The Vegas Experience
First off, to everyone that knows where I live but chose not to rob me while I was away in Vegas, a big THANK YOU!
Because coming home to a broken in house would pretty much have capped off an otherwise fairly crappy weekend in Vegas.
I've been to Vegas a few times before, and I'd have to say, this was the least impressive of all of those times. My flight was delayed over an hour by weather (but thankfully not the 3 hours they were initially predicting), though so were my friend's flights so we actually came in closer to each other than I expected.
The initial night we went to the Olympic Garden because, hey, when in Vegas for a birthday party, you have to hit a strip club. It's a moral imperative. As expected, everyone had a good time, including the ladies in our party. Most of us left around 4pm, but a few, including the birthday boy stayed until about 5pm. Mostly chatting that time with a few girls that were really cool to hang out with. That has to be the highlight of the weekend for me, though after making a friend, it's hard to say "Goodbye, I'm probably never going to see you again." That part sucked.
The next night we went to Smith & Wollensky for a fine steak dinner. Except I made the fatal choice of wanting chicken. They give you a whole damn chicken with a knife stabbed through it's breast. Thanks, not quite that hungry. But that's the story of Smith & Wollensky, big food, and even bigger bills. I would have been OK with that if I hadn't had to choke down the chicken. It was so dry that I had to drink water in order to be able to swallow it. Paying $70 that meal (no wine, just water and 10oz of diet Pepsi) was a bit much if you ask me.
After dinner we went to Studio 54 at the MGM, which was cool. Dancing and a wire work show. It was a total bummer that one friend couldn't get in because he was wearing tennis shoes. Another almost didn't get in because he was wearing black tennis shoes with orange stripes. I believe the bouncer's quote was "Yeah, they're fucking ugly, but???" when he asked his supervisor if he could let Jimmy in. The initial reply was "I don't want him in my club." but eventually he caved and let him in. "His" club? Damn, didn't know the CEO of the MGM was working the doors.
Sunday some of us had to leave, reducing the group to about 6, but we still had fun. First we went to see Penn & Teller at the Rio, then we went to the VooDoo lounge at the top of the Rio for a view of the Vegas lights. However, that view was cut short by the rain that moved in that night.
Penn & Teller is a cool show, but I wasn't quite satisfied. I was expecting more stuff I hadn't seen before, but I suppose that might have been a bit much, since I try to see everything they do. However, our seats gave a clear vantage point to the slight of hand and behind the scenes trickery that I'm sure we weren't supposed to see, which actually kinda spoiled some of it. Not enough to ruin the enjoyment, but it definitely put a dent in it. I got to lean over the balcony and give Teller a high 5 as he left the auditorium though, which was definitely the high point for me.
Monday I headed back to the airport early since everyone else was too. I got there about noon to check in for my 6:15pm flight home. I tried to fly standby, but the preceding four flights were all booked up. Even at the airport I couldn't catch a break. I decided that I could use a massage and 24 Hour Fitness was offering them for a reasonable price, so what the heck. Turns out that the massage lady was tired and wanted to go home, so about 5 minutes into the choking chair massage, she asked if it would be OK for her to comp me the massage and just call it quits. I wasn't impressed with the massage, so I said "sure." She worked for maybe another 10 minutes and then called it quits. Just my luck, can't even get a decent massage in Vegas. It wasn't like I was looking for a "happy ending" or anything...
Oh well, hopefully the next time I go the stars will align, my karma will be clean, and I'll have a smashing good time. A guy can dream, can't he?
Because coming home to a broken in house would pretty much have capped off an otherwise fairly crappy weekend in Vegas.
I've been to Vegas a few times before, and I'd have to say, this was the least impressive of all of those times. My flight was delayed over an hour by weather (but thankfully not the 3 hours they were initially predicting), though so were my friend's flights so we actually came in closer to each other than I expected.
The initial night we went to the Olympic Garden because, hey, when in Vegas for a birthday party, you have to hit a strip club. It's a moral imperative. As expected, everyone had a good time, including the ladies in our party. Most of us left around 4pm, but a few, including the birthday boy stayed until about 5pm. Mostly chatting that time with a few girls that were really cool to hang out with. That has to be the highlight of the weekend for me, though after making a friend, it's hard to say "Goodbye, I'm probably never going to see you again." That part sucked.
The next night we went to Smith & Wollensky for a fine steak dinner. Except I made the fatal choice of wanting chicken. They give you a whole damn chicken with a knife stabbed through it's breast. Thanks, not quite that hungry. But that's the story of Smith & Wollensky, big food, and even bigger bills. I would have been OK with that if I hadn't had to choke down the chicken. It was so dry that I had to drink water in order to be able to swallow it. Paying $70 that meal (no wine, just water and 10oz of diet Pepsi) was a bit much if you ask me.
After dinner we went to Studio 54 at the MGM, which was cool. Dancing and a wire work show. It was a total bummer that one friend couldn't get in because he was wearing tennis shoes. Another almost didn't get in because he was wearing black tennis shoes with orange stripes. I believe the bouncer's quote was "Yeah, they're fucking ugly, but???" when he asked his supervisor if he could let Jimmy in. The initial reply was "I don't want him in my club." but eventually he caved and let him in. "His" club? Damn, didn't know the CEO of the MGM was working the doors.
Sunday some of us had to leave, reducing the group to about 6, but we still had fun. First we went to see Penn & Teller at the Rio, then we went to the VooDoo lounge at the top of the Rio for a view of the Vegas lights. However, that view was cut short by the rain that moved in that night.
Penn & Teller is a cool show, but I wasn't quite satisfied. I was expecting more stuff I hadn't seen before, but I suppose that might have been a bit much, since I try to see everything they do. However, our seats gave a clear vantage point to the slight of hand and behind the scenes trickery that I'm sure we weren't supposed to see, which actually kinda spoiled some of it. Not enough to ruin the enjoyment, but it definitely put a dent in it. I got to lean over the balcony and give Teller a high 5 as he left the auditorium though, which was definitely the high point for me.
Monday I headed back to the airport early since everyone else was too. I got there about noon to check in for my 6:15pm flight home. I tried to fly standby, but the preceding four flights were all booked up. Even at the airport I couldn't catch a break. I decided that I could use a massage and 24 Hour Fitness was offering them for a reasonable price, so what the heck. Turns out that the massage lady was tired and wanted to go home, so about 5 minutes into the choking chair massage, she asked if it would be OK for her to comp me the massage and just call it quits. I wasn't impressed with the massage, so I said "sure." She worked for maybe another 10 minutes and then called it quits. Just my luck, can't even get a decent massage in Vegas. It wasn't like I was looking for a "happy ending" or anything...
Oh well, hopefully the next time I go the stars will align, my karma will be clean, and I'll have a smashing good time. A guy can dream, can't he?
posted by Mark at 9:59 PM
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