Her name was Lisa, she was a slots girl

A couple of weekends ago my mom called me from the beach, mainly to rub it in that she was at the beach and I was not, but also to talk about this upcoming Vegas trip (which starts officially for me at noon today!). She got offered two free rooms at the Hilton in Las Vegas for three nights. Sweeeeet. And since my brother moved to Las Vegas just two weeks ago we figured the free rooms would be a good excuse to go see him. And the cousin he's moved in with.

And Barry Manilow.

That's right. I'm going to see Barry Manilow in concert bay-bee! Woo!

My mom is really excited about seeing him. She loves Barry and he's the only one left on her List Of People To See Before I (Or They) Die. She saw Neil Diamond (who was on her list) a couple of years ago. (A fact which I'm still slightly bitter about, since her and the rest of my family waited until I had gone off to college so they could go without even bothering to invite me! Ratfinks. The whole lot of them!) She's also seen Elvis (another from her list) be she saw him a long time ago (which makes sense, since he died a long time ago, heh.)

As we talked, she realized there were actually three people still on her List. Another person that's a Must See for her is Don Rickles. I love watching the Dean Martin Roast infomercials mainly because of him, so I'd love to see him perform as well. Since he's in Las Vegas a lot, maybe we'll see him one of the nights we're not seeing Barry. (*squeeeee*)

Also on my mom's list is Paul McCartney. I couldn't care less about seeing him in concert, but then I never had a little girl crush on him like my mom did 'back in the day'. She still has her first ever Beatles album. The cover of which is covered in little girl doodles and lovey-dovey swirls and curlicues and sweet nothings scribbled all over Paul's face. And John's face. And George's face too. Ringo's face's graffiti wasn't so flattering :) But I digress...

So there are three people still on my mom's List, and the Big One is Barry Manilow. We have tickets to see him... Saturday night I think. They're not great tickets, since we bought them at the last minute. Mom was trying to plan this weekend around mine and the HB's schedule, along with another cousin and his wife's hospital intern schedule. Unfortunately, I don't think the cousin and his wife will be joining us. Bummer.

But more Barry Manilow for me then! Yeah!



Holy butterflies Batman I can't wait! I don't have a List of people I Must See, but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing Barry Manilow perform. He does, after all, write the songs that make the whole world sing :) :)

But first there's work. There's a conference call/sql training class I want to be in on at 11:00 am, and then at noon, even if the call is running long, I'm packing my shit up, turning everything off, then running out of here like a bat out of a Meat Loaf concert (I think I'd actually like to go to a Meat Loaf concert one day... )

The plan is this: get home at 12:30pm, get on the road no later than 1:00pm (and I still have to pack, eek!), and get to Las Vegas around 5:00pm. That time is based on leaving at 1, encountering moderate traffic, and one mini potty break, so I told my mom 'we'll be there around 6, give or take an hour.' Hopefully we get there early enough because we're going over to my cousin's house for dinner. After that, my only plans are to see Barry and win enough money to pay for my return trip to college. I'll settle for breaking even. The guys plan to play golf one day, which a true testament to the idiocy of men, and golfers, for wanting to whack balls with sticks in the godawful desert heat. Bleagh.

I know the HB doesn't plan to gamble much, because he doesn't have much to gamble with. If it was next week he'd be all over the poker tables, but this week hit him with a lot of bills. Darn it. I was hoping to ditch him and gamble with my mom. :) I win more when I gamble with her and almost always loose when I gamble with him. Though, come to think of it, the most I ever won (couple hundred) was with the HB... but that was my first time in Vegas (we were at State Line actually) so I attribute that win to Beginner's Luck, not Boyfriend Luck Vibes. Hopefully I win a enough to spot him a few hands. I'll be his sugar momma!

The HB has to work Sunday afternoon, so after a late night of partying hardy at the Manilow concert we'll be waking up early Sunday morning to drive back home. Hopefully I'll win enough to be the HB's sugar momma, pay for college, and a brand new jet to fly us all home. Yeah, that's what I'm setting my sites for. Because if you're going to dream, big.

Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire!

(Oooh! Note to Self: remember to bring Elvis CD for long car ride.)