...but not by much.
So less than two weeks after my last batch of travels through Southern California, and into Las Vegas, Nevada, I come home, and get back to work, and do the day-to-day grind. After my travels, I felt like utter crap since I had been eating like a oinking, sweating swine throughout the week I was away, so after work each day, I was making sure that I was close to legally dead by the time I left.
That paragraph makes almost absolutely no sense, and serves absolutely no purposes, and all the information was pretty much irrelevant. The goal of this writing was to share the fact that less than two weeks after returning from Las Vegas, Nevada, I hopped on a plane, and headed back out to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jen had asked if I wanted to go, and I said "sure," because why should I turn down an invitation to go to Las Vegas, even if were a mere nine days after getting off a plane back from Las Vegas?
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So it was off to Las Vegas, Nevada once again, making the year's total of Vegas trips to three. There was little adventure on the outbound flight, since we were flying standby, but without too much suspense, we made it aboard, and was in the middle of the fucking desert by 11:00 a.m. local time.
And for the record, this was a trip that I did not go on with my perverted orange homosexual of a brother, so that meant that the likelihood of me getting absolutely trashed and having someone to Irish-whip-reversal into elevators into nil. Furthermore, I questioned why I would bring my camera - without him there, I would have no obligation to try to get him in front of a Hot Babes truck.
But it didn't matter - I stayed with, and spent most of my weekend with two women. Sure, I'm not involved with either, but I could be in a worse scenario. Some might envy my position - others might just call me gay. I didn't care - I was staying in Las Vegas on Jen's comps, and not my own, thus keeping my potential value as a Vegas customer quite lucrative.
After January's trip, I realized that I would never not rent a car again whilst in Las Vegas. The end-of-May trip further justified that, because it was so nice and convenient to be able to hop in my own vehicle and motor on over to somewhere, without having to worry about long red-light fare-jacking, tipping, and just paying for repeated cabs in general. That being said, I arranged to have a car rented for this Vegas trip as well, and this time around, I was presented a Toyota Yaris, which I actually declined the $10/day "upgrade" to a Mustang convertible to get. Fuel ain't cheap no mo, and before I get into that schpiel again, I'm just going to say I enjoyed the Yaris, and the fact that I pre-paid for the company fuel instead of re-fueling it myself prior to return benefited me nicely in the end. The thing sips fuel, like a desert hare drinks water.
Oh yeah, the reason Jen went out to Vegas was simple. Apparently, as a member of Otakubooty, she wished to attend the 2008 "Booty-con" which happened to be taking place in Las Vegas. Friendly, not-quite-so-hideous nerds, snarky internet people, in Las Vegas? Sounds like it could be interesting.
Except for the fact that upon getting to Las Vegas, we learned that the whole shindig didn't actually take place in Las Vegas.
No, all events and action were taking place in fucking Henderson, Nevada, which is about a good 15 miles / 25 minute drive from where we were staying on the Strip. Thank goodness we had a rental car. Thank goodness it was a Toyota Yaris.
This is the Sunset Station, home of Booty-con '08, located in, Henderson, Nevada. The thing a lot of people don't really realize is that in Nevada, if a place's name includes the word "Station," it means really only one thing - senior citizens.
The popular belief is that old people do not like to wander far from their surroundings. So, most "station" resorts all follow the same MO - large casino, restaurants/bountiful buffet, conveniently in-house stores, restaurants, activities available on the property. Name a station - Texas, Boulder, Main Street, Santa Fe, Palace - they all fall into those categories. Sunset Station was no exception. The only difference is that it was in fucking Henderson, sticking up in the sky like a giant "fuck you" to the local residents who probably thought they were getting away from the gaudy lights and glitz from the Strip and surrounding areas of Las Vegas.
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Further proof? Bingo.
No, not said in emphasis, but really, seriously - bingo, the game. Not long after walking into Sunset Station, I peered through an open door, only to see a gigantic room, filled balls-to-the-wall full of elderly and other AARP-receiving citizens, all attentively paying attention to the LED board at the front of the room, generating numbers coordinated to the letters, BINGO in a timely fashion.
Even at 11:00 p.m. at night, the room was full. I swear that this room probably gets a more consistent string of action than the poker rooms.
But let's not get carried away on the small details, here. I am not an Otakubooty member, nor am I in any rush to become one. What can I say, I'm kind of a loner, and a lot of the events of the weekend justified such claims, and I don't do so well with internet forums in general. But from the OB folks that I encountered throughout the weekend, I must extend my gratitude for those who were friendly, polite, and embracing of an outsider-by-association like myself for parts of the weekend. I was kind of surprised at the random people that I still knew from the past whom I got to share some words with, at some points of the weekend.
It's kinda funny watching how people are in Las VegasHenderson.
It's almost like because the word "-con" is attached to the
event, a lot of people treat it like it was any old convention that they
still attend on an annual basis. Despite the fact that drinks are free,
even for sitting at a penny-slot machine, people still went on massive
alcohol runs. Despite the fact that Las Veg-fuck it, okay, being in Henderson,
the party zones are more limited, but lots of people still stayed confined
in hotel rooms to do their partying.
Clearly, people do not come to Nevada for the same reasons. I was kind of amazed at the aversion some folks showed to going to the Strip, or even gambling in general. The literature in the program guide was a little alarming and head-shake worthy to a gambler like myself.
Anyway, for the most part, I steered clear of the "convention," and spent a good bit of time doing what I wanted to do while in Vegas.
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Since when I'm by myself, I'm more apt to steer away from gambling, so I decided to seek out other activities. One of which included expanding my baseball horizons even further, and catching a Las Vegas 51s game, while they were still in town. The 51s, are a minor-league AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom are known for often having a good farm system, so there was bound to be some good talent on that roster.
The 51s took on the Portland Beavers of the San Diego Padres affiliation, and I got to see the Cashman Center, the home of the 51s. My further elaborated writings about the place are already posted on my ballparks sub-site, Real Men Don't Wear Small.
Alright, it was inevitable, but I did get my fair share of gambling done while out there again.
There is a popular belief that gambling has a tendency to even out, and actually end up being worse for the player on a long enough timeline. This trip kind of justified that belief.
It's not that I did terribly horribly, but I did bring the same amount to gamble with, as I did two weeks ago. Whereas I came home with very little lost, and perhaps a little bit gained, this past trip, I came home significantly worse, which is not to say that I lost everything, including my half of the house, but numerically not-satifactory to my high demands.
Blackjack wasn't quite as friendly to me this time around, and even after seeking out particular dealers, and going to particular casinos, I ran into strings of bad decks more often than not. The dealers wouldn't bust, and my good hands were often beaten by their better hands. I must have pushed about seven blackjacks, and pushed on about five hard-21s on the trip, and at times, it was downright frustrating, much to the dismay of Jen, who witnessed me at my sore-losing worst at times, which is unfortunate for the both of us that I got that way. Not fun, but it's one of the drawbacks of gambling and a competitive streak.
My good counts were all unlucky draws, and I couldn't seem to win a hand all trip. Granted, when things like that start happening, it's generally a cue to move onto another game, because clearly Blackjack was not meant to be my friend this time around. But Craps is not a game I want to play without my friends present, and roulette isn't nearly as fun as I used to find it, even though I did have a couple of briefly good moments playing roulette this trip.
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The ironic thing is actually a funny story.
But before I tell it, I just wanted to post this picture of my two female companions for looking good. Truly, and genuinely, I say it, because they both looked classy and pretty. Makes me feel confident walking around with them.
So anyway, prior to leaving Las Vegas, I found one good dealer at New York-New York, and I had one tremendous ride of Blackjack. By the time the smoke cleared, and I cashed out, I had brought myself back to a point where I actually did better than I did two weeks prior. I even had a little left over to perhaps play a hand or five in the morning prior to leaving. But even if I didn't, that would be bonus money saved.
Long story short, when Jen and I went to the airport on Monday, there were some flight complications, and we learned that there was no way we were going to make it back to Atlanta that day... so that meant Jen and I were going to be in Las Vegas for one more day. Like when a baseball game goes into extra innings... FREE LAS VEGAS!
I mean really, it couldn't have been so convenient that Jen's second booking at Bally's was actually good for the additional day, so lodging was no big deal. It turns out that when we went back to the car rental place, they had another Yaris ready for us, and I actually returned it to them without bothering to re-fuel because it read full when I returned it, even after I had driven it maybe 50-some miles with the AC blasting.
But like an Atlanta Braves game this season, where extra innings is generally not a good thing, having more time to spend in Las Vegas turns out to be not such a good thing either. Jen and I hopped around casinos after we had eaten, watched The Happening, at the Downtown Las Vegas Neonopolis theatres, visited the Gambler's General Store, and it turns out that my hot streak from the night prior was most certainly over.
I lost a hundred at the Mandalay Bay pretty quickly.
Then I lost a hundred at Excalibur, almost as quickly.
Then I lost fifty at New York-New York with one dealer, before moving onto another dealer, where I won back a hundred, before the dealer kind of got pissed off at me, and then I couldn't win a hand and pulled out, and moved to another dealer, where I promptly lost another fifty, bringing my losses to New York-New York to a hundred lost, but still salvaging a hundred I didn't lose.
The bottom line is that because of the extra day I had in Las Vegas, I ended up losing a good bit of money, when I shouldn't have even been there. Needless to say, I was a little relieved, leaving Las Vegas the next day after one missed flight, and for the most part am a little Vegas'ed out for the time being, and hope that I'll have the itch again come October.
Overall, the trip was still good. I spent time with Jen and Allison, whom I don't really hang out with either on a really regular basis, and I got to improve my gambling rating by playing in various hotels. My knowledge of each casinos and their rules grew a little bit more, and I learned more roads in the city, and unfortunately, outside of the city. I even saw two real schools with real children out there. Bizzare. I learned that Treasure Island has a very good buffet, which their menu is more limited, but what they do have is all very high quality, and definitely deilcious.
And further justified that Blackjack is most indeed a harsh mistress.
