Sam's Blog

Link: http://universalurban.com/nore/

I felt guilty this weekend. I was partying it up in Las Vegas while tons of people had to evacuate their homes in New Orleans. I saw the footage and it didn't really register in my head. It took me a while to process all of the information. Hurricane Katrina's wrath is all over the news. The broken levy didn't help matters and there are tons of people homeless with no food or are on top of their apartment buildings and homes waiting to be rescued. It feels surreal to me still. I have been watching coverage at work this week and it seems like its getting worse. My heart goes out to those people and their families and friends. I feel so helpless in situations like this. It saddens me that people couldn't afford a flight out of the city a few days before or some were stranded because they didn't have cars. Either way we look at it, we have an emergency on our hands. Bush is finally spoke to the people today. It sickens me to hear his voice for more than 5 minutes. I say that its about time that he is finally saying something. Makes me wonder where he will get more National Guard and more people to help out considering that most of them are in Iraq. I want to donate things to the relief effort. I hope you guys can give something as well. Go here and find out what you can do.

Wow, I am so exhausted still from my trip to Las Vegas this past weekend. So many crazy things happened, but I have to remember the motto: "Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." I uploaded some pictures on my Flickr account, so check it out. I am so glad that I was able to hang out with all of my old friends from high school. These girls know me so well even though some of us don't speak too often. We all have known each other since junior high and some from even elementary school. It was so much fun and we are all going to try to take a trip like that at least once a year from now on. The only bad thing is that I feel like crap right now. I haven't felt well all week. I lost most of my voice and sounded hoarse on Monday. I started to get a sinus headache and built up sinus pressure that day too and it's still continuing to today. I've had a hard time sleeping because I can't breathe through my nose and now it's stuffy and runny at the same time. My immune system feels weak. I am hoping that it is allergies because I am not feverish or anything like that. I hope that some R & R will help my condition and that way I will be energized for my trip to San Francisco this weekend. I haven't been in over 4 years. That's crazy!! I don't know where to go or what to do there because the city is entirely different once you turn 21. I am glad that Dan and Gavin and other friends are helping me out with great hang out spots. It's not too far from LA and yet I never go there. Shame on me!!

Anyhow, the weekend was wonderful and tiring. It all began on Friday. I got off work early because I only worked a half day and no one was really around either so it was cool. I went to Costco to get some supplies for the trip, mainly alcohol. I can tell that there is a distinct difference in our tastes and that we have all grown up because they all requested top shelf products. I got a huge bottle of Grey Goose and a bottle of Patron. We were gonna live it up hardcore in Vegas with quality alcohol! I grabbed some Malibu and drink mixers and we were set. It took me and Jamie and I seven hours to get to Vegas. It was crazy. We arrived around 9 o'clock and got ready to go to the club. Marita, the birthday girl, was just arriving and we were set to go to Rain, the nightclub in The Palms. The last time I went to Vegas, we tried to get in to Rain, but for some reason, we ended up going to the Ghost Bar, their other bar at that hotel. Rain was a great club. Being with 4 other girls had its advantage. We were able to go to the front of the line and we didn’t have to pay. Sweet!! The only problem was the small dance floor that people desperately tried to get on. When we danced, fire would shoot out of the ceiling every hour and ten minutes (Marita timed it, not me!) and it made the place hotter. I was sweating so much. But the music was pretty good and the people were really nice…some were too nice. Anyhow, we left the club around 3-4am.

We woke up a bit on the early side at 9am. We took our time getting ready and chilled for a while. We hit the Rio buffet. Yum yum yum! Much information was disclosed between each other at that one meal. Me, Roni, Marita, and Kristy were the only ones there, but it was great that we can talk to each other about anything in our heads. It’s quite comforting to know that even though we only see each other a few times a year. I have a feeling that after this weekend, we will see each other more frequently. Marita and I took a short nap while the rest of the girls and Jamie went to the pool. We got ready to go to club Pure, the nation’s #1 club apparently. Alison and Myra arrived into town and got ready as well. We were worried about big crowds and long lines so we got there early. We stepped out of the cab and saw a really long line outside of Caesar’s Palace. Since there were now 7 girls, we walked up to the front of the line, which was way longer than I expected. Once inside, the line wrapped around like an amusement park waiting area and it went on and on. We walked to the VIP section. Apparently, the taxi cab driver in the other car took a fancy to one of my friends and gave us VIP passes on our way to the club. The thing was, they weren’t the right VIP tickets, but we sweet talked our way in there for free (instead of paying $25). The club was amazingly beautiful with a rooftop bar that played electronic music and a downstairs area with a bar that played hip hop music. It was attached to the Pussycat Dolls Theater and they opened up that area after their show. There were so many people there and it was really crowded. There were tables that had bottle service all around. The only thing that I didn’t like about the club was the people. They were either really annoying or pretentious. It was okay for a while, but it became annoying. We lost Myra around 1am and couldn’t find her for the rest of the night. At the end of the night, around 6am, we found Myra, ate a late late snack and went to bed.

We woke up around 12:30 and we went to the pool. We were supposed to leave early on Sunday, but we couldn’t wake up in time. At that point, we were just gonna wait for a while until traffic died down. The pool was relaxing and fun. We played volleyball, which was a lot harder when water is in the equation. But it was a nice relaxing time. We had a late check-out and grabbed dinner at a surprisingly fantastic Thai restaurant. We shopped for a while and checked out the new Wynn hotel. It was more fabulous than I had imagined and had the best stores in them, including Manolo Blahnik and Chanel and Jimmy Choo. Too bad I’m not filthy rich to be a patron. Well, time went and we didn’t leave until 11pm and got back into LA at 3am. I was the only one that had to work on Monday, ugh. That was a hard day.