Fish Bowls

I went to Towne Square to buy some Oolong Tea from a shop
called Teavana. It's an excellent shop, with a great selection and
knowledgeable employees. Not only did I get a tasty beverage, but I got
enough oolong to last me a few weeks.

The benefits of oolong tea are interesting. According to Chinese folks, it
makes you thin. The people at Teavana tell me that it helps you process
carbs. This isn't true.

In actuality, oolong tea inhibits your body from absorbing fat and
cholesterol. It also produces an interesting side effect. Your body, when
burning energy, will go after your fat stores rather than a more readily
available source - your muscle.

I'll admit, the employees explanation is more marketable. It's a lot easier
to say that something helps you process carbs than all the information I
just gave. So I can't fault them.

But I digress. After receiving my tea, in both drinkable and brewable form,
I sat down with a book and relaxed a bit.

I enjoyed the travel writings of Paul Theroux. I sat tensed, ready to spring as a
small child (maybe 1 or so) nearly walked into the street as her preoccupied
mother chatted with a friend. I breathed a sigh of relief when the mother
grabbed her, the car heading toward her hit its brakes, and a very bad thing
was averted.

Would I have been quick enough if the mother had not been? I don;t know. I'm
not as fast or limber as I used to be. I'm just happy it didn't have to be
tested.

Again, I digress and turn my attention to people watching.

Las Vegas, when you get right down to it, is little more than a barren
desert. We get our water from somewhere else, and the trees we enjoy in Sin
City are usually of the palm variety, which means it's actually a type of
grass (look it up if you don't believe me).

But real grass in this dust bowl is at a premium and many places substitute
AstroTurf. Neighborhoods have this cheap, green fabric, and so does Towne
Square. And the local couples flock to it; it's one of the things I find
interesting in this otherwise cesspool of a town.

Las Vegas, to me and many others, is a place to go to create some sort of a
memory. And while our marketing geniuses will tell you that what happens
here stays here, it  makes me wonder about the people who call the town home. What kind of place is this to live if you're young (or old, for that matter) and in love?

What is there to do? Where is there to go? What kind of memories can you
make?

You can go to Mt Charleston for real green, but the average tourist won't be
doing that. You can visit Lake Meade for your water fix, but even that is
man made. So does that mean that all of our potential memories are false?

No. And I debated this with myself for awhile, but the only answer I can
give is no. The memories you'll take back from Vegas, while built on fake
grass or quick drying concrete, are not fake. We are a town of masks; nothing truly fake, but you never really see what's real.

Towne Square has the quaint, pretty little setting. There are light strung up and a small gazebo. Plenty of tables and benches are there for you to relax on. Or you can just lay on the "grass" near the water.

The water is designed to be a like a small brook, complete with a sort of little island. There is a little bridge that goes over it and the rocks are all fake (or at least covered by some kind of sprayed on concrete, which lends them the look). In all, watching the happy couples laying in each others arms, it give a true sense of serenity.

And it reminds me of a fish bowl. Fake plants, rocks and cheap decorations make the fish feel safe and at home. This is what Towne Square is like as well. In fact, much of Vegas is like this.

Think about it. Caesar's Palace is designed to look like something out of Roman history. The Luxor harkens back to ancient Egypt. And the Venetian is meant to whisk you off with its romantic vision of Venice (it fails because the water is much cleaner than the real thing).

And while all of these things are false, it doesn't make the memories you can make here any less real. In our little fishbowl, in the middle of the desert, you can enjoy sites and sounds from around the world.

Here, we have the Eiffel Tower, castles and pirate ships. And while none of these can compare to the real thing, it's a lot cheaper and the pictures are just as lovely.

So back to my point. What does this mean for the people who call Las Vegas home? It's simple.

We have the world at our finger tips. And people from all walks of life, from all over come here just to see what we've managed to carve out. It's a paradise in a wasteland. It's a fishbowl in the bedroom of America.

Plus, we got tons of hookers.