Once again I ran away to Las Vegas to spend a few days decompressing and seeing friends that live there. Yes, people do live there while being employed by somebody other than a casino or hotel. Some of them even like the heat there, though that does make me question their sanity just a little bit.
But let’s start at the beginning. Sunday morning I woke at the start of a week away from responsibility with no concrete plans. Within an hour of waking plans were finalized, a room booked, bags packed and was heading out the door to hit the road to Vegas. Some may think I am crazy for enjoying driving to Vegas rather than hopping a flight, but for me it is a few hours of down time. A few hours without interruptions, distractions, the internet and even the phone as I don’t often enjoy talking on the phone while on the road. It is time to let part of my mind work through things while the other part revels in the thrill of the open road. Having a car that one loves to drive doesn’t hurt. Having a hybrid sports car makes it even better. Having a hybrid sports car that can have fun with a Camaro on the open road is better still especially since I never took the car out of eco mode and was more than able to challenge him on the road. Ok ok playing while driving may not be for everybody but I do love it and there aren’t many times I get to do this except on a drive such as the one to Vegas. Let’s just say it is best I not reveal the speeds we were doing but we were obviously both having fun seeing who would do better finding the correct lane to be in so you wouldn’t have to slow down. Wonder how it would have gone if I had popped the car into sport mode.
Friends received relatively short notice that I was coming but it still worked out for the most part as Holly and Joe met me Sunday night shortly after I had checked into my hotel. A trip to Lush was a mandate as the hotel upgraded my room to one with a soaking tub when I let them know I was there for my birthday. The Lush trip was a huge success as not only did I get the items I picked out but a few samples were made up by the sales woman and when I was leaving the one bath bomb I didn’t pick up was handed to me as a birthday gift by the sales woman. Needless to say all three bath bombs were used during my stay at the hotel. That left us all ready for some food so off to have some eastern european food we went. I will confess I was a bit skeptical when they suggested the place (can’t remember it’s name) but overall will give them kudos on a good suggestions. Been a while since I had borscht, and though it had more beets in it than I was used to, it was delicious as was the rest of the food. We all left thoroughly stuffed and with no interest in dessert. All of this was followed by a game of Cards Against Humanity. Can definitely tell why we are friends as we did not hold back on the sick and twisted card combos for responses. To say I enjoyed my time with these two friends would be an understatement, they kicked off my escape to a great start.
Monday was spent relaxing at the hotel, photo editing, contemplating the value of good friends and just being. Something that it is rare for me to do.
Tuesday for my birthday I had plans to see an old friend, we’ve both unofficially agreed not to state how long we have been friends, but that would not be until after he got off work. So to entertain myself I decided to finally take the camera and go for a walk to talk some photos. On one hand this was a brilliant move. I was staying close enough to the strip that the walk was not daunting. However, it was hot and humid which made this a little less brilliant. Off to the strip I went and was thrilled to be able to feel the impact of the changes I have made in my life this past year as the walk did not take much out of me. This would not have been so a year earlier, so although I was a year older I was definitely much healthier and in better shape. Motivation to keep making these improvements that’s for sure. I will let you look through the photos to see where I went, what I saw. It was a fun excursion and again left my mind free to do some wandering of it’s own which is hard to do when one has a computer or tv or other distractions nearby to avoid certain thoughts. Opted to take a cab back to the hotel only because it was to hot/humid to want to do the walk again even though I felt physically up to the walk if not for the weather.
Met up with Jeff and off to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner we went. Love catching up with him. It’s wonderful to have a friend that although you haven’t seen each other for a year (last time the gap was even longer) yet it’s as though you had just seen each other weeks or days before. We chatted for hours. About health, life, things we’ve done, things we would like to do and just enjoying each others company. Jeff is one of those friends you make never realizing that years later you are still going to be good friends, perhaps even better friends than when you saw each other every day at the office. One you treasure (and Jeff if you read this I mean it 😛 )
Wednesday was the drive back to California with the decision of home to San Diego or north to San Francisco not made when I hit the road. The drive back while still fun, was no where near as fun as the drive out. More traffic and no Camaro to play with on the freeway.
The trip back did involve a stop in Los Angeles for lunch with Matt. Thank you for making time with the crazy schedule you had that day. Was fun meeting just to have lunch rather than to do an interview. Matt is one of those insightful people that can make a fairly casual observation that leaves you with lots to think about. That is exactly what he did to me. Won’t go into what it had to do with but to say I have been very introspective since that lunch is an understatement. This can be a good thing as it can help clear hurdles one has not even realized one has placed in front of themselves or things one has tolerated that should instead be addressed. Still have made no decisions but at least now am looking at the same events from a different angle and seeing things differently.
The final part of the trip I had been contemplated was not made and will have to be some other week(end). The drive to San Francisco still needs to happen to visit family but for the rest of the week it was back home to rest, recover from the smoke inhaled at the casinos on Tuesday, more photo editing, more writing and catching up on comic books. Come on priorities people one must catch up on comic books when one falls behind. This is all being interspersed with introspection and contemplation.
I am grateful for the friends that spent time with me this week, you made it a better birthday than I thought it would be. I am grateful for the friends that tried to make time but with life getting in the way just weren’t able to. Knowing you wanted to spend time with me still meant a lot, even if we weren’t able to make it happen this time.
Now for the photo’s that one friend is not expecting to see for a few more weeks since I still have both San Diego Comic Con and Long Beach Comic Con content to complete. Surprise, these jumped the line just for you:
