Vegas Observations

I went to Vegas for the first time in 10 years. A friend of mine was working at Area 51 (yes, that Area 51.) and he had the weekend off so they came down to Las Vegas. We walked miles and miles and looked at people and did fun things.

DRINKING: Something about Vegas makes people drink more than they would if they were at home. The ability to buy a meter long margarita is awesome, but ultimately a bad choice. Since I have been drinking I learned where the line is. I can get to the line in the sand and not cross. People seem to forget all they learned drinking and imbibe like they are a 21 year old novice. $1 Kamikazi shots are a bad thing. Or awesome! So generally you are encouraged to drink until you puke, pass out or wake up with a Thai ladyboy. The alcohol is part of many opportunities for bad decision making...

WOMEN: If you are a moderately attractive girl or woman you can make money. This can be done in a myriad of ways. You can be a dealer in a casino. They wear things like tight uniforms, or cowgirl outfits or referee outfits. Or you can wear a bikini and dance on the bar that serves alcoholic slushies on Fremont Street. You can be a dancer in a show; fully clothed, partially clothed, topless, or nude. If you are shy you can dance nude silhouetted in a window. You can also be one of the "girls to your door in 20 minutes" advertised on the cards which are handed out by the people on the strip. Though I doubt the girl that shows up at the door is the one on the card. How does t hat work? There is a pool of hookers waiting for a call from a madame, pimp, dispatcher? They go from hotel to hotel? Strange...

GAMBLING: The casinos have lots of ways to separate you from your money. Casinos were not built by winners. The odds generally are not in your favor. I bet that if there was a casino game where the gambler won more than lost, that game is on the scrap heap within a week. The people I noticed gambling were the ones in the "High Limit" areas. Many of these were empty. There were some that had young guys around the tables. It made me wonder what they do that they can piss away money without any concern that it's MONEY. Trust fund babies? How much can they lose comfortably? Instead of losing the money to a casino, give it to me. It would be just as gone.

ELVIS: Elvis is King. Elvis is everywhere you look. Seriously. I'm a big Elvis fan, but I was amazed at his presence there. As I walked thru the Aria casino, I saw 5 bad Elvises gambling at a table. These were guys I had seen for the last 2.5 days on the streets of Vegas having their pictures taken with tourists. I wish I had brought my leather '68 Comback special suit. I could have made some cash... (Still a thought in the back of my head.) There are 4 Elvis impersonators in shows around the town. There is a Cirque Du Soliel show called Viva Elvis at the Aria. The cheap tickets were $99. At one casino they have the Big Elvis. He weighs 350-400 pounds. He had a good voice and a reverence for the King. If he had been mocking him I would have left pissed off. You don't mock Elvis.