It's Not A Bender, It's A Lifestyle.

North. That's all. I've gotten into a "rut" (if one can be said to have ruts in Vegas) on my last few trips of staying pretty much exclusively Cosmo and south on the Strip. Cosmo is pretty close to dead center of the Strip, so I'm going to try to get up to the north end this time, at least to the effective north end which is Mirage/Venetian/Wynn; no going up Riviera north or, Jeebus forbid, Strat north. I value my legs and don't want them falling off trying to hike up that far. As far as I can remember I've only been in Mirage once, maybe twice, despite it being a MGM joint and part of my rewards program. I want to get up there and I've never really been into Venetian/Palazzo at all, so I'd like to check them out. I don't really have to do MLife service on this trip as I'll make it to the next color tier just by checking in at Luxor, essentially, so I can branch out to other resorts w/o feeling like I'm missing out on piling up ...

As regards my last post... Yeah, logically that makes sense. However...I just booked 3 nights in early March at Luxor. I'm a bad person. All nights comped in a Tower Deluxe, plus $100 FreePlay, plus $50 resort credit, PLUS no resort fees, PLUS VIP check-in. I also have about $50 worth of various comps built up from the last trip. I mean, seriously? How can I NOT go, the room would be at least $600 (weekend rates), add the almost $250 in resort perks and I'm practically just going for cost of plane fare and drinks. Preliminary flight costs are in line, right around $200 as usual for round trip getting there early Friday and leaving late Monday. Besides, I just got my refund amount from the IRS and it'll cover more than half the trip, saving up won't be too painful this time. My first experience at Luxor was kinda meh, but this is a Tower room which supposedly is a big step up from the Pyramid rooms quality wise and they're a lot newer. It really doesn...

As the various firearms go off at 12a NYE in my shady SF neighborhood, Some resolutions for the new year, as it pertains to Vegas. 2013 was a year of obsession for me, obsession with taking Vegas trips. I went to the Strip four times in '13. April, June, October, December. I went alone, every time. I saved up $12K just as Vegas spending money last year, and spent another $1K on flights to/from. This constitutes nearly a quarter, a QUARTER, of what I make in a year. Something dawned on me in the days since I've been back this time. It's gotta stop. It may be obvious to anyone reading this blog, but it finally cracked into my head since I came back that the reason I am going to Vegas so damn much is that I'm fucking unhappy with my life here. I'm in a dead end job. I have no friends to speak of. I have no family contact anymore outside of a 2-3 monthly phone call w/my mother. I'm in one of the best cities in the world with great culture and opportunities, ye...