CheezyOranges

The wonderfully nice lady who took our pictures when I forgot my camera sent me the pics in my email today! Here they are:

Me with Al

My Boyfriend Greg with Al

An Amazing Evening!

The day started out fairly normal. I got up, went to work, lunch, but I came home at 3:15 so that Greg and I could leave early to head to Titusville and then Melbourne. We stopped in Titusville first because there’s a restaurant there called Dixie Crossroads that Greg has been raving about. So we headed down 50 and made our way there.

Firstly, the place was decorated with murals and they had a fish pond out front filled with big, dull eyed fish who wanted food. And pigeons. There were lots of pigeons there too.

Inside, it was really friendly and happy - very coastal. We sat in a big booth and ordered our food. Greg had crab legs and scallops and some shrimp (they had a multitude of combo plates) and I had fish and veggies on the side. It was yummy, and their “corn fritters” were more like corn doughnuts. They served them covered in powdered sugar. Except for eating too many fritters, the whole meal was really good for my diet. So good! When we’re done eating, Greg says there’s a really awesome Indian restaurant out there too. So, if we’re out that way any time we’ll probably stop there, if we can find it.

After dinner, we made our way towards Melbourne. Unfortunately, when we got to Dixie Crossroads, it started raining, and it was spitting at us all night off and on. The 45 minutes or so straight down 95 to Melbourne were quick and easy. We got to the King Center, and after a little bit of a fun time parking (I missed the first driveway), we got a spot and got in. Earlier in the day, I had pulled some cash from my account for dinner/gas, etc. I completely FORGOT they’d be selling merchandise at the concert. Luckily I had enough to get a shirt. I got the CD cover, because the others were cool, but I liked the tour dates on the back, as well. Its too bad my other Weird Al shirt doesn’t fit anymore (too big). If I found it, though I could give it to Greg. He’d probably get a kick out of it. Anyway, we had about an hour to kill, so we milled around, watched the people and Greg bought drinks. The awesome thing is that I knew my friend FDR (filthy drunken Rebecca, even though she doesn’t drink) was going to be there. She was in the same row as us (front row balcony) but in seats far away. I waited for her to show up, we talked a bit, and then the concert started…

Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed was the sound was weird, but other than a few balance problems here and there, the whole concert was amazing. He showed lots of funny clips between numbers and was really full of energy. Some songs, you could hear the whole place singing along. At one point, he either forgot a line or just needed to take a breath, because he stopped singing, and the audience took it up and kept going. It was great. The most amazing thing the whole evening during the concert was that he performed ALBUQUERQUE! Its a 12 minute song, and I swore he said he’d never do it in concert. He did it on the Running With Scissors tour in Albuquerque and that was it. Amazing, absolutely amazing. That was a great encore. Afterwards, I was bound and determined to wait as long as I could to see if I could get an autograph. We went down to front row and waited. A security guard told us to leave rather unceremoniously. On the way out, I even begged some of the people with passes going back stage to get my cd cover signed, but they looked at me and didn’t say a word.

While we were headed towards the car, I saw a group of people waiting near the back, and I headed that way, much to Greg’s annoyance - he was tired and wanted to go home, and was sure the Security Guard meant business. I know that Al tries to come out for his fans if you wait long enough and the other guards seemed to be more cooperative. I ran to my car and grabbed another CD. Greg had the case for “Straight outta Lynnwood” to get signed, and I had the “Running With Scissors” CD.

We waited for a long time, and little by little we got more and more hope that he’d come out to see us. Finally, the guard told us to move to a different location. Excited, we all followed him. After about another 5 minutes, he told us to get in line and follow him. WE GOT IN!

I was elated. They walked us through some hallways and into a room, and there he was!!! Reuben, Steve and John, too. I think I even saw their producer, as well. Greg and I were only 5th or so in line so it wasn’t long before Greg met him and got his autograph. A very very nice lady agreed to take our pictures because I stupidly had left my camera in the car when I went to get the cd. I gave her my e-mail, and Greg offered her a card so she’ll get in contact with us soon I hope. Greg and Al spoke for a while and then it was my turn. I shook his hand, told him the concert was great, that it was my 3rd one and they’d all been amazing. He said it was the first night with a new sound guy and I told him it was awesome, and it sounded great. Overall, he looked really tired, but he was nice, soft spoken - a really great guy. I said thanks again and let the next group have their turn. I made my way around the room with my sharpie and CD and got Reuben, Steve (who spelled my name right on the FIRST TRY!!!), and John “Bermuda” to sign it. I was ecstatic.

While we were waiting outside to get in, I called my friend FDR, who is a bigger Al fan than I, but I got her voicemail. Unfortunately she headed home before listening to it because she never turned up, and I called her afterwards on the way home and told her what had happened. At least we know it’s possible. Amazing. From being kicked out to actually meeting him, it was a great night.
Then we drove home. Greg fell asleep, and I got us home safe with the help of Diet Coke!

So its Thursday, the day I stay late at work and close up. I get the luxury of coming in late on Thursdays, which is nice. I always stop by Pita Pit and pick up lunch on my way into campus. And I normally have to consider where I park, because Thursdays were the nights I’d give Jason a ride back to Pegasus Landing. But, its been a week since his funeral, and the Faculty Center is still sort of reeling from the whole thing. Jason’s computer is back from the shop and we’re going to have to hire someone to take his place. We haven’t done any public memorial about him, but our 10th anniversary is coming up and we’ll probably do something for that. After all, he’s the second person (I think) to have passed away who worked here. Its still just a stunner. I keep thinking, maybe this is all a bad dream and I’ll go to work and he’ll still be here. But I know it isn’t. He was a really good friend to a lot of people, and we miss him a lot.

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I found out this morning that Jason is dead. He died on Friday morning, before I even had the chance to say his name for Misheberach at services on Friday night. I’m just.. I don’t even know how to deal with this.
I’ve never faced death like this. He was my friend. He was my “closing buddy” as he put it when we worked together. He was always so kind, and so happy. He didn’t deserve to die. He was too young.

Thanks World of Warcraft. And sleeping in too much on Sunday morning, too. I didn’t wake up on Sunday until 2, so I couldn’t sleep last night. So I didn’t get to bed until 3. I hate having to wake up so damned early for work, but it beats being at the office every day until 9, I guess. Anyway, 9-5 job gotta do what you gotta do. I just wish that Greg would wake up earlier so he didn’t come home from work at 9. I feel like I see too little of him even though we live together. But, were I to change my schedule so I could go in at noon every day, we still wouldn’t see more of each other. Just we’d both wake up later, so the time to spend “together” would be spent asleep. So it doesn’t work. Though it would make things a bit easier on my brain on Monday mornings. Grah.

Friday night was spent at a Party!
Greg’s friend Charlotte threw a party on the occasion that she was back and visiting from England. She lives in a *very nice* townhome in Sanford. Though I didn’t know any of the people, save Greg, at the beginning, suprisingly I felt not too out of place. At first, I was wary. The people that were there and that showed up were not really my type of close friend person. At least on first impressions. After a while though, they all turned out to be really cool people. Especially once they all started drinking. I was Greg’s DD so I didn’t drink but one or two things early on in the evening. Unfortunately I completely ruined my diet by snacking on all the chips and chocolates. Blah.
So that was an interesting departure from the norm.
Over the weekend, I was bound and determined to ride by bike again, but I didn’t do it because Saturday it was cold and rainy and Sunday it was just cold.
Good thing is that my pants this morning weren’t *quite* as tight, so diet seems to be working, if annoyingly slowly.
Keep at it. Blah. Sleepy.

Yesterday was a fairly good day. I found out, unofficially, that my graduate application has been accepted. That is exciting! No word yet as to the fellowship or assistantship I was hoping to get. I do know, that if I continue to work for the school I can get a tuition waiver as long as I am full time. Which is cool, because I’d also be getting a $1 an hour raise (on top of the raise they’ve already given me to $12). Nice!
I spoke with Justin today about doing some work for them (basically splitting my time half and half with Faculty Center and Undergraduate Studies.) It sounds like a real opportunity. I’d be one of their web developers, and pretty much working on my own. The team they have there sounds like a good solid one - they have print people, Justin is amazing with graphic design, they just don’t have a coder. So we could all make some pretty kick ass websites.

The sad thing I discovered today is that my friend from work, Jason, is sick in the hospital with pneumonia! His parents called to let us know he’d been admitted and to ask what to do about his schooling. Poor guy is probably going to have to file medical withdrawal when he comes back, which I know is a pain in the ass. Sucks. Oh and hey, the 20th was Greg and I’s anniversary. We’re not even celebrating the monthly ones anymore.

Speaking of Greg, he’s not happy. He drinks every night. It isn’t all me, and it’s not all his work, and I guess its just a bunch of things that he feels “aren’t working out” or something. I mean, one minute he’s fine but by the time night rolls around he can be moody, depressed, and feels like going to alcohol to make himself feel better. This is bad, because he’s going to become an alcoholic.

Death is not something you think about on a regular basis. More often than not, many people try to keep it as far away from their train of thought as possible. Unfortunately for some, it’s brought into stark contrast quite suddenly. I was talking to Andrew on Valentine’s day and he broke away from our call for a few moments and when he came back on the line, he knew that one of his friends had died. It’s amazing how different a person can be with knowledge of something like that. While we had been joking and laughing a few moments before, he called me back an hour or so later and was completely broken up about it. Understandably of course. I only met Adam once, but he seemed a nice enough guy. Plus he finally had some hope looking up for him.
The tampa paper did a nice little article.

Tampa Man Killed In 1-Car Crash On I-75
BRANDON - A 23-year-old Tampa man died Wednesday morning in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 75.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Adam J. Figlewski of 11740 N. 17th St. was killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo veered off the interstate and hit a concrete overpass support of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. Figlewski was the only person in the vehicle.
The sport utility vehicle was headed south at 9:40 a.m. in the right lane north of the U.S. 301 exit ramp when it ran onto the grass shoulder and hit the support, officials said.
Figlewski was thrown partway from the Jeep and was pronounced dead at the scene.

So touching.