Well yeah, I've been quite absent this summer, haven't I? Other than the daily
Song of the Day and a couple of 90's pieces, there hasn't been much going on in
John's World lately, at least not the online
John's World. Actually I've been keeping pretty busy and time is so little and so precious that I've had little of it, nor the motivation to write. It's funny but this seems to happen to me mostly during vacation time, when you'd think I'd be writing more.
Atlantic City
I just returned from a three-day trip to Atlantic City. It was by far the best trip I've ever had down there, as I met some really nice people, bought some nice new clothes, and came home with a couple of bucks in my pocket. I usually go there two or three times a year, sometimes with my mom, my sis and her friend, and sometimes I go alone, like this time.
Atlantic City is not always fun. There are plenty of bad times I remember having there, including one very forgettable visit with my (very) cranky grandfather a few years ago. Losing money quickly and mostly is no fun either. You see, I never go down there thinking I'm going to win money, and I'm happy if I can play for an hour or two on $20, but sometimes $20 is gone in five minutes and that just makes for not a fun time.
Of course, there are good things about going to Atlantic City, too. For one thing, the hotel rooms are pretty nice, much of the time, and I always get them for free. (In fact the last time I went, I was given a suite!) I usually like to stay at Harrah's, but they didn't have rooms available, so I stayed at the Tropicana.
Winning is fun, too, and so is the shopping! There's a Tanger Outlet there with all the big brand names and in New Jersey there is no sales tax to boot! Big bonus! I love to go into the casino early in the morning with a cup of java and late at night with a white Russian. Those are the times when the casino is quieter and it's easier to just delve in, relax and play. Whether you go to Atlantic City to gamble, shop, eat, do the Boardwalk or whatever, being in there, especially in the summer, is pretty cool!
gusto
The Trop
This trip I went by myself. I've always been the kind of person who doesn't mind traveling alone. I've done it many times before, and I'm used to it. Sometimes it's tough to get a traveling partner when you're single, so I always make my own good time whether or not I have people with me.
Now, click the play button: (WARNING: Explicit Language)
Does anybody remember this? This is a clip from Eddie Murphy's Delirious back in 1983. That was such a hilarious movie, and there are a lot of one-liners I still use from time to time. Anyway, whenever I stay at the Tropicana, which is an old favorite of mine, the song Murphy sings as Ricky Ricardo plays in my head the whole time I'm there, clucks and all. The theme of the casino, of course, is Cuba, and the mall leading from the garage to the casino is beautifully decorated like an old Cuban village, blue skies, clouds and all. It's pretty cool!
Besides the decor, I have a special affinity for the Trop because a few years ago, I won five grand there on a slot machine. Five flaming 7's in a row! Ever since, I seem to get to play those couple of hours on 20 bucks there often, more-so than at other places, besides maybe Harrah's. They've got nice restaurants and shops, and the atmosphere is decidedly cool and a trendy compared to some of the older casinos.
Summer of Weezie
I think that this year I may finally be experiencing the long-awaited "Summer of Weezie," as it is known to my pals. Every year since I've been single, I've always gone into summer saying that this was going to be my summer, one for the ages, with great times and great memories, and it never turns out quite like I expect it to. But this year I'm having a lot of fun, and I'm savoring every moment. These past three days were typical of how my summer's going.
I had a great time in Atlantic City. I had a few drinks, met a few guys, shopped, played Keno (my game!), and won back most of what I'd gambled with from the beginning on my last night. The whole city was buzzing with summer activity, and it was fun to be there. The beach was teeming with sunbathers and swimmers, except during a brief afternoon thunderstorm on Wednesday. The eateries were crowded with hungry diners, and the Boardwalk was abuzz with all sorts of activity.
There's nothing like walking the Boardwalk in AC on a warm summer's day, and there's plenty of entertainment in watching the people coming at you from all directions, the peddlers, the families, freaks, hot dudes (and beautiful babes, too!), foreign tourists, and of course the rickshaw pushers, either hanging around the casino entrances trying to sell rides or amassing together in big groups, chatting away in Russian, of which there is a lot of here.
On Wednesday morning, I saw this dude win $11K at a slot machine. I first heard the screams as I approached the area in Caesar's where the machine was and at first I thought it was one of those screams that those dramatic idiots yell out when they win a hundred bucks. I hate those people! Any-who, as I walked up to the machine, I saw that he had indeed won some kind of jackpot on a Yahtzee machine and he and his happy wife looked like they deserved it. It was nice!
On Tuesday, I started off at Harrah's and did really well there playing slots, too! It was around 1 p.m. when I got there and the first thing I did was get a drink to help me relax and have a good time. My Margarita and I soon hit the Sex and the City slot machine and we promptly played there for a little over two hours, which was a good thing!
I tried out the new Revel casino all the way uptown. The place is huge and cool, a massive and architecturally aesthetic building located along the Boardwalk just north of Showboat, and it looks like they're still expanding into what looks like something massive. The only strange thing about Revel is that the whole property is non-smoking, which for me is weird and annoying. I'm not sure if I'll be back there.
The rest of the time was much the same. I just tried to live in the moment, and it worked. I've been trying to do that a lot this summer, and it's been a really good one I think as a result. I've always known that life is all about attitude and how you approach things. There are two more weeks of freedom left before school starts again, and I'm going to try and enjoy each and every day until then. Now if I could just learn to do that all the time...
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