Your Lucky Balls

Day 4 part three and now you know what I knew now that I wish I knew then. Don't leave your piPhone on a machine and walk out of the building.

I practically ran back into Resorts World. I felt absolutely sick. I am not someone who loses things. I've never lost or even broken a phone, and I've lost one set of keys in my life. (I got them back thanks to Canada's War Amps key return tags.)

All kinds of scenarios ran through my head. Could someone else get into my phone? How would I get a new one and get it working and connected to the million and one things???

First things first, I raced to the machine I'd charged it on. What a stupi-doop move, taking the $2 charging cable I'd used and leaving the phone somehow.

It wasn't there.

A pit boss was nearby and I asked him where I'd go to see if someone turned it in and he directed me to the Security office.

Heart pounding out of my chest (I could literally see my heart out in front of me, leading the way, pounding like a bass drum, dripping heart juice all over the shiny new carpeting) I followed his directions and found the Security office.

I pulled the door open and without even waiting to be addressed just started screaming at the top of my lungs, "DID ANYBODY TURNINAPHONE????"

A very secure looking individual, seated at a desk, gestured to another secure looking individual, seated at another desk.

I went over, "ILOSTMYPHONE! DIDANYONETURNONEIN?????"

"What kind of phone?"

"An iPhone. Well, a knock off of an iPhone. A piPhone 3.14."

"What color case does your - piPhone - have?"

"It's black and has a little metal hook on the back that pops out."

"What is your name?"

"Royal Flusher."

"What is your quest?"

I looked at her.

"Never mind - what is the photo on your home screen?"

"It's my dog, Chippy. She has a purple toy in her mouth. She's a Danehuahua cross and she's 13 and she loves me and OH MY GAWWD DO YOU HAVE MY PHONE?"

She turned and opened a drawer behind her.

And there it was and my heart leaped back into my chest, and I farted, cried, and pissed my fucking pants with joy.

She asked me to fill out a form and unlock the phone to prove that my thumb was really my thumb.

And Oh My God I realized a) life could be worse b) I'm an idiot and c) I needed a change of underwear.

Back at Encore, I went up to the room and got some ice and set up my $500 degenerate emergency punishment backup dinner.

What a mixture of feelings. Huge relief, but huge sick of losing feeling. I figured alcohol and punishment cheese and a call home would fix me up.

I checked the Keno numbers again - I still had some games left of the 250 on one ticket - but there were no winners. The 40 cent Deano rate is skewed to getting all five numbers. Four out of five gets you $3. But five out of five gets you $400.

Mrs. Flusher did a lot to calm me down and talk me off the ledge ("You lost your phone??? You IDIOT!!!!") and I tried to move into my various philosophical ways of reasoning with a long losing stretch.

As we were talking the keno site I monitor the numbers on started showing results from the next game. The numbers were coming up.

"Hey, I've got three out of five on this current game," I said.

Another number.

"HEY, that's four numbers with a few balls to go. I just need 19!!!"

Second last ball. Nineteen.

"I GOT IT!!!!!!"

I'd just won $400 on my Keno ticket!

What a welcome boost!

The way I planned to account for Keno was to track it on the day I cashed in the tickets. I'd spent $200 but would get at least $400 back. So I still considered myself to be down $500 on the day (ulp), but what a relief knowing something would be coming in.

And to that regard, I nabbed $200 more from the safe, and relaxed for an hour or two with some drinks, letting the cash warm up in my wallet.

About 9:00 I went back down to the casino, over to the Wynn side. At some point I'd need dinner, and I figured the sportsbook restaurant, Charlies, was the best bet for something reasonable. Like a $21 hamburger.

I played $20 in Buffalo (nothing) then $80 on video keno. A five spot ticket, 50 cents a throw. Half an hour went by and I got... nothing.

Then $100 on video poker here and there. Absolutely nothing.

Back into the mental losing doldrums. Charlies was closed and I was too messed up and too tired to do anything but go back to the room and have a bag of chips and some cheese for dinner. And some Air Canada fuck you nuts.

There will still some games on the Keno ticket, and tomorrow was another day. Something would happen. Right?

Day down $700 (but Keno wins pending!)
Trip down $545 (boo)