How great an invention is chocolate milk? I think Homer Simpson put it best when he said, "Let us celebrate this agreement with the adding of chocolate to milk".
Shorts season is upon us! I wore shorts all day today and had no issues with chilliness...although I do tend to be pretty warm anyways. Last week I was at Choy's condo and found it quite comfortable, but Q&S said they were freezing.
I did well on the exercise today...a 10K run (I can't bother myself with keeping track of how many songs I listen to anymore), a walk to the grocery store (with a stop at the Donair Shop...so good!), and biking to and from work. The bike home in shorts actually felt warmer than the bike to work in the sun...weird.
I think I live by email too much. I'm constantly checking it, and find myself frustated when I don't get responses in a timely manner. I often have to sit back and realize that these people I'm expecting an answer from have lives, unlike I, and do not spend all their waking hours in front of their computer. I do like receiving email though...except, of course, for spam. Who the hell named it spam anyways?
Apparently Victoria is rated the sex capital of Canada...so says this national survey that was done. So why am I not gettin' laid? Those stats are fucked.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Anyone know where my Survivor novel is? I either loaned it to someone, or lost it.
Now that the Vegas write-up is done, let's catch up the last week and a bit...which was pretty fun.
Last weekend we had another ACP Class 26 mini-reunion, what with Mrs. TK being in town and all. Similar turnout, again at the Sticky Wicket. Beers were drank and we ended up at BBJs where some beer was not drank, but rather spilled on TK and myself. Not a problem though. Late night pizza at Pacific Rim is brilliant. I walked home...the Sunday morning bike ride to pick up the truck is becoming something of a regular event...works out well though.
Sunday I visited with L-Factor who was unable to attend the reunion. Hung out at his place for a while...the kids were shy for all of 2 minutes...then they were rootin' for me to win at Red Faction over their own dad! I still lost all but one game, but it was fun. Following that I headed over to Benny T's for a chilli social which he had invited me (and other ACPers) too the night previous. I was the only ACP that showed up (except Benny of course) and I didn't know anyone else there...but I held my own as far as being in on the conversations went, and the chilli was awesome as well...Thanks Benny!
The work week was ok...I had lunch with Sara a couple times and we got all caught up. Lunch with Dad on Friday as well...fish and chips down at Barb's. I finally received Becks' birthday present in the mail and presented it to her on Tuesday...she loved it, despite it being very belated (she did know it was coming though). Friday work sucked because most of our VTRs decided they didn't want to play tapes back properly. We had one reliable machine and ended up running much of the evening out of it in a semi-manual/automated way. Could have been worse, but it's been a lot better.
This past Saturday was a gooder. I had organized an evening outing for some of us earlier in the week. P&W were coming out, but for the daytime they invited me to go biking with them up Harbourview in Sooke (technically Saseenos). I had never biked up there, and hadn't been out biking, aside from riding to work, in a long time...so I took them up on it. We met out there and rode uphill for a long ways. I didn't have too much trouble with it...pushed a couple of times. We ended up at a lake, a beautiful little lake with little islands. The ride down was fun...so much uphill means so much downhill. In the evening, Becks, P&W, and I had dinner at Swiss Chalet...I had the Chicken Shepherd's Pie which was quite tasty. We carpooled it out to Bear Mountain where we eventually met up with Choy, Lej, and Simon (one of Choy's tenants and colleagues). It was game six of the Victoria Salsa vs Alberni Valley Bulldogs in the Island Conference Finals for the BCHL. Salsa were up 3-2 in the series (having gone to double overtime the night before up in Alberni). We cheered our heads off, using our A-Channel Thundersticks a lot. I had picked up the tickets and the seats I'd chosen weren't the greatest, but definitely not the worst. We couldn't really see one end of the ice, and we were seated with mostly Bulldogs fans (being beside the visitors players bench). The end of the ice we could see was the good one though...all the important goals were scored there. The Salsa kicked ass and the final score was 6-3! Awesome game to be a part of! They now go on to the Coastal Conference, taking on the Burnaby Express. After the game we parted ways (after a doughnut at Timmys) and I joined up with Choy and crew at his place. Q&S came over and we went for a beer at Maude's. I left early to meet up with Herch at Cinecenta (UVic theatre) for the 11:20 screening of The Big Lebowski. Attendees dressed up as The Dude received free popcorn...Herch and I were all decked out in our sandals, shorts, white shirts, sunglasses, and bathrobes (Herch even had a doobie behind his ear and a coffee can). Before the movie began, the guy who had organized the screening had a little contest...calling up his three favourite dressed up people (Herch and I were the only Dudes...there were a few others dressed as Nihilsts). I got called upon, amongst 2 of the nihilists (strange...I thought herch was a better Dude than I, but oh well). By cheering, the audience helped pick the favourite costume and it ended up being one of the nihilists (he had a hood and everything)...the prize was 6 passes to future flicks. The other nihilist and I received one pass for a future flick...cool enough! The movie was great, as it is every time I watch it ("Nobody fucks with the Jesus!").
Sunday I didn't get up to much...a bit of house cleaning. Soon, a bunch of us are meeting up to do some preliminary planning for FlugTag Vancouver, which we plan to enter this summer (it's first time in Canada). I saw FlugTag in Auckland in 2002 and it was awesome fun...I look forward to it's Canadian debut and hopefully being a contestant!
Oh, I forgot to mention that Q&S got a puppy. His name is Piper...he's half poodle, half somethin' else. Very cute, very little, very friendly. He comes down and hangs out sometimes.
Good times!
Now that the Vegas write-up is done, let's catch up the last week and a bit...which was pretty fun.
Last weekend we had another ACP Class 26 mini-reunion, what with Mrs. TK being in town and all. Similar turnout, again at the Sticky Wicket. Beers were drank and we ended up at BBJs where some beer was not drank, but rather spilled on TK and myself. Not a problem though. Late night pizza at Pacific Rim is brilliant. I walked home...the Sunday morning bike ride to pick up the truck is becoming something of a regular event...works out well though.
Sunday I visited with L-Factor who was unable to attend the reunion. Hung out at his place for a while...the kids were shy for all of 2 minutes...then they were rootin' for me to win at Red Faction over their own dad! I still lost all but one game, but it was fun. Following that I headed over to Benny T's for a chilli social which he had invited me (and other ACPers) too the night previous. I was the only ACP that showed up (except Benny of course) and I didn't know anyone else there...but I held my own as far as being in on the conversations went, and the chilli was awesome as well...Thanks Benny!
The work week was ok...I had lunch with Sara a couple times and we got all caught up. Lunch with Dad on Friday as well...fish and chips down at Barb's. I finally received Becks' birthday present in the mail and presented it to her on Tuesday...she loved it, despite it being very belated (she did know it was coming though). Friday work sucked because most of our VTRs decided they didn't want to play tapes back properly. We had one reliable machine and ended up running much of the evening out of it in a semi-manual/automated way. Could have been worse, but it's been a lot better.
This past Saturday was a gooder. I had organized an evening outing for some of us earlier in the week. P&W were coming out, but for the daytime they invited me to go biking with them up Harbourview in Sooke (technically Saseenos). I had never biked up there, and hadn't been out biking, aside from riding to work, in a long time...so I took them up on it. We met out there and rode uphill for a long ways. I didn't have too much trouble with it...pushed a couple of times. We ended up at a lake, a beautiful little lake with little islands. The ride down was fun...so much uphill means so much downhill. In the evening, Becks, P&W, and I had dinner at Swiss Chalet...I had the Chicken Shepherd's Pie which was quite tasty. We carpooled it out to Bear Mountain where we eventually met up with Choy, Lej, and Simon (one of Choy's tenants and colleagues). It was game six of the Victoria Salsa vs Alberni Valley Bulldogs in the Island Conference Finals for the BCHL. Salsa were up 3-2 in the series (having gone to double overtime the night before up in Alberni). We cheered our heads off, using our A-Channel Thundersticks a lot. I had picked up the tickets and the seats I'd chosen weren't the greatest, but definitely not the worst. We couldn't really see one end of the ice, and we were seated with mostly Bulldogs fans (being beside the visitors players bench). The end of the ice we could see was the good one though...all the important goals were scored there. The Salsa kicked ass and the final score was 6-3! Awesome game to be a part of! They now go on to the Coastal Conference, taking on the Burnaby Express. After the game we parted ways (after a doughnut at Timmys) and I joined up with Choy and crew at his place. Q&S came over and we went for a beer at Maude's. I left early to meet up with Herch at Cinecenta (UVic theatre) for the 11:20 screening of The Big Lebowski. Attendees dressed up as The Dude received free popcorn...Herch and I were all decked out in our sandals, shorts, white shirts, sunglasses, and bathrobes (Herch even had a doobie behind his ear and a coffee can). Before the movie began, the guy who had organized the screening had a little contest...calling up his three favourite dressed up people (Herch and I were the only Dudes...there were a few others dressed as Nihilsts). I got called upon, amongst 2 of the nihilists (strange...I thought herch was a better Dude than I, but oh well). By cheering, the audience helped pick the favourite costume and it ended up being one of the nihilists (he had a hood and everything)...the prize was 6 passes to future flicks. The other nihilist and I received one pass for a future flick...cool enough! The movie was great, as it is every time I watch it ("Nobody fucks with the Jesus!").
Sunday I didn't get up to much...a bit of house cleaning. Soon, a bunch of us are meeting up to do some preliminary planning for FlugTag Vancouver, which we plan to enter this summer (it's first time in Canada). I saw FlugTag in Auckland in 2002 and it was awesome fun...I look forward to it's Canadian debut and hopefully being a contestant!
Oh, I forgot to mention that Q&S got a puppy. His name is Piper...he's half poodle, half somethin' else. Very cute, very little, very friendly. He comes down and hangs out sometimes.
Good times!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
The Vegas trip will be finished in this post. If you have not yet read up on Monday and Tuesday's exploits, scroll down...otherwise, read on!
Wednesday I awoke refreshed having gone to bed at a decent time, and despite the 5am awakening by the drunken Yeech and Herch. Yeech had been up earlier, having a bath. That guy loves his baths in the morning after a night out drinkin'. Whatever. Q got up, then I and we readied outselves for the 11am poker tourney over at Harrah's. Herch had planned to play, but he opted for sleep. Dunydam and JF rented a Mustang this day and headed East to tour Hoover Dam...so they will not be spoken of until later.
After poker registration, Q, Yeech, and I ate breakfast at the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage. It was pricey, but pretty good. Q went with a simple bowl of Special K and bananas. Yeech had an omelette with toast, and I had some cheese blintzes with sour cream...they were pretty yum but probably not extremely healthy. We headed back to Harrah's and got ready for poker. This 11am tourney was bigger than the previous day's 3pm tourney. There were about 60 players this time...tables of 10 though. A little more confident in this tourney, I felt good. I was not getting the cards though! I won a hand early into the game...not a major pot...but good to win a hand to show the others that you do know what you're doing. I was making some stupid moves though...sometimes I'd stay in way too long with a shitty pair. For some reason I thought I could bluff my way and hold my own...but these guys know a bit more how the game works and I was just plain stupid to have stayed in and wasted my chips like I did. Ah well...live and learn. I folded the majority of my hands...only when I was a blind did I feel compelled to play. People were getting taken out though, and I was still in it. When I got down to my last $500 in chips, the blinds were at $200/$400 and I was big blind. I decided prior to the deal that I'd have to go all-in...no sense in keeping the $100 for the next round (it wouldn't even cover small blind). I did not look at my cards...the bet came around to me (most folded) and I went all-in with my extra $100. One guy (the guy beside me...Tom) called and we flipped our cards. For the first time in the game (this is about an hour and a half in) I had two face cards...and off-suit QJ. The board cards were laid and I ended up taking the pot...I can't remember if it was just high card, or maybe a pair of Jacks that got it for me (Tom only had 4/7). I was back in it...for a bit. I won another small pot a little while later, but I still was not getting great cards. Eventually my money was dwindled down again and I tried the no-looky all-in trick again. It didn't work this time and I was out. Q was not far behind me. We'd both made it to about the half-way point. Not bad, but still no money.
We met up with Yeech...not sure what he did while we played. Herch was rising from his sleep. I wanted to get my drink on, so I got in line for a half-yard margarita...Q joined me, although he only got the small size one. I went with Hurricane flavour this time. We planned to go to Freemont Street this day and The Deuce bus was the way to go. $5 for a day pass, it follows the strip and goes straight to Freemont (downtown, old Vegas). The Deuce busses travel pretty frequently, and there was one loading up near the Flamingo, so we got in line to board. The driver stopped Q and I from getting on though...you can walk the street with open alcohol, but not in vehicles. Q was basically done, so he chucked his, but I had a lot to go and as it's a frozen drink, suckin' it back fast is just not possible (Brain Freeze!). I told the guys I'd meet them down there...we're all cell phoned up, so locating others was not an issue. I sat and people watched for a bit, sippin' on my hurricane. I wandered into the Flamingo and played a penny slot with $5...lost it eventually. Finally I was done my drink and I boarded the next Deuce that came along. They're nice modern busses, double deckers, and they fill them full. I got a seat near the back on the bottom level...turns out I was sitting right behind the boob of the Hooters Girl that was plastered on the side of the bus in an ad. The bus ride was uneventful...albeit slow. Along the strip, the bus stops every block and waits a long time before moving on. I was progressively getting drunker and drunker as the hurricane seeped it's way into my body. It was fun, although not the right venue to be getting drunk.
I landed at Freemont Street eventually and texted Yeech to find out where they were. He said they'd find me. I hit the can in a casino, then met up with them. They had had a walk up and down the street and located Big Daddy...the 9lb burger at the Upper Deck restaurant that I'd located online before the trip. We were all gung ho to conquer this enormous burger and planned to go for it soon. A little slot machine action first, and Herch had himself a half-yard to work on. We hit Upper Deck sometime around 3pm and placed our order...plus some waters. It takes about an hour to prepare, they told us we could leave and come back, but we opted to stay...if we left we'd have just gambled. The excitement built. The chef came out and talked to us...turns out he's from Nova Scotia, but been in LV for the last 28 years. Nice guy, Richard I believe was his name. The restaurant wasn't anything fancy...a diner really. Lots of pictures on the walls, and booth seating along the walls (which is what we were in). Big Daddy finally arrived, served on a large baking sheet surrounded by fries and topped with stacks of pickles. The burger was much larger than we'd envisioned...probably 18 inches in diameter and a good 6-8 inches tall (excluding the pickle stacks). Pictures were taken...even people from other tables were coming over and asking if they could take a picture. Richard cut it up into wedges for us and we dug in. Herch and I blazed through our first wedges...we were so gung ho to conquer this burger. Yeech and Q were a little more conservative, and smarter with the removing of the top bun (which was a bit on the stale side anyways). My second wedge was huge...probably the hugest of all the wedges that were cut. I'd estimate it was somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 lbs. Halfway through it, I started to feel full. Full of meat anyways. I had no trouble popping a few fries here and there. Yeech ordered a side of gravy...to help with the lubrication you know. I partook in some of the gravy as well. We were all slowing down big time...it looked like this burger was going to get the best of us (with probably 1/2 to 1 pound still left on the tray. I did finish my second wedge, I think Herch wasn't quite able to finish his. After being defeated by a burger, you feel depressed...especially when you were sure it was yours to master. I guess if we'd hung around long enough, had them re-heat it, and purged our bowels, we could have finished it...but we just weren't that hardcore. We paid and left...walking oh so slowly. Apparently someone else had ordered one shortly before we left...they'd opted to go gamble while it was being cooked.
We walked down Freemont Street, checkin' shit out. It was getting dusky and the Freemont Street Experience would start soon. Freemont Street is covered for 3 or 4 blocks (it's a walking street BTW...no cars) by a large canopy filled with millions of little LEDs, plus there's a sound system with speakers every few hundred feet. The Freemont Street Experience is basically a big animated video presentation that happens along the length of this canopy. It's pretty impressive. It starts with flying eagles, then some images of trees and nature, then there's dancing girls and some fancy patterns, then it's pretty much over. It runs every half hour I think. All the outside lights on the casinos and shops along Freemont Street are shut off when the show runs...it's very well coordinated. With our of us, it was only fitting to get our picture taken in front of the 4 Queens casino...the first chick we got to take the picture didn't do a very good job...too zoomed out. The next guy did better, although he cropped out the 4 in the 4 Queens sign. Oh well. We spent a bit of time in the 4 Queens...I played Blackjack (most tables in Freemont are $5 minimum, compared to the usual $10 minimum on the Strip). I did not do well at Blackjack and after about an hour I walked away before all my money was gone. I didn't get any free drinks while I was in 4 Queens...bullshit! I sat at a slot for a while, playing it slowly. A waitress finally came by, but she took forever coming back and the guys wanted to go, so I left without getting the drink.
We caught the Deuce back to the Strip, hoping to catch the 8:30 siren show at Treasure Island. Not too far out of downtown, as we approached the top end of the strip (Stratosphere Hotel) we noticed this guy trying to run for the bus. He's almost make it to the bus, then the driver would pull away...not noticing him I guess. He kept running though...cursing and shaking his fists. We were on the top level, and we heard people on the lower level cheering him on and laughing. Every stop the bus made, he'd almost catch up, but miss it. Finally, we thought he'd given up and he got too far ahead, but at the stop outside Stratosphere where we sat for a long time, he caught up. Now, as we were on the top level, we did not witness what happened...but as the story goes, he got on the bus and yelled/insulted all the people that had been laughing at him, and he yelled and possibly slapped the bus driver, then took off towards the Stratosphere. Cops must have been close by, because they followed him in there. I dunno what became of the guy...he was drunk. The bus driver was shook up and told everyone that she wasn't going anywhere until her supervisor arrived...so we got off the bus and checked out the Stratosphere. Much talk between all bus passengers was going on about what just happened. After checking out the Strat, we walked down-strip some more and eventually caught another Deuce which was totally packed (we were the last ones squeezed on). This bus went to the next stop, then seemed to wait forever...I dunno why he was sitting there for so long. Eventually we got tired of waiting and got out...we walked the few more blocks (Vegas blocks are huge) to TI. We'd missed the 8:30 show, but were there in plenty of time for the 10pm show. We waited on the sidewalk outside TI...securing a decent viewing area. Herch got himself a Long Island Ice Tea which was pretty good, so I hit up the drink stand and got me a Margarita (just regular size). The Siren show started on time and was pretty good...for a free show anyways. Sexy Sirens on one boat held a lone pirate hostage, trying to lure the other pirates from another boat onto theirs. A battle ensued, and lots of inuendo was placed in the dialogue. The pirate ship actually sank after the battle (well, it sank most of the way). I clapped and cheered at the end.
JF and Dunydam had returned from the dam and checked out O...a Cirque Du Soleil show. We met up with them at the hotel after our TI show. We planned to do some karaoke this night at the karaoke bar in front of our hotel. Dunydam had already signed up to do "Who's Your Daddy" by Toby Keith. I signed up for "Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC (of course), and Herch, after a small push in the right direction, signed up for "18 and Life" by Skid Row. We were told it would be at least an hour before we were called up, so Herch, Yeech, and I went to check out the Fellatio fountain show (which both of them had seen on previous trips, but I had not). Did I mention Herch and I each had another half-yard at this time? Well, we did. I was not losing my buzz this time. The fountain show was great...amazing water choreography, and the pool it happens in is just huge! Those jets of water shoot so straight and so high, it's amazing. Herch decided to change his song to "Take on Me" by A-Ha...and classic. We got back to karaoke in time to see Dunydam do his best Toby Keith...I got some of it on video mode on my camera. Q ran up and stuffed a dollar bill into his pants...like any crazed Toby fan would. The bar was good...many of the songs people sang were sung along to, although there were a lot of somewhat obscure songs that no one seemed to know). Herch and I waited patiently to be called up (he had submitted his song change). But it was not to be. The DJ came on to announce the last song of the evening...the bar closes at 1am! C'mon, this is Vegas! 1am??? We were not impressed. Regardless, the last song was Thunderstruck and the guy who got up to sing it didn't have all his actions down. As the opening riff started, I yelled to the guy to get the air guitar going...but he didn't. So I got up and helped him out. I Angus'd back and forth in front of the stage and got the crowd cheerin' and hoppin'. The song started and I fell back to my seat, but we were all chimin' in, singing along and pretty much drowning out the guy on stage (which was good, cause his timing was off and he wasn't that good). It was great fun! When the song ended the bar got ready to shut down...people started to leave and it was gettin' dead. I yelled out that I was disappointed I did not get to sing my Shook Me...so I just started singing it without musical accompaniment. Pretty much everyone at our table joined in right away, and soon after I had the whole bar singing along. It was awesome! Thunderstruck guy was right into it and even people just passing through the bar to get to the hotel were compelled to chime in on the chorus! So cool.
We left karaoke and wandered the strip for a bit...trying to think of what else to do. We decided that Yeech and Herch had had such a good time at the club the night before, that we'd see what it was like tonight. After checking out the Mirage and finding nothing going on, we made our way to Caesar's Palace, but once inside, Pure was not happening...I guess it's only open a few nights per week. We were told that the only two close-by options for clubs on this night were some place in the Venetian, and another club at the other end of Caesar's called OPM. We walked down in search of OPM and found it...no line up, although it looked considerably smaller. $20 cover charge, we debated over it and decided to go (even after a coin toss told us to go to The Venetian). As we made our way through the door, a woman approached Yeech and asked if we'd like "a bottle" for inside the club. She offered to waive our cover charge if we bought the bottle (I don't know what it was a bottle of). Yeech misheard her when she said the price though...he heard $25...which seemed like a helluva deal (6 of us waiving $20 cover to buy a bottle for $25?). Turns out she said $285. Ya, we paid the cover. The club was upstairs, with a couple of bars, a fairly small dance floor, a central DJ booth, and a lounge area to the back. It was a tad on the lame side. There were enough people in there, but many were partnered up and it seemed tough to meet and talk to women. I resorted to just groovin' on the dance floor...Herch basically did the same thing. Q, Dunydam, and JF wandered about for a bit, hung out, didn't seem too into it, and eventually left. After a few rounds of dancin' interspersed with some loungin', Yeech, Herch, and I got discourage with this club and left. That was about 3:30.
We goofed off a bit walking back through Caesar's, then caught a cab out front and headed once again for the Spearmint Rhino. I had my camera with me and knew I wouldn't be able to take it inside...but they let me check it. Once in, we did a little walk around...it was pretty busy. Found some seats on the raised level behind where we'd sat the previous time and no sooner had I sat down, a girl was by my side chattin' me up. She was pretty cute and quite talkative, but when it got down to business I declined because I didn't want to accept the first offer I got. We must have gotten there around shift change time, because for the first hour, except for that first girl, most of them were very to the point about asking if we wanted a dance...no chatting, no buttering us up...if they got a no, they moved on. I think the girls going off shift were just trying to make a last few bucks. When the new shift started, the girls were much more chatty and easy going. I did get a dance from a sexy cheery brunette who actually took some time and chatted and laughed with me. She was from Portland too, and I had just been reading about Portland in Fugitives & Refugees, so I enjoyed that. She gave a good dance. Yeech got himself a dance, but was unhappy with it. Herch and his nubian princess took over the seat I was in after my dance finished. He was in for a long haul. Yeech finally found a girl he liked and spent a buncha time with her. For the last hour we were there, I decided I was not getting another dance, so I watched the stage and waited for the boys. Girls came and left, as I told them I was broke and just waiting. Many of them were friendly about it and chatted for a bit. Many also made sure they told me that I could use my credit card and that the statement would not show anything about a strip club (it would appear as a restaurant). It was kinda funny.
When we had all had our fill of nekkidness, I picked up my camera and we walked out into the daylight...it was after 6am. We grabbed a cab and headed back to the strip. Approaching the strip, the railway crossing was active, but it seemed like no train was coming. Vehicles in front of us were pulling U-Turns and some were driving in the opposite lane and cutting through the rail crossing on the diagonal. Our cabbie decided to go that route and got us over the tracks without incident...there was no train coming...not immediately anyways. He got onto the strip and headed in the right direction, but u-turned it early and obviously didn't know where the hotel was. It was at that point that Herch, who was seated up front, looked at the ID card and realized that the picture did not match the face of the guy who was driving. He played it calm, but got the guy to drop us off right where we were, rather than circle around to get to the hotel...we weren't far anyways. He told us of the discrepancy after we got out of the car...it was kinda funny and a bit scary at the same time. At this stage...like 6:30, I wasn't all that tired and was prepared to not bother with sleeping and hit up the poker tourney at the Stratosphere at 9am. We rolled into Denny's and ordered up some grub...fuck, for $6.99 we got a lot of food (scrambler with hash browns, plus 3 pancakes). We were slowly starting to fade away and poker was not sounding like such a hot idea. We all smelled like stripper...which was a good smell. Herch still had stripper dust (sparkles) on his forehead. After Denny's we went back to the room and crashed at around 7:30. We had to checkout at 11am. I didn't sleep much, but enough.
We vacated the room on time and checked out, placing our bags in the hotel storage room until we had to leave for our flight. Herch and I hadn't even showered or changed for the ride home. We didn't get up to much as we waited to leave Sin City...wandered over to the Mirage and watched the White Tiger for a bit, then ended up in the arcade. I raced Herch on one of the driving games...we were pretty evenly match, but I pulled it ahead at the end. Yeech and Herch did a little Dance Dance Revolution, and I played some Tekken 4. We wandered down strip for a bit, took some pictures (Yeech found a showgirl and got his picture with her), then made our way back to the hotel. Met up with Q and found the other boys shortly after. We caught a shuttle bus to the airport and thus began the journey home. It was pretty uneventful. There was a Taco Bell in the airport, where most of us ate. It was damn tasty...we need a Taco Bell in Victoria. I tried to sleep on the flight, but couldn't for very long. Q and I played some cards...shithead and cribbage (cribbage using page numbers from the SkyMall catalog...a brilliant gameplay idea I'd come up with on the way down). Customs was not a problem and we caught the bus to the ferry with plenty of time to spare. Ate on the ferry and chatted. There was a group of guys playing a card game and the loser of each round had to do a stunt declared by the others...it was funny to watch. One time, one of the guys had been challenged to come over and talk to us for 30 seconds. Another time a different guy had to sit down at someone else's table and start eating his food...that was hilarious! Leftball picked up Q and I from the ferry, my truck was still where I left it, and all was well.
And that's it! Vegas in 4 days...well, 2 days, plus a half on either side, and a buncha travel time (damn this island living). I loved it, I miss it, and I will definitely be back for more! We need to get those half-yard margaritas here...and drinking on the streets too!
Back to real-life...
Wednesday I awoke refreshed having gone to bed at a decent time, and despite the 5am awakening by the drunken Yeech and Herch. Yeech had been up earlier, having a bath. That guy loves his baths in the morning after a night out drinkin'. Whatever. Q got up, then I and we readied outselves for the 11am poker tourney over at Harrah's. Herch had planned to play, but he opted for sleep. Dunydam and JF rented a Mustang this day and headed East to tour Hoover Dam...so they will not be spoken of until later.
After poker registration, Q, Yeech, and I ate breakfast at the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage. It was pricey, but pretty good. Q went with a simple bowl of Special K and bananas. Yeech had an omelette with toast, and I had some cheese blintzes with sour cream...they were pretty yum but probably not extremely healthy. We headed back to Harrah's and got ready for poker. This 11am tourney was bigger than the previous day's 3pm tourney. There were about 60 players this time...tables of 10 though. A little more confident in this tourney, I felt good. I was not getting the cards though! I won a hand early into the game...not a major pot...but good to win a hand to show the others that you do know what you're doing. I was making some stupid moves though...sometimes I'd stay in way too long with a shitty pair. For some reason I thought I could bluff my way and hold my own...but these guys know a bit more how the game works and I was just plain stupid to have stayed in and wasted my chips like I did. Ah well...live and learn. I folded the majority of my hands...only when I was a blind did I feel compelled to play. People were getting taken out though, and I was still in it. When I got down to my last $500 in chips, the blinds were at $200/$400 and I was big blind. I decided prior to the deal that I'd have to go all-in...no sense in keeping the $100 for the next round (it wouldn't even cover small blind). I did not look at my cards...the bet came around to me (most folded) and I went all-in with my extra $100. One guy (the guy beside me...Tom) called and we flipped our cards. For the first time in the game (this is about an hour and a half in) I had two face cards...and off-suit QJ. The board cards were laid and I ended up taking the pot...I can't remember if it was just high card, or maybe a pair of Jacks that got it for me (Tom only had 4/7). I was back in it...for a bit. I won another small pot a little while later, but I still was not getting great cards. Eventually my money was dwindled down again and I tried the no-looky all-in trick again. It didn't work this time and I was out. Q was not far behind me. We'd both made it to about the half-way point. Not bad, but still no money.
We met up with Yeech...not sure what he did while we played. Herch was rising from his sleep. I wanted to get my drink on, so I got in line for a half-yard margarita...Q joined me, although he only got the small size one. I went with Hurricane flavour this time. We planned to go to Freemont Street this day and The Deuce bus was the way to go. $5 for a day pass, it follows the strip and goes straight to Freemont (downtown, old Vegas). The Deuce busses travel pretty frequently, and there was one loading up near the Flamingo, so we got in line to board. The driver stopped Q and I from getting on though...you can walk the street with open alcohol, but not in vehicles. Q was basically done, so he chucked his, but I had a lot to go and as it's a frozen drink, suckin' it back fast is just not possible (Brain Freeze!). I told the guys I'd meet them down there...we're all cell phoned up, so locating others was not an issue. I sat and people watched for a bit, sippin' on my hurricane. I wandered into the Flamingo and played a penny slot with $5...lost it eventually. Finally I was done my drink and I boarded the next Deuce that came along. They're nice modern busses, double deckers, and they fill them full. I got a seat near the back on the bottom level...turns out I was sitting right behind the boob of the Hooters Girl that was plastered on the side of the bus in an ad. The bus ride was uneventful...albeit slow. Along the strip, the bus stops every block and waits a long time before moving on. I was progressively getting drunker and drunker as the hurricane seeped it's way into my body. It was fun, although not the right venue to be getting drunk.
I landed at Freemont Street eventually and texted Yeech to find out where they were. He said they'd find me. I hit the can in a casino, then met up with them. They had had a walk up and down the street and located Big Daddy...the 9lb burger at the Upper Deck restaurant that I'd located online before the trip. We were all gung ho to conquer this enormous burger and planned to go for it soon. A little slot machine action first, and Herch had himself a half-yard to work on. We hit Upper Deck sometime around 3pm and placed our order...plus some waters. It takes about an hour to prepare, they told us we could leave and come back, but we opted to stay...if we left we'd have just gambled. The excitement built. The chef came out and talked to us...turns out he's from Nova Scotia, but been in LV for the last 28 years. Nice guy, Richard I believe was his name. The restaurant wasn't anything fancy...a diner really. Lots of pictures on the walls, and booth seating along the walls (which is what we were in). Big Daddy finally arrived, served on a large baking sheet surrounded by fries and topped with stacks of pickles. The burger was much larger than we'd envisioned...probably 18 inches in diameter and a good 6-8 inches tall (excluding the pickle stacks). Pictures were taken...even people from other tables were coming over and asking if they could take a picture. Richard cut it up into wedges for us and we dug in. Herch and I blazed through our first wedges...we were so gung ho to conquer this burger. Yeech and Q were a little more conservative, and smarter with the removing of the top bun (which was a bit on the stale side anyways). My second wedge was huge...probably the hugest of all the wedges that were cut. I'd estimate it was somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 lbs. Halfway through it, I started to feel full. Full of meat anyways. I had no trouble popping a few fries here and there. Yeech ordered a side of gravy...to help with the lubrication you know. I partook in some of the gravy as well. We were all slowing down big time...it looked like this burger was going to get the best of us (with probably 1/2 to 1 pound still left on the tray. I did finish my second wedge, I think Herch wasn't quite able to finish his. After being defeated by a burger, you feel depressed...especially when you were sure it was yours to master. I guess if we'd hung around long enough, had them re-heat it, and purged our bowels, we could have finished it...but we just weren't that hardcore. We paid and left...walking oh so slowly. Apparently someone else had ordered one shortly before we left...they'd opted to go gamble while it was being cooked.
We walked down Freemont Street, checkin' shit out. It was getting dusky and the Freemont Street Experience would start soon. Freemont Street is covered for 3 or 4 blocks (it's a walking street BTW...no cars) by a large canopy filled with millions of little LEDs, plus there's a sound system with speakers every few hundred feet. The Freemont Street Experience is basically a big animated video presentation that happens along the length of this canopy. It's pretty impressive. It starts with flying eagles, then some images of trees and nature, then there's dancing girls and some fancy patterns, then it's pretty much over. It runs every half hour I think. All the outside lights on the casinos and shops along Freemont Street are shut off when the show runs...it's very well coordinated. With our of us, it was only fitting to get our picture taken in front of the 4 Queens casino...the first chick we got to take the picture didn't do a very good job...too zoomed out. The next guy did better, although he cropped out the 4 in the 4 Queens sign. Oh well. We spent a bit of time in the 4 Queens...I played Blackjack (most tables in Freemont are $5 minimum, compared to the usual $10 minimum on the Strip). I did not do well at Blackjack and after about an hour I walked away before all my money was gone. I didn't get any free drinks while I was in 4 Queens...bullshit! I sat at a slot for a while, playing it slowly. A waitress finally came by, but she took forever coming back and the guys wanted to go, so I left without getting the drink.
We caught the Deuce back to the Strip, hoping to catch the 8:30 siren show at Treasure Island. Not too far out of downtown, as we approached the top end of the strip (Stratosphere Hotel) we noticed this guy trying to run for the bus. He's almost make it to the bus, then the driver would pull away...not noticing him I guess. He kept running though...cursing and shaking his fists. We were on the top level, and we heard people on the lower level cheering him on and laughing. Every stop the bus made, he'd almost catch up, but miss it. Finally, we thought he'd given up and he got too far ahead, but at the stop outside Stratosphere where we sat for a long time, he caught up. Now, as we were on the top level, we did not witness what happened...but as the story goes, he got on the bus and yelled/insulted all the people that had been laughing at him, and he yelled and possibly slapped the bus driver, then took off towards the Stratosphere. Cops must have been close by, because they followed him in there. I dunno what became of the guy...he was drunk. The bus driver was shook up and told everyone that she wasn't going anywhere until her supervisor arrived...so we got off the bus and checked out the Stratosphere. Much talk between all bus passengers was going on about what just happened. After checking out the Strat, we walked down-strip some more and eventually caught another Deuce which was totally packed (we were the last ones squeezed on). This bus went to the next stop, then seemed to wait forever...I dunno why he was sitting there for so long. Eventually we got tired of waiting and got out...we walked the few more blocks (Vegas blocks are huge) to TI. We'd missed the 8:30 show, but were there in plenty of time for the 10pm show. We waited on the sidewalk outside TI...securing a decent viewing area. Herch got himself a Long Island Ice Tea which was pretty good, so I hit up the drink stand and got me a Margarita (just regular size). The Siren show started on time and was pretty good...for a free show anyways. Sexy Sirens on one boat held a lone pirate hostage, trying to lure the other pirates from another boat onto theirs. A battle ensued, and lots of inuendo was placed in the dialogue. The pirate ship actually sank after the battle (well, it sank most of the way). I clapped and cheered at the end.
JF and Dunydam had returned from the dam and checked out O...a Cirque Du Soleil show. We met up with them at the hotel after our TI show. We planned to do some karaoke this night at the karaoke bar in front of our hotel. Dunydam had already signed up to do "Who's Your Daddy" by Toby Keith. I signed up for "Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC (of course), and Herch, after a small push in the right direction, signed up for "18 and Life" by Skid Row. We were told it would be at least an hour before we were called up, so Herch, Yeech, and I went to check out the Fellatio fountain show (which both of them had seen on previous trips, but I had not). Did I mention Herch and I each had another half-yard at this time? Well, we did. I was not losing my buzz this time. The fountain show was great...amazing water choreography, and the pool it happens in is just huge! Those jets of water shoot so straight and so high, it's amazing. Herch decided to change his song to "Take on Me" by A-Ha...and classic. We got back to karaoke in time to see Dunydam do his best Toby Keith...I got some of it on video mode on my camera. Q ran up and stuffed a dollar bill into his pants...like any crazed Toby fan would. The bar was good...many of the songs people sang were sung along to, although there were a lot of somewhat obscure songs that no one seemed to know). Herch and I waited patiently to be called up (he had submitted his song change). But it was not to be. The DJ came on to announce the last song of the evening...the bar closes at 1am! C'mon, this is Vegas! 1am??? We were not impressed. Regardless, the last song was Thunderstruck and the guy who got up to sing it didn't have all his actions down. As the opening riff started, I yelled to the guy to get the air guitar going...but he didn't. So I got up and helped him out. I Angus'd back and forth in front of the stage and got the crowd cheerin' and hoppin'. The song started and I fell back to my seat, but we were all chimin' in, singing along and pretty much drowning out the guy on stage (which was good, cause his timing was off and he wasn't that good). It was great fun! When the song ended the bar got ready to shut down...people started to leave and it was gettin' dead. I yelled out that I was disappointed I did not get to sing my Shook Me...so I just started singing it without musical accompaniment. Pretty much everyone at our table joined in right away, and soon after I had the whole bar singing along. It was awesome! Thunderstruck guy was right into it and even people just passing through the bar to get to the hotel were compelled to chime in on the chorus! So cool.
We left karaoke and wandered the strip for a bit...trying to think of what else to do. We decided that Yeech and Herch had had such a good time at the club the night before, that we'd see what it was like tonight. After checking out the Mirage and finding nothing going on, we made our way to Caesar's Palace, but once inside, Pure was not happening...I guess it's only open a few nights per week. We were told that the only two close-by options for clubs on this night were some place in the Venetian, and another club at the other end of Caesar's called OPM. We walked down in search of OPM and found it...no line up, although it looked considerably smaller. $20 cover charge, we debated over it and decided to go (even after a coin toss told us to go to The Venetian). As we made our way through the door, a woman approached Yeech and asked if we'd like "a bottle" for inside the club. She offered to waive our cover charge if we bought the bottle (I don't know what it was a bottle of). Yeech misheard her when she said the price though...he heard $25...which seemed like a helluva deal (6 of us waiving $20 cover to buy a bottle for $25?). Turns out she said $285. Ya, we paid the cover. The club was upstairs, with a couple of bars, a fairly small dance floor, a central DJ booth, and a lounge area to the back. It was a tad on the lame side. There were enough people in there, but many were partnered up and it seemed tough to meet and talk to women. I resorted to just groovin' on the dance floor...Herch basically did the same thing. Q, Dunydam, and JF wandered about for a bit, hung out, didn't seem too into it, and eventually left. After a few rounds of dancin' interspersed with some loungin', Yeech, Herch, and I got discourage with this club and left. That was about 3:30.
We goofed off a bit walking back through Caesar's, then caught a cab out front and headed once again for the Spearmint Rhino. I had my camera with me and knew I wouldn't be able to take it inside...but they let me check it. Once in, we did a little walk around...it was pretty busy. Found some seats on the raised level behind where we'd sat the previous time and no sooner had I sat down, a girl was by my side chattin' me up. She was pretty cute and quite talkative, but when it got down to business I declined because I didn't want to accept the first offer I got. We must have gotten there around shift change time, because for the first hour, except for that first girl, most of them were very to the point about asking if we wanted a dance...no chatting, no buttering us up...if they got a no, they moved on. I think the girls going off shift were just trying to make a last few bucks. When the new shift started, the girls were much more chatty and easy going. I did get a dance from a sexy cheery brunette who actually took some time and chatted and laughed with me. She was from Portland too, and I had just been reading about Portland in Fugitives & Refugees, so I enjoyed that. She gave a good dance. Yeech got himself a dance, but was unhappy with it. Herch and his nubian princess took over the seat I was in after my dance finished. He was in for a long haul. Yeech finally found a girl he liked and spent a buncha time with her. For the last hour we were there, I decided I was not getting another dance, so I watched the stage and waited for the boys. Girls came and left, as I told them I was broke and just waiting. Many of them were friendly about it and chatted for a bit. Many also made sure they told me that I could use my credit card and that the statement would not show anything about a strip club (it would appear as a restaurant). It was kinda funny.
When we had all had our fill of nekkidness, I picked up my camera and we walked out into the daylight...it was after 6am. We grabbed a cab and headed back to the strip. Approaching the strip, the railway crossing was active, but it seemed like no train was coming. Vehicles in front of us were pulling U-Turns and some were driving in the opposite lane and cutting through the rail crossing on the diagonal. Our cabbie decided to go that route and got us over the tracks without incident...there was no train coming...not immediately anyways. He got onto the strip and headed in the right direction, but u-turned it early and obviously didn't know where the hotel was. It was at that point that Herch, who was seated up front, looked at the ID card and realized that the picture did not match the face of the guy who was driving. He played it calm, but got the guy to drop us off right where we were, rather than circle around to get to the hotel...we weren't far anyways. He told us of the discrepancy after we got out of the car...it was kinda funny and a bit scary at the same time. At this stage...like 6:30, I wasn't all that tired and was prepared to not bother with sleeping and hit up the poker tourney at the Stratosphere at 9am. We rolled into Denny's and ordered up some grub...fuck, for $6.99 we got a lot of food (scrambler with hash browns, plus 3 pancakes). We were slowly starting to fade away and poker was not sounding like such a hot idea. We all smelled like stripper...which was a good smell. Herch still had stripper dust (sparkles) on his forehead. After Denny's we went back to the room and crashed at around 7:30. We had to checkout at 11am. I didn't sleep much, but enough.
We vacated the room on time and checked out, placing our bags in the hotel storage room until we had to leave for our flight. Herch and I hadn't even showered or changed for the ride home. We didn't get up to much as we waited to leave Sin City...wandered over to the Mirage and watched the White Tiger for a bit, then ended up in the arcade. I raced Herch on one of the driving games...we were pretty evenly match, but I pulled it ahead at the end. Yeech and Herch did a little Dance Dance Revolution, and I played some Tekken 4. We wandered down strip for a bit, took some pictures (Yeech found a showgirl and got his picture with her), then made our way back to the hotel. Met up with Q and found the other boys shortly after. We caught a shuttle bus to the airport and thus began the journey home. It was pretty uneventful. There was a Taco Bell in the airport, where most of us ate. It was damn tasty...we need a Taco Bell in Victoria. I tried to sleep on the flight, but couldn't for very long. Q and I played some cards...shithead and cribbage (cribbage using page numbers from the SkyMall catalog...a brilliant gameplay idea I'd come up with on the way down). Customs was not a problem and we caught the bus to the ferry with plenty of time to spare. Ate on the ferry and chatted. There was a group of guys playing a card game and the loser of each round had to do a stunt declared by the others...it was funny to watch. One time, one of the guys had been challenged to come over and talk to us for 30 seconds. Another time a different guy had to sit down at someone else's table and start eating his food...that was hilarious! Leftball picked up Q and I from the ferry, my truck was still where I left it, and all was well.
And that's it! Vegas in 4 days...well, 2 days, plus a half on either side, and a buncha travel time (damn this island living). I loved it, I miss it, and I will definitely be back for more! We need to get those half-yard margaritas here...and drinking on the streets too!
Back to real-life...
Monday, March 20, 2006
This post starts with Tuesday of my Vegas trip...if you have not yet read about Monday, you probably want to scroll down and read the previous post before this.
So I probably got about 4-5 hours of sleep after Monday's shenanigans. At 8am, Yeech was up and trying to do something with the curtains in the hotel room. He was peering out and seemed to be attempting to open them, but having trouble. I groggily asked what the hell he was doing, and he replied that he wasn't sure. It turned out later that it seems he was sleepwalking, because he really only remembers what happened after I had sorta woken him up by my question. Weird. Anyways, he didn't go back to bed after that and was out wandering the strip around 9am. Q got up next and went out to scout out the poker tourney situation in the nearby casinos. I was up by 11am-ish, as was Herch. I did not pack typical Planman clothes for this trip...I planned to be a little dressier than usual, so I was lookin' classy! This day I wore my grey Hallensteins Viscose shirt with my white dress pants. The weather was beautiful...sunny and just warm enough.
Using our cell phones (both calling and texting) we were able to stay in touch with each other. Yeech had wandered all the way to Circus Circus (about 2km away) and gotten Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. We met up with him outside our hotel and had a doughnut. Dunydam and JF were out and about somewhere. Q, Yeech, Herch, and I walked southbound on the strip, playing randomly at casinos along the way and just taking it all in. Q had found a poker tourney at Harrah's starting at 3pm, which he, Herch, and I planned to enter. We walked south as far as The Aladdin and gambled there for a bit. My luck was a bit better in there, but nothing spectacular. We did sign up for the Players Club (as we did at most casinos) and got a free spin on the big slot machine. No win though. I think I got two win symbols, but the third came up blank.
Leaving Aladdin, some guy stopped us and asked if we planned on going to any nightclubs, then gave us some passes for a club called Pure in Caesar's Palace. The passes were for free cover...all the guy wanted in return was a tip. We gave him $5. We walked back towards Harrah's (signup for poker was at 1pm) and also began to search for the large margaritas/daiquiris that were in the hands of people all over the streets. The shops selling them were everywhere and we eventually settled on the bar outside Tequila Joe's right in front of our hotel. During the day, a 46oz 1/2 yard margarita was just $10...discounted from it's usual $16.50. Herch got the Hurricane flavour, Yeech mixed Mudslide and Pina Colada, and I had the Patriot Passion. Mmmmmmm mmm. Yeech spun the free roulette wheel next door and won a couple of free drinks, then had his picture taken in front of the huge slot machine. I did the same, and also won 2 free drinks (we never did get those drinks...but whatever). We wandered into Harrah's and signed up for the poker tourney...it was simple and painless and were we all excited. Somewhere along the way we met back up with Dunydam and JF. We all gambled on the slots for a bit...JF signed up for the poker as well. Most of us joined the players club as well, and this place gave out free gifts and had contests and all sorts of shit available just for signing up. We each got this little treasure chest with swag in it (a couple of us got watches, Herch got a shirt that had been compressed into a dollar sign, Q got a caribiner with a flashlight on it, etc). Dunydam wanted to eat at Toby Keith's restaurant (or themed restaurant anyways...I dunno if Toby owns it) which was in Harrah's. We checked it out, but it was too busy, so we settled for the Cafe @ Harrah's on the main floor. It was good...I had a burger. After lunch it was poker time. Yeech went to have a nap, and Dunydam went wandering. JF and I were at one table, Q and Herch were at another table...I think there were 21 or 22 in the tourney. The operation of the tourney was pretty click and professional. It was nice having a dedicated dealer who knew what was going on. It was also nice playing with people who knew what they were doing (not to knock the people I usually play with...many of them know what they're doing...but often we have one or two beginners or uninterested individuals at the table). I was kinda nervous at first...I didn't know what to expect. It was all good though. I ended up getting the odd decent hand and actually took out the woman sitting beside me after about 40 minutes. Of course it didn't do me any good, because I got taken out pretty much immediately after that. I shoulda known better, betting on my pocket A2 with an Ace on the board...someone must have had a higher kicker than a 2, and yes, someone did. I was the first out from our travel gang, and pretty early in the tourney, but I didn't let it bother me. You gotta be prepared to lose when you gamble, and I was. I went out and played a penny slot for a while and won $15...so that made it a little easier too. I went back to the room...Yeech was sound asleep, curled up like a baby. The maid (is that PC these days?) had gone in but seen him sleeping, so left the room alone, but she was still in the area, so I got some fresh towels from her. I left the Yeech alone and explored the rest of the hotel. Herch called me to say he'd got taken out...but he couldn't hear me talking back to him. We ended up playing phone tag and text tag for like half an hour...in that time I saw JF come back, defeated, and I ran into Q who managed to last the longest but still not get into the money. Herch found us and I can't remember what we did...probably gambled.
Eventually we ended up back in the room and either Yeech was up, or we woke him up. Tuesday night was the night we had all planned to suit it up and walk the strip lookin' super studly...so we did exactly that. We met up with Dunydam and JF in the lobby and headed out to the street (JF did not bring his suit jacket which was a bit of a disappointment). Three of us had ties, three did not...both ways were acceptable and looked good (I brought my tie, even got it tied up before the trip, but couldn't get my shirt collar button done up, so went tieless...my neck must have fattened up recently). Dunydam and JF had themselves some half-yard margaritas and went nuts on them...Dunydam finished his really quick. We went to Treasure Island to watch the live siren show, but it was cancelled due to the wind...so instead we went in search of dinner, but none of us really knew what we wanted or how much we wanted to spend. We ended up, after much deliberation, at Canter's Deli in Treasure Island. It was not the perfect venue for a fully suited gang of fine looking young men, but the food was good and that's all that mattered (I had a chicken salad sandwich). We gambled a bit in TI, waiting for the next scheduled siren show in hopes that the wind would die down (which it did not). I almost played Casino War (it's the game of war...for money) when the table was at a $5 minimum, but I waited too long and the table went up to $10. Pretty simple game...high card wins, and if you bet on a tie it pays 10:1. We wandered around the strip and into the Venetian...took a buncha pics with the stylin' suits, and worked our way over to Caesar's Palace where we planned to go to the nightclub we had passes for. Caesar's is sprawlingly huge...I mean all the casinos and hotels and huge, but Caesars made good use of their property and was quite fancy. We gambled for a bit, got a few free drinks (although my free drink count for the evening was low and I was quickly losing any buzz that I had...even after a couple Red Bull. I think I was tired), then wandered over to where the club was. This club was huge...36,000 square feet, two levels big! The lineup was huge as well. Yeech went and talked to the bouncer and discovered that our passes were likely useless (they had clauses on the back about holidays and capacity) and that cover was something like $25 or $30. The club was just opening, and the line snaked back through the lobby and partway down a hallway...probably 1-200 metres long in all. It was likely to take about 2 hours to get in. The bouncer did give us the option of paying him $100 (for the 6 of us) to skip the line. Cover would still be on top of that. It was a viable option, although not all of us were so keen to go to the club. I was interested, but both didn't want to pay any extra than I had to or wait in line for two hours. We couldn't seem to agree on anything, so what happened is we kyboshed the greasing of the bouncer and walked to the end of the line. I just wasn't feeling the vibe of going to a club (and waiting long to get in), so Q and I decided to just go explore more south on the strip. Dunydam and JF eventually left as well, leaving Herch and Yeech to wait in line. This was all at 10pm...my idea was to come back later at midnight or 1am and wait in a shorter line...therefore not wasting a bunch of time in a line. Q and I walked through the Bellagio (or as I like to call it, The Fellatio)...it was pretty swanky. We went down to New York, New York, gambled a bit in there, and tried to get a free drink, but a waitress never came by where I was...fuckin' bullshit!. Coming out of NY, NY and heading further south, we walked past a couple of girls who were just standing by some stairs. Q asked, "how's it goin'?" (unbeknownst to me...I was a bit behind him and it was windy, so I didn't hear him) and they started giggling a bit and then one said, "don't judge me". Now I'm just thinkin' they started giggling on their own accord and I didn't know what the judge me line was about, because I didn't realize Q had initiated. I sorta stopped and asked them, "huh?" but they continued giggling and me being my normal slow self on the uptake just didn't know what to make of this. So we continued on. I later found out that Q had initiated...so their giggling was not so out of the blue (although the judge me line still didn't make any sense to me). In retrospect we should have (I should have...Q being married was just tryin' to help me out and I blew it) chatted with them, but whatever. I was tired anyways (although the 4 days Vegas trip is all about being tired and I shouldn't have let it get me). We continued walking the streets of the strip and ended up at Tropicana. Took a free spin on the big slot machine and I won a ticket to some daytime magic show (and some free cards and coupons)...cool, but I didn't have a chance to use it. By this time (which was getting close to midnight) and after all this walking, my underwear was not cooperating with me and I was gettin' some chaffing goin' on. Very uncomfortable. We headed back northbound, stopped and people watched for a bit, Q tried to help initiate for me some more, but no dice. We got back to the hotel and Q was ready to crash. I decided to walk back over to Caesar's and see what the line was like. I had been in contact with Yeech and known it took them right about two hours to get in. It was about 1am when I got over there and there was a still a lineup that would probably have taken at least an hour to get through. Fuck that junk...I wasn't feelin' the club vibe, I was chaffin', and I was tired. I pretty much lamed out on Tuesday night...but whatever. There were some good lookin' ladies in the line though...although many looked a little too into themselves, or partnered up.
Dunydam and JF had ended up at Hooters...we didn't see them the rest of the night. I crashed around 2am, but it took a while for sleep to come. Around 5am, Herch and Yeech got home from Pure. They were not quiet...not that I expected them to be. Q and I both pretty much woke up when they entered the room, but we didn't let them know we were awake right away. They were talkin' like they'd had the time of their life...the club sounded pretty sweet. They were quite hopped up and drunken (drunkest I've seen Yeech I do believe). When Yeech was in the can, Herch blurted out one of the best lines from the trip..."Awww, that club was off the hook!...Why didn't I get laid?!". It was hilarious. When Yeech got out of the can, he was met with a pillow bomb launched from about 15 feet away by Herch...well aimed. A pillow fight ensued and it was hilarious. By now the fact that Q and I were awake was known, and I was surprised the pillow fight did not come our way. It stayed between Yeech and Herch and was fun to watch. At one point Yeech was trampoline style jumping on the bed...I was sure we were gonna get security at the door. Maybe there was no one below us? Yeech was much too hyper and horned up from the club and was prepared to hit the Spearmint Rhino again...but they never made it. After the pillow fight came to a halt, they both pretty much crashed and were sawin' logs before long. Sounded like a fun time at Pure and I regret not going. What's a two hour line-up in Vegas? Ah well. I fell asleep again...sometime before 6am.
That wraps Tuesday...I'm gonna have to do Wednesday later, cause this is just too much to write (and probably for you to read) in one sitting. Stay tuned...
So I probably got about 4-5 hours of sleep after Monday's shenanigans. At 8am, Yeech was up and trying to do something with the curtains in the hotel room. He was peering out and seemed to be attempting to open them, but having trouble. I groggily asked what the hell he was doing, and he replied that he wasn't sure. It turned out later that it seems he was sleepwalking, because he really only remembers what happened after I had sorta woken him up by my question. Weird. Anyways, he didn't go back to bed after that and was out wandering the strip around 9am. Q got up next and went out to scout out the poker tourney situation in the nearby casinos. I was up by 11am-ish, as was Herch. I did not pack typical Planman clothes for this trip...I planned to be a little dressier than usual, so I was lookin' classy! This day I wore my grey Hallensteins Viscose shirt with my white dress pants. The weather was beautiful...sunny and just warm enough.
Using our cell phones (both calling and texting) we were able to stay in touch with each other. Yeech had wandered all the way to Circus Circus (about 2km away) and gotten Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. We met up with him outside our hotel and had a doughnut. Dunydam and JF were out and about somewhere. Q, Yeech, Herch, and I walked southbound on the strip, playing randomly at casinos along the way and just taking it all in. Q had found a poker tourney at Harrah's starting at 3pm, which he, Herch, and I planned to enter. We walked south as far as The Aladdin and gambled there for a bit. My luck was a bit better in there, but nothing spectacular. We did sign up for the Players Club (as we did at most casinos) and got a free spin on the big slot machine. No win though. I think I got two win symbols, but the third came up blank.
Leaving Aladdin, some guy stopped us and asked if we planned on going to any nightclubs, then gave us some passes for a club called Pure in Caesar's Palace. The passes were for free cover...all the guy wanted in return was a tip. We gave him $5. We walked back towards Harrah's (signup for poker was at 1pm) and also began to search for the large margaritas/daiquiris that were in the hands of people all over the streets. The shops selling them were everywhere and we eventually settled on the bar outside Tequila Joe's right in front of our hotel. During the day, a 46oz 1/2 yard margarita was just $10...discounted from it's usual $16.50. Herch got the Hurricane flavour, Yeech mixed Mudslide and Pina Colada, and I had the Patriot Passion. Mmmmmmm mmm. Yeech spun the free roulette wheel next door and won a couple of free drinks, then had his picture taken in front of the huge slot machine. I did the same, and also won 2 free drinks (we never did get those drinks...but whatever). We wandered into Harrah's and signed up for the poker tourney...it was simple and painless and were we all excited. Somewhere along the way we met back up with Dunydam and JF. We all gambled on the slots for a bit...JF signed up for the poker as well. Most of us joined the players club as well, and this place gave out free gifts and had contests and all sorts of shit available just for signing up. We each got this little treasure chest with swag in it (a couple of us got watches, Herch got a shirt that had been compressed into a dollar sign, Q got a caribiner with a flashlight on it, etc). Dunydam wanted to eat at Toby Keith's restaurant (or themed restaurant anyways...I dunno if Toby owns it) which was in Harrah's. We checked it out, but it was too busy, so we settled for the Cafe @ Harrah's on the main floor. It was good...I had a burger. After lunch it was poker time. Yeech went to have a nap, and Dunydam went wandering. JF and I were at one table, Q and Herch were at another table...I think there were 21 or 22 in the tourney. The operation of the tourney was pretty click and professional. It was nice having a dedicated dealer who knew what was going on. It was also nice playing with people who knew what they were doing (not to knock the people I usually play with...many of them know what they're doing...but often we have one or two beginners or uninterested individuals at the table). I was kinda nervous at first...I didn't know what to expect. It was all good though. I ended up getting the odd decent hand and actually took out the woman sitting beside me after about 40 minutes. Of course it didn't do me any good, because I got taken out pretty much immediately after that. I shoulda known better, betting on my pocket A2 with an Ace on the board...someone must have had a higher kicker than a 2, and yes, someone did. I was the first out from our travel gang, and pretty early in the tourney, but I didn't let it bother me. You gotta be prepared to lose when you gamble, and I was. I went out and played a penny slot for a while and won $15...so that made it a little easier too. I went back to the room...Yeech was sound asleep, curled up like a baby. The maid (is that PC these days?) had gone in but seen him sleeping, so left the room alone, but she was still in the area, so I got some fresh towels from her. I left the Yeech alone and explored the rest of the hotel. Herch called me to say he'd got taken out...but he couldn't hear me talking back to him. We ended up playing phone tag and text tag for like half an hour...in that time I saw JF come back, defeated, and I ran into Q who managed to last the longest but still not get into the money. Herch found us and I can't remember what we did...probably gambled.
Eventually we ended up back in the room and either Yeech was up, or we woke him up. Tuesday night was the night we had all planned to suit it up and walk the strip lookin' super studly...so we did exactly that. We met up with Dunydam and JF in the lobby and headed out to the street (JF did not bring his suit jacket which was a bit of a disappointment). Three of us had ties, three did not...both ways were acceptable and looked good (I brought my tie, even got it tied up before the trip, but couldn't get my shirt collar button done up, so went tieless...my neck must have fattened up recently). Dunydam and JF had themselves some half-yard margaritas and went nuts on them...Dunydam finished his really quick. We went to Treasure Island to watch the live siren show, but it was cancelled due to the wind...so instead we went in search of dinner, but none of us really knew what we wanted or how much we wanted to spend. We ended up, after much deliberation, at Canter's Deli in Treasure Island. It was not the perfect venue for a fully suited gang of fine looking young men, but the food was good and that's all that mattered (I had a chicken salad sandwich). We gambled a bit in TI, waiting for the next scheduled siren show in hopes that the wind would die down (which it did not). I almost played Casino War (it's the game of war...for money) when the table was at a $5 minimum, but I waited too long and the table went up to $10. Pretty simple game...high card wins, and if you bet on a tie it pays 10:1. We wandered around the strip and into the Venetian...took a buncha pics with the stylin' suits, and worked our way over to Caesar's Palace where we planned to go to the nightclub we had passes for. Caesar's is sprawlingly huge...I mean all the casinos and hotels and huge, but Caesars made good use of their property and was quite fancy. We gambled for a bit, got a few free drinks (although my free drink count for the evening was low and I was quickly losing any buzz that I had...even after a couple Red Bull. I think I was tired), then wandered over to where the club was. This club was huge...36,000 square feet, two levels big! The lineup was huge as well. Yeech went and talked to the bouncer and discovered that our passes were likely useless (they had clauses on the back about holidays and capacity) and that cover was something like $25 or $30. The club was just opening, and the line snaked back through the lobby and partway down a hallway...probably 1-200 metres long in all. It was likely to take about 2 hours to get in. The bouncer did give us the option of paying him $100 (for the 6 of us) to skip the line. Cover would still be on top of that. It was a viable option, although not all of us were so keen to go to the club. I was interested, but both didn't want to pay any extra than I had to or wait in line for two hours. We couldn't seem to agree on anything, so what happened is we kyboshed the greasing of the bouncer and walked to the end of the line. I just wasn't feeling the vibe of going to a club (and waiting long to get in), so Q and I decided to just go explore more south on the strip. Dunydam and JF eventually left as well, leaving Herch and Yeech to wait in line. This was all at 10pm...my idea was to come back later at midnight or 1am and wait in a shorter line...therefore not wasting a bunch of time in a line. Q and I walked through the Bellagio (or as I like to call it, The Fellatio)...it was pretty swanky. We went down to New York, New York, gambled a bit in there, and tried to get a free drink, but a waitress never came by where I was...fuckin' bullshit!. Coming out of NY, NY and heading further south, we walked past a couple of girls who were just standing by some stairs. Q asked, "how's it goin'?" (unbeknownst to me...I was a bit behind him and it was windy, so I didn't hear him) and they started giggling a bit and then one said, "don't judge me". Now I'm just thinkin' they started giggling on their own accord and I didn't know what the judge me line was about, because I didn't realize Q had initiated. I sorta stopped and asked them, "huh?" but they continued giggling and me being my normal slow self on the uptake just didn't know what to make of this. So we continued on. I later found out that Q had initiated...so their giggling was not so out of the blue (although the judge me line still didn't make any sense to me). In retrospect we should have (I should have...Q being married was just tryin' to help me out and I blew it) chatted with them, but whatever. I was tired anyways (although the 4 days Vegas trip is all about being tired and I shouldn't have let it get me). We continued walking the streets of the strip and ended up at Tropicana. Took a free spin on the big slot machine and I won a ticket to some daytime magic show (and some free cards and coupons)...cool, but I didn't have a chance to use it. By this time (which was getting close to midnight) and after all this walking, my underwear was not cooperating with me and I was gettin' some chaffing goin' on. Very uncomfortable. We headed back northbound, stopped and people watched for a bit, Q tried to help initiate for me some more, but no dice. We got back to the hotel and Q was ready to crash. I decided to walk back over to Caesar's and see what the line was like. I had been in contact with Yeech and known it took them right about two hours to get in. It was about 1am when I got over there and there was a still a lineup that would probably have taken at least an hour to get through. Fuck that junk...I wasn't feelin' the club vibe, I was chaffin', and I was tired. I pretty much lamed out on Tuesday night...but whatever. There were some good lookin' ladies in the line though...although many looked a little too into themselves, or partnered up.
Dunydam and JF had ended up at Hooters...we didn't see them the rest of the night. I crashed around 2am, but it took a while for sleep to come. Around 5am, Herch and Yeech got home from Pure. They were not quiet...not that I expected them to be. Q and I both pretty much woke up when they entered the room, but we didn't let them know we were awake right away. They were talkin' like they'd had the time of their life...the club sounded pretty sweet. They were quite hopped up and drunken (drunkest I've seen Yeech I do believe). When Yeech was in the can, Herch blurted out one of the best lines from the trip..."Awww, that club was off the hook!...Why didn't I get laid?!". It was hilarious. When Yeech got out of the can, he was met with a pillow bomb launched from about 15 feet away by Herch...well aimed. A pillow fight ensued and it was hilarious. By now the fact that Q and I were awake was known, and I was surprised the pillow fight did not come our way. It stayed between Yeech and Herch and was fun to watch. At one point Yeech was trampoline style jumping on the bed...I was sure we were gonna get security at the door. Maybe there was no one below us? Yeech was much too hyper and horned up from the club and was prepared to hit the Spearmint Rhino again...but they never made it. After the pillow fight came to a halt, they both pretty much crashed and were sawin' logs before long. Sounded like a fun time at Pure and I regret not going. What's a two hour line-up in Vegas? Ah well. I fell asleep again...sometime before 6am.
That wraps Tuesday...I'm gonna have to do Wednesday later, cause this is just too much to write (and probably for you to read) in one sitting. Stay tuned...
Saturday, March 18, 2006
It's been a while since I posted, and much has happened. I just got back from four days in Las Vegas and it was an awesome trip! First a quick recap of last weekend...not that there was much going on. Saturday was Slefler's stag...Q and I attended for the pool and foos at Peacocks, then to Bulmers for more hangin' and some poker. I left early to get to the Salmon Kings game...our department manager had gotten use of the corporate box and offered tickets to all in the department. It was my second time in the box and while the Salmon lost, it was still a fun time (especially when the game, food and booze is all paid for!). After the game a bunch of us guys headed to Big Bad Johns where we continued the drinking. Coop tried to help some of us pick-up. I ran into Swish...very weird cause I haven't seen her for so long...but I will be seeing her tomorrow (a week from last saturday) for another ACP reunion. We left BBJs and I ran into the stag party. Spoke with those boys briefly and then continued on to Darcy's where more of the work crew (people who hadn't gone to the game) were. Only caught the last half hour or so at Darcy's, but the band was rockin' and it was fun. Some of us ended up at Hugo's afterwards, but Frenchie and I ducked out after a bit to go get some Pacific Rim slices. I walked home...cause I'm cheap.
Sunday I got up relatively early to help Herch move. Yeech was late...although not because he'd been out late the night before (he just forgot what time we were meeting). The move went pretty well...although Herch's couch was not fittin' into his living room. He's got narrow halls and not a lot of manouevering room and we were only able to get it into the den...which is where it will now live (it almost didn't get into there...but I came up with the right twisting and tilting method to get it through the door). We had some Maude's burgers after the move...they was tasty. The rest of the day was spent packing and preparing for the trip.
Which brings me to...Vegas!!!! It was my first trip to the concrete and neon mecca in the Nevada desert, and I will definitely return. I had a great time...it's such a different world down there. The scale is huge and everything is just money money money money. I gambled, of course, and I did not win. I am down...big time, but I'm not broke. I did exceed the gambling limits I had set for myself before arriving, but within reason and justified (in my mind anyways). Luck was not on my side...but that's ok. I don't really know where to start or what stories to relay...I think chronological is probably the easiest, but first I'll get out the overall stuff.
The group: Planman, Q, Herch (also referred to as Herchman & Herchel), Yeech, Dunydam, and JF. We all got along well, although Dunydam and JF did their own thing separate from the rest of a us a few times. They were in their own room, while the other four of us were all in one, two bed room (Q & I shared a bed, Herch and Yeech shared the other). When I booked the trip, I didn't realize it was one room...the website said it was double occupancy. When I got the itinerary, I totally missed the line that said it was one room. It wasn't a big deal. Our room was also a smoking room and stank when we first arrived. We probably could have changed out, but didn't. We aired it out and after an evening in smoke filled casinos and clubs, the smokey room was not even noticable. An ongoing theme from the trip was talking in the voice of the greased up naked man from Family Guy. If you don't watch enough Family Guy, you're not gonna know what I'm talking about. If you do...you're probably cracking up right now. The guy is so random and infrequent, and there's only a few lines of his we remembered (and a couple more were made up..."I've got two pair...queens, and queens"), but talking in that high pitched voice was cause for many a crack up on the streets of Lost Wages.
OK, Monday: After a full day of travel...driving to Royal Oak, catching the bus to the ferry, boating it to the mainland, bussing it to the airport, waiting, flying to Phoenix (emergency exit aisle for Planman, Q, Herch, and Yeech!), securing a row together for the return flight while in Phoenix, flying into Las Vegas (getting slightly close, but not really, to missing the connector in Phoenix...we stood by the gate not realizing they had already boarded, but we caught the final boarding call), and finally SUV limoing to the fabulous Imperial Palace (one of the oldest hotels on the core part of a the strip, therefore on the verge of demolition)...we were ready to hit the streets of Vegas. I travelled in good old Corvette shirt, jeans, and my suit jacket...I was lookin' good in a redneck sorta way. After settling in our rooms, we met up in the lobby and headed out to find some food. We hit a buffet at the Mirage, Cravings. It was an amazing buffet...$25, but the food was from all over and there was so so much. Sushi, Barbecue, Italian, Chinese, Latin, Rotisserie, Salads, Desserts, and more! I took a pretty good selection from all over, as did most of the others. Hercher focused on the crab legs...two heaping plates full! Oh, and the jumbo prawns...they were good too. We were all stuffed. We gambled and explored in the Mirage and then Treasure Island and then Wynn...got our free drinks and dumped a bunch of money. On the walk from TI to Wynn, Dunydam says, as we travel up an outdoor escalator, "Man, I've dropped like $85 bucks tonight and I haven't even seen any titties!". A group of girls just happened to be on the down escalator passing us, and one of them pipes up, "OK". She tries to lift her shirt but the beer in her hand gets in the way. We encourage her to try again, so she passes off the beer to a friend and get the shirt up...woohoo! They was nice! We're talkin' Double Ds and not saggers. Yeech and Herch missed out because they was ahead of us a bit. That was it...we cheered and thanked her and our escalators carried us each in our respective directions. Awesome. We tried to get this to happen many more times on the rest of the trip, but it was always like we were trying and the randomness of the first time was never achievable and we saw no more free titties. Coming out of the Wynn, we got directions to the Spearmint Rhino, a gentlemen's club that some of the guys had been told about. It was close by so we decided to walk and find it (It was close...but the scale is so huge in Vegas, that it was still a while before we got there). None of us really knew what to expect, but we paid the $20 cover charge and entered the club. At first...and I'm talking very first glance, it seems like a fairly regular strip club. There's a central dance floor with girls dancing topless (no bottomless...ever), it's dark, and there's a couple of bars. Then you realize that there's a lot of scantily clad women walking around, and many sitting on laps, topless, and giving lap dances. None of us knew how to respond to this...we were excited of course, but we didn't know if we were in over our heads, how to act, what to do, or what to say. I believe I was the first to be approached...one of the ladies asked me how I was doing and if I'd like some company. I politely declined. We wandered around a bit. Q left. We found some seats set back a bit from perve row and just sat and watched. It was a very slick operation...the dance floor was constantly occupied by one, two, and sometimes three girls. There were no stoppages or lulls in the music or the changeovers. The girls working the room took their turns on stage every once in a while, and dollar bills were always being stuffed into the g-strings. But the real money was in the lap dances and beyond. Women were constantly approaching us, sitting in our laps, introducing themselves and pretending to be interested in us, wanting to know if we wanted a good time, or company, or a dance. Yeech was by far the best at chatting them up, but Herch was the first to have a lap dance. As I was sitting beside him, I got a decent show too (although I tried not to stare). When his dance was done, I was on him for the details...how much, what was it like, etc. Yeech spent a lot of time chatting to one chick, then finally got himself a dance. JF and Dunydam left...they weren't into the lap dances. I finally decided it was time I got me a dance and accepted an offer from a chick with "an ass like butter", so said by the Yeech. She was attractive and the dance was good, although I know there's better out there. Herch and Yeech each got one more (and Yeech spent a lot of time before and after chattin' with his chicky) before we left the club around 3:30. We walked it back to the hotel, taking a detour through the Venetian, getting a bit lost inside, then finding our way out. Instead of heading towards the sidewalk though, we walked through the driveway of the Venetian and ended up at a wall separting it from Harrah's (which was next to our Imperial Palace). The wall was maybe 8 feet high, so we decided to just jump it and carry on. Herch clambered over, no problem, Yeech pulled himself up fine too...but when I jumped and grabbed the top, I didn't have the strength to oomph my lower half up. As I hung there for a second before letting down, I noticed a cop car in the Harrah's driveway. When I was down on the Venetian side, trying to figure how I was going to get up, the cop shined his light on Herchman, and he turned around, a little worried (although we weren't doing any illegal). Then the cop yelled, through his window, "Help Him!". So Herch, relieved that the cop was not looking to create trouble, jumped back up, and he and Yeech supported me just enough so I could pull myself up the rest of the way. What good friends. We wandered through Harrah's and finally got back to our hotel, failing miserably to be quiet enough not to wake Q. We crashed, and sleep finally came for me around 5am. What a great way to start out in Vegas!
more to come...I gotta bed now.
Sunday I got up relatively early to help Herch move. Yeech was late...although not because he'd been out late the night before (he just forgot what time we were meeting). The move went pretty well...although Herch's couch was not fittin' into his living room. He's got narrow halls and not a lot of manouevering room and we were only able to get it into the den...which is where it will now live (it almost didn't get into there...but I came up with the right twisting and tilting method to get it through the door). We had some Maude's burgers after the move...they was tasty. The rest of the day was spent packing and preparing for the trip.
Which brings me to...Vegas!!!! It was my first trip to the concrete and neon mecca in the Nevada desert, and I will definitely return. I had a great time...it's such a different world down there. The scale is huge and everything is just money money money money. I gambled, of course, and I did not win. I am down...big time, but I'm not broke. I did exceed the gambling limits I had set for myself before arriving, but within reason and justified (in my mind anyways). Luck was not on my side...but that's ok. I don't really know where to start or what stories to relay...I think chronological is probably the easiest, but first I'll get out the overall stuff.
The group: Planman, Q, Herch (also referred to as Herchman & Herchel), Yeech, Dunydam, and JF. We all got along well, although Dunydam and JF did their own thing separate from the rest of a us a few times. They were in their own room, while the other four of us were all in one, two bed room (Q & I shared a bed, Herch and Yeech shared the other). When I booked the trip, I didn't realize it was one room...the website said it was double occupancy. When I got the itinerary, I totally missed the line that said it was one room. It wasn't a big deal. Our room was also a smoking room and stank when we first arrived. We probably could have changed out, but didn't. We aired it out and after an evening in smoke filled casinos and clubs, the smokey room was not even noticable. An ongoing theme from the trip was talking in the voice of the greased up naked man from Family Guy. If you don't watch enough Family Guy, you're not gonna know what I'm talking about. If you do...you're probably cracking up right now. The guy is so random and infrequent, and there's only a few lines of his we remembered (and a couple more were made up..."I've got two pair...queens, and queens"), but talking in that high pitched voice was cause for many a crack up on the streets of Lost Wages.
OK, Monday: After a full day of travel...driving to Royal Oak, catching the bus to the ferry, boating it to the mainland, bussing it to the airport, waiting, flying to Phoenix (emergency exit aisle for Planman, Q, Herch, and Yeech!), securing a row together for the return flight while in Phoenix, flying into Las Vegas (getting slightly close, but not really, to missing the connector in Phoenix...we stood by the gate not realizing they had already boarded, but we caught the final boarding call), and finally SUV limoing to the fabulous Imperial Palace (one of the oldest hotels on the core part of a the strip, therefore on the verge of demolition)...we were ready to hit the streets of Vegas. I travelled in good old Corvette shirt, jeans, and my suit jacket...I was lookin' good in a redneck sorta way. After settling in our rooms, we met up in the lobby and headed out to find some food. We hit a buffet at the Mirage, Cravings. It was an amazing buffet...$25, but the food was from all over and there was so so much. Sushi, Barbecue, Italian, Chinese, Latin, Rotisserie, Salads, Desserts, and more! I took a pretty good selection from all over, as did most of the others. Hercher focused on the crab legs...two heaping plates full! Oh, and the jumbo prawns...they were good too. We were all stuffed. We gambled and explored in the Mirage and then Treasure Island and then Wynn...got our free drinks and dumped a bunch of money. On the walk from TI to Wynn, Dunydam says, as we travel up an outdoor escalator, "Man, I've dropped like $85 bucks tonight and I haven't even seen any titties!". A group of girls just happened to be on the down escalator passing us, and one of them pipes up, "OK". She tries to lift her shirt but the beer in her hand gets in the way. We encourage her to try again, so she passes off the beer to a friend and get the shirt up...woohoo! They was nice! We're talkin' Double Ds and not saggers. Yeech and Herch missed out because they was ahead of us a bit. That was it...we cheered and thanked her and our escalators carried us each in our respective directions. Awesome. We tried to get this to happen many more times on the rest of the trip, but it was always like we were trying and the randomness of the first time was never achievable and we saw no more free titties. Coming out of the Wynn, we got directions to the Spearmint Rhino, a gentlemen's club that some of the guys had been told about. It was close by so we decided to walk and find it (It was close...but the scale is so huge in Vegas, that it was still a while before we got there). None of us really knew what to expect, but we paid the $20 cover charge and entered the club. At first...and I'm talking very first glance, it seems like a fairly regular strip club. There's a central dance floor with girls dancing topless (no bottomless...ever), it's dark, and there's a couple of bars. Then you realize that there's a lot of scantily clad women walking around, and many sitting on laps, topless, and giving lap dances. None of us knew how to respond to this...we were excited of course, but we didn't know if we were in over our heads, how to act, what to do, or what to say. I believe I was the first to be approached...one of the ladies asked me how I was doing and if I'd like some company. I politely declined. We wandered around a bit. Q left. We found some seats set back a bit from perve row and just sat and watched. It was a very slick operation...the dance floor was constantly occupied by one, two, and sometimes three girls. There were no stoppages or lulls in the music or the changeovers. The girls working the room took their turns on stage every once in a while, and dollar bills were always being stuffed into the g-strings. But the real money was in the lap dances and beyond. Women were constantly approaching us, sitting in our laps, introducing themselves and pretending to be interested in us, wanting to know if we wanted a good time, or company, or a dance. Yeech was by far the best at chatting them up, but Herch was the first to have a lap dance. As I was sitting beside him, I got a decent show too (although I tried not to stare). When his dance was done, I was on him for the details...how much, what was it like, etc. Yeech spent a lot of time chatting to one chick, then finally got himself a dance. JF and Dunydam left...they weren't into the lap dances. I finally decided it was time I got me a dance and accepted an offer from a chick with "an ass like butter", so said by the Yeech. She was attractive and the dance was good, although I know there's better out there. Herch and Yeech each got one more (and Yeech spent a lot of time before and after chattin' with his chicky) before we left the club around 3:30. We walked it back to the hotel, taking a detour through the Venetian, getting a bit lost inside, then finding our way out. Instead of heading towards the sidewalk though, we walked through the driveway of the Venetian and ended up at a wall separting it from Harrah's (which was next to our Imperial Palace). The wall was maybe 8 feet high, so we decided to just jump it and carry on. Herch clambered over, no problem, Yeech pulled himself up fine too...but when I jumped and grabbed the top, I didn't have the strength to oomph my lower half up. As I hung there for a second before letting down, I noticed a cop car in the Harrah's driveway. When I was down on the Venetian side, trying to figure how I was going to get up, the cop shined his light on Herchman, and he turned around, a little worried (although we weren't doing any illegal). Then the cop yelled, through his window, "Help Him!". So Herch, relieved that the cop was not looking to create trouble, jumped back up, and he and Yeech supported me just enough so I could pull myself up the rest of the way. What good friends. We wandered through Harrah's and finally got back to our hotel, failing miserably to be quiet enough not to wake Q. We crashed, and sleep finally came for me around 5am. What a great way to start out in Vegas!
more to come...I gotta bed now.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
My hippy stick is quickly deteriorating...I don't think it's gonna make it a year.
No wussin' out today...I ran 10K/17 songs (a couple were quite short) in the light rain...made it back just before the skies opened up more too. I almost didn't go...I got outside, felt the rain coming down, then shrugged it off and said, "fuck it!" and headed through the gate. Running in the rain is actually quite nice...as long as it's light rain. Big ole fat rain isn't much fun. Light rain keeps me cool and refreshed.
The first couple clicks of a run are usually the worst, because I'm not warmed up yet, and I'm transitioning from restfull sleeping breathing, to running panting breathing. After I get into the rhythm, then I am pretty good to go. The last K can be a bit tough sometimes...only because of the psychological element of knowing how close I am to the end. Today I didn't let it get to me and I actually sped up a bit near the end. 'Twas a gooder!
Lavalife can lick my nuts.
No wussin' out today...I ran 10K/17 songs (a couple were quite short) in the light rain...made it back just before the skies opened up more too. I almost didn't go...I got outside, felt the rain coming down, then shrugged it off and said, "fuck it!" and headed through the gate. Running in the rain is actually quite nice...as long as it's light rain. Big ole fat rain isn't much fun. Light rain keeps me cool and refreshed.
The first couple clicks of a run are usually the worst, because I'm not warmed up yet, and I'm transitioning from restfull sleeping breathing, to running panting breathing. After I get into the rhythm, then I am pretty good to go. The last K can be a bit tough sometimes...only because of the psychological element of knowing how close I am to the end. Today I didn't let it get to me and I actually sped up a bit near the end. 'Twas a gooder!
Lavalife can lick my nuts.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Rain caused me to wuss out after running only about 1.5K (3 songs) this morning. I was prepared to do a 10K...honest!
I helped out at the A-Channel Open House on Saturday. I was involved with the teleprompter demonstration...nothing to do with the job I do regularly. There were about 1000 people that came through and had a looksee at the station...the groups just did not stop for almost 5 hours. It's a good thing to do when you're in such a public oriented business like we are...and we did it in a big way. Stations were setup around the building where tour groups were told what happens and how, as well as given demonstrations. For our teleprompter demo, we had one person from each group sit at the desk and read a script on camera from the prompter. Some people were good, some stumbled a bit...but it was all good. I was in charge of switching from the news opener vis to the camera shot, as well as recording a DVD of each person's read so they could have their own copy. It worked out fairly well. Many of the people who did it appeared on tonight's newscast...as in what they recorded was shown in clips.
After that I had a house warming party to go to at Slefler's, plus Yeech, Bex, and some others were going to pay music bingo and the Monkey Tree...so I had options. I went to the party as I'd been invited to that first. I was the first to arrive and got a personal tour of the house and the renovations that had been done. The party turned out pretty good and I ended up staying for the duration...being one of the final people to leave. The girl I was hoping was going to be there was...I'd met her at a party amongst the same friends back in the summer. I talked with her a few times and it turns out we have a fair bit in common. She's an ACP grad too...from Yeech's class! Small friggin' world! She has family in New Zealand, and has been there a few times (although not recently). As there was a party going on, we weren't able to keep talking all evening, and I didn't really get to talk to her before she left...so I got no contact details. I'll have to wait for another party. She left earlier than the majority of people at the party though...and as I stated earlier, I was there till the end.
Around 2:30 we finally decided (after much earlier deliberation) to go to Denny's for some grub. I had stopped drinking at 10ish, so was ok to drive and ended up driving Slefler's car with half the people, while the rest cabbed it. 8 of us in total went into Denny's and were seated (while waiting to be seated I plopped a buck in the grab game machine and promptly lost it when the grabber failed to get a good grip on the Incredible Hulk plush toy I had selected). We were seated in a booth intended for 6, but the woman who seated us told us we could move to the table behind it and use chairs on the end, once it got cleaned. It got cleaned, so that's what we did. Then we waited...and waited. We got no service. This greasy lookin' guy...quite possibly the night manager (judging by the way he was dressed and acted), came by and wanted the people on the end (in the chairs) to move because he wanted to seat 4 people in the booth beside us and the chairs were in the way. Then he got all pissy about who had seated us there and blah blah blah. Eventually 4 people ended up in the original booth designed for 6, and the other 4 in the booth behind it. We still got no service and when we asked the manager dude about some service he said something about "people who seat themselves do not get served". That was it...we up and left. If he doesn't want our money...we're not giving it to him. On our way out, he tried to make like he was kicking us out...ha! I drove two groups (ladies first) to Alzu's where we actually got served and ate. Bit of a story at Alzu's too though. One guy asked the waiter to just surprise him...he didn't order anything specific (me on the other hand...I ordered an Awesome Burger, which was pretty awesome). Either the waiter forgot to pick something for him, or he didn't take him seriously...cause I got my burger, everyone else got their food, and no mystery meal came out. When finally asked about it, the waiter didn't apologize, but he did get something prepared (mozza sticks). It was a bit weird...but hey, it was 3:30am, and this place isn't Floyd's.
After eats, I drove people back in two trips, then I headed for home...taking Slefler's brother and his girlfriend back to their place which isn't far from mine. It was not a bad night.
Sunday I was up at 9:30. Went up to visit Gord & Brandy and their new puppy, Dasha. She's a purebred golden retreiver...very cute and seems to be pretty smart already. Gord and I went to the Whippletree Auction, but there was nothing of interest. We had brunch, then he showed me around the area a bit...real estate he'd looked at and such. We hit up Merridale Cidery for some free sampling (and we bought some too). I decided to make it a full family day, so after leaving their place, I went to visit the parents. Ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and a good portion of the evening at their place...we played Scrabble and I helped Dad out with some stuff on the computer.
And that was my weekend. Action packed to some extent. You're supposed to sleep in on weekends, but with the shift I work, I sleep in every day...so it doesn't really matter what time I get up on weekends.
I don't know why I write this stuff out in so much detail (yet sometimes it doesn't seem like enough detail, while it still goes on and on)...maybe it's for me to look back on one day, as a journal. Maybe it's for you...to enjoy? I hope you enjoy. No one is forcing you to read this...but I appreciate you for reading it. It makes it all seem worthwhile. It gives my life some semblance of meaning...ever so slight.
Vegas approaches...
I helped out at the A-Channel Open House on Saturday. I was involved with the teleprompter demonstration...nothing to do with the job I do regularly. There were about 1000 people that came through and had a looksee at the station...the groups just did not stop for almost 5 hours. It's a good thing to do when you're in such a public oriented business like we are...and we did it in a big way. Stations were setup around the building where tour groups were told what happens and how, as well as given demonstrations. For our teleprompter demo, we had one person from each group sit at the desk and read a script on camera from the prompter. Some people were good, some stumbled a bit...but it was all good. I was in charge of switching from the news opener vis to the camera shot, as well as recording a DVD of each person's read so they could have their own copy. It worked out fairly well. Many of the people who did it appeared on tonight's newscast...as in what they recorded was shown in clips.
After that I had a house warming party to go to at Slefler's, plus Yeech, Bex, and some others were going to pay music bingo and the Monkey Tree...so I had options. I went to the party as I'd been invited to that first. I was the first to arrive and got a personal tour of the house and the renovations that had been done. The party turned out pretty good and I ended up staying for the duration...being one of the final people to leave. The girl I was hoping was going to be there was...I'd met her at a party amongst the same friends back in the summer. I talked with her a few times and it turns out we have a fair bit in common. She's an ACP grad too...from Yeech's class! Small friggin' world! She has family in New Zealand, and has been there a few times (although not recently). As there was a party going on, we weren't able to keep talking all evening, and I didn't really get to talk to her before she left...so I got no contact details. I'll have to wait for another party. She left earlier than the majority of people at the party though...and as I stated earlier, I was there till the end.
Around 2:30 we finally decided (after much earlier deliberation) to go to Denny's for some grub. I had stopped drinking at 10ish, so was ok to drive and ended up driving Slefler's car with half the people, while the rest cabbed it. 8 of us in total went into Denny's and were seated (while waiting to be seated I plopped a buck in the grab game machine and promptly lost it when the grabber failed to get a good grip on the Incredible Hulk plush toy I had selected). We were seated in a booth intended for 6, but the woman who seated us told us we could move to the table behind it and use chairs on the end, once it got cleaned. It got cleaned, so that's what we did. Then we waited...and waited. We got no service. This greasy lookin' guy...quite possibly the night manager (judging by the way he was dressed and acted), came by and wanted the people on the end (in the chairs) to move because he wanted to seat 4 people in the booth beside us and the chairs were in the way. Then he got all pissy about who had seated us there and blah blah blah. Eventually 4 people ended up in the original booth designed for 6, and the other 4 in the booth behind it. We still got no service and when we asked the manager dude about some service he said something about "people who seat themselves do not get served". That was it...we up and left. If he doesn't want our money...we're not giving it to him. On our way out, he tried to make like he was kicking us out...ha! I drove two groups (ladies first) to Alzu's where we actually got served and ate. Bit of a story at Alzu's too though. One guy asked the waiter to just surprise him...he didn't order anything specific (me on the other hand...I ordered an Awesome Burger, which was pretty awesome). Either the waiter forgot to pick something for him, or he didn't take him seriously...cause I got my burger, everyone else got their food, and no mystery meal came out. When finally asked about it, the waiter didn't apologize, but he did get something prepared (mozza sticks). It was a bit weird...but hey, it was 3:30am, and this place isn't Floyd's.
After eats, I drove people back in two trips, then I headed for home...taking Slefler's brother and his girlfriend back to their place which isn't far from mine. It was not a bad night.
Sunday I was up at 9:30. Went up to visit Gord & Brandy and their new puppy, Dasha. She's a purebred golden retreiver...very cute and seems to be pretty smart already. Gord and I went to the Whippletree Auction, but there was nothing of interest. We had brunch, then he showed me around the area a bit...real estate he'd looked at and such. We hit up Merridale Cidery for some free sampling (and we bought some too). I decided to make it a full family day, so after leaving their place, I went to visit the parents. Ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and a good portion of the evening at their place...we played Scrabble and I helped Dad out with some stuff on the computer.
And that was my weekend. Action packed to some extent. You're supposed to sleep in on weekends, but with the shift I work, I sleep in every day...so it doesn't really matter what time I get up on weekends.
I don't know why I write this stuff out in so much detail (yet sometimes it doesn't seem like enough detail, while it still goes on and on)...maybe it's for me to look back on one day, as a journal. Maybe it's for you...to enjoy? I hope you enjoy. No one is forcing you to read this...but I appreciate you for reading it. It makes it all seem worthwhile. It gives my life some semblance of meaning...ever so slight.
Vegas approaches...
Friday, March 03, 2006
I just watched "Say Anything...". I think I've seen it before, but never all the way through. It was wonderful...a beautiful love story. I want to be Lloyd Dobler...he is unique, smart, and free spirited. He speaks his mind and isn't afraid of consequences (although he does get nervous). Aside from a couple hiccups, the film is very well performed by all, especially John Cusack. It has a couple of great messages too. I loved it.
Aside from that...I got nothing. I ran today...10k. I lost track of how many songs...15 or 16 I guess. I walked to the grocery store too. And I rode my bike to and from work. So it was a exercisy day. Is that a word? Well, it is now...I have put it in print.
I need to figure out what the next big thing on the internet is going to be, and then figure out how to get into it early and make shitloads of money. I guess it doesn't have to be the internet...but that seems to be the place to do business and make money these days.
Bah.
Aside from that...I got nothing. I ran today...10k. I lost track of how many songs...15 or 16 I guess. I walked to the grocery store too. And I rode my bike to and from work. So it was a exercisy day. Is that a word? Well, it is now...I have put it in print.
I need to figure out what the next big thing on the internet is going to be, and then figure out how to get into it early and make shitloads of money. I guess it doesn't have to be the internet...but that seems to be the place to do business and make money these days.
Bah.
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