MLK Weekend at Cosmo

MLK Weekend, rolling at Cosmo solo, PT’s party, crossdressing and having fun while the cat’s away.

I made the same trip last year, see previous TR post, and had every intention of doing the same in 2015. The plan is that the mouse plays while the cat is away. My wife and son visit her folks in Florida and I skedattle to Vegas for some alone time. Slight change of plans this year, my father in law had some major surgery in December and remained in hospital recovering through January, to the point that Florida was cancelled and my mother in law moved into our basement during his recovery/rehab. In addition, we put our dog down the week before Christmas, which is a downer, to say the least… had the dog longer than the Mrs and I have been married and we've never stayed a day in our house without her (9+ years), so it’s odd to not have dog's presence. Not fishing for sympathy, just sayin’ - MIL+dead/no dog+cold Minnesota weather=ready to get away.

Right, so last year I booked a corner suite at Aria and loved it. Still love Aria but my play at Cosmo has pushed me close to Gold status. I get the standard Cosmo offers, two Sun-Thu comps/pittance weekend resort comps and was hoping to get the same from them for an early Jan stay. In Nov/Dec I booked at Aria via an MILF offer (I get nothing beyond standard MILF shite) as an insurance in case a Cosmo offer didn’t come through. As time passed, nothing from Cosmo and the Aria rates were, shall we say, not cheap. I booked a standard room and it was going to be around $700 for my dates… called and asked about upgrading to a corner suite, it’d be double, and I seriously considered doing it but couldn’t pull trigger.

Maybe some of you remember the days when this little thing called MyVegas had comp rooms for Aria. I remember those days! Hell, I remember when they offered a comp penthouse weekend at Vdara, and back then I vowed to spin the sht out of those stupid slots to get 1.5m Lps for that sweet suite. Well, that sweet suite offer didn’t last more than a week, yet I continued to spin. Then the Aria room offers went away. And here I am with a bunch of Lps with no Aria room to book. I made the best of it and bought all the Freeplay I could, figuring it’s a better deal than pizza. I don’t play slots but hoped I’d be able to make it work one way or another… take a page from Plee’s book, find a Cleopatra II machine and have at it.

Meantime, I had offered to front a friend of mine $1K for the trip. I had a Sterling Cosmo room available, so I booked that for Saturday night, not knowing if he or I would use it, but since I knew that would be the most expensive night of the weekend I wanted to book it as insurance. At minimum I could stick him at MC with a MyVegas room.

Back to the Mrs, Florida is off, her dad’s not well, mom’s in the basement freaking out, etc, and I’m a complete a-hole for booking a trip to Vegas, solo, in lo these troubled times. This isn’t said out loud, but it’s what’s going on in my head. FF to the short version: my wife is a effing saint and since I’d already booked the plane ticket she gives me the green light for the trip. I owe some cred to my friend R, who put in a good word for me at our NYE party.

I said in a previous post that this is a Vegas forum and not a crossdressing forum so I won’t go into the details about the latter, but as context for my trip, I am planning this thing for months in advance. I begin planning what am I going to wear, shopping for it, the music I’m going to listen to in my room, gambling strategy, makeup, bankroll, the whole deal. This is a once a year deal and I’m not fucking around and want to do it right. Without going into the incriminating details, my daily work brings me into contact with miscellaneous computer-related hard- and/or software, and over time I have discerned what has value to a paying client (I’m a whore, at a base level) and what has value to nut jobs and/or regular folks on Craigslist. In sum, I spent the summer evenings spending time with my lovely wife, son, and dying dog, and during the day, I would bill my normal activity, but then collect crap/junk from clients, piling it into my garage to the point that it became a problem: “what are you doing with all that shit?”

Mid-December I rallied … not saying I neglected my day job, but CL was on effin' fire. Let’s just say I seriously busted my ass for three weeks, and my BR for gambloing and women’s clothes had a fantastic Q4. It’s sh0cking, the market for a $100 laptop is 10x what it is for a $300 laptop… btw if you’re in the market for the latter, PM me. Dell, i5, 4gb, clean, Office, Acrobat, cash only. Half joking (not about the cash).

Back to task at hand. Plane ticket booked. Booked basic room at Aria, thinking of a suite but hoping for a nice offer from Cosmo. Meantime, PT has this crazy party planned the weekend I’m already going to be there … crossdressing. And I’m all over the internets looking at and buying clothes and accessories for the trip.

At the time I was a bit freaked out about PT’s big party, not sure how a crossdressing weirdo would fit in to his crowd. I’ll just say that in the week leading up to the trip, PT and I traded a few PMs that led up to a phone conversation and things could not have been cooler. He reassured me that several of the attendees would be fine with me being there and if I had any concerns about my personal safety he had private security en suite for the event. OK, I was not worried about that – I’m a big boy and all, but it was reassuring that PT had at least thought ahead for the entire event and planned for anything that might come up. The conversation ended with him explaining that he had ‘accidentally' booked two ladies booked for Thursday night dinner (he can correct the details on this, if I am off), when am I arriving in town, and oh isn’t that interesting would you like to join us for dinner, my treat?

About a day after the above is happening, and two days before I leave, I get an email offer from Cosmo for the standard Sun-Thu comp room, and it begins on the day I am planning to arrive. BAM!!! Savvy board members know these offers hit your mailbox around 10am Tuesday … let’s just say that 10:05am I was on the red phone. I was able to book Thu comped, Sat was already comped via Sterling, but I’d have to pay a casino rate for Fri and Sun, total was around $800. Sunday rates were through the roof. No resort fees on any dates. Higher than what I had at Aria, but I thought that 1.) this would get me to Gold, and get me rooms for the Mrs and friends for our planned May trip, and 2.) PT’s party is at Cosmo, so it’d save a ton of shuffling between the properties. 3.), I really like Comso and prefer it anyway. It’s not a bungalow suite, but for a low-rolling freak like me it’s perfect. Sorry MILF, you’re cancelled.

It’s taken me two weeks to post the pre-trip… sorry for the long delay, but life gets in the way, plus I like to write a lot of details.

Day of the trip: I have a hair appointment, a brow/waxing appointment (girl needs to look good, right?) and the Mrs drops me at the airport. To come, hanging w PT, gamboling, drinks, meeting Frank, Cosmo fun. Might take me several days or a week to get this out, but I promise it will get there.

 

If this is pre trip, I cant wait for the actual TR
btw i might want a cheap laptop,
my alienware is dying andIi have 95% of the parts I need to gut and rebuild it
but let's face it, I'm lazy as hell

 

How close to Gold were you? I'm close to maintaining good myself. Room is comped all week so I will have to do it mostly the old fashioned way, gamble! Well, my gf and I taking a spa visit will help. I'm within a reasonable range given my bankroll but I also can't hit some major negative variance and expect to make it.

 

Can't wait to read the rest, you're a great writer, and I love the details, which are usually left out in a Live TR. In this case it will be interesting to hear your perspective of events that I participated in. As the old saying goes, there's my side of the story, your side, and the truth, lol!

I actually did invite two different ladies to dinner on Thursday, but one never knows if either or both would show up. So I figured that in any case you could join my cousin and my friend for a nice dinner to start your trip, +/- the girls. Sort of our own mini-version of Rose, Rabbit, Lie.

 

Sounds like a lot of drama before you even got there!! Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. From the setup sounds like it was a blast.

 

Good start!

 

ok, so if you are really a dude cross-dressing for the weekend a chick, I trust you still paid the $250 entry fee?

 

Quite a set up for the actual trip. Can't wait to read it.

 

Awesome start...this is shaping up for a good read....

Let the creative juices flow.....

 

Thursday, departure day. Woke up with a dreaded throat-thing, like I was coming down with a cold – my worst nightmare! Planning for and anticipating the trip for months, now the idea of being dragged down by a cold or worse, the flu, had me freebasing Immuni-C and any other herbal cold/immune-system remedy I could find, washing those down with coffee and ibuprofen. For a brief minute I wondered if the coffee would offset and benefit of the Immuni-C, but then I decided not to take any chances and doubled up on the C. After getting my wax and hair appointments out of the way the Mrs dropped me at MSP and I had a quick manicure at the airport. The flight out was full but uneventful, I sat next to a fun, late 50s/early 60s couple, he’s a big player at CET and comped in suites at Flamingo. He plays slots on a $5k/day budget, $2k in the afternoon and $3k at night, Flaming 7s exclusively. Says the machines ‘speak to him’, that’s how he knows which ones to play. Comped dinner at Giada’s, etc, hasn’t paid for a Vegas trip in years and hasn’t had to add to his bankroll in the last ten years. Sounded like he knows the game. Nice folks. Port side of the plane afforded a nice view of the Dam and Pat Tillman bridge.

Arrival at LAS and my cheap-ass traveling solo ways kick in, I took the $8 shuttle. The wait wasn’t more than 5 minutes and I was the first stop, so no complaints. Before we rolled out of McCarran the driver was a tad rude to a lady who asked him a question, but I still tipped him a few bucks, not wanting to jinx things.

Walked into Cosmo and forgot about that lovely smell, man was it nice to be back. Check in at the Autograph Room went fine. No lines, and when I walked in the door the two attendants on duty and I joked about where I should go; I chose the cute female. I had four separate reservations and it took her a while to link them all together, and I gave her $20 asking for ‘an East Tower room with a nice view’. Clickety clack, keystrokes later I have a 38th floor room looking out at Planet Hollywood. Meantime, in my other ear, I overhear the other attendant checking someone into a studio room with ‘a fantastic view of the fountains’. OK, so I lost that one, but I was on 38, not 9, so maybe it’s a push. As I walked out the male attendant stepped out from behind the counter to hold the door for me, and I paused to say, “I should have checked in with you, I heard you had rooms with a Bellagio fountain view.” We both chuckled; honestly I didn’t really care and was just happy to be there.

Dumped my bags in the room and headed over to Walgreen’s for provisions, etc. My supposed oncoming cold wasn’t better but it wasn’t worse, either, and I wasn’t sure if it really was a condition or I was just nervous-excited about the trip, and all the coffee was just making me feel wired/weird. Regardless, I stocked up on booze, juice, Pedialyte, water etc, you know, ‘medicine’. The checkout attendants at Walgreens were giving all the people in line warnings about having glass on the strip, no longer allowed, fines, etc. Anyone know if it’s being enforced? They sure were scaring everyone.

Back at the room the fridge for my ‘medicine’ was delivered and the bellhop insisted the only location the fridge would fit was right next to the foot of my bed. Where I can trip over it each time I get out of the bed? Made no sense, and without much of an effort I was able to find an outlet in the living area next to an end table where it fit perfectly.

With some sparkling wine in my system I started to feel much better, any signs of this cold were fading fast! PT had texted me earlier to meet at STK at 9pm, so I took my time getting cleaned up, dressed and ready to roll. Walking out of the room, dressed, feeling and looking fantastic (probably the booze tells me I look good but I don’t care) is an incredible feeling. It lacks the excitement I got the first or second time I did so (as mentioned in my first TR), but it’s still an amazing high and something I look forward to all year.

It was around 8, I had some time to burn before dinner, so down to the casino. First thing I did was look for Christina, the awesome dealer I had on my last trip (first night she was dealing BJ and I threw all my rules out the window and just played her crazy advice, and it worked; second night she effectively gave our crew a private pai gow lesson) but I didn’t see her anywhere. Someone I asked said she was off on Thursday nights, alas. Scoped out craps tables but ended up playing at the $15 FB BJ table, the one near the craps tables.

I hadn’t ever played FB BJ, but after reading up on it decided to give it a shot. I’d prepped by way of printing the Wizard’s strategy card, which they had zero issues with my using at the table. Can’t remember if it was this session or one of my later ones, but the dealers and pit crew were unaware that there was a basic strategy specific to FB BJ, and they said I was the first one to have the card printed out. A cocktail or two later, and after learning the nuances of FB BJ (basically, pound your fist a la rock-paper-scissors for the free bet) I was up $200. I was in love with the Cosmo, yet again – great, fun, friendly dealers, strong, delicious cocktails and great music in the casino.

It was close to 9, so I went back up to my room for a quick nose powder before meeting PT. He texted me that they were waiting at STK, so down I went… and when I first walked up to the door it felt like being set up on a blind date, “Hi, are you… ? Yes! Oh, hi! Nice to meet you! And you are …?” but the booze in me pushed any inhibitions or nervousness aside (not that I really had any to begin with) and within minutes we were at the bar in STK: PT, the two ladies (C and K), PT’s cousin E, muscle P, and me.

Now, prior to this, when I had talked to PT and he invited me to dinner, etc., I have to confess that I had no idea what to expect. Just stating what the plan is would give you, and it gave my friends, a ‘WTF are you thinking’ look, if not a personal safety lecture:

“I met this guy on the internet; I dunno, he’s some sort of High Roller, but he seems nice. Well, he double booked some ‘ladies’ for the night, so he invited me to dinner with the ladies, on his dime. Of course I’ll be dressed. But his hired help will be there to keep an eye on things, so I’m not really worried.”

Sounds nuts, right? And several people I said the above to all stared at me with saucer eyes that said WTF are you thinking. But I have to say, it was anything but out of the ordinary. We got drinks at the bar and were quickly seated, and the next thing you know we all settled in and had a 100% normal dinner. PT was generous to pick up the tab (I had the nightly special of steak Oscar), cocktails and wine were freely flowing. It was great to meet and get to know PT’s cousin and P; I talked with C and found we have a small bit of a geographic connection, and we were all getting psyched for the suite. There was no pole dancing, no drinks thrown at faces or laps, no wine spilled on the nice dress. It was just a lovely dinner. If I have anything negative to say, the music was too loud – it really is a nightclub vibe in there, not fine dining. And the mix seemed to be the same old 80s remixes we’ve all heard a thousand times.

But speaking of the nice dress, can digress? I realize C and O are local and maybe they get out to the Comso on a regular basis, but I, sir, do not, so when I do, I’m looking sharp. I had some new four inch+ Italian heeled booties, my dress was tailored compensate for my lack of trunk-junk, and I’ve got the related accessories to round out the look. I’m sporting close to $1.5k in gear, right? And C looks great, but c’mon, Uggs?! I can’t remember what she had on top but in my memory it was a slightly dressed up version of a pajamas. <insert PT-related joke and/or snarky comment here> After dinner (thanks again, PT!) we made a pit stop at PT’s room for, I can’t remember why, but it was observed that I had the best legs of the group. After PT forced me to violate a VMB wristband with a cucumber, we headed downstairs to gambol. To the craps table!

Now, I have my own way of playing craps, and I’m pretty comfortable with it, but I really wanted to roll with someone who has more craps experience than I do, and someone who plays differently. Seems that when I’ve rolled with friends, I’m the most knowledgeable (and conservative) player of the group, so I wanted to mix it up. First thing when we got to the table was make a hot/cold determination: the table was cold. I’m not a dark side player, but I get how to play it, I just haven’t played it. PT started playing his way, which at the time I couldn’t remember but he has since posted about it here, it’s a version of the iron cross. All I remember is him repeatedly picking up a shitload of chips. Seriously, I had my single don’t bet out there with odds and I’m watching him laugh, scooping up winnings, hollering, high fiving/fist bumping, etc. He’s up a few K, I’m up a hundy or so (which is fine, don’t get me wrong), and the guy we’re standing next to is just watching in disbelief. He couldn’t believe we came to the table and basically turned our entire side dark, and we were winning, “that never happens!” Well, his loss, he just watched and wasn’t betting…

I threw the dice, PT threw the dice, we were hitting sevens. Meantime the other end of the table was playing pass and losing. I remember a gentleman on the opposite end, I won’t call him by a two letter acronym that rhymes with “schmee-bee” but you know what I’m saying. I swear, he’s wearing a velour tracksuit-type jacket with sparkles that spell out “Mr. Lucky”. He was cheering for us rolling the dice, but we were dark and winning and he wasn’t??? Why are you cheering? I just didn’t get it. The type of guy who has both chipracks filled to the brim with reds, so he thinks he’s the sht. You get the idea.

For whatever reason we colored up and left (I was up $200), and headed to the high limit area so he could show me his roulette play. I don’t think we were there for more than a half dozen spins, PT was up six or eight hundred or so, when a group of ten or so of PT’s friends stopped by. OK, I’m totally making this up as I go along: I had drinks in me, I’m meeting new people/faces left and right, it’s two weeks later and can’t remember the exact details, so sue me. PT wasn’t feeling the roulette-love, and someone (could have been me) mentioned the Verbena cocktail, so the group went up to the Chandelier bar for drinks.

This was my sixth or so trip to the Cosmo and I’d never had the Verbena. On my previous trips I always forgot to order it! Not this time, PT says he’s buying for the group. We all settled in at Chandelier and were in a circle of sorts. If you don’t know about the drink, there’s a flower floating in it, and the process is to sip, chew the flower, then sip again. You can be as prepared as you think you can be for what happens after that second sip, but I guarantee you are not prepared. I know, you’re reading this thinking, yah, right, whatever, and I was the same way.

Each of us gets the drink, and PT gives instruction, and asks one of the girls in the group to go first. Sip, chew, sip, and 20 seconds later – bam, it hits. Her face lights up, eyes bulging:confused2:, I mean, it’s nothing horrible like eating a ghost pepper (something I accidentally did this past summer), but OBVIOUSLY there’s something going on, flavor-wise. On to the next person in line: same reaction. Third person: same thing. By the fourth person, if you’re like me, you’re thinking “OK I get it, everybody has to be the dancing monkey and make your face freak out when you have that second sip and when it gets to me I’m gonna be the cool one! I’m NOT gonna freak out, no matter what!” Well, I’ll just say – I think I was #6 or so, and I could not be the cool one. I tried! I took that second sip, and waited … and when it kicked in, I was a cool cucumber (ha) and just said “Whoa. That’s odd?” Well, that lasted about ten seconds, because it just got more intense. It is crazy it all I can say, there is something in that flower that reacts with the booze, coating your mouth and throat. If you’re the least bit intrigued by this, you have to try it.

I can’t remember what transpired after this, and my crib sheet of next-day notes doesn’t help … we parted ways for the night, I don’t think I gambled, but I do remember sitting at the downstairs Chandelier bar with some of the ladies from the earlier Verbena group… I could have sworn they were married and there with spouses, but were flirting/being hit on by some weirdos and they wanted me to stick around? Hell, like I say, I don’t remember. I turned in around 3 or 4, not bad for my first night!

More to come … mini bac w PT, and he pulls something out to impress the ladies, which only resulted in flop sweat …

 

Bayou, per Identity Membership before the trip: "In the last 12 months, you have earned 13,387 points towards Gold Status which will be reached at 20,000 points in a 12 month period. So you need another 6,613 points to reach Gold status." So I had to spend $1,300 at the resort.

After: "Your current tier status is Gold which just renewed on January 18th of this year. You will have Gold until January 18th 2016. In the last 12 months you have earned 24,988 points towards a Platinum card. So you will need another 55,012 points to reach Platinum status."

 

This is a nice one!
Keep it comin!

 

Great stuff! I hope you don't mind if I fill in some details.
1) We all went to my room after dinner to drop off C and K's overnight bags before hitting the craps table.
2) Took this pic in the room of you with cucumber and VMB wristband.


3) You, C and K....Uggs!


4) Watching people's reactions to you was priceless, especially Mr. Lucky the craps player who was whispering about you to his friends and saying stuff like "Sweetheart, I need a hard eight" when you were rolling. Great fun!

 

Good stuff! Love the detail.

And I brought that Free Bet basic strategy card to the Mirage almost two years ago. I did get to hit a 13 vs. 2 in my short time playing. Good sign for "Switch" (the game's inventor) if that's the first time the Cosmo pit has seen it...

 

That Mr. Lucky was so tacky... But, hey it's Vegas. Do whatever you want as long as you're having fun and not getting arrested.

Also, for those that are interested, Pleepleus2 will be arriving in Vegas tomorrow!

 

That mind blowing moment when you realize sexy mature lady from the other thread is in fact a dude.

 

Followed by that moment you go play craps with him at PH and laugh at all the slack jawed rubber necking people
good times

 

Cosmopolitan’s secret cocktail plays with taste buds:
http://www.mynews3.com/content/news/find_it/story/Cosmopolitan-s-secret-cocktail-plays-with-taste/dhk278UiJE2RCTr8uyR9yg.cspx

 

Hands down you win best legs Olivia and I'm issuing the severest degree of fashion citation to C and K!