Skip to main content

A strange night at the Hilton

What did you used to do on New Year's Eve when you were 7-, 8-, 9-years old? Play with dolls? Watch TV? Play video games? Have a sleep over with friends? Nothing different than any other weekend? I can't even remember what I did on New Year's Eve twenty some odd years ago. Chances are I was chilling at home, getting ready for the New Year's Day bowl games. Well, not all kids are like this, as I learned on Tuesday night at a Hilton hotel in Columbus, Ohio.

When walking inside this rather upscale hotel, I noticed a few youngsters roaming about with their parents. I didn't think much of it at first until I came back to the hotel later that night after bar- and restaurant-hopping for a couple of hours. When I ventured inside, I noticed a group of 10 to 20 young kids with their parents not far from the bar area. When asking somebody up front about it, she said that one of the kids was having a birthday party and that he/she did the same thing a year ago.

Really? During those years, I had my birthday party at a bowling alley or a fun center to play video games and spaceball. Never did it occur to me that I should reel off the following question for my folks:

"So, mom? Dad? For my birthday, do you think we could get a lot of rooms at a Hilton hotel and throw the party there? It's only $150 per room per night. There will only be twenty of us or so, so if we have two per room, that'd just be eleven rooms and $1,650. That isn't too much right? Come on, mom, dad? Please! There's a pool and everything there! Please! Please! Please!"

Later that night, as midnight struck for the new year, I heard what seemed to be lines of kids talking, laughing, running, and hollering up and down the halls. Little did I realize that when booking a room at the Hilton on New Year's Eve, it'd wind up feeling more like a daycare than a hotel.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My first book review of "Penetrating the Heart of Life: Ambiguous In Thought, Ambivalent In Feeling"

Well, I received my first book review on this poetry-compilation book I completed and published late last year, but have finally gotten around to marketing now. The reviewer gave it 5 out of 5 stars and said: "I enjoyed the poetic journey the writer has taken me on. From darkest days and hopeful optimism to the conclusion of hope realized. The visual images that the poem titled "Room Temperature" elicits, made me think of the song, "Horse With No Name" sung by the band America. In a similar manner, another poem – "Deafening Sigh-lence" reminded me a great deal of Simon & Garfunkel’s song, "The Sound of Silence". There are so many poems in this book that I related to, that I felt a connection to the author and felt that we were traveling on this journey together." http://www.lulu.com/shop/craig-rozniecki/penetrating-the-heart-of-life-ambiguous-in-thought-ambivalent-in-feeling/paperback/product-18677501.html

A closer look at the Scramble With Friends power-ups

I am unashamed to admit that I'm a nerd. My idea of a good time is playing a word game like Boggle or Scrabble. Thankfully, I (and many others) can play such games via Facebook and/or my (our) cell phone(s). While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze. One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all: Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve...

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...