Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas last week for a conference for work, and Ryan flew out there so we could spend a weekend together beforehand. Both of my mother's sisters now live out in Las Vegas, and it was nice to have the chance to spend time with them. In addition, one of my aunts spends quite a bit of money in the casinos, and is able to procure "comps" from the casinos (i.e. free stuff). She provided us with free rooms for 8 nights and free food. The rooms were not just regular hotel rooms, but suites with hot tubs and views. (We spent the first four nights at the Excalibur hotel, and I spent the last four nights at Mandalay Bay, after Ryan had left.)

View of the Strip from my room at the Mandalay Bay, by day and by night.

I did spend a few bucks on some slot machines, and hit it (sort of) big a few times.



By far the best part of the weekend was going to the "Justin Timberlake and Friends" concert. Aunt Merla got us free tickets that were just 7 seats from the stage.


The concert was a benefit for St. Jude's Children's Hospital, so Justin Timberlake had assembled an all-star cast of singers to join him on stage. The line-up included: Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Jay Sean, Ciara, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, TLC, and of course, Justin Timberlake.


There were a couple highlights of the concert. The show started out with MC Zani, who is a professional beat boxer. He and Jay Sean started out the show by doing some beat box versions of the songs we were going to hear later in the night. TLC's performance was their first in 7 years, and they spliced together singing and video from TLC's performances a decade ago, which was cool. Justin also managed to sing some of his songs to the tunes of songs from Kings of Leon and Coldplay, which I found to be a fun and refreshing way to hear some of Justin's songs. (I was disappointed to see Ciara, who shouldn't have been allowed to share the stage with true artists like Alicia Keys. Her only talent, if you call it that, is being a stripper and Janet Jackson wannabe. At least Janet can sing.) I thing Alicia Key's performance was one of my favorite of the night. I didn't know that Snoop Dogg was going to be there until we arrived. Although I don't exactly agree with his lifestyle per se, I grew up on Snoop Dogg and he and TLC are definitely part of my generation's music. It was a rather guilty pleasure to see him in concert.

As much fun as the time in Las Vegas was, I am happy to be home again, away from smoke-filled casinos and incessantly blinking and dinging slot machines.