Search This Blog

Showing posts with label White Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White Christmas. Show all posts

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Low Expectations Exceeded

Karen, her parents, her brother and his wife, and I went to the Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, IL, to see "White Christmas." I admit two things about the idea before I set foot in the place:
  1. I had zero desire to go to any dinner theater
  2. I had never seen the movie "White Christmas".
Despite being told "White Christmas" is a classic Christmas movie / story, I really didn't have the urge to see it. I consider "Home Alone" or the National Lampoon's Christmas movie with Chevy Chase to be "classic" Christmas movies. It is the day after seeing the play and, frankly, I get it. I get why "White Christmas" is considered a classic Christmas movie. It has all the elements of what I classify as "holiday spirit" in that its theme is to put others in front of yourself. I could draw parallels to that theme in "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation" as I watched it.

After the play was over, the six of us went to the Jumer's casino. Normally, I will spend ~$40 at the blackjack table. I have a "code" that I don't join a game of blackjack in the middle of a game because the cards I get throw off the flow for the other players. I circled around the casino more than once, watching a few hands at each of the tables and had selected a specific table. The dealer wasn't going super fast and was engaging in conversation with the seated players. I liked that in a dealer because the dealer is not there just to do "a job" but are at least putting on the illusion that they want the people at the table to have a good time.

When I returned to watch what looked to be the last few hands, I saw a sequence that deterred me from waiting any longer to sit down. Instead, I watched the seated players "stay" at 18 and 20, which is what I would have done, only to have the dealer turn up a 3, then a 2, then an Ace, then a 2, and then a 3 to get 21. Holy crap, the dealer was getting good cards. That's the specific hand I remember watching and from that I learned if I sat down, I would likely lose my money.

I stepped away, wasted away $7 in slot machines and, from that, walked out with $.49. That was good for me. I sat in a chair and watched a replay of the Iowa Hawkeyes v. Iowa State Cyclone men's basketball game - ISU won - and surfed Craitslist for a desk or an ad for a drummer or drums. Then it was 11:30 PM, which was our agreed upon time to leave. We loaded back into the vehicle and rode home to Blue Grass. On the way home, I began winding down so that by the time I got out of the vehicle, it was like a wave had overtaken me. I plugged in the two air mattresses, said good night to the others and fell asleep within (probably) 10 minutes of my head landing on the pillow. I slept soundly but am anxious to sleep tonight in the bed in our bedroom.