Night two in Vegas was last night, my co worker and I went to the Hooters Hotel where I was hoping to find Michelle, Ms Hooters 2006, who I met at a trade show in Chicago last month (the Motivation Show) at a random booth, and she was great and nice and pretty and kept INSISTING that she dealt to me in Blackjack at the Hooters Hotel in Vegas. I kept saying, no, I've never played Blackjack at the Hooters Hotel in Vegas, but next time I go I'll stop and say hello. She gave me an autographed picture of herself, something like Ari, see you in Vegas, love Michelle. I had this on my desk in NYC for a while, then created a Las Vegas folder for this conference (which we only went to day one of, today I did nothing at all except much lap swimming in the outdoor hotel pool) and inserted this glossy photo, along with the exhibitors at this conference, my flight into, and hotel confirmation. Getting here I was telling my friend that I would use the signed glossy picture to go to the Hooters Hotel and find Michelle. He was greatly amused by this image because it was very much like Borat looking for Pam Anderson in the new movie. Anyway, I left the pic in my hotel room but we did go there last night, had drinks and played slots a little, then went back here to the Sahara where my friend got into another poker tournament. I won a little money in Blackjack last night here at the Sahara, then lost it today along with a little more. No biggie. Anyway at the Hooters Hotel I asked some of the Hooters girls about Michelle and one of them said that she was traveling and really didn't know when she'd be back, while the other one looked into space uneasily. Suddenly I felt like Borat. HAHAHA. Tomorrow I jet back to NYC - was here entirely too long, on the other hand it's nice to do nothing at all for a couple days, especially within the hectic rat race that is sales, and especially out west where the distances are massive and the sun shines bright. I love it out west. Maybe tomorrow, before the airport, I'll check out the Hoover Dam. Or maybe, more like, I'll just lap swim for another hour - it'll be nice to be back in New York though - I've got a gallery show coming up soon (it was previewed nicely yesterday in Studio and Gallery Magazine, so now I feel a little pressure to make my last few pictures particularly magical) and now a gig in San Francisco immediately after the gallery show concludes - so I have work to do when I get back. All I can seem to play lately are a few covers that I am obsessed with - namely Drinker's Peace and Window of my World by Guided by Voices, and Elevate Myself by Grandaddy. The girl I made the mix CDs for finally wrote back and thanked me, but in decisively unflirty tones. Finally, I am excited to begin my power trio with Adam Greenberglerberg on bass - and also at the thought of a reunion concert by my old New England band Camambert, which was of some note in the town we were based like 10 years ago. Just read in the new Mojo about the new Dinosaur Jr album that's now being mixed, and that's another thing to look forward to. I've always said to myself since I was little, I've always said, if there's stuff to look forward to, especially a string of things, at any given time in a boy's life, then life. is. good.