Shuing has cancer
I was mentally battling back and forth throughout the day as to whether I should go to the casino after work. I had pretty much decided that I'd rather go to the gym to do those exercises the physio showed me, but then at lunch I ended up going to the gym to do them. Unbelievably, the pain in my achilles has disappeared when I get up from my seat at work. How could a quick massage work such wonders?
Anyway, that meant I went to the casino after work. I saw it as just going there to exchange my $1000 chip for cash with the goal of winning just a little bit, maybe $20 or $30 and then leaving.
I looked around for the old man I saw the night before but didn't see him. I settled on a table where one Asian guy was playing. He reminded me of Ash. The dealer was a middle aged Asian guy I had never seen before.
I had patience and played sporadically, sometimes outside bets, sometimes sections. I went through a few dealers and kept an eye on the slightly attractive Asian dealer on the next table, wondering when she would shift over.
I slowly made my way up to a $400 gain. I was watching the Asian guy bet and he was pretty lucky overall. This dealer with a sad face spun up a lot of 0-3 sections to benefit the Asian guy. It got to a point where I thought I should start betting that sector.
Then there was a dealer change and I thought the Asian girl would come over, but instead, she went over to the $5 table opposite and that dealer swapped over to my table. That usually doesn't happen and I wondered why. Anyway, the dealer that swapped over was called Greg. I had played on his table before. He has a weird sense of humour.
I didn't play much, and after about eight spins the guy with the sad face came back. Very odd rotation. I thought he would spin a lot of 0-3 sectors again and decided to go on it. Big time.
But a few 1-2 sectors in a row nearly killed me. Not only had I lost my gain and thrown out the remaining $1000 I had from my wallet, but I was down to my last spin. I was mentally praying for grandma to look over me but then realised how bad it was to call on the dead to hope for a win. So I stopped.
I used my last $400 to bet on the 0-3 sector, piling it on zero and 26 because those numbers had come up before. I was ready to lose, and leave, but I knew how angry I would feel as I was already feeling it. I was stupid. Why not just take the $400 and leave? Now you're about to leave down $2000. Fuck.
I watched the ball spin. To my amazement it was coming down on the 0-3 sector rather easily. Almost directly. No awkward bounce, no interference, no skip. It came to rest on 26.
I looked at 26 and I had four straight ups and four splits. That was 208 chips. That was $2080.
The dealer asked me how I wanted it and I said all cash as I was going to cash out. I had learnt my lesson. I had come too close to death. I got my $2160 (including the eight winning chips) and walked around the casino a bit before cashing out.
Both tonight and last night I had realised how quiet the place had become. Had they sucked the money out of all the regulars? I began to see the place as more of an RSL club. People had labelled it as that before but I never understood it. Now I did. It seemed so empty. It was not elegant anymore. It was not classy anymore. I just saw people spinning the ball and bored out of their minds supervisors overseeing these people off the street with no other skill spinning the ball. It was just so...informal.
As I walked out of the gaming area I checked my phone. Shuing had sent a message saying that on Friday he had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer and asked for Colin's number.
Oh my god.
I tried calling him but there was no answer. Suddenly everything became so unimportant. Suddenly everything else in life became so much more important. What was I doing in the casino?
I caught a taxi home and had a talk to the driver about various countries, including Dubai, China and Pakistan.
I spoke to Shuing on the phone after dinner. I didn't detect any anger, but he did come from an angle of "what were the odds". He didn't seem 100% coherent, and I could sense some frustration on his part when I couldn't remember all the details of Colin's cancer experience. So after a while I ended the call and suggested we catch up some time over the weekend.
Jin
A few days ago I grabbed my phone back from the garage. I couldn't help but check Kakaotalk. Jin had reinstated her account. Her Korean number account had a picture of a girl resembling her standing near a pool, with the status update "Keep your eyes open and your mouth closed!!!" whilst her Australian number account had a picture of a birthday cake and her status was some Korean characters.
I saw that Gabriel's status was "fucked up" and wondered if he was her boyfriend and that they had had a fight. Did it finally become evident that she was a nut case to him as well? I felt emotionally stable at the time and didn't feel either positively or negatively towards what I had seen.
Tonight, I checked again. The only change to the above was her Korean number account. The photo was now of a sunset we saw together, and her status was "Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.."
Was she...coming back around?
Anyway, that meant I went to the casino after work. I saw it as just going there to exchange my $1000 chip for cash with the goal of winning just a little bit, maybe $20 or $30 and then leaving.
I looked around for the old man I saw the night before but didn't see him. I settled on a table where one Asian guy was playing. He reminded me of Ash. The dealer was a middle aged Asian guy I had never seen before.
I had patience and played sporadically, sometimes outside bets, sometimes sections. I went through a few dealers and kept an eye on the slightly attractive Asian dealer on the next table, wondering when she would shift over.
I slowly made my way up to a $400 gain. I was watching the Asian guy bet and he was pretty lucky overall. This dealer with a sad face spun up a lot of 0-3 sections to benefit the Asian guy. It got to a point where I thought I should start betting that sector.
Then there was a dealer change and I thought the Asian girl would come over, but instead, she went over to the $5 table opposite and that dealer swapped over to my table. That usually doesn't happen and I wondered why. Anyway, the dealer that swapped over was called Greg. I had played on his table before. He has a weird sense of humour.
I didn't play much, and after about eight spins the guy with the sad face came back. Very odd rotation. I thought he would spin a lot of 0-3 sectors again and decided to go on it. Big time.
But a few 1-2 sectors in a row nearly killed me. Not only had I lost my gain and thrown out the remaining $1000 I had from my wallet, but I was down to my last spin. I was mentally praying for grandma to look over me but then realised how bad it was to call on the dead to hope for a win. So I stopped.
I used my last $400 to bet on the 0-3 sector, piling it on zero and 26 because those numbers had come up before. I was ready to lose, and leave, but I knew how angry I would feel as I was already feeling it. I was stupid. Why not just take the $400 and leave? Now you're about to leave down $2000. Fuck.
I watched the ball spin. To my amazement it was coming down on the 0-3 sector rather easily. Almost directly. No awkward bounce, no interference, no skip. It came to rest on 26.
I looked at 26 and I had four straight ups and four splits. That was 208 chips. That was $2080.
The dealer asked me how I wanted it and I said all cash as I was going to cash out. I had learnt my lesson. I had come too close to death. I got my $2160 (including the eight winning chips) and walked around the casino a bit before cashing out.
Both tonight and last night I had realised how quiet the place had become. Had they sucked the money out of all the regulars? I began to see the place as more of an RSL club. People had labelled it as that before but I never understood it. Now I did. It seemed so empty. It was not elegant anymore. It was not classy anymore. I just saw people spinning the ball and bored out of their minds supervisors overseeing these people off the street with no other skill spinning the ball. It was just so...informal.
As I walked out of the gaming area I checked my phone. Shuing had sent a message saying that on Friday he had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer and asked for Colin's number.
Oh my god.
I tried calling him but there was no answer. Suddenly everything became so unimportant. Suddenly everything else in life became so much more important. What was I doing in the casino?
I caught a taxi home and had a talk to the driver about various countries, including Dubai, China and Pakistan.
I spoke to Shuing on the phone after dinner. I didn't detect any anger, but he did come from an angle of "what were the odds". He didn't seem 100% coherent, and I could sense some frustration on his part when I couldn't remember all the details of Colin's cancer experience. So after a while I ended the call and suggested we catch up some time over the weekend.
Jin
A few days ago I grabbed my phone back from the garage. I couldn't help but check Kakaotalk. Jin had reinstated her account. Her Korean number account had a picture of a girl resembling her standing near a pool, with the status update "Keep your eyes open and your mouth closed!!!" whilst her Australian number account had a picture of a birthday cake and her status was some Korean characters.
I saw that Gabriel's status was "fucked up" and wondered if he was her boyfriend and that they had had a fight. Did it finally become evident that she was a nut case to him as well? I felt emotionally stable at the time and didn't feel either positively or negatively towards what I had seen.
Tonight, I checked again. The only change to the above was her Korean number account. The photo was now of a sunset we saw together, and her status was "Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.."
Was she...coming back around?
posted by toey | 21:56
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