Put Your Makeup On, Fix Your Hair Up Pretty...And Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City

*DISCLAIMER* I don't usually feel the need to clarify for my audience but, I gotta tell y’all, this blog is rather lengthy. So, if you’re not up for it...the remote is on the nightstand and the ice cream is in the fridge. I won't be offended if you decide to catch the end of that movie (or game), but if you are up for it, Thanks for Reading!! :-)

The post title refers to a song written by Bruce Springsteen back in 1982, aptly titled "Atlantic City". It's about a young couple's escape to New Jersey for a night. This is the story of two couples that decided to make New Jersey the escape from their respective cities for a weekend.

My best friend and I had actually been talking about going away together for years –-whether it be by plane to head west for some sun, "California Dreamin'" and to visit with my family or maybe heading down south by car to visit her family and experience some Southern Hospitality. But in the to and froes of life, we had only gotten as far as our respective cities to visit each other. She would come back to her old stomping grounds to visit me in New York or I would go to her neck of the woods to the City of Brotherly Love in Philadelphia, but we could never quite make it anywhere else…until now.

She informed me a few weeks ago of her plans to take her boyfriend to Atlantic City for his birthday and asked if I wanted to come along. "Atlantic City, huh? Ok. Uh…cool. Let me get back to you on that." I honestly was a bit skeptical about the trip. Not only did I not want to be the proverbial third wheel, but there was also the fact that the last time I ventured down to New Jersey, I was with a bunch of women friends. And although I had a great time just bonding with them all (namely Jackie, Mali, Quenta, Sasha and a few others), the idea of losing my shirt at the casinos did not appeal to me then and I don't know if it would appeal to me now. But I began to reconsider once she told me that we would be staying in a time-share. For those of you who aren't familiar, a time-share is the name given to a piece of real estate where a number of people share ownership in the subject property. My girl has a time-share?! Hold up! We share everything!! Why didn't she tell me that she is a burgeoning real estate mogul? Now y'all know I wanna get in on that action! But as it turns out, she isn't a real estate mogul at all. She is just a woman who was able to get a taste the high life, namely by signing up for a free weekend at a time-share. Either way, mogul or not, my curiosity was peaked. After having broken down all the details to me, I decided to give it a shot. I mean one never knows...there could very well be a story here that I could later relay to my grandchildren: "It was a long time ago kids, but your Nana hit the big jackpot on a trip to Atlantic City. And would you believe that I actually had trepidations about going? Well I sure am glad that I went…bring the car around Jeeves, tonight's Bingo night at the Senior Center!" Well now that I was excited about the trip, I had to find someone who would be just as excited (as well as able to split any costs with me *wink, wink*) to join me. Enter Deo, the six foot tall New Age flower child mentioned in previous posts, who has not only become a good friend, but in light of recent life events –- a port in the storm. "Hell yea!" He says. Cool. I guess this means we're all set and all we have to do is get there.

So we synchronized our watches and tied the threads of our excitement together and agreed to meet in Atlantic City, New Jersey around three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Deo and I were the first to arrive after what seemed like a relatively short bus trip. This trip was shorter than most for me as I'm used to having a bus trip to Pennsylvania take about four hours. I guess that says something about Greyhound. We paid our fare, left the driving to them and we got there in one piece! Yay! The bus dropped us off in front of the Sands Atlantic City Hotel/Casino and considering that we weren't going to check in to our hotel until four o'clock, we had our bags with us along with time to kill and decided to see what trouble we could get into at the Sands casino.

We walked into the casino and I immediately experienced sensory overload –- my eyes were transfixed by the brightly colored lights of the slots and the décor of the casino, my ears were ringing along with the machines and the chatter of the people and my mouth was dry at the thought of what I may have gotten myself into. I may have been a bit tentative, but Deo's eyes lit up. They grew as big as saucers. He saw dollar signs and was clearly excited. He was like a kid in a candy store. He and I would soon find out, however, what having too much candy can do to a person!

We walked over to the roulette table and put our bags on the chairs next to us. The yellow plaque on the table indicates that there is a five-dollar minimum to place a bet. The dealer, a Hispanic man, nodded and smiled in our direction. With a twinkle in his eyes, he asks us if we wanted to play. Deo dives into his pockets and pulls out a twenty-dollar bill. The dealer gives him four five-dollar chips. He scans the table and looks for a number to call out to him. He puts 2 to 1 on black on the 2nd half of the board to win, which means that he would double his money by putting a chip on any black number on the second half of the board. I tell him that there are thirty-six numbers he can bet on and that he should be careful. We are the only two players at the table. All bets are set. The dealer swishes the little white ball onto the roulette wheel and then waves his hand over the table. This move fascinated Deo and I. With it this man had the power to captivate all who sat at his table. The world hushed with the swipe of a hand. We watched intently as the little ball rolled around and around on the roulette wheel finally cradling itself on 18…black. Deo and I looked at each and smiled. He doubled his money and won ten dollars. His posture immediately changed. He was no longer the man who had come to take in the sights and have fun. He had become a man on a mission. With one win, he became an expert –- even telling me, the novice gambler, what my best odds were. I took his advice and two of his chips and placed my bet. I placed it on the red diamond, which meant that any red number was a winner. It seemed like a safe enough bet. The ball was thrown, the hand was swiped and my anticipation was growing. Roll…roll…roll. Stop. RED!!! I won!!! I doubled my money! I clapped happily like a child who had just been given a prize. I felt good and wanted to try it again. I wasn't quite ready to commit to an actual number just yet; so black was the color of choice this time. Swish. Wave. Roll. Roll. Roll…clink, clink. BLACK!!! Damn!!! I was officially on a roll! The dealer gave me another five-dollar chip. I could picture myself going to the redemption counter with all my chips and having the bitchy woman behind the counter with the pink argyle sweater look at me over her glasses (I guess she's never given out this much money before and she just hates the idea that it’s going to a novice! Nah nah nah nah nah!!) before pushing piles of money toward me! I felt lucky. With that, I decided to step it up and commit to a number. 33. The sounds and movements had become familiar at this point: Swish. Wave. Roll. Roll. Roll…clink, clink. I held my breath…what would it be? 28. Number 28. *Gasp!* I lost?! I couldn't believe it. I followed Deo's advice to the letter and I still lost. Before I could blink, I saw my little chip being pulled away from the table like a child being ripped from her mother's arms. I was smacked back into reality and decided that the chips I had left would go into my pocket…as cash. Deo then decided to head over to the Blackjack table, where he proceeded to lose two hands. He appeared unfazed. The next hour or so just flew by and before I knew it, Teesha called, told us that she was about five minutes away and that we should meet her in front of the hotel.



One of the views from my window.

As it turns out, our hotel –- the Fairfield Skyline Towers -- was right down the street from the Sands. I was sitting in the lobby when I saw Teesha and Tyrone walk through the double doors to greet us. Teesha and I greeted each other with a hug while Deo and Tyrone bonded with the offering of a cigarette. While they bonded over nicotine, Teesha checked us all in. We then got onto the elevator and headed up to our room. Room 1901. I opened the door to the room and felt like I was on one of those episodes of MTV’s “The Real World”. You know the episodes where after discovering each other, the potential roommates run around discovering their living quarters. On the show there are opportunities for friendships, possible romance or maybe just the opportunity for the roommates to embarrass themselves for the sake of cable ratings. We all looked around in amazement. This is where we were staying for the weekend? Niiiccee!! It was a full-fledged apartment! Two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, living room…and cable! We rushed in without really thinking of which bedroom we would take but guess who got the master bedroom with a separate master bathroom and a Jacuzzi? LOL!

After settling in, we all go out to see what New Jersey has to offer. It was suggested that we try the AC Bar and Grill. We were told “they have the best food in the whole city!” That was too far fetched a thought, considering the “city” of Atlantic City isn’t really a city at all, but a resort community located on an island -- Absecon Island. So rather than take our chances with what could be our digestive downfall, we stuck to the basics and ordered fries from a pizzeria across the street from the Grill. Deo went against the grain and ordered a pasta dish. After getting our order we headed back to the room, where we proceeded to watch one of the many movies that Teesha brought along with her (she actually set us up pretty well for the weekend by providing food that we could prepare in the kitchen instead of going out and spending money on restaurants. Good thinking girl!) Teesha, Tyrone and I had fries to go with the sandwiches we made while Deo happily devoured his pasta. After filling our stomachs, the consensus was to take a nap. We had what was commonly known in Black people circles as “The itis.”


A few hours later, we all awoke refreshed and ready to see what was next. We decided to take a leisurely walk on the boardwalk. We walked along the gambler’s strip: The Taj Mahal…Bally’s…Caesars…Resorts. We then stopped in at the amusement park and reverted to our childhood days. After an hour of so of shooting balloons with water guns and throwing baseballs at old fashioned milk cans, we decided to head to The Showboat to look around a bit. I have to say that my enthusiasm for gambling fell away with the money initially lost at the roulette table earlier in the day. Deo, however, proved himself to be the expert after all –- winning $83.00 while sitting at the quarter slots! What the hell?! I felt cheated. I looked around and saw that everyone was winning except me. Ridiculous!! I was pissed and hungry. I dragged Deo away from the slots to find Tyrone and Teesha so that we could get some dinner. We didn't have to go far as the House of Blues was literally two steps away from the casino. With that, we ate, drank and were merry. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, caught the rest of the movie that we were initially too tired to finish watching and finally went to sleep in anticipation of day two in "The Las Vegas of the East".

The next day we woke up at the crack of dawn to attend a Time-Share Seminar. I guess having a counselor sit with us while trying to convince us to spend our life savings on a quasi-apartment that we would only use for two weeks out of the year, was the price that we had to pay to stay another day. The seminar seemed to go forever. By the time we got out we were all drained and tired. Teesha and Tyrone headed back to the room while Deo and I went for a walk to allow them some private time. I felt like a monster had been created. In the last 24 hours, Deo and I had been to the casino at least three times and it seemed like he couldn’t get enough. He gave me fifty dollars (he hit a personal jackpot during every visit and he shared some of it with me) and told me to find a machine and have fun. “Don’t sit there expecting to win. Just have fun!” he said. And so, I was left to my own devices while Deo was off stuffing bills into slots. The Gambling Gods seemed to be punishing me though, because in the three visits to the casino, I’d only come out on top by $11.50. How pitiful is that?! At that point, I was thinking why gamble when I could shop. Everyone wins in that situation!

After an hour or so, we went back to the hotel to find that Teesha and Tyrone were well rested and ready to go. Deo decided in that moment to stay in. He said that he was not feeling well, but it’s my belief that his winning streak finally hit the skids and it was getting to him. So Teesha, Tyrone and I headed out. None of us wanted to go to yet another casino so we walked away from the boardwalk and headed in the opposite direction. We saw a shining purple beacon on the night’s horizon -- otherwise known as The Borgata.

I took this picture with my cell phone. Pretty dark and prophetic don't you think?

In all our time in Atlantic City, this seemed the only casino/hotel that we hadn’t seen, so we started to walk. After walking for about ten minutes, it began to drizzle. With only one small umbrella between the three of us, we -- or should I say I -- proceeded to get soaked as the rain picked up half way to the casino. We decided to head back. It seemed like we were lost when all we saw in front of us was a rash of houses and a never ending highway. But a turn was made on one of the many city streets that looked the same at night, and we found ourselves back on the boardwalk!


I had my very first Funnel cake...with ice-cream!

By this time the rain lightened to a drizzle again and we had the boardwalk virtually to ourselves with the exception of one or two of those rolling chair guys. There were Funnel cakes and ice-cream during our rainy walk along the boardwalk. Music blasted from one of the store fronts and I just felt the urge to dance. And so, I happily danced along the boardwalk while Teesha and Tyrone strolled slowly behind me. We walked back to the hotel.



That's Teesha in the kitchen of the time-share apartment.

Upon our return to the hotel, we decided that we’d seen all that Atlantic City had to offer us and we stayed in on our last night. Teesha made dinner for us. We sat at the kitchen table and went back and forth in the discussion of relationships over a seafood dinner of crab legs with garlic butter and stuffed shrimp. Before I knew it, I was lying in bed and turning off the light on my weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We checked out early the next day. We laughed and recalled our experiences over pancakes at a diner before Teesha drove Deo and I to the bus station for the trip back to New York.



Taken on the balcony on our last day.

I used to think of this place as the city of the perpetual blue haired social security squanderer or “Hedonism” for the elderly. But I have discovered the solace behind the slot machines and charm behind the buckets of change. It was here where a life long friendship was deepened and new relationships were forged. In spite of my initial skepticism regarding this trip, I would have to say that this weekend was a gamble worth taking!