Seems like my time away just went by way too fast. On Saturday, I attended a wedding reception for my two friends who got married on April 1st. The couple had gone to Las Vegas and gotten married at Graceland Wedding Chapel - even had Elvis to officiate the nuptials (well, that was part of the bit - there was a real preacher there to do the real thing.) I had a very lovely time getting to see their wedding pictures and video! The cakes were fabulous and I enjoyed getting to see people I have not seen in a very long time. I had a truly wonderful time.
On Monday, on my own, I headed off to Shreveport, LA. My former boss was celebrating her 50th birthday and she had asked me to attend the "girls party" for fun and games. I thought I would be really nervous making that 3-4 hour drive to Shreveport, but in the end, I was just so relaxed. I did not feel like I was stressed at all. Once I got out of Forney, I was able to put my car on cruise control at 75 mph and just took it easy driving. I enjoyed that - I really truly did. It was relaxing not to have to answer to the pager and just drive. I enjoyed the scenery and acknowledging all of the various small towns that are on that trip.
I got into Shreveport at about 3:45 PM, which was close enough to check-in at El Dorado for me. I had gotten a suite at the casino and it was really huge and very nice. The bathroom was a sight as well - I loved it.
I got unpacked, put away valuables in the safe, then make an appointment with the spa for a manicure/pedicure. Once that was done, I headed down to check out the casino. Quite a lot of slot machines and I played a few, but mainly, I walked around checking out what the casino/hotel had to offer. There was a huge pastry case full of really nice cakes, pies, cookies, and caramel apples! That was pretty nice.
I headed over to Sam's Town, the casino next door. When I was in Shreveport in 2003/2004, El Dorado had been called "Hollywood" and "Sam's Town" was "Harrah's". The machines had changed, but the floor layout had not changed much. I won $65 dollars at Sam's Town playing the slot machines. I decided to leave after about an hour. I was just milling about and not really doing much gambling.
I went back to El Dorado and had dinner. Either I ate too much or something was not agreeing with me, so I headed back to my room to get some rest. I laid on the bed and watched a little TV and took a short nap. I woke up around 11:45 PM and headed back down to the casino. There, I won about $40-$50 to keep me playing until about 1:45 AM. At that point, I went back to bed.
Next morning, I got up and got cleaned up to make my mani/pedi. I had a great conversation with the manicurist. She had never used Essie polish and was going on about how smooth the polish was going on my nails. Pretty soon, that was over, so I headed down stairs for lunch. Needless to say, another bad choice on my part. I should have stuck with the salad because the other food was not agreeing with me. That made me rather sad. I went back to my room abour 1:30 PM and slept until my friend had arrived with her friends.
I met the birthday girl and her friends in the lobby. Once they had their rooms, I led them down to where they could get their rewards cards for the casino and everyone began to start playing the different machines. About 5:30 PM, everyone left to their rooms to change. We were heading over to one woman's room for drinks and to celebrate my friend's 50th, then going to the Horseshoe to have dinner at Jack Binion's Steak House.
I don't think wine/champagne works for me. After drinking some of the champagne, I started sweating. Make up and hair just started going down hill at that point. It bothered me that my system does that, but the fact that I had spirits the night before with no reaction really left me puzzled.
Dinner was delicious. One of the birthday girl's friends had gotten her a birthday cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to her. It was a lot of fun! Of course, after we all paid our bills, we left for the casino down the way.
Oddly enough, the casino had a sign outside of it making those 35 or younger go through and get carded. I got carded. LOL That made my evening!
Luckily, the card I had gotten in New Orleans in September was accepted at this casino, so I started milling about and looking. The woman who had gotten the rooms and cake for my friend was playing "Let It Ride." I was looking at the black jack table and the dealer had no one at her table and she was asking me if I had brought her dinner. I laughed and said - You can have the left overs - plenty for another meal! That conversation continued with her asking if I want to play. Ever since the incident in Las Vegas where the dealer basically wiped me of $100 within about 5 minutes, I have shied away from playing cards. She assured me that since no one was at the table, she would help me understand the rules. I put down $50 and decided to play.
The dealer kept her word and gave me pointers on when to hold, stay, double down, and such. Next, a young woman came to the table with a $100 chip to play. Even she was giving me pointers and told me to listen to the dealer because the dealer had taught her everything she knew on playing black jack. Pretty soon, a man came to the table and the dealer had to back off on the training. However, even he was trying to help me with pointers. I was pretty flattered that everyone was being so helpful and I ended up staying at the table for about 30 minutes before I cashed out. I had $15 left and I gave the deal $10 for being so kind.
It was great to be able to play blackjack without the intimidation factor. The rest of the time at the Horseshoe was spent milling about and playing a few slot machines, which never really panned out. Basically, Horseshoe was sucking down my money and that is not the "entertainment" factor I want.
Around 11:30 PM, everyone gathered together to head back to El Dorado. When I got there, I put the left overs in the refrigerator, changed clothes, then met everyone downstairs to play more games. For the next two hours, I pretty much broke even, but I was able to play longer on the machines. That was the entertainment factor for me. Let me win some and I will continue playing. Suck down $2+ of a $20 with no return, I leave the machine.
What I really liked were machines like "Rock Around the Clock" and "Rich Life". Those were more like arcade games. Sure, it was based on the slot and if you hit certain symbols, you would get a bonus. However, "Rock Around the Clock", if the clock hit 12, it was "bonus time" and the machine would change and play a different set of games where you could rack up points. Finally, if you get the jukebox game, it would decide if you got the highest amount to the lowest amount for additional cash.
The "Rich Life" was similar to playing a board game. Slot based - if you got three "Rich Life" symbols on a spin, then you played the board game.Your character rolled the dice, then moved that number of spaces. Each space had an activity where you had to choose which was the right one. Example, you land of "shopping". The machine would say "You are going shoe shopping. Which pair of shoes do you buy?" and you are given a choice of 3 to 5 pairs of shoes. Depending on what you bought, you got so many points. If another person is playing along side of you, then there was a competing side where the game made both of you try to beat the other. The group loved it - it was fun and entertaining.
Next day, after breakfast, I needed to check out, but my friend told me that Sam's Town had $3 black jack tables opened from 3 AM until 3 PM. We both had to go check it out. Both of us put down $100 to play. Everyone at the table was very friendly and provided lots of pointers. By the time I looked at my watch, it was 12:30 - I had been sitting there for over an hour and was ahead by $11! A win is a win in my book. I ended up cashing out and heading home.
Overall, I lost $300, most of which was at Horseshoe. I kept a close eye on my gambling money and tried to be a frugal as I could with it. So, now, I know for certain I do better at Sam's Town and will play there next time.
Yesterday, I went to the Dallas Jewelry and Gem show. I found one pair of earrings for $1450, but there was no way I was going to buy them at that price. I did buy a pair of gold and silver ball earrings and a silver necklace with pearls on it.
Heading off to get my mani/pedi for the next couple of weeks. Just dreading going back to work this week, though. I need to work on doing more fun things to keep my spirits going.
No comments:
Post a Comment