The Real Las Vegas
October 10, 2008
Hello, and welcome to my brand new blog!
My name is Rex and I live in Las Vegas.
I moved here 4 years ago, and have been questioning my sanity ever since.
I am a 40 year old retired musician who is married with children. At various points in my life, I have also held jobs as a bicycle messenger, photojournalist, and some other things that are probably better left undisclosed. I was born and raised in Washington, DC, and have also lived in New York City and Los Angeles, before finally settling down in this freakshow-in-the-desert that I now call home.
This city is a paradox. Everything that is good and everything that is bad can be found in Las Vegas, and sometimes you don’t know which one you have stumbled upon until it is too late.
Sure, you can make a few extra bucks each month playing poker against hapless tourists, and the food is really good … but the 110 degree summers, corrupt local government, and lack of a real public transit system can get on your nerves after awhile. Not to mention the fact that our local population has the average IQ of a rhesus monkey.
This blog will be about living in Las Vegas from the perspective of someone who has a love/hate relationship with the city. I will talk about the good, bad, ugly, and just plain bizarre.
Believe me when I tell you … there is enough of all of the above to go around.
I am a very moody individual, who might possibly have severe mental problems. The tests haven’t come back yet. That being the case, sometimes I will wander off-topic and talk about something random that will leave you scratching your head and asking “What in the hell is he talking about?”
Welcome to the chaos that is my life.
I live just a few blocks from The Strip, and I can walk, hop a cab, or take the Monorail to most Strip destinations in a short amount of time. I often carry a camera with me to document my existence here so that someday I can show the photos to my grandchildren and say “Can you believe a place like this actually existed?”
I am not a “professional gambler”, however, I usually depend on gambling for at least a portion of my income … mostly no-limit Texas Hold’em in local casinos. I also play some blackjack and video poker, but I personally prefer to play against other people and not the house. The house (almost) always wins, but the farmer from Iowa who thinks a pair of Jacks is unbeatable … usually does not win. Therein lies my source of revenue.
In addition to some carefully-planned gambling, I frequently avail myself to many other amenities of The Strip … dining, shows, and of course, scantily-clad females from all over the world. At least half of my day is devoted to the pursuit of cleavage. If there are boobs to be seen in Las Vegas, that is usually where I can be found.
I write in a very “stream of conscious” way. I don’t think about what I write before hand. I just sit down type it exactly like it comes to my mind, and then I never read it again. There will be “profanity”. Oh boy, will there be profanity … because that is exactly what comes to mind while I am typing. I actually do not believe in the concept of “bad words”.
Words are neutral and can be neither “good” or “bad”. The very concept of a “bad word” is patently ridiculous.
No particular combination of vowels or consonants have ever directly been shown to cause cancer, diabetes, anal warts, the common cold, or any disease or ailment whatsoever in any human being …. or any living thing.
So really, how bad could they be?
I also lead and have lead an extremely “different” life from most people. It was quite unique and out of the normal. I am a bit (or a lot) cynical, sarcastic, skeptical, and I “think very different”. I usually disagree with most conventional norms because I find most of them to be nonsensical and I often use a large amount of humor … simply as a way to cope with life.
If I could not find the humor in daily activities, then I would have thrown myself in front of a bus long ago.
This often translates into the things I write.
I am as politically-incorrect as they come, and probably a good 70% of the population finds me offensive in some way. Chances are, at some point I will offend you too.
Don’t say that you haven’t been warned.
If, despite all of the warnings, you would still like to read about what is going on here in the Entertainment and Decadence Capital of the World from a somewhat different perspective … then by all means … welcome!
I look forward to sharing the city with you.
I take plenty of photos, and I take plenty of videos, so even if you don’t care what I have to say … at least you’ll have something to look at. Every now and then, I will try to get one of those scantily clad women in a picture.
Written by Andreas on October 19, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hi Rex! I like your first post, will definitely follow your blog in the future! /Andreas
Written by SPRUNT on October 21, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hey, Rex. I like your writing style. Easy to read, good flow, and funny. It’s nice to finally see someone write about the “Real Vegas”. Those other Vegas sites out there seem to just be cheerleaders for their advertisers. That gets annoying pretty quick.
I look forward to reading what you write in the future.