My First Night in Vegas

Fremont, Midget Wrestling and the Strip

I made it to Vegas!

I end up staying here a month, which was three weeks longer than planned. When I started the trip, I knew I wanted to see Vegas, but at this point, I was convinced that this was as far as I was going to go west. I had been recommended to go to Utah, but at the same time, I wasn’t in a hurry. But at the start, I figured a week. It didn’t work out that way, and that was fine.

If I was to describe the city in a word, it would be fun. Vegas has this fun, hustler energy to it. You see it everywhere, especially on the strip. Now the strip is kind of its own world, but even so, walking down it you see people hustling, rapping, posing, doing art stuff. It was so wild to see just what was here.

Before all that, I was going to meet Tim Chizmar in person.

I was looking forward to meeting Tim for a number of reasons. First off, Tim is one of the most successful creatives I know. He is a hustler’s hustler, as he finds ways to create work for himself, and he deserves it. He has an incredibly creative mind, and a great business sense most creatives don’t have. He is a masterclass is utilizing your ability to leverage work, whether comedy, the written word or movies.

He’s a smart dude. Now he does have his flaws, but he’s super loyal to his friends. It might be his best quality. He invited me after I got off the bus and picked me up at a starbucks.

From there I went to his house. I wish my phone hadn’t been destroyed, but it’s a creative dream. He’s got comics on his wall that are incredible. He’s a huge Ghost Rider fan and you can see it on his walls. He’s got some very cool memorabililia of his own work, and is just a chill dude. He let me stay for four days. To his credit, he went out of his way to help me out on the road.

He’s the reason I was able to give plasma. This was one of the ways I made money in Vegas, in that I gave blood for money. It’s not a bad combo, as I helped people and in return, was able to build up my money a bit. It was during trying to set me up, that I learned one of the most important creative lessons.

Let yourself be heard. I was rejected for giving blood the first time, and it didn’t sit well with him. So much so he went back and demanded I be given a chance. I took note of this. Sometimes we let things just stick. If we do speak up, sometimes we can change things. Tim made a great case, and I ended up being able to give blood. The way that worked is something I’m keeping in my head for the future.

That night, Tim took me to the strip.

Like I said, it’s its own world. I’ll have to write about my own strip experiences at some point, but to say there’s nothing like it doesn’t do it justice. It’s one of a kind and a cool place. Tim gave a nice tour and showed me Fremont Street.

Fremont might be the crown jewel of Vegas. It’s a wild mixture between a mall and a street, as the street is under the roof of a building and has shops and restaurants with all kinds of variety that goes for about a mile and bit. Bands play at every intersection on the street, and there’s all kinds of cirles of other performers. It’s wild. I saw so much in so little time. It’s a cool one of a kind place, and I’ll go into depth when I try to sell stuff there later.

We ended up going to a bar, where Tim knew the owner. It led to a bar on the second floor. It’s so cool because there’s retro nintendo and super nintendo games and other old consoles right by the bar, and in the other room, midget wrestling.

It’s wild coming in and watching The Brian Kendrick getting worked by the talent there. Brian is a super talented professional wrestler. To do what they do and tell a meaningful story about it is an art form. I got to watch a master do it. It’s an incredible thing.

After, I got to meet him as Tim made his way to introduce himself and talk about future possibilities. It’s an incredible thing to just meet a guy you used to watch on Smackdown, but it was just part of a crazy night.

I’m not doing justice all the sights you can see. Fremont is sensory overload. It’s Vegas within Vegas, and I loved the experience. It was a heck of a first night.

The next adventure went off the rails, but that’s next time. This was my intro, and as far as first impressions, Vegas was off to a heck of a start.