Leaving is such sweet joy.

DEPARTURE? Leaving Las Vegas.
A blog post by someone who is indeed Leaving Las Vegas.

Note: He and his wife arrived in Vegas several years ago, very unemployed and they had selected the city solely on the basis of some vague offer of a bedroom by the wife's grandmother or something. They each became dealers and each became bloggers and each became something else as well. Now they are heading to "the Islands" with the full knowledge that there are no casinos there.

Here is his final blog post.

Pkrdlr.blogspot.com

I remember when I loved living in Las Vegas, when I honestly couldn't dream of living anywhere else. I think back to my one year of exile and the number of hours I spent during that year dreaming of my return to the place I considered home, Las Vegas.

I try and pinpoint the exact moment when I knew my love affair with Vegas ended, but it's hard. I see no single event, no single point in my past, when I woke and decided I no longer wanted to be in Vegas. Perhaps my discontent started when I stopped dealing and started babysitting every night. Perhaps it was more recent. Maybe the urge to move started to grow when the large corporation took over and the culture started to change. Maybe it really was as simple as visiting the islands I left nearly twenty years ago and have always wanted to return to.

In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter when I first thought of leaving Vegas. I knew when I moved here that it was inevitable I would leave. When we rolled into the valley nearly ten years ago, with no plans and seemingly no future, The Wife and I made one vow to each other - that no matter what we ended up doing, we would only do it until it stopped being fun.

I stopped having fun in Vegas a while ago. Vegas changed, or maybe it really didn't. Maybe it was us that changed, that grew tired of what Vegas is and has to offer. Either way, I have to say it's been a great run.

Vegas brought The Wife and I closer together. We've never been happier, or had as much fun, as when we were basically homeless and didn't know what we were going to do to survive.

Vegas made me more human. I wouldn't go so far as to say I actually like people, but I tolerate people a lot more than I used to. I've even learned, for the most part, to deal with the severity of my Type-A asshole side and refrain from freaking out when things don't go the "right" way - read that as "the way I would do it" or "the way I think it should go."

"The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well. It's hard to recognize that life isn't a holding action, but a process. It's hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along -- quite gracefully."

-- Ellen Goodman

I'm lucky, blessed even, that I get to exit on my terms. Vegas has been good to us, but it's time to let it go. We'll make our exit and move on to our next adventure. To twist some famous words, "Goodbye, and good luck."

Outstanding! Thanx for sharing FleaStiff. Life really is all about your attitude. When thinks don't work out the way I would have liked, I too, always try to look at that experience as a learning opportunity, which really gives almost everything that happens value. I am sure the Goodman's will continue to find happiness in life with such an attitude.

One thing that I've felt about "Dealers"... is a sociological orientation toward the here and now or immediate gratification rather than future gain. I've often felt that Las Vegas is full of those who value a good cold beer instead of a lecture on thermodynamics.

I think it has to do with a town in which everybody lives on tips and prospers or withers based on the roll of the dice. Short range goals abound in a town such as Vegas. A life is measured by that nights beer, that nights pizza joint, etc.

An entire town where one other blogger said Education? In Las Vegas? The school system in Las Vegas must confront one ultimate truth: Las Vegas does not need educated workers, it needs cocktail waitresses and bellhops.

Well, enough of my stealing from other people's blogs.

Quote: FleaStiff

We've never been happier, or had as much fun, as when we were basically homeless and didn't know what we were going to do to survive.

A blog post almost totally devoid of details.

Quote: EvenBob

A blog post almost totally devoid of ...

Thank you for your comments. Pkrdlr is indeed male, his wife dicegrrl is female. Further details are available at Pkrdlr's blog if you care to read them.

I still am vague as to why they're leaving. They obviously
don't like Vegas, but don't appear to know why. Maybe
If they thought about it they could come up with reasons.

I left Santa Barbara 30 years ago because I was sick of
the crime, the street bums, the limited job opportunities,
the cost of living, and that as soon as I made a friend,
they'd move away. I knew all of this then, its why I moved.

And many people moved to Santa Barbara figuring those problems would sort themselves out and it would become an upscale area of wineries and resorts. All those old cowboy and oil worker bars are now fancy bars with exotic wine lists. Los Osos is a wealthy area. The Stage Stop and its associated upscale restaurant at the bypass no longer seem out of place the biker babes graduated from Rice Burners to Harleys and became high maintenance broads eating out at Fess Parkers all the time. The street people found growhouse connections or biker connections and made a fortune in pot, investing the money in art galleries restaurants and bars. I know one couple that worked a total of three jobs decades ago but now own hundreds of acres and several businesses in the area that you left.

You can get rid of street bums by moving away but its better to get rich, take over the town, change the police orientation towards panhandlers and force the street bums to shape up or ship out.

What a utopia you describe. Everybody who stayed is rich
now. Truth is, the bums are called homeless now and there
are more of them than ever. Most everyody I knew when
I lived there are long gone. There's a couple left and they
aren't really any better off now then 30 years ago. Their houses
have tripled in value, so what. So have their taxes. I have
never had a minutes regret in leaving.