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The White Noise Of Vegas
Nov. 28th, 2012 09:27 pmI just got back from Las Vegas, where I was giving a talk at a conference. I had forgotten what a noisy city it is, particularly if you have to spend most of your time in a casino/hotel/conference center complex. In the conference center there is the expected hubbub of thousands of attendees chatting excitedly among themselves about the latest developments in their respective fields. In the hallways of the hotel and conference center there is always music playing. Since I was staying in the Hard Rock Hotel the music was particularly loud, but at least it was a decent selection of classic rock.
Then there are the casinos, where the music is cranked up to a volume insufficient to stop you from dropping quarters in the slots, but sufficient to drown out the sounds of your better angels telling you to stop doing so. Meanwhile, the gambling machines themselves try to beguile you with their own chorus of electronic beeps and bells, chirps and chatter. And there's no way to avoid it, for all paths lead through the casino. You want to get from the front door to the hotel lobby? You must pass through the casino. Indeed, in the Hard Rock Hotel the registration desk is in the casino, right between the horse race betting and the keno. You want to grab lunch after morning full of technical meetings? Through the casino you must go.
You might think that fleeing the entire complex is the answer, but you'd be wrong. All along The Strip the casinos, and those other businesses which have managed to gain a foothold between them, blare their signature sounds into the street, hoping to hijack your dazed motor neurons and have them steer you into their parent establishment.
Even my room was never really quiet. The fan on the air conditioner ran continuously. I tried upping the thermostat but then the heater came on and the fan continued to run. There seemed to be no setting in which the fan would not run. (Other than that, it was a nice room.)
Las Vegas can be an amazing, entertaining place, in a gauche sort of way. But it is nice to be back on my island. My quiet island.
Then there are the casinos, where the music is cranked up to a volume insufficient to stop you from dropping quarters in the slots, but sufficient to drown out the sounds of your better angels telling you to stop doing so. Meanwhile, the gambling machines themselves try to beguile you with their own chorus of electronic beeps and bells, chirps and chatter. And there's no way to avoid it, for all paths lead through the casino. You want to get from the front door to the hotel lobby? You must pass through the casino. Indeed, in the Hard Rock Hotel the registration desk is in the casino, right between the horse race betting and the keno. You want to grab lunch after morning full of technical meetings? Through the casino you must go.
You might think that fleeing the entire complex is the answer, but you'd be wrong. All along The Strip the casinos, and those other businesses which have managed to gain a foothold between them, blare their signature sounds into the street, hoping to hijack your dazed motor neurons and have them steer you into their parent establishment.
Even my room was never really quiet. The fan on the air conditioner ran continuously. I tried upping the thermostat but then the heater came on and the fan continued to run. There seemed to be no setting in which the fan would not run. (Other than that, it was a nice room.)
Las Vegas can be an amazing, entertaining place, in a gauche sort of way. But it is nice to be back on my island. My quiet island.
