HotFlash!

Golden Friendships

I heard from a dear friend, and a beloved sister, tonight. I just felt the need to post this. She'll understand why.

The Delta Zeta Creed

To the world I promise temperance, and insight and courage, to crusade for justice, to seek the truth and defend it always.

To those whom my life may touch in slight measure, may I give graciously of what is mine.

To my friends, understanding and appreciation, to those closer ones, love that is ever steadfast.

To my mind growth, to myself faith, that I may truely walk in the light of the flame.

Notes On Las Vegas

I spent four days in Las Vegas a week ago with my DZ sisters, and I'm Still Tired!

What a wacky town! Just roll all of the best and worst things about being an American into a giant burrito, (add tomato, lettuce and avocado), and take a giant bite...

Best Things About Las Vegas

* Cab Drivers - they are amazingly informative, frequently insane, and sometimes very kind. One guy gave us the complete history of the town, one tried to sell us crack, and one dropped us off at a Chinese restaurant in China Town, and wouldn't leave until he gave us his cell phone number (he was worried that we wouldn't be able to find a cab back to the safety of our hotel after 10:00 PM in that neighborhood on a Sunday night). Needless to say, we called him for that return trip.

* Service - waitstaff, conceirges, pit crews, bartenders, and various other casino and hotel folks treated us like we were dipped in gold.

* Swimming Pools - some of the coolest and most comfortable I've ever seen and/or experienced.

* The Fountain At The Bellagio - I know this sounds corny. Watching it go off every 15 minutes was one of the most wonderful experiences I've ever had. It just MAKES you happy! Maybe it's built on the burial ground of VERY happy Native Americans...

Worst Things About Las Vegas

Commercialism - Here's a shocker. Everybody is trying to sell you something all of the time. I especially hated the M & M Museum and the Coca Cola Store next door. And that creepy little turd outside of The Mirage who was hell-bent on selling me a 150.00 tour of Hoover Dam.

It's Too Big - And I call myself a City Dweller...I'm actually embarrased to admit this, but LV overwhelmed me...Nothing is on a human scale, and it's all fake. The last time I visited was in 1983, and it was just sleazy. You expect sleazy stuff in Las Vegas. That's OK. What I wasn't expecting was how Disney-esque they've managed to make that sleaze into. Clean Sleaze. Very Disturbing. I'm still grappling with this.

The Food - too contrived, too expensive (except for the slightly scary Chinese joint), and highly overrated. What happened to the $5.00 buffet? The $4.99 prime rib? The $0.99 shrimp cocktail? I paid 12 bucks for a really bad cheeseburger at a Star Trek theme restaurant at my hotel. And I was surrounded by Trekkies (two of which were getting MARRIED at this dump...) Room service, however, was excellent...

The Bottom Line - it was fun, it was scary, it was dissapointing and it was wierd all at the same time. All in all, in retrospect, four days of my life that I spent pretty well...

Goin' To Vegas - Time To Fess Up

I have a confession to make. I am a Sorority Girl. And I'm proud of it!

It seems unfortunate that, in this day and age, I need to apologize, but it seems like I still do. I am a child of the '70's, and Greeks (as we call ourselves) were not a particularly popular group of people at that time. Sorority and fraternity members were considered to be selfish, vapid, cruel, and discriminatory. And denizens of another age. (Some of that was true, and probably still is. Much of it isn't and never has been. )

When I was in college, I joined an organization that wasn't and isn't any of those things. And I've been a member for almost 30 years. We understood and practiced the concepts of "community service" and "volunteerism" before it became an every day part of the American lexicon, and before it became something that every highschool kid is commanded to do before he or she graduates.

I'm a Delta Zeta (DZ, sleazy DZ, sleazy DZ on her knee-zies...I've heard them all...just throw more at me...), and will be one until I die.

I will continue to enjoy the friendships and social opportunities that I've always loved. I'll continue to do my utmost to support and volunteer for the philanthropic work we've always done, and have gotten very little credit for. I will continue to try to make this world a little better, armed with the values that that my parents taught me, and that Delta Zeta reinforced.

That said, I'm goin' to Vegas with my Sisters!

I belong to an on-line alum group called the Surfing Sisters Of Delta Zeta. We are 500 members strong. We hail from all over the USA, and have some Canadian members as well.
We have a listserv that we all log into, and we share our victories, our crashing failures, and our lives in general. We raise many funds for hearing related philanthropies.

Once in a while, we arrange to meet in person. Our get-togethers tend to be smaller that 500. I got 12 of us together in Chicago 2 years ago. In D.C. last summer, 30 of us got together. In Las Vegas it will only be 6 of our 10 officers. But it's still enough. Putting faces to names is mindblowing. And it's always amazing to realize that I share bonds with women I've never met in person. And it's so much fun...(It's like being in college, but having money...)

Vegas With The Surfing Sisters Baby! And it's gonna be a blast....
I'll keep you posted...