Your Next Disaster

There are quite a few movies I am wanting to see at the moment. Joe and I were going to go today but.. yea. We were going to jump around and see three; “Transformers”, cause he’s a man and it is his responsibility, although I’m a little “meh” about it. I didn’t love the first one as much as everybody else.. but I’d be willing to watch the second one. The two I want to see are “My Sisters Keeper” - commercial looked like a tear jerker and I have been LONGING for one of those for a while. The other is “The Proposal”.. romantic comedy and Ryan Reynolds, you cannot go wrong. Hopefully, we’ll be able to in act our plan next weekend!

We were also going to go swimming because it’s that time of year where the devil comes down to Georgia.. and stays. It’s just effin’ hot. The GPS holder totally melted on the dashboard yesterday.. it was kind of kick ass but also annoying. If we laid a bunch of Ferrari parts, some pots and pans and some other pieces of metal out on the street and then collected them, we could probably heat the cold parts of the world! I think it’s a good idea, tell your congressman!

Joe got to come home yesterday, so yay! I really didn’t want to do another night here alone… that would have sucked. We got him settled and then James (Joe’s twin brother) and I handled all the errands we needed done; Post office, bank, grocery store and pharmacy. After that I came home, put Joe to bed and proceeded to watch the tributes to Michael Jackson. Huge amounts of bad ass videos (but I never did see “Man in Mirror”… sadness). “Heal the World” was one of my favorite performances ever, of anyone. He just did things in such a huge, over the top way - you can’t help but say “woah…”

Anyways, so today I’m staying here taking care of Joe.. need to run a few more errands but I don’t know if it’s going to happen.. We’ll see. Someone from Craigs List wants to buy the old TiVo but I need to find a way to get to a place to meet them. I’ll try.. we could definitely use the money since Joe’s missing days of work and not getting paid. I guess we’ll worry about that when we get to it.. Might have to sell my digital camcorders if it comes down to it.. but it’ll be okay, as long as he’s alright.

Ugh, it’s been a crazy couple of days.. Joe’s in the hospital after a reaction to some medicine he’s BEEN taking and a medicine they gave him yesterday for bronchitus. They’ve decided it’s not bronchitus after all and that it’s some syndrome that can occur with one of his meds.. I really don’t quite know what’s going on. He seems to be doing better though after they gave him some fluids and insulin.. so hopefully they’ll get it figured out so he can come home tommorrow.. I miss him :(

Then today I had a flat tire, farrah fawcett died then MICHAEL JACKSON died :( WTF, man? This is a lesson is mortality this week and I just don’t like it. I feel.. just, sad about everything. As it’s been said in numerous places, we grew up with Michael Jackson and he’s a huge part of our culture and generation and it’s just.. crazy to me that we saw someone from such a young kid, singin’ with his brothers to his death at 50. It’s just kind of surreal and makes death feel a little more real I guess… I’m sure this has something to do with Joe being in the hospital as well but I just feel.. vulnerable?

Anyways.. I need to go set up dialysis.. by myself. I think I’d rather take horse supplements than do this alone every night.. This is my first night ever alone in any house so I’m a little scared/upset. I have things I HAVE to get done this weekend and now I don’t know if I can.. I’ve got to figure this out. My life is so completely dependent on Joe that it’s scary.. so I’m freakin’ out a bit thinkin’ about him not being here.

Well, since Cayte left I’ve been doing a lot of… nothing. I was exhausted! But, I’m back now and ready to get moving again! I’ve got a bunch of crafts I need to do (such a housewife…) and I need to update my scrapbook and of course; clean the house, do the laundry, etc. etc. Fun stuff.

This past week we discovered that.. hey, Myrtle Beach took a lot of money and we kind of need more than we have. So, I discovered Craigs List for the first time and we went on a selling frenzy; Ipod Touch, TiVo (old on of course), used cell phones, gold, Hanson memorabilia, pc memory, etc. You name it, we tried to sell it ;) We’re doing pretty good so far. Got a few things on Ebay as well.. so hopefully this will help pull us out of this hole we’re in. Sold a few things at Katrina’s yardsale and made a little money too - I think we’re gonna be okay!

I’m also looking for a new show to invest myself in.. Am attempting “True Blood” since everyone seems to love it so much but it hasn’t really grasped my attention yet (to be fair, I haven’t given it much of a chance… 10 minutes in). If that doesn’t work for me.. any suggestions?

So, as I mentioned in a previous post - it was announced on my radio station last week that Taylor Hanson was coming to Augusta, GA with his new band Tinted Windows. From that point I made it my mission to be there and… we made it happen! There were three ways to win - either by text, going to register at this local store or being the right caller on the phone. I tried via the phone a few times and wasn’t having much luck - I also, of course, did the texting contest a few times as well. My sister decided she would write the DJ a letter and let him know how much this show meant to be,, and by the end of the day on Monday - we had THREE different pair of tickets! Oh, the power of a determined family.

Sometime on Monday afternoon Cayte found out that I had won the tickets and joked about wanting to go.. and then I mentioned that I saw a cheap flight from Boston to ATL and… the rest was history. It kind of snow balled from there and everything fell into place like the perfect storm. Even though we had just gotten back from this really long trip to and from Myrtle Beach - Joe agreed to pick up Cayte at the airport and take her back on Saturday ;) He’s a dedicated fiance! We were pretty exhausted but for Cayters, it was worth it!

The show itself was pretty short, but awesome.. we were front row, center - right in Taylor’s face! It was pretty surreal that TAYLOR HANSON was right down the road from my house, in my city! Something that I had wished for since I was 14 - crazy stuff! We got to meet him after the acoustic set and he was very sweet with us. I told him how long I had wanted him to come to my city and he said something like “glad we could finally make it!” and he asked my name and signed my picture and said some other things I can’t remember. Cayte told him she had come from Boston to see Him … and her friend :P and he decided he wanted us to stand by him in the picture and … now we have a picture with Taylor Hanson!

Over the next few days we went down to the river, went swimming at Papa’s (my first time in a pool since having dialysis and it was very refreshing! Even though I couldn’t stay in long, I enjoyed it), had Chik-fil-a of course, went to this lame house about history ’cause Joe talked Cayte into it, watched old Hanson videos, Watched E’s movie, went to a Miley Cyrus DDR dance off, Snuck into the movies to see “The Hangover” and “Up” (Cayte came down here with this desire for some reason), had a Fiction Plane drunkin’ dance party and basically just hung out. It was great to see my Cayter’s again! <3 The rest of the pictures from the visit can also be found on myspace. Once again, we ate far too many bad foods and I probably need to start looking up those nuphedra reviews as soon as I finish this… time to get back on track!

We drove Cayte back to the airport on Saturday, had lunch at the Varsity and then did NOTHING for the rest of the day - we were exhausted ;) Hell, I still haven’t done anything productive … I need to get on that.

So, as you know, Joe and I had been planning our Myrtle Beach trip for many months now (since we found out Lifehouse was doing a show there). It sort of became… not at all about Lifehouse and more about ALL the things we could do in at the beach and we certainly did them all!

We left on Thursday, June 4th, after packing A TON of stuff - dialysis machine, all the materials that go with that, lawn chairs, towels, fan, clothes and shoes and bathing suits of course, cooler… you name it, we brought it. Our little car was able to handle it though - We were worried there for a little bit. It was a pretty smooth trip - we decided to go through Charleston, SC so we could visit Kenny. It was pouring down rain so we had lunch at Subway at the mall in Charleston and visiting Kenny’s house and then we were on our way.

We made it to MB at about 4:30PM, I think. They had all my dialysis stuff that was shipped to the hotel and brought it up to our room - everything went very smoothly! I was worried about traveling and getting all the stuff I needed - but both the hotel and the dialysis people did a great job. Our room had a great view and we were really happy with it - Compass Cove had great reviews all around so that’s why we chose it and they didn’t disappoint!

Over the next few days we did a ton of awesome stuff; went down to the beach of course, visited the hot tub and the pool (I couldn’t really get in ANY of the water, since it had been raining my nurse said it was too much of a risk.. so I just got my feet wet and waded to my knee’s in the pool and hot tub), played shuffle board (my new favorite sport! old people for the win!), went down to the boardwalk and ate at Peaches of course, played miniature golf in a volcano, went to Medieval times, went shopping at a few of the THOUSANDS of chain gift shops (I love those places) and got a few souvenirs, had all you can eat crab legs, REAL crab legs that were amazing.. and now no other crab leg can live up to them - kinda sad really. We also went to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville restaurant, very cool vibe there. After all the good eating we did a top rated diet pill might definitely be on the list of things we need now that we’re back home. But, it was good while it lasted ;)

We also, obviously, went to see Lifehouse and met up with Katie. Honestly, the show was pretty lame… we were in the back and could barely hear them, certainly couldn’t see them and the entire crowd was talking. It was something to do though - thank God, it’s not what our whole trip was about or it would have been very disappointing. We did see fireworks though and then hung out with Katie and her friend Jessica into the wee hours of the night - good times.

That Sunday when we were leaving we decided to go the OPPOSITE way of home and visit Wilmington, NC! I’d always wanted to go there since a lot of the WB/CW shows are filmed there and Joe wanted to see the giant battleship they have. SO we headed that way.. but at this point, it had gotten hot outside and I was starting to not feel well, but we did the best we could. We visited some of the sites from One Tree Hill and Dawson’s Creek and took a short tour of the Battleship NC. We’ll have to go back sometime when it’s not so hot and I’m not so exhausted before I even get there. It’s a cute little town, very quaint and like something out of tv (cause it is!).

So, that’s our trip to Myrtle Beach in a very small nut shell - pictures can be found on Myspace. Next up, Taylor Hanson and Cayters in Augusta!

I have a TON of updating to do today! The Myrtle Beach trip, winning tickets to Taylor Hanson, Cayte spontaneously deciding to come visit and the adventures that ensued with each of these things! That’s what I plan to work on today.

But, first - I’m going to do something Jade has been asking me to do for the past 6 months - show you a picture of my car!

So, now Jade has what she wants ;) I also need to take a picture of my new tv stands and DVD carousels! We finally found another one to match the first one we got when we moved in and now we have room for more DVD’s (this is either a good thing or a bad thing… I don’t know yet). Anyways, many updates coming today after I clean the house and do my dialysis exchange. Plus, I’ve got to get some stuff together for Katrina’s yard sale… man, I better get started, eh?

Why is my radio station so repetitive?! If I hear “Blame it on the Alcohol” or “Poker face” ONE MORE TIME, I will… continue to listen because I want to win tickets to see Taylor Hanson ::sadness:: Why does everything have to be so hard with Hanson!?! I swear, I can pretty much get to any band I want to… but Hanson? Almost utterly impossible and I do not know why. They are the band I have had the most trouble with in all my years of concert-ing (is that a word?). Never been front row at any of their shows even though I’ve gotten there ridiculously early.. crazy. Anyways, we’re all listening and texting trying to win so I can go to this late ass dream fulfillment event. I’m glad this isn’t 1998 ’cause I’d totally be crying and freaking out right now, heh - the good old days!

A review of vacation is coming very soon (probably tomorrow), all my focus is going to this and unpacking at the moment. Let’s just say we ate way too much, bought way too much at the wholesale stores, it rained way too much and in the end, had way too much fun. How’s that for review anticipation!?

So, one of my lifelong dreams is coming true… 10 years late :P Taylor Hanson is coming to Augusta! Heh, he is in a new band called Tinted Windows with a bunch of other artist from different bands (Smashing Pumpkins, Fountains of Wayne and Cheap Trick). They are apparently playing a show for my radio station and I have to win tickets… Rarw. I will rock the pity vote to the best of my advantage. Even though me and Taylor’s love never came to be - I’d still love to go and see him for old times sake. I am listening to some of the bands music and I quite enjoy it. It’s even more Poppy than Hanson - who knew that was possible!? It has a different kind of feel though and so far I’m liking in!

In other life-long dream news, not only did Andrew and Matty tour together they put together this awesome interview that I have now watched about 10 times. It is love.

They are HILARIOUS together and I have never seen Andrew laugh so much in my life. I cracked up when Matt said “it tasted real…” - he’s such a comedian. I would totally buy that animated short, just so you know.

Anyways, today I’ve got to wash all my clothes and start getting ready for Myrtle Beach! SO MUCH stuff to pack in order to do dialysis there - geesh. It better be worth it! I’m looking at you Lifehouse, Medieval Times and weather.

About a week ago Joe came home and asked me had I ever heard of nutrisystem - coincidentally, I had - just that day even! I had watched Entertainment Tonight that evening and Marie Osmond was on talking about the program. What she was saying was very interesting.. but when she pulled out the Nutrisystem ice cream sandwich - I was sold! She said nutrisystem offered a way for someone to eat healthy food AND enjoy it! And, enjoying food is very important in our home!

So, we went online and checked out a bit of what nutrisystem had to offer. Turns out they have programs for men and women and those with special dietary needs; like diabetics. Joe has been struggling with diabeties for a while now and getting him to eat healthy food that is sometimes not very tasty is a challenge. But, when he saw the nutrisystem program and the food they had to offer - he was excited! About healthy food! I was excited too! This is something we could both persue and hopefully succeed at. Although, it’s quite alright to have a little extra “junk in the trunk”, it is also important to be healthy! We don’t have to be stick thin or perfect but I will admit, Joe and I could use a little work and eating healthier would be a huge part of making that come true.

With the rules and qualifications in order to get kidney transplant - losing the extra weight I have is of the utmost impiortance. It’s the only thing standing in my way at the moment - all my labs are good and other than the kidney failure, I am perfectly healthy and thus the ideal patient for a transplant. If I want my life back, I’m going to have to buckle down and get the weight off - it won’t be easy but with hard work, eating right and exercise I think we can reach our goals!

Did I mention that the food gets delivered to your house?! How amazing is that? Being someone that can’t drive and only gets to the store when Joe is able to take me - having things delivered has always been an appealing quality to me. They also have a 24 hour phone line where you can call in with any questions you may have, as well as an online chat with a dietician. Just in case you need to know any details about the food that aren’t provided - this is very important to me since I am on a special diet and certain ingredients in foods must be avoided.

We put together a little comedic video for you to check out about why we would like to give nutrisystem a try, we hope you enjoy!

So, I’m feeling a bit better today… talked to a bunch of different friends and they’ve made me accept the situation more. I’m not happy with it, per se, but I think it might be for the best in the long run.. just hard to deal with that. Almost half my kids left this year anyways, 2 moved and away and 2 moved up to middle school.. so it’s not like it would have been the same. Mrs. Murray is still there though - and I will miss working with her, but we still talk and I can go visit anytime I want.

In other news, have you guys watched “Wipeout”!? That show is hilarious! I didn’t think I’d like it.. I don’t like to laugh at people getting hurt but it’s delightful! They’ll probably need some Colonix for all the water, mud and God knows what else that was ingested… but that’s what I call entertainment! Water + people falling down + snarky, innuendo spewing judges? Yes, please! Me and Joe watched it for the first time last night and laughed the entire time - you should check it out!

So… I got bad news today. I got an email from my principal saying I needed to call the head of HR so I did. He said that since I had been out on FMLA for so long that my job had been filled… I was shocked. This is not what I was led to believe would happen… they told me my job would be there for me when I got back. Apparently, this was not the case. He said after 5 weeks of being absent the position gets filled by someone else.. I’m now on a waiting list for the next available position which will most likely not be at my school or in special education. This is a huge county.. so who knows where I’d be sent and I don’t even want to be a regular para pro - I want to be in special education. So, I don’t know what to do..

He also said that at the moment they are LESSENING staff so there aren’t any positions available anyways.. and he’d find a place for me “eventually”. So, what am I supposed to do? Wait? I guess it doesn’t matter.. it was hard enough to get a job being legally blind, no one going to hire someone who also is now on dialysis. Basically, I’m screwed. It’s not fair that I got to spend FOUR months at a job I loved, living on my own, providing for myself - doing exactly what I wanted to do my entire life… for FOUR months. And, that’s all I get? That’s bullshit. It isn’t fair.. I worked so hard to get that job and I loved the teacher and the students and it all went away. How is that fair? I’m 25. Life shouldn’t suck this much..

I guess I’m supposed to be happy that I’m alive.. and I am. I remember how bad it was on Hemo and I’m blessed to be able to do PD and to feel good everyday but I wanted my life back. I didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this shit.. But, I survived that and I’ll survive this - I’m just tired of just surviving… I want to be happy again and feel productive and contribute something to this world. It’s not enough just to live..

And, I know a transplant will happen eventually.. but how long will that take? And who says it’ll even work? Most people get out of those are a good 10-15 years and then you’re back in the same situation. Is this all that life is now? Just trying to sustain it? I admit I was scared to go back to work.. scared this would all get worse and I’d end up in the hospital because some kid gave me the flu or I’d somehow need a Mesothelioma treatment. Maybe it’s not meant to be.. but “I” wanted to make that decision. I was not ready to give up on it but it doesn’t matter what I want I guess. Life does what it does and you’re just here.

Anyways, Katie’s coming over tonight to hang out and keep me entertained. She’s sad too so we’ll do depressed girl things and eat chocolate and watch movies and cry and shit… ’cause Lord knows, I’m never done crying.

So, it’s Memorial Day and I have nothing to do… Joe is off consoling his brother ’cause he lost his job. Not like we could really do anything anyways.. it’s been raining pretty much for a month. I wish it would stop, but it’s supposed to continue through out the week. We have barely made it over 90 degree’s this year at all - the pool water is 70 degrees and i can’t even imagine what the ocean temperature is going to be next week - yuck. Hopefully it won’t rain the whole time we are there.. that would suck majorly.

So, apparently Joe is now on his way home and wants to go somewhere… I don’t know where. We already went shopping on Saturday and looked at everything from refrigerators to system memory, don’t want to do that again. We could take a short roadtrip.. but to where? We could go to a movie - but those costs too much.. man, I hate being a grown up! Have to worry about what every little thing costs, I want a be a little kid again where everyday was an adventure no matter what we were doing! Digging through dumpsters was good times back then..

Alright, fair warning here. This post will contain spoilers for the following season finales: LOST, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, Prison Break, Supernatural and Scrubs. So, if you watch any of these shows or don’t want to know how they end - PLEASE walk away now!

———–LAST CHANCE———-

Alright! Let’s dive right in! First up is:

LOST: I HATE JJ ABRAMS! He doesn’t even work on the show anymore and I HATE HIM for creating it! I love this show but what they do every season is just SO frustrating! Katie and I agree that if we had known what we were getting into - we wouldn’t have started this show. Now, that we’re in it - we can’t get out. It’s a loveless marriage.. I’m hoping the final season will make it all better. It really is a great show but, gah! Just makes me want to beat someone. I threw my cell phone at the screen when it went white - they have made me NEED anger management. I really don’t have any thoughts on what occurred… mostly ’cause I have no clue what it meant. I’d just like to take a survery… Katie believes that the bomb was meant to blow up the island so that none of this ever occured? And I believe the bomb was to form a reaction with the magnetic field and do.. something? What’s the right reason?

Grey’s Anatomy: Oh My God! This was my favorite finale of the year… mostly because I was so stupid not to see it coming. Even when they explained it to me - I DID NOT GET IT! I was like “007… she killed him! Um.. he’s a killer” then my fiance goes “it’s george..” and I was like OH MY GOD! That was a great shock for me and worked out perfectly that I was too emotional to figure it out - that’s how i like my television! Now, people are wondering which one is dead… I thought they both were? I know they both want to leave the show.. so why not let them both die?

Bones: This was just a fun episode and I really enjoyed it. It’s not what you typically want out of a season finale but the Alternate Universe was really cool with all the inside jokes for the fans. The ending, I kind of expected and then kind of didn’t.. it’ll be interesting to see where that goes next season. I think they both now realize they love each other though (even if Booth forgot) and that’s a great thing!

Prison Break: Excellent ending to a good series, I think. I did not expect Michael to die… like Grey’s Anatomy, I always expected it to be the other one. I was all set for Lincoln to die and then Michael’s nose started bleeding and I knew it would be him. I guess it’s okay… the ending was still good and I’m glad T-bag FINALLY got what he deserved (although, I wish he wasn’t running the prison again). I was shocked to see Kellerman! I never even thought he could be the one - but I love him so it was good to see him again!

Supernatural: Interesting ending.. I love when they use “Carry on My Wayward Son” - such a perfect song, it gave me chills the first time they used it for a recap and it still does. All this time I thought the angels weren’t really angels (and I was kind of right? If God is not apart of what they’re doing, are they really angels still? I love that Supernatural brings up philosophical/religious debates between me and Joe) but I never considered Ruby was working for the evil side (which is just crazy, right? She’s a demon!). I hope Papa Winchester breaks free from hell - he can’t be dead on Grey’s anymore so let’s come back and be dead on Supernatural! As long as I get my Jeffrey Dean Morgan fix, I’m good.

The Office: Good episode. I wish I was as invested in this show as I used to be.. I’d be so happy. As it is, I’m excited about the outcome and I thought the episode was fun (and I love Holly and Michael) but the Office just doesn’t do for me what it used to… and that makes me sad :(

Scrubs: Well, it WOULD have been an awesome series finale but ABC with their infinite wisdom has decided to renew it? Um, what? How many times can this show be saved? I love Scrubs, but this is ridiculous… there are much better shows out there that DESERVE to be renewed. Scrubs has run it’s course and it ended perfectly - why would you mess with that? What is the point? From what I know, the ratings aren’t even very good. It just seems ridiculous to me (and everyone else for that matter). Bring back “Pushing Daisies” or “Eli Stone” - shows that still have more stories to tell instead of a dead comedy with half it’s stars missing.

So, that’s my tv round up for the year! It was a good season… now what the hell am I going to do for the summer? Netflix and writing diet pill reviews, here I come!

I’ve been very sporadic with the updates lately and I’m working on fixing that! I got so used to be too tired / sick to sit here and make a post that I have to make myself get back into the swing of it. I’m feeling so great lately that I just want to be out in the world doing stuff (and then of course, come back here and talk about it)! Hopefully, in the near future my posts will become more regular and daily again. I know you guys have missed me and my thoughts on every television show known to man!

Speaking of - tonight is the big night! The LOST finale! I am super excited and hope it lives up to my expectations. In the last finale - Katie and I read spoilers and ruined it for ourselves. Well, not this year! I am completely spoiler free - don’t even know one thing about the finale or who it’s centered around. Also, I am really excited about the Grey’s Anatomy finale tomorrow.. I have wanted Izzie to die since I found out she was sick but now that it’s here - I don’t want her to! Last weeks episode broke my heart into pieces and I want her to live! I know her dying will be great tv though.. so I’m looking forward to that.

Other finales tomorrow include:
-The Office (Woo!)
-Bones (It’s gotta be a dream)
-Smallville (someones gonna die)

One last thought - the “House” finale was AMAZING and I totally bet Joe that House was hallucinating and now he must do my laundry ;) I love being the TV genius - we made a bet about “Bones” too (this time, he’ll have to clean the ENTIRE house, muhahaha)

The day has been complicated… family issues, stuff I don’t want to get into but just know I’m being pulled in many directions and am confused and saddened by it all.

Anyways, me and my mom went to the mall today to pick up my new glasses. I wanted some black ones like everyone is wearing - the first pair we ordered didn’t work out (they turned out WAY too thick, I have to get tiny frames of the lenses turn out huge). So, we picked another pair and tried our luck with those. They turned out much better and I now have both pair of glasses because they forgot to take the others back :P I like the newest ones, they’re going to take some getting used to as with all glasses but I think they’re a good updated look for me. At least, that’s what Jadeline tells me.

Then we headed to a seafood restaurant to get some shrimp ’cause I was craving something different, that was yummy. We went shoppin’ for a litttle while.. looked at some luggage, kitchen designs, plus size babydolls and some dresses for my mom. Basically, just wasted some time and hung out. So, that part was fun at least!

I keep getting distracted whenever I sit down to write about the weekend. Joe was sick on Monday and part of Tuesday and then today I had to clean because my nurse is coming for a home visit - gah! Anyways, I think I’m ready now, so here we go!

First of all, the day before the trip did NOT get off to a good start. I had an impromptu appointment with my Dr. because I had thrown up blood the previous morning.. I didn’t think it was a big deal, I felt fine. He decided that I needed to go the ER and get checked out and sent to GI. So, I ge to the ER and they immediately hook me up to all kinds of things, and insert and I.V. - bad memories are coming back to me. They decide to stick a tube down my nose into my stomach to check for blood and that was… highly uncomfortable and horrible. They did some other things to me that you do not want to know about and my Dr. looked like George from Grey’s Anatomy :( This would be a good thing had he not violated me in such a way that makes me frightened of George now. After the test was negative they THEN made me go upstairs to have an Endoscopy (another tube down my throat with a camera on it). At this point I was upset and scared my weekend was going to be ruined… I don’t remember being put to sleep or waking up but it all seemed pretty quick. They didn’t really find anything except a little esophogitis (which occurs when you throw up a lot) - they prescribed some pills and let me go and it was smooth sailing from there. Now, onto the actual trip!

Joe and I got up and left about 9:30AM on Saturday morning and headed to ATL. It was a pretty uneventful trip.. we went straight to the Coca-Cola factory and had a great time there. Took a picture with the Polar Bear, rode the coke “ride” (the seats move), watched old commercials of the past and the best part of course, tasted all the cokes from around the world. No Matter what anyone tells you, the drink called “Beverly” from Italy is TERRIBLE and very difficult to get the taste out of your mouth. Joe and I both decided that classic Coke was THE best thing in that place… you just can’t beat it. We bought a few souvenirs, took some goofy pictures and then headed to find our hotel.

When we got to the hotel we were excited to see that it was not a let down like the Westin! This hotel was way better priced and had much nicer rooms. We had a King suite with a huge flat screen TV and a pull out couch all for under $100. Although, they did end up charging us twice… but they fixed it. Next time we’ll use Westgate instead. Anyways, I had to set up the dialysis machine since I didn’t think I’d feel like doing it after the show at 1AM so that took a bit of time. At about 5:00PM we headed out to the cheesecake factory down the road to have dinner. Neither of us had ever been there before but we had heard great things about it so why not check it out. The place was Valet parking only and that worried me because we didn’t need anymore expenses but it turns out it was free. We ate in the upstairs area overlooking the city - Joe decided to have a hamburger (which the picture of has now become infamous) and I decided on a club sandwich. Both were absolutely delicious! And being that we had never been there before we HAD to taste the cheesecake - we decided on the Snickers one and.. my God, best cheesecake ever. We’ll be going back if we ever come across one again in our travels.

After this is was time to head to the show - it was drizzling a bit and we forgot to bring the umbrella so we stopped by CVS to pick one up just in case. We parked in the deck and jumped on the end of the line and it was time to go in! I love this concept! Get to the show and no waiting, just go inside - it felt great! We found awesome seats with perfect views of the stage and I was amazed at how well everything was going for us on this trip. We are known for our bad luck.

So, the show begins! First act was Aaron Mc-something.. she was good but I didn’t feel a third artist was necessary. Matty came on at about 8:45PM and rocked it in a hilarious way as usual! He put on a great show and interacted with the crowd very well. He talked about how he was going to miss Andrew and that they should make up life size pillow people of them so they can cuddle at night and he can sing “Dark Blue” to him ;) And we all know this made me squee like crazy.. ah, if only it were true. He also basically called all the JM fans emo but in a funny way that I can’t quite explain. Regardless, I was laughing the entire time.

Matt’s setlist (I think):
1: Falling Apart
2: Escape
3: Gone
4: Still
5: Princess
6: Jesse’s Girl
7: To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts
8: All We Are
9: Detroit Waves
10: Kids in America
11: Come On Get Higher
12: Answering Machine

Then after about 20 minutes, JM came out! Andrew was extremely hyper and all over the place. I tried to call my Jadeline as much as I could because i knew she wanted to be there so badly and I wanted her to feel like she was. At one point, some guy was apparently getting on Andrews nerves and he cussed him out and called him names and made him leave :P That was fun and thus began Joe’s love for Andrew McMahon ;) The set was awesome.. I really don’t know what to say about it. I enjoyed the show very much and it was very therapeutic to scream those words I’ve been singing for months back at him. It was a good, cathartic release and I needed it.

Jack’s Mannequin Setlist:
1. Crashin’
2. The Mixed Tape
3. Drop Out
4. Swim
5. I’m Ready
6. Spinning
7. Bloodshot
8. Hammers and Strings
9. Dark Blue
10. Holiday From Real
11. Caves
12. The Resolution
13. Me and the Moon
14. La La Lie

After the show we headed out to look for buses. We found that Matt’s was parked right in front of the venue.. and Andrews was down behind the venue. WHY!? I could never make that decision… we stuck around Matt’s bus for a little while hoping that Andrew and Matt might swing around the front. But after about 15 minutes Matt’s bus pulled away and an 18 wheeler took its place… people were still standing there. I saw no need to stand and wait by an 18 wheeler so me and Joe headed off to look for Andrew’s bus. Of course, we got lost on the highway and I was freaking out that we were going to miss him but as luck would have it, we pulled up and there was Andrew! Fate.

So we walked over and i waited my turn politely (unlike Joe, who wanted to just barge on in peoples conversations). I initally went over to take a picture with him and was going to tell him about listening to his album in the hospital but got shy and just said “i forgot what i was gonna say” and he took the pic and said to come back if I remembered very sweetly. I went and stood by the fence for what seemed like forever while Joe pressured the hell out of me to just do it - he doesn’t understand :P So after the crowd died down a bit I headed back over there and Andrew was like “you remembered!” and I was like “yea.. i didnt really forget, I’m just working up courage..” and he said “whats up?” and I told him how his music helped me in the hospital to sleep every night and i listed the songs I liked and he asked if I was okay, and we talked about dialysis and kidney transplant and about his stem cell transplant and he gave me a bunch of hugs and hand shakes and said I’m so strong and he hopes I get a kidney and he’ll be praying for me, and that joe can have an xbox or a clarinet when I get a kidney (don’t remember how we ended up talking about Joe wanting these things) :P Joe told andrew that i yelled at him all the time and andrew was like “well thats what you do when you’re sick, it’s allowed!”, so no sympathy from him - darn :P but, he told Joe he was a good person for being there for me.

Then joe told him how he didn’t like his album… good lord, I was covering my face so embarrassed :P and andrew was like “it’s okay sweetie, i like honesty!” and then he told him that seeing him live changed his mind. We talked about some other random things.. I can’t remember it all - I was just so nervous and trying to take in everything he was saying that I ended up forgetting a lot of it. Go figure. Eventually we said goodbye and went back to the hotel happy :) Thank God Joe was there to make me say what I wanted to say - I would have regretted it if I didn’t and I hope it made Andrew feel good as well.

So, the next day we got up and decided we weren’t ready to leave ATL yet. We looked at a few options for what to do in the city and narrowed it down to a tour of CNN or the Cyclorama (Civil War Museum) - the parking at CNN was HORRIBLE and there was a basketball game going on down there so we decided it was better to get out of that part of the city. So, Cyclorama it was! We got there a little early so we decided we’d walk through the park until it opened.. then we came upon this guy who was drawing portraits of people for $10 so we figured, why not? We sat there for a good 45 minutes and got our picture drawn and talked to the artist. It turned out good but it doesn’t quite look like me ;) Looks just like Joe though - but it was a cool experience none the less.

By this time the Cyclorama was open. We headed in and… just let me say this was more Joe’s thing that mine. Not really interesting to me so I won’t go into any details. It was something to do. We took a couple more goofy pictures and then headed to Joe’s intended destination for the entire weekend - the Vortex restaraunt (as seen on Man Vs. Food). Ever since we saw that episode - he has been wanting to go there. The food was pretty good but I prefer the cheesecake factory ;) We tried some chili cheese tator tots and they were VERY tasty. All in All, very bad foods were had this weekend :P

We headed home, still without any glitches in our plans and we deemed it a successful weekend! We arrived back in town at about 6:00PM and were pretty tired and headed to bed early that night. When I got home I realized that I went the whole weekend without getting exhausted like I have been the past few months! I am taking this new shot called EPO and man, it really helps. I’m feeling great lately, I just hope it keeps up!

Last night was my first night with the Liberty cycler.. and it wen’t okay. I had about 5 alarms through out the night - I’m assuming I’ll adjust and learn what not to do (one time, it was just my fiance stepping on the line :P That is not my fault). Our fans block out most of the noise it makes - that was my biggest concern going into this since I am such a light sleeper. Since it was my first night I didn’t get much sleep anyways… with the alarms and me worrying the machine was going to go crazy and put 15,000 ml’s of fluid in my stomach.. that would not be pleasant.

The patient line did not reach the bathroom.. so I had to wait until it finished this morning, unhook and then go. I apparently got up too fast and ended up throwing up :( I know better than getting up fast but I really had to go! Stupid machine. Anyways… I deem the night a success even though we had problems - dialysis was complete and I now have my whole day free!

I decided I needed a cart for the cycler because if it was too noisy I was going to push it out in the hallway (and I still might). So we found this cart at Lowes that had 4 baskets that pull out and it seemed perfect for my supplies to fit in (I think someone else on the message board had something similar). It is working out quite nicely and it’s cute too (in a hospital supplies type way?).

picture 1: The cycler in the bedroom
picture 2: The drawers/supplies
picture 3: boxes in my spare room
picture 4: boxes on the other wall in my spare room
picture 5: Where I do my manual exchanges (notice the netbooks on the bed so I can watch my Joan of Arcadia DVD’s while doing my dialysis - I’ve made it halfway through season 2)

Tomorrow I start training for the cycler (night time dialysis machine) - gotta be at the clinic at 9am. Yuck! I got used to sleeping in these days ’til whenever I want to ;) It’s the life. Then me and my mom will probably be there all day and hopefully I can start using the machine tomorrow or Tuesday night! Me and Joe have been procrastinating on getting new light bulbs for the spare/sterile room so I could see what I’m doing (it’s not very bright in there) but at this point in the game it’s pretty much pointless now, yea? Hopefully I won’t be using that room very often anymore and it can go back to being Katie/Jade’s room.

Anyways, Then on Tuesday I have a clinic visit with the Dr. and hopefully going to get new glasses after that. Busy days. So I’m off to bed now to get enough sleep for my training tomorrow - I’ll be glad when I’m done training for everything!

Joe and I have been talking about going on a cruise for the past few months, of course we just keep saying “sometime in the future” because things have been hectic. But I came across a cruise for strictly for dialysis patients that goes to the carribean and your medical staff have all your supplies set up in your cabin before you get on board. it’s taking off in January so I doubt I could go on that one because of work.. but it sounds like a really neat idea for the future.

Most of the young people on dialysis tend to do these kinds of things and I’d love to meet some people MY age who are going through the same thing. No offense to the old people at the clinic but… we’re just very different ;) They’re ready to die and I am.. not.

Maybe we could do it for our faux-honeymoon after our faux-wedding sometime in the future. Don’t know when that will be either.. I need to get a steady income again before we can worry about that!