Bitches. Just bitches.
All posts by sneaker
Writing about not writing
It has really be a long time since I’ve posted any information to sneaker.org. And so I figured it probably begs some explanation as to what is going on here. And so this blog entry is actually going to talk about why I haven’t been writing.
In a nutshell the reason I haven’t been writing is s combination of factors. The primary reason is probably the return of ambivalence in terms of what information I can and cannot share in a public medium. Several people who I know and interact with on a daily basis know of this site and probably – from time to time – read it as well. That is good, but sometimes it is also the cause for a lot of second thoughts. My style of writing has been such that I try to stay away from specific incidents and mentioning specific people, but the fact remains that the incidents and more likely the people who are part of those incidents will know when I am talking about them regardless of how much I try and veil the specifics. Or it may just be that since I know what and who I am writing about, I feel paranoid that if that person reads it he / she would know as well.
There are other reasons as well – timing is a big one. I feel that there is a sort-of reverse statute of limitations on when I can write about certain things – i.e. there are some things that I cannot write about while they are currently happening – in real-time since putting my thoughts on the topic would be hazardous. Whether it is work related or personal… for somethings it may be better to allow some time to pass. The flip-side of course is that then the entries will never be as charged as they would be otherwise.
Furthermore, I think for some of the issues I would eventually like to discuss here, I am not done formulating a position on them. And they just require a lot more thinking and also more experiences in order to really know which way I stand on some of them. I guess it’s a work in progress.
It definitely hasn’t been easy to not have my usual venting valve open and instead have it squeezed tight. But hopefully over the next couple of months the timing and the thinking should all like up so that I can actually write more openly about some of the things. I think I might actually try to start on a couple of things sooner than later though since I seem to tend to forget otherwise interesting blog-topics if I don’t write about them soon.
Eavesdropped!
“So are you telling me that the customer is a mental midget?”
:a brilliant response from a customer service agent requesting assistance on an issue where the customer just wasn’t understanding how to do something.
Las Vegas
Weekend before last, I had the opportunity to visit the capital of sin — Las Vegas. Where there are no open-container laws and everything is about drinking, gambling and sex. By all means I expected to hate Vegas for the very thing that it stood for. Sex, money and hustling.
So when I decide to make the trip to Vegas over a weekend thanks to an extended weekend stay over in LA for work my expectations were pretty low. I expected to see a tacky place with neon signs all over just something very cheesy and lacking class.
My impression now couldn’t be further from it. Vegas is in a class apart. A city unto itself in the middle of nowhere (and I should know since it took 7.5 hours to get there even though it is generally a 4 hour drive from LA thanks to very bad traffic on 10E and 15N), I can only think of comparing Vegas to Disneyworld for adults. (I’ve never been to Disneyworld yet, but conceptually the comparison seems to fit.) I could literally have spent a day in each of the hotels just checking out the hotels and the attractions there in. Each hotel is a world in itself. The Luxor (where we stayed the first night) which was done in an Egyptian theme, The Venetian – Venice, Manadalay Bay, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, Bally’s all one fascinating hotel after the other.
We started the evening out right with a ‘Margarita by the Yard’ and the show Midnight Fantasy (a topless revue as it was described on the hotel brochure!). Of course after than both my friend I concurred that relatively speaking all the other women in Vegas were no comparison to the cast of the Midnight Fantasy! The comedy act was pretty good too btw.
Then a visit to the nightclub Ra – also at the Luxor – but unfortunately, this place just didn’t do it for me. Probably because the wonderful California laws of non-smoking don’t extend to Nevada and also because the crowd just wasn’t “right”.
Though I loved the way the hotels were done up – each creating its own version of simulated reality which in fact was in some cases amazing and in some cases overkill, the casinos had pretty much the reverse impact for me. They were all the same. Tacky, cheesy, and despicable. Obviously they make tons of money for the hotels since the it took us under 30 seconds to loose 20 bucks a piece in blackjack. I guess there is something about being pragmatic and not having any desire to gamble since you know that the only way to win in a casino is to own one (stole that from the website of a friend of mine – www.maximustiger.com – I still have no idea what he is trying to do, but I agree with his tag line)
The casinos in every hotel were the same. So at least in my opinion if you’re going to Las Vegas to gamble, then you’re really missing out. Because what I would go to Vegas for and I’m ready to do it again – would be for the hotels, the shows, the 24-hour a day party atmosphere and the masses and masses of people all out to have fun and a good time.
Things that deserve special mention – the Venetian – Fantastic reconstruction of the Grand Canal of Venice and re-creating the ambience of being outside while you are inside the hotel. Had me fooled for the first few minute for sure! St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian was amazing.
And not to forget the highlight of my Vegas trip! Blue Man Group. They ROCK. Go see it. Enough said!
Eavesdropped!
“I can’t even count how many women I’ve slept with”
:One of the female executives of a partner startup company as we exchanged notes on how in the early days of our companies we doubled up people in hotels/ on trips in order to save costs.