Once again, it’s time for defecting employees to go to our annual company meetings to have some solitude and fun. This year we’re gathering in Atlantic City, America’s abandoned playground. We decided to hold a mini theme week during the meetings to keep the site strong and full of blogs. This year’s theme: Risk!
Unless you count the Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties you had when you were a kid (and I do), I haven’t spent any time in a casino. So when I heard we were trading the peaceful Poconos for glitzy Atlantic City for this year’s company meeting, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I searched my long-term memory for a past experience or cultural touch point to satisfy my expectations and then I remembered 1997 Rugrats episode, “Vacation.”
In the episode, the “Rugrats” family all pile into an RV and drive to Las Vegas – which the kids call “Slots Vegas” – for the holidays. On the way, Grandpa Lou reminisces about the debauchery he had as a young man, and Angelica explains that “A vacation is when you get to do what you want all the time.”
Having never been to either of these places, my impression is that Atlantic City is like Las Vegas, but like New Jersey, so I re-watched the episode to mentally prepare myself for what to expect. Decided to take a look.
To be honest, I remembered it as a full-length movie, but turns out it was only a 20-minute episode that I had on VHS. When you’re six years old, half an hour really feels like 90 minutes.
Well, let’s start with Angelica’s claim that on vacation, you can do whatever you want all the time. I’m just going to say it: myth busted. All I want is to take a nap, and I know from experience that won’t be possible on our biennial offsite. Instead, I’ll drink too much coffee and feel a little sick from the rich food and struggle to not be the first one to go to bed every night.
As they drive into town, Lil says the lights look like “Xiamas trees”. I, too, will be arriving after sunset, so I expect to be mesmerized by the grandeur of the brightly lit big city.
One of the episode’s driving inspirations is Tommy’s desire to foster a pair of kittens (white tigers) that he sees in a giant commercial for the Heimlich and Bob magic show. The kids spend the entire episode crawling around disgusting carpets I can only imagine and navigate only by vibes, and yet they somehow meet the kittens. This is very relevant to me, because I would do similar disgusting and stupid things for the chance to raise kittens.
Grandpa Lu got rich from nickels on the slot machines. Because I am the worst, I hate playing card games, so slot machines seem like the perfect place for me to start my gambling journey. I like the idea of carrying around bags of nickels and dimes like a bank robber.
During the entire episode, Angelica was like “Watashi wa Star,” Which is an aspect of his character I don’t authentically remember from the show, although I think it’s accurate. She’s convinced for some reason that Slots Vegas is the place to be discovered, so she’s singing on every high surface she can find. The episode ends with her performing The Go-Go’s “Vacation,” the Kidz Bop version: “Now that I’m away, gotta play all day, I’ll be out ’til they come and get me. ” Like Angelica, I’m drawn to the spotlight. I have a special playlist of songs I want to sing for Defector Karaoke, although I’m not sure any of them will beat the subs and my singing “Dig It” by D-Tent Boys. From the 2003 feature film, hole,
However, the biggest lesson I learned from this episode is that no matter what kind of dilemma we get into on this “vacation”, all conflicts and desires will be over and satisfied in 22 minutes. i know better than to believe Rugrats To publicize. I’ve attended several of these retreats over this time and I know that the work of running a cooperative media company never ends. Naps aren’t just for babies, they’re for bloggers too.