As A Man

Yesterday I was generous enough to grace this blog with two posts instead of merely one. Of course, that was an oversight, and we are all prone to those. I trust you will overlook it, as it came from my being occupied by a trip to Las Vegas. You'll recall that I wrote of anticipated experiences there. Having returned, I can say what happened and what didn't. It was a good time altogether, but by no means perfect.

The drive out saw me pretty tired, having slept relatively little before getting up very early. I had the idea that I might sleep along the way, but it didn't work out that way. I managed to muster the energy for the day, aided in no small part by the friend with whom I rode. It was a pleasure to catch up with those who I don't see nearly enough. A trip to someplace like Las Vegas may have the effect of numerous outings with someone in town.

In the evening, we hit a buffet dinner. It was good, but like all buffets, it held far more than I could ever hope to partake of. I have yet to find a really satisfactory strategy for eating enough to render the cost a good value. It was good, anyway, although I might have hoped for a more extensive list of alcohols than red wine, white wine and one light beer. It was the highlight meal of the trip, outpacing pizza from Sbarro's, pizza from another restaurant and burgers from some other place.

I gambled a very small amount. I believe I lost perhaps two to three dollars on slot machines, but made it back and a little bit more on a rather entertaining mechanical horse-racing game. Anything more involved than such games of chance is beyond me. Others spent a lot of time playing craps, but I considered it a foolish pursuit, for me at least. A friend won quite a bit at it, but the time and energy to get so good is not in me.

Altogether, the trip was good. Las Vegas is not really my sort of town, even now that I am old enough to enjoy all its pleasures, but I enjoyed the company of my friends anyway. The frigid weather we encountered was not so pleasant, but it was not sufficient to dim our enthusiasm. I may have missed the big magic show that the others saw, but outside of that I think I did all that might have been expected of me in so short a time.