Hometown: The Roch, MI (aka. The Crotch, aka. Crotchscratcher, aka. Crotchmolester, aka. Rochester)
Currently Living: Clawson, MI
Height: 5'8
Weight: Ha ha, yeah right
Favorite Color: Blue (preferably navy)
Profession: Researcher
Favorite Nickname: Trick, Sloan
Favorite Drinks:Vodka Tonic, Guinness, Diet Dr. Pepper, Dirty Martinis, red wine
Favorite TV Show: Friends, Sex & The City, Project Runway, The Amazing Race, Iron Chef America
Least Favorite TV Show: A Baby Story, I Love Lucy, Martha Stewart, Everybody Loves Raymond, every hour long drama
Favorite Books: The History of Love, Beloved, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Fight Club, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The of Being, SurUnbearable Lightness vivor, Empire Falls, The Corrections, The Bell Jar
Favorite Movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Wordplay, American Beauty, Life is Beautiful, Amelie, Breakfast Club, Singin In The Rain, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sleeping Beauty, Dancer in the Dark, Duets, The Virgin Suicides, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Austin Powers I, II & III, My Best Friends Wedding, Moulin Rouge, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, The Shining, Gone With The Wind, Bridget Jones' Diary, Chicago, Love Actually
Guilty Pleasure Movies: Xanadu, Dirty Dancing, Overboard, Groundhog Day, Steel Magnolias, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bond movies, Footloose, Clue, Murder By Death, High Spirits, A Cinderella Story
What I Do Too Much: Check email, crossword puzzles, complain about my job to friends and family,
Obsessions: sushi, Indian food, ranch dressing, toenail polish, song lyrics, hands, awards shows, symmetry, avocados, maps, dreams, This American Life, the display in my car that tracks my MPG
Pet Peeves: loud eaters, slurping, gulping, arrogance, snoring, bad grammar, repetition, late mergers, ripping cardboard, the word "chunky", intolerance, couples in a restaurant sitting on the same side of a booth, pop-up ads, privacy manager, men that drive without shirts on, being foolish, unfairly jumping to conclusions, being made fun of, cat-calling, people who type too hard
Greatest Fear: crossing bridges
Relaxing Activites: late night drives to sing by myself, headstands, hot baths,
Wish I Was: Ansel Adams, Jenifer Aniston, in love, living alone
Prized Possessions: ring from my grandparents, flower pot of my Grandma's, electric blanket (temporarily broken), tongue scraper, my bed
Craziest Thing Ever Done: getting a tattoo, strip Jenga
Things I Eventually Want To Do: skydive, buy a guitar, learn how to play the aforementioned guitar, take flying lessons, travel to France, write a novel, learn how to play the harp, tap dancing lessons, run a marathon
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 I'm sorry but I'm just thinkin' of the right words to say, I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be....Ahhh...to play hooky on a Tuesday to go see Napolean Dynamite with Parini (yay to Pnut being in town!!!!). And then to go do crosswords at Starbucks. I love my job!(Disclaimer in case any of my co-workers happen across this: I was just kidding. I was in bed sick all day). And if you haven't seen the movie yet, you damn well should. I think I'm going to chuckle to myself about parts of it for a week. And I'm going to start answering my phone like him too, and say, "You're already talking to her. Gosh."
So, I know that there are many many posts here on this little blog. And every now and then I like to take a little walk back down memory lane and reread the haps of my life over the last 3 years. I like to reflect on those that we've met and spent time with. Remember our good friends we made at Starbucks when Parini and I didn't have jobs yet. But it's strange when, just after reflecting/rereading that, you can go to Starbucks in a different city, and see THE SAME FRIGGIN' GUY. Parini and I haven't been to Starbucks together in probably over a year, and the first time we go together, there he is? When it's seperated by 15 miles from our normal hotspot Starbucks? Whatsupwiththat? Does this guy just spend his day making rounds of all the local Starbucks in the area so he can pretend to be a townie everywhere? Did he follow us there? Was he actually sitting behind us in the movie theatre too? Creepy creepy.
Time to go. Signed sincerely me.
Correction from yesterday: Jon does not actually own the house in Lakeville. It is in fact his 'rentals house. Thanks for keeping me in check Chris.
4:22 PM
Monday, August 30, 2004 Skies above can't be stormy since that moment of bliss....
I had a strange event happen on Saturday night. One that vaguely reminded me of how a bad teenage horror movie in the likes of I Know What You Did Last Summer would have started. Actually, maybe it was how it started. I don't know. I haven't watched it in a while. Plus when it's on TBS on the weekend I usually catch it part way through and miss the beginning to see how the crazy man with the hook comes to get them in the first place. Totally off track.
So by the time I/we left our friend, Jon's, house in Lakeville (north of Rochester kind of out in the middle of nowhere), the rain was beginning to come down, making a pretty respectable showing. When we were a few miles down the road, we passed a minivan on the side of the road with its hazards on, with two people standing and one guy in a wheelchair on the opposite side/middle of the street than we were driving on. We briefly discussed that it was incredibly strange for them to be, pretty much in the middle of the road, and had I been coming in the opposite direction, I very well could have plowed right over them, considering the rain, and the darkness of the road. We discussed whether or not we should have stopped to see if they needed help. As we were already far past, we decided not to turn around (it being past 3am and all).
Because I'm a dumbass of all dumbasses, I realized that I had forgotten my purse at Jon's and had to go back and get it. So we got another pass at the stranded motorists. One of them looked like a little kid. And looked like they had some kind of pink something that they were sort of waving up and down. But it didn't seem urgent - no crazy waving arms. So we still didn't stop. But considered who we would call to get them some help.
So once my purse was retrieved, we made another lap past the motorists, who were still hanging out by the side of the road. At this point, the rain was coming down really hard. And the guy in the wheelchair was lounged out looking like he was just chillin'. At this point, multiple questions arose: if they were waiting for a tow truck, why weren't they waiting inside the car while it was pouring? I mean, how much work would it have been for them to get the wheelchair-bound guy out of the car? If the car was broken down, why didn't they just walk the quarter of a mile down the road to the open-24-hours gas station? It was so bizarre. Hopefully there was a more simple explanation than what we were able to come up with. See, that's how bad horror movies start. I was not willing to find out whether I have an adequate movie scream or not. Or whether my rack will look as good as Jennifer Love Hewitt's while being chased with a knife in the rain.
3:34 PM
And words that mean something and nothing, so people hear and sing along, until they say it again....
Quick note about yesterday's post:
I thought it was pretty and thoughtful. Not meant to be crazy-lady. There's nothing wrong with me (or any of us habitiating in my psyche for that matter). And nothing bad happened at all. More of an explanation of what I've been doing and what I need to do. No worries people! Lisa is still plowing along contentedly with life. With sun on her shoulders (and occassionally giving her scalp a wicked sunburn) and a laugh constantly ready to emerge from her lips.
2:21 PM
Sunday, August 29, 2004 You gotta talk to the one that gives you, all the light in your eyes....
Are we such determined creatures of habit? Is there any sure-fire way to break ourselves of handling things the way that we always do? I have been known to get into consistent modes of operation, that I know are not the best way to handle things. When it comes to relationships and dating, God knows that I pretty much consistently choose the wrong option and screw things up right off the bat. And there's one specific thing that I do that screws things up. Without going into too much detail, you can look to some Liz Phair songs for an explanation.
So for once, I have been determined to choose the exact opposite approach to dating. Because my previous, standard method of operation has not worked in the past, and has generally left me disappointed in myself, dissatisfied, and continually thinking, "I should know better." So something has to work better. Something that doesn't leave me upset and alone.
But the tricky thing about going for the opposite approach to how you normally handle things, is that it sometimes feels like floundering around in an ocean when you don't even know how to doggy paddle. Why aren't there any manuals for this kind of stuff? I'm finding that treading new ground is far more difficult than habit. That I have no idea if I'm making good choices that are going to yield good results, or if I'm just screwing things up in a different way, but screwed up all the same. I was hoping that handling things differently would give me a sense of clarity that I was doing something 'right' and that things would work out perfectly and I would end up skipping blissfully down a rose-petal covered path with the satisfaction of knowing that I had finally hit the right approach, and it all worked like a charm. But I think I'm just as confused and uncertain as before.
If I ever thought I made myself mad with overanalysis before, then I've just pushed it to a new level. I was once told by a significant other than I have a cell block mind. And I had so stubbornly defended myself against that. Saying that I'm an open book. If there's anything you need to know just ask. But the truth is that I really don't like to come right out and say things (if you can't tell by the vague, non-specific, convoluted nature of this post). It's some strange feeling of not liking to blather on about myself all the time (blog MOST CERTAINLY excluded - because I can far better articulate thoughts by writing than by talking). Something about wanting to be drawn out instead of laying my cards on the table for all to see. When it comes to certain things, I am actually a very very private person. As demonstrtated by the fact that I have not mentioned anything in here in the last 6 months or so about any relationship anything. C'mon, did you really think I was that unlucky in l'amour?
So perhaps the moral of this story is that I should just be more bold and willing to come out and say things. To just say how I'm feeling about things, why I'm making the decisions I'm making, what the hell I want. In spite of the fact that it's such an untrodden path. Surely I'll get lost in the overgrown brush. But I guess here's me hoping that there'll be a hand to hold that'll lead me out safely.
1:52 PM
Saturday, August 28, 2004 Two steps forward, two steps back....
Quick multiple day wrap up:
~Because I apparently hate my feet and want to inflict any amount of pain on them that I possibly can, I seemed to have thought that running a 10 mile race less than a week after finishing a 60 mile walk would have a been a good idea. I'm tough. I'm resilient. I'm in good shape. I'm out of my friggin' mind. Once again my insteps are just ridiculously unhappy with me, and I'm sure that Suzy can't walk right now either.
The race was up in Flint and started at the ripe hour of 8am. But due to the fact that there were crazy thunderstorms up until about 20-30 minutes before the race, they delayed it by half an hour. Which gave us just enough time to get completely and totally soaking wet. Which made it the perfect time for me to have not considered the fact that I was wearing a green sports bra under my white t-shirt, which, when wet, was a couple pounds heavier than normal. Fortunately, the rain tapered off by start time and stayed away while we were actually running. And The Crim is a fun race. The residents of Flint come out to cheer, and as we learned last weekend, it's great to have people cheering you on. Especially on you damn Bradley Hills. Michael Moore was there too. It looked like he was there with some of his family members just chillin' after the race was done.
~ Three articles of clothing I never thought I would own: purple pants, a tweed clutch, and a pink knit poncho. Lisa makes her bold forray into fashion risk-taking. The jury is still out on whether or not it's paying off, or if I have become the poster child for fashion victim 101.
~ I have been awake by 5am more times in the last week than not. Therefore, I have taken more 3 hour naps in the middle of the day than your average joe.
~ Thursday night, Team Breastsavers plus our honorary member Michelle, minus laryngitis ridden Shelly, plus Kelly's brother Brian, plus a friend of Michelle's, plus Todd, plus Charles, headed out for a celebration outing for completing the walk. A good time was had been all. There were lots of drinks, we passed the Monolo's around for their dutiful admiration, there was a message left on my voicemail saying, "That ain't no Tony the Tiger" (to which I still need to get the back story to), there were shots, and lots of fun times. Which will definitely need to be a repeat occurrance.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004 The more I look, the more I learn, the more I cry, the more I cry....
When I came home on Sunday night, there were three main objectives that I was going to complete: showering, ordering pizza (to pacify my weekend-long craving), and chilling out with a bottle of wine. So I actully hobbled into the liquor store to get some wine on my way home, which was a sacrifice, but I knew the payoff would be worth it. But when I got out of my car and was halfway to the porch, the bag I had the bottle in ripped and it shattered on the driveway, leaving a stream of Shiraz/Cabernet flowing towards the street. If I could have licked it off the pavement, I probably would have. If I had enough energy to start crying, I probably would have.
But I'm pretty much good as new now. The swelling in my feet has gone down so that my toes don't look like little sausages anymore. And it doesn't hurt so much everytime I stand up either. That's a relief. During the weekend, they also warn you that even though you can do cardio for 9 hours a day for 3 days in a row, that you won't lose weight. Apparently you get really bloated and actually put on weight. So they advise you not to weigh yourself when you get home, or you might be a little disappointed. So I didn't, but I almost flipped out when I put my jeans on on Monday morning. I had to quell the rising panic attack, but they're fittin' fine now.
Alright. Productive, productive. I can do it!
11:03 AM
Sunday, August 22, 2004 So I'm gonna walk on, walk on, walk on, keep my feet movin' on....
Captain's blog: Day 3
5:00am - Hurray for Day 3! But it's friggin' freezing outside. I definitely do not want to get out of my sleeping bag.
5:15am - While Suzy and I are walking to the bathrooms, she mentions that she can't bend her ankle, and seems to just be picking up her foot, keeping it flat, and setting it back down. I tell her it reminds me of when we used to take those little Milk Dud boxes that you get at Halloween and put them on our dog, Sparky's paws. It's a mix between a march and a prance. I swear, she was a spitting image.
6:00am - Again, while trying to put on makeup in the dark, the circus/clown music comes out again, inducing more giggling fits. In case the people in the tents around us weren't awake yet, I'm sure they are now.
6:45am - I have to tend to the big ol' blister that has attacked my heel. And let me just tell you about a little God-sent invention called Second Skin. It's this little gel square thing that you put over the blister and then put band-aids on over. Once I was all tended to, my feet were good as new. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Almost as wonderful as Motrin.
7:30am - We're ready to roll. All the luggage is away, and we say goodbye to camp for the last time. Most of us will not miss camping ever again. I have a feeling Suzy will never go ever again.
7:45am - The morning is really pretty, and it's supposed to be about 80 degrees today. Hopefully we can get most of the walking out of the way before it gets too sweltering. It's amazing that it's so cold in the morning though. We have a new joiner to our group. Kelly's boyfriend Todd has decided to join us for the last day. Our mileage today is only supposed to be 15.7 miles. It sounds like bliss compared to 23. Again, we all start off in good spirts, ready to tackle the day, and celebrate the amazing accomplishment we are so close to finishing.
9:45am - We're all still in reasonably good spirits, and it seems like everyone else is too. We can taste the finish line and there are only 10.2 miles to go. Can you believe that we've walked 50 miles??
10:00am - We bring out the Book of Questions again. Everyone around us is loving the questions, and everyone passing us keeps asking, "What are you reading?" We get to some good questions like, "How do you feel when people sing Happy Birthday to you in a restaurant?" and "Would you be willing to give up sex for one year if you knew it would give you a much deeper sense of peace than you have now?" Anyone within earshot all said "NO!" at the exact same time to that question by the way.
11:00am - The questions helped to make the last hour fly by. The next leg on our route card is supposed to be 3.3 miles.
11:15am - Todd brings up the game Minute Mysteries, which I'm down to play. You have to ask yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the statement, "A bell rings. A man dies. A bell rings." I love this kind of stuff.
11:55pm - I've made substantial progress in the Minute Mystery, but need to take a break, because my feet are starting to hurt, and I don't feel like talking or having to come up with questions or think too much. Everytime I think, my mind wanders back to my feet.
12:40pm - The last leg ended up being close to 4 miles. The last mile was probably the most unhappy I've been along this entire walk. I didn't want to talk at all because I knew I was going to bring everyone else down. Every light we stopped for, I thought I was going to cry and I had to keep shifting weight between my feet. Plus we were on Orchard Lake road and 14 mile, which is a crazy busy intersection, and no one was honking for us except for our crew cars. It was just a very draining unhappy stretch. Suzy kept asking me if I was ok, because she thought I was going to pass out. I actually felt like I was going to puke. Every little thing was pissing me off. Not good. I couldn't be happier to be at lunch.
1pm - During lunch, we met Barbara Jo, who is kind of a legend around here. This year, on her own, so far, she has raised over $102,000 for breast cancer. Take a minute, read that again, and continue to be amazed. I sure as hell am.
1:45pm - We only have 4.1 miles left. While we're at lunch, Danielle calls me on her cell phone after her having just left lunch, and wishes us all luck on the last 4 miles. Cheers me right up.
2:00pm - Unfortunately, our placement after lunch was not so ideal. We are right in the middle of a pack of singers. Yes, everyone probably sings along the way, but these people have sets. Like the Motown set and show tunes set. Yet when Shelly suggests "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." they don't really seem to dig it. Speeding up to get away from them is not as easy as it sounds, we do our best to fall behind, but 20-30 minutes of singing is grating my nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
2:55pm - The last Pit Stop. Only 1.4 miles to go. It seems unbelievable really. We all talk about how much planning we had put into this event and how much time we had devoted to fundraising, training, the party. And how off-the-chart excited we were on Thursday. And how amazing it is to almost be done!
3:15pm - We finally reach the shaded Orchard Lake trail we had been waiting for all day. The one that, from what I hear, Shelly and Kelly may have done some training walks on.
3:40pm - Entering St. Mary's campus. There are so so so so so many people here cheering! Amy, Laura, and Alec and Emily (niece and nephew) are there with signs for us. There are tons of people on both sides of the trail with congratulations, cheers, high fives, clapping, thunder sticks. It's so overwhelming. Team Breastsavers cross the finish line holding hands and with tears in my eyes. We go through the longest tunnel of people cheering, and when I say "I feel like a rock star!" people are laughing and saying "You are!" I still can't believe we're actually done. The first thing I do is take my shoes and socks off and sit down. Amy and Laura have post-walking care packages for us complete with Tylenol, band-aids, pink socks, and Happy Feet lotion.
4:30pm - Closing Ceremonies. We all walk in wearing our shirts. I'm blown away by how many people are there. The crew is lined up all along the sides, and I wish that I could thank each and every one of them for every word of support and every single way that they all helped us. When they come in after us, the applause is uproarious. There are Pink Panthers held up in the air, the cute apron ladies, the inflatable Hulk. The survivors come in last all in pink, at which time, all the walkers get down on their knees and hold up our tennis shoes. Most of them are crying when they come in to see us. Emotions all over the place. There are speeches given to which pretty much everyone is crying. Especially when it is mentioned that those that we've lost to breast cancer were here all the while with us, and probably helped to get many of us through it. It seems most certainly true.
I'm so proud to have been a part of this event. As expected, it was an amazing 3 Days. I learned so much about how support from your loved ones and those you don't know can help you to do anything. And how, in spite of the unspeakable hardships people have experienced, they fight on in everything they do. And how I surprised myself but accomplishing something that, honestly, was one of the hardest things I've ever ever had to do. We had a great time, and we're all taking away some great laughs, great inside jokes, and an appreciation for the human spirit that I never would have had otherwise. I'm so proud to having been a part of 4.4 million dollars towards ending a disease that can be ended. Such a great weekend, and I encourage you to, if you can, sign up for one near you!! It'll be one of the greatest things you do, I promise! Thanks again to my sisters for being amazing, and for all of you who donated. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Saturday, August 21, 2004 Walk this way, talk this way, walk this way, just gimme a kiss....
Captain's blog: Day 2
5:30am - I wake up with my nose completely freezing and overall, just being incredibly cold. This is quickly explained by examining the bottom of my sleeping bag to find that it's sopping wet. Which would explain why the inside of my sleeping bag and my pants are wet too. It's interesting that I didn't notice it at all when I was sleeping. But I sure as shit noticed the woman in the tent next to us snoring like a buzzsaw all night. Don't even get me started.
5:35am - When I get up to walk to the bathroom, I put on my flip flops and discover that I can hardly walk. My insteps are screaming in pain, and every step takes me a while to determine what exactly is the best way to minimize this. I don't come up with anything that works. At this point, I'm concerned.
6:00am - Kelly's boyfriend Todd is visiting camp, and wakes us up by singing "The Good Morning Song" outside of Suzy and my tent. A morning serenade is always a good way to start things off. I don't know if everyone in the tents around us are awake yet, but they sure are now.
6:15am - Suzy and I are getting ready in the tent, and trying to put on makeup in the dark, which is a little tricky. We joke that we're going to come out looking like clowns, at which point, I hum some circus music, which causes giggling fits.
7:15am - The two best things that I packed? My second pair of tennis shoes and plastic bags to wrap all of the wet crap in. I put on my brand new pair of tennis shoes, which are the exact same ones as the other ones I have. I am ecstatic that the ankle support in these shoes all but eliminates the horrible pain in my insteps. I'm so thrilled and amazed that I would have jumped for joy. But the impact on my feet may have made me cry. Suzy is having some severe pain in her Achilles tendons, Kelly's knee is beginning to bother her, and Michelle is having hip pain. But we're all going to soldier on.
7:30am - We're all packed and ready to get going. Who would have thought that it takes like 2 hours to eat breakfast and pack your stuff up? Serious thanks to Todd for helping take the tents down. I think that would have pissed Suzy and I off more than putting it up.
7:45am - Kelly brought with her something pretty wonderful. They're these little cards that say, "I Believe In You," on the front and on the inside they have an inspirational quote on them. Every morning before we start and everyday at lunch, we all get a round of cards. Some of mine include, "There is more inside you than you think," and, "When the defining moment comes, either you define the moment, or the moment defines you." Suzy had my favorite one though with, "When you think you're going through hell, keep going."
7:55am - We start out for Day 2. The weather could not be any more polar opposite than yesterday. It's sunny and about 70 degrees. It's pleasant and pretty, and in spite of our aches and pains, we are all in pretty good spirits. The route starts from camp and goes down E. Hines Drive through Livonia into Northville. It's scenic with a gorgeous park, trees, lakes, trails. So beautiful and completely different than the day before.
9:00am - While Shelly is telling us a story about someone she knows joking about her walking, she totally trips over a bump in the trail. Perfect timing. It's kind of an extended stumble. Suzy and Kelly valiantly put out their arms to catch her when she falls, even though they're a good 5 feet behind her and Shelly's falling forward away from them. We instantly all start laughing at her, just like good, supportive friends do.
9:10am - We're still laughing about Shelly's trip.
10:00am - Pit Stop. There are 4 Pit Stops throughout the day and 2 Grab-&-Gos, and each one has a different theme. There's the "Cruisin'for a Cure", Mardi Gras, the hippies, the tropical one playing Beach Boys music. This one is the Shrek pit stop sponsored by AOL. And because AOL is fucking cool, you can see the photo that they took of us here. They give out all kinds of fun stuff at the stops, and we pretty much get excited about everything. Especially the stickers. Ahhh the enjoyment of something as simple as stickers.
10:15am - After leaving the Pit Stop, Kelly and Shelly decide to entertain by singing. I think everyone comes up with this idea at some point during the three days. Except Shelly and Kelly are goofing around with the songs they're doing, mostly the full Grease soundtrack. I laugh really hard everytime they get to, "I get ill from one cigarette," accompanied by the cough. We know all the words to "Xanadu." The women walking around us say how much they enjoy it and how entertaining we are.
11:00am - I'm still blown away by how amazing and nice everyone along the route is. They have cheering stations for family and friends to come, and when you go by it, you thank every single person there for coming out. It means so so so much to have people clapping for you, even if they don't know you. And everytime someone says, "Thank you for walking," it makes me want to cry. And the volunteer crew are wonderful. They have such energy that you need so badly when you think that things are starting to hurt. There is one woman who we see usually 3 times a day. And she comes in her van at certain spots. We call her the dancing lady. Because she has music pouring out of her van, and all she does is dance, and give us high fives. Her energy is infectious, and she is wonderful to see. Everyone looks forward to her.
11:30pm - At this stop, it is the first time I notice that there are people sprawled out EVERYWHERE fixing their feet. Re-band-aid-ing blisters, re-taping toes, wrapping ankles. Miles are starting to wreak havoc on the peds. I can feel it too for sure, but I have not lost any toenails and the blisters have stayed away so far. We have all surely taken more Motrin than is recommended on the bottle though for sure.
11:45pm - Still considering what we're going to have for lunch. Praying for pizza.
12:15pm - Lunch. When you get close to the lunch stop, you can hear the cow bell they're ringing before you get there. You would never believe that a cow bell could sound better than the the most beautiful sounds you've ever heard. The crew members at lunch have great aprons and chef hats on. The one woman's apron says, "Check Out My Melons."
1:45pm - The best pick-me-up for the day came in the form of our sisters, Laura and Amy, and our niece Emily waiting for us at our stop after lunch. Suzy and I were looking forward to it all day, and to see them waiting there with flowers and hugs was more than we could have asked for. Shelly's boyfriend Graham met up at that stop too, and we were all so happy to see people we knew and get that boost of support. I wanted to just stay in the grass and keep chatting with them in the sunshine, and forget that the bottoms of my feet were starting to get some odd tingly sensations in them. It was definitely my favorite part of the day.
2:00pm - After we passed through cutie downtown Northville, the route got decidedly more suburban. We are walking on the path on the side of some pretty major roads with lots of traffic. When our crew cars would drive by honking for us, we would always always wave. And whenever other passerbys would do the same, we would also always wave. It kind of became reflexive. I have a feeling it's going to take me a while to not wave when people honk at me, even if they're flicking me off when they honk.
3:00pm - We judge good Pit Stops based on the dilution of the Gatorade. Darker and more sugary? Gooooooddddd.
3:15pm- We passed a cheering station on Haggerty and 8 Mile Road that was just loaded with people with signs and bubbles and streamers and clapping and cheering. Made me forget how horrible my feet feel for just a few moments.
3:30pm - We've talked to quite a few people along the way today. Finding out why they were walking, where they were from, and if they've done a 3-Day walk before. One woman was from Ohio. A couple of women did the walk 2 years ago saying that it was miserably hot, like 90 degrees hot. I can't even imagine being miserable from the heat too. But I give them credit for, even after that experience, to come back and do it again.
4:00pm - I still haven't decided what to eat on Sunday night when we're done.
4:30pm - Last pit stop for the day. The last leg was really really hard. It seemed longer than we thought it was going to be. And we all got kind of quiet for a while. At the stops now, all I want to do it sit down, because it seems that every moment that I'm not on my feet is heaven. But another Smucker's Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich has my engine going again. Plus, there were family members there with two of the cutest puppies I've ever seen that were ShihTzu Maltese mixes. I kept saying that if I could steal one of them, it would make the last 2 miles for the day much easier. It seems like people coming into this stop have pained expressions on their faces. More than normal. A friend of ours, Danielle, comes into the stop and looks like she's hurting very badly. Kelly gives her one of the "I Believe in You" cards, and her thanks seem so genuine and heartfelt. I hope that it helped.
4:45pm - We're questioning whether, in the last couple miles of the day, there's any distinction between whining and bitching. Because we're all pretty unhappy. And even though there isn't the proper tone for a whine, our complaining could probably be considered whining. I keep focused on the finish trying not to think about my feet. We bring out the Book of Questions again and end up sharing good drinking stories to help the time pass.
5:20pm - Day 2 is finally done!!! Another 21 miles done!!!! Although we find out later that people who have the foot pedometers have different mileage than what is provided on our route cards. As in both Friday and Saturday were closer to 23 miles than 20-21.
5:30pm - I love the boy scouts, because they have set-up everones tents and put our luggage inside. I make a promise to myself to hug every boy scout that I see from now on.
6:00pm - Suzy and I head straight to the showers, even though it is strongly advised not to do so, because the steam and humidity makes passing out very likely if you haven't cooled down or eaten dinner. And sure enough, one of the girls waiting in line has keeled over. She seems ok, but they take her to the medical tent anyway.
6:45pm – When I’m coming out of the Port-a-Pot, I mention out loud that when I get home, I’m going to forget how to flush the toilet. The guy next to us starts laughing rather uncontrollably.
7:00pm - We all agree that it's hard to explain the kind of aches and pains we have. Because there are parts of our bodies that we never even knew could hurt the way they do. And even though my feet hurt, it's such a strange kind of feeling. Like a tingly itchy feeling, so much so that it hurts to touch them. But once I start massaging them, they feel so much better.
7:15pm - Oh yeah, and I have the sexiest sock tan line ever.
8:30pm - Time for bed. We have apparently missed the fact that they brought 65 pizzas from Papa Romanos to the dining tent. After all of our praying for pizza, we friggin' missed it. It's only supposed to be 47 degrees tonight, so Suzy is sleeping with 6 layers of clothing on. Not kidding here. I think I am again asleep before my head hits the pillow. In spite of the fact that our tent smells like ass.
4:00am - Wake up time. If we were smart, we would have gotten to sleep far earlier than we planned. But it was kind of tough with Shelly, Suzy and I in one room, laughing and giggling like we were little girls. Except when I was a little girl, the laughing wasn't a result of making fun of how boyfriends snore, resulting in multiple repititions of a tricky whistle-snore. Or about male body parts as ethnic foods (English ass, Swedish meatballs, Polish sausage), which brought about multiple repetitions of the phrase, "That's a SPICY MEAT-A-BALL" said in a faux Italian accent.
4:05-4:30am - I think Amy's husband might hate us now for setting off the fire alarm upstairs at least 4 times from our steamy hot showers.
4:30am - Because Amy is one of the best sisters ever, not only did she agree to house 4 crazy walkers for the night and drive us at the ass-crack of dawn, but she even got up and made us pancakes. It was heaven.
5:00am - Frantic packing goes into over-drive, because of course we're late. Even waking up at 4am doesn't help.
5:40am - Arrival at Eastern Michigan University for the Opening Ceremonies. I am already amazed at the level of organization involved in this undertaking. They have everything working like a well-oiled machine, as far as where you need to be, where to take your luggage, where your tent's going to be, what the route for the day is going to be etc. And there are so many wonderful, helpful, friendly crew members too.
6:15am - Opening Ceremonies are supposed to start at 6:30am, so we're standing, waiting in a large enclosed area in front of a stage. They have huge blue signs next to the stage that say, "I Walk Because I Believe." Shelly ran into her boyfriend's co-worker's daughter (got that?), Michelle. Michelle was doing the walk by herself, to which we informed her, "Not anymore you're not." And here's the remarkable story about Michelle. She has been cancer free for 1 year. She had ovarian cancer, had a full hysterectomy, and chemo for 6 months. When it was all said and done, she had over $100,000 in bills and was beginning to get sued by the insurance companies, so she had to file for bankrupcy. And, she's only 27 years old. That would be like me being diagnosed right now and having to deal with all of that in the next 2 years. Inspirational? I'd say so. Amazing? Absolutely. And to think that there are probably hundreds of people here with stories not that much different. I'm really happy to be here and be alive and am ready to walk to make a difference.
6:30am - The woman standing next to us has the name of the person she's walking for on her back. Her date of death is August 2004. (note: I'm crying just typing that).
6:50am - Opening Ceremonies started late. We were informed that there were over 1,600 of us walking and that we raised over 4.4 million dollars for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Can you believe that 1,600 motivated individuals can make that much of a difference? I'm beginning to think that motivated individuals can do just about anything. After walking 60 miles, is there really going to be anything that seems that hard? Other than walking 100 miles. During the ceremony, they pointed out that over the course of the weekend, in the US, 328 people will die of breast cancer. That would be like 20% of the walkers dying over the weekend. The thing that all of the speakers say when they get up the podium is, "I'm walking 60 miles because I believe in a world without breast cancer." It can be defeated.
7:30am - Shelly, Kelly, Suzy, Michelle, and I are pretty much the last people through the crowd to start, because we were towards the back. Oh well. Walk not a race.
8am - It's completely overcast this morning. But that's a good thing, because that means I'm not frying in the sun, and it's nice and cool. I don't do so well in sweltering heat. Especially since I'm not allowed to complain about it. The motto of the weekend is "NO WHINING." People even have pins on their fanny packs that say that. Instead of the fanny pack, I opted for a small backpack. Which turned out to be a good choice. It's not bugging me at all, and there's a perfect side pocket for my water bottle.
8:30am - Throughout the entire route, they have crew members constantly monitoring us. They have multiple white vans decorated that just drive the route to make sure if anyone needs help, that they'll be there. Each van is a different theme. There's a superhero one with an inflatable Hulk on the front. There's a "Magic Bus", and the crew member in it has an afro and big peace sign earrings. And then there are the motorcyclists. They are constantly monitoring the route too, and they are, hands down, one of my favorite things about the entire weekend. Because they all have a Pink Panther stuffed animal on the bike, which are so damn cute. Who doesn't love a pink stuffed animal on a Harley???? And when they drive by, they'll have the Pink Panther wave. And one of the Pink Panthers has a top hat and tux on. When we asked one of the bikers how they got involved, he said that everyone had their own reasons for being there. His was that his mother and sister had breast cancer. He also said that the Pink Panthers were to make us smile (which they most certainly did), and to make us 'think pink'.
9am - Every intersection we come to has police officers stopping traffic for us. It's a pretty cool feeling. Plus, the police officers have pink ribbons on their uniforms and on their squad cars. I wanted to hug them for being so wonderful. I think every single person walking by thanked them.
10amish - They have stops approximately every 3 miles. Either Pit Stops or Grab-&-Gos. To refill your water, grab some snacks, and pee. Or as the crew members announce over the blowhorn, "2, 4, 6, 8, Eat, Pee, Hydrate!" You'd be amazed at how much you look forward to just a little pause in the walking. It re-energizes you beyond belief to keep going. I have a feeling I'm going to get really sick of peeing in Port-a-Johns by the end of the weekend. We all mention that they're remarkably clean though. Kelly thinks it's because it's almost all women here. She doesn't get any argument.
10:15am - We bring out the Book Of Questions that I brought with me. It's just a book of thought-provoking, conversational questions. It was very useful for this stretch of walk, which is through parts of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. We come across questions like, "Do you think the world will be a better or worse place in 100 years?" and "If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one ability or quality, what would it be?" To which, my answer is, "I would be able to fly," not considering that perhaps the question refers to qualities that a person can actually acquire. I mention that I was considering invisibility too. Everyone makes fun of me about this, and someone starts singing R. Kelly's, "I Beleive I Can Fly." The women in front of us mention that they're loving the questions, our answers, and are coming up with their own answers too. Score 1 for the Book Of Questions.
10:20am - We have been discussing, at least a million times, how much it's going to suck setting up our tents when we get back to camp. We're expecting it to be pretty funny since we all have no idea what we're doing. And we're expecting to have meltdowns at that point too.
10:45am - This is roughly the time that it is asked, "I wonder what we're having for lunch." We all think that pizza would be bliss right now.
10:55am - The question, "I wonder what we're having for lunch," has probably come up a couple more times now.
11am - The question, "What am I going to eat on Sunday night when I get home," comes up too.
11:10am - The question, "What am I going to eat on Sunday night when I get home," has probably come up about 10 more times by now.
11:15am - At the Grab-&-Go at Pfizer, they have popsicles. Holy crap, an orange popsicle has never tasted so friggin' good. Even more so when they have bad jokes on the popsicle stick. I'm always a sucker for bad jokes. I've told my cotton ball joke to a couple people I don't know by now too.
12:15pm - We arrive at lunch. It's not pizza, but I've never been so happy to see a chicken sandwich. I've also never been so happy to sit in the grass and take my tennis shoes off for a while. Miles down: 10.1, 49.9 to go. And yes, you do get a little manic about every little tenth of a mile.
12:40pm - So I've discovered that I walk weird. I roll my ankles inward, more so on my right foot than my left. The shoes I'm wearing were the ones I bought back in May, and between running and walking, they already have quite a few miles on them (probably 150 or so), so they're pretty worn in and the ankles aren't that supportive. The sides of my arches are beginning to feel like my ankles are sprained. Or that someone's stabbing them. I'm trying to concentrate on rolling my foot the other way, and trying to minimize the shooting pains that are now ever-present with every single step. And I have to walk 10 more miles like this? I mean, I have to walk 50 more miles like this? It's going to be a long 3 days.
1pm - At this Pit Stop, it has started to rain. It was drizzling for a while, but now it's a pretty continuous, steady rain. I have Suzy's red hooded jacket on, and everyone else has multi-colored ponchos. Someone passing us told us we look like jelly beans.
1:30pm - The rain was tolerable for a while, but it's starting to suck. We're walking on the side of Ann Arbor-Plymouth Road, which has a lot of farmland around. It's starting to make us nervous though, to have cars driving by on wet pavement. Walking on the shoulder is making my feet scream out in pain at me.
1:35pm - The Pink Panther with the top hat and tux now has a rain slicker on. The motorcyclists are still out in the rain driving by, honking at us, and cheering us on at every step.
2:00pm - I haven't talked to anyone for the last hour or so. My insteps hurt so bad, that I don't think what's going to come out of my mouth will be that pleasant. Plus with this hood on, I can't really hear anything anyway. Our spirits are definitely getting sucked out of us.
2:15pm - At this Pit Stop, my spirits were fully restored by a Smucker's Peanut Butter and Jelly sanwich thing. Salty peanut butter never tasted so good. My shoes and socks are soaking wet by now, and the rain just keeps on coming without any pause or hesitation or consideration for our suffering. Whenever one of us mentions that this sucks, one of us will say, "Yeah, it would suck to have breast cancer wouldn't it?" Complaining comes to a screeching halt.
3:45pm - Still non-stop raining. Our final leg for the day was supposed to be about 1.8 miles. But it was probably a mile longer than that. When we thought we were done and the crew member told us we had another mile to Plymouth Salem High School, I thought Suzy was going to start crying.
4:30pm - Day 1 is done!!!!!! Hurray!!! 20.2 miles down!! We board busses to get shipped to our camp site in Livonia. I think? I have no idea where we are or where we're going. I'm just so so so happy to be sitting on a nice bus cushion. Our crew member on our bus informs us that all of the tents are set up for us with our luggage in them. There is no other piece of information that could have made me happier right now.
5:00pm - So everyone else's tents in the entire camp are set up but our section. As predicted, we all have a few meltdowns. They have our luggage laid out and covered by tarps, except, whenever anyone goes to look for their luggage, they have to lift the tarps, so anyone's stuff on the outer edge gets a big spill of water on their bag and sleeping bag. Shelly and Kelly's stuff is soaking wet. Suzy and I get our tent up without too much trouble, except the tarp we brought to put under the tent doesn't seem to be helping all that much. And we seem to mysteriously keep getting water inside our tent. It's still raining by the way too.
6:00pm - I've never been so happy to eat a pasta dinner in my whole life. I have no idea if the food was any good or if I was just ravenous. The glorious beauty of hot chocolate makes me want to cry right now.
7:00pm - It's finally stopped raining by now. Suzy and I go to shower, which are actually showers in big semi trucks. Have you ever showered in a truck before? It's an interesting experience. They warned us this morning that while you were waiting for the showers, not to complain, because the person in front of you may be a survivor or may have lost her daughter. This is incredibly hard to remember considering that the last thing you want to be is on your feet, standing, waiting in line.
8:00pm - My feet are in some serious world of pain. Rolling my ankles back and forth to stretch them out feels better than any orgasm. I'm mentioning that I would put out for a foot massage right now. I'm 100% not kidding. I would do just about anything for a foot rub right now, as long as it could be done while my feet were still being rubbed.
8:45pm - We all go to sleep, forgoing the activities going on, including karaoke, which we can still hear from our tent. Who really does karaoke when they're sober? I think I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.
Thursday, August 19, 2004 I will walk 500 miles, and I will walk 500 more....
Captain's Blog: Day Zero.
Tomorrow marks Day 1 of the 3 Day walk. So that would make today Day Zero. Get it? 1 minus 1? Zero? Right. So today we had to go out to Ypsilanti to register for the walk, account for out $2000, and fill out our medical waiver. Plus we got to watch an exciting orientation video. Honestly. I really loved it. Because it had a nice smartass funny vibe to it. They warned you that whining would cause blisters. And during the video, they had to stress the importance of 'HYDRATION'. And they warned that YOU MAY DIE DURING THE 3-DAY WALK. Cut to, "We Believe That We Can Make A Difference." Wait, I was still trying to get over the fact that I was going to die.
So Team Breastsavers had dinner at PF Chang's for celebration. Where, when we called, it was only a measely 20 minute wait. But when we were finally seated, it had been 1.5 hours. Nothing better than, 4 girls who have to be on their feet for 72 hours, standing waiting for a table for 90 minutes. But holy moley was it worth it. I would do just about anything for lettuce wraps (if you were smart, you would be making note of this).
So, I will do my best to post all of the happenings from the weekend on Sunday night. I have a pen and paper to take good notes. I know it's going to be an amazing weekend and I'll have lots of stuff to share. I promise I'll break it down day by day, so you can get a fair appreciation for what we actually had to deal with. Wish us luck. Think of us fondly. Cheer us on. Say a little prayer for us. Send us money. Send us you well wishes. Hope for good weather. Thank you for your support.
The one guy who swam the 4 X 200 meter free relay tonight that won the gold? Peter Vanderkaay? He went to the same high school as I did. In fact, he swam on the same swim team as I did in high school. He was a bit younger than I was, and didn't become the phenome that he is until after I was gone. He had 3 other brothers, all who were swimmers too. I think 2 of them also made their Olympic trial cuts (at least one of them did). Pretty damn cool.
11:52 PM
Love me, love me, say that you love me.... And just where does one sign up for a cuddling party? New Yorkers blaze the trail of interesting fads by having orgies with PJs. Sounds like a party? Without the "party"? Although I'm all about affection and cuddling, I assure you I would be the first person kicked out due to excessive laughter. Most likely induced by tickling. Or because I was tickling other people too much. You just can't take me anywhere can you? Expecting me to act like a grown-up, that is.
So I'm participating in the study again where I have to go donate blood once a week. And the place I get my blood drawn is at Karmanos, so all of the other people are usually there for some kind of treatment, usually radiation or chemo. And the blood drawing room is not always a hot spot for good cheer. But the little old man sitting in the chair opposite me changed all that this morning. He was hilarious, in a-little-too-much-information kind of a way. As in, telling us that he was a virgin when he got married and he can keep his wife happy all the time now that she's no longer alive. And telling me that I looked like a blood bank with how many tubes of blood they were taking. And telling me that he needed to take me out sometime after he found out that I was getting paid for donating. And telling me that he just might let me pick up the tab. I guess having a light sense of humor makes the howl you let out when they go for the vein in your hand a little less painful, and a little less serious.
Alrighty. My subject tonight was a punk and didn't show up, so I suppose I can go home now. Sweet dreams.
This is your friendly, gentle, said-with-a-saccharin-sweet smile, reminder that there are only 28 days left for you to pick out my birthday gift. And it better not take you that long to sort through the greeting card aisle at KMart. 12:45 AM
Sunday, August 15, 2004 It feels like home to me....I was reminded last night about how much I love weddings, even when I don't know the couple getting married. For some reason, it's so touching to me to see those baby photos of the bride and groom. And see the photos of them sharing their years together. And to see them share their first dances together to songs that they actually know all the words to (two thumbs up for Chantal Kreviazuk's "Feels Like Home"). It just makes you kind of think that, in spite of how different we all are, there's something inherently, exactly the same about people in love. Just my sappy, sentimental thought for the day.
So yeah, we had a good time at the wedding last night. Lots of dancing, lots of laughing, and lots of laughing at dancing. I forgot how much I love people who are funny dancers. And pulling out the sprinkler or shopping cart will never fail to put me in stitches.
And I know that there were multiple times last night that the phrase, "That's goin' in the blog," came out, but I swear I need to write a list and staple it to my forehead in order to remember them. Was one of them the fact that I was introduced to EVERYONE last night as Sloan? Was one of them that we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever last night? Was one of them that one of the groomsmen crawled over the bar after they shut it down to make a drink? Was one of them the dude getting kicked out of the bar last night saying, "I'm the hottest guy here and you're going to kick me out?" (note: he was most definitely NOT the hottest guy there)? I guess maybe it was all of them. But most likely none of them, and I'm forgetting all the other good stuff.
Well, a quiet Sunday around here. We were supposed to go for a multiple-miled walk today, but I think my feet are boycotting. I swear, after running yesterday, I thought that I was not going to be able to walk for the rest of the day. If you would have seen me even trying to get up the stairs of our porch, you would have understood. Or laughed. Maybe both. But I've found that walking very very slowly, while applying pressure to the inside of my feet does wonders for stretching out whatever the hell is wrong with them. That and a good soak in the pink floor-cleaning bucket. I can say with certainty now, that I've used the bucket more for soaking my feet than for actually cleaning the floor. Nice.
Here's to hoping you had a lovely weekend. Later.
3:20 PM
Saturday, August 14, 2004 You can cross that line wheneever you want to....How excited I am about the Olympics!!!??? I'm watching swimming right now, and it makes me miss it so very very very bad. Just to remember the feeling when your stroke felt awesome, coming off your turn with a nice long push-off and the perfect turnover, and you would pull in those personal bests. One of the best feelings in the world. And I'm really trying to focus as I'm writing this, but I'm completely entranced.
When I was at the gym yesterday, the entire time I was there, all they talked about on CNN was Hurricane Charley. And for 5 full minutes straight, they just showed the satellite photo of the Florida coast with the green, yellow and orange swirl in it's 5 stage, time-lapse photo. Over and over and over and over. Even last night when we flipped CNN on, they had relegated the same satellite photo to the corner of the screen. We called my parents last night (quick reminder: they now live in Orlando), and my mom said that it was an experience that they never wanted to go through again. Their power went out at about 8pm, and she said that all of the bushes and trees within sight were completely flattened. They were all ready to move into their inner closet if needed, but didn't. None of their windows were broken or anything, but some of their roof tiles were ripped off. So all is ok in Solivita. My doggie survived unscathed too -- it's a good thing she can't hear thunder anymore. Wait, that's not a good thing...
Lunchtime. Later.
BTW -- Damn are volleyball players buff! Here's me mentally thinking, "perhaps I should spend a little more time in the sand. Oh wait. I hate sand."
Friday, August 13, 2004 You do or ya don't or ya will or won't 'cha....
An interesting last couple days. And yes! I know I'm a slacker! I'm sorry! I've been busy! I have actually been working! In the middle of the night! It's hard to write blogs! When you're working! But it's not hard to use exclamation points! Because it makes me seem more sorry!
Yesterday, Amy and I went to go see the final reveal of the Extreme Home Makeover House. And although we ended up standing there for close to 4 hours, it was definitely worth it. Albeit, slightly anti-climatic.
First of all, the house is goregeous. If you head over to the City of Oak Park's website, you can get the daily photos of the progress on the house.
So the younger son is autistic and blind, and the parents are deaf. So they originally brought the son in first with two of his teachers so that he could see the house and get a little accustomed to it, since it is a whole new set of surroundings for him. The director instructed us not to cheer, because it could freak him out, considering that he couldn't see the couple hundred people who were there. Also, the family wouldn't be able to hear us cheering, so they instructed us on the sign language signs for cheers and applause.
When the family finally came, they were totally crying to see their house, and all the designers lost it. Every time I watch the show, I wonder if the designers are really crying, and I'm here to tell ya: sobfest. The look on the other son's face when they went into the house was priceless too. It'll be sure to be a great episode, and it was damn cool to see it all happen. Except for the fact that everything was incredibly slow slow slow. Reality is not so much quite reality. They definitely take their sweet ass time setting everything up for the final reveal. The limo was parked down the street for like a half an hour before they would even let the family come see their house!!
In other news, training walks are going well. Another 8.5 miles under my belt yesterday. And remember a couple weeks ago when I mentioned that I thought there was some kind of parrot on the loose in my neighborhood? Well, it turns out, THERE REALLY IS! Kelly and saw it yesterday. It looks a little bit like this. We were a little surprised to have someone/thing saying "Hello" to us from the tree, and then laughing and barking at us as we walked away. Go figure.
In other other news, Wednesday night was a comedy of errors for me at work. Anything that could go wrong did -- the doctor cancelling because his wife's flight was delayed, the equipment breaking, the subject showing up at the wrong hospital. Fortunately today is much better and some of the more serious problems have been resolved while I wasn't here. Perfect.
Sorry, no more other other other news to report. I don't have a whole lot kickin' this weekend. Going to a wedding on Saturday night -- I don't know the bride, groom, or the person I'm going with. Who doesn't love a wedding crasher?? TGIF!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2004 These are the days that bring you meaning, I feel the stillness of the sun and I feel fine....Self-beratement, done. Restored to normal, middle-of-the-road happiness, still fixing me.
Working two nights a week for the last month or so is starting to take its toll. I have the most out of whack sleeping schedule, and I am not getting anything done at work that I need to. I'm supposed to be working on this huge training manual for everyone that comes through the lab (we have a lot of students who are only there for a short amount of time), and I've essentially done nothing on it. What did I do yesterday instead? I got to be a guinea pig for one of the experiments.
So what I had to do was have this insanely tight mask on over my nose and mouth, while my breathing was being monitored. During part of it, I had to hyperventilate for at least 3 minutes. Man, hyperventilating sucks. Because you lower the amount of carbon dioxide you have, and my fingers and toes were all tingly and freezing. So much so that the heart monitor/pulse oximeter on my finger kept beeping that it wasn't attached because my hands were so cold.
After the hyperventilating part, I had to breathe from a bag that has either more or less oxygen in it than is normally in the air. Which also sucks, because you breathe hard enough to feel like you're running, and instead of being cold, I was all insta-sweat. Messed up. See, now you can appreciate how much we torture our research subjects. I won't mention that I was fortunate enough to not have the tube that goes up my nose into my throat. Can you believe I get paid to do this on a regular basis? And can you believe that I actually got paid an extra $50 just to do that yesterday?
Well, I have CDs of the Month to burn and lunch to have. Happy Tuesday.
12:15 PM
Sunday, August 08, 2004 Cause it makes me that much stronger, makes me work a little bit harder, it makes me that much wiser, thanks for makin' me a fighter....
Warning: Introspective, self-analytical rant straight ahead. One that should probably be reserved for the journal, but I can type faster than I can write and I'm tired, so you get lucky - open for interpretation.
I've had a lot of great things going on with me lately. Just between work, and running, and the 3-Day Walk, and being happy with my relationships with friends and family. Things have just overall been very good, and I've been pretty pleasantly happy and sassified with life for the last couple months.
Today was the first day in a long time that I've been really disappointed with myself. One of my pet peeves (I've added a couple more down there by the way - is it a bad thing that it's become the longest list over there?) is being foolish. And essentially, I'm always the dumbass that puts herself in stupid situations where I end up making an ass out of myself, but I've been pretty good lately about not putting myself in those situations.
And unfortunately, "those situations" tend to occur as a result of alcohol. And even though I've been having a great time lately, and I've been probably doing dumb stuff, I haven't really cared a whole lot, but I guess last night just totally crossed the line. I hate the thought that people I don't necessarily know very well can develop bad ideas about the kind of person that I am. It's important to me that people have an accurate representation of me, because another one of my pet peeves is when people jump to conclusions. It just makes me squirm thinking about some of the bad decisions I make.
I don't feel like I'm articulating this very well, but I can't really without going into specifics, and there are multiple different scenarios I'm trying to generally describe here that are all in my head. I guess I just get disappointed with myself for making bad decisions that I'm very well aware are bad decisions when I'm doing them.
Another result of bad decisions/alcohol, is having a lousy lousy run today. And of course, I should have known better. I knew we were running 14 miles today, and I had intitially planned on not drinking last night. And who knows if my lousiness was related to drinking. Some days you just have crappy runs no matter what. But I'm just disappointed in myself that I didn't take something that is as important to me as running, as seriously as I knew that I needed to.
So maybe that's the overall general explanation I'm trying to give: I'm disappointed in myself for not considering the things that are most important to me. But there's nothing I can do about it now, but know to not make the same mistakes again. And I know it's easy to say that and not really figure out a way to follow through with it, but I HATE THIS FEELING! And I don't want it to happen anymore. So I'm going to do whatever I need to do to make it not ever come back again. No more disappointing myself. Got it? Good.
Hopefully I'm just being an over-analytic freakshow (which I'm ok with), and all's not as bad as my over-active imagination is making them out to be. Does this make any sense at all? Yeah, I didn't think so either. Hopefully you didn't waste too much time reading it and being all confused. Have a good rest of your evening.
10:42 PM
I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain....
Can someone please pry the cell phone out of my hands please? Because Lisa : DrunkenPhonecaller has returned. I don't let her come out and play very often and I've had her on a very short leash for a long time. And there's a good reason for that. Because she seems to think that leaving incoherent messages for people is a good idea. But Lisa : SoberPhonecaller does not always agree. So my apologies to those of you in my outgoing call list who were victims of my loose dialing fingers.
So on Friday, my roommate Stephanie gave me probably the best news that I've ever gotten in a long time. She effectively made my whole weekend. And if you know me, or have read this with any regularity, you would understnad how friggin' excited I am that they're filming Extreme Makeover Home Edition this week in Detroit. And not just in Detroit, but 2.54 miles away from our house.
So here's the story about the family that they chose for the show. Both the parents are deaf and they have a son who is autistic and blind. Apparently the mother volunteers teaching children who have hearing impairments, and the father, in his spare time, fixes people's car for free. Just hearing about how amazing they are gets me all choked up.
So yesterday morning, Stephanie and I went running in the general direction of the house. Ok, who am I kidding? We ran straight there. And it was so cool to see how efficient they are, and see them pretty much tearing the entire house down. Ok, who am I kidding? It was awesome just to see Ty only 20 little feet away from us. We were actually there when they ripped the entire front of the house off. Stephanie and I ended up staying there watching for over an hour, and I went back with Suzy later in the afternoon. I cannot wait to see the end result.
Best story of the day: Steph and I were standing next to the hospitality tent and at one point, Michael was getting something to eat. Steph went under the rope to ask him for a brownie. It was pretty damn funny. And if you knew Stephanie, you'd understand that she would do anything for her chocolate.
I apologize for my lack of posts. I thought I was being better about keeping on top of things, but not so much. Quick recap of the last couple days:
~ Thursday, Kelly and I had a great training walk, and I'm feeling much better about our prospects of actually being able to walk 60 miles.
~ Last night Suzy, Kelly, and I went out to dinner, and I know that I wrote down all of the things that I was supposed to include in the blog that happened last night, but I can't find it. And I'll just blame that on the multiple vodka tonics.
~ Kelly gave me this great card with a great inspirational quote on it, which is now residing somewhere in the steering shaft of my car.
~ We had some great great conversations last night. And I would go into more details, but I don't think it would be as funny here as it was last night.
Ok. I have to go back to bed now. I have to run 14 miles in 5 hours, and I need to figure out how to get rid of my hangover by then. Dammit!
10:40 AM
Wednesday, August 04, 2004 She falls apart, in the avalanche, fades out like a dance, crawls back into bed....Oh I cannot wait to go back home and get back into bed. It's one of those days where it rains relentlessly. The kind where you wake up and it should be daylight outside, but instead you have to turn lights on because the rain clouds have made it appear like nighttime. One of those days where you pull the covers up to your chin when the alarm goes off and mentally do the math about how many times you can hit snooze and enjoy the sound of rain on the windows. Which usually ends up making me late for work.
I've discovered the joy (some might argue) that is Muzak. They recently started piping the mellow, almost celestial sounds throughout the hospital speakers. And for the most part it's really quiet. We normally have the radio on in the lab during the day, so we can't hear it. But when you're here roaming the abandoned hallways at night, you can catch it. And I find myself recognizing songs left and right, but not being able to put a title with the song (it's surprising how different songs sound when they're converted to flutes and soft horns). But when I do, it feels like quite an accomplishment. Like figuring out that one tough clue in a crossword puzzle. But the best part? The fact that there are songs that should have vanished years ago, like "Hooch," and "Voices Carry." Who doesn't love that? It puts a smile on my face at 3:30 in the morning.
Sunday, August 01, 2004 This is, this is just the beginning, we're already wet and we're gonna go swimming....I finally figured out this weekend that we are going to be so screwed for the 3-Day walk. I had a complete reality check, and decided that it's going to be 100X harder than we've been anticipating. We have totally been focused on fundraising and worrying about that side of things, that the actual training part has been taking a backseat. It wasn't even in my backseat. More like strapped to the roof. Suzy and I have been saying, "We're training for a marathon. Sure we can walk 20 miles a day if I can run 26." Well, I'm here to dispell that rumor entirely.
We've been saying that we were going to do long walks for the last couple weeks, and the most we had gotten to was 5 miles. So I was determined to do a 12 mile walk yesterday. And I ended up doing another 12 miles today. And we are seriously screwed, because my legs and the bottoms of my feet are just miserable right now! And to put it in perspective: the 2nd day of the walk is a 23 mile day (Day 1 = 21miles, Day 3 = 16miles), and Suzy and I had realized, that after finishing our 4 hour, beastly walk today, for Day 2, it would be like turning around and DOING IT ALL OVER AGAIN! I mean, I am honestly very concerned at this point. Oy. I will keep you posted. Now excuse me while I soak my feet in hot water using the pink bucket that Stephanie and I use to clean the floor. Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Other wonderfulness and assorted observations from this weekend:
~ When I was at the grocery store on Friday, there was a little old lady using the claw machine trying to win a stuffed animal. I almost went up to her and hugged her.
~ At one point on Friday night, Suzy had to point out how perfect life was. Which is hard to argue with when you're in a hot tub with a glass of wine, after having a great dinner, with the best company, watching American Pie on a big screen TV. Thank you to all attendees for making it a wonderful evening (Brian, Robbie, Mike, Koz (Cos? Kos? Cosmo D?), and Suz).
~ Koz scored my second favorite run-in with an unwitting screen for the summer. It's such an evil reflex to immediately laugh, but who doesn't love a good plow into the screen door?
~ My legs still hurt.
~ Yesterday, Suzy and I witnessed one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a while. The guy that was sitting next to us on the streetside patio of Tom's Oyster Bar was feeding a passing by dog WITH HIS FORK. It wasn't even his own dog, just some guy on the sidewalk, and he started dishing out salmon pate to a Laborador. Wha huh? Wrong on so many levels. Who just feeds other people's dogs without asking? And do you have any idea how expensive the pate is?? Plus this guy was with the most beautiful girl and was hardly paying attention to her, but as soon as the dog came by he was all googly over it. While he was hardly talking to the drop-dead gorgeous girl on the other side of the table. Wha huh?
~ Yesterday seemed to be an onslaught of ADORABLE dogs and children. Cute little kids sitting at the table next to us, walking past us on the street, at my friend's party last night. Cute dogs at the party last night, alllll over the place in Royal Oak. Did I miss the dishing out of cute pills yesterday?
~ Stephanie and I are beginning to get mail addressed to the two of us. Like the University of Michigan Alumni Association figured out that we have the same address and promoted us up to "couple" status. We got a good chuckle out of that one.
~ I found out yesterday that my old high school swim coach is out of the closet. Perhaps a little scandalous, but no big shocker there.
~ Did I mention? Feet? Hurting? Thighs? Throbbing? I did. Oh, my bad.
Alright. Another weekend down. Hope yours was as lovely and smile-inducing as mine was.
5:04 PM
