Ghost Stories

I have half an hour before my next class and I'm not hungry for lunch because It's 11am and blah blah blah. GHOST STORY TIME!

So last night I was watching The Haunted, a super awesome show on Animal Planet about haunted houses and what not. It got me thinking about ghosts and if I'd ever seen one and the answer is YES. I saw a ghost once... and it was a for real ghost!

Some of you have heard this story before most of you haven’t. But I love to tell it because it’s the only for real paranormal thing to ever happen to me! Yeah, I believe in spirits and ghosts and aliens. How can you not? Human beings hold so much energy and I think that sometimes it just doesn’t go where it’s supposed to; it just chills around the earthly plane to scare the crap out of people. So begins my story… one sunny afternoon…

This happened when I was 16 or 17. I used to work at a retirement home. You’d think that with all the old people dying every week I would have seen a ton of ghosts but I only saw one, one fateful afternoon. I used to work in the dining room as a server. The dining room was big. It held about 30 round and square tables and 4 residents sat at each table, unless they were mean then they sat alone or with one other person. The walls of the dining room were decorated with paintings of plants and pillars to make it look like you were outside and probably to hide the fact that residents were actually just trapped in the retirement home. The dining room was a large rectangle. There were 4 ways in and out of the room. There were the main double doors that led to the hallway to the lobby, the back door that led to the resident rooms, the glass double doors that led to the patio and the two kitchen doors (one in and one out door) that went to the kitchen, obviously. On the back wall there was a server station that housed the cutlery, drink ware, soda tower, soups, ice cream etc. The server station was just a wall basically, a small blocked off section with no doors or windows and we used it to hide from the residents when we forgot their prune juice.

My job as hostess required me to be at work an hour before everyone else to prep everything. This day, I was getting ready for the dinner rush so I was there at around 330 in the afternoon. Residents were not allowed to be in the dining room in between meal times, I don’t really know why but we had to tell them to leave if they were in there. So the setting: Me, alone in the dining room, making iced tea in the server station. I was going in and out of the kitchen through the in/out doors that are right next to each other. At some point, after being in the server station for a while (behind the wall mind you so I couldn’t see the dining room or people coming in or out) I walked super-fast  cuz I was in a hurry, into the kitchen as I walk in I see a man sitting on table #2. I looked at him as I walked through the double door. He was wearing a blue vest with blue pants and maybe blue or white shoes. He had his arms crossed, he was balding and he was looking out the window. He didn’t look up at me or anything. I walked into the kitchen and then thought two things: 1) I’ve never seen this man before so he must be new and 2) I should probably tell him we don’t serve dinner until 5. So I turned right back around and came out of the kitchen and this took approximately 10-15 seconds. SECONDS!! And he was gone.  At this point im not thinking OMG ghost!!! I was kind of confused since he was JUST there and how would a man be able to walk out of the dining room so fast? He was at the furthest possible table from ANY door. So if he had gotten up to leave in 15 seconds he’d still be slowly walking through the dining room. Being the investigator that I am, I went to the front double doors- no one in the hallway. I went to the back door – no one by the rooms. I looked out into the patio-empty. At this point, I started to panic because I had no idea where this dude was and THEN I started to wonder what I’d seen. Finally it hit me that I’d probably just seen a ghost!!! I was way too scared to be excited.

I told the story to Chef (muh boss and mom’s bf) and he just laughed it off. Pretty much no one believed me. But I was sure an old man could NOT run out of that room in the time it took me to literally walk in and out of the kitchen. I knew every resident and I didn’t recognize that guy. And a new guy wouldn’t be playing games with me, would he?! Everyone thought I was joking and it made me mad because I knew what I saw. I could describe the man perfectly! And I can still see him clearly in my mind. He wasn’t a mist, or transparent and he wasn’t hovering or making noises. He was just sitting there staring out the window. I think that’s what made it scarier… that he looked so real? So I told my mom the story about the man I saw. I told her “I saw a man sitting in the dining room with his arms crossed staring out the window and when I went to tell him to leave he was gone.” She looked at me weird and she then asked me if he was sitting at table #2, and if he was wearing blue. I said yes. She said, “That was his favorite color.” And I was like whaaaaaat??? My mom, before working in the dining room at this retirement home, used to be a caregiver. She’s seen lots of people come and go in her time. And apparently she used to take care of this guy until one day he died. I don’t remember how he died but she said that he used to love looking out the window. After she told me that I freaked out a little bit because I knew she wouldn’t joke about that kind of stuff and then I knew it was true. I saw a ghost! And I didn’t even know it at the time!

Looking back I wonder how more scared I would have been if I had gone up to him when I saw him instead of hesitating for a few seconds. Would he have talked to me? Would I have realized he was a ghost? Would I have ever known he was a ghost if I DIDN’T wait to tell him to leave? I dunno! Im glad I waited though because I got to experience something otherworldly and not many people can say that. But, if ghosts look so real, we’ve probably seen way more than we think…

DA END

More stories coming soon to a computer screen near you!

Losing Myself

Here's a long boring post about muh lyfe. You have been warned!


A few people, especially those who follow me on My Fitness Pal, know that I have been slowly but surely trying to lose weight for the past few months. I don’t know what started it or why I decided one day that THIS was the day I would start to get healthy. I think that a big part of the change was due to me WANTING to be healthy. Know what I’m saying? From the very beginning, being SKINNY wasn’t my goal. Being healthy is more important than being thin] and I wanted to make a permanent and sustainable change in my life style so that I could increase my overall health and losing weight, which is also important in order to be healthy, was a by-product of this new life style.


I feel that a lot of people fail at losing weight because their goal is to lose those 10 or 15 lbs by exercising and starving themselves with gross salads and once they reach their goal weight they stop exercising and start eating the wrong things because, hey, they just lost 15 lbs! It doesn’t work like that! If you want to lose weight and keep it off you’re going to have to make permanent changes FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Otherwise you will always and forever be in a constant battle with delicious greasy foods and gravity will hold you down to the couch instead of getting out there and working out.


My story began last year one day when I weighed myself and got sad because that was the heaviest I’d ever been in my life. At the time, I couldn’t exercise due my back being all messed up and what not so I started making small changes to my eating habits. The hardest habit to break in the history of forever is not drinking soda or ANY sugary drinks. That’s right; I cut out sugary beverages one day COLD TURKEY. Ok, it didn’t actually work like that cuz soda is SOOO GOOD and fruit punch is also good. It was a slow and painful process, and especially difficult since soda is so readily available for me at work. Every time I would want to drink soda I would just get water instead. After a couple months I can honestly say that I have cut out all soda and sugary drinks from my diet! I do have a few sips of lemonade or diet coke every now and again, but my intake of sugary drink has been reduced to almost zero! Think about it: if you drink 32oz of coke let’s say, 5 times a week (and I hope you don’t actually drink that much!!) that’s approximately 300-ish calories PER DRINK. So have that 5 times a week? 1500 calories just by drinking soda once a day. Think of all that sugar you’re putting into your body!

 

The process what slow, but, all I drink now is unsweetened iced tea, water and milk. Oh yeah, earlier this year Vince, for some unknown reason, decided that he was also going to change his eating habits and what not. He eats better and exercises several times a week and he’s lost around 30 lbs!!! Anyway, uhhh where was I… Oh yeah, so, after my back was fixed I was able to start exercising! Vince and I started playing basketball a few times a week, I sometimes go to the GYM and walk for an hour while watching Grey’s Anatomy (so the GYM isn’t HELLA boring), I play Just Dance & DDR and, like a lame-o, I take the stairs instead of the elevator… unless I’ve just finished eating a fatty meal, in which case I take the elevator like a fatty cuz my knees can’t support my own weight!!


The point is, small changes, such as giving up sugary drinks, make a HUGE difference in the long run! I still eat pizza and have Chick-fil-A, the difference is that when I get the #1 combo I get iced tea instead of soda and replace the fries with a fruit cup and when I eat pizza I control how may slices I eat… cuz I never go past 4! LOLOLOL. If you want to lose weight and you’re not super motivated but want to eventually be healthier the best way to do is it slowly because the weight will stay off. And if you’re not starving yourself you’re less likely to binge eat one day because you’re having a bad day and you’re super hungry and all you wanna do is eat your feelings (be every other day lawl jk… kind of).


As of today, I have lost about 20lbs. My goal is to lose at least 20-25 more by my birthday which is January 28. I don’t know if I will be able to reach my goal weight by then since I’m kind of lazy when it comes to exercising. And if I do lose that weight (which I will eventually) I STILL have about 40 more to go. YEAH I WEIGH A LOT WHAT OF IT?! I think that I will be able to accomplish my goals because I realized before I started that these changes were for life and not just for this year, or the summer, or before summer in order to get ready for bikini season, or to be able to fit into those jeans I bought months ago in the hopes that ONE day they would fit (which, by the way, I tried on two days ago and THEY TOTALLY FIT!!) It’s a slow process but, so far, it has been very rewarding! I don’t see any difference in my physical appearance when I look at my body, but I KNOW changes are happening because all my clothes fits a lot looser, people have been asking me, “Did you cut your hair?!” which usually means they can tell I’m losing weight but maybe don’t wanna mention weight because I’ll punch them right in the face!!!


The most important thing of all is that I FEEL healthier. I have more energy, I have built up my stamina and I can play basketball and run up a flight of stairs without being winded. I would like all you pretty ladies out there who need to shed a few lbs to know that it IS possible and you don’t have to kill yourself to do it. Just start with small changes because all those small things add up! If you have a smart phone I also recommend My Fitness Pal to help you track your caloric intake! If you do get it add me! My username is marpizza (duh!)

 
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stuff my face with BREAKFAST! It's the most important meal of the day so DONT SKIP IT!!!

Best Summer Ever

Add some feeling to your read! Go to the bottom of the page and hit PLAY on dat youtube video, yo.

This summer was one of the best summers I've had in a long time. I didn't go anywhere cool or do anything awesome. I just had fun. It felt like a real summer like when I was a kid. I worked full time and had summer classes but I still managed to squeeze the fun out of every single minute of every single day for 3 months. I guess the main reason it felt like a real summer was because I had three weeks off of work due to my back surgery and for the first time since I started working at Regal I had what felt like a real vacation. I mean, 3 weeks not being at work is a LONG time! That's when I started having fun. Lets start this epic journey of normalcy with my surgery!

At the end of May, exactly 7 days after my last day of school, I had spinal surgery. This was due to a herniated disk that was pinching my nerves so my left leg was constantly in pain. I went in for surgery at 8am and left the hospital at around 330pm. I wasn't in a lot of pain. For the most part my back just felt sore. It's crazy how such a small incision could cause my back to feel so weird! But it did. The first few days were the hardest because I needed help getting up and laying down and for some reason when I lay down and do nothing I have to go to the bathroom about once every hour! A lot of friends came over and helped me out and brought me foods and flowers and hung out with me so I wasn't all alone. After the first week I was able to start walking around. The pain meds that I was on didn't let me sleep because every time I managed to fall asleep I freaked out. So even though I wasn't working and had no reason to wake up early I still got up early and went to sleep late. The pain meds that I was on were pretty sweet. I could lay on the couch watching TV for literally hours on end and it didn't bother me none because time had no meaning for me. The sun rose and set and it was all the same. During my time off I went to visit my family in San Marcos for a week and that was fun! I also started playing Dragonvale while I was recovering cuz I was bored. This is important. 

By the last week of my awesome time off I was dreading going back to work but I had to. At this point it was already June. My first day back to work was HORRIBLE. My body was so used to being lazy that I felt constantly tired and overwhelmed. I almost went home that first day but I toughed it out like a boss. Eventually everything got back to normal. My leg wasn't hurting anymore so Vince and I started playing basketball again! In June, I had a super fun party and then everyone got sick! It was a great party with pizza fondue and Cards Against Humanity. Vince and I went to a DODGERS game and it was fuuun cuz I got a Dodger dog and frozen yogurt in a pink Dodgers helmet! Around this time the awesome tradition of stalking Vince at his theater started with me and Tim! We would to to Fashion Island for dinner and a movie at Island Cinema! In June Vince and I also stalked Cinepolis' around So Cal. We watched Brave in uhhh uhhh I forgot, somewhere in San Diego and then we watched The Dark Knight at the Cinepolis in Ocean Ranch. 

Around June time Vince and I started playing more video games. In particular Mario Party 2 which we downloaded via Virtual Console. We loved MP so much that one day we decided to buy the newest installment for some awesome gaming time! First round of game one, Vince beat me by ONE point and I got super mad. He says he's never seen me so mad lol. We also went to the beach a lot and checked out some sea creatures. June/July was filled with beaches, Yogurtland, Mexican foods, Del Taco foods, movies and video games! In July Rosanna and I went to San Diego for the 25th Anniversary of Zelda concert Symphony of the Goddesses. SUPER AWESOME concert! There was a chick dressed as Zelda playing the ocarina! There were tons of different Link's walking around and a few dudes dressed as Navi (as gross as that is) I had a great time! The concert brought back memories of 1999 and ZChat :) Summer of 99 was also a great summer! In July time and I went to the OC fair! It was fuun. This year I went twice! Both times were awesome! It was super hot and expensive and I drank too much soda and ate a lot of gross foods but it was worth it to spend time with my favorite peeps! 

The Dark Knight came out July 20th and, thanks to some lame-o being dumb, it was not as busy as we had anticipated. But it was still a pretty sweet movie and we had fun during the midnight. Check out all those Banes!

 

Alice came to visit and stayed for a week during the first weeks of August! It was a lot of fun hanging out with her and being crazies just like the good old days! We stayed up late and partied, got drunk, ate lots of junk food, went to Chuck e Cheese (Yeah what of it?!), went to the beach and had the best time ever! I think the highlight of the stay was when Alice and I played Slender Man and I almost threw up! Later that evening the three of us (Vince, Alice and I) watched Paranormal Activity 2. In the movie there's a scene where the chick is in the kitchen then out of no where all the cabinets open up suddenly. WELL, Vince opened all the cabinets in our kitchen when Alice and I were setting up Netflix to watch the movie. Several minutes after that scene had passed Vince asked Alice to get something from the kitchen. Little did Alice know she was about to get the scare of her life! Poor Alice was scared for a minute until she realized it was Vince who set the whole thing up. Good times!!! I was sad when she left but I know we'll have more adventures in the future!!

The official end of summer for me was the first trip to Disneyland of the summer and visiting Cars Land. Disneyland is such a summer time destination that it's hard to NOT go during those hot sunny days! Alice was with us that day as well as Joanne and Chris! Chewie, Ryan and the gang where there too so it was truly a perfect trip! Carsland was fun. That tire ride was dumb but the racers were cool. We had cone shaped food and drank from an orange cone and it was all good! I ended up going Disneyland a few times after that and every time was super fun. It's awesome having an annual pass and living so close to the park! 

 Towards the end of August I started my second year at IVC. School is WACK yo, haha JK it's ok I guess. Well, this brings me to the end of summer time! Like I said, I didn't do anything super awesome like travel to a different country, I didn't even travel very far in California! I didn't see anything amazing, unless you count friends amazing, which I do, so I take that back. I saw a lot of amazing people, hung out with my family, and I just did things every day! The reason that this summer was awesome is because every day I woke up and had a new adventure, even if that adventure was just going to the movies, or playing basketball, or going to Boomers. Even though I worked 5 days a week during the summer it felt like I didn't work at all. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun and was super busy and exhausted and HAPPY every single day all at the same time. I can honestly say that this summer I went to bed and woke up every day with a smile on my face and that is just the greatest feeling ever. I wish I could go back in time and re-live every moment over and over and be happy all the time! But I know that that's not possible, but that doesn't mean that awesome things are happening NOW. Summer may officially be over according to the calendar but, in all honesty, it still feels like summer to me. I'd like to thank all my friends for being awesome and for giving me all these wonderful memories. Also, I have the best roomie in the world!!! Until next summer.

The End.

 

 

I'd also like to thank Koji Kondo for creating that lovely and epic Zelda music which inspired this blog post.

The Weekend

YUP it's about that time! Gotta head on home pretty soon! This weekend had been pretty fun and relaxing. I did absolutely NOTHING! No chores, no laundry no nooottthhiinng except eat and play video games of course! I hung out with Alice, saw my dad, watched some movies and bonded with Andre. He sure is good at video games! I knew he would grow up to be a gamer, I told him so when he was a baby and I had him on my lap while I was playing World of Warcraft! We played Little Big Planet all weekend it was fun. The best part was when I taught Andre the importance of being a good sport and not screaming when he lost because you have to be happy when other people win. So the next time I won he said "Im glad you won" WHAT A CUTIE! 

I went to a party on Friday that was super duper awkward... yeaaah. Check out my instagram for pics of the weekend! I'm kind of angry right now because I've been trying to sleep for the past two hours but I couldnt because Andre was being loud and he refused to go to bed. By the time he finally went to sleep I had tossed and turned so much that I just got up and now I'm on my computer!! My mom and I are going for a walk around some lake in 4 hours so I should go to sleep soon. Can't wait to go home! I sure do miss my kitty. 

Here's the trailer to Wreck it Ralph. Looks pretty alright I guess. 

Vacation: Week Three

Well well well, here we are. Today begins the last week of my "vacation." I saw the doctor today and I told him about my leg pain. He put me on bed rest for the next few days and then he wants me to start physical therapy. I dunno about you, but I just can't sit around doing nothing. It's not in my nature. I mean, I love a good nap and I like sleeping in and I'm not good at cleaning my room but these past two weeks have just been pretty bad for me because Im NOT a lazy peroson! People on the outside looking in are always like "DUDE you're SO lucky to not have to work and you get to sleep all day and do nothin!" Well, I don't feel lucky at all! I'd switch lives with you in a heart beat! First of all, during the first week I was in a lot of physical pain. Second week, when I was able to walk around, I felt super restless and I just didn't know what to do with myself so I just cleaned and watched TV. That's been my existence for the past week. I just feel so... useless! It's not a good feeling for me, especially cuz Im Mexican and Mexicans are NOT lazy! But, thankfully, my summer classes start soon and I will be back to work next Friday!

So, I'm visiting my family this weekend in order to relax and let my back heal. Since I'm visiting my mom and she doesn't see me much, she always takes good care of me when I come over! Hopefully I can make it all weekend because a lot of the time when I come visit I can't stand being here for more than a couple of days. It has nothing to do with my family or their apartment, it's just that it's always so hot in here! Also, there's never anything to do because everyone is out doing their own thing... but I brought my lap top this time so I'm ready! Also, I miss my kitty :( He's my snuggle buddy!!

I don't want to seem ungrateful about what I said before about not liking having time off... I DO enjoy  not working, it's just that, I've been so worried about my leg pain that I really haven't had time to enjoy it yet I guess. Also, I feel like if people see me out and about they're gonna think that I'm milking it and that I don't NEED to be taking time off of work. I dunno. I'm rambling now! I sure do miss my bed right now. I'm on my mom's couch, like good ol times lolol. SIGH. I think that for this last week I will try to enjoy myself a little more. Cuz I know that when I'm back at work I'm going to be wishing SUPER HARD that I wasn't!!!

Vacation: Week Two

Hey! So, FYI, I'm currently not on THAT much medication! Woohoo!!

So, I'm able to walk around now with almost zero pain! But, there's still some pain. It doesn't hurt to get up and  lay down which is good! But my back starts hurting if I stand for more than 10-15 minutes. Also, and this is what is freaking me out the most, is that my left leg still kind of hurts :( I wont know for sure what the extent of the damage is until I am able to sit for more than 30 minutes at a time. You see, my leg always hurt the most when I was sitting. But now, it hurts only when I stand up. That is kind of freaking me out because what if there is permanent nerve damage! And my leg hurts forever! I'm seeing the doctor next week so I will let him know. Hopefully, my back is just readjusting and the pain i feel is just due to my back not being properly healed yet. Either way, I am taking SUPER easy and resting a lot so I don't do any damage.

In other news, I talked to the doctor last week and he said that my recovery time would be 4-6 weeks! I was like WHAAAT?? I was expecting to return to work next friday but now I guess I wont be back for two weeks! Now that I'm not super drugged up and able to do things like walk outside, it's really starting to feel like a real vacation! I think that next week I'm going to go to San Marcos to visit the family. Yeah that sounds like a good time! We'll see how I feel though. WELL, time for a nap!

Vacation: Week One

Maritza here, blogging to you LIVE from the very exotic (not erotic) BEDROOM, located in the heart of Aliso Viejo country! This is day...uh...4? 5? of my very awesome vacation! So far, I have tasted delicious foods, gone to the beach, and even climbed a mountain! How is this possible, you ask? WELL, I am heavily medicated most of the time (like right now... how am I even typing?!) and anything is possible with hallucinations!

As most of you out in TV land know, I had surgery on Wednesday. Vince drove me to the hospital at 930am and I got all checked in and what not. I didn't see the doctor until around 11:30 and he said they would start at noon! Vince left at 11:30 to go prepare for my arrival at home by buying me lots of delicious soups and pizza! At noon the nurse came in to wheel me into the OR. It was weird cuz the anesthesiologist started my drip and I was like WOAH what is happening right now I am super sleepy. He asked the nurse about some puppies and then the nurse put a mask on my face. Next thing I know, Im in the recovery room and there's weird things on my legs pumping blood and stuff or at least that's what my nurse, Darrell, said. I woke up at around 1:30 PM and it was strange coming to cuz my whole body felt numb and I felt like a pile of human jelly. Eventually, Darrell gave me some ice chips and told me I could go home as soon as I had gone to the bathroom and eaten a cracker. At 2 they called Vince but he had stepped outside to do Vince stuff (work) so I didn't get released until an hour later at 3. It was interesting being in the recovery room because I was the youngest patient there by about 50 decades. It was obvious that the nurses weren't used to someone so young because when I got up to go to the bathroom (Darrell wanted me to use a bed pan YUCK) all the nurses cheered! As I was resting and waiting for Vince this dude next to me a Mr. something or other, was being drained. I dunno what that means exactly or what was being drained but through my sleepy haze I saw the nurse take a device and pour what looked like blood into a tray. EW. I don't ever wanna be drained D: The other guy in the bed in front of me (who had a super mean nurse im glad I didnt get her) had just something inserted into some part of his groin area and he said it burned to pee! Then the lady two beds over had been in the recovery room for like two hours and she still hadn't woken up! Anyway, I was finally released and I got to get wheeled out in a wheel chair, obviously, and then Vince drove me home! Hmm, now that I think about it, I never got a cracker.

The pain on my back was pretty severe. Well, I wouldn't describe it as pain more like a soreness. It hurt to move so I had to just lay down and do nothing. The first couple of days were the worst because I couldn't walk very fast and it hurt to walk so I had to be in pain every time I stood up. I also needed a lot of help getting up and laying down because yeah. Pain. I've been getting up and standing and walking as much as I can to get my back all used to it. Hmm... I lost my train of thought! Well, as of today I am able to get up and lay down with not much pain. It still hurts to sneeze, cough and laugh sometimes. You really dont know how much you use your back until it hurts to use it! For the first month and a half I wont be able to sit for more than 30 min, bend, or lift more than 10 lbs. After that I should be pretty normal ish I think. I will have to go to physical therapy to get everything in shape and what not and, if all goes well, in a few months I will be 100% better!

So the point of the surgery was to relieve the pain in my leg. Even though the problem was in my back, most of the pain I felt on a daily basis was in my leg. Sometimes, depending on how long I was sitting, the pain would go from my hip to my ankle, at other times it was just my ankle. My back would only hurt if I was bending over for a long time like if I was cleaning or sitting on the floor working on super secret art projects while Vince was at work. Im not really sure if Im in less pain because Im taking more medicine or if its because my back is healing.

The incision on my back is pretty small, just about an inch or so. I dunno how they closed it up. I feels kind of hard back there so I dunno if I have stitches or what. Alls I know is that it gets itchy sometimes and I have to try super hard not to scratch it!! I hope I get a cool scar back there. An epic battle scar.

Thanks to everyone who has come over and helped me and kept me company. It's been nice seeing you all! And Im super grateful to Vince for keeping me fed and hydrated! I guess Im also glad Nimbus is here keeping my tummy warm by sleeping on me.

It's nice to be off of work for two weeks. I was kind of nervous at first because I havent taken a vacation in about 10 years! So I didnt know how I was gonna react to all this freedom. But thanks to the medicine im taking, which makes me not think of anything except how I can feel the earth spinning and wonder why my teeth are marshmallows, I havent really had to stress out about not having anything to do. I dunno if any of this makes sense. Ive been typing for what feels like days but I guess its only been a few hours. What?? Im gonna go watch some Adventure Time now.

Vacation!

Well, school is official done for the spring semester! I couldn't be more glad/sad. I'm glad because I can sleep in and not worry about school work. I'm sad because now I have a lot of extra time and I'm not going to know what to do with it!

In a week I will be going in for surgery! If you follow my blog, and I don't know who wouldnt cuz it's oh so funny, then you know about my back and how it's all broken and what not. Basically, I have a herniated disk in my spine and it's soooo big that it's pinching some nerves which cause my left leg (from my hip to my ankle) hurt. Not only that, but I am unable to sit for an extended period of time, I can't run, exercise, stretch or pretty much exist without being in pain. I had cortisone injections right into the disk twice which was supposed to make the disk shrink I guess, but it didnt. The pain in my leg was lessened considerably which made me oh so happy! But my movement is still restricted and if I move around a lot my back and leg will start to hurt. The worst pain was when I had to sit for a long time, like when I was in class for 6 hours a day! At the end of the day I was in SO MUCH PAIN. Can you imagine? Not being able to SIT?? But after the shots it got better, thank goodness!!

Anyway, the only other thing to do is go in for a discectomy. What that means is that the doctor (who is SUPER HAWT) is gonna cut my back open and shave off (his words) part of the herniated disk stuffs, so the stuff that is hitting my nerve. By getting rid of that extra material, my nerves will be free to do their nervy thing and my leg will hopefully stop hurting and I'll be able to stretch any which way I want! The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday 23 as 11:30 AM. It's an outpatient procedure unless there are complications and hopefully there wont be! I've been to so many doctors in the past week and a half getting all sorts of different tests. I still need to go to a couple more appointments before surgery on Wednesday. I'm kind of freaking out about surgery because I hate going to the doctor...I guess if I had gone to the doctor the first time my back hurt I wouldnt be in this situation... BUT, after a lot of freaking out I think I'm more anxious than nervous about it... but it's still scary! The first week after surgery I wont be able to sit at all. So I will be chillin on the couch being awesome. I wont be able to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time for a month. A FULL recovery takes about 3 months (there's physical therapy involved and junk), so after that I will be able to move any which way I want and do back flips and all that noise.

The past couple of weeks have been great because I'm kind of trying to squeeze in a lot of adventures before surgery. Because I will be bed ridden for a while and OH YEAH Im gonna miss like three weeks of work!!! That part is pretty exciting! But yeaaaah. It's been a fun couple of weeks, and the last day of my pre surgery awesomeness will be Tuesday D:

WELL, here are some pics of the stuffs I've been doing!!

Sitting on the couch (I love this pic!)

Disneyland (on the carousel) 

Dinner at Oceanside Pier

We saw surfing dolphins!

Dodgers game with Joanne THANKS JOANNE!

The Blind Side on the BIG SCREEN

Angels game (they lost :(

Chocolate fondue and champagne to celebrate the end of the semester!

And that's about it for now. It really feels like, for the first time since i was in high school, I'm going to have a for real real, not for play play, vacation. 2-3 weeks of no work or school. Just me, doing absolutely NOTHING. I will enjoy it as much as I can!!!

Four into One

I am embarking on a trumendously huge and time consuming project. The thought of it makes me want to pull my hair out, but at the same time I know the end result will be beautiful in more than one respect. I feel like, after a lot of emotional distress, this project will be so theraputic and perhaps I will finally be able to close a long chapter in my life. Someimes you have to look back to move forward and I think that's what I need to finally find closure, to finally reach the balance and sernity I need. I know that this makes absolutely no sense to anyone but me. I just had to get that off my chest. So lets begin.

Mini Post

Dear Internet,

Today I had a presentation in my art class and it didnt go so well. That's what happens when you're group sucks I guess.

In other news, and I apologize for talking about this so much, but my leg still hurts! Gonna have surgery in a month to fix it. The cortisone shots didnt work and it makes me real saaaad. But not as sad as when I run out of pizza to eat. One more month left of school and I will be done wth my first year. Pretty awesome!!! Im gonna go to summer school too and stuff to get all that stuff out of the stufffff oh gawd im sleepy.

In MORE other news, Im working on my art a lot more now-a-days. Been doodling here and there and what not. Sigh. I need a nap. WELL. Thats it.

Im Kinda Crooked

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

My insides.

So, for those who have not puked their guts out at the sight of my bones, the part thats messed up is the very bottom. I shouldve circled it but ya know, whatever. The top one is the x-ray and the bottom one is the coolest shot of my spine from my MRI. Im going to the doctor next Tuesday to get some cortisone injections to ease my leg pain. I cant wait! The pain is getting slightly worse as I know get painful tingles down both my legs. Its as if a million tiny gnomes are poking me with ice hot spears. Quite a strange sensation. Well, at least it's good to know that the top of my back isnt so bad but... what's up with my crooked spine? D:

In other news, I watched Love Never Dies (the sequel to the Phantom of the Opera) yesterday and it wasnt as bad as some people made it out to be. Sure the story is ridiculous but some of the songs were actually pretty good. Here's a sample of one of my favorites.



And finally, I saw John Carter last night and OMG. I LOVED IT. It had nothing to do whth whats his face being super hot. The story was engaging and I was literally at the edge of my seat the entire time... of course, some of that might have been due to the fact that I had to pee really bad but I didnt want to miss any of the movie!!! I would have watched it again and again if I could. Im kind of sad that it seems like no one really cares about the movie. I hope that word of mouth spreads about how awesome it is and people come to see it!

My Leg Hurts

OK. Here's what's going on right now with my back. Some of you know, some of you don't, either way, here are some COMICS.

Read about my broken back!
Original Broken Back Comic

And now that you're all caught up, here's an illustration of the aforementioned post. Enjoy!

 

 

Writers Block

Im supposed to be writing a 1200 word paper right now on Richard Deibenkorn's Ocean Park series #89.5. So far, all I've got is the first sentence. Before that I figured out that #89 was actually #89.5 and not #85.5. I suck with numbers so hard, I cant even write them down correctly. I swear I saw 85 though. The one thing that's so distracting about writing this paper is not that the subject matter is boring. In fact, I think I picked the most interesting piece of art work at that museum, what's distracting is the music I'm listening to. I have a "Writing" playlist on iTunes but it's so dated that it's more distracting than soothing. So, I went to look for more music on the internet and I stumbled upon Alexandre Desplat's body of work and we all know he's amazing. I didn't know he made the music for My Week with Marilyn and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Why didnt I see those movies? So, I made this list of movies he's composed the scores for and Im going to watch them ALL. I'm listening to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button right now. That movie was soo good. Anyway, so after I made that list I went to doing more research. I have to have two scholarly sources and all that means to me is going to the library database and picking the first two links in the search results. Besides my music selection being distracting it's also full of memories, ya know? Like if I listen to the UP soundtrack, I get all sad. FUN FACT: as I was typing that last sentence in my head I said 'sad' but my hands typed out 'day' WTF? Anyway, then I'm listening to Define Dancing and well, that's just not homework music. So I went into my brain and listened to the brainwaves in there and something kept peeping it's head through the gunk of my brain, and what was The Artist. I saw it the other day and it was probably one of the best movies I have seen all year! Of course, all I watch are kids movies and the first movie I saw THIS year was Arrietty so that's not saying much but regardless, it was amazing. Through out the whole movie I wished that Alexandre Desplat had made the music for the movie but whatever. It was still amazing. So then I went to iTunes and wanted to download the soundtrack and I almost did but that's when I got distracted by Alexandre again. He is pretty awesome. OH! And I just remembered he did the score for Ides of March too! UGH. I have to turn this stupid paper in by Tuesday at 11:59 and I HAVE to finish it tonight or else I wont have time to do it and I still have TONS of homework to do. Why can't I get rid of this writers block? Why can't I have better music? Why is everything making me so sad right now? There! Did you see that? I almost typed day again instead of sad. Sigh. I guess I'll keep plugging along and see if I can squeeze a shiny new paper outta my ASS.

My Back is Broken!

I wish I had a cool comic to show you guys, my loyal readers (all 5 of you) but I'm not in a drawin' mood tonight so I owe you one! Here's what's going on in my life right now. *fadeout*

*fadein* I've been having hardcore back pain that is now extended to my leg and butt area. I've had back spasms for the past two years on an off and one day the spasm turned into leg pain and I was like WTF? I hate going to the doctor, so I put off going to the doctor until I feel like I am about to die. Well, usually my back pain goes away after a few days but this time it never went away. So I've been in pain 24/7 for the past 7 months almost. I wouldnt have done anything about it if I wasn't in school. Sitting at a desk for 7 hours straight KILLS me. Im practically to the point of tears by the end of the day.

I finally went to the doctor about two weeks ago. I got some x-rays and then an MRI and I finally know what it causing me so much pain! I have a herniated disk. Basically, the disk (that nice cushion of whatsits) is all explodey and trying to escape, according to Joanne. Since that stuff is all messed up, bone is rubbing against bone and what not and a nerve is getting pinched in there somewhere. So not only do I have tingling/numbness/constant pain in my leg due to the nerve issue, I also have pain on the left side of my butts (that the side the disk is all messed up on) and yeah. It SUCKS. The doctor said I needed to either have cortisone injection which would allow my back to relax and heal, but he says that since it's been this long and it hasn't healed on it's own that it's best just to have surgery. So, I decided to have SPINAL SURGERY.

Pretty much I will be out of commission for an entire month. I will need to be in bed for at least two weeks. I wont be able to sit for more than 15-20 min at a time for the first month. Although I will be able to stand plenty after the first 2-3 weeks, not  being able to sit could become an issue if Im at school, so I decided to wait to have the surgery until the summer when I will be able to concentrate on my health and not have to worry about school. I'm KIND OF freaking out, because surgery is a big deal, and even though the doctor says there's a 90% success rate with this type of surgery I still wonder WHAT IF I'm that 10% where something goes horribly wrong, or maybe the surgery wont work and I'll be in pain forever. Not only that, I only have 1 week of sick pay, zero vacation time until late June, so I will be out of work for three weeks basically. I might be able to go on disability but who knows! Alls I know is that I'm going to save every penny from now until the surgery so I wont be caught by surprise by anything NAH MEAN?

The lame thing about the herniated disk is that it's the last one in my spine, so basically my butt bone! I bet sitting is gonna be super painful. Thankfully I have my laptop for entertainment while I'm bedridden, but one thing that's gonna suck is not being able to shower for like two weeks. GROSS. But on the bright side, I will be off work for an entire month! :D In the mean time I will be getting cortisone injection in my spinal area so that I don't feel horrible pain every waking moment. The cortisone treatment will begin next week, and surgery will be in late May. On a side note, it feels like the pain is continuing to spread cuz I feel a new tingling sensation on both legs when I walk and my right arm/fingers feel the same way. I wonder if I'm having a heart attack or something? D: I guess we'll find out in the morning!

The Artist

I work on the monthly newsletter at work and I usually draw pictures of the people I'm doing a spotlight section on. Due to "issues" with one of my articles, I was forced to re-write a section and I decided that instead of adding simple doodles I would draw some nice pictures in paint. I made one of Ingrid and one of Matt. I was getting a lot of compliments from people saying my drawing were really great. It reminded me of my parents, and how they didn't know until I was in my 20's that I could actually draw.

FLASHBACK
I went to the Art Institute of California in San Diego for a year in 2005-06. One day, I had this idea to draw that one angry Smurf on a shirt and have a word bubble saying, "What the smurf?!" So I got some fabric paints and got to work. I drew the picture free hand on a black shirt and it came out really good. My mom walks past it and asks, "Who drew that?" and I said it was me, she then says "That's really good!" and I was like, you sound surprised and she's all, "I didn't know you could draw." And I was like... REALLY? I'm in art school! And she says, "Well, I didn't know you were THAT good." Needless to say, I was shocked and kind of insulted. It never even crossed my mind that she didn't know I could draw, i thought everyone knew! But I guess I never really showed her any of my drawings. My entire family knew that my sister could draw, that was her thing. In a way her talents overshadowed the rest of our talents because everyone's all "Oh my gosh! Rosanna can draw? What do YOU do?"

Flash forward 4 years, one day I'm at work at the theater in San Marcos and it's a particularly slow day, so I draw Souske holding baby Ponyo in a jar on a post-it note. That day my dad and his GF come to watch a movie. After the movie got out I show my dad the post it note and he was like, "Wow you drew that? That's really good!" He was also surprised I could draw. He seemed really happy and he loved the drawing so I gave it to him. Parents are weird.

I guess my thing has actually always been singing. I remember when I was little my parents would make me perform this one spanish song La Puerta Negra to our relatives cuz I guess I sang it really well. They made me sing it every time someone came over and I sang it all the time when we visited relatives in Mexico. I've loved singing my entire life! This one time in the 2nd grade we did a show for the parents where we had to sing parts of a song and I had to sing about a book and an owl. I don't remember the song. All I remember is that after the show was over TONS of parents came up to me and were all like, "You sang so beautifully! You're voice is so pretty!" I shoved past them to get to the dessert table and stole a bunch of candies and went home! Laaawl.

Now that I'm all grown up, I still love singing (Currently singing Maroon 5 songs) but I think drawing is still my thing. I may not be able to draw anatomically correct pictures, or super cool comic book style pictures, I still can't draw trees, but I'm still an artist!

Marpizzavision

My tummy hurts right now ><

In other news, I was totally sleeping early tonight (11 PM!!!) cuz I was feeling pretty tired and didn't wanna Skyrim, when in the middle of my sleep I wake up. I open my eyes and notice that the light from the hallway is flooding into my room. I lay there, eyes wide opening, knowing that I had shut my door and turned off all the lights before I went to bed. I wasn't afraid, cuz I knew that Vince was probably just being a creeper. I waited a descent amount of time before I looked at the door, thinking Vince had probably walked away, but he was still standing at the door way, being a creeper!!! Then he asks me if I'm still alive and I say yes, he walks away, leaves the door wide open and lets Nimbus into my room, who quickly begins to meow loudly. Gotta love room mates.

SO, Vince got a new TV. I'm gonna go ahead and say that he basically bought it for my enjoyment because he has only really sat in front of it for one movie, and he fell asleep 10 minutes into the movie, so I don't think that counts as watching the awesome new TV. One thing you guys should know is that he is a workaholic. He is constantly working (I think he is addicted) and NOTHING, not even a giant 55 inch 3D TV can pry him away from his work long enough for him to actually have fun. But I guess he IS having fun... working. ANYWAY, Vince has wanted to buy a new TV for as long as I've known him! I was shocked when he said he had actually bought one. I STILL didn't believe him until a rude Mexican dragged the TV into my living room. Needless to say, I have been enjoying the TV very VERY much. Especially now that I'm all into Skyrim! It's cool that I don't have to wear my glasses anymore to read the dialogue in the game lol!!!

In more news, the holiday's are finally over YAY. I'm glad that work isn't busy anymore because I was seriously about to SNAP! Customers were driving me CRAZY! But at least now they're not holiday crazy, they're just normal rich white people crazy. School starts MONDAY! Im both excited and nervous. I hope all my classes are fun! I got an e-mail from my Art history teacher and she addressed her students as precious and beloved LOL art teachers are the best. The only thing that sucks now is that I won't be having a day off until the summer time. But at least with school starting I wont feel like a bum, bumming around the house anymore! Also no more Skyrim :(

The End.