Right as I started writing this paper I though oh boy I haven’t completed the project but then I thought back to this weekend. I drove out to Las Vegas for a friends wedding and now that I think about it I broke some rules during my trip. The first rule I think I broke was at the gas station before I left. I only put a few dollars on my gas pump, there was a line of 3 cars waiting to get gas behind me, when I realized I had not put enough money on the machine I went inside to put more money on the machine to top off my tank. There was then a line of 4 cars behind me. I noticed that my windshield was dirty so I washed it my windshield. I felt kind of bad for the line of cars behind me but I needed the gas, and I didn’t want to drive to Las Vegas with a dirty windshield. Surprisingly no one beeped their horns at me or yelled in my direction. All of the other cars just waited a little bit and started driving over to the other gas pumps.
The next thing I subconsciously did was I drove extremely fast on the freeway. Normally I drive the speed limit or 5 miles over it because I don’t want to get a ticket for speeding or worse cause a car accident. While on the freeway in route I was going 65mph at first and I noticed cars were passing me every second. So I started to drive a little faster to keep up with the traffic, and I would randomly get stuck behind a car going the speed limit here and there and it would annoy me. So I started to drive even faster than that car so I wouldn’t be going so slowly and have cars passing me. At one point in time I found my self-going 93mph while I was in the right lane. I only noticed when I drove past a state trooper in the breakdown lane searching for speeders. So I was freaking out I thought I had been caught and would be fined. I slowed down to 65mph of course but I still felt like I would get a ticket. I slowly drove waiting for the cop to follow me but he didn’t. I was shocked that I didn’t get pulled over. I’m not sure if the cop was actually pulling people over or if he was just there to intimidate people. If that was his purpose it sure worked on me.
Another thing I did that is probably looked down upon is gambling while only playing with a set limit. The whole point of casinos is to take large amount of money for the players. Sure they make the dealers seem friendly and like they’re on your side but when it all comes down to it their not. Well I started my trip with only $200 I brought that with me for gas, food, drinks, and gambling. I told myself I could use my debit card only in emergencies, I wanted to have self-restraint so Saturday I only went out with $100. I bought a few drinks and some dinner but I was more excited to play some table games. My third round of Texas Hold ‘Em I won $300, and then I put away $200 of it and only played with $100. I went back to my hotel with $450, and I know that is a frowned upon thing from most casinos but I didn’t care.
The next day before my friends woke up to go out for breakfast I went to a small casino next to my hotel with $100 and I played some roulette and black jack. I was on a heater; I kept on cashing out when I hit $100 and bringing it back to my hotel and going back with my $100 I started with. Every time I left and came back I noticed the pit boss looking at me and talking to the dealers who I played with. After awhile of being looked at by the pit boss I decided to leave.
When I got back my friends were ready to get lunch we went out and I spent some of my winnings on food, then we went to another casino. I spent $20 at a poker table and walked away with $280. I was up a considerable amount of money and I told myself I wouldn’t let the Vegas taboo of wasting your winnings at casinos. My friends and me went to the wedding we had gone to Vegas for.
After the wedding my friends wanted to go to the little casino next door to our hotel where I stated my day. I left all my winnings except for $120, I slowly lost the money and I kept on thinking about all of my winnings in my hotel room. I kept on going back to the hotel and taking money out of my wallet. I ended up going back multiple times. At one point I was up $560 and then it decreased down to being up $200. So that night I went back to my hotel up $200 and I was content, sure I missed the other $360 but I was still content. But the Vegas bug hit me badly; I got way to greedy for my own good. I went back and wasted that $200 profit the next morning before I left.
I was still happy at the fact that I went to Vegas with $200 and I left with $200 after having a fun trip. I guess what I am getting at I was beating the system and rules of Vegas by cashing out while I was ahead. No one at any of the casnios said anything to me they didn’t get angry when I was walking around as a winner. I thought they would but they didn’t. However the one person who prevented me from being a big winner was myself.
