Viva Las Vegas...

So, this past weekend, The Spouse and I went to Las Vegas... For those who know me, you're thinking ... what? why? huh? Well, The Spouse's sister and mother live there... His mother is 87, bedridden (from a recent fall and resulting broken hip), has dementia, and is still strong as an ox and intermittently sharp as a tack. She could depart tomorrow or last another 20 years... And his sister is taking care of her, full-time (the mother lives with the sister). I felt that, as part of supporting the current reconciliation with The Spouse, I should support a family visit. (The Spouse was there, in Las Vegas, at Christmas -- while I was in Paris with The Princess -- and he later commented that he really liked spending time with his family...) (No comment...)

Anyway, it wasn't too bad. The weather was cool, not beastly hot, so that was a blessing. The first two nights, we stayed at a hotel, and the third night we stayed with his sister, her husband and the mother in their new house, south of Las Vegas in a newly developed area. The house is top of the line, in a planned, gated development that's laid out for 200 homes... 14 have been built... Yep, the slowdown is hitting everywhere. The house is not my style, but lovely. I particularly liked the back yard -- very well thought-out for outdoors living (i.e., after dark in Las Vegas when you don't get broiled by the sun and the heat).

We went to a Cirque Du Soleil show ("La Reve") (sorry I can't figure out how to put accent marks in), which was faboo... I saw two shows by the CDS years ago, in San Jose, and was fascinated... The LV show is a bit more commercial than the earlier works, but still pretty eye-popping. This show takes place in a water environment, and that simply blew my mind. Gorgeous young people were leaping in and out of the water with abandon, and I was sure a couple of times that they would kill themselves... Well worth the money we paid for the show. One other night, we went out to a very nice dinner with The Spouse's sister and her husband, and other than that, simply wandered up and down The Strip (we only saw ONE Elvis impersonator -- must be a slow time of the year), had a drink and some pupus at Trader Vic's, watched all the incredibly drunken college students (it was apparently Spring Break week), and spent time with the mother and the sister.

Oh, and we also saw the exhibit "Bodies", currently at the Luxor. This is the exhibit that features the preserved, dissected bodies and body parts of various donors/volunteers. As a wanna-be scientist from way back when, I was fascinated and could have stayed there for hours and hours. Unfortunately, The Spouse turned a nasty shade of green, and hung back from some of the more interesting exhibits. The human body is one of the most fascinating and gorgeous machines, IMHO. When I was around 11 or 12 years old, one Christmas, I got "The Visible Man" as a gift, and spent hours and hours and hours painting it. (For those of you too young to remember, this was a plastic model of a human being, maybe about 14 inches high, with all the organs inside, also made out of plastic, and you got neat little bottles of paint and a teensy-weensy brush, and you got to pain the organs and all the blood vessels... Keen! I loved that damn thing... Anyway, there were individual body parts that, somehow, got dissected and preserved... The lungs, the heart, various glands, parts of the respiratory system (including a little bunch of alveoli -- my personal favorite word), and -- blowing my mind -- the three little bones in the inner ear (the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup) (I don't know or remember their correct names); those things are TINY!!! I know I had seen illustrations of them in some book, allegedly real-time size, at one point, but I had never seen them for real... There were also a healthy pair of lungs and a portion of a smoker's lung -- and there was a big plexiglass box next to that exhibit, with a sign urging folks to drop their cigarettes in the box and quit smoking NOW. The box was about half-full. I don't know why anyone would smoke one more cigarette after seeing that.

There were also signs throughout the exhibit, referring to the illnesses and stresses on the body that are caused by obesity... Well, pretty interesting, given the issue of what many folks in this country look like. I am consistently amazed when I travel around and see folks from other parts of the U.S. (i.e., other than California) -- the degree of "largeness" is jaw-dropping. I am at a loss to understand how folks can abuse their bodies like that. But, even going through the supermarket here in my area, the CRAP that I see in other folks' carts blows my mind. It's really hard to cook/eat healthily these days, I know that -- too many convenience foods, too many prepared foods, too much to do in too little time, blah blah blah... But, come on, folks... Chemicals, fat, salt, sugar... in moderation, not too bad; but, moderation seems to be a concept that isn't familiar with many people.

OK, enough of my judgmental ranting for the moment. But, it just kills me -- because the burden on the public health system arising out of this widespread obesity is not yet fully understood. And, the huge percentage of our children who are obese is pretty damn scary. And I'm not talking about the BMI measure of obesity (I think I'm on the borderline of obesity by their measure), but just the plain old eye-popping obesity one sees out and about... It's so so sad...

What else... The Great Kitchen Remodel is toodling along quite well. I'm absolutely thrilled and cannot wait to get my kitchen back. Cooking in the front hall isn't too bad, but shlepping dirty dishes from the front hall to the second bathroom, through the living room and down the hall, is getting to be a REAL pain in the patookie. And, the sinks in that bathroom are lovely but little, so you can wash like two cereal bowls and two small glasses at once, and that's it. I know, I know, I'm such a spoiled princess... So sue me...

And, the job hunt is disheartening. Jobs are scarce, at least for folks at my level of seniority. I did apply for unemployment insurance, finally, and got my first check a few days ago. I must tell you, I felt awfully odd, filing for unemployment. But, hey, I got over it. I didn't file for months, since I wasn't looking for work -- just hanging out and trying to maintain my sanity... But, once I did decide to re-enter the workforce, and started looking, I figured I was doing everything I was supposed to do.

Well, it's late, I got my feet rubbed tonight (at my favorite local Chinese foot spa), had oatmeal for dinner (comfort food), and I'm ready for bed. The seasonal allergies are making me nuts, and the wind has been brutal the past couple of days, so the pollens are beastly... My eyes are red and teary, and my nose is dripping... I look like I've been on some sort of cocaine-fueled bender for the past week... Ah, if only... No, seriously, that would be very bad. But I hate these allergies. I take meds for it, so I can only imagine what condition I'd be in without the meds!

More to come... In the meantime, I hope all of you are doing well... Anyone doing the "no poo" thing? If so, I'd love to hear from you...

Cheers!