We Have a Winner!!!

So I RSVP'd about a week ago that I'd be going to my work (Turtle Bay) Christmas party. There was going to be good catered food, the theme was casino night, and on the invitation it said, "Dress to Impress." I had my eye on this girl Jansen that I've met a few times that I wanted to ask out. She's super cute, only about 4'11", filipino, and has an amazing smile. So I asked her out and she said "yes", that's a refreshing response, different from the normal ones I've been hearing lately. I decided to wear my 3-piece suit that I bought at a pentecostal thrift store in Burlington, NC for $5. I picked her up, took some awkward pre-prom style pictures before we left her house and then headed up to Waimea Valley where our party was being held.

So we both got pretty excited about the whole "dress to impress" thing and when we showed up to the party we got a little bit nervous, thinking that we might have gone a little overboard. We saw some people in shorts and blue jeans but it didn't matter, we were looking good and we were going to have a good time regardless. Right when we show up they gave us a little gift bag with a few little goodies, the best one was this box of mint chocolates that are to die for. They taste like heavenly, velvety goodness. That's all I can say about them. While we waited to be seated they had some pupus out, shrimp and chicken wings. I was starving so I think that anything would have tasted divine, but I'm pretty sure that these things were bomb to begin with.
So we took out seats and even took our turn posing for a professional photographer who was invited to come. I don't have those pictures back yet, I'll post them when I get them. And then we went through the buffet line. Man Turtle Bay doesn't hold out, this food was good. I think that I can give an unbiased opinion now because I'm not as extremely hungry as I was before thanks to the appetizers.


While we were sitting down finishing up our meals my boss came around and passed out the fake money that we would be gambling with and a raffle ticket for each person. We were given $300 (fake) each and the point was to make as much money as you could because every $100 bought you another raffle ticket and they had some pretty good prizes.
So we go up stairs and they had 3 or four tables going. I don't really understand craps too well so I decided to go for blackjack, a simple enough game. Well to make a long story short I only played with $200 and I increased that to $1,200. Pretty good don't you think? But at the same time it does put the thought in my head..."I could do this with real money and make the easiest, fastest money ever." But that's just bad news, I probably played differently because I knew that it wasn't real money.
So we cashed in our chips for raffle tickets and took a seat to wait for the numbers. They explained the rules which were that they had 3 main prizes that they were going to wait until the end to raffle them off. The rest was first come, first served. They would raffle a ticket and you would simply pick off the table what you wanted. They had a lot of things: a bunch of oakley sunglasses, a nintendo wii, 4 rounds of golf at another really nice golf club, 4-night stays at some nice resorts, a big tool set, just to name a few. (Oh just a side note, right before they started the raffle I was named the chip leader of the night, boo-yah baby.) So they start with the raffle and guess whose number got called first, that's right mine. So I go up there and start looking at what I want to choose. Now I have a question to throw out there, have you ever been to a restaurant that has a huge menu and the more choices that you have makes the choice even that much harder? Well this is how it was for me. And they didn't wait for me, they continued and called the next raffle. The 2nd guy quickly grabbed the nintendo wii, I went for the oakley sunglasses because there's this pair that I've really wanted for a long time, worth $180. I didn't see them amongst the selection so I kept looking. And then I saw it, exactly what I wanted. THE IPOD TOUCH....BOOYAH to the 19th power baby. So I grab it and found out that it came with a shirt too. I walk back to my seat stoked on my newly aquired gift. I sit down and start examining it and.....guess what.....its not an ipod touch, its an ipod touch case. NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! You've got to be kidding me. I had first choice over everything and I chose the ipod case when I don't even have an ipod to cover. That's right I was that guy, I was one of the only sober people at the party at that point and I was the one who botched the first pick of the raffle. That's like choosing choosing 3 free oil changes when I don't even have a car. I attempted to go up and explain that I couldn't read it well enough and pleaded for them to let me exchange it. Instead of sympathy I was given mockery. They decided to announce my choice to the whole party. Just shoot me now. And to make it worse I wasn't able to redeem myself with another choice, none of my other raffle tickets were chosen. I just had one chance and I blew it.

Afterwards I went to the Oakley rep, who had donated the case and the shirt (which was a size XXL) and I traded them in for credit towards those sunglasses that I wanted. So I ended up getting the sunglasses that I wanted but I had to pay some for them. Only $60 for a $180 dollar pair though, so I can justify that purchase.
The rest of the night was fun. Jansen is a really fun date.


We danced by ourselves on the dance floor but were later joined by some of my buzzed fellow employees. So besides the fact that I may have acquired possibly the greatest regret story of my life, besides that it was a great night. Good food, good games, fun dancing, great date, and even a good-night kiss. It's my story, I end it on then note that I choose.