VEGAS!

I went to Las Vegas for Chris's belated birthday celebration this past weekend. We went with his mom, dad, sister, Ian (his sister's friend), and Chris's friends Tony, Jon and Blair! Yess! We're here!! Probably the most exciting thing about Vegas is you can drink on the street! Yess, Tony! (Also, find me in the background looking like a dork) Here's some of us... Me, Chris, Terry, Tony, Blair and Jon. Me, Chris, Jon and Blair at dinner... And the other half: Jim, Terry, Sharyl and Ian We walked to the Wynn (Vegas's newest hotel/casino). Jim got pissed 'cuz we didn't know where to cross the street... We finally make it.. Here it is, in all it's glory Here are cool moving "parasols" inside the Wynn.... Here's Tony, Blair, Jon and Chris... Here's Terry and Sharyl.... I wish it wasn't blurry.. This is quite possibly my favorite picture from the trip. Blair and Jon.... Nice face, Tony. I always have to talk during pictures! =( Here's where we were most of the days: The Sports Book. The boys bet on sports and horse races.. Blair smoking and drinking.... Only in Vegas.... Jon loses on yet another horse race... But at least you get the free drink tickets =) Dinner Buffet... Tony arrives first Chris gets surprised by a Happy Birthday song from the restaurant staff... Blair grinds Chris... Getting ready to go out at night: Chris and Ian have the same shirt... Chris, Me, and Ian... Sharyl and Ian All of the boys... Tony, Jon, Chris, Ian, and Blair... Damn, my boyfriend is hot! =) Chris and I.. Aww How cute... These guys look a little drunk... Best Friends: Chris and Tony Tony smoking a cigar... tsk tsk The Next Morning: Sharyl, Ian, Me, Chris, Blair and Tony.... Jon is passed out on the bed... He came home at 8:00am to 8:10am to change clothes, then back to the Crapps tables.. We are V.I.P.'s, yet we wait for 30 min to sit down for breakfast! =( You can tell Jon hasn't slept for 28 hours.. Ian, Chris and I at breakfast... Tony, hung over, orders Cream of Wheat for breakfast. Blair orders Chicken Fettucinni Alfredo... Haha

Public - 1:50 PM - 1 view - add eprops - add comments - edit it - email it - fix language

Today is Chris's 21st birthday! Yay!
He got a lot of cards (some with money!) and a funny golfer's voodoo kit from his best friend. I gave him a watch that was too big on his small wrist =( and a flask engraved with his intials (I couldn't resist). We went out to dinner with my parents in Palo Alto and he ordered a drink at the bar, a Tequila Sunrise (his first legal drink!). Then at dinner, he got served a glass of champagne! And got wine with dinner! haha! My mom really wanted to take a pictue of the three drinks in front of him, and then send it to his mom. But we had no camera, and probably best not to send that kind of picture to his mother. Oh well. Then my parents got him cufflinks, which they've been meaning to give him despite his hatred of dressing up. They figure maybe someday when/if he has a tuxedo of his own, I guess. Anyway, then they also got him a cake! Then I drove home. =)

This past weekend, I went to my sister's graduation from grad school! She graduated from California College of Art (formerly known as California College of Arts and Crafts or CCAC)... The ceremony was 3 HOURS long!! Ugh and so boring. They had some famous beat poet perform a piece.. It was long and weird. I think you had to be on acid to understand. Oh well time for pictures:

It's really too dark to see, but there's my sister getting a sash (they get a sash, not a piece of paper, how cool is that?! But she didn't get to keep it. How cheap)... And at CCA, they wear black berets, not those square hats... lol That's art school for ya!

Here's my sister at graduation dinner... It's a bad picture, 'cuz my dad took it.

Here is my sister and her dad (my mom's ex husband) and his daughter, which means my sister's half sister. Ok, so Ginny is my half sister, too. So, really, it's my half-sister's half-sister.. I know, it's really confusing.. =( Just know that I'm not blood related to any of these people except my sister...

OK, I've put you all through enough torture of looking at people you don't know/probably don't care to know... Here's Chris and I...

The Mystery Spot. Everyone in Santa Cruz must do it at least once while they are here. Not because it's so great, but because it's just tradition; it's the mystery spot..

Apparently, it's this place where wacky things go on, like people lean and compasses waiver... Some people think it's just a crooked shack and a trick of the eye. Probably somewhere in between...

Here's Chris waiting for our tour to begin... (I took pictures 'cuz I was bored.. After the 3rd click of a close-up of his face, he got annoyed... =(

Here's my tour group walking up the steep path to the little shack...

Funny sign... The ! is tilted to an angle that many people are at this place!

Here we are at the shack, learning from the tour guide...

Here's the tour guide explaining the mysteries to us... When he puts the ball in the middle of the plank, which seems to tilt down (away from him), the ball rolls up, towards him!

Even the trees lean at this funky place...

Here's Chris inside the shack... Everyone leans like this in order to stay upright. This is balanced believe it or not!

I should've lined the picture up with the people and ground, not the shack, but you can see how drastically things are off at this place...

Here are two people standing in the shack.. Leaning to stay up right... I got really dizzy in this place and when I walked downhill, I sometimes felt like I was going to fall over. When I walked uphill, it felt like I was struggling to take a step...

And at the end of the tour, everyone gets a free bumper sticker! Look how cute Chris is! =))

See there! Under my subscriptions. Coming soon, it's IC Adventures! Since, I am a computer consultant at UCSC now, (wow, I sound like a geek just saying it), I get to be part of Mitch's IC Adventures. (Check out Meetch)... It's about all the weird stuff that goes on during our shifts at the computer labs... And it's live, if you tune in during a shift... My shifts are Thurs 6-9pm and Sat 3-6pm and Sun 6-9pm... So, if you want to keep me company while I'm at work, comment back to me... Sarah and Mitch will also contribute to the xanga, during their shifts.

Aside: I wouldn't recommend subscribing to it with daily emails or else your inbox will be cluttered with one liners...