YOB: #13. Go Gambling in Atlantic City (Part 2)

By Lara

I'm currently flipping through my journal. I've already written about fireworks and the pop culture museum... Have I written about Atlantic City? No. I don't think that I have. Ok, then. Here we go.

Beth and I have a very dear friend who lives in Atlantic City. While we were compiling our list, we both realized that we had never been gambling at a casino. This corresponded with our desire to see Nicole, so plans were made to include her in the Year of the Birthday. Fortunately for us, Nicole was also turning 30. We arranged to go to a casino on her birthday weekend.

Since Beth was coming from the Philadelphia area and I was coming from the Baltimore area, we drove separately. I will not go into my severe hatred of google maps or traffic patterns in New Jersey, but it was an eventful drive to Nicole's house. I finally found it about four hours after I left.

Beth, Nicole, and I went to dinner at Chili's to celebrate Nicole's birthday. Then Nicole navigated me to the Tropicana casino. Honestly, I thought it would be slightly more glamorous. However, we had come to gamble. I was going to gamble.

I staked out a promising slot machine and looked for the SLOT to put my quarters in. There wasn't a SLOT to put my quarters in. I had to go over to a machine where I got a voucher in exchange for cash. Ok. Fine. I got $15 worth of voucher and walked back to my promising SLOT machine.

I put the ticket into the machine and went to pull the lever. There WAS a lever, but I didn't HAVE to use it. There was also a button. Are we really so lazy as a society that we can't even pull a lever on a slot machine? Really? I pulled the lever. Different types of fruit scrolled in front of me. They didn't exactly line up, but I still got points. I tried to figure out why I had been awarded points. There were no directions on the slot machine. At this point, I was VERY disillusioned. I pulled the lever a few more times, but I was just going through the motions. I was done.

James Bond movies make gambling look so much more sophisticated than it is in reality. there weren't any British spies dressed in tuxedos ordering vodka martinis. There were, however, lots of people from New Jersey.

After Beth won a little bit of money on her Wheel of Fortune slot machine, we were content to wander around the rest of the gambling stations. I was in no mood to lose money to other people, so we avoided the roulette tables, craps, and poker. We saw someone getting thrown out. That was memorable.

I purchased a postcard in the gift shop. I feel the need to mention that I have since LOST this postcard. I'm not pleased at all about this situation. I may need to visit Nicole in order to purchase another one... and to see Nicole, of course.

The rest of the visit was also fun. I am just grateful that my kidney stone didn't get in the way of that item on the list or all the fun we had reminiscing about our adolescence. A good time was had by all... even if slot machines don't avalanche quarters into your lap anymore.

[Editors Note: If you missed it, be sure to go read Beth's version of YOB: #13.)

Comments

[Beth]

I think all the old people finally banded together to get buttons b/c they were getting repetitive use injuries.