What Time Is It??

It's BINGO time of course.   What?  You thought I wasn't going any more?  Every year at Christmas and New Years we actually get not one, but TWO days off.  That's two weeks in Bingo time.  Believe me, it is well deserved, but the funny part is everyone misses it so much when it doesn't happen.  Not just the bingo players, but the volunteers just sit around and twiddle their thumbs.  

And so, on the 2nd of January 2024, the Magic Castle opened its doors again to the fire and pitchfork wielding public.  Let's make some money for charity.  

Every dime must be donated to a legit charity, and we choose to make sure they all involve kids, veterans and seniors.  There are lots of local organizations, like Children's Hospital, the Burn Center and the Camp for Handicapped Children.  If you want to throw your money away at Bingo, we make sure it goes to someone in need.

Besides those, we also buy uniforms for most (if not all) of the baseball and soccer teams in our area.  We feed hundreds of challenged children and adults all throughout the year, even having Bingo games for them to play.  The list is endless, so I'll stop there.  It actually amounts to around $100,000 a year.  Pretty crazy, right?  And that is AFTER we pay out all the winnings.  

Add to that all the profits from our Elks RV Park.  Some of it is spent on maintenance items, but most of it also goes to charities for children.  It's pretty amazing to be a part of all that.

And so the night began with peasants banging on the door with torches of fire.  It was a cold night and they wanted in.  Naturally, there is always the opening fight scenes just to get your blood moving.  They are not allowed in to the main room until 4:30.  Only members can come in early and pick their favorite money-winning chair.  

That is always a bone of contention, but members do have privileges.  I opened a few minutes early, garnering the evil eye from several players.  They like consistency, and getting in the exact spot in line every single week is a must.  Don't ask me why.  The Castle Accountant of course, likes to change things up just because.  

My fairy Godmother was on the ball as we ran 94 people through the line in less than one hour.  If you go fast enough, they don't have time to think of something to complain about.  In an amazing turn of events, someone turned in one tiny card that had been dropped.  Usually they just play it themselves.  Finders keepers you know.

I was waiting for someone to come up and say we shorted them.  Sure enough ... here she came with all her cards, her receipt and a big scowl on her face.  I PAID FOR THREE AND I ONLY GOT TWO!!  The pitchfork was aimed right at my head.  They cost one dollar each, so it's not like they will now be bankrupt.

I smiled ... and picked up the lost card.  Here you go ... you dropped it on the floor and some nice peasant actually turned it in for you.  She really didn't believe me.  Turns out the lady who DID turn it in was standing in line and told her SHE had retrieved it from the floor.  The change was dramatic.  The apologies began.  It's like night and day, or more like Jekyll and Hyde. 

Ruffled feathers finally smoothed down and we continued to collect the cash.  That incident repeated itself once, followed by WHERE'S MY RED TICKET twice.  The present of the night for both your birthday and the red ticket drawing ... yes if you have a birthday in the week before, you get a present ... was worth about $10.00.  It's usually pull tabs that might win you $2.00.  On this night however, it was a box of Sees Candy.  

When our local store can't sell all the boxes before the pull dates, they donate them to us, and we give them all away at Bingo.  Luckily this time there was no scrambling around on the floor trying to rip one out of another's fingers.  There was plenty to go around.

Little did I know that by the time I was ready to leave ... Infernal Machine balanced and all ... there was a downpour of epic proportions.  We got about an inch of rain a few days ago, and another inch last night.   There's nothing like the shock of looking in a mirror to see a drowned rat!!

Just because a box of Sees Candy isn't enough (yup the volunteers got a box also), I finally cleaned up the last of that mousse smothered in whipped cream when I got home.  That didn't bode well for sleep, but it's okay, I've got all day to catch back up.

Thursday I'll be back at the lodge, and it's a black tie affair.  More and more Bingo players are finding it's to their advantage to become a member and get that primo winning chair!!!  That means they have to go through the initiation process and we have to be suitable dressed for the occasion.  Sorry, no Levis allowed.