"How Do You Fit Into The System?"

I'm back from a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas! The primary purpose of the trip was to attend Beth Gershin's bat mitzvah. In addition, I wanted to see how Davis' own Kelly Daniells was doing, as she makes final preparations to take on the role of Sophie in "Mamma Mia" in Las Vegas, and just experience the city in general.

I arrived on Friday night, and tried blackjack at both the Mandalay Bay, and the Suncoast, where I was staying, near suburban Summerlin. I was much too aggressive, however, and despite early successes, ended up losing $660.

Saturday morning, I took the elevator down to the Suncoast lobby, and ran into Stephen B. and wife (both related to the Gershins). As I babbled on, Stephen began getting concerned. I recognized him, but he didn't remember me, and I seemed to know an alarming amount about what he considered to be private family matters.

"Listen," he said, as he gestured with hands in the shape of a globe, "how do you fit into the system?" My inside voice said that I didn't fit into the system at all, and that's precisely why I was there, but my outside voice explained how his cousin Ira and I had been good friends in college (at UNM), and also working at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. But I liked that strange, disembodied, holistic expression of his - something to use in the future!