So, I intended to take the weekend of from writing to play poker during a time that is usually ripe for it. I was staring blankly at the table felt watching tens of thousands of dollars exchange over the course of a meaningless, circuitous, useless, completely arbitrary game. Then something exciting happened! Or maybe it didn't? I really still have no idea only an hour after the event.
Like an ocean of employee-worn sea blue, what seemed like a million kajillion people were rushing toward me. I still had no idea why, but my Sherlock Holmes deduction alerted me to the high percent chance that this wasn't a flash mob playing a trick on the only person not involved (me). If the employees, who seem so physically obliged to protect the casino's assets (frequently uttering "oh wait my chip rack is short a dollar, let's go through the cameras to make sure no one at this table is up a dollar they shouldn't have!"), then there was a pretty good chance some physical harm was being threatened to the patrons here.
Still, I had NO INFORMATION other than a bunch of people running in one direction. I and other people decided to make the logical(?) choice and follow the flow to the back exit leaving those aforementioned tens of thousands sitting without owners at the tables.
Like an overweight ninja with bad knees, I hopped two railings between the poker room and sportsbook and headed out the back emergency exit. By the time we had reached the sidewalk (and nearly the freeway), we turned to each other and asked the obvious question: "Um, so what were we running from?"
The answers came quickly from people that I knew and didn't know:
"I don't know. Probably there was a shooter!"
"I just saw everyone running and ran."
"Yeah I heard shots!!! Or at least my friend said she heard shots! But they could have been like someone dropping something maybe?"
"Man, I left a shit-ton of money back there. Maybe I shouldn't have."
*******SPOILER ALERT******** and probably what anyone who's looking for info wants to read...
I still really don't know what happened. Random consensus eventually agreed that someone with a gun had tried to hold up a store, and there is a "chance" that some shots were fired. I eventually walked back in the front door with no one warning me, got my chips, and left. The end.
The question I had to ask myself immediately after was if I made the right decision? It seems ridiculous to think that you shouldn't pull out all the stops and sacrifice everything to save your life because all wealth, happiness, anything is a construct of BEING ALIVE and able to experience any of those things.
But really I knew there was a number. I wasn't 100% to die if I stayed to collect my money. And you're never 100% to live in any situation. Was I dumb to follow a stampeding herd toward the exit? Is a majority usually correct? I decided that when they're sprinting for an exit, they usually are. So, in basic principle, I think there is something to be said for the wisdom of crowds. When a consensus is reached usually most people ARE right. I guess something in me did die after all. The cynic.