Las Vegas - August 2008

As usual, I spent a good chunk of time at the poker table... more on that later. My family has a tendency to sleep mid-day and stay up really late while getting up really early, so I actually had people to join me at the pool at 8 am. That's right, 8 am in Vegas. Crazy talk. This is, as it turns out, the most amount of time I spent outside the whole trip (I know, shock).
We fully planned on going swimming every day. Yeah, that didn't happen.

On Thursday night my step-mom was kind enough to get us tickets to KA at the MGM Grand. At first I thought, great, I have heard great things about this, but really, what can be better than O at the Bellagio? All I have to say is, it's a good thing each seat has their own built-in speakers so no one could hear me because I let out a whole bunch of audible gasps including quite a few swear words. Before the show we were walking around for a bit looking for things that we could do with our 14 year old sister. This, of course, included going to see the lions (while I checked on my sports bet) and wandering around the KA gift shop, which is how we got this awesome picture. My step-mom mentioned that this may be our Christmas card next year.

So the purpose of the whole trip was to attend the Yamaoka family reunion downtown. First of all, if you've never been downtown, it's this weird hybrid of Hawaii and Vegas combining slot machines with a bunch of old people who are less than feet feet tall I'm always tempted to yell "grandma" in the middle of one of the casinos just to watch 50 old ladies turn around.

My step mom's mother has 2 brothers and 3 sisters. It was pretty amazing seeing the family dynamics because it confirms of any and all assumptions I have held about families from Hawaii. We loudly tell bad jokes, eat lots of salty food and take lots and lots and lots of pictures. Note, this scene lasted for about 10 minutes... and then happened again after lunch.

So, after KA and after the reunion, it was back to the poker table. The first couple of nights I did pretty well and was actually up for the trip just from playing poker without even counting jackpots. I was feeling great. Go figure, I got back from the reunion on the third night to some terrible cards. I've been there before and was definitely due given the luck I had earlier, but it hurt a lot more this time around. Why? Well, none other than William "She Bangs" Hung himself got fantastic cards. Go figure.

I ended up spending over 30 hours at those tables and was tempted to try my luck at a no limit table or tournament. Maybe next time... My sisters, on the other hand, did other awesome, random Vegas-y things including ordering room service, going shopping and going to the (not aired) Price is Right gameshow. I, unfortunately, didn't go, but took a picture of this polaroid.

Overall, the trip was great. I had a blast with my new poker friends, went to an amazing show and got to hang out with my family. I could not ask for more... except it would have been awesome if I won a jackpot.