Long time, no see ya...

... so good to see ya!

Soooo, I'm thirty. Yep. Do I feel any different? Not really, but kinda... and in a good way. Turning 30 kinda bummed me out, so the only logical place to go to celebrate my birthday, was Chuck E. Cheese's. I remember when that place was the bomb.com, haha! I'm going to go back even farther- remember when it was ShowBiz Pizza?!?! That place was THE BEST. CEC's entertainment is now just a bunch of video screens. But the pizza rules and it has a few fun games and a few fun picture/sketch a picture booths, so it's all good. 

I got this rad stuff for my birthday:

(I just so happen to be wearing the same exact Simba/Nala sock combination, as I did on my birthday, haha!)

Aaaaand I also got an IOU (if you will) for Duran Duran tickets, because the tickets hadn't went on sale yet. However, that didn't happen. Vallitix is awful and the California Mid-State Fair is ridiculous, because they put 3 concerts on sale on the SAME day, at the SAME time, so the server overload was massive. All of the decent seats were gone within minutes. Scalpers took almost half of the damn tickets. It was a mess. There are still seats left, but they're horrible... and I'm not sitting there. I am not a snob, but we saw Def Leppard there last year, and I know what is good and what isn't. I'm still frowning, but not as much as I was, because... I'LL BE SEEING JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS/CHEAP TRICK, IN AUGUST. That is like a DREAM SHOW of mine, oh my god. I am going to die. I am freaking out so hard. Like, I'm seriously going to faint. And spaz. And be merry. MY BABES. Tom Petersson, Robin Zander, and Joanie... *squeeeeeeeeeeees* Okay, I'm good now...

... no, wait, one more squee moment: I'LL ALSO BE SEEING DEF LEPPARD IN SEPTEMBER!!!!! That was a story. A very, very bad story. Live Nation is just as worse as Vallitix. Easier to use, but damn, y'all. There was like a zillion dang pre-sales going on and the scalpers pretty much took everything, except for the $725 and $350 VIP tickets (although, I think a few have). The best available tickets through pre-sales were lower bowl row R right in to the 200 sections. Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. I even had 3 pre-sale options and it was a joke. So, I held out for the public on-sale. IT WAS A JOKE. I kept checking back for like a week... nothing new had popped up, so I quit. I randomly decided to check a few days ago and row I, K, and M had opened up... on Viv's side. And they were decent seats. I was going to wait until about a week or so before the concert to see if any available VIP tickets had re-opened to public on-sale price... but I decided that I wasn't going to take that chance. I'm down with row I, 13th row (rows don't start with A lol). That's better than the seats we had last year at the Paso Robles fair... good grief. So yeah, Tesla opens the shows, REO Speedwagon (God, help me) plays the middle slot, and then Def Leppard gets to rule us \m/ \m/

I'm already freaking out. Def freaking Leppard. MY. BOYS. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! ♥

Speaking of Cheap Trick, today (in Rockford, Illinois) is CHEAP TRICK DAY!! It's actually Cheap Trick Day everywhere, because they released a new album today!! "Bang, Zoom, Crazy... Hello" and I think it's their 17th studio album? It's also their first album without Bun E. Carlos. (For those living under a rock, Daxx Nielsen is behind the drum kit, and has been for about six years, now.)

This album is perfect, from start to finish. There isn't really a bad song on it. It's a gem. It has the perfect amount of pop, the perfect amount of rock, the perfect amount of punk, and the perfect amount of Cheap Trick. It could easily be a top 10 Cheap Trick album for me. It's that good. They've still got it... it's never left, to be honest. "Heart On the Line", "No Direction Home", "Blood Red Lips", "Sing My Blues Away", "Roll Me", "The In Crowd", and "Long Time No See Ya" are my favorites from the album. So pretty much half of the album! ♥

P.S.- Hell froze over. A partially reunited Guns 'n' Roses played the Troubadour tonight. Axl, Duff, and Slash. Together. And they're all still standing. Whoa. It's happening. It's happening without Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler, though... and that blows. :-/ (Edited at 1:24AM, April 2nd)

Is this thing on?

Hello?

Hello?

Testing... 1,2...

I haven't posted anything in almost 2 years. I had the urge to start blogging again, a few months ago, but I didn't want blogspot anymore, and Wordpress looked too hard to deal with, so that fizzled. I guess I'm stuck with blogspot... for now. Yikes. I'm still alive, though. I think?! Yeah, I am. A piece of my heart is gone, though. Post-Bowie life sucks, man. It just does. I still can't friggin' believe it. Life just feel less colorful. His music still lives on and always will, but... it just... sucks. One minute his new album comes out and he's celebrating his 69th birthday, and you're sitting on the couch watching a Bowie-athon on Vh1 Classic talking about how epic he is and how he's clearly an alien and how he's gonna live forever because he just is, because he is the almighty Bowie... and then 2 days later, he dies. WHAT?! My world crumbled and what I felt was a different kind of pain. Different from when Heath died, different from when Michael Jackson died, etc. Saying I was gutted, heartbroken, shocked... would be an absolute understatement. The world just kinda stopped for a little bit. I didn't sleep that night. I was a mess. I listened to Bowie all night and it was hard. "Blackstar" makes so much sense after the night of January 10th. It's brilliant, I've listened to it 3 times, but it is just so hard to listen to... I've tucked that one away, for now. Seeing everyone's love for Bowie was incredible, though. My Twitter/Facebook/Instagram feeds were filled with pretty much nothing but Bowie. It was magical, it was beautiful and it was rad. I also enjoyed seeing people who I knew were never fans of Bowie spew out their "love and respect" for Bowie. Okay, cool. But we won't get into that. We were all united and connected through Bowie and it ruled. There were Bowie tributes everywhere; Radio, internet radio, and on tv. I really, really wish that SiriusXM would've kept the Bowie station (or made him one on a different channel)... I still can't believe he didn't already have a Channel dedicated to him. I mean, the Grateful Dead has one, Bruce Springsteen has one, Willie Nelson has one, Jimmy Buffett has one... Billy friggin' Joel and Pit-fucking-Bull have one... but Bowie doesn't have one? Bollocks! It's bollocks, I say!

Too many deaths. Make it stop. At least for a while. Sheesh.

So that's the most recent thing. Well, and something else, but I don't even think I really want to get into that. A person could call it a break up, or a person could call it a dissolution of conversating, since everything was done by phone. 2 years of texting, phone calls and FaceTiming... and we lived in the SAME state, about 4-ish hours away. We just weren't right for each other, and it became more and more apparent as the final months went by. 2 years was too long for that kind of thing. I think we were better off being friends. Anyway, never again. I just wanna be left alone for a while. I still think I'm better off being single. 

Let's see... I've seen some really great shows over the last 2 years, and some not-so-good shows. The last show I mentioned on here was Michael Schenker, I believe? Joan Jett, Tesla, Foreigner, Def Leppard (with Tesla opening) and Cheap Trick were ALL amazing!!! That Def Leppard show was amazing. It was one of the best I've ever seen!!! I/we couldn't see shit, though, because the seating arrangement was terrible. One of the downsides to seeing a show at the Paso Robles Mid-State Fair. Yikes. We went to 2 Scorpions shows last year, and they were both disappointing, but I won't really go into that. The set list/order stunk, it was cheesy, one of the members were a complete mess on and off the stage (gee, I wonder who it was?!) and the vibe was just... we weren't feeling it. I don't know what was going on, but those weren't their best shows. Buuuut the Inglewood show had an amazing VIP room/party thing AND I met Jeff Scott Soto real quick after the show. That made the whole thing worth it. I also worked a lot of concerts over the last two years, and only a handful of those were worth a damn lol.

We got a new kitty, named Stoney aka Stoney Pony! We got him a few months after my blogging hiatus lol. I love him so much. He's a badass, adorable mess and I am here for it. I AM HERE FOR IT!! So, now we have 3 cats lol. Bubba and Mikey have a new friend!
We also lost our doggie a few months ago... yeah. We had to put her down. It was heartbreaking and devastating.. just absolutely terrible. It was one of the worst things I've ever experienced. I still hear her bark from time to time and her infamous *shrug/whatever the fuck* noise that she used to make, LMAO! She was a good dog. She was the best dog. ♥

Stoney Pony ♥

Penny Lane ♥

Instagram pretty much rules me. I was a little late to the party, but better late than never, right? I think I like it better than Facebook and Twitter. I post random stuff, but apparently people like it. I've also become obsessed with those little Funko Vinyl Pop figure things. Geez. It all started with a Daryl Dixon figure and it just started growing... not as much as my PEZ collection. Have I ever posted about my PEZ collection? Well, maybe I should/will. It's not in the thousands, but it's big enough for me, haha! My vinyl collection has also grown! I finally have a working vinyl player (I received one last year for my birthday), so I've had a reason to actually buy more vinyl, because the records won't be sitting around collecting dust... WOO!
Speaking of records, the new latest Def Leppard and Matt Nathanson albums completely rule me. Omg. They're just the best. Matt Nathanson's albums just keep getting better and better. He just gets it. Matty N is my spirit animal. Mmhmm. And Def Leppard's album... holy shit. That's the best album they've put out in YEARS. Holy shit. It's just sooooooo good. It's brilliant. It still gives me goosebumps. "Dangerous" is the perfect pop-rock song. "Man Enough" is funky. "Let's Go" sounds like the distant cousin of "Pour Some Sugar On Me". "Sea of Love" is fucking fabulous. The whole album is fabulous. If you don't own it, you should go buy it. 
Adult coloring books/apps also rule me. I've always loved coloring. I love colors. I have six coloring apps on my phone, and I think I've colored almost 900 pages since last year... no shame. Coloring is awesome and it's a great stress reliever. 

My brother's in Japan. He left last June. He's livin' the dream, y'all. He's living the dream!! And his girlfriend is super cute! And I'm 100% jealous that he went to Tokyo Disney and will be going there again soon, as a late birthday present! 

Speaking of birthdays, my birthday is in 12 days. I will be 30, in 12 days. Fuckin' A. 30 is the new 20, yeah? I'd like a do-over of 20, anyway... so I guess, yay? No? I don't know? I received a birthday present in the mail a few days ago, and my friend told me to open it early... I GOT A TAMBOURINE!!! EDDIE VEDDER, I'M COMING FOR YOUUUUU!!! I now have a Ukulele AND a tambourine. Dude, let's go on tour together. Call me. I'm available. Let's do this.

I also received another present last night, and another one today, but I'm saving those for my birthday... no more early ones! I still don't know what my birthday plans are, yet, but I do know that a colorful feather boa and a fuzzy yellow hat will be involved!

Moi :)

I'm pretty sure more things have happened since February 2014, but my memory is starting to stink... getting old is for the birds, y'all.  >__<



P.S. - I'm on Team Keanu.

**EDIT** DUDES. Epic brain fart, for the lose. Two important things happened since I last blogged... Joan Jett AND Cheap Trick were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!! Well, Cheap Trick isn't officially in, YET... but they will be in a few months!! Joan Jett and Cheap Trick should've been in YEARS ago, as well as the countless other bands/artists who continue to get snubbed year after year... so I think it's a bit of a joke. BUT I still think it's amazing that Cheap Trick is finally getting inducted, because I LOVE CHEAP TRICK SO MUCH!!! They are painfully underrated. Painfully. They deserve a lot more credit than they get. They are one of the greatest pop-rock/power pop/rock bands EVER. And also, Tom Petersson is a babe. A babe, babe, babe. Yup, true story. 

Happy Birthday, to me!

Yeah, I'm kinda liking the whole being 28 thing.

I considered the better part of Thursday as being part of my birthday festivities. The start of my birthday festivities, rather. Thursday was pretty freaking EPIC. 

Thursday. I ditched math class and went to Campbell with my Mother, to see Michael Schenker (again). Yeah, we saw the Michael Schenker Group when they came through Fresno last week... but once wasn't enough, we had to see them again. What better day than the day before my birthday?! (I'll be writing stuff on my music blog soon... whenever I fully wake up.) My Mother and I had such an epic time... good freaking gracious. Mom even got to meet Michael Schenker... for free. I seriously thought she was going to faint. We hung out with Carlos the monkey. We got front row, again (I hauled ass, man!)... secured 6 seats. Rocked out and took pics! The pics I took last night were waaay better than the ones I took in Fresno.

We left Campbell at around midnight-ish... the drive back home was a bit rough, so we didn't get home until a bit after 3am. The drive back officially started off my birthday... and boy, was that an experience. 

McDonald's gave me my Dr. Pepper for free because the car in front of us in the drive-thru took forever and a day to get their stuff. It was their way of apologizing for the inconvenience. Score!  That Dr. Pepper tasted wonderful... it had just the right amount of Dr. and the right amount of Pepper! That usually never happens; it's either Dr. Dr. or Pepper Pepper. Happy Birrrrrthdayyyy, to meeeee! Something else happened, but we won't talk about that. I will talk about how silly I become when I am sleep-deprived, though. I become borderline ridiculous. It's actually kinda funny. I was also amped up on caffeine and chocolate... yeah, I was almost bouncing off the walls. Fun stuff.

We finally made it home and we couldn't sleep. Mom went to bed somewhere around 4-ish... but yeah, I stayed awake, watching episodes of "Mr. Belvedere"... I crashed somewhere around 5:30-ish. I got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. It was lovely. I woke up around 10am (we had lunch plans with a friend of ours) and watched a few more episodes of "Mr. Belvedere"... and then this happened:

(Brice Beckham played "Wesley T. Owens" on 'Mr. Belvedere') ♥
I may or may not have tweeted that I was having a mini- Belvedere marathon on my birthday. Heh.

Speaking of birthday wishes, I have the greatest friends EVER!!!! I got so many amazing birthday wishes today! I loved each and every wish... they were all very much appreciated ♥

Also... A VERY SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO MY ISLAND FAMILY ♥ 
Oh, and a very special shout out to my newest birthday buddy, Ivy Quinn! My Island sista, Tiffany, gave birth to the little cutie this morning! :)

 The birthday lunch: started off by opening a couple of prezzies...

I GOT A UKULELE!!!!!!!!!!

That's a big freaking deal. Hey, Eddie Vedder, call me... we'll jam together! I also got a Mark Ruffalo/Matthew Broderick movie that I've never seen before! We had the lunch and then we played some games. That seems to be the running theme... haha! We played a zombie brain dice game and then "War". 

We were supposed to rest a little bit when we got home but that didn't happen. Woo. Running on empty.

My birthday festivities - the main event. My Grandmother offered to make me a birthday dinner... and it was a very good birthday dinner! I think I ate too much, but what else is new? I'll never learn.

I didn't want cake so I asked for cupcakes, instead. And ice cream.

On a scale of 1 to  Stone Gossard... I'd say these babies were a couple of Stone Gossards!

Speaking of Stoney Pony, I got a Green River CD for my birthday!!! ♥

I also got $$$. Cash is always good, especially when you don't have any...  2 packs of sour gummy worms and a cute little Valentine's bear figurine... I immediately named that little fella, "Stone/Stoney". Ha.

Vh1 Classic also loves feeding my Pearl Jam addiction... I am spending the last 30 minutes of my birthday watching "Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolt". Perfection ♥

I was a victim of a musical robbery.

It's February 1st... oh, how quickly the days pass by. The days need to slow down a bit, because my birthday is in 13 days... I'm about to turn the dreaded 28. Another year closer to the big 3 0... geeeezussss... but I don't want to talk about that. Jam on...

Math. We all know I love math. Math is sexy. Rawr... NOT! Math is an ugly beast... an ugly beast that will forever be the death of me. Make it stop, please. We had our first test on Tuesday. We were given a study guide last Thursday to work on and to study off of. I did the study guide at least 5-6 times from last Thursday to Tuesday... I could've done it in my sleep. Fast forward to Tuesday... we were handed the tests... only about 10% of what was on the study guide was actually on the test. The thoughts I had are too vulgar to post on here... but there were a lot of f-bombs. A LOT of f-bombs. My next thought? Alright then. Oh, and I should probably mention that we're not allowed to use calculators in my class. Yeah. It's lovely... all kinds of lovely. 26 questions but we were only getting graded for 25... that kind of made things a little better.
I was certain that I had failed it. If not failed, then at least a D. I was bummed. Absolutely bummed. I was also pissed... so very pissed. I mean, why give us a study guide when only a chunk of it will actually end up on the test? It's a complete waste of time... and it gives false hope. I listened to Rage Against the Machine for almost the entire rest of the day/night. I wasn't in a very good mood. Saying that I was disappointed would be an understatement...

Fast forward to Thursday. I had both school and work to deal with. I had to go to work almost immediately after I got out of class... I knew I'd be getting my test back... I was not ready. Getting a failing grade would've made my night at work a living hell. He waited until the end of class to hand our tests back. Looooovely. That was terrible!! I rocked the class work for the day, though. (Now I have 'Rock the Casbah' stuck in my head.) I got my test and walked out the door... I didn't even want to look at it. I got a friggin' 92%. A 92%. I actually verbally asked myself, "How in the actual hell?" Seriously, how?! I missed 3, but only 2 counted. I missed one that I knew I was going to miss... the other 2 were easy ones that I thought I got right. Ha. Oops. I was baffled. I'm still baffled. It was easy stuff compared to what's coming up... but damn... at least give us legit stuff to study. I don't want or need any mathematical mind f*cks.

The P!nk concert. I guess someone hates me because I was given the 'smoking area'. I would've rather have taken 50 math tests in a row. It's mind boggling... ADULTS DO NOT FUCKING LISTEN. What part of you cannot take alcoholic beverages outside with you don't people understand?!?! I don't know if that's a new rule (?) or what, but people could NOT grasp that concept... ALL freaking night. Gawd. The Savemart Center needs to make a sign and put it up, or something. The concert goers thought that I was the one who made this rule. Why would I make that rule? I don't even understand that rule? Give me a break.

I was right by an entrance door... I saw all walks of life walk in and walk by. I was also next to the merch table. I saw some very interesting people. People ranging from 7 years old to 70 years old. ALL walks of life. It was very interesting. My favorite was a guy who walked in wearing a black leather corset, a black mini skirt and black leather knee-high boots. Work it, dude!! The girl in the pink tutu ranked a close (or not so close) 2nd. I got hit on by 6 men and 12 lesbians. I don't know how many times I was told that I was "the cutest security guard ever!!" Or that I was the cutest security guard that they had ever seen. Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. Kittens are cute. I am not any of those things. If one more person calls me "cute", I just might scream. Moving on...

I conversed with a James Franco look-alike... I was alllllll smiles with that one. I literally almost said, "I'm sorry James Franco, you cannot take your beer out to the smoking area." Almost. He was SO CUTE. Then there was one of P!nk's dancers (who shall remain nameless)... I thought she was going to murder me at first. Straight out of a creepy horror flick. Working that particular post was an experience... one I hope to never experience again. I'd rather work a door that doesn't open... I'm becoming less and less of a "people person"... less than I already was before.

After I was cleared of 'smoking area' duty, I was told to go and help out with a post-show meet and greet. The opening band, The Kin were holding a meet and greet after P!nk was over. There were tons of people in line... tons. All the way down the concourse and around the corner. Goodness. Girls were swooning left and right. About 5 minutes after I got there, they randomly stepped aside from their meet and greet. One of the guys yelled something like, "HEYYYY EVERYBODY! ARE YOU READY FOR A MUSICAL ROBBERYYYY?!?!" We were like, "What the hell?!" It started with a nice little drum beat... then they started to walk up/down the concourse a bit while singing about 30 seconds (maybe more?) of "When Doves Cry" by Prince. Of course it had to be a Prince song, right? Geezus. I couldn't help but laugh. That was the strangest, most random thing I have ever witnessed. Once they were done, they quietly walked back to the meet and greet and pretended like nothing ever happened. I was a victim of a musical robbery. It was my first... and hopefully my last.

I'm back in the saddle again...

I'm baaaaaaaack.

I'm not sure I really want to be... but I am. Math. I hate math. Here's to four long months. Woo.

I took last semester off, in case anybody was wondering. Not by choice, as I was kind of forced to. It all started when my math class was canceled. Yep. They canceled it mid-summer (I'm thinkin'?) but failed to notify anyone until two weeks before the Fall semester started. Ass. All ass. It wasn't like I could afford a damn math book (plus a zillion dollar online code) AND a computer book (which was almost a zillion dollars). So, I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and that my college could f*ck off... so yeah, I made the decision to take a break. Work some, take the break, and go back in the Spring. Here I am. Spring 2014.

Ohhhh yeah, I should also add that they canceled my computer class, too. They canceled it on THE morning of the first class meeting. I think I made the right decision.

Math. Wooooo friggin' hooooo!!! My brother had my instructor for two straight semesters. I trust his judgement, so I decided to take Mr. Allen. Only about half of the class understood his humor today... I'm thinkin' it's going to be a looooong semester. I excel in sarcasm and dry humor... so I get it. I should also mention that he looks like a less cuter version of Ryan Gosling. Geezus. 

Oh, and I should also probably mention that about ten or so people that are in my class this semester, were in my previous math class. Yep. One of them, is the the older dude that hit on me a lot (or whatever the f*ck he was trying to do?). Lovely. I saw him standing by the door waiting for class... talk about a deer in the headlights. We made 'small talk'... which means we made long talk, because you cannot make small talk with this guy. The "so, what have you been up to?!" conversation. Me: "Yeah, well... I saw Pearl Jam a few months ago... and that friggin' ruled." He almost fainted. He had no clue that they had even toured, much less came through California. Five seconds or so later, "Ah, man... I have some old, rare footage of Mother... --- I CUT HIM OFF SO FAST TO SQUEEEE, LIKE THE MOTHER LOVE BONE FAN GIRL THAT I AM. OMG. --- ... Love Bone on VHS. Man... their singer... he was amazing. Just... the way he sang..." Me: "ANDYYYY!!!! I love Andy Wood. He was great. One of the greatest. He seemed like he had an amazing personality." Then he proceeded to ask if I had seen the new (it's not new) PJ documentary movie. "Zillions of times. I've watched it four times in the last two days. Vh1 Classic and Palladia love to feed my addiction. I also own it on DVD."

Ooookayyy... this dude... we can be friends. I think. I think? Yeah, maybe. I mean, he mentioned Mother Love Bone before I even threw that name out there. It takes a special breed. He flipped out when I spoke the MLB language right back to him. I seriously think that people think that I am secretly some 40-year-old police spy (who looks 12) who takes classes/hangs out on campus so I can spy on anyone doing illegal stuff on campus. That's how people make me feel sometimes... haha! I'm just a rad 27-year-old. That's all ;)

The second person being, the Marq Torien/Nathan Parsons look-alike. Dude... I KNOW!!! I do not need a repeat of that. If this semester is going to be a repeat... no, I do not need any repeats. He was one of the last people to walk in. He sat two seats away from me. Of course he did. However, he is not enrolled in the class and he wasn't on the wait list. I don't know if he got in or not... I guess I'll see on Thursday. Geezus.

Today's lecture wasn't too bad. We got through the first two sections of chapter 1. I can do that stuff. I can do that stuff almost in my sleep. Anything after chapter 1... probably not. heh.

Where should I go next with this thing? The fact that I hate funerals or that Tim Burton will forever be a genius in my mind?

Okay, I'm gonna go with Tim Burton forever being a genius in my mind. 

(Still photo from 'Big Fish')

"Big Fish" was one of the few Tim Burton films that I hadn't seen. I knew Pearl Jam had a song on the soundtrack (it plays in the closing credits) "Man of the Hour" and it's one of my fave songs. For some reason, I just never saw it. Dish on-Demand or whatever it's called has had it in their "free movie section" for a while now and I was going to watch it, but I forgot about it. Hey, it sucks getting old, kids. Heh. Anywayyy... my Uncle was an absolute mess, the day after my Grandfather passed. In between sobs, he kept talking about how he was so happy and so glad that they were able to take my Grandfather on his last fishing trip (my grandfather LOVED to fish. LOVED.) He kept talking about how he caught some big fish. Every other sentence, he talked about big fish... big fish... big fish. Ding, ding, ding... the light bulb went on. It was rather bright, too. I had heard Eddie Vedder talk about it... and I was thinking to myself, 'okay... I'll watch it. But not now. NOT now.' A few nights later, I was surfing through the 'free movies' on Dish and passed by Big Fish... "Nope!" Then I heard a voice, and it was singing "She ain't got no yo-yo"... "Yep!" and I went back to Big Fish and pressed the play button. So, I kinda love that movie. I do. The Ved was right. One can not finish that movie and leave with a dry eye, let me tell ya people. Damn. The end was what got me. Billy Crudup's character says something like, "my father was a big fish"... yeah, well, my grandfather was big fish. The imagery in that scene along with that quote was the start of some kind of a healing process... or maybe some sort of reassurance? That part made me bawl but it also made me smile. So yeah, Tim Burton can do no wrong, in my mind. Even the awkwardly uncomfortable "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"... yeah. A genius you are, Tim.

I think I've depressed myself enough (and probably depressed anyone reading this), so I won't even go into my grandfather's funeral. Or maybe I should? Yeah. I will. It took place last Friday. People were sobbing before the damn thing even started. I don't know who had the bright idea to have a picture montage thing playing on the TV screen as everyone arrived (fully equipped with SAD music in the background)... but yeah, good friggin' job. AND when I first noticed it, it just so happened to be showing a picture of myself, my mother, brother, father, and grandmother WITH my grandfather last year on his birthday. GEEZUS. They must've looped that thing at least 3 times before the service even started. Once was enough, thanks. Like, my father was crying. I heard it. Whoa.

My grandfather was a vet (Korean War) so they started the service with a prayer and the traditional army presentation... "Taps". Friggin' "Taps". No. It was all downhill for me and probably everyone else from there. The guy officiating the service was a relative... a hilarious relative, and I knew he would do it right and make us smile, as well as laugh. However, even the funniest story still made a lot of us cry. Just, damnit. Damnit, I say. Every other sentence "and he loved to fish." Flashbacks to 'Big Fish' kept happening and yeah, I couldn't help but tear up. I think I had a dry eye for all of 5-10 minutes during the entire thing. My grandma laughed and tried to smile during the stories and what-not... but you can tell she was hurting. My uncle was about to break down but he managed to stay cool. My grandfather's sister sat in between my mother and I... hearing or seeing her cry would make me cry. Seeing random relatives, friends and former co-workers cry and hearing them tell their stories = no. Seeing my mother cry would make me cry. Seeing my father cry... let's just put it this way, I'm 27-years-old (almost 28), and I've probably seen my father cry maybe four or five times in my entire life. Just like my grandma, when my father cries... that's some serious stuff. I sensed that someone else was about to break down, but I tried to let him be... until the end when everyone was encouraged to give their 'final goodbyes' to the urn and what-not. I absolutely could not. The people within our family circle, absolutely could not. I can still see certain people breaking down in my mind and it still straight up destroys me. It probably will for a while. Hell, I even hugged a few people that I would NEVER hug (let alone touch) otherwise. Duuuuuuude. I even hugged my mother's biological "mother". Well, she kind of attack-hugged me... but I didn't exactly resist. Yeah.

The after party... no, um... the after shindig thingy-ma-bobber... whatever the hell it's called? THAT was interesting. Most of the people there I had no knowledge of. A lot of the people there I hadn't seen since I was probably a kid? Yeah, I kinda just kept to myself and stayed within my circle (mom, dad, brother). 

Some genius (I won't name names) thought it was a good idea to take a family photo. Yeeeeahhhh because let's all SMILE (because we were all sooooo happy. Woo!) and make that a friggin' family reunion photo. I cackled. I really did. I knew that was going to happen. I just knew. A post-funeral shindig thingy-ma-bobber is NO place for a 'family photo'. It was actually hilarious, though. I love let's all smile because we were told to smile but we don't really want to smile, pictures. I would post the picture... but taking the actual picture itself was already somewhat ill-advised.

Soooo yeah... that's what's been going on in the life of Liz...

I will now go and watch episodes of "Mr. Belvedere", because... well... why the hell not?!

It's the last day of 2013

The last hour, actually. I'm ending 2013 with this face:

THIS FACE.

I probably shouldn't even be blogging right now... but if I don't, I'll probably end up going nuts.

Christmas. I never got to post about Christmas. I hope everyone had a great Christmas/holiday season, whatever floats your boat. If you didn't, keep your chin up, there's always next year!

I had a good Christmas. My main Christmas present was given to me back in November... the Pearl Jam concert. That was seriously the only thing I needed. Like, that was IT. The golden present! The golden present was absolutely epic. Yep. EPIC. Pearl Jam... I looooooove youuuuuuuu!!!!!!! ♥

I guess you could say that I had a very Merry Stonemas. Aside from the Pearl Jam concert, I got a few Mother Love Bone items and a few BRAD cds. Stone Gossard for the absolute friggin' WIN!!!! 

I got a Steel Panther cd for a gag gift... or at least to me, it was a gag gift. I got a few pairs of much-needed fuzzy socks, 2 pairs of corduroy pants, and a little bit of $$.

ALSO, the Christmas cards (and book) that I received from my Island family, pretty much made my entire year. I've never received that many Christmas cards in my entire life. Every day for weeks they would arrive... 3 would come... 5 would come... 2 would come, etc. When the book came... I couldn't. The feels, man... the feels. I am blessed. ♥

My Mother and I took a brief trip to Morro Bay a few days ago... it lasted for a day and a half... if even. My Grandfather passed away sometime around 6-ish - 7:20-ish on Sunday evening. I got a text from my brother. We knew we had to head back to Fresno ASAP. So we packed our stuff, cleaned up the 5th wheel a bit... left at about 10:45PM and didn't get home until about 1:45AM. Didn't even think twice about staying. We HAD to go back home. We had to. 

We weren't even sure if we should've gone to Morro Bay in the first place, but everyone told us to go and that we shouldn't let my Grandfather dying stop us from living our lives. We all knew he probably wasn't going to make it past Monday... but we still had hope.

Shitty. The entire thing was just shitty. There wasn't anything we could do. We all just had to sit and watch him slowly die. Cancer. FUCK cancer. 

He was the only Grandfather my brother and I had. Now he's gone.

I have some of the most awesome friends, by the way. I love them dearly. Their kind words and outpouring means more to me than anyone will ever know. Forever grateful. ♥

Tonight blessed us with another shit storm. My Mother's biological mother is a waste of human life. I have absolutely ZERO respect for that woman. And after tonight, I am done with her. For good. DONE. I am too old for this shit... she is too old to be acting like this. She is a fake, a phony, and a massive fucking idiot. DONE. 

I didn't watch the ball drop last year, and I will not watch the ball drop this year. Instead, once again, I am ending the year/beginning the new year with Pearl Jam. I'm watching Pearl Jam Twenty. I've watched it a zillion times this past year... and I've watched it every night since Sunday. It's keeping me sane. 

Pearl Jam, Def Leppard, Suede and Hanson are keeping me sane right now. Thank god for those bands. Seriously.

I hope everyone has a safe, blessed and Happy New Year. May 2014 be a great year for everyone.

Good times, with good people

Mom and I got to visit with our cousins today! Her cousins, my 2nd cousins. We always have a blast with those guys! We went to the usual "hanging" place, (okay, so we've only hung out there twice... but that's still our "hanging" place.) El Quetzal. It's a nice, little, inexpensive Mexican restaurant, in Clovis. 

The cousins live in Carson City, Nevada, but they came down here for a few days to attend a funeral (their Grandmother *on their father's side* passed away). So the lunch/dinner consisted of myself, mom, 3 cousins, their dad,  aunt Barbara, and a few more people from the cousins' dad's side of the family. I am so bad with names, nowadays. Shame on me. They were all very nice people. Very nice people. Lots of hugs and handshakes. Hey guys, would you care to adopt me? I need more nice extended family members in my life. Real talk.

They were already there when we arrived. Like I stated above, immediate hugs and handshakes. (ADOPT ME, PLEASE! I'll give you $5) I didn't even get a "hello" in, when cousin Mike came up to me and said "I love your blog! It's hilarious as hell!" I try... I try. Actually, I don't try, it just happens. But I'm glad I can make people laugh :) Yee haw!

We took our seats, and dove almost immediately into conversations and laughs. We do a lot of laughing when we're with these guys. They are absolutely hysterical. Especially when they drink beer. Yes, folks, it's true... I DO have a few relatives outside of my immediate family that I actually like. Mmhmm... it's true! Rock & roll.

Rock & roll... we talked a lot about rock & roll... as we always do. Mike, "funny apron" (for the sake of what's to come later in this blog, I have almost no choice but to give him another name. Unless they tell me I can edit his real name in here), and Craig are very music oriented... much like myself and my mother. We have similar (very similar) tastes in music. I've actually bowed down to them a few times for their concert going achievements. Yep. Does anyone remember the infamous food fight at the "Monsters of Rock" show in San Francisco in the late 80s? Yeah, well, cousin Mike and cousin Craig started that. Yep. That was brought up again, today. The topic of seeing Pearl Jam in Oakland was discussed... they're big fans of Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder... and that makes me an even bigger fan of them. Metallica is almost always discussed. As is the Scorpions (we all had a great time in Reno, last year). 

Mike and I talked about hockey. He wanted to know what my connection was, so I told him. Then he told me a great story of how he went to a San Jose Sharks opening game one year, and compared it to being at a rock concert. Yep, pretty much! He said he felt left out because he wasn't wearing any teal and said he needed a jersey... I'm still saying Marleau, man. Marleau is a beast. A friggin' Beeeeaaaaassssstttttt.

Pismo/Morro Bay was discussed. We told them how exciting our jobs were (only when we work concerts)... haha!

"Family" discussions are the best, though. Where should I even begin? I'm not even sure where it began but I will briefly brush on some topics. Get ready, folks. 

* "Funny apron" is a total metrosexual. He is very proud of that fact. He likes his hair product. Always has to have product. His nails are all nice. And loves his body lotion. He has to lotion every day.

* "Funny apron" (had a couple of beers, by the way. So I'm sure most of it was a joke. We were all laughing hysterically, regardless) confessed his attraction to his aunt and was being all silly. He said he's had a thing for her since he was a kid. He used to like a few of his family members when he was a kid... "have you ever heard about kissing cousins???" Now THAT was a joke. It was a hilarious joke, but we were all still laughing. They tried to pair Craig up with Michelle... and THAT was funny as hell. "Me and Michelle? When? I must have forgotten that. I must have forgotten that year." Others suggested that  our family needs a reality tv show. I haven't laughed that hard or that much in a long time. I needed that. More than anyone will ever know.

*The topic of my Mother's P.O.S. dirtbag of a father biological father. Yep, folks. "You mean the sperm donor." YEP, FOLKS. I don't think anyone in the family has any respect for him anymore. He might as well fall off a cliff. No loss there.

*My Mother's idiot brothers. "Blue Star" is no longer "Blue Star"... apparently, he now thinks he's a "Maverick"... oooookay, dude. Ooookay.
 

*Possible incest within our family a few generations back. This is what happens when you drink a lot of beers, kids. Funny, random, shit just comes out. Mike then asked us if we've seen "The Goonies" and said that we probably had some relatives that look like that running around somewhere (in reference to "Sloth")

My Mother then said, "We do, my brother." Mr. "Maverick" was given that crown. Heh.

Gawd, what else? There was so much stuff that I can't even remember it all. It was all just a hilarious mess. And I loved every second of it. I wish we saw these people more often.

Good times, with good people.

Mom and the cousins! :)

I am now out of my funk. I will now go play on my other blog. Things will get done tomorrow. Which reminds me, I have to "inbasket" Mike the link to my blogs :P