mom and dad are gonna be maaaaaaaaaaaad.

my sister arrived in mexico city on monday afternoon. we have had a great time exploring the city, with me showing her some of my favorite spots and the two of us discovering things that are as new to me as they are to her.

one such place is not too far from my school. and it's a dangerous prospect.

it's a casino.

as is fairly well-known by those in my circle of friends and immediate family members, i have a slightly sordid past with gambling. it dates back to what should have been a more innocent period of my life, pre-pubescence. in reality, i was spending an unhealthy amount of time and money at the claw machines where you waste a lot of quarters trying to maneuver a mechanical claw around any type of cheaply assembled stuffed animal. as i moved into the late elementary and early middle school years, my habits brought me into a new realm of my developing addiction to games of chance. i started hitting the kiddie slot machines at side show pizza and would explode with excitement every time i got an invitation to a birthday party at said locale. by age twelve i was a regular at the our lady of grace church fair, where i would show up to all three days of the annual festival, and sidle up to the craps table with all of my classmates' dads and an assortment of retirees. my allowance sustained my habit in the beginning, and once i was actually employed as a gymnastics teacher at the age of fourteen, the stakes were growing exponentially. i would sometimes win big, as i bounced back and forth between craps and the money wheel, and i still remember the time i took a chance putting my crisp dollar bill on the long-shot 20 dollar bet. the money wheel spun and spun and finally landed on... indeed, the only $20 bill on the entire wheel. sweet winnings. i panicked the year i showed up on a friday evening for the fair's opening day and there were signs everywhere that said you had to be 18 to gamble. fortunately for me, enforcement of this rule was lax at best.

you might see why the casino discovery in mexico city's own condesa district could be problematic. well, it quickly did become problematic when my sister had to go to the bathroom, and the street vendor she asked suggested we go into the casino to use their facilities. it didn't take much convincing to get me to agree to play a little something. they only had slot machines, so my yearning for a craps table and the days of yore was futile. we settled in at machines that creatively combined the games of bingo and lotto. i only played 10 pesos, spaced out over many games, but it didn't take long before i got a double-line on one of my four bingo cards and won 100 pesos. luck was clearly still on my side, so many years later. i claimed to want to play it all away, since i had only put in a dollar to start with and i was having fun. secretly, yet obviously, i was hoping to win another 100. it didn't happen, and i cut myself off when my winnings were gone. my sister had gone to wait for me outside, as her lucky streak was not up to the task that night, and for some reason it wasn't fun for her to watch me - with that crazed look in my eye - as i kept on playing.

it was a thrill and a treat, and i am scared for the days when i go to school just blocks from that shiny, gold-trimmed hall of bright, beeping money machines. when i find myself with time on my hands and no one to stop me.

and i finally understand why, of all of the TV shows that could have been off limits in the jones household growing up, it was the price is right that i absolutely was not allowed to watch.