Elvis has left the building....

vegas...adult disneyland...i have just returned from a long weekend in sin city...no poorer...but no richer either...but it is a writer's dream in many ways...if just for people-watching...we stayed at caesars of "hangover" fame...although rather sedate on wednesday and thursday, thanks to some incoming conventions, california weekenders, and a thousand bachelorette parties, the place was filled to capacity by friday...the seismic shift in type of guest was first noted poolside friday afternoon...on one side there was a male redneck convention...each testosterone-fueled jerk topping the other in loudness, splashing and an apparent inability to keep a beer from spilling into the pool...on the other side, the objects of their affection...the overly faux-tanned, shouldn't be wearing that bikini, chain-smoking and dropping cigarette ash into the pool girls...and next to us, a well-intentioned young dad with his toddler son in tow...the ill-concealed pamper swelling...i thought i was doomed...choking from second-hand smoke...swimming in budweiser and whatever that pamper couldn't hold...that night we took a cab over to the hard rock hotel...taking a trip down memory lane to the big-hair eighties with def leppard...in the crowd were several men on the other side of 50 donning long-haired wigs...a nod to their youth...the band was incredible...the spoils and excesses of their stardom far behind them leaving their talent front and center...when it was over and we joined the long and winding line for a taxi i noticed one of the men with a wig surrounded by some young women...one who was about a minute from being sick in full view...so the man opened his mouth to talk to her...and there it was...not the swag of long-haired eighties rock...but the nasal drone of william h. macy via "fargo"...."ya, we've all been there"...i turned away trying not to break down in a full-blown laugh attack...then to my right i saw an ambulance and stretcher rushing into the hotel...yeah...back to the eighties...and finally, back to caesar's...and wouldn't you know...as we walked through the casino i spotted those girls...the sick one being dragged to an elevator by her friends...hey, at least it wasn't our elevator bank...ding ding ding...listen to the slots...the fall of the roman empire...