Coaster Kikky
Tourist
It's funny what an alcohol-induced haze will do to your memory. MM2 promised to be a sodden event, and more than delivered on its promise.
I arrived in LV on my birthday, 3/16, and found two messages on my phone. The first was an anonymous "are we there yet? are we there yet?" (I later learned this was from Steve B) and the 2nd was from my ride from the airport, RamBill, who sounded seriously hungover and telling me to call him when we landed so we could figure out where to meet. I got the flight info to him, and he said "ok, we'll be there in about 15 minutes". We, huh? Interesting. I wasn't expecting anyone other than Bill, so I figured I was about to meet my 2nd T2V'er (Bill was the first, back around Christmastime, in Connecticut).
Down in luggage, waiting for the huge suitcase we had to check, I hear my name and turn to see Bill, followed by a large man who I would recognize anywhere. He brought Mikey!!! Alright! While still waiting for the luggage (which did eventually show up - this is why we almost never check baggage) Mikey and Bill related a tale of woe and financial rapings that took place upon them the previous evening at Gold Coast. I had told Mikey I had $50 earmarked for however he needed it, so decided now was a good place to cough that up. Finally we had all the luggage we were waiting for and traipsed out to Bill's rental car, aka Willie's Wild Ride. With Bill's gear, Mikey's bags, and our stuff, we had to rearrange the back of the car so it would all fit. Bill & Mikey took the front, hubby & I got in back, and with the luggage in the rear, that was one fully loaded automobile! We hit bottom a couple of times at least. Hope the rental car company doesn't check the bottom of the car when looking for dents and scrapes upon its return.
We decided to head directly to MSS instead of going shopping for alcoholic supplies as I intended. I'm not sure there was room for even one more bag in the back! While we checked in to our room, Mikey & Bill played some craps downstairs. The room itself was nice, although we did have a substantial amount of train noise to deal with. One particularly perverted locomotive engineer apparently took delight at tooting the horn all the way at 6am every day. Asshole. What we found out that we did not like about the room was the bathroom - the shower head hit both of us in our mid chests, and that's as high as it adjusted. Made washing your hair a contortionist exercise. Also, the room did not contain a hair dryer. I haven't been in a hotel room that did not have one of those in years. With hair as long as mine, it takes quite some time to dry naturally, so there were some mornings when I was definitely on the chilly side when getting out of the room with wet hair.
We rejoined the boys downstairs and found them not doing so well. Hubby & I tried our hand, but didn't help matters. I lost $40 before deciding this wasn't the right time to make a run at craps, and suggested we find some lunch. It was fairly early for Bill & Mikey's lunch, but Hubby & I were still on east coast time and were hungry. We had previously decided on Ellis Island, so we headed out again in the car, after Mikey stopped to take a picture towards Fremont Street from the valet station at MSS.
Mikey directed Bill down Paradise Road to get to EI, completely forgetting about the massive trade show taking place at the convention center. Four hundred and sixteen million people were all crossing the road in front of us (I counted
) We also saw the monorail go overhead, but at that time were actually in a moving vehicle and were so happy about that that we decided to remain within said moving vehicle and forego mooning the monorail for the time being. Alas, that would prove to be our only opportunity, and we missed it. By the time we got to Ellis Island, I think Mikey & Bill were hungry too. We got seated right away, which was wonderful since I thought there would be a line at that time (noon). Bill had chicken parmesan sandwich, and Mikey had the same thing but a meal not a sandwich. Hubby had a pasta dish with chicken and shrimp and I opted for a steak sandwich with cole slaw. They all had ordered salads before the meal, but I decided soup sounded better so got some minestrone. We ordered root beers all the way around, and Mikey is so right - they are wonderful!! The food there was actually exceedingly good, and the prices ridiculously inexpensive. The place may look like hell, but I plan on going back!
After lunch, Mikey & Bill had stuff they needed to do, so they drove us down Flamingo towards the Strip. When we had to stop for a light, hubby & I bailed out, waving that we'd see them later. We thought we got out at Barbary Coast, but in fact had done it at Bourbon Street, so we had a little walking to do. That was ok with us though - we were finally here and MM2 was getting underway!!
Hubby went in search of a poker room (first looking at Aladdin, but settling in at Mirage) while I headed into the Desert Passage to do some shopping. It was my birthday after all! I found a great Hawaiian mini dress to go with my new figure (having lost 60 lbs in the past 8 months) and bought it. There was a long line for taxis at Aladdin, so I walked over to Paris to get one there, on the way seeing the Bellagio fountains going to Whitney Houston's "Star Spangled Banner". It made me want to put my hand over my heart. That was the only time I was on the Strip all weekend folks. Incredible, huh?
I got a cab back to MSS, put away my package and hung up my clothes so they wouldn't be too wrinkled. Then I headed out into Downtown, trying to make some profit. I had decided that I was going to share my profit at blackjack with Mikey - and hoped there would be some. I played some at MSS, The Cal (where I struck up a conversation with some people from Kauai... they were impressed that I knew so much about their island, including the very best place to have lunch. I asked them how the saimin upstairs at the Cal compared to that at Hamura's in Lihue - they said "it's not as good, but it ain't bad!" which meant I knew I had to make the stop there at some point during the stay. I actually did quite nicely at that table, and managed to put aside a green chip for our Mikey to give to him the following evening.
I also ventured into the Fremont where I played (didn't do as well there), LVC and Binions' (played at neither place that night) and back to MSS (never did have particularly good luck there) before changing for dinner at the Plaza. Hubby & I were going to eat at Center Stage for my birthday.
We were seated in the glass bubble, but well off-center from the canopy. We were a little disappointed in that because the primo seat was available, and they did know it was my birthday. We ordered a bottle of wine, but they came back to tell us it was unavailable. So we decided on a cocktail. I ordered a Patron Silver margarita (my signature drink the past few months) and hubby had a mai tai. Neither one of them were particularly well made. We had salads to start with, and those were quite good. As Hoya has mentioned, they toss them right at your table. For dinner, I had a chicken & artichoke dish which sounded like it would be yummy. The waiter even said "mmmm, that's delicious". It wasn't a horrible dish, but the sauce was much blander than I expected, and I needed to season it pretty heavily to accentuate the little flavor there was. Hubby had a shrimp scampi dish and was quite disappointed in his for the same reason. Certainly not the worst meal we've ever had, but far removed from the best either.
We were too full for dessert, even though we had requested a look at the "menu" (they rolled out a tray). They told us "no no, it's already taken care of", then they came out with a fresh fruit, chocolate and amaretto bombe with a lit candle in the top and sang happy birthday to me. It was a little funny when they completely missed my name however. My first name starts with "R" but it isn't Rachel, which is who they sang to.... too funny. The dessert was awesome - easily the best part of the meal, except for the amaretto in the bottom. I had a memorably bad experience with amaretto way back in college, and still to this day cannot drink it, so when my spoon came up with a piece of fruit and the liqueur, I was done with it.
After dinner, hubby played poker, and I partook of "Brackjack at the Praza". It actually became one of my favorite places to play downtown. Except for Queen Sheeba, who stiffed me quite a little bit. I see she did the same to Jer & Bill at other times during the weekend.
Around 10:30, I decided to head back to MSS, where I almost literally bumped into Neon at a craps table. I had almost no doubt it was him but asked anyway, and he confirmed it was him. We had the table to ourselves so we tried a few times to get a good roll going, but it just wasn't happening. So we took it to blackjack, where we played for an hour or two, with me faring significantly better then Neon did. I managed to save another green $25 chip for Brotha Mikey from here as well. Before too long, I hit the wall and decided it was bedtime. I had been awake since 1am Vegas time, so it was approaching 24 hours of being awake, and in my book that is respectable enough!
On Thursday, many of the rest of the group started to roll in, but I didn't have any specific plans until 3pm, when several people were joining me at the Plaza to try & earn some profits for Mikey. After a breakfast at MSS buffet (it was ok, not outstanding) I continued my hit and run blackjack theory (no more than a $50 loss anywhere before losing, leaving after a $150 profit) and ended up with almost $500 in profit from all over downtown, including an additional 3 green chips to hand over to Mikey that night. I had lunch by myself at the Cal (Hoya, the name of the place is Aloha Market Specialties). I ordered a "small" saimin and it was huge! I couldn't eat half of it! I was walking across the overhead bridge between MSS and the Cal when I got a text message from one of the group saying "Happy Birthday".
Ok, I hear what you're saying now... she says she can't remember anything but so far so good. Yup, that's because cocktail service downtown sucked. I couldn't get a good buzz on to save my life on Wednesday or Thursday. I needed our group to come around for that to happen! That was going to start happening soon, so I went to the Plaza to get ready for the "Mikey benefit blackjack game". Sadly, the Plaza was totally hopping, so getting together on a table was absolutely impossible. I did get on a table with some boys, who were happy to see a female I think (men outnumbered women at MM, not just in our group but overall, something like 6 to 1... it was awesome!!). Before too long, I got a tap on my shoulder and it was Prince Paul stoppoing by to say hello and wanting to play blackjack. No room for him at the table, so he went over to a 3 card poker game. Not long after that, Doctor Al introduced himself, and Paul rejoined us and decided that the birthday girl (late by one day but I wasn't going to complain) needed a drink!! So he bought me a margarita from the bar, and got Al a gin and tonic, and I'll be darned if I remember what he got himself. Paul is an absolute doll - if he ever says he's coming to your town to visit, you'll want to make sure you see him. He will keep you in stitches!! Before too long, Rambill showed up to play. We still couldn't get on a blackjack table, so the four of us tried our hand at mini baccarat. Yes, I know the odds on this game are low, but the game itself works better to induce sleep than Doctor Jack21's much recommended Ambien. We didn't stick long for that, but had told people to meet us at the Plaza, so hung around a little bit, looking for people, before bailing to Binions. We all got on a table there, and got totally shellacked my Carlos. And on top of that, they brought me a mudslide with curdled milk in it. For the rest of the trip, none of my mudslides would contain milk - give 'em to me straight up please! At Binions, Paul was able to secure a room for Thursday night for $60. That rescued him from having to drive to Primm where he had a room reserved. We were all happy to know he could get hammered downtown and not have to risk life and limb just to sleep in a bed.
The four of us also ventured to Fremont, where Al & Paul played video poker and Bill & I played blackjack. Sadly none of us were able to show any profit for Mikey - but that is gambling! And thankfully I had a nice stash from earlier in the day to hand over.
It was time to meet up at MSS, so we headed to the 777 brewpub, where we quickly found Mikey being the center of attention. He mentioned something else about taking a beating at craps, so I said "now's as good a time as any" and gave him the $125 in green. The look on his face was easily worth that amount!! You see, I thought we'd end up hitting all the bars that night.... those of us who actually crawled really only made it to a couple, and Mikey and his boys actually just stayed put at MSS. He told me later he begged the cage at MSS to accept his "foreign cheques" so he wouldn't have to wander downtown to cash them in.
People I recognized started to filter in, and I greeted Jack/Eric (who was called that for the entire trip) and later Blackjack showed up. Vegas Jer showed up and was introduced. Later 3cats and Vegasbound got off work and made it in. And SteveB took time out of watching the hoops to stop for a drink and some food. I know I'm missing people and I am sorry.... Paul, Bill and Al were doing a good job of supplying the birthday girl with drinks at this point and it was starting to get blurry. I know we shared a bunch of appetizers around the table - most of them were pretty good. We had a bucket of 40 shrimp that got passed up and some sushi, and artichoke dip (ok, that wasn't that good, it was too runny) and breaded mushrooms. Everyone was laughing and drinking and having a good time. There was no way to catch everything that was being said and done, particularly because it was a very long table. I do remember at one point I heard Mikey say something about his Spongebob Squarepants boxers. I immediately flipped him $30 to flash them and by god, he did. Right in the middle of a crowded restaurant!! Right on, brotha. Then he gave me his camera so he could do it again. SteveB left us $100 in comps to use at the restaurant, and the rest of us threw money at Mikey to cover the bill. Then it was time to roll the dice!
About 10 of us crowded onto one of the tables at MSS. On our end of the table we had Rambill, Mikey, me & Jer. Sorry I can't remember Bill's roll at all, but Mikey had a decent one, I followed it up with a pretty good one (think I made about 3 or 4 points), and Jer finished with a good one of his own. About then RossW showed up and I got his T2V t shirt to him. He was not happy that it was slobbered on, but I told him now his matched everyone else's. I'm so sorry Ross - please don't hate me! Jack/Eric stopped Jer & I to show him how he colored up. In his TR, Jer said a bunch of greens... I saw 3 or 4 blacks in his palm.... wtg Jack/Eric, and a pat on the back for me & Jer. I made a little bit of money off us, but nothing like that.
About this time, some in the group started gathering for the webcam walk, but as Jer mentioned, a few of us were happily ensconced at a blackjack table. I wasn't unhappy with how I was doing at first base, Jer was up and playing with house money (which apparently worked against him) and Blackjack didn't seem too unhappy. Rambill had already bailed, having seen enough crappy cards for one evening (if only that were so!). By and by, it became apparent that the huge anticipated "pubcrawl" wasn't going to happen. Mikey and the Phoenix boys weren't budging from the craps table, a few people (Neon and Vegasbound and 3cats and Prince Paul, among others) were among the missing, so who became the 4 musketeers for this evening were me, Doc Al, Jer and Rambill. I couldn't have picked better companions for what was about to happen!
We had been drinking fairly strongly since about 3pm, and it was now after 8:30, if not after 9 so we all had a good buzz on. We wandered down Fremont in search of trouble, and we surely found it at Le Bayou. My boys marched me in there and ordered four drinks with the everclear. I have no idea which drink we ordered, but I refer to it as "AntiFreeze". It was pink, not blue, but I was very warm not after drinking it - not only that night but almost all of the next day, despite the somewhat chilly weather. I ended up taking off my sweater and making the "crawl" in a tank top and jeans, and sandals.
As Jer mentioned, we were getting pretty loopy. I remember dancing to a band on Fremont street and accidentally bumped into Al. I guess we both thought that was pretty funny because we started dancing the bump. Everyone had talked about shooting craps at El Co, so, drawn like moths to the light, we kept trudging in that direction. I'd never been there before, and to be honest, I can't remember a thing about what it looks like, but I know I've been there. I should mention that Al finished his "Antifreeze" before we were even past Fitzgeralds'. Ouch. Bill, Jer & I were steadily working on ours in the meantime.
We made it to the El Co, where we gambled and were probably highly obnoxious. I'm quite sure of it. I do remember spectating at a craps table (I had to sit down) and Al & I played video poker briefly. Then I sat down at a blackjack table next to Bill and promptly kicked over the remains of mine & Jer's drink. There was precious little left in either of them, so purists need not be too alarmed. Eventually, we decided we needed to get something to eat, and as Jer said, we headed to the little diner there, where we were promptly seated, and then never saw a waitress to take our order. I do remember on the way out someone asking if we weren't going to pay our bill. We said "never ordered anything, so there's nothing to pay!". I'm not sure she believed us highly drunk people, but it was true!
Apparently we wandered back up Fremont Street, because we weren't far from the Golden Gate when we decided to try Peppermill. I remember nothing of this walk up until the time we asked Al about getting food, and he turned a very sickly color and stopped walking. When we realized he wasn't with us we turned around in time to see his head start to disappear into the garbage can. Kudos to Al though - when he realized he was being watched, he gave us the thumbs up. Classic. You didn't get that on camera did you Bill? So Bill, Jer & I are there talking amongst ourselves and saying "we gotta look out for him, we can't leave him like this, we are his friends". So when he raised his head, we gently pointed him towards his lodging at Golden Gate. Although to be honest, the last time I saw him that night, he was veering left pretty substantially. That night, the grain train rode him not the other way around.
So now our 4 musketeers is down to 3 and we are famished! We walk (ok, stagger) over to the Plaza and get a cab to Peppermill. I told the boys if they paid for the cab I'd pick up the food. That worked out. As Jer pointed out, the food at Peppermill was disappointing. Not awful, just not "wow". I ordered a french dip sandwich, and it wasn't bad, but it was somewhat overpriced. We all expected better, having read so many positive trip reports about the place. On the other hand, we were all seriously intoxicated so maybe our tastebuds had drowned!
After eating, we traipsed over to the Riviera (ha! Jer, that was where we went) and played some penny slots. I think I put $20 in... could have been $100, what the hell do I know... I have NO idea what was going on at that point. I probably left money in that machine too, as my attention span about equalled that of a gnat. We eventually got a taxi back to downtown, and the boys were nice enough to drop me off first at MSS. I staggered upstairs to bed, no clue what time it was, and absolutely blitzkrieged. What a fun night!
The next morning, I felt really tired until I got in the shower and bent over to wash my feet. Oh. My. God. That was a huge mistake. I wasn't right for the rest of the trip, I swear!!
This morning, in preparation for the noon webcam walk, I had to go shopping. This was especially needed since Jer had left the booze in the other rental care that had gotten hit. So I walked down Fremont to the Walgreens across from Jillians in search of some fixins. Not that I had any intention of drinking mind you... this was in case anyone else did.
I was only able to find some breakfast for me... a banana and a water... at Walgreens, so I walked back down the street. I spotted a liquor store not far from Walgreens, and managed to score margarita mix and bloody mary mix there. They directed me to a little hispanic market to hopefully find green olives. Nope. No luck. Terry had wanted to make sure Jer had bloody mary stuff, but no olives were available anywhere downtown. So I bought some hot peppers. Thought that might make an interesting change. On the way back, I scored some Ketel One at ABC and we were good to go.
Just a few minutes after getting back to MSS, we ran into SteveB, who stopped to chat, and Jer found us there as well. Jer came back to the room with hubby & I so we could get him to carry Mutha back to the Plaza. I had two bags to carry, but Mutha was a big girl, and I wanted someone who was at least possibly more steady on his feet than I was to carry her. (and I picked Jer to do this? what's wrong with this picture?) We made it, and settled down on the couches of the suite to wait for the others. Neither of us wanted anything stronger to drink than water, which is what we were having. Wusses, huh? After awhile, the phones started ringing. Bill was asking what we were up to, and after a couple of calls he decided to make his way back over (he had spent part of the night crashed in this hotel). Al showed up and said he was waiting for Ross (I think), then made it up to the suite, drinking either tomato juice or bloody mary (then switched over to just ice, thanks). Neon made it up, and Terry called to find out where we were. We DID make it to the webcam, but none of us could agree on what time it was. One's watch said noon, one's said it was five before, another's said 3 after, etc., so we just decided to walk it twice and hope for the best. My coworkers saw us in Maryland, but none of them saved the picture. Idiots! While we were waiting for the light to cross the street, we saw a guy with a cooler running through the traffic. Apparently this had happened repeatedly at this intersection, and the joke was made about how many people were waking up in their room with a note on them saying their kidney had been harvested. We had a lot of jokes that day and the day before - some of them were sidesplitting - but I don't remember too many of them. Hopefully one of these drunks will so we can share them with you.
After that, we ventured into the LVC where we grabbed a blackjack table. As Jer wrote, there were four of us and one older man. The sixth chair rotated in and out and at one point included a fellow from Long Island who did in fact split 10's. Thankfully for him, and for us, it worked this time, and we didn't have to hang him from the ceiling by his toenails. At this point, Frank the Tank was getting thirsty. No cocktail service had been seen anywhere near our table. One server had stopped at the table next ours then walked on as if we were invisible. She could probably smell the 4 of us who'd done the grain train the night before and figured we were cooked enough already! Terry got the pitboss over to the table and said "I am BEGGING you to get a cocktail server to this table"... later he went from begging to bribery "I'll give you $20 if you can get a cocktail waitress here right now, honestly! I mean it!!". I think that may have actually worked a little better as they started coming more regularly after that.
I will say this for the T2V'ers... having played at several craps and blackjack tables, even that small mini baccarat session... this is a group of tippers! When Mikey gets his dealer job, and we come to town, either en masse like this past weekend or just individually to look him up, he will make out very well indeed!
Even though it was a great fun table with my T2V buddies, it somehow cost me $120 to play there for a couple of hours. After that loss, I decided I needed to take some time to get ready for that night at Rio. Jack/Eric and I had cooked up a little awards ceremony and I needed to do some prep for that. So I left the boys and headed back to MSS to do that, as well as try and continue the recuperation from Thursday night and get ready to do it all over again on Friday.
The time was quickly approaching for the takeover of Voodoo Lounge, so I made my way to Rio. I had never been there before and got absolutely and totally lost almost as soon as I set foot inside. Eventually I found my way to the floor where the elevators were for Voodoo Lounge, only to have Al meet up with me and tell me the bad news - that Voodoo was already formally taken over and it wasn't by us. So we were hanging by the tequila bar and rounding up people as we found them. By and by, we found everyone we were looking for except for Ross. After I got him his stained t shirt, I never saw him again. I'm sorry Ross!! Angy & her friend showed up, and they were a new addition to the group, and I swear she hadn't been there 10 minutes but she is reaching behind her back and all of a sudden a bra comes popping out from under her shirt! You should seen the look on Jack/Eric's face! Priceless! But he was good to his word, and he determinedly poured something (don't know what) into one of the cups, landing ice and booze all over the floor (and me, and Angy) but he sure enough swilled it. Then he took a napkin, dried it off and put it over his head. Neither Angy nor I could easily hook the bra under his chin (hey! this is NOT the angle we are used to!) but we eventually got it, and pictures were taken. Then Bill put the bra on. Good times. Then I decided it was time for the first "award" and gave Eric the bag containing something I saw for Angy when I recently went earring shopping - a sparkling tiara, so she might be addressed as Your Royal Highness the rest of the evening. She wore that happily the rest of the night. We also gave Mikey his award - a Jack Binion bobblehead doll (leading to his call about "you may pick up Mr Binion's head....") I can't believe you broke Jack! Not to worry... I have your address, and I have another one!
We had an award for Sin, who couldn't make the Madness after all. She was going to be given a metallic g-string for "best trip report" (Poof!) and we had an award for Terry for "best thread" (beginnings of a list) - his prize was from the Patron logo store. Damn shame the letter jacket was so expensive, but the golf balls are going to have to do - and face it, when we think of golf on this board, Terry is one of the first people to come to mind.
A bunch of us watched the parade in the sky go by. Jack/Eric flashed his chest but garnered no beads. I watched and came back with a handful. Someone gave me a questioning look and I said "I got what it takes.... I stood next to someone who could catch the beads!"
We started buying and drinking beverages almost faster than the bartending staff could keep up with. Many consumed monster margaritas, and when I went to buy a round for people, Terry didn't know what he wanted so I told the bartender "he wants something different - make up something for him". That was the drink that was called "the Terry" for the rest of the night. I know it contained chambord and some other stuff.... it did taste like koolaid and it did kick your ass. I also bought a nice shot of Patron for myself and Blackjack and we downed them in unison. And that my friends is where the memory starts to get a little more fuzzy! It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I had only eaten a banana and two small muffins all day?
The group started to splinter as Mikey & crew headed to dinner, taking Angy & her friend with them. Jack/Eric and his buds also headed out... that left about 8 or 9 of us behind. I missed the conversation, having been watching Vermont beat Syracuse in Overtime in the NCAA (screeching like a crazy drunken woman too) but quickly decided that a limo ride with several of my drunken T2V friends would be a hoot. The group was Jer, Tammy, Terry, Bill, Neon, me, Al and Blackjack. We found a limo we could squeeze into and made our way towards the Plaza. The downside to this was that we didn't really have much alcohol with us - basically that which we had purchased at the bar and were still carrying. We made it to the Plaza, and Jer's already told that story far better than I can, but it was a wonderfully fun evening all the way around. Jer saved my butt by letting me collapse in his suite (good thing he had some space to spread out, as I was not the only collapsee there!). When he left to go home at 4ish, he said stay as long as you need to - and I did... I slept there until 8 or 9, then called hubby to come help carry this huge bag of stuff I had.
Saturday was a pretty wasted day - I got a few phone calls from the gang, but pretty much just stayed in bed all day. I did manage to get to the Cal to cash in my winning Vermont ticket. And again, I couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. I know Angy wanted me to party with her on Saturday night, but I was a total party pooper. I was dead - hubby & I even had dinner reservations that we made then bailed on 45 minutes later when it turned windy and rainy. I was sound asleep at 6pm, and slept most of the night through. I needed it.
I started to feel more human on the plane home, and ate a real meal Sunday night. I'm about 95% now, so should be as good as new before too long.
I can't wait for MM3, or whatever group hangs we can plan. T2V has some of the nicest, funniest, great to hang around drunks I've ever seen in my life! I love you guys!!
Tuesday morning addendum: I forgot to add that I completely fell in love with Downtown this trip. My favorite place to gamble has become... The Cal! You all know (well you should by now anyway) that Hawaii and Vegas compete with each other for my favorite destination. At The Cal, I come pretty close to getting both! The Plaza was much better than I expected it to be, and I also liked the Fremont. What a fun time! Also on my list to check out more is the Rio. I liked it the minute I stepped into it on Friday. I expected to hate it, but the Carnival vibe going was strong and fun. Except for that head thing with the moving eyes. That gave me the heebie jeebies. I'm sure being drunk as a skunk had *nothing* to do with that now did it?
[ March 22, 2005, 02:38 AM: Message edited by: Coaster Kikky ]
I arrived in LV on my birthday, 3/16, and found two messages on my phone. The first was an anonymous "are we there yet? are we there yet?" (I later learned this was from Steve B) and the 2nd was from my ride from the airport, RamBill, who sounded seriously hungover and telling me to call him when we landed so we could figure out where to meet. I got the flight info to him, and he said "ok, we'll be there in about 15 minutes". We, huh? Interesting. I wasn't expecting anyone other than Bill, so I figured I was about to meet my 2nd T2V'er (Bill was the first, back around Christmastime, in Connecticut).
Down in luggage, waiting for the huge suitcase we had to check, I hear my name and turn to see Bill, followed by a large man who I would recognize anywhere. He brought Mikey!!! Alright! While still waiting for the luggage (which did eventually show up - this is why we almost never check baggage) Mikey and Bill related a tale of woe and financial rapings that took place upon them the previous evening at Gold Coast. I had told Mikey I had $50 earmarked for however he needed it, so decided now was a good place to cough that up. Finally we had all the luggage we were waiting for and traipsed out to Bill's rental car, aka Willie's Wild Ride. With Bill's gear, Mikey's bags, and our stuff, we had to rearrange the back of the car so it would all fit. Bill & Mikey took the front, hubby & I got in back, and with the luggage in the rear, that was one fully loaded automobile! We hit bottom a couple of times at least. Hope the rental car company doesn't check the bottom of the car when looking for dents and scrapes upon its return.
We decided to head directly to MSS instead of going shopping for alcoholic supplies as I intended. I'm not sure there was room for even one more bag in the back! While we checked in to our room, Mikey & Bill played some craps downstairs. The room itself was nice, although we did have a substantial amount of train noise to deal with. One particularly perverted locomotive engineer apparently took delight at tooting the horn all the way at 6am every day. Asshole. What we found out that we did not like about the room was the bathroom - the shower head hit both of us in our mid chests, and that's as high as it adjusted. Made washing your hair a contortionist exercise. Also, the room did not contain a hair dryer. I haven't been in a hotel room that did not have one of those in years. With hair as long as mine, it takes quite some time to dry naturally, so there were some mornings when I was definitely on the chilly side when getting out of the room with wet hair.
We rejoined the boys downstairs and found them not doing so well. Hubby & I tried our hand, but didn't help matters. I lost $40 before deciding this wasn't the right time to make a run at craps, and suggested we find some lunch. It was fairly early for Bill & Mikey's lunch, but Hubby & I were still on east coast time and were hungry. We had previously decided on Ellis Island, so we headed out again in the car, after Mikey stopped to take a picture towards Fremont Street from the valet station at MSS.
Mikey directed Bill down Paradise Road to get to EI, completely forgetting about the massive trade show taking place at the convention center. Four hundred and sixteen million people were all crossing the road in front of us (I counted
) We also saw the monorail go overhead, but at that time were actually in a moving vehicle and were so happy about that that we decided to remain within said moving vehicle and forego mooning the monorail for the time being. Alas, that would prove to be our only opportunity, and we missed it. By the time we got to Ellis Island, I think Mikey & Bill were hungry too. We got seated right away, which was wonderful since I thought there would be a line at that time (noon). Bill had chicken parmesan sandwich, and Mikey had the same thing but a meal not a sandwich. Hubby had a pasta dish with chicken and shrimp and I opted for a steak sandwich with cole slaw. They all had ordered salads before the meal, but I decided soup sounded better so got some minestrone. We ordered root beers all the way around, and Mikey is so right - they are wonderful!! The food there was actually exceedingly good, and the prices ridiculously inexpensive. The place may look like hell, but I plan on going back!After lunch, Mikey & Bill had stuff they needed to do, so they drove us down Flamingo towards the Strip. When we had to stop for a light, hubby & I bailed out, waving that we'd see them later. We thought we got out at Barbary Coast, but in fact had done it at Bourbon Street, so we had a little walking to do. That was ok with us though - we were finally here and MM2 was getting underway!!
Hubby went in search of a poker room (first looking at Aladdin, but settling in at Mirage) while I headed into the Desert Passage to do some shopping. It was my birthday after all! I found a great Hawaiian mini dress to go with my new figure (having lost 60 lbs in the past 8 months) and bought it. There was a long line for taxis at Aladdin, so I walked over to Paris to get one there, on the way seeing the Bellagio fountains going to Whitney Houston's "Star Spangled Banner". It made me want to put my hand over my heart. That was the only time I was on the Strip all weekend folks. Incredible, huh?
I got a cab back to MSS, put away my package and hung up my clothes so they wouldn't be too wrinkled. Then I headed out into Downtown, trying to make some profit. I had decided that I was going to share my profit at blackjack with Mikey - and hoped there would be some. I played some at MSS, The Cal (where I struck up a conversation with some people from Kauai... they were impressed that I knew so much about their island, including the very best place to have lunch. I asked them how the saimin upstairs at the Cal compared to that at Hamura's in Lihue - they said "it's not as good, but it ain't bad!" which meant I knew I had to make the stop there at some point during the stay. I actually did quite nicely at that table, and managed to put aside a green chip for our Mikey to give to him the following evening.
I also ventured into the Fremont where I played (didn't do as well there), LVC and Binions' (played at neither place that night) and back to MSS (never did have particularly good luck there) before changing for dinner at the Plaza. Hubby & I were going to eat at Center Stage for my birthday.
We were seated in the glass bubble, but well off-center from the canopy. We were a little disappointed in that because the primo seat was available, and they did know it was my birthday. We ordered a bottle of wine, but they came back to tell us it was unavailable. So we decided on a cocktail. I ordered a Patron Silver margarita (my signature drink the past few months) and hubby had a mai tai. Neither one of them were particularly well made. We had salads to start with, and those were quite good. As Hoya has mentioned, they toss them right at your table. For dinner, I had a chicken & artichoke dish which sounded like it would be yummy. The waiter even said "mmmm, that's delicious". It wasn't a horrible dish, but the sauce was much blander than I expected, and I needed to season it pretty heavily to accentuate the little flavor there was. Hubby had a shrimp scampi dish and was quite disappointed in his for the same reason. Certainly not the worst meal we've ever had, but far removed from the best either.
We were too full for dessert, even though we had requested a look at the "menu" (they rolled out a tray). They told us "no no, it's already taken care of", then they came out with a fresh fruit, chocolate and amaretto bombe with a lit candle in the top and sang happy birthday to me. It was a little funny when they completely missed my name however. My first name starts with "R" but it isn't Rachel, which is who they sang to.... too funny. The dessert was awesome - easily the best part of the meal, except for the amaretto in the bottom. I had a memorably bad experience with amaretto way back in college, and still to this day cannot drink it, so when my spoon came up with a piece of fruit and the liqueur, I was done with it.
After dinner, hubby played poker, and I partook of "Brackjack at the Praza". It actually became one of my favorite places to play downtown. Except for Queen Sheeba, who stiffed me quite a little bit. I see she did the same to Jer & Bill at other times during the weekend.
Around 10:30, I decided to head back to MSS, where I almost literally bumped into Neon at a craps table. I had almost no doubt it was him but asked anyway, and he confirmed it was him. We had the table to ourselves so we tried a few times to get a good roll going, but it just wasn't happening. So we took it to blackjack, where we played for an hour or two, with me faring significantly better then Neon did. I managed to save another green $25 chip for Brotha Mikey from here as well. Before too long, I hit the wall and decided it was bedtime. I had been awake since 1am Vegas time, so it was approaching 24 hours of being awake, and in my book that is respectable enough!
On Thursday, many of the rest of the group started to roll in, but I didn't have any specific plans until 3pm, when several people were joining me at the Plaza to try & earn some profits for Mikey. After a breakfast at MSS buffet (it was ok, not outstanding) I continued my hit and run blackjack theory (no more than a $50 loss anywhere before losing, leaving after a $150 profit) and ended up with almost $500 in profit from all over downtown, including an additional 3 green chips to hand over to Mikey that night. I had lunch by myself at the Cal (Hoya, the name of the place is Aloha Market Specialties). I ordered a "small" saimin and it was huge! I couldn't eat half of it! I was walking across the overhead bridge between MSS and the Cal when I got a text message from one of the group saying "Happy Birthday".
Ok, I hear what you're saying now... she says she can't remember anything but so far so good. Yup, that's because cocktail service downtown sucked. I couldn't get a good buzz on to save my life on Wednesday or Thursday. I needed our group to come around for that to happen! That was going to start happening soon, so I went to the Plaza to get ready for the "Mikey benefit blackjack game". Sadly, the Plaza was totally hopping, so getting together on a table was absolutely impossible. I did get on a table with some boys, who were happy to see a female I think (men outnumbered women at MM, not just in our group but overall, something like 6 to 1... it was awesome!!). Before too long, I got a tap on my shoulder and it was Prince Paul stoppoing by to say hello and wanting to play blackjack. No room for him at the table, so he went over to a 3 card poker game. Not long after that, Doctor Al introduced himself, and Paul rejoined us and decided that the birthday girl (late by one day but I wasn't going to complain) needed a drink!! So he bought me a margarita from the bar, and got Al a gin and tonic, and I'll be darned if I remember what he got himself. Paul is an absolute doll - if he ever says he's coming to your town to visit, you'll want to make sure you see him. He will keep you in stitches!! Before too long, Rambill showed up to play. We still couldn't get on a blackjack table, so the four of us tried our hand at mini baccarat. Yes, I know the odds on this game are low, but the game itself works better to induce sleep than Doctor Jack21's much recommended Ambien. We didn't stick long for that, but had told people to meet us at the Plaza, so hung around a little bit, looking for people, before bailing to Binions. We all got on a table there, and got totally shellacked my Carlos. And on top of that, they brought me a mudslide with curdled milk in it. For the rest of the trip, none of my mudslides would contain milk - give 'em to me straight up please! At Binions, Paul was able to secure a room for Thursday night for $60. That rescued him from having to drive to Primm where he had a room reserved. We were all happy to know he could get hammered downtown and not have to risk life and limb just to sleep in a bed.
The four of us also ventured to Fremont, where Al & Paul played video poker and Bill & I played blackjack. Sadly none of us were able to show any profit for Mikey - but that is gambling! And thankfully I had a nice stash from earlier in the day to hand over.
It was time to meet up at MSS, so we headed to the 777 brewpub, where we quickly found Mikey being the center of attention. He mentioned something else about taking a beating at craps, so I said "now's as good a time as any" and gave him the $125 in green. The look on his face was easily worth that amount!! You see, I thought we'd end up hitting all the bars that night.... those of us who actually crawled really only made it to a couple, and Mikey and his boys actually just stayed put at MSS. He told me later he begged the cage at MSS to accept his "foreign cheques" so he wouldn't have to wander downtown to cash them in.
People I recognized started to filter in, and I greeted Jack/Eric (who was called that for the entire trip) and later Blackjack showed up. Vegas Jer showed up and was introduced. Later 3cats and Vegasbound got off work and made it in. And SteveB took time out of watching the hoops to stop for a drink and some food. I know I'm missing people and I am sorry.... Paul, Bill and Al were doing a good job of supplying the birthday girl with drinks at this point and it was starting to get blurry. I know we shared a bunch of appetizers around the table - most of them were pretty good. We had a bucket of 40 shrimp that got passed up and some sushi, and artichoke dip (ok, that wasn't that good, it was too runny) and breaded mushrooms. Everyone was laughing and drinking and having a good time. There was no way to catch everything that was being said and done, particularly because it was a very long table. I do remember at one point I heard Mikey say something about his Spongebob Squarepants boxers. I immediately flipped him $30 to flash them and by god, he did. Right in the middle of a crowded restaurant!! Right on, brotha. Then he gave me his camera so he could do it again. SteveB left us $100 in comps to use at the restaurant, and the rest of us threw money at Mikey to cover the bill. Then it was time to roll the dice!
About 10 of us crowded onto one of the tables at MSS. On our end of the table we had Rambill, Mikey, me & Jer. Sorry I can't remember Bill's roll at all, but Mikey had a decent one, I followed it up with a pretty good one (think I made about 3 or 4 points), and Jer finished with a good one of his own. About then RossW showed up and I got his T2V t shirt to him. He was not happy that it was slobbered on, but I told him now his matched everyone else's. I'm so sorry Ross - please don't hate me! Jack/Eric stopped Jer & I to show him how he colored up. In his TR, Jer said a bunch of greens... I saw 3 or 4 blacks in his palm.... wtg Jack/Eric, and a pat on the back for me & Jer. I made a little bit of money off us, but nothing like that.
About this time, some in the group started gathering for the webcam walk, but as Jer mentioned, a few of us were happily ensconced at a blackjack table. I wasn't unhappy with how I was doing at first base, Jer was up and playing with house money (which apparently worked against him) and Blackjack didn't seem too unhappy. Rambill had already bailed, having seen enough crappy cards for one evening (if only that were so!). By and by, it became apparent that the huge anticipated "pubcrawl" wasn't going to happen. Mikey and the Phoenix boys weren't budging from the craps table, a few people (Neon and Vegasbound and 3cats and Prince Paul, among others) were among the missing, so who became the 4 musketeers for this evening were me, Doc Al, Jer and Rambill. I couldn't have picked better companions for what was about to happen!
We had been drinking fairly strongly since about 3pm, and it was now after 8:30, if not after 9 so we all had a good buzz on. We wandered down Fremont in search of trouble, and we surely found it at Le Bayou. My boys marched me in there and ordered four drinks with the everclear. I have no idea which drink we ordered, but I refer to it as "AntiFreeze". It was pink, not blue, but I was very warm not after drinking it - not only that night but almost all of the next day, despite the somewhat chilly weather. I ended up taking off my sweater and making the "crawl" in a tank top and jeans, and sandals.
As Jer mentioned, we were getting pretty loopy. I remember dancing to a band on Fremont street and accidentally bumped into Al. I guess we both thought that was pretty funny because we started dancing the bump. Everyone had talked about shooting craps at El Co, so, drawn like moths to the light, we kept trudging in that direction. I'd never been there before, and to be honest, I can't remember a thing about what it looks like, but I know I've been there. I should mention that Al finished his "Antifreeze" before we were even past Fitzgeralds'. Ouch. Bill, Jer & I were steadily working on ours in the meantime.
We made it to the El Co, where we gambled and were probably highly obnoxious. I'm quite sure of it. I do remember spectating at a craps table (I had to sit down) and Al & I played video poker briefly. Then I sat down at a blackjack table next to Bill and promptly kicked over the remains of mine & Jer's drink. There was precious little left in either of them, so purists need not be too alarmed. Eventually, we decided we needed to get something to eat, and as Jer said, we headed to the little diner there, where we were promptly seated, and then never saw a waitress to take our order. I do remember on the way out someone asking if we weren't going to pay our bill. We said "never ordered anything, so there's nothing to pay!". I'm not sure she believed us highly drunk people, but it was true!
Apparently we wandered back up Fremont Street, because we weren't far from the Golden Gate when we decided to try Peppermill. I remember nothing of this walk up until the time we asked Al about getting food, and he turned a very sickly color and stopped walking. When we realized he wasn't with us we turned around in time to see his head start to disappear into the garbage can. Kudos to Al though - when he realized he was being watched, he gave us the thumbs up. Classic. You didn't get that on camera did you Bill? So Bill, Jer & I are there talking amongst ourselves and saying "we gotta look out for him, we can't leave him like this, we are his friends". So when he raised his head, we gently pointed him towards his lodging at Golden Gate. Although to be honest, the last time I saw him that night, he was veering left pretty substantially. That night, the grain train rode him not the other way around.
So now our 4 musketeers is down to 3 and we are famished! We walk (ok, stagger) over to the Plaza and get a cab to Peppermill. I told the boys if they paid for the cab I'd pick up the food. That worked out. As Jer pointed out, the food at Peppermill was disappointing. Not awful, just not "wow". I ordered a french dip sandwich, and it wasn't bad, but it was somewhat overpriced. We all expected better, having read so many positive trip reports about the place. On the other hand, we were all seriously intoxicated so maybe our tastebuds had drowned!
After eating, we traipsed over to the Riviera (ha! Jer, that was where we went) and played some penny slots. I think I put $20 in... could have been $100, what the hell do I know... I have NO idea what was going on at that point. I probably left money in that machine too, as my attention span about equalled that of a gnat. We eventually got a taxi back to downtown, and the boys were nice enough to drop me off first at MSS. I staggered upstairs to bed, no clue what time it was, and absolutely blitzkrieged. What a fun night!
The next morning, I felt really tired until I got in the shower and bent over to wash my feet. Oh. My. God. That was a huge mistake. I wasn't right for the rest of the trip, I swear!!
This morning, in preparation for the noon webcam walk, I had to go shopping. This was especially needed since Jer had left the booze in the other rental care that had gotten hit. So I walked down Fremont to the Walgreens across from Jillians in search of some fixins. Not that I had any intention of drinking mind you... this was in case anyone else did.
I was only able to find some breakfast for me... a banana and a water... at Walgreens, so I walked back down the street. I spotted a liquor store not far from Walgreens, and managed to score margarita mix and bloody mary mix there. They directed me to a little hispanic market to hopefully find green olives. Nope. No luck. Terry had wanted to make sure Jer had bloody mary stuff, but no olives were available anywhere downtown. So I bought some hot peppers. Thought that might make an interesting change. On the way back, I scored some Ketel One at ABC and we were good to go.
Just a few minutes after getting back to MSS, we ran into SteveB, who stopped to chat, and Jer found us there as well. Jer came back to the room with hubby & I so we could get him to carry Mutha back to the Plaza. I had two bags to carry, but Mutha was a big girl, and I wanted someone who was at least possibly more steady on his feet than I was to carry her. (and I picked Jer to do this? what's wrong with this picture?)
We made it, and settled down on the couches of the suite to wait for the others. Neither of us wanted anything stronger to drink than water, which is what we were having. Wusses, huh? After awhile, the phones started ringing. Bill was asking what we were up to, and after a couple of calls he decided to make his way back over (he had spent part of the night crashed in this hotel). Al showed up and said he was waiting for Ross (I think), then made it up to the suite, drinking either tomato juice or bloody mary (then switched over to just ice, thanks). Neon made it up, and Terry called to find out where we were. We DID make it to the webcam, but none of us could agree on what time it was. One's watch said noon, one's said it was five before, another's said 3 after, etc., so we just decided to walk it twice and hope for the best. My coworkers saw us in Maryland, but none of them saved the picture. Idiots! While we were waiting for the light to cross the street, we saw a guy with a cooler running through the traffic. Apparently this had happened repeatedly at this intersection, and the joke was made about how many people were waking up in their room with a note on them saying their kidney had been harvested. We had a lot of jokes that day and the day before - some of them were sidesplitting - but I don't remember too many of them. Hopefully one of these drunks will so we can share them with you.After that, we ventured into the LVC where we grabbed a blackjack table. As Jer wrote, there were four of us and one older man. The sixth chair rotated in and out and at one point included a fellow from Long Island who did in fact split 10's. Thankfully for him, and for us, it worked this time, and we didn't have to hang him from the ceiling by his toenails. At this point, Frank the Tank was getting thirsty. No cocktail service had been seen anywhere near our table. One server had stopped at the table next ours then walked on as if we were invisible. She could probably smell the 4 of us who'd done the grain train the night before and figured we were cooked enough already! Terry got the pitboss over to the table and said "I am BEGGING you to get a cocktail server to this table"... later he went from begging to bribery "I'll give you $20 if you can get a cocktail waitress here right now, honestly! I mean it!!". I think that may have actually worked a little better as they started coming more regularly after that.
I will say this for the T2V'ers... having played at several craps and blackjack tables, even that small mini baccarat session... this is a group of tippers! When Mikey gets his dealer job, and we come to town, either en masse like this past weekend or just individually to look him up, he will make out very well indeed!
Even though it was a great fun table with my T2V buddies, it somehow cost me $120 to play there for a couple of hours. After that loss, I decided I needed to take some time to get ready for that night at Rio. Jack/Eric and I had cooked up a little awards ceremony and I needed to do some prep for that. So I left the boys and headed back to MSS to do that, as well as try and continue the recuperation from Thursday night and get ready to do it all over again on Friday.
The time was quickly approaching for the takeover of Voodoo Lounge, so I made my way to Rio. I had never been there before and got absolutely and totally lost almost as soon as I set foot inside. Eventually I found my way to the floor where the elevators were for Voodoo Lounge, only to have Al meet up with me and tell me the bad news - that Voodoo was already formally taken over and it wasn't by us. So we were hanging by the tequila bar and rounding up people as we found them. By and by, we found everyone we were looking for except for Ross. After I got him his stained t shirt, I never saw him again. I'm sorry Ross!! Angy & her friend showed up, and they were a new addition to the group, and I swear she hadn't been there 10 minutes but she is reaching behind her back and all of a sudden a bra comes popping out from under her shirt! You should seen the look on Jack/Eric's face! Priceless! But he was good to his word, and he determinedly poured something (don't know what) into one of the cups, landing ice and booze all over the floor (and me, and Angy) but he sure enough swilled it. Then he took a napkin, dried it off and put it over his head. Neither Angy nor I could easily hook the bra under his chin (hey! this is NOT the angle we are used to!) but we eventually got it, and pictures were taken. Then Bill put the bra on. Good times. Then I decided it was time for the first "award" and gave Eric the bag containing something I saw for Angy when I recently went earring shopping - a sparkling tiara, so she might be addressed as Your Royal Highness the rest of the evening. She wore that happily the rest of the night. We also gave Mikey his award - a Jack Binion bobblehead doll (leading to his call about "you may pick up Mr Binion's head....") I can't believe you broke Jack! Not to worry... I have your address, and I have another one!
A bunch of us watched the parade in the sky go by. Jack/Eric flashed his chest but garnered no beads. I watched and came back with a handful. Someone gave me a questioning look and I said "I got what it takes.... I stood next to someone who could catch the beads!"
We started buying and drinking beverages almost faster than the bartending staff could keep up with. Many consumed monster margaritas, and when I went to buy a round for people, Terry didn't know what he wanted so I told the bartender "he wants something different - make up something for him". That was the drink that was called "the Terry" for the rest of the night. I know it contained chambord and some other stuff.... it did taste like koolaid and it did kick your ass. I also bought a nice shot of Patron for myself and Blackjack and we downed them in unison. And that my friends is where the memory starts to get a little more fuzzy! It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I had only eaten a banana and two small muffins all day?
The group started to splinter as Mikey & crew headed to dinner, taking Angy & her friend with them. Jack/Eric and his buds also headed out... that left about 8 or 9 of us behind. I missed the conversation, having been watching Vermont beat Syracuse in Overtime in the NCAA (screeching like a crazy drunken woman too) but quickly decided that a limo ride with several of my drunken T2V friends would be a hoot. The group was Jer, Tammy, Terry, Bill, Neon, me, Al and Blackjack. We found a limo we could squeeze into and made our way towards the Plaza. The downside to this was that we didn't really have much alcohol with us - basically that which we had purchased at the bar and were still carrying. We made it to the Plaza, and Jer's already told that story far better than I can, but it was a wonderfully fun evening all the way around. Jer saved my butt by letting me collapse in his suite (good thing he had some space to spread out, as I was not the only collapsee there!). When he left to go home at 4ish, he said stay as long as you need to - and I did... I slept there until 8 or 9, then called hubby to come help carry this huge bag of stuff I had.
Saturday was a pretty wasted day - I got a few phone calls from the gang, but pretty much just stayed in bed all day. I did manage to get to the Cal to cash in my winning Vermont ticket. And again, I couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. I know Angy wanted me to party with her on Saturday night, but I was a total party pooper. I was dead - hubby & I even had dinner reservations that we made then bailed on 45 minutes later when it turned windy and rainy. I was sound asleep at 6pm, and slept most of the night through. I needed it.
I started to feel more human on the plane home, and ate a real meal Sunday night. I'm about 95% now, so should be as good as new before too long.
I can't wait for MM3, or whatever group hangs we can plan. T2V has some of the nicest, funniest, great to hang around drunks I've ever seen in my life! I love you guys!!
Tuesday morning addendum: I forgot to add that I completely fell in love with Downtown this trip. My favorite place to gamble has become... The Cal! You all know (well you should by now anyway) that Hawaii and Vegas compete with each other for my favorite destination. At The Cal, I come pretty close to getting both! The Plaza was much better than I expected it to be, and I also liked the Fremont. What a fun time! Also on my list to check out more is the Rio. I liked it the minute I stepped into it on Friday. I expected to hate it, but the Carnival vibe going was strong and fun. Except for that head thing with the moving eyes. That gave me the heebie jeebies. I'm sure being drunk as a skunk had *nothing* to do with that now did it?
[ March 22, 2005, 02:38 AM: Message edited by: Coaster Kikky ]
