APR 9, 24 .. TOTAL ECLIPSE.. SENIOR MOMENT.. SLOT MACHINES.. MARCH MADNESS..

April the 8th 2024 .. aka Yesterday ..

The TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN that occurred here in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, yesterday, April the 8th, in the late morning was, at best, a “mixed experience.” Of course, Lake Havasu was not on track to be in the path of the “TOTAL ECLIPSE” anyway.

Patti and I did not see it, because we slept through the time it occurred.

Some friends here said, “It was overcast and cloudy so NO! We did NOT see it nor did we see the sun!” 

Others said, “Yes Oh Yes! We saw it clearly!”. Maybe today’s (Tuesday the 9th of April) newspaper will have photos of it so we can see what some people saw or didn’t see.

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SENIOR MOMENT

Wandering the Streets of My Mind

AT AGE 87 YEARS  .. Memory Challenges Arise

Yesterday I wrote about the above Total Eclipse Day. I also wrote about my planned Monday trip to Havasu Landing Casino with my neighbor Eddie. 

It may have helped (but I didn’t) if I would have also written that Patti and I were going to join our great friend Michael to watch the Championship game of March Madness at Michael’s home.

I got out of bed yesterday morning around 10am. I thought about the Total Eclipse of the Sun and the fact I was going with Eddie over to Havasu Landing Casino. 

Then it “Hit Me”. 

A week ago Patti and I had planned to watch the March Madness Championship game that (I thought, I believed) began at 3:20pm here in Lake Havasu City. At 3:20pm I would be with Eddie at the Casino!!

I went over to Eddie’s apartment and explained to Eddie why our Monday trip together to the Casino WAS OFF! Eddie fully understood and agreed “Don’t get old Cap” and that was that.

Then I called Michael to “firm up our plans” and found out the starting time of the game was 9:20pm in the East and 6:20pm (NOT 3:20pm) here.

Back to Eddie’s I trotted. And we were set to go over to the Casino.

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HAVASU LANDING CASINO

Before I go further I want all of you to KNOW that I KNOW that most (perhaps all) of you are not really interested in this.

But it is part of a process that I am using to really get a “feeling for myself” so I can better understand just how people get entrapped into gambling addictions.

A distant view of Rocky and Wonder Woman, the only two slot machines that I play here. Rocky is the second one from the left. Wonder Woman is next to Rocky on his left.

When we arrived and entered the Casino, Eddie branched off to go to other slot machines because he regularly plays four other machines.

I went “straight to Rocky” and I inserted Patti’s Players Card.

Then I began by pressing the “play” button and !!

For 50 cents ($0.50) on my very first game of the day, I “hit a four ($4.00) dollar payout.”

In the above photo on the left was my “bet” of $0.50 and on the right was my “payout” of four ($4.00) dollars.

Game 1

I sat down. I pressed “play”. I won four ($4.00) dollars.

This has never, ever happened to me!

So I “cashed out” Game 1.

I inserted $5.00 into Rocky .. one game cost me 50 cents .. So my balance was $4.50.

My “Cashout” was ($4.50 + $4.00 won) $8.50.. 1 game 1 payout.

After that I got a lot, I mean a LOT of Action from Rocky. But no more “large” payouts. 

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Game 2

Here is what I mean by a lot of action. X is a spin. After the X will be a payout IF I got one..

XXXX $0.20 X $0.69 XXX $2.92 X $0.60 X .. 10 games 4 payouts.

Translation. I played ten games (ten X’s) at 50 cents a game ($5.00 total) and I won ($0.20 + $0.69 + $2.92 + $0.60) $4.41 was my Cashout.

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Game 3

Again a LOT more “Action”.

X $0.06  X $0.30  X $0.12 XX $0.70  XXX $2.20 X $0.10 X .. 10 games 6 payouts.

Translation. I played ten games (ten X’s) at 50 cents a game ($5.00 total) and I won ($0.06 + $0.30 + $0.12 + $0.70 + $0.70 + $1.20 + $0.10) so my Cashout was  $2.48.

10 games and 11 payouts. This is a lot of constant action.

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Game 4 

XX $0.60 XXX $.12 XX $0.80 XX $0.14 X $0.40 and my Cashout was $2.06 .. 10 games 5 payouts.

So I had played 40 games. I had 16 payouts. I had spent $20 and I had gotten back $17.45.

My cost thus far for my day was .. $2.55.

Here we are. I have “only” lost $2.55. If I “only” lose $5.00 THAT is a successful day in my opinion.

So “why not play” another $5 for 10 games. I did.

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Game 5

XX $0.12 XX $0.12 XXX $0.33 XXX ..  I played 10 games with 3 payouts. Bet $5.00 and won $1.58.

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My days Bottom Line. I bet $25.00 and I won $19.03. I “lost” $5.97.

I played 45 minutes total.

I played 41  games  and I got 29 payouts.

This is about “as good as it gets”.

But it is Oh So Subtle.

A lot of action (41 games with 29 payouts) in terms of payouts but the sum totals consistently got lower! .. $8.50 – $4.41 – $2.48 – $2.06 – $1.58.

And I left still feeling that “a big payout” could be coming.

BUT  I left. I DID NOT “chase after the feeling that “a big payout” could be coming.

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MARCH MADNESS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

A delightful evening with Michael and Subway Footlong Sandwiches.

Game on! UCONN vs PURDUE.

Commercial Break off to see some Ice Hockey!

Back to March Madness!

Commercial Break some more Ice Hockey.

March Madness!

University of Connecticut 75 – 60  Purdue University 

Thanks so very much Michael for hosting us. We really enjoyed our evening together.

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That’s All Folks..

Cap and Patti

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