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sen_no_ongakuRandom observations:
So here's the odd thing about Las Vegas. (Yes, the only odd thing.) It doesn't feel like a city. It just...doesn't. And after wandering around the Strip, wondering why there weren't "You Are Here" signs all over the damn place, I realized what it does feel like: a giant amusement park for adults. Everyone you see is there to entertain or be entertained. Like nobody comes here to live; just to consume. That's not necessarily bad; but it is, certainly, weird.
It also occurred to me that the ostentation and variety and spectacle of the big casinos: The Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, The Paris, etc., etc., is there to disguise their essential sameness. And once you get off Las Vegas Boulevard, this town is ugly: nothing but strip malls, cheap apartments, and Levittowns.
105+ degrees Fahrenheit is so hot that your skin hurts.
At some gas stations, as you fill up, you can pass the time by ducking inside for a round or two of video poker.
Speaking of which, I noted a sign that offered 100.8% VIDEO POKER! Huh?
Also, a sign exhorting us to remember 9/11...sponsored by local morticians. My brother's response: "Yeah, that's totally tasteless. It should have been sponsored by crematoriums."
I played in my first live tournament today, a $40 buy-in with about 40 players, but crapped out early when my queens were outdrawn by sixes. Gnurgh. I'll play in another couple of similar events tomorrow morning. The Paris has small no-limit tournaments every two hours. Word.."
There is a large Filipino population in Vegas, such that there are storefronts that don't bother translating the Tagalog they display into English. After tooling around in a Filipino grocery, I decided to bring home a particularly choice snack to brandish at Boston folks...but I decided to stick with something vaguely edible, and not pick up the "Headless Ching-Chang Anchovies with Sesame" -- imagine honey sticks coated with sesame, only with, well, headless anchovies instead of honey.
So here's the odd thing about Las Vegas. (Yes, the only odd thing.) It doesn't feel like a city. It just...doesn't. And after wandering around the Strip, wondering why there weren't "You Are Here" signs all over the damn place, I realized what it does feel like: a giant amusement park for adults. Everyone you see is there to entertain or be entertained. Like nobody comes here to live; just to consume. That's not necessarily bad; but it is, certainly, weird.
It also occurred to me that the ostentation and variety and spectacle of the big casinos: The Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, The Paris, etc., etc., is there to disguise their essential sameness. And once you get off Las Vegas Boulevard, this town is ugly: nothing but strip malls, cheap apartments, and Levittowns.
105+ degrees Fahrenheit is so hot that your skin hurts.
At some gas stations, as you fill up, you can pass the time by ducking inside for a round or two of video poker.
Speaking of which, I noted a sign that offered 100.8% VIDEO POKER! Huh?
Also, a sign exhorting us to remember 9/11...sponsored by local morticians. My brother's response: "Yeah, that's totally tasteless. It should have been sponsored by crematoriums."
I played in my first live tournament today, a $40 buy-in with about 40 players, but crapped out early when my queens were outdrawn by sixes. Gnurgh. I'll play in another couple of similar events tomorrow morning. The Paris has small no-limit tournaments every two hours. Word.."
There is a large Filipino population in Vegas, such that there are storefronts that don't bother translating the Tagalog they display into English. After tooling around in a Filipino grocery, I decided to bring home a particularly choice snack to brandish at Boston folks...but I decided to stick with something vaguely edible, and not pick up the "Headless Ching-Chang Anchovies with Sesame" -- imagine honey sticks coated with sesame, only with, well, headless anchovies instead of honey.
