Trumped

One night this summer, my friend Tami, four of her other friends, and I took the ultimate plunge. We drove to Atlantic City to "live it up". It might not have been my first choice of places to go, but I hadn't seen Tami in awhile and wanted to spend as much time with her as she was moving away. I had never been to a casino before in my life.

So, we arrived at our first casino at around 11.30 p.m. We ventured in, and before we reached the floor, I looked to the right and saw a line of red chairs. In them were seven people, waaasted, slumped over, and trying to sober up. I was tempted to take a picture of the scene, but before I was able to get my camera out, Tami had the same idea, whipped hers out, and shot a picture of the drunkards.

We walked onto the floor, and I could not believe my eyes. The sounds of all the slot machines coalesced into a low, mesmerizing hum (somewhere around a middle C). This, combined with the blinking lights, made me feel as if I was in a psychedelic sound and color field created by some 20th century abstract film guru. We passed by one lady who sported a sequined vest of poker chips and playing cards. She even had a hat to match. I really wanted to capture her fashion statement on film but was too busy staring at all the fancy light fixtures. So, again, Tami took a picture, and then we ran away.

We moved on to one of Donald Trump's casinos, and I was "feeling lucky", so I was tempted to play a $0.25 slot machine (I was only going to put a quarter in). Then, I remembered how greedy and self-absorbed I think Donald Trump is, and I didn't want him to see any of my money. So, instead, I abstained.

The amazing thing is that they serve you free drinks throughout the course of the evening at the casinos. I took full advantage of this by ordering coffee, two black russians, and one white russian, for diversity. I was pretty excited about not supporting Donald Trump's casino while concurrently lapping up his liquor reserves and tipping the nice waitresses instead.

Other highlights of the night included :

I saw a dealer who looked just like the tall creepy man from Charlie's Angels (see left).

A crazy man stole 10 dollars from Tami's purse. He was wildly intoxicated and completely denied the whole thing. We called security over, and he handed over all the money, still denying the incident.

We met a security guard who told us that Trump is not allowed to gamble in his own casinos in New Jersey. HA.

There were men pushing people around in rickshaws on the boardwalk. I can't remember the last time I've seen a rickshaw. This sight was very intriguing to behold after my intimate encounter with the complimentary drinks, courtesy of Mr. Trump.