Vegas Part Two.
Woke up at about 9 A.M., Jeriel was laughing in the room over. Not upset at that, glad to hear friends were waking up. Checked the phone and Spoondigs left a text to everyone, trying to find out who was up. Except he sent the text at 8A.M. Dude was up early, on all days. Make the most of it, right? Texted him back, showered, prepped, and I was outie. Chris woke up just as I was about to leave, but I figured the stare read “you woke me up you asshole, I’m going to close my eyes again once you leave.” Sorry Chris!
Junior, Jonard, and I headed over to Monte Carlo at 9:45 A.M. to get some morning gambling in. The sun shined while we walk to Monte Carlo, with only a cool breeze going through it. A five minute walk to the back of the Casino, where the pool was. The pool was shut down. A family looked out the window, sad because they were ready to get wet. Somehow in that five minute span the weather changed to cloudy and rainy. Weird.
The three of us went back to the tables, and settled on a $5.00 Black Jack Table. I plopped down the rest of the $60.00 in my wallet, hoping just to keep even. The dealer was an older lady; she slowed the game. I was glad about that, I’m slow with counting. Ask Ces about it. She carded the three of us, but that’s fine. Jonard and Junior held about even, while I kept on making Donations to the Monte Carlo Gambling Funds. Eventually, I had a $10.00 hand, that split 3 aces in a row. I won 3 of the 4 hands on that single hand. That put me up $20.00, for a total of around $80.00. I tipped her a $5.00. I felt like I owed her after she bailed me out a few hands earlier. I figured, I just won big, why not. After the tip, I figured I’d quit once I was at $100.00 in chips. After all, don’t the Gamblin Gawds like a generous tipper?
Nope. Within minutes, I watched my $80.00 dwindle down to nothing. It was amazing. Jonard and Junior were up, though, so I kept watching. Then the Casino brought in what I can only describe as the Closer. Bill Simmons references the black jack dealers who get sent in by Pit Bosses to save the casino as Closers. Jonard and Junior faced Mariano Rivera. This chick dealed’em out like fastballs. The game sped up quick, and we were not catching up. line’em up, she’d knock’em down.
Jonard and Junior decided to slow down and play some Paigow. Here’s where it got fun. Junior and I were carded a second time. Then a third time when the pit boss wanted to see’em. Lacey showed up around this time, sat down at the $10.00 black jack table next to us, pulled out a fresh Benjamin, said “bet it all”. In these instances, it’s a bad sign when the dealer’s showing a 9. One hand, $100 down. Crazy Lacey. He won $400 the night before, so I guess you can do nutty things when you’re up. Junior moved back to the $5.00 tables. I rolled with him. Guess who got carded again!
Chris and Ces showed up a little sooner. I rolled with them to check out the bathrooms and food court. At about 12:30 P.M. my tummy got rumbly, so I copped a Rubio’s Fish Burrito. I got this once in the San Diego Airport. It’s delicious. Too bad everyone decided to eat at the Pub 5 minutes after I finished eating. I was a full dude going to the pub.
Thankfully, they had Beer. 8 Liters of Dos Equis and IPA. Everyone else rolled in after the first order of IPA. I’d rate the food, but I didn’t really grub, save for a couple of Calimari’s. Anyway, four pints later, everyone was feeling frosty. Beer brings energy levels up, and it was only 1:30 P.M. The next destination was ESPNZone at New York New York. I’d say, this was one of the happiest walks we ever head. Folks laughing, smiling, and joking. What more can you ask for?
At ESPNZone, they have these nice arcade basketball hoops, with the timer and countdown. Now, nearly everyone on this trip has been a member or dedicated fan of Team Oak Harbor PBL Basketball. So, with us feeling Frosty, happy, and the basketball hoops bringing out the competitive side in us, we decided to join in groups of 4 to buy a $100 card. Except I thought we were buying the $25 card for all 4 people. My brother called me an idiot. He should know better than to let me buy things. I pitched in, with Ces, to add to the $25 card and off we were shooting hoops and having fun.
Time flew while we were shooting. I remember never being close to winning, but it was fun laughing and smiling with each other. I think Jon, Lacey, or Harvey had the highest score. And Tubo probably would have won field goal percentage–sadly he could only fit about 3 shots with the 45 seconds they gave each game. I kid. He did good too.
Afterwards, we decided to take the NY NY Roller Coaster. Everyone went, except for Gee and Jon. Gee, I don’t know why, and Jon wasn’t about to have a piece of any roller coaster. With 12 of us, we took up almost all of the coaster seats. I ain’t gonna lie. I felt pretty cool rolling 12 deep on the coaster. Big Jay and Harv sat in front of Lacey and me. How I ended up partnered with Lacey, who knows. All good though. So we launched and screamed. The rides were crazier in Six Flags (obviously), but the funnest part was riding this with my friends. That made it as fun, if not more so, than the Six Flags rides. I let myself go with the screams like a sixteen year old.
We stopped and copped our free photos–the ones they take while you ride with your mouth open–and bought a group photo for Harvey. Afterwards, everyone was smiling, just enjoying all that we did. At this point, the group split into two, half going to M&M store, the other half hitting up Caesar’s Palace for the “Forum” Shops. Actually, I think some folks who walked with us to the Forums split up and headed back to the hotel. In the end, it was Ces, Cess, Jon, Junior, Gee, Me, Ben, and Arnold?, headed to the Forum’s. The walk was cold as ice, and we were walking slowly behind the Wu-Tang Clan. What was fun was watching some ladies pass by, and every single one of the dudes turned around to check out the bah-dunk. It made me giggle. On the inside of course, I wouldn’t laugh at them in front of them. And on we were to Caesars.
Caesar’s Palace is probably one of my favorite Casino’s. The inside is grand, with Roman decor throughout. The color of Ivory resonates all throughout the Casino. Most importantly, it holds the vibe of being classy, yet accessible to even your grandma’s that want to gamble. (I didn’t feel like Venetian was accessible to all, more set up for the rich folk). The Forum is its main shopping center. In all reality, these stores are way ritzy. The main attraction for the simple folk like me is the Nike Store inside. Here we wandered around in lust for awhile. After 15 minutes of perusing, Ben, Gee, and Arnold (if he was with us at this point), decided to head back to the hotel to take a nap. I stuck around as Jon, Ces, Cess, and Junior all bought some Jackets.
On our way out, we made a pit stop at the Serendipity–like the NYC Serendipity–Restaurant. The waitress informed us they were only doing smaller groups because it hadn’t officially opened. That was enough for us to decide to head back to the Paris area. Another split happened, Ces and I headed back to the Hotel Rooms, while Junior and Jon and Cess (I think?) went to the Mircale Mile shop.
When Ces and I were wandering through Paris Casino, we ran into Big J, Ben, Harvey, Chris, Gee, Jonard, and Arnold?. They were on their way to the Unlimited Sushi joint in the Casino. Unlimited Sushi, I was sold. We huddled in a room with a window next to the strip and tore through the Sushi. The food was okay, but nothing to rave about. My Sushi experiences in Las Vegas have been less than spectacular. These were okay and the last trip the Sushi gave me black water for pooh. Raw fish in the Desert is probably a bad idea.
After eating, the excitement really began. Everyone headed upstairs to rest and get ready for the evening. I picked out my clothes then laid in bed for awhile. At 8:00P.M., it was my time to get ready. I undressed, and was ready to enter the shower, when I heard Paul come in. THE FINAL PIECE! Everyone was finally together, and we were about to have one heck of a time! I put my shorts back on and gave Paul a hug. Shirtless. No joke, I was excited to see him.
Everyone got ready and the hype started to build. While I had my get up on, double checking everything about it, Paul mentioned “The grey pants with that shirt kinda make you look like a grandpa”. Thanks Paul. I appreciate brutal honesty over false appreciation, any day of the week. It’s this kinda stuff I heart Paul for. So I changed to black pants–which Paul let me borrow–Thanks again homie!
We all gathered on our floor lobby, with everyone looking sexified. We crammed ourselves into the elevator, and you could tell everyone was getting antsy… and even a little testy. Lacey had a bottle of Pepsi…filled with some Crown. He started to get chatty. At the time I was annoyed, but looking back, you need that chatty guy just to keep things light. We marched through the Casino, sexified. Really, I could see folks make the mistake of thinking we were part of a film shoot of the Asian version of The Matrix. Behind a couple of filipino couples, we crowded the Taxi line. At that point, Lacey came back (I didn’t notice he disappeared) and said they could fit all fifteen of us into the limo for only 60 bucks! Everyone was skeptical, but why not?
Because you can also fit a bunch of Tuna into that little ass can, that doesn’t mean it’ll be comfortable. We made one try at cramming into the Limo. Not Happening. I decided Eff this… and was getting really testy. Don’t ask why, maybe I just hate being crowded like that. Big Jay, Gee, Jon, and Me hopped out and into a Taxi. A backroad ride through Vegas, and we were at the Venetian. And Tao.
After the Limo showed up, and a slow walk through the Casino, Ben checked in with the Bouncer’s at Tao. Come back at 10:00 P.M. It was 9:15 P.M. The next 45 minutes were a crawl. LL Cool J’s Theory of relativity.
Some folks gambled. I sat with Arnold, Lacey, Big J, and Ben. Then 10:00 P.M. came around. We had to wait in the “Table” line for another 20 minutes. The dozens upon dozens of girls waiting in the regular line brought everyone’s excitement to a climax. Tonight was going to be a good night. But the wait in the table line was excruciating. Especially with no alcohol. The anticipation was killer. We were wolves frothing at the teeth to go on the hunt. Everyone was ready to get drunk and get down.
This would prove to be a disaster for some.
Next. TAO.
*Vegas Disclaimer: Names, Dates, Events have been changed or de-dramatized in this blog to protect the innocent.
Las Vegas Part 1
“It’s one of those times where you know you’ll be able to look back and say it was one of the top moments of your life.”
I went to Las Vegas with 14 of my closest friends to celebrate Harvey’s Bachelor party. Unbelievable.
Thursday:
Chris, Ces, Cess, and I woke up at 3:45 A.M. and were dropped off by Kristine at 4:30 A.M. at the Airport. We met up with Jonard and Jerry for our 6 A.M. flight to Las Vegas.
Here’s a word of advice: Do not go to Las Vegas on a 6 A.M. SouthWest flight. Pay the extra 20 or 30 bucks. The night before leaving, we were excited and packing until midnight. I fell asleep around 2.A.M. The day of arrival in Las Vegas, you can expect to be awake until at least midnight. You do not want to be roaming the strip all day and night, on 3 hours rest. Zombie Status. “Well, can’t you sleep on the plane?” Not a Southwest flight. My seat was uncomfortable. I’d lean back, and it was like butter was on my butt. I Be Slippin.
We arrived at 9 A.M., but couldn’t check in until 2 P.M. Luckily, Jonard, the Vegas Veteran, was in our flight group. He brought us to Planet Hollywood for Breakfast. On our way , we saw our only celebrity. Apparently, the guy was from the movie that inspired the movie Short Circuit. I use the term celebrity loosely. Next, we took a shuttle to Rio to go go-karting nearby. Though go karting isn’t what you think of when you say Vegas, it was a blast and a good way to burn an hour. I came in 3rd both times, both times behind the Pereg Brothers. I’ll take it. We then took the walk from the Go-Kart place to Paris. If it had been Summer, this would have been a death march. With it being April, this was more of a sweat walk.
When we got to Paris, it was about 2 P.M., so we tried our luck checking in. Originally, a snafu happened with our room, but we worked our way through that. While I definitely liked the Casino floor of Paris–nice ambiance– the room itself left a lot to be desired. Three pillows to a bed, no ventilation fan in the bathroom, and the TV wasn’t plasma (I thought most of the rooms on the Strip had upgraded to Plasma). Most of all, it was the first time I ever noticed that my hotel bed sucked. Every other hotel I’ve stayed at, I didn’t notice at all. Plus, in the morning, the curtains had a tiny crack, which let sunlight through: Arnold referred to it as “The Eye of Sauron”. Nonetheless, it was a place to sleep, and that’s really all you can ask for.
So Jerry, Jonard, Chris, Ces, Cess, and I waited for the rest of the guys to arrive. To kill time, the group went to an ABC mini-mart to get some unnecessary alcohol and necessary water. This was in Planet Hollywood. When we got back to Paris, Big J, Harv, and Gee were in line, checking in to their hotel room. I don’t know how the other dudes felt, but my anticipation for each person arriving kept building as the minutes went by. I recently saw these dudes, but it felt like each persons arrival was a mini celebration in of itself. The pieces were becoming a whole. Group Hugs all around. Plus, it’s great to have the Bachelor arrive.
Up to the rooms we went, where the Abari Brothers, Arnold, and Crazy Lacey showed up. More group hugs, a joke about the Safe’s in the room, a couple of minutes of settling in, then we were off to “The Buffet” at Bellagio. Food Network was filming something, so maybe we’ll be on the Food Network. Who knows. “The Buffet” is awesome, with Juicy Prime Rib, Pre Cut Crab Legs, and Giant Shrimps. There’s a 25 dollar or so price of entry, but at this point, money became water. More wandering around, and we were back at the hotel. Here, Junior finally arrived, becoming the 14th piece. Group hug and Daps.
After resting up, we began wandering the strip at night. This is one of my favorite things to do in Las Vegas. Walking the Strip, at night, with a beer bottle in hand. There’s just something awesome about walking in public drinking a beer. Sadly, the Strip was crazy windy, so a lot of the “Strip Shows” got canceled. We waited for 20 minutes for the T.I. show, but “due to high winds, we regret to inform you that the show has been canceled. You can meet the Sirens inside the Casino Lobby.” Thanks, but no thanks. The coolest thing I saw was a guy making landscape pictures with spray paint. Sounds cheesy. Looked awesome. So back we went, slowly walking through the chilly wind that passed through the City in the Desert. Oh, during this time, Ces decided his heart was on fire. Luckily, it was just heartburn.
A couple of pictures on the strip later, and we were back at the Hotel. At this point, we decided to go eat at Planet Hollywood. I really, really wanted to go out, but in hindsight, it was good we didn’t. The sleep I got that night was much needed after roaming around for 17 hours with 2 hours of sleep. That rest would pay off for the next night. I was full from the day, and only got French Onion Soup. It was salty, but pretty good, nonetheless. Melted cheese makes anything good. Ben and I called it a night, and I knocked out instantly once I crashed on the bed. I fell asleep excited for the next day, but I didn’t know it would become one of the most awesome days I’ve had–ever.
*Vegas Disclaimer: Names, Dates, Events have been changed or de-dramatized in this blog to protect the innocent.
Anyone else have “Poker Face” by Lady GaGa stuck in their head? and remind you of the trip?
Home
I’m spending the weekend at home. Its been awhile. We went to our uncles place to eat barbecue. Ces and I ended up watching two episodes of band of brothers and fast and furious tokyo drift. The premise of that movie is ridiculous. I’m going to take a leap of faith and say there are no bow wows going to japanese schools. Also the lead character looks 26 but is suppose to be a high schooler. But you know what? I was entertained. I guess I can’t say anything other than that.-
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