(this happened on) Thursday, August 13th, 2009 in Las Vegas (Baby!)

My birthday the Party Continues

4 Kings and 4 Tens a great start to my birthday

My birthday,  It took two hours for all the payments to get sorted out, first Lisa went to get her money and have her photograph taken as the main winner.

Then I went off to the cash cage to get my money, Sofia says I came back all smiles.

Lisa and her Husband Jimmy were in TGI Fridays and they invited us to join them for a bite to eat. Lisa and Jimmy are truckers, both in their forties, Jimmy is tattooed up and chews dip (chewing tobacco).

They were very nice people, they told us about the Green Door and said they had been there, I wanted to go there but Sofia was having none of it.

They showed us their wedding photos and we all chatted until Jimmy finally got his payout for also being in the game $260 not bad just for being in the room at the right time. After leaving us their address, they then headed off to play more cards.

Sofia and I headed upstairs for our own Birthday celebration it was almost 4:00am.

A Brilliant Show

We had to get up in the morning as the girls are checking out to go to LA for the week. After waving them off, I headed out to the strip to buy Sofia and I tickets for LOVE the Cirque Du Soleil, Beatles show at the Mirage, the queue was long and slow and of course by the time I got to the counter all the tickets for two seats together had gone, “oh wait hang on some have just become available” funny that they were the most expensive tickets and I had asked for the mid priced ones, I was not paying stupid money and $180 each was too much. We have been to enough shows in Vegas to know that all seats are comfortable and have a good view.

I walked back up to Bill’s and queued up at Tix4Tonite and bought four tickets for Terry Fator, An American Idol winner and also performing at the Mirage.

I am always amazed that the main strip hotels in Vegas have at least one often more theaters each of which would put 98% of the theaters in England to shame.

They are always easy to access, very efficient seating, no stupidly uncomfortable seating, they always have amazing sound and light.

I then headed back to the Gold Coast and gathered up the family.

Sofia sensibly had slept while I was out.

Soon Sofia, Basty, Stefan and I all caught the shuttle down to Bill’s and walked through the Flamingo going through the lovely gardens with the Flamingos, ducks, cranes and swans as well as the largest carp and catfish I think I have ever seen. We took lots of photos.

I went to go to the gift shop and as I stepped on the coloured glass floor my body slammed to a halt and I could not take another step, my boys were all watching me and laughing.

We then carried on through to the Mirage, I queued up again at the Box Office and finally got tickets for LOVE in a few days time, Just for Sofia and I. Sofia went to go to the gift shop and as she stepped on the coloured glass floor her body slammed to a halt and she could not take another step, she has a real phobia about glass floors and escalators, I am ashamed to say we were all watching and laughing. We had looked around the restaurant choices but in the end decided to eat at Cravings, the Mirage buffet, It was a long slow moving queue but it was worth the wait, very good food and of course we all over did it.

Heading into the theatre we had a good view.

The warm up act was pretty lame, in fact a very poor DJ and for some reason I was getting angry that such a lame ass DJ had a Vegas gig, he was cheesy and could not mix two songs to save his life and then he revealed his true self as an awesome dancer of almost any style during an amazing few minutes that got all the crowd rocking.

For those who do not know him Terry Fator is a Ventriloquist and a seriously good vocal mimic with a huge range, even as a Vent he can sing as so many people Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, Elvis, Axel Rose, and Kermit and Satchmo at the same time, and of course with out moving his lips. He was simply an amazing celebrity impressionist under any circumstances. the fact that he was doing most of it as a ventriloquist was simply stunning. The show was completely kid friendly and still very funny, well produced and the guy was a true star. The fact that there were signs all over the place saying no cameras, videos or recording devices of any kind and that at the start he stands up and says I know many of you have smuggled cameras in and I don’t care go ahead and take as many pictures as you like, a very nice move, the real mark of a guy that had struggled for years and knew how tough life could be and wanted everybody to share in his new found success.

Basty laughed through to the last quarter and then too many late nights caught up with him and he crashed out completely. At the end there was a standing ovation and we all really enjoyed ourselves, Recommended family fun

Awesome show highly recommended.

Terry Fator Go See Him

With Basty out on his legs Sofia and the boys went back to hotel, while I stayed and tried my hand at Poker over at the Flamingo.

There were lots of young obnoxious East European (Russian?) types and not much atmosphere certainly to me not as much fun as playing at the Gold Coast.

I did OK with a small loss after an hour or so, I had an upset tummy and did not feel comfortable so decided to head back to the hotel.

Sofia was not in room eventually I found her playing machines, later I signed up for poker at the Gold Coast, I lost $15 not too bad for two hours play.

And of course now I am effectively playing with free money at the scene of my great success, I feel like a celebrity (a very lowly celebrity but nevertheless) as people were talking about the bad beat being won, apparently it was over $20,000 because it had not been won for quite a few months and had steadily built up.  I was sat there knowingly saying nothing until somebody came up to congratulate me and then my cover was blown and people would start questioning me about it, shaking my hand, thanking me if they had been in the room (and therefore won $260), and the staff have taken their friendliness to a new level.

Good times.

terry fator, las vegas, nevada, gold coast hotel and casino, texas hold’em poker, mirage hotel and casino, cirque du soleil, tix4tonite, Love, the beatles, flamingo, american idol, world travel, gap year