Month: February 2024

Gaming the System #gambling #casino #blackjack #Tesla #IRS #tax

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Funny story.

With last week being pretty rough, I needed a win, and I got one. Granted, I’d rather have my cousin back, but I can’t have that, so you take what you can get.

I received my huge tax refund on Saturday. In order to make my Tesla reasonably affordable, I have to roll most of that back into the car. However, I earmarked $2,500 for luxury items. In particular, I’m getting a kitten (maybe two) along with everything I need to make the house cat-friendly and cat-proof. The other thing I’m getting is a treadmill. I expected to pay $1,000 or so for the treadmill but found a really good one at Dick’s Sporting Goods for $600 plus $36 tax. Remember that number: $636.

I got the treadmill, which wouldn’t fit in my car, so they’ll be delivering it. I got home and thought to myself, “While I knew I was going to spend this money, I really don’t want to pay for this treadmill. How can I have this treadmill but not pay for it? What do I always do in these situations?”

So, I got in the car this morning and headed to WV. I got to the casino just after 9 am, and 2-1/2 hours later, I walked away from the blackjack table with $631 extra in my pocket.

That treadmill cost me $5.

But it really cost me less than $0, because my comp points paid for lunch completely. Oh, and the casino charged my Tesla while I was playing. I overcharged my car battery to 95%, so by the time I got home, I had 84% charge (you generally should keep it at 80%), so I’ll be driving to work tomorrow on the casino’s dime.

I love gaming the system.

So, now I have over $2,000 I can spend on the cat(s). They won’t cost nearly that much, so I’ll probably take the leftover and add it to what I put back in the car. Maybe. I can think of a couple more luxury items I might want. I’d really like to replace my brown suit.

But never forget that gambling can be a problem. Don’t become a war story.

It’s a war I’m winning.

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Norma: Part II #RIP #death #FuckCancer

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Yesterday, I posted about the death of my cousin, Norma. As I continue to parse out my feelings on the matter, I decided to supplement that post with a couple of other things.

First, with respect to the Frankie Valli story, when Norma and her friend disengaged from Frankie, I told her what almost happened. She reminded me that, while she was (of course) appreciative of my concern, she wasn’t stupid. She was an adult and knew what was going on and would never have gone anywhere with the guy. She understood that I wasn’t upset with her behavior but rather concerned with his, and that leads to point number two.

Everyone fights with everyone else. Everyone gets frustrated with everyone else. This is perfectly normal, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it, even in the unfortunate instance that your anger or frustration is the last thing you experience before losing someone. What isn’t normal? Norma never once made me angry. Or frustrated. I never even surreptitiously rolled my eyes at her. She simply never annoyed me at all, and if I ever annoyed her, she never told me so. This is certainly not a testament to my character; it’s a testament to hers. Plenty of people annoy me, and plenty more are annoyed by me. I’ve never heard anyone speak poorly of anything Norma did or said. She really was someone you couldn’t help but love.

RIP, Norma.

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Norma: A Consequence of Estrangement #RIP #death #FuckCancer

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I’m going to share a memory with you.

I don’t know if it’s my best memory of my cousin, Norma, but it’s the one that immediately comes to mind. Norma and a friend came to Chicago when I was in law school (1999 IIRC). We were barhopping in the Rush Street district, which was a popular weekend spot back then. Frankie Valli, a singer well-known for his small acting and large musical roles in Grease, was walking the streets, and Norma and her friend caught his eye. He was hitting on them. I was standing close by to make sure they were okay, which almost resulted in a fist fight with one of his security guards. He kept placing his hand on my chest, and I kept swatting it away. Everything worked out, though. That 60+ year old pervert didn’t get laid that night. Well, at least not by my 29/30-year old cousin. I didn’t follow him around. (EDIT: I added more to this story on tomorrow’s post.)

Last Thursday, Norma died of the same cancer that killed a handful of people in our extended family. I found out on Saturday and found her obituary at about noon today. The most difficult part of being estranged from one’s nuclear family is the loss of people who you still love. Norma was wonderful, and I loved her very much. She was only a year younger than I, but I could never imagine outliving her. I wish I could have said goodbye, not only to her but to a couple others who’ve died, but this is a consequence you sometimes must accept to keep yourself safe and sane. Leaving ties gives them a way to sneak in and do damage, and asking the ones you love to make a choice between you and the ones that harm you is not a fair thing to do. As far as I’m concerned, this is just one more thing they’ve taken from me. I’m a far happier and healthier person in general, but not today.

RIP, Norma Patricia. I love you.

Frankie will never mess with you on my watch.

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An Unexpected Supplement to My Stash of (A)D&D Material #DnD #TTRPG #RPG #WotC #1e #2e #3e #4e

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My return to 1st Edition AD&D (“1e“) is now two years strong, and now I’ve added a 4th Edition D&D (“4e“) game to my schedule. So, it was a nice surprise for my friend, Mike, to let me know that he was offloading his old school D&D material. Before you get too excited, he’s giving these materials only to people he knows well because we’re getting them on the honor system. The only cost is to make a (tax deductible) donation to a cat or dog charity that represents the approximate cost to buy them in the store or on eBay. Considering I’m going to get a cat in early April, that’s an easy ask of me.

So, what did I get? First up, the box sets and hard-covers.

Menzoberranzan box set, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn box set, Greyhawk Adventures, Dragon Lance Adventures, the Scarlet Brotherhood, a reprint of the Second Edition Player’s Handbook, Oriental Adventures, and Dragon #56

In general, I never owned any of these in the day, and I bought the PDF of Oriental Adventures from the DMs Guild during my recent rebuy because the hard cover wasn’t on sale. I’m glad I now have a hard cover without paying through the nose for it. I’ve been intrigued by Star Frontiers based on the relatively recent chatter it’s generated — the less I say about that chatter, the better — so I picked it up out of curiosity. As for Dragon #56, I told Mike I wasn’t interested in any of the magazines except perhaps the one that has the 1e bard in it, redone as a character you can play at 1st level. Sure enough, he had that issue. Score!

Next up, some soft covers.

I was planning to buy the Book of Lairs and Book of Lairs II, so that makes this supplement all the sweeter. I never owned any of these materials either. Now for the minis.

Yeah, that’s quite the haul, ain’t it. Of particular interest . . .

I never owned this guy. In fact, I never knew it existed, and I was quite the mini collector during the 3rd Edition D&D and 4e days. Somehow this one escaped me. Right now, the cheapest I see it on sale is $20 + about $6 shipping, so this one will set me back a bit.

These are just a few of the minis that I’ve never owned.

These are a few of the minis that I own but could always use more of. My players may not appreciate multiple Balors on the field of battle, but them’s the breaks.

One of my Living Forgotten Realms characters had a giant owl, so I was a bit disturbed when the stand for that mini broke. No amount of crazy glue could fix it. Now, I’ve replaced it. I think I took the second one out of some sort of cosmic spite.

Importantly, I have every intention of using these goodies in my 1e and 4e games, so this is quite the haul.

Some animal shelter is going to be very happy very soon.

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)