Vegas.... the first 30 hours....
 

Well, here I am again. Back for the annual work pilgrimmage to Sin City.

This will be the third Sober Vegas. I have no concerns - though I have observed several AV attempts to subtly poke and prod at me about drinking. These have been fleeting and I'll not let them sway me from my sober life.

Last night I had a fantastic sushi dinner with a big bottle of Pellegrino.... with lime. My go-to Vegas drink of choice. It's SO good.... and water. WATER!! What more pure and perfect thing for the body?

Today I woke at 5am after going to bed at 9:30 and went down to starbucks in the hotel/casino. There was a guy there ahead of me who'd been recognized in an award session yesterday. He still had on the same clothes. I called out to him "Good morning, John.....". Nothing. Then again.... "Mayte!!! how's it?". He walked away.

The cashier said "Man... he is SO out of it. I had to tell him to put his money away five times".

I watched him stagger and sway... in that way that a deeply drunken man who has been drunk all night slowly sways, in an effort just to remain upright.

It was 2.5 hours until our all day meetings would begin. He got his coffee, staggered and swayed along out the store until noticing two ladies sitting and having muffins. He stopped.... sloppily pushed back a chair and sat down to begin inquiring in a slurring, gravelly voice; "SO.... where are YOU fine ladies from??"

There but for the grace of sobriety, go I.....

Five more days and a wake-up, and I'm outta here.

Happy Sobriety to you all.

:ring

Great work, hope you enjoy the rest of your stay. We've all been "that guy"'(or girl) before...a good reminder of what a good choice we have made.

FreeOwl; so nice to see you!!!!

Very sad story.

Enjoy your stay.

Thank God for sobriety.

Hi Owl.

Great story. It's so interesting to witness all that as an outsider, after some solid sober time and without strong temptations, isn't it?

I'll have some similar experiences where I am right now, I think. In Florida; I've been coming to this place to get work done in three consecutive years now, always for 2-3 weeks. I come here because they have great facilities for work that I can use for free and to explore some areas in the state that I like a lot, in my free time. I also have a very good friend here who does not care about drinking. But many of the people are jerks really, and quite a few heavy drinkers. I try not to have anything to do with them but they just work where I do. In my first year, I drank a lot here. Last year when I was here just about 3 months sober, I felt quite insecure and stressed, but that won't happen now. Now is again a very different perspective.

Enjoy your sober observer status! :)

way to go Free

vegas is awesome, better than the best comedy on TV

Quick question, do you hit a twelve against a dealer two ?

Hope you have a productive business week :)

keep on :You_Rock_

m

lol.... not a clue.

I don't drink. I don't gamble. I don't really get into shows.... WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING IN VEGAS???

hahaha.

I will probably try putting twenty bucks on sixteen red at a roulette table one time. And I will eat a lot of sushi.

:ring

Depends on how many knuckleheads are to your left.

I'm also in Vegas to watch my grandson compete in a gymnastics meet.

One thing I also noticed is that there are a lot of nondrinkers here, folks I would have never noticed five years ago when I was active.

We went to dinner last night and though many in the weekend crowd in the casino were walking with drinks in hand, as well as cigarettes, at dinner the majority had tea or sodas at their tables.

I know we live in an alcohol-saturated culture, but I'm always keenly aware now that in many social situations, drinking isn't the norm at all. I was just blinded by my own obsession to think that the majority of folks were just like me. They're not.

But "they" are now, right? Switching teams is so much better,eh :)

I heart Vegas.

I used to be a Blackjack dealer...

Stories. I got 'em. :wink3:

Memphis.... I've had that same realization. In my line of work the drinkers are still a huge majority.... But there are a lot more nondrinkers than I ever recognized. Certainly the old belief that 'everyone' drinks is not true.... I simply surrounded myself with drinkers.

Ok so Bimini
I'm sitting in the anchor seat with a q and 2 and you are showing a 2, should I hit it? And does it matter if you dealing from a multideck shoe ?

Enjoy your trip FO

Sad about the cashier ive seen a documentry on Vegas where ppl and thier addictions got so bad they are homeless living under the city really sad basically living in tunnels

spk soon bud

I am so old that we didn't even use multi-deck.

The book says hit the 12.

Unless you can count, the advice would be the same for single or multi.

My advice is not to play at all...












...unless you do it like I did, with the House money. It's fun to be the dealer. And don't play in casinos that take your bet on a push. That's just wrong.

Mix folks removed from family obligations. . .with nightly open bars (at the last one I was literally almost bumping into servers passing drinks for those who couldn't make it to the bar), those celebrating awards, those catching up with "long lost" co-workers, and the convenience of staying in a hotel room only floors above the party. . .and bad things can happen.

(I once had to turn away a prostitute sent to my hotel room by a drunk coworker).

I've seen reputations hurt and people fired at these meetings.

So glad we're on the other side now!

Yep!

Overall it sounds like a fun time -- or at least interesting. I would love to people watch in Vegas -- it would be even better than Wal-Mart. :D

I've never been, but I could see myself being up all night drinking coffee and playing poker.

16 is my lucky number. Hit it twice a few weeks ago in laughlin. Lots of great restaurant in vegas. Have fun. Where are you staying?