The Ever Patience-Testing Magic Kingdom

Some things were just meant to strengthen your character.  The Magic Kingdom of Bingo is one of those.  If you want to be chastised and frustrated, not to mention having your patience tested, just volunteer at your local Elks Lodge Bingo Night.

As you are probably aware of by now, I'm not one who likes ANY of those things.  It's the people who draw me there.  I love the Castle Lawyer, the King, the Knights of the Round Table and of course Prince Charming.  The Money Changer gets on my nerves!!

The day started off nice enough.  In a fit of frustration with all the furniture I have around the house and in the garage that needs to find another home, I called a local small business that advertised they buy and sell furniture.  Weird, me getting RID of stuff, right?  I think it has something to do with living in the RV and being a minimalist.  After all, I can only fit one chair in the rig.

I probably could have donated most of the items, but you might remember how that went with the last bed I ended up delivering to a drug infested area of town.  Instead, I chose to support my local small businessman and his family by practically donating it all to him, whereupon he will sell it in his little store and make some bucks.  Three large television cabinets, one large dresser, two nightstands and various lamps.

In return, he took the upright bicycle machine that doesn't work and hurts my back, along with what can only be described as junk.    It was a win-win situation.  Unfortunately for me, it now requires I AGAIN clean the garage and restack stuff.  You didn't think I would give it ALL away, did you?

At the appointed hour, I was off to the Magic Kingdom.  It's really nice when the troops are happy to see you.  After hugs all around, we got to work.  Uh oh ... there's a new mini-infernal machine.  It's called a debit/credit card reader in real life.  I'm a smart cookie ... I can figure it out, since there were no instructions.

Wasn't I surprised when I began using it and it said to Insert Chip.  No matter what button I hit, it wouldn't work.  REMOVE CARD.  Nothing.  No amount of button pushing or cursing could get it to accept the card.  The nice players paid in cash.

At long last the Money Changer showed up.  Rude is his middle name.  In fact, RUDE is his FIRST name.  He treated us like we were rats under his feet before finally telling me how to run chip cards.  I chastised him for no instructions, just because he was being a BIG donkey.  Then we hid his huge cup of Starbucks coffee that he cannot survive without.  Turnabout is fair play!!

The rest of the evening didn't get any better.  The newly purchased BINGO machine had an occasional glitch that caused such an uproar a normal person would have dialed 911.  I was lucky to have escaped with my life!!

Will I go back?  Of COURSE!!  I'm a glutton for punishment, but mostly I love the volunteers who will do anything for you, except cashier on Bingo Night.  They are not dummies!!

On another note, until it warms up a tad bit more, I DO keep the propane on in my rig.  It keeps the place dry and the bays just warm enough not to freeze the lines.  A small heater would work up top, but not down below.  It's just easier to leave the heater set at 40 degrees.  When it's warmer, I'll turn the valve off.

About the statin drugs I'm taking for cholesterol ... I paid $175 at Walgreens for 90 pills, the generic version of Lipitor.  Since I don't have insurance for meds, I picked up a year's supply of the exact same thing in Mexico for an average $3/month.  Ridiculous, right???  I've been taking them ever since with no side effects whatsoever.  At the end of this month when I go in for bloodwork, we'll find out if they are working.  I'll let you know.

Here's another good piece of information.  There is an APP called GoodRX.  You put in your meds, how many and what dosage and it will give you the prices available at every store in your area.  Walgreens was $175.  Target (with a GoodRX coupon you can print out) was $32.26 for the SAME number of pills.  You might want to give it a try.  I'll be going to Algodones.

I've got 6 or 7 errands to run today, so it's going to be a busy one.  Hopefully somewhere in there I'll be able to fit in a few winks of shuteye while I plot my revenge on the Money Changer.