HOLY GOSHDANGED CRAP, WE'RE GONNA SEE VAN ZANT TODAY!!!!!
I mean, like, in a matter of hours. A dream come true, I'LL BE DANGED!! I mean... I'm so stoked I really can't think of anything else to say in this post. I only slept for about forty-five minutes last night, that's how excited I am. I hope I don't pass out at the sight of them. And I hope this nasty cough will give me a break so that I can scream and sing along, 'cause that's half the fun! I just drank a disgusting concoction of orange juice and honey in effort to calm my throat down, I darn sure hope it works.
That is all. I must now go get ready and get all dolled up for Johnny and Donnie, heh heh heh. (Stop laughing at me).
Why is it that when you're sick (or just getting over being sick), you always feel the worst at night? Of course you can't sleep at all, but then you feel better when morning comes around and can sleep all the live-long day. What's up with that? Why can't it be the other way around - feel crappy during the day, then feel great at night and get some sleep then? Argh. I'm not sick any more, but I still have a terrible sinus infection. The sinus pressure has been unbearable for the past three nights (mainly in my left cheek) - I've been awake all night every night, putting Vick's vapor rub all over me, downing all kinds of sinus headache medications, drinking hot green tea, and inhaling steam over a hot sink with a towel over my head. Yet, I've been sleeping all day without problem.
So, of course, being up all night, I've had absolutely nothing to do but fiddle around on the computer. Here are the fruits of my boredom:
Click images to enlarge, or right-click and "Save Target As..."
I've noticed how my style of making wallpapers tends to change every time I discover something new; my favorite style for the past half year or so has been a grungy effect. I love dirt, imperfections, newsprint, dirty brushes, and military/typewriter text (as in the ones of Ronnie, Johnny, and Rickey). I also dig the soft, glowing look, as in the one of the Explorer. I'll upload all of these to Daft & Demented as soon as I get the chance.
OH, and... I'm really, really, REALLY excited because this Sunday... WE'RE GONNA SEE VAN ZANT AT THE KISS COUNTRY CHILI COOKOFF!!!!!!!!!!! *FAINTS DEAD* *recovers* Ahem...yeah. Anyway. Not only are Van Zant gonna be there, but also Gretchen Wilson (love her), Keith Urban, Trick Pony, and Craig Morgan. Video cameras aren't allowed, but I'm sure regular cameras are, so I'll be sure to take a ton of pictures.
There ain't nuthin' like winning a really CLOSE auction on eBay. I bid on a Rickey Medlocke guitar pick in the last 60 seconds. Even after I bid, two people tried to outbid me but my bid was higher, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!!!! My slowed connection almost lost it for me also. BUT I PERSEVERED!!!
I'm not sure if it's used, but it IS one of Rickey's picks. The seller told me, "It was given to me by a roadie who worked a few Skynyrd shows. But I did not witness Rickey using it - it did come off of the road for sure."
That said, we're switching internet providers. I'm not especially happy to go from cable (that USED to be great until recently) to DSL, but anything will be faster than what I've got now - I shouldn't complain at all. Comcast has been having "problems" in my area for the past month or more. They're "working diligently" to fix the problem, but that's a load of crap. It's not that the connection is nonexistent, it just takes up to five minutes for a danged page to load. Tiny GIF images take over ten seconds each to load - that just ain't right. I've been disconnected from my email all too often, which sucks because it's something I really look forward to - coming online in the afternoon to 50+ emails from A.E., Nat, and Josée. DON'T COME BETWEEN ME AND MY EMAIL YOU BASTARDS!!!
..Sorry.
We're switching to Earthlink DSL, and since there's no phone jack in this room, we're getting a wireless connection (which is only a few dollars more). I asked the man we spoke to on the phone if their DSL was "fast enough for an impatient person" and he laughed and said it was (3.0), so we'll see! They're mailing the equipment to us to install ourselves. The guy was very funny and understanding when he asked what Earthlink screename I wanted and I said "dusty jumpwings".... heh.
Hopefully the stuff gets here very soon. My connection is reasonable at the moment, but still at about 50%. I apologize to everybody whom I owe emails... I caught up on a few tonight, but it'll be a while until I get to the others.
Totally different subject: we watched Back to the Future II tonight, I just love those movies. Hadn't seen them in so long so I bought the trilogy. I adore Christopher Lloyd - I've had a crush on him since I was a little girl! The DVDs I've got are loaded with extras too, including a music video of ZZ Top's "Doubleback" - I LOVE that song!! It's not the hillbillied-up version in Back to the Future III, but the original rockin' one (I have both of them on .mp3). The entire video revolves around the movie, it's hysterical.
After we watched that, I saw that Last of the Mohicans was playing on FMC and watched the whole thing. That's another of my favorites... every single time I watch it, I think, "Wow. I forgot how great this movie is." Oh and yesterday, I finally watched Dances With Wolves and loved that one too! I've obviously had a lot of time on my hands.
And now, "Sweet Home Alabama" is playing on the radio! I'm having a great day. I'm feeling a lot better, found out that Nat's bloodwork came back negative, saw Christopher Lloyd and a bunch of Indians, saw ZZ Top in a video of one of my favorite of their songs, and Skynyrd is playin'! Oh and... I'm seeing Van Zant at the end of the month. And maybe Marshall Tucker.
Everybody gets so upset with my Dad, Darrell, and relatives for calling me "Moose", I don't get what the big deal is?? It's been my nickname for over 8 years and I love it. I like it when people call me that. I even TELL the people that and they still don't like it. Pffft.
Today, Dad ate at a little resturaunt during his work break. They know one of the waitresses that works there, D., she's a sweetheart and I love her, but she gives them flak every single time they refer to me as "The Moose". I know she means well, but how many times do we gotta tell her that I like it? If it offended me, trust me they'd know about it and never call me that again.
People started calling me "Moose" back when I was thin, even. The reason I got the nickname is because I'm so tall. I'm now 5'11", but even back when I was about 12 or 13, I was at least 5'6". Besides, moose aren't fat..?? They're tall, strong, muscular, and I think they're absolutely beautiful. So graceful and majestic! I know I'm neither of those....heh....but still!
I can't see why being called "Moose&q uot; is such a bad thing. If they called me "Cow" or "Hippo", then I guess there'd be reason to worry. Get it through your heads people - I'm THE Moose and I wouldn't have it any other way! Most of my relatives all understand. My grandmother and aunts and uncles and cousins all buy me stuffed mooses and anything else to do with moose. I also have quite a few reindeer, as I'm closely related to them. Heh.
I feel like writing a blog, but I'm not sure what about, so I'm just gonna let it flow out - whatever I feel like talking about. Heh, that sounded poetic didn't it?
On Sunday, we met Kelly Mason and her family for the first time in the 5+ years I've known her. It was so fun, I had the greatest time, but I was just a bit sad we hadn't done it sooner - especially since we're only 2 1/2 hours apart! We drove on over there in the early afternoon and got there just past 3, met at Cracker Barrel and had an early dinner, then went to a Glenn Miller Orchestra concert - which was awesome! I love that old '40s music. They ended the concert with a fast-paced Benny Goodman song, "All the Cats Join In" - we all loved that one, the drummer was especially great. After the concert we left for home - had to drive across Alligator Alley at night, which I didn't like the idea of none too much (even though we had a handgun with us), but the time passed pretty quickly and we got across safely! There we were, driving through the swamps in the middle of the night listening to Skynyrd's "Swamp Music" - can that be any more appropriate? On the way over, we saw at least 50 alligators sitting on the banks near the water in the Everglades. Kelly, it was so awesome to finally meet you (and the family, I love you guys!), I can't wait to do it again!
Let's see...we did all that on Sunday the 15th, which is also Ronnie Van Zant's birthday. He'd have been 58 this year, Happy Birthday Ronnie, wish you were still with us!
On the subject of Lynyrd Skynyrd (what else?), .38andSkynyrdFan recently told me that it's been rumored that Hughie Thomasson will possibly rejoin the band. Even if it's just a rumor, that is SUCH great news! Maybe The Outlaws broke up again, which I feel bad about because I love that band too and would love to see them some day. But I love Skynyrd more, and they need that third guitarist there. Hughie is an awesome player, I really do hope he'll come back, he's got tough shoes to fill! One more thing reguarding Skynyrd - Rickey Medlocke (who's also pursuing acting) guest starred in an episode of Nash Bridges, I think back in 2001. I just happened to search for Rickey's name in the Yahoo TV listings and lo and behold!! His episode is playing at 3AM this morning!! I can't watch it now because the cable TV is in Prancing Patrick's room and he's sleeping, but I've set the VCR to record it... hopefully it turns out good, I've been wanting to see it for so long but it's never played and I can't find it online. I hope he has a good-sized part!
STILL on the subject of music, I just got three more .38 Special albums, and the King Kong soundtrack. Haven't listened to all of them yet but I'm sure they're all awesome. King Kong, by the way, was a great movie - worthy of seeing at least once in theaters. Quite a bit far-fetched, but hey, it's a movie! It stayed true to the original movie and the graphics were impressive - Kong himself looked SO real. The sound was awesome too.
Ahh, we're going to Israel in June. I don't think it's yet hit me, because I'm not excited yet. I'm a bit nervous about going over there at a time like this, but hey, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance and we're gonna take it! We still have to get our passports though, we'd better get that done SOON. We have a close friend, Mike, whose brother lives 15 minutes from Jerusalem. We'll stay with them for ten days and Mike will show us all around the country!! We'll only have to pay for airline tickets. That would have sapped our savings, but we recently got a home equity loan to give us a bit more freedom. Nothing major - when we move (maybe, in the next 5 years), we'll sell the house and easily pay the loan off all together.
We also might go to the Smokies before Israel, in May. We've been talking about going earlier this year (we usually go in September). Another reason to go in May is that Skynyrd will be in Cherokee, NC, mid-month (heh heh). It'd be awesome to see them up there - Cherokee isn't too far from Gatlinburg so there's no reason to pass up the chance!!
Last thing, I now have a bad cold. It just suddenly came upon me today, I felt fine yesterday?? Thankfully I was able to keep a sore throat away by gargling with Listerine every half hour. But my head is stuffed to the maximum and I have a nasal drip.. my ears are all closed up and I can't breath out of my nose. I've got Vick's Vapor Rub all over me, a Breathe Right Nasal Strip on my nose, and I took Sudafed Severe Cold Formula. I also drank some piping hot green tea, which helped a little bit. I've only just now discovered that you can also drink Arizona Tea hot. D'oh.
Wait, that wasn't the last thing. I was just thinking, Josée told me about this thing called Skype, where you can make PC-to-PC phone calls from anywhere in the world for free! She said the quality is that of a telephone, and it's not like talking on walkie-talkies either. You just need a headset with a microphone and you're all set. I ordered one last week, I hope it gets here soon because in the years I've known Josée, we've never heard each others' voice!!
I've just added two new pages to Daft & Demented - they're both under "My Interests", one for trucks and one for guitars! It took a lot more work than it looks, I spent hours looking for good pictures and picking out all my favorites. Hadn't added anything major to the site in a long time so I had to do something! Just something to note, on the Guitar page, the third guitar is the Gibson Indian - I LOVE that guitar. It's so beautiful. Rickey has that one and I could never find a decent picture of it until a couple days ago. The original picture is GI-NORMUS too! Awesome.
Okay, here's the last thing for real this time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEAREST A.E.!! I hope you had a totally awesome day and hopefully you'll get my card/gift in the next couple days! Sorry it's late. I love you!
Erm...here's the REAL real last thing: OMG I LUV TEH RIKAY HAWTNAS I CANT WAT TO SE3 HIM 2MOROW!!!11!!1!1 OMG WTF BBQ
OH and, Lonestar's "You're Like Coming Home" is on the radio right now. I love this song.
