Monday, May 20, 2013

Spring in the City

Walking around just off the Strip at night is a definite no-no, however taking a stroll when the sun is shining over this happy speck-on-the-map will keep you on your toes. Let me explain...


1. Going to an interview at Mandalay Bay, a car pulled up to the sidewalk next to me and asked if I needed a ride somewhere. Um, did they think I was hitch-hiking in a pencil skirt and blazer?? I was only at the Wynn and Mandalay would have been a grisly walk so , well, I took the ride...


2. It´s already ridiculously hot by early afternoon so while I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross the street, I took my sweater off. Innocent enough. Before I knew it, one of those over-sized Hummers is hovering next to me. The light still hasn´t changed. I hear a loud whisper and look back to see the window of the Hummer rolled down. It was two 30-something year old men, giggling like nine-year old´s who got away with opening their Christmas presents early. What was their chant?

¨Puta!....puuuuuuuta¨. (Spanish for a woman who gets paid for her nightly work. You know what I´m talking about...)

I have no hope in marriage.

3. Walking down the Strip at 3 o´clock in the afternoon on a Friday does not guarantee safety. A man who claimed he served in the Gulf War offered to pay me to have his next child.He has two other girls from two previous marriages (one wife was supposedly English and the other was a blond Jewish girl from Germany). We talked about the morals and ethics of raising children (and how much he would pay me) before I lost him the first chance I got at Fashion Show. 

He wanted to give me $10,000 to have the child and wanted me to give the baby to him. 

I told him ¨no¨ because I could easily make twice that much as a surrogate mother. hmmph. 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

The ways of the world make me question my beliefs.

There I was, in the Chipotle across from the university, quietly savoring my meal when...BAM. A couple in their mid-twenties walks in. The girl was, in short, a tomboy. Dressed in a band-t and leather sandals, she was as plain as it got. On the other hand, the man was a drama queen. He was bedazzled in glitter from eye lashes to fingernails. His lip liner was applied impeccably and his eyes bold. I think I was more impressed than anything. Whoever did him up was an artist.

This was the last thing I expected on a Wednesday evening. Everyone else in the room was unfazed, probably didn´t even notice. Hmm, I guess I can´t claim I´m a local just yet...


Not only that, I was hit in the face with a black bean that some whining kid threw at me from across the room...

Thursday, May 9, 2013

You´re Hired...well, you might be.

The front of Trump International Hotel is nothing like the life that comes from the back.

Walking through the front is a very cosmopolitan experience: the limos pull up through the sparkling driveway, the valet greets their guests with a bright smile, and in they go. Beautiful people walking through a beautiful lobby. (It´s unfortunate that sometimes the lobby is more beautiful than the guests. But that´s another story for another time...).

Going through the back is a slightly less calming experience. I´m even convinced the front and back of Trump have nothing to do with each other. Without a chandelier, employees were jumping from English to Spanish, laughing, smiling. Some in suits, others in white chef´s gear. It was really just a boring room with temporary excitement.Through the chaos, I found peace for my upcoming interview (go figure).

Let me just say that they advertised this as a Job Fair. What is really was thought, was a series of one-on-one interviews, which I was  not prepared for. Fortunately, the first interview went a little something like this:

Him: Hello, Monica. Good to meet you. So I see you go to UNLV? (did not look up from my resume until...)
Me: Yes, I´m a sophomore transfer student.
Him: Where did you transfer from?
Me: Franklin College Switzerland.
Him: SWITZERLAND??? (immediate eye contact)

And it was magic.


A group of us who had passed the first interview had been shuffled to a wall to wait by until there were enough of us to go up all the way to the 65 floor for the second interview. Meanwhile, I´m in heels I´ve never worn before and all I can think about is how the big toe on my left is probably slightly longer than the big toe on the right foot.

The manager who did the second interview has been playing phone tag with me the past day so we´ll see....