Fabulous Las Vegas!

Fabulous Las Vegas!,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

Okay. We're home. And before I launch into any kind of a run down of my vacation, let me first hit 2 very important points:

1 - My left hand did not come back any heavier than when I left.
2 - Neither did my wallet.

Now that that's out of the way, let's commence... Vegas was HOTTER THAN HELL. But fun. I certainly understand better now why people love to go there. I never thought I'd be one to enjoy gambling, but I really did. And I LOVED the shows. We saw Lewis Black: Red, White and Screwed; Ka (Cirque du Soleil); and Phantom of the Opera. . The most spectacular of which was without question Ka. I could never do it justice, but let me just say this: It snowed in the fucking theatre. It was insane! There was even a fight scene which was done vertically. It was wicked.

Lewis Black was funny. It was so vegas! The seats were half-booth things with tables. Exactly what I expected it to be like. I half expected Wayne Newton to come out. :) :

Phantom. Okay - so for those of you who do not know this side of me: I am a theatre snob. I want to be seated in the orchestra section, or I pretty well don't want to go. And for all of these shows, we had AMAZING seats. All in the orchestra section. All in the first 5 rows. But for Phantom, that was a little too close. The chandelier fell behind us. Other than that, the theatre in which Phantom is held is INSANE! They have it all done up like a 19th century opera house. The sets were so cool. But for some reason (and I am guessing that Andrew Lloyd Webber had something to do with this) they changed the musical. Kind of a lot. Much like the movie (released last year-ish) the chandelier fell at the wrong part. Originally, it came crashing down during the part where Carlotta's voice gets a little froggy, and then he hangs a guy. Then, there would be an intermission, followed by the spectacular "Masquerade" scene. But they did not drop the chandelier until "Don Juan Triumphant". This pisses me off on a whole lot of levels. There were other parts that were skipped. I am sure that since it was Vegas, they were trying to be time conscious. But don't fuck with my favorite musical! (And, as for Mr. Webber - because I'm sure he reads my blog - What are you doing, man??? Don't change things now. Phantom was a masterpiece. Leave it the fuck alone!) Meanwhile, the Venetian needs to get some better ushers, AND they need to NOT ALLOW PEOPLE TO COME INTO A SHOW THIRTY MINUTES LATE!!! So, first, the usher is trying to seat people, DURING THE SHOW, and he is SPEAKING IN HIS NORMAL TALKING VOICE TO THESE PEOPLE! You've got to be effin kidding me! SHUT UP FOR FUCK SAKE! Then, the same usher brings in a family of 3 whose seats were (naturally) in the very middle of the row right behind us. The lady clocked Alex in the back of his head with her purse. People honestly have no couth!

Once I got over all of that, it was a great experience. And, yes - I still cried from the moment the overture began, until the last note was played. I identify so much with the Phantom. And it just rips my heart out how much he loves Christine, and how he cannot have her. (meanwhile, I'm the only one in my party who cried. I'm also the only one who identifies with the Phantom) Whatever.

We stayed at Bally's. I can reccomend staying there. It was in a great location, and cheaper than a lot of other places, and really not gross and sleazy. The view from our room was insane! There was the Eiffel Tower (from the Paris casino) AND we could see the Bellagio water show perfectly from our room too. We have some great pictures which I will post later on.

We flew on Champion Air with Worry Free Vacations. I cannot reccomend flying Champion. The people were great. It wasn't the people. But the planes. They were cramped, and they were HOTTER THAN THE BLAZES OF HELL.

Also on our trip, we celebrated Alex's birthday. I had a ring custom designed for him. It is beautiful, and I think he likes it! :) His brother gave him a WAY cooler gift. But I can't write about it on here yet.

Okay, kids... I do believe it is time for some guilt free nappage. (Cause napping while in Vegas is empty and joyless - because all you can think is: "I should be out doing something")

Pics to follow.