FEAr aNd LOsiNg in LAs VEgaS:
It was the evening of Sept 30, 2000 in crazy Las Vegas. I was leaving the Phish concert at the Thomas & Mack Center, it was at that show that the band announced their hiatus/breakup. Fooleshly driving back to my hotel that was only about two miles away, a very unfortunate incident happened.
The whole trip up until this point was something similar to a Hunter Thompson novel. This was my FoUrTh night of rollin' in a row, and had taken something equivelant to seven or so street pills throughout the evening. I knew it was going to be the last Phish shows that I was going to see for a while, due to preexisting breakup rumors. So I figured to just go wild for the last few shows of the tour throughout the West Coast, especially in Las Vegas...
So there I was after my LAst show for a long time or maybe forever, rollin' my balls off and making a stupid decision like driving while so intoxicated. I was acting like I was in a Dr. Thompson novel. When all of a sudden I realized that I needed to take a left at this light, and the idiot I was at the time decided to hop over an "invisible" curb that divided the left turning lane from the straight lane, while going like 35-40 Mph. My passenger and I freaked out when we came to a screetching halt at the traffic light.
I pulled into the hotel parking lot and examined my vehicle. There was fluid dripping from underneath, but we were so fucked up that we couldn't tell what it was. While at the same time we were hoping that I just busted the oil pan and not anything too major. Yeah right.
The next day I got my car towed to a mechanic only to discover that I cracked my transmission. I happen to own a Honda Accord, and they make the automatic transmissions in a one-piece system, so that if you break anything within the tranny, you will have to get a brand new one. A bullshit design.
So my friends decided to drive back to Colorado without me, because I had to repair my car. To make a long story short, I ended up waiting about 2 weeks for another tranny to arrive to put in my car. I went from staying in a two bedroom suite (W/kitchen & all) to the ghetto, pay-by-the-hour, or $20 a night places up by Freemont St. because I ended up spending my life savings on a new transmission for my car, hotel accomodations for so long, lots of lost $ in gambling, alcohol, drugs, ciggs, and food.
What was supposed to be a good few days of Fear and Loathing, turned into a few weeks of fear and Losing! I will never make a stupid decision like that again, espescially when it was such a short distance to go! I hope no one else has to go through what I went through. It was fun at first, but then it turned into a rollercoaster ride from hell. I was seriously depressed for a couple months after this tragic event. I never felt so depressed, it was like the world was crashing down on me. My money was gone, my favorite band had just broke up, my friends basically left me there, my car was destroyed, and I was coming off a four day long ecstasy binge! Those first few days of recovery were awful, I was so depressed I couldn't get out of bed! All because of my bad judgement. I will never make a ridiculously stupid decision like that again! I definitely learned my lesson!
.....But at the same time it was one hell of a vacation that I will never forget!.

[ 26 January 2002: Message edited by: Biscophish ]