Last year the MSU fencing team and the Knights of Iron stage combat team headed off to Las Vegas for four days of pure debauchery. This year we went back for another four days, Saturday to Tuesday.
Poll: favorite Las Vegas attraction
Saturday morning we arrived and immediately got a call from Scott, performer at Caesar's Magical Empire we'd met the year before at the show and gone out with afterward. He wanted to make sure that we were going to be at his performance this year. And we were, and it was a blast.
For those unfamiliar with CME, it starts with a magic show over dinner in a small dining chamber, followed by two more shows in larger rooms, with time in between to hang out at the two bars and some added smaller attractions.
Scott did a great job as "Astro" the wizard at our dinner. It was supposed to be a participatory show, and boy did we participate. The twelve of us took up about half the room. I think we scared some of the other diners; Scott said later that the other wizards were jealous. Scott picked me to help out at one point in the show. I was happy about that and I think I even came up with some good lines.
Between the main course and dessert, one of the servers told us that it was Scott's birthday tomorrow. Quickly we came up with a plan to sing him a birthday song when he came out again. And so we got everyone in the room to stand up and sing: "This is your birthday song, it doesn't last too long!" and sit down suddenly. He was surprised and pleased, and everyone laughed.
I should explain the title. "Ooh! Ah! Oh! Argh!" is something that we came up with last year. We all say it in unison when a performer does something particularly amazing. The "Ooh!" is something they more or less expect, "Ah! Oh!" surprises them, and "Argh!" confuses the hell out of them. We usually do it a few times during a given performance, and sometimes even people outside our group join in. Scott, of course, expected it this year.
Sunday we went to see The Amazing Johnathan at the Golden Nugget. This show was incredible. If you ever get a chance to see it, go for it. We "Ooh!"ed once during the show. He paused for a moment, then gestured in the air like he was writing on a note pad: "Note to myself: my fans are retarded."
Monday we went through Star Trek: the Experience at our hotel, the Las Vegas Hilton, visited New York New York and rode the Manhattan Express 'coaster, went to Elvis-A-Rama, and walked through the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.
On Tuesday we ate breakfast at the Carnival World buffet at the Rio and dinner at the Monte Carlo. The day's highlight, though, was the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. We bought passes and went on 'coasters, water rides, laser tag, bumper cars, and played games for hours. Then we left for Circus Circus midway, where we played the carnival games until we had armfuls of stuffed animals. We also managed to make it to Treasure Island for the pirate show and had a drink at the Swashbuckler Bar, where I bought a cool crystal skull mug full of some fruity drink.
Wow. I must be a really terrible writer, because nothing I ever write about in my diary ever sounds like as good as it really was. Anyway, I encourage everyone to try out the stuff we went to, because it's all fun and you'll have a great time.
Everyone else on the trip, besides Steve and Sue, lives in Michigan, but I moved to northern California last September. I miss them so much. I can't wait until next year.