Casino!
I tagged along to the casino last night, with some people who wanted to play poker (Stan & Linus).
I was really looking forward to it: I always envisioned casino's as the ones you see in movies like James Bond, and Ocean's Eleven. People had warned me I'd be disappointed if I went to a real casino: no smokings and gala dresses, more likely scruffily dressed people.
I decided to 'dess up' anyway: my black trousers that I now fit in (and even should have used a belt with!), my white blouse and my LARP-vest. Yup, that's right, my LARP vest is my best outfit. I even did the whole makeup thing: eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss, and wore my contacts instead of glasses. I was hoping Stan wouldn't recognise me when we saw him, but this wasn't the case :(
At the entrance they needed to see my ID, which isn't valid any more (going to the Brussels Embassy Thursyday to get a new one), but they must have not looked at it too closely, as they just let me in. After walking around between the (loads) of incomprehensible slot machines, I got tagged by a security guard who wanted me to put my backpack in the cloakroom. I was proud I immediately knew what he meant (French.... ugh!), and he seemed happy I was so compliant.
Had to go back to the cloakroom 2 times: once to get my glasses instead of contacts, was seeing blurry and the smoke in the casino didn't help, second time cuz I had realised I lost the cloakroom ticket, but luckily somebody had found it and turned it in instead of claiming my bag with it. Phew!
Joining the poker game would have cost me more money than I was willing to spend at the casino, so I opted for just looking around and maybe play some games. Took me a quite a while before I even dared to get some chips. Not till the end of the evening did I actually dare to play a couple of games of Blackjack (5 games, with the minimum of 5 euro per game, I only had enough for 4 games, but thanks to a draw I got 1 extra, yay!).
I was watching the Blackjack and Poker most of the time, and at some point the head of the Poker Department comes up to me and asks me something French. At first I thought he assumed I was standing in line for the Poker, but after my "non, non", trying to explain I didn't want to play, and his applogies, I realised he thought I was a Casino Employee and he wanted me to deal at a pokertable o.O So much for dressing up nice... Not going to wear black and white to a casino any more :)
Later he started joking with his colleague behind the chip-counter that I should take his place, but by then it wasn't funny any more, and I felt pretty dumb. Couldn't understand most of what he was saying, but it sure felt like he was making fun of me.
Watched some roulette as well, which I would have liked to try, but I felt like I didn't have enough chips for both the blackjack and the roulette. A goodlooking guy started to talk to me about the roulette, that it looked complicated. I confirmed, and he asked me whether I was with friends. I told him they were playing poker. Not much other conversation was had, with my bad French, but it was nice to have somebody seem interested in talking to me!
All in all, the casino wasn't as fancy as I had hoped, but not even remotely as sleasy as I had feared, and it was actually fun!
Notes for next time:
- don't wear black & white
- don't go to a casino where they speak French
- bring more money (without overdoing it)
- do some research on slot machines beforehand
I was really looking forward to it: I always envisioned casino's as the ones you see in movies like James Bond, and Ocean's Eleven. People had warned me I'd be disappointed if I went to a real casino: no smokings and gala dresses, more likely scruffily dressed people.
I decided to 'dess up' anyway: my black trousers that I now fit in (and even should have used a belt with!), my white blouse and my LARP-vest. Yup, that's right, my LARP vest is my best outfit. I even did the whole makeup thing: eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss, and wore my contacts instead of glasses. I was hoping Stan wouldn't recognise me when we saw him, but this wasn't the case :(
At the entrance they needed to see my ID, which isn't valid any more (going to the Brussels Embassy Thursyday to get a new one), but they must have not looked at it too closely, as they just let me in. After walking around between the (loads) of incomprehensible slot machines, I got tagged by a security guard who wanted me to put my backpack in the cloakroom. I was proud I immediately knew what he meant (French.... ugh!), and he seemed happy I was so compliant.
Had to go back to the cloakroom 2 times: once to get my glasses instead of contacts, was seeing blurry and the smoke in the casino didn't help, second time cuz I had realised I lost the cloakroom ticket, but luckily somebody had found it and turned it in instead of claiming my bag with it. Phew!
Joining the poker game would have cost me more money than I was willing to spend at the casino, so I opted for just looking around and maybe play some games. Took me a quite a while before I even dared to get some chips. Not till the end of the evening did I actually dare to play a couple of games of Blackjack (5 games, with the minimum of 5 euro per game, I only had enough for 4 games, but thanks to a draw I got 1 extra, yay!).
I was watching the Blackjack and Poker most of the time, and at some point the head of the Poker Department comes up to me and asks me something French. At first I thought he assumed I was standing in line for the Poker, but after my "non, non", trying to explain I didn't want to play, and his applogies, I realised he thought I was a Casino Employee and he wanted me to deal at a pokertable o.O So much for dressing up nice... Not going to wear black and white to a casino any more :)
Later he started joking with his colleague behind the chip-counter that I should take his place, but by then it wasn't funny any more, and I felt pretty dumb. Couldn't understand most of what he was saying, but it sure felt like he was making fun of me.
Watched some roulette as well, which I would have liked to try, but I felt like I didn't have enough chips for both the blackjack and the roulette. A goodlooking guy started to talk to me about the roulette, that it looked complicated. I confirmed, and he asked me whether I was with friends. I told him they were playing poker. Not much other conversation was had, with my bad French, but it was nice to have somebody seem interested in talking to me!
All in all, the casino wasn't as fancy as I had hoped, but not even remotely as sleasy as I had feared, and it was actually fun!
Notes for next time:
- don't wear black & white
- don't go to a casino where they speak French
- bring more money (without overdoing it)
- do some research on slot machines beforehand