Blog Worthy

Okay, call me ridiculous for posting this, but I'm gonna do it anyway. This one's for my girls, you know who you are.

Once upon a time there was a rapper (singer, whatever you wanna call her) named Nicki Minaj. She released an album and like most artists, if you buy the album at a certain store, they put bonus tracks on there. Why? I really have no clue, I'll have to get back to you on that one. Anyway, there was also a singer named Taylor Swift. One more Taylor was doing a morning radio show to promote her new album and she let it slip that she could rap Nicki's song "Super Bass," which was a bonus track. So the radio host made her do part of it. She was pretty much flawless.

You see, "Super Bass" was never really meant to be released as a single because it wasn't on every album. But once Taylor did it, it kinda started to blow up. Then Selena Gomez posted a video of her rapping it last Christmas and the song got even bigger. By this time, I had learned all the words of the song. It wasn't until recently that the song hit the radio and everyone went nuts over it.

So when me and my friends go to California and we like to have fun. So one night we're in the hotel lobby and my friends knew how much I loved that song, so my "little sister" Rachel started playing the song on her phone. Then Kinz busted out her phone and started recording me and I did my own little (probably horrible) version of "Super Bass" right there in the hotel lobby. It was quite comical and thankfully Kinz, being the good friend that she is, didn't post it anywhere because I'm sure it's not pretty.

Finally, my story ends here. Taylor is having a series of concerts in LA for her Speak Now World Tour. And while I'm not sure if Taylor covers the song at every show, I know she did last night. And Miss Nicki Minaj happened planned to be there, so they did the song together. Seriosuly every time I watch it, I get this big cheesy grin on my face. I usually don't call people my "idol" because I think it's cheesy and I don't like putting people on pedestals (okay for other people, but not my thing), but Taylor and Nicki are pretty darn close.

Anyway, here's the video, please try to ignore the screaming...

I Know, I Know

I've been slacking, BUT in my defense, things have been more hectic than usual. The boys and I all started back to school, NSU on the 15th, KPS on the 18th and Jaxie's pre-school started on the 22nd. So we're trying to adjust schedules and get used to a new routine. Mondays are always up in the air, we're usually running errands or doing something though. Tuesdays after Jaxie gets out of school at noon, we head to his speech therapy. Wednesday is my F2F class, Thursdays are chemo days and Friday-Sunday are recovery days and/or homework days and/or plan-making days.

So I started school on the 15th, I was enrolled in my last 9 hours of my undergrad. At the last minute, they deleted my Capstone course because there was only 3 people enrolled. Lame, right? So I get an e-mail from the professor telling me to enroll in his Insurance Litigation course. I was so confused, but we got it straightened out and basically we're enrolled, but we're not actually taking the class, we're taking our Capstone course and they will replace it on our transcript at the end of the semester. However, I was also enrolled in what is known to be the capstone course for my minor. We were having to plan a full-on convention type meeting, like a real one, not a hypothetical meeting, a real one, complete with correspondence letters and everything. Now, I don't have time for that. Not to mention, he tells us that unless we started planning the meeting over the summer or last spring, we would have to take an incomplete and finish it in the spring. Rude. So I talked to my adviser, as well as financial aid and decided it would be best to not be too stressed this semester, drop the class and take a different one in the spring (there were no more classes available this semester for my minor). So yes, this means I will be extending my college life another semester. I ALMOST felt like I had failed, but I'm still going to be graduating and accomplishing goals, so I don't feel like I have failed. I am definitely accepting defeat for this semester. Well, kinda anyway. Now that I only have 6 hours, I will be able to focus on those classes and do some kick-ass work.

However, we will still be continuing with "Plan A." It's been altered a little to fit the circumstances, but it is still Plan A. So what exactly is this plan, you ask? I will tell you. I will be taking 6 hours of online classes in the spring. Yes, I know I only need 3 credit hours and that is only 1 class. You don't need to tell me that, I know. But if I only take a 3-hour course, I will not be eligible for loans (you have to be enrolled in 6 hours or more to be eligible). At this point, I don't really need the loans, but they make it to where I have extra money in my pocket and that extra money is being used for part of the plan. So I will probably take a class I've already taken, but made a bad grade (C or worse) in and work harder to make a better grade so the bad grade will be taken off my transcript and my GPA will be higher. Then I will also be taking an HTM (my minor) course to finish up my degree plan. Both classes will be taken online. Therefore, I will be able to go ahead with the original Plan A of moving to Nashville in January (hence the loans so I can have money to move). I will be able to come back in May for graduation, because let's be honest, if I didn't walk in graduation, my family would murder me.

And what are you going to do when you get to Nashville? The million-dollar question. So the job-market is tough, especially if you're straight out of college with little-to-no experience in your field. So I'm not sugar-coating it, I know I'm not going to land an amazing job at a top law firm in Nashville, then just move out there and be happy for the rest of my life. Not gonna happen. I am honestly not even going to look for jobs in the legal field until I actually get there. Well, I kinda am, but most of them want like 3-5 years experience and stuff like that. We all know Nashville is a tourist town and someone with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management (which is my minor) wouldn't have a problem finding a job there. Gaylord Entertainment owns half the town and they always have a million job openings, a lot of which only require a high school diploma and 1 year experience in customer service. Not only do I have both, I know quite a bit more about the tourism industry than someone off the street, putting me ahead of the game. So I plan on getting a job with them, moving out there, then looking for a job in the legal field. Fingers crossed this plan works out, if not I have Plans B, C, and D already mapped out (would you expect anything less of me?), but that's not something we'll talk about until we have to use one of those plans. Eventually I will prep for my LSAT and get a high enough score to get into law school at Vanderbilt :) Que será, será, right?

Now that I've made this blog ten times longer than I had originally planned, I'm outta here.

Kait's Blog

So one of my BFFs (and yes, we've REALLY known each other forever, pretty much since she was born) is getting ready to study abroad in Spain. And while the thought of her leaving makes me want to break down in tears, I am so excited that she has the chance to do this! So while she's there she will (hopefully) be blogging about the happenings in her life. So if you're interested in what she has to say, make sure to join her site at http://kaitlinesperanza.blogspot.com/. She hasn't posted anything yet, but she will be soon! Good luck Kait!

You Are Drivin' Me Nuts!

So I know most of my blogs are just updates on life. Lately they've been a little on the not-so-happy side. This one should fix that. It's going to be a little bit of complaining, but we'll try to make it fun. Here are a few things that drive me nuts, in no particular order...

1) So-Called Fans

Obviously, I'm a HUGE fan of General Hospital. Over the last year, I've met a ton of GH fans, some have become my best friends, some my worst enemies and others are the ones who I love to hate. There are also the "so-called" fans. These are the people who will Tivo GH and fast-forward through more of the show than what they actually watch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against fast-forwarding through SOME of the show (even though this concept was unknown to me until Brenda came back last year), but if you're only watching Mabby scenes day after day, I'm sorry, you're not a GH fan, you're a Mabby fan. So I would appreciate it if you didn't claim to be a GH fan.

2) Drama Whores

Okay, so I like a little drama in my life every once in awhile. It keeps things interesting. But when you're a 40-something who gets mad at someone for a stupid reason (or no reason) and you think you need to ruin their life, you need a reality check. If you have nothing better to do than TRY to make someone's life miserable, you need a life, it's obviously not working. You're not twelve anymore honey, and you obviously have more plastic in your face than in the Barbie dolls you still carry around in your purse. Get over it and act your age.

3) Bad-Mouthing

That brings me to my next annoyance. Almost everyone I know has complained because this person called them a bad name. Yeah, it hurts in the moment, but it means nothing. Who freaking cares? I may be the only one who feels this way because I have pretty tough skin. Just about anything you can say about me, doesn't bother me. My weight, I'm a big girl, if I had a problem with it, I would fix it. My teeth, they're crooked and not white, I would like to have perfect teeth, but I don't and it doesn't bother me. My hair, usually a mess, it's been that way all my life, I've gotten used to it. My face isn't the prettiest, I've had that all my life too, feel the same way about it as I do my hair. Just because I don't like you, doesn't classify me as a "bitch." That's my prerogative, I can feel the way I want. They way I look at it, say what you want about me, because my friends and I are probably saying the same things or worse about you and your friends. Deal with it, Princess. It happens.

4) Bad Musicians

Music has always been a big part of my life. For just about any situation I get myself into, there's a song to describe the feelings I have because of that situation. I cannot stand when people say a certain artist is a horrible artist. Obviously they're not, because--in most cases--they're multi-platinum, they have a million billion fans and are at the top of the charts. If you don't like the artist, that's completely fine, dislike them all you want, but don't say they aren't any good. For example, I really don't care for Kenny Chesney, I don't dislike him, I love a few of his songs, but I wouldn't pay money to go see him in concert. He's an AMAZING artist! I will admit that, I just don't really care for the majority of his music. Now, there are some artists (as pointed out by Chad Duell) who use technology to produce music, I think that's ridiculous. That's an exception. So recap, don't say artists suck just because you don't like them, because chances are, they don't suck, you do, kind sir.

5) Grammar

So I realize that most of the time, it's honest mistakes. People don't know any better. They think "there," "their" and "they're" are freely exchangeable. This makes me want to cut out my eyeballs so I will never have to read some of these things ever again. I don't have the best grammar, but I've had quite a bit of training in spelling and grammar, so it's easier for me to notice. I really, really wish I had a red font on Facebook, just so I could go through and correct some of the mistakes I see. Another thing is the abbreviations. Text messaging has made our society dumb. Some of the things, such as "LOL" or "IDK," I understand, but when you're abbreviating EVERY SINGLE WORD, I really want to strangle you.

I hope you found this amusing. And yes, I realize I am not completely faultless, nor am I perfect. Some of the things I do probably drive you nuts too, that's okay. Go get your own blog and complain about it. That's what they're there for (see, I used "they're" and "there" correctly, it's true, look it up).

Is This Really My Life?

So yesterday, I was a little down...okay, a lot down. I don't know if it was because I was running on 3 hours of sleep or that I was helping mom drag Jaxie and Lulu around Fort Smith while Gammy was in chemo or what. But I was feeling hopeless...I described this feeling to my friend Aroo (Amanda) as waiting to drown. As if I'm treading water, but I know I'm eventually going to drown anyway.

But then this morning I'm looking at my pictures from the last two weeks (and there's a lot) and I'm thinking "Is this really my life?" I feel so blessed to be able to have the experiences I've had, not just in the last two weeks, but pretty much since middle school.

It's been exactly two weeks since the official kickoff to General Hospital Fan Club Weekend. It was pretty much an entire weekend of hanging out with some of my best friends and some of the amazing actors from General Hospital. I was also blessed enough to make a bunch of new friends. No one else from my hometown gets to do stuff like that. Honestly, most of them wouldn't set foot in LA if you paid them!

Did I mention how beyond amazing my friends are? I've really needed a friend (or 10) here lately on any given day. Just to talk to or cry on their shoulder or whatever. And most of them have stepped up to take this crazy ride with me and my family without asking questions. It sounds selfish because I'm not the one fighting cancer, but pretty much everyone in our family is dealing with a lot. And of everyone in my family, I think I have the best support system. Funny thing is, the ones who have been there for me the most all live in different states. I have four amazing moms in Florida, besties in Nebraska, Arizona and Rhode Island and even more friends in New York, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Oregon. And yes, I'm closer with them than I am with the majority of my friends in Oklahoma. I talk to them more than I talk to friends who live in my hometown.

They were especially great during FCW when I was able to let loose and not think about what was going on at home. The first day, they asked about how everything was, but after that, we just had fun and left our worries behind. To all my friends in the states listed above, whether you were at FCW or not, thank you for being THE BEST!

On top of all of this, Mom and I went to see Tim McGraw on Tuesday. We had passes to the pre-party concert, but we get there and find out it was too hot for a pre-party. They had even pushed the entire concert back an hour to allow the temp to drop just a few degrees. When the show started at 8 PM, it was still 108 degrees. How sucky is that? Not to worry though, Tim's people didn't let us down. You see, if you have pre-party passes, it's pretty much like sound check passes. You don't get to meet him, you don't get autographs, but it's still an awesome experience. So we had wristbands and were told to meet at 8:10 in a certain spot. So they take us (along with a small group of green wrist-banded people) backstage. To make up for not having a pre-party, we got to meet Tim! It was short, but sweet. He asked us what our names were and we told him and he takes Mama's hand and starts singing "Linda On My Mind" by Conway Twitty. Um, I almost died, I couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. Then we took the pic and he hugged me and as we were walking off, he is still singing that song. The ladies in line behind us were jealous. So luckily, we only missed the Eden's Edge set and made it back out in time for Luke Bryan. I was one person away from the catwalk and lost track of Mama. She had a mind of her own that night and I just let her go wild, as I was able to at FCW. It was something she definitely needed.

However, we didn't get home until almost 3 and had to be on our way to chemo by 8. I don't know how much sleep she got, but I slept from 4-7 and was completely exhausted. But looking back, it was pretty much worth it.

Do you ever stop and ask yourself if you are really blessed enough to live the life you're living? Are you living your life to the fullest and doing everything in your power to make it the best it can be? I don't have a bucket list, but if I did a lot of things would already be checked off of it. To anyone reading this, I want you to be able to at least once in your life be able to step back and just say "Wow, this is really my life. I am so blessed to have this life!" Even in the trials, you can still feel blessed. Just ask my family :)