I don’t think it’s because the bet is different so much as it’s because the bet is against the person rolling. I’m betting that that person is going to “lose”. It’s just bad vibes.
But yeah, obviously my bet didn’t affect the outcome. That just makes it funnier that it worked out that way.
The time I won at craps.
I don’t gamble. I’ll bet on things or play games of chance for money on occasion, but putting my money on a losing proposition isn’t my idea of a good time. When I go to a casino I go to the poker tables and that’s it.
The whole culture about it just seems so self-defeating and depressing. The superstition, chasing the high of that one-in-a-million lucky event. It’s not for me.
My older brother is mostly the same way, with one notable exception: craps. He’d been talking it up to me for years, telling me how it’s the most fun he’s ever had in a casino, and I should just try it with him and see what it’s like.
It seems too complicated, I told him. He said that you can just bet the Pass Line, which basically means you’re betting that whoever is rolling the dice doesn’t roll a seven. It’s a social activity, he explained, because the whole table is betting the Pass Line and rooting for each other.
The way he described it, a group of a strangers drinking, cheering for each other on their wins, commiserating with each other on their losses, I could almost start to see the appeal.
I downloaded an app and started asking him questions, which he answered patiently. Eagerly even.
Then I saw it.
“What’s the ‘Don’t Pass Line’?”
“It’s a bet against the person rolling the dice. Nobody really bets the Don’t Pass Line. It’s a dick move.”
A plan formed in my mind. “Ok, I’ll play.”
That night, I’m sitting at the craps table. To my right, my brother. To his right, our little sister. They sit me on the far left so I can get a feel for it before it’s my turn to roll.
The rest of the table is a smattering of dead-eyed gamblers. They looked preemptively disappointed, but ready to be amazed. Like they were ready to get caught up in a run of good luck, but they weren’t going to bring it themselves. Not the party I was promised, but there was some promise there.
First up, my sister. She rolls to set the point. We all put our chips on the Pass Line. Some of the gamblers make more specific bets.
She rolls again, and we win! She rolls again and again, and we keep winning. I see the spirits lifting around the table. There’s talking, laughing, cheering, free liquor, free money, and suddenly I get it.
Eventually my sister rolls a seven and her turn ends, but that’s ok because she already won the table a shitload of money. I’m up like $150 myself.
The table knows us a little by now. I’m new, we’re all siblings, and surely my brother will continue the hot streak.
But a plan is a plan.
My brother takes the dice and rolls the point. Everyone places their chips. I place my chips.
The dealer asks me, “Did you mean to put your chips on the Don’t Pass Line?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant to do.”
Silence. Then my sister: “You’re an asshole.”
My brother rolls again: seven. The Don’t Pass Line wins me a couple bucks.
I take the dice and proceed to go on a mini hot streak myself. I win like another fifty bucks, but the table never recovers. The mood is dead. I killed it.
That was probably twelve years ago. To this day, if it comes up, my sister will only call me an asshole again. My brother won’t talk about it at all.
That was technically a Skrull who beat Hank Pym’s wife. A perfect replica of his personality, tendencies, and mental well-being, but still not technically Hank Pym himself. This failed to redeem him, I think.
Which one?
The Irredeemable Ant-Man is an interesting one - he’s a low level, lazy SHIELD worker who steals an Ant-Man suit and uses it for selfish things. But you probably meant Scott Lang. I’d say Scott is more of a regular hero.
My wife and I established movie nights with our kids when they were 5 and 2. Everyone takes turns picking a movie, and no one is allowed to complain.
This is how we’ve managed to break the pattern of our kids watching the same movies over and over and over. Since instituting movie night about a year ago, we’ve only seen Frozen once.
It also gives us the opportunity to expose the kids to our favorite movies.
The movie we’ve watched the most times is probably Disney’s Robin Hood (3 times). Second most is a tie between Matilda, Babe, and Across the Spider-verse (2 times each). So I’d say it’s going extremely well.
Given how much cuter a goldfish is than a silverfish, whatever a bronzefish is must be a absolutely disgusting.
Piano. Chopin, especially Raindrop.
If I said guitar, I’d point you to this song, which is actually a piano song performed on guitar. Lately this is the song that makes me feel things.
Personally, I like a treadmill.
For years I planned to get one, and all the runners in my family would talk about how awful they are, how no one ever uses it once they have it, and getting outside is so much better.
I finally got the treadmill a couple months ago, and I use it several times per week. Some weeks I use it every day. It’s convenient, I can control the temperature in the room, I can watch something on my phone while I run, and I like being able to set a consistent pace.
He’d be disappointed that he doesn’t end up doing anything epic and world-changing, but then he’d immediately be relieved that he’s mostly got shit figured out. Wife, home, job, driving, cooking, all the basic stuff.
Then he’d realize he only thought he needed to do something epic because he couldn’t picture himself having those basic things figured out. This would take him a few minutes to process, so he wouldn’t say anything.
I can do this. I’m also good at trying food at a restaurant, then recreating the flavors at home.
How else will I print out MapQuest directions?
I like it. It gives me a nice way to give my kids little gifts that don’t take up much space. If I had to pick specific ones it wouldn’t work as well.
With that said, I do use an app to make sure they’re not getting duplicates.
I called their customer support, and a person answered. Like, right away. I was caught completely off guard. They resolved my issue in under a minute.
It’s clearly chocolate cake, pineapple, and carrot.
When my daughter was born, I was blown away to find that my company offered 16 weeks paternity leave. A couple of weeks before my wife was due, I was talking to a coworker and found that his wife was also pregnant, but he didn’t know about our company’s parental leave policy. He had only been planning to take a couple of weeks. After we talked I found out he took the whole thing.
That four months was one of the greatest times of my life, getting to know my newborn daughter.
Three years later I was in a different job when my son was born. They offered three days. Six months later I found a new job, and I took an extra month off during the transition, just so I could spend every day with my son.
I don’t regret any of that. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like. I love my children and love being a dad. This is life. This is all we get.
Oh shit. Drawing a line is a really good idea.
A fake Christmas tree would be pretty confusing. Or even tree stands for a real tree. Even if you figure out it’s for a tree, what purpose could that tree serve?
As a Millennial, I’m confused why you wouldn’t use the correct White Ninja meme on the left.
It was years ago and I probably misremembered that part. I only skimmed your comment because craps is so boring, but yeah it’s probably whatever you said.
Thanks for the correction.