Remember when I shared with you that my name in Spanish is pretty much the same as the word for "almost"? The more and more I think about it, I have to say, my mom did a pretty good job naming me, at least if she was the Spanish dictionary as a guide. While I wouldn't say my life is full of "almosts", the word seems appropriate in plenty of situations. Like the time I almost won a huge Bingo prize at Bolivar Day at school.
Bolivar is a huge celebration at school with many food vendors and whats turns out to me a small amusement park for the kids. There is music and dancers among other things, but the highlight (for most adults at least) is the intense Bingo game. I'm not kidding, the Bingo ladies from Annunciata were put to shame. The outdoor cafeteria was packed to the brim with those ready to win. Bingo cards were sold for $10.000 each and got you 4 rounds, with 8 games total. Each round included a letter to be completed (L,X,C and U) followed by a full card or carta blanca. Now, I never win anything. I mean anything, so I wasn't getting my hopes up and wasn't too confident that my two cards would get me very far. The first and second rounds were a bust, but the third round brought me some luck. The "C" prize had already been claimed, but my card was pretty full until I was down to the O 67 that had been haunting me all afternoon. I squealed "one more!" when Kristin noticed that Kelsi and I both needed that troublesome O 67. In other words, if it was called we would have to fight to the death for the prize as they only allow one winner, kind of like the Hunger Games. Sure enough O 67 was pulled and we danced our way to the front to have our cards read, both convinced we had a number wrong as we didn't double check our card, ad sesentas and setentas can be easily confused. We both had legitimate BINGOs and so to break the tie, the Bingo guy pulled one more ball from the numbers left for each of us; whoever had the higher number would be the sole winner. I quickly looked at the numbers not yet lit up on the board: most of O was gone, with the highest number left being 70. Of course, the number he pulled for Kelsi was 70 so I didn't stand a chance. He pulled another anyway for show and I think it was 48, but I hardly bothered to listen.
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| Teachers playing Bingo at Bolivar Day! |
A full card Bingo and I got nada. Kelsi's prize included highlights of a new watch, shirt, bathing suit, a partially paid cruise for one, in addition to some dental work and laser hair removal and a bag of Colombian candy. Now while the watch and clothing may have been the only things I probably would have wanted, its the principle of the matter; I almost won. Kelsi offered up the hair removal and dental work too, but it just wasn't the same. It didn't really belong to me. I may have considered that cruise for one. Who am I kidding, I'm not bold enough for that. Casí, Cassie, casí. Maybe next year. Looking forward to Bolivar Bingo 2013.
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