Day: March 16, 2016

A flurry of blog posts, a result of being on the road and without reliable internet for days. It is strange to have been born into a world without internet and feel, well, naked when you are in a place that doesn’t have the connective digital cloud. I’ve seen people go through more withdrawal than I have, absolutely freaking when they can’t get a video on their phones. The new normal is so thoroughly disconnected from the reality of thirty–even fifteen years ago that it lends credence to this theory of an ever accelerating tech curve.

Which brings me back to the blogs not getting through… or anything connected happening. Honestly, I kind of liked it. I can see how being disconnected is anathema to millenials but I love the idea of being out of touch for at least a bit. What I hate is the flood of emails and texts that await when I check back in.

I suppose there ought to be a balance.

Some Thoughts:

1. Dear Fox (Faux?) News: Stop hiring blonde women as a wedge to be placed between two older men. It is starting to wear on America–even on your America. We get it. We understand the ideal you are striving to recreate.
2. While we are still talking, how does it feel to not really have a candidate you can push? Gotta to be hard on ya. I mean you had a pundit call Cruz a liberal. That happened.
3. Finally, stop acting like 2008 was ever really in doubt. Obama locked that vote up and won with a ridiculous margin. The fact remains that whoever (read: Clinton) is the Democratic nominee will also wreck shop against Trump. You have to know that by now.

My experience yesterday is a stark reminder of the perils of road travel. I didn’t have any real internet access so I couldn’t post it, but it all boils down to the fact that the Avi hotel near Laughlin is a terrible place. I say near Laughlin and they say in Laughlin. I suppose they are correct by technicality, but the place is 20 minutes away from any other piece of civilization, leading me to say it isn’t really even near Laughlin. I don’t get sad much but this hotel left me extremely sad. The whole place is a commentary on what not to do.

The Avi is built like an arcology. It is a self contained system of weak activities and paper food built around a casino that promises slowly delivered and watered down free booze, and slots so tight I could describe them with a line from a misogynistic rap song (I.e. Tight like a million…). I hated this place. The price tag led me there, but the smoke choked atmosphere drove me away.

Here’s what threw me: The place is a 4.5 star review on multiple websites. That means that there is someone with ISIS level social media savvy running around and making Avi seem a lot better than it is. I mean, they promised a dazzling food court, 30 nearby river and private beach, party-driven pool, world class gambling, and an on-site movie theater. The reviewers praised these amenities, but what I saw was not at all what was advertised. The gambling was for crap, the pool was basic, the theater closed at 7. Perhaps the worst part was the food situation which looked so terrible that I refused to eat. The main restaurant boasted $15 appetizers as if this was a bargain of some sort. After seeing the rest of the amenities, the only choice was to flee… to a room with a crappy bed and poor TV service.

So I am here, sitting in that bed after a poor night’s sleep, complaining about last night. At least I have this blog as catharsis.

I had a very strange video game experience the other day. I was playing The Division and I walked into a mission with a ton of confidence, mowed down almost all the baddies in a cavalcade of skill and patience. So, I was almost done with the entire experience when a guy I thought I shot got up and took me out. Now this isn’t really important or the point at all. The point is that I tried to go back and do the mission again and I tried and tried and six or maybe seven times later I recognized that it wasn’t working. I was missing something. Maybe it was the whirlwind of energy and confidence I started with and maybe that itself is the point.

I think it all comes down to state of mind. People often say mind over matter and willpower rules the day and all that jazz, but they often don’t believe it. The fact is there is truth to the matter. I lost confidence and lost the ability to succeed—and I’m not just talking about video games here. When I started getting my head right, I started having more success.