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...

4th and final Vegas trip of 2013 done and did. Good but exhausting trip. Flight in was fine, took a shuttle from the airport to MGM and hung out at the new Whiskey Down bar in there since I was way too early to check in. Personable bar staff, had a couple shots and beers, then proceeded to throw my first (of very, very many) hundie into a machine outside and promptly lost it. This will be a theme. Then made my way over to NYNY to check in. The room was comped, and I was staying in a standard room, so I was expecting to pay the resort fee and be on my way up. I get told, despite not being in a suite, that I will again have a $100 per night hold to pay before checking in. Apparently when your room is comped you get charged this fee. This bugs the shit out of me, and despite protesting to the clerk and a "customer service" manager they will not reverse the hold. This despite the fact that there are no amenities in the room, not even a bloody coffee maker. I get the cha...

36 Hours until Vegas trip #4 of 2013...can think of no better way to end up the year. This whole year has been a bit of a Vegas year for me. Trips in April (Luxor), June (Excalibur), October (THEhotel) and now December (NYNY) have been the highlights of an otherwise unremarkable year. Work is unchanged, same dead-end but at times rewarding job. Same tedious cycle of work 5 days, have Wed/Thurs off, never a weekend off, seldom doing much of anything noteworthy. Same invisibility to the opposite sex. Unless lightning strikes in Vegas, this will be the first year I can remember that I won't have gotten laid. At all. It may have happened in the past; I am, after all, old, but it's been very few and far between if at all. I've had a couple random smooching sessions, and truth be told, I could have taken advantage of a couple situations this year to get the deed done if that was my sole goal, but in every case getting my peener wet would have come with other baggage that put ...

How I roll. I've touched on it in previous posts, but I'm a pretty, erm, basic guy when it comes to how I present myself in the world. I try very hard not to put on airs, and often find people who are wearing designer clothes and driving Porsches to be pretty high up on the douche scale. It's just a world that I have never found myself in, and if I did, would feel pretty uncomfortable in. I'm not a particularly sociable guy. I try to avoid "gatherings" whenever possible, unless I'm completely comfortable with the situation and the with the people who will be attending. I like going into bars but tend to bail out when they become very busy and crowded. I greatly prefer being one of just a few people in the bar, where you're able to have a conversation with someone and not be drowned out by bad karaoke or someone screaming in your ear after one too many Fireballs. I do a lot of daytime drinking for this reason. Fashion-wise, I have no taste bey...

Starting to formulate the gurgling, bubbling protoplasm of a plan for the Xmas Vegas trip. It involves meat. Lots of meat. The big meaty extravaganza will be on Xmas day, as my Xmas dinner reservations will be at Gallagher's Steakhouse in NYNY. It has good recs on the review sites, and seems to be fairly unpretentious, which is what I look for in steak joints. If I have to wear a tie, it just ain't happenin'. It's certainly local to where I'll be staying (uh, NYNY), and fills my desire to have more than just a taco and a Corona on Xmas. I'm not remotely a religious person, but the holiday is the biggest in the US, for better or worse, so I feel like I kinda have to not just slum it. Doubt there'll be any turkey happening, but I'll definitely kill me a sirloin that night. So that's Xmas dinner, but that leaves me with at least 5 other meals to be had during the 3 1/2 days I'm there. I'm reading a lot about Vegas becoming one of the burger...