ONE WEEK IN VEGAS
Today marks my true vacation in Las Vegas, NV. I am driving there to visit Rich and some new friends I met when I was on my last trip there. Perhaps that is where I should begin this story.
I first met Rich in the Bay Area, or the San Francisco Bay Area for those of you who have never lived in Northern California. I always find it interesting thinking about how you end up meeting people in life. When I was a student at the Unversity of California at Berkeley, my girlfriend at the time knew a feminist Filipina student named Amy who lived in the same dormitory unit that we did - Unit 2. Amy had a younger sister who was the girlfriend of this guy Max who also went to Cal. He and I became friends and Max introduced me to Amy's older sister. Amy's older sister had married this guy and this guy's brothers were friends with Max. These friends went to high school with Rich and that's how I got to know him. Confused yet?
The point is, are these connections totally random or do they somehow have something to do with fate? According to the ancient Greeks, fate was something someone could not get away from. You were destined to arrive somewhere, but how you got there was up to you. So in a strange sense, I sometimes feel that no matter what I do in life, Fate will always lead me to my final destination. That's why I say, get on board for life is short and our travels are only temporary.
So let's get back to Vegas, baby, Vegas. Sin City. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. All of these references were invented by the media to give people a sense of what Vegas might be like. I've never fallen for it because I practially grew up in Vegas. I was gambling in Circus Circus since I was in 5th grade. Sure, it might have been for stuffed animals and the chance to destroy Space Invaders, but I was still there. It was a different town then.
You could still drive up and down Fremont Street in downtown. There were no Bellagio fountains or a fake Eiffel Tower. Caesar's Palace was probably the fanciest casino on the Strip at the time. No one had ever heard of No Limit Hold 'Em much less seen it on television. So in a sense, I feel that I've lived in Vegas longer than locals who moved there five years ago. New locals have only seen the new Vegas - I've seen it long before they have. They might have adopted the town, but I saw it grow up.
The drive to Las Vegas on a weekday is so much easier than driving on the weekends. Back in the day, the weekend drive was nearly as bad because although there were fewer people visiting Vegas, the roads weren't as wide. Each time I drive through the Mojave desert, the the two-lane highways get wider and wider almost like a middle-aged man's waist. Someday, the highway from Vegas to Los Angeles will be four lanes all the way there and all the way back. Although there's no shortage of flights to Vegas and the roads are continually widened, the conversation of a bullet train always comes up when you're driving there. Personally, I like the idea because it wouldn't take as long to get there and you can start drinking as soon as you board the train. If they ever make a train, I hope they make private carriages for smokers.
http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/28/28-591.htm
Today marks my true vacation in Las Vegas, NV. I am driving there to visit Rich and some new friends I met when I was on my last trip there. Perhaps that is where I should begin this story.
I first met Rich in the Bay Area, or the San Francisco Bay Area for those of you who have never lived in Northern California. I always find it interesting thinking about how you end up meeting people in life. When I was a student at the Unversity of California at Berkeley, my girlfriend at the time knew a feminist Filipina student named Amy who lived in the same dormitory unit that we did - Unit 2. Amy had a younger sister who was the girlfriend of this guy Max who also went to Cal. He and I became friends and Max introduced me to Amy's older sister. Amy's older sister had married this guy and this guy's brothers were friends with Max. These friends went to high school with Rich and that's how I got to know him. Confused yet?
The point is, are these connections totally random or do they somehow have something to do with fate? According to the ancient Greeks, fate was something someone could not get away from. You were destined to arrive somewhere, but how you got there was up to you. So in a strange sense, I sometimes feel that no matter what I do in life, Fate will always lead me to my final destination. That's why I say, get on board for life is short and our travels are only temporary.
So let's get back to Vegas, baby, Vegas. Sin City. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. All of these references were invented by the media to give people a sense of what Vegas might be like. I've never fallen for it because I practially grew up in Vegas. I was gambling in Circus Circus since I was in 5th grade. Sure, it might have been for stuffed animals and the chance to destroy Space Invaders, but I was still there. It was a different town then.
You could still drive up and down Fremont Street in downtown. There were no Bellagio fountains or a fake Eiffel Tower. Caesar's Palace was probably the fanciest casino on the Strip at the time. No one had ever heard of No Limit Hold 'Em much less seen it on television. So in a sense, I feel that I've lived in Vegas longer than locals who moved there five years ago. New locals have only seen the new Vegas - I've seen it long before they have. They might have adopted the town, but I saw it grow up.
The drive to Las Vegas on a weekday is so much easier than driving on the weekends. Back in the day, the weekend drive was nearly as bad because although there were fewer people visiting Vegas, the roads weren't as wide. Each time I drive through the Mojave desert, the the two-lane highways get wider and wider almost like a middle-aged man's waist. Someday, the highway from Vegas to Los Angeles will be four lanes all the way there and all the way back. Although there's no shortage of flights to Vegas and the roads are continually widened, the conversation of a bullet train always comes up when you're driving there. Personally, I like the idea because it wouldn't take as long to get there and you can start drinking as soon as you board the train. If they ever make a train, I hope they make private carriages for smokers.
http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/28/28-591.htm
posted by Tito Eddy at 2:00 PM
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