I miss...

...having a little pile of these laying around.

Wizard Land, Dear Readers...

After having about 10 days of relaxation at the beginning of November, I headed down to Orlando to meet up with my mom for a week. She was there for a conference that is held every three years in Orlando (of all places), and as is customary, she was staying a week longer to have a vacation of sorts.

While I was there, we took some time to go to Universal, because I hadn't been there in a very long time. In fact, the only proof I have that I may have once been there (when I was 7) is a photo of me on a bike with E.T. in the basket. My mom made me take one when we there this time too. It's fairly embarrassing. But anyway, the point of this was that I didn't remember anything about having been there before.

We spent two days checking out both Universal parks and it was mostly enjoyable. I got to see Doc Brown hanging out by the DeLorean, a cute sculpture of the Lorax hanging out with all his trees, and all of E.T.'s friends.

But the highlight was probably the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I'm not super obsessed with HP. I hated the books when they first came out and just couldn't really get into the whole thing. I started reading all the books last year, though. I'm not finished with the last two. But I found myself really enjoying them, and even though I'm not obsessed, I do have my geeky moments. While I was not crazy enough to stand in line for two hours to visit the wand shop and get my own wand, I did enjoy the little park. I even left with two souvenirs - a sweet girly hoodie and some candy from Honeydukes.

I wish I had more to share about it. The two rides I went on were pretty cool, and the castle was really awesome to walk through. I'd say it's worth checking out. I think it would've been cooler if they'd saved the money, spent more time, and made it into its own bigger theme park. It would've been awesome to see a full-sized Hogwarts (the castle at least).

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the trip:

Chillin' with the conductor in front of the Hogwarts Express.

Hogsmeade

Ohai, Hogwarts!

October Travels

I am not sure what really happened that caused me to be a month behind in sharing some exciting/fun/interesting to me things, but somehow, this is the position I am in. Some of the time I've been spending trying to sort out my home life and get my act together, and some has been spent trying to catch sleep between all the things going on. Anyway, here I am, and although a lot of what I have to say now is about stuff that happened like a month ago, I'm going to try to cover everything over the next few days.

Let's start with the end of October.

October 28, I headed to Nashville to see Rifftrax Live: House on Haunted Hill and meet some Twitter people - one in particular, a friend, Doug (@watchout4snakes), but we also briefly met Tracey (@euphoriafish) there too. I'm new to the meeting Twitter people thing and I'm mostly antisocial, but my AYCJ travels sort of made me a little better at it, so why not. As far as the movie goes, House on Haunted Hill is one of my favorites, and I really enjoyed the entire experience. I would say more about it, but my best recommendation would be to buy the DVD when it's released. Anyway, it was my first time in Tennessee, making it my 6th new state in under 2 months. The drive there was terribly long (about 9 hours), but I saw some amazing scenery along the way. I, sadly, missed the opportunity to stop at the American Museum of Science and Energy (yes, I'm nerdy) on my way back to Charleston, so I'm sure I'll return to Tennessee again in the future for a visit.

When I got back from Nashville, I had one day of rest. Then my friend, Angela, and her boyfriend, Greg, arrived from New Jersey. The next day (Halloween), we headed to Atlanta to see Jónsi (of Sigur Rós fame) at the Tabernacle. It was a long drive there and we were all pretty exhausted from too many accumulated car hours over the previous days. However, we managed to talk ourselves into getting all done up in costumes and going to the show. It was well worth it. It was an amazing show, but also kind of a weird experience for me. Sigur Rós and Jónsi are artists whose music I'm used to listening to by myself and in my own home. I don't recall ever listening to either in the car or ever intentionally with other people. For whatever reason, this music has some weird emotional effects on me. So, it was just strange being in a room full of other people experiencing the performance. But it was a really great one and I'm glad I had the chance to see it. (I have a video from the show, but I haven't uploaded it yet, so I'll have to share that later.) As far as costumes went, lots of people were dressed up - my favorite was a group of people dressed up as characters from Fantastic Mr. Fox - very clever and cute and well done (sadly, no photos of this).

Since these two trips, I've had some more travel and some fun experiences. Those stories, however, will have to wait for another day.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving today.

AYCJ Summary

I guess I never actually posted a link to it over here, but my short little story about my JetBlue AYCJ travels posted over on Michael Musto's blog a little over a week ago. Click here to read.

Trip Stats

I also wanted to give some brief numbers. Before I forgot. But I did forget, so here's a second post!

The trip was 28 days long.

I visited 5 new cities (but Seattle twice) in 5 new states.

I traveled through 8 airports.

I took 14 flights.

I stayed in 8 homes.

I bought 66 records.

I did laundry a total of 2 times.

I spent less than $400 (excluding my parking fees at Charlotte-Douglas).

So Little Time!

I have neglected to post an update about my whereabouts since San Francisco. After I left California, I headed to Salt Lake City for a few days.

Salt Lake City was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a break from "big city" life for a few days. Most of my time there was spent among nature instead of skyscrapers, and it was just very enjoyable. Even the part where we got stuck on top of a mountain when the brakes went out on the so-called pedophile van (it was just a really sketchy van, ok). Luckily, I had my AAA card with me, so that worked out well in the end.

I had nice hosts in SLC, too, which helped to make the time more enjoyable. And I also met some other CouchSurfers! There were three staying with my first host when I arrived - two guys from Australia and a girl from Houston, TX. All nice people, and I'm very glad I had the chance to meet them.

Tuesday night, I left Salt Lake City and now I'm sitting on the floor at JFK waiting for my plane to Austin, TX. I have no idea what I'm doing in Austin, but I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go. Right now, the first thing I would like to do is nap a little. I wasn't able to sleep on my flight because of screaming babies. I'm not even going to get into my feelings about that. But I'll leave you with a picture of the dodgy, awesome van.

I LOVE THE PACIFIC OCEAN!

Today, I walked about 50 blocks (that's my guesstimate) here in San Francisco to get to a spot where I was pretty sure I'd be able to view the Pacific Ocean. I was greatly surprised to discover that, not only could I view the Pacific Ocean, I could touch it! And play in it! And revel in its oceanyness!

While I was walking there, I got to a point on a hill where, if I glimpsed down a side street, I could see the ocean on the horizon. I literally almost peed my pants because I was that excited (and I'd had to pee for like the past 30 blocks). Gross, but true, folks. I can't give you enough words to tell you how much I loved this experience and how absolutely amazing it was. But I can give you a few pictures. I took over 100 today while I spent a few hours dicking around by the sea.

The ruins of the Sutro Baths were also available for my exploring pleasure.

Hi, ocean!

Cliffs and something sneaky hiding out...

Hi, Golden Gate Bridge!

Dear Pacific Ocean, I am in you.

More pictures of other things will be uploaded to Flickr or something when I'm back in Charleston. So far San Francisco has been great and I'm glad I chose to come here!

Portland?

So I made it to Portland at the end of last week. It was very hard for me to leave Seattle after having had such a good time, having met some awesome new people, seeing some great older people, and figuring out that I actually like Seattle a lot. All of this stuff combined made my trip to Portland very emotionally stressful, and at first, made it seem like something I didn't actually want to be doing.

When I arrived in Portland, I was not feeling so sure about my hosts here. The actual person who agreed to let me be a guest in the house wasn't here, and the other roommates in the house seemed almost as if I was in their way by being here or like they felt awkward about me being there. It was a very unpleasant (mostly because of the emotional leaving-Seattle issues) first evening and it cemented the idea that I shouldn't have left Seattle into my head. But, because I can't leave a place without booking 3 days in advance, I was stuck anyway.

Over the next few days, the hosts I was (and still am as I'm typing this) staying with warmed up to me a little and seemed to be much kinder. It made my stay here a lot better. I think any "badness" was all my interpretation and not a true reflection of the situation. After exploring a little bit, I warmed up to Portland itself too. I've grown to like it here. Still not as much as I liked Seattle. But, it's nice here and I'm glad I decided to make it part of my trip and glad I had the chance to meet these people. I'd like to visit Portland (and my hosts) again someday.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to the airport again and flying from Portland to San Francisco (with a stop in Long Beach in between). I'm excited about San Francisco, but worried that I'll be feeling the same way when I arrive there that I felt upon my arrival in Portland.

After San Francisco, things get a bit messy in my head because there are a few different options that I could take. I just don't know which I really want. But I will have to figure it out very, very soon...so things could get interesting.

I know I said I'd post pictures, but I just haven't gotten to even uploading them. It might end up that I'll wait and do all of that when I get home to Charleston. Who knows. But there are a few pictures to be shared.

So far, the trip is going well and I'm happy that I've been given this opportunity. Like anything, it's kind of bittersweet, but I think it will all work out okay in the end.

Hi, I'm in Seattle...

My JetBlue flying extravaganza began at the end of last week, and so far, it's been awesome. I left Charleston for Charlotte on Thursday night around midnight and arrived in Seattle a little before 2 p.m. on Friday.

I've been lucky enough to have really awesome hosts (with an awesome house!) and friends here in Seattle that have been kind, funny, overly accommodating, and willing to show me around a little bit. It's been really amazing so far - I love Seattle - and, while I'm excited for the rest of my travels, I know that I'll be very sad to leave here. But I'm sure I'll be back sometime in the not too distant future.

Pictures will be posted somewhere eventually - probably on Thursday because I'll be bored at the airport, waiting for my flights to Portland. And I'll definitely check in with some news from my next destination!

Last night, I met up with my friend Jordan and some of her friends in Myrtle Beach to see Tears For Fears at the House of Blues. I figured the show itself could've gone either way, but I just would've been happy to spend time with Jordan since I hadn't seen her in so long.

I got to her apartment fairly early and we spent some time catching up. Seems like her life is going mostly well for her and I'm glad to hear it. We had a couple of hours to discuss where we both were at in our lives and the things we hoped to change and where we'd like to end up in the near future. It was not only a chance to have a little friend chat, it was kind of therapeutic for both of us.

After our little hangout session, we headed over to HOB. We ended up having to wait about 50 minutes to get a table for a quick dinner because the place was so packed. Luckily, Labor Day weekend usually starts to wrap up tourist season down here. So hopefully the ridiculous-wait-time-for-everything ordeal will end soon as well. After we had a little dinner, we went over the the venue (it's just right across the patio from the actual restaurant) and met up with two of Jordan's friends from work. They happened to be right in the front, so that worked out well for me because I'm short and can never see unless I'm up front.

It was mostly an older crowd, obviously. But that was fine by me, because it meant I didn't have to deal with as many rude people as usual. I did see the occasional little kid there with the parental units. I attribute this to the House of Blues being a family venue and touristy thing. Everybody there seemed to really enjoy the show, and it was VERY good. Really enjoyable. I have no pictures to share - it was one of those "no photography/video" deals. They seemed to very heavily enforce that, but didn't have an issue with the people smoking pot a few rows behind us.

After the concert, I drove back to Charleston and headed straight to bed. It was, overall, a good little trip and a fun show. Now I just have to finish prepping for the big trip coming up!

Jet-setting or Something Weird Like That

August was a rather unpleasant month for me. Lots of stress, frustration, disappointment and tears. There are still several things that are throwing me off and slowing me down a little bit. I've been contemplating disappearing a lot...just kind of getting away from everywhere and everyone and having some time to sort things out. That's sort of like running away from problems, but, so it is. Anyway, I did have one little good thing so I figured I might share it.

In the middle of last week, I happened to stumble across a particular entry on Michael Musto's blog over on The Village Voice website. You can view that entry here. It describes a contest that Musto was hosting, in which one lucky, hand-selected, 250-word piece would win one lucky participant a JetBlue All-You-Can-Jet pass (more info on what that is over on Mr. Musto's blog).

So I took a few minutes out of my ridiculously shitty weekend to pull together about 240 words. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a brief congratulatory e-mail in my inbox slightly after midnight Tuesday morning from Michael Musto himself. I'm not a "writer", but I somehow won the pass and now I have the next month to travel to a number of destinations, starting at the beginning of next week.

I'm happy I won and very excited for the travels - it'll be nice to be away from "home" for awhile. I'm also very nervous, though, to be going to a bunch of new places alone. I don't really have a very good idea of where I'll be going yet or any of the specifics. Who knows if there will even be specifics. But I've been thinking about potential destinations and things I'd like to see. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to finalize at least a few things and book some flights. I'm sure I'll have more to say about all of this and some photos to share, whether it's day-by-day throughout the trip or when I get back. And of course, there will be the little piece on Michael Musto's blog when my month of travel is over.

So, wish me luck! I'll be off before too long...

Hi again. I'm back in Charleston as of yesterday, so it seems sort of an appropriate time to give a little update.

I left PA feeling just as weird as when I arrived. It was just an unsettling trip - things are a little (ok a lot) hectic at home, and it was just overwhelming. I didn't absolutely hate it or anything, but it left me wishing I was back in Charleston.

I really didn't get a whole lot further with the doctor situation than I was before either. I have to return home for an MRI in July and am on some new meds, but other than that, nothing much has taken place in that field. I know things don't happen overnight, but it's very frustrating to be constantly playing a waiting and guessing game.

My trip back to Charleston was a good one. It was again split between two days, with a stop in Lynchburg, VA for the night. A friend of mine made a map for me, so I followed his directions the entire way home. It was a fun drive with lots of fun surprises popping up along the way. I had my first ferry experience, got to see a few nerdy Civil War things and took in some nice scenery along the way. I just wish I'd had more time to stop and poke around at places, but I'm sure I'll get the chance again in the future.

Ferry! You just can't see it because I suck at taking pictures. But fun, nonetheless.

The first day was definitely my favorite. While the second was nice, it brought me back into South Carolina, which is pretty much a really boring state, and which I'm not fond of in any respect at this point. Although I left PA excited to return to my apartment, as soon as I crossed the state line into SC, that feeling showed up again - the one that tells me I'm in the wrong place and that I'm making a big mistake. I still tried to enjoy the drive, and did have a little fun.

In North Carolina I saw more turtles than I've ever seen in my life before. Turtles walking into and sleeping in the road because it was warm with the sun beating down. The road is actually a really bad place for turtles. So I moved three of them that were at places where I could easily stop. Unfortunately, I am not a turtle superhero or anything, so many little shelly creatures were left basking in the road. It was kind of sad.

My first little turtle buddy. We bonded. Ignore camera strap (again, awesome picture).

My apartment feels really foreign to me since I've gotten here. It feels like a new place - I'm uncomfortable and don't know what to do with myself so I've been milling around and just cleaning up little things to pass the time. I feel awkward sitting in the living room, awkward sleeping in my bedroom, and even more awkward outside among my neighbors.

When I left for PA, I'd hoped that while I was there I could settle some things, that I would come up with some answers and figure out what I should be doing and where my life is going. I'm in some weird state of limbo and I'm not digging it. But unfortunately, nothing really resolved itself. The first thing that has to snap into place is the medical situation - I need to know what's wrong and what I have to do to fix it before I can make any big decisions, and there are a lot of big decisions to be made.

If anything, more things fell onto my pile of "what the hell is going on" type things while I was home. My mother told me maybe a week before I arrived that she was moving. After she and my father split, she and I stayed in the house I grew up in, which is owned by my father's parents. Due to family drama, she has decided she can no longer be there. I understand this, after all I'm trying to get away too. But walking into the house and seeing all the boxes really cemented the idea that she was moving. It's not like the house will be gone; my grandparents still own it and I think my father will be helping to take care of the little problems it has (old house). But I'm the only resident there now. When I go home, I will be there by myself in a house with 4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a "playroom", kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and enclosed porch. I guess under different circumstances, I'd be happy to have a big house to myself, but the house itself and its energy (I'm not a new age hippie freak, but things have energies and "feelings", ok) leave me feeling very unsettled. It's too quiet, hidden back in the woods, and I always feel like I'm being watched. I'm just not sure how it'll be when I'm there alone, but at the same time, I don't want to sacrifice the last connection I have to the home I grew up in.

So that's it for personal news. It's a little boring, but really nothing else is going on in my life at the moment. I hope to get out of town a few times in the next couple of weeks and I've got two concerts coming up in July. But until then, nothing to share!

Maybe bye bye for now?

Apologies for my absence, but it once again coincides with my lack of anything to say. I'm really fighting with my head lately, and even more so with my sleep schedule. Between 5 and 6 a.m. is usually when I finally drift off to sleep. So because I'm sleeping at dumb hours of the day, it rules out some of my time. And because of headaches and other things, I've just been slowed down. Getting things done around the house is enough for me at the moment.

I know last month I had a lot of different issues and theories for solving them. And I know I had a lot of vague plans. But I think things are being pushed into motion. I don't know if it's good or not. I'm scared, to make a vague understatement. So we'll see. I don't want to discuss too much until I get the health issues a little sorted and until I have more definite plans in place. Once that all pans out, I'll blab about everything.

I'm having a long, hard contemplative session about stepping away from this blog for awhile. And away from Facebook and a bunch of other stuff. So, we'll see what happens. It wouldn't be a permanent goodbye, more just a little auf wiedersehen until further notice. But, just a head's up...it may or may not come.

I'm going home at the end of this week, and have the first in a series of many doctor's appointments on Monday. I'm really, really scared by this whole thing (even though I know it's not in my control so it's stupid to be scared about it). I'm just very worried, so any good thoughts you could put out there would really mean a lot.

Since I've been awake all through the recent nights, I've been reading a lot. Trying to trim down my To-Be-Read Pile and trade them out for new books. I've finished 3 book in two days and my brain is having a hard time with words on a page and making sense out of them. So I spent the last several minutes dicking around on Google Maps. I think I want to change up my route for going home to Pennsylvania. So of course, I didn't research this ahead of time. I'm just dragging and dropping the little blue line on the map until I come up with something mildly satisfactory. I can't decide if I should take this new, sort of random route or not. Or save it for on the way back to Charleston. I'd have no idea what sorts of things I'd encounter, as I said I haven't done any research. But it'd be a change of scenery, even if it means I'd just be seeing different highways and different trees. I'm going to ponder it a little. I would make my drive home a two-day one if I decide to take the new weird route.

This is all that's really new. I haven't sewn, I haven't cooked anything fantastic, I haven't painted. Just haven't had the energy or the focus. I've got a lot of stuff weighing on my mind lately and it's throwing me off, very much. So...hopefully things will change sometime soon. Hopefully for the better.