When the Homily is about Immunology

Viva Las Vegas? Not so much.

Vegas Post #2

I've been to Reno numerous times, but I don't think I've ever done anything more than drive through Vegas before. Our arrival early Monday afternoon had me marveling at the brownness of it all. Rest assured, despite all human efforts, it is and remains a desert. A century ago people died trying desperately to get past this hell hole, now many people yearn to come here and for the most part having arrived die in an entirely different way.

One word comes to mind as I look around Vegas: fake. I feel like I'm walking through a big outrageous theme park. Everything seems like a shallow attempt (albeit expensive) to appear fantastically real and awe inspiring (man's attempt to rival God's natural handiwork in the mountains and stars) and as if that weren't bad enough, the fakeness is richly and extravagantly decorated with all manner of shiny nonsensical crap. Advertising - mostly for shows - pound you repeatedly with all the subtlety of a successful jihadist suicide bomber.

The freeway landscaping is beautifully and naturally dressed up with rocks...brown rocks...lots of them. Astonishingly enough, I noticed vast housing tracts, suggesting that people actually do live here. I could be wrong, but I rather suspect the yards of these houses were composed of the very same rocks the freeways used. Though I did notice a few homes occupied by environmental rebels and anarchists who did make war and tried to grow lawns.

As you can see, Las Vegas holds absolutely and positively ZERO appeal to me.