Right Place, Right Time

Have to share the craziest slot win ever today.  

Sunday is our free play day and we usually head to Atlantis around 10AM.  We love going to brunch and they only do brunch on the weekends.  

Today, our neighbors hosted a brunch at their house - it was loads of fun and we met some neighbors we hadn't met before.  We had to adjust our plans but it was OK and we had such a great time - wouldn't have missed it!  J. helped me make scones last night and while they didn't look as great as they usually do, they tasted great and they were a hit.  They are always a hit - and we took some to our neighbor T. and he was super happy.  He loves them! 

So...we ended up heading to Atlantis after brunch - left Carson City between 1:30 and 2:00.  I was bummed there were no Dragonlinks available but not surprised.  There are only six machines and they fill up quickly - it's irritating (often) but oh well.  I am honestly trying hard to NOT play Dragonlinks at Atlantis anymore - they are ridiculously tight (more about that in another post) - but I still like to start there most days.  

So...I headed to my favorite free play machine - but didn't hit a thing.  Decided to stop my free play and move - told J. I was going to go check in the high limit room.  

I don't play in the high limit room much - but there are a couple machines I enjoy - minimum bets are $5ish and that's not bad.  Sadly, those machines were occupied, too, so bummer. 

I ended up sitting down at a Lightening Cash - Lightening Link were the first of the link machines and I used to love them before my obsession moved to the newer Dragonlinks.  Lightening Cash is the 'high limit' version of Lightening Link.  The machine was actually 'out of service' but as I stood there looking around, the slot attendant unlocked it - so I sat down quickly.  I did the lowest denomination - ten cent - with a minimum bet of $5.  I played my free play and won $130 - and then sat there for a bit.  Decided that if I played down what I won, I'd be down $200 for the day - and as days go (especially lately) that would be a pretty good day.

A couple spins in, this happened.  

 My first ever high limit hand pay.  Final tally was this:

 It was the perfect confirmation of being at the right place at the right time.  I was shocked - and overjoyed.  Made for a fun rest of the month for sure!

Happy Halloween

Oh my goodness!!  Haven't blogged in a month and a half!  Is that a record?  I could look back and do the math but if I do that, odds are I won't get back to the post.  That's life lately - start one thing, move on to something else and dart around doing a ton of stuff.  

I've started keeping a daily to do list but it's still a crap shoot.  The joy of retirement. 

Lots of things to document and update.  

I had my 'throat scope' (every three years) on October 4th - it went fine.  The doctor did a few biopsies including the tissue that is near where I used to have a tonsil.  I haven't seen the results yet but he said he wasn't concerned.  Sent to lab and we'll see.  I had an office visit scheduled to go over results which would happen after my colonoscopy.  They changed their procedures and since the doctor was going to (possibly) dilate my esophagus, they wouldn't do both procedures on the same day - so I had the throat scope and then had to dread another prep process for the colonoscopy.

I was scheduled to have a colonoscopy on October 11th.  I woke up on the 9th and started the process.  Felt fine all day - full of energy and piddled around the house productively.  I decided to make myself some ramen and used low sodium chicken broth as the base.  I didn't add the seasoning packets - I felt like it was essentially noodle soup and that seemed fine.  The next day would be my day of 'no solid food' so I wanted to eat something satisfying.  Noodles are my go to. Ate some mid-day and then around dinner time.  

At 10PM as I was heading to bed my stomach felt pretty 'off'.  I started throwing up shortly after getting ready for bed.  I thought 'well, I've emptied my stomach and feel better so I'll sleep and be fine'.  At 3AM, I woke up vomiting again and had pain in my lower right 'flank' as well as pain radiating up my back.  I woke up J. and said we should call 911.  I was scared.  The pain was bad and I'd used the restroom....but it didn't abate.  Thankfully, I did another bathroom visit and the pain radiating up my back stopped.  I felt OK enough to say we'll drive to the ER - it's literally across the street from our house - we see it from our back patio.  

They did all the things they do - including an EKG and eventually a CT scan.  Thankfully, though there were some blood things as 'red flags' - higher white blood count was one - the CT scan ruled out anything major.  They gave me IV fluids and medication for the pain and nausea and we were home by 7AM.  The ER doctor said 'you can still get the colonoscopy tomorrow' and I said 'there is no way I'm going to spend today doing the prep and go another night without sleep.  I just don't think I can do it'.  He said 'that's OK.  Just get it done as soon as you can'.  He referenced how doctor's in this area are so backed up - but I hadn't had any issue making the appointment so I was confident they would be able to get me rescheduled fairly soon.

J. called the doctor's office and told them I was sick and the procedure was moved to this Friday, 11/3.  And I'm dreading it but it is what it is.  

J. is winding down the 2023 golf season - he and his friends took a Geezers Gone Wild trip to a couple California courses.  He will start playing 'winter golf' next week - a schedule that will very much depend on precipitation, temperature and availability of places to play.  

We had one trick or treat visit this evening - that's it.  With the new housing development next to our neighborhood, I wondered if we'd have more kids this year - but no.  The new houses are on smaller lots but still family friendly - and there are a lot of them.  

H. is doing well - he had a job interview at a grocery store and has a 2nd interview on Friday.  Also has an interview at Walmart on Thursday.  Praying so much that he secures a job - not only because earning what he needs to support himself is important but because he will feel so much better with a job to go to.  Getting out of the house and being productive will be so good for him.

B. is also doing well.  He's started his instrument training classes for flying and is excited to be working on getting his instrument rating.  

With now two pilots in the family, I find myself very interested in all sorts of You Tube videos about flying.  J. and I queue up a couple most nights after we finish our TV watching.

Temps dropped into the low 20's this week (in the mornings) and boy, do we feel it.  We've got the heat on and are grateful for it.  This morning, J. had a doctor's appointment and then took his car for maintenance so I was hanging out in the kitchen with the cats.  We got a visit from a group of blue birds splish splashing in the (thankfully) thawed out bird bath water.  The cats are so enthralled - both of them 'talking'.  Nala chittering and Muf doing some quick meows.  It's always so fun to watch the birds.  So beautiful - bright blue tail feathers.

On September 30th, we attended a graduation party of our neighbor's daughter (graduated with her Bachelor's in Nursing and is now working in the ICU of the hospital I mentioned) and her boyfriend (graduated top of his class from the Reno Fire Department Academy and now working as a Fireman).  Two amazing young people and all the people who encouraged them.  It was a blast.  We had a fun time and spent time with neighbors which was a lot of fun.  Met some neighbors I've never met before.  It was a beautiful party and a bit of rain did nothing to lessen the celebration.  The hosts (parents of the boyfriend hosted at their house and parents of both of them hosted the food) were such nice people and wow, the house was incredibly beautiful - in Gardnerville. 

I'm in a psychological struggle on and off about adult friendships in retirement.  We have confirmation of events where we were excluded - and even as I rationalize all the 'why's and what's' that might create that situation, what is incredibly hard is feeling like it's being rubbed in our face.  As neighbors post pics on their Facebook and all the 'ah-ha' moments of 'wow, I was right.  I don't know what everyone does or why, but for me, if I had hosted an event where other friends weren't included for some reason, the last thing in the world I would do is post pictures all over the place so that the people excluded know they WERE excluded for sure.  

We had great neighbors in Tracy - but we never socialized with them so these situations never happened.  Our current neighbors?  Well, we're completely devoted to one set, thought we were friends of the other set but now realize apparently not.  I feel devastated in a way that is hard to describe.  

I wasn't expecting my retirement to feel very much like high school - I'm not in the popular crowd; never will be in the popular crowd and it appears some people just like to rub it in your face - also like high school.  

I'm getting around it by not following (on Facebook) one neighbor in particular - I won't see what she's posting so I won't care.  But it still stings.  

Guess that's it for now.  I've drafted some of the 'retirement is a lot like high school' stuff before but never 'published' it.  I know I am blessed with a handful of dear friends who read this blog - friends I've had FOR DECADES - so if any of you have any words of wisdom, please leave a comment.  Any thoughts will be appreciated. 

Bring it on, November.  Knowing 2023 is going to be over in the blink of an eye is stunning - time goes so incredibly quickly these days. 

Primary Care

On B.'s advice, I decided to get my toe looked at.  The nail became completely detached this past Monday.  I trimmed off as much as I could but there is still a small portion of the lower nail that although detached from the nail bed is still attached at the cuticle.  

My primary care doctor here in Carson left the practice and moved to California.  I called the office yesterday and inquired about a new primary care and while there were doctors available in Carson, the scheduling person said 'and they can see you in February'.  Um...that won't work.  I said 'well, I guess I'll go to urgent care for the toe' but she said 'I can get you in for an appointment in Minden tomorrow'.  I said that would work and asked (with my fingers crossed) 'and can that physician's assistant be my PC?'.  Yes!  

Went to see her today and LOVED her - easy drive, nice offices.  In addition to setting up a referral to a podiatrist (she agreed the remainder of the nail should probably be removed but also agreed neither of us should try to do that) she talked through some other things happening on the health front.  She prescribed an antibiotic as well (for the injured toe) and also gave me a different antibiotic ointment to use on the toe.  She isn't a fan or Neosporin.  I didn't ask why.   I really liked her.  Super glad to have a PC in place I feel comfortable with. 

I have a Gastro doc appointment scheduled for Monday - a pre-visit to schedule my every three year colonoscopy.  And hoping to add a throat scope as well on the advice of my gastro doc and my new primary care doc.  I'm having some issues swallowing - weird, infrequent but still problematic - and that alone warrants a scope. She said if Gastro doc won't do it for any reason, she'll schedule it with another doctor.  

J. and B. are at the Reno air races today.  An Atlantis event coordinator offered J. & B. access to the jet race pylon area - somewhere they don't allow many people to visit.  I can't wait to hear all about it.  It's a hot day.  I've been to Minden, back home for lunch then to the post office to mail H.'s money order for his rent.  I realized this morning that the bank did a cashier's check - a money order is the only payment accepted typically - but H. checked with the house leader who said it would be OK.

J. is in a black jack tournament tomorrow at Atlantis so that's where we'll be.  B.'s friend R. is coming from Stockton and also his friend S. with his wife and two year old son.  They will attend the air races on Sunday.  We'll pick B. up at Atlantis on Monday morning and then we all return there Tuesday to spend the night for J.'s birthday.  

It's fun having B. here - he hangs out with J. watching whatever they find to watch and the cats are in heaven having so many options of who to cuddle with!  

That's it for now.  Summer is over in the blink of an eye and Fall is just around the corner - but today is warm, sunny, and beautiful.  Life is good!

 

Quiet Sunday

J. is playing golf today and tomorrow for the Atlantis Cup Tournament.  We decided to get a room for the night (tonight) - a fun excuse to have a night away from home.  We considered cancelling but I phoned the hotel to ask what type of room it is.  And the reservation clerk said 'you have a suite'.  YAY!  Suites make it so much more 'special'. 

I'm still at the house but plan to head to Reno soon.  The cats are curled up on the bench in the mud room - they started hanging out there most mornings and we're not sure why.  In the winter it makes sense because it has a floor vent and gets super warm in there when the heat is on.  But summer?  With the AC sometimes blasting?  Guess curling up with your best friend is a way to be warm(er).  They are cute together - but we witnessed them fighting yesterday and they are definitely having skirmishes now and then.  

I just refilled the bird watering trays and am super thrilled to say the birds are back!  Bluebirds and finches are hanging around a lot and taking baths and drying themselves on the fence.  We LOVE watching them!  It took a long time for them to return but they finally did!!  

We've had a week of watching for fighter jets and fuel tankers while President and Mrs. Biden were staying in Tahoe.  It's been noisy (often) but also weirdly fun.  Yesterday we listened to Air Traffic Control at Reno and saw Air Force One winging it's way north east out of Reno.  

We're a week into the future from when I wrote above this sentence. Time moves so quickly.  Our stay at Atlantis was a really fun time and I had epic luck.  So grateful.  

I got up at 6:15AM today because the pest control service was arriving at 7AM.  No problem getting up but it's a smidge past 11:30AM and it feels like the longest day ever.  I just loaded and started the dishwasher for the 2nd time this morning.  The cats 'stormed to castle' as I left my room and they are snuggled and toasty warm on my bed.  I don't think they will move much for another few hours.  

I had a fun catch up Facebook message chat with my cousin S. yesterday morning and another catch up live phone call with my friend C. in Tracy.  So fun to get caught up with both.

J. is playing golf today.  It was strange having him home yesterday - no golf on Labor Day.  We did pick up a big grocery order so I've piddled around doing some reorganizing in the pantry.  

Last Tuesday, I went to the outside refrigerator to get a cold Ice drink.  I had on opened toe sandals - something I wear very rarely - I wasn't going anywhere so it felt more casual to just slide on sandals.  As I opened the refrigerator, my left big toe collided with the bottom corner of the door and my toe suffered a traumatic injury.  I let out a huge OWWWWW scream - then regretted it thinking the neighbors would hear.  They didn't.  The toe was profusely bleeding and I couldn't really tell what had happened.  I thought maybe it was deeply cut under the nail because it bled a lot for an hour and continued to bleed for hours that day.  A week out, I'm pretty sure the brutal injury was a significant part of the nail detaching from the nail bed....so I wait to see if the nail will fall off.  In the mean time, I tend it carefully and keep it bandaged at night and in the day if I'm going to be walking a bit that day.  

B. had called just as I came back inside the house - he was on Facetime and I didn't realize it....so I held the phone up to my ear.  I said 'hey, I need to call you back 'cuz I've hurt my toe and if I don't take care of it, this place is going to look like a crime scene'.  

It hurts.  Yikes.  I couldn't recreate what happened if I tried.  

OK.  Time to get to continue working on house stuff.  We decided to stop using the cleaning service - they cancelled so many times we ended up doing it ourselves anyway.   Saves money and I've got nothing but time. 

Let's Be Real

I could totally take some of the posts in my draft folder and fine tune them, manually make the date(s) for the posts in July and miraculously create July posts....but I won't.  

I'm a bit mystified at why I'm not inclined to write these days - but I'm not.  Days fly by at a record pace and the business of life feels like 'enough'.  Documenting all the stuff that is retirement life seems unnecessary?  

I don't know.  I'm just finding it hard to want to write.  

It might have started when I re-read some historical posts and realized how much fiction is among all my musings.  H.'s issues are everywhere and it's hard to wade through it all and realize the pure fiction of pretty much all of it.  

It's created hesitancy about writing anything (else) about how things are going 'cuz truly?  We have no idea how things are really going.  We know what he shares and hope things are as he says but we have no way to verify much of anything.  

Things are hard sometimes.  We're muddling through.

We attended a Reno Symphony Orchestra concert on July 3rd at the Ball Field downtown - shared a sky box with friends and had a wonderful evening.  The concert was epic, food was good and the fireworks were spectacular.  My brilliant husband parked the car in an area where no one else parked which had us out of the multi-story garage in record time - avoided the 20+ minute wait others were having going the opposite route.  (I can't explain how/why but there was another set of ramps we found totally by accident).  We were out of there in a flash. 

J. is enjoying the season of loads of golf play.  Between his three golf 'clubs' and the annual Atlantis Cup tournament (which he's played in every year since we moved here), he is gone usually at least three days a week.  I miss him - the house is quiet and he's good company - but I am happy he's doing lots of his favorite thing with a bunch of really nice friends.  I enjoy being the drink girl on the third tee when they play at Silver Oak - which they do most Thursdays.  

B. is arriving on September 13th for not quite two weeks and we are excited to have him visit.  We offered to pay for his ticket to come here for the (last) Reno Air Races and he was excited - and was able to arrange two weeks of leave.  He's moving to a new apartment at the end of August so he will be pretty busy and ready for a nice vacation break.  We aren't nailing down too many plans - other than the Air show - he will likely try to visit friends in the Bay Area for a few days. 

J. and I (mostly J. but I'm helping a smidge) are working on continued tidying of the stones on the labyrinth.  The yard is blooming finally - Spring was basically non-existent and freak cold spells kept the earth chilly - it's taken a long time this year for things to finally bloom.  We lost a lot of plants again this year - likely just the long-term brutal cold and so much snow - but we replaced some already and will likely replace more next Spring - if there is a Spring.  

Lake Washoe is all the way 'full' to the freeway - and while we are starting to see some of the previously covered in water 'marsh' area(s), there's still an incredible amount of run off.  Small bits of snow still clinging to the higher peaks around us - a reminder of just how much snow there was.  

July had us at Atlantis mostly on Saturdays and Sundays - but in August, they are not hosting 'Local Bonus Freeplay' on Saturdays weekly - just one Saturday this month - so we've added playing at Tamarack in South Reno to our rotation.  We are really enjoying it there - tons of Dragonlink machines for me and good Keno machines for J. .  They have enticed us further with food offers and extra free play so instead of Saturdays @ Atlantis in August, we're doing Sundays there and Fridays at Tamarack.  It's been a lot of fun.  Last week, we ran into our (now retired) casino host M. at Tamarack - having lunch with her partner.  She was shocked to see us there - but I'd told her when she retired 'we're loyal to you - not so much Atlantis' and guess her 'catching us' playing there confirmed it.  

I love Atlantis but getting a Dragonlink Machine there is very hard most weekends.  

OK.  I think I'll stop now, get this posted and move on to working through the massive pile of paperwork sitting on my desk goading me into being productive. 

Thanks for reading. 

Bees and Wedding

The long awaited, long planned for trip to our niece K.'s wedding in Paso Robles, CA is over - what a weekend!  

I've had so much anxiety about the trip - for no particular reason other than I have anxiety about a lot of things these days.  A lot of it was helped when our neighbor N. (T. & G.'s son) agreed to take care of the cats for us.  He came over a couple days before we were leaving and I gave him the info about the cat's routine.  Promised him I would write everything out.  The cats hid the entire time he was here but I told him 'as soon as they know you are the person giving them their moist food every day, they will warm up'.  I hoped I was right.  

I did write out all the directions and left them on the counter for him.  He was fine with (also) helping out with getting the mail; opening and closing the shutters to give the cats access to their favorite window spots but not leaving the shutters open all night; turning on outside lights at night and turning them off in the morning.  Having all those things covered and leaving the cats in their home was a huge relief for me.  

The night before we left, I still couldn't decide on what to wear to the wedding - and the benefit of car travel is we had plenty of room for 'stuff' - so I ended up putting all three possible outfits in a garment bag. Counted out how many 'casual' outfits I'd need for hanging out with J. and B..  We left the house at 9AM and stopped for gas at Costco - and I realized I'd forgotten a pair of shoes to go with a couple of my casual outfits.  J. said 'well, we'll just go back home and get them' but I decided to save the 30 minutes that would take and 'wing it'.  

I drove the first leg over the windy road drive from Minden on Hwy 88 over the hills into Jackson, CA. .  It was an easy drive - very pretty and we were surprised by how much snow was still on the ground.  One lake we passed - Caples Lake - was still covered with ice.  We arrived in Tracy around 9:30 and J. had friend with his BFF R. and I had lunch with my BFF C. .  It was fun to see them both.  

J. drove from Tracy to Paso Robles.  We headed south on I-5 and wow, what a drive.  There were immediately so many trucks on the highway.  One merge had seven semi's merging onto a freeway already full of semis and cars.  It felt scary and my anxiety really took a hard hit for a bit.  J. did a great job and we just kept a steady, safe pace and trekked on.  I watched YouTube videos on my phone which was an excellent distraction.  One of the things I noticed that shocked me were how many abandoned buildings and businesses were graffiti covered - so many businesses closed.  

We made a stop for restrooms and fuel in the middle of nowhere - and while I was worried about the state of the bathrooms, we lucked out - Eagle Feather Trading Post was spotless!  Welcoming staff and clean restrooms.  Gas was $1 more a gallon than in Carson City but we expected that.  

We arrived in Paso Robles and got checked in.  J. and I went to the lounge and had small plates for dinner.  He went to pick up B. at the San Luis Obispo airport around 8 but I was in bed shortly after.  N. sent a picture of him with both cats on his lap and said 'I was worried they would be afraid of me but they are just so sweet'!  Yay!  Huge relief they were in good hands. 

Friday morning, we had a nice breakfast together and caught up with B. .  We hung out around the gardens of the hotel and fed the koi in all the ponds.  The front desk had free 'fish kibble' and it was fun.  We headed out for a walk and found a winery with a storefront offering tastings near our hotel.  We had a fun time wine tasting and left with 4 bottles of wine!  Bushong Vintage Company rocks! We had a nice steak house dinner with B. that night.  

Saturday was breakfast and then just hanging out.  As I was sitting at the small table in the corner of the room using my computer, I heard buzzing sounds.  Kept trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.  And then a bee appeared - seemingly from nowhere.  The window in that corner was closed as was the shutter covering the window.  The bee(s) came in and headed for the overhead light and/or the desk lamp on the table.  We called maintenance who came and got the bees using tissue.  We figured 'well, that was interesting but problem fixed'.  No, it wasn't.  More bees.  Whenever the lights in that corner were on, there would be bees.  The second maintenance guy arrived with a can of bug spray - but I said 'no, please.  I can't breathe in those fumes or my asthma will go nuts'.  He picked up the dead bees from the floor (they would exhaust themselves around the lights and die).  He mentioned they had a swarm of bees a few days prior that were relocated to a new hive by a beekeeper.  The bees we were seeing were the stragglers who didn't go with the hive and were now dying.  Sad.  But it's the circle of life.  

We also had other issues - some kind of oily substance on the entry way tile.  J. walked barefoot from bed to the bathroom on Friday evening and when he got in the shower Saturday morning, he called me to come look - his feet were covered with black and the ONLY place he'd been barefoot was on the entry tile and/or our room.  We noticed an oily drip from the door closing 'box' - and we think they had spilled some of the oil used to lubricate the doors.  It was gross.  

We let the front desk know.

We saw the bridal party in their suite on Friday evening (from afar) and were really excited as Saturday progressed and the wedding got closer.  

I decided to wear slacks and a glitzy top - it was cold and I couldn't imagine the dress option working.  The wedding was beautiful.  Very small - less than 80 people - but it felt right.  We caught up with family on the bride's mom's side we hadn't seen in years.  We were the only family from the bride's Dad side - and there were some hard moments when J.'s late brother B. was barely acknowledged.  The step-Dad was introduced as 'the father of the bride' - and I won't speak for J. or B. but that was really hard for me.  

At the end of the night, they were married and so incredibly happy and there's nothing better than that.  

Sunday felt 'hard'.  I was exhausted - not a ton of energy that day on my end.  J. and B. took a drive to see Hearst Castle and also checked out a beach.  I cocooned in the bee zone.  B. went to the bar in the late evening to join the bride and groom for drinks - and told us the next morning we'd been invited for drinks, too - which would have been good to know the night before but I was asleep pretty early so oh well. 

The bride and groom were able to get B. to San Luis Obispo airport on their way home to Thousand Oaks which was wonderful because it saved us more than an hour of time to get him further south and then drive back.  

We had a ton of huge weather from Tracy to Carson City via Hwy 88.  I was the driver for that leg of the trip and there were some white knuckle moments.  Huge pounding rain where wipers on high didn't appear to be doing much.  We made it and I was proud of myself for putting the anxiety on a shelf and just keep going. 

We were glad to be home and the cats were happy to see us.

Channel Your Inner Optimist

Here we are approaching the end of May - my draft folder has several posts and I will try to refine them and post them soon....so at some point, look back a bit if you're reading this post to see if I post the rest.  

We have intense heat this weekend - Spring was barely a whisper and now it's broiling hot.  So many weather alerts flashing - high heat greatly increases the snow melt and flash floods are happening.  We're fine here but some areas near us are flooding.  J.'s golf group had to scramble to reschedule their upcoming Tuesday play because the course they were playing has two or three holes completely underwater.  Thankfully, golf courses provide a lot of open area for pooling water.  Better on a golf course then someone's street or house. 

We've had to turn on the AC because it's too hot for open windows to give any kind of break in the heat.  

The 20th of every month is the day the local casino I play at gives me a bit more 'extra' free play.  I haven't played at this casino much lately but I do go once in a while and I definitely didn't want to miss out on today's extra boost.  

I left the house around 9:15 and told myself the entire way to the casino 'I will stick to my budget'.  I'm working (very) hard on not leaving broke - something that's easy to do and something that lately has made me feel horrible on some days.  The machine I would have preferred to play (with the highest Major on the bank of Dragonlinks) was 'out of service' - secret code for someone saved it.  Drat!  I went to the next highest Major - Autumn Moon - and started playing.  I hit a bonus round right away and was glad for that!  Then I played up and down all the denoms - including $1 and $2 denoms which I mostly stay away from lately.  If/when I play those high denoms (where there are only five pay lines vs. 50 or 25 pay lines on the lower denoms), I would always head back down to lower denoms and bet big - to see what happens.  

Nothing happened.  Drat!  I nervously unclipped another $100 from my stash - and told myself 'This is it for today'.  [We are playing at Atlantis tomorrow and I had a good day yesterday so didn't want to put too much back today].  

I got an Orb bonus round and was ecstatic!  Told myself 'no matter what, take the winnings and leave'.  I would be down - but a smidge better after the bonus round - 

14 orbs dropped - and then the 15th dropped.  Holy Cow!  

I let out a small 'oh wow' and everyone at the machine bank said congratulations.  Except the lady who'd saved the machine I would have played if she hadn't saved it.  She stood up, cashed out her ticket and said 'I could have sat at that machine when I got here - it was available'.  And she stormed off.  I've played with her before - she's an Eeyore on her best day - always upset about her play.  Not winning.  Not winning enough.  

Her storming off cost her a bit 'cuz I would have shared the luck - and I did share the luck with another player who then played the machine Eeyore had left and promptly hit the Major!  Woot woot! 

I drove to the casino thinking 'I could have great luck.  And even if I don't have great luck, I will have fun and enjoy the play'. Win, lose or draw, I always feel grateful.  Always.

Today was an awesome luck day and I am so glad!