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

Well, that was...interesting. Can't call that one a good trip by any means, but it will be one that I remember, at least parts of it. Other parts I don't remember at all. First night, flew in on plan, taxi'd over to Flamingo to check in. Got in/out of check in and up to my room in no time. Flamingo's "Deluxe" rooms are no Bellagio (nor even a NYNY) but it was relatively clean, modern (faux wood floors and all) and definitely a step up from the awful Harrah's room from last trip. Good center Strip view and oh, yeah, free. Came down and hit some of the normal spots, Henry and Bond at the Cosmo, Rock House at Venetian then decided to check out the Bourbon Room in Venetian. Kinda cheesy, light crowd, 80's videos on a huge screen. Contrived. Was just going to have one there and mosey, but these two girls sit down on either side of me. Can immediately tell I'm being worked since the one in front of me is looking back at her friend behind me every 3...

8 hours until I'm on a plane to unincorporated Clark County. Plan to be a very bad Santa indeed. Got a new Altoids tin today (for reasons) and a big sandwich to hold me over, going to take a nap in a little bit then it's up to shower and shave and off to Vegas for 5 nights, 4 days. If you see another post on this blog, it won't be for lack of trying to kill myself. Commence the Lost Christmas.

Another year in the books. Fairly uneventful, this one, and mainly good. Work took a turn for the better as I got myself out of a glorified manual labor job into more of a self-supervising middle management role at my company. My role is a bit nebulous at the moment and there may need to be some re-focusing in the new year but I'm able to basically run my own days with little or no interference or oversight. Pretty awesome for someone with my lack of formal business or college training. The company itself is doing very well and though I'm slightly the "weird guy" there the job seems safe and stable for the foreseeable future. Making decent money, will be around $35K net, which is fine for me as I have minimal obligations. The slashing of obligations was a theme of the past year, as I finally got out of debt and now live almost completely within my means; no mortgage, no car payment, no real bills aside from a quarterly Healthy SF contribution and cell phone ...

Exactly one week from right...now...I will be on a plane to Las Vegas for the 3rd time this year. Not much to be said that hasn't been already. The cash is in a good place, the freebies are ready to redeem, and I have a good plan set up that even if I do nothing but follow it to the letter (which never happens in Vegas) it'll still be a great trip. Lot of drinking, good eating, and fun to be had. Everything in place for a rager to end up the year and bust the shit out of the City rut. 3 more days of work, then I have 3 days off (with a free holiday party in the middle) to rest up, pack and get hype before the quick flight in to town and commence the crazy. One. More. Week.

17 days to Heaven or Las Vegas. $2800 in the Vegas fund now, one last check to fill it out. Should be close to my $3900 goal, I have nothing but 1/2 rent to pay for on the 20th check so I will be able to throw $1100-ish in the pot. That's the goal on the number, and I hope to do a little OT in the next week (15th is the payroll cut off) to get a little extra what I call "walking around" money, for pre-game drinks at SFO and the cab ride from LAS to the Flamingo. I am  slightly  concerned about my cash level for the whole 4 1/2 days so I'm going to take it very easy on gambling for the first couple days, my primary objective when there anyway is to drink well, eat well and "mingle", so I may only drop a few hundie on the slots on Eve and Xmas so that the bankroll is in a good place for the last two days. I'll have the $300 from the MB room hold returned to me on the 27th, have a couple extra hundie I can use on my MasterCard if need be and should h...

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...