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If you love Marinduque and want to contribute articles to this site, please do so. My contact information is in my profile. The above photo was taken from the balcony of The Chateau Du Mer Beach House, Boac, Marindque, Philippines. I love sunsets. How about you? Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on infringing your copyrights. Thank you and Cheers!

Tres Reyes Island view of the Marinduque Mainland

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Our Weekly Escapade to the Casinos

If you have been following my blogs, you probably know that our weekly entertainment consist of an afternoon visit( 1-6 PM) to the Indian Casinos not too far from our residence here in Northern California. Our visit is not only to play the slots machines but also to partake the buffet ( Seafood) and food at the several restaurants in the Casinos at very reasonable prices. Oftentimes we received $10 of free dining coupons or we can used our accumulated points for food or gift items. We also have free plays varying from $5 to $15 every week

There are two Indian Casinos only about 30 minutes drive from our residence. I will call them Casino A and Casino B. My wife and I go to Casino A three times a month and we go to Casino B, once a month. For the last two years, along with my wife we take along our next door neighbor who is a widow and enjoy the ride with us. The three us of us have a weekly budget for this activity. So far our weekly trip to the Casinos had not sent us to the poor house. The most important of all, we are not yet addicted to the slot machines.

This week, I met two complete strangers in Casino A and I realized they are slot machines addicts.

The first stranger was a retired Filipino about 65 years old. I thought at first he was Chinese until he talk to me in Tagalog. He told me he just live nearby and go to the Casinos every day. I notice he was not betting minimum on the slots similar to the slots I am playing. He placed $100 in the machine and bet 0.90 cents each time while I am only betting 0.30 cents, the minimum bet required. We both played side by side for about one hour. After one hour my balance was still around $20 the amount I bet at the beginning. In the meantime the Filipino stranger balance in his machine was only about $15. He kept on complaining that the machines are stingy today. He also informed me that his children has been telling him to stop going to the Casinos everyday. I just listened and from his ramblings, I know he has already an addiction to the slot machines.

After another 5 minutes, my machine yielded a Bonus Play ( 15 free plays). It gave me about $8.00. It was time to go and play another slot machine. I have a modus operandi, that once the machine gave the bonus round, it is time to move on. However, sometimes , I forget and get carried away and it is almost sure, I will lose my bonus winning if I do not move to another machine.

This week I met another stranger ( A Caucasian man in his 50's) in the non-smoking section of Casino A. I have a favorite machine in that section. It is a new machine with statistics and amazing sound effects. The week before I hit the bonus round in this machine which gave me 100 free plays and resulted in the winning of $100 from a 30 cents bet. Luckily, the machine was vacant. I placed $20. My bet was minimum as usual ( 0.30 cents).

The gentleman by my side playing a similar machine, was betting 90 cents per play. I notice his balance was $390. I asked him if that is his winnings. He said no, since he had already placed about $600 in the machine. Then he started complaining that the Casinos are cheaters, since he always is losing. I mentioned that the Casinos here are to make money. He commented that at least they should program the machine that our CHANCE OF WINNING IS A AT LEAST 10%. I then told him of my winning the bonus of $100 resulting from my minimum bet, the week before. He said it is a miracle that I won that amount from a minimum bet. All of a sudden I hit a bonus play giving me 25 free plays. It gave me $40. When the guy saw it, he was so upset and left his machine still complaining about his bad luck. In my case, it was time to quit and enjoy some dinner. At the end of 6 hours of playing, I lost only $20 but have the grandest time in my life. In the meantime my wife is also enjoying her afternoon. My wife did not loss any money and was playing on Casino money all afternoon, whereas our neighbor lost all her allowance for the week.

My wife, our neighbor and I are looking forward for next week for our Casino Escapade. Will it be Casino A or B? This will depend on the free plays we will receive next week.

For those of you who have not been to the Indian Casinos in Northern California.: The Casinos are well equipped with new slot machines and as modern as the Casinos in Reno, Lake Tahoe or Las Vegas, Nevada. Casinos A or B gave us the amenities and joys of slot machines gambling without the hassles of driving for several hours to either Lake Tahoe, Reno or Las Vegas.

I left My Heart in Marinduque

I have always wanted to write a song about Leaving my Heart in Marinduque. This song will be sang to the tune of the famous song in honor of the city by the bay ( I left My Heart in San Francisco). Here's it is: I hope you like it:

The loveliness of Fair Oaks

Seems somehow sadly gay

the glory that was Boac

Is another day!

Ive been terribly alone

and forgotten in Sacramento

I'm going home to my town by the sea.

I left my heart in Marinduque

Near by the beach it beckons me

To be where the Moriones are

Come, visit where ever you are

The morning sun rise by the sea

I don't care!

My love waits at Chateau Du Mer

Near the blue and calmy sea

When I come home to you, Marinduque

Chateau Du Mer will welcome me!


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ABOUT ME

I am a retired (Chemistry Team Leader from USFDA) Filipino-American who loves writing, gardening and photography. My wife (of 56 years) and I enjoy the snowbird lifestyle between the US and the Philippines.

We have a small but very private beach resort ( video above) in the beautiful island of Marinduque, Philippines. I have several blog sites (ten), a personal blog, blogs about Marinduque and about our beach resort and conference center-CHATEAU DU MER.

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Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort
Beach House, Boac, Marinduque,Philippines

Front Yard of Main House

Front Yard of Main House
Light Red Orchid and Bougainvillas,Chateau Du Mer

Amanah Forest Preserve

Amanah Forest Preserve
Living Room of Yong and Ivy Nieva, Cawit

Marinduque On My Mind

"Marinduque on My Mind" -has been published. The book was written through the inspiration of Yong Nieva, Macrine's first cousin on her mother side of the family.

"Marinduque is a strange illness. You come and you would go. You think you are leaving, but its the town that gets away from you. You wish you could understand, and yet you keep coming back". I realized I had a "problem" that I have to deal with; the problem of my relationships to this small island and the areas around it. I therefore decided that someday we can write a book to try to understand what was really happening, that could clarify our feelings, not by thinking descriptively,analytically or rationally.

We must follow the journey to go back in time. Follow a thread, but which one?It really doesn't matter. We just let ourselves be led by an image; a word, a memory; the trails of ink left by visitors who have been won over and those that have been lost. There's so many indeed! "

Here's a short biography of Yong: He is named after his father Guillermo(Will) Sarmiento Nieva,Sr of Boac. He has grown to be known as Yong. After a short stint with Philippine Airlines, in 1980, he got married and lived in San Francisco working for Allstate Insurance for fifteen years. In 1955 he got divorced and moved back to Manila. He is now in the restaurant business. Together with his wife Ivy Syquia Almario, an interior designer, they regularly visit Cawit, Boac starting an "ecologically-correct" family retreat or sanctuary. They named it AMANAH, Nature Reserve.

Here's a summary of Yong's email to us:

Dear Manang Macrine and Manong Dave'

Greetings! It was a lazy Sunday afternoon today and looking at the photos in my e-mail of my project in Cawit " The Amanah", I was struck by the thought of what is it that really beckons me to keep going back to our beloved island, Marinduque. When I started thinking of words to describe the feeling about Marinduque, all thoughts just came in a rush. It became a virtual "collage-series" of events in my young life. How Papa made it an annual mandate that we spent two weeks of summer with Lola Elving and our aunts, uncles and cousins in Boac. Ah, days of reckless abandon-the treks to the beach, and the jam-sessions at night. How we felt so loved by each and everyone of them, which even to this day we cherish. How even our cousins friends also became our friends. And they remember!

This is not only about us-the children of Guillermo "Will" Nieva of Boac. I then thought, "What about others"? What about those, who like me lived in the States, but still carry Marinduque in their hearts. Maybe if we all share via website, the hi-tech way, to answer the question of what really beckons us to Marinduque. Then together we can solve this strange illness.

Surely, the Marinduquenos association all over the US, do not only continue to thrive because of its leaders, but also because if we really look closely, there are many reasons why its members continue to stay in touch. It is a rare gift, if I may say so!

In that Marinduquenos heart, there's still an image- a face of his/her first love, or the first kiss; an incident in his/her young life that forever changed his life; his dreams, his goals, his pains that drove him to become what he/she is now; the emotions felt of being left behind from a good bye; the sound of the rambling jeepney on its way to Balanacan; the scent of coconut oil in early morning hours as you drive the narrow roads; the fear and scampering from the town's idiot or from the town's bully, and why not? the love story of beautiful "Peace Corp" volunteer fell in love and married the handsome local swain! So many essays and narratives to start and follow the "journey".

Manong Dave, could you please design a website for this literary project and invite our fellow Marinduquenos there in US to share their thoughts, hearts and feelings in words and so we can solved (or at least understand) this "strange illness" inside each and everyone of us!

My response to Yong: I am excited of this idea. My suggestion is to create a blog site instead of a website. The blog site is easy to manage. This is where articles could be posted and edited. The blog site is free and easy. I could titled it http://marinduqueonmymind.blogspot.com. I will manage it along with my other blogs on the internet. Once we have collected a number of postings, we can published it ourselves.

I will volunteer to write an article on " I left my Heart in Marinduque ( not in San Francisco), since I did not grow up in Marinduque but married a marinduquena.


NOTE TO ALL MARINDUQUENOS WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROJECT:
You may write your article via the comment section of this blog or sent your article to my e-mail, tagajaro@comcast.net

Heart and Eco-Tourism Capital of the Philippines

Garden Wedding Venue

Garden Wedding Venue
Chateau Du Mer House and Gardens

Dave and Macrine Katague

Dave and Macrine Katague
Our Golden Wedding Anniversary-Click on Photo to link to Marinduque Awaits You

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center
Beach House, Boac, Marinduque

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center
Conference and Multi-Purpose Hall

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center

Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center
Beach House Balcony at Night