What happens in Vegas...

Should definitely stay in Vegas! Unless you are me - then you do crazy things in Vegas while on business trips with co-workers and it becomes the stuff of legends by the time you get back to the office.

Before I start with the story let me tell you that this happened in November 1997 when I was hopelessly young and desperately single.

I worked for the textbook publishing company and was in Las Vegas for some giant trade show that catered to teachers who by the way are insanely crazy people when not torturing little children with said textbooks. I had my own room at the Las Vegas Hilton and was there with approx 10 of my co-workers the majority of whom were also in their mid to late 20's and ready to party for the entire 5 days we were there. Traveling to Vegas on an expense account is great - fabulous dinners, free flowing booze, free room, and only 6 hours a day that I was expected to be "working". We started out strong with about 3 hours of sleep on the first night and it only got worse from there! We stayed up until the wee hours riding roller coasters, watching fountains erupt, pirate ship shows, wandering around picking up random cards from hookers (to see who could get the most) and doing everything but gambling (we were all rather poor and gambled away our spare change on day 1).

By the last night there I think I had a permanent blood alcohol level of WASTED. We went to the Motown Cafe for dinner - a group of about 8 including one single sales rep that I had an amazing crush on. I started out with Top Shelf Long Island Iced Tea in a 23oz Beer Glass (souvenir of course) and things just went downhill from there. The place was HUGE - had to be about 300-400 people packed in there and it was karoke night! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it but when I'm drunk I fancy myself to be quite the diva and it didn't take much for my friends to convince me that I should TOTALLY sign up and sing. After my 2nd 23 oz Top Shelf Long Island I was able to drag my tongue off the table long enough to agree with them but not long enough to pick a song but never fear - my friendly co-workers took care of that for me.

About an hour and a 3rd drink later I heard my name over the speakers - WHAT? Why were they calling me and more importantly how did I get on this stage and were those fuzzy blobs out there really people staring at me? Then the music starts and the words are on the screen in front of me - a microphone is in my hand and I start singing - I Will Always Love You - the Whitney Houston version. I was starting to sober up - I think it was the adreneline - and I was horrified. I stumbled through and finally exited the stage by missing the last step and falling flat on my face, thankfully my co-workers dragged me up and out and thank GOD I didn't have to go back to the table. They all told me I sang beautifully. I'm sure they all lied through their teeth, I could hardly hear the music, I was barely able to stand, and the words kept blurring before my eyes.

As we exited the restaurant there was a vintage convertable behind velvet ropes filled with wax dummies of the Four Tops I think? A nice big sign said "DO NOT TOUCH" and somewhere there is a picture of me laying across the hood holding the sign in my teeth. Unfortunately I am no longer in possession of said picture (I might have burned it?) but it made the rounds at my office along with the entire brutal story once I got back. Sexy sales guy I had a crush on avoided me like the plague after my performance and I have a vague recollection of perhaps dedicating the song to him?

There are reasons why I don't drink like that anymore (other than wanting to keep my liver) and the desire to avoid complete and utter self humiliation is at the top of the list! If you want further proof of why I shouldn't drink - try reading this one.

Thankfully just about 3 weeks after this crazy week in Vegas I met my now husband and my life started to settle down.

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Learning How to Drive

On June 12, 1986 I turned 16. As was the custom for kids in that time - my mom took me to the DMV to take my permit test after school that day. I passed the written test with flying colors, passed the eye test, and walked out with a piece of paper that said I was allowed to operate a motor vehicle with supervision.

At the time it was the happiest day of my young life thus far. I wanted to drive home but my mother wisely decided we should get out of town before she turned over the wheel of the pickup truck we were driving to me.

Once we hit open and fairly straight road she pulled over and we switched seats. Prior to this I had never driven anything bigger than a garden tractor and even that only 2-3 times ever. Here I was behind the wheel of a 1/2 ton Chevy pickup truck - terrified and delighted at once. I carefully put on my blinker, put my foot on the brake and put the truck in drive. And started to creep towards home.

Keeping that sucker between the lines was not as easy as I thought. My mother (who was younger than I am now) was also very nervous and trying not to startle me by barking commands. Like as cars rushed up to my bumper doing the speed limit and then honked at me as I pulled over to let them pass and some gave me lovely hand gestures. Finally about 5 miles and 20 minutes later my mother said "ENOUGH, for today" and we switched back. Whew! Thankfully I got the hang of things very quickly after that first day. But apparently my dad did not think so.

Every Saturday night we went to my grandparents house, it was a tradition, about 2 months into my driving education I BEGGED to be allowed to drive. Dad reluctantly relented and he sat in the back with my sister while I was behind the wheel with mom beside me. We hadn't even gotten a mile from home when he said "PULL OVER" and then made me switch with him and he continued driving from there.

Funny - it was over 6 years later before my dad would get into the car with me driving again. The next time my dad got into the car with me? He taught me to drive a stick shift. Boy that was a fun day- he took me to a mountain road with a truck lane on the right. Just when I'd finally get the car moving up the hill and hadn't stalled it he said "STOP! do it again" by the time we got to the top of that hill I could start on a hill without rolling back and could start without bucking or stalling.

Maybe dad should have taught me to drive in the first place?

20 Years Later...

So last night was my class reunion. The class of 1988 - 20 years later. First of all I went to a very small private Christian School. There were 7 in my graduating class and 5 of us had a reunion last night. The other two live quite a distance away and so we didn't even try to get them to come. Maybe we will have a larger get together with families at some point and see if they are interested but for last night it was just the girls. I have to say I think we all look better than ever!

So we all went to dinner and had a great time! Spent about 3 hours reminiscing and promised we will do this much more frequently from here on out!

Wonder what the guys look like these days?

Five Things...

The Thursday Thirteen is on hiatus this week, mainly because I am still too brain dead/fried from vacation to think of anything much less 13 things. So in it's place I offer up this MeMe that I grabbed off Maxie's blog Break Me Off a Piece of that Fancy Feast.

I'm not going to tag anyone in particular - so if your hearts desire is to do a meme? Go for it!

What I was doing ten years ago:

1. Working for a Publishing Company as a Marketing Coordinator
   
2. Newly moved in with my now hubby and getting used to living together
   
3. Jet Skiing on weekends - it was a warm year and we put on wet suits and headed out on the lakes in March
   
4. Being about 50lbs ligher than I am right now *sigh*
   
5. Buying my first new car - a 1998 Toyota Corolla!
   

Five things on my To-do list today:

1. Shipping out client files that are due today
2. Training "C" to take over my responsibilities so I can move into new role
   
3. Schedule a meeting with the database team for a project I am managing
   
4. Update my project schedules/gannt charts
   
5. Stop at mom & dad's on the way home for my dog feeding instructions (they are going to Florida tomorrow morning for 5 days and I'm feeding and caring for the pooch)
   

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Chocolate!
   
2. Rich Dark Chocolate
   
3. Combos
   
4. Anything with Peanut Butter (sometimes just a spoonful of it will do)
   
5. Salt & Vinegar Chips (only during THAT time of the month)
   

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:

1. Pay off all my debt & that of my immediate family & probably my 2 best friends too
   
2. Give gifts to my friends
   
3. Set up trusts for all my various nieces and nephews (if I was a MULTI millionaire)
   
4. Travel - EXTENSIVELY - everywhere!
   
5. Build my dream house
   

Five Bad Habits:

1. Chocolate
2. Procrastination
3. Spending too much (especially on shoes)
   
4. Laziness
   
5. Trying to "control" things too much - is that a habit or a personality flaw?
   

Five places I have lived:

1. Cobleskill, NY
   
2. Schoharie, NY
   
3. Fairfield, OH
   
4. Loveland, OH
   
5. Springdale, OH
   

Five Jobs I have Had:

1. Waitress/Bartender
   
2. Grocery Store Clerk
   
3. Marketing Coordinator
   
4. Brand Manager
   
5. Database Account Manager
   

In lieu of Manic Monday - Good News!

Friends - I have my husband back. Well technically he never went anywhere but he was definitely absent from any effort in the relationship for awhile. He's been semi-depressed for awhile and more agitated and irritable than anything. We tried drugs, we tried therapy, we tried more drugs, his therapist had him reading books on anger management (well he bought them at least not sure he ever actually "read" any of them). We did find a drug that was more a mood stabilizer than an anti-depressant, we struggled to find the right dosage. Finally we found it, and the anger subsided. That was something. It was not enough. He was still not happy.

Remember the "he lied to me post?" well that first contact with an old girlfriend actually started to bring him back to life. She wasn't really the answer though (thank god) and he's had no contact since. But he joined reunion.com and classmates.com and started searching for people from his past. And finally he had some success - on Friday he found a friend from high school (this one is a guy so no worries on my part) and found out he lives only about an hour and a half away from us. He emailed back and forth pictures, they talked on the phone and we now have to set a date to get together with him and his wife.

Last Monday I had gotten a strange comment on my MySpace page about hubby from a woman in Oklahoma - turns out her husband was his best friend in high school. She searched hubby's name and found my home page that lists his name and has our wedding pictures, etc. Then she searched MySpace for me and found me. So hubby then joined MySpace so he could view their pictures and stuff. Then exchanged info online and his buddy sent a phone number, and so he called him on Saturday evening. My husband who HATES the phone and will keep his conversations as short as humanly possibly talked to his best friend from high school for 4 HOURS!!!!! They covered every detail of the past 24 years it seemed. Then on Sunday they spent 2-3 hours on instant messenger. His buddy and wife are now planning to come see us for a long weekend in April. They are going to fly out from Oklahoma and spend 4 days in upstate NY probably mostly drinking and playing pool and chatting and the men (if the IM conversation was any indication) reverting to acting like 17 year old boys. So his friend left him a comment on MySpace that says - never lose touch again - Best Friends Forever.

I laughed my ass off! What are they teenage girls? BFF? But I love that he has found this great friend from his past and that they seem to be able to pick up where they left off like 24 years have not passed at all. I'm sure I'll hit it off with them (I mostly get along with everyone because I'm a pleaser) and we'll have a great time.

So hubby has been - sweet, affectionate, attentive, smiling, laughing, looking forward to things, not moping, not depressed, not angry. It's like the guy I married is back! And this time it feels like it may last. I can't tell you how happy I am to see him being happy.

Never Say Goodbye...

There is a nice theme going around the blogsphere about music that inspired us from our youth. For me the one album that stands out from my teenage years as really moving my angst ridden teenage soul as nothing ever had was Slippery When Wet from Bon Jovi. I still love every single one of these songs but the ones that really moved me then were Living on a Prayer and Never Say Goodbye. I am still a big fan of power ballads from rock bands in general and Bon Jovi in particular.

I remember listening to my pink dual cassette boombox radio for any of these songs to play on the radio and rushing to hit record to capture the songs I loved so much. My mother would never have let me buy a rock album so I had to do it covertly. I think I even taped some of these by holding my boom box up to a juke box at a campground that summer! LOL I'd turn up the radio and sing my heart out everytime I heard it on the radio while driving alone.

It said everything I felt about my first love, the guy who captured my heart first when I was 13 and held it until I was 16. I knew when I went to his graduation that summer that once he went to college I would lose him, but I sang Never Say Goodbye and prayed I was wrong. I wasn't wrong.

During the summer of 1986 I told my parents I was staying at Stacey's house and we snuck off to SPAC to see Bon Jovi. Then in December 2005 Bon Jovi came to Albany and my sister and I poufed up our hair, rolled up our jeans, and rocked out to all the old classics! (just kidding about the hair and jeans) It wasn't the same though, I now know that no matter what you always do say goodbye to people that you love. Yet these songs still make me feel young and alive!

Thanks to Verybadcat and Jen for inspiring me to do this post!

The year was 1983...

My hair was feathered and sprayed with Aqua Net until there was no chance of movement. I had braces on my teeth, and glasses. My jeans were pinstriped with extreme pleats, baggy at the top and skinny at the ankles, but that was not enough I also folded the ankles in and rolled them up to peg them down and create a cuff. My shirt was a pink polo shirt with a fake alligator patch, my collar of course was up. I had on two pairs of socks pink over white and scrunched down. I was wearing a pair of brown rental roller skates, the ones with the big orange stopper on the front. The song playing was Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of The Heart, it was couples skate, ladies choice, the guy I had been making eyes at all evening seemed to looking back so I slowly started to skate toward him with the best come hither eyes a 13 year old can manage. Then it happened, my skate hit the edge of the carpet, I was falling, falling, forward. I landed hard on all fours, my hands rug burned, my pride bruised. I looked up to see the object of my affection and his friends laughing and pointing. at me of course. I got to my feet, and skated away as fast as I could. I spent the next hour in the bathroom in tears, then I turned in my skates and waited outside for my mom, the night ruined. MY LIFE RUINED!

I'm still clumsy like that. Today I tripped. on nothing. no one saw me. but it made me remember this horrible night 25 years ago. At least today I wasn't wearing ridiculous clothes and I didn't spend any time crying in the bathroom.