You’re great and all, Las Vegas, but you’re pretty superficial
Dear City of Las Vegas,
Let’s be honest, can I be honest? Things just aren’t working out—we both knew this was coming, so don’t act as if you’re surprised. It’s time to be real.
You’re a city with over 2 million people in it, and it is beginning to feel as if you don’t have time for me. I feel like another face in the crowd of millions.
When it comes down to it, I think we just have such different personalities. You’re all about the glitz and glamour, fancy cars, flashing lights and world fame—but that doesn’t impress me. I don’t care. I don’t care about the Lamborghinis, the Ferraris or any other of the hundred thousand-dollar cars that riddle your streets.
I could care less about the multibillion-dollar mega-resorts and entertainment industry that blankets the Strip and every billboard in your city limits. After a while, they all seem the same to me.
Your summers are miserable, your weather is monotonous and, until recently, I never knew the seasons of fall and spring existed.
What’s worse is I feel I need to impress people when I go there. It feels as if people are looking at my clothes, my car, my house and measuring me up to see where I fit on their hierarchy of fame and fortune.
That’s not me. I’m a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy.
I buy my sunglasses from 7-Eleven because I know within a week they’ll end up at the bottom of a lake.
I’m happy driving my 10-year-old gas guzzler around town with my mountain bike in the back. I haven’t washed either in months.
And I hope you’re sitting down for this next part: I shop at Savers. Yes, Savers, second-hand non-designer clothing.
I like a place with (gasp) indigenous trees where the leaves change colors in October and fall off in December, where the nearby lakes have water that is crystal clear and air quality that is unmatched.
I need a city that explodes with life at the first sign of good weather, becoming inundated with cyclists on their Sunday morning rides, joggers training for their next marathon and elderly drifters, beatniks and bums that litter the banks of the Truckee River.
I need a local community where no matter where I go I’ll always recognize a few faces and see a few unfamiliar ones that pique my interest. I need a home that engages and challenges me year after year with endless opportunities to try something new and daring.
In the end I’m glad we’ve had this time apart, as I’ve been able to rethink who I am and what I value.
As you may know I am living in Reno now. I know this may be a bitter pill to swallow, but I want you to know you’re a remarkable city and I know you’ll continue to prosper. There are tons of people out there that you’ll continue to wow with your behemoth casinos, engaging shows and incomparable nightlife.
For what it’s worth, the 18 years of history that we had together is something I wouldn’t change for the world.
Plus, I can say with the utmost sincerity that your strippers are way hotter.
Yours,
Memo
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on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 12:36 am and is filed under Perspectives.
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