At least that's what John Taffer likes to say on Bar Rescue. That show is amazing. I am more addicted than I thought I could be to a t.v. show. It literally trumped all my other favorites...How I Met Your Mother, The Office, Big Bang Theory, and Breaking Bad. Also Arrested Development...man am I excited for that reunion season.
...Anyways, yes, I'm terrible with saving money. Given I haven't exactly been religiously budgeting at all- I pretty much eat out every meal, have changed my car three times in the past year (sticking with the Infiniti though), had quite the expensive Vegas vacation, ... you get the picture. The money's flying out the window. But that's okay. I'm a year out of college and FINALLY feel like it's behind me.
So what have I been up to these past few months?
Well,
-I am working the same job as always.
-I am still living in Danbury.
-I had the most amazing vacation of my life in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yes this trumped Europe- call me uncultured- I call myself awesome ;)
I could start off giving some mediocre explanation of my life and thoughts these past few months in Danbury- but I think I'll spare you the misery and delve right into the good stuff- VEGAS!
It all started off New Year's Eve 2012. I had just gotten back to my apartment after a trip to Los Angeles for a Leadership conference. I had some friends coming over for the night. Why Danbury was our big epic party location for New Years I will never know. But anyways. That weekend, my close friend from college was talking about planning a vegas trip. Coincidentally enough, my close friend from home was planning his own. It was only a matter of time before they decided to "combine" the trip.
At the time we thought it would be way more people. I was thinking college friends, friends from home, etc. But, as everyone knows, people talk up the ass and end up bailing with excuses of lack of money or bad timing. One guy even said "I have no interest in going to vegas." (Loser!). So, it only ended up being those two guys, myself, and then a fourth who actually lived out there for work. However, as this story will explain, we had the perfect number.
There is definitely a certain feeling that overcomes you when your airplane lands on Vegas soil and it's your first time. "Are the rumors true?" "Is this place really the adult playground?" "What happens in vegas..."
Our first night was spent at our friends place who lives in a really nice gated community outside the hustle and bustle of the city. For a first night, this was perfect. Perfect night time desert air, and the feeling that this week was going to be beyond epic. By the way...as the rules do dictate, the DETAILS of what happens in Vegas, stay in Vegas. So the shenanigans that began Friday night are not going to be posted here. Sorry to disappoint.
Saturday morning was our first morning in Vegas. Man was it gorgeous. Cool, sunny, and amazing canyon views everywhere. Everyone was eager in anticipation of our badass suite for the week (the three of us really couldn't resist being right on the strip, so the rest of the vacation was in a suite in the MGM Grand). So we loaded up our cart at the discount liquor store, got some amazing west coast fast food, and headed for Sin City.
Arriving to our suite was more than overwhelming. Everyone around us was just so damn happy. We checked in, let our stuff down, and checked out the hotel ground floor. Full casino, restaurants, shops, badass giant outdoor pool equipped with alcoholic slushie bars, a lazy river and even a daytime pool club. We knew we were in for it that week.
After we all got our 36 inch tall alcoholic beverages, we headed and chilled by the pool until it closed. We then went to dinner at a place called Strip Burger. I'd put it as decent- definitely good food but nothing to rave about. After dinner, went back to the hotel and started getting ready to go out. (Keep in mind, we were going to be three (the fourth is not much of the night owl) dudes going out in Vegas on a Saturday night without being on a guest list anywhere). We realize how dumb that sounds now, but at the time, we had no idea what we were in for.
We headed downstairs in search of a club called "Tabu" only to find out it had been permanently closed. Replacing it was Hakkasan, the new MGM club put together by the Saudi Prince who was determined to use it to take down all over Vegas clubs and steal their DJ's due to some reason I can't remember. Well, man's club must have been amazing because the wait for three guys was 2 hours with a $75 dollar cover. We were too drunk and pissed off at this point to bother waiting on line. Instead, we wandered the strip. Well gentlemen (and ladies), let me tell you. The strip on a Saturday night is filled with two things. Hookers and guys who want to take you to Hookers in limos. Anyone who wanted to get anywhere fun was already there- and we were being hounded on the streets because we had nowhere to go.
At this point I was having my own internal breakdown. "Wow, it's all fake...Vegas is NOT legit..." "It's all traps"... And then at that point, being overly tired, I went home. My two friends stayed out. I figured if anything exciting happened I'd hear about it the next morning anyway. So I went home and did some research. Turns out getting into clubs as three guys is not that hard in vegas if you know how to use a credit card online. I bought us tickets for Monday to Wednesday at three of the highest rated night clubs, and called it a night.
The next morning I got the scoop- turns out I didn't miss much. What a surprise. We talked about the embarassing stories that happened over lunch- then I headed to the casino to gamble. Sitting at a roulette table in Vegas by yourself is actually fun. If you play the outside bets you'll stay alive for a long time- and talk to people from all over the world. Australia, Canada, England were the big ones. When I finished up at the table I had a missed call. I called back and I hear "yo, come to the pool club, Deadmau5 is here". So I headed off with my small winnings (that would change throughout the week) and went to the pool club.
After somehow sneaking past the bouncers unwillingly, I skipped the $50 fee to get in so immediately I knew I got my money's worth. Pool club was pretty badass- basically a bunch of young people drunk and splashing around in a bag ass pool while deadMau5 spun some beats. Oh, and my friends met a recruiter before I got there that gave them half price admission and VIP line access to Hakkasan that night. Things were really starting to look up.
...wow, I'm on day three of eight. So much more to tell. But for now I'm tired. I'll leave you with this- the background to the true kickoff of the vacation Sunday night. Peace.
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