Arrived in Vegas

Ahhhhhhh! Trying to keep a positive attitude. I've got a cool job (start on Thursday), but Vegas is like a different world. On the surface it looks like every other stucco city, but there is something different that you just feel. It's like an oppression that looms over you with a ray of light that you can never reach. I guess I saw this the most when I went exploring in the MGM tonight. They have a lion exhibit in the middle of the casino. At first I was excited and went and looked at the magnificent cats like dozens of tourists (I even snapped a couple of pictures with my camera phone). Then I noticed just how sad it was; there were two or three handlers in the cage with them and the handlers were shootin' the breeze while one lion chewed on a piece of rawhide while another drank from the "stream". How sad of an existence for both the lions and the handlers.