Sunday, March 19, 2006

Las Vegas............Viva?

Just in from a couple of days in Las Vegas. Had to be at a meeting on Friday so I went down Thursday....thought that I would give the town another chance to impress me. Been there once before on another work related trip. It hadn't left much of an impression...it seemed like it was just like a Hollywood set that someone made up. The only difference was that Vegas was more interactive....and cost you a heck of a lot more than the $7-9 a movie ticket costs.

Took in a couple of shows. Dazzling. Mesmerizing. How do they do that? Why do they do that? I can't believe they just did that! All fully clothed and family appropriate shows....of course. Was there for Friday night....and St Paddy's Day...and the kickoff of the March Madness Basketball tournament. My guess is that it was a busy Friday night for the City in the Sand. Nascar had just been in town the weekend before...I don't know if the city had even had time to change the sheets. I was pretty much in bed by 11 both nights....not a drop of booze crossed the lips or strip club ladies crossing the lap...or eyeballs....though I think I did see a couple of gals who might be performing there...or somewhere...a little later in the evening. I can't say that I was the total choir boy in Vegas. I pulled on a few arms of those one armed bandits and folded up a few hands of blackjack. What can I say? I had to see if gambling gave me the same thrill...or depression after a hard night at the tables....at it did "back in the day." While I dropped about as much as a real bad night would have been a few years back, I can't say that it affected me much one way or the other. It was fun hitting that $500 jackpot on the slots....being ahead....walking over to the blackjack table "playin on the houses money" with reckless abandon....seeing if we could take a jackpot and convert it into a real story. No luck.....they took back their "loss"...and a bit more.....like they usually do. They don't build those places by letting you out of town with more money than you came in on. Sure, they let a few escape with some ill gotten gains....just enough to keep them coming back...and doing a lot of free advertising for them in the meantime. I guess I wasn't chosen to be their Madison Avenue this time around.

Vegas.....I don't know. Fun or an excuse to behave poorly? I guess that's really not for me to say.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Vegas is bad behavior supported by culture, media and politicians. In fact, behaving badly is ENCOURAGED and in many circles in Vegas, it's a REQUIREMENT! Fun for a while, but for how long? For me, 3 1/2 years was plenty!