Obscenities of the Flesh

Day 5 Sat June 1 2024 

It was hard to drop off to sleep the last night as my sore ankle was loudly screaming obscenities of the flesh at me, keeping me awake. I finally drifted off only to be woken up with a series of loud pops.

Plaza fireworks. I stood by the window in my skivvies and watched. Then I grabbed some foam earplugs (a count of two, if you want to be specific), shoved them in my listen holes, and went back to bed.

In the morning the ankle was still sore but it loosened up a bit as I got moving.

Good Morning Vegas, you Magnificent Bastard!

I've kind of gotten into a routine here. I wake up ridiculously early, nibble on some emergency provisions (today including little tubs of peanut butter I pilfered from the Excrapular buffet), make coffee with the Portable Beaker, and write this here blog.

Three or four hours after getting up, I go and get breakfast, which really serves as lunch. And later I get dinner. This will help in preventing any serious weight gain over my trip, and so far, I've managed to keep it fairly healthy, if you don't count two slices of banana cream pie, or anything else I've eaten.

So, this morning was the same, and I headed down to the Cal coffee shop, where they seated me at a beaut of a Single Lonely Diner table, which was pretty much smack inside the kitchen.

A special dining experience from the Single Lonely Diner table

 
Just to keep you readers on your toes, I did not order my typical Cal breakfast. Today, I opted for a ham and cheese omelette.

It was pretty good!

And with that, I finally set to gambling.

I was determined to forgo any video slot play today. It's been a brute of a trip, and I'm tired of losing. In fact, out of the last five trips including this one, four of them have been right bastards, financially speaking.

And it's been five trips over two years since I had a Royal. Maybe I should change my moniker to Royal-less Flusher.

I stuck to quarter video poker and simple video Keno - but mostly VP. I had a glimmer of hope with a quad, but again, I just can't hit anything.

Second four-to-a-royal of the trip.

I played all over the casino, twenty after twenty, and the results were the same. With 80% of my day's budget gone in under two hours, I found myself, at noon, back in the room.

I pondered my options. I'd gotten a second round of Freeplay of $20 and used it up. I still had the losing Keno ticket from the D. I had spotted two four out of fours on that ticket, so there was maybe $25 there. But I didn't really want to walk over there. Although if I did, I could hit the ATM again for a wallet refresher.

Oh Gordie Howe, why hast thou forsaken me?

Fortunately, my VP Pro buddy Kevin and his wife Mrs. Kevin, were taking me to dinner, so that would kill a chunk of time, and it would be great to catch up with them. After putzing around the room for a while, I realized I had time to go shopping.

So, I trundled over to the bus stop outside Binion's to catch the CX in 20 minutes time, and bought an $8 day pass on my phone. Within 30 seconds a bus arrived, the 410, and on the front it said that one of its destinations was the Premium Outlets.

It turns out, the 410 does a loop every fifteen minutes from downtown to the Transit Center on Bonneville, to the Premium Outlets, and then back again. How did I not know this? The app didn't really point it out.

I hopped on and scanned the QR code on my phone and we were off. (Something I still don't understand is why the code worked. On the return trip, it wouldn't scan and the driver just waved me on as I fumbled about. The app says I haven't activated the pass yet. So did I get a freebie?)

My destination? Skechers. Ole Flushiepants has some Arthuritis in his kneebones and they gave me hell over the last year. Since I switched to Skechers, though, with some added Sorbothane insoles, I've had very few problems in spite of being quite active.

So, I wanted to see if I could stock up a bit.

I took my time, scanning shoe after shoe, picking one, and then finding it wasn't available in my size. Or I'd open the box and there would be only one shoe of the wrong size in there. But, after an hour of fucking around, I had what I needed.

Loaded up with two new pairs of Skechers (30% off the second pair!) and a pair of flip flops (30% off!), I headed back to the bus stop.

The 410 was waiting for me and 10 minutes  later I was dropped at Binion's, and hoofing my way to the Cal.

The Skechers knapsack bags are boss.

I just had time for a quick nap before dinner at Whiskey Liquor Up. I'd sort of planned to get over to the D and cash my keno ticket, and then hit the Bank of America, but then I thought, well, maybe I can get by on the lone hundy in my wallet.

I had a BBQ chicken sandwich and a beer, as did Kevin. It was really good, big, cheesy, and filling. Don't worry about the photo - I didn't eat the top half of the bun, so there are barely any calories there.

The Kevins are amongst the earliest fans of the blog, and we've been friends for a long time. They knew Karen very well, and I was showered with lots of laughs, reminiscences, and caring. The loss of the Quad Queen seems to have hit Kevin hard, both from her tragic perspective, and mine, from the pain and loss I've endured. They are lovely people, generous and kind, and I always enjoy catching up with them.

After dinner, I headed back to the Cal and broke my hundred dollar bill into twenties, planning to see if I could eke out a win on low volatility quarter VP, moving to a new machine with each bill.

On the second machine, I hit a little paydirt. My second quad of the day.

Pointies!

One last twenty went into video Keno, a quarter a game. I hit nothing and called it a night, very happy indeed to have had a winning session.

Tomorrow, I have $140 to start, and whatever is on the Keno ticket, and I'm going to just see if I can manage to get through the day on that. Or maybe even win?

It was still pretty early when I retired, so I had a few cocktails, messaged lots of people, called a few people, and just sat and watched the sun go down.

Did you know you can sleep in brand new Skechers and be very comfortable? They are that good.