Vegas Recollections, part 2

We trudged back to the Hilton just before noon Friday morning after managing to sleep a bit later than the previous day. It was raining, and we couldn't get a cab, so we were more than a bit damp when we arrived at the hotel. I couldn't participate in the Live Quest since I wasn't attending the convention as a player, so I sat back and watched and caught up with a few friends in a similar situation. I met the managers of SOE's international customer service offices and chatted with Anna and Jenny-- Nif, that is, not Jennyjenny or Jen or Fer.

A bit later Andy, Alicia and I met up with John and Rob for a late lunch at the Paradise Cafe. Rob is an interesting guy. He also looks exactly like his EverQuest character. John is pretty cool too, and looks way younger than he is. He is nearly fifteen years my senior and looks like an undergrad. After our dinner engagement his wife was arriving. Since she had a different arrival day he took advantage of the situation by arranging to have a limo pick her up at the airport. There were a couple of other folks there, who I don't know well enough to be comfortable mentioning. Lunch was nice, although we had hoped to eat at the Mexican restaurant at the Hilton. The wait was well over an hour there, though, so we opted to go with the faster service at the Paradise.

Before long, Alicia and I were headed back to the Mardi Gras to get ready for our invite-only dinner-- again, walking! The line at the taxi stand was incredibly long. Our feet were already well blistered, and Alicia informed me that there was no way she was walking back to the Hilton. We got cleaned up and changed into our nice clothes and ended up walking back to the Hilton. At this point, we realized that cabs simply did not come to the Mardi Gras; not even when you called them forty-five minutes prior. We strolled back in the drizzle and arrived half an hour late for our dinner. We didn't miss out on the chance to eat, or the chance to chat with folks, but we did feel really strange walking in wearing damp, slightly rumpled clothes with wet shoes. Alicia, who was wearing a brand new pair of heels, was more than a little unhappy about it. Door prizes were awarded, none of which I won, but a friend got a nice wireless keyboard and mouse. There was an hour or so of discussion and Q&A, and then we headed to the main convention floor to meet with our friends and prepare to hit The Beach. It was there that we realized we had forgotten our wristbands to get into The Beach, the nightclub where SOE, in their infinite wisdom, offered several hours of live music and open bar for Fan Faire attendees. Andy graciously offered to pick them up back at the room and bring them to us at the club, and after the reception we met up outside and made our way in.

Once inside, all sorts of interesting things happened. One of the reasons I had procrastinated so long in writing this particular entry is because I have some massive holes in my memory. I usually remember everything that happens when I drink, but with the open bar and the encouragement of my evil friends, I drank a ridiculous amount of alcohol. In fact, after the thirty-one assorted bottles, cups, shooters and shots I put away, I'm amazed that I know my own name. That's right, thirty-one. Most of the folks in the area were keeping count, so I didn't really have to, but the number certainly stands out in my mind. It's one of the few things that I do remember! There were other things: the punch I threw, the stool I broke, the spokesmodel I accidentally (really!) fondled, Andy using my player badge to meet women, the girl with the remote control, the girl that bit my button off, the two block cab ride and the too-big tip for the too-little trip.

When we got back to the room, we started to get comfortable. Actually, I had other things on my mind than getting comfortable, but Alicia was dead set on sleep. She stopped me and suggested, "Why don't you call your Jennyjenny?" I waited a moment or two to see if the world was rapidly coming to an end, but Alicia was just looking for any excuse she could to get rid of me and get unconscious. I humored her and gave Jenny a call, as promised. We talked for nearly an hour. I gave her a running commentary on how cute Alicia looked curled up on the bed with her feet poking out of the covers. Jenny insisted that I didn't sound drunk, and I insisted that she was terribly sweet but thoroughly insane. My consciousness was waning and Andy should have been arriving at any time, so I got off the phone in a hurry. I called her back two minutes later because I forgot to tell her something. She admitted then that I did sound a little drunk. I asked her to call me the next night, and she promised she would. I don't recall hitting the pillow or hearing Andy arrive, but only three hours passed before I woke.

I expected to wake to a twisting stomach and a pulsing skull. Instead, the only pounding was coming from the door. I stumbled out of bed and answered it. Outside was a wide awake, slightly damp, bright eyed Ashley wearing a towel. She bubbled that she was ready to be awake, and we should all be awake too. I was in no position to disagree, there's no real chance of going back to sleep anytime soon after that wakeup call. Andy woke up too; in fact he might have actually opened the door. It's a little fuzzy! Ashley went back to her room to get some clothes on, and Andy and I debated about what to do. We decided to try out the complimentary continental breakfast, and then maybe take a cab to the strip. It was only seven in the morning, but Vegas never sleeps, right?

The continental breakfast was horrible. We stepped outside to catch a ride to the strip, and then remembered that cabs didn't come to the Mardi Gras Inn for whatever reason. It was drizzling softly, but that didn't stop us from deciding to walk "a couple of blocks" to Terrible's. Terrible's is actually something more like three quarters of a mile from the Mardi Gras, but our distance estimation skills were somewhat enhanced by the previous night's imbibing. We began our trek and the bottom fell out about halfway there. We were certain it was just another block, but fifteen minutes more and a complete, bone soaking drenching later we entered the casino. Among the amazing things we found at this haven for Vegas locals was a McDonalds actually in the casino. There were no artificially inflated prices and no glitzy gimmicks in this place. They also had a huge bingo parlor, but it hadn't yet opened for the day.

After exploring Terrible's, we hopped in a cab and made for the strip. We weren't really sure where to go, so we decided to start out at the Luxor. Several people had told me it was the most interesting of the Vegas casinos, so we headed there. Our cabbie suggested we go to the Excalibur first, then the Luxor, then the Mandalay Bay. We did as she recommended, and checked out the Excalibur. It's pretty neat, but it boiled down to being a glammed-up and way overpriced Chuck E. Cheese/Medieval Times hybrid. We couldn't figure out how to get on the tram to shuttle between hotels, so we walked again in the rain to the Luxor. We staggered around, took pictures of the cavernous Egyptian interior, and then photographed each other in ridiculous poses with the semi-nude bronze statues outside the entrance to Club Ra. As we staggered back out the door at nearly eleven in the morning to make our way to the Mandalay Bay, Andy looked at me and said, "Dude. Do you realize it's eleven a.m. in Las Vegas and we've been awake for four hours?"

I said, "Yes, I do... and I hurt!" Without any further deliberations, we hopped into the line at the taxi stand to make the trip back to the Mardi Gras. We stumbled in and were greeted by a slightly amused Alicia, who had woken up not long before. Once again, I was asleep before I hit the pillow.

I barely remember the trip back to the Hilton, but I do recall that we loaded up all of the leftover libations from the Thursday night Pajama Party and actually managed to get a cab to take us to the Hilton. It's a good thing, too: the suitcase weighed well over one hundred pounds. I checked into my room at the automated check-in station at the entrance to the casino, part thanking myself that I didn't have to deal with a human being, and part kicking myself because of all the noise radiating at me from the games. It was not long before we were sitting in the bar at the Margarita Grill in the Hilton, and I was nursing a beer while we watched the Final Four game on the television. Andy also had a beer, and Alicia ordered the biggest margarita I have ever seen in my life. She decided she wasn't interested in drinking it after all, so she slid it in front of me and I expressed my dismay in the consumption of tequila. She insisted that I drink it, and like a good husband I did as my wife asked. Looking back, this was probably a mistake. A short eternity passed by before a table became available for us. My burrito was massive. I ate each and every bite, ignoring the protests from my belly. I knew what would become of me if I chose not to eat, so I put the beastly thing away, and a basket or two of nachos, to boot.

Another hour passed and it was time for the banquet dinner, reception and closing remarks. We hadn't intended to spend four hours at the Margarita Grill, so we didn't really get to take advantage of the free food offered to us at the reception. One of my friends won a nice new video card as a door prize, and we watched the costume contest and other interesting things unfold. I caught up with a few more friends, met some new friends and then made my way up to the room to get things ready for the night's party. Most of my friends followed me up to the room right away. There was some drama going on in the background unnoticed by myself, but it came to my attention when Jenny called. She talked to Alicia a bit first, who informed her that one of our friends that was present had a death in the family. Jenny mentioned this to me and I got off the phone pretty quickly so I could look into it. I upset her a little bit by letting her go so quickly, but I think she understood later. I met up with my friend, but he wasn’t interested in talking. Later on we found out that his father had not yet died, but did not have very long. Fortunately, father and son were able to share some time before he passed away.

It took me a little while before I was back in the partying state of mind. I noticed right away that we were short on cups and shot glasses, and had less beer than people wanted, but I did manage to convince a couple of people to go on a beer run. Thanks Charles and Alyce! Even though most of us had gotten completely sauced the night before at the Beach, and there were some other more notable parties happening, we still had good times. I mixed some drinks too heavy and ended up helping their recipients drink them. I stepped away from the booze at that point. My body was beginning to express its unhappiness with my hard drinking and the stress of pulling off two successful room parties within two days. I think the pajama party was a little more fun that the Saturday party, although we had more people at the second one. The most people in the room at one time was right around thirty, and I suspect somewhere between fifty and sixty people attended for some length of time. Hotel security stopped by at around 3am and shut us down. I was actually glad to see them, since my body informed me that it was done with any and all revelry somewhere around midnight. Ryan, Joe, Ashley and a few others were in and out over the course of the next hour as we settled down to sleep. They helped clean up the room a little as I started to doze, then Alicia chased them away and we settled down for a short night’s rest. Check-out was at 11am, just six hours away.

This entry was altogether too long. I'll wrap things up in Part Three, whenever I get around to it.

Trif

I lost a friend recently. I don't particularly feel like going through all the details, but you can find them here.

Mike Trifaro was never one of my teachers. He taught a number of kids in my class, and in the summer after my Junior year, we played a few board games together. He was a good guy, and he gave far more than he got. I'm sorry to see him gone, especially the way he went.

During my first little tenure in the SCA, I spent a great deal of time with my friend, now Sir Daemon. At the time, Daemon was squired to Duke Anton, and therefore a member of the Moose Lodge. Sir Forgal, the head of the household, was in the Special Forces, and there was a ritual I learned way back then. When a friend, family member or teammate died, they'd drink a shot of tequila. After all, the only thing that tastes worse than death is tequila. I had my first taste of tequila when my friend Andrews dad died. I tend to agree; that is some nasty shit.

Tonight, after attending Trif's memorial servce, Alicia and I each had a shot of tequila. She's had it in mixed drinks before, but she’d never had it straight. After downing her shot, her reaction was much like mine the first time I drank it: "People WANT to drink this?"

I do, but only when I lose someone I love. You were a good man, Trif. We shared little, but it meant a great deal to me. I will consider myself lucky if I see you in the afterlife.