Signs of the Apocalypse - Casino Version.....

First of all, I apologize for the lack of a blog post yesterday. I was sitting at the poker table at our favorite casino when I realized it was 11:51 Georgia time. I started to surreptitiously fire off a blog post on my Blackberry, but blogging with my thumbs is a challenge and I probably couldn't have managed it in 9 minutes anyway. Then there is the fact that they will ask you leave a poker table if you have your cell phone out. And then there was the sudden realization that it takes a huge ego to believe that a last-minute, thumb-written blog post is vital to the well-being of anyone out there. I try to keep my ego in check. Having a husband and a daughter usually takes care of that.

Already there have been several signs of the apocalypse in the 15 hours we have been here.

• In this, our favorite casino, where we have been numerous times over the last few years, where we rarely have to pay for our room because we gamble enough, they assigned us a room with access for handicapped people. Including the drive-in shower. Huh?
• No, it isn't Vegas, but people usually try to assume a certain level of decorum in a casino. For example, I've never seen a fight in a casino, although it was a close call last night because of the dude I was sitting next to. I almost slugged him for his bad language. If Hubby had been at the table then, he probably would have. Because apparently there is a huge difference in a man using the "F" word in front of his OWN wife, and someone else doing it. Whatever. Back to the level of decorum. As we walked through the lobby this morning, presumably before some people had had a chance to get good and drunk, there was a guy brushing his teeth. In the lobby. And carrying on a conversation at the same time. Huh?
• I saw a sign for a shuttle bus to the other casino. Seriously? It is located....... wait for it..... Across. The. Street. With a covered, elevated pedestrian walkway connecting the two. It has moving sidewalks. And someone needs a shuttle? Huh?
  
• When I came to the lobby to use the internet, because this hotel doesn't offer internet in the rooms because they'd much rather people be in the casino, there was a man with an open book, a pen, and a notepad spread out on the largest table. (I'd point out that he did NOT have a laptop, as three others of us did, trying to balance them on tables no larger than dinner plates, but that would be un-Christian of me.) He was talking to himself and writing furiously. Nothing at all strange about that. Then I realized the book he had open was the Bible. Huh? Was he copying it? Preparing a Sunday School lesson? Is he the opening act for Willie Nelson tonight? (No, we're not going. If Willie Nelson were singing at the adjacent poker table, I would move.) A Bible lesson in a casino? Huh?
• As I started to type this, I looked up and noticed the same man, the one with the Bible and the notepad, doing toe-touches. In the hall. Right outside the fitness room. Huh?
• Finally, I am in a casino with several buffets, numerous gift shops, several hours of free time on my hands, more cash (so far) than I came with, my crocheting, and a good book, and I'm about to go ride my bicycle in the general direction of the next town, which is 20 miles away. Huh?