More Nostalgia about 1999

For yesterday's Flashback Friday, I wrote a nostalgic post about 1999, but completely forgot about my trip to Las Vegas in November with a group of Young Adults in my church, in the Utah area. A freshly graduated (from the church's Graceland College) young lady had moved to Salt Lake City in the summer of 1999 and since there was at least four young adults in the area, we got together a few times, including a trip to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake and the road trip to Las Vegas during a weekend in November (before Thanksgiving).

The trip brought up some issues that went to the heart of integrity for me. Because I know our church is not wealthy, I don't expect the church to fund Young Adult activities. A group of us wanted to visit Las Vegas and we knew it was cheaper to travel together (splitting the costs of gasoline and hotel). The self-appointed Young Adult leader (the Graceland grad) decided to ask the church to fund the trip. I made it conditional. As in, if the church is funding this trip, then we need to visit a church congregation in Las Vegas on Sunday morning. She nixed that idea and got the funds anyway. She didn't want to do anything church related, which offended my sense of ethics.

But the real kicker was when she and two guys from the Salt Lake City area carpooled down to Provo and met me at the Orem Congregation. We had decided to ride in my car. Before everyone piled in to my car, this lady pulled out a liability waiver form for each of us to sign, absolving both her and the church from any responsibility in the case of an accident. Never mind that it was my car and I was driving, so I was responsible. I made a huge deal about it and we argued. For me, it was a violation of trust. Never in all my years in the church had anyone asked that of me. Especially since we were just a group of young adults going on a roadtrip. Who thinks in legal terms? Not someone I care to know. Though she was romantically interested in me, this stunt really killed it for me (besides, I was more interested in the Mormon lady from the Dominican Republic that I was dating at the time). She refused to get in the car until I signed the waiver and I relented. Las Vegas was on my list of places to visit while I attended school out west and in two months, I would be back on the east coast.

Vegas was amazing! Cheesy, but exciting. The Young Adult leader booked us in the Las Vegas Hilton. I didn't realize until much later that it was the same hotel that was the site of the notorious Tailhook Convention in 1991 that caused a huge scandal in the Navy. For those who aren't aware of it, a group of Naval Aviators held a convention every year in Vegas. In 1991, an admiral's aide claimed that she was forced to walk a gauntlet of drunken aviators who groped and harassed her. The party included the infamous "Rhino" (a punchbowl-type container shaped like a rhino, where the drink comes out of the male organ like its urinating into your cup). The admiral's aide was offended, told her boss, who ignored her complaint and she went higher up until the shit hit the fan. It was no surprise this would've come out in 1991, because the selection of Clarence Thomas for Supreme Court Justice and the Anita Hill testimony put sexual harassment front and center in the public consciousness.

The Tailhook Scandal broke in 1992 and as a result, the Navy forced all personnel to undergo sexual harassment training (I endured that three times in 1992 alone). The Navy's heavy-handedness in trying to do damage control put too much power into a female accuser's hands and scarred me for life. I worried about being falsely accused, just for showing an interest in female sailors, so it made me have the tendency to move much slower in terms of approaching women and asking them out.

Anyhow, I think it's kind of ironic that on this Young Adult trip to Vegas, I would end up staying in the same hotel where this scandal occurred 8 years earlier. I wasn't the one who booked the hotel (the Graceland grad did), because if it was up to me, we would've stayed in the Luxor Hotel (still the hotel I hope to stay in the next time I make it to Vegas). The lady who booked our hotel rooms picked the Hilton for the simple reason that it was the site of the Star Trek Experience and Quarks Restaurant. She was a major Trekker...to the point where she had to read every single word on the "Timeline of the Future" that led to the entrance of the Star Trek Experience ride (I preferred to go on the ride, and had to make do with talking to a Klingon when he made the rounds THREE times. He would say odd things like, "I don't trust that Captain Kirk!"). The ride was pretty cool. The restaurant was awesome, though. I had a triangle shaped burger and drank some Romulan Ale.

During our weekend, we hit up all the Casinos and took away souvenir plastic cups from each that were stacked next to the slot machines. When I was home last year getting rid of stuff, one of the things I got rid of were the Casino cups, which I would not have done had I known that casinos have done away with them now (according to a co-worker of mine). I have a couple of the casino cups, but not all of them. They made a cool and cheap souvenir.

My favourite Casino shopping center was Caesar's Palace. My favourite casino on the inside was Paris Las Vegas. I also liked the Venetian. Mandalay Bay has the best name and the best swimming pool. The Bellagio looked really nice. Luxor is my favourite, though. Wasn't wild about the Hilton, Excalibur, New York, or MGM Grand. We didn't ride on any of the rides or go to the top of the Eiffel Tower or Stratosphere.

What I took away from the experience was how sad it was to see people sit in front of slot machines feeding coins into it. Workers came around with drinks. No clocks anywhere, nor windows to the outside so you would know what time it was. It was a 24 hour city, with most of the places worth seeing on that one main strip. I did wonder what the actual downtown looked like (for those with real jobs) as well as the residential neighbourhoods. We did go to a drug store off the strip and it was like any normal city. Just one block in either direction from the strip and the whole city feels bland. The different themes of the hotel casinos were fascinating, but fake (when you've been to the real Paris, New York, and Venice, there's no comparison). It's a plastic world, with a lot of unhappy people hoping to become rich.

I managed to spend a mere $1.25 on slot machines. That's how long the thrill lasted for me (these were quarter slots). I could've spent $10 (my limit), but I just lost interest. Good thing I don't have a gambling addiction! I did have a mischievious side, though. I had worn a sweatshirt with a BYU logo on it as we wandered through the casinos. I even wore it when the two other guys wanted to go into an adult store. I didn't care, because I wanted to give Mormons a bad name to anyone who saw my sweatshirt (that's the result of the intolerance I experienced at BYU after two years: my way of getting back at the Mormons!).

When we left back for Utah, it started snowing and I had never driven on a freeway during a freshly falling downpour. At one point, a car in front of me slowed down and I had enough of a cushion between us, but slowed down as well and ended up sliding off the road. That was a scary moment for all of us, but through the grace of God, we made it back safely.

The following weekend was Thanksgiving and the lady invited me to spend the holiday with her, but I decided to spend it with Yudelka, the Dominican lady I was very attracted to. I don't regret it. I don't think I spoke with the Graceland grad ever again. In all the times I've spent with fellow Young Adult members in my church (before and since that Vegas trip), not a single one has asked me to sign a waiver absolving them of any liabilities. For me, trust is very important. I can't forsee myself ever suing a fellow church member for anything, especially if it was accidental.

In 1999, I also made a second trip to Seattle over Labour Day weekend to visit Nathan again for his 25th birthday and to meet his girlfriend, whom he had indicated wanting to marry (which he did in 2000). That was an interesting trip. Unlike the spring roadtrip to the Pacific Northwest, I flew roundtrip for this one.

Sometime in October, Nathan's way of announcing his engagement was an email asking me to be his best man. I was shocked, but honoured. How could I say no? I thought he would've asked one of his brothers, but to this day, I still consider it one of the greatest honours of my life to be his best man. Last year, when I visited him in San Diego, a Navy buddy of his on another ship happened to be in port and we went to pick him up for a barbecue at Nathan and Lisa's place, Nathan introduced me to his friend as "the best man." I was touched that he would do that (he had said back in 2000 that I would be forever known as "the best man" and I guess he wasn't kidding).

So, that was my 1999. I saw Missoula, Coeur d'Alene, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Olympia, Astoria, Cannon Beach, Portland, Salem, Boise, Shoshone Falls, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Atlanta, Seattle (again), Bremerton, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Dallas, and Atlanta again. When I think back to that amazing year, I wonder how I was able to travel to so many places on so little income. I really knew how to make my money stretch.

My dream job still remains any where I would travel several times a year. Even if its just for business, with conferences and meetings. I just can't get enough of seeing different places and I always find something of interest in every place I've been. Where can I find such a career?