To satiate any curious bloggers, life in Vegas is going a little too well. I’m not complaining, just terrified of when the other shoe might drop.

‘Mamma Mia!’ does have a closing date…for September 2008, so I still have a job for over a year, but I might be leaving early to attend graduate school. We are nearly sold out every night, so that’s 1,750 butts in 1,750 seats, which is better than even the Broadway company! I’m not saving as much money as I’d like because I have learned to be a very savy Blackjack player…but so far I’m about even.

The coolest part about living in Vegas is reading the trashy magazines and realizing that the same night you visited the Playboy Club at the Palms, some B-list celebrity was also there causing trouble. I’m afraid that I did miss the Pacman Jones incident, but with all the #### action that frequented the NBA All-Star weekend and several of the boxing matches, a disgruntled NFL player hardly turns an eyebrow in this town.

Word to the wise: the Playboy Club is cool, but it will send you to the poor house. The Palms is okay, but the Hard Rock Casino is pretty great, especially if you want to hang out with people where the median age is roughly 28. Body English is a crazy club where you’ll find a smorgasbord of drugs in the bathroom…not that I did any, but I saw numerous bouncers flushing them down the toilet after they confiscated them off patrons. My favorite place to play is the Red Rock Casino, a local joint that is near Red Rock National Park. They have great $10 blackjack tables and the smoking isn’t as bad as it is on the strip. The scene is a little more casual and it’s a 10 minute drive from my apartment

Not that I’m a local, but if you have 48 hours in the city of sin, you have to drive through Red Rock Canyon (it is okay to see the light of day in Vegas), watch the Bellagio water show at night, and have drinks at the Wynn at ‘The Country Club Bar’ (because I know the bartender and the view of the golf course is stunning!) I also recommend showing some self-restraint when you are gambling. Finally, from personal experience, the rooms at theHotel at Mandalay Bay are to die for!

Okay, enough of my insiders guide…grad school has turned in to a hot race! I thought USC was my best bet, but Boston surprised me with a big scholarship and then came back and told me they are flying to Vegas to wine and dine me for a fellowship that would bring my total merit award to $26,000 a year to attend BU. That completely changed my opinion of Boston…until I got my acceptance to Columbia University. Um, HELLO!!! We’re talking ivy league! How cool is that?! It would put me back in New York, back with my fiancé, back in my ‘hood, and back in the city where I really want to work. Finally, I could still sing and dance AND go to school. I’m working out the logistics, but I think that’s where I’ll be by next January.

So that’s where I stand…not too bad for a girl who just turned 26! Cheers.