SANTABATTICAL, Day 2: Santa Settles In Sin City I woke up early to try and make headway on finding a place to stay for the remainder of my time here in Las Vegas; Id scouted out a couple of options for facilities close to the Strip but with the amenities I needed (specifically, a microwave and fridge...I REFUSE to eat out every damn night!). Lonnie, my driver, was there at the designated check-out time, and we drove to investigate these locations. The very first one was pretty close, but MAN it was scary! Walking up to the office, you could smell the weed smoke emanating from one of the nearby rooms; The front desk looked JUST like many of the flophouse offices (with mail cubicles and a really high marble counter), and the woman behind the counter was attempting to train a new employee. (My first thought was to tell her to run, but she probably would have taken this the wrong way.) I went back outside to Lonnie, and he asked me if I was getting a room here. As added emphasis on my Hell, no, a drunken man stumbles into the doorway, grinning like a fool and tips back a big can in a paper sack. We promptly vacated for greener pastures. The next spot we visited was also conveniently close, and had a very friendly desk clerk. She explained that in order to stay weekly, I would have to pony up the cash for weekly stay; alas, I did not possess the funds at the time for this. Now earlier yesterday, the site manager had offered to lend assistance with his credit card, but he was unavailable to reply, and I was growing frantic. I then logged online to discover that an old friend (one of my oldest, in fact) was willing and able to float the pay until I got paid. Messages, calls and faxes later, I had procured the room, but it didnt come with any utensils/ cooking implements nor linens. Lonnie, who had been witnessing my rapid breakdown earlier, kindly offered to loan me a spare microwave that he had in his room, and in addition would loan me the other necessities to get by for two weeks: a fork, a spoon, a blanket and a pillow. (We had already gone to Goodwill and procured a bedsheet and a very large coffee cup that I could then nuke my soup in.) At this point, I want to talk a little about Las Vegas by daylight... Its in the middle of nowhere, but still made me feel at ease, as I discovered that we were ringed by mountains (it reminded me of LaGrande, but the mountains were FAR LESS green, and pointier than the Grande Ronde valley. Also, palm trees - several different kinds, a variety of sizes, but they are EVERYWHERE. Its such a weird thing for me, even now; As I walk around this town, I still think oo! Palm trees! THATs weird... Even the bird population is different here: in addition to the expected pigeons and crows, I find Brewers Blackbirds and some kind of grackle, I think - its a very long skinny tailed black bird (perhaps a different kind of magpie.) The other thing that clearly shows this is Las Vegas is the constant presence of slot machines and gambling devices. I expected them on the strip; I even expected them in the airport; I DID NOT expect to see them in the local grocery store, in plain sight for all to see (unlike Oregon, which requires they be hidden from view of minors - minors who probably play some on Facebook and see them in television. Prudes.) After I got settled in, I got dropped off at the Fashion Show Mall to go and see the Santa set. MIND. BLOWN. Its the Santa Experience - and it certainly lives up to its name. It was created by DreamWorks, and it is majestic and wondrous, complete with massive video screens on the walls of the cottage, and on the hour, the whole mall starts having dancing lights in synch with the music, and snow begins to fall around the cottage. I was taken down to the green room, and met a number of the crew (there are over four dozen staff involved in this endeavor - a far cry from my previous mall work of maybe five crew plus me throughout the week.) While I was down there, I also met Gail, the main stylist for the fashion show that goes on when theres NOT a Santa set. She helped me get my suit - and Adele suit. It fit wonderfully, and Im excited to step into the role. After all this was done, and I received my schedule, I walked through the mall and then to my hotel room (about a mile and a half.) I did get a few smiles along the way, and had the pleasure to meet my first celebrity: I bumped into Brad Garrett, shopping in a store, and we chatted briefly, with lots of Santa joking going on. He then offered me a pair of comp tickets to his show this weekend. Lets see how that goes. Finally, I settled in to write this, and got distracted by the TV: Christmas Vacation followed by Scrooged? Yes please! Tomorrow (well, later today): First day on the job!
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:43:37 +0000
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