presto24's Journal

Who's got tickets?!
I DO!!!!!!

And I feel like I have the Golden Tickets!!!

I know I could make a pretty penny, but I wouldn't dream of it. I've been a Tigers fan for far too long to miss out on this.

I'm going to World Series Game 2 on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm taking one of the biggest Tigers fans I know, my roomie and great friend Tony.

And before all that game action Sunday night, there is much celebrating to be done with old friends and probably new ones as well ... tonight is Rae's birthday celebration at O'Toole's ... and the rest of the weekend, it's all Tigers baby!!!!!!! Can't wait.

Last Saturday, I felt like nothing could ever top the feeling of being in the park for Magglio hitting his walk-off homerun to clinch the ALCS sweep of the A's. (See the video on my MySpace profile.) But, that will remain to be seen after Sunday ...

Such a busy week this past week, catching up with people, and canceling just as many plans as I managed to follow through with. Will the madness ever end?! I visited my fifth doctor over the past few months, and found out a few things ... plus got my medical records back from the time I spent at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing way back when. Hopefully soon I can get someone to narrow down what's really wrong ...

WORLD SERIES baby!!!!! We've all waited so long for this ... but still, who woulda dreamed it would come this quickly?!

Who's got tickets?!
I DO!!!!!!

And I feel like I have the Golden Tickets!!!

I know I could make a pretty penny, but I wouldn't dream of it. I've been a Tigers fan for far too long to miss out on this.

I'm going to World Series Game 2 on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm taking one of the biggest Tigers fans I know, my roomie and great friend Tony.

And before all that game action Sunday night, there is much celebrating to be done with old friends and probably new ones as well ... tonight is Rae's birthday celebration at O'Toole's ... and the rest of the weekend, it's all Tigers baby!!!!!!! Can't wait.

Last Saturday, I felt like nothing could ever top the feeling of being in the park for Magglio hitting his walk-off homerun to clinch the ALCS sweep of the A's. (See the video on my profile.) But, that will remain to be seen after Sunday ...

Such a busy week this past week, catching up with people, and canceling just as many plans as I managed to follow through with. Will the madness ever end?! I visited my fifth doctor over the past few months, and found out a few things ... plus got my medical records back from the time I spent at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing way back when. Hopefully soon I can get someone to narrow down what's really wrong ...

WORLD SERIES baby!!!!! We've all waited so long for this ... but still, who woulda dreamed it would come this quickly?!

Who isn't behind this baseball team?! It's magic, I tell ya ...
- I am still riding high from the Tigers win over Yankees last Saturday to clinch a spot in the ALCS. I was there, in Comerica Park, with my dad. How sweet it was. What a game. What a win. What a celebration!!!! It was great to be able to be there with my father, who instilled in me my love for the game at a young age. (I took him for his birthday - I couldn't think of a better present!) He followed every pitch, making his expert baseball comments and enjoying the moment just as much as me. Over the past several years, we as a city/area have been lucky enough to be part of many a celebration in this the greatest of sports towns (in my humble opinion) and I have been lucky enough to be in the midst of many of these celebrations ... from Red Wings Stanley Cup wins that saw me and my friends going crazy in Canada when too young to drink here, then in later years, marching up and down the streets of Detroit with throngs and throngs of people, and two days later being amongst the players running up and down the streets of Birmingham with the Cup ... and of course the parade ... Pistons celebrations in downtown Royal Oak and Detroit ... Spartan craziness, for both fortunate wins and unfortunate losses (nights which usually ended with getting tear-gassed) ... but for many a reason none quite compared to this win and celebration. And now, to be up 2-0 over the A's ...

- I think it's a crock of shit that Major League Baseball keeps changing the times of the games on a whim - particularly tomorrow's game, which they within the last few hours suddenly decided to change from an 8:19 start to a 4:19 start. Um, people do have jobs. But of course us peons in lowly Detroit don't matter -it's only those in New York that they are concerned about. Weather, schmether. Luckily I have tix to Saturday's game ... Last weekend was bad enough, making the Saturday game a 4:30 start at the last minute to go up right against the U-M/MSU game, when it had been planned as an 8 p.m. start. I felt especially bad because Katy and I had had plans for a freaking year to go to U of M for this game. I, the Spartan alum, had shown her a great time last year for the game in East Lansing, and it was her turn to plan our day in A2. NOTHING could have kept me from that game, that day, except the Tigers game. Luckily, her new boyfriend Kevin had some friends who were planning on heading to A2, so she made plans to go with them, making me feel slightly less guilty for ditching her. The shittiest thing of all was that Luis had even managed to snag us tix to the game ... luckily those weren't too hard to get rid of.

- Again I will restate ... there is no better place to watch or attend a sporting event than Detroit. After being around downtown in the thick of things for everything from those Red Wings and Pistons championships, to the All-Star game and Superbowl, I feel like I can unabashedly say that. Last Friday night, Katy and I headed down to absorb the atmosphere. We stood outside Comerica Park for Innings 2-5, watching the Tigers score again and again and making friends with random homeless people and others and making memories we'll have forever. Afterwards, we headed to the Old Shillelagh, where the crowd was absolutely INSANE. Breaking out into "The Gambler" again and again (for pitcher Kenny Rogers), cheering with every pitch ... it was crazy. And so so much fun!

- Last night was the first night I've been at home to watch a Tigers game since before the playoffs started - and that was only because I was waiting for Fred to show up, as he had a work event in the Detroit area and was crashing at our place for the night. We were gonna go to the bar, but ended up just going out and buying beer, comin' back to the house and watching the Tigers, and the Wings game that my parents were at with my aunt and uncle. Poor CuJo. I was strangely hoping he could pull out a win over his old foe, who somehow is once again our goaltender, Dominic Hasek. Instead, he got his butt beaten. Final score, 9-2?! Craziness.

- Tuesday night I found a new band to add to my "repertoire," as old MSU Wonders Hall neighbor Fuller brought his band Sweetfist to Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak. (Luckily we were able to watch the Tigers on the big screen too.) The band sounded pretty tight and afterwards, I felt like I was in the middle of a scene from Dazed and Confused, hangin' out with Rae and the band and friends in the back of the van they traveled in. Good times!

- Last week I had a class in Lansing that has me once again re-thinking career choices. Every time I take a new class in my grad program, I love it so much I feel like THAT'S what I want to do. (This time it is records management.) It's weird that I never ever felt that way at MSU - the whole time I was in undergrad, I second-guessed almost every move I made.

- I am currently procrastinating from working on a project for that very class ... so what does THAT say? I feel like my pink eye is coming back ... and why can't I get these allergies to just go away?!

-With so much going on in "The D" I drove up to Lansing for class last Friday and then drove right back down to make sure I didn't miss any of the action. I think that mighta been a personal record for me for shortest trip ever to Lansing!!! Even the weekend before, when my parents were gone on a trip with the rest of our extended family and I was in charge of dog-sitting for the weekend at their house ... I left my little doggie for the day to head up to EL for homecoming festivities. From the State News Alum Association Tailgate ... to the Barrel to watch our team get beat by ILLINOIS of all teams ... to walking around campus and paying a visit to 343 Student Services ... to Crunchy's ... to hangin' out back at Solari's watching Tigers and playing Billy Ocean records ... to gettin' a second wind to head back out to Reno's for more fun ... it was quite a memorable day. And great to see so many old familiar faces, from Solari and Amy and Melissa to Fred and Tracy and Jan and Jeremy and Stephan and Jacob and Dan ... and some new faces too ... what good times we all had.

- Over the past few weeks, I've come to find out something very interesting about one of our many "connections" in "The D." Who woulda thunk someone we met on a whim one summer's night, who's now become a pretty decent friend, could have been so deeply involved in a HUGE somethin' that went down in our town earlier this year ...

Condoms in the Cupholder ...
The title of this here blog describes a situation from a few weeks back. It's good to find multiple uses for things ...

Anyways, time has just been flying by over the past month or two. I can't believe it's already approaching the end of September. At least I'm taking advantage of the best that fall season has to offer: College football!

It was great fun this past weekend in Pittsburgh, hanging with Mary and Darren and Darren's great friends Craig and Joe, tailgaitin' and watchin' our beloved Spartans kick some Panther butt! :-) Pittsburgh is such a cool city. It was cool to see so many MSU fans there. I got my Primanti Brothers sandwich, which was extra yummy, and Yeungling (sp-I'm too lazy to check right now!) beer. Mary and I had some good girly convos, and I realized how much I miss having my best friend around every day. It was also fun to hang out with boys who had to watch 20 different college football games at once, but still were just as into turning on "Can't Buy Me Love" (we all knew most all the dialogue - hilarious!) and Degrassi. I love finding boys who love Degrassi! Too bad both Craig and Joe are married ... lol. Story of my life lately.

I realized that day how much I love the atmosphere of college football game day, wherever it may be. (Though nothing quite beats the campus of MSU ...) Just love it, every part of it. Even the getting up at 6:30 a.m. to get a prime tailgating spot. What beats cracking open a beer at 8 a.m.?

Didn't go to the MSU/Eastern game in EL the weekend before, even though my sister had tix, because of the weather ... she and Mikey left at halftime because they were so soaked and freezing anyways. Instead, I waited for the weather to clear ... and later on Katy and I went to the Red Wings/Tigers celebrity softball game. Afterwards,at my new favorite restaurant Cheli's we met/got hit on by Mo Cheese (the famous dancing dude from Red Wings games!) and the Pilgrim (of the Pilgrim and the Indian at the Lions Thanksgiving Day game). Good times!

On my drive home from Pitt, I thought a lot about how lucky I am ... great family, great friends. I spent a lot of time reminscing ... after all, the "bed" I slept on at Mary and Darren's was the same that I was forced to sleep on with Tony at our house in the Mad when my sister and Mike got in a fight and broke up, and Erin snatched my bed just like that to move into her own place in EL (Yes, that's always how it worked - the little sis got whatever she wanted ...my car, my bed ...I think sometimes I'm too nice!) It's funny how much things have changed just in the few years since then ... Erin and Mike, of course, got back together and now are married, Mary and Darren are married, our "favorite" roommate George is about to get married in a few weeks ... our summertime roommate, "my Kevvie" is now married to Boomer ... I'm starting to feel old! And thankful that I have single friends like Katy around to make sure life is never boring!!! We have both been going through oddly parallel boy crisises (multiple, because there are always more than one: read, condoms in the cupholder) and it's been fun to help each other through.

Do I really do anything BUT reminisce? After all that was also the underlying theme last week when Tony and I headed out to the Hamlin Pub to help our old friend Cliff (Erickson) celebrate his birthday ... and just like old times, Cliff called Tony up to the stage to sing "The Gambler" with him. Even though it had been forever since he sang, TP was a crowd-pleaser. After Cliff's set, we went for broke, heading back to our old stomping grounds of Wellington Pub, where Tony got up and sang my old fave by him, "Brian Wilson." It was weird thinking about how long it had been since he, Greg, Shannon and I used to frequent that bar most every night. Are we really that old?

Okay, hopefully all the accidents are cleared off the roads now ... I need to be done rambling ... to work I go.

Opportunities Knock
What a weird week so far. Is it Friday yet? Honestly ...

- Today was a particularly funny day in that I happily agreed to accompany John when our favorite reality TV show group, (Rockstar) Supernova comes to town in February. We are so geeked, he already went ahead and ordered us great seats for the show at the Fox Feb. 5. Should be good times. John's one of my many friends I don't see nearly enough of and it will be great to see the members of several of our favorite old-time bands play together in a new band. Hopefully they have either Toby or Ryan as their lead singer ...

- Then just a few hours later, I officially agreed to "split" Kevin's MLB playoff tickets with him. Um, it's not like I'm rich, but this IS a once in a lifetime opportunity. I've been thinking about it for a while ... the first game will be a great birthday present for my dad. I just hope we don't jinx the Tigs now. It's not like Kev really has a choice, he has to order them by early next month as a season ticket holder or they release them to the general public. They are decent seats behind home plate in the upper deck. But man are they not really so cheap. Oh well. GO TIGERS!!! What an exciting time for our team.

- A few hours before this, Paul and I chatted about going to the Decemberists show in Nov. at Clutch Cargo's, and finding some others to hit up before then. Good times.

- The unofficial wedding embargo I had going is officially lifted this weekend and next weekend as well. First up is my cousin Laura's wedding on Saturday, then next weekend, good friend Jamie's wedding. Laura's wedding is to a Chaldean in a Chaldean church and service, Jamie's wedding to a Romanian in a Romanian/Orthodox service, so they should be interesting to say the least! And I'm looking forward to good partying times afterwards - my family is usually always a blast, and I had a peak at the dj playlist for Jamie and George's reception - they've got some good dance and party music comin'.

- Being so down lately, it's been nice to be back in touch with so many old friends. I guess some of it's been because of the high school reunion I helped organize this past weekend, but whatever the case, I've talked to and hung out with many old friends from high school more this summer than I have since probably sometime in early college. Weird how that goes sometimes. It was especially great to hang out with Angela and Adam this past weekend, even if it was mostly hurried time as we rushed to prepare everything. It's funny to think of some of your closest friends as being MDs, but that's what they are Dr. Angela and Dr. Adam! I'm so very proud of both of them.

- Another friend I'm so very proud of is Jamie. It was great to see her a few weeks ago - she's definitely been through some crazy times and managed to come out great. Yet another one of my friends who has ended up in the medical field, the field that I was once convinced I'd go into ...

- It was great getting out last night and hanging out with George, Adam and Cara for George's birthday as well. We've all definitely had some ups and downs over the years, but it's good to have old friends around in times when you're down - no one is quite as amsuing to me as Mr. Chapp.

- Going along with that, I have felt certain pangs of guilt for skipping out on the second half of the reunion that was at the pub the other night, particularly after talking to Mary and finding out that several people were asking about me. Oh well. Can't go back and change it now. And I was feeling rather anti-social that night, so I don't know that I would have enjoyed myself all that much anyways, especially after the exhausting morning we had setting up in the rain.

- I think Rae is right. I really could use a week off just to regroup. I wish I would have planned better earlier in the summer to take vacation time right now. Though since I graduated college, I don't think I've ever used a vacation day from work that didn't involve actually traveling somewhere. That may change soon, because work is killing me right now, and I don't know why. It's not like it's that difficult. I am just burnt out.

- Like I said earlier, if I don't hurry up and regroup, there's no way I'll make it to take 3 or even 2 classes like I'd hoped in fall semester. I can't sacrifice my grades just to be sure I'm done quickly ... I'd rather give myself time to get totally better (will I ever?) and then get on with my school life. Further complicating things right now is the fact that my advisor doesn't have regular office hours until school starts, so it's next to impossible to make an advising appointment with him to talk about my academic path and to make sure I'm on the right tract ...

- Thank god for all my wonderful friends, for making me laugh and smile and just all around being there for me lately. You all rock!

Backstage, underage
My weekend saw me run the gamut from extreme high to extreme low. It's Monday night and I'm still recovering. I had to take a half-day at work because I could barely function. And I'm enjoying my time lying on the couch and/or sleeping way too much, especially considering all I have to do or could be doing. For work, school, and the like. And all of the people I STILL need to catch up with. I've been putting off plans with some people for months. I just don't have the time or energy to be going out most nights anymore. I so wish I did! Even this evening, after waking up from my nap, I started cleaning the house, but ended up, where else, but back on the couch. Oh well.

At least I got out and about tonight, went to Coffee Beanery and got some work done. I feel like that's about the only place I can get things done lately. I tried my happy pills but they don't seem to be working so well.

Last night was probably the most amusing time of my jam-packed weekend which saw me way too exhausted to enjoy much of anything - Katy and I went to Freedom Hill to see New Edition, Keith Sweat and Tony Toni Tone in concert ... what a time! I love 80s and 90s R&B!!! Highlights included Keith doing "I Want Her" and New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain," along with the Bell Biv DeVoe hits.***SWOON!*** I realized yesterday that live music really is one of the only things that can make me happy almost all of the time.

Saturday was of course the 10-year high school reunion. It's amazing how much Angela, Adam and I, with help from Chrissy and her husband, got done in just a few hours time for the picnic. And ALL in the pouring rain. I looked so much like a drenched dog after running back and forth from the store to the picnic site so many times while we were setting up that I went home to shower and change and didn't make it back to the reunion til it was more than half over - I was gone so long I fielded calls from people wondering where the heck I was. It was awesome to see the people that I did and chat and catch up. Hopefully we will continue to stay in touch.

Ended up back in Royal Oak to catch Radiocraft at the Blarney Stone ... hung around the Cruise for a bit, but realized that as usual, Saturday was our least favorite event day - WAAAAY too many people. I came home and crashed for a while ... missed several calls from friends who were at the second part of the reunion. I didn't feel like driving all the way back to the easside to go to the bar with my former classmates, or trying to get to Ferndale to see South Normal which would have been a near impossibility if it was anything like Friday night, so I headed to the bar with Tony and Shannon instead.

I don't know quite why I didn't go back to SH for the second half of the reunion. Had I been in the social mood of Friday night, a mood that I really haven't seen the likes of since mid-June at least, I probably would have. But by Saturday night, I was so tired and delerious and down that I felt like about the only thing I could handle was a night out with the friends who are used to boring quiet Jen. I had no desire, after the exhaustion of trying to put the picnic together and make it a success, to drive a half hour back to that side of town to go out to the bar.

Friday night was amusing ... first the Dream Cruise parade in Berkley, then the little street fest ... then Burger King ... followed by a hell of a time trying to get from Royal Oak to Ferndale ... funny times at Danny's Pub ... and even funnier times back in Royal Oak at Gus's. Katy and I managed to pick up several amusing boys at Gus's of all places. Our favorite line: "What a coincidence. There's two of us, and two of you." For some reason, I was actually in a social mood Friday night, and it definitely showed and helped us get attention like we really haven't since our good times at the beginning of the summer. Too bad my real social attitude only lasted that one night ...I don't understand what the heck is up.

I need a vacation ... NOW!
I feel like I only use this to vent or bitch anymore. Not that it matters, since it doesn't seem many of my friends post much of anything at all anymore.

Oh well. Here goes more venting ...
I need a vacation ... NOW!

I swear life just likes to be difficult for me.

I am still sick with something. I coughed all through the last two days of work and my class this evening while people were presenting. I felt really bad, but what could I do?

I finally thought I might be starting to get over whatever this is toward the end of last week. I rested Wednesday evening, and Thursday evening, and by Friday though my throat still hurt I felt basically back to normal. Went out with Mark to Pronto and had a blast hookin' him up ... the next day, enjoyed a loungy morning and afternoon at the new digs in Royal Oak, before heading to Derrick and Jen's coming-home party in the Heights. It was great to see them ... ended up back at Four Green Fields with Tony to see Cliff. Sometime just before midnight I realized I was absolutely exhausted and ready to crash. I think Tony even realized I was not feeling all there, as even though we were having a great time, he kept asking if I wanted to leave. We stayed through the end of the set though, and even stuck around to talk to Cliff. I got home and tried to pass out right away, but got a pretty bad night's sleep. The next morning I woke up feeling absolutely horrible after not really sleeping much at all even though I had been exhausted. Headed to the Heights to pack my stuff up, got a bunch of boxes full ... and passed out. For the rest of the day - about 10 hours total. Woke up sometime in the evening feeling downright shitty. Decided I must have mono.

I managed to get a decent night's sleep on Sunday at least, so I was able to be functional on Monday, but still continued to pretty much feel in a fog. Felt I owed dinner to Katy and Rae after our sold out Def Leppard plans fell through, so we headed out on the town. The two of them had much-needed alcoholic beverages. I sucked down the water. Which I will continue sucking down.

This ridiculous illness has gone on for a month now and has affected every aspect of my life over and over - in particular school, and work. I know my classwork has suffered in the past few weeks - just going back and reading the last two papers I've written is enough to make me cringe.

And at least tonight brought sweet relief, for though I have loved it and learned a ton, I'm so glad that it was the last night of my class. It means among other things, I'll finally have time to get settled into my new digs. Except ... there's something seriously wrong with my car. Last week it was a slow leak in my tire. This week, the check engine light is on, and I realized today driving from work to class that my car is actually decellerating on the freeway - going from 75 mph to 55 mph while my foot is in the same spot on the accelerator. Scary. It seems it could be just a power-steering or transmission fluid problem, but I guess I will find out for sure bright and early tomorrow morning when I take it in. And then head to work in some mode of transportation - I have no choice, as it is not a day I can miss. Thursday I have already scheduled as a day off, the day in which my moving WILL OCCUR.

I hope I make it to Friday, when Vick's in town for the weekend to visit.

It's not easy being popular ...
I feel like I keep disappointing people, and I don’t know why.

Well, actually I do. I have gotten to the point where I’m spreading myself way too thin.

My body at 28 is not my body at 22 or even 26. I can’t do all I used to without collapsing.

For about the twentieth time last night, I had to cancel plans with someone because my sickness, which I felt I had finally kicked, came back. It drains me so much that I can’t do much of anything. I don’t have any strong drugs left, which means I have to go back to finishing up the weak drugs and hope they do the trick this time.

Even though I had finally finished my paper and presentation for school, and both seemed to go off without a hitch, it always seems there’s more to do. Last night I had to finish up a story for work because my subject had had to reschedule the interview time to just before deadline time. But, I had to take a nap first, after being up for 24 hours straight the night before. That night before, a friend was in town and I really wanted to see him, and celebrate finally being almost done with class and done with all the really big stuff … but I should have remembered, I also needed sleep to make it through my longest day of the week of work. Yeah, sorta forgot that. And sorta forgot that I had just been really sick for the past few weeks. It’s funny, I’ve heard from multiple people now who have had the same or similar illness to me this summer, and none of us can figure out where it came from or why it won’t go away.

So, with all of that, it shouldn’t have been surprising that while driving home from work yesterday, absolutely exhausted and drained (but also quite excited because I had just interviewed someone who very well could be your American Idol in just a few short years) I felt the sickness coming back on again. My ear started popping. I coughed uncontrollably twice.

Before heading to the new Royal Oak homestead, I had to pick up the freelance editing work I had been working on from my parents’ house, cuz I knew I also had to get that to Rae today. Luckily it was almost done … but once getting there, I absolutely just crashed. Wrote the story that I needed to for work, then got in touch with the person who probably hates me by now to cancel plans, and passed out.

My intention was to get up early this morning to look over my freelance work, but though my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. I ended up going back to sleep for a bit. Today when I get home, I need to fill out these ridiculously overblown evaluation sheets my prof sent us to fill out about each and every group member. Plus contribute to a discussion board after reading about four more articles. Sheesh!

I’ve always loved being busy, but my social life just can’t keep up with my work and school life anymore. I hate that I’ve missed out on roommate bonding time and probably have pissed off both Tony and Jenny now by never being around and not being so social when I am around … could we possibly have more difficult schedules? I try to make my schedule mesh with theirs, but those are the days that I end up then not sleeping for 24 hours, like Tuesday to Wednesday! I got up at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday to fix my presentation and practice it, because I knew I had to get up early to get to work early so that I could get to class on time … Never-ending cycle I tell ya. Yesterday morning, when I got up at 8 a.m. after not falling asleep til 5 a.m., I felt like the parent tip-toeing around everyone as I got ready for work; the rest of those lucky ducks don’t work til afternoon.

And I have at least two friends with very serious issues going on that I’ve almost completely blown off the past little while, not because I don’t care, but because just taking care of myself requires about all the energy I can muster right now. And I can’t risk my grades failing now … school is definitely number one for me, with work a distant second.

AND I just found out that the grandpa of one of the many friends I keep putting off getting together with has just died. She had to e-mail to tell me about it. I so suck. What is wrong with me?

Sometimes I think it’d be easier if I had no friends, so I could just crawl into a hole for a week and not have anyone expect any more of me.

Being sick ...
sucks. Seriously. I have not been this ill, in the summertime, for this long, in years. It's weird, I can mostly function properly, but my voice is gone, my throat kills, my chest is heavy, I get tired very quickly, and I cough non-stop. And I can't hear out of my right ear. Ugh. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow, hopefully he'll give me a Z-Pac instead of just freaking ammoxicilin. My co-workers have been coming up with theories over the past few days - I have pneumonia, I have bronchitis - you name it, they've decided it, after listening to me cough and sneeze all day long. The worst was when I broke into a coughing fit while on the phone with an important source yesterday. UGH. How embarrassing. And leaving messages for people when your voice goes out in the middle - that's really hot.

This is just the worst possible time for me to be sick too - I have an ORAL presentation to give in class in just five days. Ugh. My voice won't even hold up for 30 seconds without going out, let alone 5-6 minutes. I can't let my group down!

Also, I haven't gotten nearly as much moving done as I had hoped because of this illness. I have a bed there but that's about it - that's about all I could muster to move last Saturday.I get tired so fast! Even just helping Tony move Jenny's futon down to the basement this morning - I didn't realize how much it tired me out until I got in the car to drive to work and realized that I should have laid back down for a little while first. But oh well. Yesterday was the first time in a year and a half that I've taken advantage of having a couch in the restroom at work - I slept on it for a good 10 minutes.

But this entry is not to get sympathy - really it's to let all of those people that I've been blowing off/canceling plans with know that I will make it up to you soon! I promise! I just don't want to hang out when I KNOW I'm not as fun as I could be - and when I know I"m preoccupied with about 20 other things going on. And ready to go to bed most nights by 11 or midnight. Even last night, I decided to go out for just a bit to catch Whitey at Memphis Smoke since it's literally only 8 blocks from the house, and then Rae and I got some last drinks (I drank water - again, how hot!) with Jamie at Gus's since by this time next week he'll be in Japan, for at least a year ... and I was ready to pack it in by 11:30. No more party girl Jen. This sickness has really taken it out of me!

Hopefully a miracle will occur tonight and I'll be better in time for Boat Night in Port Huron tomorrow night. We've been planning this for months! I really feel like it could be the last time I know a bunch of people up there, so I hope hope hope I'm alright to go. Too bad South Normal and Whitey Morgan are no longer playing there ... but we'll still have fun I'm sure, as we do every year.

At least I got some sleep tonight (when I had hoped to work on schoolwork, but oh well) ... missed most of the Tigers game of course ... and now I'm up at past midnight because I got too long of a nap. I just can't win! At least I can get some more of that presentation/paper written ... or maybe I'll just procrastinate some more on MySpace!

And the fireworks continue ...
Fourth of July seems like as good a time as any to FINALLY update this blog. It’s funny, I used to write nearly every day in one blog or another; now I literally go weeks without posting.

Can I just start by saying that the only time I like seeing fireworks is when professionals light them off? I love going to Friday Night Fireworks Tiger games, have loved for years going to Freedom Hill or various suburban cities like the Clem and the Mad and even to the Freedom Festival downtown to see them … but I get freaked out like no one should whenever I see a normal every day person attempt to set off fireworks. Maybe it comes from living on a street called Bagdad for much of my life, and having surrounding neighbors literally turn our lovely Bagdad into something resembling not-so-beautiful downtown Baghdad, Iraq in sounds and smells. Literally. I’m at my parents’ house for one of my last nights here, and it’s just like I remember it from years past – sounding like bombs going off right outside my window. The house has already rattled half a dozen times. What is the lure of fireworks? I don’t get it. Usually it’s too drunk numb-brains or teenaged idiots lighting them off. I will admit though, many of them are very pretty. And I honestly think that a few of my neighbors spend more money on illegal fireworks than I make in an entire year.

So, I am soon to be an Oakland County resident once again. Just a few blocks from downtown Royal Oak at 11 Mile near Main Street. So excited! Especially happy that Jenny and I were able to find something for us and Tony before Tony moved here from Virginia with nowhere to live! It should be good times for the three of us. And I have to admit, the house has a lot more room in it in than the original apartment I first picked out for Tony and me, before we found out that Jenny also got a job in the D. The house wasn’t our first choice but I think all is working out for the best. We have an awesome basement complete with bar and the neatest antique fridge, and the appliances in the kitchen are all new. Plus, our landlord seems quite diligent and competent – though it is weird that he’s our age. And a fellow Spartan!

I had a good weekend in Pittsburgh visiting Mary and Darren. Hard to believe they’ve lived there a year already. Time sure flies! We of course somehow picked the worst Tiger game of the year to go to, but it was neat to see PNC Park and our seats were awesome – right on the first baseline just seven rows up. We were close enough to see my Tiger Curtis Granderson’s beautiful smile and laugh, as a heckler heckled away at him during pre-game warm-ups. We went to the Big Butler Fair on Sunday, and all weekend long, I lived for the calls and texts from Butler’s finest, Chris Solari, giving me all sorts of recommendations from Iron City Beer to Primanti sandwiches. I didn’t quite get to all of his and Katy’s recommendations, but I will be back in Pittsburgh in September for the MSU-Pitt game, so I expect to fill up on all Pittsburgh has to offer then.

Unfortunately I spent my last day in Pittsburgh and most of yesterday sick as a dog – probably from the non-stop running I’ve been doing the past three weeks. Didn’t get to the Tastefest as I would have liked, but I did get some cleaning and preliminary packing done. Also was able to hang with my aunt and uncle, who visited today for the holiday.

I blame my sickness on going out almost every night for the past few weeks. Ugh. Friday night was definitely a night for the ages though, as Katy and I headed downtown to the J Dilla benefit, where Reggie was rapping. It’s crazy that he is who he is, and that he told Katy that she has a sense of humor “just like Em’s!” You just never know who you might meet … and he’s such a nice guy too. I know that I’m talking in circles here, but really don’t want to say too much at this point in time. I just hope things work out!!! I have to say, I’m horrible at picking out guys for myself, as all turn out to be assholes, but I am pretty good at picking up on quality guys for my friends. Reggie being no exception – when Katy was unsure about him, it was me encouraging her to give him a chance. I think she’s really glad she did now. Anyways, the show itself was really cool, and it was funny that we felt more at home at a rap show than we do at some of the rock shows we go to – and in large part it was because people were super nice, so much nicer than the encounters we’ve had at hipster shows. Go figure.

Sad tidbit of the weekend: Stevie Y’s inevitable announcement of his retirement. It was fitting that I was listening to his press conference while driving back from Pittsburgh, and surreal that just as he was talking about how great it was to play in Detroit and what the fans and the city meant to him, I was driving north on I-75, just past the Ambassador Bridge, looking directly at the downtown Detroit skyline. There will never be another like him. My mom, dad, aunt and uncle and I spent a lot of yesterday and today reminiscing about the Captain; it has been, after all, my aunt and uncle’s season tickets that have allowed us to go to so many Red Wings games over the years. I still have much Stevie memorabilia, including a jersey, many posters, hockey cards, books, and even a puck from the game at which he scored his 600th goal, which we were lucky enough to be at. Billy Sims from the Lions was probably the first athlete I remember loving (I had a doll of him after all) and Alan Trammell was forever my Tiger, but there was something special about Stevie – even after I’d moved on and made Kirk Maltby the Wing I claimed as “mine,” Yzerman was always my sentimental favorite. He will be missed.

Now it’s back to the grind. I’m sure work is going to be a killer this week … and as for class, I have a paper to write by next Tuesday, and another huge group project/paper due two weeks from today. Two weeks from today! YIKES! I gotta get goin’ on that. I don’t know when I’m going to have time to move. I have a feeling I will be doing it slowly, and won’t be done til around the time my class is done at the end of July. And on top of everything else going on, I have this ten-year high school reunion I am helping to plan. It’s been quite a chore figuring out all the ways to contact people, but it does seem the word is spreading. And it’s been a pleasant surprise being back in touch with several people I haven’t seen or talked to since we graduated back in 1996. It will be quite fun to see everyone on Aug. 19.

I think the fireworks have finally subsided enough for me to head off to sleep. We shall see. Hope everyone had a marvelous holiday weekend!

will i ever stop smiling?
it's been at least a week now that i've had this perma-grin. i don't even know why. life is good. i truly have the best friends and family in the world. they have made me who i am. and i'm finally figuring out who that is!!! and it's funny now that i'm happy with life, i don't find it so necessary to record every detail. even though i'd like to. i don't even know when/ where to start about the past few weeks. i never even got to write in detail about my memorial day weekend. and life keeps going on ...

Memory-filled weekend
Need to find time to post in detail about this past weekend - definitely a holiday weekend to remember. Don't know quite when that will be though ... deadline day today, then Tigers game with Kevin tonight. Last night class and dinner and catch-up time with Julie. The Jen of old is back!

Actually this is a new Jen. Don't know quite where she came from but I quite like her. Katy called me the "P-I-M-P" all weekend if that's any indication - so many calls and texts that she and Rae and others kept saying "Who is it now?!" Spent time all over the place, mostly in "The D" but also Ypsi and East Lansing. Went to some ball games, was in a video and commercial, hung out at some bars and a barbecue or two. Saw some great old friends, and made some new ones, including a Greektown parking garage attendant who let us park after we flirted even though the garage was more than full and later escorted us around the city (LONG story), a gaggle of fun Canadian boys (including a cutie named Ray who chased me down on the streets of Greektown for my number then left an adorable message on my voicemail at 3 a.m. after we'd parted ways, "Call me to-more-o" in the adorable Canadian-hockey-player accent), others we've known for a bit and some cool radio guys we just met and hope to get to know better.

And so much beer, and so many stories ... but now, it's off to work. UGH.

Good times in the D-vicinity
It's so strange the times I've been going through lately. Over all though, things are great. I love my friends, and getting to hang out with them ... and even the ones I'm far away from, I feel like I've been in pretty good touch with many of them lately. There's a big prospect on the male horizon, someone I feel myself liking more than I've liked a guy in a really long time - and I might actually be letting him get a little close, which is a first in a REALLY LONG TIME for me. It's early, really early, but things are just coming so easy - we have so much in common, and he's just funny and sweet and laid back. (And if for whatever reason things don't work out, I always have back-ups who I've also been more in contact with lately, is that bad to say?!) And it's GREAT to have great girlie friends to share it with. I really have some of the best friends in the world right now. I have this new found confidence and I don't really even know where it's come from, but I rather like it. I have not seen it around, save for brief instances, in a really long time. Maybe it's because lately I've been goin' out and just having a good time, not caring what other people think anymore. Thanks to my awesome friends, in particular Katy and Rae, for bringin' my fun side back again. I still feel the depression occassionally, but it's further away than it's been in a really long time for the most part. It's great that we can go out and have a good time, but I still feel like they're good friends that I can talk to about anything - they're not just those superficial bar-going people that don't really have anything to offer in terms of substance. It's kinda funny because I think we're all kinda in the same place in our lives right now, not really sure what's next but trying to enjoy where we are now. I still have no confidence when it comes to work but even that's getting better because of being in school and finally finding myself some sort of direction. Even last weekend in Lansing, when I think back on it, I was fun and flirty with Jack, who I always had a weird crush on, and later on with Chad's friends at the SN show - they even invited me back to their place, which made me laugh. It was weird - so unlike me. But a good thing. Like I told Rae and Katy, whenever I felt my ole shy self comin' back I'd say - WWRAKD - What Would Rae and Katy do?! Just being out and about with them lately and watching how they are with people has made me so much more outgoing myself. I feel like it's going to be a really really good summer, full of old and new friends and plenty of good times.

And it's already off to an excellent start. On Friday I had a blast for the Magic Bag's 10th anniversary bash. Megs and I started the night at Danny's for some drinks, then made our way over to the bag. What a great show - I actually thoroughly enjoyed all four bands. Whitey Morgan, of course featuring bassist Jeremy also of South Normal; Shipwreck Union, the Sights, and the Fags. My least favorite out of all 'em was of course, the Sights, because though I respect them and think they make good music, I don't usually like it all that much ... but save for Ed's asshole attitude, I thought they put on the best show I've seen of them yet out of the dozen or so times I've seen them play. It was cool seeing Jeremy and chatting with him for a bit before he had to rush to the other side of the city to play with SN in THEIR gig - the guys are all really excited about the commercial and video that's being shot in Ypsi on Thursday (or Friday if rain.) Can't wait to be an extra in that! My fifteen minutes of fame are comin'. HAHAHA. Met some random people, as usual ... including a Macomb Daily writer who knows Greg and loved that I was a Pistons fan and a fan of Detroit music and was rather touchy feely ... and the cute Danny's server, who came to watch the Fags play. It was fun to know that he was checkin' me out too ... I forgot how good it feels to be a single girl out on the town when you let yourself enjoy it!!! I can't wait til we can go back to Danny's and flirt with him some more.

Okay, I don't really know where this posting is going, I just am procrastinating from writing this paper that's due tomorrow ... and I can't stop thinking about the job offer that I maybe stupidly turned down today. GRRR. That's about the worst thing going on with me ... besides the fact that I worry about other's problems and stupid issues too much, and I've decided that it's time to stop, and to stop giving advice to people who are obviously too dumb and blind to take it. I'm done being mom (no pun intended) ... and all about havin' fun.

Jimmy Hoffa's been dead for years Fuckers. Get over it.
Okay I'm home today mainly because I don't feel good and the last thing I need is my General Hospital to be interrupted by this FUCKING Jimmy Hoffa investigation press conference.

This isn't something that can't wait two hours til your TWO HOURS of news that starts at 5?! Or why don't you wait til 4 and interrupt that dumb bitch Oprah? The investigator people have already said they could be there up to a few weeks following these "leads."

And besides how many MILLIONS of tips have you investigator people gotten in the past that haven't amounted to shit? I remember one specific one just a year or two ago, from a dude who claimed Hoffa was buried in the foundation of his freaking house. Are you tired of looking like jackasses yet when these tips don't pan out?! A farm in Milford?! Um, what ever happened to the foundations of the Ren Cen? Why don't you tear the building down to check out that lead? Do we really care that much?

GRRRRR. Just put my General Hospital on DAMMMITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

Who'll Stop the Rain?
I'm almost anticipating a crappy week this week because I had so much random good stuff happen last week.

Yep, when the worst thing to happen was my favorite American Idol contestant shockingly getting voted off the show, I think I have to say that things were pretty okay last week.

I had my first class of the summer back on Tuesday and it was great. I finally feel like I know people in the program, and a good friend I haven't seen in a while is actually in my class. So that's cool. We have a group project to do that I don't even mind, because I am in a group with my friend and three other people I know from my last class. Plus, the prof seems pretty great and I feel like I'm going to learn a lot of useful stuff, and make some good connections.

I went up to Lansing for the weekend (well Friday and Saturday) to visit my sister. I went into work early Friday morning thinking I'd be able to leave a little early to get to Lansing in time to request my old medical records from Sparrow - only to sit in construction on I-69 for 40 min and totally miss getting to the hospital before the med. rec. office closed. CRAPPY. Oh well. I had a great time with Erin and Mike. Friday night Mikey made us dinner and brownies while Erin and I hung out and caught up. Then we all hung out and watched a movie ... were supposed to go to the Lugnuts baseball game but it was rained out, and with the rain still going on and off we didn't feel like heading to the bar where the rest of Erin's co-workers were, so we just stayed in for the evening. It was good times.

The next mornin' I woke up to Mike makin' us waffles. What a good man my sister has! Headed to the Barrel to meet Fred at about 1 p.m. ... and as is always the case with times at the Peanut Barrel it wasn't long before we had a random assortment of people gathering with us. Jack, the former bartender who served all of us well in our Peanut Barrel days, and who we could always rely on to get us a drink even if one of us had forgotten our ID (which has happened more than once! A particular occassion was a visit by Mike Hudson and me once we had graduated ...) sat down for a "few minutes" that turned into three hours. Jack was pretty drunk and quite amusing. "Preston!" he said to me slurring my name somehow, and I couldn't help laughing. Started talking about random people we all knew ... what good times. Eventually Rebecca, Melissa and Mariel's friend, showed up ... and then Melissa. And eventually Jeremy, and Fred's girlfriend Tracy. What good times we had, and as usual the time flew by. We watched the Pistons end up losing to the Cavs ... and chatted about randomness from old State News times to politics to anything else we could think of. Jeremy tried again and again to recruit us to be paid members of SNAA. And sadly, we had a little too much fun laughing at the crazy lady sitting at the table behind us. "Get your cunt off my tongue" and "Go to Meijers Thrifty Acres with your newborn child!" were just two of the priceless phrases that came out of her mouth again and again.

The new SN ENC was there having dinner with his parents and eventually migrated over to our table after his 'rents left. And for some reason, I thought it was a good idea to keep drinking. Eventually I had water ... and people came and went ... but it was 11 p.m. before I knew it. I knew I needed to get down to the Rendezvous on the Grand for the South Normal show.

I got there at about midnight ... they were just getting ready for their next set. They sounded good but the crowd turnout was more than a little disappointing. I really think it had to do with a combination of the rain, and the fact that it was the week between spring and summer semesters and everyone was at home (Even the Barrel was pretty not crowded, and the other bars around looked the same) ... Stayed til just about 2 but had just one beer and then water ... I was so past being drunk from earlier in the night that I already had my hangover headache. Yuck. I've been doing that a lot lately. Drinking so much through the day that by the time the nighttime rolls around, I am already getting a hangover!

Headed home in time for Mother's Day ... had a nice day with my mom, and she loved my card that I got her! And book. And is excited about the flowers that I'm getting for her garden before the end of the week ... since she STILL has a sling on her wrist and has no idea what's really wrong with it because the incompentent Detroit Public Schools have sent her to the doctor about 5 different times with no results, because every referral needs another referral ... I am going to be helping her with a lot of her outdoor planting this year, I think. (Eventually I will write more about my mom's injury, which she got while trying to break up a fight between her students - but I need to wait to see what is going on with a lawsuit and such ...)

And this may be TMI, but I can definitely tell it's Spring Fever time ... I've been havin' fun chattin'/getting back in touch with several boys lately. I think it all has to do with the newfound confidence I have since hanging out and going out so much with Katy and Rae over the past little while, who have me back in a single girl mentality like I haven't had since college. I actually feel worthy of attention from guys. Hopefully I don't screw these up again like I have in the past. I have a strange tendancy to push away the men who try to get too close. Including a few who are miraculously back in touch lately - almost like they know that I am feeling strangely confident and willing to see what could happen with them. I need to keep from pushing them away again ... my main problem now is having TOO many to choose from! I think it should be quite an interesting summer.

Nostalgia abounding ...
So yesterday I spent some time at work after everyone left chatting with our intern about MSU and the State News and what good partying times he has there with peeps. It made me very reminiscent. I was always good at balancing my own outside friends with the State News people, but the S’News honestly helped me make some of the greatest friends and have some of the greatest times of my life.

Speaking of which, here is the link to a clip of former S’Newser and pal Joe Block interviewing another former S’Newser and friend Charles Robinson on his radio show. This is fucking sweet! I love it: http://www.weekendblockparty.com/audio/WBP060429_crob.mp3

In other nostalgia news, I finally had a chance to connect with Angela last night over the phone. Ang, one of my two best friends from high school, was our class president, and since she is currently living Madison Wisconsin, about to start her year as CHIEF RESIDENT I am somehow now helping to plan our class reunion. I’m actually pretty excited about it, but I know it’s going to be a TON of work. I’ve watched my dad plan many of his, for a graduated class of just about 60, so I can imagine how crazy it’s going to be to try to track down over 400 people … thank god for the internet!

Alright alirght alright
What a crazy wild weekend, full of good music, good causes and some good friends new and old.

And my class I was so worried about? Well, I missed three points TOTAL of the entire semester. Like out of 880, I got 877!!!! (I was worried because our prof. had a habit of grading like 10 assignments at once, thus I had a bunch of grades at the end that I had no idea of.)

This calls for a celebration!!! A's in both my classes that I worked my ass off in. I hope I am fully recovered from my weekend soon, so that I can fully partake in some much-deserved partyin (And I'm finally fully convinced after getting these grades that everything I made myself miss out on this past semester, including the trip to Vegas and a trip east to visit Tony and to catch Billy Joel in concert, was worth it.) It is, after all, Cinquo De Mayo this week! Gotta recognize the holiday.

Friday night was pretty random, as my nights out usually are lately. Katy and I got down to Ferndale and tried to go to my old favorite bar, the Post, prepared to get our dance on. But the bar was empty! Some poor homeless guy tried to follow us in, asking, "Are you gonna pay my way?"The saddest part about it was that there was no cover!!! What the heck is becoming of the bar that used to be the place to be on any weekend night? There were 25 to 30 people there at most.

So we walked out the back door and headed down the street to another favorite old hangout of mine, Danny's Irish Pub. Like the Post, Danny's always reminds me of nights out with "the crew"/"Bar Stars" (Mary, Dawn, Angela, Dave, George) back in the early days of livin in the Mad after MSU. How wild and crazy we all were back then. Didn't have quite one of those nights this time. But we did get a couple of their always-cheap drinks and made some new friends.

Eventually we made our way over to the Magic Bag, where South Normal was playing a huge important show. We sat through the end of Novadriver, and then the boys went on. They sounded amazing as usual.

Of course, the Bag cut SN off way too early at around 1:15, so after finishing our last drinks, we took off. We checked out the Post again, but it was only slightly less lame-looking than it had been at 10:30, so after swallowing my tears about the bar I used to spend nearly every weekend at, we decided to head home, since I knew I had to be up at the crack of dawn anyways. Were walkin' across Woodward headed for my car when what do you know, we met some new gay boys! They invited us to Q with them, and after some hemming and hawing, we agreed. (I miss that place!) But, the damn door guys wouldnt let us in, saying it was too late to enter. So we hung out outside for a little while, chattin. It felt good to hag, if only for a few minutes! HA. I have definite issues. Why do we have such an easy time finding cute gay boys to hang out with, but all the straight ones we find turn out to be weirdo losers? Not fair.

We eventually parted from the boys after suggesting they head to Gold Coast or the Malebox for some after hours fun. We had to end our night where else, but at the Berkley Coney Island. And of course, a visit to the Berkley Coney Island wouldn't be complete without running into Katy's friend Tony. As soon as he headed over to our table to chat, I called Reed, knowing there was no way I wanted him to miss whatever Tony, a dead ringer Soprano in voice and actions, was about to say. He didn't disappoint.

By the time I got home it was 4 a.m. ... and I was up again by 7, preparin' to leave for the Relay for Life in Chelsea.

What a good time for a great cause. It was a little crazy, since I was part of the core group of 5 team members that stayed at the site for basically the entire 24 hours (How does Stasie always manage to rope me into things?!) but I have to say I feel like I did something for a really worthy cause, the American Cancer Society, so in the end, though I was completely exhausted by Sunday mornin it was worth it. I can't even get into all that we did through the 24 hours, between walkin' and all else that goes into makin' an event happen, but it was cool to make some new friends, and to see South Normal and the Strong Suits/Bull Halsey both get a chance to play nice hour-long sets at the event in their hometown. Good times! I really got the full effect of small town atmosphere Chelsea too.

And though Stasie ended up staying on the site to sleep, her boyfriend Dave and I did get to sneak away for an hour to go to (South Normal lead singer) Nate's birthday party, so that was cool. Even if because we didn't leave the site til almost 12:30 a.m., by the time we got to the party everyone was wasted besides us. It was fun to hang out with some Chelsea peeps and I am slowly starting to feel like a little less of an outsider in that group. No one's fault but my own, everyone goes out of their way to be nice to me, but my shyness hinders me a ton. Don't know why, I have no problem having plenty of friends all over the place, but even with all the SN shows I go to, I have felt on the outer edges of this group for the past 5 years now. Hopefully that is slowly dissipating. We shall see.

Once getting home Sunday, I spent the entire day sleeping. I missed my Tigers beat the Twins and my West Wing. But the sleep was much needed. Of course, as soon as all my shows were over, I was wide awake and up most of the night and now early mornin. Such is life.

And I think this is becoming a regular end-of-blog feature now - old friends continuing to be successful! I am so excited and I'll be reminding myself to listen to old MSU friend/fellow Macomb County native Joe Block's brand new radio show, Weekend Block Party online, live off the ESPN radio station in Jacksonville where he's based out of. YAY JOE! www.weekendblockparty.com. Joe's worked his ass off for six years as a broadcaster of just about every sport imaginable ... so glad its paying off!!! And the funniest thing - Joe interviewed our old friend C-Rob, who's become pretty much a national celebrity in just under a week's time, on his show this weekend. So sorry I missed that! How cool is it to see so many peeps I know become such big names?! I still get a smile on my face every time I see Ryan Field, Joes old friend and roommate from MSU and former boy-type-friend of my roommate Vicki (Thanks to Joe and I setting them up) on Fox Sports, whether hes doing Tigers weekly or reporting pre- and post-game from the Pistons games. Us Spartans are rapidly taking over!!!! And I feel like this is only just the beginning for peeps I know, because I know how talented and deserving all my friends are and I see big things coming for most all of them ... not me, Ill be perfectly happy being the nerdy librarian in a small town library, but for everyone else, I couldnt be happier!

Former fellow State Newsers might be interested in this ...
C-Rob was just interviewed on Headline News! The volume was down in the newsroom so we just sorta stared at him on the screen.

Is there anywhere he HASN'T been this week?! Jim Rome, Dan Patrick ... I think the list could go on and on. Since it's on Headline News I'm hoping it will keep running and I can see it when I get home ...

A worthy cause
Okay, so there's so much I want and need to update about but just not enough hours in the day for me right now. I really need to get better at time management.

I am very excited that my classes are over for the semester, but I don't even have time to relax and enjoy it this weekend. Friday night is the huge South Normal show at the Magic Bag in Ferndale and Saturday and Sunday are the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Chelsea.

I'm really excited to be taking part in something for such a worthy cause. Sadly I have lost many family members and friends to cancer, so I'm proud to be doing my part to help raise money and awareness. With that being said, here is my web page for anyone who might like to make a donation:
http://www.acsevents.org/relay/mi/wwc/presto24

I don't usually like to give shameless plugs like this but I really feel like this is something that really helps make a difference and I want to do what I can to get my friends in on the cause too. (I even feel bad that it's taken me til this week, the week of the event, to even really get out there soliciting donations. Nothing like me waitin' til the last minute - but it's not like I haven't had enough stuff on my plate lately.) And no donation is too small! It is after all, causes such as this that made research possible so that I had a chance for survival when I was a baby, born without a mitral valve. Without research and breakthroughs and all that good stuff, I would have been dead before I was three months old. With that being said, sometime before the year is through, I'd like to get more directly involved with the American Heart Association and its causes. Especially after basing my entire final project for one of my classes on heart disease research.

I have a feeling that I will be definitely earning my keep at Relay, as it sounds like not too many of our teammembers will be doing the overnight trekking on the track, which leaves all the holes in the schedule for me and Stase to fill in (The object of Relay is to keep at least one team member walking on the track the entire 24 hours of the event.) And it looks like hardly anyone on my team is even trying to raise any money, which is quite annoying too. Not to sound holier than thou, but that's more than a little disappointing. I mean, we all work in offices where things are shopped at us constantly - cookies, jewelry, candy ... it doesn't take that much of an effort to just make an effort . Sometimes you'd be surprised at who ends up showing support. I know I'm constantly surprised .... of course, I have the most wonderful friends and family on the planet, so I really shouldn't be so shocked!

Speaking of those wonderful friends ... so many good things seem to be happening for people lately. In particular, it hasn't really gotten any bigger this week than my former State News compadre Charles Robinson breaking the HUGE story about USC standout/Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush ... find it at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-bush042306&prov=yhoo&type=lgns ... C-Rob so rocks! He's been all over the place this week talkin' about this story. And just think, we can all say we knew him when ... (Thanks to my great friend TP for the early heads up Sunday evening about C-Rob being the one who broke that story ...) Hopefully he hasn't forgotten all of us "little people" and will have time to meet up for some brews when I visit his home base of Chicago this summer. And to think, C-Rob and I first bonded over a little football player from the University of Michigan named Marcus Ray. Charles was trying to figure out where Marcus lived for a story he was working on, and I just had happened to have hung out with his teammate/roommate and good friend thanks to Katy not that long before that. What a small small world it is!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REED!

That is all for now.

Little things ...
There are a few little things that are perplexing me or just on my mind on this Sunday afternoon:

1. Will people really pay $50 just to sit in a booth at Hoops City Grille in Southfield to watch the Pistons tonight? I can't imagine that. I hope the owner/manager guy that was just on the news means you have to spend at least $50 on food and drinks to sit there, not that you have to spend $50 JUST to sit there and then buy food and drinks on top of that. WTF? For that much, you might as well go buy a ticket to the game.

2. Of course, $50 might not even get you a ticket for the Red Wings game ... my aunt and uncle have their first set of playoff tickets for the Wings game today, (they share with another couple) $99.99 a piece, or $399.96 for all four. FOR ONE FREAKING GAME!!! No wonder the Joe has barely been full all season. Mr. I. really needs to do something about those ticket prices if he expects people to remain loyal. Especially in Detroit, with its piss-poor economy. These are FIRST ROUND TICKETS!!! God only knows what the final round ones will go for if the Wings make it that far this year ... but I was SOOOO happy that my Malts, after struggling offensively all season long, scored not one, but TWO goals in the first game of the series the other night, one being the double-overtime gamewinner!!! GO No. 18!!!!! Too bad I fell asleep before I got to see him score either ...

3. Are any other Tigers fans who watch the games on FOX Sports as annoyed as me and my friend Carrie by the damn beeping sound that comes on whenever they run a player's name and stats along the bottom of the screen?! I can only hope that enough people complain about it ... the other night I was trying to fall asleep to watching the game and had to turn it off because every time the beeping went off, I shot out of bed thinking my cell phone was ringing or the freaking carbon monoxide monitor was going off.

4. What exactly is in NyQuil that makes it so damn potent?! I have been not feeling so hot all weekend long, and last night took NyQuil ... I still feel lie I'm in a partial coma now, 14 hours after first taking it. "NyQuil NyQuil NyQuil, we love you, you giant fucking Q!"

5. I spent most of my day yesterday at the library ... I think I'm turning back into the nerd I once was! Too bad I'll probably still totally suck on this presenation I gotta give on Tuesday ... luckily maybe my handouts and paper will make up for that ...

6. Also I am far from the night owl I once was, as my poor friend Solari is finding out the hard way. He's in town from South Dakota for a wedding and I couldn't even stay up late enough to get his call and meet him out, either Friday or Saturday. I SUCK. In my defense, I am at a point now where I really need to make my plans before 9 p.m. ... otherwise my body sorta starts shutting itself down, even when it knows it shouldn't. Especially when I'm feeling sick. And I HAVE to be well for Tuesday. My grade literally lies in the balance of this damn presentation.

7. There's nothing better when you're sick than lying in bed watching Lifetime movies. Or the greatest '80s movie of all time, "Real Genius." This is what I spent my late afternoon and evening doing yesterday, after I left my library nest. Thank god for this laptop that allows me to multi-task in front of the TV.

8. I am pretty amused by the people in River Rouge who complained that the docked Boblo boat the Ste. Claire was blocking their park view of the water and made it get moved ... what the heck is there to see on the water anywhere downriver besides smoke stacks and other industrial ugliness?! I think the boat was an improvement!

9. And I didn't think MTV could get any lower than "Date My Mom" and "My Sweet Sixteen" but the bottom of the barrel has been scraped with this "Yo Momma" show. And especially having an entire marathon of it. WTF? And I'm just as guilty for watching it for any length of time. Wilmer, what the heck are you thinking? Of course, I did watch the premiere of "Tiara Girls" this week so I'm a guilty trash-watching hypocrite.

10. I HAVE to go see "American Dreamz" this week. After ordering others to do so ... Katy and I have both been too sick to stick to our plan of seeing it this weekend, but it will have to happen sometime in the week ... I know Reed saw it last night so I'm sure I'll be hearing it for not keeping my promise. Oops.

Okay, back to work for me ... I have a presentation, handouts, and paper to perfect! And two playoff games to watch. And Tigers too, on Channel 20, I believe?! What a great sports day. Again, thank god for this laptop ...

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