It's only money

I spent the last few days of the weekend in French Link, home of a casino. So, I am officially no longer a casino virgin....well, maybe. How does one lose their casino virginity? Is it by stepping into a casino (did it), by playing a few hands on a machine (did it), or by investing your own money in some way (did not)? More to the point, I spent a lot of time in there a) watching the Indy 500 and b) watching my friend Katie play craps. Now, craps is kind of cool, actually, and I spent a lot of my time telling Katie to walk away while she was winning. But, it was somewhat disturbing to watch other people play. In particular, there was one guy who was there simply to give away benjamins (hundreds--note the plural tense) of dollars as quickly as possible. He would put large amounts of money on crazy long-shot bets (hardways, for those who know the lingo), and then parlay it (effectively, letting it ride) on the rare times he won, basically giving all the money back. I probably saw him cash in a thousand dollars, and he probably went through that in about 30 minutes. And he didn't care. It almost looked like he was bored. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that money isn't all it's cracked up to be, and ultimately it's not that important, but I hope I never have the complete disregard for it (or any of my "talents") that I saw by many, and in particular this guy.

And for the record, I really really wanted to go play poker, but the cheapest table was a $1/$3 no-limit table, and to really and truly play that, you would need at least $75, and probably more like $100. And since it's no-limit, it would be very easy to lose it all at once. As much as I wanted to, I wasn't ready to commit that kind of money. I'm spineless, I know....