TR SNIPPET - PEOPLE OF INTEREST

People often ask me, “Aren't you lonely spending 25 days solo in Vegas?”

Hardly.

My life living out on a little lake in upstate New York can at times be much lonelier. And while my winters in Homosassa, Florida are filled with visiting friends and family, encounters with strangers there are a bit limited.

In both communities folks are more conservative and provincial than I am. They are friendly, but we don't have so much in common except living in the same locality and who wants to continually talk about the neighborhood?

We have some interesting exchanges with folks at the local pool, but few satisfying encounters with local folks.

Of course, were I to meet them here in Vegas, their stories would flow.

In Florida I get are conversations in poker rooms like Ocala or The Silks. Sadly, however, poker games attract the most taciturn of old folks who complain about all their ailments and rant against how unfair the cards are. It is rare they are in party mode.

Few enjoy the wonderful encounter with randomness I find in poker, few see it as almost a spiritual experience where we find in microcosm the patterns that drive all creation.

In contrast, everyone I meet in Vegas has one major thing in common with me, Vegas. And most gamble. And most are in a party mood on vacation from their worries and ailments and complaints.

But lonely in Vegas? Ha!

This year poker buddies Wild Bill and Slink came for a week. Bill and I taught together for years, and we are great pals in Vegas, respecting our separate plans, merging 2 for 1 coupons, playing the senior Wednesdays at the Orleans or together on a limit table.

Bill was so busy this year having a grandchild, marrying off a daughter, teaching bowling and golf that I hardly got to see him. In Vegas most of those distractions are put on hold.

Then this year I talked my oldest son Frank into coming for three days. He is in Chicago and I don't see him often. Hardly ever do we have dedicated father-son time.

Just now we have a family crisis, so getting together to have fun is helpful for each of us. He rented a car this year and took me out to Red Rock. He used his MyVegas points for a free ticket to Cris Angel, and I bought one so we could see a show together.

I have some relatives who live in Vegas, but actually I missed them completely this trip. It was my fault too. What can I tell you?

BLONDE DISCUSSION BOARD MEETUP

 

Then Blonde's discussion board had a huge meet again this year at Hennessey's, so I got to see some of the folks who I know only through their comments.

Most of them I had met other years as well, so we are really old friends with Vegas as a common interest. I apologize if I miss people, but I well remember meeting Irish Eyes and Rambler, Otto Who, Pebbles and her husband, Jim and his wife from Rochester, Stephanie, Kiddo, Golden Greek, Eva and Wolfgang and two your women from the Slot-a- Holics board. And of course it is always a delight to see again that board moderator, Blonde who does so much work keeping that internet discussion going.

I met Jeff who is my Facebook friend because of the MyVegas game.

Discussions included one long and fast overview of various forms of video poker with Rambler and Otto Who. Eva and Wolfgang were going to try Arizona Charlie's on Boulder and I'm even now curious how that worked out. Jim actually grew up just a few blocks from where I did on the East side of Buffalo, out Walden Avenue where I often walked with my buddies. 

And of course, there was some good talk with Blonde and I learned quite a bit of insider information there.   

There is a certain delight in putting in one room a large group of people who have known each other's Vegas and gambling ideas for years on the internet.

***************************************************************

However, a most amazing thing that happens in Vegas is that strangers who have never met talk and joke and eat together. This is a very cosmopolitan town.

I can't remember all the names of the interesting folks I met this trip, but I do remember some of their stories:

QUEBEC

A 78 year old French Canadian fellow leaned over to me in the line to get on the Sam's Town shuttle bus and said,

“See these four women? My job is to keep them out of trouble, and I'm proud to have it!”

This began a long, friendly conversation. In the 45 minutes it took to get to Sam's he told me all about himself. I can't quite remember exactly where in Quebec his family settled, but his ancestor had been there since the 1600's. It was a bit eerie to realize that as these folks were immigrating to Canada, my Hill ancestors were coming to North Eastern US.

He talked of working in pulp mills and starting some. He liked starting them because in the first few months of the work, folks were cheerful, but after a while the work got them feeling grumpy.

He had a good bit to say about genes. His father had lived to be 93, and he expected the same sort of long life. He had never been sick in his life except to have the flu once every few years. He felt great.

He also talked about an area of Quebec where they have the most beautiful women because when women immigrated at a time when men were picking them off the boats, that was the first stop from France and those men go first pick. So beautiful women continued on in that place.

How stupid I am to have lost the name of that spot!

IRAN

At almost 1 AM I left the Eastside Cannery to catch the 202 bus back to the strip. I was anxious because the Latin dancing and company had kept me for the entire show and I was fairly certain that the bus did not run all night. I had asked a surly driver earlier who did not know or would not tell me. “Buy a book,” she advised.

I sat a while in the pleasant night air and wondered what exactly to do. Perhaps this was going to be an all nighter at the Sam's Town poker room. It thought about it. Then this fellow came who knew exactly when the bus was coming from his smart phone.

He was from Iran and was driving taxi in Vegas when a drunk attacked him and beat him up. He had very disabling injuries. He went back to Iran, but he could not hold a job there and so he came back to Vegas to use his workman's comp to keep him going.

ALASKA

At Magnolia's at the Four Queens I was getting my $6 prime rib supper on my birthday coupon. They sat me on the side while I waited for a table and Wayne, an old fellow my age started to talk to me and ended inviting me to eat supper with him.

He had lived in Oregon and had five children when he decided to move to Alaska where he still lives now. The transition for the kids was rather hard.

One day one of his girls came home from school crying about a really bad score on a test. It turned out that many of the questions were local questions. For example,

“How long is a skate?”

She thought a skate was about a foot long, but this was about ?? long lines used to fish.

LINK to skate for fishing.

At one point I used the term “Black.”

“I don't know if it is politically correct to say “Black” anymore.” he advised me. I told him I thought it was fine and had taught inner city for all my life, enjoyed being near Black community, and the term was often used.

“I'm about as prejudiced as the next fellow,” he said. But one of my neighbors adopted two children from Africa and they are around playing so much that they call me Grandpa, so I say to my prejudiced fiends that I have two Black grandchildren.

“ I don't know where color comes from. Some are Black and some White. But if they treat me right, I'm fine with it,” he added.

He said that his children had married into Indian blood but not African. Soon he expected that would happen.

I liked thinking that perhaps racial fears were mellowing even in this old fellow.

Wayne has worked in Alaska at a salmon cannery and he was articulate in describing the process for canning salmon. The raw fish is put in cans and the cans heated in a large pressure cooker for quite a while to cook the salmon in the can. Then the cans are cooled, still under pressure, with cold water so they don't explode. It takes quite a while to cook the salmon. I did not ask him about BPA recentlhy linked to cancer, but I wondered if cooking in the can was the healthiest of choices.

We talked about fishing. He had done some fly fishing for steelhead. He had also gone halibut fishing many times, but never caught one. I told him of the fellow from the last trip who had fallen in the Bering straight, almost died from exposure, and been warmed back to life by the naked body of the Captain't wife LINK He confirmed that they did that often putting a woman on each side of the hypothermic man.

He had fallen inn once where he docked his boat.

He had dropped a boat registration sticker and reached for it, but lost his balance. He had on protective clothing and he was not in the water too long.

I told him about pan fishing in my little lake.

“Aren't those bluegills awful boney?” he asked.

I laughed to think of yet another fisherman with that prejudice against panfish. I said that they did not have any more bones than a trout, and it all had to do with spiting the fish open and removing the bones in a methodical way, and then learning to chew carefully. I had just had a good session teaching my 5 year old grandson how to do that with a couple white perch and a bullhead he caught off the dock.

I also explained that the main difference was the amount of oil in the fish, trout and salmon being much oiler, and that this limited the way the fish could be cooked.

We shared some grilling techniques.

We did not have much gambling in common. Wayne was a die hard keno player. He did say that the Plaza gives him a free weekend a month from his play.

Just now he was staying at Arizona Charlies out on Boulder and he said the rooms were old but fine. He rides the bus, so I asked him if the bus stop there late at night would put us in a sketchy place. He said that Arizona Charlie's territory went right up to the stop and there was a 7/11 right near as well. No problems. He had stayed in the suites and the rooms recently. He got the best prices there. It is amazing to me that I might encounter a fellow fisherman who rode the bus and stayed at Arizona Charlie's. Good information.

BOARD LURKERS

On the way out of that meal in line with Wayne a discussion board lurker recognized me and ranted about the changes in buses since the 5 day pass went away. He was with his mother and we had a good talk. I tried to convince him to post, but he said he was too uncomfortable.

Then I went just underneath Magnolia's to play some VP and the fellow playing next to me was another lurker. He thanked me for the information on finding the WAX from the airport and for steering him to what was the “best improvement in Vegas.”

It felt good to have clearly helped a couple people. I taught school for many years and now in that I am an old man, “full of rum and riot” as Carl Sandburg says in one of his songs, it is fine to know that I still do something of value.

LINK TO CLAUDIA CASTRO LATIN AT EASTSIDE CANNERY

There are often encounters with people who work here in Vegas: prostitutes, clerks, fellow bus riders.

One bus driver really helped me find the Kelly Clinton Holmes show at the Italian American Club on East Sahara.

LINK TO KELLY HOLMES

CALGARY /ALBERTA and the NITEKING ACT

At the Orleans, at my free breakfast, my first full day in Vegas I was in line and three women from Calgary and Alberta were just behind me. Their talk was so perky and funny, I listened in and made some comment. They were so open and friendly that by the time we made the buffet, they had invited me to eat with them.

It was a delightful time. They were all full of stories and jokes and delighted with their Vegas adventures. I suggested the Nite Kings in the lounge for a good free show.

They grabbed a table and never left. One brought in Subs for supper, and they stay through all that music and stayed again for the guy who performed afterwards.

I joined them and we talked away the time between sets and did some dancing.

Val (aka Kenna) had been a librarian and a dietician. She had an every pleasant natural smile and a twinkle in my eye.

Joyce engaged me the most, talking of the old music, of astrology and Chinese birth animals.

I've lost the name of the third woman other than her knickname of Nimsey.

I so enjoy meeting strangers. These were especially delightful with an accented English I rarely hear and stories of games like Lawn Bowling, similar to curling only on the lawn with a smaller ball. Val had been on a champion team.

They were slow to dance and that seemed odd to me at first because they were enjoying the music.

Nimsey was bouncing out of her seat.

I suppose they wanted some clear conservative boundaries with me, but after a bit they could see I could respect what they wanted, and we danced many of the faster bits. This was a treat for me because I so often end up in a mix of coupled locals, watching rather than dancing.

They were very open too about personal family information which I won't include. But some of the stories were intense. It is incredible how personally revealing people with be with strangers who they don't expect to ever see again, especially after a bit of wine.

These women were just a few years younger than I am, but in spirit and activity they were 20 years younger and full of more fun than I usually find in my peers. They were also more refreshingly open and easy without much reserve and good humored without sarcasm. They enjoyed life and they especially enjoyed this party time in Vegas. It was a perfect meetup; the Nite King's music was all from our youth.

In fact, listening to these women I was reminded of meeting up with girls in my college years. It was not unlike those sorts of times with intense conversation, jokes, energy for moving and delight in shared new perspective.

This is a difficult lounge, however, to meet new people. The locals following the Nitekings take over the place and there is a great fight for tables and seats. The people are not friendly and welcoming.

It is a great contrast to the followers of Claudine Castro lounge act.

I had such a time with it that I've written to the Orleans and complained

LINK TO OPEN ORLEANS LETTER

Here again note that this is a group on their home turf, not folks in party mode on vacation from home. That makes a huge difference in meeting strangers. After that it really depends on whether as a local we invite the world to our city or resent the fact that they are their in our way.

How locals resent the tourist in a city that depends so much on the tourist dollar that it goes into recession with even a bit of a lull in visiting outsiders is ironic, but I have family members who have attitudes like that.

Here they are in a place where they have the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world, and with their provicial minds they stick primarily to their little local cliques.

Still, on my last visit to the Orleans lounge I met Gary and his wife. I was too crippled up to dance. I was delighted to arrive late in the first set and find a place to sit with Gary.

He talked very openly about his family and marriage, but I can't share that here. He did show me a photograph of a very beautiful daughter on her wedding day. He lost her to cancer in her 40's. So sad!

He was very welcoming and a total contrast to other locals in the place.

VETERAN'S DAY

After my free meal at Paris, I hopped on the SDX and went to Riviera to see some free comedy. That was a much easier bus than the Deuce. I found a seat with a couple of old Veterans talking about Vietnam. I told them about the free buffet at Paris and perhaps at other CET casinos. Caesar's offered only a line pass this year. However, I imagine that Harrah's had a deal. They had their Veteran's caps and talked a bit about where they had been stationed and what had happened to them in 'Nam.

RIVIERA COMEDY

At my table were two young quirky fellows barely out of their teens, one Black and one White. It was fun talking to them before the show. I had the extra free ticket and the white kid was calling a hooker friend of his to join us for the comedy, but I guess she was busy.

That would have been a story.

The kid told his story of recently buying sex there in Vegas for the first time in his life, and it was sad and not satisfying for him.

It was also expensive, $400 for an hour.

He said that her vagina smelled.

I felt bad for him.

He seemed an attractive enough kid not to have had to buy sex. It was strange. Here he was with a hooker friend, but buying from a some debauched stranger.

POKER PLAYERS

At poker tables I met all sorts of people with all sorts of stories. One fellow at a table at the Golden Nugget had a pair of flashing glasses, and he had them flashing anytime he had the nut hand. He also offered a potential caller after the river a chip if they called and two chips if they did not.

He was a character.

Like many loose/aggressive players he amassed chips at the beginning because he was lucky. He got called and paid on good cards; his bluff hands forced folks out.

But eventually he had very few chips left. He was a couple seats to my left, and when I had very good flops I could depend on him betting or raising, getting called by nearly everyone, and putting me in a fine position for a reraise to build the pot.

I also met Emilio from the old El Cortez game that is now closed. He updated me some on dealers and some players.

LINK TO EL CORTEZ.

At the Monte Carlo 2-6 spread limit game I met a woman who works for a company that helps people get control of their debt. She was fun and interesting.

At the Flamingo poker room there was a very well educated woman, perhaps a lawyer, who I advised of the various discussion boards and of the American Casino Guide.

She seemed quite certain that it was illegal for the bus company to refuse service to a tourist who had purchased a 24 hour pass on a residential bus and so she motivated me to revisit and eventually flip my opinion on that issue again.

LINK TO 24 HOUR PASS

I saw her again at the Golden Nugget but there she was a bit more taciturn and mostly read her newspaper between good hands.

Or it could have been me. That night I was tired and a bit testy myself.

One table at the Golden Nugget was all talk of freshwater fishing in small boats. While most fished the larger game fish, they respected my pan fishing. We all agreed that tournament fishing was a bit twisted and did not fit what we wanted out of fishing. I found that odd as most of the bass fisherman I have met are fans of the tournaments.

At the cheap tournament at The Plaza I sat across from the one of the most lovely faces of the trip. This young woman was Mexican, but I would not have known it. She was fair and freckled; her eyes had a fine, deep clarity. She was very attractive. I loved playing across from her. Poker is one of the few places in life we are allowed to stare at a pretty girl's face because it can be interpreted as part of the game. I was sad when she was bumped out of the competition.

At the BTC one day I met a somewhat confused almost toothless old Black woman. She had been at the BTC trying to figure out what bus to take. She got hungry. There is not food there, so she hopped a bus to downtown, grabbed some food and drink, and came back.

She was looking to get out Boulder and nearly into Henderson and finally got on the BHX that I was riding, but they would not let her on with her open coffee. So she went off, put the coffee in her bag and came back.

She told me that her family kept her inside most of the time because she would go “crazy” and gamble away all her money. Her daughter would pick her up at the bus stop she now knew how to find.

On the Deuce one day a fellow as quizzing his friends on statistics around old music, Bing Crosby era. I engaged him and it turned out that he was a big LP and 78 record collector and even had some of the rare 16 2/3 RPM records developed in Germany and England in the 1930's, but used in the US around 1957. It had almost twice the playing time of a 33 ½ LP. The “Highway Hi-Fi” record, developed by Peter Goldmark was to be played in 50's Chrysler automobiles with the idea that the bumps and such of driving would not so much affect the play. However, it did not catch on and eventually faded except for collectors like this fellow.

I collect records like I do books, more to read and listen than for any collection value. I use a Crosby record player to put my old LP on CD for the car. It would not accommodate the old 16's.

http://velodyne.com/blog/tag/16-23-rpm/