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On July 15th, I went to go see Marc Savard with my cousin Charisse. Hypnotist Marc Savard has a new show upstairs in the Trader Vic’s. It’s located in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Marc was one of Ivan’s hypnosis teachers at the International Institute of Hypnosis. Ivan wanted me to check out his show and buy the DVD so I can send it to him. The show is for 12 years old and older. You do have to be over 16 years old to go on stage. The showroom is small. So, he can only keep like 6-8 people. It’s an small, intimate showroom. It seems to generate a lot of energy in the room. Marc is a great hypnotist. He’s so funny. I really enjoyed the show. You have to check out this show. It’s a funny, entertaining show. I like going to hypnosis shows because they’re always different since there’s always different people on stage. The view from Trader Vic’s is beautiful. You can see the Bellagio fountains and the Eiffel Tower. I said hi to Marc at the end of show. It was nice to see him again. I’m so glad he has a new show on the Strip. He used to have the Mesmerized show at the V Theatre.
I went to see Marc Savard’s hypnosis show on Monday, July 21st. Marc was actually out of town and Buzz Collins was doing the show for the week. Ivan actually told me to see his first show. He knows Buzz since he met him in the hypnosis class. Ivan also wanted a DVD with the show. I sat in the first row so I could have a good view. I saw Ty (Ivan’s friend who does the video and sound for the show) talking to a girl. The girl looked really familiar. I just smiled at Ty from across the room. I was just waiting for the show to start. The girl who I saw came over and said I don’t know if you remember me. I looked at her closely and then said Shannondoah? It was Ivan’s friend from the hypnosis class. She is a masseuse. She gave me an awesome massage once with hypnosis. No wonder she looked familiar! She was asking if I was with any friends and I told her I was alone. She told me I should come sit by her. She was seated on a red couch on the side. She asked how Ivan was. I told her I recently visited Ivan in England and that we went to Scotland. Shannondoah always wanted to go to Scotland since that’s where her dad is from. She told me I should go on stage. Ivan didn’t want me to so I could experience the show and tell him about it. She said I’m easily hypnotized so it would good for me to go up. She was planning on getting hypnotized. I told her that I wanted to watch the show for Ivan. I said I’d probably come back later in the week to be hypnotized. Shannondoah invited me to go out with them after. I said I couldn’t go since I had to go home and sleep since I worked in the morning. Marc’s wife Joanna came to the show. Another student from the hypnosis show was there. I forgot her name though. Shannondoah did go on stage and was picked. She goes really deep. I thought Buzz would have the same script as Marc’s show. It was slightly different. Shannondoah was funny. The group that was picked was really boring. Usually, there’s two or more really good people. But, Shannondoah was the only good one. Buzz has a good stage presence. His jokes were falling a bit flat though. I think it was a tough crowd. The show was alright. It just wasn’t as entertaining as last week. I enjoy the VooDoo doll and the horse racing parts during the show.
I went to see Buzz Collins again on July 24th. I met Charisse and her friend Victoria there. I was planning on getting hypnotized. My stomach hurt. I have stomach problems so sometimes it will boil. I didn’t know if it was that or the fact that I was nervous about going on stage. I think it may have been a little bit of both. I haven’t been on stage in a few months. I’d rather go on stage to sing or be hypnotized.. than reading a speech. I was trying to convince Charisse to head up on stage too. When it was time for volunteers to go up, I took Charisse’s hand and took her on stage with me. The funny thing was.. I was going to sit by Charisse. But, I know I shouldn’t sit by her since I know her. I was left with no seat. This guy said you can have my seat. I almost didn’t get to be a part of the show! Of course, I thought later that.. the hypnotist moves people around anyway.. so I would probably be sitting by somebody else. Buzz did the induction and kept only the best people. I was chosen and Charisse was sent back to her seat. I feel really relaxed when I’m hypnotized. You hear the suggestions and you just feel like you should do them. You do have a choice of whether you want to do them. You’re not being controlled by the hypnotist. There was one guy who seemed like he was drunk or something. He was rather strange but funny. I danced like a River dancer. Buzz would shake the hand of the guy next to me. When he was shaking his hand, the guy would get a horrible case of jock itch. I kept trying to cover my eyes so I wouldn’t see it. At one point, we went to the audience and showed off our modeling skills.
Me as a model
The people in the audience were allowed to use their cameras to take pictures of the models. Buzz said sleep and it put us back into hypnosis in the crowd.
Slumped over - Hypnotized in the audience
He woke us up and we were wrestlers. I went on stage and started yelling at the other people saying I was going to beat them up. I kept screaming at this guy saying I’m going to get you punk! He kept yelling at me too. Buzz said that the night had the most people. Charisse said it was a really funny show. Charisse ordered the DVD so I could have a copy. I said Hello to Buzz Collins. He said I was great during the show. A few people came up to me and said I was really good on stage. I saw the guy who I was screaming at when we were wrestlers. He said I remember you. I remember yelling at you a lot and wanting to beat you up. I said Yah, I kept saying I’m going to get you punk! He told me he was sorry. I said it’s all good, I’m sorry too. I didn’t want to be rude. Haha. We were hanging around the showroom to pick up the DVD.
Victoria, Buzz Collins and me
On the show tickets, there’s a coupon for a free appetizer if you buy two drinks. Charisse, Victoria and I wanted to take advantage of this. We headed to the Trader Vic’s patio area. We saw two Australian guys who were also in the hypnosis show. Charisse and I both ordered a Mai Tai. Mai Tai’s are my favorite drink. They were created at a Trader Vic’s. The bartender made them really strong. We ordered some lobster pot stickers for the free appetizer. The dish was really good.. but only came with four pieces. Victoria talked to their friend Cory and she was going to meet us at the bar. We were planning on going to Krave. It’s a gay bar that’s attached to the Miracle Mile Shop at the Planet Hollywood. We decided to get another appetizer. Charisse and I picked the Calamari. One of the bartenders turned out to be Charisse & Victoria’s friend’s roommate. What a small world! The Calamari was soo good. It was a little spicy. The sauce was wasabi and aioli. There was tons of Calamari. I was addicted to it. We sat for a little while chatting. Cory came. Soon after, we decided to walk to to Krave. Krave is the only gay club located on the Las Vegas Strip. The club wasn’t crowded, but there was a good number of people there.
Check out the video I made of a dancer at Krave -
He really knew how to dance. It’s nice when you’re at gay clubs. Mostly, there’s only gay guys so they don’t hit on you. We danced so much. It was a mix of popular music and hip hop music. Charisse’s friend Aaron stopped by the club as well. We just kept dancing. Charisse told me that they wanted to go to another gay club called Goodtimes. It was goth night.
We all drove there to meet. I was waiting for Charisse to get there with Victoria and Cory. We were talking in the parking lot. Then, we heard a Ssssssss’ing sound. I said What is that? Somebody said it sounds like it’s coming from that white car. I said No, that’s my car! So, we walked to my car to see what was going on. The sound was coming from the tire. Cory tried to touch the valve but it was hot. We noticed that the tire was flat. I said Oh, great. I looked in my trunk and cleared out some junk. I had to find my spare tire. I couldn’t find a jack though. Good thing, Charisse had one in her trunk. There was a guy named Joseph in the parking lot who decided to help us change the tire. It was kind of dark in the parking lot. There were street lights, but it wasn’t that bright. I tried to pull the spare tire out of the area it was in. It was on a metal area that was made to keep the spare in. It wouldn’t budge at all. Aaron tried to pull it out as wll. This strong black guy (who was in the club earlier) helped us get the spare out. One of the girls went inside the club and got a flashlight. Joseph puts the spare on. Guess what?! Yah, it’s flat too. I couldn’t believe it! The guy who lent the flashlight to us starting talking to me. He said I’m the one who lent out my flashlight. I was thankful. He said he thought I was cute and if I wanted we could talk in the bar and have a drink. He thought I was cute because of my height (okaay, whatever). I said Sorry, I have a boyfriend. He said he thought he’d just throw it out there.
Aaron kept saying I should call to get my car towed and deal with it in the morning. There was a lady who said that there was a place down the street that was run by Mexicans. I could get my tire fixed there since it was open 24 hours. The area we were in wasn’t the best part of town. I certainly didn’t want to leave my car there overnight. I know getting a car towed can be a bit expensive. Joseph was really nice. I told him I’d buy him a drink for helping me change the tire. Joseph gave Charisse his number and said he liked meeting new people. I think he liked Charisse. I asked Charisse if she would take me to this place. Aaron wanted to go home since he had to work later that day. All the girls wanted to go with me. They didn’t want me to get mugged by the Mexicans. I said I’ll be fine. I’ll just mace them (although I don’t even carry mace). But, I do know how to take care of myself. It was only five minutes away to the place. It was empty except for the two Mexicans who worked there. I told one of the men my situation with the tire. He said he would look at it. I sat down while the girls stayed in the car. It only took a few minutes. One of the guys was trying to explain it to me, but I don’t think he spoke much English. The guy who fixed it told me that the valve broke. I said does that happen often. He just nodded. I don’t even know if he understood me.. but I think he did. I asked how much. He said $8. The tire had air again and he even washed it. I was happy and put the tire back in the trunk. We drove back to the Goodtimes parking lot. I haven’t changed a tire in years. I remember doing an instructional video of how to change a tire (and other problems you can encounter) for Driver’s Education class in high school. My brother helped me and my classmates make it. My teacher kept it to show future students. It was funny cause in the middle for some reason it had my dad playing tennis. I guess it was an old tape that we taped over. Anyway, Victoria was jacking up the car. Charisse had texted Joseph that we were back with the tire all fixed. Victoria did a good job of jacking up the car. Joseph came out of the club to help us out. He jacked up the car more and took off the spare tire. Then, he put the tire back on. Everybody wanted to get home since it was really late (or early in the morning) like 4 am. I felt bad and apologized to Charisse, Victoria and Cory. They said it’s fine. We all hugged and went home.
Ivan, Ivan’s friend Ty and I attended the Dr. Scott Lewis show at Riviera on April 28th. Ivan and Ty went on stage to get hypnotized. Ivan was translating Martian, Riverdancing, being mean to Kelly Karl (Dr. Scott Lewis’ assistant) in the Love Connection game and dancing like a Chippendale. It’s always fun to watch Ivan when he’s hypnotized. He’s just so funny.
Ivan and I went to Kung Fu Plaza Thai & Chinese Restaurant on April 29th. We started off with the Papaya Salad with a Hotness of level 3. The salad was a little spicy. We also got the great Fish Cakes. They tasted similar to the fish cakes at Lotus of Siam. We shared the Sweetened Green Curry with chicken. It was a good portion and had great flavor. We also ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice. Ivan and I were both so full from all the food that we didn’t get to eat much of the Pineapple Fried Rice. It tasted slightly sweet. This restaurant has good cuisine with cheap prices.
Next, we headed to the last part of the Self-Hypnosis class. During the class, people talked about their script that talked about their goal. The scripts that were read were pretty good. John Zulli also walked us through another hypnosis experience. The class was really good. I’m definitely going to try out my script and self-hypnosis to accomplish the goal of losing weight.
We went to the Morels open bar at The Palazzo on April 30th. We had some sweet Lychee Vodka drinks and watched the Sirens show at the TI from the balcony. The dress code was dressy casual, so it seemed like a different crowd than we usually see at the open bar events. We had a couple drinks and I was actually buzzed.
We walked to the Wynn to find a nice restaurant to eat at. Unfortunately, Okada was booked up and the outdoor seating at Morels was closed. So, we walked back to the Palazzo. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe. Grand Lux is an awesome restaurant. The portions are huge and the food tastes great. We shared the appetizer Vietnamese Chicken Summer Spring Rolls. The spring rolls were very fresh. I got the Pasta with Chicken, Sun dried Tomatoes and Mushrooms for my main course. The combination of the cockscrew pasta with the chicken, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese was delicious. Ivan ordered the Thai Chicken Pizza. I previously thought the Thai Chicken Pizza sounded odd, but it’s actually good.
Ivan and I went to see Yellow Brick Road at Boulder Station on May 2nd. This band is a Classic Rock Tribute band. That night the band was playing a Pink Floyd Tribute. The band played the whole album of Dark Side of the Moon. They did play other songs from Wish You Were Here, The Wall and Meddle. Yellow Brick Road sounded just like Pink Floyd. It was awesome! When they played Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, they brought out about nine kids to sing the “We Don’t No Education” part. Then at the end of the song, a British gentlemen in a judge outfit came to do the “How can you have any pudding, if you don’t eat your meat?” part. Other songs that they performed were One of These Days, Mother, Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb, Welcome to the Machine and my favorite Wish You Were Here. We’re going to check them out next Friday to see their regular show.
We went to the Pinball Museum on Saturday, May 3rd. We played pinball for almost an hour. I love the games Family Guy, Wheel of Fortune, Lord of the Rings and Spiderman. I wasn’t having much luck though. I kept losing my balls rather quickly during a few games.
That night, we went to go see Penn and Teller for the second time at the Rio Hotel. The show had three new parts. I’m still amazed at their magic. It’s great that they show how some of the tricks are done. This show is funny and very entertaining.
Ivan and I went to ride the dune buggies with Sun Buggie Fun Rentals on May 4th. Ivan had a free voucher for a 2 seat buggy for an hour and a half. He told our guide that we wanted to go fast. But, for some reason our buggy was pretty slow. The guide didn’t seem to know where he was going. We were going over mostly rocky areas instead of all sand areas. I kept getting bumped up and down.. and that hurt my butt. It was alright time. We’ve had more fun on previous occasions.
For dinner, we went to Quark’s Bar and Restaurant at Las Vegas Hilton. It won an award on AOL for being one of the Most Unique Restaurants. The atmosphere is cool with the stars and Star Trek ship above the restaurant. Star Trek characters (like Quark) walk around the restaurant. They also play Star Trek episodes with English sub-titles. We both had a soup. I got the Clam Chowder which was really big. Ivan had the Grilled Chicken Khan Sandwich. I had the Photo Torpedo Sandwich (basically an Italian sandwich). Both our sandwiches came with cold pasta salad. The food was average. I’m not sure why it’s one of the most unique restaurants.
After dinner, we drove to see Second City at the Flamingo. This show does sketch comedy. Ivan heard good things about this show. It was not very funny. I laughed maybe a few times. Ivan thought it was really bad.
We went to go eat at Kung Fu Plaza Thai & Chinese Restaurant on Monday, May 5th. We had the Fish Cakes to start off with. Then we ordered the Tom Yum soup with chicken. It was just the right spiciness at a Hotness of 2. We got the Sweetened Green Curry with Chicken again to share. We love the food here. Sometimes the service is a little slow though.
That night we met Michelle at Diablo’s Cantina at Monte Carlo. We ran into my friend Alisa and her husband Jay. We had some good margaritas and a few beers. Their margaritas are really good. The bar was giving away a trip to Cabo San Lucas. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. They had a band playing that was alright. There were so many people there. Another band came on later. They were bad.. it was a heavy metal band. My cousin Charisse met us there too. It was a fun night.
I was really tired on Tuesday, May 6th. I went home to get some sleep after work. I took a long nap for a few hours. We had two French couchsurfers staying with us. They cooked us a late dinner. It was crepes with mushrooms, onions, cheese and meat. They tasted great! We had french bread and a nice salad. We also had a dessert crepe with strawberries and honey.
I have been hypnotized many times by Ivan. I’ve also been on stage at numerous hypnosis shows. At one point, just watching a hypnosis show made me want to close my eyes and be hypnotized. I’m a little better now.. I try to not watch too closely when the hypnotist is doing the induction. Since Ivan has hypnotized me so much.. he doesn’t even have to do an induction on me and I do the suggestions he gives me. I forget my name, can’t see Ivan since he’s invisible or start talking like a Martian. I can’t explain why I get hypnotized without actually getting hypnotized. One time we were at a bar with friends. He made my hand get stuck to my friend Alisa’s leg. I was a little drunk. I was annoyed and I was on the floor trying to pull my hand off her leg. It was quite a funny sight. Alisa just pushed my hand off her leg after a few minutes. Sometimes it doesn’t work because I don’t want to be hypnotized at the moment. I don’t understand hypnosis completely. I do know that some people are more suggestible than others. I think since I have a good imagination and I’m able to relax easily, it makes me a good person to hypnotize.
Ivan has taken a few hypnosis classes. I know that if he really wants to, he could create a great hypnosis show. He’s very talented at hypnotizing people. He’s charming and funny. Of course trying to be funny in front of an audience could be a challenge. I’m sure that if he gets enough practice, he’ll be great at it.
Ivan and I went to the second part of the Self-Hypnosis class on April 22nd. Some members of the class talked about their thoughts of the self-hypnosis exercises. I wasn’t the only one who fell asleep during the longer second part. There’s actually two ladies in the class who have never been hypnotized. Last week we were to write down a goal that we wanted to accomplish. This week our homework is to write a script (based upon our goal) that we’ll be reading to ourselves before we hypnotize ourselves. Next week, we’ll be hypnotizing ourselves in class. I have actually hypnotized myself twice before. I like learning more about it. I also like getting an idea of what to say to myself when I’m hypnotizing myself.
Ivan, me, the Manchester girls (Amy & Beth) and Michael went to Todai Sushi on Wednesday, April 23rd. We love this sushi buffet. It has a variety of fresh sushi, crab legs, noodles, shrimp tempura and desserts. We had a good time eating. The girls had never had sushi before. I ate too much as usual.
That night we went to Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel. We love Wednesdays nights at this nightclub since they play house music all night long. There was an open bar, so we got a few vodka drinks. The dance floor was actually busy early. Usually nobody starts dancing until midnight. The first DJ mixed Rocket Man. I kept picturing Stewie from Family Guy being cool saying the lyrics of Rocket Man. Next, Heidi was DJing. She’s plays some cool, unique music. We danced for awhile. I had to go home early since I had to work the next morning. I watched Family Guy when I got home and they played that episode where Stewie recites the lyrics of Rocket Man. How funny!
We met Emily (a French couchsurfer) and Andrea (a local couchsurfer) for the open bar event at the V bar inside The Venetian on April 25th. It was advertised as free cocktails and appetizers. But, it turns out ladies were each given one complimentary drink ticket for a Pomegranate cocktail. If you’re a lady wearing high heels, you would get an extra ticket for every inch of your shoes. We had some egg rolls and a drink. It was taking forever to get served since the bar only had three bartenders working.
We decided to head to Dos Caminos for dinner. We all had the Guacamole. It was so spicy that you couldn’t taste the ingredients as much. Ivan and I shared the Shrimp Empanadas. They were okay, nothing special. We got the great Dos Enchiladas for our main course. It was great as usual.
We all hopped into Andrea’s car to head to our condo. We had a drink and then got ready for the evening. We went to JET at The Mirage. It was really busy, so it’s good that we arrived early. We still had to wait in line for like 20 minutes. Andrea and Emily had met a guy (earlier in the day) who said he could get them in. He gave them wristbands that included free drinks until midnight. When we entered the club, a guy gave us four drink coupons. We had a bunch of drinks and danced for hours.
Ivan and I went to participate in the Freezemont Experience on April 26th. This event was being held downtown in the Fremont Street Experience. Ivan heard about this on the couchsurfing forum. Improv Everywhere has done other similiar events like Food Court Musical, No Shirts and Best Buy. Below is a video highlight of one of their events called Frozen Grand Central.
Frozen Grand Central
A group of people gathered near an area by the Golden Nugget entrance. The plan was to stop moving right after the 8:00 pm show. We were to remain frozen for 5 minutes. Ivan and I froze while holding hands. I was looking upwards at the Fremont Street Experience in wonder. I had my mouth open, which was bad cause my throat was getting dry. It wasn’t too hard not moving. People weren’t sure what was going on. We started moving after the five minutes and people started clapping for us. It was an interesting thing to do. I hope to see the video on youtube soon.
We walked to the Golden Nugget to go eat at the Italian restaurant Grotto. We each got a glass of the Riesling wine. It was really strong and tasted great. Ivan had the roasted garlic chicken pizza. I ordered the Chicken Fettuccine with mushrooms and peas. My dish was tasty with a different type of sauce. Ivan’s pizza was good.
We walked to the Neonopolis theater to go see Harold & Kumar Escape from Guatanemo Bay. The movie takes place after the first movie. Harold is still thinking about Maria. He and Kumar decide to go to Amsterdam so he can find Maria. Unfortunately, they run into trouble on the plane and they’re thought to be terrorists. Harold and Kumar get sent to Guatanemo Bay. All sorts of craziness happen and they escape jail. It’s a funny movie. It’s not as funny as the first one, but it’s still a good movie.
We went to Tao Beach with Emily and Andrea on April 27th. It’s a topless pool area for people 21 years old and older. It was a little busy. We had a frozen lemonade drink and went into the pool. They have a new stupid rule there where you can’t hold your drink in the middle of the pool. So, you can be in the pool at the side and hold your drink or outside of the pool. Emily and Andrea left early since she wanted to see the Paris and Luxor Hotel before she headed to the airport. They have a lot of reserved chairs and tables at Tao Beach. People start leaving around 4 pm and you can get a better seat. The Sunset Sessions starts around 5:30 pm and they start playing nice house music. We moved over to the big round bed area to relax. We read travel guide books and just chilled out. It was nice. The sun always makes me tired. It was annoying my eyes that day.
Later on, Ivan and I went to see the 3 Redneck Tenors at the Luxor Hotel. The show has the redneck tenors singing opera and television songs. It shows their rise to stardom. They do different shows like Wrestling, Disco, Elvis and dressing up as women. It’s a fun show filled with redneck humor and lots of great singing. At one point, they brought out the guitarist Nicholas Marks from America’s Got Talent. The end of show the cast made noises to the song Beethoven’s 5th. It was so funny.
We went to eat at Ra Sushi on April 14th with a French couchsurfer. We started off with our usual the dengaku tofu. It wasn’t as hot and tasty as it usually is. We also got the chicken yakitori for an appetizer. It was okay. We then shared two sushi different rolls. That was really good. We walked to the Venetian after dinner and ordered gelato in the Marks Square. I had the chocolate gelato. It’s so delicious.
Ivan and I went to a Self-Hypnosis class on April 15th. It was the first of three classes. It’s a class from the International Institute of Hypnosis run by Marc Savard and John Zulli. Ivan took two hypnosis courses through the hypnosis school. We saw Marc at the fair and he told us about this class. Marc introduced John Zulli to the class. Marc also talked about his wife. She had two babies under hypnosis. She didn’t feel pain but felt the pressure. She also didn’t have any pain medication when the doctor stitched her up. That’s just amazing! John Zulli taught the class. He’s a natural speaker and he’s funny as well. The class gave us background on the origins of hypnosis. We were also hypnotized as a group. This has been an interesting class so far. We even got homework. We have to write down a goal we want to accomplish. Also, we were given a CD that we have to listen to one part (or both) at least three times.
Ivan and I met my family for my Mom’s Birthday dinner at Food Express on Wednesday, April 16th. It was nice to see all my family. We had lots of good Chinese food including roast duck, sweet and sour chicken, mu shu pork, egg rolls, pot stickers, fried rice, mongolian beef, noodles and fried crab. It was funny seeing all my nieces and nephews playing with Ivan. They kept poking him and hiding. Of course, my brother and sister kept saying leave him alone, but Ivan enjoyed it. He said he was getting a nice massage.
We went to the Bare open bar event on April 17th at The Mirage Hotel. Bare is a topless pool lounge area. It’s a nice area to just relax. There’s one long rectangle pool and then a jacuzzi on the upper level. They had food from the restaurant Stack. There was vegetables with ranch, different cheeses, Chicken BBQ pizza and turkey wraps. The food was alright. We just chilled out and had some drinks.
We walked to the Bellagio. We ate a salmon sandwich and then proceeded to The Bank nightclub. This was our first time at the nightclub. There were tons of empty VIP tables around the dance floor. It was a good night with house music playing. We liked the fact that there was room to dance. Also, the line to the bathroom wasn’t that busy. We danced for a few hours and then took a taxi home.
Ivan and I went to the Bodies exhibition on April 18th. The bodies are preserved through a process called polymer preservation. The exhibit has whole body specimens and organs. It is a bit weird since it makes you see what our bodies look like inside. It’s also educational showing how complex our bodies are. It’s a good exhibit to visit, but it’s a little creepy to see.
We walked across the street to the MGM Grand to see the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The movie is about a guy named Peter. His heart is broken when his girlfriend Sarah Marshall breaks up with him. He decides to get away by taking a vacation in Hawaii, so he can forget about her. But, unfortunately he bumps into Sarah and her new boyfriend. He ends up staying at the same resort. He tries to keep busy by doing different activities. He keeps running into Sarah though. It’s a funny movie.
We went to the Valley of Fire State Park with Vivi (a German couchsurfer) and a local couchsurfer Frannie and her friend Rob on April 19th. We drove around the park and stopped a couple times. It’s really beautiful out there. There are numerous big red rocks. We saw petrified wood as well. The petrified wood was just old wood in the ground.. which is really boring. Ivan and I joked that they were scared wood hehe.
We walked around and saw lots of rocks and climbed some. The weather was in the 80’s.. so it wasn’t too hot outside. We had a good day taking pictures and walking around.
Ivan, me and Vivi went to Nove Italiano for dinner at the Palms Hotel. We started off with Crudo, which is a selection of raw fish like tuna and yellowtail. The Crudo was really small with just four small pieces of fish. Next, we all shared the Chicken Pesto Pizza. It was good. Ivan and I shared the Chicken Marsala. The sauce was really good and it also contained mushrooms, shallots and lemon. The dish was really good.
Ivan, me and Vivi at the Playboy Club
We stopped by the Playboy Club to have a drink. Then, we headed up to Moon nightclub. It was packed in the club. The music was a nice mix of pop, r&b, rock and 80’s music. I still love it when the roof retracts letting in the fresh air and a view of the sky. We didn’t get to see the moon though. It was hot dancing so it’s nice when the air comes in. We had a good time dancing for a couple hours.
Ivan and I chilled by the pool at the condo on Sunday, April 20th. We did some reading and then went inside the jacuzzi. Later, I listened to the first part of the hypnosis CD. It was short and I listened to the whole thing. I decided to give the second part a go. The second part is longer at 27 minutes. I was really relaxed and fell asleep. I woke up and there was no sound playing.
We went to the Lotus of Siam with Vivi and the two Manchester couchsurfers that night. Ivan and I had the tasty Fish cakes (Tod Mun Plar) for an appetizer. Ivan ordered the Tom Yum Kai soup with chicken while I had Tom Yum Kung with shrimp. My soup was a 3 Hotness and it was spicy.. I couldn’t drink all the soup since it was burning my mouth a little. Ivan got the Musaman Curry with chicken. I had the Red Curry with chicken. My dish was a bit spicy and tasted great. The food is always delectable here. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations on the same day. It’s wise to make a reservation since it’s always busy.
Ivan got me a lovely edible fruit basket yesterday. It’s from Edible Arrangements. The basket is filled with strawberries, chocolate covered strawberries, heart-shaped and flower-shaped pineapples, grapes and cantaloupe balls. The fruits are really fresh and delicious. It’s such a kewl gift! It’s healthy and looks good.
Ivan has a friend he met through one of his hypnosis classes that gives massages. She incorporates hypnosis during the massage session. I had an awesome 90 minute hypnotic massage yesterday after work. I felt so great. This morning, my shoulders are sore. I must carry a lot of stress there since it was worked out a lot in that area. It was definitely a great new experience getting a massage that involved hypnosis.
Last night, Ivan and I went to Dick’s Last Resort at Excalibur with the four couchsurfer girls who are staying with us. This restaurant is known for being rude to you. I like when they make the hats with the insults written on them. Ivan asked straight away if we were going to get hats and the waiter said no. He kept saying no. We thought he was being rude. Ivan questioned him about why. He said that nobody felt like making hats. Good thing they have an area with old hats with great rude sayings on them. Ivan went through them and got us each a hat. The food is average bar food. It’s a fun place where you can throw balled-up napkins at other patrons, get insulted by the staff and donate your bra to the huge bra collection over the bar.
We headed to Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel after dinner. Somehow we got in with a group of guys who were talking to the girls. Ivan had free passes. Body English has great Wednesday nights since it’s house music all night and open bar from 10:30 – 11:30 am. The music was great with music from the 80’s and 90’s. Ivan and I had fun dancing. I didn’t see the girls dancing. The two German girls decided to go to LAX at the Luxor. I had a great day after work.. thanks to Ivan!
Ivan took a stage hypnosis class this last weekend (March 6-8). So, he invited me to go to three Dirty: Hypnosis Unleashed shows (Thursday-Saturday) with him. I enjoy going to hypnosis shows. Even if I’ve been to the hypnosis show before, it’s never the same show twice. The hypnotist may do the same things.. but there’s always new people and everybody reacts differently. The only complaint I have is the small venue. It’s not set-up for a hypnosis show. So, it’s hard to get a good seat. We saw Michael Johns on Thursday and Friday. He likes to tell funny jokes and call the volunteers rock stars.
I woke up about 5am on Friday, March 7th with a painful leg cramp. I had to massage it, but it still hurt. I had to go get ready for work so I didn’t get a chance to massage it much. I was limping a little at work. I went down some stairs and that would hurt as well. I haven’t had a bad leg cramp in years. I was reading up on it.. and I should drink more water and stretch my muscles more.
Ivan and I had dinner that night at Ah Sin at the Paris Hotel. We had a dragon roll sushi and lettuce wraps to start off with. Then we shared the vietnamese glass noodles and Thai chicken entrees. The Thai Chicken was pretty good. The Vietenamese glass noodles were bland. We did have a nice view outside of the Bellagio fountains though. After dinner, we walked to the Bellagio for gelato. We watched the fountains again while eating our delicious gelato. My favorite show is with the song Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye) sung by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman. I didn’t mention before how high the water goes. The water jets can go up to 240 feet. It looks like the same height as the Bellagio building. I’ve seen it numerous times, but it’s still amazing, beautiful and romantic.
We saw the Hypnosis Unleashed show again on March 8th. This time it was Terry Stokes performing. He’s very funny. He does different bits with individuals or in pairs. I like seeing the individuals and pair parts since it’s usually people who are very hypnotized After the show, Ivan and I went to meet my friend Alisa and her husband Jay at Tommy Rockers. It was really loud in this bar. There was a live band playing. It was nice seeing Alisa again. I hadn’t seen her since December.
We went to the Mega Bubble Show in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood on March 9th. The show is Fan Yang creating a variety of bubbles. He created big bubble structures and bubbles inside a big bubble. He would invite kids up on stage and put a big bubble around them. I liked when they had smoke rings flying in the air and he would attach a small bubble to the smoke ring. At one point, the whole theater was filled with bubbles. This is a good unique show that’s suitable for kids.
For dinner we went to Diego at the MGM Grand Hotel. We started off with the guacamole. A guy created it tableside. We also got salsa which included mild, medium and hot. It also came with three types of salt. The mole salt was the best. Ivan and I shared the Ensalada de Verduras Asadas. It’s a salad with squash, mushrooms, dried tomatoes and black beans. Ivan really enjoyed the salad. I thought it was a weird mixture of ingredients. My main course was the Pollo al Horno con Mole. Wow! The mole sauce was really good. It tasted great all mixed together with the rice, little fried onions and the chicken.
We were planning to see a movie. We had plenty of time to waste. So, we walked over to the New York, New York Hotel across the street. We ended up at the Nine Fine Irishmen bar. Ivan ordered two Magners Irish Cider. It was smooth and had a great fruity flavor. Good stuff! It certainly gave me a nice buzz.
Ivan and I went to see the movie The Bank Job. This is based on a true story that happened in 1971. Terry (played by Jason Statham) was convinced by an old friend Martine to rob a bank in London. She has information that the bank’s vault won’t have an alarm for a week. This was a great action movie with some twists to the plot. I must have really enjoyed the movie since I dreamt that Ivan and I were robbing a bank.
Ivan and I agreed that we would both go on stage at the Dr. Scott Lewis hypnosis show. I wonder if Ivan picked this show since one of the smallest theaters for hypnosis shows. I’ve been on two stage shows and hypnotized numerous times by Ivan. Ivan had never been hypnotized before. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to be hypnotized. So, we went to the show at the Riviera on March 10th. We both went on stage. It was a good, funny show. Ivan seemed to be hypnotized and was pretty funny on stage. I haven’t been hypnotized on stage in awhile.
We went to go eat at Fellini’s inside the Stratosphere Hotel on March 11th. We shared the Fellini Salad with Raspberry Vinagrette, pine nuts and raspberries… It was so good! We didn’t get napkins or knives. The food was taking forever to come out. Ivan complained and the host said it would be out in 4 minutes. Our waiter said it was coming out. I know it was busy, but nobody even came over to say sorry. I had the Three Cheese Pizza. My pizza was creamy with mozzarella, ricotta and romano cheese. Ivan ordered the Chicken Parmigiana. He enjoyed it. The food and atmosphere was good.. but the service was bad.
I’ve been hypnotized twice on two Las Vegas shows. The most memorable was at the now defunct show Mesmerized. On stage, I was dancing like I was in Lord of the Dance, taking pictures of male models and dancing around a stripper pole. Ivan was very interested in learning hypnosis. He found out about the International Institute of Hypnosis. One of the instructors is Marc Savard from the Mesmerized show. He took the 101 class in December. Of course, I wanted to help him out so I let him hypnotize me. I’ve been hypnotized many times now. A few different things I did were offering to go on a date with a cop to get out of a ticket, forgetting who my parents were, talking to President Bush, falling in love with some strangers at a couchsurfing meeting, seeing my favorite singer Morrissey and thinking that somebody stole my belly button. At the end, Ivan can leave things in your head like a trigger word. One time he told me every time I heard him say the word chicken, I would say I’m a chicken and I like to lay eggs.. along with the chicken movements with my arms. This lasted for three days. It was rather hilarious to my friends especially since Ivan would stop by my work. He also leaves suggestions which can be helpful. The one that has worked for me is regarding the stomach problems I have. I have stomach problems that really hurt my stomach that I take medicine for. He told me that I would feel the pain still, but it wouldn’t affect me as much and would be a minor annoyance. Every since then it’s only been a dull pain. I try to help out Ivan as much as possible. I try to find willing subjects for him to hypnotize. I’ve had four friends get hypnotized. I know more of my friends want to try, but they still haven’t made it over yet.
I know a lot of people are skeptical about hypnosis. It’s nothing scary. It’s very relaxing. You won’t be a walking zombie. Keep in mind that the hypnotist can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. If you are thinking about going under, just keep an open mind and let yourself relax. It’s always been a good experience for me. If hypnosis isn’t for you… just check out a hypnosis show. It will be entertaining, fun and interesting.
I’m just a bit behind. So, here is the last two weeks’ events. Enjoy!
Ivan and I went to Satay again on January 7th. We got the same appetizers as usual, the Chicken Satay and Rotai Canai. I can’t get enough of that Rotai Canai! Ivan thinks Satay has the best Chicken Satay. Ivan had Mee Goreng. I had the Penang Asam Laksa for the main course. It was a spicy soup with noodles. I’ve never had soup for a meal. It was pretty good. After dinner, we went to go watch the movie Juno. It’s about a teenager named Juno who gets pregnant. She decides to give the baby up for adoption. She finds a loving couple who will adopt her baby. There’s a few things that happen as the story progresses. There’s a bunch of funny moments.. but at times it was rather slow. Ellen Page who plays Juno is the star of the movie. She plays Juno as a strong teenage girl. She becomes friends with Mark, the husband who will be adopting her baby. It shows her relationship with her boyfriend Paulie, played by Michael Cera. It’s a strange story that shows that life sometimes has it’s surprises. It was an interesting, different story that was a little funny.
Ivan and I went to Hawaiian Tropic Zone at Miracle Mile Shops on December 10. It was for an open bar event. There were tasty appetizers going around. They have a dancing area above the bar where the girls dance. At the beginning, the drinks were good. We were really hungry so we decided to eat in the restaurant. We waited 20 minutes and nobody even acknowledged us. Ivan was fed up and went to tell the waitress. A manager came over and said she would find out who our server is. She took our order for the appetizers, which we got the Chicken Lollipops. Finally, our server came over and took our order. The food wasn’t anything spectacular. I guess the only good part was that the meal was free. We went back to the bar after dinner to get a drink. At the end the drinks were so strong, to me it was undrinkable.
Our next stop was The Fashionistas show at The Harmon Theater in the Planet Hollywood. It’s a story about a young woman named Jesse who gets involved in a love triangle with her boss Helena and fashion designer Antonio. Thank goodness the show tells you the basic plot at the beginning. The story is told through dance and music. The soundtrack has some good songs from Tool, Evanescence, Lords of Acid, Led Zeppelin and Madonna. Both of us were lost throughout most of this show. They do add some different elements to the show. Jesse makes a DVD and puts Easter Eggs in it so Antonio can enjoy it. He comes across one that has different fetishes like Boobs or Feet. The choreography was really weak. The outfits were very strange. I’m so glad that this show was free. This show just leaves you confused. It’s definitely the worst show I’ve seen in Las Vegas.
Later in the evening, Ivan and I went to Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce located in Mandalay Bay. This is a bar that has burlesque dancing. The first song was The Wall. It starts off with helicopter noises. The four ladies came done in a rope from a hole the ceiling. The ladies dance around to the music. They really know how to dance. It was cool when they grabbed onto the pearl curtain behind the stage and hung on.. and they were also hanging from the pipes near the ceiling. I was just amazed at the choreography. It was so much better than the dancing at The Fashionistas show. This was a great show. It’s a definite must-see if you’re ever in Las Vegas.
We went to check out CatHouse at the Luxor on January 11th. It’s a new restaurant and nightclub that recently opened up. The decor was inspired by a European bordello. When you come in, you walk down a curved flight of stairs. You’ll notice numerous erotic photographs on the walls. They have a separate room for dancing. We had a lot of fun dancing for a little while. We went to the restaurant since we had a reservation. We were seated in a booth.. which has nice seats and it’s kind of private. It has curtains on the sides and a cool chandelier. It’s a great cozy spot. We were also seated by the mirror that turns on occasionally. A lady will be behind the mirror… we can see in but she can’t see out. She slowly gets ready trying to pick a hot lingerie outfit.. and she always puts on her makeup. For appetizers, we got the fondue. I’ve never had fondue before. It was a creamy dipping sauce. The dish came with four different things to dip. My favorites were the apples and the walnut bread which has chocolate in it.. wow, it was addicting! I had the linguine with mushrooms and pancetta.. it was very tasty but a bit salty. For dessert, we decided to try the the red velvet cake. It came in two little slices. There was peanut brittle around the cakes. Oh my goodness, the velvet cake is heavenly. It’s not too sweet and goes perfectly with the honeycomb.
Ivan and I went to go watch The Ronn Lucas Show at the Luxor on January 13th. Ronn is a ventriloquist. He has a few different characters including a teenage dragon named Scorch, Buffalo Billy and a punk named Chuck. I really liked Billy. He’s just so funny. Ronn is great at not moving his lips. He can even throw his voice over a feet away. There’s a funny bit he does where he puts a mask over the mouth of somebody from the audience. He then makes the mouth move and makes them say funny things. This show a funny afternoon show that’s reasonably priced.
We ate in the Cafe area on January 14th at Postrio located in the St. Marks Square at the Venetian. I had the House Made Pepperoni pizza. It was really good. It had pepperoni, tomatoes, basil and thin slices of parmesan cheese on top. The pepperonis were sliced very thin and were crunchy. I love Wolfgang Puck’s pizza. They’re just delicious! It’s a great quality pizza when the whole pizza is good including the crust.
Ivan and I went to Tamba open bar event with two Australian couchsurfers and their friends on January 16th. The drinks that were being served were pretty tasty. The event had some nice dance music playing. Unfortunately, there was no appetizers going around so we wanted to order some food. I told the server that I wanted the Karahi Chicken Curry. He recommended that I get the Chicken Tikka Masala Curry instead. I also ordered the garlic naan bread. Ivan had the Chicken Dhan Saag Curry dish. The Australian girls ordered the Chicken Pakora. It’s white meat chicken fried in a batter. It was good. I’m so glad I changed my order. I think I thanked our server twice for telling me about the dish. It was simply delicious. It had a perfect mixture of flavors. The curry was great in rice and also as a dipping sauce. We kept dipping the naan bread into the sauce. I really can’t wait to go back to eat the Chicken Tikka Masala Curry again.
I invited some friends over to play board games on January 18th. Ivan, Michelle and I went to Wal-Mart to go buy some games. I bought Cranium Wow and Uno. Karen came over to play. We cooked up some mozzarella sticks, beef & cheese taquitos and chicken fries. We played Cranium Wow. It’s so much fun! It has a variety of things you do like guessing definitions of words, sculpting an object, charades and drawing with your eyes closed. Michelle and Karen teamed up against Ivan and me. Michelle and Karen were pretty good and won. Later, we had three teams when Michael and his friends Eric and Dallas joined us. Unfortunately, Ivan and I came dead last in the second game. I’m not much of a artist. I should practice hehe. After playing Cranium Wow, Ivan wanted to hypnotize Karen. It seemed like she was going under pretty well. I think what took her out of it was a sound from the laptop. It’s really hard for me to watch since Ivan has hypnotized me numerous times. I get so tired and I just want to close my eyes and go under. I was trying to just listen and not watch but that didn’t work. Ivan was trying to make Karen go deeper into hypnosis. I know he noticed that I kept closing my eyes. So, he hypnotized me and Michelle as well. Ivan’s really quite good at hypnotizing people. He made us dance around to win the disco championship. At one point, I was a crying baby and my two babysitters were trying to make me stop crying. Ivan made us think that we were stuck to each other by super glue. Ivan made us think that every time he said CUT, we would get a cut on our face. Of course, Ivan was prepared with a stack of band-aids. I know we looked rather crazy with so many band-aids on our faces. Ivan also made us speak Martian. Michelle and I were having a great conversation in Martian. Ivan tried out past life on Karen. He asked her who she was. She stated that she was a housewife in the 1800’s from London. She was speaking in a British accent. She didn’t have a clue to where she was. Ivan showed her a cellular phone and she had no clue what it was. I asked her how she got around London. She said that she goes by horse and carriage. Ivan asked her what food she cooked. She said meats or vegetables. He said do you cook it in a microwave. She said what’s that. I asked her what she wore. She said dresses. She looked down at the clothes she was wearing and didn’t understand why she was wearing them. At the end, Ivan put in Karen’s head that she would think the Valet guy or girl would be a long lost friend. We proceeded down to the lobby to retrieve the girls’ cars. Karen swore that she recognized the Valet guy. She didn’t know how she knew him but she did. He was dumbfounded. He said that he was from back East. She said you moved and then you came back. Ivan finally told the poor Valet guy that she was just hypnotized. He didn’t seem to believe it though. Ivan told Karen that her body would be hard as steel. He moved her body letting her fall. Sure enough, she was flat as a board as she fell backwards. The Valet guy still wasn’t convinced. Ivan then told her that she worked at Valet and that the Valet guy was the imposter and had stolen her clothes. She went to confront him and said why are you wearing my clothes. Ivan also made Karen’s feet stick to the ground. She couldn’t move her feet at all. She kept trying as hard as she could. She fell over on her butt.. but her feet were still firmly planted on the ground. I think the Valet guy believed it at this point. I’m definitely a firm believer that hypnosis works.
