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

Double whammy of MGM suckage today, which led to a revelation. I woke up this morning to an email from Mlife touting the benefits of my Pearl membership level. I say, "huh, that can't be right" as I'm a long-standing Gold member. So I go to work, open up my Mlife account and lo and behold, they have dropped my ass down to Pearl as of the 1st of this month. I figure this must be a mistake, I've made 4 trips in the past Mlife benefits calendar year and used my card extensively on all of them, staying in MGM resorts every time. Surely they wouldn't DROP my benefits. So I send an email saying "hey, there must be some mistake, please restore my Gold level, blah blah". I get a form letter back saying I didn't spend enough in the past year to warrant staying at Gold, so I'm dropped to Pearl. I had a 2-night comped stay booked for Monte Carlo for my Xmas trip. I was going to stay in an MGM resort, play MGM slot machines, eat at MGM restaura...

This past check was the last one to prep up for the next trip.  Needed some duds and shoes for the actual trip, which I got. Got a couple sweaters (Xmas in Vegas is cold), a warm jacket and a nice pair of shoes. Got a couple sporty-ish but still not totally casual sweaters, a Columbia and an Adidas. The Jacket is a Helly Hansen, basically a replica of the Columbia one gaffled by the scammy bitches on the last Xmas trip. And finally a pair of Cole Haan kicks. The Cole Haans are a bit splurgy but I had a little leftover money from my last check so, hey, what the fuck. Sometimes you have to pamper yourself (or your feet). I also took care of one night of the Palms stay, then paid off that CC so that'll be less painful and the card will be ready to go to keep me from having to dip into the cash. If all goes right I won't have to put anything on my main debit card when I'm in town. Still feels a little strange to be paying for a room on this trip, but I suppose I...

Vegas Xmas is all set. 2 free nights at the Monte Carlo the 23rd and 24th , then I'm stepping out of the MGM comfort zone and will be staying 2 nights in a Premier Room at the Palms for Xmas day and the day after. Just booked a room that I had to pay for for the first time in 3 years in Vegas. I've been waiting for 2 months to get a better than 2 night offer from MGM but they haven't come through, so fuck 'em, I'm branching out. Guess I'm not spending (losing) enough in the MGM casinos to get the 3 night offers I was getting in past years, so they lose me for two nights. As said in past posts, I'm not likely to ever make it to Platinum level on Mlife, that could have something to do with it. It also means I'm no longer beholden to MGM anymore though, either. Had MGM come at me with a 3 night offer, I would have booked it, tacked on a night, and probably not spent a penny outside MGM resorts. Now, who knows? This also torpedoes the pl...

Less than 4 months now to the last trip of the year. Seems like a long way away, and...it IS a long way away. I squeezed a lot of Vegas in to the first 6 months of the year, now I wait. It's good, need to re-charge the enthusiasm. Hard to get all charged up when you're going every few months like I did. March, April, July. Still no room booked. Haven't gotten any offers better than 2 nights, and I need 4. I know I'll have to pay for one night but I don't want to have to pay for 2 if I can help it. Also the only resort that's hitting me up is Monte Carlo. Eh. Something will come along. Nothing really exciting going on here in the city. I did have a little adventure last night with a live, breathing female of the species. Out of towner who I met in a bar, chatted up, then took bar-hopping with me. Cute. No hook up but held hands, kissed a bit. Nice just to feel like I was back in the game, even if only for a night. She's moving to the City, so potentia...

Cheap ass flight booked for Xmas trip. 5 months from today will be back in Vegas.

Trip 3 over. Conflicted. Not going to do a blow by blow on this one, because it can be broken down easily into three categories, a meditation and a plan for the future. Category One: The Good -I saw Alice In Chains. They were great, easily the best part of the trip. Good setlist (though no Rain When I Die, damn it), good acoustics, I was up close and they didn't miss a note. -I ticked a few new resorts off my 'haven't been" list. Palms, Rio, O'Shea's. Wasn't in any of them for long (O'Shea's was about 2 minutes) but at least I can say I was in them. -The late nights at Cosmo's Vesper. Hung out 3 of the nights at this great little bar in the bowels of Cosmopolitan. This place is comedy. Great people watching and the bartenders are a hoot, commenting on all the drunken idiots they have to put up with every night. -NYNY. Another unfailingly clean, comfortable and quiet room a what has become my go-to resort. The steak o...

In 24 hours I'll be at the airport waiting for my flight to Vegas, hopefully in the airport bar pre-gaming. Everything's good to go. I will hit the money mark on the head, and have enough left in the bank that I won't have to worry about coming home completely broke. I always make sure I've got a little buffer anyway, and I don't think this trip's going to be much of a cash suck. Lot of freebies or pre-paid stuff lined up. Unfortunately I WILL have to hit either my bank or an ATM a few times as my direct deposit won't go in until tomorrow night, which sucks. I love to pull out every penny I'm going to spend and have it in my pocket when I get on the plane, but eh. It's probably safer this way anyway.  Laundry's done, packing basically done and will finish tonight, need to shave (head, face and balls) tonight then it's off to sleep, up early, out of work by 1p tomorrow, hit the bank, come home and try to get a couple more hours of...