Road Trip

OK, since I've been a slack-ass, y'all are in for a treat. I'll be posting TWO blogs today. Apparently, I've been a bit long-winded in my blogs (I know, who'd of thought me being long-winded). Anyway, let's waste time...

I've been super-busy at my job, which is good, because I'll be making money. Last Saturday, I ran into a friend's sister at the restaurant (I didn't recognize her at first, just mentioned I knew some guys who used to play football for Georgia Tech. Small world). Meeting a fellow Parkview grad in Times Square of all places, let alone a fellow Atlantan.

I was counting down the days for this past Wednesday. Some of you know why, but if you don't, I'll share. My buddy Matt and his girlfriend Brooke flew into town. I got off work, went home and changed, and went to meet them in Times Square. Man, it was great seeing some familiar faces. For those of you who don't know (though I'd imagine most of you do), Matt and I go back a few years from theater in Atlanta. I'd say him and Stackhouse are my two closest friends. We're also Playing in Traffic Improv guys (for more information, go to www.pitimprov.com because this troupe is the jam). We're pretty much cut from the same mold. So I meet them, and we head to Park Slope in Brookly where they'll be staying. We kept putting Brooke in charge of where we were going, which Matt and I found fun, but Brooke wasn't a fan of. After we dropped their stuff off, we got some burgers and beer at this place that I can't remember the name of. Abell met us down there, and we all had a good time. We then went home and prepared for the next days shennanigans: Atlantic City.

We met up at the Port Authority on 42nd St. and bought our tickets to Atlantic City via the bus. Here's how it works with going to Atlantic City from New York. It's $33 roundtrip, and buses run 24 hours a day, and your ticket is good for 4 days. It's between 2.5 and 3 hours to get there. When you get off the bus, they give you a voucher that you can cash in for $21, so total out of pocket cost for a round trip ticket to Atlantic City is $12. Not to shabby. What's even less shabby is Matt was able to score us a FREE room in Caesar's palace. Yes, I'm going to post pictures as soon as my email receives them from my phone. Chillax folks. So we drop our stuff off and decide to hit a Ruby Tuesday for dinner, then it's time to gamble. Now if you've never been to a casino, one of the perks is that drinks (i.e. "big kid drinks") are free, if it looks like you're gambling (we were actually gambling, so we weren't those people). I'm pretty good at knowing my limits when I gamble since I pretty much suck at it. We started off playing some video poker. If you're a slot machine fan, I suggest video poker, because you can play this game for a while (you're basically trying to get Jacks or better). My brother was telling me about craps, and Matt and I looked up the rules on his iPhone on the way down. Why am I taking a standard B-God tangent? Kevin (my brother) told me him and a few buddies played craps one night in Vegas, and read up on it beforehand. When they played the game with some people at the table, one guy was wanting the table to "stay poppin'," and he needed the table "more salty." Neither of us know what the aforementioned means, but it sounded good, so basically when things were going well for any of us, we kept calling it salty. We also added other terms, like "graham crackers, oreos, and ham sandwiches." After a few drinks, Matt and I headed downstairs to play some blackjack. We sit down at a table and start playing. Immediately after we sit down, I notice an odd smell, and by odd I mean rank and horrible. Worse than a chicken coop. I couldn't imagine it was the dealer, and it wasn't Matt or myself, seeing as how neither of us had been stinky the entire day. The guy next to Matt gets up to leave, and once he leaves, Matt says to me "dude, that guy next to me smells terrible." The dealer heard him, and agreed, and apologized that he couldn't do anything. In the meantime, I lost my cash on the table, so I decide to take out more money at one of the reasonably priced ATM's (at $5 mind you). I get back to the table, and Matt had slid down to my seat, leaving an open one between him and Stinky McGee. I step next to the chair and my nostrils are treated with both barrels of this guy's odor. Let me paint a more vivid picture as to how much this guy stunk. Imagine someone not showering for 5 days and then going for a swim. Not just any old swim, but a swim through, oh, I don't know, let's say a swamp. So, no shower for a few days followed by some a nice dip in the Everglades, now imagine if said person decided to get with a dead buffalo in a chicken coop after washing his clothes in a mixture of manure, burnt hair, and Indian food. That all would smell better than this guy (Matt can back me up on this). He finally left, and I took his seat and lost my money that I just took out. OK, God's way of saying not to gamble tonight. I'll just get my money's worth in drinks. I end up exploring the hotel a bit, and run into Stinky in the lobby, who asks me if I had a quarter to borrow. OK, that explains his hygene. He's probably homeless, so I polietely told him no, and moved on. I end up crashing in the room at God knows what time thanks to Brooke. We also got 2 free breakfast buffett coupons since there was construction at the hotel, and whomever won the most money would have to pay for their own breakfast (Brooke and I ended up getting the coupons, and Matt had enough points for a free breakfast). After breakfast, Matt and Brooke went and gambled, and I decided to treat myself to a massage. Man, I needed one of those. I also smelled great afterwards. You're probably wondering why this blog is so dedicated to the olefactory glands, and I honestly couldn't tell you why, other than the dude we met was the smelliest guy ever, and I smelled awesome after my massage, my morning shower (before my massage of course), another shower, a steam, a sauna, another shower (conditioned the hair 3 times), and a shave. We left around 5 that night, and got back to the city around 8. Matt and Brooke took in a really cool show which I've already forgotten the name of.

Saturday we did a bit of tourist stuff (checked out the Apple store on 59th along with FAO Schwartz. That night, we took in a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater. It's an improv theater in New York, one of the best to see long form improv (also where I plan on studying starting this month). The show was great. Mostly Harlod-type long form stuff in their first set, then they did another set where they used iPods and CD's from the audience to inspire scenes. The group was called Mother, and they were really good. Later that night, we had beers at this red neck style bar in Chelsea called Trailer Park. Pretty good. My other buddy Adam flew in that night from Atlanta and joined us. We went out after everyone left (those shennanigans will be covered in the next blog). Sunday was Matt and Brooke's last day in New York before heading back to Atlanta, and of course I miss them already, but it was great seeing them. Since it's late, I'll start blogging and adding pictures tomorrow morning.