all day on youtube it's been popping up ads for the bellagio
now, at first, i thought that might be because i looked up something
about the too faced vegas nay star dust palette
which, by the way, may be the greatest thing since sliced bread and all
but i don't want it
don't like it
but
everyone else loves it so i was trying to figure out why i don't
not that i think i should like it, just because everyone else does
don't get me wrong
and it has two colors i absolutely love
it's just the rest, not so much
anyway
if that was why bellagio was popping up
i would think they might have branched out to other vegas establishments
it seems like other places would be paying for ads
and then i thought
what the hell, maybe i'm supposed to write something about it
i've been to vegas exactly once
it was a work trip that was morphed into a small vacation
and the trip was kind of momentous
i drove with the computer equipment in the trunk of the really nice rented G6
i had planned to stop in sedona on the way
i had a lot more interest in sedona than in vegas, to be honest
but
i hit bad weather
there was a blizzard blowing in
and as i wound around the mountains in sedona
the dash board flashed low traction at me
and i thought i might just slide off the side of the mountain
could have happened
i made it to flagstaff for the night
and i wrote to you
you might remember
the next day
i dug the car out
found the one highway that was actually open
and continued
because it couldn't happen without the computer equipment, which i had
that was the scariest driving experience i've ever had
it had been plowed
at some point
but
it was icy
and choppy
and uneven
and while sliding off the side of the mountain
had had a certain poetry to it
this was just stressful and all kinds of coulda ended badly
until it warmed up somewhere around the nevada border
and then it was nice easy highway
the hoover dam was
well, it was impressive
i expected it to be ugly
and i'm not, at least theoretically, a fan of damming rivers
but
it felt like a huge energy generator
which is, i guess, exactly what it was
i drove into town right at sunset
there was some giant billboard set against the smear of fiery light
i can't remember what it said now
but at that moment
it seemed like a message from god
and i said to myself, i like this place
then
i got down to the strip
it was all lit up in the dark
and i thought
this doesn't look right
i guess it's pretty
but it's all wrong
i was staying in paris
i thought that would be
well, shit, i probably thought it would be a place i could wander around and think of you
which it sort of was, but i didn't really like it
the job i had to do was at the wynn
and when we had to go take the euipment and find the ballroom where we'd be
that was when i found king baby and wanted to buy you things
in my mind, that's the kinda stuff you need, i guess
i wanna deck you out with t-shirts and leather and skull jewelry
i don't think i bought anything in vegas
maybe i did
i can't remember for sure
but i don't think so
i went in a really nice sephora, nothing
all the shops in paris, nada
i don't like to gamble
so i didn't do that either
i think i bought some drinks, well, i for sure did that
i may have eaten at the paris buffet three times
and it was good, really good
i wandered through all the shops in the venitian or whatever it's called
and i really meant to ride the gondola
but it was all so so very FAKE
i didn't enjoy any of it
well
not completely true
i could see the fountains of the bellagio from my window in paris
i like that
i'm pretty sure that's right
it occurs to me now
i may have just watched videos about it
and i'm not 100% sure
i know i didn't make it into the bellagio to see the chihuy installation
even though that would have been something i would have wanted to do
because
i didn't want to be on the strip for one second more
no matter what that meant i missed
i hated vegas
i never plan to go back
when i was leaving
i had to stop to buy pepto
because my stomach was so upset
i was afraid i might shit myself on the road
and
as soon as i left the tourist vegas area
and entered the real vegas where people live
i started getting that feeling that i liked the place again
when i was, i don't know nine, ten, something like that
my mom took me to disney world
i didn't like that either
it was hot
you had to wait in line
and
it wasn't worth it in the end
it wasn't fun
now i grew up going to astroworld
which i did think was fun
we had to wait in lines
it was hot
and i would cry at the end of the day when we had to leave
so i can't really explain
my mom liked it ok
she had been kinda mad at me for the freedom train i think
where we had waited in line for hours
to see the coolest thing ever
that she thought was kinda boring i think
and it didn't last very long
and it was kinda cold for that line
which, let's be real, just could not have been that cold
