Blog 66 Short stories about our many trips Las Vegas

Blog 66 Final Short Stories about Las Vegas

(Going many times to Las Vegas with my parents.)

I convinced my parents to take a trip and meet Robert and me in Vegas. Robert and I bought a package flight, including room and board, but my dad was never going to fly so they drove and met up with us. I was beginning to have another intestinal blockage and was sick the entire time. Because my parents did not do a package deal, they could only afford a room at Motel Six. This hotel was off the strip and we, again, had a room at the opposite end of the strip. We had to walk down the strip and go about two blocks on a cross street near the Tropicana.

We stayed at the Stardust, where they began offering people a club card with perks, if you placed it in the slot of each machine. The longer you played, your points were increasing quickly. I explained the game of Keno to my parents, and we all got very intense about winning it. I had calculated that if you played eight to ten numbers without ever changing them, you could win four hundred dollars or more, before spending four hundred. The catch was to only play one quarter at a time. (Now, we are talking about the old keno machines, without computers.) The four of us took many vacations to Las Vegas and we would honestly come home with more money than compared to what we spent. We loved it.

(The Hotel of Mirrors)

One of our last trips to Vegas, Robert and I had won a free trip to stay at “Vegas World” along with one thousand dollars’ worth of playing chips and all the drinks we wanted free, anywhere in the casino. However, the chips could only be played in their casino. Whenever you won, you got to keep the real chips and play at any other casinos.

Now, I know I promised only to write stories that pertained to me personally. This story is more about Robert, but I witnessed this story and Robert gave me permission. I was involved with what happened.

Robert, my parents and I agreed to play the live version of Keno while sitting in a bar awaiting the game results. Other than my dad, the rest of us ordered Long Island Iced Tea. We told Robert that even though it was alcoholic, it really tasted like regular iced tea with a lemon twist. These drinks were the best we ever had. They were perfectly tasting like a non-alcoholic tea! This was a bad thing.

The tea was so tasty that we drank very quickly, especially Robert. We noticed that Robert was beginning to look funny, so we decided to go back to our rooms to let him rest awhile. We urged him to leave the area and come with us. He was very drunk! We actually had to walk holding him up.

As we left the casino and turned the corner to go to our rooms, to all of our surprise, the hall was lighted mirrors from floor to ceiling. Robert began getting hysterically dizzy. We tried to hurry and catch an elevator because he was beginning to be funny. As the door to the elevator opened, to our dismay, it, too, was full lighted mirrors. It was making all of us a little more drunk.

We finally got to our floor, which was not mirrored, and my dad and I took Robert to our room. We thought we were safe. Our rooms were actually mini-suites, and we went through our living room and into the bedroom. Then dad and I threw Robert on the bed face up, only to realize that the ceiling above the bed actually had a mirror. Robert could not hold it any longer and turned to the side of the bed and threw up. I swear he was so drunk that he threw up a gallon of liquid in ten minutes. He flipped over onto his stomach and passed out. He had a horrible night and was very hung over the next morning.

When Robert finally got up from bed, he could not remember much about the previous night, except for the mirrors. We laughed about it the entire trip. Needless to say, he did not drink for the rest of the time.

(The worst trip ever.)

Robert and I took a trip to Vegas one last time. This time we went with a married couple, two people we were very close to at the time. We had to take my car on the trip because the cost of flying was too much money.

By the time we got to the last city in Texas, my transmission blew out on my car. The car was going to cost twelve hundred dollars to fix, and we were told it would take a few days. Since all of us had taken a week off from our jobs, we rented a car to go the rest of the trip. (This became a big mistake.)

When we got to Las Vegas, Robert and I had a free room. We decided to pay half of our friends’ room to save them money. On the inside border of Nevada was a town called Laughlin. (It was also called “Little Vegas”). We had a free room there, as well as, in Vegas. Both times when it came time to check out, our friends would disappear somewhere, leaving us to pay all the costs. I figured we would share the gas, at least. It did not happen.

(My ghost)

As I stated before, we had a very good system to win. I loved playing Black Jack, as well, but it required staying focused on the cards and how the other players were playing. It was not counting cards, but I could use the odds. The female friend would only play nickels and then find me and just watch. This caused me to lose my concentration. Everywhere I went in the casino, she found me. I was going crazy.

For my final chance, before it was time to go home, I tried to find a good nickel slot machine to keep my ghost occupied. I told Robert that I was goin to the casino next door to get away from her. I found a good Black Jack table there. I had built up a stash of money.

I, suddenly, started losing every hand. I could not understand why. My mouth dropped and I made a loud gasp. It could not be true. I turned my chair around and there she was sitting, my ghost. I asked her how long she had been there and she told about twenty minutes. I turned around and asked the dealer to check me out and we went back to our hotel.

I had spent all my money and enough was enough. I told them that they would have to pay for the last tank of gas, only to find that they had gambled all their money. In order to get home, I had to call my parents to send a Western Union check to get home. You can assure we did not go again with them.

Well, although their are more stories. I am going to proceed to leave you with the note that I closed my company of 14 years and did mostly Ultrasound for the the last three years of it. By then I was 42 years old and ready to settle to My Latter Days.

My Life As I Lived it (volume four), My Latter Years

(Can you dig it?)

Blog 67: (My first real signs of getting older)

In my entire medical years and knowledge of Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasound, I never did not get the job I was looking to do. I applied for five jobs and was only offered one. My age was the reason. One job actually told me that I would not mix well being under twenty year old. I originally called my favorite hospital, Albemarle Community Hospital, in Albemarle, North Carolina. I was told that I called two weeks late and they just filled the position.

I had never considered my age as a problem. I always felt my experience was more important and I learned many machines and ways to do any study under any condition as my strength. I was accepted to a hospital on the North East part of the states. I had accepted it and was due to start the week my mother found out she was getting a leg removed due to infections. She begged me to be there and help with her recovery. I could not say no, therefore I declined the position.

Within two weeks, I received a call from the supervisor at Albemarle asking me if I was still available for hire. (He said the new hire was not going to work out.) I told them my desired pay due to my experience and with no hesitation he said yes. So, without a thought, I said yes. I started on February 4, 2004. It was snowing in Dallas when I left, but by the time I reached North Carolina, they were having their third highest snowfall.

(side story)

My nephew, Anthony, aka Del), was sent to Albemarle while I had my company. He was in a situation that it was a long job and his car was in Dallas, but he had to be flown to Georgia, My sister, Mary and I drove his car to meet him in Atlanta. We went with him to North Carolina, but our flight was in Raleigh to return home. Unbeknownst to us, the Carolinas were bracing for what became the second highest snowstorm. We arrived the day the snow began, but Anthony was due to Albemarle the next day.

The snow was getting worse so we had Anthony to drop us off at a motel and we would get to the airport. He had to head to the job before he ot snowed in with us. The snow kept getting harder and harder and Anthony had left us before we checked into the motel. It was so bad, the clerk had closed. We convinced him that it would be one night and we would o on to Raleigh. He agreed.

We reached Anthony to assure he made it to his job and he did. But, by morning there was so much snow we could not leave. We had to agree to double price for a taxi to come and take us the rest of the way. The airport was to be closed for at least three days, so he took us to the only hotel that had a room. We were close to the airport. The hotel was a very high-class company. No one was leaving because of the storm and all they had was a suite (which we could not afford).

This clerk kindly ae us a two-bedroom suite for the price of a regular room. The storm continued and we got stranded at the hotel. Everything was closed and the grocery store across the street was empty. So, for three days, the hotel fed the guest for free and kindly kept everyone up to date about flights. It was unbelievable for them and us. (This meant that I experienced the second and third highest snowfalls in North Carolina.)

(back to my story)

Until I could find a house or apartment, the hospital put me in a Special Doctor’s Home they used for guest doctors. It was just across the street from the hospital. I made my date to work. I knew right then that this was going to be my last hospital. I loved it.