Personal Stress Relief from Economic, Environmental Issues

I thought I’d share my new adventure.
Our neighbor stopped by the other night before he headed out to the casino. I found myself particularly interested in the fact that he plays the penny slots and actually wins, on occasion. Still being unemployed and having no income. I started thinking maybe this was an avenue I should pursue. I actually became excited at the prospect of a new adventure and winning some money. Even if it was minimal, it’d be more than I’m taking in now.

The first time I had ever gone to a casino was in Las Vegas with my ex. The only thing I remember about that experience was that I played the “one arm bandits” and every time I won a little, he would take my winnings and go lose it somewhere. Not a good experience for me.

The second time I was with Mike and we went down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL. By the time we parked the car, we were both aggravated. The casino was packed and I basically watched Mike play the slots for a little while and we left. No great thrills there.

For my new adventure I was slightly hesitant to go by myself so I try to enlist my parents and my sister-in-law. Neither of them were available. Determined to get the ball rolling, I decided to go it alone. The Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is approximately fifteen minutes from my house, so I planned to head over there bright and early Monday morning. Well, early turned out to be around 10:00 and as I approached the casino there were buses pulling in and out. I noticed the names on the buses were from a variety of senior citizen communities. I quickly made the assumption that my timing was off, but I continued on my adventure.

As I walked in the door the lights and sounds were blaring. The sounds of the machines added to my anticipation as I wandered around. Although I’m not overly superstitious I thought I would find a slot machine with a name that had some meaning to me. Now my quest was to find “that” machine which was also a penny slot. On my first round I spotted one called “Night Sky” and no one was playing it. Reminiscent of the skies at our place up north, I thought that would be the one I would play. Yet, I was still a bit apprehensive and I was aware of the fact that I had no idea how the slots worked, I decided to make the rounds. I walked throughout the casino in circles three times, never seeing another “Night Sky,” but observing (not grasping) the way the slots worked.

Finally, I ventured back to my machine and there was a woman playing although she was actually sitting half hanging off the chair as if she was going to jump off her seat any minute. I watched her as she eyed a slot machine across the way. Apparently people have their favorites and she was waiting for “hers” to be free. In a matter of minutes, it was. This was my chance. I hesitantly sat down, made myself comfortable and looked at the “Night Sky” machine in front of me hoping that all of the symbols and numbers would make some sort of sense. They didn’t. I’m big on reading instructions, yet found none. It was time to put my money in and take my chances.

I had decided before I entered the casino that I would take a $20 bill, put it into one slot machine and play until it was gone. Of course, my full thought was that I would put the twenty in and when I won I would pocket everything above $20 and keep playing the same $20.

Finally, I put my twenty in the slot and determined to get the most out of my money I continued to push the button that said “1 line,” which I did figure out, only deducted 1 cent from my money on every turn. I found that if I continued to do this I would win a few pennies. My tactics were to play one line for one penny until the dollar amount was, for instance, $19.80. At that point I would get brazen and play the “10 line” button for .10 cents. I even played the 20, 30 and 40 line buttons, a few times. Playing this way and winning and losing I hovered around $16.00 for about 45 minutes.

All the while, there was a woman sitting next to me that I made small talk with. I told her it was my first time to which she replied that she’s seen a lot of people with beginners luck. (A renewal of my faith that I would win.” During the time I was playing the women took the time to explain all the buttons to me and continually tried to stress the fact to me that I should be playing 40 lines and playing more than a penny. I probably should have listened. Although, watching her clad in diamonds and feeding her slot machine with $20′s on a regular basis, I wasn’t too anxious to follow her technique.

By the time my $20 had deteriorated to $4, I decided it was time to really gamble. I played the 10, 20, 30, 40 line buttons consecutively until my money was gone. I’d said all in all the $4 was gone in less than a minute. I was done. I guess “Night Sky” wasn’t my slot machine after all.

I turned to the women thanked her for her assistance, wished her luck and gathered my things. I took note of her expression as I said goodbye. It was as if she couldn’t believe I put in a $20 bill, lost it and didn’t feed the slot machine another one. I have a fair amount of will-power, I kept walking.

As I left the casino I made the decision to go back again, Thursday, tomorrow. I do believe I’ll play a different slot machine or maybe not. I may follow my dads advice and play more lines to begin with. Whatever the case may be, I’m hoping I’ll be carrying just a little luck on my shoulder.