Entry #53
 
12:05 PM, Thursday, June 22nd, 2000:
 
I'm just gonna throw out some thoughts on our trip to Vegas. Jess's friend was getting married and we got 2 nights free in a hotel room. Ya can't beat that. So many little stories...
 
-So our trip-tic from online said 5 1/2 hours...we got there in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Ahem. You can't imagine how slow 100 feels on a straight away in the middle of the desert. Cruise control is a must. Even then, 85-90 was the flow of traffic. So hard to gauge how fast to go. The speed limit was 70.
 
-110 degrees is hot. Really hot. I'm sick of everyone saying it's a dry heat. Sitting in an oven would be a dry heat too, but still not good. You're outside for maybe 5 minutes, and you just want to lay down and die. It's incredibly unbearable. Thank GOD for my camry. It did a nice job.
 
-Vegas without money is like a swimming pool without water. Yeah you can jump in...but you're not gonna accomplish much, and pretty soon you get bored. I mean playing the nickel slots is fun and all, but you feel like a bit of a loser even when you win.
 
-Moving up to the quarter slots will make you feel like just as much of a loser, but in a much shorter span of time.
 
-The $1 slots are plain gut wrenching. Sickening. You look at 'em and it make you puke. Oddly enough though, Jess won $5 on her $1. She nearly peed her pants. It was funny.
 
-The high-stakes slots are simply incredible. $100 per pull. Now the slots are all the same really. It all works on points. You win 20 points...or 100 points. And a point is dependent on the slot you're at. A point on a nickel slot is...a nickel...and a point on a $100 slot is $100...and so on. I got 60 points on a nickel slot. And all that makes you think is that if it were a dollar slot you'd have had $60. So this big lady with a purse full of hundred dollar bills is throwin bills into these slots. The site alone was enough to make you freak out. She once won $200 and then proceeded to just put it back in for more. It was nuts. But then the unthinkable happened. She hit 2 triple diamonds. What that mean was WHATEVER symbol she got last would be multiplied by 9. The lowest symbol would've been $20,000...then to $200,000 and if she had gotten another triple diamond it was over a million dollars. She hit blank. She got nothing. I almost fell over. Jess and I were WIGGIN. COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. I mean ANYTHING would've meant tens of thousands of dollars. The lady goes: "can you believe that?" And she just put in another $100 bill. I had to leave. I've been thinking about that moment for 2 days now. Basically because she probabaly would've given us a $100 had she gotten ANY other symbol. Who knows. It's just too much stress.
 
-4tvs will work there. Oh god how it will work there. In fact, I made a video of me playing the MGM Grand. It's pretty cool. Pretty illegal too to videotape in the casino, but I got away with it. The bands playing were just sucky. I could do all music sets there and it would blend perfectly. The comedy wouldn't work obviously because no one would give a shit. But all my music sets and Harry sets would fly well. I'm making tapes as we speak.
YouTube link added 02.13.09
 
-I'm so happy I didn't move there. If you remember last year, Vegas was gonna be the destination. I picked LA at the last second, because I figured there'd be more opportunities. That was a good move. I would've been so burnt out on Vegas by now I'd be back home. It's just too much. It's like Orlando in a sense. Too much bullshit. Cheap plastic gift shops everywhere and just ugly.
 
-The strip is small. Like REALLY small. The buildings are huge. New York, New York is incredible...but the length is hardly anything. Surprising.
 
-The food is not cheap. We went everywhere. Those great $1.99 buffets? Uhm nope. They were all $6.99 and up. I looked at every casino and stuff WAYYY off the strip and still no big bargains like everyone was saying. Not like I could EAT anything anyway...sigh.
 
-Vegas on the no-carb diet is a bitch. I did however break one rule but it's the first in 23 days. I had a bud-light. But it was FREE! In MGM. I put a dollar in the slot right as the waitress was comin' round and she took our orders, then when she left I cashed out. You can only get free drinks when you're playing the slots. A cheap bastard I am.
 
-I've lost 17 pounds. Woo-hoo.
 
-Driving back is always depressing. I think you always think, even when you play nickel slots, you're coming back a millionaire. But you never do. We barely lost anything. Maybe $15 between us both. But it was a very fun $15. It was more fun spending $15 there than it is anywhere else. Especially when you do it nickel by nickel.
 
-Way to go Lakers. They'll lose next year to Portland. Guarantee. They are one of the worst Championship Teams I've seen play in my life. They don't have that magic. They got lucky a LOT. They lost 8 playoff games. One by 33 points. Got taken the distance in the first round. The Bulls NEVER lost a first round game. Even the Spurs last year were better. I see Kobe going to a different team in 4-5 years. Then again, with maybe another year under their belt, they'll get better...but I think Portland's gonna WHOOP on 'em next year. They're PISSED.
 
Alright...that's about it. There should be some good Movie Minded news coming up next week. Let's hope.
 
LATE....
 
Jess and Adam
 
original video file
 
JUNE 2000