Casino Rama

I think out of all of my new year's resolutions, the one where I wanted to hang out with friends and keep in touch with them has been probably the only one I've been able to keep so far! It's sort of a challenge with most of them in school and with me working, but it always feels good when we make the effort to get together and have a blast too.

Yesterday's adventure took us to Casino Rama. The last time I was in a Casino was during a family trip to Las Vegas, and there I wasn't even able to stop in the aisle. So this time around I was really excited about being able to gamble (although I was only adventurous enough to play the slots). It's was a great trip organized by Rumeister, and only $5!! It included a nice coach bus ride up there and a really good buffet too. Needless to say my non-gambling friends and I spent A LOT of time eating (resolution #1 broken 10 fold). After spending 2 hours eating we made the arduous task of moving and walking around the casino. Immediately I was turned off from gambling. On a Friday night, here were the senior citizens of North Ontario, slouched at their slot machines pressing buttons like robots with fags hanging out of their mouths. Some younger folk dressed up for a night in the casino to also slouch in their seats, pressing buttons like robots with fags hanging out of their mouths. I felt bad for the husbands who had to guard slot machines while their wives gambled away their paycheck for the week.

What I hated the most was the smoking. Most of the people I saw were smoking and all old. In addition to the white women with really bad afro-perms, men with mullets and cut-off plaid shirts, we also saw and old man pushing his oxygen tank around. The coat check even had a sign saying, "We do not hold oxygen tanks". That would make a pretty terrible story: explosion at casino caused by gambling addicts lighting up in close proximity to oxygen tanks belonging to other gambling addicts with emphysema.

The scariest thing I saw was how much people were dishing out. We had made our way over to where our friends where at the Craps tables, and there was this man who had just put down $1,000. I mean he didn't look well off... but still!! $1,000!!!! I don't know how much he had put down before, but apparently he had gone to get more money. We took off and in the time we had gone, he went to get another $2,000 and left after losing everything. Sweet Jesus. The funniest thing was that you could apply for credit with Casino Rama. I'm sure it's ploy to get the addicts to spend more money, but it was wrong that they didn't show the interest rate on the application form.

Earlier in the day I went back to my undergrad office to see the admin staff and my old counsellor and she actually asked me if still wanted to do some artwork for one of the computer labs. Last school year, I had suggested that I might want to do some artwork, like 3 giant wall canvases to brighten up the place and I couldn't believe that she remembered! I did a mini photo shoot in the ladies bathroom after we came back from the casino. In Engineering, it used to be a department that was 100% male (now it is 80%). Over time they had to rename some of the mens bathrooms as ladies and subsequently we have urinals in our bathrooms. I had a friend take a picture of me using the urinals in the bathroom and then somehow it evolved into more pictures of all of us using the urinals! Personally, I'd like to used my shots as artwork for the lab. It has a more symbolic and abstract meaning... Empowerment of women in Engineering!