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

T-minus 1 month until Vegas. The fever is back for me right now. So pumped for this trip. The last Xmas trip last year was awesome, there's such a great vibe in town that week. It's mellow, not the usual tourist crowd, you can get a seat at any bar or restaurant and you're not crushed by humanity everywhere you go when walking the Strip. This will be a long trip, as I went ahead and booked the extra night in advance and changed my flight out to the 28th instead of the 27th. 5 nights, 4 days. Should be out before the real douche crowd starts rolling in for NYE, though there could be some doucheiness on the 27th. Whatev. That last night I'll probably be pretty tuckered out after 4 consecutive nights of drinking, doing blow and chasing tail, so it may be an early one, especially since my flight leaves at 10:30a the next morning. Going to make sure I get enough rest this time, last trip I hit a wall about 3/4 of the way through and needed a 10 hour sleep to regain ...

Vegas' demographic is shifting. In the hey-day of Vegas, the 60's-70's when every name who was a name did a residency at one of the Strip resorts, the target demo was 40-year-olds and up. In most of the vintage Vegas photos you see (check out @classiclasvegas on Twitter) you see nothing but middle aged white guys and their big-haired wives. Everyone's wearing a suit or an evening dress. The entertainment is dinner theater, Martin and Lewis, Frank, Hollywood stars, lounge and Broadway acts. Now the DJ culture has taken over Vegas. Nightclubs drive the social scene; Marquee club at Cosmopolitan accounts for 13% of the resort's revenue. ONE CLUB. It's $1500 bottles of Grey Goose, spiked hair and fake tans, and the hookup culture rules the scene. Name DJ's pull down $40K a night to play a pre-mixed set on their laptops. The day for the club kids is sleep in, go to the pool, nap, maybe a little poker or sportsbook for the guys while the ladies go to the...

Get around. I want to see more of Vegas this time, not just the west side of the Strip. Being I'm there 4 full days, the plan is thus: Night 1: Getting in at around 10p on the 23rd, off quickly to drop my bag at Flamingo then probably hit up the Cos (Cosmopolitan, not Bill Cosby) as per usual and maybe just run around on the center Strip a bit. Not going to gamble much at all this night as it's just kinda the "bonus night" and the real crazy begins the next day, though I'm sure many a chilled Belvedere will be had that night. Day 1, Xmas Eve: This will be a bit of a "getting re-acquainted with the Strip" day. I need to check out of Flamingo and make my way south slowly, hitting up Monte Carlo (pick up myVegas drink voucher), NYNY (uh, pick up bigger myVegas drink voucher) and finally Mandalay to check in for 3 nights and to once again pick a myVegas voucher, this time for an appetizer at MiX. Probably just dick around a bit on the way to MB th...

Not much going on Vegas-wise. Or me-wise. I'm still 2+ months away from the last '14 trip and the rabid excitement has yet to set in. I've actually been spending a good bit of time out here in SF as I now have my weekends back, so pretty much every Saturday I'm going out and at least trying to have something resembling a life here. Still the Invisible Man for the most part when it comes to the ladies. I've chubbed up quite a bit since the last trip (over 250 now) so any remaining sex appeal my old ass had is pretty much toast now. Not a big market out there for 45 year old bald fat guys, it seems. It's still fun to go out, though. Don't really give a fuck if I get laid anymore, anyway. I take care of myself far better than any woman has ever been able to. It's just nice to feel like I'm still in the chase, and I really haven't since hooking up in Vegas over Xmas last year. Vegas Xmas again this year may be the last chance I'll ...

Found an interesting little nook in the Mlife consumer site called "Tax Info". Basically it's a breakdown of how much you've won, or in my case lost, at all the various MGM casinos. For all quarters of 2014, which is 2 full trips, I'm down a total of $1688 and change. Being that I did pretty well in the July trip slots-wise, that means I pretty much took a bath in March. Most of the casinos are pretty consistent, have lost between $2-300 at all the casinos I tend to spend much time at, MC, NYNY, Luxor. Lost a little at MGM but I'm rarely ever in there. Mirage was only $38 down despite my gambling heavily there the last two days I was in town in July, which makes sense as I did pretty well in there. Where I took a beating this year thus far is Bellagio. I've been trying to get noticed by their comp program there by spending money, and boy have I, to the tune of a little over $600 lost just in two trips.  They haven't sent me so much as a ...

http://www.vegastripping.com/features/feature.php?feature_id=246&page=1 Think this post from the often annoying but usually correct vegastripping.com seems to say it all. The place looks like an unfinished warehouse. I can't for the life of me understand why a place that's trying to be posh/hip wouldn't spring for fucking ceiling tiles. Floor-20 ft looks colorful and retro-modern, fitting the "boutique" feel they're going for, but then above that it becomes fucking Blade Runner, and not in a good way. I'm no architect, but apparently the designer of this place isn't either. Sure, you will draw in crowds in the first few months b/c "ooh, shiny new thing!", but after that you have to have some hook to get people to come back. The Cosmo truly IS hip/posh/retro chic, it has been since opening, it doesn't have to put on airs. It's a destination because it's beautiful and decadent and is full of beautiful and decadent peo...

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 ...