.....because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.....

- jack kerouac -- "on the road"

haha - thought i disappeared, didn't you? fear not, i'm still kicking, albeit in vermont at the moment ... but kicking nonetheless. i'm now in the midst of the vickie vacation in vermont via vegas, and a surreal experience it has already been. i suppose it's to be expected, having kicked off in the most blatant example of a city of surreal reality, right?

but i'm getting ahead of myself, as normal. i suppose a good place to start is at the beginnng. so here goes ...

so last tuesday, i hopped on a jet plane and flew to sin city for approximately five days. there's something so calming about flying thousands of feet in the air, the clouds a thick blanket below while the sky above is a shade of blue that seems almost to glow, it's so rich in hue - i've tried numerous times to describe the sky when i'm in an airplane and have never been able to do it justice - one of the reasons why it's never made it on here before. but i love it, regardless. i flew from baltimore to vegas making a stop in louisville - no offense to all of the kentucky-ites out there, but i wasn't overly impressed. sorry. ;-) fortunately, it was only a brief layover before i made my way to pacific time - how much do i love being able to say that!!!

the time in vegas was a blur of activity - pretty much consisted of walking, eating, walking, gambling, eating, walking, drinking, gambling. it's always difficult to take a bunch of people, each of whom have specific things they want to see/do and make sure everyone's hopes for the time are met. since i had already been there and done just about everything i'd wanted to previously, i took a bit of a backseat, letting the more insistant members of my family get their way. the only two disappointments i found were that i didn't get to get into the guggenheim museum at the venetian for the pop art exhibit they have there and that we didn't get back to the stratosphere to do the big shot (but i'd done that last year). as far as i was concerned, i wanted to make sure 1) everyone had fun, 2) we got to the hard rock hotel and 3) we stopped at harrah's to see the bartenders there (who are famous for "cocktail"-like displays of acrobatic skill). all three goals were met, so i was happy. bonuses: 1) the double bed room we had booked at bally's for the first night turned out to be a bit different than expected. instead of two beds, we wound up with a two-room suite - seven couches and two tvs in the living room (one television was over the BAR - yes, there was a photograph taken of yours truly wearing a cowboy hat sprawled coquettishly on top of said bar, fear not) and one bed in the bedroom. all in all, we wound up with two bathrooms (huge bathtub and bidet in one - hahaha), two rooms, tons of space ... i had no problem curling up that night on one of the couches and drifting off to sleep with a view of the eiffel tower from the paris resort out my window ... 2) i found a fabulous new drink. frozen green lizard. basically similar to a frozen margarita with midori. bueno! 3) freemont street was as fabulous as i remembered. 4) lunch at the cheesecake factory one of the days we were there (haha) - i didn't realize they had one at caesar's palace!

all in all, good times. i stuck to the slot machines and broke about even - didn't gamble too much, but i did manage to score a free cocktail, which i'd always wanted to do, so that was fun. if anything, i actually might have finished a few dollars up, so that's always great.

anyway, sunday was spent crossing back across the country to the right coast of the country, at which point the vermont portion of the vickie sanity break tour began full force. as my mother puts it, i'm "going to learn how to relax and take it easy" if it kills me. which it very well might, i tell you! relaxation is a foreign concept for me - i've already felt bits of stircraziness while everyone else is at work. so i'm writing a great deal (could the great american novel begin to emerge? perhaps ...) and taking care of some other things while i focus on getting stronger and all that.

i'm still adjusting to the whole time zone thing, though, and i realize it's 11:30 and i'm exhausted, which might explain part of the incoherency of this post. but i wanted to drop a line and announce that i am still among the land of the living - paul, expect email and/or a phone call tomorrow!!! :-)

alright, my bed is calling me. ah ...