My blow-by-blow summary

[Densie]

I think it was Annie who came up with the idea of the blow-by-blow(job) summary, the purpose of which is, of course, to make people who couldn't make the trip feel really bad, by telling them how much fun we had.


Sunday, April 22:

We missed the church service (awwww). Got up at about 4am, and we were going to get on the road early, but we had to do some things to our pickup truck, air up the tires and put some refrigerant in the A/C, so it was nearly daylight when we left. Once we got checked in at the IP, I wanted to go to the Artisan dinner, because the food is good. I had the calimari foutu again, with sea scallops, and, once again, it was gooooooood. We had just missed Ginger, but we saw some people we knew. Drinks are $$$$ in this place, but the restaurant is reasonable.


Monday, April 23:

We tried the buffet at the IP, and that was a big mistake. At least they gave us our money back. I had to have a beer to get the disgusting taste out of my mouth, then we walked over to Harrah's and did their buffet, and it was pretty good. we played some video poker at the IP, and I wanted to get up and sing on the celebrity dealer stage, but they wouldn't let me do it.


Tuesday, April 24:

We were going to do karaoke at Crewsn, but it was cancelled. My bad for not calling Jodi to be sure it was on. Tony,
Annie and I sent out a chirp that that karaoke was being moved to Bill's Gambling Hall, and we headed over there. They wouldn't play my disks, so I didn't get to sing any of my French stuff. They had 99 Luftballons in the book, and of course it was the English version, so I just sang as much of it was I remembered in German, and followed the English on the screen for a verse of two. Then I did a few more songs in different voices, because it's funny, and I like to freak people out.

We all had a great time. Tony sang a few songs. Annie drank too much, and probably doesn't remember going up to the mic and singing the "I Love Galliano" song, but I thought it was hilarious. Wish I had taken the camera along.

Wednesday, April 25:

Tony and I got up and went down to the craps table at the IP. I had only played it once before, and didn't really know
how, but I picked it up. we played for eight hours or so, and I ended up ahead about $20. while we were at the table, we met a couple who had been at Bill's the night before. All I could say was, "It got pretty crazy, didn't it?", and she just nodded. I think maybe she was a little uncomfortable, which is a good thing. I like making people uncomfortable.


Thursday, April 26:

Back to the crap table again, and I won another $25. Then it was time to head over to Trevi at Ceasar's, where we hooked up with some friends from DLVs past. Some people had dinner, but I just had a beer. The limo tour was fantastic, as I recall. We were blitzed at that point. The non-Charles bar was pretty cool too. Gina told us that she probably wasn't going to see us again this trip, and that turned out to be right, because I didn't know that the shooting event was in the morning. I'm just basically not very organized.

I think it was Thursday that I found a lunch with or without Ginger at Paris, but I had an old copy of the schedule, so it had been moved. We had lunch without Ginger. While we were waiting in the buffet line, some people were speaking French, so I started up a conversation with them. They were from Nice, and they had never seen anything in Paris that looked like the Paris buffet. I don't get a chance to speak French much in Tucson, so that was refreshing.


Friday, April 27:

We did the Bahama Breeze, and that was a lot of fun. Afterward, we went up to the Paris bar. I didn't do much dancing, but I got to spend some quality time with Annie and Tony, and the band was good. I remembered them from last year.

saturday, April 28:

We hit the car museum at the IP, which was definitely worth doing. I really liked the vintage Rolls Royce and Bentleys, and there was a Plymouth there with Plymouth's version of the Firepower 390 V8, with a carb on each fender. I almost bought a nice-loooking Rolls that was selling for $15,500 because it needed some work, but I don't know enough about them to invest in one. After the car show, we played some video poker, one quarter at a time playing double double, which is the best way to get free drinks at the bar.

Sunday, April 29:

Going-home time, and I was down about $40 on chips from Saturday. I was ready to cash them in, but Tony wanted to try the crap table one more time. We walked away with over $500, so I'm glad we did!

So, I came back with a nasty cold, as I usually do when I go to crowded places, but it was totally worth it. A great time was had by all, and we're looking forward to next year.

-densie

[annie]

> Annie drank too much, and probably doesn't remember going up
> to the mic and singing the "I Love Galliano" song, but I thought it
> was hilarious. Wish I had taken the camera along.

Hey, I didn't have **THAT** much to drink!

I can assure you that I will actually drink Galiano[sic] before I ever try my hand at Karaoke again! Been there, done that, once!

[Densie]

Well, there's, nothing that says you can't do both.

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
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I'm gonna use the term "Play By Play", hoping that Densie will not
be able to bastardize it with a smartass remark. :)

Friday, April 20:

I arrived early and decided to kind of take the day for myself, so
I just relaxed, had a power nap, then got up, pigged out at the
Carnegie Deli at the Mirage, played at the machines a while, and
kind of surfed the casinos in the center Strip area. Believe it or
not, I kept recycling the same $10 over and over for several hours.

I had the desire to listen to some hardcore rock & roll, so I went
from place to place in search of it. They usually have a rock band
at Planet Ho, but for some reason the stage was empty! :( Paris'
house band was supposed to be on, but they seemed to be stuck in
deejay mode. :( Bill's looked like they had a band set up on stage,
but it was not playing either. Ditto at Margaritaville.

FINALLY I found a fairly decent garage band at O'Shea's, the little
hole-in-the-wall casino that closed shortly after DLV.

Marisa texted me and said that Drink And Drag was open and "had
plenty of pool tables" and I considered taking a taxi down there,
but figured that we would probably go there Saturday.
. . . . .

Saturday, April 21:

I took a taxi down to Mr. B's, a new bar and restaurant which had
recently opened, for our annual Pre-DLV gathering. We had a much
better turnout this year than last. The food looked good, but I had
OD'd at the buffet earlier and food was the last thing I wanted!

We had kind of decided that we were eventually going to adjourn to
Drink And Drag and check it out. When the band began at Mr. B's, it
was a bit loud, so we decided to wander on downtown. I bummed a ride
with Walter and we parked in the underground Neonopolis garage and
went upstairs to D&D. My first impression was that it was a nice
place. They obviously invested quite a bit of $$$ and effort into
making over the old Jillian's. They have the bar (of course) a game
room (soon to open) tons of pool tables, and about 10 bowling alleys
toward the side. Unusual combination! :)

Drinks were not cheap by any means, but fairly-priced, and they had
those big blue Bud Lite bottles. :) (Those bottles stay colder than
the regular bottles.) The music, at least on that Saturday, was loud
enough to be meaningful, but not loud enough to kill conversation.

I checked out the lower level for a good setting for the group photo.

We hung around D&D for a while and I introduced myself to the GM and
the various staff people.

Marisa had suggested that we meet over at Paris in the lounge area,
so I eventually ended up there, and crashed shortly after.
. . . . .

Sunday, April 22:

I overslept Lunch With Alanna!

I also overslept the mini breakfast buffet in the Bally's Coffee
Shop, so I just ordered off the menu. Wake up!

One commitment I made this year is that I would attend all three
Beginner Open House sessions. I really think that hospitality
toward newcomers and beginners is one of our most important
functions, so I wanted to do all I could to help the newcomers
feel welcome and feel part of the group.

I took a taxi over to the Artisan, and kind of found the group in
the lobby just inside the door and not in the lounge area. I then
suggested that we move up to the lounge, and we did.

We did have one brief drama scene, unfortunately! :(

Ginger and Kay arrived, and Ginger started checking in the newbees
and I kind of circulated and introduced myself and asked if there
were any questions or concerns.

Ginger, Kay, and I then rode off in the direction of Margaritaville.

We found valet parking at the Flamingo full, so we parked in the
big structure and eventually found a convenient parking place.

As we were walking in, we got a chirp saying that parking at the
Flamingo was full and that they were directing people elsewhere to
park. I guess it was lucky that we found space in the structure.

We made it to Margaritaville {sigh!}.

Let's see? How do I put this? Oh yes ...

WHAT A TOTAL CLUSTERF*CK!

We had reservations on one of the upper levels, but when we arrived
we found out that they had closed off the upper levels (due to some
kind of heat complaint) and crammed everyone in on the main level
for better or worse. One of the organizers asked me to find any open
table and camp on it, which I did. Others trickled in and joined us,
and I lost count of how many civilians asked me if the spare seats
were taken. I noticed groups of our people were at various tables in
the area.

There was no band or entertainment, but the place was very loud just
from conversation and the usual restaurant racket.

They said they would have a large table for us, which we eventually
got, but unfortunately with one go-round with the jer^H^H^Hmanager
who did not want to seat us since not all were present, because
some of the people preferred to stay at the tables they had squatters
rights on. Eventually we got seated, and the rest of the dinner went
relatively well, even though our group was scattered all over the
place.

Oh well ...

Some of the group went elsewhere (Charlie's?) and I said I would
stay around and babys^H^H^H^H^Hhostess until the band started, which
was WAY late! I kind of wandered in and out of Margaritaville for
the rest of the evening, spent some time people-watching on the rail,
and played a bit in the Flamingo casino.
. . . . .

Monday, April 23:

I woke up and took a taxi over to Studio Lites for the Open House.

I've found that I enjoy DLV (and Pinkfest) better without a vehicle.
The cost of a rental car easily covers a Monorail pass plus 1-2
taxi rides per day, plus there's no concern about DUI.

Back in the early days of DLV, the Annie Van was almost a social
activity in itself. I gave that up after an almost-incident which
involved a drunk guy in the Sahara parking lot. It could have been
very serious if the circumstances were just a bit different!

Studio Lites was bitter-sweet this year. As most of you know, Mardi,
who was supposed to host(ess) this passed away a few weeks before
DLV and she was very close to the Studio Lites staff as well as many
of the DLVers present. They had a slide-show tribute to Mardi on
the main video screen as well as a memorial photo and the program
from her funeral. :(

This was the largest crowd I think I've ever seen at Studio Lites!
It was close to a madhouse! I had a few items I wanted to discuss
with Chris, but I could not get a word in edgewise.

I bummed a ride with Kandi over to LWG at the Strat. The Stratosphere
Buffet is an under-rated dark-horse on the LV buffet scene. For the
price it's very good. The waiter (HOLA!) remembered us from years
past! :)

The crowd was a bit smaller at the Monday Beginner Open House, but
it was worthwhile and I got to meet a few I did not meet before.

Ginger, Kay, and I then headed downtown for the Fremont Happy Hour
and Tony Roma's Dinner.

I think the best bar prices on this trip were at the Fremont casino
bar. Very friendly and attentive service too. I spent part of the
HH time checking in with the Tony Roma's staff, coordinating the
seating time.

Tony Roma's was good as usual. I still wonder if I was hallucinating
or if I actually observed Ginger eating, and appearing to enjoy,
BBQ ribs! :) :) :)

We then wandered down to Neonopolis for the D&D mixer.

This was obviously the largest DLV gathering of the year, and was
most definitely over 100, but we probably will not know exactly
how many. I tried to take a count just before we did the group
photo, and I got 104, but I'm not confident of this number as many
people were wandering around. The one security person was trying to
keep track of the guests atributable to us and got a count of 117,
so we can probably figure that the total was inbetween those numbers.

After D&D a few of us went over to Goodtimes to see a show put on
by Stephanie Williams-Danderson.
. . . . .

Tuesday, April 24:

I woke up at a fairly decent time Tuesday, and kind of casino-surfed
around the area. At IP I ran into Densie and Tony, who were a bit
disappointed that the IP cancelled Karaoke at their bar. I mentioned
that I thought they may be still doing it some nights at the Rockhouse
out front, and suggested we go out there and ask them.

We went there, and no, they were not doing Karaoke.

While we were at the Rockhouse we decided to have "a drink" and I
had forgotten that it's always 2-fers on beer at the Rockhouse. I
was presented with two huge blue Bud Lite bottles. Oh wow! Buzzed
before noon! Just what I needed -- NOT! :)

We then took the Monorail down to the Las Vegas Hotel (what an
imaginative name!), formerly the Las Vegas Hilton, for Lunch With
Alanna.

I was kind of surprised at the lack of people at the LVH! The old
StarTrek casino area was a ghost town!

The LVH Buffet has most definitely improved. It was poor for a while
but the past two times I've eaten there it's been very decent.

After lunch I was feeling a bit groggy, mainly from stuffing myself
at the buffet, and from the beer at Rockhouse, so I went back to the
hotel and crashed, intending to get up and go to the Beginner Open
House. Well, I kind of overslept. {blush} Sowwy!

After a while I met Densie and Tony over at the IP and we took a taxi
over to Crews'n in anticipation of Karaoke.

Well, unknown to us, Karaoke at Crews'n was cancelled, so we had a
few drinks, consulted the net, made a few phone calls, and found out
who was really having Karaoke that evening. The most promising one
was Bill's, so we took a taxi over to Bills and I watched those two
do Karaoke. :) A whole group of DLVers were coming in to Crews'n as
we were leaving, and I mentioned that we were relocating to Bill's
but they did not appear to be interested in following.

No, there was no such thing as a Galiano[sic] song. :)
. . . . .

Wednesday, April 25:

We had a great turnout at the Volunteer Recognition Luncheon at the
Artisan. I do think it's very important to recognize the volunteers
who have put in their effort and in some cases their money toward
making DLV what it is!

Only problem was that service was slow in the restaurant and those
who were coordinating the Bellagio Fine Arts Museum tour were not
able to make it on time. We sent out a Chirp to that effect, and it
was kind of a guessing game as to whose phone would beep and in what
order. Those who had Verizon and AT&T got the text messages almost
immediately but somebody who had T-Mobile waited and waited and ...

The highlight of Wednesday was the Erotic Heritage Museum, and this
year it turned out to be the third best attended function we had.
The turnout was due to several reasons. First, cash bar was open,
and it seemed like some just hung out at the bar and really did not
do that much museum-going.

Another reason was that there was a new exhibit on crossdressing
which was commissioned with the cooperation of some of our people.
One main reason, however, is that nobody wanted to plan a second-
track option against the EHM this year, so by default, this was a
single-track activity! :)

After the EHM a bunch of us ended up at the casino bar at the IP.
JoAnn sat in what was Margeth's favorite seat. :) :) No, we did not
have Margeth's favorite drink! :)

Thursday, April 26:

I woke up in time to do the breakfast mini-buffet in the Bally's
coffee shop and then set out to host(ess) the Harmony Nail Spa Open
House. I was actually running a bit late, so I expected that others
would be there before I was.

I really don't know what the story was! Last year we had a great
turnout for the HNS Open House, but as the hours dragged on and on
nobody else seemed to show! Paula and staff put out a spread of
wine, cheese, chocolates, etc., and really went all out to welcome
the DLV gang! :( I was embarrassed and ashamed and perplexed at the
lack of a turnout for this! I kept apologizing over and over and
Paula assured me that business was good from the DLV folks that
week, but I still felt bad about it! :(

I walked over to Trevi early, and found quite a few of our gang
already in the bar. Gina brought Charles (of Charles Bar fame)
and Stacie, his SO, for dinner and for the Limo Tour. Although
we weren't supposed to get the upstairs area this year, we did,
and the food was great as usual. Too much wine with din-din! :)

It was then time for limo load-in. JoAnn and Walter went off to
get the refreshments ready to load, and I snagged a couple of
volunteers to help me herd the ca^H^Hriders to the tour bus area
where we would meet the limos.

The Limo Tour is one of the activities I enjoy most, and this
year was no exception. It's incredibly relaxing and a lot of
fun!

Our limo, for some reason, let us off downtown at the Four Queens,
which was supposed to be the pick-up area and not the drop-off
area. We made the best of it, and watched the band for a while
and watched as our people trickled in.

JoAnn asked me where the heck I was, since they could have used
my help in assertively herding the ca^H^Hriders and I explained
that 4Q was where we were dropped off. Oh well ...

Friday, April 27:

Wow, Friday already ...

After the Limo Tour, Densie, Tony, and I took a taxi over to
Cosmopolitan for the Non-Charles Bar. We arrived just as the
Charles gang was arriving and we migrated over to the bar, which
is actually quite nice, and had a few more drinks.

I do remember leaving the bar - eventually. I don't remember
getting to the hotel room, but I must have, because that's where
I woke up. :) :) I very seldom get hangovers anymore, but I woke
up feeling like 10 pounds of doodoo in a 5 pound bag! :( I then
realized that the Non-Charles Bar was the perfect place for
someone (no names mentioned) to spike my drink with a shot of
Galiano[sic], but I figured that if they had done it, they would
have teased me about it. Oh well ... :)

I took a taxi over to Gold Coast for LWG.

I was futzing around on a VP machine when Ginger came up and asked
me about it. I really need to give Ginger the Video Poker 101 lesson
as I think she would enjoy it, just like BBQ ribs. :) :) :)

The Gold Coast Buffet seems to come and go with quality, and this
year it was quite good.

Time for a nap! :) ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!

I eventually came to. :)

Taxi down to Bahama Breeze, apologizing to the driver for the very
short trip.

Very nice surprise, we were not supposed to get the Gazebo Room,
but we ended up with it. Alanna was saying that she thought they
were telling us we could not get it in order to pressure us into
more of a formal contract and such.

We had 70-some at Bahama Breeze, which was our second largest
group in any one place for DLV 2012.

Finale for DLV was the lounge over at Paris. They had re-done it
since last year, with padding and seats around the perimeter,
probably to keep the sound down a bit in the adjoining casino
area. We really had a great turnout for this! I counted 30 and
there were others wandering about. Somebody (I do not remember
who, honestly) grabbed me right on the boob, which I considered
to be very crass! :( This was not just a semi-innocent cop-a-feel
or sideways grope but a blatant "honk" and I made it very well
known that I did not appreciate it! :( Oh well ...

The house band is certainly high-energy! I did stick around for
their last set, which was quite a bit different than their usual
stuff. Things like Journey, AC/DC and such, which they do not
play earlier in the evening.
. . . . .

Well, that's about it! This was my 16th. DLV, and I really
enjoyed it! Again, I want to thank all who helped organize it
and all who participated for making it as great as it was!

See ya next year! (Or **HINT** in Chicago at Pinkfest!) :)

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(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Ashley
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Don't forget the Vegas rule: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas :)

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(This posting was entered by Ashley, an external user of MyDLV.)