Gambling; A Casino & A Revolution

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.


...How I wish I could hate or even hurt you, but
All I want is to have you here with me~~~"Mi rubi l'anima" YOU STEAL MY SOUL,
by Laura Pausini

With the whirlwind of activity last week-end, and then getting terribly sick the
subsequent Monday, 7 February, I am going to cover a fortnight period. I never ever thought that I would ever use that archaic term; fortnight.

Last Friday, 4 February, I was running around doing errands. The errands eventually got me into the Hamburg, NY area. It was a cold day, but it was sunny; it was splendid. I'll just summarize it, as an~~~Afternoon Delight. With dusk setting it, I additionally took in a Fish Fry, in that part of town. I'm a Sunday's Child, but I love Fridays.

Saturday, 5 February 2011, was going to be a Completely Unique experience. By way of the Annunciation High School graduate Martha Orrange Nealon, I was included in a
Casino Excursion!!! Martha's husband Pat, is the Commander of the AMERICAN LEGION POST 527, from Hamburg, NY. The Legion Post was sponsoring this excursion-tour. There would be two bus loads of Legion Post members, wifes, friends, and associates that would be a part of this extravaganza. It was an afternoon of fun & games at the Seneca Fallsview Casino, in Niagara Falls, NY. Reasonably priced at $28.00 per person, I got $25.50 of it back playing the slots. Yes!! I know~~~a bonafide Bat Masterson; a real Maverick!!

But check this out!! On the way up to the Casino, one of the Legion operatives is selling tickets for a split-club drawing. I was tickled-pink!! The pot was $70.00, and~~~I won it!!!! Weeeeeeeee!!!

These slot-machines are insane!! They all have 22nd-century bells & whistles. Of course, all you seasoned casino veterans know about this already. For the neophyte though, this was an awaking!! I had a couple of 'handlers' helping me out, thank God.

The one realization that was so helpful was knowing that the COACH USA bus was going to be able to accommodate my scooter in its below-deck storage area. As long as I kept the scooter wheel-lock set, the scooter wasn't going 'anywhere'. This discovery was huge. This gave me total freedom, including areas such as the restrooms. When one is using a collapsible wheelchair, when covering the longer distances, there is often the need for an aide. Certainly, navigating the restroom area can be a challenge trying to have doors stay open for you while your two hands are on the 'wheels' working to get the wheelchair through the door opening and threshold area. For any subsequent Winery Tours, or Casino tours, my scooter will be alongside.

The Casino package included supper back at the American Legion Post. The return ride was a bit more interesting because the weather; the blowing and drifting snow, had started to kick into high-gear. We did alright, all-in-all, and returned safely to enjoy all the pizza & wings, one could sink their teeth into!!

On a personal note I wish to thank Carlene Schultz and Pat & Martha Orrange Nealon for their efforts in putting the package together---and for including me. Do it again!!! I'm there!!

Sunday, 6 February 2011, we had a post-Mass brunch at a new restaurant in Kenmore, NY. It used to be the old KFC location. I had an Greek Omlette. This, in and of itself, was incidental. We were just having something to tied us over until the Super Bowl garnishes and entrees were going to get served later in the day, during game-time.

Green Bay Packers 31 Pittsburgh Steelers 25. I was routing for Green Bay. Not so much that I wanted Aaron Rodgers to enjoy some lime-light as TitleTown's new Golden Boy(Paul Hornung was Green Bay's original). It was more that, as my USMC son Philip also felt, I just did not want Pittsburgh to have a seventh SB ring, when the Godforsaken Bills don't even have one, yet.

I am back to the food situation because of Monday, 7 February. I do not know WHAT came over me, but when I got up to go to work, I was sicker-than-a-dog. You name it, I was doing it. By mid-day I was so bad, I actually thought of checking into an emergency room. Finally got some over-the-counter liquid into me, which helped to empty my stomach and that seemed to finally give me some relief. I kept pounding down the Bayer Aspirins and~~~what a difference-a-day makes. By Tuesday, 8 February, I felt good enough to go into work and recover my eight hours lost on Monday.

Getting into the work Tuesday has me realizing two discoveries. The first one is that the passenger elevator is NOT working; gggrrr. With it being 8 degrees outside, that means I'll have to fuss with the outdoor elements, and the somewhat inconsiderate Sheriff's Department, to make my way over to the freight elevator location. It is winter; it is ice and snow on the road surfaces, and it is the City of Buffalo. Admittedly, The City is doing as best as they can. But what is annoying is what two of the Deputies do with their 'standing' vehicles. They drive them up the handicap curb cut-away areas, and leave their vehicles, with the front bumpers against the building, on the side-walk area, idling.

Trust me!! I was looking for a confrontation. The vehicles were blocking an ADA- coded cut-away area for handicap-accessibility. And the one deputy, in the one idling vehicle, was looking in his rear-view mirror and saw what I was trying to accomplish. Because of the accumulated snow and ice sitting at the edge of the cutaways, I was going to have to get a running start---from the street, up that cutaway, and onto the sidewalk. You would think the Deputy would get out of his warm vehicle for two reasons. Number one: I'm on South Elmwood Ave, for God's sakes---with vehicles buzzing by. I have to be that distance removed, to get the running start. And number two: that The Deputy would offer to get his CRUISER out of the way so that I could get my scooter~~~OFF OF THE STREET. He does neither. In getting a running start, I didn't care. If I was going to hit the back-end of his cruiser~~~BRING-IT-ON!!!

As fate would have it, while cutting through the snow, getting up the cutaway, slows my scooter down. The deceleration allows me to cut to the right and make my way along the sidewalk to the power-door-opening that gives me access to the freight-elevator area.

So I get inside, punch-in, and I get started on my assigned tasks. In due course, Dan, whom sits in the partition adjacent to mine, dead-pans; "there goes your door."

"The Door' that Dan is referring to, is a metal-framed door with metal hinges, that
is the enclosure door---to my restroom handicap stall. Understand, that two weeks ago 'somebody' ripped the door from the hinges, and left the door, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, in the handicap stall. Nobody knows "who" did it, but somebody, I guess, is playing(at tax-payer's expense), one of those welcome-aboard-rookie, locker-room practical-jokes. I like to still use this stall because it has the two hand-rails to help me settle-in. The challenge for me is once alighting the scooter, getting myself properly balanced and leveraged so that I can lift the door from the wall and reposition it as a lean-to, against one of the door frame uprights that the door is to be, by design, attached to. I'm telling you folks, this is not just a job---this is an ADVENTURE. So now that maintenance has taken the door completely away, they have, in-effect, taken away my handicap stall.

At least, thank God, I have found a back-up area in a remote part of the third floor.

And I am grateful that it is on the third floor because I got word on Wednesday 9 February, that the Passenger Elevator was going to be out-of-service for two weeks, awaiting parts. Fun; wow!!!

Thursday 8 February 2011, I attended services for a beloved cousin. I found particular satisfaction in attending the Funeral Luncheon, after Mass, at Rizzo's Banchetti @ 550 N. French Road in Amherst, NY. It was a small gathering but the conversations were rich with interesting and often, never before known, information. This is for you, Donnie---Rest in Peace.
MORANO - Dominic J. February 7, 2011. Beloved husband of Josephine (Piazza) Morano; loving father of Linda Liberatore and Michael Morano; devoted grandfather of Alysia, Melissa Liberatore and Eric and Matthew Morano; son of the late Fannie Morano; brother of Joseph (Nancy) Morano, Lucille (Paul) Mazur and the late Mary (Jack) Mancuso; also survived by many nieces and nephews. Family present on Wednesday from 4-8 PM at the PERNA, DENGLER, ROBERTS FUNERAL HOME, 1306 Hertel Ave. Family and friends are asked to assemble for a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated from Holy Spirit Church Thursday at 9 AM. Dominic was an avid visitor to Las Vegas.

Then there was Friday~~~2-11-11; an epic moment in World History. Some have referenced this event akin to the Berlin Wall coming down in late 1989. Inspired by the actions of a popular peoples revolt in little Tunisia in the early days of January, the people of the Grand-Daddy of civilizations, Egypt, become energized as well. On 25 January, 2011, groups of Egyptian citizens begin to assemble in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Very early-on, an objective is determined. Hosni Mubarak, the 30-year self-appointed President of Egypt, MUST GO. The protests grow in size and intensity of spirit. It is a real peoples revolution, and the World is watching.
After a curious set of fits~~~and starts, it is announced at 17:00PM hours their time, of 11 February by the High Military Council---that Mubarak is resigned!! Euphoria erupts on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout Egypt!! The people's demands of Mubarak resigning, were accomplished.

CAIRO -- Egypt's military leaders dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution Sunday, meeting two key demands of protesters who have been keeping up pressure for immediate steps to transition to democratic, civilian rule after forcing Hosni Mubarak out of power.

The military rulers who took over when Mubarak stepped down Friday and the caretaker government set as a top priority the restoration of security, which collapsed during the 18 days of protests that toppled the regime. The caretaker government held its first meeting since the president was ousted and before it began, workers removed a giant picture of Mubarak from the meeting room.

The protesters had been pressing the ruling military council, led by Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, to immediately move forward with the transition by appointing a presidential council, dissolving the parliament and releasing political prisoners.Sarah El Deeb
AP

Certainly, there is much work that has to be done to fill this leadership vacuum. There is no naivete in realizing that the lack of many of the political institutions that are essential for a vibrant democracy, is currently non-existent in Egyptian politics. History, simply put, will continue to be written on this epoch saga.

From a personal perspective, I was fascinated with The Egyptian Military. Now largely equipped by the US Military-Industrial Complex, with Abrams Tanks very visible as sentries on the sidelines, they were---curiously tacit. It was almost as if there was a subterfuge of compliance; that this was THEIR revolution, too.
Poor Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. If she could have a complicit Military like this one in Egypt, Myanmar---would be Burma again!!

Saturday 12 February---Abraham Lincoln's birthday.
It is also the birthday of my brother Victor!!
And in recognition~~~we threw him a little birthday party at our house.
It included a sit-down supper and cake. He enjoyed himself. He had to---because I know he likes this kind of 'stuff'. After supper, we watched~~~on A M C, THE GODFATHER; with Al Pacino playing Don Michael Corleone!! Hey!!!
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise