home again....

i went to las vegas on business this week...
once again...it occured to me..
i don't travel well...
oh sure, ...it seems these trips can be considered adventures...
and ...
maybe it can be said...
in a real work sense...
they aren't anywhere near a regular days work..
still...
if you know me ..
you know...
i don't do well with change...
i mean ...as i look at my life...oh sure there has been change...on a fairly regular basis...but you'll also find...i am a creature of habit...and there is a reason for that habit..it's comfort....i have a comfort zone...
and i don't like it to be messed with...
when i travel...it's messed with..

throw in las vegas which..it's safe to say is different than most other travel destinations...the deafing sound of people...traffic,technology...and the total lack of personal space beyond your hotel room...and well...it can be wearing..
don't get me wrong...
i find las vegas fascinating...even entertaining...
although on this trip...i have to say i didn't see as much as i normally have when i've visited there...we actually did a lot of business and i was actually kept pretty busy...and to top it off...not all the meals were the spectacular meals you can have in las vegas...so...suffice it to say...
i'm really glad to be home..

i saw a few things that caught my attention:

walking to catch the shuttle bus to the convention center...we passed a guy who obviously had a drinking problem...sitting on the sidewalk....holding a sign that said.."why lie...i'm going to spend it on beer"...this woman in her mid-20's walked up to him...said something i couldn't hear...then handed him her beer....he smiled at her...held up the beer...she took his picture...gave her back her beer and she gave him cash...

when you walk the streets in las vegas...there are people every block or so...trying to hand you these little cards that advertise strippers, stripclubs, hookers...things like that...then when you get into the casinos...there are people standing inside the doors handing out cards for the nightclubs...so christian and i were sitting and the top of the stairs in the new york, new york waiting for his father...we saw a couple walk in the doors....a guy handed the man a card...without even blinking the woman in the couple punched her man in the arm, grabbed the card and threw it on the floor...while the her man looked at her like she was crazy...the reason this caught my attention ...it was obvious the woman thought her man had taken a card for a stipper...instead of what what he was obviously trying to do...find a nice night club to take her to...

and ...then...i saw art..
and ...then...i heard music...
and ...then...i saw people caring for other people..

richard and i were talking as we walked from place to place...we had spent some time with people who work for company's that are vegas based...these people had younger children...so i said...you know most of us come here for the fun...but can you imagine how hard it is to raise kids here...with the focus on so many behaviors and bad habits we try to keep our children from being involved in..it's got to be hard...

here's the thing..i've said it before...i'll say it again...
isn't it intersting as we get older...each of us forget our behavior of the past...and how...many of the things we see in las vegas are things in the past we did...so now we're older and more focused and it's incredibly easy to look at people who are doing them..and judge them...or comment about how evil the behavior is...
i like to call it the dr. laura syndrome...when dr. laura was young...her behavior was bad..but now she's older she makes her living telling people what losers they are for doing the very same things she did...

anyway...
that's what was on my mind...
and..
i'm glad to be home...

today's music...
bic runga....winning arrow...

"climb once again,
cast off your sorrows...
the long night will end,
won't get the best of you..

casting a line to you,
love is a winning arrow...
fire it straight and true to wherever you are...

casting a line to you,
love is a winning arrow..."