I only worked Wednesday last week. That gave me lots of time to do things like clean my house, and catch up with friends. It worked out pretty well. I really enoyed the time off from work.

Friday night I drank with Prasad and Josh while watching Boondock Saints 2...and I think maybe it was my favorite drinky-drink night with Josh EVER. Cherry Svedka might be the best thing in the world.

In other news, I decided to shut off the cable and the internet at my house. And it's been a weekend of epiphanies. A friend of mine gave me some good advice--simply to be nice, which I kind of blew off, but after my spirit guide kept throwing sign after sign at me, I've resigned to at least give it a shot. I've been less nice that I probably SHOULD be, of that I am certain. I have to try not to completely give up on people, I guess.

Erik and I had a pretty big discussion last night too, and we've kind of hit the cosmic reset button on us. Fresh start, and so on. I did a lot of explaining about who I am and how I see things, and why I do the things I do. And it occurred to me that I am most focused on making awesome-tacular memories at any cost. I really DO want to be that ONE memory that you never forget, that mind-blowing, savor-it-in-the back-of-your-mind, no-one-would-believe-this memory. I don't know why, but that's how I am.

This gave me a great idea for a new book by the way, which I am fleshing out. It's one more reason to remove the internet for a while and focus. Also, when we GOT the cable and the internet, there were some caveats--specifically that I would only pay for those extravagances if we had no personal debt. ...and now that I had my little heart episode, we have debt again. We may turn it back on once all of the medical stuff is paid...but then, maybe I will be a famous author by then, and won't have the time, amidst my book tour.

I hate having debt. I mean REALLY REALLY hate.

So that's what's new. Yesterday Hannah and I made a cool sketch book for her out of recycled things and I am posting pics. And I read more of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and then I actually did some pretty amazing line drawings. I am much more creative when I'm not busy being catty or sexy on FB.

Out, (but not Down)
~Carrie

I've been meaning to blog, but I haven't. I don't know why. No need, no desire.

I went and saw Iron Maiden Sunday night. I thought having a concert on a Sunday evening was odd, but then, with the kind of fan loyalty that Maiden brings, It was no surprise they packed the ampitheatre at Tinley Park. We took the toll road and headed west. Traffic was a bitch, but even through some chicagoland traffic jams we made our way, Erik and I.

Eddie (my brother) and his wife and Sarah (my sister) and her husband were ahead of us, having left hours earlier. I was not particularly interested in seeing Dream Theater, and it was hot as hell.

Our timing was perfect. We managed to get to the theatre right AT the start time. I got to run ahead of Erik in the "women's line" (which had all 5 of us) where I got patted down briefly and then waited 10 minutes or whatever for Erik to make it though the line. While I was waiting though, I did get a free hug (I was wearing my "FREE HUGS" shirt. For you who don't know, on the front it says "FREE HUGS" and on the back it says "WORLD CHAMPION SLUT HUGGER") This guy asked for his hug and I gave it to him and then his friend took a picture. I told him to read the back of the shirt and he laughed--he was pretty drunk. He said, "Thanks for the hug!" and I said, "No, thank YOU...slut."

All in all, I got hugged like 4 times, twice by women, twice by men. The men took pictures. The women were just in it for the hugs. And I only seemed to get hugged when I wasn't with Erik--except for one woman. We walked around the booths outside. T-shirts were ridiculously overpriced. I am NOT paying $50 for a concert tee. I opted to stay out there until Dream Theatre finished playing. We got a soda and just hung out. I really DON'T care for Dream Theatre.

We made it back to our seats just in time to see Dream Theatre play "Pull Me Under" and that was their last song. Then maiden came on.

I don't want to rehash the concert. The guys looked old, but played well. The acoustics at Tinley were complete BULLSHIT. It was so echoey that you actually could HEAR the song if you put your fingers in your ears, which at $80 a ticket, was regoddamndiculous. The other thing that really KILLED me, was that all the stuff they played was newer stuff. So it was like, an hour of stuff I didn't even know. I get it. They are promoting a new album, but SHIT. I wanted to hear Run to the Hills, or The Trooper, or Can I play With Madness? or Wasted Years...or about a fucking MILLION other songs. Erik and I made up lists of what we wanted to hear when we were driving out and they didnt' play ANY of what was on Erik's list. They ended the show with "Iron Maiden" and then came back for the encore, which was by far the FUCKING BEST part of the show. They played "The Number of the Beast" and it was fun watching my churchy-churchy brother sing along, albeit uncomfortably. And then Hallowed Be Thy Name (which was one of the songs I was hoping to hear them play on my long list) and they finished with Running Free, which I thought was a let down, but was what my brother was hoping they would end with.

Sadness. Too much $$ for shitty sound and a bunch of songs I didnt' care to hear. Oh well. At least I can cross them off of the list of things I want to do before I die (No, I won't call it a "bucket list"; that's lame as hell.)

On the way home we detoured to White Castle and got sliders for the first time EVER. we made it home around 3am.
Monday I had to originally work at 8am, but my coworker, Khrys was kind enough to siwtch with me so I didn't have to go in until 3pm.
Regardless, I was still dragging ass all fucking day. Tuesday I worked open to close...and then partied afterward with Karen and her friend Kenny...with too much Strawberry tequila and Amaretto. My goodness. Funny as hell.

I spent Wednesday hung over, feeling like absolute shit. Took the kids to the flea market though, so Hannah could get flip flops and Nim could get pokemon cards. We got doughnuts from Rise N Roll and then Jerky from Dutch Country Market and so once I was done feeling like the floor of a NYC taxi, it ended up being a pretty cool day for me and girls.

On Thursday I went to visit Ruby. I got a lot of cool shit when I won the fox 28 foxhunt--most of which I've been handing out to friends. I gave Erik my House T-shirt, gave Hannah my Bones mousepad, gave Nim the watermelon claey's candies, and wanted to give Ruby my Dunder-Mifflin Pen and Dwight Schrute post it notes. I try to share the wealth with my peeps. While I was there, I was narrating Snow White as I saw it, and it was pretty funny. Pandora kept yelling "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" and I was like, "But i'm making it BETTER!" and she goes, "Ok, you don't have to shut up. But YOU (pointing to Ruby) have to stop laughing!" It was great. Best Thor's Day EVER. I had a lot of fun and laughed and am simply blown away by how much my friends completely rock and how much I love them.

I FINALLY got home at 5pm...maybe it was later. And spend the evening with the fam.
I talked to Josh a bit online and made plans to get together for lunch.

and that brings us to today.

I went out to lunch with Josh today at Victorian Pantry. It was so fucking hot out, that it didn't feel any better no matter how fast I drove. And then, they raised the toll again. So now to drive to Josh's in addition to the ridiculous amount it costs in gas, costs me $1.30 in tolls. At one point the speed limit was 45mph as the toll road was down to one lane. Horse shit. If I am going to PAY to drive as fast as I fucking want to, I'm going to drive as fast as I fucking want to. And so I did. There were a lot of cops out on the toll road, but I managed to still drive as fast as I wanted to.

I made it Josh's a little early. His apartment was blissfully cold. I felt like I was about to turn into a tornado. We headed over to Victorian Pantry, me driving like a racecar driver, like I do, and him holding on for dear life, like he does. We got to VP and of course they didn't have the focaccia bread ready yet, but they said they would soon. We sat at my favorite table by the window and caught up. I kept laughing as I recalled and shared events from my day off. We both gushed about our adventures of late and talked a very little about the road trip we're supposed to take out east. Josh wantst to turn the road trip into a plane ticket...to which I am violently (YES. VIOLENTLY) opposed.

He mentioned talking to Aubrey and I realized, sort of surprised, that I hadn't talked to her in a while. it seems like maybe I'm keeping everyone at arm's length lately. I know my friends are probably feeling it. It's ok. I will sort this all out, eventually. But really, the only reason I hadn't talked to Aubrey is just lack of time and then, when I AM online, I'm on FB, dicking around for mere moments before I'm off to work again or whatever.

Time flew by too fast and I got the focaccia bread to go. I took Josh home and because I refuse to use my car's AC, his hair got all wind-blown and it looked really good, which I mentioned. We parted ways and I was headed back to home. I had to run by the store and get cat litter. I kept trying to call Erik because I was going to tell him to go give some $$ to Ward for the Xbox and I wanted to also ask him something else, but I forgot what. I ran by gamestop and sally's eyeing the parking lot for his car,or him and the girls to no avail, then pulled into the Walmart parking lot and almost HIT them--they were walking out of Walmart just as I pulled up. I honked and they were blown away to see me there. I sometimes have a weird psychic ability to find things and/or people, simply by focusing really hard on them. it's creepy, but cool.

We reassessed our plans and the kids jumped in my car because they were anxious to get back home, and that's where I was headed. Then I made them get OUT of my car, because really, I still had to buy cat litter. We did our walmart shopping and headed home. I napped a little and then went to work. At work, Taryn called to see what I was doing tonight, and of course, I was working. SIGH. I really LOVE my job, but it was so damn hot tonight that tempers were short and since there were like 50 reservations for today, it was non-stop. I was in the AC and out of the AC, back and forth for hours, until seriously I was feeling nauseous.

Eventually, finally, it rained. and I mean RAINED. I got drenched and I LOVED it. I love storms. I don't know what it is about storms. I want to make out in thunderstorms always.

I had fun though and we made it through. And Khrys informed me that Kampers kept coming in on my days off all "Where's Carrie??" which is nice. I'm glad I make an impression.

Anyhow, my battery is about to die, and the power cord they sent me is wrong, so I'm out. Love you, babies.

~C.

Someone sure is cute today.

So, I guess I should finish up the Louisville Blog, afterall, I DID make it home.

I wandered the hotel until Josh got out of his conference. He finally got back about twenty minutes after one. We went out to the parking garage in the ungodly heat. We got to the elevator and pushed the button...and NOTHING. And pushed it again...nothing. We waited and waited, but the elevator never came. Thankfully we were parked on the second floor instead of the fourth (like we were originally) so when we ended up having to walk up to the car, it didn't completely kill us. (It only killed us a little).

When we got passed the elevator we saw that it was STUCK between floors, a guy on top of it banging on something. Remember when I got on the elevator earlier that day on the second floor and it didn't move and I had a mini-freakout about getting stuck in that elevator?? ? I am so glad I didn't get stuck in that elevator. I can't even imagine how much that would suck in that 100 degree weather.

We got to the car and I was SO HAPPY. I have never gone that long without driving. FOUR DAYS, people. It felt so good to be behind the wheel...and I'm pretty sure that Josh's car missed me as well. We got out of the parking garage and started heading north.

For the record, lots of dumbtards and traffic. More than I would have thought for a wednesday afternoon. Lots of signs for road construction...and no construction. Lots of backups. Did I ever make it to White Castle? Fuck no. Both times when I got near a White Castle, I was in the far left lane with no hope of getting over to the right. It just might not be meant to be. Will I EVER have a slider??

It was very windy on the way home, and Josh's car wanted to drift. My hands were imbedded in the wheel, as I drove (as fast as I could) north. Lots of jockeying for position as lots of idiots cruised the fast lane, backing up traffic and causing everyone to take dangerous risks. I only drove Josh's car off the line ONCE like it was mine, and I think maybe I freaked him out a little, but I apologized. I was hoping to make it back by 5:30 but it was a little after 6 when we got back.

By the time I helped Josh take his stuff into his apartment and we got our cars moved around (I was parked in his spot under the carport) It was a quarter past six and I needed to go. I had planned to be home by 7. But making the drive from Louisville to South Bend in four and a half hours wasn't bad. I guess i can live with it.

When I got closed to home, I called the girls and told them to start walking to the front of the subdivision and I'd pick them up and take them to the KOA for ice cream. I visited with the staff and talked about the trip and then we had ice cream. It almost 8 when I actually stepped foot in the house.

So that was the trip home. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but I think the best part of the trip home was singing in the car with Josh, harmonizing on songs and talking. I mean, there was never a dull moment. Especially with all the crazy on the roads. I think the majority of our conversations were like, "Look at what this asshole is doing." "Oh My God. Are you serious?" "People are retards."

So, much love Josh for determining to get me out of Michigan and Indiana and into Indyucky. :)
I've proven to him that I can behave himself, hopefully lulling him into a false sense of security so I can show him the crazy when he's my hostage for the REAL road trip out East or our West...wherever we end up. That is supposed to happen in August--hopefully it won't be so ridiculously hot on that trip.

The. End.

~Carrie

We got up stupid early Tuesday morning because Josh had a very early meeting to go to, for which he wore an actual suit. I took pictures of him holding various things, which was very amusing to me. He tolerated it. That's all that matters.

Once he left, I totally lazed around, not doing much of anything except trying NOT to go outside because it was just so ugly hot out. I did spend time on the balcony though, because I think the balcony is my favorite part of the entire experience. I like watching the traffic below, seeing people drive retardedly, watching what they are doing when they are walking, seeing what people in pickup trucks have in the beds of their trucks. Josh says I just like "judging from on high" and he may be right.

I watched some TV. I read. I showered. Then I made what was not the best decision. I put on my "Free Hugs" shirt and decided to try starbucks again. I was starvingfor caffeine, as well as meat. I've not had meat at all on this trip and I'm so TIRED from an all-carb diet it surprises me. It's not that I'm purposely trying to be meat free, just that everything is so damn expensive, and the only cheap place within walking distance is Subway and the only thing I ever get from Subway is the Veggie Delight...which I've had twice this week, along with some trail mix, some crackers, some peanut butter on bread, and some granola. I'm grained out. I plan to go to White Castle on the way home. I've never been, and by god, I need some cow.

So I wandered down town, and realized that the free hugs shirt had people actually wanting hugs. But only the crazies, and I had a man ask me if hugs were all I was giving out. (MY brilliant response? "No, I give out smiles too!" Then I cheesed hardcore, like a dork.)

I visited a store called "A Taste of Kentucky" which had all kinds of touristy crap but nothing I thought the girls or Erik would enjoy, and then I decided that I needed to get my ass back to the hotel and change my shirt. I went back to the room and cooled off for a while, still hungry and made coffee (there is a coffee pot in the room, but it only comes with one prepackaged coffee filter per day, and then you get one creamer packet, two sugar packets, and straw to stir it with. Gross. It was pretty dark, unsweetened coffee. I ended up walking over to Subway, even though I really didn't want to go back into the heat.

I got back a few minutes later and watched some more bad TV and tried to nap, to no avail and a while later Josh got back. I was watching Wife Swap, which I love an he hates, but it's my guiltiest dirtiest TV pleasure. He was hungry, but I was not, but I walked with him to Subway. Walking was more like swimming in a bath, the air was so hot and wet.

When we got back, we watched gameshows until it was time for "Pretty Little Liars" which Hannah and I usually watch together. We watched it together and talked about it on IM. Afterward Josh and I watched a terrible new gameshow where they drop stuff of a building (including the contestant and their family) if they answer trivia question incorrectly.

We went to bed watching Kathy Griffin and I eventually couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

Sleeping has been weird. I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't sleep. It was hot as hell in our room, so I ended up turning on the air, which we tend to shut off at night. I am not used to sleeping in clothing, but I kind of have to, because anything else would be weird and uncomfortable for everyone. I couldn't sleep, so I took a shower, and then I grabbed my laptop and wrote this long blog that I lost.

I went back to bed and slept a few hours until Josh got up. He went to his conference, and I piddled around the room, listening to music on my computer.

Finally around 9 I figured it wasn't going to get any cooler out, so I packed up my stuff and put it in the car. It was SO hot outside, I couldn't even stand it. I got my stuff in the car, then went back to the parking garage elevator and when I hit the G button, NOTHING HAPPENED. The doors shut and the elevator was just sitting there. I was like "ARE YOU KIDDING??" I could not bear to be trapped in a stinky elevator with no air, in a parking garage in the 100 degree heat. I pushed the door open button and it opened and I got out. I debated taking the stairs but it was SO HOT I got back in the elevator. I figured I could give it a second chance. This time, when I pushed the G button, it lurched into action and I walked through the swelter to the hotel and back into the air conditioned bliss.

I was determined NOT to go outside anymore, and I didn't. Josh got back around 10am and we just hung out and watched the clock until almost noon, which was checkout. I was so ready to go! We checked out and I am actually still typing this while he is in his conference. It started nine minutes ago...and I've been at this computer for almost 40. I hope they don't kick me out because I can't bear the idea of being out in the heat. And Josh just texted me and said that he will be another extra 20 minutes because they changed the order of the presenters. BOOO.

So here I am, typing away. A jogger just went past the hotel that looked like Harry Connick Jr. :)

Josh should be back in an hour. I am so ready to be on the road. SIGH. It's been fun, but I'll be glad to get back to my routine.

And this is most of the blog that I lost, but I don't know what all I've forgotten. Oh well.

Out,

Monday evening. I'm not sure quite where I left off.
Right now it's Wednesday, around noon, and I am in the business center at the Courtyard Marriott. I have an hour until Josh is done conferencing. I figured this would be a good time to try to recover my blog. My computer is up in the parking garage though, in the trunk of my car, and there it's going to stay, because walking out into the 100 degree-humid-as-hell-feels-like-an-oven outdoors is just not gonna happen. Loading up the car w/two trips had me wondering if I was going to spontaneously combust. I'm surprised I didn't.

So Monday I walked around downtown, sometimes in some ghetto type areas. When I got back to the hotel I relaxed in the hotel room, (I think). But eventually I grew bored, so I did up my makeup and I wandered out into the city again. I headed out south on Second Street, not sure how many blocks I went, but I know it was a block past Liberty Drive. The temps were high, but there was a pretty constant breeze, which made it seem not so bad. I cut over to Fourth Street. Fourth Street is probably the most touristy place downtown and remind me of freemont street in Las Vegas, but only because it's all foot traffic and it's covered overhead, but not by a tv screen, like fremont. Fourth Street is where the starbucks is, as well as the Hard Rock Cafe and other shops and such. Apparently though, monday was a special day because there was a huge line of people and a live band and vendors. As I made my way north I saw that the line of people went into a building and was corded off, so I had to back track, cross to the other side of fourth and go north. Apparently they were giving out Colts posters and the people were standing in line to get them signed. It was some kind of Colts Signing tour. There was a live band playing and lots of people in Colts wear. There was a big air-filled bounce house slide for the kids and other stuff. I wanted to get a pic, but the memory on my phone was full, and I didn't have my camera with me.

Past the Fourth Street Extravaganza was the convention center Josh was at. I kept walking and went back to the hotel. I had intended to get a starbucks, but there was such a massive line inside that I didn't even go in.

When I got back, it was pretty late, like 6:30 or something. THere was a complimentary light dinner and drink specials in the hotel lounge until 7pm, but finally at 6:50 I decided to go down and see if I could score some dinner. When I got there, most everything was already gone, so I ended up having some chip crumbs and salsa. The drink special was a dollar off everything. Which, after the tip, made my amaretto on the rocks just as expensive as going to Granite City--where I don't tip because the amaretto is so ridiculously overpriced.

I texted Josh to let him know where I was, and he called me to tell me he was coming back early, instead of being gone until 8 or 8:30 like originally planned. He met me in the bar. By this time I had made friends with a local businessman named Ross, and the bartender, John. They told me about cool places in the city and what I should see. I like meeting locals, everywhere I go. Once my drink was gone, we headed upstairs, where my lonely little pint of amaretto was waiting. We each managed to get two glasses out of it though, while we watched bad TV and played on our laptops. We went to bed early--10ish because Josh had to get up early. I took some pictures from the balcony of night in Louisville--which I'll have to upload later.

I'm going to post this, and then continue with tuesday in a new blog, so I at least have Monday done !~

Out,
~Carrie

The first half of mondayShare. Today at 13:46 | Edit note | Delete
Up at 6:30am. Josh had to go to his conference super early. That left me in the hotel room, with not much to do other than watch TV, work on my novel and play on the internet...which is pretty much what I did. Plus I cleaned up the place--made the bed and whatnot because I'm obsessive compulsive, a little.

I worked on my novel very little. I am just so sick of it. All of my big dreams for it seem to fizzle out a little more and more every time I read it and i just want to throw it out the window and start over. Which is what I'm doing--minus the throwing part. Sometimes I just want to strangle myself.

While Josh was out, I took over the desk area. He had both of his computers with him, and I could set up my own little writing area, which I did. What I didn't do, was pay attention to Josh's lego robot that was under the desk and that I was inadvertently kicking with my big, clumsy feet.

So then I look down, and it's a pile of parts.

OMG.
SHIT.

SHIT SHIT SHIT.

This is the robot he needed for the conference. He showed me how he could program it to move last night and gave me a demonstration...and I knew it worked and was all in one piece when I took over the desk area. OMG. SHIT.

What had I done?? I played with it a bit and got the legs back on. But then Josh unexpectedly came home from the conference at 10am and we chatted for a bit before I burst into a sheepish grin and began laughing while I said, "So, I was sitting at the desk and when I looked down, your robot was in pieces..." Josh was like, "yeah, it's not very sturdy." He assured me that the legs fall off and I was like, "OMG. I thought I had destroyed it." That was my sitcom moment. I keep thinking back to that moment when I looked down and saw the robot with no legs on. Funny stuff...but then, anxiety usually is.

Josh stayed for while. We had lunch at subway where we discussed how genuinely neurotic he is. When I mentioned that I wondered how he will handle a REAL road trip with the always driving, he said he couldn't even think about it. I told him I would have to keep him drugged and just let him see the photos after the trip. After lunch we came back to the hotel. I researched liquor stores. (You know how I roll.) The nearest one was only like 4 blocks away. Eventually Josh left again to go back to the conference. He won't be back until after 8pm :(

Around 12:30 I determined that it wasn't getting any less volcano outside, and I might as well venture out to scope out the liquor store. The walk wasn't bad. I made it to the liquor store, which WAS shady. A pint of amaretto here cost 4 dollars more than a FIFTH at home. What utter horse shit. I got the pint though, because I intend to relax with a glass tonight.

After the liquor store I walked like 2 or 3 or 4 more blocks because I was determined to find out what this one building was in the distance that I saw from the hotel, that looked like a triangle. It turned out to be a building called "Old National" I took another pic of it from another angle. In the pic from my balcony you can see it next to the clock tower, like a weird precipice jutting up into the sky.

Also, while walking I went through some rough parts that were pretty ghetto. One thing that was cool though, was the front of this building that was painted w/batman. I'll include a pic of that too. I'm sure I looked like a super lame tourist retard, taking pics of everything, but whatever.

So I eventually made it back to my hotel. After walking 12 blocks or something like that in 96 degree weather (forecast for tomorrow is 98 and 99 on Wednesday) I was SO happy to make it back to my room. ...until I saw that the "do not disturb" sign was gone off my door and the maids had come in. I had already made the bed and they remade it. And while they were in here, touching my things, TURNED OFF THE AIR. Seriously? I hate you, maids who don't know what my do not disturb sign means. The sign was back in it's slot on the back side of the door, and I was so pissed. Fuckers.


So then I wrote this blog. Ta Da!
More later, folks.

So, when I left off, we had finally arrived at our hotel which was on the wrong side of the road, according to GoogleMaps. But, once we got to our hotel and managed to find a parking spot and get to our room, we got settled. Josh set up his computers at the desk and I took the couch and coffee table while we figured out the interent. It's kind of silly. You have to say how many hours of internet you want to buy, only it's free? So, whatever.

After we got our computers up and running, we looked for foodage. The restaurants in the hotel brochure/list were ridiculously priced, so we decided to walk to Subway, which we could see from our balcony....aaaand which turned out to be closed. BOOOO.

So then we headed to this pub/restaurant called Patrick O'Shea's. It was delightful. It made me think of what it would be like if Granite City and Jumpin' Java and Juice mated. Josh got some fancy Schmancy beer and I got a soda. Then we had a vegetarian pizza that had garlic hummus as a base rather than a marinara and zucchini and metric shit-tons of cheese. It was fan-fricking-tastic. We walked back to the hotel afterward and flipped through the cable, played online and went to bed kinda early-ish at 10something. Josh was pretty tired and went to bed first. I was going to stay up and watch SNL, but I was too tired so I went to bed shortly thereafter.

So. I woke up at 5:30am...and was awake for about an hour before I was able to go back to bed. I actually then slept for another hour, during which I had various dreams all of which were scenarios of waking up and various things happening. In one, there was a window where there is in actuality, a wall. That one really stands out. But there were like 3 different dreams in which I woke up and started my day.

Finally I DID wake up. We had the laziest day EVER. We drove to Meijer in Jeffersonville and got some provisions. I actually went there to buy shampoo. That was my MAIN reason for going to Meijer and yet, I STILL FORGOT IT. I am uber dumbtarded. I kinda wish I had bought some chocolate. Oh well. Anyhoo. We got back home and chilled around the hotel doing lots of NOTHING. I did some drawing, played on the internet. This is the laziest Sunday I've EVER had in my life, I think.

Eventually we hungered. ANd so we walked to the Subway that we tried to go to last night. Guess what? It was closed AGAIN! So we walked 4 blocks west to another Subway...which was ALSO closed. We walked to a sandwich shop, a jewish delicatessan, another sandwich shoppe--all CLOSED. Fuck you, very much, Louisville. Nothing is open on Sunday. It's 96 degrees outside and stupid humid. And after walking 12 blocks or whatever, we were ready to get back to the AC in the hotel room. So we finally decided to order a pizza. There is a Papajohn's just up the road, and we could order online.

The process was a bit complicated. We filled out this big online form only to find out that my email address already had an account. I guessed at the password--I haven't orded a pizza online in at least 6 years and I didn't even remember HAVING a papajohn's account. But I guessed right on the password and about spit all over Josh's computer. The name on the account was "Miss PollyAnna Dooshlicker".
HAha. I am so funny. Or Ruby is. I can't remember how that name came about, but I'm guessing it's because Erik worked at Papa John's and I did it to make everyone laugh at the store or whatever. If anyone reads this and remembers the story of my account name, feel free to share it.

We had a good laugh anyway. And we ordered a pizza. The email they sent me said it would arrive in 30-40 minutes but it arrived in 10 and it was pretty fantastic.

Then we lazed around more, watching TV and laying around. And surfing the internet. It was pretty great. We also checked out the pool/spa and exercise room. I may go swimming later this evening.

On TV was a marathon of Strictest Parents on MTV. GOD DAMN that show is repetitive.

It is TOO HOT to do ANYTHING outside. And this deadly heatwave is going to last through Wednesday. YAY for us. I think Josh brought this back with him from Houston. :)


Out,
~Carrie

I'm in Louisville, sitting on the bed in a hotel room at the Courtyard Mariott on Second Street. Two days ago I would not have guessed I'd be here. It all started when I went to visit Josh Friday afternoon. He had just gotten back from Houson Tx, from a conference. I knew our time would be limited because he was leaving for another conference Saturday. He mentioned he was going to Louisville, and I don't remember how it came up--either I invited myself or Josh invited me, but one minute we were joking about me tagging along, and the next we were actually working out the logisitics of me going. Josh already had the hotel room--I just had to see if I could go. We drank some wine--An red Australian wine that a camper gave me as a present. It was AWESOME. We watched an episode of Party Down and then Josh mentioned Waffle Fries and we went to Granite City.

At Granite City Josh had bock and I had an amaretto and he bought us waffle fries. YUM. After that, I dropped him off at his apartment, and said I'd let him know about goin to Louisville. I went to the KOA and worked for a couple hours through the crazy thunderstorms. We ended up evacuating the campers to the upper restrooms. Afterward, I was talking to Chris and Robert about my possible trip to Louisville. Robert said he could cover my shifts, which was AWESOME.

I talked to E about going and he said, "Go ahead" and so I had my shifts covered and the means to go, so I did. Saturday I went to the KOA for a little bit to hand out with Laurie and tell everyone goodbye and then I headed to Josh's. I got there around 2pm and we left around 3pm after Josh got his new laptop ready to go. Josh let me drive his beautiful new Toyota, which drives WAY faster than my Nissan and has the added feature of being able to blame all speeding on that stuck accelerator recall. Upon leaving Indian Ridge, a jackass in a pickup truck tried to merge INTO us and I got to use the horn on Josh's car. We headed out of town and at the south end of town power was still out.

Ireland and 31 was a blinking four-way because of the power outtage and I got to use the horn again when some tard in a KIA couldn't figure out how a four-way stop worked. Josh also got to hear how I YELL at drivers. Except he uses the AC in his car. In my car the windows would be down so the other driver could hear me.

The drive was smooth--at least until Indianapolis, when we had our first exit to get on 465. Except, the lane we were in (which was the exit only lane) was BLOCKED OFF from the ramp! WTF, Indianapolis? I understand you want to get people downtown, but that was DUMBTARDED. No warning, just no way to exit. SO we drove past and turned around and managed to get on 465 which had some construction. It was the biggest highway and on it we went the SLOWEST (so far, anyway).

We got to the exit at 65 and it was when we were about 60 miles from Louisville that traffic just STOPPED. It was bad. We had no idea what was going on. Traffic would crawl for a couple feet and stop. Then we would wait for ten minutes and crawl another ten feet. Finally we got to an exit and Josh encouraged me to take it--we would get past whateverthefuck was going on. We did. In fact, without a map we found a backroad that ran parallell with the road and saw that like 4 miles further up the road there was a nasty accident that had traffic backed up both directions. We managed to go around and hit another exit and bypass all of the mess, like professional roadtrippers.

When we got into Louisville, we couldn't find the hotel because GoogleMaps LIES! Like a rug! But we managed to find it. Pics have been posted. I'll update more later. I have to tell about Patrick O'Shea's, where we had dinner last night, and then our travels today...but my battery is about to die.

More later,
~Carrie

Today at 8:37am (transferred from FB for Josh)

I've been needing to blog for a while.

I meant to blog about my Kamping weekend...but I think not. More pressing matters have occurred.

Tuesday I woke up and felt weird. My heart was fluttering around in my chest. I got up, laid back down, called Erik into the room and was like, "Listen to my heart beat."

It was beating like this: "Beat...beat beat...beat...beat beat beat...beat?...be...at." It was not right. So Erik listened and he's like, "Yeah?"

and I go, "Doesn't that seem strange?"

He thought maybe that it did...but that he didn't have a stethoscope. Which, I think was a weird answer, but whatever.

So he asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and at first I didn't. I wanted to just lay down, but then after taking my pulse a few times and realizing that something was in fact, really wrong, I told him I did want to go to the hospital.

We drove to Goshen general. I'd never been there before, but I know that Elkhart General is a death trap and you only go there if you WANT to die, so we charted unfamiliar territory to Goshen. We left the girls at home, with Hannah in charge, thinking there was no reason to alarm them unneccesarily. When we got to the hospital and the lady at the front desk asked me what was wrong, I burst into tears, because by this point, I was pretty well freaking out.

E gave her my info and they took me back to trauma room 2 before even getting my vitals. They finished up my vitals there and did an EKG and you know, it's never good when the doctor says, "OH YEAH. This isn't good."

My heart wasn't being right. It was in Atrial Fibrillation. That means that instead of the electrical impluse coming through the top of my heart and squeezing down to the bottom all coordinated like, mine was just jumping all over the place. First they gave me a medicine to slow my heart beat down and maybe get it to synch right. The doctor said often the medicine was enough to put a person's heart back into rhythm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_fibrillation
(there is graphic at the bottom of that link that shows how my heart was beating)

They put me on oxygen, and gave me an IV and then started giving the medicine. The medicine dropped my heart beat down and I didn't realize how high it had been until they said, "Does that feel better?" and I said "Yeah" and they said, "Now your heartbeat is in the 120s" (apparently I was well over 150 beats per minute, even as erradically as it was beating).

They got my pulse down in the 90s but then there is a side effect of the medication, that it can drop the Blood pressure dangerously low...and when mine got around 93/34 Erik went and got a nurse. The nurse was like "oh". And then they opened my saline IV wide open and that brought it up...and made me have to pee really bad.

The doctor came in and said that if the medicine was going to work, it should have already, but it wasn't. So I had two options. They could admit me and get me a bed upstairs and try some other medicines, or they could give me concsious sedation and defibrillate me. That's right, folks. 3-2-1-CLEAR! (this all happened over the course of a few hours, condensed for your reading pleasure)

He explained that there were risks with both courses of action. Sometimes if they can't get the heartbeat back to normal in time, it becomes permanent and it can lead to a thromoembolism--a blot clot to the brain, lights out. And then, while he had never seen a bad reaction w/the electro-cardioversion (shocking my heart or whatever), there were incidences in the literature (yeah, that's what he said) of bad outcomes--because you know, you're shocking the heart. But, if that worked, I could leave right after and not have to be admitted.

So he left us to discuss it and I cried a bit. Wished the kids were there. My mom wasn't there because Erik had downplayed the seriousness of the problem and so instead of coming straight to the hospital, my mom went home first and let out her dog or whatever. Sometimes I want to kill him.

So we talked about it and my worst fear when we came in was that they were going to have to shock me, because they ran through the list of possible outcomes when they first diagnosed me. I told Erik, "I should just get the shock, but I'm terrified...but then I always tell other people to face whatever they are most afraid of." There was some more crying and Erik laughed because he could tell whenever I was thinking about that shock, because on the monitor my heartbeat would go up about 20 beats per minute.

Finally, I was like, "Light me up--this one's for you, T-bird." (This was a reference to the movie, "The Crow", for all you youngin's out there). So the doctor comes in and I tell him, "Let's do this thing. Jump start me."

I went and peed so I wouldn't pee when they shocked me, and then got ready for the fun. They put the stick-on paddles on me--one on the right side of my chest and one under my left breast on my ribs. They explained the conscious sedation to me. They would give me three medications. One was for pain. One was to make me sleepy and the last would give me amnesia. WHAT?

That was my reaction. I think at that point I was more worried that the amnesia med would screw up my brain. But they assured me it was safe, and gave me the pain med. Then the sleepy med. And at that point I felt REALLY good. I remember saying, "Wow. I wouldn't need to drink if I had this."

Seriously. We're talking a great high.

The next thing I konw, my mom was there and I said, "Mom! I'm glad you're here. They're going to shock me!" and my mom goes, "THey already did, honey." and I was like, "WHAT?"

And it was true. They already had. THAT is how well that amnesia stuff works. BRILLIANT.

But afterward Erik told me about it. They had warned him ahead of time that because I was awake, I would look like I was in pain, but not to freak out because I wouldn't remember any of it.

Erik said they did a countdown, and then said "CLEAR" and everyone backed away and then I got shocked. He said you could hear the zap and then he siad it looked like I got punched in the chest really hard, because my shoulders and arms came up and I went, "UNGH." It lasted about a second and then I put my arms down. Then there was a 3-4 second pause and then I looked around and asked, in a very matter of fact voice, "What the hell was that?"

Erik said the doctor laughed.
That's when I saw my mom and greeted her and told her they were going to shock me.

From that point on I have memory.

So it worked. It got my heart beating right. I have to follow up w/my dr. and get another EKG. And maybe go on a med to regulate my heartbeat. Yesterday and today I've been really tired and sore, and I've been having chest pains on and off, but I can't tell if it's from my heart or if it's my muscles spasming from the shock. I keep taking my pulse to make sure I'm back on 4/4 time instead of samba, and it seems to be okay.

I felt pretty terrible yesterday. I feel a little better today. Last night when I went to sleep i couldn't get my breathing right. Isn't that shit supposed to be involuntary? Whatever. I think I eventually just hyperventilated myself to sleep. I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning, feeling a little "off" right now, but all I've had today is a vitamin and an aspirin, so I'm gonna go eat and see how I feel later.

That's my story.

I was thinking about the last thing I wrote on FB before all this happened. I wrote, "I love you one hundred and crazy percent." And it's true. I do. I've heard that when you have a child, it's like having your heart existing outside of your body. I've also heard that when you love someone, your heart exists in two places at once--in you and in them. What happens if you love a lot of people? Apparently there's not enough heart left to beat like it's supposed to? I don't know. But go ahead, take it. Take another little piece of my heart now baby. You know you got it, honey if it makes you feel good.

Out.
~Carrie