Had to say goodbye the other day to my new little friend Cee Cee, the lead cat at Tahiti Village hanging out in the landscaping. He was my favorite because he was talkative and slept by a palm tree with little cover to hide his location. I do hope he remains along with the black cat Montgomery, a couple cow cats, another brown tabby and this cute blue-eyed rag doll.
I decided to take a semi-real vacation this time by just letting Picayune rest while I tried to tune out the world and all its bullshit: the death of an inbred, the deaths of people who made the world worse, the ugly Midterm election and the GOP showing how cruel they are to suffering people. Oh there were great things too, those will be coming in the next several weeks since I did have a fantastic time again.
My immediate autopsy on Vegas ’22 is sadly mixed. The prices continue to get higher and more outrageous since the Republicans think it’s OK for corporations to launder money but not Organized Crime. Oh wait, they’re the same thing, just different ethnic groups and political allies. I did succeed in finding one Jacks or Better machine offering 9/6 and another with 9/5 but the Strip casinos are now offering 7/5, one was even 6/5, how lame! The other immediate issue was discovering how I will never take a trip if Jennifer’s mom is present. We originally planned this outing as a treat for her 65th birthday. Ergo, I gave up my timeshare usage for this, covered a larger share of the plane tickets (I insisted on the safer Southwest) and ponied up for meals/cab fare around half the time. I did see her give some cash to Jennifer at times so I guess she doesn’t have the same financial instruments we Gen Xers do. The deal breaker is how Brenda doesn’t smile and acts like someone is always pissing in her cereal bowl. We’ve had our Crossfire exchanges given her propensity to repeat the Right-Wing talking points she’s heard. Vegas is many negative things yet for me, it’s a city of joy, a place to let your freak flag fly and not give a crap until you get home. Beyond gambling, Vegas isn’t really for her. Plus if she’s going to “write me off” over a few differing opinions, then she’s a typical thin-skinned, hypocritical MAGAt who never deserved the respect of us edumacated libruls. Jennifer is planning a trip to New Orleans during its infamous Mardi Gras celebration, given how she wants to have her mother and her daughter’s deadbeat, body-odor’d laced stoner boyfriend along…I will decline unless I get one of two concessions.
Let’s move on to the positive before I board the plane in a while. We discovered a couple incredible restaurants we’ll need to revisit: the legendary Peppermill and the Hash House chain. You didn’t hear about my death via Fremont’s zip line (more later). Cheyenne was on the money with Meow Wolf’s Area 51 with its arcade (discovered that Jennifer is a Tekken 5 asskicker!), Omega Mart store/art exposition in irony-horror and just odd stuff. Numerous conversations with Uber/Taxi drivers from around the world, the coolest discovery was immediately knowing one guy was from Paul’s tribe, a genuine Chicago Sout’sider! Of course you know me, conversations struck up with people while waiting in line or something. Oh yeah, we got rides in Teslas three times. Doesn’t change my opinion of Elon Musk, he’s a prick. Lastly, the Casesar’s Palace people are trying to address my recent whining over craps. The traditional table game has just become too expensive given how I’m only middle class; even with inflation, $10 a throw is steep, gimme a $3 or $5 game. Plus, the recent pop-o-matic version is meh and as I told one cashier, they always look and feel as if they’re never cleaned, there’s a grimy, dirty residue I sense. Planet Hollywood had the new hybrid. Everybody sits a station, places their bets at it. One player gets to go up and be the shooter! Their station is mirrored up at the table for them and a human croupier remains to hand you the dice and have the camera make the outcome official. A really nice employee named Sam answered all my questions while it was my turn to the the shooter (the one time I was hot). The newer setup was already in the works before COVID, it isn’t to get more socially anxious people to play (but it helps), more for people who want to play yet don’t know the rules well and best of all, it’s CP’s effort to bring back the $5 game. One day I will really, really save up to have $200 to drop for one sessions (the feel of chips is amazing, especially when you have more green ones than you started with!), just not now. Lastly, Sam answered my biggest concern, eventually the new system will be programmed to let us place bets for employees soon. Fear not, after each game, I tipped the table when I left as per Vegas courtesy and tradition with “Thank you for the action.”