The Good Instead of the Bad . . .

These past few months have been pretty stressful for me as many of you know; yet, I haven't spent enough time talking about the good things that have happened during them-- and there have been many good aspects. I just hate when all the negative, stressful and jolting events overshadow all the moments that made me smile. So for a little change of pace, I will go over those moments now and hopefully be smiling with every word I write.

In no particular order:

The first thing that comes to mind is my wonderful five year anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend. I couldn't afford to do much for him so I made him some Chex Mix muddy buddies (which he loved) and then I made him a coupon book with little things like "40 minute long massages after a long day" and "A homemade dessert of your choice." He liked these coupons a lot but I still wish I could so much more for him. Of course, he out did my gift a lot by taking me out to a lovely sushi dinner in Napa and then surprising me with tickets to see the Lion King musical in January. I have heard so many amazing things about that performance but I have never been able to go see it-- until now! I love Kristopher so much, he is truly happy when he is making me happy and I am so grateful to have such a considerate person in my life.

The next moments of happiness (or at least the next that comes to mind) were the people I met in some of my classes-- don't get me wrong, they weren't all nice or interesting but some were great! First off, there is Sarah. She was in one of my summer classes but we didn't talk much then. This quarter, we had a literary drama class together and we started to become really close. She is a big nerd and just as crazy and as stubborn as I am. We both have kind of twisted ideas of what is funny and we both can get pretty intense when something pisses us off. She was really sweet to me when all my financial aid crap fell through. I hope that we have more classes together and we are actually able to hang out beyond the confines of school. In my fiction class, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a bunch of weirdos who were all extremely nice to me. On the last day of class, a few of them were really insistent that I join them in the intermediate fiction class because they enjoyed having me in this one. Every workshop/discussion class that I have had before, I am usually deemed the "annoying one" because I talk so much and have very strong opinions-- I am never disrespectful but some people see any disagreement with their opinion as disrespectful. Anyway, in this class I had one guy named Patrick say I was one of his favorite people in the class. Another guy named Nate said he liked how I always had insightful and relevant things to say about everyone's work-- I also kept Patrick in check haha. A couple of girls named Joy and Anna were always very sweet to me, saying I wrote well or just enjoyed acting goofy with me. Another guy named Chris always had nice things to say to me and also offered respectable refutes to my opinions. It was overall, a class experience I was not used to but enjoyed immensely. I wish I could be guaranteed that same group of people for every workshop class I have from here on out-- then I know I would have something to look forward to each quarter.

So the another "good" that came from the past few months that piggybacks on the last one is my fiction writing in general. To everyone that knows me, knows me as a poetry writer. I was comfortable as a poetry writer, I won awards, had some things published and generally got a lot of compliments on my poetry; but this quarter however, that sort of changed. I was taking a poetry workshop class alongside my fiction class and the two couldn't be more opposite. The poetry class (most of them anyway) seemed to be thoroughly annoyed my me and my work. Everything I wrote was torn down, everything I said got some sort of negative remark and overall it made me not even bother trying towards the end. Why am I going to pour my heart and soul into poems for this class when they will get mutilated? Well, I won't. So here is the good end of all this-- I was expecting this sort of reaction to my fiction writing, not my poetry. My fiction writing before this quarter was awful-- just bad as bad can be. Yet, this teacher or this group or me in general or a combination of all of it changed my writing and I got a bunch of positive feed back. Better yet, I even liked my fiction, which has never happened before! I wrote some things that surprised me and made me think that someday, I may actually be able to write a decent book. Will I ever be a bestseller-- probably not but I may actually be able to get some small time publisher to print something of mine someday and just feeling like that is possible is amazing to me. I still love poetry but it has always been something I did for myself. I never wanted to share it, but fiction is something I have always wanted to do and always wanted to be able to share. I am just so happy that I can see that happening now. Maybe in the future, I will post some of my fiction writing on here-- that is if anyone would care to read it. 

The last thing I will talk about, even though I know there is a bunch more but this is getting kinda long-- is just all the help I have received. I would have never made it through all these stressful times if it weren't for some amazing people. First, I want to thank my Aunt Eileen-- she helped me so, so, so much with everything lately. She took 20 tons of stress off my back just by being the amazing person she always is. Thank you Eileen! I love you! The rest of my family deserves a thanks too-- they all at one point or another, saved my butt with either a favor or a kind word. I am so lucky to have their love and support. I also want to thank my teachers this quarter, even though they will never read this and I have already thanked them in person numerous times; they deserve it. My sign language teacher has been and still is bending over backwards for me just so I can be graded for her class and possibly take future classes with her. She genuinely wants me to succeed and it is amazing to have someone like that in your corner. My fiction/drama teacher was always so forgiving when I told him I needed extra time for this or that. He gave me such good feedback and actually took a few of my papers to put in his "Hall of Fame" so that he could share them with future classes! I felt like I really have grown as a writer because of him. My poetry teacher deserves a thanks too-- not for her poetry class though but because she listened to all my financial aid woes and gave me some good advice on how to fix it and who to talk to. My wonderful boyfriend-- he is who I will mention last. He was there at the end of every stressful day, acting silly just to make me laugh. He would put money in my account so I could afford gas and food for my family. He would give me little gifts that would brighten my gloomiest days. He has just been so, so very perfect lately. Its times like these when all I want to do is scream and cry and he instead makes me laugh and smile-- that I think he and I could really make this last forever. There is no better way to tell in my opinion then to see how your significant other handles your tough problems. I love him so much and I am so happy to call him mine.

Well, there it all is. I know there is a lot more I could mention but I am happy that I wrote a happy blog for once. I love all of you who have helped me and I appreciate all of those who were kind to me this quarter. Have a happy holidays and I hope to see you all in the new year!

So This will be a Long One

   Like the title suggests, this will be a long post so if you don't have a good set of time to read it (and actually want to) then I would suggest placing your focus somewhere else. So let my just say what I will be talking about, mainly so I can keep it straight in my head: First, my Disneyland trip and the disaster it ended in. Second, Halloween with family. Third, financial aid and all the crap it means for me now. Fourth and finally, future stuff that I dread and look forward to. I will try to shorten each story as much as possible, but there is just sooo much crap to tell! Okay, here we go!


    So, Disneyland. A little while ago, I won more tickets to Disneyland. Kris and I really wanted to go during either Halloween or Christmas. Thanks to a little luck and good timing, my boss had to go to L.A for a week in mid October so that meant I had that time off. Kris got some last minute time off and away we went. Well, sorta-- first, the day that we were supposed to leave was actually Matt and Mikaela's wedding (some friends of Kris' family).

 So we went to their wedding first and then we left the reception early to head to Anaheim. We borrowed my brother's car because the gas mileage is a lot better than mine. We get to L.A and do all the usual Disneyland stuff. Kris and I were a bit disappointed however at how similar it was to every other day of the year. With the exception of some orange lights and a bunch of pumpkins, the park wasn't any different. A couple of rides were altered a tiny bit but that was it. We mainly went however, to see the new Car's Land and that was pretty cute. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be but it was fun none the less. The second and final day we were there, Kris and I met up with his cousin Stefanie and her husband and Kris' best friend Bell for dinner. They had their adorable daughter Rowan with them-- it was her first trip to Disneyland. Kris got to hold her for a bit and you know him-- he loves holding kids!

                                                    Haha he looks terrified.

So there are a lot more photos on Facebook but since I am trying to keep this short, I will let them tell the rest of the story so go look at them if you want. So now, about the drive home. Well first, let me say how I totally was asking for trouble. When we first got to L.A, we drove past a little side street called Ridgcrest, which for you who may not know, is a small town in the middle of the Mojave desert where most of my mom's side of the family lives. When we passed the street, I looked at Kris and said "Hey, you want to go to Ridgcrest?" -- jokingly of course. Why this is asking for trouble...you will find out later. Secondly, after our trip was ending and I was sitting in the hotel, I was thinking about this blog and how I really wouldn't have much to write about. I thought "man, I wish I had more exciting stuff to write about." Finally, the next morning, as Kris and I were packing to leave, he expressed his concerns about not making it home in time for his anatomy class that night. So I responded with "the only way we won't be home on time is if we break down, hahaha." Yeah, well, we weren't laughing in a few hours. Long story short-ish, we got to the top of the Grapevine when my brother's coolant light came on; so we refilled the coolant. A mile later, the light came on again-- the coolant tank was empty. We coasted down the grapevine in nuetral so the car wouldn't over heat and ended up in some no name shop 17 miles outside of Bakersfield. The guy who worked there said it might be the water pump. When I called my brother to tell him this, he flipped out. His car is his baby. So anyway, through many arguments and screaming matches over the phone, Kris and I brought the car to a VW dealership in Bakersfield. We then called my cousin Jennifer and asked her if she could come pick us up since the repairs would take a couple  of days. Next thing you know, we are two hours away in Ridgcrest, staying at Jenn's house, chatting with my aunt Jan and overall, I am kinda excited I will be spending sometime with family. At least, I was until my brother calls me, saying that he wants to drive all the way down to Bakersfield to make sure he car is okay. I eventually talk him out of that by promising him that his car will be towed the 300 miles back up to our house, on a flat bed truck and no one will touch it before then. So the next morning, Kris and I are back in Bakersfield, loading the car onto a flatbed and then we are off on a 300 mile journey with a tow truck driver.... thankfully, he was nice. So overall, I asked for it. I said we would be in Ridgcrest, I wanted more to write about and I said we would break down. There are a lot more details to all that which made the whole thing super stressful, but I don't want to get mad all over again by recounting them. So yeah, that was our Disneyland trip!

What next? Oh yeah, Halloween. So I was looking forward to Halloween this year. Kris and I were going to dress up as a Cowboy and Cowgirl. Ana had an adorable Grecian Goddess costume and my cousins Briana and Leland were coming up to take Ana trick or treating. I also love decorating the house, carving pumpkins and of course, the candy. Well, even though most of that happened and overall it was a fun time, there were still some things that didn't go quite as planned. Ana was very excited about trick or treating this year. She never used to like it because other people's costumed would scare her-- but this year she was old enough that she more just cared about getting as much candy as possible. I am sure she would have if it didn't start raining like crazy right when we got out of the car! So pretty much all the houses closed up and Ana barely got anything. Thankfully my aunt Eileen bought ten tons of candy so she made up her losses. She was still disappointed though that she didn't "earn it". My cousins being there softened the blow though and it was fun carving pumpkins and just hanging out.

Ana looked far too grown up in her costume. She is getting too old and too big, it makes me so sad!! She is just as tall as me now and in a few months, she will be taller. Ugh! I am in for it then.

Okay, so now what to talk about? Oh yes, financial aid. So the only reason I have been able to work towards my degree is thanks to financial aid. I know many people are against government aid like that but hey-- so many people use it and need it, yet a few bad apples spoil the batch for the rest of us. So thanks to those bad apples, I found out this past week that ALL of my funding has been cut thanks to various little things that are stupid. To make that all the worse, I found out a couple weeks ago that I only have a couple quarters to go before I can graduate. I spent the first half of Tuesday at school, calling offices and trying to figure out what I can do just to have them all tell me to go screw myself. So then I spent the second half of Tuesday crying my eyes out because I felt so defeated. I could take out more student loans but I already don't know how I am going to pay back the ones I have; therefore, adding more to that total seemed like a death sentence. Thankfully, on Thursday, I went into the financial aid office for the millionth time and spoke with the same lady for the millionth time and she called upstairs for the millionth time and for the millionth time, she didn't get any clear answers. So maybe she was already having a bad day or maybe she just felt bad for me but this wonderful woman hangs up her phone and tells me she will be right back. She then marches up stairs and is gone for 15 minutes. When she returns, she says I am now going to receive the university grant that will cover the majority of my tuition until i graduate! I could have kissed her! I still owed a decent amount after that but it was better than nearly 3 grand! So I need to bring that woman a card and some cookies because she literally saved my butt. My problem now however, is that not all the classes I need are being offered and I can't even take as many as I want to because the university put a cap on the amount of units I can do. 

The question is now, what can I finish? How long will it take me to finish? Can I finish the sign language program on top of my English degree? I suppose all that will have to be figured out as it comes. Anyway, I am done for now so thanks for reading if you actually read it all. Have a good day folks. Stay warm!

Well, its been a while...

       I apologize for the long break between posts here. A lot has happened between then and now -- so much that I haven't even had a spare moment to write really; or if I did, I felt too exhausted to do so. I feel exhausted right now but I am avoiding homework to do this so there is motive. 

Lets see, where do I start? Well, I will start out of order I guess. I began a new quarter at school and I can tell, this one is going to kick my butt. This term is comprised mostly of writing courses, which is great for me-- but they are serious writing courses which also intimidates me. All the classes I have taken before have been introductory and beginner classes where I was the big fish in a small pond so to speak. I was the one who has been writing for years, who has had stuff published, who has done this before. Now, I am one of the people who suck. My stuff is amateur when compared to others and I know, I shouldn't compare myself, I should write for me; but it is hard to think that way in a class where you discuss your work with your peers. The professors intimidate you more too because they will speak of those who were once at your level that are now best selling authors-- inspiring right? Not really because the professors also spoke of how they could see that promise in their early work. So, will they see any promise in mine? Will these professors be speaking of me in 15 years saying "I could tell she had it way back then. . ." who knows! It is just a lot of pressure to feel with every exercise, wanting it to be great but feeling like you are turning in crappy prose and immature fiction.

Okay, well that was my "waahh, poor me" moment; now for something a little less pathetic. My cousin just started going to the same school as me. This is the first time since elementary school that I had a family member in the same learning environment as me. It is nice to see a familiar face in the halls every now and then. The only problem I can foresee with all this is the competitive aspect. We are both English majors and we haven't had any classes together yet but I can see that we both take it pretty seriously. I don't know that we wouldn't get a little cut throat when it came to comparing our work. I realize it will be hard to compare-- we are completely different writers with vastly different backgrounds and influences; still, the potential strain is there. I realize I am worrying too much about stuff that isn't even worth a concern but that is how I am.

So, what else? Oh well, my oldest brother Travis graduated with a bachelors of science in communication systems degree (or something to that effect), from the University of Phoenix. I am super proud of him-- that boy was a machine when it came to his school work and his job on top of always being there for his family. For those of you who may not know, he was extremely sick when his was little-- in and out of comas, pronounced clinically dead several times. When he finally started to improve in health, the doctors said he would be a vegetable the rest of his life.Well, when he walked across that stage and accepted his degree, I wish those doctors who said that could see. It was pretty amazing and I am so proud of him!

T

The other cool thing about his graduation was how my family came together. My parents are divorced and haven't seen each other in nearly seven years; so this event was the first time in a long while where they would be in the same room and have to talk to each other. I admit, I was nervous about it. My parents ARE NOT two people who ever belonged together so the tension between them can get pretty darn thick. On top of that, my mom's sisters and brother were going to be commingling with my Dad's parents (my grandparents) and oldest sister so that was just a lot of new, strange experiences to be mixed into the whole thing. Also, Kris was coming along so I had my boyfriend situation, my separated parents situation, two very different families chatting it up situation and just trying to get everyone on the same page with the whole graduation thing. Like I said before, I was concerned about it but I am really glad to say that looking back now, I didn't need to me concerned (well, it still could have got. . .tense but thankfully it didn't); everyone was happy and chatty and had a great time. Overall, it was a great day and we all had a lot of fun celebrating Travis' amazing accomplishment!

Okay, so what else? Hmm, well the only other thing I can think of is not very happy or uplifting but it is something that has been weighing on my mind a lot. I recently got advised by an RN to get checked out for Polysystic Ovarian Syndrome (POS). Pretty much, if you have this, you will have irregular menstrual cycles, be broken out 24/7, have unexplained weight gain, lose head hair-- gain other unpleasant body hair, experience random abdominal pains and a bunch of other unpleasant stuff. Now, all this I have been experiencing for some time but I always wrote it off as stress and aging and various other things-- which it could still be. My biggest concern with it however is that if you do have POS than your likelihood of contracting diabetes goes up quite a bit, other various uterine and ovarian issues can occur and ultimately it can lead to cancers and infertility (not that I am looking to get pregnant any time soon but if I ever did, I would like to know I could). So I went to the doctors and they are currently running a myriad of expensive tests to see if POS is the cause-- the doctor said it most likely is based on all my symptoms. Anyway, that sucks and its just another health thing I get to tack onto my extensive record. At least if I do have POS, I am finding out about it early which means that I can treat some of the symptoms and take care of myself in new ways to hopefully lessen the chances of the bigger, badder stuff. 

       Okay, well I think that's about all the big stuff for now. I am sure I am forgetting things and I am sure I have a million more pictures and videos I could put up here but I really need to get started on that homework I have been avoiding. Wish me luck on my writing and on my possibly, gross ovaries (haha, you are welcome for making you think 'ewww'). Have a good one y'all. Hope you are well and happy!

Here it is Eileen!

Finally! I am posting about the Jackie Greene concert that my aunt Eileen gave me tickets for!! It only happened like a month ago (maybe a little less than that but close enough!) Anyway, Eileen loves an artist named Jackie Green, he is sort of rock-blues-jazz-folk all mixed in to one; and she bought tickets for his concert but found she wasn't able to go. So in order to not waste tickets, she asked me if I wanted to go and bring some people. I said of course! I did not really know the artists but hey-- free tickets to a concert and making my aunt Eileen happy? I will DEFINITELY do that! So Kris, Travis and I all went up to Sacramento to a park called Fairytale Town to watch the show. The concert was a benefit to raise money for the park in order to keep it open and running for kids. 

So we got there an hour early, thinking we should be able to get a decent spot-- it was all lawn space so first come, first serve. We completely misjudged it however, and were waaaayyy in the back. We set up our chairs and got some drinks and relaxed anyway. It may have been good that we were all a little oblivious to who Jackie Greene was because if we weren't then the far away seats may have been a let down; this way we would all just chill and enjoy the music. So pretty much after that, the concert started and we had a good time listening and watching a bunch of old, drunk people attempt to dance. Good times! So here are some pictures and hopefully video (if I can get it to work) of our fun little trip to see Jacki Greene!

                  The stage...

          Some of the cute playhouses in the park

              Yeah we were kinda far...

     Passing the time with reading.

              Yay!

             Mhmmm

                 Better

               Travis melted....

         Birds

                  Lots of birds...

          Oh good, he regenerated

              Yay a quarter smile

           Sorry these pics of Jackie Green aren't great, my camera refused to focus on him

         This guy was adorable and danced the whole time!

       Teepee playhouse!

      Getting through the whirly gate with a bunch of chairs is kinda hard.

    Blocking me in...

So I just tried to upload the video and it said there were some errors so who knows. I will try again later or just put them on FB. I had a lot of fun so thank you Eileen for the tickets and next time, hopefully you will get to go! You will probably get better pictures anyway! Love you!

Okay, that is it. Have a nice day everyone!

The Next Time I Meet Rob Thomas . . .

I seriously need to be cooler! I am such a blubbering idiot! Even with my idiocy however, I still had the absolute, one hundred percent, most amazing, dream fulfilling best night of my life! I do not know where to start so, in my true fashion of lengthy storytelling, I will start at the beginning! Here we go . . .

So, last Friday, while driving the little boy I aide back from his speech therapy, I heard the next cue to call in for the Matchbox Twenty Pop-up Lounge (and a Hawaii trip, but in all honesty, I wanted the MB20 tickets more) put on by Alice 97.3. Now as a lot of you know, I have been winning quite a lot from them-- Disneyland tickets twice, Kelly Clarkson tickets; so I thought there was no real way I could win these, plus it was the last chance of the last day that they were giving away the lounge tickets. I called anyway, and I called-- and called. I nearly crashed my car when Marcus D. aka. the most awesome DJ in the world answered the phone! I screamed, I think I said some inappropriate things; all in all, I was thrilled! 

After I won, I instantly started researching on the venue. From what I could tell, the place was small-- standing room only and if I had any chance of getting to the front of the stage, I had to get there early. Well, Kris switched work shifts so he could join me (more I think he was worried I would climb onto the stage and ravage Rob Thomas . . . entirely possible) so I informed him, we had to leave by 1:45, even though the concert didn't start until 7pm. He did as I asked because he knew that this was something I had been trying to do since I was 12, thankfully he isn't the type of guy who would ruin that for me. So we left at a quarter to 2 and got to the lounge around 3:15.  Oddly enough, the lounge was on the back side of The Salt House-- the restaurant Kris and I ate at almost a month ago exactly before we saw LeMis. Anyway, when we turned the corner, I saw this huge line and my heart sank! I thought that arriving nearly 4 hours early would have ensured me a close spot but from the looks of the line, I was very wrong. That is, until we got closer. Come to find out, there is a coffee shop in the Harlot Lounge (where the concert was to be) and its super busy all day-- the line was for coffee! I ran past the caffeine freaks to the front door where only two other ladies were standing; they were there maybe 30 minutes earlier than me. I was so happy that they were the only ones, but I was selfishly disappointed that I wasn't the first one. I felt that way until I heard these women talking about Matchbox Twenty-- I felt like I knew NOTHING about the band! I was put to shame in my obsession! They have followed Rob and the boys everywhere! Met them multiple times! Texted their manager casually! They deserved that front spot and they were super nice too.

 As we waited, more people filed in behind us but still not as many as I was expecting. Kris I could tell was not as thrilled about waiting outside for so long but he didn't complain he is so sweet. The wait ended up going by pretty quick thanks to my hero-- Marcus D.

                                               (Gah, I am not photogenic . . . anyway)

 He showed up and spoke with the few of us in the front of the line. He told us stories about his own Rob Thomas obsession and how he got to meet him the first time. Marcus then asked us if we had any questions we wanted to ask Rob and Kyle . . . I nearly exploded with excitement! Now, I didn't know until we got there but it wasn't the whole band performing, just Rob Thomas and Kyle Cook, they were going to do an acoustic set. I was so stoked although I was sad that Paul Duocette wasn't going to be there because he and I share a birthday and I wanted to bond over that! Anyway, the question that I had was really only pertinent to Rob so I was good. My question was (and has been for years and years and years, or “days and days and days”) was why boxes and why little yellow tags? This is from the song “Real World” off MB20’s first album. I have always loved the line and I swore, if I ever got to meet Rob Thomas, I would ask the man who wrote it. So when Marcus asked if there were any questions, I nearly died. Let me just say again how much I love Marcus D! He apparently liked me too because he ensured that my almost birthday would be a spectacular one. Okay, so back to my play-by-play: We continued waiting and we got to know the people around us pretty well. There were two people directly behind us that ended up playing a key role in my wonderful night as well. Jason and Arlana are two art students at the Academy of Art University in SF. 

This lounge concert would be Jason’s first ever concert so he was obviously excited to be getting something so up-close for his first time. Arlana on the other hand, was a seasoned pro at concert going and was quite learned in her musical knowledge. We chatted for a while about art school, music, religion—a lot of stuff from numerous categories. During these chats, Matchbox Twenty was doing their sound checks and we could hear and kind of see them through the window! I was freaking out by this point because, well—just that was closer than I had ever been to them! 

                                                          Kyle Cook

                                               Rob Thomas

It was about a half hour before we were to go inside when Marcus comes out and informs us there will be a raffle for meet and greet opportunities. I could have thrown up and peed myself, I was so damn excited! I tried to contain myself by continuing idle small talk, but all I could think about was being face to face with the man I have idolized for oh-so long! It was then I looked down by Kris’ foot and noticed a quarter on the floor. I told Kris to pick it up, because well . . . it was a quarter! He looked at the back and saw it was a new state quarter, at the top it said “Chickasaw”, Kris didn’t know where that was so I grabbed it from him and confirmed my knowledge that it was in fact an Oklahoma quarter! My home state! Right there, saying “Hey, I know you love MB20, don’t worry- I am lucky!” Yep! That is what that quarter told me! With this new found reassurance, I was over the moon excited! After another 20 minutes, the doors opened and they let us inside. I got my raffle ticket and ran to the stage; which to my surprise was super low to the ground, super small and there was an open bench RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT! Not only right in front of the stage but right in front of Rob Thomas’ microphone . . . where he would be standing, within grabbing distance from me! AHHHHHHH!!!!

                                    

                                               (I seriously look horrendous in this picture)

 I couldn’t stop shaking, I had to get up and pee like three times just from nerves! I was flipping out! I was so close, that my camera did not need to zoom in what so ever in order to get great, detailed shots! I put Kris on camera duty though because I didn’t want to miss one second of the amazing-ness because of blurry shots or other camera issues. Arlana and Jason were teasing me the whole time because I was freaking out so bad. They were so sweet though because Arlana asked Jason if she won the raffle, would it be okay for her to take me up instead of him! I refused of course because that wouldn’t be fair to Jason; he wanted to go up if he could. Anyway, the time came to draw the raffle tickets. I held mine like I were holding on to a bible on my death bed. Marcus called out the first number “369”—not me. He called out the next . . . still not me. Marcus finally called out the last number and once again, it wasn’t me! I cried a little bit, I admit it. I was so very sad, I saw my face time with the one and only Rob Thomas dwindle away. I knew I was still amazingly lucky to be that close to the stage but, to truly meet Rob Thomas that was my dream.

I couldn’t be sad for long though because a few moments later, Rob Thomas and Kyle Cook adorned the stage. It was magnificent, glorious, perfect and every other adjective that could also be used to describe heaven. 

They were so close, I could smell them (as creepy as that sounds). I couldn’t even make my eyes focus at first, they were just there! Right in front of me! My years of wanting to be front row all came to this moment and it was more than I could have ever dreamed! Thankfully I didn’t cry like a baby; honestly, I couldn’t even breathe. Thankfully, Marcus broke the tension within me when he started asking questions, I knew my question was going to be answered soon.

After some adorable, witty banter was exchanged between the three boys, Marcus says its time for some audience questions. He points to me and says “This one is from Arynn and its her birthday by the way” Rob Thomas looks right at me, smiles and says “Oh, Happy Birthday Arynn!” I am still freaking out from it! That is when Kyle Cook looks at me and sarcastically says “She doesn’t look excited to be here at all!” I am sure my face was somewhere between mid-silent scream, seizure and pure elation. Marcus then starts to ask the question, and then he asks the question wrong! I couldn’t help my rudeness, I screamed “No, no, no! That’s not right!” Thankfully, Marcus wasn’t offended and let me ask the question myself—I apologized to him later though for my outburst. So I asked the question properly, Kyle commented by saying that that was a great line from the song and then Rob said this:

                                      

I had a feeling that this was the case for this particular line, but I am still so glad I got to ask! And in the video, whenever Rob looks down, he is looking down at me! ME! Ahhh! I can't believe it! I can hear myself laughing and I sound like such a dork but I couldn't help it!

So, after the Q&A, Rob and Kyle played their new song "She's So Mean" which sounded amazing in acoustic and live...and coming from them, right in front of me! They answered more questions and played more songs and continued being adorable. I won't go into every detail of every word they said and every move they made, even though I could-- I do have to go to work today though.

                        The last batch of those are some professional ones from the Alice 97.3 site

If you want to watch the full thing, Alice 97.3 will have video up on their website hopefully by the end of today, but I am not a hundred percent sure. I would have put more of my videos up but blogger is freaking out on me again! They will be on Facebook by the end of today though!

When the concert was finishing up, my heart started sinking again because I knew, in the next few moments, Rob and Kyle would be off that stage and gone from my sight and grabbing distance! To dig the knife in deeper, Rob hopped off stage and went up to one of the women who were in front of us in line and kissed her on the cheek, thanking her for her devotion and Twitter stalking. Then, just like that, they were gone! I wanted to cry! I reached into my purse and pulled out the two concert tickets I had from 2003, my very first concert and very first Matchbox Twenty concert ever-- I had hoped I could get Rob to sign them. Now though, they were just fond memories, minus a famous hand. Marcus came over and I thanked him for asking my question and apologized for interrupting him so rudely. Before I could even think of anything else to say Arlana jumped in an asked if Marcus could get my tickets signed for me! Why hadn't I thought of that?! I suppose if I wasn't so near passing out from the sight of Rob Thomas, I might have thought of it. Anyway, Marcus looked for a good, long second at the tickets and then looked up at me and said "You know what, you will be my plus-one" . . . Plus- one?!! I am Marcus' plus- one?! I began to cry again, I was going to do it! I was going to officially meet Rob Thomas!!! The next few minutes flew by, I tried to contain myself and not cry so much that I turned into a red, blotchy mess. Then Marcus called me over and just like that we were in an elevator, heading up to meet the boys! I was oddly calm, mainly because I was in shock. I couldn't form words, thoughts or actions. I held onto my tickets and the sharpie and followed Marcus like a lost puppy. He informed me that since I was with him, we would go last-- fine with me, whenever I meet Rob would be perfect, I won't complain! So we went to the back of a long line and next to this little room. It only took me a second to realize, Rob and Kyle were in that room! After another second, Marcus and I were being put into that room! We were actually going first! I stood there, looking at Rob who was talking to his manager and then all of a sudden, Rob makes eye contact with me, swoops around his manager and comes in for a hug!!!! He doesn't give me a half-way, crappy side hug, or even a short hug but a long, squishy, open-palm on the back perfect hug! I can still feel it! It was insane! Amazing! Wonderful! He smelled like Rob Thomas, I can't explain it any other way. I am just glad Kris doesn't read my blog because he would be very jealous of how much I am obsessing over this hug. After Rob lets go for a second, he still holds onto my arms and says "How old are you if you don't mind me asking?" I wasn't going to explain how I still had two days until my birthday so I just said "25". He then laughs and says "Oh cool, you won't be upset at me for asking your age then." Now if I were cooler like the beginning of this blog suggests, I could have said "Oh, well, next time you ask me, I promise to get upset so you can console me" or even "How could I get upset with you Rob?" but no, instead I giggle like an idiot. I say something about how this is a dream come true for me and he says thanks for coming and he is so glad he could meet me. Next thing I know, another girl is standing next to me . . . the epitome of cool. Her name is "Pepper", she has tattoos that instantly draw Rob's attention, he goes and grabs her arms to look at them. Soon they are discussing bands and she says how she is going t have the lyrics of "Push" tattooed on her forearm soon. All I can do is nod and agree how Push is my favorite song as well. My only solace is, she didn't get a hug from him! Ha! I win! Oh, that sounds mean and vindictive, but hey, she clobbered me in "cool factor".

 My eyes then met up with Kyle's, who made a similar swooping motion to Rob's and came over to wish me a happy birthday. He also asked me how old I was and said he was happy they could make my 25th so special. I wanted to kiss them both, they made my 25th birthday the best day of my life and they will never know just how much that means to me. Marcus then pulled me over to take pictures with them. At first, I stood with my arms around Rob and Marcus, but Marcus being my hero says to Rob "Can she actually stand between you and Kyle?" Rob says of course and I switch places. I am then trying to suck in, push my chin out and pray for an awesome photo because it is the only one I will have of us, together. 

                                               Best night of my life...thanks to these men!

I am then ushered out of the way for other people to take their photo in the small back room. Marcus is pulling me out the door but I am fighting him, screaming "I love you! Thank you! You guys are the best!!" but Marcus finally wins and the door shuts behind us. It was then I look down at my hand and see my unsigned tickets are being clenched and neglected. I look up at Marcus and tell him how I forgot to have them sign my tickets, he looks at me and says how its too late. I have a moment of panic. but then I remember that one of the meet and greet winners was one of the ladies in front of us in line. I look for her but I don't see her anywhere among the 30 bustling people. It was then I notice that Rob and Kyle are walking just a few people behind us. I tried to turn around and talk to them, but everyone was talking to them and I felt like I would be very selfish to take away from other people's time. I gave up and walked towards the elevator, looking back longingly at the two men who made my night perfect. Marcus was getting a little annoyed with me for trying to stick around as long as possible. As the elevator doors were closing, I saw that the meet and greet winners were only getting a quick photo taken with the boys and were then being pushed away and taken out. I realized how lucky I was for being the DJ's plus-one and not a raffle winner because I got a solid 5 minutes of interaction whereas the others got maybe 20 seconds. We got to the floor level and I saw Kris, Arlana and Jason waiting outside. I gave Marcus D a big hug and thanked him multiple times and then I went outside. I told everyone how I forgot to have them sign the tickets and they were shocked at my spaciness. They came to my rescue again however, and made me stand in front of the side door to wait for Rob and Kyle to come out. To my surprise, it only took them about 3 minutes to come out meaning they got through 30 people super quick in the meet and greet. Kris shoved the tickets at Rob and he came out the door and asked him to sign them for me! Rob did and as he looked at the tickets he was like "Oh wow! This was a while ago!" I managed to get out a full sentence and said how it was my first concert ever and it was a dream come true to see them. Rob and Kyle stuck around and took pictures with Arlana and Jason and a few others who didn't get to go upstairs. It took all my effort to not cut in front of them and get another hug (I already got two before that upstairs so I knew it was their turn). After a few more minutes of pictures and short comments, they were pushed into their van and whisked away. I couldn't believe that it was over and I really couldn't believe that it all happened in the first place! Kris and I got Arlana's and Jason's contact info so we could send them photos and keep in touch. Then we said our good byes and were off to BART. I couldn't stop smiling and when we were finally at the BART station, waiting for the train, it all hit me at once:

All in all, it was an amazing night. I can't thank Rob Thomas, Kyle Cook, Marcus D, Arlana, Jason and Kris enough for making my night possible You all will never know just how happy you made me. Just how content I feel and how many dreams are now fulfilled. You all are my heroes!

                             

                        My signed tickets and my lucky quarter!