Wasting Time

It's no secret that I like to gamble. My parents used to gamble all of the time, whether it was weekly trips to the horse races, or yearly trips to Las Vegas. I suppose I inherited that gene from them. Although, I don't like to take a lot of risks in my personal life, I do enjoy playing Blackjack. Living close to a casino affords me the opportunity to occasionally play the game at least once a month (and occasionally more). All in all, over the course of playing the last 5 years, I'd say I'm about even. There have been days when I've won, days when I've lost, but in the end, I believe I've gained nothing. Yesterday was a prime example. It's ironic, I love to gamble, but have not been to Las Vegas myself as an adult. Life if funny that way.

I did have an ulterior motive yesterday though, in that I often take Iowa recyclable cans across the river to collect the 5 cent trade in value. While we don't drink pop at home, I have volunteered to take the cans from my workplace to help our snack fund's bottom line. So, if I have to make a trip for that reason, I may as well stop and play cards for awhile. See the logic? I also had another reason to visit yesterday, in that the casino occasionally offers a free tee shirt to its patrons. Since living in Omaha, I've received no less than 5 free casino tee shirts. It's kind of cool actually. Plus, I get a coupon once a month for $3 off the buffet at the casino, and it's a really good deal. So, I had "several" reasons to stop and gamble at the casino.

Unfortunately, and more often than not, you don't win big. That was the case yesterday. In total, I spent about 5 hours gambling, and only won $10. To make matters worse, the free tee shirt giveaway was "last" Monday, as I misread the coupon. Ugh. Yesterday, I got down very quickly, within the first hour or so, and it took another 4 hours to battle back. A little up, more down, a little up, even more down, a big gain, a tragic loss, and eventually, I was able to get my head above water again. Time was running out as I had obligations that I had to attend to. Plus, I had been awake for 24 straight hours, and it was time to go.

In the end, I was able to make enough money ($10) to pay for my lunch, plus the gallon and a half of gas that it cost to drive there. Not bad. Was it enough to buy me that shiny new MP3 player I've had my eye on? No. Or, was it enough for a down payment on the new Glock handgun I've been wanting to purchase? No. But, I didn't lose any money, had a great time while playing, and that's about as good as it can get. An extra $200 would have been nice, but there's always another day.