More than my typical Saturday.

My usual Saturday consists of buying lunch supplies for the week, catching up on some TV and doing homework for class. Sometimes the last two don't always work out as planned, but what can you do?

Yesterday proved to be busier than I've had in years. First it was Toxic Waste Cleanup Day. Mom's been pushing me to get a passport for awhile and was able to schedule me an appointment for yesterday. It's somewhat strange to be in the post office after hours and to make it crazier the building used to be the township library - where I worked for a few years back in the day. Now that it's renovated, it's hard to remember what was where.

The passport appointment had enough laughs. The woman remembered my mom so we chatted for a bit. The first set of pictures came out fairly well (better than some driver's license photos I've had), but she dropped it on the floor at open point so I was suddenly fuzzy. Luckily the second set came out (I was afraid of having to take them over and over because I have a serious blink problem). All in all that took 15 minutes and the woman also hates writing checks. It's all about having to write out the numbers. I can't spell for beans. Oh and there's a chance the State Department may reject my brand new birth certificate because the seal may be iffy. UGH! Vital Check will be getting a piece of my mind if that happens. Copies aren't cheap ($15 each plus shipping).

Anyway, I got home in time to eat a sandwich and greet my mom's friend. You see yesterday was also the Rod Stewart concert. His last show in the US for this tour! So we pile into Mom's new Toyota 2005 Highlander that I haven't even ridden in yet even though she's had it for 2 weeks. Anyway, she turns the key and NOTHING. Not even a click. The starter is caput? After a few tries (I jumped in the driver's seat too) and a new set of keys, we ran down the driveway to switch to her other car. We probably left the house around 5:20 pm to arrive in Atlantic City for an 8pm show. Things were going pretty smoothly until the Atlantic City Expressway. With only about 10 miles to go we hit the worst traffic we've seen down there. What a mess. It look us at least an hour to get into town, not to mention another 30 minutes to get into a parking spot in the Trump Plaza.

We parked in a spot that I'm still not sure was legal. We tried to get a handicapped spot because my Mom's friend has some foot problems and has a temporary pass. None of those to be found. Anyway, we found a spot that was numbered. We barely fit in the spot to the point we had to suck it in to get out of the car. Mom actually had to climb over the front seat and get out the passenger's side!!! It was the biggest comedy of errors I've seen in a long time. Granted, if we had Mom's other car, we would not have fit in the spot. (We're questioning some divine intervention - long story).

Apparently a lot of people got caught in the traffic because a huge amount of people were trying to run into Boardwalk Hall. I think there were maybe 10,000 people at the concert. By some luck, we actually arrived just as they were bringing up the curtain. They must have held the concert at least 10 minutes. Nice!!! It was a great concert. Boy does he like to change his clothes a lot. All was good until the Encore. A lady in the row in front of us (right in our line of sight) jumped up and started dancing. After 30 seconds of that, I bent down and tapped the shoulder of another lady to gesture to her to ask the lady to sit down. Well wouldn't you know the dancing lady copped an attitude and refused to sit down? I think she even yelled at her husband. It was nearly surreal and probably one of the rudest things I've seen in that type of setting (completely low class). I really wanted to say something to her on the way out, but restrained myself as I didn't want to get decked or worse (given this lady's temper). It totally ruined the Encore because we couldn't see anything. She only sat down when Rod wasn't on stage for a part of the song. Anyway, there was only one Encore, which seemed disappointing given they kept the houselights down for a long time. Oh well. What can you do? It probably would have been ruined anyway but the dancing lady anyway.

So in an attempt to miss the traffic, we walked the boardwalk for a little while. Grabbed some food, stale fudge and such. There were some serious characters walking around. (This must have been one of the biggest events I've seen there). We stopped into Bally's Wild Wild Wild West Casino for a bit of gambling (had to have a well-rounded AC experience). I put $5 in a slot machine. I tried the 3 credit bets for a few spins and got squat. The first 1 credit bet hit 7's and gave me about $7 in winnings. I figured I'd quit while I was ahead. I don't love the new winning coupon vouchers. I think I liked quarters better for that. Whatever. Times change. Mom's friend hit a $50 winning and she quit. Mom lost her slot money and decided to try her hear hand at the Money Wheel. (I skipped blackjack because they wanted $25 a hand!) Mom's friend and I played backseat gamblers. Once we convinced Mom to stop playing the 10-1 odds spots, she started winning. She was up about $45. That covered the DVD she bought and gas. So I guess she really broke even. All was good.

Now that we had spent 2 hours on the boardwalk, we figured it was a good time to head home – less traffic. Yeah, right. At least the car was still where we left it. It must have taken us 25 minutes to get out of the parking garage and then another 25 minutes to get out of the city. What is normally a hour, 40 minute drive took us 2 and a half hours.

A good time was had by all in spite of traffic and the rude dancing lady!!!

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