Piano Man

groovehouse: 23rd May 2006 - 01:03 GMT

Great story!!! LOL!!!!

I went to Vegas once, I was about 11 years old and it was a stop on the way back from California. The main thing I really remember about Vegas was leaving after having spent the entire day before in the hotel swimming pool. I could not see a thing because the chlorine had "burned" my eyes...Vegas was a huge blur of light at about 5 in the morning!!

EvilGentleman: 23rd May 2006 - 07:53 GMT

In May of 1989, my best friend Mike and had been driving for 6 days when we arrived in Las Vegas around 1 PM, and rather than continuing on, we decided to stop there for the rest of the day, and give ourselves a break until the following morning before getting back on the road. I was in definite need of some rest since the skin on my left forearm had burned so badly, the dead skin had actually fused to the live skin underneath. I should have known better than to drive across Arizona in 120° F (50° C) heat with my arm resting on the door with the window down, but I was not quite 20 at this point, and I had not yet begun to grow common sense.

We knew the casinos were not the best place for T-tsirts and jeans, so once we had a room at the Days Inn on the Strip squared away, we put on some decent clothes and started wandering around, each of us on our own.
It took me a while to put my long-sleeved white shirt on, due to the sunburn, but once I did, I headed off in search of food, and then a casino.

I started walking down the street, looking at all the casinos such as the Dunes, Sands, and Sahara when I saw a familiar sight that beckoned to my teenaged appetite, the Golden Arches. Mesmerized by the arches in the desert (ok, ok, it was in the shade of the palms planted in the middle of the busiest street in Nevada), I drew closer, ready to consume the meal of compressed cattle residue to which I had grown accustomed.

I entered the McDonald's and went straight to the counter to order my usual meal (at age 19) of 5 hamburgers, large fries and a vanilla milk shake. I then went to look for a table to sit down at and began to demolish the food on my tray. When I was done, I looked around and noticed that this McDonald's was equipped with slot machines!

I looked further still and saw gaming tables through an open archway. Turns out I had wandered into the Barbary Coast casino, which was actually owned by McDonald's. Since I knew I looked much older than the 19 I was, I took a chance and went to get some change for the slots.

I took a whole 20 quarters and plunked myself down in front of a one-armed bandit. The first few quarters went by without so much as a hint of a win. Then I hit the big time. A whole 13 dollars came out of the machine, and I was suddenly consumed by dreams of yachts and mansions. But instead of using my newfound wealth to make my dreams come true, I put the money back in the machine. Although it spit out a few more coins here and there, that machine ate up all the money I had won (about 30 dollars in total) as well as my original five dollars.

Rather than dig in my wallet, I decided to head out, and once on the sidewalk, I never set foot in a casino again, to this day. But I will always remember the day I played the slots in Vegas. The memories are well worth the 5 bucks.

jack: 23rd May 2006 - 11:47 GMT

ha ha, you two guys need some parental care when your on your own, hahahahaha. nice come back evil. when i was in my army uniform i was at the crap table and everyone took time to explain the game, including a few older good looking women. i spent the entire night playing and finally i quit with the same amount of money i started with 8 hours earlier. here it was 6am and i went to my room changed and opened my sliding glass doors and stepped out into the pool area. in and out of the pool i spent the next 8 hours. i was waiting for my orders to send me to nam, but they never came. so i went back to brooklyn, did some fishing off the belt parkway. those were days of travelling and not doing anything to create a sound foundation for a future life. by the way i saw dean at the sands.