Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A quick Bada Bing moment from Atlantic City

To make you laugh:

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Monday, August 25, 2008

The Lost Weekend


I guess I don't have to tell you how I spent my weekend. I now have stacks of backup CDs and DVDs scattered all around me. I even backed up onto SD cards, a compact flash, and a thumb drive. Me, paranoid? Nah. Just absolutely certain the laptop is going to go belly-up any second.


This is exactly the way it happened last time. A few shots across my bow which I ignored and then POW! The laptop breathed its last, taking with it a good portion of unsaved book-in-progress. It wasn't fun, I can tell you that. The good thing is this laptop is still under warranty so a new hard drive should arrive tomorrow. The question, of course, is do I have the guts to make the switchover now while it's still a matter of choice or do I wait until my hand is forced. I have to admit the thought of transferring everything to a new hard drive, installing all the programs, blah blah blah, makes me want to jump out the bedroom window.

But nothing makes me want to write more than having to play computer doctor. It's an instant shot-in-the-arm to my muse. Assuming I have a muse. I think she's playing Blackjack down in Atlantic City, knocking back frozen margaritas and flirting with the Wrong Kind of Guy while I struggle with the book in progress.

Some girls have all the luck.

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Our Lady of Atlantic City


I'm not sure when or exactly how it happened, but Monday has become our Date Day. Sometimes we jump in the car and play the Left/Right game. We'll hit an intersection or a fork in the road and Roy will say to me, "Left or right?" and head in whichever direction I choose. It's led to some interesting adventures in the past, many of which have ended up in books. (We ended up in Stockton on the Delaware River about ten years ago and that found its way into Once Around.)


Today, however, we had a plan. We were heading down to Cape May, one of our favorite places on the planet and a frequent destination. Okay, so it was just a plan. We meant well but somehow we ended up in Atlantic City (I love A.C.; don't tell anybody but I do) and stumbled into a free buffet at Harrah's.

This, my friends, is people-watching paradise. Our booth looked out on the pool area and I got to watch many fascinating comings and goings. Let's just say the human body comes in some amazing shapes and sizes. Victoria's Secret is missing out on an untapped demographic: I saw enough man-boobs to justify a whole new line of lingerie. (Kramer had the right idea.) I not only saw visible panty lines, I saw what the panties were trying to hide. I saw a man in pale peach shorts and an open lacy shirt which didn't look all that strange in a seaside resort town until you noted the floral totebag slung over his shoulders and the fact that he had French manicured his toenails! He was around forty or so, drop dead gorgeous: tall, tanned, incredibly fit. His hair was thick, shimmering shades of grey and white, impeccably barbered and styled. The other team is lucky to have him . . .
Now I'm a lapsed Catholic (very lapsed) with 12 years of parochial school under my slightly neurotic belt, so you know I say this with love and bemusement: I saw the Infant of Prague propped up on a Wheel of Fortune progressive. I tried to get a photo but I guess I wasn't quite as unobtrusive as I'd hoped because the Infant of Prague's gambling pal shot me a look that left me quaking in my sandals. I turned to leave and I swear to you I hadn't walked more than twenty feet away when I spied the Archangel Gabriel hanging out at a Slingo machine. Take a close look at the photo I snapped with my phone. See the woman on the left? Look at the top of her head, slightly left and just below the Slingo screen. Yep. That's Gabriel.
Hey, whatever works! I'm the woman who thinks there are stories hidden in her new laptop and she needs to dangle blue topazes and chocolate chip cookies over it to lure them out.

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