I WAS THERE! On the spur of the moment at 5:00 a.m. on Monday morning, I decided to do a wild and wacky thing.... I booked a flight to Las Vegas via the Internet and within hours, there I was flying down to Las Vegas just for ONE DAY, so I could see the IMPLOSION of the STARDUST! Just got back tonight. And all I can say is that it was worth every cent to go and see this! This wasn't just an implosion .... this was a LAS VEGAS implosion! And at precisely 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning as scheduled, the Stardust indeed became DUST and its memories and history descended up into the STARS!Stayed at the Royal Resort right across the street and from my room, I had a perfect view of the whole Stardust area .. however I chose to go down on the streets to experience the implosion with the crowds gathered there from all over the world. I had planned to have dinner before the implosion, however many restaurants around that area were closed or serving non-hot food from a pared-down menu. The Denny's across the street was completely shut and the Peppermill had to stop serving hot food as they had to close/tape off the chimneys and vents because of the dust! They even had menu items named after the implosion!As some of you may know, I am a freelance writer for a local newspaper, and I had a fantastic time interviewing people down on the streets, and having them sign this huge STARDUST memorabila book that I had purchased when I stayed at the hotel the last weekend it was open last October of 2006. Now my book is full of wonderful comments and stories written by people from all over the United States and the world telling of their connections with the Stardust. Soon, I will be writing an article for our newspaper about how I got so involved with the Stardust. In fact, it all started at last years Fan Club Meeting in 2006, when I won a 3 day stay at the Stardust from a Timesharing company., which coincided with our Fan Club meeting dates. Having never stayed at the Stardust before, I was really sceptical and expected it to be a dump since I was only paying $19 for 3 nights! However, not only was it NOT a dump, I fell in love with this wonderful old-Vegas hotel. And it became even more endearing to me upon realizing that it was where S & R performed for 3 years of their first days in Las Vegas, and where Bernie Yuman first became involved with them and subsequently became their manager.Three weeks after our Fan Club Meeting, upon finding out the Stardust would be closing at the end of October, I turned around and flew back down to Las Vegas to stay there for the final weekend! I got to see the final show in the theater starring Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and after the show, ran into Norm Clarke, the society columnist from the Las Vegas Review. I went over to say hello to Norm, and after remembering me from being up on the podium the day S & R got their star on the Walk of Fame, he invited me to come partially backstage for the after-show party. http://imagehost.vendio.com/preview/la/ladygold/NORMMEx.JPG I didn't really get into the REALLY private party, but I got far enough backstage to where I got to meet Steve & Eydie, shake thieir hands and see other celebrities such as Frankie Avalon. Steve and Eydie closed down the theater in a grand style to many tears and cheers. Well, that final weekend endeared me to the Stardust even more. It was now a full blown love affair! The whole weekend was a tear jerker with old-timers and all sorts of people gathering there who loved the Stardust. It was like a grand reunion and many people were hugging and crying, sad that the Stardust would be no more. So going to the implosion was just the final something I had to do. I had to go and say goodbye. I was blown away (literally!) by how this implosion was done. An implosion of a building is awesome enough in itself... But this implosion was done - A-La-Las Vegas style! Astounding fireworks, music, laser lights, and a timed countdown was built right into the demolition dynamite itself! You could hear a multitude of people muttering 'YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING' when they saw how this implosion was being done! The big implosion itself was so loud and awesome, that it rocked and shook the depths of your soul. People were screaming and crying and laughing and jumping up and down. Translation: Mindblowing! There isn't a nightclub show in Vegas that could have rivaled the implosion of the Stardust!After the implosion and a small delay, a HUGE dust cloud, that resembled a giant MONSTER, began billowing and rolling over that whole area of the Las Vegas strip. This post-implosion dust cloud was a just a teeny small example of what 9/11 in New York must have been like. Of course, nothing could ever be as severe and as bad as that, but this did give everyone a small taste of what that must have been like. The dust cloud overcame us, chased us, covered us and lost us. You literally could not see the person in front of you for about a half hour to an hour after the implosion. The dust permeated EVERYTHING. People had their mouths and noses covered with scarves, coats or whatever they could grab. People were wandering aimlessly around, not able to even see the sidewalk, while trying to find their way down the invisible Las Vegas Strip back to their respective hotels! It reminded me of the Night of the Living Dead!! You could only see vague shapes moving in slow motion that resembled some type of alien beings appearing out of a space fog! The whole scene was downright SURREAL. After it was all over, I traipsed back down to the Riviera Casino to try and find something to eat. And what really got to me was that the monster cloud of dust even permeated the Riviera Casino and completely engulfed the INSIDE of the air-conditioned casino!! It was downright weird to enter the Casino, and see people at the slot machines coughing and trying to wave the dust away, and neon lights dimmed by the dust!I finally got back to my room about 4:30 a.m, with a luke warm hamburger! My clothes were covered in dust which literally was flaking off my clothing when I got back in my room! About 5:30 a.m. as I sat there trying to enjoy limp, cold onion rings (!), I glanced out my hotel room window and saw the most eerie and strange thing going on. A caravan of trucks and cars began to drive up on Convention Drive and were then lining up and pulling into a huge parking lot. They seemed to drive around in circles and in various directions. I also noticed that there was a person stopping at each car's window to talk to the driver of each vehicle. At first i thought it might be some kind of car club gathering in Vegas or some such. But more and more and MORE trucks and cars kept filing into this parking lot. It was a never-ending cortege of vehicles, and in the dusty pre-dawn night, with the cars' headlights dimly shining through the dust, it almost looked like some strange ritualistic vehicle ballet! From my vantage point, they looked like a bunch of ants going in every which direction. Then finally, as I saw the drivers of these vehicles emerge and start walking down the street, I began to realize what it was! Each indvidual had on a hard hat and carried a cooler or ice chest..... THESE WERE WORKERS COMING TO DO THE CLEANUP AT THE STARDUST LOCATION!! Thousands of them!The next morning when I looked out my window of my hotel room, all there was left of the Stardust was a huge pile of grey matter. It looked like a huge crumpled up piece of paper. 49 years of history, now a wadded up piece of twisted metal.I probably will never see anything quite like it again in my life, and I am so glad I became a little teeny bit of Stardust history.

Here's what seeing the implosion of the famed Stardust was like. (see links below). http://www.reviewjournal.com/media/video/stardust1.html
http://www.reviewjournal.com/media/video/stardustcountdown.html
http://www.reviewjournal.com/media/video/stardustdemo2.html

GHOSTS OF THE PAST

I have been over at my mom's house for 6 days trying to sort things out. My sister and I met over there on Tuesday last week to tend to affairs. After our meeting with our attorney on Thursday, my sister left to return to her home and job. I was going to return home that afternoon, but then the battery went dead on my mom's car which I am now driving. The AAA came out and couldn't get it started (!), and said it probably drained so low that the computer had to be reset! Well, by that time, it was dark and everything was closed. Had to stay another night.

Next day, go down and the car starts fine. But since I was worried about it, took the car to the local shop. Turns out it did need a new battery, so there went another $110. Then I ran into a friend of mom's walking down the street near the repair shop, and we decided to have a late lunch together. Badly neeeded some company to talk to, so that was nice. By the time we got done, it was again too late to drive home to SF. Decided to stay another night at mom's. Or maybe I just found it hard to leave Mama's house.

That night I try and start cleaning out some closets and drawers at mom's. Find hundreds of photos, momentos that just blew me away. Started bawling and sobbing, and walking around her house in a state of stupor and anxiety, wondering how the hell I was going to do all this cleanup and resolve what we have to resolve. Completely wore myself out with the emotional upheaval. Fell into her bed that night and fell asleep without even getting under the covers, but tossed and turned all night and had nightmares. Dreamed I was driving my car and my mom was in her car ahead of me on the freeway. Then she took a turnoff the freeway, and I could NOT go that way! I had to go straight and lost her. I could not follow her. Need I say what that all meant!?

So now it was Saturday. I thought that since I was already there at mom's house and had no urgent duties at my house, I might as well keep on the roll I was on, cleaning things out and organizing. Oh gawd. Every drawer I opened, every closet I opened, I would find more lost letters, photos, memories, etc. A lot of this I HAD NEVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! I don't know why mom kept such precious memories hidden from us. For instance, I found my FATHER'S WALLET as it was on the day he died in 1956! A 3 cent stamp still in it, his drivers licence, photos of us as kids, receipts for his car insurance, etc. Even his Pharmaceutical licence. Just TOUCHING his wallet I broke down. I've never cried like this in my life. Deep sobs and tears from my soul. Then I found love letters from him to my mom before they were married. He called her 'Doll'. Why did mom never share these with us, I'll never know.

I spent all day Sat and Sat evening going through personal effects. I cleaned out 2 closets and put all the personal effects (photos, albums, etc) in there for now, knowing that at some point when we sell the house, those will all have to go in storage as neither my sister nor I have space in our small apartments to store such stuff. Then I cleaned out a couple more closets, putting unwanted stuff in bags to take to Goodwill, etc. But this was all so difficult, as I felt that everything I touched was part of my mom, and even the most worn, faded potholder was hard to throw in the bag. I felt like I was defacing and ransacking her house.

While I did all this cleaning, I also gathered up some worthwhile items I want to sell on Ebay. Had to photograph them, and then write up the descriptions. In doing so, I had half the living room and kitchen area crammed full of these items all over the floor.

Saturday night, I sat down to eat, and then again, put down the fork and just came apart. I sobbed and sobbed until I was worn out. I have no one to share this grief with as my sister is now totally over it. She says she has no good memories in the house and it is all just 'stuff' to her! I don't know how she can say this. That hurts too. So I am so alone in my grief.

Woke up Sunday and was drained. Was going to get dressed and leave early afternoon. But then I looked around and found that I could not leave the house in such an upheaval. I decided I would put all the Ebay to-sell stuff in the spare bedroom and get them out of the living room and kitchen. In order to do that, however, I had to clean out part of the small bedroom. Then I hauled all the photos, albums, boxes, etc. to the closet in that room. Then I took all the stuff that will be hauled away down to the garage. This involved many trips up and down the steps and a LOT of heavy lifting and pulling and pulling. After that, I washed the dishes, vacuumed the house, and felt somewhat better that I did some things. Still, it is only the tip of the iceberg. I was so exhausted. Where is everyone who in the days during and right after the funeral, said they'd be happy to help?

Finally left mom's house Sunday at 6 pm after being there since Tuesday. On the way home, someone driving in the next lane signaled to me that my front right tire was really low. I found that I almost had a flat tire! Stopped to get some air at 3 different gas stations, and each one, believe it or not, was OUT OF AIR! Kind of like me..... out of air. Finally found a station, and got some air and made it home by 7 pm.

I feel like those 6 days was actually 48 years. I relived the 48 years of us being a family in that house, and all the events, good and bad. Saw photos of myself from the age of 17 years to now in a million zillion different hair styles and clothes styles! Some boxes had just negatives of the photos in them. Negatives of photos I've NEVER ever seen before. The negatives showed people and lives now gone by and over and done with. Viewing these negatives was like seeing GHOSTS of the past. Only shadows. What is life all about anyway?

MY LIFE IS CHANGING - MAMA DIED.

Haven't posted for so long. Life got ahead of me. Have so many things to blog about, but the biggest life changing event for me happened on February 5 of this year, 2007.

My mama died.

Mom went into the hospital on January 29 with a case of atrial fibrollation which developed into a small clot, and caused a pre-stroke. But it disappated that night and we thought mom was improving, however, things slowly changed for the worst. We came to find out she had a massive stroke and was failing. The doctors talked to us about whether we want to keep her going using artificial means if it comes to that, which we did not, and mom did not want that either.

She then developed pneumonia and an infection due to the massive stroke. She could not speak or swallow and was paralyzed on her left side. She did recognize us and responded somewhat, but it is was not good, and she went continually downhill. My sister and I were devastated.

Don't even get me started, however, on the quality of nursing and doctor care at the hospital. My sister and I are still gathering information and may have a lawsuit on our hands once we get all the facts. When mom came into the ER with a TIA (trans Ischemic stroke - or pre-stroke), they did NOT do a CAT scan on her nor did they carry out the necessary stroke protocols that have to be done within a 2 to 3 hour window timeframe! Not only that, they misdiagnosed her condition and then never notified her doctor or us! Then overnight, the major stroke happened, and still the next morning, they did not tell us. It was only when I called her room and spoke to her, that I found my mother all of a sudden, almost a vegetable, and not able to speak!!! It's almost as if they figured she was old, and she wasn't worth the effort. We are furious. Not only that, the neurologist gave us only about 5 minutes of her time since mom had been in the hospital and never really sat down with us to talk with us. We kind of grabbed her one night as she swung thru the unit making her rounds, and she was literally moving down the hall as we tried to ask her important questions! This is not right and is completely unacceptable.

One day, somebody called my home number and said the 'HOSPITALIST' wanted to talk to me.... The WHAT????!!! What the hell is a Hospitalist??!! Sounded like some movie Arnold Schwarzenegger was in or something!! Geez.

In the last days, I snuck a thermos of Bourbon in the hospital and sat there throughout the day drinking bourbon and 7's. God knows you have to have something strong to put up with what goes on in hospitals nowadays!

We got the call at 6:30 a.m. on the morning of the 5th. Even then the hospital screwed up. She passed away at 5:00 a.m. and they did not call us until 6:30 a.m.

Goodbye Mama.