[LEMONS] 3.27.2002
Vegas, baby, vegas
Las Vegas -- At the Pharoh's Pheast buffet, in the bowels of the Luxor Hotel and Casino, you'll find America, in all its fattened splendor. Allyoucaneat - Allyoucaneat - Allyoucaneat! VIPs waddle in via their own special line, oblivious to their utter insignificance, to the fact that this particular bone--no matter how elegantly thrown--is devoid of marrow.
Everyone's a winner in Las Vegas. I've never known a soul who has gone to Las Vegas and lost money, and I know a lot of people. Everyone wins. Not me. I lose. I'm a loser. Everyone you talk to; they win. They return from Vegas flush with winnings. Nothing life-changing, mind you. But a couple of hundred bucks here and there. Enough to pay for the trip, maybe. I don't see how the place stays in business. Everyone wins.
Everyone wins because they have to. Everyone wins because it's a moral failure to admit that you sat your American ass down to the table and forked over $500 for the privilege of watching cards turn over. To admit that all the casino sold you for your week's pay was a fleeting feeling of hope that lasted just long enough to ante up again.
So, instead, you win. Everyone wins.
Not me. I lose. I always lose, and I'm the only one. I keep the town afloat, apparently. But on this particular trip, I only lost $10. everyone else won. Everywon.
Postscript: At the Las Vegas airport, within an hour of writing the above, I inserted a ten dollar bill into a video poker machine and walked away with $30 worth of quarters. I put $20 in my bag and fed the remaining ten back to The Beast. I don't see how the place stays in business. Everyone wins.
- l i n k -
