My First Clay Concert Experience...

Okay, I hope that this is going to make sense because I'm still in a bit of a fog, lol. First off, I just want to say how great it was to meet a few of you guys! I wish I could have met more, but the venue filled up fast and then the show started....and well the rest is history. ;)

All right, on to the concert. I have watched a whole lot of Clack from the Timeless Tour concerts, so I pretty much knew what to expect and when to expect it. What I DIDN'T expect was to have my jaw literally drop to the floor when Clay came out from stage left (I happened to be sitting on the side he walked out of...eeee!!!!). OMG. I just have to say that he and Ruben really compliment each other well with their singing! The whole intro with FWW/TITN was hilarious. So much funnier in person! I loved the opening banter; it was little different...they didn't talk about their "similarities" very much, but I didn't care at all, hehe. Finally it was time to start the 60s with 'the King'. Clay singing Suspicious Minds...WOW. I actually got video of it!!!!! And I got video of him singing Still the One. Also Stool Banter (which was so funny...I'll get to that in a minute) and the beginning of the 90s.

All right, now onto the 70s -- oh yeah, I got Clack of the before/after (sort of anyway) banter of that and got some of the 70s too. :) Clay kissed Casey! At least I think he did. From the angle I was at, it looked like he did, but I couldn't really tell for sure. But it was so cute!!

I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my life.. Just saying...

Next! Ummm...what was next...oh yes, the stool banter. Oh my goodness, I was laughing so hard when I watched this! I pretty much got most of it on video (though all the videos are kind of grainy...oh well it was a digital camera). Anyway, Clay sat down on the stool as usual and Ruben started to lean on him, saying his feet hurt from standing for so long, etc. Clay as always just ignored him and tried to go on with how they are like variety acts. But then Ruben did something he's never done before... HE SAT ON CLAY'S LAP! I'm not joking! OMG it was soooo funny! Seeing Clay's face (and hearing him for that matter) was just too funny. I'm sure others have better details than I do with this banter, but after the whole stool thing (oh and Clay messed up the stool joke, hehe), they decided to get the audience involved! They asked for a theme song. Theme was "It's About Damn Time" (hahaha) and the music was Reggae. Oh my gosh. Ruben was HILARIOUS when he sang it! Clay was kind of cracking up too. Just great though. Clay's MTAF was out of this world!

Onto the 80s! And yes I'm sure I'm missing huge chunks of the concert.... So, it was the usual banter about what "macho" things were in the 80s vs. care bears, My Buddy (which included Ruben singing the song, taking Clay's hand and swinging it...so cute!) and then he expanded on the Care Bears! I could not stop laughing. So then they finally went into the music of the 80s. I loved all of it (especially 'Alone'...wow!!!)!!! And of course, Footloose. EVERYONE stood up when they started singing it!! Great job to both of them! Once they were finished, I didn't think there was going to be an encore, but then Clay mentioned a man who was sitting in my section. He had been dancing (seriously I saw him and he could really move!) non-stop throughout Footloose. Clay asked him how old he was -- 73! Clay and Ruben were so impressed that they wanted to see him do it again...so what did they do? ENCORE!!!!

I can't remember exactly *when* 'The Revival' took place in the concert, so I'll just put it here. Now this lasted for 12 minutes. How do I know? I got all of it on video! :) Unfortunately at this moment, I'm still in a fog so I can't remember all the details, lol. But it was great as always!

I absolutely loved Clay's intro to Ruben. You can tell that they're really great friends. :) I hope they will always stay that way. Ruben's EID was GORGEOUS. That man can SING!!

Then it was time for the 90s...oh boy. Clay said Ruben did a great job on the song, but Clay was nowhere to be seen...hmmm....Ruben asked where he was and Clay said he was coming; had to zip up the zipper on his pants, lol. Then he came out in GOLD hammer pants! OMG I was laughing so hard! It was pure genius! Ruben had to stop for a moment and turn around, hehe. So after Clay kept telling Ruben he really did know about the 90s, he decided to prove it by starting the medley. LOVED IT!

The end of the show didn't have too much banter in it; I think the two of them were kind of tired (I wonder why? ;)). Of course Ruben somehow turned back into the Preacher for a moment, hehe. Oh and just before they sang TOML, Clay caught some people about to leave....he stopped them LOL!

One of the best parts of the show? Ethel came up to the stage and asked Ruben to sign her 'Lackofrythmitis' (or however that's spelled) shirt! After some back and forth talking, Ruben finally did. :) Clay didn't, saying he was scared of her (you could tell he was completely joking since he had a smile on his face the whole time). At any rate, I'm VERY happy for Ethel!!

Once the concert was over, I looked over to my boyfriend and I asked him how he liked it. He smiled a little and said he liked it! He said he was glad I brought him with me. :) And he's now LOOKING FORWARD to coming to Cleveland with me! WOW!

All right all, this is probably the best that I'm going to be able to do here! I'll probably add comments or whatnot later when I remember more, lol. I really did have the time of my life though!

~Lisa

Tried and True - A review (iTunes bonus track version)

I cannot believe that it has been another month since I have posted here! I guess I just got wrapped up in the Clay fog that seems to have enveloped my mind over the past couple of months or so. Anyway, Clay's new album Tried and True has FINALLY been released! I can't believe I purchased as many copies as I did! I purchased the iTunes version since it includes a bonus song that isn't on any of the other versions, the deluxe version which has two bonus songs plus a DVD of the behind the scenes of making Tried and True (mainly why Clay decided to do this album), the regular CD, and I think one or two others.

I posted this review over at Clay's Offical Fan Club and I thought I'd bring it over here. :)
~~~~

I posted the other night that I LOVED the CD, but I didn't get into specifics...I was in a bit of blur after listening to it...a fog, perhaps? ;-) So I figured that after listening to it again and again and again... well you know what I mean. ;-) I thought I'd attempt to give my review on it. :-)

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Love this song. I have always loved this song, but Clay made it sound new to me. I love the big orchestral music; that just makes the song if you ask me. Not to mention Clay just sounds terrific singing it. I can hear the swagger in his voice.
What Kind Of Fool Am I - Where to begin? First of all, I didn't think a song could make me cry. But this one succeeded in doing so! I have to admit that I had never heard this song before hearing Clay sing it. But now I'm in love with it. The soft, tender sound in Clay's voice is beautiful. I think that may be what made me tear up. I can hear the emotion in his voice, if you know what I mean. This has truly grown on me since I first heard it on Monday night! Also, David Sanborn is incredible. Loved that part as well.
It's Only Make Believe - This is another song that I had never heard before Monday night. But I love it! I like the 'bouncy' feel it has. Not sure if that really makes sense. Again, the orchestra just makes the song.
Misty - Oh my goodness. Misty made me...well, misty. Again, a song I had never heard (I think my age is starting to show here, lol) before. I love Clay's soft voice in the song. I don't know how he does it with such control. He's so talented like that. I adore the piano in this song. It gives it a jazzy/bluesy (spelling?) kind of feel, if you know what I mean. And the lyrics themselves are just wonderful.
Mack The Knife - I think we have all heard this one before! It was either when it first came out or in 2003 when Clay sang it out of the ballpark. I love Paula for choosing this song for him. I can just hear his love for the song as he sings it. And that note at the end. WOW. I still don't know how he can hold it for so long! Love it.
It's Impossible - This is just a beautiful song. I love hearing Clay's upper register in this song. Another one that makes me tear up when I hear it. I just close my eyes and go into another world. I'm not sure if that makes any sense... Again, the orchestra is beautiful. I love the violins in the background.
Unchained Melody - One word: WOW. I have adored this song since I saw the movie "Ghost" which is when I first heard it. So naturally every time I hear it now, I always tear up because I think of the movie (and Patrick Swayze). There is a bit of a difference with Clay's take on this classic, however. And that is when he gets to the "OMG note". I now know what everyone means when they said they were in a fog after hearing him sing that note. My gosh, I almost fell out of my chair! My favorite version by a clear mile.
Suspicious Minds - I've always liked this song. I remember watching a lot of Clack from the JBT and I loved the part of the concert when he would sing this song. He did it with such ease. I love that he basically kept the melody of the song, but also made it his own. And with this CD, he's outdone himself with the song. I love this version even more.
Crying - Oh my. This song is gorgeous beyond words. Linda Eder is just fantastic. I have heard her sing before and have always loved her voice. When she and Clay sing together, it's magical. I so wish I could have been at the taping to see it live. I'm sure it's even more amazing in person. Let's just say that this song had me crying!
There's A Kind Of Hush - I LOVE this song! I didn't know that I would, but I am so glad I proved myself wrong. Clay sounds so upbeat and happy when he is singing it. There is one point in the song when he sings "People just like us...[a beat of silence]...are falling in love..." I adore they way he sings "...are falling in love".
Moon River - To be honest, I didn't think I'd like this song as much as I do. I have heard it a few times and it's definitely a beautiful song. Insert Clay into this song. Okay, I'm hooked! He has this control that I've never heard anyone have in their voice before. The softness in his voice is just so moving.
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - After hearing this just once, my jaw was on the floor. This is just...wow. I honestly don't have enough words to describe the song! Clay's voice is magical. It really is. I love the emotion he poured into this song. I think that's what did it for me. I get chills every time I listen to it. It's playing right now actually and I'm barely able to type as I listen to it because my mind is in the song! And I have to wipe my eyes every now and then...

Well that was my attempt at a review of each song! I know I didn't get into each little aspect of the songs, but I wanted to give the general idea of how I felt while listening to them. :-) I hope you liked it!

Oh, and here's a little taste of what the album sounds like...



Lisa

Mother's Day and This Week

First off, I'd like to wish every Mother out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all had a great time with family and friends. :) I would have spent today with my Mom, but she and my Dad were in Chicago for a Bar Mitzvah this weekend, so I didn't get to see her. Luckily we have cell phones and text messaging! Plus my Mom and I will get to spend time together on Saturday the 15th when we go see Legally Blonde in Cincinnati. That's going to be my actual gift to her. :) She's wanted to see it almost as much as I have!

It is hard to believe that this is the 2nd to last week of preschool! Our annual 'picnic' (it's actually inside, so it's not really a picnic) is on Wednesday from 6-8. Not exactly looking forward to having to work a 10 hour day, but it's worth it in the end when I see the children who will be going off to Kindergarten in the fall. I had them in my room 3 years ago! That will be hard for me. Kids grow up too quickly!

Not much else to write about this week. Oh yes, I almost forgot... The promo for Clay's new CD Tried & True made its debut on YouTube this weekend! I was unable to attend the actual concert, but I am really looking forward to seeing it on PBS in August. Didn't see the video? Here, I'll just put it on here. I think I figured out to do that...



Hopefully that worked! Anyway that's about all for this week! I will hopefully be back next week to give you an update as to how LB was! I'm pretty sure one of the words I'm going to use is "awesome," LOL. :)

~Lisa

May has been...

Well, it's been rather weird so far. There have been some great things that have happened within the past few days and some devastating things that have happened.

The good news is that my Dad, who has been jobless for a little over a year now has a job! It is only a 6 month contracting job in Huntsville, AL so he and my Mom won't have to move, but it may possibly turn into a full-time job. So congratulations to my Dad! He goes down next week.

Interestingly enough, the reason that we live in Ohio is because my Dad had gotten laid off from his previous job in Nashville, TN. The company basically went bankrupt. This past weekend I learned about the awful flooding in Nashville. My parents sent me a few pictures of the neighborhood in Brentwood, TN where we lived. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the pictures. There were two people in a canoe in the middle of the street and a dog was swimming in the street. Unbelievable. From what I understand, everyone in that subdivision is okay and the water is slowly receding. The scary part about all of this? While living in Nasvhville, I worked at the JCC which just happens to be right next to Bellevue. I was thinking about staying in Nashville when my parents said they were moving up to Ohio for my Dad's job, but unfortunately I didn't have enough money yet (I had only been working for a year) to live on my own. But I did look at some apartments just for the heck of it and one of the apartments I looked at is in Bellevue. So had I stayed in Nashville, I don't know what I'd be doing right now. I only hope that my former co-workers are okay.

There are a couple of good things going on this month as well. I am seeing Legally Blonde: The Musical with my Mom in Cincinnati on the 15th so that is something to look forward to. I also booked the hotel in Hammond, IN for when we (my boyfriend and I) go up in August to see Clay Aiken & Ruben Studdard in concert. Now all I have to do is buy the tickets that go on sale the 21st. I'll believe that date when I see it on Ticketmaster. I'm hoping that is sometime soon! The date has been changed four times now.

The 2009-2010 school year is coming to an end. The last day of preschool at the DJCC is May 21st. It's just hard to believe that the kids in my room, many of whom are now 3 years old will be leaving our room this summer and will be moving up to the next room. While I am sad to see them go, I am just amazed at how much they have all grown in the past nine months! I will be working there over the summer since I am a full-time employee and am both excited and nervous about the kids that will be coming over to our room. It will definitely be a big change, that's for sure. But I'm looking forward to it. :-)

I guess that's all for now. I will try to update again next week.

-Lisa

Three Years!

Wow, I cannot believe it has been three years since I posted anything on here. I pretty much forgot about the fact that I even had a blogger account! So what, you may ask, have I been doing for the past three years? I'm not going to go into every single little detail, but in a nutshell, I've been working at the DJCC preschool -- this is my 5th year there. Pretty cool! I have been working in the 2 year old room for 4 of those years. I started to not like it so much last year because of the lead teacher in my room. She became really difficult to deal with and basically acted as though she was everyone's boss. Well in October of 2008 she revealed a little secret to me...she was pregnant! I was very happy for her, as she and her husband had been trying to have a child. I asked her if she was going to come back after she had the baby and she said she wasn't sure.

Fast forward to May 2009. Gina went on maternity leave about 3 weeks before her due date. She said she was thinking about coming back in the fall, but wasn't sure. I was pretty sure she wasn't going to come back. And I don't blame her; she wanted to spend time with her baby! So we bid her farewell on May 15th (or a date close to that) and then it was just Miranda (co-teacher) and myself. Audrey had one of the girls who works at the preschool in the summers and winters work in our room. Miranda and I had always gotten along great and I was excited for the upcoming school year. We had yet to find a new lead teacher, but I was just happy Miranda was going to be there... errrr ... maybe not. She told me that she was going to be taking some classes up at OSU in Columbus so she was going to be leaving. Well that's just great; now it was just me! By early August, Audrey FINALLY found a lead teacher for our room. She is the best! I don't think I have ever gotten along so well with anyone before. We work really well together. As for a 3rd teacher, well we had a girl there who stayed all the way until December. Then she quit. Apparently her husband and kids weren't too happy that she was working again. So now we sort of have a rotating 3rd person in our room. It has, for the most part, worked out pretty well though!

Okay so that was work. I am now no longer single! I have a boyfriend whom I met on JDate.com. We've been together for 2 1/2 years. Our anniversary is September 29th. :) So I'm pretty happy! The only thing is, he lives 45 minutes away. He passed the Bar in 2008, but because of what happened with the economy, hasn't been able to find a job as a lawyer anywhere. It isn't really his passion anyway; higher education is. So he's going to grad school for a year and is hopefully going to get a job as a graduate assistant or maybe even something else. So the future is looking bright so far!

I guess that's about it. Oh and one more thing...I am really excited for August...why? Because I am going to my first Clay Aiken concert! I've been a fan of his since he was on AI, but have never been able to get to a concert...until now! Very excited about that. All right, definitely enough of this.

Ciao!
Lisa

Life is Good

So life has been good this past week. I had a pretty good week at work, even though it was hectic as ever, but it was still good. It finally rained this week! We have been in a drought since May and I was rather excited when it started to rain. Yeah, I get excited over strange things.

Anyway, yesterday was one of the best days ever. Why, you may ask? Because of this:

Yep, I saw Wicked yesterday! We went to Columbus, since that is where the tour cast is right now. I didn't mind the hour and a half drive at all. I just wanted to see my FAVORITE show!! We had perfect seats that were not in the front, but were in the orchestra section with no obstructions. Though my mom did get a little manic since she's been wanting to see this show for quite a while. But it was all good. After the show, we went out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in downtown Columbus, not far from the theatre. It was really nice except for the man at the table behind us...he was drunk...I mean REALLY drunk. He kept yelling, getting up, singing...let's just say he was making a fool out of himself and the people he was sitting with. When they finally left, everyone applauded (I kid you not). Best dinner ever, LOL.

Anyway, this week will be nice since it's only a four day week (4th of July...). I am not sure if my family is going to see the fireworks or not (personally I'd really like to), but it would be a good family outing.

This coming weekend Kyle is coming down! I haven't seen him since February; our schedules have both been very hectic lately, but he was finally able to get some time off work. So yay to that. =) I can't think of anything else, so I'm just going to end my entry here.

Ciao!

Lisa

It's My Birthday...

...And I'll cry if I want to...but I'm not going to. Hehe.

Okay so yeah...today's my birthday. I was dreading today more than anyone could imagine; don't ask me why. I've never been a fan of my birthday, LOL. Anyway, it went a lot better than I thought it would.

When I got to work, my co-workers and director all remembered (since all of our birthdays are posted on the wall in the teacher's room) and so they brought in snacks and stuff like that. It was really nice of them. One of my co-teachers, Gina had given me a scented candle, a journal, and what looks like a flower pot...I think. It was so sweet of her; she didn't have to do that and yet she did. :-) So that made me smile.

Then one of my kids, Zane came in. Now I know teachers aren't supposed to play favorites, but he is up there as one of them. He always has been. Anyway, when he came in he ran over to me and handed me a flower and yelled "Happy Birthday Miss Lisa!" It was beyond cute. His mom had to kind of cue him, but it was still adorable. We were also celebrating Israel's birthday today (Yom Ha'atzmaot) and one of the little girl's in my class: Naomi's birthday. Her birthday was last week but we didn't get a chance to celebrate it then so we did it today.

After lunch, Zane (who is almost 3 ... birthday is on Friday as a matter of fact), who is not yet potty-trained decided...*on his own* to go into the bathroom. We basically thought that he wanted to sit down and just try...we were wrong! He went to the bathroom! I know, this may sound gross to some of you but it was such a HUGE leap for this little boy who was once completely freaked out about going into the bathroom. We are *SO* proud of him! (Even if he did miss the toilet...which he did...but who cares! He went!) I made sure to make a HUGE deal of it to him (who was rather mad at himself for missing the toilet) and to his dad when he came to pick him up. You should have seen the smile on his dad's face...and Zane's. PRICELESS!

Ah...and then I came home and got my mail; I got a card from my parents and my aunt and uncle (along with $25...hey I'm not complaining!). Nice timing, huh? I'm going to call my parents as soon as I finish writing this and thank them. I also noticed outside my door was a little bag with a card attached. I looked at the envelope and saw my name was written on it and immediately recognized that it was my mom's handwriting (she and my dad have a key to my apartment for obvious reasons). I opened the bag and inside were gummy worms (my favorite candy, hehe) and these other gummy things...they're black licorice flavour I think...blech! I think that's more for my mom, LOL. I'll have to bring them over to her this weekend when I see them.

Well I guess that's all for now!

-Lisa

Life Sucks

It really does. I'm sorry; I'm just really irritated with my director Audrey right now. Today I asked her for April 6th (a Friday) off. That week is Passover, one of the most important Jewish holidays aside from the High Holy Days but that isn't why I'm angry.

I'm angry because when I asked her for that day off she flat out told me no. Okay so that IS the week of Spring Break and there will be a few teachers out, but has the woman ever heard of substitutes? There's a reason that we have them. Yeesh.

The reason I asked for this day off is because that's when my parents and I are planning to go up to Chicago to spend the weekend with my extended family...who I get to see only once a year (twice if I'm lucky). Plus we're going to have our annual family Passover Seder on the 7th. We have been doing this since I was a baby...maybe even longer. So yeah it's a tradition in my family.

Well Audrey had absolutely no sympathy for me whatsoever; not that I really expected her to, I mean the woman has half a heart. She could care less about some of her employees...and we all feel the same about her: we don't think she should be the director of the preschool.

Anyway, she basically made me start crying. Did she care? Nope. I'm not one of her favorites who she'll give any day off to. So she pretty much shooed me out of her office even though she could clearly see tears starting to come out of my eyes. I stormed out of there and into my classroom where I simply openly cried. Yes some of my kids saw me crying and my co-workers saw me crying (they actually care and offered comfort; that is one of the reasons why I like working there...them) but I didn't care. I just told Gina (co-teacher) that I had to make a phone call to my dad and she said to take all the time I needed. Thank goodness for her. So I went and called my dad and told him. He was pissed to say the least. Apparently he was also devestated from what my mom said when I later called her during my break. Yet my mom gave me some hope...

My mom said that my dad was thinking that perhaps I could fly to Chicago on the 6th in the evening so I won't miss work...so I'll please Audrey by coming in. *Cue eye roll* But I'll probably have to leave early; and if Audrey doesn't let me...well I'll be majorly pissed. Even more than I am now and trust me I'm majorly pissed right now.

My grandma is going to buy me a plane ticket (she offered, my parents accepted) and have me fly to either O'Hare or Midway Airport and then take a cab to the hotel we're going to stay at. This is one of those times where I'm so thankful for my family. I've always been thankful for having them but now more than ever. My mom even said that if I can't go, she won't go...same goes with my dad. He said if I'm not going and my mom's not going...he sure as hell isn't going to go by himself. This is a FAMILY tradition.

All right that's about all...my rant/vent is over. Thanks for listening/reading.

-Lisa

I'm Giving In

Okay so I have been kind of sick this past week. It started out as your typical cold/allergy type thing, but by Friday I knew something wasn't right. I pretty much figured out (without going to the doctor) that I had a sinus infection. I wanted to go home early from work, but one of my co-workers was rather sick and had to leave early so considering the fact that I was not nearly as sick as she was (she has a staph infection which may require more than antibiotics to cure), I volunteered to stay. Since Audrey was sick, Pat (one of the on-site supervisors) thanked me and gave me a hug since she knew I wasn't feeling well. In other words, she appreciated the fact that I stayed.

I had been taking Tylenol Sinus and cough medicine throughout the day and night. Yet by Saturday morning, I was feeling even worse. My mom suggested I change a few things in what medicines to take. Now normally I don't really listen to her about that stuff but I was feeling so "blah" that I listened and did as she said.

If only that worked. Today (Sunday) I felt the same so my parents, being the generous people that they are, brought over a few things and...get this: they're doing my laundry for me. I am quite thankful for that.

In exchange, however, they said that I have to call the doctor tomorrow morning and make an appointment since I have been getting way too many sinus infections. My dad said I may have to go to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat doctor) to see if I need further care. Hopefully that won't happen. In all likelyhood my doctor will prescribe an antibiotic and tell me to come back in two weeks. That's fine, I can do that.

And get this--I actually called in sick for tomorrow. That is something I rarely do. So now I know I'm sick. ;-)

That's about all I guess. I'm going to lay down and watch more of season 2 of "Degrassi: TNG" which I now really love (it's Kayla1 and Kayla2's fault... ;).

Stay safe and stay warm!

-Lisa

Snow...

Okay so today was not exactly what I would call a "good day." It started off all right; I went to work, it was freezing, but it was like that yesterday so it wasn't a big deal. When I got to school, I saw that we only had *7 kids* in class. Normally on a Tuesday we have 12. Well that was a bit of a relief; it sure made our day go a lot smoother than usual. Anyway the morning was fine; we had a double birthday party for two of our kids which was really cute.

But then 12:45 rolled around. As I was getting something from behind the changing table, I looked out the window and saw that it had started snowing. Now I knew that it was going to snow today; we had a snow advisory since last night. They (the Weather Channel) said that we were going to probably get 2-4 inches of snow. I have no problem with this, just so long as the roads are plowed and salted (at least some salt; it doesn't really work very well when it's really cold outside like it is here). Okay so the snow slowly starts to intensify by 1:15. I was getting a little worried about how I would fare when leaving work. But my co-workers told me that everything would be fine and that we'd just follow each other's tracks as we left.

Ha! Easy for them to say. First off, all my kids were picked up by 5:30...parents were smart and came and got their kids earlier than usual so to avoid traffic. Anyway by 6:00 the center, which is usually open until 8:00 Monday-Thursday (preschool closes at 6:00 every day), closed at 6:00 tonight due to the weather (it was still coming down pretty hard). There was one little boy left; his dad had gotten stuck in traffic and by 6:15 Audrey finally told Britany and I to go home. Hey we weren't going to argue with her on that. So after spending about 10 minutes clearing what looked like 3 inches of snow off my car, I began to VERY SLOWLY drive out of the parking lot and easily drove up the small hill out of the center. Now there is another hill that takes you to the main road. This hill is rather steep. This hill had not been plowed. I got STUCK on this hill! I swear for about 20 minutes I was trying everything: reverse then going into drive, downshifting to 4th, 3rd, and 2nd gears (I do not drive a stick; I drive an automatic), but NOTHING was working. Finally Audrey who was behind me...sort of told me to go into reverse and then just go as fast as I could up the hill. I tried that. Nope. By this time I was in tears, having a full blown panic attack. I got out my cell phone and called my dad in tears. He said he would come help me. After we hung up I tried one more time; I backed up and put the car into 2nd gear and slowly...very slowly I somehow made it up the hill and on to the main road. I called my dad to let him know that I got to the road (after thanking my car over and over again for making it...not to mention a certain higher power...). He said he was proud of me for sticking with it and for getting up the damn hill. He also said he'd stay on the phone with me the whole time I drove home; now I know this is not the smartest thing to do when driving in snow, but when you are having a panic attack like I was and are unable to concentrate, talking was the best thing for me. So he and I talked the entire drive home. I told him where I was when I got to certain intersecitons; he'd say "you're that much closer." I FINALLY arrived at my apartment complex and found a "parking spot" (you couldn't see any of the lines since there was snow covering everything) and thanked my car and G-d again and again. I told my dad I made it home and he said he was very proud of me; he also said to just relax now that I was home; don't worry about the weather, just do a whole bunch of nothing. Good advice, dad. Thanks. I plan on doing that.

I was still rather shaky after hanging up with him, but I felt so relieved that I was safe and sound and secure in my apartment.

One last thing: I HATE SNOW!

Okay I'm done now. ;-)

Stay safe and warm!

-Lisa

The New Year So Far...

Well it has been quite a while since I last wrote anything here. So I am writing now. Yay me!

Anyway there has been a lot on my mind lately but I've been too lazy to write about it. And I have had a lot of stress put in my life lately. So this kind of needs to be written. The nice part is on my iTunes right now is "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked so that's an interesting coincidence.

So I have been really stressed out about work lately. Not because I'm not getting along with anyone; I get along with all of my co-workers very well as a matter of fact...well almost all of them, but I'll get to that in a minute. First off, the main reason I'm stressed about work is because there are too many children in the classroom on certain days. Technically because there are 3 teachers in the room there can be up to 21 children in the room (ratio is 1:7) but we just don't have enough room for that and Audrey (director) wouldn't do anything that nuts...at least I don't think she would. Anyway we have 16 kids in the room on MWF and there have to be 3 teachers in the room at all times to keep the ratio. Well that's a bit of a problem at times because sometimes the teachers have to get something from the break room or use the bathroom or warm up their lunch...well we don't seem to have enough staff for all of this. So what happens? Audrey 'yells' at us because if we leave the room for one second (just to put something in someone's cubby which is right outside the room) we're out of ratio. Please! We are right outside the room for half a second. Ugh she is getting on my nerves more and more lately.

One of the main reasons being that she's a comple hypocrite. She told us at a recent staff meeting that if we (staff) are sick, to call either her or the other on-site teachers by 6:30am that day. That's fine, I have absolutely no problem with that. Except when I called in sick one morning (at 6:15 thank you very much), she sounded as though she was angry and didn't believe me. She had the nerve to ask me if there was any way I could come in for a little while. I was sick with the stomach flu. I wanted to puke on her! Well not really but I was that mad. So yeah she tells us that she wants us to STAY HOME if we are sick so we don't get the kids sick. Good, that's how it should be. But on more than one occassion teachers have been sick and have had to come to work. Isn't that pretty much what Audrey did not want to happen? Hmm, makes one think if she's really cut out for this job.

All right enough ranting on about that. The bulk of it is on my myspace blog. So I will end this by saying hello to the LG.org "gangstas"! Hi guys! You know who you are. :-)

-Lisa

Happy New Year...

This post is mainly to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. I hope that the year brings good tidings to you all.

On a more somber note, rest in peace President Ford. He was a good man and although he was not elected to be Vice President or President, he did both jobs with grace and dignity. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family. I have been watching the events throughout the day on MSNBC and Fox News. I know, I could have been doing more on a Saturday but when it comes to politics I tend to pay attention...well most of the time that is.

On a more happy note, I have a Chanukah gift from my parents! They had no idea what to get me because I could not think of anything for them to get me. So they just didn't get me anything for Chanukah...until today that is. They bought me a new pair of shoes. I actually did need a pair since the shoes I normally wear are for some odd reason (I've had them for about 3 months) falling apart. Well the left one is anyway. So yeah...we went to the mall today and went into Journey's (my brother's idea) and my dad bought me a pair of Doc Martin's. Nice shoes. And they last forever. I still have a pair from when I was in 7th grade! I'm serious!

I also gave myself a little (late) Chanukah gift: a haircut, LOL. See my profile picture to see what it looks like. Hope you like it! :-)

Oh and my brother gave me quite the gift: a camera. It's used, he got it last year but since he no longer uses it (he's got a much better one now for taking professional pictures and whatnot) he gave it to me. There's only one problem: he didn't bring the software you need to install on your computer! He said that he got rid of it since he didn't need to use it on his computer. Well GRRR to him for that! And the manual he gave me is in Spanish! Yeesh. Well luckily I found what I needed on eBay and purchased it. It'll hopefully arrive within the next couple of weeks. So I forgive my brother for being a doofus. After all, it's nearly the new year and we all have clean slates. :-)

All right since this is getting long (and probably boring), I would just like to wish you once more a happy, healthy New Year. Stay safe!

-Lisa

Flu Season

I am probably not the only one who hates flu season...heck everyone I know hates it. But when you are the one to actually get the flu, it really stinks.

I was feeling fine at 10:00 PM on Tuesday night. Then at around 10:45, I started to have horrible back pain which was then accompained by general aches and pains. I decided to get off the computer and lay down when my stomach started to hurt...and I don't mean a typical stomach ache, if you know what I mean. To make a long story short, at around 11:15 my stomach turned on me...literally. So every hour that night, for the next 5 hours, I was up running to the bathroom. Ick.

I called work at around 6:15 AM and told my boss that there was no way that I was going to be able to make it. She was not at all sympathetic...instead she sounded like she didn't believe me. Ugh. She makes me really angry sometimes. My mom said she would come over and 'nurse' me back to health (she is after all, a nurse). Well before she came I decided that since I was feeling a little better that I could at least get out of bed and get dressed...bad idea. Let's just say that right when I did, I was in the bathroom again.

So I called work again and told them that I would not be in today (Thursday) either. Well Audrey (my boss) did not sound too pleased with this. I think that if she could, she'd fire me. But she'd be short on teachers if she did that. One of my co-teachers had gone home after only an hour yestderay with the same bug!

I found out that about 4 kids in my class were out with some version of the flu.

Okay I'm done grossing you out now. ;-)

Stay warm and stay healthy!

-Lisa

Finally

Well I have finally moved into my new apartment. Most of it took place yesterday and let me tell you...I hate moving! Not because of the emotional stress, it's because of the whole "what do I take with me, what stays here" and of course...carrying those heavy boxes of extra clothes that were forgotten. Not to mention extra items that I needed.

Thankfully my mom and I went to the store yesterday so I now have a start to what I'll need in terms of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items. I also got the essential things that I'll need so that's good.

I was surprised at how smoothly last night went. I thought I was going to be a nervous wreck but thankfully I wasn't. It was as if I am completely ready for this (which I now know I am). Now all I have to do is finish unpacking.

One thing I'm rather thankful for is the fact that my parents have told me that I'm more than welcome to do my laundry at home instead of having to spend $1.50 washing and then another $1.50 drying my clothes. This is something that I'll definitely be taking advantage of. :-)

Oh and then there's the football game that I watched yesterday. Now this wasn't just any old football game. It was the FINAL game (of the year anyway) between Ohio State and Michigan. For those who may not know, these two teams are rivals...I mean big time rivals. They have been for a rather long time. Anyway, it was probably the closest game I have ever seen...not to mention one of the best! In the end, Ohio State won 42-39. YAY!

That's about all for now. Have a great rest of the weekend.

-Lisa

Almost There

Well it pretty much became official today: I am now officially renting an apartment. My Dad and I went to the complex today and I signed the papers that needed to be signed and paid my first month's rent (well since it's the middle of the month, it was only 3/4 of the rent). The movers then came and hauled all of the heavy stuff (furniture, stuff I packed in boxes, etc...) over to the apartment while my Dad and I took everything we bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond last night over.

I was surprised that it only took a little over 3 hours to get the enitre move done. And it really wasn't expensive at all! Well not as expensive as I thought it was going to be anyway. The two guys who moved my stuff were great; they were very careful to not break anything and had a good sense of humor (which was a good thing considering the weather here...it's LOUSY outside!). They did a great job.

Anyway, my apartment looks pretty darn good I must say! It looked so boring before but now that I have furniture in it, it now resembles a "home." Now all I have to do is unpack, bring some more stuff over (like my clothes and some other things) and get my cable TV and internet hooked up. Unfortunately that won't be until next Saturday, but my parents being the very considerate people that they are said that I could stay at the house until Saturday so I won't go crazy with no internet, LOL.

I will try to take some pictures of the apartment and post them on here at some point in the near future.

My nerves are not quite as bad as they were last night. In fact, they're almost gone! All that's left is excitement and the feeling of accomplishment. This, for me was a HUGE step in my life. Change has never come easily for me and I just took a big step today. I'm rather proud of myself. :-)

Anything else going on...well work is going pretty well except for the fact that one of the teachers in my room does not seem to know the meaning of the word "team." There is supposed to be a 1:5 ratio of teachers to children in the room at all times and on MWF, there are 15 children (if they all come). Well she tends to leave the room for periods of time (longer than 5 minutes) and that, for us anyway, is illegal. The other teacher and I then have a ratio of 1:7 1/2 children. I know that doesn't sound like a very big change, but trust me...when you're working with 15 2-year-olds, it's a BIG difference. So things are a bit tense between my co-teacher and I versus the other teacher. I just hope it doesn't turn into what it did this past summer. Now that would be bad. I'm not going to go into detail, but if that does happen again, my co-teacher said that she will do whatever it takes to get this woman fired.

Anyway, enough of that, hehe. My weekend began with a lot of anxiety from my move and anger towards this one teacher, but the anxiety is passing and hopefully the anger will as well...if she can get her behind into gear. Now my weekend is turning out to be better than I thought it would.

And that's all I have to say. Have a nice weekend!

-Lisa

I Wish...

...That life was easy. I wish that we had a magic wand to solve the problems in our lives instead of having to deal with these problems head on.

Unfortunately life isn't like that. It's nothing even close to being like that. Sometimes I feel as though life is a test and that if I receive a failing grade that I am going to be punished in one way or another. Today was no different. If I had to give myself a grade for today's test, I'd give myself a D. Why you may ask? Because I had about 5 separate panic/anxiety attacks but still somehow accomplished what needed to be accomplished today.

One of my online friends (you know who you are) made a list of what bothers her about what some of her friends tend to do. One of the things on the list was being distant lately. I'm paraphrasing here as I do not remember exactly what it said. Well I am definitely one of those people. I've been distant at work and at home all because of this stupid anxiety about moving.

It is yet another test. Will I be able to pass this test or will I fail it? Personally I hope I pass it. I am pretty sure I can and that I will...it's preparing for this test that is making things rather hard. I feel like I'm taking the ACT's again. Ick. I hated that test.

Anyway this is probably getting really boring so I'm just going to stop now. Have a nice evening.

-Lisa

Life...

I don't know about you but these past couple of weeks (hell, the whole month has been like this) have been the worst weeks of my life so far.

I am moving, as you probably know, into an apartment come October 28th (or the weekend after...it depends on how much we get moved). Well this is supposed to be an exciting event right? Ha. Try the most stressful thing I have ever dealt with. And I thought studying for one of the biggest tests of my life in high school was stressful. It is nothing compared to this.

Now for some people, this is easy; it is really exciting and they just WANT to and are READY to get out of their parents' house and move on with life. I'm ready to move and trust me, I do want to, but I'm not like other people. Stress isn't something that I deal with very well. I have never dealt with it very well. This stress has caused me to have countless panic and anxiety attacks (the fact that I am bipolar doesn't help) and I have withdrawn from things I really like doing.

My Mom, however, saw right through me...I'm not very good at hiding my anxiety or depression...she suggested that I go see a therapist or social worker. I complied; I mean what is the harm with going to see someone and spill your guts to them? I saw a social worker for half my life when I lived in IL...well I had been seeing one since I was about 7 to age 14; then we decided that she just wasn't helping so I stopped seeing her. I wasn't really seeing anyone about my anxiety (BAD move on my part). I would occasionally see my psychiatrist...this man, however, did not help in the least.

To make a long story short (too late), I finally found the PERFECT social worker. She was the best thing that had happened! I saw Joanne for 9 years. I saw her right up until we moved to Nashville. Since then, I have been seeing a psychiatrist for my medication. But I have not been going to a social worker. This is something that I should have done right when we moved. But hey, it's never too late to start. So tomorrow I am seeing a social worker. I only hope that I can build up the same kind of trust that I did with Joanne and that I will be able to tell her anything and everything that is going on.

All right this is pretty boring....if you're reading this, thanks for 'listening.' So if anyone was wondering why I have been so distant lately, the above paragraphs have the answer.

-Lisa

A 'Wicked' Weekend

Well as you can probably tell from both the title of this entry and of the above picture, I saw the incredible musical Wicked this weekend. Even though I have listened to the CD about 600 times before, seeing it live was so much better! Trust me, it's a great show and a great backstory to the witches of Oz. We really get an 'inside' look at what Glinda and Elphaba (A.K.A. the Wicked Witch of the West) were like when they were younger.

Now where, you may ask (or not) did I see the show? Chicago! My parents and I were invited to my baby cousin's 1st birthday and we decided to go. I was lucky enough to get the day off work -- I had asked about a month ago and my director said no since another teacher was going to be out, but I then found out that she (the teacher) was not in fact going to be taking the day off so I asked again...and thankfully my director said yes!

So we drove the 5 hours and 3 minutes (at least that's what my dad said about how long the trip took) from Dayton to Chicago. It wasn't the most exciting car ride, but I did get my parents (my mom likes it already) to listen to Wicked. My dad even liked it! And he is not a huge musical fan. We even listened to the first act of RENT (OBC soundtrack)! They liked that too.

Anyway on to Friday night. Incredible is all I can really say to describe the show. My Grandma somehow got me a seat in the 6th row (main floor), just left of center in the Orchestra section! I had one of the best views of the stage! Oh if only pictures were allowed. Unfortunately they're not. But take my word for it; I had a great time.

I also met my brother's girlfriend Shawn. She is my age (literally...she's 2 days younger than me!) and also a HUGE musical fan. So we hit it off right away. She and my brother are so cute together.

See what I mean? I took some other pictures from my cousin's party...which was a lot of fun by the way. I'll put a couple of the pictures I really liked here.

Oh and when we got home we had about 3 hours of freedom until we had to get dressed up and go to Temple for Erev Yom Kippur. And on Monday we were pretty much in Temple all day. I was SO TIRED afterwards! Not to mention rather hungry (I'm technically supposed to fast on Yom Kippur). Luckily our Temple had a "Break-the-Fast" dinner-like arrangement in the main hall of the Synagogue which was nice.

Anyway that's about it for me! Bye!

-Lisa

L'Shana Tova Indeed!

I am on cloud 9 right now! There are two main reasons for this and they are:

1. I found out on Friday that I will be able to go to Chicago with my parents. Originally, I wasn't going to be able to go because someone else at work was taking the day off, but she decided to cancel that. I'll get into this more in a minute.
2. My Grandma knows how much I absolutely adore the musical Wicked and also called on Friday, telling me that she got me a ticket to see it in Chicago on Friday night!!!!!

All right now that I have those two items covered, I'll go into more detail on each. I had originally asked for September 29th off about a month ago when I first found out that my parents were going to Chicago for my little cousin's 1st birthday. Well my director said that I couldn't take that day off because one of my co-workers was already taking that day off and we are VERY short on staff right now, thus making it impossible. Of course I was crushed, but I decided that maybe something could happen to make me able to take this day off. My mom had been asking me almost everyday if I could just go ask again (I didn't because I knew the answer). Finally on Friday, I called my mom to tell her that I had a staff meeting on Monday (I know, completely off the topic, but whatever; this is my blog, haha ;-) and she then told me that my Grandma had called telling her that Wicked was going to be in Chicago for another week...this prompted me to rush downstairs and plea for the day off! Well Audrey (my director) said that even though Jess had canceled her day off, she (Audrey) had also canceled the sub! I was fuming. BUT then Audrey said she'd give her a call and see if she could get the sub back. I was rather thankful. Well about 2 hours later, Audrey came into the room saying "You owe me--I got you the day off." She was smiling about it and I wanted to hug her! I think I thanked her about 10 times in a row.

All right now more on my Grandma and me seeing the musical that I have been longing to see since I first listened to the OBC soundtrack a few months ago. My Grandma said that Friday the 29th was the very last performance (the evening one anyway; I'm not sure if there is a matinee that day). Naturally I was excited as hell. Pardon my french. ;-) Now I was planning on paying for a ticket since I wasn't about to make my Grandma pay for it...but she beat me to it. That evening, before we went to Temple for Rosh Hashana, she called and told me that she got me a seat...in the 6th row of the main floor, just off center! I was beaming, but since I was so tired I simply said, "Thank you so much!" I think that was for the best.

I am still debating on whether I should pay her back; my parents said that I should accept this as a gift, but to thank her again when we see her (well duh, mom!) on Friday. I'm thinking of going that route since I have other expenses to think about right now.

For instance: moving. Yep that's right! I am going to move into my new apartment on Saturday, October 28th! So that's exciting. Now all we need to do is pack up all my stuff, call the apartment complex and let them know the move in date and get a moving truck!

So I'd say that this is defnitely a good start to the New Year.

L'Shana Tova!

-Lisa

And So The Process Begins

Well today I decided to go back to the apartment complex that my parents and I looked at last weekend. After a lot of pondering over what apartment seemed to have the best amenities, security, etc... I finally came to the conclusion as to which one I liked the most. So today my mom and I drove over there and talked with the woman who helped us on Sunday. I filled out the application, paid the application fee, and the deposit which means the apartment is now reserved in my name. :-) Now all I have to do is settle on a move-in date! I'm thinking the end of October which gives me a good chunk of time to figure out what I will want to go where and what I'm going to need to buy.

My dad surprised me this evening when I called him...he said that he and my mom are going to cover the cost of the movers! This was a surprise because I am very used to doing everything for myself and by myself. Yet how could I possibly pass something like that up?! I'm already going to have to be buying a bunch of other things so I guess he decided that he and my mom should do something to help out. It's times like this when you really come to appreciate your parents; not because they give you things, but because of what they want to do for their kids every now and then. Cherish those moments guys.

After my mom and I finished up at the complex, we decided to go to Chili's for lunch. I hadn't been there in a while and we figured that since it was on the way home, why not. When we finished, my brain started to trail off. That's basically when the reality of, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to be moving in a month and I'll be living on my own for the first time! What the hell am I doing?!' As that was happening, I almost went through a red light. Oops. Thankfully I didn't and stopped in time (granted the anti-lock brakes did kick in...). My mom wasn't upset though which was a good thing. Had she been upset, I could have had a full blown anxiety or panic attack in the car. Now that would not have been good.

Once we were home, I got on the computer for a while. That reality was really starting to kick in and I was now having a full blown anxiety attack that was presenting itself in the form of depression. For some reason my anxiety attacks have been coming in that form lately. Weird. I took a 2 hour nap which helped a little bit, but I was still rather nervous. My mom had to go usher at the Beavercreek Community Theatre for a play they're putting on so after she left I got off the computer and lay down on my bed, put my earphones on and listened to part of Wicked. Well that wasn't helping one little bit. For those who don't get anxiety attacks all that often or don't suffer from General Anxiety Disorder or Depression (I have both...well I'm bipolar actually), when you lay on your bed and think about absolutely nothing during an attack, it isn't going to help. All I thought about was how scared I was. I finally just said 'screw it' (okay I didn't actually say that, but I was thinking it) and changed into my workout clothes. I then went downstairs to the basement where we have our stationary bike. I put the CD of Wicked in (I'm addicted to that show) and started riding. I figured that I would ride for about 20 minutes or so. That would probably get me thinking about something else and would probably help me calm down...

Well 36 minutes and 7.5 miles later, I felt a lot better. Not only did I have a really good workout (I burned 190 calories; the most I have ever burned while riding the bike in that amount of time), but I felt much better. My head was clear and things were starting to come into place. Yes I'm still really nervous, but at least I'm not having an attack.

I guess that does it for now. Have a great weekend and I'll be writing more at some point.

-Lisa