Merry Christmas!

It being Christmas, I decided to start using the bar of "Pine Tree" soap that I picked up from LUSH last week. It lathers into dark green suds and smells just like a wooded forest. It's a great scent, but at $7 a bar it's kind of pricey. Seven bucks for a bar of soap???? I know, I know, it's ridiculous and I was shocked by the price when I bought soap from Lush for the first time a couple years ago. Everything in the shop just smelled so good, so I bought a couple bars and couldn't bring myself to use them because of the price... I just occasionally sniffed them through the wrapper. But then a couple months ago I ran out of my normal bar of soap so I opened one up, and the delicious smell of lemon and honey clinged to my body for hours after taking a shower and I got hooked. It's expensive, but the strong scent is so delicious that it's worth it. So last week I went back to the shop and got a few more soaps, one of which was "Pine Tree".

So now I smell like pines.

Yesterday was nice. I was getting ready to leave to do some errands when I got a mail from a friend asking, "Are you home? Can I come over?" so I decided to wait until she got here. Upon arriving she said that another friend was on her way, and then a couple more were gonna stop by in the evening... so it looked like no errands were going to be done and I started thinking of what to make for dinner - turned out being Spring Rolls (we made them with cheese!) and Tomato Sauce Pasta (I thought everyone put sugar in tomato sauce but apparently not) - a weird combination but I get spontaneity points for throwing together a dinner for five on-the-spot.

Everyone showed up with cakes and presents and it turned into a Christmas party! It was great because I had everyone's presents sitting in the living room and was wondering when we'd be able to meet up. The cat had a great time, too. Everyone spent so much time playing with her that she passed out as soon as everyone left, and didn't wake up even when I pulled on her legs and rolled her around a bit. She always wakes me up in the middle of the night by biting my face so I figured it was time for payback. If I can't sleep, neither can she!

She still doesn't have a name and people seem to think that giving her a name is better than shouting "Hey, no biting!" at her all the time. There were some suggestions but we're still thinking on it.

Oh, and yesterday I heard her hiss for the first time! Chino was lying on the bed and the cat jumped onto her back, hissed ferociously at her hair, then grabbed a clump with her teeth and started pulling and tugging with all her might. I couldn't stop laughing while Chino screamed and the cat did her darndest to try and take a clump out. I eventually pulled the cat off and put her on the ground, but she jumped right back on the bed and made a dash for Chino's hair. No matter how many times I put her down, she immediately went straight for Chino's hair (I think the fur on Chino's jacket was the dangerous threat and the hair just happened to be in the way) so I ended up carrying her the whole time to prevent further attacks, and to prevent Chino from having to go wig shopping. It was so hilarious I couldn't resist a picture. Usually she's so cute and calm... and sometimes I find her in the strangest places. How did she get up there?

Beppu Fantasia

I went to the Christmas fireworks at Spa Beach tonight. I always go with Kiyoko and Kayoko, and this time there was someone new named "Pinky" that Kiyoko works with. Seriously, that's how she introduced herself. She wore all pink... jacket, skirt, stockings, and bag. And not just any pink, but that obnoxious, fluorescent color associated with highlighters and funky hair. In my mind I instantly classified her as a weirdo, which was probably quite rude of me. But hey, I call 'em as I see 'em.

The fireworks were scheduled for 8pm but Kiyoko was worried about parking so we headed to the beach at 4pm (surprisingly lots of people were already there) and wandered around eating stuff from the food booths, then sat down right in front of the barge where the fireworks were set up. It was the best spot and we were determined to keep it for ourselves, sitting in the cold for hours waiting for the fireworks to start. Thankfully the main stage was to our right where some (not-so-good) bands played and kept us somewhat entertained.

If you can stand the cold, winter fireworks are fantastic. The colors are so crisp and clear... the smoke dissipates quickly in the cold air and you don't get that hazy look from all the moisture and pollen in the air during the summer. There were some new kinds that I'd never seen before... I especially liked the ones that start with an initial burst of color, then each little spark bursts again into another shower of color. The ones that suddenly changed course in mid-air like haphazard rockets were cool, too.

In Japan Christmas is more about romance and is spent with your significant other, which I find so exclusive coming from an upbringing where we spend it with friends and family and is for everyone.

I happen to have Christmas Day off and don't think it'd be right sitting at home by myself (or with the cat that has yet to be named) so I'll probably go out shopping for a coat. My North Face stuff keeps me warm enough, but after 8 years it's time for a change of fashion.

Word Game

I stumbled upon this word game and got 26 of 33. The remaining 7 are bothering me and if I can't figure them out by the end of the day, I'll resort to internet searching to find the answers!

So far I can't figure out these...

***updated 11:10 p.m.***

6. 52 C in a P (W J)
Finally got it while sitting at my desk. Probably took so long to figure out cuz I haven't touched one in years!

16. 100 C in a D
Thanks, cyano... so true! I can't believe it stumped me!

19. 13 is U F S
Suddenly came to me while driving to work. I like this one - so creative!

28. 23 P of C in the H B
Given my major in university, I should have figured it out sooner!

29. 64 S on a C B
still no clue... 64 Seamen on a Communist Boat?
***Dec 23... I finally figured it out!***

31. 6 B to an O in C
still no clue... 6 Babies to an Oven in Cubes?
***Used the internet to find the answer... I've never played this game and don't know the rules, so would never have gotten it on my own...***

33. 15 M on a D M C
I got the first M, and google told me the rest. I never would have gotten this one in a million years.

I love it!

A coworker introduced me to this hilarious program that teaches English through aerobics. It aired in the 90s and is another reason why I love this country! If you need more the program is called Zuiikin English and there are a bunch more videos on YouTube!

Careers

A couple days ago I did a lesson about jobs and personalities in an attempt to help my high school students think about what kinds of careers they'd like to pursue. It got me thinking back to when I had to make that decision for myself.

I remember back in high school having to take a lengthy personality test that was then matched with people who answered the same questions on the test, and who are happy with what they do. The results were over 20 pages long and I remember the conclusion suggesting that I might possibly enjoy a career in Nursing or Medical Research. I guess I sort of followed that path by going the pre-med route and looking for Biomedical Research Positions after graduation, but I'm glad none of that turned out. I love what I do now.

Personalities change over time and I was curious to see what kind of career would fit my current personality. I found a short test and gave it a try. The site suggested these

Possible Career Paths:

Clergy / Religious Work
Teachers
Medical Doctors / Dentists
Alternative Health Care Practitioners, i.e. Chiropractor, Reflexologist
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Counselors and Social Workers
Musicians and Artists
Photographers
Child Care / Early Childhood Development

Looks like I'm currently doing work that fits my personality. It makes sense that I love what I do!

New Cat

I used to think about how cool it would be to raise wildcats as normal housepets, if only they weren't so dangerous. Then last week I found out about this new cross-breed called the Ashera. They have leopard-like spots, are as big as a normal-sized dog, live for about 25 years and can weigh 30 pounds. The Ashera apparently is friendly and good with children, just like any other housecat, but a lot bigger. Unfortunately at $22,000 each they're a little out of my price range. I won't be getting one anytime soon, but thinking about the Ashera made me start thinking about how nice it would be to have a cat.

The more I thought about it the more I wanted one. With leopard-like spots. And preferably female so it won't spray all over the place to mark its territory. I used to think the cats running around my neighborhood had deformed tails until someone told me that they're supposed to look like that - Japanese Bobtails. They're kind of cute, so one of those would be nice.

Then yesterday I came home for lunch and was thinking about cats while walking to the door. I stopped to pull out my keys and out of nowhere a kitten came up and starting rubbing against my legs and purring. I bent down and it jumped into my lap. How weird that it showed up just when I was thinking about cats. In my 7 years here this has never happened before... the strays in the area are so skittish and run away as soon as they see me coming.

I couldn't believe how friendly it was and how it showed up out of the blue, just when I was thinking about what kind of cat I wanted. And in an amazing coincidence it was a short-tailed female, with spots. So I got to thinking... is this some kind of sign? Am I meant to keep it? I decided that if it came into the house, I'd keep it. So I put it down and opened the door. It came into the house.

She started crying loudly while rubbing against my legs. I figured she was hungry but there isn't any meat or fish in the house so I made scrambled eggs, which she seemed to like. She sat next to me the whole time I was cooking. Then after she finished eating she jumped onto my bed and fell asleep. I left her there and bought a kitty litter tray and some cat food. Then I went to work.

When I came home last night she was still in bed. I think she has a cold. Her nose is runny and she keeps sneezing, and she hasn't done anything but sleep the whole time (with an occasional trip to get some water).

Today I kept thinking how her showing up was like a prayer being answered. A prayer for a spotted, short-tailed female cat. And she's so friendy. Last night she kept trying to sleep on my face and today she stayed by my side wherever I happened to be.

But is this fate? Am I meant to keep her? Or could it be that she's so friendly and ran up to me because she's used to people coddling her... that she actually isn't a stray, but belongs to someone in the neighborhood and happened to get out of the house yesterday? Come to think of it she's a healthy size, so has probably been fed regularly. I'm not sure of what I should do.

Idea #1: Put her back outside to let her owner find her again, if she has one. But I worry about her getting run over or beat up by other cats or going hungry.

Idea #2: Just keep her. But then eventually I'll have to look for someplace else to live since my place has a strict no-pets policy.

Idea #3: See if someone else wants her. This doesn't seem like a good idea, since she might already have an owner and plus I want to keep her.

In any case I'll keep my eyes open for the next few days. Perhaps someone has put signs up in the neighborhood for a lost cat. Here are some pictures... you can see how her tail is short with a tiny bump at the end.

Summary of a month

I always intend on updating this blog. When I have an interesting thought, or see a movie, or recall a noteworthy conversation I tell myself to take a minute to write it down. But then I log in to blogger and suddenly the idea doesn't seem as spectacular as I initially thought, or the conversation sounds dumb out of context, or for whatever reason the post is deemed unworthy of uploading. Or I log in and feel like I have to update posts chronologically, and since there are older posts that I haven't finished yet I should get to those first, but I really don't feel like working on them at the time so in the end I log out without posting a single word.

If I continue on this way I'll end up storing half-finished posts indefinitely, so let's delete all my unfinished posts and settle for a brief summary of some of the things heading for the garbage bin.

Chindy
Chindy died this month. He was my bright red Siamese fighting fish. Because he kept picking on everyone else in the tank, Yoshiko named him by combining the names of two friends who constantly pick on her (Chino and ... someone else). I used to keep photo records of all my fish, but it appears I don't have any of poor Chindy. I was going to flush him down the toilet, but decided that cremation had more dignity so he got thrown into the burnable garbage.

VISA
I turned in my application for a new VISA almost four weeks ago and it still hasn't been processed. I keep getting messages from the immigration office saying, "There's something we need to ask. Please call." When will the questions end? I'm beginning to wonder if my VISA will ever get renewed.

Ants
There were little black ants roaming the living room so I sprayed ant repellant all around the windows and doors. Strangely the spray didn't help and their numbers seemed to be increasing. Then one day I watered an indoor flower pot, and witnessed hundreds of ants clutching white babies rushing from the surface to escape drowning. The critters were coming from inside my apartment!

They were fascinating to watch. The soldier ants with big pincers climbed up the vines first to make sure it was safe, then caravans of baby-carrying ants followed. They made little clusters in the folds of leaves and stayed there for over an hour, waiting for the danger to pass. I guess they got tired of me watering the plant and disturbing their home, because after a week the entire colony had disappeared from the flower pot and I discovered they had moved to an aquarium full of dirt that I used to raise beetle larvae in. I put the aquarium in a plastic tray filled with water so they don't escape (no more ants crawling on me in the middle of the night), and have been feeding them cookie crumbs. I'm glad they decided to move to the aquarium. Now I can observe their burrowing and cookie-crumb-stashing through the glass.

You-me Town
You-me Town is the new shopping complex slated to be finished by the end of this month. I don't like it already. It's located where the main road heading out of Beppu toward Oita begins, and they've closed a lane of traffic during construction, meaning the drive to work has turned into congestion hell. It's the only road I can take to get to work, so there's no avoiding the traffic caused by this unsightly cube of a building that blocks the ocean view you used to be able to enjoy from downtown Beppu. Once the complex actually opens, I suspect the commute to work will take even longer from people waiting to turn into the covered parking lot. From the confines of my car, I will likely refer to these people as "bastards".

Facebook
I started an account after hearing about it from so many people. I registered my name and logged out without adding any further information. A week later when I logged in again I was surprised to find that old friends had used it to find me! And not just any old friends, they were people that I'd been wanting to find for years but hadn't had any luck through Google or Friendster or MySpace or whatever other method I'd tried, like the South African pen-pal I used to have - we finally met in London 12 years ago and lost contact after that, but she found me through Facebook! Facebook is wonderful. With Facebook, there is hope.

CNN
A coworker watches the program CNN 360 religiously on satellite TV and last month they asked viewers to send in video questions in response to their "Planet in Peril" series. She sent in a video and they incorporated it into the show this week! First they used it as an example of what kind of videos to send, then they used it again later in the week to spur the discussion held by a panel of experts. It's crazy to think that she was on a national American News program. Here's the first clip that was used on the show, and her comments on what she thought of the discussion program that used her video.

That's all for now. Hopefully my next entry won't take another month :)

I've been Japanimized

When I first moved to Japan I noticed how Japanese culture was different from what I was used to. But after living here for so long, now it's Japanese culture that's become normal to me, and when I was back in the States I noticed how American culture was so different.

At times it was weird. Without realizing it aspects of Japanese culture have infused themselves within me, and I found myself having to readjust to life in the States. Sometimes it made me uncomfortable, but this wasn't a bad thing. It was just interesting thinking that what used to be so natural seems so strange now.

1) Food Size
One thing I'd forgotten about after living in Japan for so long is the size of meals in the States. I didn't finish an entire meal the whole time I was in Vegas. After an appetizer the size of a meal and then a family-sized meal meant for one person, there was dessert (which I usually ended up throwing away). Here's a photo of the dessert that came out one night after I thought the meal was done. I forced down a spoon of ice cream and had to leave the rest behind.

2) Strangers talk to you
It was weird having total strangers make conversation with me while standing in line at the grocery store or post office. I'd gotten used to the Japanese style of keeping to yourself. While standing in line waiting to get my driver's license renewed, the woman in front of me dropped some money so I pointed that out to her. In Japan it would have ended with a simple "Thank you," but the woman ended up venting to me about all the trouble she'd gone through that week after losing her wallet. I wasn't prepared to be bombarded with so much information and didn't know how to respond.

3) Waitresses save words
In Japanese restaurants menus are generally placed in your hands and the waitresses say something about the menu before letting you know when they'll be back for your order. There are lots of smiles and greetings, and confirmations of what you want. One morning in Hawaii my dad and stepmom took me to breakfast at Kenny's, their favorite breakfast spot. The waitress showed us to a table in the corner but my dad wanted to sit at a booth, so he just got up and moved us to where he wanted to sit. After we sat down the waitress dropped the menus on the table and walked away. I thought she was offended that we'd changed seats on our own and had gotten angry, which is why she simply dropped the menus on the table and didn't say anything when she walked away. My dad informed me that this is completely normal behavior which was confirmed when the waitress returned and was quite friendly.

4) People are loud
Whenever I heard someone shouting in public I instinctively looked around to see who was angry, but people tend to speak in loud voices and have conversations by shouting instead of moving closer. In Japan if your friend is sitting on another bench, you move to that bench to have a conversation, not speak loudly to each other.

5) Salespeople tell you stories
Checkout ladies make conversation with you and talk about other customers they'd met throughout the day. It was so friendly. I compared this to Japan, where checkout people repeat the price of each item you're purchasing as they pass it across the scanner.

6) Bus drivers get snippy
I found it interesting that bus drivers use their normal, casual voice to tell people to sit down or get behind the line or move on back. Stuff like, "Come on, people, I can't close the doors until you get behind the line." and "There's no more room, so the rest of you have to wait for the next bus." In Japan there would be much more apologizing and polite requests for everyone's cooperation.

7) Limo drivers are friendly
When it was time for me to leave Vegas my dad had the hotel limo take me to the airport. The ride would have been boring with me sitting in the back, so the driver told me to come sit up front with him. I can't imagine a Japanese limo driver asking me to come sit up front. Really talkative, friendly guy who just got out of the Navy last year. It was like a friend was taking me to the airport rather than being escorted in a limo. He talked about stuff like how it had only rained half a centimeter since January and there are limits on how much water they can use (but not for the hotels), about the countries he'd been to while on duty in the navy, and about how hard it is to make friends since he works the graveyard shift. It's a shame you always meet cool people while travelling that you'll probably never see again.
I only go back to the States when some special occasion arises. I started thinking that I should try and go back every year at least for a few days, just to keep in touch with the culture I was brought up in :)

Part 3, The Wedding and Hawaii revisited

Time sure does fly! The new job is going well. For the first couple weeks I felt like I was drowning while trying to figure out what to do in all the classes, but things have settled down now that I know which books to use and where to find previous lesson plans. I'd actually written a couple blog entries but never published them... so here's the next one that was meant to be posted. A bit late but still meaningful to me nonetheless :)

The original marriage plan was to elope and pass through one of the drive-thru chapels in a limo, and be done with it in a few minutes. Unfortunately for my dad, too many people wanted to come and it turned into a normal wedding on the balcony near the waterfall of the hotel courtyard. At first it seemed like a good idea to have family present on the special occasion, but after a couple months of planning he started referring to it as "the damn wedding". Here's everyone who flew in!

The week flew by faster than I'd hoped. I'd met my dad's girlfriend before and like her a lot, although I have to admit I wasn't very impressed with my new stepbrother and stepsister. They're unemployed and live at home and leech off their mother. I couldn't believe how irresponsible they proved themselves to be when they missed the actual wedding and appeared after it ended, even though they were staying in the same hotel that it took place in. Additionally my stepsister's son (in the photo) was the ringbearer and was supposed to hand over the rings during the ceremony, and thank goodness my father had taken the rings out of the case the night before because he thought they might get lost. Otherwise there wouldn't have been rings at the wedding! They also lack adventure... they spent the entire week in the hotel room watching movies and never made it out to the Strip. My new family.
My dad wanted the banquet in the hotel restaurant instead of a banquet hall so that we could all sit close together and feel like a family. Everyone pigged out on steaks, lobster and crab (being the only vegetarian they specially made me pasta) and no one had room for the pineapple wedding cake at the end. The entire cake was packed in a box and sent up to the hotel room, to be eaten the next day by my stepbrother and stepsister who didn't feel like going downstairs for a proper meal at the restaurant.
It was nice to stop in Hawaii again after the fast pace of Vegas. Hawaii really is a beautiful place and it was nice to be reminded of that. It might be a while before I visit again, so I took photos of the house to preserve some memories. Who knows, the house I remember may change by the time I see it again - my dad was talking about how he wanted to renovate it now that everyone's grown up and rooms aren't being used.

My niece in the garage.
My sister decked out in all her gear in the front yard. The jacket has all kinds of metal strips embedded in it like armor in case of an accident. Safety first!
View of the house (right) from the hill in our backyard. My dad never got the sprinkler system fixed and the yard has become a plot of red dirt. Don't get the stuff in your clothes, cuz the stains are forever.
It was the first time no one was home to take care of Bubbles (12 years old). My sister's friend Molly came over to let her in and out of the house a couple times a day, but the day we showed Molly what to do Bubbles kept running away and I was worried that she wouldn't eat if none of us were around. Thankfully she looked just as healthy as when we left.And who knows when I'll see my brother again now that he lives on another island. When I left Hawaii he was still in Middle School and that's the memory of him that I still have. It's hard to accept that we've all grown up and gone our separate ways and that it'll be a rare occasion to have us all together at the house again. I took some photos of him while I had the chance. He's turned out to be one of the most gentle people I know although you'd never know it from just seeing him on the street.

It was a real shame that I hardly spent any time with my younger sister since she and her boyfriend went off on their own a lot in Vegas, and while I was in Hawaii they didn't stop by the house except to take me to the airport my last day. My older sister had taken time off work to hang out with me while I was there, and after spending time with her I realized that it's only in groups that she's annoying. She can be considerate and fun to be around one-on-one. It could also be that age has softened her. She smiled a lot more than I remember growing up.

We went to the mall in our city before taking my brother to the airport. I like what they've done with the place. The walkways are set up like living rooms and the baby strollers are shaped like cars.
I was hoping to hang out with old high school friends, but didn't have anyone's contact info and ended up wandering around Waikiki and Ala Moana on my own one day.
Rush hour traffic coming out of Honolulu can be horrendous so I made sure to wait until evening to head home. They've widened the section of freeway heading to my side of the island to 13 lanes (6 one way, 7 the other). The size of it is pretty scary after getting used to driving on the 4-lane Beppu-Oita freeway all these years.
It was hard driving on the right side of the road and I kept turning into oncoming traffic, so I asked to use my stepmother's car instead of risking an accident with my dad's Cadillac (he actually offered, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if it got damaged). It took a while getting used to the huge tanker after driving my mini K-car for all these years. Thankfully there weren't any mishaps and I only got beeped at once.
Oh yeah, the final mishaps. I crammed all the heavy stuff into my carry-on and weighed my two suitcases after packing, but the scale at home must have been off because at the airport they were each over by a couple of pounds. It was a small enough difference that they could have let me pass through, but the one in charge of weighing the suitcases was a proud woman who enjoyed telling everyone to step back and repack. I opted to overpack one suitcase and pay an overweight baggage fee.

But when I got to the counter I was told that I didn't have a ticket. My return ticket was mistakenly torn out when I left Japan, and I had to get another one reissued (on the other side of the airport). It took an hour of running around and communication between the office and the ticket counter to get things sorted, and in the end they overlooked my overweight baggage fee because of the trouble I went through. This made me kind of glad they took the wrong ticket in Japan.

And my last photo... inside Honolulu airport. I like how there are several gardens to explore after you've already passed through security and have nothing to do but wait for your flight (and spend too much money in Duty Free shops). My Duty Free total = $250. Did I really need all the cleansers and exfoliants and lotions and cologne?

Part 2, Las Vegas and its beauty

I got off the plane and found my father waiting with the limo driver. I foolishly expected it to be cool in the evenings, but it felt like a sauna even at night.
He always stays at Sam's Club because they treat him so well and remember his name when he shows up at the tables. And his personal casino host gave him an enormous suite free of charge! I was impressed by the bidet, jacuzzi in the bedroom, and the bar.
Since I'd come alone and hadn't made any hotel reservations, I expected to sleep on the sofa in the living room, but my dad had reserved a room for me at another hotel. We checked in and discovered they'd upgraded to a suite, free of charge! The room was way too big for just me and it felt like a waste not to share it with someone, but where do singles hang out in Vegas? I ended up not spending much time in the room anyway - there was too much excitement in the Las Vegas air to get any sleep!
The next day my dad, Yve, and I went downtown to register their marriage at the courthouse before the crowds arrived for the 7-7-7 weekend. It's a good thing we did! Over 40,000 couples got married that Saturday and everywhere wedding related was completely booked. Apparently there was a shortage of ministers and a lot of people had to decide whether to get married on 7-6-7 or 7-8-7. Luckily my dad had everything planned out 6 months in advance!
After getting their marriage license we waited at the bus stop to take us back to the Hotel Strip. The bus comes every 10 minutes, but we waited for over an hour in the 45 degree heat (113 F) and man you should have seen the grumpy, sweaty faces of everyone at the bus stop. And when the buses finally did start coming, they filled up with angry passengers and after the first few stops no one else could fit. They had to pass up everyone waiting at other stops, and you can bet those guys were even more peeved to see buses coming only to drive them by.

My dad was invited to play in a tournament so we headed to the New York New York hotel to get him registered, and in the few minutes it took for him to get things together, Yve hit a $4441 jackpot! Bells started ringing and the machine shut down while we waited for an attendant to pay Yve her stack of bills (the attendant who counted the bills out got a tip - I didn't know you had to tip the attendants who count out the money!).
The Strip was absolutely gorgeous. The hotels were enormous and it was like having whole cities indoors. One of the hotels even had a lion habitat next to the slot machines.

New York New York
Later that night while I was watching the news, I discovered that there was a shooting in the New York New York Hotel casino just a little before I was there. Too bad I missed it!

Caesar's Palace


Luxor
The inside was so cool! The building was a pyramid with rooms lined on the tilted walls, so the elevators went diagonally!

The Mirage
After the Siegfried and Roy White Lions and Tigers Show got cancelled because one of them got eaten, the hotel opened their habitat for the public to enter. It's amazing how many albino wild cats they'd collected over the years.

The Venetian
By far my favorite hotel. All of these photos were taken inside the hotel! People were lining up to take a boatride around the hotel, but I had fun watching free shows scattered throughout the different courtyards.

The Wynn
The newest hotel on The Strip and half of it is still under construction. It seemed to be for high rollers only... the craps table had a $100 minimum bet and there was a guy throwing around $5000 chips. I had no idea they even made chips in that denomination!

The Fashion Show Mall where I found a Lucky Jeans shop! I'd always seen Lucky ads in magazines and have wanted a pair for years but never knew where to find them. And lucky me, they were having a 75% off sale on the 7-7-7 weekend, so my new brown jeans with faded thighs were a mere 30 bucks!

Bellagio
After seeing the Bellagio in person I feel like watching Ocean's 11 again just to see if I recognize anything from the movie. The enormous glass flowers justting from the ceiling of the lobby were gorgeous. I caught several wedding couples trying to take photos but were having a hard time because of the crowds.


MGM
It doesn't look so big in the pictures, but I took a closer one near the lion where you can barely see some people near the base. It was enormous! This is the one with a lion habitat in the center of the casino.

I was looking forward to seeing a Cirque de Soleil show and my dad made reservations for KA, which is reputed to be the best of their shows to date. It totally lived up to my expectations. The show expertly incorporated acrobatics, martial arts, shadow puppetry, and even fireworks while developing a story, and the vibrant colors and use of light were simply stunning. The theater itself was equally impressive (it took 18 months to refurbish for the show) and completely lacked a stage. There was a gaping hole where the stage should have been, and the actors performed on a gigantic platform that swiveled in all directions to change your perspective. At times the actors were strung on cords and bounced off the vertical stage as if we were looking at them from above (excellent in portraying my favorite scene of the battle against the Fire Fairies). Words just can't express how beautiful it was. I'd have seen it again, if it didn't cost $150 a ticket. But it was well worth the price. (first two photos borrowed from a website)

I found a clip of KA that has one of my favorite songs from the play. If you find yourself in Vegas, definitely check it out.