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

Next up: Xmas in Vegas. Flight and room booked, I'm staying at Mandalay Bay. 4 nights, 3 days. All nights comped, and $100 of resort credit and $50 of Freeplay. One of the better offers I've gotten this year. Doing the fly in the night before thing again and will be there the night of the 23rd through the afternoon of the 27th. Will have plenty of time to save up for this one, will start in October and have around $4500 like last time. This will technically be the first stay at Mandalay, I stayed at THEhotel once last year but this will be the first time at Mandalay proper. Its a little far away from everything but with the tram from MB to Excalibur it shouldn't be too big of a deal getting around. I had a great time last Xmas in Vegas, the crowds are smaller over the holiday and I'll be getting out early enough to not see the real ramp up to the NYE bropocalypse. May stay an extra night again this time but I'm not likely to plan it ahead of time unless ...

2nd trip of 2014 done. The flight in was delayed (Southwest screwing the pooch on this trip will be a theme) first by 45 minutes, then by over an hour. As a result I didn't even get into town until one in the morning. Dropped off the bag, had one at Nine Fine and headed out. Hit a bar at Aria on the way to the Cosmo. The "stay up all the first night" thing worked out as planned, no real issues getting through the night. Spent a good part of the evening at Cosmo and then worked my way back to NYNY and was able to check in early by asking the casino host there to arrange it. Was in room by 11a-ish and asleep by noon. Probably will do this going forward to squeeze in an extra night on trips. Saturday evening, after 3 (4?) shots on the way, got to PH and the Soundgarden/NIN show. Both bands were great. SG sounded better than I thought they would, and NIN was typically amazing. The Axis venue had good acoustics and the light show from NIN was awesome. So glad I was able ...

...the night before Vegas, and all through the - oh never mind. The 7-day work stretch is done, the laundry is done, I'm all groomed up, it's time for 5 nights/4 days in a little town called Paradise. The above photo will be the primary haunt starting tomorrow at around midnight, from NYNY to Bellagio. And of course a little Planet Hollywood action for NIN/Soundgarden. Will be finalizing the Vegas playlist tonight, have a pretty tight 35-song group on tap right now. Some NIN, some Soundgarden, some Sinatra (of course), and even some (yes) Justin Timberlake. Gotta stay up super late tonight so I can sleep the bulk of the day tomorrow and be nice and slept up for going overnight tomorrow night. Stay up til 5a or so, wake up around 9a to go get the last cash out of the bank, back to sleep hopefully until around 6p then it's off to the airport and wheels down around 11:30p. Kinda of have a relaxed hype going for this one, it's becoming a bit routine for me ...

On most of my trips to Vegas, I've taken along "enhancements". Generally blow. One time molly and another time Oxycodone. But generally blow. I don't do a lot of drugs in life anymore...I had a decent weed habit going for a while but I never really got over the feeling of paranoia it causes (or the amplification of my natural paranoia it causes) and I got out of it. For me it's the kind of drug that you have to have your own house to do comfortably. Never gotten high in Vegas, wouldn't want to. It's not a social drug for me. I had a decent little E/molly habit going for about a year when I was living in San Jose and coming up to the City every weekend. THAT is a fun drug, and tailor made for Vegas. I had a supplier that had really good, pure shit that just made you feel like dancing and fucking. That connection dried up after I moved and I only tried it again last year on the THEhotel trip in October. This was some very different shit...it did...

1 week from the moment I write this post I will be on the ground in Vegas and probably already a couple drinks in at the first bar.  Nine Fine at NYNY, probably, as I will be heading there first to drop off my bag before starting the all-nighter bonus night. Going to try to avoid doing much gambling on night one so as not to cut into the funds too much on the first night of a 5-night trip. Just going to wander that first night, eat, drink, and soak in being back at the one place that feels like home for me. At least the one place I'd rather be more than anywhere else, (when I have cash to blow). I'm sure I'll end up at the Cosmo Friday night; have a history of being able to spend a whole night going from 24-hour bar to 24-hour bar in there. Nothing like the Cosmopolitan on a weekend night, the vibe is like no other in Vegas, and Vegas is a town that is not hurting for vibes. I've been trying to contact casino hosts to set up an early check-in Saturday s...

I've never been what could be called a disciplined person. I pretty much have always had minimal impulse control when it comes to, well, basically anything. For most of my adult life I have lived paycheck to paycheck and have been able to save money only when putting it into a 401k where I can't touch it. This resulted in a lot of having $8 left in a bank account with a week to go before payday. I would dig and scrounge and sell stuff to make it by. I'm not sure how I got by some weeks. It's been the same for my eating and drinking habits, if I wanted to eat something I ate it, and as much of it as I wanted. If I wanted to get drunk on cheapo beer I did, without thinking about consequences, money or health-wise. These practices led (along with some fucked up genes) to having a heart attack at the age of 40. I guess I can only consider my self lucky that I don't have a passion for clothes or shoes or cars, as that would have made life even harder. I would...

I've had terrible eating habits in Vegas. LV is pretty universally recognized as one of the true meccas of great food in the world. You can get anything from a $3 slice to an elegant world-class meal at Joel Robuchon at upwards of $1K  (that better be some DAMN fine French food, Joel). There are restaurants, pubs, cafes, brasseries, burger joints, and, yes, a food court or 12. I've been to Vegas 8 going on 9 times now, and I can count the quality meals I've sat down for there on one (mangled) hand. I've had great steaks at Gallagher's Steakhouse at NYNY over Xmas last year, and surprisingly at the Harley Davidson Cafe of all places on my first trip. I had a good, if under-cooked and overpriced filet at Red Square at Mandalay Bay. Don't think I would go back there, pretty sure I'm not their target audience as the boom-chik boom-chik music was WAY too loud and the place felt more like a nightclub, though I went in there at 6p. The Henry at Cosmopolitan...