It is "Never Enough"

I would be remiss not to mention a story that broke earlier this week about the executive from Fry’s Electronics who allegedly embezzled $65 million to fund his compulsive gambling addiction. Yes, that number is with an “M” as in MILLIONS and this story has a long way to go before it finishes. You can read more here http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/24/MNTN14U59F.DTL and here http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/25/da-says-frys-executive-was-major-debtor-las-vegas/. It does seem like there are countless stories all over the internet and I suspect there are more to come with one disclaimer; it appears the casinos are being named and when that happens usually stories like this get buried for one reason or another. This seems like too big of a story to get buried but who knows where this will all end.

I can only comment on this story as it relates to my own experiences and I am certainly not one to cast any aspersions. Yes, my situation was at a much less dollar amount; however; given my level of denial about my compulsive gambling addiction had I not gotten caught when I did; I have no idea how much more “damage” was left inside of me. I suspect this person’s level of denial was fairly high along with his ego just like mine. He obviously wasn’t shy about his new found wealth and loved to place wagers along with being treated like a big shot. I don’t really understand why the Internal Revenue Service is the lead investigator on this case but as the Agent told me; “we don’t care where you get the money we care whether you claim the money on your income tax return.” Apparently Mr. Siddiqui didn’t claim any of this money on his income tax return which led to the unraveling of his case. Of course hindsight is always 20/20 and had he filed the proper tax returns I wonder how much longer this would have gone on.

This really isn’t the highest dollar amount for an embezzler related to compulsive gambling. If memory serves me correctly there is a high ranking Chinese official serving a life sentence for taking billions to support his compulsive gambling addiction. This does represent the “never enough” syndrome and I know for myself it was and would never be enough to fuel my compulsive gambling addiction. Most “normal” people don’t understand this and I don’t think I can do this justice by trying to explain. All I can say is that I had to place those wagers and there was never a time I thought I could just walk away from it all.

The way it ended and I am eternally grateful for this because I have found recovery and continue to live in recovery each and every day. Yes, it had to come this way for me and I can understand what Mr. Siddiqui was going through. Hopefully he can find recovery and find that life without gambling is much better than life with gambling but I surmise he has lots of hurdles to overcome in the meantime. I will continue to follow this story as an “interested” observer and do wish him the very best.

Last night we made our way to our favorite family restaurant Souplantation with just our son. Our daughter had a birthday party to attend and this was supposed to be a sleepover but she wasn’t feeling very well so she just went for the evening’s festivities. My son was great at the buffet style restaurant and gets a big kick out of going up and down to get his food and he even offered to get my food as well. I took him up on his offer and he certainly didn’t mind. We had a good time at dinner and the evening ended very nicely.

This morning was a typical Sunday morning as I stayed in bed watching the CBS Sunday Morning Program and was joined by my son. The breakfast was typical and the day was typical as well for a Sunday. Not much was accomplished but this was just as well. I didn’t attend the Sunday GA meeting because I plan on attending tomorrow’s Speaker’s meeting since I take over the Secretary position next week and also may attend Tuesday’s meeting as well. I was busy with the children outside playing and I think I understatement my recovery (this is in the “physical” sense) ability as my legs were feeling the full effects of the 24 mile run. I really couldn’t play football with my son like we did the other day because I was having a hard time running. Yes, my legs were sore but the positive side effect was the fact that my calf didn’t feel any worse and it did feel a little better. I really should have expected this and I am not surprised because it is all part of the training regimen.

As we were outside my son somehow lost his ball that we purchased just yesterday. No, it wasn’t the “perfect” football but an oversized handball that he kicked over the fence that hit the neighbor’s roof and then vanished. We looked everywhere and the ball could not be found. It is one of life’s great mysteries how something like this could actually happen. No one saw the ball land and it wasn’t in our backyard, the neighbor’s backyard or any other backyard for that matter. I am sure it will turn up somewhere but for now it is lost. My son seemed to take it in stride and even offered to pay for a new ball. I am sure we will replace it when he has the money which knowing him won’t be very long. Yes, this was a typical Sunday and as always a wonderful day.