Later today, I'm going out of town.  (Doesn't it sound cool saying that you're going "out of town"?  If you say it really casual, it sort of seems like this is something you do from time to time and it's no big deal.)  I have been waiting a few weeks for this little trip and I'm excited.  (If you were here with me, you would say something like, "I hope its somewhere fun and not work", which is the hip professional's way of conversing.)  I'm going to Las Vegas, the glittering jewel in the desert.  (Or something like that.)  Anyway, I have been there before. 

Once it was for a professional conference and by the time we arrived, they were out of regular rooms in the reserved block for our group and they had to upgrade us to a suite on the top floor of the Venetian.  It had huge floor to ceiling windows, a living room, a full bar, a bedroom, and a bathroom the size of a small apartment.  I sat on the window sill and watched all the lights on the strip come on at dusk.  The view was fantastic.  

But my favorite visit was on New Year's Eve.  When we left it was 1999 and by the time we came home, it was 2000.  We celebrated with Barbra Streisand at the MGM Grand.  I love Barbra and I even had my own seat and didn't have to sit in anyone's lap.  (They just didn't sell the seats next to ours so I lucked out.  No one bought an expensive ticket for a bear so don't worry about it.)  Right after midnight, she sang a duet with all of us.  We did the Auld Lang Syne part and she laced this pretty little melody into it.  Yup, I sang a duet with Barbra.  The really cool part was when the double album came out that was recorded at the performance, I got to actually hear myself singing with Barbra.  (OK, there were a few thousand of us singing, but I was one of them!)  

But the most fun in Las Vegas is seeing Tom Jones when he is playing the little Hollywood Theatre at the MGM Grand.  You may think that only the ladies love him (and yes, they do still throw their panties on stage) but lots of men in the audience sing along and know all the words, too.  (Maybe Tom is their role model for lady seducing or maybe these men are gay.  Who knows.  But who cares, really.  The show is a blast.)  His face has been redone at least once but it is a pretty good likeness to his original one.  And he seems to work hard to keep the weight down.  But once he opens his mouth and wails "my, my, my Delilah, why, why, why Delilah", you're hooked.  He closes the show with "It's Not Unusual" which is a real gem and always comes back for an encore, usually performing the Prince hit, "Kiss".  I'm making plans to go again already.  Can't get enough of Tom and one day, he will be too old to move his hips like that. 

The show we are going to, Cirque de Soleil's Love featuring music by the Beatles, is at the Mirage so that is where we are staying.  They have the secret garden with Siegfried and Roy's tigers and the dolphin habitat and the silly volcano that erupts every night.  

Anticipating something fun that takes you out of your ordinary life is really, really good for you.  But there are certain risks involved.  Modern travel causes anxiety including long lines at security, crowds, delays, and terrorist fears.  And then there's the concern that the show won't be all that good and you will be so disappointed.  Or that the real star will be sick that night and you will have to see the scrub instead.  Or in Vegas there is always the chance that you will lose your head and lose your shirt, but I don't gamble so that probably won't be a factor.  Or you will eat something bad and get sick.  Or something will go wrong with the volcano and it won't erupt on cue or maybe it will erupt all over everything and everyone.  Or my worst fear, that I will get lost, dropped, snatched or left behind and no one will know where I belong.  That is kind of like being awake during surgery but unable to tell the doctors that you can actually feel that!!!!!  Goodness, I better stop this or I may talk myself right out of going!

We have to risk disappointment and take chances on life, don't we?  It is tempting for me to stay inside my beautiful house on the lake and never subject myself to the dangers of the outside world.  But then I wouldn't be all that interesting and my blog would suffer.  Nope, I'm going to Vegas and I'm going to see the Love show, and I'm going to watch the lights turn on all up and down the strip, and I'm going to have a story to tell when I get home.  Yeah, I'm going out of town.  

GR