Not Again...

Didn't get to Stockholm this weekend. Not going to say anything more about it for now except to extend my apologies once more to Sam.

I would have had the perfect book for the plane trip though: Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. I distinctly remember my parents buying me this book in an airport convenience store in Boston back in August 2005. I was preparing to depart for my semester abroad in Freiburg, Germany, and they didn't feel I had enough to read.

This non-fiction book, with the extended title "The Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions," started off great, diving right into a gripping true story of one Kevin Lewis, an M.I.T. student-cum-card counter. The first few chapters made the first leg of my trip, from Boston to Philadelphia, whiz by, and I was looking forward to finishing during the eight hour slog from Philly to Frankfurt.

If only I had put the book back in my backpack. Instead, I had stored it neatly in the pouch attached to the seat in front of me, and conveniently forgotten it. The plane ate my book. That was nearly three years and a thousand tears ago.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008: Helping Michaela lighten her immense load in preparation for her return to the States, the rest of us were accepting whatever castoffs she pulled out of her bag of tricks. She pulled out a book and declared that it was a gift for me. As I took the light green paperback from her, the bright yellow lettering of the title stirred something in my mind.

Bringing Down the House? I thought. Where have I seen this before?

No way!

For the second time, I tore eagerly into the pages, and just a few minutes ago finished for the first time. It's a great read, even for someone like me who isn't at all interested in gambling or casinos. Now that I've finally closed that cliffhanger in my life, I'll be passing it along to the next unsuspecting soul, and hopefully it won't take them as long as it took me to get through this enjoyable story.