It was so odd to me that my dad only wanted to see his house. He could not have cared less about his cars or outfits. One would think, him being a super fan, he would have been chomping at the bit… but no.

Years later I would revisit Graceland with my mother-in-law who is also a big Elvis fan. She wanted to see everything. (Well, except for the cars. She could not have cared less about those.) Her main goal was to see his jewelry. Unfortunately all they had was maybe one belt buckle and a couple rings. “There has to be more!” she said.

Later that evening, after our tour of his humble abode, we watched the movie “Viva Las Vegas” in the Elvis movie theatre. And boy-howdy was that movie garbage. I have only seen two of his movies, Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas and they are both giant pieces of misogynistic bull shit that feel almost like a cocaine-fueled dream than a movie. Out of the two, each had one song in each that I enjoyed. If you wanted a story or any kind of character growth… I’d look elsewhere.

The main reason I chose this song is because this previous Friday, the day this was supposed to be published, I was in Las Vegas with my boys for the Magic 30 convention. This was the final stop, before home, on our cross-country road trip. And this was the event I had been waiting anxiously for since started a month ago.

Magic the Gathering (if you don’t know) is a collectible/tradable card game that came out in 1993 (if you’re doing the math it shouldn’t be called Magic 30 but… whatevs). It’s a strategy card game where people purchase booster packs to get better cards to incorporate into the decks they use against their opponents. The idea is that you are a wizard with a “library” of spells and creatures to defeat an opposing wizard. There is more complexity to it than what I am describing, but if I were to delve into them this would be a much longer post. I for one like to produce “fun sized” posts to entertain the masses.

This was the first convention I had/have ever attended. I have wanted to do San Diego Comic-Con in the past but I am not quick on the purchase button for me to get a ticket. Plus I’ve never actually had the money to go to one before. This time I had the funds to buy all of my boys a ticket and entry into a few tournaments. Even competitive play is something I have never done, nor have I wanted to. Most of the attendees to such events loath a soap, water, and deodorant combo. There was none of that at this event, so maybe it’s just a local thing. Or maybe if they can afford a ticket to the event they also usually purchase the necessary self-care items.

When I first signed up I had also wanted to do a ton of events, but out of the corner of my eye I caught a disclaimer that events tend to run long. So from the 6 I had initially purchased I scaled it by half. And thank the universe I did. One of my events was over 5 hours long. I didn’t even get a chance to finish it, because I was in super bad mood and the dudes at my table said there was only 2 rounds, when the app CLEARLY said 3. But instead of trusting the people, y’know, facilitating the event I took listened to the word of a bunch of know-it-alls who deemed the “winning deck” of our “pod” was just some kid with a bunch of creatures instead of me, whom they all decided (collectively) to take out first because I was the biggest threat. So… fuck them. (I’m not bitter.)

Despite my failures in that single tournament (it was them and my own stupid inability to slow down and pay attention) I had an amazing time. I fully intend on attending another one in the future, should they hold one. And supposedly this is a yearly thing. Who knew?

After spending an insane amount of money on Magic cards… (see the photograph below) I am officially home. It’s weird to be back, but I couldn’t have lived like that for much longer. Hopping from one hotel to the next is exhausting, especially when you have a co-traveler who requires many different life-saving devices in tow.

I’m just glad we got to tick off some bucket-list items for my husband (Boston, Florida, and New Orleans.)

Our only regrets is not spending more time in Austin and in Boston. My husband opined, as we were leaving “Bean Town,” that he wished we had set aside an entire month for the city instead of just a week. He is a foody traveler. He wants to taste all of the best local places to eat. I’m a sightseeing/experience guy myself.

It started out with just this… which is still TOO MUCH…

and then morphed into….

One of the boxes of cards and 3 of those decks merged into that white card box. Those are 3 shirts in the pile at the bottom. And not pictured here is this SWEET jacket I got.