The Wonderful World of MorPRi

I di'in aint no see no white dude

PRi, mom, and I came back from our well deseverd "bonding" weekend in Las Vegas around 2:00am last night. Or was it this morning? I can't remember.....it must have been the casino oxygen in the air.

Good times were had all around. I don't think we went to bed earlier than 3:00am the whole weekend, and we were busy busy busy with people to do and places to see. Or people to see. ;) But anyways....a lot of shopping, eating, gambling, drinking, and walking was done. Well, at least attempted to be done. PRi's birthday weekend just happened to be the same weekend as the NBA All-star game and Chinese New Year....and the Magic fashion show. Needless to say, there were many a people gallovanting about the Strip.

PRi says: oh boy were there people, I felt like a chinese sardine in Sardinia. Or something to that effect.

Las Vegas went all out with redecorating for the NBA I tells ya. Gone were the facades of hotels and statues, and up went ads for Adidas, Nike, and Boost mobile. A 40 foot Toni Braxton adorned the Flamingo. The Statue of Liberty showed her colours with the world's largest NBA East jersey, while the MGM lion (though on the east side of the strip) was cheering for the NBA West team. Souvenir shops were filled with LA Lakers gear for some reason, and the majority of the people in town were African-American.

PRi says: that and on every hotel was a red banner with gold lettering that said "Happy Chinese New Year come gamble inside" or something. I couldn't read it. I only assume.

Now, I don't want to be stereotypical, and I don't want to sound racist, and I don't want to paint everyone with the same brush. I also don't want people to be offended, but I'm afraid some will be. There were a number of young people that happened to be in Las Vegas who were rude, racist, violent, and had some difficulty with grammar. I'm sure that many of the people who were there were trying to enjoy the weekend and perhaps take in a basketball game and later hit some clubs or whatever. I don't care what they did with their spare time (what happens there stays there....right??) (PRi says: unless you get an STD there. That follows you around), but when walking to MGM to see David Copperfield has you wondering if you should have worn a kevlar vest instead of a sweater to keep you warm with the night breeze, something may be wrong. There were many a time when we could tell that a fight was going to break out. There was also many a time when you could see ambulances pull up to a hotel with their sirens going. And the last time I had seen that many police officers on one street was during the Oilers playoff games.

No, I take that back. There were more officers outside the Mirage.

PRi says: And they were all on their cell phones. And I thought teenage girls and their cell phones were bad. Turns out they grow up and vacation in Vegas. You know that commercial for I forget what kind of cell phone it is, but the tag line is "Where you at?" well, the visitors of the strip not only have cell phones attatched to them, but they say such phrases as "Where you at?" and "Where my hos at?" Now I can imagine why TV is stereotypical when portraying African-American people. I just didn't imagine that TV could be so accurate. The cops in front of the Bellagio were also on their phones, I just don't think they were saying "Where you at" and "Where my hos at" or were they???

But all of the violence and gun shootings and stabbings and fights and arrests did have its share of memorable moments. I have never seen a prison bus until Saturday. A real prison bus. And one of the McDonald's was barricaded and roped off with Crime Scene tape. Real Crime Scene tape, not used for CSI episodes. Four people were in handcuffs outside of Walgreens. One of the strangest things I have seen in the gutter was a pair of boxers amongst the porn papers and a bunch of CDs.

PRi says: I did see a g-string. how anyone stopped to leave a g-string much less take one off while being herded like cattle down the strip is beyond me. I guess some people are born talented. Now to explain the title of this blog entry. While walking to the MGM to see David Copperfield (Thanks Morgan for the Birthday Present), I forget if it was before or after all the crime scene tape and the prison bus. A real live prison bus. We were, as forementioned, herded like cattle down the strip. People don't understand WALK and DON'T WALK signs so they have a red hand to say it is not safe to cross the street and a white silhouette of a person saying it is safe to proceed. When some people ignored the red hand and crossed the street anyways, a woman proceeded to voice her disagreement by saying "I di'in aint no see no white dude" Wow. I could not have put it better. actually I think I could have. Now if I understand the statement, the "white dude" tells you to walk. well, I guess there could be worse things a "white dude" could tell you to do.

Now I seem to have made this trip sound like a disappointment, but that it was not. It was a very relaxing weekend. No answering to anybody. No phone calls. No work. No curfew. No worrying about what to have for supper. We ate when we were hungry. We ate when we were stuffed but wanted something anyways. We had drinks while gambling. We had drinks when not. Mimosas for breakfast. Luxor buffet for the other breakfast. Bought gifts for Devin for his birthday. Bought stuff for ourselves. We spent an hour or two in Victoria's secret. We bought cheesy Las Vegas fuzzy dice for our cars. Went to see a show and took home 12oz souvenir glasses that had previously been full of alcohol. (PRi says: Now that I know that I can't have Vodka, I was quite content with my Malibu and pineapple juice, oh wait, We ARE close to the Mexican border, so as our server at the Luxor would pronounce it, Yoose) We took pictures of places where we have never been, and places where we have. Utilized the trams, monorail, double decker bus, and taxi where we could, and still ended up walking 5 miles that day. Played penny machines in the Bellagio. (PRi says: It was really freakin hard to find a penny machine in the Bellagio. We did see one where each credit was $100. We decided to opt out of playing that one.) We watched a woman put $20 dollars in a penny machine beside us in the Bellagio and won $560 with one spin. We watched the fountains at Bellagio. We gambled in the airport on the way home. And PRi got padded down on the way home. Shouldn't have worn your Victoria's Secret bra PRi.

PRi says: Look, I had to switch bras. My new shirt that said Las Vegas on it (becuase I had to get one, I'm a tourist) was really wide in the collar and my current bra could not accomodate that. Well, let me rephrase. It couldn' accomodate that without looking like every one else who wore as little clothing as possible. The amount of underwear I saw was, well, not shocking to me, but it was still a lot. Like that lady who wore a sheer white shirt and a tangerine bra underneath. Just examples of the fashion "statements" seen and heard in Vegas. Excuse me madam, can you turn down your shirt? It's too loud. Anyways, turns out my bra has an immense amount of metal in it. Not only in the underwire, but also in the hinge on my strap, buckles, you name it. Well, I got a pat down at the airport after going through something that looks like a futuristic shower that puffs air at you. It's supposed to detect explosives. It was funny. (Morgo says: except when it blows in your contacts) well then close your eyes silly. but anyways, the metal detector wand was pulled out and my boobs made it beep. Next time I'll have to wear the bra that ISN'T plated in metal. Then when I got home, I got a flyer in my bag that said that my bag was searched. The other side said the exact same thing in Spanish. I think they found my Bible that I stole from the hotel. I don't think they cared tho.

All in all it was a good weekend. I am sad to be home in a way, like most people are when they return home from a relaxing and wonderful vacation. I am also sad that there is snow on the ground and it is cold. I am sad that I have to work on Thursday.

But there has to be some way of financial recuperation from this holiday!

Since mom has the camera at work, pictures will follow

posted by MorPRi @ 7:23 PM