#also one time when i was a kid the mall had these flamingos real flamingos in these tiny little like shop window sized cases

[noblemalone]

One time i emailed the JP Morgan Museum in NYC because I had seen a letter in one of their exhibits that really moved me but I couldn't remember the name of the writer and who it had been addressed to so i literally emailed them like "hey back in March you had this letter from a guy to his gay lover and they were both in musical theatre I think? Who was that" (but like in my weird awkwardly formal Email Voice) and i sent the email off expecting to get a reply in 6 to 9 months in the form of an auto-generated 'thanks for your question' email but like

They replied like, within the week? And were so gracious and gave me all the info i needed? And told me who had curated the exhibit and selected that piece? And said they were so glad it made an impact on me??? I was shocked

[thespian-wallflower]

Answer as many as you want, my love 🥰💕! 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 15, 23, 25, 28, 31, 33, 36, 37, 44, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56, 57, 59, and 60

Thanks, babe! 💕 3. do you own a pride flag, or more than one? I have a tabletop bi pride flag in my pencil holder

4. describe your favorite outfit. Baseball cap, graphic t-shirt, college theatre hoodie, skinny jeans, and my checkerboard Vans

5. when was the last time a girl made your heart flutter? how’d she do it? You do it on a daily basis! And you know what you did, you flirt 💕

11. describe your ideal day. A day out at a fun place (mall, arcade, mini golf, etc), and some lunch, then a movie! Not necessarily in that order XD

12. describe your ideal date. See above! Or for a quieter version, just some takeout and a movie at home is always perfect

15. what is your favorite compliment to receive? That I’m funny!

23. did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a kid? Yes! I had (and still have) a stuffed raccoon named Scamp. I also have a beanie baby flamingo named Pinky, who was another favorite

25. what dream trip would you take with your wife? Anywhere fun, like NYC or Disney

28. what makes you smile? Music, animals, fictional characters, and talking to you, of course ^_^

31. how do you show your love? Mostly through humor and playfulness. And physical contact, like cuddling or holding hands

33. where would you live if you could live anywhere? Provincetown or NYC

36. what makes you laugh? Dumb meme humor, inside jokes. Stuff that’s naturally funny, like, just people being people

37. who is your favorite fictional character? First of all HOW DARE YOU. Second of all... mmm... I’ll narrow it down to Yakko Warner, Alastor, and Smiley Bone at the moment

44. what is your gayest childhood memory? I had a HUGE crush on my chorus teacher/ drama director in middle school. Aaaand it was cringey how much I liked her

48. did you know you’re actually a gift to the world, for real? BABE STOP 💕

49. what’s your favorite memory? I have a few! Meeting you for the first time, seeing my first Broadway show, performing my dream role in Into the Woods, and meeting Rob Paulsen are my main ones!

51. what do you like most about yourself? I think I’m generally pretty brave and I have a high tolerance for pain of all kinds

52. what makes you fall for a girl? Optimism, support, humor, honesty, and affection ^_^ Bonus points if she’s beautiful on the outside, too!

55. when do you feel most yourself? When I’m performing, or just goofing around and acting silly

56. name a gorgeous celeb. Catherine O’Hara was my original celeb crush, so I’ll go with her!

57. what are some of your favorite songs this week? Currently 21 Guns by Green Day, not many others

59. what flavor of chapstick/lip balm is the best? I have a Boo Berry one that’s honestly pretty good XD

60. are you okay? Hangin’ in there. Today was a good day ^_^

[geniusbuilttm]

BMC 4/6/2019 2 PM Show

Soooo I saw BMC yesterday with @awkwardpersontm and it was an amazing day so I have a lot of notes from the show..... a L O T

This is all me copy+pasting from a note I made on my phone so sorry it’s so long

ALSO SPOILERS!!! LOTS OF SPOILERS SO SCROLL IF U DONT WANNA GET SPOILED

Also signatures (those who came to the signing): George, both Jason’s, Gerard, and Anthony

Pre-Show

Talked to Zachary so much and he was signing a little while talking

He is so excited about giving everyone their custom pins and talking to them

The pin this month is ‘I ❤️ Play Rehearsal’, last month was a SQUIP pill (green and white), and February was a Michael Mell pin

Here is a pic (also Zachary is amazing I adore him and love him sm):

He geeked out about my pants and told me I need to show my pics of them to George Salazar

Jake’s understudy went today and Anthony ROCKED IT!!!

Act 1

Jeremy’s mom went to Long Island with her prom king bf

Jake’s whole character starts to change since he first talks to Christine

The book Christine is reading is a worn book about Barbara Streisand

He loves Sbarro bc his parents used to take him there (he tells her about it during the mall)

Wolverine is v creepy and swallows a lot

They have a mailbox

Mr heeres table was full of newspapers and cereal

During TPG George didn’t catch the controller so they scrambled so it wouldn’t fall off the side and did the part until after Mr. Heere on the floor

Jeremy when he first sees rich is like I’m not in the mood I had a bad daaaaaay then proceeds to get swirlied in the toilet

Outfit changes per day

Michael has a vest over his hoodie the second day

Squips countdown before Christine says ‘guess there’s a part of me that wants to’

Upgrade got replaced and completely revamped

George wasn’t apart of the ensemble of SQUIp song

Jenna has an adorable pineapple bag

Jeremy and Brooke made out in the bleachers at the football field

The wombat mascot of the school changed to an elephant

The SQUIp pill was huuuuge

Michael’s explanation of what exto cooler tastes like: *deadpan voice* ghosts

Brooke and Jeremy both hate being the player two

Chloe kicking Christine’s backpack aaaaaaall the way stage left and it hit the wall

Me and Mikaela (awkwardpersonTM) in second row got hit with confetti that Squip tossed

He doesn’t squirt out the lotion to masturbate anymore

Squip solo before Be More Chill Part 1

Karl has lots of sequins

Mall cop Jake is replaced with bedazzled af dude

Lots of Michael references when he is ONB’d and props and stage stuff covers him and apparently headphones aren’t allowed in the halls

Chloe is scared of losing attention

Jeremy is halo’d like a king with light when looking down at Michael at the football field

New patches on Michael’s hoodie back: Atari, floppy disk, and one other I don’t remember rn

Jeremy smiled and was proud of being a masturbator

The kids in the new song all had a way to connect to Jeremy and we got bg info on them a bit more that way so it makes more sense why Jeremy says yes and is ‘suddenly popular’

Act 2

I got too caught up after with hurrying for stage door but

Jeremy isn’t late for the Halloween party this time

Christine is a princess still but instead of having her old Juliet costume, she tried to be someone she wasn’t by dressing as a slutty princess (it also had a hoop skirt that was short)

Halloween has an extra bit st the end

Do you wanna hang is a lot better with no awk lap dance

Jake unfortunately no longer hops in through the window

The entire time of the Halloween party yoy see rich getting more and more panicked and in pain with his squip

He takes a jack o lantern and starts the fire with that

The army stuff is still there in pants song

Before pants song they have an actual news broadcast on the tv on the table they recorded

Michael tries to awkwardly do military stuff back and Mr. Heere does it in return to make him feel better

Smoking effect and the mells have a lawn chair up front, garden gnomes, and a plastic pink flamingo

Jeremy tells Jenna about what the squips are before she drinks the beaker

Jeremy ends up hitting Michael and punching him in the nose and I think breaking it?

Jenna says that she refuses to not be connected and has the squiped kids grab him and she knocks him out

Michael wakes up as Jeremy is confronted with Christine and no fake out kiss attempt is made

He explains that one destroys them all before they all go

SQUIp actually wants to take over the world

SQUIp: you helped me realized what I was meant to do (context: take over the word); Jeremy: ... ah SHIT

He gets angry at Jeremy after he originally is upset and sad that he was shut off

Jeremy explains that he wanted to save Christine and that he didn’t knowing shutting one off shut them all off and Michael says that Jeremy’s less of an asshole than he thought

Rich has realistic burn makeup on the side of his face (not really real but i gasped)

Jenna/Brooke/Chloe/Jake call themselves Jeremy’s Squad

They have actual closure for the issues, even if very brief, for what happens during the show

Squip still faceplants onto the bed

Jeremy’s voice is glitching out as he insults Michael

On Squip’s anime villain look his lit up chest piece reacts and freaks tf out when Michael shows the Mt Dew Red (which is literally printed out paper around a bottle)

Jake clings to the bottle during most of it and dumps most out into the sink

Brooke wants to be seen and Chloe wants to be liked (they say they see/like each other)

Basically everyone is creepy hugging each other after being Squipped like they’re blissed out happy

[aion-rsa]

How The Simpsons Enjoys a Special Relationship with Santa Claus

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Santa Claus has been a consistent presence on The Simpsons from the very first episode, and not strictly contained within the holidays. Homer wanted to be him. Abe and Bart wanted to kill him. The family dog is named after him, and Mr. Burns routinely releases the hounds on him. The very image of Santa once saved Homer’s life. The town of Springfield brought a class action suit against him, even if they do trust him enough to hawk TV savings at Sprawl-Mart or buy Dancing Santas off YouTube. Here are the many ways in which Santa Claus has impacted The Simpsons.

Santa doesn’t get special treatment in the first episode of season 1, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” which was titled onscreen as “The Simpsons Christmas Special.” The episode premiered on Dec. 17, 1989, when the world still treated Father Christmas with respectful kid’s gloves. “There’s only one fat guy that brings us presents and his name ain’t Santa,” says Bart, who never wears mittens, not even in winter. Little did he know, but his father would live up to that bit of foreshadowing in ways no one, except for writer Mimi Pond, could have seen coming.

Homer puts on the fake beard, red suit and offers his lap as a mall Santa. It’s a rough road, he has to go through intensive training. He memorizes the reindeers’ names, though Donner and Blitzen merge to form Donna Dixon. He practices his ho-ho-hos. He even promises to like children “all the time, even when they’re nuts.” He does it all because Marge had to spend all the money in the Christmas jar to remove a truly radical tattoo from the not-of-legal-age arm of Bart, who then proceeds to bust his old man’s nuts by pulling off his fake beard.

Homer is not the only character to pull mall Santa duty on The Simpsons. He gets the idea from Barney, who recommends the gig as easy money. In season 18 episode “Kill Gil, Volumes I & II,” Gil Gunderson takes the job as the Costington’s department store Santa. He gets fired for making sure Lisa got a chance at a sold-out Malibu Stacy Pony Beach Party Set. Homer makes a far larger splash in town when he puts on the Santa suit for Costington’s Thanksgiving Day parade. He passes it over to Mr. Burns who happily makes the rounds, reaching into his bag of presents and pulling out fish guts which he throws to the crowd. Merry Everyone.

Sideshow Bob slips his oversized feet through the padded pants in “Bobby, It’s Cold Outside.” Written by Jeff Westbrook and John Frink, season 31’s tenth episode sets Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., Ph.D., up to be the holiday villain because more merchandise is being stolen at the mall than being wrapped up to go. But, having ditched his solitary lightkeeper’s job to sit down for the little guy and speak truth to power when it plops in his lap, Sideshow Bob finds Christmas spirit at the bottom of his bag of toys. Not that that pardons him from the mall crimes.

On the season 3 episode “Bart’s Friend Falls in Love,” Channel 6 News Anchor Kent Brockman breaks the news to Springfield that, while the idea of jolly fat men like Dom DeLuise or Alfred Hitchcock is a source of joy to the world, the reality is far less bright. A real Santa Claus would be on his deathbed, hospitalized for gallstones, hypertension, impotence and diabetes, he reports. Brockman also once pronounced Santa Claus dead, or at least that he might as well be, because Homer was doing a better job than the North Pole resident. Rachel Maddow later puts down Brockman for reporting Santa Claus’ route across the world as news.

Santa’s not the best of bosses, though. At least not on The Simpsons. People with chimneys take the toys for granted without thinking of the poor elves toiling in the sweatshop known as Santa’s Workshop. Homer, Barney, Moe and Bart are saved from enraged reindeer at Springfield’s Santa’s Village by guest star John Waters. No, it’s not a Christmas miracle, “Ultrasuede is a miracle.” It is a Japanese robot Santa Claus. The Pink Flamingos and Hairspray director knew it would be effective because of the harsh work ethic which precedes Claus’s reputation. “I figured reindeer would naturally be afraid of their cruel master Santa Claus. I mean, wouldn’t you be,” Waters asks.

Bart gets a first-hand view of the workshop in “The Fight Before Christmas,” from season 22. It’s only a dream sequence but the men in the Simpson family always seem to live out their dreams. Bart only took the job to kill Santa for not bringing him a dirt bike three Christmases ago. He’d previously fantasized about killing Santa in “The Front” from the fourth season. Bart points a machine gun at Santa Claus, tells him to hit the ground and hijacks his sleigh. Krusty the Clown plays Santa in the dream sequence from “The Fight Before Christmas” (Krusty also got to play Santa in “Behind the Laughter” from season 11), and kvetches about the diminishing returns of presents for cookies. It’s just not a sustainable business model. Bart lets Santa off the hook, and Santa throws a party in honor of how stupid kids can be.

While we don’t exactly know the full story, the entire town appears to get wind of the flamboozling, one-night-a-year-working, unlicensed parcel delivery man in “New Kid on the Block” from season 4. As Homer is in court fighting the most flagrant case of false advertising “since The NeverEnding Story,” the attorney for his opponent tries to pull a dramatic courtroom reveal. “Your Honor, I’d like to show the court just how much shrimp Mr. Simpson ate,” the lawyer says as aides shoulder sacks of material to be entered into evidence. As the boys bring in the “Eighteen thousand letters, all addressed to Santa Claus,” we learn it is a missed delivery. “You want the People of Springfield versus Kris Kringle. That’s next door,” we hear. We never get a follow-up.

But Abe does.

Abraham Simpson is not known for his follow-through. But he is infamous for his interminable tales of woe and confusion. One of those confusions has to do with the time Abe was stranded with Monty Burns on a deserted island as World War II was coming to an end. The way Abe tells it, Santa was flying over the island on Christmas Eve when Burns shot down his sleigh thinking it was German issue. After learning who it is, they help Santa repair his sleigh. They round up all the reindeer but Rudolph and Prancer. While Abe is herding in Prancer, Burns bashes Santa on the head with a coconut, and takes off in the sleigh with all the presents. Abe mounts Prancer to catch up with the airborne Burns, throttles him with a tricycle, and brings the leigh in for a safe landing. A grateful Santa promises to come back for the stranded soldiers when he’s done delivering presents.

Santa never came back. He wanted to, but kept putting it off until, well, it just got embarrassing. He does continue delivering presents to Grampa, including the lucky watch his brother was wearing when his plane went down in World War II. All is forgiven when Santa tells Abe his brother survived the air attack, and is happily living with his 50 wives in Tahiti, where his plane went down. Abe forgave him enough to play Santa in his telling of the origins of Christmas traditions. Whether Santa Claus forgave Abe for that we don’t know

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We do know Santa Claus is one of the few people who read the book “The Answer.” We also know he’s no match for an armed Gnome in Your Home, even with the help of Jack Frost, The Abominable Snowman and Wayne Gretzky. Santa Claus is always welcome on The Simpsons, even if the chimneys on Evergreen Terrace are death traps.

The post How The Simpsons Enjoys a Special Relationship with Santa Claus appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3mUqNx8

[macaudaytrip]

Often called the ‘Vegas of Asia’, Macau lies 19km or approximately 55 minutes away from Hong Kong via ferry. Most people who stay in Hong Kong for a few days end up visiting Macau too, because - distance wise, why not? In our case, we booked flights to Hong Kong and return from Macau, while some do the other way around.

Have you read my Hong Kong blog by any chance? Cause this is by the way the continuation of our 5D/4N family trip in 2018. If you haven’t done so, here you go! (;

We checked out of the hostel in Tsim Sha Tsui around 0700 to catch the TurboJet ferry going to Macau. Tickets were booked via Klook as mentioned previously. We had breakfast at the hostel to fuel our day cause I knew that it was going to be long and tiring.

We took the MTR and arrived at Sheung Wan Station at 0730 as the ferry was scheduled to board in the next hour. Though ferries run everyday from 0700 to 2359 and leave every 20 to 30 minutes, I religiously followed our itinerary so we don't miss out on the places we planned to visit. Practically speaking, we returned the Octopus Cards at the Customer Service Centre before entering the terminal to get the remaining credit plus the deposit refund. We intend to come back for various reasons, we just didn’t know when and it really made sense cause Macau widely accepts HKD but note that MOP won’t be accepted in Hong Kong so might as well spend it whilst you’re there.

The little one saw her favorite cookie shop as we reached the station so we bought her some cookies and muffins for her baon.

The TurboJet Ferry was clean, spacious and very well maintained. The whole process was smooth and straightforward, you just need to follow the boarding signs. Sad to say but bye for now, Hong Kong. We sure had a great time!

Like Hong Kong, the weather in Macau is unpredictable too. It was very hot when we visited and thank God - it didn’t rain at all.

I did some research (like I always do before entering a new country) and learned that shuttle services are provided by big hotels and casinos so you don’t really need to take a cab to major tourist spots. You can easily find them outside the airport. 

We passed by the Lisboa Hotel and took some photos before heading to our first destination

Our first destination:

Ruins of St. Paul

If you’re up for a walk at noon on a summer day (which sounds absurd, I know) Senado Square is the place for you. It was listed into the World Heritage Sites as part of the Historic Centre of Macau. The square is paved in the traditional Portuguese pavement.

It was extremely hot - the little girl started throwing tantrums so we went to look for an ice cream parlour and bought her some to make her feel better. There are boutiques, souvenir shops and food stores around.

We passed by churches on our way to St. Paul’s Ruins. Do you believe in making wishes when you visit a church for the first time? I do - and I’ve always believed in since I was young. We did come inside to pray and make wishes.

St. Dominic’s Church

Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady

We saw McDonald’s on our way to the Ruins so we stopped by for lunch. We didn’t take photos cause we were running late for our next destination.

We were close to the Ruins in this photo. There were variety of food stuff for you to choose and sample. I’ve tried the beef jerky and it was sooooo so good. My husband and daughter weren’t in a mood cause it was very hot and crowded.

Ruins of St. Paul

Ruins of St. Paul is the most famous landmark in Macau and one of the seven wonders of Portuguese Origin in the world. It was built in the 17th century and was destroyed by fire in mid of 19th century. I badly wanted to take family photos with the facade in the background, but the crowd and weather were crazy (as always, to my knowledge) Glad I’ve taken some pictures of my babies nonetheless.

It may have been struck three times in the past, war, wind and fire this impressive facade stood and it only proves that ruins can be beautiful too.

Our next stop:

Macau Giant Panda Pavilion

I’ve never seen a real panda bear in real life nor my husband and daughter, that’s why we took the chance to visit the zoo cause our daughter seems to like animals a lot - specially pandas.

The zoo is located at Seac Pai Van Park, Coloane (south of the Macau island) We took the bus and thought we got lost on the way cause it’s very far from Senado Square. Getting there and back was pretty difficult. Even taxis didn’t come around that time and I believe it has always been like that.

We paid MOP10 for the entrance fee - which was very reasonable cause aside from pandas being the main attractions, there’s a botanical garden and you can also see different species like monkeys, flamingos and gorillas in all sorts.

We were lucky to see the pandas awake cause we’ve been told that they are normally asleep after feeding time. It was a great experience after all. This place is recommendable specially for those who have kids.

Our last stop before heading to the airport:

Venetian Hotel

The Venetian Hotel is located in Cotai Strip, Estrada da Baía de N. Senhora da Esperança. It is the largest casino in the world, the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and also the seventh largest building in the world by floor area.

We were fascinated as we entered the main lobby. The splendid sculptures, stunning chandeliers, glossy flooring, great interiors and awesome malls! We didn’t get to see the casino because children are not allowed so we just went around to make the most of our time in Macau.

One of the highlights of this hotel is the indoor Gondola rides which reminds me of Venice. We really had fun walking around. The atmosphere seemed very pleasing and I felt like all the shopping brands were there so if you’re a shopaholic, you’ll enjoy this place even more.

We had dinner at one of the food shops at the hotel but didn’t take photos cause it was crowded and we were in a hurry cause we didn’t want to miss our flight back home. We went to pick up our luggage at the baggage counter soon after dinner. The shuttle service going to airport is completely free (as mentioned earlier)

Macau is indeed well worth a day trip. Our full day was sufficient enough to see everything we wanted. xx

[jswdmb1]

Leaving Las Vegas

“Life springs eternal On a gaudy neon street Not that I care at all”

- Sheryl Crow

Dad and I had some pretty good times together, but it’s hard to argue the place where we had the most fun.  The first time I went out to Las Vegas with him was 22 years ago this month.  I had been there on my own, but nothing could match the experience of being there with my Dad.  Now, I told you that this is not a diary, and the point of bringing this up is not necessarily sentimental.  Instead, it leads me to a post about my favorite places in Vegas that are no more.  They either met with the wrecking ball, were spectacularly dynamited on New Year’s Eve, completely rebuilt, or simply faded away.  Here are a few of the casinos of yesteryear that the two of us wandered through where most of those fun times were had:

The Stardust - The list could begin and end with this place.  There is no better way to describe a trip to Vegas with my Dad then a weekend at the Stardust. He started going there in its original heyday in the mid 70’s. That’s when Lefty Rosenthal ran the joint (the Robert DeNiro character in Casino).  My Dad always claimed that he had an “uncle” (my grandmother was his godmother or something) who really ran the casino and that the Don Rickles character was based on him.  I could never get verifiable evidence of this, but who knows with my Dad.  In any event, The Stardust was as classic Vegas as it gets.  It was the first Sports & Race Book on the strip and they always dealt fair games at the tables.  The prices were reasonable and the rooms were pretty nice.  I liked this place so much that I had my bachelor party there.  There was nothing about it that was hip or cool, but if you enjoyed good gaming and being treated well, this was your place.  If anyone ever puts something back on this property, they should revive the Stardust to its original glory.  I guarantee there are plenty of us who want our Vegas as it was and you can save the pool parties and night clubs for the kids at Hard Rock, Mandalay Bay or wherever it is the cool kids stay.

The Frontier- To call this place a dump is an insult to real garbage dumps out there.  Still, it had a charm all its own.  They went all in on the cowboy theme including a mechanical bull in one of the bars.  Plus, they had the only bingo parlor on the strip (who the hell flies all the way to Vegas to play bingo?).  My favorite part of this place was the half-assed Sports & Race Book that was side-by-side with a Keno Parlor and one of those mechanical horse racing games positioned perfectly to see it all.  I spent one memorable day playing all of that at once while drinking some of the worst bourbon ever distilled.  How is that fun, you ask?  I can’t really say other than it truly fits the phrase you had to be there (taking something beforehand that was slightly stronger than bourbon helped as well 😉).  

Holiday Inn Boardwalk- The most frightening entrance ever to grace the front of a hotel was a ridiculously scary clown head that if I remember right you had to walk through to enter the casino.  If using the right substances beforehand, it could cause a trip that would produce nightmare flashbacks for weeks.  Once inside, the dream didn’t get any better.  This craphole made The Frontier look like a five-star hotel.  It was also notorious for the worst buffet in the history of Vegas.  They would occasionally hand these out as comps at the tables and it was a mistake you would regret for the rest of your trip.  Of all the places on this list, it’s probably the one I miss the least, but even in all its awfulness, it still had more charm than most of the sterile strip hotels there now.

The Westward Ho- Tucked between The Stardust and McDonald’s (and near Slots O’ Fun), this place got way more of my money than it should have.  Something oddly drew me into the casino even though then and now I struggle to define it’s redeeming qualities.  They had low limits, which I always like, but I never remember winning there. It must have been the competitor in me that kept going back to try and conquer this place.  One thing that conquered me for sure was the 99 cent shrimp cocktail that would have fit perfectly on the Holiday Inn Boardwalk buffet. An overall forgettable place, but yet as I sit here typing I find myself yearning to go back.  Nostalgia will do that to you.

 Little Caesars- The one and only time I was in this place was my first trip to Vegas in 1994.  It was located in a strip mall that was torn down for The Paris.  It was just a casino with no hotel.  Legend was that the owner ran the place solely to have a license to book outrageous sports bets (he bet $1M on the 1988 Super Bowl which was news at the time). The story made sense when you saw the casino.  To call it an afterthought implies there was an initial thought when it was put together. I went in there one weekday morning with Eddie “Balls” Bruno and were the only ones in the whole place with 25 cent “crapless” craps and one dollar blackjack minimums.  We asked for a beer, and this gruff looking teamster guy came over and handed us a Dixie Cup of something that came out of a keg probably from the night before.  While a complaint seemed in order, I felt that I was going to get “whacked” at any minute, so I quietly choked down the beer and lost my money as quickly as you can when betting 25 cents a roll.  There is no doubt in my mind that this was the most unique casino experience in my life that will never be replicated, and I’m okay with that.

Barbary Coast - If you didn’t have a lot of money, wanted to gamble a little and get really drunk in the process, this was your place.  They had low minimums and very stiff drinks.  My favorite pastime was to sit at one of their $5 pai gow poker tables and order one Jack Daniels after another.  If you played your cards right (pun intended) you could a night of entertainment and the equivalent of a fifth of whiskey for just a few bucks.  The location was great too as it was on the big corner with Caesars, The Dunes (now the Belaggio), Bally’s, and the Flamingo.  O’Sheas was nearby too.  Lots of nights started here with plans to go elsewhere, but never moved because we couldn’t come up with a good reason.  They recently remodeled this and fancied it up with a new name, but it’s just not the same.  This place is sorely missed in the middle of the strip.

The Sahara- This place was the last stop on the north end of the strip.  You definitely had to go out of your way to get there, but I always thought it was the nicest of the “low-roller” places.  Their big come on was $1 blackjack anytime, but the atmosphere wasn’t as sleazy as these other places that offered such low limits.  Even after it had been around for a while, it would have a decent young crowd in there always having a pretty good time.  I was a bit surprised it closed a few years ago, but its location (not near any of the big time places) probably did it in. Other than The Stardust, and maybe the Barbary, this is the one place I’d really like to see come back.

So, there you go.  If I had my way, all of these places would be back in Vegas (even the scary boardwalk clown) when I head back there tomorrow morning for the first time in a while.  We are going to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  He would have been 72 today.  I think it is fair to say that his absence on this trip will be a far bigger void than these places we used to ramble through, but it is also fair to say he’d be pretty pissed if I didn’t make the most of the trip either.  So, I’ve rented a car, and we’ll go looking for some of those hidden gems off Strip that will bring me back to the same atmospheres that produced the really good times that I had with my father.  I’ll be looking for cheap tables, stiff drinks, and a simple, down-to-earth atmosphere.  Just please hold the 99 cent shrimp cocktail.

Cheers and Happy Birthday, Dad,

Jim