Reno

This weekend, we went to Reno!!!

The volleyball tournament
Darren's team did really well, finishing in the Gold Division. They were competing against some really high-level teams with really big athletic girls. I mean Darren's team has a couple of 14 year-old girls that are over 6 feet tall, and most of the rest are about 5'9" to 5'11". Some of the other teams competing there make these girls look average. Gosh! If genes like that could be bought.

The most exciting part of the tournament, in my opinion is when the coach of the one of other teams threatened to kill the referee. That particular referee was making a number of bad calls, vetoing the line refs, and generally just looked like he was enjoying being in power. At one of the last games, he made a call to which a player reacted. He immediately gave that player a yellow card(warning), which made her coach react. The ref retaliated by giving that coach a red card, making that team lose which eliminated them from the gold division. In short, it was a life-altering call. All the girls in that team started crying. They're still 14 year-old kids after all.

So there was some shouting and cussing and some arbitrators had to come over to settle them. In the end, heard that the coach was not allowed to return the next day, and we never saw that referee again. It was really traumatic for those kids. For sure, they must have trained really hard only to get their chances blown by one referee.

The gambling
The other part I like about going to Reno is the gambling. We stayed at the Grand Sierra, which used to be the Hilton. Two years ago, I got booted from the Hilton's casino because I looked like a minor and I didn't have my IDs with me(I just got here from the Philippines and left my passport in the safe). So they kicked me out.

The following year, I armed with my driver's license but they never asked for my ID. Did I age that much in a year? All of a sudden, I don't get asked if I'm a minor! Even worse, they ID'ed Darren but not me! My husband looks younger than me, they think. Not good for the female ego.

Back to gambling: We normally just go sit at a Pai Gow table and get free drinks, while we keep 'pushing' for a while. Yesterday, one guy walked up with a thick wad of bills. The dealer asked him if he wanted chips for this money. He declined then laid $500 in cash on the table on a single hand. Surprise, surprise: the house won! With what has to be the most unbeatable cards ever dealt. He walked away in disgust. I would have passed out if I lost that much in a single hand. In Pai Gow. It's not even BlackJack or Poker. Pai Gow! Ha!

The anniversary
The main reason I never miss the Reno tournament is that it falls on my wedding anniversary. It's been two years! We've come so far. We're even having our first baby soon! And we're finally gonna use the miles we've earned on our first family trip to Cebu so my family there can see Jelly Bean!

Two things Darren and I love: Good food and massages. And that's what we got on our anniversary. The Atlantis has a very good spa that offers Swedish massage for pregnant women. So there I went, on top of the special pillow with the hole for the belly. The masseuse was really good, although I didn't think she heard anything I said. Never mind, she was good. Two minutes after she started, I just dozed off.

Homeward bound
Early this morning(4am EARLY), we got ready to go the airport for our flight back to San Jose. One nice thing about being pregnant is getting to pre-board before anyone else. Southwest airlines doesn't do assigned seating, so being the first one on the plane means getting to pick the best seats. Woohoo!!

After trying to stay awake and alive at work, I finally made it home. Back to my house. Got enough energy to post this blog. And now I'm off to bed. Goodnight.