Las Vegas

Here are a few photos from my very short trip to Las Vegas.
These include a night shot of the Strip from one of the pedestrian bridges:

Shops near Las Vegas Boulevard:

The inside of the Luxor:

And the Hoover Dam:

Photos: Sway Sovay

The Strip

I am headed for Vegas, baby!

...Even though Vegas is so not my thing...

I have a friend whose band has progressed to the third round of the Bodog Battle of the Bands, which means they get to perform in Las Vegas next weekend, so I will be going to cheer them on and experience a little bit of Vegas for the first time.

Honestly, I'm not that excited about Vegas itself as much as I'm excited about relaxing in a nice hotel for a weekend. That, and I mean, really, who doesn't love all those fluorescent lights from a distance? At any rate, it will be a change of pace, and since the last few months have been wing-dingers, I could so use a mini-break.

I'll be at the Luxor, the hotel/casino that looks like a pyramid. Kind of hard to miss...

I will post some of my photos after this weekend!

Photo: Mike Sparr

So This Is The New Year

I keep hearing that Death Cab for Cutie song playing in the background of my mind...

I appreciate January 1st for this reason: Even if I've neglected to seek some serious perspective on every other day of the year, at least on this day, on this first day of the new year, something forces me to lift my head and acknowledge all that I have or haven't made of my life in the past twelve months.

I can say without a single doubt that 2007 takes the place as my most difficult year to date. But you know, I wouldn't change a thing. Because even though it was a grueling ride, there was a lot of sweetness along the way, too. And I understand that the wonderful moments have to be fleeting, because if they weren't, they wouldn't mean as much, would they?

This is me, loving and appreciating all of life's rises and falls. Lovers come and go, parents and friends die, babies are born, jobs end and begin again, money ebbs and flows, and that's what it's all about. So goodbye, 2007, and hello, 2008. I hope that I'm still here on January 1, 2009, and that I'm happy and healthy, and that I'm even more in love with life than I am right now, at the very moment that I write this.

Times Square New Year's Ball
Photo: Ian Hardy