2005-11-21 20:23:10 (UTC)

Where to begin?

This past week has been a bona fide rollercoaster of ups 
and downs. Rather than put them in any sort of 
chronological order like I usually do, I'll try and tell 
about each instance individually.

Two people who I knew and were somewhat close to passed 
away last week. The first was Rick Honaker. I've known Rick 
for about seven or eight years. I got the call from my 
friend Geoff on Wednesday of last week in which Geoff told 
me he had died. It came as quite a shock. Rick was an icon 
in Vegas and when Geoff and I were both in End Over End and 
Exit One Eighty, he helped us get shows and was extremely 
supportive of us in every regard. Rick kind of grew to a 
bit of power and fame in Vegas, becoming a staple at the 
Cooler Lounge, where he built the stage that many a great 
band has played on and enjoyed varied levels of success. He 
was also an accomplished musician--most recently the bass 
player for The Dirty Babies. A lot of people knew him as a 
cool punk rocker, a guy with a heart of gold and an even 
bigger knack for making people feel good. I have many a 
personal story of my own with Rick. Among them: him 
cheering me up when I was depressed and the many times he'd 
come over and hang out at Tony's house just to watch us 
practice or get in on a little jam session himself. He was 
always a joy to talk to and I guess I still can't believe 
he's gone. I wasn't able to attend his funeral on Thursday 
as I was stuck at work and could not escape. I was both on 
deadline and had to deal with meeting people that could not 
be rescheduled. Sure, I have an excuse. But I still feel 
shitty and rotten for not making it to his funeral. I feel 
that with all he's given me, I jipped him by not showing 
up. But I plan on attending his memorial show and I've been 
conversing lightly with his daughter, so at least she and 
others know I do care and that I will miss him greatly. I 
only wish I could have said goodbye. It'd been too long 
since I'd seen him last anyway.

Two days after learning about Rick's passing, I got the 
news about Sandi Seldney. Sandi I had spent more time with 
recently and she was a great and wonderful person to talk 
to. I perhaps wasn't as close to Sandi as I was with Rick, 
but Sandi and Reg used to talk all the time and had gotten 
close recently. She's taking it pretty hard. The thing 
about Sandi is was that she was a fighter. She was plagued 
with many mental and physical health issues, yet, no matter 
how bad things were going for her, she always had a smile 
for you when you saw her. I know this sounds like a goddamn 
yearbook entry, but I really wish I could have gotten to 
know here better. We'll be attending her memorial service 
tomorrow. 

Sandi K. Seldney
Memorial Service
11/22/2005
6:00P

Palm Mortuary Eastern
7600 South Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89123
(702) 464-8500

Now, I got some other shocking news this week as well--this 
time, of the good sort. Just hours before learning of 
Sandi's death, Paul (my immediate boss) calls me at home (I 
had taken the day off work to get things accomplished 
around the house). He told me to sit down, to which I began 
thinking, "ok, what happened? What'd we, or I screw up? How 
much more work is being dumped on me this time?" Instead, 
Paul told me the decision had been made to restructure the 
editorial staff and that I was getting promoted. I am now 
the editor of Casino Journal--responsible for the entire 
magazine and everyone who works/writes for it. That 
magazine is under my total control. Why? Apparently, our 
company's top guys have been watching me and monitoring my 
work/goals/ambition etc. They've liked what they've seen 
and, with the aid of Paul's and Pam's recommendations, 
decided to give me the helm. I now steer this ship, and I 
get a nice little (actually large) pay increase to go along 
with it. It all takes effect at the first of the year. Man, 
was that a shock, and I sure as hell didn't see it coming--
at least not for a couple of years yet. I'm excited and 
scared all in the same breath...but more importantly, I'm 
honored and proud. I know I can do the job. I'm so glad I 
stuck with this company through the thick and thin! It's 
paid off tenfold!

More surprises came last night (Sunday) when I went to what 
I thought was an early Thanksgiving dinner at Dan and Kim's 
place. Well it turned out to also be a surprise party for 
my birthday! It's the first party/gathering etc. I've had 
on my birthday since I was 11 years old. (See, my birthday, 
Nov. 27, always falls on or around Thanksgiving and 
traditionally everyone has been too busy to celebrate with 
me). A lot of my friends showed up and there was cake and 
yummy food and presents! I seriously had to hold back the 
tears because I had literally forgotten what a birthday 
party felt like. My actual birthday is still this next 
weekend, but a lot of people are out of town and such for 
Thanksgiving. Last night was nice and really made me feel 
good! Thanks everyone!

Reg came back Saturday after spending the entire last week 
with Heather (at my suggestion) to unwind and forget about 
stress. She's like night and day now....she seems so much 
happier, healthier and relaxed. I, meanwhile, spent last 
week trying to give Reg 101 surprises of my own when she 
got home. I all but killed myself working on the front and 
back yards, finishing up clearing them of all the things we 
wanted to get rid of. I moved all the rest of the rock that 
was annoying us out of the yard (with Geoff's help on 
Saturday morning). I also hired a guy to install new 
sprinklers, we removed all the poles and rebar that had 
supported the fence (which we had to cut through with a 
reciprical saw) and I finished painting the office, which 
aside from maybe the rock was the most exhausting task 
since I had to completely remove and replace everything in 
the office by myself to complete. My routine for the eight 
days Reg was gone was wake up super early, get to work by 
7:30 AM, get off work a little early, eat something 
quickly, work in the yard until the sun went down 
completely, then work on inside the house stuff until I was 
so worn out I'd collapse into bed. Now I need a vacation! 
But it was so worth it as I got SOOOOOO much done around 
the house and yards and it really did surprise Reg when she 
got back!

Other small tidbits to include: I spent time with my 
parents while Reg was gone. They came over and either 
assisted with or kept me company while I worked; I found a 
leak under my master bathroom tile that I called the 
handyman who did my sprinkers to take a look at it. He did 
some things with the tub and faucets that seemed to have 
stopped it for now, but if it returns, we'll have to 
jackhammer into my bathroom floor to trace the leak, and 
that's going to cost me a LOT of money; I accidentally 
slammed Pepper's snout in our front door when I was working 
on the yards. She lost a tooth, but other than that she's 
fine...I still felt terrible; I've been overcome recently 
with a slight feeling of dread at losing any more friends 
to death, and it's got me thinking of my own health and 
sanity; With my promotion, there's a lot of things new I 
have to learn, do, etc., which is going to take up more 
time I think until I get a handle on it; during my birthday 
party, a group of us wound up sharing ghost and paranormal 
stories and we discussed the possibility of beginning our 
own investigation crew here in Vegas. It sounds fun, and I 
want to do it, but A) if we do, I want to make sure it's 
done right; and B) I'm slightly worried about everyone's 
level of time, availability and energy to put into this--
including my own reservations about actually going places 
and "hunting ghosts."

Like I said, this has been a very surreal, up and down kind 
of week. I'm glad in some ways it's over and in other ways, 
I wish I could hang onto it forever. 

Since so much stuff happened that my head's still spinning, 
if I forgot anything or anyone, I apologize.