A destination for all tourists, gamblers, delinquents and people just wanting to party. We all come to Vegas to have a good time, to be immersed in the sharp lights of grand casinos, to win some money, drink good alcohol and eventually throw up a memorable story. We all leave with a story to tell, and the Vegas experience is explosive as it is strange. Here, money is won and spent to the extent that it bares little value within the borders of Sin City. It is a dream world for the first timer, allowing regulars and passers to slip into fantastic environments, forcing them to leave behind their code of social ethics, their prejudice and any level of conscience they brought to the table. Vegas is a sink, a giant flashing funnel consuming vast amounts of money and energy, which arrive from barren dessert and flow into Blackjack tables and LEDs... somewhere along the way, there is you and me, feeling the rush of resources being flushed through us mercilessly so we can say that we were here and we loved it. The Vegas dream is lightyears away from our reality, separating itself from a cold world where money and energy have value, where millions starve, fight and die from being deprived of basic necessities, the people of Vegas have long forgotten.
It is a well crafted dream, floating above quicksands that appear benign in their stillness, and we all hear the craziest stories from friends who ventured too far inside, got too absorbed in the dream world. I got here yesterday morning, and I am looking forward to charging head first into the extreme. I want all the shocking memories I can grab, the city, the legend, the entertainment and when the sun disappears, the stars don't bother to shine over Vegas. I am beginning to understand why this city gets to all of us. It is fantastic, over the top, the eccentric people, photos of half naked hookers strewn across the streets where all kinds of artists and clowns perform. Every inch of the strip is modeled to perfection. I have seen all these great casinos in films and TV shows but the city is more than just a tourist destination or a hub for gamblers and entertainers. It is a symbol of wealth, of arrogant recreation, an outcast city, wild and lewd. The quicksand below the glass and concrete lures us with cheap rooms in fancy hotels, good alcohol which always costs less than it normally would. That is the key, to stay long and party hard because the city makes its profits from gambling. A lady sitting at a slot machine just as my friends and I were waiting at the reception, she put in fifty dollars and watched it round after round, grow to over six hundred but she did not stop, as if the slot machine was pointing a gun at her in frustration, cursing at evil probability with a closed fist. She kept playing and playing and by the time our room was ready, almost an hour later, she had lost it all. Now I am not saying all the gamblers in Vegas can't quit at the top but the splendor of Vegas proves without a doubt that most don't.
There is more power concentrated here, in a few square miles, than in some countries... which begs me to ask; will the concentration of power or the immense wealth of a country inevitably spawn a place such as this? Would it be different if suppose...this wealth was concentrated else where? I sit in my hotel room balcony, drinking a pitcher of beer and smoking a cigarette as I write this. The strip lays right ahead and I am above it all, the sparkling lights, the people, the noise, the fantasy shines like an artificial diamond lost in this cold barren dessert. I am a part of this dream and I am taking it the whole way. I do not know whether I want this place to exist or not. I wish it was not this way, I wish I could live the dream like everyone else here but mine remains impure, as my sad conscience separates me from this beautiful city.
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