Mo' Vegas
After a very refreshing night's sleep, the Babes and I had an early lunch in the Hooter's restaurant. The food was OK and I'm sure watching the waitresses playing kickball with a beach ball would have been very entertaining if we'd been boys. As it was, I was too worried about getting bopped in the head.
The Babes headed downtown and I went out by the pool for the festivities out there. A lot of our gang was already gathered and I was butterflying around when The Jello-Shot Prince sidled up and said the magic words, "I was thinking of playing some blackjack." I was off like a shot!
I didn't get to the table right away, however. I got stopped to give the club url to some guy named Laurence who lives in Phoenix and that some of the group were chatting with. I gave him my club email address on there which is wino@... and he jumped all over it.
"I want to buy you a glass of wine!"
With that, he dragged me off to the outside bar where we found that they didn't serve wine. That didn't deter him from his mission. We went to the inside bar where he tried to buy a bottle of wine (no dice), a pitcher of wine (absolutely no way) then finally settled on a glass of Pinot Grigio. He also wanted to do some shots but I begged off by saying it was before noon and I needed to stay alert on concert day.
JSP and I finally hit a table and he started out pretty well. My chip stack dipped a bit but I made a comeback. That's when I committed a fatal error. I showed hubris to the Blackjack Gods. I said, "Don't alert the media, but I'm actually up."
What was I thinking?
The Blackjack Gods immediately punished me and, since he was guilty by association, JSP by having two quite inebriated guys sit down at our table. The really drunk one actually played OK if he was reminded that the action was on him. The guy that appeared to be somewhat more coherent didn't play well and he was at third base so the entire table suffered. We were doomed. Much to my non-surprise, the guys were friends of Laurence. I'm figuring that they didn't decline his offers of shots.
We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon listening to Stars on the Water. Some of the gang headed to the Street Festival at Margaritaville, others went gambling and some went to a show. A group of us decided to meet for dinner at Dan Marino's restaurant which is within Hooter's before going to the concert.
While looking at the drink list, we saw the one item we had to order: a bottle of Boone's Farm served in Dixie Cups. How could we resist? At $6 for the bottle, it was cheaper than my one glass of wine. Our waiter played it straight and did a fantastic job of dividing the bottle evenly between us all. They didn't have actual Dixie Cups, though, which was a small bummer. The food was really good at Marino's, BTW, and reasonably priced.
After dinner, it was off to the show. It was a good concert although I thought the one in April of this year was better. Fingers played the band and sounded great. The crowd was really excited to see him there. I still miss the horns and was disappointed that Jake wasn't there on his uke but it was still a good show.
The Babes headed downtown and I went out by the pool for the festivities out there. A lot of our gang was already gathered and I was butterflying around when The Jello-Shot Prince sidled up and said the magic words, "I was thinking of playing some blackjack." I was off like a shot!
I didn't get to the table right away, however. I got stopped to give the club url to some guy named Laurence who lives in Phoenix and that some of the group were chatting with. I gave him my club email address on there which is wino@... and he jumped all over it.
"I want to buy you a glass of wine!"
With that, he dragged me off to the outside bar where we found that they didn't serve wine. That didn't deter him from his mission. We went to the inside bar where he tried to buy a bottle of wine (no dice), a pitcher of wine (absolutely no way) then finally settled on a glass of Pinot Grigio. He also wanted to do some shots but I begged off by saying it was before noon and I needed to stay alert on concert day.
JSP and I finally hit a table and he started out pretty well. My chip stack dipped a bit but I made a comeback. That's when I committed a fatal error. I showed hubris to the Blackjack Gods. I said, "Don't alert the media, but I'm actually up."
What was I thinking?
The Blackjack Gods immediately punished me and, since he was guilty by association, JSP by having two quite inebriated guys sit down at our table. The really drunk one actually played OK if he was reminded that the action was on him. The guy that appeared to be somewhat more coherent didn't play well and he was at third base so the entire table suffered. We were doomed. Much to my non-surprise, the guys were friends of Laurence. I'm figuring that they didn't decline his offers of shots.
Greg models his new souvenier head gear.
We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon listening to Stars on the Water. Some of the gang headed to the Street Festival at Margaritaville, others went gambling and some went to a show. A group of us decided to meet for dinner at Dan Marino's restaurant which is within Hooter's before going to the concert.
A fine vintage.
While looking at the drink list, we saw the one item we had to order: a bottle of Boone's Farm served in Dixie Cups. How could we resist? At $6 for the bottle, it was cheaper than my one glass of wine. Our waiter played it straight and did a fantastic job of dividing the bottle evenly between us all. They didn't have actual Dixie Cups, though, which was a small bummer. The food was really good at Marino's, BTW, and reasonably priced.
The boquet in the screw off cap was lovely.
After dinner, it was off to the show. It was a good concert although I thought the one in April of this year was better. Fingers played the band and sounded great. The crowd was really excited to see him there. I still miss the horns and was disappointed that Jake wasn't there on his uke but it was still a good show.
Cheers!
Right after the show, it was back to Hooter's for the post-concert entertainment. Stars was playing again and had lots of guest performers, including Fingers. We were singing and dancing until 2 then JSP and I headed back to the tables.
We didn't have much better luck that time. JSP took off after he realized that he was too drunk to count to 21 but sober enough to realize it. I hit the wall shortly after that and left Gary to carry on the card playing. I think I hit the sack at 3:30.
We didn't have much better luck that time. JSP took off after he realized that he was too drunk to count to 21 but sober enough to realize it. I hit the wall shortly after that and left Gary to carry on the card playing. I think I hit the sack at 3:30.
