Waldo

Trouble Breathing
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.




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