From When I Went To Vegas and Slept On A Table Like A Bum
Back story: Back in the in winter of 2003 my friends and I went to Las Vegas for a weekend of fun. During that trip I wrote down some thoughts about the trip and recently found it again after moving some of my old things around. These bits aren’t complete and I’ve tried to make it more coherent but basically these are just a few of my snippet thoughts during that weekend.
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“There’s nothing holding us back,” said Chen. “A day trip, there and back again, to Vegas. Eric’s going to Disney World and Byron is freaking going to San Francisco. C’mon Mikey, let’s go!” The offer was enticing. What was I going to do instead, just read and vege out at Dartmouth alone, or take a quick trip to Vegas? “No one would have to know, it’ll be our secret; our thing.” And boy was it our thing all right. It’s pretty weird when a well laid out plan leads you to somewhere you never expected.
December 12, 2003 was already a peculiar day in itself since Eric was getting ready to depart to Disney World while Cliff, Chen, Byron, and myself were wrapping gifts for the Christmas Party the Twins, Heather and Megan, were hosting. Earlier before we left for the party, Chen took me aside and said “let’s go to Vegas” and after much convincing, I agreed. Thinking about it, this was going to be our best chance since Cliff was going to be working and Byron would be going home. The Twins’ Party was awesome, it was just as awesome as the party Giancarlo had at his parents’ home the day before. Much food and drink were had and I was surrounded by friends and laughter. Gifts were exchanged, some were stolen, but everyone had a fun time. The party was winding down and I looked at Chen: we had to go. And we did, but we left with a third cool cat: AJ.
Sitting now, wishing I was sleeping, here in the Luxor Cafe next to Chen and AJ, we appear more like transients or dead zombies. Chen drove all the way to Las Vegas from Irvine while I stayed awake to stand guard as his navigator, and AJ, well he slept all the way. We got into Sin City late into the night. We stopped first at Luxor and eagerly wanted both food and sleep but unfortunately for us the cafe was closed. Waiting out for it to open, we scoured the casino grounds for a place to sit down and rest. Finding no such place, we finally decided to sleep it out in the trams connecting Luxor to Excalibur. I don’t know how long we did this but it seemed like hours. Every ten minutes we’d be at either Luxor or Excalibur with a new rush of folks coming or going, often times looking at us like we were homeless. And although we got some rest it wasn’t enough, and here we are now at the Luxor Cafe, sitting at some tables waiting for things to open and avoiding the hotel security
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Gambling is indeed a vile, vile vice. In some twisted way now I appreciate hard earned (and hard kept) money now more than ever. Gambling is a weird thing. I never understood it when my parents played only realizing that some days were “lucky” and some were “not so lucky”. I didn’t realize the pathos involved and everything that came along with it. It was literally opening a door and another and another, where one door could lead to riches or ruination. And maybe even worse things. It literally is a whirlwind of emotions all swirling around, where logic and reason are flown out of the head for a small chance that Lady Luck will smile on you. Reason gives over to delusion and it’s all over.
Rating myself I don’t know where I’d be put on the ledger board of gambling. I don’t really have any skills or knowledge on most of the games but I suspect with time and good effort I could be a good gambler but as I am learning today, gambling is not a good thing. Ever since I became 21 I thought slot machines would be the only games I’d gamble on but after feeling the power of the card tables, I think I know what’s better: blackjack. Simple, different, and very potent I discovered blackjack to be the game fro me. As I write this down we’re now at Excalibur again where AJ and Chen are vying for big wins at the $5 blackjack tables. I wish them the best of luck. For myself I have some money left over specifically for the buffet and a little left for emergency. Already, I’ve lost about $30 or so on gambling and $20 on the arcade and funhouse games. I’m enjoying myself but that nagging feeling seeps back into me for breaking some of my self-control.
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At this very moment I’m leaving the seas of being moderately hungry into the seas of being really hungry and overly irritable and very tired. I didn’t know what I’d expect from this trip but this wasn’t what I thought I’d be experiencing. I’m in this weird mood right now. On one hand I’m very happy to be on this trip with my friends, AJ and Chen, but on the other hand I feel sometimes that I’m out of place, ignored, forgotten, and utterly alone. Was this a mistake? I shouldn’t have gone with them. NO! Maybe I’m just in a bad mood because I’m hungry. What to do, what to do…
