...and a few more things

I lived in Buffalo until I was about 7 and then my family moved on to Rochester, infinitely more cosmopolitan and artsy than Buffalo, and then finally on to Boston. As I was growing up, my grandmother's favorite thing to do was to play bingo. I was going as early as 5, and when I could, I would play a card until I got sleepy and then I would lay my head in grandma's lap and stretch out along some chairs and sleep until it was over.

I played here and there over the years, mostly when my best friend Kym was pregnant and we couldn't party, and years later in Boston with my friend Karen. We went every Thursday for a year. She would pick me up after work, we'd grab some Thai food and go to the catholic school in Arlington, MA and get a seat and have dinner.

Bingo players are weird. First of all, if you go to a neighborhood game (as opposed to a bingo hall where that is all they do and you expect to see "transient" players) everyone knows everyone else. Everyone has their section of the hall, their table and their seats. As a new person, it's very hard to come in to this environment and feel welcome since most players will guard their territory, as well as anyone elses, with their life. There were even times when we would get to the hall and there would be a choice spot at a table available and when we got there, there would be no chairs so we'd have to hunt around for some and deal with some very unfriendly ladies.

Second of all, the ladies won't talk to you. You're the new guys and you are encroaching on their territory and god forbid if you actually win a game in those introductory months. You'll be blacklisted.

What was interesting, though, is that Karen and I were most definitely the youngest people playing at that hall. Later, when we had passed all our old lady tests and became accepted and welcomed into the "fold," where OUR seats were being saved on the sly by the ladies...some new "young" people would come in to play and Karen and I were right along with the old ladies, "who do they think they are?" By that time, Karen and I were part of the group and had proved ourselves as regular, dedicated, bingo players and not just some kids coming in to try bingo out because it might be cool. We were the real thing.

At this time, Karen and I used to talk about making a bingo documentary, because this behavior among bingo players is not just segregated to that catholic school cafeteria where we played, it happens all over the country. Bingo is a subculture containing it's own social rules and regulations. So I was a little irritated and feeling like I missed the boat when I discovered that someone had made a Bingo documentary since the golden year of our attendance.

Anyways, one of the things I wanted to do was to play some bingo while in buffalo! On Tuesday afternoon, my mom, grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin and me all drove up to Canada to catch the 4pm game and a favorite Bingo Hall. Depending on how many games and how fast the bingo caller is, it can take up to 3 hours. This was a pretty fast round and lasted about 2 hours and guess what? I WON! I won 50 bucks on a two line bingo. YAY! When we got home I slipped grandpa $20 and then my mom and I went and got Bocce's pizza, which is the BEST pizza ever in the world. (I might add that my mom has dragged their half baked pizza across the country for me and it rocks!)

Actual newstory I heard in Buffalo:
Newscaster: You may have seen people walking around with little white headphones in their ears and a little white cord that is connected to...what? Well, its probably connected to an iPod.
Me: *staring at TV*
Newscaster: An iPod is a device where you can store your music and take it with you wherever you go!
Me: *staring at TV*

They're kidding, right? It's 2005 and people.