[editor note: for the first time, part of this blog was written offsite, by hand in my journal. giving it a bakery fresh, on the scene, freshness that was previously missing from other blog updates.]
on sunday, i decided to hunt down my missing friend aislann. the last known number i had for her was no longer good. the last time i had heard from her, she’d left me a voice mail telling me that she and her husband had split. the only email address i have really belongs to him. so…. i don’t know if they split for good. probably not. but still. so i decided to go drive by her last known place of residence. aka: her house. but i missed the exit. because i was day dreaming. which meant that soon i was shooting north on i-5. heading for everett.
at that point, why NOT just keep going until you reached marysville. and therefore the new tulalip casino that just opened last week. it costs a bunch of money. millions and millions. and you know what that means? SHINY!! you bet. that’s why i am sitting here, in the parking lot of a walmart, just down the road from the tulalip casino. it was my hope to soak in the ambiance and then sit in the cafe and write about it. but the cafe is not open yet.
it’s a gorgeous place, i’ll tell you what. it looks all vegassy inside. the only thing that’s missing is the sound of coins. all the slot machines are video slots. however, some of them do add the sound of coins when you are entering your credits from your ticket, or “cashing out.” and they even had my very most favorite slot machine, jackpot party!! albeit the video version. i don’t really like the video version. and i’m not just saying that because i was SCREWED multiple times, out of having my jackpot party. slots are evil. every time i play them, which until today, has been in vegas, i’ve because i little less enchanted with them. not quite so drawn by the pretty lights and sounds. i didn’t play too long, but i left down, rather than up. feh. next time i go back, i’m going to play blackjack.
and that is how i ended up here, in the walmart parking lot. am i going in? HELL YEAH i’m going in!! gambling and walmart go hand in hand. don’t you think?
much much later….
walmart is one of the most unpleasant retail environments out there today. now i know why i don’t shop there. it’s only my 2nd time in one. maybe i thought that the experience i had in arizona, at walmart, was unique. and i would go ahead and go in to buy kitty litter and various other little things. it was HELL. that place is horrible. the lighting is horrible, the noise is horrible, the appalling lack of personal space is horrible. the very lack of feng shui. you can almost see energy being sucked out of the top of your head, and swallowed up by giant fan. i bet that’s how they pay their electric bill. they harness the energy… the hopes, dreams, desires of their patrons into some futuristic energy sponge. and that’s how they fuel their empire. and because you don’t even know it’s happening, it’s free. and that’s how come the prices are so low.
give me target any day.