MayOD 2011

[wat]

With the 2nd wristband drop for MayOD just hours away and Nailer revisiting the 2011 Invasion in highlights, I figure it's as good a time as any to get started on finally writing this trip report.

Note (and request): I'm hoping the attendees can help me fill in some of the (more exciting) details, 'cause I don't particularly remember it all, and ... well, that's just how Vegas goes.

Precursor:

I'm from Hawaii, and I've been participating on the forum for a while under the username "Tao". It's now "wat", though. Picked up some wristbands early, but never fully committed, until I bought the flight on April 1st. Obv, no one believed that Tao (this guy) was serious, until I procured the itinerary. Despite the suspicion that I photoshopped that shit ... I was booked.

Wednesday, 5/18/2011 - The Arrival

Left on the red-eye on Tuesday night, so arrived @ McCarran around 8am or so. Invasion didn't start until Thursday, so Wednesday was the "chill" day. Got to Rumor - pretty nice rooms, but kinda off the path from the rest of the festivities, so a little bit of a hassle getting back to the hotel (this becomes important later on). Took a pic of the view out the balcony and posted to Facebook, if only to get people excited about the invasion:



I head to out meet up with aria & hug it out to be the first AODers (besides cole) to meet, but I run into WarreN & Aaron in the lobby. With every new person I meet, the excitement about the impending insanity just ramps up higher and higher. Meet aria & hug it out @ Aria bar and shoot the shit a bit. Get my first drink in Vegas and it tastes so good when it hits your lips.

Early on, I meet more and more of the group - Cisco, 2MSR, Rescuediver, Moe, restyle, gubuju, Charles~, addictedtovegas ... sorry if I met you on Wednesday and forgot you, but it's starting to blur. Notes on the rest of the evening:

- We were all over the place, but after a good slice of pizza @ the "hidden pizza" place in the Cosmo and a short trek downtown, we make a decision to play some beer pong at O'Shea's. All is good ... until I realize that once we're in O'Shea's, my phone is gone. Dropped it in the cab, never to be seen again. Already the insanity starts. But beer pong awaits. Moe tells me she's amazed at how calm I am about it. But it can't be helped ... it's Vegas!

- (added) Oh, almost forgot - at O'Shea's, we're making a shit-ton of noise, so some Canadians drop in and challenge us. We beat them, then introduce them to flip cup. Or, as moezilla puts it, "whooping some Canadian butt" at flip cup.

- After beer pong, gubuju and I make a decision to meet up with royale and Harpo's group (let's go with HAG from here on out) at Surrender. They're on their way out, though, with a "disagreement" with one of the other female patrons @ Surrender, so we all call it a night there.

Next ... the start of the invasion!

[wat]

Official Day 1

Thursday, 5/19/2011 - Red Bull & Vodka

Woke up a little bummed about the lost phone, but that feeling is gone in two seconds with the start of the invasion ahead!

Head out to the Venetian for the first meet up and run into a whole mess of people! Finally get to shake the hand of the man himself, Jack Colton. We head up to Tao Beach and ... ah. AMAZING. So, so many people I meet @ Tao Beach: Morgan, Andrea, AK2Vegas, Jon, Ginger, elle_jay, Kevin, Freddie, Nassau, mysticsavage, Chappy, Toronto, krewchas, chaskrew, SexC ... the list goes on and on. Amazing people to party with.

Theme of the day was definitely the red bull & vodka - at Tao Beach during the summer, they have frozen RB&V pitchers, where it's a pitcher of Red Bull slush with about a 1/4 of a fifth of Belvedere. Insanely good stuff - I down a couple pitchers through the early part of the day. Plus, around 2:30, Tao announces an open bar for AOD. You kidding?! LET'S GET IT.

gubuju tells me about a silverback shot, and we take it - that stuff is strong. Shots, pitchers of RB&V ... and the last of us head out around 5pm.

(pic from restyle)

(pic from Toronto)

Gotta love Vegas. And this is day 1, party 1. Head back to Rumor, shower, change and get ready for Day 1, party 2 - Tao!

Unfortunately, Tao @ night becomes a bit of a blur for me. Drinks during the day + no food + open bar from 10-11pm makes for a short memory. While in Tao, though, I have the presence of mind to grab a napkin and use it as a nametag.

(pic from restyle)

I meet more people, we head up to Tao Beach for a bit where some AODers get a table. I'm blasted and tired and dead out on my feet, but someone goes "strip club" and I follow. For naught, though - I didn't know you can actually fall asleep standing up. Until that night. Walked out, noticed the sun was rising (about 6am), catch a cab out and pass out.

Next - The Miss ... and the Recovery.

[restyle]

yayy! i can't wait to read the rest. glad I could provide the pics

[Warren11]

Great start, looking forward to the rest!

[somnambulated]

The fever is catching on...

[AK2Vegas]

You're doing the duck face...

But great start! Where's the rest? You're going to be one of those people that starts us on a TR and then never finishes (cough Aria)

[wat]

Day 2

Friday, 5/20/2011 - Damn, I'm human ... BUT IN VEGAS

Woke up around 10am Friday morning, and could not roll out of bed. Felt like absolute shit. I blame it on the Red Bull. And not the vodka mixed with it.

And for this (shitty) reason, I miss Liquid. I miss the champagne fire drill. I miss the dance off b/t SkizzleFresh & mysticsavage and I miss the events leading up to "Take me to 911" (nothing but love, rescuediver). Wandered around the strip, occasionally gambling, trying to muster the courage to eat, and end up eating around 5pm or so. Still out with no phone for the early part of the day, I'm left to my own devices until XS on Friday night.

I finally get a pay-as-you-go phone and get in touch with a couple people. gubuju invites me over to mysticsavage's room for pregame @ Encore, where I meet his Manitoba platoon. Force down a drink for the first time that day, and we head out to the meet-up for the walk-in. I figure I've got a couple minutes until the walk-in, so I'd make a bet I promised I'd make a bet for - $100 on red. However, I can't make a bet while I'm on the phone, so justcole volunteers to bet it for me. Win! It's a good way to start off the night. That, coupled with a few wins earlier in the day by actually hitting numbers puts me up about $400 in roulette for the day. Time to blow it in XS!

If there's *any* event you make a walk into with a big group of people (*cough*MayOD2012*cough*), you make sure it's XS. It's FUCKING beautiful. One word I'd have to describe it - "Opulence".

(pic from gubuju)

We walked it right around 10ish, so the club was nearly empty - it was a great chance to appreciate just how vast XS was. This was the first time I recall telling myself, "This is not fucking real life." (It wouldn't be the last, for sure.)

After a little bit, the club starts getting a bit packed. Aria turns to me, telling me that she needs to find some people, to organize something. I offer to grab a drink. After picking up the drink, I can't find aria, so guess I'm double-fisting drinks. *Then* I run into Aria and finally pick up another drink for her, as she tells me she's found the large majority of the group. As the club & dance floor started to fill out, a group of AODers, organized by AK2Vegas & Drew (I hope I'm not leaving others out), opted for a daybed. In no time flat, we had a big party out on the perimeter of the outside of XS. Shit you not, 50-75 AODers, getting their party on. It's Vegas, though - give me a crowd, loud music and alcohol, and I'm gonna go for the middle of it. Took Jon (AK2Vegas's brother), Skizzle, Nailer and Javey into the craziness. Ran into a bachelorette party, where Skizzle and I ended up getting gifted flashing "rape whistles". Shortly after, ran into another group of girls where Skizzle was blowing the hell out of the whistle and trying to make an escape. Haha.

After XS, the Irishmen told me and Skizzle to come out with them in their Mustang and grab some food. Sounds reasonable. Tried to make a In-n-Out run (have not had it before), but they were closed. Instead, ended up at Jack in the Box at 4:30am, trying to upsell the 2 for $.99 tacos to the Irishmen. End up shooting the shit for a bit, recapping the XS night, rape whistles and all, and heading back home to get ready for the next day.

Next ... Day and Night

[wat]

Day 3

Saturday, 5/21/2011 - Day and Night, Surreal

So, up comes day 3 of 5 in the MayOD invasion, and the tone's been set. I find out that rescuediver made the trip from Liquid to the hospital for the first casualty of Mayvasion. Does that stop him? HELL NO. That's MVP right there.

So, smack dab in the middle of the craziness, I head over to Cosmo for the Marquee walk in. Again, no having to deal with lines? YES PLEASE. We make our way into Marquee. Fucking beautiful.

(pic from gubuju)

Marquee is amazing. It's definitely a beautiful place to hit up during the daytime. Hung out with Moe and restyle a lot (thank you ladies, even though I just kinda imposed myself on you guys and the chairs you held down ... sorry!) for the early part, and hopped between there and a large AOD group that convened around a couple of chairs. The party's pumping, the vibes going ... and then shit starts turning surreal.

Because the Billboard Music Awards were in town over the weekend, there was a good chance of partying it up in the same venue with celebs. To my knowledge, this was the first time through the invasion that we ran into a celeb. In cabana 17, to the right of the DJ booth, up on the side level ... was Rihanna! Unreal. One of Cisco's sister's friends managed to make it up there and shook Rihanna's hand, too! Only in Vegas. Haha.

In all the excitement, I head up to the main bar for a drink and run into Skizzle. We end up behind the DJ booth and just rap a moment about the rape whistles and failed attempt at In-n-Out with the Irishmen Nailer and Javey the night before. After a couple minutes, we notice something's going down. About 15-20 waitresses decked out in Marquee purple bikinis are parading through with floaties, balloons and compressed air cannons. And they SURROUND US around the DJ booth. Skizzle and I looked around - nothing but a beautiful ocean of Vegas hotties @ Marquee. The pounding bass, the air cannons, the arm pumping ... THIS SHIT AIN'T REAL LIFE. But it is.

(pic from Jon/Phoenix) - we're behind the waitress on the right. Haha.

That was the most amazing party rock feeling I'd ever had. Seriously. When's the last time you were partying, and something so crazy awesome happened that you stepped back and was like, "Whoa ... fucking wow." I got chills from that. Only in Vegas, and only with MayOD.

Partied some more, drank some more, left Marquee around 5pm. Managed to sneak a Marquee beach ball out and took it home as a souvenir. Security hassled me for a bit, but turned out, he was just messing around. Haha. Time to get back and get ready for the next one - MayOD was only half over!

Right about this time, I decided to post daily updates to Facebook between the day and night events, to kinda recap the crazy shit that was going on in Vegas for friends back home in Hawaii that didn't believe why I was going to Vegas, and since I had no smartphone, I relied on my computer back in the hotel room. This post recapped the Rihanna sighting and my new-found luck on the roulette tables from the night before, so nothing new.

On the official JC.com schedule was LAX, at which there was an open bar. Earlier in the trip, though, gubuju had told me about doing bottle service @ Marquee on Saturday night, where Kaskade would be performing and asked if I wanted in. I'd chipped in for bottles earlier in the trip, but this was different - this was a pre-set table, and probably the only way we'd be getting into a Saturday night event with Kaskade. I'd heard very little from Kaskade before ... but I thought, "Ah, why not - you only live once." Honestly, I'd only ever done bottle service a handful of times prior in my life, and not really ever in Vegas.

Little did I know I'd signed up for one of the most unforgettable experiences of my LIFE. (Well, as much as can be remembered with that much alcohol.)

Marquee wouldn't open until almost 10pm, but early reports were that there were hundreds in line by 8:30pm @ Cosmo to get into Kaskade. Still, right around 10pm, gubuju walked us toward the front, and in 10 mins, we were walking past the crowds, past the bachelorette parties, past the guys in line for over an hour, and into Marquee. Fucking amazing.

Taking that walk through the crowd up to cabana #16 @ Marquee was electric. There's no words for the chill that ran through me walking up the steps and enjoying every moment of feeling like you're on top of the world.

(pic from gubuju)

I'll admit. I was a child. I was obnoxious - waving at a group of girls on the level below, shuffling cause I FELT LIKE IT ... but it felt great. People were prob thinking, "Who the hell *is* that fool?", but the feeling was so great, it didn't matter.

The group of AODers out at Marquee that night were amazing: gubuju, hug it out, rescuediver, RickyRekon, Matt, mysticsavage, YellowandNavy (who, by the way, is one of THE biggest party animals I've ever met. No sleep necessary for this guy), cole, Sweatshop, kenikki, Toan, and a bunch of others. Absolutely amazing. I remember RickyRekon telling me, "Let's do a shuffle train through, man". And so we did. We drank, we got nuts, we jumped up on furniture, we fist pumped, we shuffled, we watched royale shuffle (kinda), we took "Pete pours" ... we partied.

(Edited to add) I might've mentioned earlier this was my first time chipping in for some serious bottle service, like being walked in past a huge ass line, through a crowd and to your area. So it's an understatement that it was an enlightening experience. Throughout the night, at least 20 some odd girls who we'd never met before were in and around our cabana. Seriously - you give a girl any hint you want them with you, and they flock like crazy. (Sometimes.) Much thanks goes out to cole and our waitress (I don't remember the name, but she was a cutie) for being our guards of the alcohol. Even then, we'd ripped through the mag of Goose & fifth of Patron in no time. Also, big props to gubuju for hooking that up. But be warned - guard your shit if you throw down money for a bottle. Or just don't get too hung up on the numbers. ("Oh, we need to each get 6 drinks out of the bottle for it to be worth it, otherwise we shoulda just paid for each drink." Seriously. You're in Vegas. You're gonna squabble about drinks, but then start making it rain at the strip club afterward? You didn't get bottle service because you're thrifty. Just enjoy the moment.)

Unfortunately, until after 3am, the main dance floor where Kaskade was performing was too packed, so they weren't letting anyone on. That was the one thing we missed out on. (Though, in retrospect, I would have gladly stuck with the cabana, if given a second chance. The people inside not on the dance floor looked salty and bored on their table, and since it was inside, it was too loud to talk to anyone, but you couldn't actually see Kaskade performing. So, lose-lose situation.)

Right around 3 or 4 am, though, reinforcements arrive! Ak2Vegas, his wife and their friend, Aria, Skizzle, Erik, among others, make the jump from LAX to Marquee, and we hop out on the dance floor and watch Kaskade run his magic. AK2Vegas had never seen him live either, but "that shit was life-changing", if I remember him correctly. The lights, the bass, the foam, the beats ... unforgettable. "I Remember", in particular, is a track that will always remind me of that amazing night up in that cabana and on that dance floor.

Kaskade continues to spin forever, but around 6am, with the sun just about peeking out, I had to tap out. Not before cole gets into some trouble with some guys from the cabana next to us that try to pay security $5k to kick her out. It didn't work, though we tell cole later, she probably shoulda taken the money - we left 5 mins after the incident happened anyway.

We head out, still amped and pumped from Kaskade spinning ... but knowing we have to wake up in just a few hours for day #4. (Btw, the trend of this trip was to party until the sun came up. Did this on all except for one night.)

Best. Fucking. Night. Ever. The damage? (See attached.)

And add on a bottle of vodka to rescuediver and RickyRekon, because those crazy bastards were like, "Mmm, enough alcohol? NAH"

Next ... "Sunday Funday, When a Party Becomes a Marathon" or "ABC"

[wat]

Day 4

Sunday, 5/22/2011 - We Ain't Done Yet

Wake up from the drunken stupor from the night before, and still can't believe what a rush Kaskade was. Time to shower up and head out to Wet Republic!

If there was any walk-in that was a bit of trouble, it was this one. Wet Republic wasn't fooling around with the security. I had an easier time with TSA than I did with these guys. There were a few AODers that were turned away b/c they weren't wearing "pool attire" (read: basketball shorts, or even other sorts of shorts) - that sucked. And once we were in line, we got everything checked - even Visine drops were requested to be used, since apparently, drugs *have* been smuggled in via Visine bottles. Go figure.

Once in, Wet Republic was pretty awesome. Nice spread out layout of the place, with cabanas set up around the exterior, and people strewn across the pool.

Some AODers ended up picking up a table just behind the DJ booth back and to the right (nas, dnix & chappy, if memory serves me right) and just about everybody ended up congregating there (sorry to impose on you gentlemen ...). Sharks v. Canucks game was on, so gubuju was getting salty at all the Canadians (and adopted Canadians ... I'm looking at you, Moe and aria) as the game progressed.

As the day progressed, I noticed my hands were cracked and sore - must've been from all the clapping and crap from Kaskade the night before - ah well. Battle scars from Vegas.

Anyway, the event @ Wet that day was called "F*ck Me, I'm Famous", where there would be a celebrity DJ. Who spun, you ask? Will.I.Am from BEP. It was cool! Massive fanfare to announce his arrival, and he started pumping out his beats.

In the middle of the set, a shuffling battle ensues at nas/dnix/chappy's table. Skizzle, the resident buster-of-moves, starts breaking it down and illustrates the definition of a "lap dance" for SexC. mysticsavage hops on up, kicking off the continuation of the battle from Liquid (from what I'm told). royale also starts shuffling. In the midst of all this craziness around ONE table, an AOD chant gets started. "Really? Really?" is all one un-named AODer can say.

As "F*ck Me, I'm Famous" winds down, we all start heading out. As it's Sunday, there's a number of people starting to leave the invasion to re-enter normalcy, so everyone I encounter, I ask "See you @ Bank tonight?" to check if anyone's leaving early, so that I don't miss saying bye and all. Finally, 'round 5:30pm, I head out with restyle and Moezilla since they're staying just across the street @ Hard Rock Cafe.

As we're walking back through the MGM to get to the cab line (which is limited because of the Billboard Music Awards that night), someone starts shouting after us. "Hey, wait up." A Wet Republic employee.

"So ... who you working for? Who you promoting?"

What? I'm still on that buzz from shots & drinks @ Wet, so I'm trying to make sure I catch what he's trying to say. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Who you working for? Someone reported to us that you were going around in Wet promoting an event later tonight."

WHAT? I'm still wondering if it's the alcohol, but I figure out that someone probably thought I was trying to promote up the Bank because I'd gone around and basically asked everyone around. Moe and restyle are looking on with the same amount of disbelief. I somehow sputter through a few words ensuring him I wasn't a promoter and even showed him my Hawaii ID. I told him, "Dude, I'm from Hawaii. I can't be a promoter here. We've got a big group and I'm just checking up on them."

A few more lines and the guy digs out. Hilarious. A promoter.

So we get back, I clean up for the Bellagio and head out. Meet up with kenikki and Sweat_shop (who came out of the Awards show) and head to the meet-up. We're early. After a couple drinks at the bar, I realize, I hadn't eaten a damn thing that day. So I head over to wherever would serve me food - a take-out snack place. See Augustine and his wife there, but should've asked them before I ordered - they waited a while. By the time I got my food, I had 5 minutes to the walk-in. I start stuffing fries in my mouth, and Charles~ goes, "Man, tao brings his own food to the party."

(pic by Charles~)

Lol. Anyway, with people having left, 2MSR rolls up with a handful of JC.com wristbands and goes, "We gotta go recruiting - let's get some hot chicks in." So we end up rolling up on 3 or 4 groups of girls, giving out some bands and getting them in line with the walk-in. I end up chatting up a group of 3 Asian chicks (it's how I roll) - I think one was Jane? Jade? One of the other ones had a birthday.

As we walk to the entrance, we see the following sign up right next to the entrance of the Bank:

(pic from SpyOnVegas)

I didn't mention it earlier, but we'd been seeing this ad up all around town all day. Someone said they'd seen it up on a billboard coming into Vegas, while others said they saw the ad in a magazine for Vegas travelers (or on the way in or something). People, if you don't know by now, MayOD is LEGIT.

Walk in, and the Bank is small. Relative to places like XS, Marquee and Tao, this place feels like a sardine can. It gets packed FAST. Dance floor is virtually stuffed, while walking through corridors gets ridiculous. End up on the dance floor for a bit, run into the Asian girls again. Dance with the birthday girl for a bit, dance with her friend, dance with another group of girls ... and wander around. Run into Freddie Mack, who's dancing with whatever chick is around - man's got balls, for sure.

While stuffed into one corner of the dance floor, the DJ cuts the music and announces that 50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are in the house. Cue the entire dance floor to pack together even tighter and take pictures of the table that Fiddy & Mayweather are at.

Head upstairs, and by this time, Chappy's busted out the glowsticks. Would be confiscated later, but end up partying in the back room anyway. That back room was fun as hell - we're shouting, going nuts, dancing like crazy. tombrokaw is well on his way to trying to throw up - about 15 drinks in? I mean, we're all going crazy. Skizzle's already backed it up on Jack, Nailer and Javey are telling me just how great chicks think accents are, Cisco's face is buried in some chicks, and while 2MSR's got his hand around this cute little chick, he yells at me, "Hey Tao - ABC. Always Be Closing, brah!" Haha, thanks. :/

We head out, and the Irishmen (Nailer and Javey) tell us that Chateau's a good choice. Not open. So we head to Earl's and grab some food. Around 4am, we're about to call it a night when one of Cisco, 2MSR or Skizzle go, "Let's go. Chillin's gonna pick us up in a limo and head to Rhino."

Ah hell, why not.

So we go. Chillin disappears for a while and tells us to order whatever. We get a round of beers and chill for a bit. A couple strippers come up to me - that's nice and all, but I'll pass. After the first couple, though, I noticed something - the strippers that approached me were ALL Asian. I point it out to everyone, they laugh. Couple more minutes go by, and from behind, I hear, "Hey baby, how you doing tonight?" I don't even have to turn around. Korean. She leaves, and I tell 2MSR, "Hey man - ABC. Asian Bitches Coming."

We head out after a bit more of that and walk out of Rhino around 6am.

Fun, insane day, but amazing that it's only one day away from the end of the invasion!

Next - The Sad, Sweet End of the Invasion. Or, "AFU"

[wat]

Day 5 - the Finale

Monday, 5/22/2011 - The Invasion Finale

Monday swings around and I can't believe this shit is over with.

With the weekend blowouts over and done with, people are already filing en masse out of Vegas ... with one notable exception. SkizzleFresh. This dude was supposed to be out Sunday afternoon ... but manages to push his flight back 2 days back, so he's in for the rest of the Invasion.

So, we head out to Bare @ the Mirage. If you can't already guess by the name "Bare" ... there be some boobies on display @ Bare. But not necessarily the ones you wanna be seeing. No pics at Bare, but Chappy comes through with a cabana that serves as AOD headquarters for the pool party.

Although the group's thinned out, it's still repped strong - just trying to keep the party going strong through the big finale @ Marquee. Head out of Bare around 5pm, and realize that a friend (Vegas local) is obliterated. Drive her home and realize, shit - I haven't picked up anything to bring back for people back home (it's tradition to bring back gifts when you go on a trip). Head to Downtown Las Vegas to pick up a bunch of snacks and novelties for peeps back home in Hawaii, grab a quick drink or two and head back to the hotel to prep for the last meetup.

At this point, the acronym "AFU" is born. I was telling AODiego & Skizzle that I'd never had In & Out, so they told me get my ass out and meet them there after Bare. They even bought me the burger! I messaged them, saying I couldn't make it b/c I had to head downtown to pick up stuff, and they told me, "Dude ... Always Fucking Up. AFU."

Got a message from them to meet up at a pre-game, so I start getting ready in my hotel room. I'm chatting online with a bunch of other AODers that have already made it home, just shooting the shit, when I realize I can't find my phone in my room. I ask gubuju in chat to call my number, and this is the convo:

gubuju: "I'm calling it .... it's ringing"
wat: "i don't hear it ringing"
gubuju: "wait ... someone picked up. sounds like a cab"
wat: "..."
moe: "... did you lose your phone AGAIN??"

Yup. AFU. I fucking lost my pay-as-you-go phone. Luckily for me, the cabbie answers the phone and has no desire to keep a phone that costs like $10. I tell him, "Bring my phone back and if I can catch a cab ride to the Cosmo, I'll tip big". Good thing the cabbie was a great guy - got the phone back and made it to Cosmo in time for Marquee (but too late for the pre-game). AFU.

Barely made it out in time for Marquee ... Industry Night. If you don't know already, "industry night" in Vegas means ALL the beautiful people are out in force, ready to party. We walk into the Library @ Marquee .... into a OPEN BAR, a full hour before the club opens. A-fucking-mazing. For the last people there, we recount our war stories, suck it up one last time and go for the glory to abuse one last open bar for the Invasion. With each shot, it seemed all too reminiscent of the open bar just 5 days earlier at Tao Beach, when the Invasion kicked off. But there wasn't a whole lot of time to be sad - it was drinking time!

Open bar ended, and I headed out to the main dance floor (previously inaccessible during Saturday's Kaskade performance) with Skizzle, tombrokaw & his fiance. Started busting a move, for the last time for the invasion, and .... RIP.


The jeans I was wearing tore a big-ass hole right in the asscrack. I went with it for a minute - shit, it's Vegas, it's packed, it'll be good, right? *RIP* That hole just became bigger. And I was freeballing, so the new air conditioning on my balls got me to stop and consider my options. Do I continue to roll with it, or do I go back to the hotel and change? I look down at my watch - it's only 11:15? Shit, I can do this.

I tell Skizzle what happened, he's like, "Shit, you best be back". So I head out of the Cosmo and know that Rumor is only just down the street, a 5 min cab ride at most. Get down to the cab line to see 50+ people in line. I'm pretty damn drunk, so I get impatient and say, "Fuck it." I remember that there was a line at the Planet Hollywood shops, so I go in search of that line. I couldn't find it for the fucking life of me, so I give up after 15 minutes and RUN it back to Rumor, a half-mile off the strip in full club clothes. Strip down, throw on some jeans, and talk for a bit with the gf on video chat ... AND PASS THE FUCK OUT.


Next thing I know, I wake up and my gf's trying to wake up on video chat. I look in the corner of the laptop to see: 5:30 AM.

FUCK.

A. F. U.

I missed it. I missed the night before. I thank my gf for waking me up so I don't miss my flight and start coming to grips with missing the last event.

I check my phone and see a bunch of texts from Skizzle:

"Where are you? You're missing out, shit's going down"
"Asian chicks in the house"
"Far East Movement performing NOW in Marquee"

What. The. Fuck. Turns out, FEM hopped on stage @ Marquee and put up an impromptu performance, including Like a G6 and White Flag. DAMMIT. (I'm a fan.)

A. F. U.

Start packing, drop by sweat_shop & kenikki's room (who I *just* found out were also staying in the same hotel) and gave away a bunch of snacks and stuff from Hawaii I didn't wanna bring back, and said my goodbyes to the party I called home for 6 days.

Epilogue

MayOD was a fucking incredible experience. Words can't fully express some of the sensations and experiences I felt during the Invasion. It's an amazing time that can only be experienced for yourself.

The absolute best part about the Invasion are the people involved. From day 0, meeting some of the first AODers and starting the drinking binge that is the Invasion felt like home - like friends I hadn't seen for a while, rather than the reality - strangers I'd never met in my life before. To all of you that I had the pleasure and honor of speaking with and sharing a drink or two (or twenty) - ladies and gentlemen, you are ALL fucking amazing. I'm rendered speechless and amazed by what the week held in store for me, and no matter how much I could've imagined, I never could've imagined it being greater than it was. I wish I had the time and space to acknowledge each and every one of you, but I know I'd miss a bunch of you and don't wanna exclude anyone. The stories, the talks, the experiences - despite the heavy influence of alcohol, those time will be indelible on my mind, and I thank you all for those great times & experiences. To anyone I missed, I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better and look forward to the next opportunity to do so.

And to anyone that's not yet experienced MayOD, the Invasion, or fellow AODers and the partying - until you do it, YOU ARE ALWAYS FUCKING UP. Don't be that wat guy.

To sum up this trip report, I leave it to a Facebook pic I posted at the end of the trip:



Caption: "Best. Vegas Trip. Ever. (Until 2012.)"

[wat]

Saved for pics/comments/final notes/etc

This TR is brought to you by:
- Facebook (because it's filling in the details I'm forgetting)
- Pics from other people

For the second reason above, I'm including a limited number of pictures in my TR, because

1) I don't want to be stealing too much from others, and if anyone I've taken a picture off of does not want it up, I'll take it down; and

2) I don't want to necessarily include others that might not want to be identified via photo in the TR. However, if you've got a pic to share, or don't mind, then please let me know.

THANKS FOR READING! And do yourself a favor ... get out there and attend MayOD. Sure, you could drink anywhere in the world, and there's clubs all over the place, and Vegas is always there ... but what happened over those past 5 days can't be adequately put into words, as much as I've tried over these past few posts. As long as you're cool, chill and can hang with the best of the AOD, you'll have a great time.

[2MSR]

Hahaha awesome!!! The fever will hit you in full swing bro! Your goin in may just wait Bahahahaha

[YellowandNavy]

Yes!!! Make sure to include legendary Grand Cabana 16 @ Marquee on Saturday night to this TR!!

[T Dot]

For the second reason above, I'm including a limited number of pictures in my TR

Balls.... Post pictures!!!!!!!!!!

[Cisco419]

You're welcome to post whatever pics I'm in! Great TR btw! Damn those are good memories..... you must go again!