My 1000th post. Halloween TR 2010

[AK2Vegas]

3 Rooms, 2 Chicks, and One Cabana: 104 Hours in Vegas

AOD Halloween TR

I don’t know where to begin writing this. The beginning seems the logical point, but part of me wants to start in the middle. Or maybe the end. (Authors note: as many of you know, shit was crazy and out of control and if you weren’t there you were fucking up. That being said, this TR is edited for a number of reasons.)

Monday, November 1st, 2010

...And I’m walking back to the ticket counter from security screening. Even though I had asked her twice, the lady at the counter had forgotten to give me the proper documentation and me, not wanting to tell her how to do her job, let it go thinking that by asking her more than once she would have checked. So I’m tired and pissed and I don’t want to miss my flight-plus having to walk back from security to the ticket counter and then back through the security is eating into my drinking time. I’m wheels up to wheels up. Or supposed to be. Not this time. Ginger is waiting for me after the security checkpoint and we catch a burger at chili’s too before boarding. I’m so tired and worn out at this point that the reality of the past five days hasn't really set in yet.

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

My trips to Vegas are always preceded by too much anticipation and this was no different. There’s a million different things going on at home and work and on top of that, my JC/FB/Spreadsheet iPhone is blowing up about every 90 seconds. I cannot wait to get on the plane but it seems as though life doesn't want to let me.

We’ve got parent teacher conferences and work is really really busy. The kind of busy that I really shouldn’t be going to Las Vegas busy, but fuck that, I’m locked. Trying to keep all of these people straight between the spreadsheet, text messages, and facebook is really difficult while balancing out cold fingers and working outside. If I wasn’t addicted to my phone before, this has certainly done it now. I started checking facebook roughly every 15 mins just to make sure I wasn’t missing something on a thread somewhere. It’s a wonder I didn’t fuck something up at work during these few weeks preceding the trip.

July (perhaps?) 2010

I get a random message from TomBrokaw asking me if I’m coming out to Vegas Halloween? I should he says, it’s gonna be sick. I’d been playing with going for our anniversary (Mid November) or for NYE but when I see the prices and realize how many JC peeps are going in October, TomBrokaw’s message pushes me over the edge. I lock up the tickets that week.

September 2010

I had asked a number of people to come to Las Vegas with us; each time the excuse was different but the answer was the same-can’t, work, school, money, kids, disease, flat tire, etc. Finally, after asking practically everyone I knew, Styna agrees to go with us. This is good because she’s a lot of fun and she gets along with my wife. And as Ray-J said, two chicks are better than no chicks. I tell her that this trip is going to be madness, epic, fun, crazy, (insert Las Vegas adjective here). I tell her that this trip is going to be life changing. Life changing? She doesn’t believe me.

Wednesday 27th November 2010

So to alleviate some (ahem) problems I had at Tryst last year, and because of the fees and hassle of banking in Las Vegas, I decide to roll with just cash. I recommend this method, unless you are prone to getting drunk and losing it. It’s accepted everywhere and you can’t overdraft with it. I divided each days worth and kept it in the safe at the room.

Another thing that made this trip more of a challenge was the whole costume thing. Aside from trying to find costumes that weren’t gay, that matched up somewhat with each other, and were under $700, my costumes were a major packing headache. I had been packed since Tuesday thinking that once I woke Wednesday I wouldn’t be going to sleep until Friday morning and wouldn’t have time to pack.

Styna shows up to my house about 22:00 and I’m already into preparty mode. The excitement before heading to the airport is just crazy. We had some problems packing 'certain' items, they needed to make sure they were small enough to be carried easily and compact. So I construct a small vaginal vessel to hold these items. Styna names it after a fling she had. Her reasoning, 'it's small and round, like him'. So from then on out all of our preparties included Tyler

September 2010

AOD FOB Palms and the power of technology.

Since we’d all met on through JC and we mostly had each others FB contacts, phone numbers just became another medium through which the contact someone. As people grew more comfortable with each other, information would move from person to person up the communications tree: JC (pm), email, Facebook (pm), text message and finally phone call. This communication tree is one of the reasons why AOD is so badass. Twitter Tuesdays and other deals are spread so fast throughout this army, it allows quick mobilization on key deals.

So when Erock finds an incredible deal at the Palms 200 people know about it pretty fast. Loves texts me and asks me if Erock has sent me the code yet. She’s painting Drew’s house and doesn’t have access to a computer. I text Erock. I text Styna. I double check that it’s posted on the forums. I text some more people. By the time I’ve done all this, ten minutes have gone by and when I go to book it, it’s over. FML.

Thankfully Erock texted me later and let me know the deal was back and so after being teased with the rate once, I don't hesitate and I book two rooms. Forum members snatch up these rooms with the speed and ferocity that we are known for. Palms, prepare for an AOD invasion.

Sadly, the Palms didn’t relax and lay quietly into the night. I will just summarize the drama in a few sentences, but it took place over a couple of weeks and really pissed off a lot of people.

We had received a very low rate, a guaranteed room in the new tower, free casino play, spa passes, and a few other coupons or deals. This was originally mailed out to a few select preferred players within the Palms players club. Someone had taken this code from this mailer and posted it to a bargain website and after that it became viral; I’m not sure how many rooms they sold at this rate, but I think it was in the thousands. Over the next few days, many of us receive phone calls telling us that we needed to have the original mailer that the deal came in on and without it they had to cancel our reservation immediately. This was after they’d already taken our deposits. No where was this explained and there were absolutely no such requirements built into the terms and conditions. Some of us got the call and others didn’t. In the end, we (the collective we and not just JCers) complained so loudly that the Palms reversed course and gave us the rate (minus the inclusions but at that point it didn’t really matter). This is the very short version.

I think there were about 35 of us at the Palms.

[AK2Vegas]

Sunday October 31st 2010. Halloween.


Here is a tip to any AOD rookie (like myself): say your goodbyes in the club. I was surprised to see how many of my AOD family had to leave early Sunday to get back to their lives in the real world. If I would have known the last time I was going to see so and so was at Tryst or XS etc.... well, you’ve been warned. Make sure you get those good arm length portraits of you and those awesome people you’re going to meet. Some of them are coming from the other side of the globe and you may not see them for a long time. End of tip.

SunDAY was pretty much chill. We were tired and beaten from our previous three nights and didn’t have much energy. We breakfasted at the 24/7 (again). Met up with Loves, Gubuju, Drew, and the Aussies at the pool. When I got there, a very fat man was trying to open an aluminum bottle of bud light with his belly button. He had it shoved in as far as he could and was twisting it in his fat. I got the impression that normally he was able to accomplish this feat but those damn bottles are hard to open. A small crown was watching this and as I look at the people I see a guy who looks a lot like Pauly D. (This is Halloween weekend. Heard “Cabs are heeeerrrree” all weekend so I’m not 100% sure this is him). Turns out he had spun at Rain the night before.

Like the first night, I had a spike camp set up at the Palazzo. We had stayed at the Venetian the year before and Ginger and I knew what to expect. I think Styna was impressed though.

We got there at about 16:00 and I have the girls stand off to the side. It wasn’t busy at all on a Sunday afternoon and I’m able to select a clean cut young guy so I can give him the same rundown I used at the HRH on Thursday. He puts us on the 47th floor overlooking the Wynn golf course. The only bad thing was that we were at the end of one of the Palazzo’s corridors which meant a lot of walking to get to the elevator.

We take a few pictures and unpack our meager luggage (we were still based out of the Palms) and relax for a few minutes. The bathrooms at the Palazzo and Venetian (or hell at the Wynn and Encore) are ideal for ladies to do their thing. Ginger and Styna set up camp in the bathroom and I moved the Chaise longue (yes, I looked it up) into the bathroom so they could sit side by side and do their makeup. I proceeded to drink while watching my first football of the day. In case you haven't seen them, these rooms are fabulous and huge. Three tv's mechanical roman shades, sunken living room...mmm...Palazzo.


My costume that night was a complicated set of plastic samurai armor. It looked pretty badass but it was a bitch to put on. Ginger had to help me and it took both of us about 25 minutes to get this shit on. She was a geisha and Styna was Snow White.

One of the conditions Styna put on this trip was a visit to the Ghostbar. She had really wanted to go there last time she was in Vegas and didn’t get the chance. Rick Rothbury also insisted that the Ghostbar was a must visit and so we have everyone who is at the Palms meetup at the bottom of the Ghostbar.

The Ghostbar is a really really good spot to party and I wish I would’ve had more time to spend there. Styna and Ginger and I have a quick drink and group photos are taken. Rick Rothbury declares to me “Steve Wynn can’t give you this” and he’s right. The view is amazing. I highly recommend a visit. Since we were there right after it opened there weren’t a lot of people there and we invade the place. Good times.

[AK2Vegas]

Friday October 29th 2010


I wake up to pounding on my door. It’s about 09:00 and Styna is high on Vegas adrenaline. I’m a little tired from the night before and I’m a little annoyed with her for being so energetic but I understand what it’s like and I play along. I half decide to stay in bed but she opens the drapes and sunlight pours in ending that idea. I realize, I’m up and we are go for Las Vegas!

We eat breakfast at the 24/7 café which will become our mainstay for the duration of the trip. They never close, have everything from fried chicken to waffles and chinese food and are reasonably priced. We ate there over and over.

I’m not 100% sure of who I met first but at some point I get assaulted by the Twins. They saw me before I could sense them, although not much sooner. Aria bum rushes me at the slot machines and it’s like a friend I’ve haven’t seen in a long time. It was so good to see her for the first time. Definitely a connection there. My Exit buddy.

At some point, Loves tells me that SexC and SoCal girl are there. We walk out to meet them and Loves’ description of SexC is spot on. This girl is total energy and uncontainable. She starts break dancing right in the casino at the Palms.

British Virgin and her husband came over and we hung out with Loves, Aria, and Jenn at the pool for a few hours. It is hard to explain the difference in the temperatures between Alaska and Las Vegas but the high 70’s felt fantastic. We chill out at the pool and have a few beers. Eventually it is just the Brits and us hanging out. Flo Rida and Cuervo were giving away swag for his concert that weekend. We get some personalized AOD Halloween t-shirts.


Most of the rest of the afternoon is spent drinking, with all sorts of people coming over to rooms, intermingling and prepartying. Good times.

[AK2Vegas]

Thursday October 28th 2010


The flight is long, crowded and full of suck. I pass out and barely hear the attendant ask for any and all medical personnel to volunteer, someone needs medical attention. I’m not medically trained so I go back to sleep (as I’m falling asleep I wonder how bad this emergency is and if we’ll get diverted to Seattle or Vancouver and I’ll miss my plane). I learned last year to book the front of the plane so I can disembark quicker (I hate being on planes) so this year I book row 12. I think I’m sitting pretty good. Nope. So this year’s lesson is don’t book the row in front of the emergency exits, they don’t recline. And those extra four inches would have made a considerable difference. We make it to Portland (apparently America’s number one airport) and get a sandwich. I'm bragging to everyone I can that I’m on my way to Vegas, as if somehow I’m special and they need to pay respect.

I almost immediately pass out on the plane to Vegas and when I wake up I can see the city underneath me. Lovely Las Vegas. How I’ve missed you.

Styna had to take a different flight than Ginger and I so I’m racing through the terminal to get to her gate and meetup with her before we go down for luggage. While I’m waiting for her plane, a stretcher is wheeled off of it. The man injured his leg and he leans over the paramedic to the slot machine as they pass me: “can we stop for a minute so I can put a dollar in the slot?” Only in Las Vegas, man I love this place.

Since we’re fifteen minutes late it means that our luggage has been waiting for a few minutes and I’m worried it will be a shitshow. It is. I can’t find our carousel, our luggage or our limo driver. He had the wrong flight information and was there about an hour early looking for me, while I’m about ten minutes late meeting him. It all works out though. Champagne and roses for the girls and we are officially in Las Vegas!!!!!


Of course I ask for a quick trip to the L store to pick up needed supplies. He takes us south under the airport and then north on the strip to across from Mandalay and Luxor. I don’t know any different but I do wonder why this liquor store instead of a CVS or something. Inside I notice that this store is more expensive than Alaska. The limo driver is signing in on a clip board with the clerk…it seems shady and we leave. He doesn’t offer to take us anywhere else and I think that he got some sort of a kickback for bringing us there.

We get to the Palms and Ezra takes our luggage in. I’m waiting for Styna to hurry up and she tries to smoke her cigarette faster. I laugh and tell her it’s ok, you can smoke it inside. Her social guilt is strong and she has a hard time smoking inside at first, which is cute. I ask Ezra which liquor store he recommends and he tells me to walk behind palms place and find a place called Auntie M’s I think. The walk is farther than I want it to be and when we get there I find out that they don’t have a liquor license and they only sell beer. Fail. We decide to walk the near mile to Food 4 Less. This works out well because we are able to get other supplies here as well. AOD tip #2: buy large quantities of bottled water and plastic CUPS. Trust me they will serve you well. (Unless you just want to do shots out of the bottle and use the same two cups for everyone.)

[AK2Vegas]

After this long trek to the store and back our room is ready. I am feeling good and throw a $100 on black. Someone told me it was a good barometer to gage the fun of the trip. It hits. The rooms took longer because I wanted Loves room and my room together. Shared door=bigger suite=better preparties! Styna’s room isn’t ready yet so she chills with us. I’m texting Loves and she’s with Jenn and doesn’t feel well. I haven’t met any AOD peeps yet and I’m a little nervous. I have no idea what to expect.


Finally I get a knock at the door. I rush to the peephole excited as fuck to meet Loves for the first time and I see two bodies slide out of view and I hear laughing. I’m up for this game and I run around to the other hotel room door and swing it open and shock Loves from behind. I give her and Jenn big hugs and introduce them to Styna and Ginger.

We chill in her room for a minute and I get as much of the low down on the other AOD peeps as Loves will give me. Basically, she says, you’ll just need to hang on-you’re going to meet some amazing people and you cannot prepare for some of them. She's so right.

The three of us head downstairs at some point to walk around and get some food. We hit up the Blue Agave inside Gardunos. We order the standard margaritas and Styna orders the best drunk nachos I’ve ever had. This plate is so huge the three of us can’t finish it all. It’s about 17:30 but I realize this is probably dinner. Later is going to hurt.

We go back up to the room to preparty and get ready some more. I meet Erock and thank him for getting us all here. He and his crew were hitting up Tao that night.

Darryll had hooked us up with a comped bottle at Vanity that night, so that was our play. (Plus, it’s part of the Invasion Package). I can’t remember how we managed to get there, but we made it to the HRH about 20:30 so I could check into my room there. I had got a twitter Tuesday deal that I just couldn’t pass up. Even though it was only for one night, just by going to Vanity it made this spot worth it as a preparty spot.

Jenn, Will, Loves, Styna, Ginger, and I roll up and Will goes on the hunt for a bottle. Loves and Jenn take off and I ask Ginger and Styna to stand a little ways behind me. I get to the line and I pick the only guy there. He’s having trouble with some foreigners and female clerks open up on either side of him but I wait. I’ve been waiting to try this gambit for a while and I need a dude. I finally get to the front of the line and hand him my sandwich (AOD tip #3 sandwich trick). I lean in and tell him that we’re just here for a one night and (I motion behind me with my eyes) I’ve got two beautiful women that I’m trying to get with, anything he can do to help me out would be greatly appreciated. He looks behind me and smiles, takes the sandwich and thanks me. He’s typing on the computer for some time and finally hands me the keys.

The room is actually sicker than I thought it would be, and better than the Palms. The beds are amazing. Will comes with the bottle and we are in preparty mode! Phones are blowing up and the excitement is tangible.

[AK2Vegas]

I don’t know who showed up first but I will never forget the knock. I go to the door and look in the peephole and see an AMAZING hot blonde wrapped in black saran wrap and instantly recognize our Brits. I open the door and introduce myself, excited to meet them when I hear a loud scream behind me and the man (Mr. BV) is greeted by Loves. They are clearly excited to see each other. Justcole0516 shows up and she looks really hot as well. Now we’re in full swing and things are good. I line up the original crew and take their picture to send to SoCalgirl and right before I hit it, Cole and Loves kiss.



Styna and I go into the shower to spend some quality time with Tyler. We drink quite a bit and head down to the casino bar to wait for everyone else.

It’s there that I meet Darryll and Rick Rothbury and his wife. At some point Drew shows up and I get to meet The Chang (and I learn why he gets that name later) for the first time. I think we were there for almost an hour and at some point Rothbury is a little annoyed at it taking so long, but on this one I’m a passenger so I just sit back and wait.

Darryll lines us up and we walk into Vanity without waiting (AOD style) and when I get inside I’m a little underwhelmed. The place is empty and it’s smaller than I thought it would be. It’s all good though cause there’s about 15 of us at our table, it was comped, and we look GREAT. The girls dip into the bathroom about half a dozen times and later when I see the pictures I see why, the designers spent more on the bathrooms than the club (I’m kidding, Vanity is a beautiful club). The Vodka comes and I see it get passed around really fast. These people know how to pour here and the bottle’s contents reflect that. I nudge Ginger and Styna to get in on it before it goes dry (I think Styna got the last drink actually) and I know some got left out on that bottle.

I’m dancing and drinking and having a blast there. Darryll is one fucking cool guy. Styna and I go to the bar and get some water cause we’re parched. Water is 8$. The next time we go up we get some Bud Light for 10$ a piece (I never drink Bud Light here, nor offer it to anyone I respected. But down there they were like liquid gold. And I bought them and passed them out so if I gave you a Bud Light down in Las Vegas don’t hold it against me). The numbers don’t add up to keep buying water and we drink Bud Light for the rest of the night.

I have to admit, I was pretty tired that night and I wasn’t on my top game. The flights and everything really took their toll on me. Around 00:30 or so I go back up to the room and relax with Drew and the girls for a while. At some point we head back to the Palms and call it a night. I think we managed to bump into Drew and Jenn and Loves at McDonalds too. Drew was eating ice cream with French fries. Classic move. And that was Thursday. Good times.

[AK2Vegas]

Saturday October 30th 2010


We weren’t as awake Saturday as we were Friday. The excitement was there but the energy wasn’t. We ate breakfast at 24/7 (again) and it was good.

Aria hadn’t slept I think for about 24 hours at this point and she was ready to go for more. She is a machine. I had made it my mission to see City Center and so far it had been two days and we had only been on the strip when we visited Surrender the night before. So the four of us took a cab to Aria (the hotel) and set out to explore.

K. Aria had warned me of two things almost as soon as she realized I wanted to go: it was too big and it was hard to get out of, I may not like it. She was (and she will tell you is always is) right. I love exploring the strip and I love getting lost inside massive Vegas properties but City Center was too big for me. Or I was too tired. K. Aria wished me luck and left me inside the massive structure and the novelty soon wore off. I wanted to leave. I decided to climb up until I either was stopped or got out. We managed to continue gaining altitude until we had found the monorail. Escape!

We rode to the Bellagio and walked that property. Where Aria was new and clean it was also artificial and institutional. I can't put my finger on it. But Bellagio was older and more elegant and never made you feel like you were trapped the way Aria did. Sure, it was hard to get out of, but you always knew that the exit was over in that direction eventually. Aria did not have that far off exit feeling. It had a confined trapped contrived air of false superiority-as if it was better because it was supposed to be better 'I'm City Center, so there'.

We managed to get outside to the fountains and were treated to Ecstasy of Gold. Excellent. From there north to the Ceasar's Palace where I was supposed to meet up with Charles~. We were thirsty at this point and went to the Spanish Steps to get a cold drink. After waiting for ten minutes I got fed up and went to the Lemonade Stand just south of Spanish Steps and immediately got a drink. Spanish Lemonades are good. Never did meed up with Charles~.

We started walking and found Aria, BV, and Mr. Savage under the Bally's sign. Imagine running into friends on the strip. Aria joined us and we continued south to find a Walgreens.

Ended up at the Monte Carlo across the street. Now during the trip Aria had complained about going to Tryst. She had had some bad experiences there and I was determined to try and fix that if I could. I promised her she would have the best time she'd ever had there and to press the point I put down another 100$ on black. I told her if it hit we would have a great time at Tryst that night. It hit.

I don't remember eating that night and I knew that that might impact my stamina later on that night.

As the spreadsheet guy I had been conceived to be the bottle service guy. I hadn't minded when I began making the plans over facebook. But as we got closer to the night I began to have some trepidation. It seemed that all of the questions and organizing were on me at this point. I felt like the rookie quarterback in a playoff game. It felt as if I fucked this up, we may lose the night.
(Random Palms Pic)

[AK2Vegas]

Sunday, October 31st 2010


This was it. The night we had come for. Halloween. All of us were tired but excited. The plan was to hit Chapp's house one last time and then on to XS. We left the Ghostbar and headed out to the lobby to catch cabs.

The reader must understand that every transaction I've written about has been simplified down to it's lowest core value. When I write that we hung out at the bar before going into Vanity, what actually happened was more complicated than that; people showed up, drinks were had, introductions made, some got restless, others made out and the whole process took over an hour. So when I write that we headed down to break into cab squads it actually went more like this: People gathered in the lobby, couldn't figure out who was riding with who, which cabs were going where, cabs couldn't go because people forgot things back in the rooms-it was another small shit show. I had planned on riding with Rothbury and MadScientist and some of the others. This just made the whole thing more confusing because while I'm trying to guide people into multiple cabs people are wondering why I'm not getting a cab myself. On a side note, Mad Scientist and I were photographed by tourists because our costumes were so great.

We finally get to Chapp's and Rothbury had reservations about valeting his car (you had to be there I guess). The security that surrounds the AOD HQ is pretty tight. After being escorted through the fence and the gatehouse, you're given a slip of paper which then has to be checked and authenticated by additional security personnel inside the compound. Retina scans, fingerprinting and full blown backscatter xrays further mitigate any and all security risks.

From here we boarded the elevator and clumsily bumped around his floor until we got to his door (because of the level of party that is Chapp, many of us couldn't fully remember our way around his floor from Friday night). I get to the door and Cisco answers the door! I had thought that he and 2MSR had left but they stayed behind a few more hours to chill out with us at Chapp's pad. He had the brutal drive back to socal that night too. Real trooper.

We had more time tonight and it was a little more subdued than Friday. If I haven't made it abundantly clear, Chapp and KT are the master hosts. Food, alchohol, refreshments, music, and every other conceivable comfort were provided. And the view from their house is amazing. They are right behind the city center. Amazing.

I won't recount the cab delay problem, but you can imagine it: we needed four cabs, we weren't at a bell desk, they were late, it was suck. I rode with Rothbury though and the only problem I had was trying to maintain communications with the other units in our group. No easy task.

Darryll had told Rothbury that the best way to XS was to use the Wynn's garage as it was an easy walk over to XS. We arrived and even though it was the same property from the two previous nights, I felt that something was different. I think it was that each time I was intoxicated and Mr. Wynn's properties are massive and confusing. We had been there for Surrender, Tryst, and now XS and I was a little disoriented.

I managed to get most of our crew together from their cab escapades and I remember a lot of walking within the Encore compound. I couldn't get everyone together and I was getting nervous. Ryan Perrings was texting me (as the point man) and telling me to get everyone together at a certain time. I couldn't find Charles~ and I will admit that I had a higher level of stress this night. A funny thing that happened to me was that MadScientist was able to check in on foursquare sooner than me even though her phone was old and busted. I think it was just me running so many things and texts and so forth that it clogged up my phone.

People were everywhere. The line must have had a thousand people at this point (22:00?) and everyone had wonderful costumes on. The hallways were crowded and the security wouldn't let us wait near the entrance to XS so our waitup point was down the hall. The girls left to go do the guestlist and I got the text from Perrings, telling me to meet him at the entrance now, a good five minutes away from our waiting position. I couldn't find Charles~ and I was worried that our party would become fragmented-this is a big issue for me, I feel responsible for keeping my crew together whenever I go out, when suddenly he appeared ready to rock out. Good.

I meet up with Perrings and he is in a tremendous hurry. I get us all lined up and I know now that Rothbury is going to run his deal again. I'm a little worried because with him, it puts us over our table limit. He assures me that I need to play this cool to pull it off. It doesn't matter cause at this point we're walking in. Matt was behind me and Drew had the rear. As we get to the bouncer, Rothbury pulls close to him and explains that he doesn't drink and that he's not on our reservation, but he's with our group. The bouncer doesn't fully understand until Rothbury pushes something into his hand and walks in. That's how it's done. The first three or four of us get in and I'm greeted by a club that I can't really understand.

XS is huge. It's large. It's very big. It's all that it's supposed to be and more. It has the coolness of Tryst, with the refinement of the Wynn properties and a little bit more. It's got swag. I'm following Perrings deep inside and to the left. We get put next to the far exit near the bar by the stripper pole. To the back of this position is the walkway down and outside. It kind of looks a little out of the way and abandonded. I look for Perrings but he's gone.

Rothbury is there and so is Tombrokaw, but we're missing people. From the door to here we're missing people. My stress levels were already high, and now I've lost part of my party. Drew pops up and tells me that the girls can't get in and that Hug it out is still outside, accosted by the XS gustapo. He offers to go and get him. Meanwhile, Matt is not happy at all by our less than stellar location. He is very insistant that Perrings should have/ could have gotten us a better location. Perhaps something closer to the dancefloor. He asks me to let him renegotiate a new seating arrangement and he will add to his tip personally. At this point Tombrokaw has recieved word that the girls (his girlfriend was the girls lead this night) are still having trouble and he takes off to go get them. Simultanous to this, the waitress comes to take my order. Matt is asking me for the orignal tip to which he will add his own money and try to negotiate us a better position. There is a little voice in the back of my head that thinks that with the waitress here that would be a bad proposition, but Matt is very insistant and I am too overwhelmed with the hug it out and girls situation to argue my point and I acquiese to him.

As the point man I had collected all the money that night. (AOD tip #4, the money guy should count and organzie and consolidate all of the cash.) Most of the guys had given me large bills, but there were many twenties and Matt had been fucked by the ATM and had about 25 ten dollar bills. With all of the money it was close to 60 or so bills, of different denominations that I had failed to organize, and the waitress was clearly impatient with me, it was dark, and I was very stressed out trying to count this huge wad of money, in the dark, while Matt was giving me his real estate grienvences and the waitress was waiting for me to count it. Very stressful.

Tombrokaw had managed to get the girls in, Drew managed to get Hug it out in (they had made him delete video from his camera and that was the source of the holdup), and everyone was collected and in place. I felt so bad and overwhlemed at this point Rothbury suggested that we walk around the club. I had made it about one-fourth around the club and my costume was just falling apart. I ended up taking it apart and off, but by this time my stress levels were too much.

The first bottle had come by now and things were off to a good start. But I was not having a good time though. I decided that instead of being all pissy it would be better for me to leave the crew behind than to infect them with my negativity. Ginger came with me and tried to calm me down,but sometimes I get to a point where I need to just cool down. Tombrokaw came out and tried to talk some sense into me. Ginger pleaded with me to stay but I wouldn't have it. My disgust with myself, my costume, and my stress were too much. I left XS at this point and decided that I was going back to the Venetian, where we were at that night, and I started to walk from the Encore to the Venetian. I made it as far as the Wynn.

Drew texted me and told me that I was the only one who could order bottles as I was the one who paid. Well, that was a deal breaker. Chip on my shoulder or not, I had to get back ASAP. I powerwalked back to the XS entrance and the line must have been close to 2500 people. It ran all the way around the damn place. I of course walked past all of them and right back in

[AK2Vegas]

I found the waitress and fired off the next bottle. Because I felt that I had failed the party at some point and because I had missed out on so much, I decided to go to the bar and order shots of Parton for everyone. They didn't have trays or anything so I had to carry 15 shots back to the table. I knew I couldn't do this alone and I asked Tombrokaw's girl to help me. I remember specifically asking her not to spill any of the shots and the first one she touched fell over. This was too funny to me.


My girls were really good to me that night. Ginger knew I was really stressed out by the begining of the night and when I got back, asked Styna to 'cheer me up'. After the shots, Styna took me to the bathroom hallways to cheer me up. We stayed there for a few minutes until a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and told us that I wasn't allowed to be 'cheered up' like that in the club. Total HOTNESS on our part.

I asked Matt about the Perrings tip and he told me he couldn't find him, but that he gave it to a secuirty guard to give to him. I was flabbergasted. (We have had a conversation since then and protocols are now in place that hopeuflly prevent this from happeneing again. In his defence*, they don't tip in the UK so he really didn't understand the protocols.) It turned out that aside from the distance to the bathrooms, the location was premium. We were posted up next to the stripper pole and many many girls were drawn to the stripper pole, including our own Madscientist (there are some videos on facebook if you're lucky enough to find them). Styna got faceblasted by a candle, it looked like a wax penis had shot all over her face and right into her eyes. Gubuju got ridden like a stallion.

If you haven't been to Las Vegas for Halloween, I have to tell you that the costumes are wild. Guys dressed up in really cool shit and the girls were dressed up in everything too, but with 'sexy' put in front of it. Sexy plumber, check, sexy girl scout, check, sexy pirate, check. Skin everywhere. Halloween is a great time for unabashed sluttiness, which I of course condone. Freedom of expression and all. I could write about the lapdances, pole dances, and crazy fun had afterwards, but you really just had to be there. It was crazy fun. Even with me missing a part of it, it was good times.

[AK2Vegas]

Saturday October 30

So with me being the organizer I felt it was my job to get everyone transported to the Wynn. This is a lot easier said than done. I will say this: if I had 20 or so regular people this would have been a deal breaker. But with AOD soldiers it actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. I am on the phone with about 15 people trying to get them in the lobby, people are running back up stairs cause they forgot stuff, people forgot people, and I'm wondering if this is going to work. I dont' know if it was my idea or Drews, but I go up to the bell desk and ask the captian to get me the biggest limo he can get me. (I don't think I figured out how to pay for it at this point, but I'm calling audibles here).

Finally the stretch Navigator rolls up and we're ready to roll. It's a 14 passenger vehicle. There are 20 of us. Ladies will be sitting on penis seats for sure. Cisco and I are on the floor. I can't see the front or the back as I'm too fucking squished. I don't normally get clausterphobic, but all of my costumes this trip were not designed to be cool and I'm dying. I start getting dizzy. I can't even see if Ginger has made it in with us (pics later show she got a seat on 2MSR) but I can hear everyone. I'm begging for the AC and I really think I'm going to pass out. Finally it gets turned on and I'm given some small measure of relief. I can hear voices, but I can't see many people, it was really that cramped. SexC is also on the floor I think and I'm thinking, I can't wait for this ride to be over.


We're finally at Wynncore (I don't know, but I think we are at Encore) and I'm so relieved. Matt meets us downstairs and we are a motley gang of AOD madness. The security guard at the elevetors is clearly thrown off by the size of our company. Matt tells him that we're all his guests and I assure him that we'll be right back. I dont' think he gave us his assent, we just mobbed past him.

Matt's room is fabulous but not really made for 25 or so people. Once again, with the body heat and the size of the room and the lack of AC I was really hot. And of course there isn't enough water for everyone. There are bottles of alcohol being passed around. Erik is some sort of Pancho Villa character but with shot glasses for ammo. He' got six and there are more than six of us. Shots. Also, we were so prepared that we've got bottles of Vodka, Gin, and Rum, and one tiny bottle of sprite. Shots. Win. Shots. Following Jack Colton's advice I collect everyone's money up front. Shots and it's time to go down.

[AK2Vegas]

We have to take multiple elevators down and from the elevators at Encore to the lobby near Tryst we start losing people. The girls had a great deal; two free drink tickets, no cover, all for free. Problem was, Styna was MIA. FML. This was the beginnig of my stress for that night. Perrings wanted us (the guys) to wait at the bar by Tryst. We got there early and not only is Styna missing, but so is Gubuju. So we're waiting in line and we don't have our total crew. FML. Styna didn't have her phone, Gubuju wasn't answering his and I'm a little at at loss at this point. But it couldn't get any smoother, could it?

Ginger texts me and let's me know that she has Styna but she's out of control. FML. Charles~ had brought his boy Hadi, and his girl Jackie. Jackie runs down the rope towards us and I realize that something is wrong. Ginger sends me another text about Styna. Jackie pulled a rookie move and forgot her ID. I'm a little overwhelmed by this turn of events and Tombrokaw steps in. He lays out two choices: they can both pull out of line, go back to the palms and get the ID, but that means that Hadi is pulling out of the table (a bad deal for us as it means our costs will all go up) or he can let her travel back to the Palms solo and meetup with us inside Tryst, and there's no clear guarentee that we can get her in without a hassle. Tombrokaw thinks he can but can't promise. FML. They decide she'll go back by herself and meetup with us inside.

Perrings texts me back and tells me to exit the line we've been in for about 15 minutes and wait at the bar. Some of us decide this is the perfect time for a drink. We get Gubuju back at this point and we're finally set for Perrings to get us in.

If you haven't been to Tryst, you should really check it out before it's demolished. It's one of my favorite clubs. As you walk down the staircase you're greeted by a sexy red hallway. This opens up to the dancefloor and the 90 foot waterfall. The first time into Tryst is a great 'aha' moment.

We get led to our table and we have a fantastic zombie waitress. Recalling the events of the previous night, I decide to stagger the bottles so we can launch in stages like a rocket. The girls are at the bar already using their free drink tickets. I'm worried about Styna as she's already staggering and somehow her two free drink tickets have turned into four bud lights? I order my drink and join the toast to the girls, even though too late, I realized I'm boob deep in a girls only shot to SexC.

Styna is a hot mess. She looses her shoes, misplaces her bag and in general is falling all over the place. I'm worried that she's going to get kicked out. Part of me wants to let her, and the other part of me realizes that if she were left unassisted in this city she'd be a prime rape target. Exasperated, I am resolved to take her back and try to get back into the club or call this night a wash. Ginger tries to push an $8 bottle of water into her hand but she's so drunk that most of it gets poured on the floor. I'm getting visibly upset with her at this point.

Luckily, I'm rolling with the AOD and they're not letting me not have a good time. Cisco and Jenn and the others sit her down against the wall and literally form a wall of bodies around her and won't let her leave or even stand. I realize just how cool these people are that I'm with.

Tryst is on fire this night. Jackie gets back in and Hadi is relieved at this. The girls are dancing on the speakers, the couches, in small places where there isn't room to dance,and everyone is having fun.

These girls get loose when they get drunk. And Ginger is no exception. She mounts one of the guys and violates him. I'm glad someone had a camera or I would have forgotten this. It's all good though, all of our girls look great and I'm actually the most relaxed I'd been this trip.

You know I'm getting in the zone if I start drinking Vodka and this night I was drinking vodka. After a few (dozen) rounds, it all starts to do the same thing. Darryll toasted to me personally and I must say that this was one of the highlights from this night. There are 25 of us mashed up in this little spot by a waterfall, in a little oasis in the middle of the desert, and I realize that this confluence of people and energies will never happen again. Great times.

[AK2Vegas]

* Monday Novermber 1st

Packing day. The night before was epic and I didn't get back from the Venetian until about 07:00. I slept from until about 09:45 and realized that it was time to go. I open the door partitioning our room to Drew's room and they're already getting ready to leave. I'm really tired at this point and I know we're going to be in the final and worst phase of a vegas trip. The part where we become nomads without a room.
Drew has to leave early and I bid him farewell. It's amazing how fast you become friends with people. Loves hangs out with us for about an hour. This is one thing that sucks about the Palms. Being so far out, there really isn't much to do there and no where to really walk. The four of us go outside and take our farewell pictures and I'm sad now as I see Loves walk away to catch her cab. She was the first AOD member I met and the last I see this trip.

We walk over to the Rio (this is not a short walk) and check it out. Yawn. We buy some trinkets for the kids and hit the video poker for a little bit. Head back to the palms and catch our cab back to McCarren. Goodbye Vegas. I'm not sure when I'll see you again.

[aria]

You keep time jumping. Tarantino much?

That aside, loving it.

[AK2Vegas]

Friday October 29th

We prepartied heavily in preperation to preparty for real. With so many of us at the Palms, it was like party camp, people are coming in and out of rooms, girls are trying on different outfits, hair is being done and rechecked, shots are being had, costumes fitted and adjusted. The real preparty this night is at Chapps AODHQ. We break into cab squads of four and head over.

As I've recounted the security at the HQ is tight. We're led in, all of us in costume and looking slightly out of place here in the sterile lobby of the panorama towers. You can hear the music pounding from down the hallway. I cannot stress how accomodating Chappy and KT are. Food? sure, drink? more than is healthy; Styna is having shoe problems and KT gives her a new pair of socks. Who does that?

Hung arrives and Loves askes him, in her high pitched voice, "Are you the Panda man?" I love that quote. The red cups here are standard and Chapp does not let them get halfway. And between drinks there are shots. Lots of shots. Music blasting. The girls once again look amazing. Chapps house has a huge deck that looks up to Aria and a lot of us were chilling out side. Cisco and I look into the bedroom and SexC is jumping on the bed surrounded by the girls. She's only wearing her underware. Cisco and I settle down to watch the show and Loves lowers the curtains on us....


I think we're there for about two hours. Even with the shots and the food and the music just being in Vegas takes it's toll. The energy had started to ebb and it was time to go. Chapp calls down to his people in the lobby and calls us cabs. As we're leaving, I'm introduced to a new term: roadies. Even though I had a drink in my hand, it wasn't full enough to meet Chapp's criteria for leaving his house; a full red cup for the road. Gotta love this guy.

[AK2Vegas]

We get to the Encore and end up waiting in the lobby. Cisco had passed Peter's (from Australia) friends my contact info and I was to meet up with a couple of Aussies that night. Got to meet Matt that night too. Once everyone was together, Darryll urged us to go as we were close to losing our spot in the line and not get walked in at all Tonight was Gubuju's reservation and he was supposed to handle it, but his flight was delayed. Darryll puts us into a line and counts us. This all happens really fast. We are at the exact number we're supposed to be at, even with Gubuju's absence. Rick_Rothbury had joined us late and was going to get walked in with us. The girls were on the guestlist and being walked in separately.

As we are preparing to go in, some guy with Vampire teeth hops over the rope into our line. He asks me, 'are you AOD?' I have no idea who this kid or his buddy are, but at this point we're being walked up to the club. I'm worried that this kid will fuck it up for us as he and his friend increase our numbers by two. Funny thing is, he spotted 2MSR's mohawk and had seen him in pictures from JC. He recognized us and thought he could jump into line with us. I'm getting a little annoyed with him at this point but we're about twenty paces from the door and I can't do anything about it. He assures me that it'll be ok and gives me a wicked grin with his vampire teeth which unsettles me even more. We get inside and he thanks me and vanishes. His name is AFG and I think we saw him once more during Halloween.

Surrender is awesome. Fucking bash my head against the insanity nuts. I love this place. It's a small packed nuthouse of a dance floor in front of a huge lagoon surrounded by two stories of awe inspiring cabanas. We were at Cabana 107, which I would later find out has a storied history with the AOD.

The waitress is here and ready to take our order. Nobody has collected money cause Gubuju isn't there. The Chang doesn't break a sweat. Seasoned veteran that he is, he steps up into the pocket and makes the pass. He whips out his credit card and orders. I'm impressed with his suave.

The girls are looking good and everyone is vibing. I'm so impressed with this club I can't stand it. Everything is awesome. Everyone is awesome. I don't think it can get any better than it does. The Cabana is off the chain. There is an LCD screen and you can adjust the volume inside the cabana. Just outside are daybeds and couches that the girls are spread out on. Drinks are flowing and I'm totally feeling it. As I write this, I realize, I must not have had much to drink, cause I didn't order from the bar....

Music is bumping, the crew is humming and I notice that for some reason the Cabana is a little empty. Hug it out is by the door and it's closed. I walk over to it and he tries to get in my way in such a way that tells me that whatever is going on behind that door is something I want to be part of...