March 18th
Let me start this post with a simple statement; I love Gaelic Storm. I finally made it to a concert, and on March 14th,
I travelled north to the Meyer Theater in Green Bay, WI, and watched
Gaelic Storm perform. They were freaking
fantastic. I was singing along at the top of my voice, clapping,
cheering, whistling, stamping my feet, and I may or may not have been
flirting with the fiddler. It was the first concert I had ever been to,
and it was the perfect first concert. I love basically
all their music, and could sing along with every song that I had heard
of theirs. We called them back out for encore after encore, and a
concert that was supposed to be done at 10 didn’t draw to a close until
10:50. My section led a fantastically choreographed
dance to one song that drew laughs from the drummer, the fiddler, the
guitarist, and the lead singer even gave us a shout out after the song
was over to come tour with them. I came home giddy and with a beautiful,
leather bound hipflask. It was a near perfect
night.
In celebration of this wonderful event, my mom made
two great meals; the first was a batch of icing drizzled scones that
were the best I had ever tasted. They were sweet and crumbly and
utterly, diet destroyingly delicious. It took a great
deal of my will power to wrap those treats up in tinfoil and put them
off until my cheat day. She also made a Wisconsin style Irish breakfast;
fried eggs and Johnsonville ‘bangers’. After not getting to bed until
1am, she woke up early to cook up 14 brats
with near perfection, cooking them thoroughly, and evenly and without
bursting a single casing. SO GOOD!!!
I then spent the next three days recuperating from
my wild partying. I was tired, worn out, and so utterly fatigued. I did
almost nothing but watch Netflix with my dad all Friday, with my mom all
Saturday, and did nothing but attended meetings
and church services all Sunday. Although, I did spend most of Saturday
eating beyond my heart’s content. I got up in the morning with the
intention of having a good, healthy breakfast of oatmeal and eggs, but
those scones were calling my name from their aluminum
wrappings in the refrigerator. Their argument was very convincing, so I
ate them for breakfast… and washed them down with a half-gallon of
juice… and then a bag of fun sized Snickers… and a protein bar… and a
half dozen bags of fruit snacks… and a can and
a half of Pringles… and then I ate three donuts… then a 1400 calorie
milk chocolate shake… oh my gosh I feel like a fatty just listing that
off! Then I went out and brought home $40 of Chinese… just to top off my
breakfast. I got the Chinese for my family,
though, not just myself! And there are leftovers!
Some other highlights of the last few weeks
include, but are not limited to, watching Dr. Who, finishing Season 1 of
BBC’s now defunct show Robin Hood, playing football in the snow, and
not slipping and sliding on the ice as I go for a
run, which is not very often because there is ALWAYS ice on the ground.
March 4th
Once a year, I am afflicted with a head cold of
rather serious proportions. I feel as though my head is swollen to twice
its normal size, sneezes come with AK-47 rapid fire succession, and my
nose runs like a Kenyan hunter. But a thought
occurred to me as this latest assault on my health and wellness began;
what if I’m not sick? What if I simply spend all year building up an
unfair portion of awesomeness, and therefore I must disperse it to the
world through nasal explosions as well as a slow
yet very deliberate drip from mainly my right nostril. Well, once I
realized this, I began to sneeze on each and every person I felt needed a
dose of awesome. This did not last very long at work, and it actually
got me kicked out of Nicky’s Lionhead just off
the St. Norbert campus on Saturday night. I don’t understand, though.
Doesn’t everyone want to be more awesome? I am simply attempting to
spread the awesome I have with everyone! That’s freakin charity, man!
Anyway, aside from trying to awesomize everyone I
met, I also got to spend my entire Sunday afternoon with the Masarik
family. They are a family that is dear to mine, and it was absolutely
fun to see them. We talked about a number of different
topics, but the main topics seemed to be raising children (they have 3
kids under the age of 6 being home schooled), tv shows on Netflix an
Amazon instant video (Dr. Who, Merlin, and Robin Hood to name off the
BBC ones), and spirituality. We were there for
about 5 hours, and even though I felt that I should be disengaging from
conversation because it had been going on for too long, I was always
drawn back in and my interest was rekindled. I am not entirely sure if
that was due to the quality of conversation,
which was fantastic and wonderful and engaging, or if I am beginning to
change and become more social and conversational. I have already
noticed it at work; I am speaking more freely with people and talking to
people I otherwise would not have only a year
ago. In some ways I am glad, but I am also a bit afraid that I am going
to become even more chatty and will get to the point of being
overwhelming or annoying (even though I already find a great deal of my
conversing to be borderline annoying… is that bad?).
So I make a request; please be honest with me if I come off as
annoying. I do not think I will be doing the same for you, though. I am
still a touch too timid for that.
In other news (meaning actual news), Sheboygan got
punch, pounded, and beat down by a rather mean snow storm last week
(this information may only be news to those 7 readers who live outside
of the Sheboygan area). The name of this storm;
Winter Storm Gavin.
After Winter Storm Draco pummeled the entire East Coast and dropped a
good foot
on the Appleton and Green Bay area, it left a very disappointing
footprint in Sheboygan; a rain soaked city that froze over the next day.
Where 15 miles inland from us there was a lovely thick coat of white
fluff fallen upon a picturesque street in Plymouth,
we did nothing but trudge through snow washed into our drains by the
incessant rain. Last Tuesday night and Wednesday was inversed; it was a
quaint pretty snow in much of North East Wisconsin, but the Storm
recognized my presence and determined to ruin my
week, so he swung back around to drop snow on us and blow a mean wind
through our neighborhoods. Well, I was almost certain that work would be
cancelled. Lakeland Auto was closed, restaurants shut down, they even
stopped plowing the streets and parking lots
because they just could not do it! But, Associated Bank pressed on, and
we braved the snow to report to our positions inside the bank. We had a
dozen customers by the time my day ended.
I also came up with what I believe to be a fun
idea; over the next 4 weeks, I will attempt to lose four percent body
fat by lifting for 4 total hours, and average of 8 minutes, 34.28568
seconds a day. I think it will be a definite challenge.
Anyone want to take me up on it and do it for themselves? I can post my
previous day’s diet and exercise for you to mimic.
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