Brooke Writes Books... and Other Musings...

Awww....the sweet sound of those slot machines ching-ing away...adding up dollar after happy dollar. The lights..sparkling and bright as bonus after bonus pops up on the screen... Awww, yes... Such was my experience last Sunday!

We had our annual Christmas party this year at one of the local Indian gaming casinos (although "local" is rather a relative term here since it is 55 minutes from my house on a very narrow, very curvy two lane (uh...would be one lane each direction...) highway during Santa Ana Winds of 30 mph with gusts higher...but hey! it was a party!). I was smart--I decided when the party was announced that I would stay overnight at the casino hotel. Now, where to begin this tale...

The hotel was amazing! Huge! Twenty-one floors overlooking the mountains. The room was luxurious with a huge bathtub, separate shower, very nice bed! (you know my obsession with hotel beds...), a couch and a chair... you get the picture: great accommodations! Could've stayed there a week...

My co-worker and I agreed to meet for lunch, get our rooms as soon as we could, and scope out the party area. Which we did. Lunch was yummy! The room for our party was nice and big and still in the process of being set up, and there were lots and lots of nickel-machines (my personal favorite!). I resisted the temptation to stuff a hard-earned bill down the throats of any of them. Instead I opted to spend some time in my awesome room.

The party started promptly at 5PM, and we arrived in all our holiday finery. Open bar! WaHoo! Long Island Iced Teas--the house specialty. Double Wa-Hoo! Dinner was delicious...a bountiful buffet.

Next was the Gambling Contest. Each employee received a $20 seed, and using only that seed money, could go out on the floor and gamble it away. The one who made the most money in 45 minutes would receive a nice prize. Off I went to search out the one nickel-machine "that spoke to me". It was quite a task, but I settled down at a Cheetah game. Plunked in my seed money. And began to watch it wither. Then it sprouted. And grew. And withered. And grew...and grew...and grew... Soon I had $125!!! Naturally this was when my department-mates arrived on the scene. "Cash out! Cash out!" they implored me. "You have just a couple minutes to turn in your total." Yeah, yeah, yeah, the gambler in me cringes. But I obey. And off we go, my ticket in hand (they don't use real cash these days...it's all so modern...) in search of my boss. And sure enough...I am in the lead...but we had more than two minutes! So the runner-up trots her litte behind out to the floor...places a couple of bets...and voila! She's up to $134. And there is still two minutes left... (Longest two minutes I'd ever seen. Why can't two minutes be this long in the morning when I am running late... or this long when I wanna sleep in for just another couple minutes?)

Sadly..."my" machine was occupied...and so my total went the wrong way and dropped to $100. Ho hum. Time for another Long Island Iced Tea to wash away the discouragement of being second...

After the party, I ventured back to see if "my" machine was free...and it was!!! Stuffed my ticket back in... down to $75...down to $50...down to $20...Big tears are threatening... down to $10... suddenly...I hit 50 free spins! Now this has to be a good thing! And it was. The total began building. Ten more free spins... and building.... five more free spins...and building...and building...up to $225!!! "Cash out! Cash out!" my responsible department-mates yell. "Cash out, now!" So I do...

But then...they turn their backs on me... and lure is too great... I plunk back down in front of Cheetah (who'd doled out another $45 buck to someone in my absence...) and feed him another $20... Ten minutes later: $100!!!!

Woo Hoo! Now this is why I LOVE nickel-slots. And why I am very, very glad the casinos are 55 minutes from my home...up a very narrow, very curvy winding two-lane highway...