Just got back from an American Cancer Society conference in Reno, Nevada. It's right where they're looking for Steve Fossett's plane (remains....let's not kid ourselves)
Anyway, the conference was AMAZING. I gained a lot of knowledge but more importantly I got inspired and motivated. It wasn't a love fest or anything, but a chance for people to share their stories and most often it was something that made you want to cry. Or sob, really.
Since I took over the Lake Havasu Relay For Life, we have almost tripled our money raised for cancer research. I was amazed to hear that out of the several thousand people at this conference, some of them had actually heard about our success and they approached me to congratulate me! What really meant the most, though, was being thanked by the researchers and cancer patients who were benefitting from the fundraising. Very touching.
The man who started the whole Relay For Life thing back in 1985 is a colorectal surgeon named Dr. Gordon Klatt. He's kind of like John Lennon to us fundraisers because he did something that truly changed the world. The Relay For Life events annually raise $100 million + each year and it all gets used for reasearching a cure for cancer. So this guy is a demi-god to us.
They surprised us all with a visit from Dr. Klatt, first thing Saturday morning.
A huge ballroom full of about 2,000 people (mostly volunteers like me) just stood in shock that this guy was actually onstage in front of us. I'd held it together all week but seeing him just made the tears roll. Truly an angel.
This was the morning following my Billy Bob adventure. Oh, let me explain! As I perused the entertainment ads for the hotel we were staying at, I noticed Heart was playing on Friday night. Yeah!! Rock ON!! I planned on buying a ticket ($60, ouch) until I saw that Billy Bob Thornton was performing onstage poolside, the same night. And it wouldn't cost me a dime because "Ladies" were free. I went and it was awesome. I didn't even know he sang! He has a great band, they play everything from country to really hard rock. What shocked me was how skinny and tiny that man was. He is probably 5'3", if he's lucky. And 100 pounds, soaking wet. He and I made eye contact a couple of times, as he was checking out all the chicks standing near the stage during his performance. Made me uncomfortable, like I was being sized up.
The concert ended around midnight, and I happily went to my room to wait for my ears to recover. The next morning everyone was talking about Patrick Swayze. Huh? Apparently he was in the pool area enjoying the concert. I couldn't figure out how I could've missed him, until I was told he was a tiny little man, too!! Little tiny guy with big, fake looking hair. And he was drunk. DAMMIT!!!!! That would've been an awesome, yet funny picture for Myspace....
I did buy one of Billy Bob's cd's that was actually autographed, so that's cool. I also talked with a gentleman who was Billy Bob's attorney, and he gave me the phone number to his manager. So, if I can manage to get a nice venue I could likely set up a concert with ol' Billy Bob. Cool!
The picture up top is what my crappy camera got at the concert. Man, it's time for a new one.
