I'm in the middle of small kitchen experiment gone awry. Actually--experiment isn't the word--I'm just making quesadillas and realized I made a huge mistake while shopping for tortillas. I have the plain-old regular kind, but while in the store the other day, I saw some Mission Jalapeno & Cheddar Wraps. An impulse buy if there ever was one. I mean, how can you go wrong with cheddar and jalapeno? How indeed. I don't know how they managed to screw them up, but they sure did.
I've got one word to describe them: Yuk.
In the culinary sense, it's the opposite of synergy. All of the ingredients added up to less than the sum of their parts. I won't be making that mistake again. Flavored wraps--you can keep 'em.
Anyhow.
I've had a helluva busy several days now, and I still don't feel like I'm able to relax. I had lots of stuff that I planned to do on Thursday once I punched out of the casino after being there about five minutes, but like my Canadian friends like to say, I accomplished 'f*ck all'.
I came home, started unpacking a box full of books, found a Tom Clancy paperback that I purchased last July and never read (the receipt still sticking out like a bookmark), so that pretty much killed the rest of the afternoon and evening. On Friday, I had to work all day, and even though I'm not a big fan of the grind on dayshift, it was a decent showing. I got out at six or so, took a shower, and laid down for a minute, trying to organize my thoughts as to my next shopping trip. But that minute turned out to be almost eight hours, as I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 2:30 on Saturday morning.
I was hungry by then, so I made some breakfast and then went back to bed, reading my book for a couple more hours until the alarm went off at 5:45.
Once I got dressed, I was out the door and heading for North Las Vegas, where I had twelve hours of Hell ahead of me. Yep, it was Poker Plus time again, that semi-annual gathering of every poker player in the Stations orbit, a free-roll where everyone gets $700 worth of chips, 15-minute blind levels, and they roll the dice, hoping to win their share of about $300K. It's about my least favorite thing I've ever done, as far as work is concerned.
I was eligible to participate in it, but since I had to work the thing, I couldn't play. But my name was on the master list of participants, so as soon as my first table broke, I got in the 'loser line' and collected my $75 prize money that everyone got just for showing up. That'll help supplement the $4 per down we usually get in tips.
Actually, as much as everyone rags about working it, it's not *that* bad. It's just a very long day for very little money.
During the last session of the day, which started at 5:00 pm, I saw a couple of my gals in the crowd, and of course they wanted to hook up and go out later. I was tempted to just say screw it and go home and go to bed, but since I knew I'd have plenty of time to snooze on Sunday, I agreed to meet up with them later that evening. I clocked a solid 12 hours before getting the ok to leave, and I pointed the truck south, back towards the safe and familiar area of Henderson.
As tired as I was, I still took a shower and got dressed, then headed over to the casino. Basically, all we did was sit in the poker room, drink, and play cards all night. I could tell I wasn't playing my best--I made some really boneheaded mistakes, plus we were doing kamakazi shots over and over again. But I got lucky on one hand and made four sevens, which paid me a bonus of $100. That went right into the wallet, and even in my tired and inebriated state, I managed to not only break even, but pocket a whopping $8 in profit (not including my jackpot hundie!) for the session. Finally, by 2:00 am, I'd had enough. I cashed out, $108 richer, and came home. I think I was asleep about thirty seconds after my head hit the pillow.
The weather here in Vegas has been unseasonably cool for the past couple of days, so I enjoyed sleeping with the windows open to the cool breeze. I caught up on all the rest I'd missed from the night before, and it was wonderful--and there were no dogs barking either.
When I finally motivated myself out of bed, I got quite a bit accomplished. My dining room is now completely cleared out, my kitchen is about 90% put together, and most of the stuff is out of the living room. Basically, all that's left is putting together that TV stand and also getting all the books on shelves (although I'm thinking of buying another bookshelf first). After that, it's just a matter of hanging a few pictures on the wall and figuring out what I'm gonna do for furniture for the next few weeks.
Since I'm scheduled for the maximum 32 hour over the course of the next week, I don't have to work tonight, so I'm just gonna relax now. But maybe in a bit I'll go over and play some cards. I'd like to raise another hundred bucks or more, and one of my gals already called, asking if I was gonna go out tonight.
Probably.
Mikey
PS--I got a message from Carmen today. She's doing ok, just dealing with the latest curveballs that life has thrown her.
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