Back from a great LA/Vegas trip.

Wow, what a wild ride! Of course we had to have the obligatory airline drama along the way... We drove from Cincy to Dayton because the flights out of Cincy are OUTRAGEOUS since Delta rules this place with an iron fist. Once we got to Dayton, navigated the freeways (what is it with other cities and road signs?? Repeat after me, they are NOT optional dammit!!!) finding the airport, parking, hiking to the terminal and getting inside we found out our flight hadn't arrived from Atlanta the night before. Apparently the lack of a plane is sufficient cause to cancel a flight so they were flying people to...are you ready... Cincinnati to fly to LA directly. The problem was that our new flight left Cincy like 9 hours later so rather than wait we opted to drive back home and deal with it later. On the plus side we stopped at a mall and found a new store that had a $5.98 sale on everything. Shoes, Leather jackets, sweatshirts, jeans, all of it for under 6 bucks. After buying 3 hoodies and all of the black cargo pants in my size (and one smaller for weight loss incentive!) to wear for fighting pants we departed. With the plane snafu we lost our free day in LA but we finally made it there in time to check in and go to sleep.
The party the next day was really great. My friend and his partner had just moved into a new place with a pool and hot-tub so all of their gay friends were there in full display. Of course people in LA have -4% body fat so they all looked like chisled Roman gods. I resemble the Baccus type myself. :) We sat by the pool and chatted and they entertained us with cheerleading stunts (of all the people there I think only 4 had never been cheerleaders, kind of surreal), a DJ and an over-the-top runway show featuring men, women, men dressed as women, etc. By the time the limo arrived we had been drinking for 9 hours and baking in the LA sun. We left for the after party at the warehouse at 2 AM our time. I was exhausted and fairly intoxicated but having a blast. When we got there I was blown away. The place was amazing...think abandoned drug den meets Trading Spaces. It was an old industrial area and the warehouse had been converted to a living/show space with 4 loft bedrooms built up and cantelevered out over the room. The huge dance/exibit (they also host shows and plays) area had couches along the walls and cool artwork and stuff everywhere. Needless to say it rocked. Now comes the bad part....as I was dozing off I remember being awakened by the familiar sounds of drumming. I pulled my head (which seemed to weigh about 90 pounds...freaking jetlag!) off of the couch and peeked through some sort of curtained partition and caught site of the belly dancer. She was really good and I wish I had been more aware and able to focus because I later found out she was Adore', one of the Bellydance Superstars. I got to talk to her the next day at a cookout, what a sweetie! We chatted about dance and her upcoming tour where they're heading for Africa. I told her about some of the awesome dancers in the SCA and she told me to be sure I told her sisters hello when I got back. My friend Cool had flown his sister May to LA to prepare a grand feast of home cookin' so we had tons of ribs, barbecued chicken, mac&cheese, beans, etc. I told her it sucked that I had to go all the way to LA to get some of her home cooking when she lives 5 minutes away from me! Alas, we had to say our goodbyes since we were headed to Vegas the next day and were supposed to play in a card tournament that night.
The next day we headed to Las Vegas. It was everything I hoped for. In fact, the Palms was so cool we didn't leave until the last day and that was just to walk the strip and get some pictures. The Hotel was amazing and it really aims for the younger crowd. All of the dealers and staff were super cool and many had tattoos and piercings and crazy hair. The Ghostbar on the roof is their after hours lounge and it's really nice. We went there several times, once for an all out bash sponsered by an online site where everything was free, so that fit the budget nicely. They served chilled shrimp, lamb chops, fancy desserts, etc. Ahhh, the good life! :) We got to see a few of the big poker stars, which was kind of cool. The dance club, RAIN, was a bit of a dissapointment. It was very nice but the DJ sort of sucked. He played way too much hip hop for me. Clubs should have mind numbing house or techno in my opinion. Other music is fine to listen to but when you want to lose your mind dancing it has to be just right. We finished the trip with yet more flight escapades but eventually made it home only 4 hours later than scheduled. Well I have to go for now, the lady just called to say she's heading up my street with my lost luggage!!