The cab ride to the Luxor was overwhelming. So much to look at. We were at the end of the strip in the Luxor, in a jacuzzi suite, and it was swanky. The room was really great, two queen size beds, and a living room type space with a couch and table. All very neo-Egyptian. Here's a picture of the jacuzzi...

The hotel itself was beautiful. Outside the entrance were these huge obsidian appearing statues, that were supposed to look like they were holding the building up. There were two obsidian Anubis dogs (1, 2) guarding it. Right inside the entrance were various huge statues (1, 2, 3, 4) in pools of clear water, sphinxes (1,2) and the coolest appearing club that I'd ever seen. It was called Ra (it's apparently closed now - 4.28.29). I never got inside, because I was busy doing other things, but I did get some pictures of the outside. (1, 2, 3) One thing that dissapointed me is that nobody was walking around wearing elaborate costumes.

It was all so huge! The inside looked like the Egyptian ghost of Elvis blew up all over it. The elevators were referred to as 'inclinators' because they'd go diagonally up the sides of the pyramid. It's a really wacky feeling going what feels like sideways in an elevator. I still wasn't used to it by the time we were ready to leave. First day there, we just relaxed, did a little gambling at the BJ Blitz machine, and for the most part just settled in. I played the Elvis slots once or twice, but I can only get so worked up about pulling a lever. The casino had the constant drone of a giant robot pinball-machine car that had been involved in a ten car pileup. It was annoying while I was there, but I miss it now. We had a couple of really keen dealers, so it made losing money somewhat enjoyable.

During our stay, we were privvy to one of the most bizarre television spectacles I'd ever seen. Apparently, this local dealership Towbin Dodge had paid for an hour of airtime early on saturday morning, and one of their spokespeople, The Chopper, and a guy dressed as a genie with the entire turban, curly shoes and baggy glittery pants getup, were dancing around these cars that the same 5 guys would drive in front of the counter. When I first tuned in, the 'genie' was in the back of a small truck, dancing like a relatively small electric current was going through him, while Chopper kept up with this hilarious banter with the drivers. One of the drivers came up in a white Bronco...it was a black guy wearing gloves, and yeah, he said his name was OJ. Another guy, who identified himself as Ice Wallow drove up to chat with the Chopper. During the course of this presentation, the camera crew would from time to time assault the genie by throwing hot dogs and buns at him, to which he replied, when asked by the friendly Chopper why he was hopping around, "Hot dogs coming from everywhere!". Hilarious hijinks ensued. At one point, this really obese white guy without a shirt on would run on screen and pump his hips at the back of the vehicle, then run off flailing his hands wildly. At the end of the program, the genie was sitting behind a cheapass card table, reading vehicle specs off a factory invoice sheet while being assailed by a veritable ASSLOAD of flying hot dogs, hamburgers and buns while the genie proceeded to let fly with a stream of bleeped out invective, while swatting quickly at the meaty projectiles. Man, what I would've given for a blank videotape and VCR at that particular moment.

This was the first time I ate REALLY well for a week in a row. They had this great buffet downstairs, and we got to eat at the Luxor Steakhouse, which was amazing. The quality of the food was almost as good as Ruth's Chris steakhouse. I got a little annoyed at the fact that some of us kept getting stared and glared at, but hey...that's the way life goes, I guess. Some people just gotta be assholes. I mean, it's Las Vegas, fer chrissake...I'm quite sure there are other more interesting things to gawk at rather than our ragtag band of fugitives, heartily chowing down our meal. So, to wrap that thought up, food good, people bad. The first major thing we did was to go see Blue Man Group on Monday night. It was one of the most amazing shows I'd ever seen. It really blew me away. Go see them...they're mindblowing. I'm probably going to trek up to NYC a couple of times to see them there. They're my heroes. We got banana on our hair and legs because the ponchos that they provided for us didn't cover us completely. We got front row seats, so it could've been much worse.

One of the Blue Men came by and touched my face and looked into my eyes, and it was the wierdest thing. It was like looking into the infinite eyes of a baby. Weird, but really cool. After the show, the Blue Men hung out in the lobby taking pictures with fans, and smearing the blue paint from their faces onto people's program guides.

I shook the hands of one of the Blue Men and told him that I was euphoric from the show, and thanked him for coming up with such wonderful entertainment. They stayed in character the entire time, not smiling or gesturing...they just looked into everyone. It was really great. The next day was Halloween, so I got all gussied up, dyed myself green, and headed out with two of Brad's friends to Studio 54 at the MGM Grand.

Checked the lions out in the indoor habitat, then met this great old couple waiting in line to get in. Once inside, it was relatively spacious and nicely decorated, and they played disco and dance music, which was swell. I got lots of compliments on the green, and got to see some great costumes. There was a troupe of people dressed like the Power Puff girls and Mojo Jojo. It was keen. It took about two days for the dye to wash out entirely which lead to various assholes leaning out of their car windows and yelling "HEY! HALLOWEEN ENDED YESTERDAY!" at me as I walked to the Liberace museum the next day. The Liberace Museum, home to the world's largest Rhinestone, had a great assortment of holds Liberace's pianos, candelabras, outfits, and cars. If you ever want to see a Dusenburg that looks like a giant disco ball, this is the place to go. Alas, I was not allowed to take pictures, and there were no postcards of the more interesting cars and costumes in the exhibit. I wandered through, then bought tacky gifts for friends befrore heading back out onto Tropicana to work my way back to the Luxor. I did a LOT of walking. I also took the bus a lot because it was only 1.25 compared to huge ass taxi faires everywhere. By doing this, I got to meet some interesting people that were able to tell me more about Vegas.

When I finally got back to the hotel, I was dog tired, and just passed out. The next day was Thursday. I made my way down to the end of the strip again, and got a new tattoo. It's on my left wrist. The shop was at the end of the strip, down by Circus Circus, and the guys running it were really great. The artist's name was Mikey, and we chatted inanely while I relaxed to the light buzzing of the tattoo gun. It was great. It'd been a long time since I last had ink.

Then after some more gambling and good eats, Brad and I headed over to the MGM Grand to see Penn and Teller. The show was great, as always, and we got to meet them afterwards in the lobby. They signed the huge hurricane glasses we gave them, and shook our hands. Brad had developed a nasty migraine during the performance, so we had to bolt back to the room. Next day, we headed out to the other end of the strip to check out the Star Trek experience. Quark's Bar was nicely designed, but I didn't take the tour due to bad press from friends that had gone through and said it was a waste of money. After this, we meandered over to Circus Circus, which was nothing like it was in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Maybe I need to do serious drugs the next time I go there...It's a sad, run down little carny feeling hotel. We played a couple of midway games, then left.

We started walking up the strip and passed this cool eatery that looked like a huge sub coming out of a building. Water was cascading down the front of the building around the sub, giving it a nice effect. The inside looked, well, like the inside of a sub. It was keen. Next point of interest was Treasure Island. The pictures I took there are on a different roll of film, so I've got to get them developed, then I'll post 'em. Treasure Island was easily my favorite hotel, seein' as how I love pirates an' all. It sorta looked like the old movie representations of Tortuga Bay, only it had an amusement park feel to it. There were two giant ships that would do battle every hour after sunset, and later on in the week, I went back at night to check it out. It was ok...like I said, amusement park feel. but the hotel was way keen. I'm definitely gonna stay there some year.

Then we went around the Mirage, Caesar's Palace, The Venetian, etc. Caesar's Palace was really cool inside as well. The Excalibur is the tackiest hotel there, in my opinion, but it has a certain faux renfaire grace to it. The Tropicana was really cheesy as well. By the end of the day, we were both tried as hell, and stayed in. Saturday I was feeling sick, so I stayed in bed all day and night, which got rid of the sick feeling. Sunday night, was O at the Bellagio, which was glorious. We got really wet because again, we were in the first row. Gotta remember not to do that for shows where things fly out into the audience in the future. Before the performance, we checked out the fountain show, which was highly keen. We went into the Circque du Soleil store before the perfomance, and met this really cool chick who had found a little rubber skull with little snakes crawling on it's head. The really cool thing was that it was a squeaky toy. We ooooh'ed and aaaaah'ed over it. Jealous toy fascination ensued. After the show, we headed back to our home away from home for a good night sleep before the hell that was to victimize us on the way home the next day.

It was a great trip, all in all, and I plan on going back next year...