Las Vegas recovery

I'm glad to be back at work getting caught up on things, but I had a lot of fun in Vegas, despite some drunken drama on the part of my travel partner.

This trip was less about gambling and sightseeing as it was about shows and night clubs.  We met up with the Tricia, Adam, and JoLynn at The Wynn and grabbed a bite to eat.  We got a cab to the Tropicana to see The Bodies exhibit.  It had sort of the same effect the second time. 

Ka was an impressive show, technically, but the costumes could have been better.  The night started out great, but Carmen missed half the show because she disappeared during a lull for a bathroom stop and a drink refill and ended up helping a hysterical Scottish woman in one of the bathroom stalls and missed most of the rest of the show.  The MGM staff was impressed by how she calmed the woman down and gave her some comps.  All of us got escorted to the front of the line at Tabu, an MGM Grand night club with a long line.  The plan was to head back to the Fazed party, then to another night club.  Carmen wasn't down with that plan. . . and very drunk.  She wanted to skip the Fazed party.  So, it was like dragging a mule to get her out of there.  The cab stand line was too long, and so was the walk (holding Carmen upright) through the casino to get to the monorail station.  There was no winning.  An hour later, one brush with celebrity (Mayweather was in the hotel lobby where we were helping Carmen get out of high heels so she could even walk), one fall (Carmen staggered into a column and nearly fell through a window), and an altercation with security (as Carmen insisted on getting into Zumi to take pictures despite the roped entrance), and a few more instances of Carmen getting separated from us (while we went to the restroom or otherwise kept walking while she was taking pictures), we FINALLY made it onto the train to the party.  I had to tell Carmen off to finally get some peace about going directly to the club.  She sobbed on a bench while we waited for the train.  It was like babysitting a four year old.  Our priorities were clearly in conflict, but she was in no shape to be alone and clearly not thinking about Tricia and me.  When we got to the party Carmen was still ready to hit a club right away, but still not sober enough.  I decided to stick around a bit longer.  The rest of the group from Ka/Tabu finally rejoined the party and she left with them to the club.  I told her to call me when she got there, but had forgotten that I had silenced my phone at the show, so I missed her call.  I stayed at the party a while longer and went back to the hotel room via 7-11 for snacks.  She had locked the night latch, so the door wouldn't open, she was passed out and not answering the door or the room phone or her cell phone.  Security used a cool tool to open the latch, so I could get in.  I was glad to be able to finally rest.  Carmen sober is fun.  Carmen drunk is both entertaining and frustrating.  I don't think she ever realized that the reason we didn't go to the club she wanted to go to was because she was too out of it to actually do so.  Taking an hour to leave MGM Grand didn't help us get there any sooner.

The next day, following apologies, Carmen pretending not to remember how she got a knot on her head, a good stress relieving work out, and some hanging out independenty, Carmen and I saw Le Reve.  That was an amazing show!  We tried for a while to get into Tryst, but the line was ridiculous.  We ended up at the Rio.  They have taken out Bikinis and put in Lucky Strikes, which is an ultralounge/club/bowling alley.  The place just has a cool vibe.  VooDoo Lounge is fun, but it was a little too windy on the roof.  We closed it and headed to Drai's, which is an after hours club.  The music was good there, and the crowd was interesting.

The next day, we got a couples massage, even though we're not exactly a couple.  It was nice to really, really relax at the spa.  The steam room made me want to build a sauna at home.  We met up with the Fazed bunch for dinner and a show.  We saw The Second City at The Flamingo.  It was total improv comedy.  It was like watching a long uninterrupted episode of Who's Line is It Anyway?  But funnier and uncensored.  They even had a rap song called Nappy Hoes, an homage to Imus which included all the words that white people can't say.  A black couple got up and left the show.  After that show, Carmen met up with Tricia at The Mirage to see Love, which is a Cirque du Soliel show with The Beatles music.  I'm told it's great, but I played poker instead.  I had doubled my buy-in playing tight, but started gambling and ended up back at even.  We walked around someand checked out Treasure Island.  I played some slots, thenwe called it a night.  We got about two hours of sleep before we had to get up to go catch our plane.  I slept on the plane and did conference calls when I got back.  I slept like a baby last night.