Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

Just got back from Valbella, one of my fav places in the meatpacking district. Not necessarily my favorite Italian place; that's reserved for Il Mulino. Shocking right? Everyone says Babbo, but I say Il Mulino b/c it's a bit old school. It's been a loooooong time since I blogged and a lot has happened since I typed over a month ago. Hmmmm, let me think? I met Anderson Cooper - he's gay. I met Soulja Boy and his entourage of dancers and his very large bodyguard. It's been a crazy 2008 but busy nonetheless. The economy totally sucks and yet I decided to gamble away money in Vegas. Those who know me know that I luv the dice. Blacjack? Boring. Three card poker? Even more boring. There is nothing more exciting than watching the dice jump around the green felt and hoping to avoid the 7. Which leads me to last weekend.

Darko and I were hanging out in Vegas for the sake of having some fun. I was skiing midweek in Vermont - I can hear all the west coasters say that east coast skiing sucks. I hear ya but the snow dump made it pretty good. I did a John Candy and drove 5 hours from Vermont to NYC. I picked up my stuff and hopped on the 6:30 JetBlue to Las Vegas on a Thursday night. Darko had a room at the Mandalay Bay for the weekend. I've been to so many casinos and hotels - 14 at last count - that I'm now repeating hotels. This is my 3rd time in Mandalay. The only good thing about Mandalay Bay is that they have some great boxing matches and they have some great restaurants like Aureole and China Grill.

As I walked off the plane, I was on my cell talking to a friend explaining to them that I could close my eyes and tell them exactly which direction and next steps I could take to get through the airport. One of my favorite books is "Bringing down the house" which has been turned into a movie, called "21." It's coming out at the end of the month. I don't count cards and I don't play BJ much more, but the book is awesome. Not the best writer per se, but a great story nonetheless.

Back to jetBlue. When I get off, I could close my eyes and take a right out of the gate and head towards the escalators. I walk about 100 yards to the rail/tram - walk towards the front because you'll end up in the front when you get off to beat the crowd. Soon as I get off the tram I take the escalator down and pick up my clubs at baggage claim.

The next couple of days, we played some golf. I know you probably want to know about Spearmint Rhino and other things we could do at night, but I'd rather not say.

So I gave my players cards - I have a card for ALL the casinos - to Darko b/c he likes to play big stakes. He plays $1,000 hands or $1k on the craps tables. The key to player's cards is playing with a lot of money and for a while. When you play $1k at a time, you're going to get the attention of a few people at the casino. I don't like playing with Darko b/c I don't play $1k a roll and I don't enjoy it when he craps out b/c he gets in a foul mood, like when someone betrays him. For a couple days, I had no idea how much he had gambled with my good name on the players card. Out of curiosity, we both went up to the players club and I simply asked how I was rated. The old gentlemen looked at me incredulously, as if I was looking for a free meal or something. He took my card and inputted my card digits. His eyelids raised like he was staring at a hooker and then said, "I've got a serious player in front of me. Do you have a host?" I looked at Darko thinking, Damn sucka! I responded sheepishly, "No." The gentlemen asked me if I wanted a host to be brought over. I said, not really and that I just wanted to know how I was doing. I did ask if the host could get us into some of the clubs without having to deal with the doormen.