Odds?

I'm back from Vegas. NAB was a little slow this year, there weren't many new things since last year. I played a few hours of poker each night. Since I was staying at the Excalibur, and I like the poker room there, that is where I played.

I found the intarweb once while out there, and noticed that Dr, Pauly was in town covering a WPT event. I gave him a call, and we talked, but we never got the chance to hook up out there and play some poker. I also managed to not sit at a table with Otit either. I knew people in Vegas, but couldn't seem to meet with them to play some poker. I was feeling a little discouraged. I checked my armpits and breath for odor.

****

I knew Jimmy in the high school days. He didn't go to my school, he didn't actually go to school at all. Jimmy had already graduated, but was hanging out with a degenerate bunch of high school students while he waited for life to happen. Jimmy was a raucous addition to my small clique of artsy-type freinds.

One time, I broke up with a girl, and was very depressed. Jimmy saved me. We drank a bottle of cheap gin together and climbed an old water tower in the middle of the night. Jimmy was therapeudic.

Whenever there was the slightest opportunity or excuse, Jimmy dropped trou and would streak or go skinny dipping or just sit there naked for no apparent reason. Jimmy drank like a fish. Jimmy did plenty of drugs. Jimmy slept with plenty of girls. Jimmy was my friend.

But time marches onward, and people come in and out of your life. I've seen Jimmy occasionally through the years. He's been working in the downtown resturaunt scene, waiting tables. Like me, Jimmy's gained a few pounds, and his hair has a little gray. It's been 3 years since the last time I bumped into him.

****

Monday night, after a LONG day of walking concrete floors at the crowded convention center, talking to salesmen and engineers, and trying to score cheesy promotional items, The Wife and I slowly headed back to the Excalibur. After a quick stop at the room to drop off stuff, we walked over to the Luxor, then Mandalay Bay, where we stopped and ate a fantastic buffet. We played a few penny slots (to get free beverage), made a sports bet for a friend, watched a band for a few songs, then headed back to the Excal.

"You know Honey. I think I'll play just a little bit of poker."

"Don't stay up too late."

And so I head to the poker room. I had let Otit and Dr Pauly know I had been playing there, and thought I'd scan the room for anyone I knew. According to Pauly, Grubby had been there the night before, and I never saw him. So I look through the room and see a somewhat overweight guy with a ponytail and goatee that resembles Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.

"Damn that guy looks like Jimmy. It couldn't be Jimmy, lots of guys look like Comic Book Guy." Then I see it. The Cheap Trick T-shirt. The instant I saw the Cheap Trick shirt, I knew it was Jimmy.

Jimmy was going to Anahiem to see Cheap Trick. He flew to Vegas because the flight was cheaper, and rented a car to drive to Anahiem. He decided to spend around three hours playing poker, before continuing his journey, and picked the Excalibur. That's right, I tried to hook up with Otit and Pauly for three days, but couldn't, and managed to accidentally hook up with an old high school buddy who was only there for three hours.

I should've put $500 on #19.