Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Aug 31: A Small Price to Pay, but Spontenaety Pays Off

WARNING: This post is excessively long in pictures and words, going beyond "captions".

My original plan for Sunday was to go back with Bruce, Jasmine, and Daniel to Anaheim so that I could bum a ride with Helen down to San Diego to check out the Club Massive event at the House of Blues. But first we had to pack up, check out, and grab some food.

Fung-Lin enjoying some In-N-Out burger.
Photobucket

We headed to the Tuscany Suites which is behind Bally's, but off the strip. They've got some cheap $3 blackjack tables...
Photobucket

And these beautiful $4 Monster Burger/fries combos. The dopeness.
Photobucket

We played blackjack and rocked the craps table for a good 2 hours. The Tuscany Group (minus me... :( )
Photobucket

So through some weird turn of events, and realizing that I would definitely NOT make it to Anaheim before Helen left for San Diego, I agreed that I would wait with Stephen and Jenny and go home later that night. The standard "what do we do now..." position.
Photobucket

So we saw Bruce, Jasmine, and Daniel off and head back to the Mirage. Since we checked out of our pimp suite (and sorry, I never ended up taking pictures), Stephen's friends got another smaller room. Some shots of the hotel from the parking lot rooftop.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Some of Stephen's new souvenirs from the weekend.
Photobucket

This is pretty much where the blogpost should have ended, with us driving back to Anaheim. Here's where the blogpost gets longer than it should have been...

Stephen and I take a quick nap before the drive home while Stephen's friends all grabbed some seafood buffet dinners (we were still stuffed from our monster burger combos). So it's me, Stephen, Jenny, and Brian in the room and we have a meeting. Aside from Brian flying back to NY, none of us really needed to leave for Anaheim just yet. I wasn't going to San Diego, Jenny didn't have work, and Stephen should keep his friends company for at least one more night since they don't see each other that often. Especially since the night before was sort of a letdown. So we decide to stay one more night with the belief that our spontenaety will reward us with an awesome night. But what about Brian? Well he puts us to shame by changing his flight plans for a 7am flight for the next morning which would give him about 6 hours before his flight from NY to Germany to Spain (GEEZ THAT'S FOR HIS JOB!). "It's a small price to pay to spend another night with you (Jenny)." -Brian. Fuckin' pimp, but damn the price was an extra $400.

Jennerz was definitely happy.
Photobucket

Bryan (Stephen's Bryan, not Jenny's Brian) spotted this note near the elevator. We thought it would be hilarious to let some of the girls think we upgraded to a bigger room upstairs. They believed us and went to the room and were knocking for a while. Too bad no one answered. MISSION: FAILURE
Photobucket

So we get the party started in the (tiny-ass) room (with no ipod dock and speakers, backbar, fridge, no couches, and 1 bathroom). But with some alcohol, you can't go wrong.
Photobucket

Well...
Photobucket

Maybe you can...
Photobucket

Yea that's definitely wrong. (Hahaha sorry Bryan.)
Photobucket

Photobucket

Fung-Lin and Chia.
Photobucket

Mike, Cindy, Zippy.
Photobucket

Mike feeling the Moreno Valley. "You could titty-f*ck your head!" -Mike. I never thought of that...
Photobucket

Photobucket

I think its 12:30am when we finally get the hell outta the room. We would end up paying for any club to go into.
Photobucket

Elevators.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

When did you get those chips...
Photobucket

So we try Jet because it's downstairs and there was no line anymore. We couldn't get the girls in for free cuz of the time so we hop in 3 taxis over to Moon at the Palms.
Photobucket

Excuse the smoke. Chia picked up a bad habit. (jk.)
Photobucket

The girls getting on top of the counters. Stephen almost got kicked out for taking upskirt shots. "IT'S OK THEY'RE MY FRIENDS!" -Stephen. That line didn't work, but luckily he stopped.
Photobucket

Me, Bryan, Stephen. What's Fung doing...
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Zippy's got some moves! Nice pose with bonus points for the face.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Stephen gets bonus points for the face too.
Photobucket

Shocker.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Not sure how we ended up in this area or if it was some VIP area. But it was nice to have a place to lounge around.
Photobucket

Photobucket

More souvenirs. Stephen stole this poster (and ice scoop?!?) in the lobby.
Photobucket

He's a big Tony Parker fan... (SUPER GAY!)
Photobucket

Linda was my prom date!
Photobucket

Photobucket

We got back at around 5am. Brian and Jenny should have went to the airport, but instead they pass out on the rollaway bed (my bed!). I end up sleeping on the floor. I even wake up an hour later to make sure Brian got to the airport in time. But he had so much that night that he could barely walk and talk. Jenny ends up taking him to the airport where he missed his flight and the stanby flight is overbooked and delayed. No worries folks, he eventually made it to Barcelona and was okay for his meeting. It cost almost $2k to change his flight again! But luckily that one could be a business expense. A small price to pay hah! YOU CRAZY BRIAN! Thanks for the drinks by the way. :)

No pictures, but a few of us headed to McDonalds and grabbed some breakfast. (Once again, iced coffee saves the day. Props to JFNG!)
Photobucket

Bryan counting some cash.
Photobucket

And making it rain!
Photobucket

It's not what you think though. I think they were paying for food.
Photobucket

Sometimes it's hard to believe I'm friends with this guy.
Photobucket

Hmmm...
Photobucket

We finally check out and say our goodbyes.
Photobucket

Hopefully we'll see ya'll for Stephen's New Year party!! (The title is a work in progress.)
Photobucket

The Michigan crew hung around and did stuff before their flights back home. Jenny, Stephen and I begin our trip back to Anaheim. We leave at 1:00pm. Keep note of the time and light in the pictures.
Photobucket

Photobucket

The drive from the Strip to Barstow took about 4 hours. That was longer than the entire ride from Anaheim to Vegas. F*cking frustrating. We stopped in Barstow for a bathroom and food break. This is off the exit that's right after the Barstow outlets (if you're driving east). I see it all the time, but it's the first time I've stopped here.
Photobucket

To our surprise, it was a random mini-minimall of crap and junk.
Photobucket

I don't know why, but this was just terrible to me.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

The only useful thing we found here was this iPod/iPhone charger for Stephen.
Photobucket

And also the Panda Express.
Photobucket

I thought this was a cool too.
Photobucket

Back on the road at about 6pm.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Luckily we didn't face much traffic on the rest of the drive home. Our only problem was staying awake. Our only solution was to crank the system and sing every single song we knew on Stephen's MP3 player. (I should eventually get some video up later.) It was tough, but we made it home at 8:30pm.
Photobucket

So instead of BBQing, I spent my entire Labor Day driving in a car. A small price to pay though for another great Vegas trip. Hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. :)

Monday, September 01, 2008

Aug 30: A Night Out on the Town

An un-inspiring blog title. But since I'm behind about 3 days on my posts, I'm starting to forget some great material. I'll do my best for the last 3 days/2 nights.

I started my day off with grabbing some lunch with Jenn (NSB.org) who was in town from the Bay! Sorry I wasn't able to meet up with you at the clubs over the weekend. Save me a dance for next time k?
Photobucket

We ate at BLT Burger at the Mirage. The burger was at room temperature (border-line cold), the fries were super salty, and the meal was overpriced. Looks are deceiving.
Photobucket

Came back to the room to watch the Michigan x Utah game with some of Stephen's friends. Michigan almost came back to win their season opener.
Photobucket

Bryan and Stephen. They have this love...
Photobucket

hate...
Photobucket

but-I-really-do-love-you relationship.
Photobucket

Later that night we got ready to go out.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Stephen had some trouble with tying a tie.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Linda said something kinda mean (I don't remember now), which explains the look on my face.
Photobucket

Brian and Jeff got some rest before going out.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Wei and Mike try to get a flipcup game going.
Photobucket

Zippy's always game.
Photobucket

Bryan and Linda playing bartenders.
Photobucket

Photobucket

This was probably one of the highlights of the night. I'll have a video up soon enough.
Photobucket

We then proceeded to head out to the club, but faced several hitches. Tao's cover charge and line was ridiculous as well as the cover price for Jet. We got to Blush too late and didn't want to pay a cover for that spot either. So we hung out at Wynn for a bit while some of the group gambled. These two are around each other a lot.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Bummed.
Photobucket

After some debate, we decied to walk back towards the hotel and see if we could get into the Tao Lounge (for free). It turns out that the bouncer is from Michigan and we didn't have to wait in line or pay. Score.
Photobucket

Ran into Albert from Rooted Movement! Good seeing you bro.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Stephen presenting a gift to Zippy.
Photobucket

Fung-Lin, Bryan, Stephen.
Photobucket

Photobucket

The spot was nice and at least we got in for free. But it wasn't much of a club and more like a lounge. So the energy levels were flickering.
Photobucket

We also were out till about 4am.
Photobucket

Photobucket

We went to this cafe which was right next to the elevators up to our room.
Photobucket

All night.
Photobucket

A bunch of us passed out at the table. Here's Mike.
Photobucket

Me and Cindy.
Photobucket

I had a quesadilla and was not satisfied with the portion size. Oh well. Headed back to the room and found the living room (my bedroom) completely sloshed.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Video of the flipcup game soon!