Before heading to Vegas, I stepped on the scale at work, and saw 168. (If you've been following, that means I haven't budged in a couple months.) When I returned from Vegas, the scale said 170. I was not surprised. We did a few too many buffets while in the City of Sin. Sadly, overeating was probably the worst sin I was guilty of, but that's a different post...
Today, I stepped on that infernal scale again, and it responded with 167. Now, I should be happy to see it go down, but I am perplexed more than excited. Gaining 2 pounds while stuffing yourself silly for a week is believable. Losing 3 pounds in one week while eating healthily, and going to the gym regularly is a bit of a stretch. One pound - absolutely. Two pounds - maybe, depending on my water retention. Three?? That's 10,500 calories. That is equivalent to eating NOTHING for five days. I guarantee I ate a lot more than NOTHING.
Who all wants to bet that next Friday the scale will say 168 again?!?
Friday, April 27, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Part 3: Vegas Vacation
In addition to spending time with the happy couple, I took a few more days off from work, and my friend Phil and I decided to stay in Vegas until Thursday. Neither of us had been to Vegas before, so it was a good opportunity to see the sights and get a full Vegas experience.
We did get our fill of casinos and buffets. Paris had the best buffet; I noticed an award on the wall, even. It was the most expensive, but at $25, they had by far the tastiest options, and the best cooking. We tried for the sit-down restaurants there, but one had an ungodly long wait, and the other had a dress code. The host counted three strikes without trying: t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers. MGM Grand had a good buffet, as well. The Luxor's was "actually, not that bad", as was the one at the Hilton. The Hilton's was free, though, which made it taste better...
We wandered through most of the major resorts. The Wynn and Bellagio were obviously the most glamorous. We didn't go to any of the secondary casinos. Even the Tropicana and Flamingo were getting more of a trailer trash clientèle, so we did not bother trying Bill's or Terrible's. The hottest guy of the trip was spotted heading to the pool at the Flamingo, though, so we did give that hotel a few bonus points. He was wearing a t-shirt with a big "24" on it, so he became known simply as "24".
Sunday we decided to head out to a gay club. Phil jumped on Manhunt to do a little research, and we ended up at 8 1/2. It was dead. There were literally 4 other people there. A few more would come in, look around for five seconds, and leave again. We had just agreed to leave for Gypsy (right next door), when the guy from Manhunt showed up. He had that desperate/hopeful look in his eye. He was "Suprised" how dead it was there. He never goes on Sundays, but has been there on other days of the week, and it's busy. Yeah. Great. He suggested Gypsy. Phil asked if it would be busier there (despite his obvious lack of authority on the subject), and he offered to drive us to Krave if Gypsy was dead, too. Mind you, that would have been a total of like 4 blocks. The cover at Gypsy was $7. Manhunt-loser-guy didn't offer to pay our covers for us. He tried talking to us for a little while longer, and I was looking extremely bored with him. I guess Phil started playing the South End attitude because all of a sudden the "smoke was getting to him" and he left.
Smoke is a problem in Vegas. We in Massachusetts are lucky to live in a smoke-free state. All enclosed public locations are smoke-free, except for a few cigar bars with special licenses. Clubs and bars make you go outside to smoke. It is a wonderful thing. Vegas has not passed any such laws. They do prohibit smoking in restaurants, so that is a good start. But the casino floor and any club are more toxic than we are used to.
Gypsy has a resident drag queen named Chanel, who is worth seeing. She did four sets that night. The first was kinda J-Lo, the next was slutty Pussy-Cat Doll, the third was very Lion-King shaman, and the fourth outfit was Pinhead from Hellraiser. NIN and Marylin Manson are not usual drag show songs, but she announced she's into "fucked-up shit" at the beginning of the show. The pageantry and energy were much better than anything I've seen since the glory days of Mizery back at Quest in the 90's. Wednesday we went to Lucky Cheng's drag dinner show. More of the sedate, strut around, kind. It was fairly dead, so it was hard to get the energy level up. There was a table full of straight people who were "shocked" by some of it. One of the performers was very believable as a woman. She is heading to Thailand I think it was for a contest. The straight guys were a little messed up by that one, because she was a beautiful woman, so they were into her, but she's not really a woman, so they were not sure they should be into her. Later that night we headed back (it's at Krave) for the wet boxers contest. Fun! I was SO ready to leave, though, when it ended. This random guy with his hag started chatting me up, though, and I was doing my best to push them away. They misinterpreted by disdain as not liking the club itself, and felt the need to cheer me up. Phil then started chatting up the guy, and they wouldn't leave. I was getting progressively more interested in leaving. The club was draining, and I was bored. The guy, however, turned out to be a possible good work contact for Phil, so I was forced to wait through a prolonged schmooze. We did eventually leave, though. Like 3:15...
The crowds at the gay clubs were pretty similar to what you see anywhere else. There was one hottie at Krave, but Phil thinks he's a prostitute. I was getting more of a drug dealer vibe. But, he smoked. There was a 99% chance of that, anyway. As Phil said, the gays in Vegas have apparently "not gotten the memo". Just about every single one of them smokes. There was one cute guy at Gypsy, and yes, he smoked, too. He seemed to be married to a sugar daddy, as well. So, the viewing pleasure of the trip was held by the employees. Phil totally fell for "barback". He was more bussing than barbacking, but Phil didn't like me calling him "busboy". Great body, cute face, and wearing glasses. Phil feels he's a PhD student! The bartenders were also quite hot. Krave had a cute bartender, but he looked a little too much like 19 years old. The shotboy, however, was cover-model gorgeous. We all agreed (yes, including schmooze-guy and fag hag) that he is straight, though. He wouldn't admit to anything either way, like a good tip-receiving shotboy, but we KNEW.
In addition to clubs and casinos, we did go to Hoover Dam. Cool place. It's a very interesting side trip to take. There was even a cute guy in the tour group to hold our interest! It short, it is a massively huge slab of concrete, so there isn't a whole LOT to see there, but it was a nice break from the noise and lights.
We also went to see Zumanity, the adult-only Cirque du Soleil show. Good show, hot guys, too many breasts, and one creepy contortionist with no ligaments. The gay kiss got the most awkward applause of the show. The lesbian kiss was much more widely accepted. I had a thing for the Pan character, which is who everyone guessed I would like. We wanted to see "O" as well, but never connected. And we went to get tickets for Rita Rudner one day, and she had decided not to perform that day. The ticket lady said she is that way; her schedule is more random - just whenever she feels like it. So, we missed that as well.
We did a spa day, as well. Neither of us had a hot guy as our masseur, but mine at least did deep tissue massage with a little force behind it. Also got facials. It was rather windy out, though, and I got pelted in the face with sand/dirt blowing off construction areas. There is a LOT of construction on the strip. I don't know how usual that is, but there had to be ten different construction sites along the strip.
I had been told that three days is about the max for a Vegas trip. Between the wedding and being my first time, I figured we'd be fine. It was definitely a long trip, and we were running low on interest in casinos and buffets, but we had things we didn't get to see, so there is still reason to go back. Our last night in town, we were playing $5 blackjack at Tropicana. We stayed a little too long, and burned through a little too much cash because the dealer, Kostika, was kind of cute. Phil guessed he's Greek, which I can see, but we never asked. It was a good trip, I had a lot of fun, and will go back some day, I am sure!
We did get our fill of casinos and buffets. Paris had the best buffet; I noticed an award on the wall, even. It was the most expensive, but at $25, they had by far the tastiest options, and the best cooking. We tried for the sit-down restaurants there, but one had an ungodly long wait, and the other had a dress code. The host counted three strikes without trying: t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers. MGM Grand had a good buffet, as well. The Luxor's was "actually, not that bad", as was the one at the Hilton. The Hilton's was free, though, which made it taste better...
We wandered through most of the major resorts. The Wynn and Bellagio were obviously the most glamorous. We didn't go to any of the secondary casinos. Even the Tropicana and Flamingo were getting more of a trailer trash clientèle, so we did not bother trying Bill's or Terrible's. The hottest guy of the trip was spotted heading to the pool at the Flamingo, though, so we did give that hotel a few bonus points. He was wearing a t-shirt with a big "24" on it, so he became known simply as "24".
Sunday we decided to head out to a gay club. Phil jumped on Manhunt to do a little research, and we ended up at 8 1/2. It was dead. There were literally 4 other people there. A few more would come in, look around for five seconds, and leave again. We had just agreed to leave for Gypsy (right next door), when the guy from Manhunt showed up. He had that desperate/hopeful look in his eye. He was "Suprised" how dead it was there. He never goes on Sundays, but has been there on other days of the week, and it's busy. Yeah. Great. He suggested Gypsy. Phil asked if it would be busier there (despite his obvious lack of authority on the subject), and he offered to drive us to Krave if Gypsy was dead, too. Mind you, that would have been a total of like 4 blocks. The cover at Gypsy was $7. Manhunt-loser-guy didn't offer to pay our covers for us. He tried talking to us for a little while longer, and I was looking extremely bored with him. I guess Phil started playing the South End attitude because all of a sudden the "smoke was getting to him" and he left.
Smoke is a problem in Vegas. We in Massachusetts are lucky to live in a smoke-free state. All enclosed public locations are smoke-free, except for a few cigar bars with special licenses. Clubs and bars make you go outside to smoke. It is a wonderful thing. Vegas has not passed any such laws. They do prohibit smoking in restaurants, so that is a good start. But the casino floor and any club are more toxic than we are used to.
Gypsy has a resident drag queen named Chanel, who is worth seeing. She did four sets that night. The first was kinda J-Lo, the next was slutty Pussy-Cat Doll, the third was very Lion-King shaman, and the fourth outfit was Pinhead from Hellraiser. NIN and Marylin Manson are not usual drag show songs, but she announced she's into "fucked-up shit" at the beginning of the show. The pageantry and energy were much better than anything I've seen since the glory days of Mizery back at Quest in the 90's. Wednesday we went to Lucky Cheng's drag dinner show. More of the sedate, strut around, kind. It was fairly dead, so it was hard to get the energy level up. There was a table full of straight people who were "shocked" by some of it. One of the performers was very believable as a woman. She is heading to Thailand I think it was for a contest. The straight guys were a little messed up by that one, because she was a beautiful woman, so they were into her, but she's not really a woman, so they were not sure they should be into her. Later that night we headed back (it's at Krave) for the wet boxers contest. Fun! I was SO ready to leave, though, when it ended. This random guy with his hag started chatting me up, though, and I was doing my best to push them away. They misinterpreted by disdain as not liking the club itself, and felt the need to cheer me up. Phil then started chatting up the guy, and they wouldn't leave. I was getting progressively more interested in leaving. The club was draining, and I was bored. The guy, however, turned out to be a possible good work contact for Phil, so I was forced to wait through a prolonged schmooze. We did eventually leave, though. Like 3:15...
The crowds at the gay clubs were pretty similar to what you see anywhere else. There was one hottie at Krave, but Phil thinks he's a prostitute. I was getting more of a drug dealer vibe. But, he smoked. There was a 99% chance of that, anyway. As Phil said, the gays in Vegas have apparently "not gotten the memo". Just about every single one of them smokes. There was one cute guy at Gypsy, and yes, he smoked, too. He seemed to be married to a sugar daddy, as well. So, the viewing pleasure of the trip was held by the employees. Phil totally fell for "barback". He was more bussing than barbacking, but Phil didn't like me calling him "busboy". Great body, cute face, and wearing glasses. Phil feels he's a PhD student! The bartenders were also quite hot. Krave had a cute bartender, but he looked a little too much like 19 years old. The shotboy, however, was cover-model gorgeous. We all agreed (yes, including schmooze-guy and fag hag) that he is straight, though. He wouldn't admit to anything either way, like a good tip-receiving shotboy, but we KNEW.
In addition to clubs and casinos, we did go to Hoover Dam. Cool place. It's a very interesting side trip to take. There was even a cute guy in the tour group to hold our interest! It short, it is a massively huge slab of concrete, so there isn't a whole LOT to see there, but it was a nice break from the noise and lights.
We also went to see Zumanity, the adult-only Cirque du Soleil show. Good show, hot guys, too many breasts, and one creepy contortionist with no ligaments. The gay kiss got the most awkward applause of the show. The lesbian kiss was much more widely accepted. I had a thing for the Pan character, which is who everyone guessed I would like. We wanted to see "O" as well, but never connected. And we went to get tickets for Rita Rudner one day, and she had decided not to perform that day. The ticket lady said she is that way; her schedule is more random - just whenever she feels like it. So, we missed that as well.
We did a spa day, as well. Neither of us had a hot guy as our masseur, but mine at least did deep tissue massage with a little force behind it. Also got facials. It was rather windy out, though, and I got pelted in the face with sand/dirt blowing off construction areas. There is a LOT of construction on the strip. I don't know how usual that is, but there had to be ten different construction sites along the strip.
I had been told that three days is about the max for a Vegas trip. Between the wedding and being my first time, I figured we'd be fine. It was definitely a long trip, and we were running low on interest in casinos and buffets, but we had things we didn't get to see, so there is still reason to go back. Our last night in town, we were playing $5 blackjack at Tropicana. We stayed a little too long, and burned through a little too much cash because the dealer, Kostika, was kind of cute. Phil guessed he's Greek, which I can see, but we never asked. It was a good trip, I had a lot of fun, and will go back some day, I am sure!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Part 2: Honeymoon in Vegas
The original purpose of the trip was to attend my friend Amy's wedding. Her and her fiancee decided not to do the big grand production number, and just have a simple ceremony with good friends. Heading to Vegas and having fun there seemed to fit very well with their idea. And no, they didn't have Elvis officiating. Though the Elvis impersonator was obviously gay.
They chose a little chapel up at the HoJo's, a fair distance north of the strip. It was a very chapel-heavy area, but a little seedier. The chapel was charming, though, and the ceremony was nice. Fast, but nice. Amy got startled by the pre-recorded church organ belting out the wedding march, and was still a little dazed I guess when the vows began, about three minutes later. She flubbed her lines a little bit, and they had some minor technical difficulties with getting the rings onto their fingers, but all's well that ends well! I tried recording the vows, but still not being used to my new camera, I missed it. Which also means I wasn't taking pictures of that part. But there were a good 12 cameras snapping away, so I'm sure it was well documented anyway!
We then headed over to the Wynn for a drink. There were 2 rental cars between all the participants, so a group of us were heading out by car, and the rest were going to take cabs. When we got to the Wynn, Amy called and asked if Phil could go back and pick up another car-load, because they were not having any luck getting any cabs to show up. The drink prices at the Wynn were a little steep, but that was expected. The best part of the Wynn, however, was the sign at the door prohibiting strollers. As we walked in, I saw the sign, and commented "No strollers! This is my kind of place!" The lady who happened to be walking in ahead of us apparently agreed, and busted out laughing when I said it.
From there we headed down to the Luxor for dinner, at one of the buffets. Amy's friend D was there with a possible girlfriend (long story), and at one point she made the consummate commentary of the Vegas buffet experience: "Actually, it's not that bad!" Phil and I latched onto that one for the rest of the trip. Food, beverage, or guys, they all were victims of "actually..."
Next stop was the Bellagio. The intent was to get a poker table to ourselves, and just have some fun. Most of the group went back to the hotel rooms to change. Phil and I, and D and girl headed over without a costume change. D was consistently ordering girly pink beverages, so we were consistently harassing him. We got a seat that overlooked a main hallway past the gaming area, so we perfectly positioned to cruise / critique. It ended up being a lot of fun just doing that! At one point, an employee of some sort came over. We thought he had noticed us checking him out, but apparently we weren't actually that special. He 'invited' us to get a private table at the club - "Liquid" I believe - but he wasn't offering any special deal, just the chance to do it. We acted somewhat ambivalent so he said he'd give us his cell number and we could call him later. Sadly, D's girl jumped the gun, and she took "Joe's" number. We reprimanded her severely... Everyone else eventually showed up, but they were all a little tired, so we sat around, had another drink, and then everyone scampered off to their hotels.
They chose a little chapel up at the HoJo's, a fair distance north of the strip. It was a very chapel-heavy area, but a little seedier. The chapel was charming, though, and the ceremony was nice. Fast, but nice. Amy got startled by the pre-recorded church organ belting out the wedding march, and was still a little dazed I guess when the vows began, about three minutes later. She flubbed her lines a little bit, and they had some minor technical difficulties with getting the rings onto their fingers, but all's well that ends well! I tried recording the vows, but still not being used to my new camera, I missed it. Which also means I wasn't taking pictures of that part. But there were a good 12 cameras snapping away, so I'm sure it was well documented anyway!
We then headed over to the Wynn for a drink. There were 2 rental cars between all the participants, so a group of us were heading out by car, and the rest were going to take cabs. When we got to the Wynn, Amy called and asked if Phil could go back and pick up another car-load, because they were not having any luck getting any cabs to show up. The drink prices at the Wynn were a little steep, but that was expected. The best part of the Wynn, however, was the sign at the door prohibiting strollers. As we walked in, I saw the sign, and commented "No strollers! This is my kind of place!" The lady who happened to be walking in ahead of us apparently agreed, and busted out laughing when I said it.
From there we headed down to the Luxor for dinner, at one of the buffets. Amy's friend D was there with a possible girlfriend (long story), and at one point she made the consummate commentary of the Vegas buffet experience: "Actually, it's not that bad!" Phil and I latched onto that one for the rest of the trip. Food, beverage, or guys, they all were victims of "actually..."
Next stop was the Bellagio. The intent was to get a poker table to ourselves, and just have some fun. Most of the group went back to the hotel rooms to change. Phil and I, and D and girl headed over without a costume change. D was consistently ordering girly pink beverages, so we were consistently harassing him. We got a seat that overlooked a main hallway past the gaming area, so we perfectly positioned to cruise / critique. It ended up being a lot of fun just doing that! At one point, an employee of some sort came over. We thought he had noticed us checking him out, but apparently we weren't actually that special. He 'invited' us to get a private table at the club - "Liquid" I believe - but he wasn't offering any special deal, just the chance to do it. We acted somewhat ambivalent so he said he'd give us his cell number and we could call him later. Sadly, D's girl jumped the gun, and she took "Joe's" number. We reprimanded her severely... Everyone else eventually showed up, but they were all a little tired, so we sat around, had another drink, and then everyone scampered off to their hotels.
Part 1: Leaving for Las Vegas
Last Thursday I headed into Boston, to m friend Phil's place. We visited, had dinner, watched a movie (can't remember what movie, at this point - it must not have been too good). In the conversation, I mentioned how fun "Another Gay Movie" is, so he started a download for it. Also did an on-line check-in. It wasn't working quite as smoothly as expected, so it took a while to get the seats chosen and the boarding passes printed.
Friday morning we headed to Logan airport. Since we had bags to check, we went through the check-in process, anyway. We headed to the gate, and mentioned how our nearly four hour layover in Philly would mean we wouldn't get to Vegas until fairly late. When they announced the over-booked, and asked for volunteers, we figured why not. We got bumped to a slightly later flight through Pittsburg, and got vouchers for a free flight within the US. (If nothing else, my flight home for Christmas is taken care of). Since we now had even more time to wait, grabbed a quick bite to eat. Our layover in Pitts was moderately lengthy as well, so we ended up having dinner there.
When we boarded the plane, we were checking out the passengers, to see if there were any hotties. We pegged the flight attendant as gay, in the process. The obnoxious straight guy sitting next to us tried to move up to an empty first-class seat. There weren't any available, but in stopping by to inform the guy of this, the F.A. apparently got the chance to notice us, as well. He gave us free headsets (normally $5 each), and was trying to get us free drinks. Phil doesn't drink, and I wasn't feeling like having any. He kept chatting with us, so Phil turned up the flirt level a little. The F.A. is named Greg. He was very friendly throughout the flight, and towards the end, gave Phil his phone number. He was staying Vegas that night, so said we should call if we go out somewhere.
We landed around quarter to 11, if I recall correctly. The advantage of taking a later flight was that our bags were sitting waiting for us at the baggage office, so we got out of there pretty quickly. Got the rental car, and headed to the Hilton. Not having a map, or ever having been there before, we weren't completely sure how to get to the Hilton, other than knowing it was behind the "strip" about a block. Las Vegas Blvd, aka "The Strip", is a very slow moving street. Busy, pedestrians, stop-lights, not helpful. We took a right to get onto a parallel street, since the Hilton wasn't on LV Blvd anyway, but we took the wrong one. We ended up on Novak instead of Paradise, so got a little turned around. We made it to the Hilton eventually, however. Phil called F.A., and I called my friend we were meeting up with for her wedding, but everybody was turning in, so we did, too.
Friday morning we headed to Logan airport. Since we had bags to check, we went through the check-in process, anyway. We headed to the gate, and mentioned how our nearly four hour layover in Philly would mean we wouldn't get to Vegas until fairly late. When they announced the over-booked, and asked for volunteers, we figured why not. We got bumped to a slightly later flight through Pittsburg, and got vouchers for a free flight within the US. (If nothing else, my flight home for Christmas is taken care of). Since we now had even more time to wait, grabbed a quick bite to eat. Our layover in Pitts was moderately lengthy as well, so we ended up having dinner there.
When we boarded the plane, we were checking out the passengers, to see if there were any hotties. We pegged the flight attendant as gay, in the process. The obnoxious straight guy sitting next to us tried to move up to an empty first-class seat. There weren't any available, but in stopping by to inform the guy of this, the F.A. apparently got the chance to notice us, as well. He gave us free headsets (normally $5 each), and was trying to get us free drinks. Phil doesn't drink, and I wasn't feeling like having any. He kept chatting with us, so Phil turned up the flirt level a little. The F.A. is named Greg. He was very friendly throughout the flight, and towards the end, gave Phil his phone number. He was staying Vegas that night, so said we should call if we go out somewhere.
We landed around quarter to 11, if I recall correctly. The advantage of taking a later flight was that our bags were sitting waiting for us at the baggage office, so we got out of there pretty quickly. Got the rental car, and headed to the Hilton. Not having a map, or ever having been there before, we weren't completely sure how to get to the Hilton, other than knowing it was behind the "strip" about a block. Las Vegas Blvd, aka "The Strip", is a very slow moving street. Busy, pedestrians, stop-lights, not helpful. We took a right to get onto a parallel street, since the Hilton wasn't on LV Blvd anyway, but we took the wrong one. We ended up on Novak instead of Paradise, so got a little turned around. We made it to the Hilton eventually, however. Phil called F.A., and I called my friend we were meeting up with for her wedding, but everybody was turning in, so we did, too.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Desperate
I need a boyfriend. I've been lonely for too long again. Monday I dreamed I hooked up with Alex (the really good kisser). It was very pleasurable, and we had a great time. Wednesday I dreamed about Sergio. I went to a little artsy performance of some sort, and Sergio was in the audience on the other side of the aisle. He came over and apologized for not getting back to me (I haven't heard from him, after three attempts to hang out again - so I'm figuring that friendship is not going to happen).
The pervasive sense of rejection in dating, job hunting, and condo buyers is getting me down. I need a change, and I can't really do anything about people not wanting me, my job services, or my condo. I put myself out there. So, as a minor attempt at taking control over changes in my life, I buzzed my hair short. Really short.
Tomorrow I head to Vegas for my friend's wedding. It should be a great time, and I plan to have a lot of fun. I hear Vegas isn't really a gay town, so I'm not expecting to meet anyone, but if I get a chance to make out with some cutie, you bet I'll be taking advantage of that!
The pervasive sense of rejection in dating, job hunting, and condo buyers is getting me down. I need a change, and I can't really do anything about people not wanting me, my job services, or my condo. I put myself out there. So, as a minor attempt at taking control over changes in my life, I buzzed my hair short. Really short.
Tomorrow I head to Vegas for my friend's wedding. It should be a great time, and I plan to have a lot of fun. I hear Vegas isn't really a gay town, so I'm not expecting to meet anyone, but if I get a chance to make out with some cutie, you bet I'll be taking advantage of that!
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