Gift Scrap Blog

My good friend, Ali D from Boston, scored a free room at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut.

I love gambling. I love free things.  I LOVE free rooms at casinos.  How could I say no to this offer? Oh, yeah, and I was excited to see Ali too.

With my Dream rewards card in hand, I arrived at the MGM and Ali and I did the usual “good to see you” greeting and immediately went down to the casino.  Enough small talk.

Ali gravitates towards the craps table.  I, on the other hand, enjoy a good hand of poker and a few (thousand) pulls on the slot machine.  But, I love trying new things so I was game to take a shot at craps.

We walked up to the table and I was immediately intimated.  The cigar smoke and men who were blowing their kids’ college tuition all lined the table as Ali and I took our spot.  The wad of cash came out of Ali’s pocket and he cashed it in for chips.  I decided to lay low for a bit and observe.  But after a few minutes, I had to get into the action.

Let the games begin.

So you know in movie’s there is always that girl on the craps table that blows on the dice and then the person throwing the die gets a great roll? You know, then the crowd starts cheering.  Yep, that was me.  Except, I was the unstoppable roller in this scenario.  People were cheering, “Go Roller, Go Roller” and I felt like the popular kid in high school. In this case, ignorance was bliss, because despite how hard Ali tried to teach me what each combination of the die meant, I just didn’t get it.  So I decided not to think, just throw.

Being the friendly and fun people we are, Ali D and I of course started talking to the people around us…

Kathy. Oh Kathy.  She was probably only 30 years old but she looked 45 because she had been smoking Marlboro Reds since birth. She was from Boston, and once she found out Ali was from her city as well – the sparks starting flying, well at least in her head.  She first decided it would be great idea to set her younger sister and Ali up when they got home.  At first Ali was a little skeptical but then Kathy mentioned her sister had “Boston Red Sox and Patriots Season Tickets” and then of course Ali was in.  The business card came out of his pocket and basically threw it at Kathy.  Little did he know that soon enough, Kathy would forget about her sister completely in a few hours and want Ali for herself.  How far does a guy go for season tickets? Maybe I’ll let Ali comment and let you all know…

Pete.  We loved Pete.  Not only was Pete a tree cutter, he was the nicest guy ever.  If he wasn’t 65 years old, he would have been mine for sure.  He would shout for me to throw a, “hard eight…hard six…hard twelve.”  The best part was I ended up throwing what he needed the majority of the time! Unfortunately, I got nothing from my superior throws – just his business card which had a picture of him in a forest cutting down a tree 30 years ago when he was buff and bronzed! In fact, I’m looking at his card right now – what a great guy that Pete was.  If anyone is interested in Pete, let me know and I’ll give you his number!

The Random Accountants. Middle aged men with no personality? Yep, they loved me.  Ali decided it was too funny watching them interact with me so there was no attempt on his part to save me.  To be fair, I didn’t want to deal with Kathy’s awkward advances towards Ali at this point so I was fine hanging with the accountants.

The MGM Grand Dealers. I would like to give a special shout out to the 1 – 4am casino dealers.  They cracked inappropriate jokes, took our money graciously, and encouraged us to sneak in alcoholic beverages after the bars closed. They were simply fantastic.

Despite our empty pockets by the end of the trip, it was a great time.  Keep the free rooms coming…