Somewhere in Between

Last weekend we drove down to Tampa to party with Jason and to see 311/Snoop Dogg. I lost my stupid camera battery so I don’t have any pictures but here is a crappy video from the show.

Richard’s turn-
They were amazing as always. Obviously I am biased because they are one of my favorite bands, but they really outdid themselves.  You know how you will be at a show, even when it’s a band you like, and sort of get bored part of the way through it?  Yeah…that didn’t happen.  They could have played 15 more songs and I would have danced til my ankle gave in.  (Side Note) I sprained my ankle hardcore playing soccer a couple of weeks ago.  The pain has been so bad and so consistent I actually went to the doctor to make sure it wasn’t more than a sprain.  It’s just a sprain.  I’m fine.  I think someone called me a wuss on the way out of the docs office but I can’t be sure.  Anyhoo the concert didn’t let out until 11 and we decided to make the long drive back.  We had to actually.  Neither of us felt it was worth it to take the day off of work. Before we even did this we agreed that I would make the drive back solo while Pam slept in the car.  She’s a troopster though.  I don’t know if there is anyone else in the world that would have done that just to make me happy.  Don’t get me wrong…Pam loves 311.  She just doesn’t drive-home-until-3-in-the-morning love them.  BUT after a giant redbull and some coffee,  we made it home around 3:30am. Yeesh.

I didn’t even resemble a tired person when we got home.  I could have just stayed awake til it was time to go to work, but I chose to “sleep” for a couple of hours.  I drifted off here and there, but everytime I got into any sort of rhythm I had some insane dream that ripped me from my sleep. Pam was able to sleep better than I was, but we were both struggling the next morning.  Solution:  More Red Bull (awful idea).

For the past 2 weeks I have been doing nothing at work but sitting through training seminars.   As interesting as the railroad is to me nothing makes me want to stab myself in the eye like 8 hours of class that minimally pertains to my actual job.  (Another side note)  I sat through roughly 80 hours of training seminars which outlined the entire scope of my new company (CSX if you’re scoring at home) over the last two weeks after which I sat down at my desk and was tasked with something to do for my actual job at the company.  No idea how to do it.  Didn’t even have a clue where to look.  So that training really paid off.

So  I was really caught in a no win situation.  On one hand I had to go to work.   On the other I knew there was absolutely no possibility I would stay awake through 8 hours of class without some help.  I was still shaking from the amount of Red Bull I consumed the night before to stay on the road, but I knew the crash was coming.  I had to gear up for my day of work.  I bought two more big cans and took them to the office as back up amo.

Around 10am is when it happened.  My head got reeeeeeeaaaaaaaal heavy and stuff started looking like it was happening in slow motion.  I didn’t pay any attention to what anyone was saying for the rest of the seminar that i was currently enjoying.  All I did was keep repeating, “Don’t go to sleep.  Don’t go to sleep.  Don’t go to sleep…” over and over again in my head.  And then it got worse.  I scurried from the conference room immediately after the guy was done with his part of the presentation.  I don’t even think he was done with the Q & A portion, but I had an emergency.  I went straight for my first can of RB and pounded it.  I don’t know if you have ever seen one of the big red bull cans, but they contain quite a lot of energy drink.  I believe they are 3 servings in 1 can, which is ridiculous because it says right on the RB box not to consume more than 1 small can over a 4 hour span or you risk instantaneous death.

I pushed the possibility of a sugar/caffiine induced heart attack from my mind and took that first can to the house.  I didn’t even taste it.  I even did a little shimmy in an attempt to make it flow through my system quicker.   So what happens?  I’M STILL FALLING ASLEEP IN THE NEXT SEMINAR!  I couldn’t believe what was happening.  I had just consumed a level of energy drink that promised to kill me with adrenaline.  I didn’t really expect a fate that harsh, but I at least expected to re-gain the ability to keep my eyelids open.  It’s 11am at this point.  I have roughly 6 more hours of training seminars, I’ve already consumed aa seriously unhealthy amount of caffine and sugar and there is abosolutely no chance I am stayig awake for another 15 minutes without more help.

At that point some pretty ridiculous stuff started becoming realistic possibilities in my mind.  Could I draw realistic enough looking eyes on my eyelids thus fooling everyone into thinking I am awake and engaged when I am actually dreaming away?  To risky.  What if someone asked me a question?  What if I started drooling?  Can’t do the fake eyelid thing although it was a really good idea.  Could I fake sick and leave early to return to my bed?  Nope.  I screwed myself there.  Everyone (including my boss) knew what I had done last night and would have known I was just leaving because I tried to act like some 19 year old that didn’t have anything to do the next day but show up to his 1pm biology class.  But I wasn’t going to Bio 110.  I was going to a job that a very big company pays me to do.  I couldn’t afford to look THAT irresponsible (stupid conscience).

There was only one thing I could do.  Pound that other Red Bull.  It worked.  Sort of.  I was awake.  Very awake.  That much is true.  My eyes were open, I was able to move and I didn’t have to continually remind myself not to fall asleep while someone was talking.  Unfortunately that was all I could do.  My body was awake, but my brain had packed it in for the evening.  I was a shell.  As you may imagine, the inability to think was a major problem.   Luckily I was not called upon to speak for the rest of the day.   That would have been interesting.

Presenter:  Richard, what do you think CSX’s highest revenue commodity is?

Me: *drool*

Presenter:  Rich?  You don’t even want to guess?

Me: BAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Presenter:  No. Not BAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.  Try again.

Me: B…B…Braaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiins.

Presenter: No we actually aren’t legally eligible to ship brains.  That wasn’t even a good guess.  You’re a wierd guy, Rich.

Me:  GAAAAAAAAAAA!

Presenter:  Whatever *under his breath* dumbass.

Wouldn’t have been good to say the least.  But I made it.  I couldn’t tell you a single thing about anything I was supposed to be learning that day.  I couldn’t even tell you my name.  But I sat through those seminars, eyes open and no one is the wiser.

Long story LONG…I don’t think I will ever do the crazy ass go-to-a-concert-and-drive-through-the-night-to-make-it-to-work thing ever again.  I did it once before for a Queens of the Stoneage show, and I really felt like it was worth it for 311.  But I think we might just be getting to old for that kind of thing.  It wore on me for a couple of days after.

But what the hell, right?  You’re only young once, so you should do stuff like this while you can.

Last weekend Richard and I headed up to Charleston  to see a hilarious comedian, Jim Gaffigan. We stayed with our friends Bob & Andrea and their Cat, Pearl. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. Richard was laughing loudest of everyone in the audience which only made it more funny. GOOD TIMES. Thanks to Bob & Andrea for the hospitality.

Welcome to our blog! 
 Richard and I have been so busy we decided to start a blog to keep all of our loved ones in the loop. First I would like to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who made our wedding day so special. I hope I had the time to tell you how happy I was to see you (yes you) because it was such a perfect day for us mainly because we were surrounded by all the people that mean the most. Judging by the million photos and videos, everyone had a good time.

The fabulous wedding party.

Please visit our photographer’s website at www.landonjacob.com the password is Angle. If you want to purchase or see some of the amature photos, visit www.snapfish.com. Sign in is FIfty3reefer@yahoo.com and the password is wedding. We would love it if you would upload your own photos to the site as well so we can all share. You can also check out our honeymoom pics to Big Sur, Napa Valley & San Francisco.

 Mini wedding video

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=38289216

Since the wedding we have been crazy busy. If you haven’t heard, we are no longer moving to Charleston. Richard stumbled upon a job here in Jacksonville and he absolutely loves it. I will let him explain it to you but he is happier and much more available meaning less blackberry OCD & weekend work. Since then we have decided to live life while we can, before jobs, babies and make the best of Jacksonville. We have been going out a lot more and traveling to Tampa to party with Jason. We have been to Warped Tour, Sister Hazel, Bar Crawls, you name it. Richard plays soccer on a men’s league called the Mangler’s and we just signed up for fall kickball. We both work out 4 nights a week and try to squeeze in hobbies like card making and guitar. Who knows how long we can keep up this juggling act but it has been fun so far xo

Here is our dip we practiced so much for. The DJ cut our dance short