Daydreamer

I made it to church today. I had been looking forward to it all week actually. There's something comforting and continuous about it that I like. But for some reason I was all out of whack this morning. My CrackBerry alarm went off at 9.00a and I kept pushing snooze until 9.40a. Church is at 10.30a all the way across town so I normally have to be out of the house by 10.00a. As I'm drying my hair I look at the clock. 10.15a - it hits me. Holy shit. I should be passing the I-15 by now! My internal conversation goes a little something like this. "If I hustle I can be there by 10.45a or I can just bag it and go back to bed." I chose the former. Turned out to be the right decision. 

I pull into the church parking lot as expected at 10.45a and had to park up on this rocky berm. Not a good sign. If I can't find a spot to sit near the end of a pew, I'm screwed. I walk in and look around to my normal spot. No seats on the end. Shit. On the other side I see the last 2 pews roped off. That blows too. I look down the middle isle and a couple rows down, a couple people in I see an opening. I shuffle through and take a seat. 

It's funny how by simply changing seats changed my perspective. Everything was a little different. Not bad, just different. The lighting was different, my angle to Dr. Harper was different, the way my body positioned itself was different. An interesting point of view. Right then I made the decision that I'm not going to get there late anymore. While it was interesting to get a different view, there's a reason I sit where I sit. I like to be house right, far right on the end. Why? For the very practical reason that I cross my right leg over my left and thus lean to the left. Yeah, I guess I am fussy but I'd rather be comfortable so I can concentrate on what's going on around me than the fact that my leg is falling asleep. There's a bigger lesson there I'm sure but I have to be up at 4.00a tomorrow for a stupid convention so I don't really feel like delving into the psychosis of changing your perspective in a church pew and in life. 

Church ended and on the drive back home like a Daydreamer I thought about where Counselor was today. I haven't seen him at church (or at all) in about 3 weeks. I know I'm the one who made the decision to cut off ties but I still miss him. I miss our lunches at Tides Oyster Bar at Green Valley Ranch where Janet the waitress made small talk with us. I miss his laugh when I said something stupid or made fun of all his vitamins he carried in his pocket. I miss wearing his shirts in the morning. I miss the way he explained the law to me. I miss how he took care of me. I miss the feeling I had when I was with him. I miss loving him. Loss is hard. Self-imposed loss is even harder. Day by day it doesn't get easier, I just get used to it. Part of what I struggle with is guilt for feeling more pain over the loss of Counselor than the loss of my brother. I realize that's completely fucked up but that's the way I feel. Maybe it's because I had no control over my brother's death or contribution to what happened to him but with Counselor I was part and parcel; I had complete control over the whole thing and I let it all spiral out of control. 

But I lived thru another day. Surprising how that happens when you just keep going. And it was a good day. When I got home I got a pedicure & took George Bennett for a long walk. It was a gorgeous Sunday in Vegas. 

10.01.11 Kings vs. Avalanche @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

Kings arrive. Boys in suits! 

Just realized it's been a long time since I've posted. Lots of stuff happening in my personal life but no one but me cares so I'll try and back-post the events since Groban.

The past weekend we had the boys of hockey. The LA Kings vs. the CO Avalanche. I actually hate hockey as a sport. Zzzz. And I'm from Minnesota so I realize that's sacrilegious but man, do I LOVE the hockey players. Those boys are beautiful human specimens... and the best part, they arrive and depart in suits. Good suits. And they're so polite.

The guys from the Kings exec office are great to work with too. Every year it's a pleasure. No coincidence their home is Staples Center, my 2nd favorite venue on earth. Of course the MGM Grand Garden Arena is #1. They direct deposit money into my account twice a month. 

The team making ice.

Sprinkler-thingy.

Once of the coolest things is to watch them make ice. We went from on of the biggest nights in music history with iHeart Radio the weekend before to freezing water and driving Zambonis @ the arena. We have a system in the concrete floor that chills it enough to freeze water. We have this sprinkler-type thingy (yep, that's the technical term) with white paint mixed in and they just spray it along the perimeter of the dashers and work inward. Much like the route the Zamboni takes. Couple of layers of that, then they paint on the logos, then more ice. In total it takes about 4 days for us. 

George Bennett on the ice

Look closely. See the cracks?

1 perk of my job is access & having fun when I can so I brought George Bennett in to play on the ice. 1st mistake, I walk out onto the ice with him IN heels. Yeah, I didn't think that one through. I take 2 steps and c-r-a-c-k! My heel dug in and a series of massive spider cracks split the ice just as if I walked out onto Lake Calhoun in spring in Minneapolis. I freaked out. I thought for sure I screwed up the ice and Matthew Ball, our resident ice guru would hate me. But the damage was already done so I tried to get George Bennett to play. He had no interest. The hair on his paws were sticking to the ice. It was funny. Anyhow, turns out the ice cracks all the time. We have to keep it so cold that it is prone to cracking. They fix it before the game. Whew. Crisis averted. But in my apologetic email trail they managed to fuck with me and tell me they'd have to start all over. I love my guys. Wouldn't be any fun if they didn't fuck with me. 

I wanna drive a Zamboni...

So meanwhile, as we're doing hockey in the arena, we're also doing a boxing event in the Marquee Ballroom at the same time. Luckily hockey and boxing are manageable or I'd be out of my mind. There's only 1 of me and it's hard to be in 2 places at once. I'll post Nishioka vs. Marquez separately. 

And on top of it all, my big brother David came into town for a couple hours. He flew in from the Twin Cities for 8 hours, primarily just to accumulate miles but also to have dinner with his favorite (only) sister. So after getting doors open for boxing and then hockey, I meet him at my Happy Place, Seablue and we had a great night of goodies.

We love the hockey fans!

Next up @ the Grand Garden is Journey with Foreigner and Night Ranger but Chris Botti is playing @ Green Valley Ranch the same night so the plan is to get doors open for Journey, head to GVR for Botti and head back to the arena to close the show. That's the plan anyhow. It's the end to the Year of Botti so I hope nothing goes wrong at the arena or I'm hauling my ass to Phoenix to see him @ Danny Zelisko's joint with Mick Treadwell. I'd actually go just to see Mick and skip Botti. Love Mick. To death. 

Not sure what I'm gonna call this blog after the Year of Botti is done but I'll think of something. Or maybe it will just have to remain the Year or Botti. I kinda like the sound of it. And his music really did inspire me to travel, live and forgive. All things worthy of a girl's blog title.