This morning on the way home from getting breakfast, I passed a friend going the other direction. She flashed her lights at me and we waved at each other.
About an hour later this same girl called me and asked me when I was getting home from Las Vegas.
I told her that I'd be getting home two days ago.
Another hour passed before she called me back and admitted to being a dingbat.
Tonight was my second annual pilgrimage to the boonies to attend RealTrainGirl's birthday party.
I guess it was a combination party this year as MisunderstoodGirl's birthday wasn't too long ago.
Just to get the beer part out of the way, I took a growler of NABC Blonde Abbey and drank about 2/3 of it before I cut myself off. I have to work in the morning after all.
The crowd consisted of two main groups: people from the railroad, and people from Rich O's. I was of course in the latter group. I'd say that we were outnumbered about 2-1, but everyone was cool so it didn't matter.
It was a nice pleasant evening. I can only think of two things worth writing about.
I met this dude from Rich O's that seemed completely embarrassed to admit that he'd read my 'blog. I tried to tell him that if anyone should be embarrassed it should be me, but I'm not ashamed of what I've written. I haven't gone through anything that millions of people haven't gone through. I just happen to write about it. It's good therapy for me.
The other thing is that when I left, and I was driving home through the sticks, I realized that the last time I'd driven that road, back in August, was perhaps the last truly happy time of my life. After that night, everything started to unravel, and there's still a big mess of shit coiled at my feet.
Now I've got to go to bed because I have to get up at 5:30 for work.
My main goal for this trip was to enjoy myself. To not let the admittedly unlikely ruin my trip like it did the last one.
Well the admittedly unlikely did not, in fact, happen, and for that I'm grateful.
I did spend a good part of my time conjuring up various scenarios and planning how I would react. I'm glad that it turned out to be for naught.
So anyway, here are some pictures that I had on my phone.
These beer tower thingies were at the Monte Carlo brewpub. They fill them with up to 5 gallons of beer for parties and shit. When I told the bartender that I'd seen them at the Great Lost Bear in Portland he got a little huffy - like he'd invented the things or something.
Just a pic of the vats behind the bar at the Monte Carlo brewpub.
I got into the superstitious habit of taking a picture of the video poker machine every time it gave me 4 of a kind. This is just one of those times.
Just a picture of the strip from the bridge outside New York New York. I took this Tuesday night trying to track down Awesome Larry.
A view of the bar at the Freakin Frog. That girl in the black is smoking hot.
Another view inside the Freakin Frog.
Took this picture looking up from the bar at the Nine Fine Irishmen while I was drinking with the Irish guys.
After I dropped PigtailGirl off and returned my rental car I just dicked around the Luxor for a while and bought some shirts for my nieces at New York New York, then at about 11:00 I took the monorail up to the Riviera.
I walked around the tournament site for quite a while and was just about to leave when I finally ran into Awesome Larry.
We strolled around and bullshitted for an hour or so then he had to get some rest before his team's next match. I took a cab to the Hard Rock, ate lunch at the Pink Taco, and bought some shirts for my nephews that I hope fit.
Then I went to the Nine Fine Irishmen bar at New York New York and had a couple pints of Smithwick's. Two guys from Ireland came and sat next to me at the bar. They were (of course) drinking Guinness and that inspired me to switch. I had a few pints with them.
I think they were a father/son duo. I could understand the son fairly easily but I didn't understand a thing that the father said because of his accent.
By the time I left it was only about 4:00 and I was about half-pissed (that's what the Irish guys call being drunk) so I just went back to my room and finished the book I'd been reading and made a fairly early evening out of it.
Okay, once I got back to Las Vegas I drove over to The Freakin Frog.
I had myself another draft Alaskan Smoked Porter then I had a new beer for me:
(bottle) Dark reddish brown with a complicated aroma that seemed to include cola. Started out bitter but finished very sweet. A very thick mouthfeel and a very nice flavor that made me drink very quickly. Quite yummy, but perhaps not as yummy as the $15 I paid for it would indicate.
Later in the night I took a cab up to Main Street Station to check out their brewpub. A reading of their beer list was not very appealing to me. Only two of the dozen or so beers seemed worth trying. One was a cherry stout and they were out of that.
The other was a porter, and it ended up being the best beer surprise I had all week.
(draft) That first taste nearly overpowered me. I still can't believe that this beer comes from a brewpub catering to the flavor-impaired masses. Very chocolately, very roasty, very delicious. One of the best porters I've ever had.
I ended up having two of the porters, one while I waited for PigtailGirl to arrive and another while we sat and talked. She'd called right after I'd arrived at Main Street Station and wanted to get together without her friends "cramping her style" in her words.
This was of course intriguing.
At a certain point it was pretty obvious how the night was going to end so we actually both relaxed. There was no more pressure to be charming, and we were in no hurry.
We took a cab to the Rio and I talked her into trying a couple of actual beers instead of the foofoo drinks she'd been drinking. I myself had a couple pints of Newcastle and she tried Newcastle and Fat Tire before settling on (yuck) a Stella.
The next morning I drove PigtailGirl (no longer a descriptive name) up to her hotel and then returned my rental car.
A thing about this - I really really really needed it. Being treated like shit for months - whether intentionally or not - can do lots of damage to a person's ego, and my own self-image was never that great to begin with. I've never been a one-night-stand type of person, and I don't expect to become one in the future. Sometimes people and circumstances just merge and combine and it just feels right. I don't know what PigtailGirl's story is, and she doesn't know mine. There was no need to get into any of that.
Do I feel a little guilty? You bet your ass I do.
But it's not the same guilt I felt when I was with MixedSignalGirl. Back then I felt like I was betraying and belittling my feelings for someone else by being with her. This time my guilt is because I was in part just using PigtailGirl and she really deserved my full attention instead of just serving as a placeholder.
Of course the situation may have been reversed. I could have been used as well. If so, that's okay. It was a great night, and I think we helped each other get through some shit, even though we didn't discuss what the actual shit was.
Wednesday was another very long day.
It started out at 4:52 AM when my phone went off. VigilanteGirl calling to tell me that she was in Atlanta and wanting to know where I was. I need to tell her that the next time she decides to wake me up before 5:00 in the morning I'd prefer a nudge to a phone call.
After that I couldn't get back to sleep so I went down and played video poker for a while. I'd found myself a very nice machine that kept giving me 4-of-a-kind. Five times it did this for me, and I won over $600. I would have kept playing but then this old guy sat to my right and destroyed my mojo by moving my ashtray.
Armed with my newfound wealth, I went and rented a car and started driving Southeast.
My original plan had been to just go to Hoover Dam and back, but the trip to the dam only took an hour or so so I decided to spend some time in Arizona.
At one point I saw a sign indicating that I could get to the west rim of The Grand Canyon in only a couple of hours, so that's what I decided to do. I never actually made it to the canyon - at least not to a point where I could look down into it - because all of the indians there kept telling me I needed to pay them $15 before I could move on. Since none of them would offer any kind of receipt or day pass in return I just kept turning around and trying to find another route.
Here are a buttload of pictures I took, mostly of Hoover Dam. I'll probably come back and put in some descriptions of these pics later.
Looks like my last Las Vegas entry with any substance was Tuesday evening, so I'll try to pick things up there.
Went to the MGM Grand to see this new KA show. This was my third Cirque du Soleil show, and I guess I have to say that it's my least favorite. With the exception of this one dude running around on the outside of a spinning hamster wheel thing there just weren't a lot of the stunts and acrobatics I was expecting. I'd have to say that the real star of KA was the set. The most amazing piece of machinery I've ever seen.
Once the show was over I turned my cell phone back on and found out that I'd had a call from Awesome Larry. Larry is a friend from my old Omaha days, and I'd been hoping that he was in Vegas for the BCA tournament.
Well because of a big misunderstanding - there's a Monte Carlo casino on the strip and a Monte Carlo tower in the Riviera - I didn't meet up with Larry until Thursday.
The last part of the night I spent at the ESPN Zone drinking a couple of their 24oz. mugs full of Newcastle.
Tonight was a pretty typical Rich O's night.
I had a Mad Bitch draft, and later two Smithwick's pints.
The highlight of the evening was listening to CuteBlonde completely decimate SocialistDude for several hours. Each time SocialistDude would make a point, CuteBlonde would counter and just dismantle whatever SocialistDude had just said.
It was fun listening to them because SocialistDude was not beng an asshole about his beliefs like a lot of people at Rich O's. I ended up buying them a round of beers just so I could listen some more.
CoffeeDude was there later in the night, as were ExBartender and DooRagGirl.
It was a pretty nice transition back to the real world for me.
Tomorrow night I'm going to a party at the home of RealTrainGirl and MisunderstoodGirl. The timing is a little shitty because I'd really like to see CuteBlonde again, but I'm also looking forward to seeing my lesbian girlfriends again.
I bet that last sentence really lights up the search engines.
Eleven months ago I returned from a week in Las Vegas so excited that I'm surprised I didn't piss myself. Much.
Five hours ago I returned from another week in Las Vegas and I know that I have nothing to be excited about.
This time around there was nobody who, even in my most alcohol sodden delusions, I could imaging missing me with any thought other than perhaps a passing "Hmm, I wonder where that Dave guy has been."
This time around there's nobody to come home to.
Except my cats.
They're really glad to see me.
I will post some entries about the last couple of days in Las Vegas. Maybe later tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning.
For now, it's off to Rich O's.
I'm not dead, and I'm not off stalking anyone.
What I am doing is preserving my laptop batteries as somebody stole my power cord while I was staying at Mandalay Bay.
Just to quickly answer a private message:
A link to email me is on the side of my main page. You have to change "AT" to "@" and "DOT" to "." to get it to work.
I cannot believe that I just had to explain that.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow morning. I may try to catch up on what's happened since Tuesday before I go. It all depends on (a) my alcohol intake, (b) my laptop battery level, (c) whether PigtailGirl wants to get together again, (d) if I can stay awake, and (e) whether I feel like it or not.
Either way, I'll post complete update(s) when I get home.
