When the day
sort of ambles on and not much happens, especially on those issues that should
have been resolved a long time ago and are still hanging on…
...It
gives the overwhelming feeling that from a business viewpoint the day was …
well … pointless and "dismissable". Instead of talking about unaccomplished business, let’s go
back to a couple of characters whom I met along the way to this day about which
I'm griping. This particular “way” to which we refer, mind you, has taken well
over one hundred thousand miles, given me much empty stomach time and provided many unglamorous
stops in what otherwise might be considered sophisticated hidey-holes.
One
morning, while time was being “whittled away” in Las Vegas (“somewhen” around 2004) waiting for some
specific resolution to be completed and sent in (a state of affairs all too common in this type of business) so that
another one could be started … into my room comes this rather strange looking
fellow and, introducing himself in a rather loud voice, said: “I’m Chuck …
consider me your personal Italian Leprechaun”
Truthfully,
looking him over, this description was not too far from reality. A grayish
white cowboy hat perched atop a balding round head, 5’4” tall, rather rounded
at the middle and sharp green blue eyes which looked right through you; this
apparition was ensconced in a bright electric blue “I Love Vegas” t-shirt over
a pair of beige Bermuda cargo shorts. However,
what attracted the eyes immediately, were his lower extremities. Or, rather,
the gigantic pair of cowboy boots which served him as a dual perch. These, I
would later find out, were kind of a trademark with him. More than once I thought he took his showers with his boots on ... rather nasty mental image... After I had a chance
to take most of this in, he ambled over to where I was and sat on the chair
facing me. “Dale told me I ought to get
to know you” he said. Dale being our common friend and attorney.
“Then I gather you are also waiting for
someone else to do what they are supposed to do and have somehow managed not to
do yet, right?” He looked at me and, in a softer than anticipated voice,
said: “This is all a bunch of crap” …
he then added … “Too many people running
around and putting their hands out and too few doing what needs to be done”
As
it turns out, this Italian leprechaun and I actually hit it off and became
friends, as friends can exist in this business, a business in which everyone is
looking out for self. He was quite an interesting character.
Indeed from an Irish Italian clan, a combination that generated a state of mind
which was sort of a permanent internal conflict. His heart was bigger than he
was and as we got to know each other over a few years, he was always concerned that I
was OK, and that our marriage was surviving (his did not and his estrangement from his then grown children was a
constant source of emotional pain) the constant struggles and the constant
circumstantial attacks generated by the denizens of the roads we had chosen to
travel.
Chuck
did not make it to see his dream come through. Some 5 years ago a call came in
from Dale, letting me know he had been found in his hotel room, his
heart having given out as a result of bad eating habits … a constant diet of hot dogs was his only source of food and this was truly poisonous to his system,
for he became an out of control diabetic. In the end, it was a diabetic coma
which took him. He was mourned, and he is remembered fondly, often with a smile
on my lips. The idea of heavy hearts was not his cup’o tea, and hated the
thought of being “down in the bloody dumps” as he would say sometimes. “That is for fools and for those who do not
have faith in the future” … “We have
to face life with a smile … and when it looks a little confused by this, then
screw it royally”
So
I think of him and I smile … my “Italian Leprechaun” always remembered with a
smile under the cowboy hat and some kind of shorts over the cowboy boots … But
don’t let this mental image fool you … he was a structural engineer with many
years experience and more than a couple of dozen patents to his credit. He had
sold them all to the company where he worked when he decided to pursue this
higher calling… Well, what would you name it when there is no money (yet!!),
much work and much suffering … Must be a higher calling…
The
other individual who comes to mind, is the Argentinean fellow already brought
into the light a couple of entries ago. He had been a taxi driver in Argentina,
until one day he learnt about these shenanigans … he then proceeded to find an
older guy to bankroll (well, at least to bank step) his trip to Zurich and his
pursuit of happiness. They lived in poverty, sharing a small room at the
Basilea Hotel, a place favored then by all the fortune hunters on a tight
budget. All nationalities and all flavors; Italians, Russians, Arabs galore, some
French, a few Germans and, of course, my two Argentinean friends.
How
can I describe him? Not easy… hardheaded and overly sure of what he thought he
knew (which turned out to be not much,
when all was said and done). He could put on an act which would get him
through the first line of defense but when faced with a more detailed review,
then it was not so good a show. His best known achievement was to establish a
romantic liaison with a cute Dominican table dancer, who worked at their hotel
bar. He was really a good, basic guy … I say was, for I have not seen or heard from him in
almost a decade. Last I knew he was back in Buenos Aires
Strange
roads and strange, fascinating places; interesting people to go along with them
and to, somehow, soften the memories of so many difficult times lived.
Keep
your curiosity always on; be willing to take the less easy and more challenging roads along
the way. These will give you the “willies” at times, but will also provide
incredible stories and experiences… enough for a lifetime or two.
Be
Well … Be Back!!!
Final Notes:
- Pray for those who are fighting an illness which
may take them away from their loved ones… Every request is heard, and
counts!!
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