A bit of Sin City
Vegas brings day to night
All night
Vegas brings night to day
Every day
The trip to the bus station in LA was a little frantic (Ilana had never been there), and the trip was long, but was made pleasant enough by the girl sitting next to me from Toronto, leaving us in conversation about Canada and the US and Australia and Jews and Judaism.
Once arriving in Vegas, I was taken to the home of a friend of my aunt’s (in a suburb just out of town), where I would be staying. I think I would’ve enjoyed staying in a hotel on the strip, but this option has plenty of comforts, including a few I’m not so likely to use, like the home theatre (with a few hundred titles available to watch from big comfy cinema chairs) or sports-watching room (with up to four simultaneous broadcasts showing). My contacts here have been very generous to me, arranging me to go out to someone’s house with kosher food last night (Sunday) for dinner before his daughter Danielle took me to show me the strip. Danielle’s not yet 21 (and has lost her fake-id) so we didn’t get to any clubs, but wandered through the strips and saw some of its 
more exciting free sites, through Caesar’s Palace, the Bellagio, Aladdin and New York, New York. 
The free water shows outside the Bellagio (as featured in Ocean’s Eleven) are really quite something to see, too. Because of the high security where I’m staying, I had a curfew of around midnight, but I’ll see if I can waive it for my last night in town tomorrow night (if I have the energy).
Today I spent much of the day trying (and for the most part failing) to sort a few things out for myself, just staying at home. At the same time, another of my aunt’s friends here was organising me a ticket to a show tonight. Although not very three weeksy, I went to see a show from Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage, featuring a collage of music by the Beatles. The show creatively portrayed the themes and moods and characters of the songs, and drew them together into a wonderful kaleidescope of dancers and acrobats. The audience covered a full circle around the stage, and each member had surround stereo with a speaker in front and one on each side of the headrest- quite a setup. Oh, and the usher (a girl by the name of Stephanie) pointed out that she has the same “yarmulkeh” as me before showing me to my seat. But sorry, no photos. =(
After watching a bit of gambling (I’ve still not been game enough to throw some money in myself—I’ve considered it at the pokies but it just seems like an outright waste, that I should instead try out on one of the table games like roulette, but they have entry of $10), I left the Mirage to await its outdoor entertainment, a fiery volcanic eruption. I was among others in thinking it was not that impressive. But I’m sure it’s expensive—probably moreso than the Bellagio fountains. And I was also too busy watching a wonder of nature amid this manmade dream and nightmare: a surprise storm overhead with some of the most beautiful lightning I had seen; a blue flash and white streak over the desert that seemed to declare divine warning against Sin City. But most people just saw it as a sign to seek shelter, or ignored it until the rain made that idea more persuasive.
I spent much of the rest of the night in a poetic mood (see above and below), wandering through some of the areas of the Strip I hadn’t seen last night. When I needed a pen to write some of my thoughts down on a paper, I ended up talking to some guys behind a promotional desk: about being Australian, our strange and deadly animals and all that, and walked away with a couple of nightclub free-entry passes (Tangerine and Coyote Ugly), which I won’t complain about and might even try to use tomorrow. In the meantime, a fella came up and asked where is a good spot for his friend to propose to his girlfriend, seeing as all the Venetian’s gondolas were booked out—any suggestions?
And I also spent some time trying to photograph lightning, which I only succeeded in near the beginning of that quest. It is very hit and miss, and I figure it has chances like winning the jackpot, only it is somewhat cheaper. God’s roulette.
Tomorrow afternoon I head over to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam on a helicopter (also a gift from one of my hosts here, while I’d been looking at a cheap but neat plane flight) and I’m quite excited.
Green and Gold
The grass of the field and the sun beating upon it;
The felt of a table and the coins thrown down on it.
The green-back; the gold bullion:
The team we cheer.