Quote of the Day

A friend sent this to me this morning and I thought it was great:

"My life ... is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next." -- Gilda Radner

Kenny Chesney Concert

It never hurts to have friends who have connections. Or at least lucky friends. My friend Sarah called on Friday and told me that she just won tickets on the radio to the Kenny Chesney concert on Saturday night ... not just any tickets ... but front row tickets! She was the big winner which meant that we had passes to the 'meet and greet' before the concert, and were then going to be sitting ON stage during Pat Green's opening act. And THEN we'd sit on the front row for Kenny Chesney. How could I pass that up? Obviously I didn't ...

We left in plenty of time, at least so we thought, to make it to the venue at 5:30 ... little did we know that it would take THREE HOURS to get there because of the traffic turning onto the one-lane road that we had to go on to get there. So yeah ... we missed the meet and greet ... the concert was delayed a bit due to lightening, but we still missed Pat Green's act and didn't get to sit on stage. We made it to our seats halfway through his last song ("Wave On Wave" - the only song of his that I actually know), and he actually pointed to Sarah and took her camera and took a couple pictures of himself. So, at least we got something cool out of it all!

After Pat Green finished, Sugarland was next. I didn't know they were going to be there, so that was a nice surprise ... I love them! They were fabulous. I'd heard that they were great performers, and it was definitely confirmed. She had sooo much energy and was dancing and jumping around on stage the whole time. Certainly a fun act to watch.

Then was the headliner ... Kenny Chesney ... his fans are kind of crazy, so our front row seats turned into us standing right up next to the stage trying to ward off all the other people who were up there. But it was really fun to be THAT close to a concert! Of course, I wore my earplugs so my eardrums didn't sustain any further damage (yes, I felt like an old lady!) ... You know you're close when you are hoping that the creepy guitarist will step back a bit so his sweat doesn't fall off of his hair onto you ...

I am pretty sure that is the closest I will ever be at a concert again! It was fun though to be up close and personal, front and center of a concert like that though. Thanks to Sarah for thinking of me ... it would have been perfect if it weren't for all the crazy traffic! Oh well, that's life!

Prognosis: Perforated Eardrum

So my ear was still hurting this morning and I decided to go to the doctor. I got there right when they opened, hoping I could just walk into an appointment. No such luck, come back at 10:45 to see the Nurse Practictioner. So I did ... and yeah, she told me that my left eardrum is perforated. Basically I have a hole in my eardrum. She wanted me to see the Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor to see what he would like me to do for it. She gave me a prescription and a nasal spray and gave me some phone numbers.

Luckily I found one ENT who had a cancellation at 1pm, so I was able to see him today. Just as she suspected, it is definitely a hole. Not a very large one, as far as holes in eardrums are concerned, but a hole nonetheless. So now what? It should heal on its own within about a month. So, I can't get it wet first of all. That means earplugs in the shower, and no swimming. What about the triathlon I'm doing in 4 weeks? Yeah ... well I go back to him in 2 weeks and then we'll see. He said I can probably do it, but I'll definitely have to wear earplugs (if you get water in it, it can get infected). I also need to take sudafed before my Labor Day trip otherwise the cabin pressure changes in the airplane could screw things up again (however, since the hole is already there, it can't really do any more damage, it would just be uncomfortable). I'll take the medication and see how things go.

When I asked him about the triathlon, after I'd asked him about my trip next weekend, he said "wow you're really active aren't you?" ha ha ... I'd like to think so sometimes anyway. Maybe I shouldn't be if this is where it leads! Why is it that I can't do anything fun without something bizarre happening to me that sends me to a new doctor that I have to add to my list? AAHHH. Oh well, it could always be worse. I just don't want to know how!!

Skydiving: Final Cut

3 - 2 - 1 - and "Action!" ...

click here to see my skydiving adventure video :)

Like I said at the end of the footage, "best action I'll get all weekend!" ha ha

Skydiving: Take 2

August 18 - the day we'd been waiting for, but partly hoping would never come in fear of not having the guts to actually embark on the skydiving adventure again. Nervous? Um, a little ...

Saturday was a beautiful day. Bright and sunny, not a dark cloud (or really any clouds to speak of) in the sky. Perfect. Ben, Katie, Katie, and I left at 6:30am, and headed down to West Point VA ... back to the lovely airport hangar that we spent so much time at a mere six weeks ago. We ran into a bit of traffic, so didn't quite make it there on time, which meant that other people were in front of us in line for the planes. And so we began to wait. We had our mini orientation again with Mario, and then waited around until the plane had been up and back with a couple loads of people.

Katie H. & Ben were first - they suited up, harnessed in, and walked onto the airplane. Meanwhile, Katie B. and I suited up, harnessed in, and waited for them to arrive.

About 15 minutes later, down they came in the sky with their parachutes, and Katie and I were off with our instructors into the little airplane, after Ben & Katie giving us the thumb's up go-ahead.

I'd taken some dramamine, in hopes of staving off any potential motion sickness. I'm not sure if it was that, or just the smooth ride, but I didn't feel anything on that little airplane other than the fact that it was really hot. We climbed up to 14,000 feet, which is where we jumped from. We were seatbelted in, and at about 5,000 feet, John (my instructor) strapped himself to my harnesses so we were connected. When we got to our altitude, we scooted down the bench and to the door.

We were the last ones off the plane because of how we were seated, but that was nice since I was able to watch everyone else out of the plane. It wasn't really a jump, but more like a roll out of the plane, since it was so small there is no way you could have stood up in it anyway. Ready or not ... here you go ... I actually wasn't as scared as I'd anticipated being. It was awesome. Amazingly, it didn't even feel like you were falling - it felt more like floating, even though you are freefalling at 120 MPH. The only thing I really remember feeling was that my mouth (which was wide open) was really dry because of all the air rushing through.
It was kind of hard to come up with things to do for the camera man ...

After the parachute opened up (at about 5500 ft), it was a bit boring coming down. We did some turns, but luckily not too many since I probably would have gotten sick. It was a perfectly clear day though, and pretty awesome to be in the air like that.We had a smooth landing, and Ben said that after that, I kind of strutted back in ... I still maintain that it was because it was a bit hard to walk with those harnesses between my legs!

All in all, it was a great experience. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thrill, but something I am glad I can say I have done. My ears, on the other hand, may beg to differ. I think the combination of the sudden pressure changes coupled with the pummeling by waves at Virginia Beach afterward did a number on them ... hopefully that goes away soon! I'm glad that I have some friends who are just as crazy as I sometimes like to think I am that will do things like this :)

p.s. As soon as I get the link to my video online, I'll post it in case anyone is interested in watching the live footage!

Keith Urban Concert

I love Keith Urban. Yes, I do. A couple years ago, my roommates Michelle and Carina and I bought tickets to his concert here in Fairfax, and sat almost on the top row. It was so great that Carina and I got on eBay and bought tickets to the very same concert four days later in Atlantic City - this time on row 5. Amazing. Well he was back in DC on Friday night, and we needed to go. Yes, I said need. We didn't buy tickets when they first came out because I've learned that the fan club crazy people get all the good seats and if you wait, you can usually get some pretty good seats without paying the insane Ticketmaster fees. So I found good floor seats on Craigslist, made the exchange with the random lady on Friday afternoon, and headed to the MCI Center downtown that night. Katie and I went and left the other 2 tickets for Courtney & Kirk at will call, and they met us after the Wreckers opened for Keith. They were good, but their sound wasn't that great so you couldn't really understand the songs other than "Leave the Pieces" (which I love).

Keith was fabulous, as always. We had a great time - especially when about halfway through the show he came out on the 'catwalk' and played a few songs super close to where we were sitting - of course by this point we left our seats and stood in the aisles so we could get a bit closer to all the action. Luckily they had a huge screen up front that showed him most of the time, so for the short people like me who couldn't see over the tops of the heads of everyone in front of them, you could still see him on the big screen.

He did most of his usual songs but also did some fun other stuff - like Steve Miller's "The Joker" and bits and pieces of some other not-so-country songs that were fun. He puts on a great show though! He even did a 'cell phone wave' during his encore, which was kind of funny. I'm glad I talked to Courtney a couple days beforehand and found out that they wanted to go to the concert too - it was fun to sit with them and enjoy Keith together!

Tagged (so I'm a bit slow)

Thanks Natalie for tagging me - and sorry that I am just now getting around to doing it! I haven't been so good at posting lately, and its mostly out of laziness. I promise to remedy that though. Quite honestly, I think its because of the same reason you gave - you don't want to repeat anything from your 100 Things post, which took me an eternity to come up with. So, let's see if I can actually come up with 8 little things about myself that you may not already know.

1. I used to bite my fingernails. Badly. Watching the home videos of me playing the piano when I was little makes me sick to see how gross they were! Anyway, my dad told me he'd give me $10 if I stopped biting them when we lived in St. Louis, and I did it. But then I think I probably started again. In 9th grade, my best friend Marianne had these long beautiful fingernails and I wanted to be like her, so I started growing them out and painting them every Sunday night. That was in 1994 and I don't think there have been more than a few days since then that my nails haven't had some sort of polish on them. Believe it or not, I still love Wet 'N Wild nail polish - it stays on my nails better than OPI does. But I do love the names of OPI polishes the best.

2. I was really good at math in elementary school (ok until calculus that was still true). I was the champion in my Texas first grade class of "around the world." When we moved from Atlanta to St. Louis, my first day we were doing that go up to the chalkboard with another student and the teach gives you a mat problem to solve and whoever gets it first wins and challenges another student (just the more advanced version of "around the world" now that I think about it) ... I sat there quietly until my teacher finally asked if I wanted to take a turn. I was very shy, but went up. And smoked everyone in the class. Everyone wanted to be my friend after that. ha ha

3. My favorite cereal when I was younger was bran flakes. Yes, I know, I am weird. Kelloggs stopped making the kind that I like - either that or they have just repackaged them and I am not sure which ones are the ones that I like, so I have been afraid to try them out yet. So for now I'm sticking to Wheat Chex and Honey Nut Cheerios.

4. I can't sleep at night if my door is open. I think its from the days of learning about fire safety in elementary school, but I have to have my door closed - all the way - before I can go to bed at night.

5. I have had the same padlock that I use on my locker at the gym that I got when I started 7th grade. It still works and has a combination that no one could ever forget. I'll keep that part a secret though.

6. I have been in 36 of the 50 states in the United States. I'll reach 38 once Labor Day weekend arrives and I go on another trip...

7. I drink water almost always. An occasional glass of milk, but H20 is my drink of choice. Co-workers get mad at me when we go out to lunch and I always order water. I think I had my first "real" coke last summer when I was driving back from Pittsburgh (4 hrs away) and didn't leave until almost midnight. About a month later on another road trip, I discovered Diet Dr. Pepper, which has since become my drink of choice when I need caffeine. Granted, that's only when I'm on a road trip or something, but still ... I think its always have to have a go-to drink in when circumstances necessitate it!

8. I used to be really creative. I used to write stories when I was younger and have quite the imagination. Now that I have tried for a few days (so I started this posting almost a week ago) to come up with a list of 8 things about me that I could post on here, I realize that I am not so creative anymore. But I am ok with that.