Daddy's Girl

Went to my boyfriend's class reunion this past weekend. Everyone asks, "Where was it?" Easiest way to explain is to just say, "BFE."
Steve grew up in southern Arizona, very close to the Mexican border. His family had a ranch and he fondly tells me stories of working with his dad in the fields all those years. Sometimes I envision his teen years as the movie Footloose, because that's what it sounds like. Steve would be the character portrayed by Kevin Bacon, rebelling against the conservative majority in the tiny reclusive town. Boning every chick in sight. Dancing with the cowboy hat. Playing chicken on the highway after church.
It took us over seven hours to drive to the town where our hotel room was. Sierra Vista. Oh GAWD what an awful place to be stuck in. Checked in, then hopped in the truck to see the sights. Tombstone is about 15 minutes away from there, so we went. Very cool. Everything is still there, preserved from the late 1800's. Wyatt Earp's house, the saloon that he and his brothers owned, the jail, courthouse, etc. I looked for ghosts, but didn't see any. Jerks.
Just like any tourist attraction, there were overpriced gift shops and a $10 charge to see most of the really interesting things. We went near the O.K. Corral but didn't go in because I couldn't justify the charge for looking at an empty dirt lot. We saw the Boot Hill Cemetary, and the Tombstone Cemetary, and took plenty of pictures.
Had dinner with Steve's dad and stepmom that night, which was AWESOME. She's a very good cook.
The next day, we hopped in Steve's dad's car and drove around to the other little towns in the area. These are all old mining towns that have houses that are over 100 years old, and impressive hotels with really cool histories. One hotel, which we visited the inside of, has a marble grand staircase in the lobby. There's a poster nearby with the testimony of a man whose grandfather worked at the hotel in the early 1900's. Pancho Villa was still quite a problem then, and the guy wrote that Pancho rode his horse into the lobby of the hotel, shooting his guns into the air. He rode the horse up the steps of the marble staircase, chipping the marble on the seventh stair. You can see the chip still. It's about 3 inches wide. How bizarre!!

We drove into Mexico, to do some pharmacy shopping. For those of you who have never been, Mexico has awesome deals on stuff and you only have to show a prescription if you're trying to get a narcotic. We just wanted some Retin-A and Prilosec. Cha CHING! Great deals.
Had lunch, then headed back to Sierra Vista.

We got ready for the Reunion, and as we were, Steve was telling me about his plans for the last reunion that he missed because he got into his helicopter accident. He'd planned on flying down in a helicopter and landing right outside the reunion. Yep, just like Romy and Michelle. As he was telling me this, a song from the Romy and Michelle movie came on. Just about peed my pants. Of course, he was hospitalized so he missed that reunion.

This reunion was an "All School" one because the size of the damn school is so small. So, there were people from all years, like from the fifites all the way through to the 90's. We sat in the back, with a teacher of Steve's who recently retired. Once everyone was seated, the organizer of the event got on the microphone and started talking about the people she wanted to thank. She thanked Steve for being the first person to buy tickets back in December. Then she said, "Oh, and aren't you a helicopter pilot who does movies, like Austin Powers?" Everyone just gasped and turned around to look at us. Steve was recently profiled on the Phoenix news for the stunt piloting he's done, in movies. She apparently saw it. How funny.

Dinner sucked, so I stuck with the Tequila Sunrises I got from the bar. After dinner, people started coming over to ask Steve about his flying and stuff. Nobody from his school has seen him since he left back in the 70's, because he immediately went all over the world doing flying jobs. He was seeing the world and I was a toddler. Learning how to talk.
Some people came in late, and it was friends of Steve's so we hung with them. Had lots of drinks and acted silly. One of them was a gorgeous blonde named Joelle. Turns out, she was a very serious girlfriend of his back in the 80's. Dang!!! She was hilarious to talk to, a very outgoing personality. Great boobs, too. We talked about our philosophy on blow jobs, eye contact, and the funky looking people all around us. Surprisingly, there wasn't the amount of reminiscing that I thought there would be. They mostly talked chit chat. Never talked about family or what is going on in their lives now. Actually, I liked it. Very little substance, and it was easy to pay attention to.
The next day we struggled out of bed and had breakfast with Steve's dad. AWESOME. His stepmom made tamales and eggs. Oh, I was in heaven. Especially since I didn't eat the night before. The drive home was fascinating because we took some unknown back roads and explored. Arizona has a neat history of being a big cattle state, and we looked around at some old abandoned cattle feed lots. Found a shrimp farm in the middle of nowhere.
Now we need to drag our kids out there, to show them.
Since it was Father's Day, I had Steve's present at home waiting for him. It was a steel cane with a titanium hammer-head for a handle. Not very lightweight, because of the steel. I guess it'll be a cane for special events. I had it made for him, with the help of some friends.

And now today I've gotta work. Crap.

New Post

Okay, Mikey complained that nobody had updated their blogs. Here you go, bro.
Memorial Weekend was supposed to be spent on the water with the film crew, but my boss had it handled so I had a much needed kick back weekend with the fam. We drove up to the mountains (20 degree difference in temp, yahoo!) and did an off road poker run. Since we got done early, and we were bored, we packed up after finishing that and went to the "other" mountains where my my and stepdad live, and we attended their neighborhood chili cookoff. AWESOME!!! Now I am going to have my own. BUT, it will have sponsors, banners, advertisers, and an admission at the gate. Hee hee!
Then we drove home and used the remaining two days of the long weekend to get stuff done around the house.
Had a few days last week to get ready for the DCB regatta. Holy cow I didn't realize until the last minute that this was actually a very big event and my shoes aren't exactly comfy after many many hours of running around trying to get things under control. God, I felt like a participant in a Chinese fire drill. But I guess the people attending the regatta were happy with it all so that's what matters.
We had a film crew down on the beach during our event because they were supposedly getting footage of "responsible partying." Yeaaaaaahhh, right. I'm sure that will show up on their program with funny clown music and all sorts of classy comments.
The big finale of the regatta is the banquet on Saturday night, and once again I dressed up like Vanna White and did my thing. And did it , and did it, and did it, and did it because Jesus Christo (Spanish version of using the dude's name in vain) there were $10,000 in raffle prizes to give away. Sheesh. Including a stainless steel grill with a grill "Island" and a big screen t.v.

Sunday was the day we got dressed up in our Sunday-go-to-meetin' and visit the movie house. Got to see Pirates, holy cow, three hours long. My son was getting bored at one point and I saw him mocking the people on the screen. Overall it was good, but three hours later when I learned there was going to be yet ANOTHER pirates movie I was like, SERIOUSLY?
Very nice kissing scene with Orlando, I was feeling that warming sensation. Without the KY warming gel, mind you.

Today I have paperwork to do, and tons of housework because apparently it's my job. So I suppose this is where my post ends and my day begins.....

Support Our Troops!

This past Saturday was the Support Our Troops rally that I helped put together. I belong to the Republican Women here in Havasu, and we had two young Marines come out to speak during the ceremony.
Afterward, my boss and I took them out on the lake and showed them that being bad is actually good. (like they didn't already know....) Took lots of pictures, ended up walking around without my top (pasties on) and had a great time. I was giving my all for the support of our troops. I wore my new camouflage bikini with my bullet belt. Everyone had to ask, "Where did you get that belt?" It's green with machine gun bullets all around it. Not real ones, but real looking. I got it at a punk rock store in the mall. CLASSY!!!!
This weekend is the big party out on the lake and we're taking the film crew from Court TV out with us, to get more footage for their show. Should be fun.
I'll be sure to document....

Such a Whore

Media whore, that is. I was on the radio and the newspapers this week, promoting the "Support Our Troops" rally that me and a small group have been putting together. That's on Saturday, in the park. We have two Marines coming from a nearby base to be our guest speakers, and after the ceremony my boss and I are taking them out on the water to show them a good time. Hell, this should be very nice for them considering they just got back from Iraq! It'll be quite a party. Too bad I outgrew my American flag bikini....

For Mother's Day, I got some very cute cards and I got to go see Spiderman 3. I was biting my lip, trying not to cry at the ending! It was one of those movies where there's lots of chaos and stress and when things come together at the end it makes you soooooo thankful. I loved it, so did the rest of the family. Now we're waiting for the next blockbuster to come out--but in the mean time we'll likely end up seeing that Larry the Cable Guy movie. Ish. I'm sure it'll suck, but we'll see it.

I've been kicking ass on the home front, earning my keep. This is something actually pretty spectacular with our situation because I was just recently asked to take over the household finances and stuff. My boyfriend and I have very seperate lives when it comes to that area and it's a huge step for us to be taking. He has his bills, I have mine. He pays his stuff, I take care of mine. He has his own checking account, I have my own. He asked me to take a look at his checking account a few weeks ago, and that was when we both discovered his ex wife was still on the account and still spending quite a bit of money. WHAAAAT??? So, once we got that handled, I made myself a nice budget to work with and we've been slowly applying it. He has to start saving money for his daughter's college (she starts in the fall--can you say PROCRASTINATOR??) and with some discipline I'm sure we can work it out.

He's the world's worst communicator, to the point that I've told him to just email something to me if he's having trouble bringing it up in person. If he's upset about something he emails it to me. People think that's horrendous but it's better than the alternative.
If he's excited about something (like me taking over his finances) he just sits there quietly holding my hand. You can tell he's wanting to say something because he'll sound like he's taking a breath to talk--but then nothing comes out. Yeah, I know, he's sounds like one of those mute people you see in the movies. But he's one of the most talkative guys I know. He'll get bored hanging out with me, (after I've heard all his stories and thoughts and things...)so he gets on the phone and talks his ass off! I watched the clock one day, he was on the phone with a friend of his for almost an hour. They could do that every day if they had time.
But when it comes to sensitive stuff, he becomes tongue tied. So funny.

So, that's my week so far.

Kings of Regattas

Extreme Boats Magazine bragged recently that Jokers Wild Promotions (my employer) was the King of Regattas. Well, we stepped it up a notch and impressed everyone with our first boat regatta of this year, Eliminator Boats. BIG boats, rich owners, and high demands. But, we pulled it off. We have an all new staff this year, so much of my time was spent explaining things that made my day much longer. Sometimes it was simpler to just do the task myself than explain it to the newbie. We had the Friday night hospitality party (with championship Hot Wheels racing) the Saturday morning helicopter photos, and then the poker run and beach party. Then Saturday night we had a HUGE banquet which was decorated by yours truly (and I must say, it was devine--with oversized beach balls framing the stage and balloons EVERYWHERE) along with a prize raffle that had about $7,000 worth of stuff given away.
The whole event felt like a Chinese Fire Drill (if there's such a thing) but the great illusion to the participants was everything went smoothely with no problems.
And I got to wear a bitchin' pink halter dress with my new wedge heels during the raffle. I was Vanna White, with enormous boobs.
Then yesterday, I drove to Las Vegas to drop off my boss's son at the airport. It's about two hours drive, so we had time to catch up on all the happenings he missed while being in boot camp. He flew to Havasu to visit for a week after he graduated out of Cape May, New Jersey. He's now reporting to his first assignment with the Coast Guard, in North Carolina.
As we neared Vegas, Casey (boss's son) pointed to a huge, resort-like house and said he'd heard the house belonged to Andre Aggasi. A limo entered traffic ahead of us, and Casey said, "Hey Burt Reynolds must be in town!" (a line from Happy Gilmore) Then the limo turned into Andre Agassi's place. We both laughed at the thought of Burt Reynolds hanging out with Agassi.
Vegas is neat because there's always a great chance of seeing a celebrity, one worth seeing. Last time I was there I bumped into Ted Nugent. We were both wearing green camouflage and cowboy hats. Seriously. Ted noticed that I recognized him. I was trying to be cool, but, you know. The look on my face said, OMG. I have seen a few celebrities in Vegas, but I've never been uncool enough to go and get an autograph. I saw Penn Gillette (from Penn and Teller) and he looked quite grumpy.
Spend enough time at the airport up there, and you'll see some pretty interesting people.
My goal is to meet Wayne Newton, just so I can say I met him. Oh yeah, also David Cassidy. They both have shows in casinos up there.
Once Casey was dropped off, I headed to the mall because I had a need for some new Bath and Body Works lotions. Awesome. And the Hot Topic store was calling to me. I got a new belt there--it's lined with machine gun bullets. Hilarious! I already have a belt like it, but the bullets are smaller. So now I can strap them together and have a bandelero. YES!!!
My attire is certainly the reason why I can't work a normal job.

Keep On Truckin'

This past weekend we were hired to handle the logistics and contract employees for the Truckin' Magazine annual truck show.
It was record temperatures (104 degrees) and a young, vulgar crowd, and we had our hands full.
Mini trucks, diesels, monster trucks, and vendors with chrome up the wazoo all pulled into the grassy venue and turned up their stereos simultaneously. I've worked at nearly 30 car shows over the years, and I've never seen such a crowd. I've never had to watch a car show participant get hauled away by the police for pulling a switch blade. I've never had to nervously oversee a security staff who regularly made contact with people who were trying to sneak some sort of narcotic onto the show grounds.
Then there was the bikini contest. What's ironic is the bikini winner wasn't even wearing one! She had pasties on her boobs and a strap for her bottoms. A strap.
There were two stripper poles on the stage, just for that portion of the show, and the girls were encouraged by the M.C. to hop up there and get everyone going. Meanwhile, we're dialing police dispatch, asking for more help with our hormonally driven, young, aggressive crowd.

After two days of this in the extreme heat (extreme for April, anyway) we were happy to finally take apart the venue and haul it all away. Exhausting.

Relay For Life

A friend of mine found out on April 11th that the "off" feeling she's had for a few months was actually cancer. By Friday the 13th, she'd lost her voice to the very aggressive throat cancer and the pain from the cervical cancer required her to be heavily medicated.
On the 17th she passed away.
I had the task of notifying the friends of hers who were somewhat difficult to find. We live in an age where people use their cell phone as their home phone, so no calls to directory assistance were successful. I found people by word of mouth, and by luck. Some of them were like me; they've known Regan for almost 20 years but were not in the habit of sitting around and chatting for an hour each week. Out of all her friends, I was one of the few who knew she wasn't feeling right and was trying to figure out what was going on.
She was the type of person who believed in alternative medicine, a wholistic approach, homeopathic remedies, and an all-natural way of life. Don't drink, don't smoke, take care of your body and it'll take care of you. Her husband Steve complimented her quirky ways by being someone who knew a lot of things about a lot of things. Whenever I had a question about something that no one seemed to know the answer to, I knew I could call Regan and Steve.
It was kind of like the relationship I had with my dad, before he passed away. Anything I needed to know, I could ask him and he would likely have the answer. When he died I felt so helpless. Who would I turn to?
Now that Regan's gone I have that same feeling.
She passed away three days before my fundraiser, the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. I was nominated to be Chairman of this event that is a signature fundraiser for a great organization. It's only been happening in Lake Havasu (my home town these days) for three years, and past fundraising totals were a good start. First year it was $16,000, second year it was $35,000. With my help they hoped to make it even higher.
I took on the role of "Carnival Barker" by appearing on the t.v, the radio, in the newspaper, and on the online news publications. I was in everyone's face, prompting them to help us reach our goal of $60,000. I made it my personal mission to turn this event into a huge success.
Then I lost Regan. I lost my steam, right when it was critical to keep going. I wanted to just lay down and cry.
But then her husband called me, and gave me some insight into where his head was at. When I assumed he'd be feeling sorry for himself, he was strong. When I thought a smile was off limits, he made me smile. Regan had been hospitalized in Las Vegas--two hours from home--because that's where the specialists were. Her husband recanted all the events that led him to that conversation with me: all the doctors, the consultations, the medications, and and the heartache of seeing her in pain. He said at one point, "This is the worst trip to Vegas I've ever had."
Tearfully, I smiled.
I then decided, "If he can do it, I can too."
I shook off the sad feelings, the tears, the despair, and I focused on the fundraiser.
I worked until it hurt, I did what needed to be done.
I explained my sadness to my Relay For Life committee, and they very kindly offered their sympathies. In a quiet conversation with Will, head of our Logistics, I told him I'd dedicate myself to the Relay and then give Regan the time she deserved in my heart AFTER the event was over.
I checked weather forcasts, worried that if we had some sort of anomoly we'd have no participants at our outdoor event. And there it was; a forecast for 30 mile per hour winds and rain. People in this town will come out in the wind, but not the rain.
I worried for a while then I realized that Regan's husband had said something pretty important, "For ten years she was my universe, and now she IS the universe."
I silently asked her, "Regan could you do this one favor for me? I know this seems a bit silly to you, considering what has happened to you this past week, but it's very important to me"
And she did. The clouds cleared up on the day we were setting up out at the track, and the wind stayed calm. Everyone was amazed at our "luck."
The event kicked off on Friday night, and I found myself chatting with t.v. cameramen and reporters. I let them all know we had Regan to thank for our great weather. They probably shrugged it off, but all the event participants knew it was quite true.
There were dancers, singers, dedications, ceremonies and all kinds of activities making it look just like I envisioned it would; a carnival.
At one point in the middle of the night, I looked up and saw the half-moon and the stars. The music from our stage was in my ear but I could hear Regan's voice, calling me "Miss Shawna" like she always did. She was there.
She was there the next morning, when the accountant was adding up the $65,000 we raised.
And she was there Saturday night, once I finally got home from cleaning up the stage, the trailers, the tables and chairs, and the 15 garbage cans at our site. I cried until my head hurt and my stomach ached. I didn't cry because it was so unfair that such a neat person was taken away like she was; I cried because I missed her. Just like that, she's gone.