I'm getting real bad about blogging consistently. Really more out of lack of dedication than for lack of having much to say. Working life, man... you just kinda settle into this rut, and exciting/noteworthy stuff just seems to happen a lot less frequently. But still, LAZINESS more than anything else.
But yea, the roughest part of being here so far is just the not knowing ppl. I definitely miss having ppl to hang out and do stuff with, cuz in all honesty, there are a lot of activities that kinda just lose something (or seem a lot more pathetic) when you do them alone. Like I went to Madame Tussaud's at the Venetian, and yea it was kinda cool, but it woulda been a lot more fun with friends taking pictures and whatnot. I dunno, I've always been an introvert, not really good around new ppl. So it's extraordinarily difficult for me to make new friends without like a couple friends to start it off (so I can meet their friends and so on).
So let's see what else has been new... I went and saw the Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit at the Guggenheim Hermitage in the Venetian- I completely failed to see the brilliance of the work. Like, I mean, I'm no real connoisseur of photography or anything, but I think just cuz you take a picture of a nude muscular person doesn't mean you're alluding to classical Greek forms. But critics and scholars insist the references are there; we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Also detracting from my overall reaction to the exhibit were the fact there were sales galleries in the Grand Canal Shoppes of the Venetian that I was much more impressed with (and that I didn't have to pay for): the Peter Lik (absolutely amazing nature photos) and Entertainment Galleries (kinda media-influenced pop art-ish paintings).
My parents drove my car out to Vegas for me on the weekend of the 27th. (I had been driving a rental up till then.) I took 'em around and showed 'em where I work and all, and we gambled a bit. The buffets were definitely the highlight of their visit though. My family's always been keen on buffets, so we had dinner at the Wynn buffet and the Rio seafood buffet. Both were very good. The Wynn was good cuz they had Alaskan crab legs that come pre-halved for you, so you don't really have to get your hands dirty; and overall buffet quality was pretty good. The Rio seafood buffet was kind of a one-trick horse, but if you like seafood, they do know what they're doing.
My parents also brought up the new phone I got when we renewed our plan with T-Mobile. It was the Samsung Trace (T519). It's a non-flip phone that's uber thin. It feels really good in the pocket, but that's about the only thing that's good about it. (Well, and the 1.3 megapixel camera too, I guess.) But man, the OS and features of the phone are just so absolutely stupid I get so pissed off sometimes. I've had 2 Samsung phones now, and both have shocked and amazed me with their poor software design. Lack of customization options, having to press a zillion keys to do anything, etc. Oh yea, and when it's low on battery, it'll vibrate and light up like every 5 minutes, telling you it's low, burning up what little electricity is left. So basically, if you get below like 25% battery, it's as good as dead. And the battery meter only has 3 divisions: full, 2/3, 1/3. Reeeeaaaal helpful; hell, I could guess +/- 33% withOUT the meter. Ugghhh, I could go on and on about how dumb this phone is, but at the end of the day, its small form factor buys it a lot of forgiveness in my book I guess. *le sigh* =/
So I joined up with a muay thai (kickboxing) school and 24 hour fitness. Not much to say about the 24 hour fitness; it's pretty much the same as any other legit fitness club. There's one right down the street from my office that's an "Agassi Supersport," so it's got tennis decor all over the inside. The muay thai school is over closer by the Strip. It's Master Toddy's, and the classes are taught by these 3 former Thai champions. It's been real different from the muay thai I did in Austin; like they drill on different stuff and have like a different approach to doing things, despite the fact that at the core, it's all the same skills. But yea, there's pluses and minuses to learning it the traditional Thai way I guess. For one, I can't understand half the stuff one of instructors says cuz his English is so accented, hahaha. And I think they're very my-way-or-the-highway with their technique, like not taking into account individual variation/interpretation. And they blast this music during the whole class that I swear is like straight out of the Sagat level of Street Fighter 2, hahaha. But yea, I guess there's something to be said about "authenticity" and all, hah.
But yea, I'm trying to get some exercise most days of the week after work. I find that I actually have more energy in the evenings if I get a little bit of physical activity in. Must be all that endorphins stuff that I never gave much credence. But seriously, whatever it takes so that my brain doesn't shut off when I plop in front of the tv after work. We'll see how long I can stick with it.
But yea, the roughest part of being here so far is just the not knowing ppl. I definitely miss having ppl to hang out and do stuff with, cuz in all honesty, there are a lot of activities that kinda just lose something (or seem a lot more pathetic) when you do them alone. Like I went to Madame Tussaud's at the Venetian, and yea it was kinda cool, but it woulda been a lot more fun with friends taking pictures and whatnot. I dunno, I've always been an introvert, not really good around new ppl. So it's extraordinarily difficult for me to make new friends without like a couple friends to start it off (so I can meet their friends and so on).
So let's see what else has been new... I went and saw the Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit at the Guggenheim Hermitage in the Venetian- I completely failed to see the brilliance of the work. Like, I mean, I'm no real connoisseur of photography or anything, but I think just cuz you take a picture of a nude muscular person doesn't mean you're alluding to classical Greek forms. But critics and scholars insist the references are there; we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Also detracting from my overall reaction to the exhibit were the fact there were sales galleries in the Grand Canal Shoppes of the Venetian that I was much more impressed with (and that I didn't have to pay for): the Peter Lik (absolutely amazing nature photos) and Entertainment Galleries (kinda media-influenced pop art-ish paintings).
My parents drove my car out to Vegas for me on the weekend of the 27th. (I had been driving a rental up till then.) I took 'em around and showed 'em where I work and all, and we gambled a bit. The buffets were definitely the highlight of their visit though. My family's always been keen on buffets, so we had dinner at the Wynn buffet and the Rio seafood buffet. Both were very good. The Wynn was good cuz they had Alaskan crab legs that come pre-halved for you, so you don't really have to get your hands dirty; and overall buffet quality was pretty good. The Rio seafood buffet was kind of a one-trick horse, but if you like seafood, they do know what they're doing.
My parents also brought up the new phone I got when we renewed our plan with T-Mobile. It was the Samsung Trace (T519). It's a non-flip phone that's uber thin. It feels really good in the pocket, but that's about the only thing that's good about it. (Well, and the 1.3 megapixel camera too, I guess.) But man, the OS and features of the phone are just so absolutely stupid I get so pissed off sometimes. I've had 2 Samsung phones now, and both have shocked and amazed me with their poor software design. Lack of customization options, having to press a zillion keys to do anything, etc. Oh yea, and when it's low on battery, it'll vibrate and light up like every 5 minutes, telling you it's low, burning up what little electricity is left. So basically, if you get below like 25% battery, it's as good as dead. And the battery meter only has 3 divisions: full, 2/3, 1/3. Reeeeaaaal helpful; hell, I could guess +/- 33% withOUT the meter. Ugghhh, I could go on and on about how dumb this phone is, but at the end of the day, its small form factor buys it a lot of forgiveness in my book I guess. *le sigh* =/
So I joined up with a muay thai (kickboxing) school and 24 hour fitness. Not much to say about the 24 hour fitness; it's pretty much the same as any other legit fitness club. There's one right down the street from my office that's an "Agassi Supersport," so it's got tennis decor all over the inside. The muay thai school is over closer by the Strip. It's Master Toddy's, and the classes are taught by these 3 former Thai champions. It's been real different from the muay thai I did in Austin; like they drill on different stuff and have like a different approach to doing things, despite the fact that at the core, it's all the same skills. But yea, there's pluses and minuses to learning it the traditional Thai way I guess. For one, I can't understand half the stuff one of instructors says cuz his English is so accented, hahaha. And I think they're very my-way-or-the-highway with their technique, like not taking into account individual variation/interpretation. And they blast this music during the whole class that I swear is like straight out of the Sagat level of Street Fighter 2, hahaha. But yea, I guess there's something to be said about "authenticity" and all, hah.
But yea, I'm trying to get some exercise most days of the week after work. I find that I actually have more energy in the evenings if I get a little bit of physical activity in. Must be all that endorphins stuff that I never gave much credence. But seriously, whatever it takes so that my brain doesn't shut off when I plop in front of the tv after work. We'll see how long I can stick with it.
posted by Dear Daniel at 9:32 PM
1 Comments:
Very interesting perspective on the Vegas life. I hope you find your niche in LV. BTW, I don't suppose you saw or observed any of the All-Star game/stars recently.
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