Yesterday, I went on a day-long road trip with my parents, my aunt and her best friend. Seriously, I felt like their chaperone at times, LOL! What an amusing and entertaining day! First we were 30 minutes late from our planned departure time, which apparently happens to them a lot when they go out. We were planning to visit Cape May and then hitting the casinos in Atlantic City, and so during our 3-hour drive, the 'adults' talked about their slot machine strategy. And how they pick a 'good machine'. Wow, they are absolutely hilarious. At this point, I had already planned on making my way to the blackjack table for the first time. Yes, I learned the rules the night before through wikipedia, woohoo!
So we arrive at Cape May and go see the beach and browse the gift shop. My dad buys a plaque and a big plastic fish from the shop, while my mom, aunt and her friend walk along the beach and collect stones. I took a free cup of coffee and cookie from the shop, and I'm standing in the parking lot, shivering and waiting for the adults. Our next stop was the lighthouse, which is really beautiful. We walked along the beach, and everything about the little bit of sun shining through the clouds in the sky, the sand, the peaceful sound of waves hitting the shore, the lack of people on the beach, it was really perfect. I just stood there for awhile, staring at and listening to the ocean, and wondering why it brings such a sense of peace and relaxation. Then I started thinking that pretty much all things in nature, whether it be mountains or oceans or sky or trees tend to make us feel peaceful. What makes the mountain peaceful to look at and a skyscraper not, what makes the sound of the ocean peaceful to listen to and car alarms not? And the only thing I can think of is that there is something miraculous in the things that God created in the beginning for us to enjoy. We are created in His image, and so we love the things He loves. The things in nature are His creation, not ours, and hence we inherently love His creation. Even if we've never seen a mountain with our physical eyes, if all of a sudden we found ourselves facing a mountain, I think our spirits would know it is something beautiful and precious. This just reminded me of Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse". How can we be surrounded by the awesome and amazing things in nature and not understand who God is?!
WWII bunker
We stopped by the Lobster House for lunch; we had eaten dinner there years before and waited over 3 hours for a table! This time was a lot more relaxing, since it's in the middle of winter. The food was great and we enjoyed the meal with a bottle of wine :) The bread and crab cakes were extra-delicious, FYI. After lunch, we made our way to The Donald, it was about 3:30pm. We each went our separate ways and agreed to meet at 7pm. I walked around the tables to observe for a bit and finally felt comfortable enough to sit down at a blackjack table. I was surprised to see that the lowest minimum bet available at that casino was $15, I had expected a couple of $5 tables. Oh well, it's not like I gamble all the time and it's an educational experience. I had such a nice group of people at my table, thank God! The dealer kept things light and was helping me out, and the guy to my left was teaching me and answering my questions the entire time. No one at the table gave me a hard time about not knowing what I was doing, and I've heard that in a lot of cases, people are annoyed with newbies. It turned out that the guy next to me lives 5 minutes away from my hometown in Jersey, and he was telling us about his 5-month old daughter. What an interesting way to meet people, huh? I started out winning more than I was losing, and then the chips started disappearing right before my eyes. I think it was because I wasn't making any large bets, so that even on the 'good hands', I didn't have a chance to win a lot. Within less than an hour, I had lost $200. I still had two more hours until 7pm! So with that, I said goodbye to my table and went to the slot machines where I figured I could waste more time with less money. Another hour later, $85 went out the window. What can I do for another hour and not 'lose' money in a casino? Aha! Sit at the bar, watch TV and have an apple martini, haha! Amusing. So 7pm finally rolls around, we meet for some pizza, and somehow in the process of going to the restrooms before we headed back home, my dad decided to push back the departure time cuz he felt bad that I didn't win anything, LOL! Finally, I randomly pressed some buttons on a slot machine and won 3,000 pennies, woohoo! Time to go home :) It was quite an entertaining day.
No comments:
Post a Comment