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Probably the most depressing part of the Holiday was seeing how even the native tribe fo the hala-whatever-tutu are abuing the Grand Canyon. We went to the SkyWalk, which I have to say was a huge disappointment. I had infinitely more fun larking about on the rocks and near the edge of the canyon itself than I had for my $25 ticket to walk the SkyWalk. It’s a real travesty of a contraption, and from what I heard the whole area will be unrecognisable in a decade as they’re going as far as building a hotel there too.

The big day; the reason for our trip in the first place. The “Little chaple of the West” certainly was little. The ceremony lasted a marathon 5 minutes 50 seconds, give or take, and the certificate of marriage came complete with an annulment form I understand

Another day walking the stip; taking in the numerous hotel/casinos!

We went to SEGA GameWorks; 5 hours playing in the Arcade for $15 — Absolute bargain. Right next door to which is, of all, things, M&M’s World!

We decided to wander over to the Rio to pick up tickets for Penn & Teller, unfortunately we didn’t realise quite how far off the strip it was — it was probably an hour walk in the end, right along the highway!

I haven’t seen Penn & Teller perform since sometime back in the early nineties when they had a show on the BBC so, although I recognised some of the sketches, I couldn’t remember enough of them to ruin the fun. Before the show we caught the Pirates show at our Hotel; which was certainly a sight to behold.

Our first proper day in Vegas; we walked down the strip stopping off at various places along the way; we took a trip up the Eiffel Tower in Paris to get a view of the Strip.

We went to see the Blue Man Group in the evening; the tickets were pretty pricey, but the show was well worth it in the end. It’s near impossible to describe the show because it’s so visual, but if I can’t recommend it enough.

After the show we walked all the way North up the Strip to Stratosphere, barely getting there before it shut for the night. The trouble was that we could see Stratosphere from our hotel and it really didn’t look like it was that far away, unfortunately it was! The North end was a real dive, and it actually felt quite depressing walking around, in contrast to the Southern end of the Strip. It was a good 2 hour walk (each way) — I don’t think we got back to the Hotel until about 3am the next morning; lesson learned — use the tram!

Up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport. God knows how many hours in the air/waiting at airports, but I finally made it to Vegas (via Dallas — my God that’s one huge airport). We’ve done little else other than travel all day!

It’s my birthday! That’s right I’m a stonking twenty seven years old now, and to celebrate I’ve finally resurrected this diary (the kids call these things blogs nowadays, but I hate the word so I’ll continue to call it a diary) after nearly 3 years of neglect; there’s quite a lot to catch up on; here’s a brief summary of the past 3 years:

• I’ve spent most of the past 2 and a half years playing an online game called City of Heroes, about 2 years ago I started work on a fansite for the game, which recently earned me a place on a community program which effectively means I play for free now! I probably spend more time working on the fansite than I do playing the game anyway.
• Liverpool won the European Champions League on May 25th, 2005, coming back from 3-0 down at half time no less! A night that will live forever in my memory. We followed that up by winning the FA Cup in 2006, another memorable comeback against West Ham in Cardiff.
• At the backend of 2005 my girlfriend at the time hooked up with some guy in Boston on a trip to the US and dumped me on the eve of our three year anniversary as soon as she returned to the UK. Obviously it would have been way too simple to tell me she met someone else, but she didn’t, instead choosing to make me feel like crap. Eventually I found out of my own accord and things became a lot clearer; amazing how wrong you can be about someone.
• Every cloud has a silver lining of course, that triggered a chain of events that led me right to the lovely lady in my life; Hayley, and I’ve never been happier. “Everything is for the best, in this, the best of all possible worlds” — too right it is.
• In Feb 2006 I bought the car I’d always wanted since university; an Audi TT — £17′000 well spent. I’ve still got another £3′000 to pay before it’s entirely mine though.
• I still work for IBM. I still don’t know exactly what it is I do there, but by all accounts I do a pretty good job of it.
• All in all, I’d say I’m a happier sod than I was 3 years ago, even if I have grown even more cynical (if that is possible) in my old age.

Hayley got me a Nintendo Wii with WiiSports, WiiPlay, Call of Duty 3 & Zelda: Twilight Princess for my birthday. Oh and a cookie the size of a pizza!

Met up with a few friends in the Royal Oak for a couple of drinks to commiserate the passing of yet another year; I’m creeping worryingly close to 30 now.

I kept an eye on the England-Andorra score throughout the night; and I should be grateful I decided not to drag my friends to a pub that was showing it, as by all accounts, we were pretty dire (again). The girls created some Mii’s when we got back from the pub — they seemed to love the concept.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what it is you want to hear.

- Alan Coren