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Thursday, April 26, 2018

The Cosmopolitan

Wednesday Day 12

Let's start quickly. Awaken. Angry after last night.Little Giant. Pilfered supplies. Grommet Con. Boss. And with that, I am back at the Tropicana, hoping that today things will work better.


There's some blogging to be done and then I'm over to Hooters for lunch, and some LVA coupon stuff. This doesn't really bear much fruit, but it does bear a pretty darn good buffalo chicken sandwich.


I walk back to the Trop, ready to get it on. I have my little bit of freeplay for the day - $15 - and I decide to see how far that will take me.

I play some multiplay and, well, it takes me pretty far. I hit three quads in ten minutes. And this time, I actually cash out the profits.






I head up to the room to regroup, and get ready to go on walkabout. On my way back down, I hit the casino again and there it is... that machine. The one that hated me yesterday and liked me today.

What the hey. I stuff a $20 in it and I'm fairly shocked when I hit another all-the-same beauty. I play for a little while longer, and cash out $50 and get my ass out of there. It feels like luck is everywhere, but it really isn't.




Note: Just about every day since this trip I've struggled with how I am going to write about the last part of the trip. I don't share much personal information, but I have decided it is pertinent to the trip. This blog is a place of fun, of silliness, it's apolitical, a place to escape, for all of us, you and me both. I don't want to dwell on maudlin things, and I don't want to turn this stuff into entertainment. But, as you know, sometimes I do get serious in the blog - and I write it the way it happens, and this is part of it. I hope I get it right for all concerned. 

Back home, a family member, and a good friend of mine, has not been doing well. Not at all. Every day, I wonder if this will be the day. I almost canceled Vegas, but the Quad Queen said, no, go - I try to enjoy myself as much as I can, but the anvil is always hanging just above.

So this has been on my mind... I check my phone and I see I have received a text from a very good friend of mine. I read about a quarter of a screen of it and see "stage 3 cancer". This horrible news comes out of the blue, completely unexpected, and the casino spins, my heart pounds, my ears ring. I put the phone away - I can't do this right now. I feel like a coward, but I just - can't.


And I start walking. The plan was Cosmo, so that's where I go, putting one foot in front of the other.

I haven't actually spent a whole lot of time here, so I walk the casino and check it out, and make my way back to the chandelier bar. I sit and the bartender explains the ticket system to me. She comps me the first one, and after that, I'll need tickets.

Lots of tickets.

I get a Maker's Rocks and start playing, hoping to distract myself. I'm there for quite a while, and its a strange mix of thoughts and emotions. This is one of those times in Vegas when it is not good to be on a solo trip.

The bartender is busty - extremely busty - and showing a lot of cleavage. So, I enjoy that, but more to the point, there is another bartender who is breaking in, and at one point the talk behind the bar is about how many buttons she will have to undo. I'm glad I don't have to undo buttons in my workplace!

Maker's Ahoy.
Before long I earn a ticket. And I order another drink. And I earn a ticket. And I order another drink.

I can't put it off any longer, so I get my phone out and read the text from my friend. It's a lot to take in, and I am just so sad and shocked by it.

I play on, and there are many times when I have to take a breather, sometimes hide my face. Being at this bar, with people around, and people behind the bar kind of looking at me funny - ultimately its a good thing because it helps me keep it together.

Pointies, and 69 points, dude.
Shockingly, I hit four Pointies, so that's good, and I decide right then and there that I am going to stay at this bar come hell or high water, and either win big, or play it all. Maybe I can put some decent coin in and get some offers in the future.


And that's what I do. I switch to Triple Double Bonus and I'm dealt that hand again, that three Aces with kicker and you have to hold the kicker because one more Ace and it's $1000.

But I fan, and get a stupid seven.



By the time I am finally out of credits, I have a belly full of Makers, a fistfull of drink tickets (which have been flying out of the machine like confetti) and a bladder the size of the Paris balloon sign.

I signal the bartender to get a plastic cup, telling her I don't want to walk off with her glassware. I'm not sure why I cared, but it seemed considerate at the time. I also try to sneak the remainder of my tickets to a guy on my left, but he thinks I'm trying to sell him something. The guy on my right is turned away from me, yammering at his girl. They are not serious players, they are here for the bar. I toss the coupons down anyway, maybe he'll notice and use them.


Off I go to take care of Paris, and when that's done, I stop at an empty kiosk to message my friend back. That done, I go to pick up my beautiful traveller and dump it all over the marble countertop.

Sadness.
I wave down a Cosmo executive of some sort, who is walking buy with another Cosmo executive of some sort. It is very, very important that I tell him about my drink spill so nobody will... I don't know, sit in it or something? I accomplish this and duty done, I hunt up some multiplay deuces.

I play some pennies, I play some quarters, just kind of going through the motions.


I do manage to get a two sets of deuces on two hundred play pennies, but I'm damned if I can actually find them. Looking at the photo, I wonder where the other hundred hands went.

Vicki Dougan who "discovered a new cleavage".
I'm not leaving Cosmo without secret pizza, so I head there. It's pretty darn good, and if I had a fresh pie right out of the oven, I think it would be fantastic.



I like the hallway to secret pizza, jammed full of album covers, many of which I know, or even own. And lots I've never heard of before.


Meathead had an album. Who knew.
An All In The Family LP? What would be on it? Archie calling Edith a Dingbat for 22 minutes? Maybe more interesting would be the exercise of figuring out who the men are to the right and the left of Meathead. The guy with the big nose should be easy for somebody, I suppose.

Making my way back to Tropicana, I get almost to Aria and remember I haven't cashed in my ticket from the Deuces yet. I shlep all the way back, cash the ticket, and wobble back to my room.

Video Poker: -$95
Trip: -$195

My friend B is fighting hard. She has the most amazing attitude, it's quite inspiring. She's been through some tough treatments in a couple of cities, and she's kicking ass and staying positive. So far, the results are great - the tumors are shrinking and her prognosis is improving. 







    3 comments:

    1. Very sorry to hear about your friend.
      A 'tip' for next time you find yourself with extra tickets at a Cosmo bar....you can use them for larger size Fiji water to take back to room...just sayin...Annie

      ReplyDelete
    2. Mr. Flusher, I will keep your friend B in my thoughts. If it helps at all, my dad was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer two and a half years ago, and he's still getting along. I hope B has an even better outcome.

      Thank you for sharing the personal details. I (and I'm sure others) feel sort of like I know you, even though I've never had the pleasure of meeting you. It's always good to reinforce that you're a real human with all the normal human trials and tribulations, and not just a source of self-deprecating entertainment for your readers.

      Wishing you and B well,
      MP

      ReplyDelete
    3. Flusher...crossing my fingers that your friend’s treatments continue to go well. Wish you had had someone with you when you got the news. A big hug would have been just the ticket....along with the drink tickets of course.

      ReplyDelete

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