Cars Big as Bars, Rivers of Gold

Day 3 - Vegas is full of surprises, if you know where to look. In my case, I had to look in the bathroom.

I went through my morning routine, waking up around 3:00 am Vegas time... coffee, punishment breakfast nuts, Little Giant coffee, answering my correspondence, showering and so on.

When I went to brush my teeth, I made the mistake of turning on the tap, and running a cup of water into a cup.

Now, first let me remind you of what 'some blogger' had to say about purchasing water in an environment-killing plastic bottle just the day before.

"I waited and pressed the only available button (coin return) and finally gave up and bought a bottle of water, something which I abhor. The water here at the hotel is just fine, and plentiful, and covered by the $45 plus 13% hotel tax.

Fine. Aqua fine. I placed the bottle of water in the fridge."

Well, this is what came out of the tap.

The tap water in my suite here at Luxor appeared to be of slightly dubious quality and freshness.

Now, Jimmy Poon' Artificial Stupidity engine told me that "At its heart, choosing "authentic chaos" means accepting that uncertainty is the only constant. By stopping the attempt to control every outcome, individuals may find more genuine versions of themselves."

In this case, what was out coming of the the tap was definitely brown chaos.

But did I freak out? Did I hurl? Was I horrified?

No, no, and no.

First of all, it turned out that my Diet Pepsi vending machine fail worked chaotically in my favour.

Second of all - ok, just second, there are no further benefits at hand - what I saw in my bathroom was a $50 cup of tooth-brushing sludge. Let me explain.

Instantly, I knew that the photo I'd snapped would be worth cold hard cash. And I proved it at the desk in the Luxor lobby.

First, I softened up the lobby Sheila by showing her the photo of the 1995 guest card and explaining I'd been coming to Luxor for 30 years. THEN I hit her with the photo of my bathroom tap and its hot and cold running refried bean Mexican toddler effluent.

It was a no-brainer for her to take off a $45 plus tax resort fee for one night. That's as good as $50 cash to me. WINNING.

And with that, I trundled off to the Pyramid Cafe for the Pharoah's Pheast breakfast, one of the small and only hold-overs from when Luxor embraced and celebrated its Egyptian theming.

My resort credit would cover it and I'm glad I didn't have to spring for the $27 price tag. What I received was excellent though, and I enjoyed my second breakfast immensely.

Thanks to being already caffeinated by the Little Giant, I was able to skip coffee at $5.50 a cup.

Buoyed by good food and a sludge-water win, I sang quietly to myself as I skipped my way through the casino on the way to play video Keno.

"It was Christmas Eve, babe in the drunk tank
An old man said to me "Won't see another one"
And then he sang a song "The Rare Old Mountain Dew"
I turned my face away and dreamed about you."

I did have to wonder - I'd had two winning days in a row and been very lucky. When would it come crashing down? Did it ever have to?

The best thing was to forage ahead with wild abandon and hope for the best.

But video Keno insisted that I get off to a good start with a couple of wins.

The weather outside in Vegas is still frightful, and almost everywhere in Luxor is freezing cold. I guess the slots aren't paying enough to run the heat.

Over at Dickscabular Castle, I got onto the most amazing run on video poker.

I've been gifted with some incredibly generous ko-fi donations for which I am extremely grateful, and some of them come with indications of doing some large, crazy-pisser bets.

Well! I got onto this run, switching from game to game, playing all kinds of different denominations - including a long bash at triple play dollar video poker at $15 a hand!

It's been a long, long time since I saw that kind of action, and had any kind of a shot at a dollar royal.

I also played a bunch of games I've never tried before, including Extra Draw Frenzy. If you get dealt three of a kind, it randomly creates a number of additional hands. I was hoping to get dealt three Aces but that never happened.

A couple of hours went by as I pounded the buttons. So much fun! I ran my stake up to plus $500 and then back down again to even and then back up again!

Here are some of the hands from that session.

This could have been such a beauty...

Slightly stunned, I wandered outside to see if it was raining much. It wasn't, and I made my way into New York New York. It looked like a fairy tale.

Funkhouser had recommended some machines at a bar, so I found them and procured myself a Maker's Mark.

I do love Double Slutty Super Slutty Slutty Times Pay but in this case it ate up a large chunk of my winnings - $200 to be exact.

On my wobbling way to Luxor, I picked up a few condiments for tomorrow's Christmas feast, and then bashed around the casino some more.

Swinging for the fences, I played dollar a game video Keno to the tune of $150 worth. It did not pan out, unfortunately.

Nickels provided a nice hit, and I sat happily and played it all through.

Diablo's Cantina was open and I stupidly ate there.

Should have gone to Hussong's - forgot all about that place.

The service was indifferent and slow, the meal luke warm but tasty. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Some PS5 grunt mumbled my entree onto the table and I asked him where my chips and salsa were - I hadn't got any?

"Upcharge."

"Skip it, grunt."

At that point in the day I was just even, which is really some kind of Travelambo miracle.

I devoted $100 to playing video slots I'd never played before. I played something with an unfathomable unpronounceable Chinese (presumably) name like Du Huang Fuh Xiou Ma Wongdong Silver or some shit (88 cents a spin, obviously) and it was nothing but a long firecracker cock tease.

I finally did get the bonus rounds, so I've ticked those Beijing boxes, never to return.

Last gasp was Huff 'n More Puff, where I got a decent bonus followed by a second quick one and that was enough impetus to get me to cash out and call it a day.

There is a $90 Freeplay bonus for earning some 8,000 tier credits during my stay. I have a little over 5,000. I've been playing my ass off and don't think I'll make it, let alone qualifying for Pearl level at 20,000 credits.

Not sure how people make gold with a budget like mine which I've been pegging at $400 a day.

After all the thrashing, I finished the day with a $70 win. And that puts me up $698 and three straight winning days!

Will I continue to prevail or get crushed underfoot by the new vested interests? Lot's more to come!