And...We're Back

CasinoPalooza 3 was NOT a financial success! Let's put that out there right away. Don't want to violate the Truth in Blogging Law. That's not to say that Val had no wins whatsoever. She had a few big fat wins. But you know how that goes...you have to spend money to win money. She was already in the hole when the first biggie came in, and even though she stashed that away to bring home, the next day's results dug that hole a little deeper. Lucky for Val, she had some more late-night success. Her saving grace was Downstream, the casino where she had two free nights.

As with previous CasinoPaloozas, we check in around 3:00-4:00, then head out to make a loop of four other casinos. We return around 10:00-11:00, with some of us still in a gambling mood, and others in an imbibing mood, and one ready for a snooze. I hit a $494.80 bonus on Buffalo Gold around 11:30, salvaging my losses at the other assorted casinos that night.

As if that wasn't enough, I kept playing, and hit another bonus of $207.00 around 1:00 a.m. Of course I kept playing. This was the only game giving me anything back. It's not that I wasn't happy with those winnings. Thing is, we go to Oklahoma on the CasinoPaloozas so we can play the VGT games that have random red-screen bonuses. They were NOT paying this trip! I might as well have stayed home and gone to our regular casino, which has SIX Buffalo Gold slot machines.

Anyhoo...let the record show that ALL OF US (adults) came home losers this trip. Oh, I still had half the money I took to gamble with. But I was not ahead. Nor was Hick. Nor my sister the ex-mayor's wife. Nor the ex-mayor himself. The only winners were Genius, who was $60 ahead the last time I talked to him, although he said he might go high-rollin' with that $60...and The Pony, who, while not actually in the black, was only down about $25 for the three days. Genius's Friend was somewhere in between, I think, because while he bemoaned his losses, next thing you knew, he was waving a ticket worth $60 or $80.

So...with the attitude of we may lose, and we may win, but we will never be here again...we all took it easy, and had a blast. More stories to come in the next few days.

And now, here's a tale that brought a smile to my face.

On the very last day, after a tearful goodbye to The Pony, and another tearful goodbye to Genius, Hick said we could play for an hour before we checked out. I was back at my favorite (and only) paying machine. Hick went roaming, and said he'd meet me back there at 11:30. Sis and the ex-mayor were also having a last hurrah before they checked out and departed.

I hit another bonus about 10 minutes before time to leave. I was watching it count up when I was distracted by Hick. So no picture of this one. I was sitting at a kiosk of Buffalo Gold slot machines. I guess you can call it a kiosk. There were 4, arranged in a square circle, if you know what I mean. Hick approached from my left. I was proudly planning to show him my accumulating bonus, while at the same time a little ticked off that he chose RIGHT THEN to show up, and ruin my enjoyment of my bonus. Imagine my surprise when Hick walked up to the lady at the machine on my left.

"Four hundred and eleven dollars! That's a good one!"

The lady looked at him with fear in her eyes. Welcome to MY world, lady! And I don't mean just because he's Hick. I mean welcome to the world where weirdos pop up when you least expect it, and insert themselves into your business with no warning for no reason.

"Uhhh...huhh..." she murmured. While grasping her purse and cashing out her ticket.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought you were my sister-in-law. I didn't mean to be nosy. I just...thought you were her. I'm sorry."

I let Hick flounder for a moment. The lady caught my eye. I tried to reassure her, before she had a panic attack, or screamed for help, or swung her purse to smack Hick in the jewels. "Really. He thought you were my sister. We're here together."

The lady gathered her stuff and left. Too bad I didn't have time to switch to her machine. Hick came over to my side and acted like he hadn't just scared that lady into white hair overnight. I lectured him (you didn't think I'd let such a teaching opportunity go by without a lesson, did you) about how you can't just go up to people in a casino and comment on their winnings. Hick didn't see anything wrong with his actions. He decreed that it was that lady's fault, for looking like Sis from the back.

He never met a stranger, our Hick. And has never been locked up. Yet.