Busch Gardens

This weekend Trey and I went to Busch Gardens for Hallo-O-Scream. It was AWESOME. Awesome in a way that takes you back to childhood when your parents could let you run rampant in a theme park for several hours, all the while being jolted on cotton candy and ice cream. Before any of you die I suggest, among other things (I am currently working on a list of thing to do before you die), that you ride The Griffon and Apollo's Chariot. Sadly, I've come to realize that my balls are not as big as they were when I was younger. I was terrified to ride both of these rollercoasters. Remember when you were young and climbing to the tip tops of trees without looking down was a piece of cake? I now realize why people get more scared as they get older. Knowledge. Pure rationalization. You think "I'm going to fall and break my neck or perhaps chip a vertebrae in my back if I fall down this tree," but do you see five year olds convincing themselves of the same neurotic thoughts? I didn't think so.
The rollercoasters were so so SO much fun. I screamed. All the way down. And all the way up. I forced myself to keep my hands up as my stomach hit the back of my throat on the first drop on Apollo's Chariot. There is nothing holding your arms or upper torso in at all. The idea is scary in itself.
Due to some electrical malfunction, everyone who went to BG this past Saturday got half off of their tickets. That's $28! What a price! Trey and I didn't leave the park until 10:30pm. Luckily the lines weren't too long, and we were able to ride all the rollercoasters once, if not twice. My only regret of the day is not buying a big turkey leg. I LOVE gnawing on those things.

On a side note, I can't wait for the Richmond Yearbook's Homecoming! Too bad I can't fit into my prom dress from high school anymore :/

Grrrrr!

I just had to quit my job. Grr. I LOVE Tarrant's so much. Their food is so yummy. I am in school full time Monday through Thursday, and for some reason my boss seems to think I deserve to get NO shifts on the weekends because I'm not available on weekdays. For the past 2 weeks, he hasn't put me on the schedule. He blames me for being in school, and says other people want the good shifts too, and that I can't get them because I don't work during the week. WOW. I'm in SCHOOL you idiot. So, I quit. Blech. Not a good day.

Yeah I know he's a pretty good read.

"she's young,
she said,
but look at me,
I have pretty ankles,
and look at my wrists,
I have prettywrists
o my god,
I thought it was all working,
and now it's her again,
every time she phones you go crazy,
you told me it was over
you told me it was finished,
listen, I've lived long enough to become a good woman,
why do you need a bad woman?
you need to be tortured, don't you?
you think life is rotten if somebody treats you rotten it all fits, doesn't it?
tell me, is that it? do you want to be treated like a piece of shit?
and my son, my son was going to meet you.
I told my son and I dropped all my lovers.
I stood up in a cafe and screamed
I'M IN LOVE,
and now you've made a fool of me. . .
I'm sorry, I said, I'm really sorry.
hold me, she said, will you please hold me?
I've never been in one of these things before, I said,
these triangles. . .
she got up and lit a cigarette,
she was trembling all over.
she paced up and down,
wild and crazy.
she hada small body.
her arms were thin,
very thin
and when she screamed and started beating me
I held her wrists and then I got it through the eyes:hatred,
centuries deep and true.
I was wrong and graceless and sick.
all the things I had learned had been wasted.
there was no creature living as foul as I
and all my poems were false."

-Bukowski


"we are always asked
to understand the other person's viewpoint
no matter how out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.
one is asked to view
their total error
their life-waste
with kindliness,
especially if they are aged.
but age is the total of our doing.
they have aged badlybecause they have lived out of focus,
they have refused to see.
not their fault?
whose fault?
mine?
I am asked to hide my view point from them
for fear of their fear.
age is no crime
but the shame of a deliberately wasted life
among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives
is. "

-Bukowski

Long Post. Catching up.

I'm not even sure where to begin! I got back from Costa Rica a few weeks ago, all nice and tan. I had a wonderful time and there are millions of pictures on Facebook if you are interested. My trip included surfing, zip lining, ATV-ing in the jungle, eating delicious 5-star food, drinking heavily, and of course laying out poolside most of the time. Note to self: Don't fall asleep in the sun when you have a wristband on. The weather was perfect, the people were pleasant, and I never wanted to leave. It was my first time out of the country and what a first time it was!

Fall semester has started back up at good old VCU and I am taking 5 classes. It is pretty overwhelming so far. I am in this Mass Communications journalism class where the first thing they said on the first day of class was: "We all are professional journalists here to teach you, and if you don't bust your ass, we'll weed you out." So I am preparing to do a lot of learning this semester, which I completely look forward to. Living in Oregon Hill is convenient and I ride my bike to class (yay for some form of exercise!) but since I got a new haircut, my bangs are temperamental and usually end up looking like a 70's feathered haircut by the time I get to class. Ew. 

With all this presidential hoop-la I honestly just want the damn thing to be over with. I could care less how fucked up McCain's VP is or why Joe Biden sucks, I just want Obama to be my man. 

For Labor Day, I went to Trey's parent's cabin up in Bath County (about 3 hours from RVA) and spent the weekend with his family and their friends. What a blast. The cabin is sooo tiny. You can't so much as turn around in the bathroom without tripping over something, and majority of the vertical space is occupied by beds, lofts and stairs. With so many people (about 20) joining us, naturally a lot of us had to use tents and camp outside. Trey and I had such a fun time. I adore his parents, especially his mom. She's probably one of the nicest and silliest people I know. You never see a frown on her face, she's always got a drink in her hand (well, the only time we've hung out is when she's on vacation so that's okay) and she laughs constantly. My mood gets so goofy around her and I find myself laughing just because I see her laugh. She took real good care of us, feeding us and making yummy drinks (she has a special chocolate shooter that is to die for.) We relaxed by the fire at night while drinking, spent the days outside on rafts in the water (it was freezing) and played cards and Apples to Apples (a recent new addition to my favorite games of all time). Trey got a little too trashed the last night we were there and let's just say ground beef is the LAST thing you want to eat before a night of heavy drinking, especially when you have to share a tent with somebody else. Double ew. The last day, we floated down the river on tubes and enjoyed a relaxing yet hungover afternoon before the drive home. 

Trey wasn't feeling well still, so I drove us home. On the way, I started getting a sore throat. I thought nothing of it but by the time we got to his house, I was getting the chills and my throat was getting worse. I spent the rest of the evening sleeping. When I woke up for class, I was still in terrible conditions. I contemplated how bad the repercussions would be if I didn't go to school (being that we had already had Monday off) and realized I just couldn't do it. I went home and slept. all. day. Got up around 4pm because my entire bed was covered in sweat. I took my temperature throughout the day and from 12pm it was 101 and managed to spike up to 104.1 by 5pm. I was delirious, feverish, dizzy, and my throat was on fucking fire. Trey took me to Patient First around 7 and I got what was coming for me. Q-tips shoved down my already-painful throat, blood work (if it's anymore than 2 vials, I get woozy) and eventual test results showed that I don't have Strep (which I usually get once a year if not more) but that I had some raging bacterial infection. My white blood cell count was really high. Normal results are from 4.0-10.5 and mine came back as 18.8. The doctor freaked me out by saying that "if I don't get better by tomorrow, I will be admitted to the ER." Now the embarrassing part: I had to get two shots. In my butt. So right now I have two circular band-aids matching on either side of my ass and one big charley horsed behind. Today, my temperature was normal, and I returned to the doctor's per her request. They drew blood again and I'm now down to 15.9, but since it is Patient First and I don't even consider them REAL doctors, I let a new doctor today who had no idea what I went through yesterday bug me with the same redundant questions. He seemed perplexed as to why my doctor from last night gave me shots. He sent me home with antibiotics and (get this) codeine. Woohoo! So thus explains this post's longevity and incoherency. I am doped up on codeine. It's liquid form, mixed with tylenol, and although it kind of makes me nauseous, it is my best friend right now. Imagine if every time you swallowed (food or just saliva) it felt like you were swallowing a mouthful of razors. I can't eat, I can barely drink, and I am floating in space right now. I've been wearing the same clothes for 3 days, I haven't showered, I smell TERRIBLE, and look the part as well. Poor Trey has been so helpful and my cats have been by my side. Boogeyman has been ordained "The Littlest Prince" by my roommates because he's so dainty and agile. He is curled up next to me as we speak. So that's where I am in life right now. Broke, behind in school, and sick as can be. 

Taryn and I got our matching friendship tattoos and I LOVE IT. I miss her. See Taryn, I MISS YOU! You busy little wedding-planning bee!

Wish me luck on a speedy recovery!

Totoro!

I'm getting this scene tattooed on my leg on Friday by Jimmy at Salvation. I am SO excited! Crazy Miyazaki tattoos are addictive!

Heading South.

I'm going to Costa Rica on July 20th. It will be my first time outside of the United States. Well, I went to Accapulco when I was 6 or 7, but I don't remember much. I just remember vomiting in the hotel because I ate some potato chips from the mini-bar fridge. Dumbass.

I just got back from the VCU Student Health Services center, and boy are they fantastic. I promptly got handed a "What To Do When Travelling" packet as well as about 10 other sheets of paper with useful travelling guidelines. Then, I got two shots. One in each arm. Hepatitis A and Typhoid fever. My arms are already showing signs of soreness and weakness, and I have to work tonight. That should be interesting, seeing as how I have to hostess and bus tables. Broken dishes, here I come! I also received antibiotics in case I get the poo poos, and some Malaria pills that I have to take before, during and after my vacation. Jesus I'm only going there for a week!
If anyone that still attends VCU didn't know it, you can get over the counter drugs (generic Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, Motrin, Pepto Bismol, allergy meds like Claratin and Allegra, as welll as daily multi-vitamins) for CHEAP. I'm talking $1. Today I bought Acetamenophine (NSAID...non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drug) for $1.50. I'm definitely going there for any of my pharmacy needs!

I simply cannot wait to go on this trip. We are going to a five star resort (what, you'd rather I be inland, sleeping in a tent, mingling with the locals and contracting herpes?) called the Paradisus Playa Conchal Resort in Guanacaste. If you take a look at the pictures on the website, it's obviously bound to be an amazing time. My only regret is that I can't take Trey with me. This summer has been so wonderful to me. So many incredible things are taking place. I found a great apartment with some good people, I have a job that I love, I have friends and relationships with people that grow stronger everyday, and I can't imagine being any more grateful for what I have. I'm getting a friendship tattoo with Taryn in August (Fred Pinckard, Salvation). I'm also getting a Totoro tattoo done by Jimmy Cumberland at Salvation sometime in the next month. I'm signed up for classes and ready to dominate them, head on. Now all I have to do is get in shape before the trip.

Along for the ride.

I went to my first hardcore show yesterday in Newport News. Lewd Acts, Kingdom, Original Sin and some other band I forget were the band du jour for the evening. Liberty 4 is a craphole. It's a room with a stage. And by stage I mean something made out of plywood that stretches maybe 10 feet long. Spraypaint tags and graffiti added a lovely decor feel to the room. The weather was not in our favor (a friggin terrential downpour), as the rain made the non-airconditioned venue stink and swamp up like a humid day in Richmond. It was fun and interesting, that is for sure.

I rode up in the pedophillic "Small World Child Care" van with Larry, Trey and Brett. Observation 1: Larry is a nutty driver. Of course the second we got onto the highway, there was an accident, which caused a 30 minute delay to our destination. No biggie! Larry's van had no A/C so I drenched my shirt in sweat as I jealously watched Trey and Brett go shirtless for the entire ride. Sticky leather van seats blow!

It took a little bit of "Who's going on first? Us? I thought you were!" to figure out the schedule but the show finally started about an hour after we arrived. During this hour, Larry, Stu, Kevin, Aaron and I all sat in the pederass van and drank. It smelled like MAN in that van, let me tell you. It was awesome though. I'm a tough girl.

Original Sin is fun to watch. So is Kingdom. They just returned from a tour in Europe. Their lead singer is this tiny little unshaven tattooed vegan straight edge girl. Her appearance gives off the notion that the band is iffy, but once she opens her mouth, you are blown away by what sounds mistakenly like a large man screaming mercilessly into the mic. I was amazed. I almost saw a fight, too. Typical! It would've been too cliche to see a fight at that show though and I'm glad it didn't errupt. Original Sin played for about 20 minutes and I couldn't help but tap my foot and nod my head to Larry's pelting and gigantic performance. I felt a rush of energetic electricity vibrate through my body as Trey, Stu and Aaron shredded. I'm no expert on music, but if it makes me vibe, then it's good to me.
Observation 2: Kevin Kauffman (drummer) is badass. Kevin is like the Yanni of drumming. It comes out of no where, you'd never think it if you saw him. Jaw-dropping percussion heaven.

After we packed up and listened to most of the show, everyone became groggy and tired. Newport News' sky and air was filled with smoke and campfire-esque fragrances due to some peet burning in NC (or at least that's Larry's story). We all had humidity headaches and the lack of water and decent food (my dinner was a tabasco slim jim and a pack of peanut butter crackers) turned everyone's mood into blah. Stu and Kevin rode back with us, as Brett drove and Larry continued to drink. Trey and I sat in the back using each other's shoulders as pillows. Observation 3: Brett drives crazier than Larry. To Larry, this was funny, because how could you not laugh at a 6'5" bouncer driving a ped van at 90 miles an hour with 5 people and a whole set of instruments in the back, all the while swerving and taking exit ramps at an alarmingly fast speed.
No one barely spoke the entire ride home. Except Larry. Observation 4: Larry LOVES Tim Barry. I do too, but jesus you'd think the singer of a hardcore band, after having a show, wouldn't want to sing for the rest of the night! We were serenaded by Larry for a good hour. It was soothing and far from what he does in Original Sin. I had so much fun last night.