chp
"my weekend with U2, part one"
Saturday, November 07, 2009 Filed in: my life
so, it was actually two
weeks ago now, but i'm just getting around to writing
it up. here's how it all went down...
Thursday afternoon (October 22nd), Kit, Tommy, Tyler and i loaded up into the Prius and headed out to Vegas. we had tickets to see U2 on the 360º Tour at Sam Boyd Stadium on Friday night and we were pumped! after a four hour jaunt through the desert, we arrived at the underwhelming "Excalibur Hotel and Casino."
now, this is a
bit strange for me because i remember when Excalibur
first opened and was the cool hotel that everyone was
talking about. now, it's pretty run down and old.
however, it was one of the more inexpensive spots on
the strip, so it was going to be home for a night. we
dropped our things off at the hotel and immediately
headed out for some blackjack.
i've never really gambled before. i mean, i've played the slots once or twice, but that's kinda lame. going into the weekend, i have to admit that i struggled with the concept. i mean... i could go and lose a ton of money and i think i'd feel pretty guilty for that, seeing as that would have been money that could have been used for some good in the world. (or at least for something worthwhile like food or clothes or something.) however, Kit had a great perspective on this the shaped my weekend. basically, the idea is that you go in deciding what a day of entertainment is worth to you. for me, i decided it would be $50. if you lose it, then at least you got the entertainment that you paid for.
(the thrill of
the game, etc...) if you don't, then it's a bonus.
think of it this way... people drop $80+ to ride the
rides and play the games at Disneyland every day and
they have no chance at winning that back. so, $50 a
day was my cost of entertainment. fortunately, i had
the luck of the Larsons on my side!
we headed over to the Tropicana (one of the few places with $5 tables) and i immediately lost my $50. clearly, i had no idea what i was doing. right around the time that i lost my blackjack funding, Timmy Larson arrived (he had to work that day and left a bit after we did). we all grabbed some dinner at New York, New York, watched the Angels win the game, and then headed back to Tropicana. having already lost my money, i just watched. Timmy and Tommy were doing well, but the rest of us were already out. so, Tyler, Kit and i decided to wander the strip. we walked down to Bellagio and saw the fountains and then wandered through the mall at Caesar's Palace. (though, by this time, it was 11.30pm and everything was closing or closed.)
as we were walking back, i was exhausted and all i wanted to do was crawl into bed. (walking down the strip, i had an encounter with a... how shall i say this?... promiscuous lady. there was a 50 yard shimmy involved. needless to say, i chose to walk on. that's all i'll say.) as we approached Excalibur, we got a call from Tommy and Timmy that they were walking toward us. apparently, Timmy had done VERY well at the tables and when we found them, he generously donated $50 to each of our (so far) losing causes. the Larson brothers wanted to head back to the tables and, being that Timmy had been so generous, i couldn't decline. (though i wanted to so very badly.)
we walked back in to the Tropicana and arrived at the same table we'd been at earlier. (it was now about 12.30 am.) the table was full, so we waited for people to get up. i was the last to get a seat. actually, right before a seat opened up for me, i was about to tell the boys that i was heading back to our room. however, the seat opened up and i sat down. learning from my earlier mistakes and taking pointers from Tommy and Timmy, i spent the next three hours turning Timmy's $50 into $860. (and that's after i paid Timmy his $50 back.) yeah... i'm awesome.
around 4 am, we
decided it was probably time to get some sleep.
the next morning, we woke up, had some breakfast, checked out of the hotel and decided to head down to Circus Circus. (crappy place, but cheap tables there too.) i mostly just watched because the dealer was sketchy and it seemed like everyone was losing. after that, we grabbed lunch and hit up the old town Vegas and the Golden Nugget. so cool to see the old town. this is the Vegas you see in those old movies. (it's where the car chase was in "Diamonds are Forever.") very cool. we grabbed some pizza for dinner down there and then headed off to the main event... U2.
while everyone
else seemed to be following the road signs for how to
get to the stadium (and taking over and hour for what
should be a 10 minute drive), we ignored the signs
and went where our GPS told us to. we got there in 20
minutes and Timmy finagled his way into a pretty
sweet spot right up front. at this point, i was giddy
like a little school girl. (Timmy hadn't bought a
ticket originally, but had done so well that he
bought one that night.)
when i walked into the stadium and caught my first glimpse of the U2 claw (or spaceship as they also call it), i literally gasped. it was amazing. HUGE. pictures genuinely don't do the whole thing justice.
after a bit, the Black Eyed Peas came out and did their opening set. they were actually a lot of fun and a great opening act. i think they really got the crowd warmed up with all their "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Got A Feeling" and whatnot. it was fun. (this was the time when we had a little run in with Professor Bastard. he was a guy sitting next to us with his wife and who was just rude from the first minute he sat down. he looked like a professor, hence the nickname.) but it didn't matter... we weren't going to let some snooty professor type ruin anything!
if you've never been to a U2 show, i'm not sure how to communicate it in words. there's something there that i've never experienced at any other show. i mean, i've been to some great shows over the years, but there's just something different about a U2 show. it's like how church should be. i don't know. anyway, this was my 9th U2 show and it was probably the best one yet. from the moment they came on stage, there was an energy in the stadium that was overwhelming. it was very cool to enjoy it with Tyler, Timmy and Tommy who had never been to see U2 before. (Kit went with me to the last show of the Vertigo tour in '06.) anyway, they tore through their set of amazing songs for nearly two and half hours. it was awesome.
the coolest part was that they had this AMAZING setup, but it was all to enhance what these four guys were doing. the spectacle of it all was crazy-cool, but the main focus was always on this band and their music. Tommy noted on the way out how crazy it was to be able to see on their faces how much they still LOVE playing together after all these years.
anyway, thanks to Timmy's amazing parking spot, we were able to get out of their pretty quickly. we picked up my car from Excalibur and headed out to Stateline where we stayed the night. (there were reports the next day that people were still trying to get out of the stadium parking lot at 1.30 am, by which time we were at Stateline already.)
Stateline is... well, it's an interesting place. probably not a place i'd choose to stay again necessarily. it wasn't bad... but the people there were kinda... scary, to be honest. but, i won a few hundred more dollars, so i wasn't complaining too much!
on the way back through the desert on Saturday, i was cruising along at 83 mph when i got pulled over by a CHP officer. now, when i was in traffic school, we were told that we should never admit anything to the officer when you're pulled over. so, if he says "do you know how fast you were going?", you say "no." if i'd said "yes... i was going 83" then he can go ahead and write me up for that even if he didn't have anything on me. so, when he asked the question, i said "no." he responded with "i got you on radar going 92." this was not true. however, i'd already said i didn't know how fast i was going, so i couldn't go back on it and he wrote me up for 92 in a 70. (jerk.) i'm going to fight it because the whole thing was such BS and i am NOT giving all of my winnings to the state of California!
other than that, it was a great few days and a lot of fun to hang out with the guys. but it wasn't over yet... i still had U2 tickets for the Rose Bowl show on Sunday!
more to come!
-barnes
ps... enjoy the U2 pics below...
Thursday afternoon (October 22nd), Kit, Tommy, Tyler and i loaded up into the Prius and headed out to Vegas. we had tickets to see U2 on the 360º Tour at Sam Boyd Stadium on Friday night and we were pumped! after a four hour jaunt through the desert, we arrived at the underwhelming "Excalibur Hotel and Casino."
i've never really gambled before. i mean, i've played the slots once or twice, but that's kinda lame. going into the weekend, i have to admit that i struggled with the concept. i mean... i could go and lose a ton of money and i think i'd feel pretty guilty for that, seeing as that would have been money that could have been used for some good in the world. (or at least for something worthwhile like food or clothes or something.) however, Kit had a great perspective on this the shaped my weekend. basically, the idea is that you go in deciding what a day of entertainment is worth to you. for me, i decided it would be $50. if you lose it, then at least you got the entertainment that you paid for.
we headed over to the Tropicana (one of the few places with $5 tables) and i immediately lost my $50. clearly, i had no idea what i was doing. right around the time that i lost my blackjack funding, Timmy Larson arrived (he had to work that day and left a bit after we did). we all grabbed some dinner at New York, New York, watched the Angels win the game, and then headed back to Tropicana. having already lost my money, i just watched. Timmy and Tommy were doing well, but the rest of us were already out. so, Tyler, Kit and i decided to wander the strip. we walked down to Bellagio and saw the fountains and then wandered through the mall at Caesar's Palace. (though, by this time, it was 11.30pm and everything was closing or closed.)
as we were walking back, i was exhausted and all i wanted to do was crawl into bed. (walking down the strip, i had an encounter with a... how shall i say this?... promiscuous lady. there was a 50 yard shimmy involved. needless to say, i chose to walk on. that's all i'll say.) as we approached Excalibur, we got a call from Tommy and Timmy that they were walking toward us. apparently, Timmy had done VERY well at the tables and when we found them, he generously donated $50 to each of our (so far) losing causes. the Larson brothers wanted to head back to the tables and, being that Timmy had been so generous, i couldn't decline. (though i wanted to so very badly.)
we walked back in to the Tropicana and arrived at the same table we'd been at earlier. (it was now about 12.30 am.) the table was full, so we waited for people to get up. i was the last to get a seat. actually, right before a seat opened up for me, i was about to tell the boys that i was heading back to our room. however, the seat opened up and i sat down. learning from my earlier mistakes and taking pointers from Tommy and Timmy, i spent the next three hours turning Timmy's $50 into $860. (and that's after i paid Timmy his $50 back.) yeah... i'm awesome.
the next morning, we woke up, had some breakfast, checked out of the hotel and decided to head down to Circus Circus. (crappy place, but cheap tables there too.) i mostly just watched because the dealer was sketchy and it seemed like everyone was losing. after that, we grabbed lunch and hit up the old town Vegas and the Golden Nugget. so cool to see the old town. this is the Vegas you see in those old movies. (it's where the car chase was in "Diamonds are Forever.") very cool. we grabbed some pizza for dinner down there and then headed off to the main event... U2.
when i walked into the stadium and caught my first glimpse of the U2 claw (or spaceship as they also call it), i literally gasped. it was amazing. HUGE. pictures genuinely don't do the whole thing justice.
after a bit, the Black Eyed Peas came out and did their opening set. they were actually a lot of fun and a great opening act. i think they really got the crowd warmed up with all their "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Got A Feeling" and whatnot. it was fun. (this was the time when we had a little run in with Professor Bastard. he was a guy sitting next to us with his wife and who was just rude from the first minute he sat down. he looked like a professor, hence the nickname.) but it didn't matter... we weren't going to let some snooty professor type ruin anything!
if you've never been to a U2 show, i'm not sure how to communicate it in words. there's something there that i've never experienced at any other show. i mean, i've been to some great shows over the years, but there's just something different about a U2 show. it's like how church should be. i don't know. anyway, this was my 9th U2 show and it was probably the best one yet. from the moment they came on stage, there was an energy in the stadium that was overwhelming. it was very cool to enjoy it with Tyler, Timmy and Tommy who had never been to see U2 before. (Kit went with me to the last show of the Vertigo tour in '06.) anyway, they tore through their set of amazing songs for nearly two and half hours. it was awesome.
the coolest part was that they had this AMAZING setup, but it was all to enhance what these four guys were doing. the spectacle of it all was crazy-cool, but the main focus was always on this band and their music. Tommy noted on the way out how crazy it was to be able to see on their faces how much they still LOVE playing together after all these years.
anyway, thanks to Timmy's amazing parking spot, we were able to get out of their pretty quickly. we picked up my car from Excalibur and headed out to Stateline where we stayed the night. (there were reports the next day that people were still trying to get out of the stadium parking lot at 1.30 am, by which time we were at Stateline already.)
Stateline is... well, it's an interesting place. probably not a place i'd choose to stay again necessarily. it wasn't bad... but the people there were kinda... scary, to be honest. but, i won a few hundred more dollars, so i wasn't complaining too much!
on the way back through the desert on Saturday, i was cruising along at 83 mph when i got pulled over by a CHP officer. now, when i was in traffic school, we were told that we should never admit anything to the officer when you're pulled over. so, if he says "do you know how fast you were going?", you say "no." if i'd said "yes... i was going 83" then he can go ahead and write me up for that even if he didn't have anything on me. so, when he asked the question, i said "no." he responded with "i got you on radar going 92." this was not true. however, i'd already said i didn't know how fast i was going, so i couldn't go back on it and he wrote me up for 92 in a 70. (jerk.) i'm going to fight it because the whole thing was such BS and i am NOT giving all of my winnings to the state of California!
other than that, it was a great few days and a lot of fun to hang out with the guys. but it wasn't over yet... i still had U2 tickets for the Rose Bowl show on Sunday!
more to come!
-barnes
ps... enjoy the U2 pics below...
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