Vegas, Baby!

I was staying at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday for the Construct Conference (that's right, I work for a trade publication). I had never been to LV before and my first experience was one I won't forget, although NOT because I saw the lions. (Not that I even knew they were there until after I'd already checked out and left!)

The walking the show on Wed and then attending seminars all day Thurs were fine. But my Saturday was an interesting situation. The challenge: make my $30 per diem go as far as I could. It wasn't as hard as it may sound. Some may think that $60 for two days in LV isn't enough--think transportation, food, entertainment, but a. walking the show was exhausting + b. I was by myself in a new big ol' city + c. I wasn't comfortable going around town alone at night + d. my rent was due on the 1st = e. my $60 went a long way.

The other challenge: get over my social anxiety to be able to leave my room.

I'm not sure if many people know this about me, but I get quite nervous when I don't know what to expect and don't have someone to show me around, so my sister Jen had to help coach me out of the room. I get this feeling where the thought of mingling around dozens if not hundreds of new people overwhelms me and I'd rather just give up before I start and stay in my room. It only really happens when I'm in a place I don't know, but it still happens nonetheless. Quite interesting and humbling. I'm not sure if anyone else gets like this, but I made it! My Saturday evening consisted of taking a twilight tour of the monorail, then walking out to the pool in my bikini. After a not-so-hot minute outside on the pool deck, I sauntered into a TV screening for a new show called "Game Show in My Head." If you see it on cable, don't blame me! I "changed the channel."

And finally FINALLY I decided to get a few of my dollar coins exchanged into dollar bills to play the slots. I took my five dollars to the $1 slots and sat there for three minutes before I was broke again. When I got the courage to look around a bit more closely for the 1 cent slots, I was out of bills. I had pennies though! New lesson: it's taboo to talk to anyone playing the slots that you don't know. I tried asking some lady if the machine would take slots, but she was NOT having it. And to top it off, I caught the eye of some guy down the row who was watching our exchange and he gave me the weird eye. So, back up to my room it was! Socializing over!

This is a picture of me first leaving my room after talking to Jen. Disregard the double chin and try to focus on the fear in my smile/eyes. Nice, eh?