tote bins to the storage unit and to the apartment. I finally got some sleep, but my phone rang at 2:00 in the morning. It was the poker room.

I couldn't believe they'd call right then, but it turns out that they didn't need me to come in. But the floorman told me that there was only one dealer scheduled at 11:00 in the morning, and that he left a note for them to call me in. Cool--I'll take a shift, especially now. I went back to sleep, but called in at nine just to make sure they needed, me, and yeah, they told me to come in at eleven.

While it was good to pick up another shift, it wasn't the greatest one in the world. First of all, the bad-bead jackpot hit AGAIN on Friday afternoon, which just kills the action on the weekend. So we were pretty slow--I never dealt more than an hour straight. I took a lot of breaks on Saturday, and the money wasn't very good.

When I got out at six, I called Marcie as I was sitting in my truck in the parking garage, and she said that they were finishing up and getting the very last truckload out of the old house right then. I offered to meet up and help her unload it, but she didn't need me to--she had both kids and another gal helping. But I knew they hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I offered to pick up some pizzas or something and bring them over later.

She liked that idea, so I ran home and cleaned up. I checked the mail, and there were four envelopes addressed to me that had donations to the Marcie fund enclosed. It turns out that there was another $195 sent. Very nice!

I ordered a couple of pizzas from the Hut nearest her new place, then headed over. Her apartment kinda looked like a huge storage unit at the time, as she had stuff stacked floor to ceiling in the front room, and the kitchen counters were full of boxes and bags. A spot was cleared on the dining room table for the kids, while we ate our dinner out of the box on the couch. That's when I gave her the envelopes full of money, which brightened her day even more! We had both worked all day, and it was nice to relax for a few minutes, but she was still wound up and going a hundred miles an hour.

So as soon as we finished dinner, it was back to work--the boys helped out, and we did stuff like putting together new floor lamps, moving furniture around, hanging shower curtains, stocking the kitchen shelves, etc. etc. We made some great progress and the apartment went from it's storage unit look to suitable living quarters in just a couple of hours. We said goodnight, and I headed for home.

I was just pulling into the gas station on the corner when my phone went off--it was my buddy Cool Pacific. He was in town for the weekend with the wife, but had some Cuban cigars that needed to get smoked. I told him that I'd meet him down on the strip in a half hour. So I put a few bucks in the tank, and headed over to the Palace. No, not Caesars. The other Palace. The Imperial one.

I found CoolP at a blackjack table, losing his ass. It seemed like the dealer made a 20 or 21 on every hand. And for being in the midst of a so-called recession, I was amazed to see how packed the IP was. It was wall-to-wall with Nascar mullets and hoochie dresses.

He finally gave up on the blackjack, and suggested we take over a Pai Gow table across the way that had just been vacated. So we ran over and took it over. CoolP had some friends with him, and introduced me to his wife and the rest of the crew. They all kinda did their own thing, playing video poker or some bad-rules blackjack in the Legends pit. A few of them came over to try a few hands of Pai Gow over the course of the evening, but they were up and down while the two of us ground it out all night long. It was nothing to speak of--I think I made $50 bucks in the four-plus hours that we sat there, but CoolP got his ass kicked, minus the straight flush he pulled for a $250 bonus that eased the pain somewhat.

We sat there enjoying our Cuban cigars, listening to music, telling stories, and just goofing off all night long. And even though it wasn't nearly as epic as our adventure of a year ago, (or the night after) it was still a good time. But the Captain and Sevens began to take their toll, so I switched to bottled water. CoolP, on the other hand, hadn't been to Vegas in months, so vodka-sodas kept arriving at a steady clip for him.

Eventually, the dealer went on a hot-streak that we couldn't outlast, so we called it a night around 3:30 in the morning. But, if you're a Pai Gow player, I gotta recommend playing at the Imperial Palace--their bonus payouts are good, and it's such a minor game in their casino that most of the dealers and none of the floorpeople really know the rules that well, so they were setting their hands not-quite-correctly, which benefitted the players on more than one occasion. Plus, once I even got paid on a losing hand while the floorman watched! Can't complain about that.

Anyhow, once we called it a night, we hit the head one more time and I stopped at the cage to turn my little profit into cash. I got the truck from the valet, dropped CoolP back at the other Palace across the street, and I headed back to bed in Henderson.

I woke up about noon today, took a quick shower and headed over to the O-House to have lunch. Of course Marcie was working, and I had that sassy chicken ranch sandwich again (it's pretty damn good, I have to admit). While I was eating, I finally finished reading that Ghosts At the Table book that I got about ten days ago, and I have to give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up. It's the best poker book I've read in a long time, and the history and stories in it are quite interesting.

Anyhow, I lingered there at the restaurant for quite awhile, and Marcie sat down to visit with me during the late-shift lulls. But I finally paid my tab, tipped her half of my Pai Gow proceeds, and came back to the house. I'm gonna spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, but I'm gonna try and do a little cleaning and organizing in my room. Marcie doesn't have internet access anymore, so tomorrow she's gonna come over and use my computer for awhile. I've got to make sure my desk is clean and dusted and all of the porn is stashed empty cups are gone and all the bits of trash are picked up.

I'm also working the graveyard shift tonight, so I've got to get some sleep at some point, too.

Mikey

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