2013 Aug 11 | Runyon Canyon, Las Vegas for Ogii birthday, Perseid meteor shower



Gorgeous view of the Hollywood sign from a Hollywood Blvd condo.



A view down the street.



Full-wall windows.



Monday Night Tease burlesque show. If it was your birthday, they brought you up to get spanked.



Wow, that's one way to advertise your business.



The Jeep window kept slipping down with the suction cups, so I tried this instead.



I started working at Dr. Jeff Sage's office on Thursday mornings. It's only a few blocks from my apartment and has a great view.



Looking to the west.



The dress shoes I wear look nice, but they're cheaply made in Mexican, tend to fall apart, aren't really comfortable.



Unfortunately I haven't seen any that were decent quality, comfortable, and neat looking, so I bought some new ones just like the old ones.



This is a scary place to stop.



That's appropriate for California.



Considering we were going to Vegas in a few days, that's an appropriate fortune.



Stopping at Peggy Sue's Diner on the way to Las Vegas.



Lots of star signatures.



Aw, that's so nice. Should be more important than the stars' singatures.



I haven't played this peg-jumping IQ game in forever.



Uh, this one doesn't count.



With some mannequins in the store.



You get a free piece of gum with your food.



Napping. It's always nice having someone else drive.



We got to the hotel a bit earlier than Kat and Kendra, so we decided to spend our time gambling at the penny slots.



Five across, nice.



Only one of the machines was really a penny one, though; on this one next to it, the minimum bet was 50 pennies.



At the Mandalay Bay wave pool.



Here comes a wave!



Ready to go into the Lazy River with our tubes.



I brought tiny tubes, but Kat and Kendra tried them on for fun.



Ready to go.



There were some waterfalls over here.



If you didn't want to get wet, you had to dodge right and then left.



On our tubes.



The small ones I brought weren't very stable, so you had to get some support.



In front of the wave pool with our tubes.



Summertime hats.



In front of a blue light.



Ogii and I went to Zumanity. It was very funny and had a lot of audience participation. It felt a bit more like a variety show than a Cirque du Soleil show.



NYNY had an arcade.



Lots of fun games.



The roller coaster even came through the building and you could see it here.



Ogii and her birthday balloons.



We went to Light, the new nightclub.



Us in front.



Thankfully I had contacted a promoter beforehand and was on her list, so instead of paying $60 for me and $30 for the women, I only had to pay $30 and they were free.



The doorman was huge and there were a few employees in cool outfits.



More fun outfits.



In a hanging chair.



It had a huge display on the back wall.



There were a lot of performers walking through the crowd, and on occasion they'd all go up behind the stage on this walkway.



Foam dropping from the ceiling.



The display was pretty cool.



They brought a pole out into the audience and a performer danced on it.



Us in front of the big guy on his chair.



Multiple performers on rings.



Ogii with her presents.



All of us in front of the very-expensive Pirates of the Caribbean display I got in a party supply store's discount bin.



On the bed.



Great strip view from our room.



Buffet time.



Lots of food.



Playing with an electronic alligator.



Occasionally it would open its mouth.



Ogii trying to get bit.



Walking on the strip.



Kat and Kendra. We all had sparkly hats I bought.



In a giant shoe.



In front of the Caesar's Palace fountains.



Some cute turtle statues.



Very cool-looking building.



We decided to play poker a bit. We went around to a few different casinos to check out their daily tournaments, and most didn't have any players, but Luxor had some, so we decided to try our luck there.



I caught some very good hands.



Kat and Kendra playing cash at the other table.



It was a tiring trip.



I got second place in the tournament.



For $218.



Imitating Michael Jackson.



Ooh, very good leaning.



Crotch grab.



Different poses.



Point and yell.



Spinning.



Oops, Ogii was a little slow on the camera here.



Off a bit again.



Big leans.



Another buffet.



Birthday candle in the food.



Lots of cute desserts.



We went to Absinthe, the new must-see show.



It was pretty fun and very similar to Zuminity; acrobats and raunchy dialogue.



I liked Zumanity a bit better, though.



It was the Perseid Meteor shower that night, so on the way back we stopped off at the ZZyzx exit, about halfway between Vegas and LA...



... and drove a few miles into the Mojave National Preserve to get a nice dark sky.



There were some bullet shells where we stopped, though; kind of scary.



A meteor way on the left with an outline of the Jeep.



Us watching the stars with the Big Dipper at the bottom.



Kissing with a meteor.



The custodians at my apartment complex don't have the best English.



A woman in front of me checking out had two boxes. The clerk said she could get another box for only 2 cents more, but she said she didn't want it. I also asked if I could grab one and give her 2 cents.



Runyon Canyon, where all the people in Hollywood go to hike.



Nice view of the people and the area.



Sunset.



Downtown.



A panoramic.



The Hollywood sign.



The observatory.



Darker sunset.



Zoomed in on Empire Records and The Knickerboxer.



A helicopter.



Up some more steps.



Jumping on a rock.



The city at night.



A neat house.



Palm tree outlines.



Uh oh, the park is closed and we're locked in.



Thankfully the fence is easily jumpable thanks to some metal shapes on it.



These people sell water and snacks by leaving them in a cooler on the honor system.



Aw, man, what a bad way to lose; run out of time with 3 queens. Sometimes this site just doesn't move when you click on a square, which is really frustrating.



Aw, I thought he was pretty easy for his rank; he was playing on his dad's account. Hopefully his dad doesn't mind him bringing his ranking down a bit.



Always nice to trap a queen. I think ...Bh6, pinning the bishop to his queen, was his best option and would have made him lose less, either a rook or a bishop, but on fast time control it's hard to think through all your options.