August 30, 2010

  • vegas

    I spent the weekend in Vegas for a bachelorette party.

    The great things about the weekend were:

    1. It was a true girls' weekend, I got to see one of my favorite friends (I'm one of her bridesmaids), and her other friends were a lot of fun.
    2. It was blazingly hot and blindingly sunny the whole time, which sounds bad, but we've had a relatively cool summer in California this year, so it was good to have a couple days of intense summer.
    3. My boyfriend took me to the airport (at 6:15 a.m.!!), picked me up right as I walked out, and made pizza for me when we got home, and I realized even more than usual how great he is, especially in contrast to the creepy scumbags who populate Las Vegas.

    Besides those things, however, there was just something about Vegas that left me feeling melancholy.

    As far as I can tell, it boils down to the fact that there is just a pervasive air of desperation. The gamblers are desperate to make up their losses. The men are desperate to get laid. The women are desperate to seem young and pretty enough to still attract the attention of the men who want to get laid. The married people are desperate to relive their exciting, single days. The singles are desperate to end their single days but appear to be enjoying them while they last. The go-go dancers, the strippers, the bartenders, the cab drivers -- they have done everything a million times, and they try so hard to make a few extra dollars here or there by feigning interest in the outsiders, who try so hard to experience it all. Everyone not actually selling something is just so determined that they have to Have Fun and Do Things That Are Worthy of Being Kept Secret Afterwards.

    Every transaction is an illusion: a cover charge to get into a nightclub that promises fun and dancing, but is really just a venue for sweaty, desperate men to hit on chubby women who are determined to be attractive enough to be given the chance to be promiscuous; $20 for a lap dance from a perfect god or goddess, but it's really just a way for lonely people to buy three minutes of attention from people who would never look at them twice in real life (partly because the discrepancy is so huge, and partly because a fair amount of people in the exotic dance/escort/prostitution industry are not straight); every dollar is spent in an attempt to buy the life that the Vegas visitors wish they had. It's both funny and sad.

    I came away feeling glad that I got to see my friends and be a little bit silly and relieved that my life doesn't seem to be filled with poorly aged desperation. Yet. 

Comments (6)

  • and that, troid, is why you win at life - hands down.

    you are, and have always been one of the smartest, and most well-rounded people i've ever get a chance at knowing. or semi-knowing from xanga. haha =D

  • @ThePrince - aw thanks, Prince. I didn't think of it as a winning/losing scenario. It was more just a sad observation. Everyone just seemed to be looking for something unrealistic, and they were willing to pay for a substitute for what they were looking for, even if the substitute wasn't a good substitute. I found it disheartening...

  • I've been to Vegas once, but didn't try all the above activities. However your observation hits it on the dot. Everything there does feel a little forced.

  • I'm glad somebody else sees how pathetic the "glamor" is. 

  • partying in vegas is one of those things i still haven't gotten around to doing. i think witnessing it from afar in an outsider's perspective is still so much more interesting..

  • great entry. got all the bases covered!

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