Pros & Cons of Living in Vegas! (In my opinion.)

https://www.joshuapwarren.com/curiosity-shop.html

Transcript

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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren, and I'm going to tell you about the best and worst parts, the pros and cons of living in Las Vegas, Nevada, in my opinion. And by the way, I used to call it Nevada, but when you move here, you better call it Nevada. Because if you do not, the locals will give you the evil eye. They call this Nevada. And of course, this is a world-famous city, often called the entertainment capital of the world. So I figured maybe you would find this interesting. I have lived here for five years now. I bought a house here this year, and I own some other property near Area 51 in Rachel, Nevada, north of here. So let me tell you first off, you know, why um why I moved here. Of course, you know, the good there are the good parts, and and we'll get to we'll get to that. Uh, but before I get to that, then I'll just tell you more generally why that I personally moved here because I was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and I I always lived on the East Coast. And of course, I have worked most of my life in some fashion in the entertainment media, uh, radio, TV, live events, and I found myself just frequently getting on an airplane and having to fly out west for one thing or another, one project or program. And uh, of course, when I lived on the East Coast, um, it kind of worked out because often I would I would fly to New York and I would work up there, but much more frequently I found myself coming out to the West Coast, and so uh that's why that my wife Lauren and I really started looking into heading out in this direction. And plus, I mean, because I had spent my life on the East Coast, and you know, I did live in Puerto Rico uh for years, which is still out toward the east, um, I was curious about just exploring a new territory out west. Go west, young man. There's so much out here that I still have not explored. So, okay, let me go over the uh the bad parts, so to speak. Well, for one thing, when when you decide to move out here, there are people who will dissuade you and they will try to warn you about all the the bad stuff. Um and of course, these are all people who have just visited. And they're there, they're usually always talking about the Las Vegas strip. And by the way, there is a ton of just normal and beautiful land that's sort of on the outskirts of Las Vegas that you don't hear about so much. Uh, for example, in in the summertime, you can look up sometimes and you can even see snow still on the mountains in the distance. Uh, these soaring mountains. Las Vegas is a valley, and there are these big mountains that kind of ring the valley. And you go up there and you would never believe that you're in Las Vegas. Everybody just thinks of the desert. But anyway, people uh would say, like, oh man, if you go to Las Vegas, you're gonna lose your ass out there. Uh, you know, because it's 24-hour gambling. There is no telling how many casinos there are. I mean, this is the kind of place like it's not just casinos. I mean, if you go to the grocery store, they have a section where you can go and play slot machines. You go to a gas station, they have a section where you can play slot machines. Um, one thing that's annoying is that it's actually difficult to find kind of like a normal bar where you can go in and sit down that doesn't have the gaming machines all over the counters. So I find myself going a lot to places like you know, Applebee's, where it's just like I'm used to having a normal bar. Even places like Buffalo Wild Wings out here have gambling machines or TGI Fridays in some cases have gambling machines. I think I could be wrong about that. But anyway, so um, nonetheless, uh that does become annoying to just have electronic gambling machines around you all the time. Uh, one thing I'll mention is that when you go, you drive like 30 minutes outside of Vegas to Boulder City, where I have the haunted Boulder City Ghost and UFO tour that I created and I own, they don't allow any gambling in Boulder City. And that's actually kind of refreshing uh to get away from that. So people would say, like, man, if you go to Vegas, you're just gonna blow all your money, you're gonna be poor in no time. And I do understand, and I and you're probably gonna hear me repeat this, why that could be a problem if that's a real weakness for you. Like for me, when I go out and gamble, uh, I view that like going out uh for a night at the movies. You know, you maybe you go to the movies and you you you set your budget aside. You're like, it's gonna be uh twenty dollars for me, twenty bucks for her, the popcorn's gonna be this much, the drinks gonna and you leave the movie theater and that money's gone. What did you get out of that? Well, you got an experience. So I view gambling the same way. It's just it's it's an experience, it's a fun thing. And uh I guarantee you that if you have a uh a problem stopping yourself, then yeah, I mean, like it's a bottomless pit here. But um fortunately, I've never had that. That's just not been an issue for me. Um, I can take you know 20 bucks or you know, a hundred bucks, depending on how much I I want to spend, and go out and entertain myself. And it, hey, if if I lose that money, it's okay. I've budgeted to lose that for my entertainment. And but on the other hand, sometimes you come home and you have a lot of money, a lot of extra money that you didn't know you were gonna get. And those are those are fun times. So, in my particular case, um the gambling issue was not a problem. And what what you find is that um this town will find your weaknesses. If you have a weakness, eventually this town will find it. But that was not a problem. Okay, so the next thing is like people be like, oh my god, you can drink alcohol 24 hours a day. You're gonna drink yourself to death. Um, I actually don't think I've ever seen the movie. Uh I think it's I don't know if it's called Leaving Las Vegas, but anyway, there's there's a movie with Nicolas Cage, and I think the idea is he goes to Vegas to drink himself to death. People, ah man, you can drink whatever you want 24-7 in this town. You go there, you'll drink yourself to death. But you know what? You can you can drink 24-7 at your house, right? I mean, like I unless you live in some place that's a dry county, I know there are still some that exist out there. Uh I mean, you can drink yourself to death anywhere. You got to go to the store at between certain hours and buy it. You'll save a lot of money. It's less expensive, and you can do it and you can drink yourself to death more cheap. But it, but if you have a tendency to do that, what I'm saying is like the fact that a bar is available 24-7 is not going to make a difference. As a matter of fact, let me just tell you my personal problem with cities having a cutoff time for drinking. Uh look, if a if an establishment has a last call, well then, you know, fine. It's a private business and that's their policy, and you know that walking in the door. But I do not think it's a good idea to require businesses to have uh a cutoff time, like in North Carolina, the cutoff was uh 2 a.m. And here's why. The reality is what happens is that uh shortly before 2 a.m. when everybody's already good and liquored up, the bartender says, last call, which is code word for you better drink the fuck up right now before you get in your car and go home, because the bar is about to shut down. And so everybody rushes the bar and it's like give me whatever I can get. It's last call. And and they they they slam whatever they can slam before that clock, you know, before the big hand uh moves. And then now they're really messed up, and then well, lights out, music off. Actually, it's more like lights on, usually. They the you know, it's it's it's kind of dim, and they turn the lights on, and now, you know, go home, and now you have people who are far drunker than they ordinarily would have been if you had not pressured them with this deadline to drink. At least here in Las Vegas, if you're driving, that doesn't happen. And uh so it's and again, in my case, that has not been any type uh of a life altering issue. I mean, I have a bar at my house, and I have got drinks, like you know, bottles of liquor that have been there for years that I haven't touched. Um and but I do like the fact that when I go out somewhere, especially with my weirdo schedule, that um I can meet somebody anytime I want, and you know, if we want if we we want to have a drink, that's okay. Then you have people who go, Oh, weed is legal there, marijuana is legal. Uh, you're gonna go out there and you're gonna get high all the time and uh burn up all your brain cells. Well, uh that's true. Uh weed is legal here, and uh and it's becoming an even bigger attraction for folks here. But uh for me personally, I I don't think I have once ever purchased a marijuana product here. Um again, it's totally legal. You you know, you walk into a dispensary, and you know I can't say the same for my wife, but when I was young and I was growing up in North Carolina, I mean, there were times where I would smoke marijuana and it was illegal. Um and but here, you know, here I am a middle-aged man and living in this area where it's legal, and I don't know, I just don't have a desire for it. So it kind of sucks, actually. It's like it's weird how that works, though. It makes you wonder you know, d does prohibition not work because it uh um it inspires people to want things they wouldn't want otherwise. I don't know, but I just you know I I don't even remember the last time I smoked or you know ate a gummy or any of that stuff. Um so that's not an issue for me. And then people say, Oh, prostitution is legal in Nevada. And uh I've actually had friends say, you can't be married and live out there. I mean, come on. We know what's gonna happen. And the funny thing is that people who have said that to me are people who uh do not have successful marriages and uh they don't realize that that's you that that it's kind of apples and oranges. Um basically look, prostitution is not legal in Las Vegas, for one thing. Uh prostitution is legal in various parts of Nevada. The I guess the closest place would be Perump, which is about like an hour from here. That's where Art Bell uh lived and worked. And uh the thing about uh prostitution is look, I think that people should have a right, you know, consenting adults to do whatever the heck they want to. I used to hear like, you know, the weird thing about prostitution is it's it's the only thing where you know you can't charge for something that you can give away for free. And I'm not saying that's true, but I'm just saying, like, you know, people would would use that phrase. It is a little thought-provoking. Um I have never gone into a place of prostitution because I'm just not interested in in that. Uh and if somebody is interested in it, then you know, fine. But that doesn't really have an impact on the way I live my life. As a matter of fact, I would be afraid, I'll I'm just gonna be honest with you, I would be afraid that that if I went into a place of prostitution that something uh something bad would happen to me. Because I've been to strip clubs before, and I know what it's like when you walk in there and and you feel like that uh the ladies are all vampires from dusk till dawn, and if you're lucky, they're gonna flip you upside down and shake every last penny out of your pockets. At worst, they're you know, they're going to drug you and suck your blood. Um and what I find is I I think it's kind of scary. Like the idea of going into a a strange place like that with strangers and being totally vulnerable to being robbed or drugged or whatever. I mean, it that just seems like a bad idea to me in general. And look, I have no experience, so I maybe I'm totally off base here, and I know that some of you listening to me would probably be like, Josh, you don't know what you're missing, but that's okay. You know, you have your thing, and I have my things, and that's just, you know, so that's not an issue either. That's not a problem. Here is where it becomes a problem, and and this is where it gets weird because this is a good thing and a bad thing. One of the things about my life is that I uh live a 24-hour lifestyle, and what I mean is that I am um my my life is unpredictable. Frequently, I'm up all night uh either doing investigations or research or experiments or I'm recording something, and then I'll sleep in the day, and then I have to flip that right back around and uh try to meet with people and go to offices and do normal hour stuff, and then you get you got time zone differences that you have to deal with, and uh my schedule's all over the place. And so the the 24-hour convenience here is great, but but for now I'm talking about the bad part. The bad part is because this is a 24-hour town, that means that almost 24 hours a day you can order anything you want to eat. Uh and nowadays you you know you you couple that with technology where you get on your phone and you go click, click, click, and in 15 minutes you have a pizza at three in the morning or a Philly cheesesteak, or you know, whatever your thing is. Whatever, ice cream, or it's so easy to take your pick of all this food that can just appear magically. I mean, all literally that that's pretty close to instant when you're you're like, I want this, and you hit that button, and with 15 or 20 minutes, it's outside your door. Uh, that's a big temptation, just eating unhealthy food. And now that I'm a middle-aged man, you know, that's it's even worse. Uh so that's a problem because that's a for for me, that is uh something a temptation that you have to deal with is just like there's so much good food to eat all the time that can you can make instantly appear, and you go like, well, you know, I'll eat healthy tomorrow. What the heck? You know, you convince yourself to eat unhealthy stuff. And um and then of course, on the other hand, uh what what makes it even more difficult is it it's hard to exercise here. Because like I have never personally been one of these guys who likes to exercise in my house like you know, some kind of a rodent on a wheel. I don't like being on a treadmill or uh an exercise bicycle. Um I like to me, exercise is just getting out and covering space, like walking or running or or doing activities. And here, um the weather is so extreme, it goes very quickly from from like scorching hot you know, like a hundred and twelve, a hundred and fifteen degrees to really, really cold very quickly. You know, like you know, less than freezing. I mean that's a that's a big a big switch, like you know, from a hundred and fifteen to like twenty-five degrees. I mean, it it goes very quickly. There there's not a lot of a wiggle room in in between. And when you get outside, um it's usually either too extreme one way or the other. Uh it's very windy here often, which g blows you know all kinds of shit in your eyes, you know. And then it's uh it's dry. So you know that that can be a big issue, also, although all these particulates uh in in the air. And uh also like when you're out in the desert, I mean there there's a certain peacefulness to the desert, but after a while it also just becomes boring. It's like you're seeing the same stuff over and over, so your your your brain just kind of flatlines at a certain point because it's just there's just not enough visual stimulation out here. And um so yeah, that's a big one. Just i it's just if you like to get outside and exercise, and again, I I'm not I'm not a gym guy. Maybe you're a gym person. That might not affect you if you're the kind of person who loves the gym, but for me, that kind of sucks. And look, I love also the water. Uh, you know, I'm a certified scuba diver. I used to snorkel all the time and and have fun when I was in Puerto Rico. I I love the whole maritime and and tropical atmosphere, and I used to just I couldn't wait to get up every day and go out to the beach. I used to I I I tell people, you know, when I was living in Puerto Rico, I used to live on an island in the middle of the ocean, and now I live on an island in the middle of a desert. And that's true. If you look at areas. Photos, you'll see what I mean. So I miss the water. I do have a swimming pool. Uh I insisted on that when we got this house. I have a nice swimming pool and a spa. And what's kind of funny is in North Carolina, you know, you had that people would call it a hot tub. Yeah, I got a hot tub. Here, they don't use that. They call it a spa. But but it's the same thing except that a spa is actually a hot tub that is built into the patio. So it's not like I guess, you know, I I've talked to people who grew up around here, and they say like for them a hot tub is literally a tub, like a little above-ground pool, you know, that you you bring in and you fill up with water and and hang out in. And here, like pool and spa means you have an in-ground pool, and then you have an in-ground hot tub, which they call a spa. So I've got that. So I do get my water time, which is great, but at the same time, and it, you know, and I can heat it up, and I mean it's awesome, and I love it. And I've I'm I have a little tropical thing going, like I buy all these plants and tropical things, and I even have some surprises. Like I can go snorkeling in my swimming pool. I know this is how geeky I am. Um I put on snorkel set and I go down to my swimming pool, and I've got a sunken ship down there, and uh like a mermaid and a treasure chest and all this stuff. I know. Um, so I, you know, I'm I'm good there, but there's still like no substitute for just really honestly being around a natural flow of water and that energy, so so that kind of sucks. Um, but I can drive four hours from here or fly less than an hour and be on the Pacific coast, and that's great. It's beautiful places like you know, like uh Laguna Beach, where I can just sort of chill out and be around the the coast, but you're not gonna go out. I'm not gonna go out and get in that water, it's too cold for me, and it's very rocky and jagged and and dangerous, frankly. So um, I guess because of those reasons, this will be well, I let me put it this way. Even though I I give you all of those reasons, this will be my primary residence, but it will not be my only residence. Uh in the future, I plan to have another residence, you know, maybe part-time somewhere else. I'll get back to that in a minute. But I guess the bottom line is look, I've just given you my reaction to all the bad things. And if you come here and you can control yourself, uh, and you can behave yourself, then those bad things are not going to be a problem for you. But if you cannot, then you're gonna get your ass kicked in way less than a month, I would say. Way less, no matter how how many resources you have. This is not a place for for the weak-minded or or the weak-willed, right? You make it here for five years, people are like, okay. You're the kind of person who can handle it. Uh my most of my family and friends are on the east coast. And so that is uh another one of those reasons that that I definitely plan to have um some kind of a residence eventually on the east coast, and uh that'll make it easier for me to visit people, and also it will make it easier for me to uh you know go down to the tropics and places around, you know, yeah, Key West of Puerto Rico, and you know that those warm waters and and enjoy that. Okay, so let's let let's go to the good things now, all right. So I mentioned before one of the bad things is the 24-hour convenience, uh, because it makes it too easy to uh to eat unhealthy and fattening things, which is I think a problem that a lot of people have, you know, just because it's so easy to eat eat have one unhealthy meal and be like, yeah, that was just one time, but but then you do it again and again. But the good thing is, well, you have 24 hour uh 24-hour convenience, right? That's the good part. Like you know, Lauren and I do not have any kids by choice, so we can go out at any time we want and do whatever we want. We can eat and drink and entertain ourselves whenever we want. And with my wacky ass schedule, that's pretty darn cool. And and that's that's a big, big part of what drew us out here to Las Vegas, just that alone. Also, if you're into entertainment, if you want to take advantage of all the entertainment that life has to offer, um this is the entertainment capital of the world. You don't have to go and like travel to places if you want to see shows or performers. All roads lead to Vegas. If there is some person out there that is really famous or interesting that you would like to see in person, then chances are eventually that person will come to you. They will make it to Las Vegas. And I have seen so many great shows and um had just so many interesting experiences seeing people in person that I would have never ever uh had if I had not been here. And one one of the things that is outstanding, and I don't want to name like particular names of celebrities and stuff right now, but one thing I will tell you is that uh right now, as I record this, uh we live in a world that is becoming more and more infatuated with censorship, meaning that if you have any type of a uh you're you're a performer or a speaker uh or an entertainer of some kind, I mean, and you have to use these media, which ultimately are all sort of internet-based, and you you stream stuff, um or if you use some other outlet, well, there are people there somewhere in the system who say, well, this is acceptable or this or or this is not. The only way that you can get true unfiltered, uncensored, honest content from a celebrity or someone like that is to go in person and sit down, and that person uh and uh you know, his or her organization has reserved that space and that time, and so they get to say whatever the fuck they want to, and that's important. That's one of the things that's cool about me being able to talk to you right now. Like, I don't have a sensor unless you hear uh a bleep in there because I just said fuck. Uh if if if if you go and you see somebody in person and they are able to talk to you directly, well you get to hear what that person really wants to say to you. And that's a cool thing about seeing somebody in person. For me, also, this town is like a big giant laboratory because I have enough understanding of mathematics that I can look at specific games and figure out kind of what the odds are, and then I use experiments with ESP and and psychic activity to go in and try to get an edge, just a bit of an edge, and beat the odds. And this is such a a lab of importance because scientists who do experiments, they're trying to be objective with how they conduct things and how they evaluate things, but they don't really have personal skin in the game. Do you know what I mean? Like when a scientist sets up a blind or a double blind experiment, that scientist is like, I want to be as neutral as possible. I do not want to influence the outcome of this in any way. So, regardless of the outcome, the scientist has nothing to lose. Well, here in Vegas, everybody has a dog in the fight, and everybody has something to gain or to lose. And that's a different kind of laboratory. And I guarantee you that people who run gambling mechanisms and games here in the state of Nevada know a hell of a lot more about statistics than some little, you know, scientist pansy who doesn't really have to go out there and live or die by the result. Uh this is this is a place where you can um you can take your own manifestation and and focus ideas and you can really try to create a real result with them. And sometimes startling things happen. So, so without getting too in-depth on that in this particular podcast, because you know you can listen to me talk about this and a million other versions of podcasts, uh, I love the fact that I can go out there and see if I can use techniques that maybe don't prove psychic ability, but they sure do help uh me get an edge and pay off over and over. And it's like it is what it is. Also, you know, I'm I'm a businessman, I've been self-employed since I was 18. I own a variety of companies, and there's no state income tax here. That's another good thing about this place. So that's helpful. And you know what? If this place, tourists come to Vegas and they say, uh, I spent a weekend there or or even a week, and uh ripoff. Drinks cost this much, rides cost this much, rooms cost this much, there are hidden fees everywhere, there's resort fees, and that's all totally true. If you are a tourist on the strip. But if you know what you're doing and how to do it, it's extremely affordable around here. Like, crazy affordable. Like, for example, I'll give you a couple little little tips right now. If you go to a casino and you sit down and you're gambling to get a free drink, well, you're probably not it's probably not going to be worth it. And unfortunately, some of these places do water their drinks down and stuff, and the the servers, they take their sweet ass time bringing bringing you that drink so that you sit there as long as possible. If you're in a casino and you're trying to save money on drinks, find out where the gift shop is, because almost every gift shop sells alcohol, like mini bottles, at normal prices. And you can go into that gift shop and buy, you know, two or three little mini bottles, and then you know, you just go get a Coca-Cola. Uh, you know, non-alcoholic stuff is super cheap, sometimes just free in Vegas if it's non-alcoholic. You can spike up your drink that way. Um, and and also, I mean, all around these casinos, you have gas stations. If you go to the casino and you eat, they're gonna charge you an arm and a leg, and it's gonna be shitty food because they have no competition, so to speak. Like they have that space, and there's so much demand, the people there don't even have to try. They don't care about quality. But you go to one of these gas stations that are around the area, they have really nice gas stations all around casinos that usually have grocery stores, and um, you can go in there and buy uh like I I can't I don't have it in front of me right now, but actually let me let me just see. I I took a note a while back about how much shit that I was able to buy for a very small amount of money. You can bear with me for a minute. Okay, listen to this. Okay, I went into one of these gas stations, and I'm gonna tell you which one in a minute. Nearer uh a casino. Actually, this one wasn't even that close to a casino. And I got these things a ham, egg, and cheese croissant, two crispy cream donuts, a monster coffee drink, a Starbucks coffee drink, and a Gatorade, and it cost total twelve dollars. Now let me repeat that, and I by the way, that wasn't just for me, I don't think maybe it was anyway. Ham, egg, and cheese croissant, two crispy cream donuts, one monster coffee drink, one Starbucks coffee drink, one Gatorade, twelve dollars for all that. And that was at the Green Valley Grocery, and they are all around the area, Green Valley Grocery. That's a tip for you right there. That's you know what I mean. Um and in fact, if you want more tips like that, I own a website, uh, a free website. It's called LowBudget Las Vegas.com. Lowbudgetlasvegas.com. Go there. I I g I give some of my best tips there. We don't have any major natural disasters here that uh are a big thing. Uh I mean there are some areas that might be prone to flooding, but you know that I've never experienced that, uh, and everybody knows where those areas might be. Uh there are certainly windstorms that can come through and kick up a lot of sand, but again, they kind of know when that's gonna happen. Uh you don't have to worry about hurricanes. Um I I've heard that tornadoes can happen out here, but I it's like super duper rare. You don't have the fires because there's not much to burn here like there is in California. I mean, yeah, you get some fires here and there, but it's not a big issue. And earthquakes are not a haven't been a big issue. I mean, like I I know that years ago when uh I I'm thinking oh I forget like 2018 or 2019, there was uh an earthquake in California and it shook my condo pretty well, and that was that was pretty scary, but you know, nothing collapsed around here. So you know, in terms of natural disasters, I mean you you don't get blizzards here in in the Las Vegas Valley. Um there's just it's it's one of the most stable and secure and safe places that you could you could imagine in terms of that. And also, uh the crime here is surprisingly low considering this is called Sin City. Everybody thinks you come here and it's all dangerous, and it's like the wild, wild west, but it's really not. I mean, for for the amount of people that that come here and the reputation that it has and all the the stuff that people are doing, uh I mean you watch the news and it's actually usually much more docile than news that I would see in cities like Asheville, North Carolina. I mean, like there's more I see more like bad stories coming from some of these little you know rural areas than than Vegas. So they're really good about doing their best to to clamp down on on that around here, and that's not a big problem uh uh at all. Uh certainly not as much as you would think, or you know, you considering again the the reputation of of Las Vegas. So uh anyway, also another good thing, super, super friendly people. Uh I have lived in and and spent a lot of time in areas where you have very I don't know, like arrogant people. You know what I mean? Like people who are just elitist and real snooty and just don't really give a shit uh about customer service. This is a customer service town. And um everybody here is just super friendly. I'm trying to think right now about like who I've met who was an asshole. Um yeah, I'm having to think this long. Okay, uh here's what popped into my head. The only time I think I ever actually that I can recall thought a guy was like, oh, this dude's a you know dick or whatever. I was at a casino. I was at the South Point casino. How about that? I'll tell you specifically, and I was playing Craps, which is one of those games where you you toss the dice, you know. And uh, which is a very complex game, but I uh I got a technique figured out pretty well on that. And if you are tossing the dice, then uh basically what happens is you can keep on and keep on and keep on and keep on throwing the dice until you uh you hit the number seven, you know, at that point in the game. At another point in the game, hitting the number seven is good, but at this point in the game, hitting the number seven is bad. So you can you could throw those dice like all day long. And I was winning and winning and winning, and the whole time the guy, I guess you can like the pit boss kind of dude who's sitting there, he was an old an old white haired, he had a like a shitty fucking frown on his face. You know, from the whole from the moment I sat down, he was having a bad day. And he he didn't like the fact that I just kept winning and winning every time. Because I wasn't hitting seven. And finally, at one point, he goes, You can't throw anymore. Or he might have said, You can't toss anymore. I forget. But anyway, he says, You can't, and I was like, Why? And he goes, I'm cutting you off. And here I was on a roll. And this guy just told me you can't do it anymore. Now, usually you would say something like that to somebody you thought was cheating, you know, or doing something dishonest. And so that was offensive to me. Because I know all the rules about how this game works. You know, I would reach down and pick up the dice. And for those of you who who've played craps, I'd pick it up and keep my hand over the table the entire time. I would toss the dice and make sure they bounced off the back wall. I mean, it was like I was doing this perfectly. I've done this so many times. It was perfect. It was perfect. But he says you can't do it anymore, so you know, you can't argue with that. So at that point, I just cashed out. I thought that was shitty. But that is the only, you know, time that I can think of somebody that I've met in five years that rubbed me the wrong way. Um and by the way, you know what? If you are a person who really wants to know what I know about how to gamble, if you want me to break it down for you and just spend, I don't know, like a couple days with you in person, just you and me, and let me teach you what I know about all these different games about craps, blackjack, and baccarat and slots, and like, you know, give you all kinds of I I've thought about possibly offering that a one-on-one like gambling lesson because you know it'd be fun for me to experiment with this. But I would you you've already got to have some moolah. I would charge you ten thousand dollars. If you have if you want to pay me ten thousand dollars, I will consider spending two days with you and and teaching you what I know and going out and gambling with you and uh have have a good time. Anyway, so look, when people come here though and they visit me, sometimes they come and they visit and they go, Oh, all right, show me show me how to do something. But they but they wanna, you know, they they want to meet up on the strip. And the strip is not necessarily the best place to gamble. Most of the time I do not gamble on the strip. It depends on what you want to accomplish. There are a lot of variables there. So anyway, let me move on. I'm almost done. Uh the next thing is I I wanted to be here because there's just so much cool, weird shit to explore. It's the Nevada Triangle. Okay, and yeah, and I'm sure you've heard me talk about that before. And yes, there are more disappearances of planes and stuff here than there are in the Bermuda Triangle. Um, but also there's just, I mean, like the combination of ghosts and UFO activity and cryptids and all this psychic stuff. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So for me, I I'm I'm just it's almost overwhelming. There's I I I feel like I'll never be able to catch up on like documenting all the things that are happening here. Uh and also it's a great electrical environment because the humidity is so low here, which is a problem. Like, you know, with getting chapped lips and a dry nose and some allergies. I mean, that sucks, especially when there's a windstorm and you have to pull your car over because you can't see because there's so much sand in the air, it's like a whiteout. But but that low humidity creates this supercharged electrostatic environment, you know, where you like you drag your socks across the carpet and you touch the doorknob and pow! Like Vandergraft machines and all this stuff are so powerful here. And I believe, of course, there's a connection between having a highly electrostatically active environment and paranormal phenomena. But I guess that to kind of wrap that part up, look, at the end of the day, the best part about being here is that people were not even supposed to be here. This is supposed to be well, two hours down the road you have Death Valley. It's not called Death Valley for no reason. You know, I wrote a whole book about Death Valley, and you can read it if you go to the Curiosity Shop at joshuapwarren.com. We're not far from Death Valley. A giant town is not supposed to be here in the middle of this desert. The only reason it's here is because that humans have come here and used their best artificial means and technology to create this literal oasis in the desert. And therefore, everything is set up as a big kind of machine, and it is just convenient, convenient, convenient. That's the good part and the bad part, as I mentioned. You know, it's not you're you're not uh running around with your your bare feet connected to the moist soil where the blades of grass are rubbing against your ankles, and but then you know, you you go to these very fertile places and full of fungi fungi and mosquitoes and spiders and no, it's it I it's kind of nice to be in a place where it's sort of dead, you don't have to mow your lawn. Um, but it's it's just convenient out here, you know. Convenient, convenient, convenient. And as you grow older, um that's kind of a wonderful safety net to have that level of convenience. And that's really what for me sort of wraps up what I think is is so great about living here, and I know I am forgetting stuff. God, there's no telling. As soon as I stop recording this, I'll be like, oh, I forgot to. But that's a that's a pretty good overview. So let me just remind you if you're going to visit Las Vegas uh and tell all your friends this as well. I have a free website that I created. It's called lowbudgetlasvegas.com. You don't have to sign up for anything. And here's what I get out of it. I have some of my own businesses on there. So, you know, it's advertising for me. Uh lowbudgetlasvegas.com. If you're going to come here though, don't just stick in Vegas. Go out to Boulder City. That's where I have my haunted boulder city ghost and UFO tour. And if you want to know what that is, just watch the short videos. Go to haunted bouldercity.com, hauntedbouldercity.com. And sometimes uh I have this show that I produce, which is called the Vegas Ghost and UFO show, which is like 60 paranormal minutes in a bar. But it's for all ages. You can bring your kids, you can bring your dogs, it's a family-friendly thing, but it's also uh usually in Boulder City. Uh, and if you don't want to go like do a walking tour or the weather's not nice and you want to sit indoors, well, go to paranormalvegas.com. And the cool thing about that show is that not only do we show you the best pictures and video clips of the most amazing evidence for paranormal phenomena and all that kind of stuff in the area, but we also have artifacts, like really rare artifacts and props and like items that are haunted or cursed or charmed. And if you want, you can go up and touch those things. You can take a picture with them. Um, so but our schedule is pretty erratic for that. So if you're interested, that's paranormalvegas.com. Okay, so before we wrap up here, hey, listen, if you enjoy this kind of thing, um will you listen to this for free? And I'm delighted to provide it for free. But uh, if you would like to support what I do, go to my website, joshua pwarren.com. There's no period after the pee. If you go to joshua pwarren.com, click the link to the curiosity shop. You will find so many unique things there that are custom made that you can only find there. Go to the online curiosity shop and just buy something that's cool and unique for someone you love. And you can buy stuff that's less than ten dollars. So joshua pwarren.com. All right, my friends, I hope that you found that interesting. Figured what the heck, I just go ahead and share it with you. And uh it's fun to be able to just ramble on like that for a while, once in a while. So until next time, thank you for listening, and may the force be with you.