Vegas Baby, Vegas

So on Friday I went to Las Vegas. It was one of the best weekends of my entire life. Well, I guess every weekend used to be pretty similar in Santa Barbara, but now I appreciate being able to spend a weekend with my friends a lot more than I did then.

It started with kind of a crazy night on Thurs. I was planning on getting some good sleep Thurs night in preparation, but it didn't turn out that way. I was supposed to go over to Josh's, my old boss, and accidentally locked myself out of the office when I was rushing out. There was no way for me to get back in, so I asked Stefan for a ride. I was going to Kristin's birthday party out in Silverlake. Stefan has been working at Docstoc, where I used to work, in Santa Monica, so I figured he could give me a ride out to the other side of town and give me a ride back the next morning.

I walked all the way from my office to 4th and Santa Monica, because Stefan was still working and I had nothing better to do. We went out to Kristin's birthday party at Harvard and Stone and it was pretty fun. I got to hang out with Charlie, who I hadn't need in four or five years. Things picked up right where they left off. I also saw Sean, who is busy with paperwork with his finace Laura. He suggested we make pickup things with "Bros", which I was happy to hear. I'd love to do something more with "Bros".

So, then Charlie, Stefan, and I went back to Stefan and Gilli's. Stefan was sleeping on the couch and I was asleep on a mattress on the floor. In the middle of the night someone. I won't say who, stumbled out of their room, fell over on my mattress and puked all over my sleepingbag and mattress. Luckily I got up before it landed on me. We had to take the mattress outside and I went into Stefan's room, by now it was after three and I had to get up at 8:30. Then Stefan was snoring. I fell asleep for maybe two solid hours that night.

The next morning I got back into my office, I called the manager and had them open the doors. I grabbed my keys and went back to my aunt and uncles and packed everything for Vegas. Then I went to work. I was pretty off my game, but luckily it wasn't a busy day. My boss left early. I hung out in the office, super excited, waiting for Kevin. He came and picked me up around 7:30 with his girlfriend Nadia. We rolled over to Silverlake where Josh picked us up and we were on our way.

Once we got onto the 15 and were out in the boonies, Kevin lit up a spliff and we all smoked. This was the first time I'd smoked since I was with my brother in Danville. It was really fun. After, we somehow ended up at In'N'Out burger, even though we had all just eaten. We were all laughing and making jokes about how it was "guy's weekend" and Nadia made the joke that she was a guy for the weekend.

From miles and miles away, we could see the lights shining from Vegas. When we got there, the excitement was palpable. We all cracked open beers and got to drinking while we waited for Jace, Stefan, and Kristin to arrive in the last car. They got there and we popped champagne, amazed that we actually planned a trip and all showed up. This is the first time we've ever really planned a trip and executed it, except when Jace and Kristin and I went camping, but this was a lot more people.

It was me, Kevin, Nadia, Josh, Kristin, Stefan, Jace, Charlie, Gilli, and Natasha, all together in one hotel room. We grabbed beers for the road and hit the casino. I won a quick $20 on roulette and we moved on, hitting up the aria, then taking the tram from there to the Bellagio, then we walked to the crappier casinos and on the way got some giant slushy drinks. We hit another roulette table and some people went home.

I shouldn't really say where everyone went and what everyone did. You know, what happens in Vegas.

Next morning, when I woke up Jace and Charlie were just getting back. They both had stupid tourist hats on, Jace's said, "What Happens in Vegas Stays on Facebook". He also bought a laser pointer. Classic.

I went to the MGM buffet with Kevin and Nadia and ate four plates of food and had five glasses of champagne. Then they closed the buffet. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. Sure, I was too full to eat more, but that being said, I wasn't done eating or drinking champagne yet! The three of us went to Walgreen's to stock up on alcohol for the night.

We got back and hung in the hotel for a bit and the Charlie and Jace and I went out to gamble for a bit. We played roulette. I had been saying the whole weekend I was only going to play black. I was betting frugally and was sitting out a lot of spins. Black hit four times in a row. I decided to bet red. Big mistake. Black hit 22 of 25 times. Jace won a couple hundred dollars just playing black. Charlie hit 17 three times in 10 spins and ended up up over $700. I lost $100, but had won $40 or so the night before, so I left Vegas down $60. We went to Coyote Ugly in the New York New York and got drinks.

Then, we went back to the hotel room. There, we played 21, a drinking game that all of us made special rules for in college. Each round you start by saying Bula Maleya, come and drink with me, in Fijian. Then you count to 21, once you reach that number you make a rule for one of the numbers, so instead of 10, you do this or that. The best part about the game is the cup of knives, usually a blender, where people pour their drinks when the game gets exciting, making a gross concoction. When someone messes up bad, people chant "LVP" as in least valuable player, when it is determined someone is LVP, they have to drink the cup of knives.

We went out to the club in the MGM called Tabu, it was alright. I danced for a bit and Natasha got me some drinks, which she got for free because she was a girl. Then we left Tabu. After that, stuff happened.

The next day on the ride home, no one talked the entire way. I wanted to stay up with Josh, but I couldn't because we weren't talking and the radio wasn't on. There was quite a juxtaposition between the ride there and the ride home.

All in all I slept 14 hours in 3 days. I slept the whole car ride home. I went to bed at 8 that night. I am still pretty tired, but it was all worth it. It was so fun to be with my friends all weekend long. It was a great reminder of why I moved down to LA. 6 of the 9 people that were there are people that know about this blog, and I only have told my closest friends about this blog, so I was in Vegas with a lot of my closest friends. Cherished every minute.

Now I am back. I went to the doctor on Monday and was in a much better mood than the last time I was there. She said I had gained another pound, which was strange because I thought I'd lost weight. Probably some muscle. Next time I think I will have lost weight. I've been eating healthier and working out most days. She suggested I try muscle confusion by switching things up in my workout. Instead of jogging yesterday I did sprints and walked, it really wore me out. I also climbed the stairs by twos instead of ones. My aunt said today she thought I could use the gym down at the club. I think I will.

Work this week has been pretty easy. Hasn't been a ton to do around the office. Just lots of paperwork and travel planning.

Anyway, I am feeling really good and even though I've been tired this week, I am feeling happier in general than I had been recently. I hope I can keep the good times rollin.