Bloodshed Up At The Evil Place

"You never take me dancing. Sometimes I think you don't want to be seen with me," E. said.

Wow! Five years of careful avoidance and she's just beginning to notice. "OK," I said, "instead of dancing, why don't we go up to the Evil Place?"

So, Monday night found me playing blackjack at Thunder Valley Casino as E. hit the slots. The first table was good for awhile, but a beautiful woman sat next to me and placed a dent in the fabric of space-time. Before I knew it, I was losing again.

The second table (double-deck) was better. A Vietnamese man flirted with the Vietnamese-American dealer, and asked: "Do you like pho?" The sheer randomness of the question - do you like pho (noodles)? - startled the dealer and made her giggle. Soon, the dealer was on a losing streak, everyone else started winning, and the entire table relaxed in a convivial mood. I related how I'd seen a restaurant in Seattle called "What The Pho" and everyone thought that was funny.

A 22-year-old ARC college student told how he had made a living for four months playing blackjack in the San Diego area casinos before plunging so badly he had to call mom and dad for rescue. Making a living that way always seemed like it might be fun (if dangerously unreliable). People told tales of losing streaks (one player spoke of losing $19,000.00 in one night), and I learned that since I was the last person at the table to arrive at the casino (8:30 p.m.) I was also the only one who was actually ahead at that moment.

I told of losing $3,300.00 once at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. When I came out of the casino, bleary-eyed, I saw a billboard advertising breast implants for $4,000.00, and I thought "Damn! I could have had breast implants instead!" Everyone laughed, but the college student was skeptical: $4,000 sounded too cheap for breast implants. This was only five years ago, but medical costs are escalating fast, so that's part of it, I suppose. Maybe it was a ridiculous price even then. Something to get customers in the door....

Suddenly blood appeared on the cards. The new cards were so sharp, edge-on, that when the dealer dealt the cards, like paper ninja stars, one of the players actually got cut. Play halted for twenty minutes as they hunted for a band-aid, and replaced the playing cards.

An hour later, the dealer herself got cut. Once again, play halted for twenty minutes as they hunted for a band-aid, and replaced the playing cards.

It was a winning night, and I was greedy. Nevertheless, I kept running into a glass ceiling and couldn't progress too far.

Win: $722.50, minus $70.00 E. stake = $652.50 minus $100 pity money to E. = $552.20.