At the moment, I’m kicking back with some coffee and brandy (one of my favorite combinations these days) and listening to some “oldies” ie The Zombies, The Guess Who and The Doors, and contemplating the next couple of days’ activities.

My birthday is coming up (yeah, I’m a Leo, who would’ve guessed?) very shortly, and I want to do something different. The problem, lately, has been that too many people seem to object to my self-imposed semi-retirement, and as a result I’m constantly being drawn into time consuming, mostly pro-bono projects and so forth that dominate hours and days I’d otherwise spend partaking of leisure activities that range from vegetating or bicycling for hours to working on my novel, researching political issues, blogging and visiting the sites of fellow bloggers.

So I have decided to make good my escape for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday a tad in advance, on the spur-of-the-moment — and I do mean spur!

I was just sitting here listening to music when I abruptly (impromptu, whatever) picked up the phone and made reservations for two days/nights at Harrah’s in Joliet, starting this coming afternoon. I haven’t enjoyed the casino atmosphere and played craps for some time, so it should be a lot of fun and nostalgic to boot. I’ll stop at my bank before I leave and pick up some cash for gaming, then head to Joliet.

Joliet is a drab, ugly town that once hosted a prison (remember The Blues Brothers?), but their Harrah’s seems to be an oasis of sorts — though to read the casino hotel’s hype, the droll municipality is “picturesque”, but at least the interior of Harrah’s will prove to be the bastion of perceived resort luxury one finds in all of their establishments, and I see little reason to exfiltrate its perimeters except to return to Chicago on Friday, anyway.

The reservations lady assured me that a) I will have dependable wireless Internet in my room, b) there is good room service, and c) their dice tables pay the same percentages as Nevada casinos do (in some places, payouts on certain games are less).

I’m pretty excited about it all, and though I’m not a habitual gambler, I do love to gamble in a casino on rare occasions. Unless you’ve spent some time at a dice table, you have no idea how adrenalized and fun it can be. Having worked in a casino, I’m also well schooled, having witnessed too many idiots in action and learned from their “mistakes”, in the area of responsible gambling — phase one on that score is not to let the cocktail waitresses get you drunk. Order coffee or soft drinks when you’re at the table, if you plan to play for a few hours. Trust me on this one.

At any rate, I may or may not be online over the next couple of days, time will tell.

Cheers!