Vegas: Final Day

So, saved the best for last.

Justin is my hero, and as always a wonderful and dear friend. He decided on a lark to fly to Vegas and meet up with me. I was stunned really, that was just so cool! Okay, so he arrived at about 8:30 and we were off like a shot. First stop, finally made it to Quark's! It was a bit smaller than I had envisioned but boy were the drinks neat! The drinks were about the size of a fish bowl and bubbling and smoking. They were called Warp Core Breaches. Coolest drink EVAR! So two of those later, and some Targ Ribs and Telaxian Sand Shrimp and we were starting to feel adventure creep up on us. We decided to first go gamble a little, but our taxi driver convinces us otherwise, taking us instead to a place that vends boobies as if they were some sort of national commodity. The nerve! It is amazing this product really. It's soft, it smells good and you walk away with less money and nothing to show for it. That's like the best profit margin in the world.

So then we do end up gambling. Texas Holdem 1-2 no limit at the MGM. Many free drinks later I lose $200, Justin makes $200. To the bar for a couple shots each and we for some odd reason decide we need to hit up an Irish bar. Over to the New York at Nine Fine Irish Men we have a couple Guinness... Guinness'? Guinni? Couple dark beers down the hatch and Justin has an inkling for some Blackjack which if I recall he does rather well at.

Now... this is where things get a little fuzzy. For some reason we need to go to the Gold Nugget. Something about cheap blackjack tables or something because this side of the strip the cheapest blackjack tables are $10. That's a lot o cash. Problem is, this ends up being pretty far away. Right after we get there in the taxi, Justin doesn't feel so well so we don't make it to the table. There is some hemming and hawing, and some praying. I bravely guard my friend at the porcelain gates and make sure the security guards don't take him to the joint. Yes, Jen is going to kill me I know. Finally get him on his feet and carry him out of the place though no taxi will take us. We take a little walk which reminds me of that movie "Weekend with Burnie". Find a bus that will take us back to the MGM for $2 each. Neat! We get halfway there and at one of the stops Justin finds one of the garbage cans outside of the bus particularly interesting. After inspecting it thoroughly I talk him through our next plan. Plan is, "act natural". So Justin it turns out is a thespian. He acts PERFECTLY natural and the next taxi we see takes us. We do make it to the hotel this time and are in bed by 4:30am. Sweet!

Get up at 8am and leave to go catch my plane. Justin is resting soundly and snug as a baby. I tell the front desk to go easy on him. Plane ride was uneventful as I am not awake for it. Call Justin when I get to San Jose and he sounds surprisingly lucid and awake. Joy of joys, it sounds like he's gonna pull through!

So that spells the end of my adventure. Made it out with nary a scrape or bruise and more money left over than I thought I'd have.

Again, Justin thank you so much for coming to hang out with me. That is one of the coolest things a friend has ever done for me.

-Aaron

Vegas: Day 5

Wow what a day this was. Slept in, bought tickets to see "Ka" and "Le Femme". Went to a Mexican place that made GREAT margaritas. Saw "Ka". It was really something else. There was a huge stage and it could spin around and tilt all over the place. Some great imagery and a storyline that was really neat. Just so cool. Went back for more margaritas. Saw "Le Femme". It was so-so. I didn't get the impression that the performers were having a great time and it was a bit less artistic than I was expecting. Got out of that show and decided to go to a goth club that I read about in the intertron. Got there after a pretty long cab ride and there were two people in the club. How super lame was that? Left immediately. Went to Studio 54 and it was a sausage fest. Went to Tabu and it was pretty cool. Met some German guy there and had a blast talking to him and some girls and stuff. Danced a bit, then the German guy wanted to go to a topless bar. I was pretty trashed at that point. Got there didn't spend any money besides the entrance fee. Went to the bathroom and when I got back the German guy was gone and I was afraid he was going to get lost or something but couldn't find him so I took a cab back to the hotel and passed out. One thing about Vegas, hangovers are WAY worse because of the dry weather. It is so easy to get dehydrated. Spending all of today recovering and saving money. Big news is Justin is coming to Vegas and I think Kyle is too. So Justin and I are gonna do stuff on Friday night and maybe Kyle too. That is really great because I was surprised how much less fun it is to go on adventures alone. All in all great night last night and looking forward to tomorrow.

-Aaron

Vegas: Day 4

I didn't do much. Nope, not much at all. Today I'll do all that stuff I said I'd do yesterday, I promise!

-Aaron

Las Vegas: Day 3

Got up late, played a litle World of Warcraft with Jordan, Eric, Tim and a few others. Was not entirely there. Slightly tired, wonder why. Gobbed up some PVP points and then took a nice nap which revealed that cold air shuts off my MP3 player. That iPod Nano is looking more attractive every day, or maybe I am making excuses.

Saw Zumanity. Everything was black and red, and i happened to be wearing my black and red suit. It was like wearing camo utils. Show was not entirely goth, but in the sense that it talked and expressed sex, it was very goth... at least in my mind how I wish goth was. More accurately it was sexual. The girl binding herself in ribbons 30 feet off the floor while whispering things like, "Don't let me move," ,"Abandon me," and "Choke me,"... okay it all sounds strange, but it was very freaking B&D and I freakin LOVED it! Now back to our regularly scheduled sane blog.

Yeah, yeah, I am probably technically sane, and I feel sane and all. It's odd to me that as I am here in Vegas, NOBODY dresses like me. I have now counted five people who dress like I do. The rest... seriously I pass by people and they are laughing at me 5 seconds later as if I cannot hear them. Should I feel sad that there are like 45 states in the US who think dyed hair is so strange it warrents a comical quip? After a day of wandering and wondering on this very subject this wonderful person walks up to me and says, "Boy, in New York you would be hot, hot hot! You got it goin' ON!" Salvation. She isn't goth, she is as regular looking as everyone else in the place, except she respected me. Bought her a drink, she deserved it for being the only person in las Vegas to tell me I had fashion on the up-and-up.

Went to an irish pub called Nine Fine Irish Men. Fun place. Drank 6 Murphy's Red Ales, a shot of Bushmill's. Also ate a "Bucket of Sausage". I estimated that it would be five sausages on a bed of lettuce in one of those one-liter tin pails you pot plants in. No. I was wrong... It was a giant cauldron full of spicy saucage and beer battered sausage, a bunch of mustard and, I am ashamed to say I did not finish it. Sure the six beers might have played a part, but seriously, that's a lot of food! I'm going back there tomorrow it was so good.

After the show and the ritzy-bar-that-the-wonderful-woman-told-me-I-had-it-going-on-in, I took a cab to the Sapphire. I seriously didn't see a lot in there. It's a big spacious place. Walking in there in a suit made for Dan Aykroyd, I had girls on me like I had ran through a bramble brush of boobies. RAD! Didn't shell out a dollar till I found hottie # hottie. She was great. Fun, friendly, talkative, interesting. Great, great. She insisted on giving me her number so I could come to her birthday party at her place. We'll see if it's a real number or not, but seeing as I didn't ask her for it and I was on my way out...

I'm back at my room now, gonna watch a movie I think because night and day seem to be blending. Since every time I sleep I feel like I am stealing about 4-9 hours of life from myself... who knows, but I am sure when I need sleep I will take a nap.

Tomorrow's plans:

Lunch: Nap
Show: "O"
Dinner: Quark's
After dinner: Studio 54 (it's some ritzy ultra-lounge somethin or other, but I got a free pass with my hotel registration. Something not done is never done as I like to say.)

Tally:

Didn't gamble. Still -$198

-Aaron

Vegas: Day 2

Ouchie, head hurt in the morning. Had a rejuvenating omlet and a whole lot of coffee.

Tried some 3-6 holdem, they beat me down. Moral of the story? Don't play poker early in the day, they were mean sober players. Need to find tables late in the night with lots of drunk people tossing chips around like confetti.

Went to see Jarhead. What a sobering movie that was. Walked out of the theater and all I could think was, "That could have been me."

Took a nap, got dressed and walked the strip. Some of the construction feats they have accomplished here are amazing. Everything is so sparkling and bright. I passed a casino that had gone out of business and it looked like a complete wreck outside. It reminds me that the shininess and sparkliness requires a great deal of maintenance and without it, nature and people will erode it to ruin in a very short time. I watched the water show in front of the Bellagio... six times. It has to be the most incredible thing to see here, though I still have to go see all the shows. Watching it was so awe inspiring. The ingenuity and massive cost to make this thing happen every 15 minutes. Incredible. It was also a little sad. Maybe it was just because of the movie I had watched that day or something but the sheer magnificence of it, and the decadence of having this giant pool of water in the middle of a desert made me wonder if our nation will maintain such things as this for the duration of my lifetime.

Back to the room, ordered some room service because I was STARVED and I just missed all the restaurants closing. Watched Madagascar and Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the telly. Madagascar was likely the most lackluster Dreamworks/Pixar style CGI movie I have seen to date. Mr. and Mrs. Smith was pretty good. Angelina Jolie shivers me timbers.

Plans for tonight: Watch "O", eat at Quark's, go to Sapphire.

Tally:

poker: -$60
previous: -$138
total: -$198

Eric, I popped your dollar in a dollar slot and it came up triple bar, double bar, 7. It was a little anti-climactic. Russ, there are no $1 roulette tables so I think I'll go do a dollar slot in your name because roulette scares me.

-Aaron

Vegas: Day 1

First day, no problems on the flight. Bam, right when you walk out of the plane, slot machines!

Room is rad. The bathroom is made almost entirely of glass. Set up all my toys and stuff. Decided to go gamble a little. Blackjack spanked me and I ran away. Found the Texas Holdem tables, stayed there for the next 4 hours or so, wow that was a lot of alcohol.

Ate at the rainforest cafe. Slept for a little bit but not much, going back down to have summore fun.

No pictures, it looks like they are blocking a port I need for FTP or something, not sure what's up.

Tally is:

blackjack: -$120 (a sad, sad ten minutes)
Texas holdem: -$18 (pretty good for getting a bazillion drinks and five hours, but I could have done better if I was sober. Hah hah.)

Total: -$138

Eric and Russ I have not placed your bets yet but I will today.

-Aaron

Evening Party of the Living Dead

This will be one hell of a party (excuse the pun). DJ music, old B&W movies projected ontothe walls, candles, lots of dead people, dancing, food, drinks and plenty of space to put the bodies at the end of the night.



-Aaron