I am ready for Christmas. Well except for buying the kids' gifts. But they won't be back until New Year's Eve at the earliest so I have a couple of extra days. Otherwise I am completely ready. Tomorrow night we are going to take the X-Box over to my parents' house and probably rent The Beatles Rock Band. I have a quart of Dairy Fresh Eggnog in the fridge and will be going to ABC Liquors to get a bottle of spiced rum to add to it. I am also going to make some more mulled wine (my mom LOVED it) and I have a six pack of Mike's Spice Apple as well. Good times are sure to be had.
Life is pretty unspectacular and good all at the same time. We still have yet to put things back together after our recent flooding but we're not going to worry about it until this weekend. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and I would hate to put everything back together tomorrow only to have to tear it back apart again. Since we had to get rid of all the carpeting all we have is a bare concrete floor. Which, granted, might be nice in the summer time but not so much in the winter. We're going to check Lowe's and a few other flooring stores for scrap carpet. We are not doing wall-to-wall this time because that has proved to be a serious hassle.
My very last car payment is due on January 2nd. I cannot even begin to express how happy I am about this! Then The Monkey's last payment is in February. So we'll officially OWN two cars! w00t w00t! One of these days we're going to have to look at getting The Monkey's bumper fixed. (A friend was rear-ended in Panama City back in November 2005. We got the settlement money and, uh, spent it on other things. Seeing how it was November we probably spent it on Christmas. :P)
During the month of October I managed to gain a good eight pounds. I was back up to 217! Thankfully that weight has slowly but surely come off over the past two months. Now I am down to my lowest in years... 207!! If anyone has any ideas for me to drop seven pounds in about a week I would love to hear it. :P (I'm not really considering trying this. I expect that I'll actually gain a few pounds over Christmas and New Years since I plan on drinking.) But seeing as how I'm less than 10 pounds from meeting my weight loss goal for 2009 I won't beat myself up too much!
Having this big ol' house to ourselves is a bit strange. Definitely lonely without my sister and the kiddos. But the quiet is kind of nice. Who doesn't enjoy a bit of peace and quiet once in a while after all?? (Well as peacful and quiet as it can be with five cats and a dog in the house!)
And now I am going to go get dressed and head out to get my eyebrows waxed. Then I will come back home and do my makeup. Trying to figure out what to make for supper. A pot roast sounds good. But, then again, so does meatloaf. Decisions decisions...
Showing posts with label weekend adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend adventures. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
TOTALLY worth it!
This entry is mostly for my benefit. I want to be able to look back at this and remember it with vivid detail.
On Sunday morning, The Monkey and I got up early. We loaded up our suitcase (which was totally too big for what was in it, but whatever) into the Alero and headed to Atlanta.
I had printed the route Google Maps suggested the night before. When The Monkey looked at the directions he asked me if I realized I was trading the mostly straight, two lane highways for winding, curvy back roads. (Well, duh, of course I didn't!) And yet, he insisted that we take my route anyway. I guess for kicks. As it turns out, we got to see some of Alabama's prettier side. It was a bit blustery on Sunday -- chilly with a tad bit of wind -- and we kept driving around curves and over hills through windswept leaves. It was a good thing we had a full tank of gas because we saw three gas stations before we finally hit I-85. And those three were, uh, many miles apart. Either way, we enjoyed this part of the drive quite a lot. Autumn weather always puts me in a good mood.
I was smart and decided not to put on [much] makeup for the drive up. The plan was to get to the hotel early enough to get showered and put on makeup before the concert. This turned out to be a very good decision because about a third of the way through the drive my eyes were starting to water profusely thanks to my fall allergies which STILL haven't let up. We hadn't seen much civilization for miles so the thought of finding a Walgreens or other pharmacy was laughable. Eventually, though, we drove into Tuskegee and sure enough, they had a CVS. We decided to stop. I bought a box of Zyrtec-D (Claritin hadn't done squat for me) and a couple of 5-Hour Energy shots. The Monkey and I both popped a Zyrtec and downed half of one of the energy shots. Half an hour later I could've easily taken a nap. So we opened the second bottle and polished it off. In a few more minutes I was back on full force mode.
Google Maps' directions were spot on for the majority of the drive. We kept a watch on my odometer and the mileage on the 'step-by-step' instructions and they were perfectly timed. The Monkey and I couldn't get over the fact that we'd taken at least nine turns -- all of them right hand turns -- but we still managed to be going north somehow. However, just when we'd thought Google Maps was KING of Internet directionage, we missed our exit off of I-85. The Monkey, being the logical little Libra that he is, told me to get off at the first Hartsfield exit. I didn't argue even though I did NOT want to be at the airport! As soon as we found a spot, we pulled over and he took over driving. (I get far too stressed out when I'm "lost" and/or in heavy traffic. And, let's face it, it's Atlanta. Even on a Sunday morning traffic was pretty heavy.) He asked for directions to I-85 North and we were on our way once again.
Only to get lost again looking for our hotel. (Another Google Maps blunder. We couldn't find "Old National Parkway" try as we may. Even the locals looked at us like we were nuts when we asked. We finally called the hotel and they gave us landmarks to follow. We were there within two minutes of hanging up. Say what you will... there's no substitution for good ol' firsthand experience. :P
Hotel check-in was a breeze. The hotel upgraded us from a single room to a two room suite. Which was wicked convenient seeing as how The Monkey and I can't sleep in the same room and actually get any sleep. (The snoring really is that bad.) So he took the fold out couch and I took the bed (which was about as comfortable as a fold out couch bed). We arrived at 2:30 PM (local time) and I had just enough time to shower and primp. Yes, I "primped" for a rock concert. And I looked pretty damn good, I think.
We decided that it would be better to venture into downtown Atlanta, find the arena, pay the $20 to park, and then walk to find a place to eat. I was craving something nice. A sit down place; not fast food. Specifically a nice steak and a baked potato. Maybe a small salad before dinner. But, not-so-much. It took us nearly an hour to find the place for a couple of reasons. First, another Google Maps blunder. They said a 'slight left' onto Olympic Centennial Parkway after getting onto Spring Street NW. They specified this instruction where there happened to be a Y intersection and we assumed the slight left was taking the left part of the Y. Silly us. As it turned out, we'd gotten off of Spring Street and headed back onto I-85. The Monkey took the next exit off the highway and we wound up somewhere very different. Oh well, at least we got to see LOTS of downtown Atlanta. :P Whoever designed downtown Atlanta obviously works for the city transit system. I cannot imagine trying to DRIVE there every day. It's a mess! A ridiculous network of one way streets. There is no 'go one block and turn around' there! But, whatever. We eventually found the parking garage and started following throngs of fellow headbangers towards the arena. The excitement and anticipation was insane. I was SOOO looking forward to this!
I'll admit to being a little irritated when I saw the size of the crowd waiting to get in. (And VERY disheartened to discover that t-shirts were, at their cheapest, $35 a piece.) I groaned at The Monkey about how people who had seated tickets should have a different entrance than the ones who wanted general admin tickets for the floor. And then what do I hear? A security guard direction the general admissions people to an entrance on the opposite side of the arena. Score one for me! Then we asked about restaurants. Our best choice was the food court in CNN Center. They didn't have steak but they did have sushi. Which, actually, was my second choice in pre-concert dining.
By then, it was 5:00 PM. Showtime was at 7:00. They were supposed to start letting people in at 5:30. The Monkey and I ate. And then sat. And waited. And waited. And waited. By 6:00 I was yawning. (My 5-Hour Energy Shot had totally worn off.) The boredom and fatigue totally eclipsed my excitement (albeit only temporarily). We left the food court around 6:15 to enter the crowded arena. Well, it looked crowded at the time but it was NOTHING compared to how crowded it was when we were leaving. Sheesh!
We got through the gates with no trouble and found our seats pretty quickly. (Lucky us, there was a bathroom right outside of our section.) We were in section 122 -- on the 'bend' of the arena -- in row B. The second row. The picture I found of our seats did not do the view we had justice at ALL. All The Monkey could say was "Damn baby. These are awesome seats!" Hell YEAH. We sat down and got comfortable. Still 45 minutes to showtime. Well, until the opening acts, anyway. We knew Metallica wouldn't be taking the stage until around 9:00 PM. I took a picture of our view with my phone and sent it out. That's when The Monkey pointed out yellow tape on the floor. We were sitting right next to where the bands entered the arena. Another stroke of pure luck! The people around us were all fantastic. Enthused but not overly (or annoyingly) so. We had a few seat jumpers but only two were trouble makers. Third stroke of luck -- a group of four cops were seated directly in front of us. They made it VERY easy to shoo away the two "home boys" that were drunk off their asses and smoking in the non-smoking arena. One of the two idiots nearly fell on top of me when he went to sit down in [somebody else's] seat next to me. If he hadn't been such a tubby little twit he might've went over the rail when The Monkey pushed him. Eventually The Monkey had words with the guy because he tried to light a second cigarette in a no smoking arena. That's when the cops said something and I took off to get security to drag them away. I'm sorry, if you bought shitty tickets to a concert, don't try to jump seats and cause problems for people who paid for GOOD seats. We didn't let them ruin our night, though.
The opening acts -- Gojira and Lamb of God -- were decent. Gojira's drummer was hitting double bass almost constantly which would've been really cool if their sound hadn't been so jacked up. The drums were about all I could hear, unfortunately. I couldn't discern the rhythm, lead, or bass guitars. And I definitely couldn't hear the vocalist. (The volume eventually got to me and I put in earplugs. I was surprised that it actually helped things sound better!) Lamb of God was okay. I like heavy metal. And screaming is okay when it's done in moderation. But it seemed like all the lead singer did was scream. And that's just not my taste in music. After a couple of songs, though, the lead singer gave props to the military. That was the first time I yelled REALLY loud. Heh.
The opening acts lasted about an hour and 15 minutes together. Stage breakdown and setup was an additional 30 minutes or so. The crowd was pretty stir crazy while they were setting up the stage for Metallica. The anticipation was palpable! Finally, after what felt like forever, the lights dimmed and The Ecstasy of Gold started playing (Metallica opens all of their shows with this song). An eruption of screams and yells from the crowd (myself included). I got chills! I am still getting chills thinking about it. A. Maz. Ing. I tried to get pictures of them walking out from my seat (they shooed us away from the railing, damnit) but managed only to get a picture of Rob Trujillo. And only the back of him. Curses. I was hoping for a close up shot of Lars or James.
They opened with That Was Just Your Life and followed immediately with The End of the Line -- both songs from Death Magnetic, the newest album. I'd done a little more research than necessary and was sure on a few of the songs they would play but they threw us a couple that I totally wasn't expecting! Ride the Lightning (from the album of the same name) came next. Then No Remorse from Kill 'Em All (their first album); this was the only song I wasn't very familiar with. They took a quick reprieve to, I'm assuming, set up the pyrotechnics for One from The Monkey's and my favorite album ...And Justice for All. Even if you're not a metal fan you should know this song. It was the first song they made a video for and released on MTV. (Which is one of my very distinct childhood memories. I remember the video very vividly. And, seeing as how I was only like nine, it was very disturbing to watch.) But, wow, it was absolutely INCREDIBLE live. I took a short video of the intro and one of the solos but the sound quality is sucky. The music and crowd were just too over powering. The intro to the song is an overture of gun fire and helicopters. Think Vietnam. And as we were hearing the shots and explosions they timed some kick as pyrotechnic blasts all around the stage. SO AWESOME. I showed my enthusiasm. Uh...a lot. They followed One with two more Death Magnetic songs -- Broken, Beat & Scarred and Cyanide -- and followed that with Sad But True from their self titled album (more commonly known as The Black Album).
Our second "surprise" of the night was Welcome Home (Sanitarium) from Master of Puppets! More chills... it's one of my favorites. Next up they played my two favorite Death Magnetic songs -- All Nightmare Long and The Day That Never Comes. I'm partial to All Nightmare Long because it had to 'grow on me'. Plus it took me several tried before I finally beat it on Hard on Guitar Hero. :P The Day That Never Comes is easily one of my favorite Metallica songs ever. It's not so hardcore; more of a ballad if you will. The followed that up with a crowd favorite (and one we were all expecting) Master of Puppets from the album of the same name. The next song was our next "surprise" -- Blackened from ...And Justice for All. Blackened is a really powerful song. The lyrics are about the destruction of the world by the human race by nuclear war. (Color our world blackened...) After Blackened they followed up with a brief bass solo from Rob. Then everything went dark and quiet. (Well, as quiet as an arena full of headbangers can get...) Then a single light came on and showed James Hetfield on a stool with his guitar and he started playing Nothing Else Matters (from The Black Album) acoustically. Eventually the rest of the band joined in. They followed that up with another Black Album favorite; Enter Sandman. I hadn't been keeping track of the number of songs they'd played up until this point but I knew it had to be getting close to the end. And, sure enough, they took another reprieve. They played the beginning of The Frayed Ends of Sanity from ...And Justice for All (which is the March of the Winkies from The Wizard of Oz) and got the crowd pumped up again. James got on the mic and asked if everyone was still around... commence lots of screaming and HELL YEAHs. ;) Then he busted out with Last Caress (a cover of the Misfits' song). Which was pretty awesome but it's only like a minute long so I felt like we might've gotten a little gypped. Then they played Hit the Lights; some more "old shit" from Kill 'Em All.
And then it was time for the closing song -- Seek & Destroy (also from Kill 'Em All). Seek & Destroy has been their closing song for live shows since their Madly in Anger with the World tour so we were expecting it. The really cool part was that they turned on all of the house lights and dropped hundreds of black beach balls (all imprinted with the Metallica logo) from the ceiling. We were too high up/far back to get a beach ball but it was awesome to watch! (And we were kind of grateful seeing as how people were fighting over them. Uh... no thanks!) After the song ended James gave the crowd props first and then Lars grabbed the mic. He said, and I quote, "We have been criss crossing this great country for the past year and I have to say this is by far the best fucking Sunday night crowd we've had yet!" It was SOOO awesome! And pretty hilarious that he used 'fuck' about five times in 30 seconds. \m/
It was just a kick ass time. If we get the opportunity, we WILL see them in concert again. They put on a hell of a show and kept the energy high all night. I enjoyed the HELL out of myself, that's for sure. (Before they played Seek & Destroy James said something to the effect of "We're going to leave here with a sore throat, maybe a sore neck, but we're all gonna leave here with big smiles on our faces!" And he was absolutely 100% right. My voice was hoarse for the next 24 hours or so afterwards and I noticed on Monday afternoon that my neck hurt. But not the usual pain I'm accustomed to; it was muscle soreness from rocking out for three hours! Sweeeeet...
The crowd leaving the arena was NUTS. I grabbed onto The Monkey's hand with a fierceness you wouldn't believe. He led us through thecattle crowd and we eventually made it outside. Into the 50° chill and RAIN. Gaah! Thankfully we'd both worn hoodies. (Which was awesome at first, because Philips Arena is a hockey arena and there is ice under the stage after all. But with an arena full of body heat and regular pyrotechnic blasts it wound up getting pretty hot.) We found our way back to the parking garage and hopped into the car and waited a good half hour for traffic to thin out enough for us to back out. Silly me hadn't printed reverse directions to get back to the hotel so we got a little lost. When we finally found our way back to the hotel (around 1:30 AM) we both crashed pretty much immediately.
I didn't sleep much. Normally I set the TV on a timer so it doesn't keep me awake but I needed the background noise to drown out The Monkey's snores from the other room. When I finally did turn the TV off (around 4:00 AM) I could hear planes (we were right next to the airport after all). The alarm jolted me awake at 8:00 AM. I took a quick shower and then The Monkey and I headed down for the free breakfast. Nothing to brag about. They had fresh make 'em yourself waffles that were really good. And it filled the void without costing us extra money. We were going to wait until check out at 11:00 but The Monkey said he was awake and ready to go. So we packed up and left early. We stopped at Walmart to buy an FM transmitter for my iPod (we had to rock out to Metallica all the way home, of course!) and then we were on our way.
I was completely ZONKED. Not even a 5-Hour Energy could bring me out of my stupor. The Monkey wanted to stop in Shorter, AL (Victoryland 777 Casino) as a side adventure. When we got there I was absolutely DELIRIOUS. I couldn't stop grinning. And I couldn't even muster the energy to talk. We found a Starbucks inside after a few minutes and I ordered a Mocha Latte with a double shot of espresso. We walked around the casino (which is full of nothing but slots) for about a half hour before we broke a $20 and started feeding some machines. We actually spent $30 but we probably lost about twice that. GRR! But we still had a good time. We got to see the greyhounds up close (they were getting weighed) and we registered for the players' club. I would've liked to play some cards but it didn't look like they offered it. At least cards aren't 100% chance!
The rest of the drive was uneventful. I was so sleepy and even though I tried ridiculously hard to stay awake I passed out after we got outside of Montgomery. I woke up just as we were pulling into town.
The entire experience was so much fun. I'm so glad we splurged on the tickets! I downloaded the concert audio from MetallicaLive.com for $9.95 when we got home. So now we can relive it over and over and over and over... whenever we want! I took something like 260 pictures! The videos I took didn't turn out very good but I'll probably upload them to YouTube at some point anyway. The photos are posted on my Facebook. Some of them are blurry and indiscernible. But there are quite a few that are just AWESOME.
On Sunday morning, The Monkey and I got up early. We loaded up our suitcase (which was totally too big for what was in it, but whatever) into the Alero and headed to Atlanta.
I had printed the route Google Maps suggested the night before. When The Monkey looked at the directions he asked me if I realized I was trading the mostly straight, two lane highways for winding, curvy back roads. (Well, duh, of course I didn't!) And yet, he insisted that we take my route anyway. I guess for kicks. As it turns out, we got to see some of Alabama's prettier side. It was a bit blustery on Sunday -- chilly with a tad bit of wind -- and we kept driving around curves and over hills through windswept leaves. It was a good thing we had a full tank of gas because we saw three gas stations before we finally hit I-85. And those three were, uh, many miles apart. Either way, we enjoyed this part of the drive quite a lot. Autumn weather always puts me in a good mood.
I was smart and decided not to put on [much] makeup for the drive up. The plan was to get to the hotel early enough to get showered and put on makeup before the concert. This turned out to be a very good decision because about a third of the way through the drive my eyes were starting to water profusely thanks to my fall allergies which STILL haven't let up. We hadn't seen much civilization for miles so the thought of finding a Walgreens or other pharmacy was laughable. Eventually, though, we drove into Tuskegee and sure enough, they had a CVS. We decided to stop. I bought a box of Zyrtec-D (Claritin hadn't done squat for me) and a couple of 5-Hour Energy shots. The Monkey and I both popped a Zyrtec and downed half of one of the energy shots. Half an hour later I could've easily taken a nap. So we opened the second bottle and polished it off. In a few more minutes I was back on full force mode.
Google Maps' directions were spot on for the majority of the drive. We kept a watch on my odometer and the mileage on the 'step-by-step' instructions and they were perfectly timed. The Monkey and I couldn't get over the fact that we'd taken at least nine turns -- all of them right hand turns -- but we still managed to be going north somehow. However, just when we'd thought Google Maps was KING of Internet directionage, we missed our exit off of I-85. The Monkey, being the logical little Libra that he is, told me to get off at the first Hartsfield exit. I didn't argue even though I did NOT want to be at the airport! As soon as we found a spot, we pulled over and he took over driving. (I get far too stressed out when I'm "lost" and/or in heavy traffic. And, let's face it, it's Atlanta. Even on a Sunday morning traffic was pretty heavy.) He asked for directions to I-85 North and we were on our way once again.
Only to get lost again looking for our hotel. (Another Google Maps blunder. We couldn't find "Old National Parkway" try as we may. Even the locals looked at us like we were nuts when we asked. We finally called the hotel and they gave us landmarks to follow. We were there within two minutes of hanging up. Say what you will... there's no substitution for good ol' firsthand experience. :P
Hotel check-in was a breeze. The hotel upgraded us from a single room to a two room suite. Which was wicked convenient seeing as how The Monkey and I can't sleep in the same room and actually get any sleep. (The snoring really is that bad.) So he took the fold out couch and I took the bed (which was about as comfortable as a fold out couch bed). We arrived at 2:30 PM (local time) and I had just enough time to shower and primp. Yes, I "primped" for a rock concert. And I looked pretty damn good, I think.
We decided that it would be better to venture into downtown Atlanta, find the arena, pay the $20 to park, and then walk to find a place to eat. I was craving something nice. A sit down place; not fast food. Specifically a nice steak and a baked potato. Maybe a small salad before dinner. But, not-so-much. It took us nearly an hour to find the place for a couple of reasons. First, another Google Maps blunder. They said a 'slight left' onto Olympic Centennial Parkway after getting onto Spring Street NW. They specified this instruction where there happened to be a Y intersection and we assumed the slight left was taking the left part of the Y. Silly us. As it turned out, we'd gotten off of Spring Street and headed back onto I-85. The Monkey took the next exit off the highway and we wound up somewhere very different. Oh well, at least we got to see LOTS of downtown Atlanta. :P Whoever designed downtown Atlanta obviously works for the city transit system. I cannot imagine trying to DRIVE there every day. It's a mess! A ridiculous network of one way streets. There is no 'go one block and turn around' there! But, whatever. We eventually found the parking garage and started following throngs of fellow headbangers towards the arena. The excitement and anticipation was insane. I was SOOO looking forward to this!
I'll admit to being a little irritated when I saw the size of the crowd waiting to get in. (And VERY disheartened to discover that t-shirts were, at their cheapest, $35 a piece.) I groaned at The Monkey about how people who had seated tickets should have a different entrance than the ones who wanted general admin tickets for the floor. And then what do I hear? A security guard direction the general admissions people to an entrance on the opposite side of the arena. Score one for me! Then we asked about restaurants. Our best choice was the food court in CNN Center. They didn't have steak but they did have sushi. Which, actually, was my second choice in pre-concert dining.
By then, it was 5:00 PM. Showtime was at 7:00. They were supposed to start letting people in at 5:30. The Monkey and I ate. And then sat. And waited. And waited. And waited. By 6:00 I was yawning. (My 5-Hour Energy Shot had totally worn off.) The boredom and fatigue totally eclipsed my excitement (albeit only temporarily). We left the food court around 6:15 to enter the crowded arena. Well, it looked crowded at the time but it was NOTHING compared to how crowded it was when we were leaving. Sheesh!
We got through the gates with no trouble and found our seats pretty quickly. (Lucky us, there was a bathroom right outside of our section.) We were in section 122 -- on the 'bend' of the arena -- in row B. The second row. The picture I found of our seats did not do the view we had justice at ALL. All The Monkey could say was "Damn baby. These are awesome seats!" Hell YEAH. We sat down and got comfortable. Still 45 minutes to showtime. Well, until the opening acts, anyway. We knew Metallica wouldn't be taking the stage until around 9:00 PM. I took a picture of our view with my phone and sent it out. That's when The Monkey pointed out yellow tape on the floor. We were sitting right next to where the bands entered the arena. Another stroke of pure luck! The people around us were all fantastic. Enthused but not overly (or annoyingly) so. We had a few seat jumpers but only two were trouble makers. Third stroke of luck -- a group of four cops were seated directly in front of us. They made it VERY easy to shoo away the two "home boys" that were drunk off their asses and smoking in the non-smoking arena. One of the two idiots nearly fell on top of me when he went to sit down in [somebody else's] seat next to me. If he hadn't been such a tubby little twit he might've went over the rail when The Monkey pushed him. Eventually The Monkey had words with the guy because he tried to light a second cigarette in a no smoking arena. That's when the cops said something and I took off to get security to drag them away. I'm sorry, if you bought shitty tickets to a concert, don't try to jump seats and cause problems for people who paid for GOOD seats. We didn't let them ruin our night, though.
The opening acts -- Gojira and Lamb of God -- were decent. Gojira's drummer was hitting double bass almost constantly which would've been really cool if their sound hadn't been so jacked up. The drums were about all I could hear, unfortunately. I couldn't discern the rhythm, lead, or bass guitars. And I definitely couldn't hear the vocalist. (The volume eventually got to me and I put in earplugs. I was surprised that it actually helped things sound better!) Lamb of God was okay. I like heavy metal. And screaming is okay when it's done in moderation. But it seemed like all the lead singer did was scream. And that's just not my taste in music. After a couple of songs, though, the lead singer gave props to the military. That was the first time I yelled REALLY loud. Heh.
The opening acts lasted about an hour and 15 minutes together. Stage breakdown and setup was an additional 30 minutes or so. The crowd was pretty stir crazy while they were setting up the stage for Metallica. The anticipation was palpable! Finally, after what felt like forever, the lights dimmed and The Ecstasy of Gold started playing (Metallica opens all of their shows with this song). An eruption of screams and yells from the crowd (myself included). I got chills! I am still getting chills thinking about it. A. Maz. Ing. I tried to get pictures of them walking out from my seat (they shooed us away from the railing, damnit) but managed only to get a picture of Rob Trujillo. And only the back of him. Curses. I was hoping for a close up shot of Lars or James.
They opened with That Was Just Your Life and followed immediately with The End of the Line -- both songs from Death Magnetic, the newest album. I'd done a little more research than necessary and was sure on a few of the songs they would play but they threw us a couple that I totally wasn't expecting! Ride the Lightning (from the album of the same name) came next. Then No Remorse from Kill 'Em All (their first album); this was the only song I wasn't very familiar with. They took a quick reprieve to, I'm assuming, set up the pyrotechnics for One from The Monkey's and my favorite album ...And Justice for All. Even if you're not a metal fan you should know this song. It was the first song they made a video for and released on MTV. (Which is one of my very distinct childhood memories. I remember the video very vividly. And, seeing as how I was only like nine, it was very disturbing to watch.) But, wow, it was absolutely INCREDIBLE live. I took a short video of the intro and one of the solos but the sound quality is sucky. The music and crowd were just too over powering. The intro to the song is an overture of gun fire and helicopters. Think Vietnam. And as we were hearing the shots and explosions they timed some kick as pyrotechnic blasts all around the stage. SO AWESOME. I showed my enthusiasm. Uh...a lot. They followed One with two more Death Magnetic songs -- Broken, Beat & Scarred and Cyanide -- and followed that with Sad But True from their self titled album (more commonly known as The Black Album).
Our second "surprise" of the night was Welcome Home (Sanitarium) from Master of Puppets! More chills... it's one of my favorites. Next up they played my two favorite Death Magnetic songs -- All Nightmare Long and The Day That Never Comes. I'm partial to All Nightmare Long because it had to 'grow on me'. Plus it took me several tried before I finally beat it on Hard on Guitar Hero. :P The Day That Never Comes is easily one of my favorite Metallica songs ever. It's not so hardcore; more of a ballad if you will. The followed that up with a crowd favorite (and one we were all expecting) Master of Puppets from the album of the same name. The next song was our next "surprise" -- Blackened from ...And Justice for All. Blackened is a really powerful song. The lyrics are about the destruction of the world by the human race by nuclear war. (Color our world blackened...) After Blackened they followed up with a brief bass solo from Rob. Then everything went dark and quiet. (Well, as quiet as an arena full of headbangers can get...) Then a single light came on and showed James Hetfield on a stool with his guitar and he started playing Nothing Else Matters (from The Black Album) acoustically. Eventually the rest of the band joined in. They followed that up with another Black Album favorite; Enter Sandman. I hadn't been keeping track of the number of songs they'd played up until this point but I knew it had to be getting close to the end. And, sure enough, they took another reprieve. They played the beginning of The Frayed Ends of Sanity from ...And Justice for All (which is the March of the Winkies from The Wizard of Oz) and got the crowd pumped up again. James got on the mic and asked if everyone was still around... commence lots of screaming and HELL YEAHs. ;) Then he busted out with Last Caress (a cover of the Misfits' song). Which was pretty awesome but it's only like a minute long so I felt like we might've gotten a little gypped. Then they played Hit the Lights; some more "old shit" from Kill 'Em All.
And then it was time for the closing song -- Seek & Destroy (also from Kill 'Em All). Seek & Destroy has been their closing song for live shows since their Madly in Anger with the World tour so we were expecting it. The really cool part was that they turned on all of the house lights and dropped hundreds of black beach balls (all imprinted with the Metallica logo) from the ceiling. We were too high up/far back to get a beach ball but it was awesome to watch! (And we were kind of grateful seeing as how people were fighting over them. Uh... no thanks!) After the song ended James gave the crowd props first and then Lars grabbed the mic. He said, and I quote, "We have been criss crossing this great country for the past year and I have to say this is by far the best fucking Sunday night crowd we've had yet!" It was SOOO awesome! And pretty hilarious that he used 'fuck' about five times in 30 seconds. \m/
It was just a kick ass time. If we get the opportunity, we WILL see them in concert again. They put on a hell of a show and kept the energy high all night. I enjoyed the HELL out of myself, that's for sure. (Before they played Seek & Destroy James said something to the effect of "We're going to leave here with a sore throat, maybe a sore neck, but we're all gonna leave here with big smiles on our faces!" And he was absolutely 100% right. My voice was hoarse for the next 24 hours or so afterwards and I noticed on Monday afternoon that my neck hurt. But not the usual pain I'm accustomed to; it was muscle soreness from rocking out for three hours! Sweeeeet...
The crowd leaving the arena was NUTS. I grabbed onto The Monkey's hand with a fierceness you wouldn't believe. He led us through the
I didn't sleep much. Normally I set the TV on a timer so it doesn't keep me awake but I needed the background noise to drown out The Monkey's snores from the other room. When I finally did turn the TV off (around 4:00 AM) I could hear planes (we were right next to the airport after all). The alarm jolted me awake at 8:00 AM. I took a quick shower and then The Monkey and I headed down for the free breakfast. Nothing to brag about. They had fresh make 'em yourself waffles that were really good. And it filled the void without costing us extra money. We were going to wait until check out at 11:00 but The Monkey said he was awake and ready to go. So we packed up and left early. We stopped at Walmart to buy an FM transmitter for my iPod (we had to rock out to Metallica all the way home, of course!) and then we were on our way.
I was completely ZONKED. Not even a 5-Hour Energy could bring me out of my stupor. The Monkey wanted to stop in Shorter, AL (Victoryland 777 Casino) as a side adventure. When we got there I was absolutely DELIRIOUS. I couldn't stop grinning. And I couldn't even muster the energy to talk. We found a Starbucks inside after a few minutes and I ordered a Mocha Latte with a double shot of espresso. We walked around the casino (which is full of nothing but slots) for about a half hour before we broke a $20 and started feeding some machines. We actually spent $30 but we probably lost about twice that. GRR! But we still had a good time. We got to see the greyhounds up close (they were getting weighed) and we registered for the players' club. I would've liked to play some cards but it didn't look like they offered it. At least cards aren't 100% chance!
The rest of the drive was uneventful. I was so sleepy and even though I tried ridiculously hard to stay awake I passed out after we got outside of Montgomery. I woke up just as we were pulling into town.
The entire experience was so much fun. I'm so glad we splurged on the tickets! I downloaded the concert audio from MetallicaLive.com for $9.95 when we got home. So now we can relive it over and over and over and over... whenever we want! I took something like 260 pictures! The videos I took didn't turn out very good but I'll probably upload them to YouTube at some point anyway. The photos are posted on my Facebook. Some of them are blurry and indiscernible. But there are quite a few that are just AWESOME.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
and they're off......
We're leaving for Atlanta in about 20 minutes' time. I am thoroughly excited. Well, excited about tonight... not so much excited about driving four hours. But I'm sure it'll be worth it.
Looking forward to posting some pictures on Monday or Tuesday.
Did I mention that I am excited??
Looking forward to posting some pictures on Monday or Tuesday.
Did I mention that I am excited??
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
pumpkin spice and everything nice...
Since The Monkey started working full time + frequent overtime, I sort of relish our weekend time together. (Last weekend was nothing short of bliss with the three days and all that.) Unfortunately, my love of our weekend time together has led me to be a bit of a homebody. Last weekend I spent an entire DAY doing nothing. We were lazy all day long. I didn't even shower. :P
This weekend was sort of the opposite. Yesterday I woke up with an urge to go to D-Town. Mostly because I had a serious hankering for a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.
I am sort of on a mission to find something cute yet comfortable, punk rocker yet chick to wear to the concert. (I already know what The Monkey is going to wear -- jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. Men have it SO easy.) In my head, I had this ultimate outfit pictured. Blacks and dark grays. Maybe some red. Dark wash, distressed jeans. Black (comfortable) boots. I've been pretty set on a t-shirt and hoodie type deal as per the recommendation of the Internets. (People insist that Philips Arena stays rather chilly even when jam packed with people because it is, ultimately, a hockey arena so there is a big hunk of ice under the stage.) So I thought a shopping trip would lend an idea or two.
No such luck. I searched the Mall, Target, Lane Bryant... nothing jumped out at me. I really loved this hoodie I saw at Kohl's but it only went up to an XL and it wouldn't zip around my big gut and huge-mongous boobs. [grumble] I also found an awesome ...And Justice For All t-shirt at Hot Topic that The Monkey would've LOVED but there was NO way I was going to pay $17 + tax for a t-shirt. (Especially not when the hoodie was only $30.) We wound up stopping in Ulta because my sister and I cannot go to D-Town and NOT stop in Ulta. We mostly browsed. I did come across a display of nail polish that boasted "Paint and Peel". I was curious so I picked up the black and brushed a few strokes onto my thumb nail. Surprisingly enough, it was very pretty. Especially for black nail polish. I showed my sister and she agreed that it was, indeed, pretty. After it dried, I tried the "peel" aspect out. It really works! The polish came off in one piece. So, I bought it. :P When we got home I immediately went to manicuring my nails. I don't really bite them but they do have a tendency to split and crack. So I filed them down all nice and neat. I massaged my cuticles and pushed them down. And then I painted. I added an "embellishment" with a red Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen (just some red X's, nothing fancy). I must say they turned out pretty cool. I even got a compliment from the sales clerk in Maurice's. :)
Even though the shopping trip was fruitless, we still had fun just wandering around. My sister picked up some really cute pajamas for Madsion. And I cured my craving for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. The only bad that came from the trip was the five inch crack in my windshield. UGH. On our way there we heard a rock hit it. We didn't see anything so I hoped I got off lucky. Not so much, as it turns out. :(
Today I went to Maurice's with very little hope of finding what I was looking for. But, lo and behold, I found THE outfit. Hooray! The top was 50% off plus an additional 40% off. I bought a couple pieces of [costume] jewelry. (I won't be wearing anything that is valuable to the concert. If I'll be devastated by losing it, it's staying at home.) Overall I think the outfit is super cute. I already have the makeup look in mind (a smokey look with light gray accented with darker grays and black).
Maybe I put too much thought into the whole "what to wear" thing. I can't help it. I mean, if I were going out for dinner or to a club or a bar I'd be doing the same thing. We don't go out much and I don't really "dress up" much. So I'm kind of just having fun with it. :P
It is going to be a really, really LONG three weeks.
This weekend was sort of the opposite. Yesterday I woke up with an urge to go to D-Town. Mostly because I had a serious hankering for a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.
I am sort of on a mission to find something cute yet comfortable, punk rocker yet chick to wear to the concert. (I already know what The Monkey is going to wear -- jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. Men have it SO easy.) In my head, I had this ultimate outfit pictured. Blacks and dark grays. Maybe some red. Dark wash, distressed jeans. Black (comfortable) boots. I've been pretty set on a t-shirt and hoodie type deal as per the recommendation of the Internets. (People insist that Philips Arena stays rather chilly even when jam packed with people because it is, ultimately, a hockey arena so there is a big hunk of ice under the stage.) So I thought a shopping trip would lend an idea or two.
No such luck. I searched the Mall, Target, Lane Bryant... nothing jumped out at me. I really loved this hoodie I saw at Kohl's but it only went up to an XL and it wouldn't zip around my big gut and huge-mongous boobs. [grumble] I also found an awesome ...And Justice For All t-shirt at Hot Topic that The Monkey would've LOVED but there was NO way I was going to pay $17 + tax for a t-shirt. (Especially not when the hoodie was only $30.) We wound up stopping in Ulta because my sister and I cannot go to D-Town and NOT stop in Ulta. We mostly browsed. I did come across a display of nail polish that boasted "Paint and Peel". I was curious so I picked up the black and brushed a few strokes onto my thumb nail. Surprisingly enough, it was very pretty. Especially for black nail polish. I showed my sister and she agreed that it was, indeed, pretty. After it dried, I tried the "peel" aspect out. It really works! The polish came off in one piece. So, I bought it. :P When we got home I immediately went to manicuring my nails. I don't really bite them but they do have a tendency to split and crack. So I filed them down all nice and neat. I massaged my cuticles and pushed them down. And then I painted. I added an "embellishment" with a red Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen (just some red X's, nothing fancy). I must say they turned out pretty cool. I even got a compliment from the sales clerk in Maurice's. :)
Even though the shopping trip was fruitless, we still had fun just wandering around. My sister picked up some really cute pajamas for Madsion. And I cured my craving for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. The only bad that came from the trip was the five inch crack in my windshield. UGH. On our way there we heard a rock hit it. We didn't see anything so I hoped I got off lucky. Not so much, as it turns out. :(
Today I went to Maurice's with very little hope of finding what I was looking for. But, lo and behold, I found THE outfit. Hooray! The top was 50% off plus an additional 40% off. I bought a couple pieces of [costume] jewelry. (I won't be wearing anything that is valuable to the concert. If I'll be devastated by losing it, it's staying at home.) Overall I think the outfit is super cute. I already have the makeup look in mind (a smokey look with light gray accented with darker grays and black).
Maybe I put too much thought into the whole "what to wear" thing. I can't help it. I mean, if I were going out for dinner or to a club or a bar I'd be doing the same thing. We don't go out much and I don't really "dress up" much. So I'm kind of just having fun with it. :P
It is going to be a really, really LONG three weeks.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
it's official...
After three "gruelling" days of scouring the Internets, we finally settled on a pair of tickets for Metallica! We'll be in the SECOND ROW!! (Since we decided to go to the Atlanta show instead of the Tampa show, we got to spend a little more on tickets since we're saving money in gas/hotel.)
I am super excited! Going out of my mind, even! Only three weeks, three days to go! The Monkey's birthday is on the 26th. I'm planning on baking a carrot cake. Either that or German Chocolate cake. Because he's quite fond of both.
And, for your viewing pleasure... here is a look at what our seats for the concert will be like! We'll be in the row with the red Xs. Did I mention that I was EXCITED!?!
I am super excited! Going out of my mind, even! Only three weeks, three days to go! The Monkey's birthday is on the 26th. I'm planning on baking a carrot cake. Either that or German Chocolate cake. Because he's quite fond of both.
And, for your viewing pleasure... here is a look at what our seats for the concert will be like! We'll be in the row with the red Xs. Did I mention that I was EXCITED!?!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
tear the map and shoot the sign*
My trip to Pennsylvania sort of did a number on our finances. I helped pay for food and gas. And I bought lottery tickets in every place that sold them (we didn't win, obviously). To be honest, I didn't do much erroneous shopping. I bought a couple of $5 tops at Old Navy along with a couple of tank tops. That went on my Old Navy card and cost me a whopping $25. (I wound up with four shirts and three tanks.) At any rate, once we got back home I went into a sort of funk. I didn't feel like doing much of anything which included grocery shopping and cooking. We ate out a lot for the first couple of weeks after I returned. Money down the drain. I hate eating out!
I priced Metallica tickets after I got back and really wasn't sure if I should purchase them. The Monkey has been pretty wishy washy about it, too. So I left Well Enough alone and hadn't thought about it at all for a couple of weeks.
Then, the other night, I had a crazy vivid dream starring...ehem...James Hetfield -- lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Metallica. It was an interesting dream. I'm not sure how my brain managed to concoct such vividry but the whole dream was full color, surround sound... the works. The best kind of dream.
When I woke up I immediately checked our bank account. We're not doing too shabby and The Monkey should get around a $200 bonus at the end of the month. I just can't see passing up this opportunity. I really can't. Metallica has been around for a long, long time. They've been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They are well within my top five favorite bands and The Monkey's favorite band of all time.
So, after a look at our account, I began scouring the Internet for the cheapest tickets humanly possible. The cheapest I could find were around $80 a piece. But there were a couple of problems with these tickets. When I first found out that they'd be [semi] local I told myself that I didn't care how crappy the seats were, I just wanted to go to a concert and see them live! The Monkey agreed. But after much careful research, I learned that St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, FL) is, primarily, a sports arena. They host mostly hockey games from what I gather. For whatever reason (perhaps Metallica's sheer popularity) they are hosting the concert as an "in the round" setup. Meaning the stage will be positioned in the center of the arena floor. The major problem with that is not knowing which side of the stadium the band will be facing. It would really suck to be looking at the back of their heads for the entire show. Further research brought me to a nifty site called SeatData. The site gives you an estimated view from any given section of the venue. The tickets I priced were for Section 311 (read: nosebleeds). As you can see from the photo, the view is less than desirable. Not to mention we're still unsure whether or not we'll be on the "right side" of the venue.
GRR.
The Monkey has been fairly adament about going to see them on Saturday in Tampa, FL vs. Sunday in Atlanta, GA. Despite the fact that we'd only have to stay overnight ONE night vs. TWO nights. Despite the fact that Tampa is almost twice as far from us as Atlanta. All because he doesn't want to ask for a day off, especially a Monday.
Well I say to HELL with that. We can spend less money, total, if we go see them in Atlanta and still get MUCH better seats! So now I'm talking to A (The Monkey's boss) about giving him October 5th off so we can go. He's giving plenty of notice so I don't see why it would be a problem. And he has the leave time also.
It's becoming harder and harder to resist the urge to purchase tickets. I just cannot see passing up, what may very well be, the opportunity of a lifetime. Who knows if they'll release another album. And, if they do, who knows if they'll go on tour again? I'm especially excited after seeing what they've been playing at previous shows on this tour. It doesn't seem to be favored much, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll play Fade to Black.
So provided The Monkey is able to get October 5th off, I think we'll definitely be going. Yes. And I am muchly excited!
*Metallica - Carpe Diem Baby
I priced Metallica tickets after I got back and really wasn't sure if I should purchase them. The Monkey has been pretty wishy washy about it, too. So I left Well Enough alone and hadn't thought about it at all for a couple of weeks.
Then, the other night, I had a crazy vivid dream starring...ehem...James Hetfield -- lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Metallica. It was an interesting dream. I'm not sure how my brain managed to concoct such vividry but the whole dream was full color, surround sound... the works. The best kind of dream.
When I woke up I immediately checked our bank account. We're not doing too shabby and The Monkey should get around a $200 bonus at the end of the month. I just can't see passing up this opportunity. I really can't. Metallica has been around for a long, long time. They've been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They are well within my top five favorite bands and The Monkey's favorite band of all time.
So, after a look at our account, I began scouring the Internet for the cheapest tickets humanly possible. The cheapest I could find were around $80 a piece. But there were a couple of problems with these tickets. When I first found out that they'd be [semi] local I told myself that I didn't care how crappy the seats were, I just wanted to go to a concert and see them live! The Monkey agreed. But after much careful research, I learned that St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, FL) is, primarily, a sports arena. They host mostly hockey games from what I gather. For whatever reason (perhaps Metallica's sheer popularity) they are hosting the concert as an "in the round" setup. Meaning the stage will be positioned in the center of the arena floor. The major problem with that is not knowing which side of the stadium the band will be facing. It would really suck to be looking at the back of their heads for the entire show. Further research brought me to a nifty site called SeatData. The site gives you an estimated view from any given section of the venue. The tickets I priced were for Section 311 (read: nosebleeds). As you can see from the photo, the view is less than desirable. Not to mention we're still unsure whether or not we'll be on the "right side" of the venue.
GRR.
The Monkey has been fairly adament about going to see them on Saturday in Tampa, FL vs. Sunday in Atlanta, GA. Despite the fact that we'd only have to stay overnight ONE night vs. TWO nights. Despite the fact that Tampa is almost twice as far from us as Atlanta. All because he doesn't want to ask for a day off, especially a Monday.
Well I say to HELL with that. We can spend less money, total, if we go see them in Atlanta and still get MUCH better seats! So now I'm talking to A (The Monkey's boss) about giving him October 5th off so we can go. He's giving plenty of notice so I don't see why it would be a problem. And he has the leave time also.
It's becoming harder and harder to resist the urge to purchase tickets. I just cannot see passing up, what may very well be, the opportunity of a lifetime. Who knows if they'll release another album. And, if they do, who knows if they'll go on tour again? I'm especially excited after seeing what they've been playing at previous shows on this tour. It doesn't seem to be favored much, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll play Fade to Black.
So provided The Monkey is able to get October 5th off, I think we'll definitely be going. Yes. And I am muchly excited!
*Metallica - Carpe Diem Baby
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
[insert long exasperated sigh]
My mood still isn't right. I just can't put my finger on it. I'm not overwhelmingly sad. I feel... flat. I don't feel like doing anything. Whatever.
I went to see my RE yesterday. I called them after my visit to the ER and they said I should be seen. Turns out their conclusion was identical to the ER's conclusion: pelvic inflammatory disease.
Color me stupid. PID is something people (myself included) almost always associate with STDs. And how on planet earth could I have gotten an STD?? I had a dream the night after the ER that The Monkey had cheated on me and given me an STD. And then he blatently told me he was tired of my "bullshit" and we were done. I woke myself up crying. And gave him the cold shoulder for part of the day. Haha.
But the nurse said with my "history" of problems that my endometrium probably grew out of control and I didn't have a proper period to get rid of all the tissue and fluid. And, basically, it got "backed up" and an infection ensued and then lots of horrible pain that I do not wish to experience ever again in my entire life. (I am not ashamed of the fact that if we ever do get pregnant that I will be planning on having an epidural. I really don't give a crap who thinks it's a "bad decision" because it's not their body and it won't be their kid so they can kiss my ass.)
Anyhow. The nurse said that should the pain continue I'd need to make an appointment with my RE directly so she could examine me herself and determine whether or not I'll need another lap in the near future. Or perhaps need to switch birth control pills. Or suppress my ovaries all together for the moment. (Not too keen on that last option.)
Infection is nothing to mess around with when it comes to the girly bits. Especially when my girly bits are already severely malfunctioning. So, despite the $100 copay that I have no means to pay (on top of The Monkey's $100 ER copay) I am glad I went to the ER.
For now, the pain has subsided. I started my new pack of birth control and, so far, have not had any of the twinges and cramps that I had with my last pack. So maybe that's a good sign.
I can't believe it's September already. I'm getting bummed because I don't think we're going to be able to afford Metallica tickets + gas to get to Tampa + a hotel for two nights. My parents are planning a Labor Day barbecue this Sunday. At least I have something to look forward to. I want to make some potato and macaroni salad. Sis is making baked beans. Mom and Dad are going to smoke a couple of Boston Butts and some ribs. And my dad's brother is going to bring fresh corn on the cob for the grill. Speaking of my dad's brother... he's been dating this woman for a while. She has a little boy... it's hard to judge how old he is because he's very small for his age but I think he's four going on five. The kid isn't potty trained yet. They really don't take good care of him. The live in a dilapidated trailer that has plywood floors and garbage everywhere. I don't think she works. My dad's brother is the "maintenance man" for this trailer park they live in (which is a deplorable area) and I'm not sure what he gets for it other than free rent for this barely liveable trailer. My dad tells me yesterday that she is pregnant. Not sure how far along but apparently she was already pregnant at our 4th of July barbecue. Not that you'd ever know because she was chain smoking her little cigars and drinking. So as if that's not bad enough, my mom tells me that the baby tested positive for trisomy 21. I can't believe this. They don't take care of the little boy she already has and now they are going to bring a special needs baby into this world into those living conditions?!?
I will never EVER as long as I live understand why people like them can procreate so easily and so many deserving couples can't conceive. It's not right.
So I'm going to try to put blinders on for the barbecue on Sunday. I'm really not keen on seeing a pregnant woman chain smoking cigarettes and gulping down booze. If you're selfish enough to get pregnant when you don't want to, at least have the decency to take care of yourself for fscks sake.
Whatever.
Now I need to go try and get motivated to shower and get dressed. I have to go see my pdoc to get a refill on my Lamictal. I think it's high time that I looked for another pdoc and a real therapist.
I went to see my RE yesterday. I called them after my visit to the ER and they said I should be seen. Turns out their conclusion was identical to the ER's conclusion: pelvic inflammatory disease.
Color me stupid. PID is something people (myself included) almost always associate with STDs. And how on planet earth could I have gotten an STD?? I had a dream the night after the ER that The Monkey had cheated on me and given me an STD. And then he blatently told me he was tired of my "bullshit" and we were done. I woke myself up crying. And gave him the cold shoulder for part of the day. Haha.
But the nurse said with my "history" of problems that my endometrium probably grew out of control and I didn't have a proper period to get rid of all the tissue and fluid. And, basically, it got "backed up" and an infection ensued and then lots of horrible pain that I do not wish to experience ever again in my entire life. (I am not ashamed of the fact that if we ever do get pregnant that I will be planning on having an epidural. I really don't give a crap who thinks it's a "bad decision" because it's not their body and it won't be their kid so they can kiss my ass.)
Anyhow. The nurse said that should the pain continue I'd need to make an appointment with my RE directly so she could examine me herself and determine whether or not I'll need another lap in the near future. Or perhaps need to switch birth control pills. Or suppress my ovaries all together for the moment. (Not too keen on that last option.)
Infection is nothing to mess around with when it comes to the girly bits. Especially when my girly bits are already severely malfunctioning. So, despite the $100 copay that I have no means to pay (on top of The Monkey's $100 ER copay) I am glad I went to the ER.
For now, the pain has subsided. I started my new pack of birth control and, so far, have not had any of the twinges and cramps that I had with my last pack. So maybe that's a good sign.
I can't believe it's September already. I'm getting bummed because I don't think we're going to be able to afford Metallica tickets + gas to get to Tampa + a hotel for two nights. My parents are planning a Labor Day barbecue this Sunday. At least I have something to look forward to. I want to make some potato and macaroni salad. Sis is making baked beans. Mom and Dad are going to smoke a couple of Boston Butts and some ribs. And my dad's brother is going to bring fresh corn on the cob for the grill. Speaking of my dad's brother... he's been dating this woman for a while. She has a little boy... it's hard to judge how old he is because he's very small for his age but I think he's four going on five. The kid isn't potty trained yet. They really don't take good care of him. The live in a dilapidated trailer that has plywood floors and garbage everywhere. I don't think she works. My dad's brother is the "maintenance man" for this trailer park they live in (which is a deplorable area) and I'm not sure what he gets for it other than free rent for this barely liveable trailer. My dad tells me yesterday that she is pregnant. Not sure how far along but apparently she was already pregnant at our 4th of July barbecue. Not that you'd ever know because she was chain smoking her little cigars and drinking. So as if that's not bad enough, my mom tells me that the baby tested positive for trisomy 21. I can't believe this. They don't take care of the little boy she already has and now they are going to bring a special needs baby into this world into those living conditions?!?
I will never EVER as long as I live understand why people like them can procreate so easily and so many deserving couples can't conceive. It's not right.
So I'm going to try to put blinders on for the barbecue on Sunday. I'm really not keen on seeing a pregnant woman chain smoking cigarettes and gulping down booze. If you're selfish enough to get pregnant when you don't want to, at least have the decency to take care of yourself for fscks sake.
Whatever.
Now I need to go try and get motivated to shower and get dressed. I have to go see my pdoc to get a refill on my Lamictal. I think it's high time that I looked for another pdoc and a real therapist.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
enjoy the silence? not so much.
My sister and the rest of the family left for Panama City Beach on Saturday. I've basically been trying to convince myself for the last week and a half that I really didn't care that I wouldn't be able to go down to the beach with them. Not even for a quick day trip. After all, PCB is so overrated, anyway. And we didn't have the money. And blah blah blahbitty blah. But, sure enough, when the house cleared out around noon on Saturday I was crestfallen. Sad, even. I guess I really wanted to see the Emerald Coast after all.
The Monkey isn't as thick as he sometimes lets on. I was sullen most of Saturday afternoon. Not even the Spongebob Spongebash marathon was cheering me up. That's when The Monkey gave me surprise, middle-of-the-afternoon-the-house-is-completely-devoid-of-lifeforms-that-don't-walk-on-all-fours-be-as-loud-as-you-want sex. Which, I'll admit, did cheer me up. But what really made my day was when he said if we had the $20 it would cost for gas that we should go ahead and make the trip down to PCB for the afternoon. At least we could get some sun and get our fill of the beach. (Not to mention SALT WATER TAFFY!)
We got up early Sunday and got to PCB by 11:00 AM. Naturally, the weather was less than cooperative. We would get hit with the 20% chance of showers. [eyeroll] But we got to swim for a couple of hours. And we hung out with my mom in my sister's condo for another hour. Then we headed to Pier Park and picked up a little over a POUND of Salt Water Taffy for yours truly and headed home. (I am ashamed to admit that the pound of taffy was gone within 48 hours. Er...maybe less.
What made the whole trip go sour for me was not the less-than-desirable weather, though. No, it was the fact that upon our return, The Monkey became ill. Fluids coming from both ends. YUK. We had a bit of a scare when his poo because the consistency of coffee grounds. Thankfully the doctor said it was nothing more than a stomach bug (even though our GP sent us to a surgeon to find this out and for several hours I was on razor's edge thinking The Monkey was going to be having an emergency colonoscopy). He was much better by Tuesday evening. His blood pressure was close to normal (130/80) and he's already dropped 10 pounds (though I'm not sure how much of that was mere fluid loss). He's perfectly fine today and back on solid food again. We had tortellini and garlic bread for supper tonight after living on soup and crackers for the past two nights.
The house is too quiet. My sister's poor dog was depressed the first two days they were gone. He barely ate and only came down from his bed upstairs to go outside. But he's been spending much more time downstairs since Tuesday. In fact, he won't leave me alone!
The week has been boooooooring. The Monkey has to work, of course, so I'm home alone all day. As tempted as I've been, I have not been sleeping until noon, though. I spent some time over at my parents' house and ran errands. At night, The Monkey and I have been enjoying oodles of DVR'd movies from the pay channels. My sister pays for Cinemax, Showtime, and HBO but they hardly ever watch movies. I also caught up on So You Think You Can Dance. (In fact, it's about time for me to go upstairs and watch yesterday's show so I can watch the results show later this evening.)
Only 12 more days until we leave for Pennsylvania. I am pretty stoked! I have lots of stuff to occupy my coming week. I need to get our cars reregistered. On the 30th I have to travel to Birmingham to see my RE. On the 31st I have a hair appointment. Then it'll be another mad dash to clean the house and pack before we depart on the 4th! I should get started on a list of what I need to bring NOW so I'm not scrambling later. If only I could figure out a way to drop these last 10 pounds by the 4th... hmmph.
The Monkey isn't as thick as he sometimes lets on. I was sullen most of Saturday afternoon. Not even the Spongebob Spongebash marathon was cheering me up. That's when The Monkey gave me surprise, middle-of-the-afternoon-the-house-is-completely-devoid-of-lifeforms-that-don't-walk-on-all-fours-be-as-loud-as-you-want sex. Which, I'll admit, did cheer me up. But what really made my day was when he said if we had the $20 it would cost for gas that we should go ahead and make the trip down to PCB for the afternoon. At least we could get some sun and get our fill of the beach. (Not to mention SALT WATER TAFFY!)
We got up early Sunday and got to PCB by 11:00 AM. Naturally, the weather was less than cooperative. We would get hit with the 20% chance of showers. [eyeroll] But we got to swim for a couple of hours. And we hung out with my mom in my sister's condo for another hour. Then we headed to Pier Park and picked up a little over a POUND of Salt Water Taffy for yours truly and headed home. (I am ashamed to admit that the pound of taffy was gone within 48 hours. Er...maybe less.
What made the whole trip go sour for me was not the less-than-desirable weather, though. No, it was the fact that upon our return, The Monkey became ill. Fluids coming from both ends. YUK. We had a bit of a scare when his poo because the consistency of coffee grounds. Thankfully the doctor said it was nothing more than a stomach bug (even though our GP sent us to a surgeon to find this out and for several hours I was on razor's edge thinking The Monkey was going to be having an emergency colonoscopy). He was much better by Tuesday evening. His blood pressure was close to normal (130/80) and he's already dropped 10 pounds (though I'm not sure how much of that was mere fluid loss). He's perfectly fine today and back on solid food again. We had tortellini and garlic bread for supper tonight after living on soup and crackers for the past two nights.
The house is too quiet. My sister's poor dog was depressed the first two days they were gone. He barely ate and only came down from his bed upstairs to go outside. But he's been spending much more time downstairs since Tuesday. In fact, he won't leave me alone!
The week has been boooooooring. The Monkey has to work, of course, so I'm home alone all day. As tempted as I've been, I have not been sleeping until noon, though. I spent some time over at my parents' house and ran errands. At night, The Monkey and I have been enjoying oodles of DVR'd movies from the pay channels. My sister pays for Cinemax, Showtime, and HBO but they hardly ever watch movies. I also caught up on So You Think You Can Dance. (In fact, it's about time for me to go upstairs and watch yesterday's show so I can watch the results show later this evening.)
Only 12 more days until we leave for Pennsylvania. I am pretty stoked! I have lots of stuff to occupy my coming week. I need to get our cars reregistered. On the 30th I have to travel to Birmingham to see my RE. On the 31st I have a hair appointment. Then it'll be another mad dash to clean the house and pack before we depart on the 4th! I should get started on a list of what I need to bring NOW so I'm not scrambling later. If only I could figure out a way to drop these last 10 pounds by the 4th... hmmph.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
girls' day out
I spent the better part of my day today shopping with my mom, sister, Madison, and David. We started in Old Navy and somehow my mom and sister managed to keep us there for an hour and a half. Sheesh. I think that's the longest I've ever spent in Old Navy in one "sitting". Oh well, I wound up finding a new vest (I'm totally into the vest look because it hides my tummy) and two long-sleeved t-shirts to go with said vest. After our adventures in Old Navy we went to Ulta. Ulta is quickly becoming my new vice. In the last couple months I've had to have spent a good $200. Probably more. I'm sure it's more. The problem is eyeshadow. I've quickly become addicted to eyeshadow since finding some great tutorials on You Tube. I used this tutorial and wound up with this kickass look:
Yep. I know everyone loves seeing my big mug REALLY up close like that but I love my eyes. If I was given the opportunity to modify my body I would not change my eyes. It's the one feature I have that I know other people admire and that I love about myself. At least it's something, right?
At any rate, I came home with six new eye pigments by Loreal High Intensity Pigments (they were buy one get one free... who could resist??) two shade sticks (one black, one white), and a purple shimmery eyeshadow by NYX. I did my best to steer clear of Urban Decay. Eeek!
In other news (though I'm sure this is just wishful thinking) I felt a peculiar wetness down below this afternoon and arbitrarily decided to check my cervix. Definitely soft, somewhat open, and pretty high. So I took an OPK on a whim and there's a destinct line there. It's not real dark but I've definitely had lighter. I was going to start progesterone supplements to get ready to induce AF but I think I'll wait a few days. I need some "on time" at work before I go rushing off to appointments in Montgomery every other week anyhow. Wouldn't it be some shit if I wound up pregnant this cycle. If that happens I'll never hear the end of it. (That whole "in God's time" speech. Ugh.) Still, it would be pretty crazed. I think I'll boink my husband for the hell of it every other night this week.
Also, my meds are starting to work their magic. I'm going to start back on Topamax this week, I think. But, yeah, Abilify rocks my world! It gives me energy, focus, and it curbs my appetite like crazy! w00t w00t!
Yep. I know everyone loves seeing my big mug REALLY up close like that but I love my eyes. If I was given the opportunity to modify my body I would not change my eyes. It's the one feature I have that I know other people admire and that I love about myself. At least it's something, right?
At any rate, I came home with six new eye pigments by Loreal High Intensity Pigments (they were buy one get one free... who could resist??) two shade sticks (one black, one white), and a purple shimmery eyeshadow by NYX. I did my best to steer clear of Urban Decay. Eeek!
In other news (though I'm sure this is just wishful thinking) I felt a peculiar wetness down below this afternoon and arbitrarily decided to check my cervix. Definitely soft, somewhat open, and pretty high. So I took an OPK on a whim and there's a destinct line there. It's not real dark but I've definitely had lighter. I was going to start progesterone supplements to get ready to induce AF but I think I'll wait a few days. I need some "on time" at work before I go rushing off to appointments in Montgomery every other week anyhow. Wouldn't it be some shit if I wound up pregnant this cycle. If that happens I'll never hear the end of it. (That whole "in God's time" speech. Ugh.) Still, it would be pretty crazed. I think I'll boink my husband for the hell of it every other night this week.
Also, my meds are starting to work their magic. I'm going to start back on Topamax this week, I think. But, yeah, Abilify rocks my world! It gives me energy, focus, and it curbs my appetite like crazy! w00t w00t!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
manic not-Monday
Mania = clean house. Christmas decorations are down, kitchen is shiny, all the laundry is put away. :-O (Clean laundry has been piling up to be put away for weeks. Oh the shame!) Mania also equals maniacal driving. Yeppers. Mania = very horny. Mania = self indulgence. Me likey.
Tonight we are going to hang out with my parents' and I'm gonna get shit faced. So is Tony. His brother is driving. Heh. His brother is also crashing which means no wild drunken sex for me tonight. Tarter sauce. (Heh... Spongebob reference...)
I'm completely obsessed with my makeup! Yesterday I did an awesome smokey look with dark gray eyeshadow (Zero by Urban Decay) and a silver pigment that I've had for eons but never knew WTF to do with it. I do now! Today I did a kickass green and goldish-yellow deal. OMG, I rock. It looks awesome! Now if I could just drop this weight that I gained and get my freaking jawbone back we'll be in business.
Weeeee!
Tonight we are going to hang out with my parents' and I'm gonna get shit faced. So is Tony. His brother is driving. Heh. His brother is also crashing which means no wild drunken sex for me tonight. Tarter sauce. (Heh... Spongebob reference...)
I'm completely obsessed with my makeup! Yesterday I did an awesome smokey look with dark gray eyeshadow (Zero by Urban Decay) and a silver pigment that I've had for eons but never knew WTF to do with it. I do now! Today I did a kickass green and goldish-yellow deal. OMG, I rock. It looks awesome! Now if I could just drop this weight that I gained and get my freaking jawbone back we'll be in business.
Weeeee!
Monday, December 3, 2007
practice makes perfect
The weekend is over; back to the daily grind. I feel like crap today. My head hurts, I'm nauseated, and my sinuses feel like they are going to explode.
We had a nice weekend. Tony's brother and niece came over Friday night for a while. We had pizza and played Wii. Then we sat around and talked while the kids played. I figured since we were going to have company I might as well invite my niece over, too. We wound up having David, too. They behaved themselves. Deborah stayed the night again on Saturday. I took her home around 5:00 yesterday evening. Around 7:00 she called me to tell me that she missed me. She sounded on the verge of tears. :( Poor thing. I think having a new baby around is exciting but she's not the only girl anymore. That has to be rough after being the only girl for nine years.
My birthday is Thursday. Eee gads I'm going to be 27!
We had a nice weekend. Tony's brother and niece came over Friday night for a while. We had pizza and played Wii. Then we sat around and talked while the kids played. I figured since we were going to have company I might as well invite my niece over, too. We wound up having David, too. They behaved themselves. Deborah stayed the night again on Saturday. I took her home around 5:00 yesterday evening. Around 7:00 she called me to tell me that she missed me. She sounded on the verge of tears. :( Poor thing. I think having a new baby around is exciting but she's not the only girl anymore. That has to be rough after being the only girl for nine years.
My birthday is Thursday. Eee gads I'm going to be 27!
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