I took a short trip to Las Vegas at the end of last week. It was a over-needed vacation, and thus a moderate disappointment. You know what I’m talking about. You’re so desperate to get away, to have a moment to sleep in and drink too much (or, if you already drink too drink much, to feel less guilty about it), that you pour your hopes and dreams and all that good stuff into the idea of a vacation, but which the vacation itself can never match.
The somewhat-highlight of the trip was Zumanity, which was considerably less shocking than it wanted to be. Or maybe exactly as shocking as it wanted to be. It’s so hard in these days of diminished expectations and quickie transgressions to tell when someone is trying to be shocking (and failing) or trying only to seem shocking, so as not to actually shock.*
In the balance of my time** — which is to say a whole lot of it — I played blackjack. Alone as often as not, because the group we traveled with were primarily Crapheads and my wife got distracted early in the trip by a Monopoly gambling game (it was tremendously fun in her defense).
I like blackjack, because the "right" way to play requires the memorization and consistent application of a set of impossibly complex rules (and exceptions to those rules). Always hit a soft 17; hit a 12 if the dealer shows a 2-4, and maybe against a 5 (but not a 6); split almost any pair if the dealer shows a 5 or 6 (but never split 10s), etc. You know the drill — or, you now know enough that you don’t want to know the drill.
They’re comforting, those rules. They provide a semblance of control — but only a bare semblance, because I’m never sure if I remembered the rule right (what do I do with a pair of sixes against an ace, again?). A game that allows you to enjoy the guilt of failing to live up to its standards: It’s American, just like baseball and apply pie.
(I lost, not a lot, but enough.)
So, I’m back: A little refreshed, a little poorer, and a little sunburned. And this is your vacation open thread. Tell us where you’re going next (or just been); give us a recommendation or two. But tell us, most of all, where you want to go.