Showing posts with label I miss Vegas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I miss Vegas. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2011

I Need A Minute

Oof... great. I don't have any icons on my new computer...

Hang tight.

"Faced with the andriods conundrum..." 






So... today I got my very first MacBook Pro. :) I am a little too happy about it. It has been named "West". (Understand that or divorce me... hehe...)

Jennifer has adopted my old computer, though I still have stuff on it that I need to get off... :-/ Unfortunately my hard drive is completely full and so I'm kinda fucked there for a second...

This computer is so fast that it's already next week at my fingertips.

I already have plans for the computer. *snickers* I'm sure you'll see soon enough or something.

I'm tired.

Jennifer has a blog now that she has a computer... she's pretty excited about it... www.readbeforeyouspeak.wordpress.com

Lord knows when she will have it up and running... I have done my part and now I pass it on to her. :)

Everything that I want to talk about I can't talk about... huh. It always ends up like that, doesn't it?

Let's just say that I'm extremely happy for the moment and that I'm looking forward to something. You'll know about it soon enough and I will hopefully have something to share with you.

My video blogs for Monday's seem to be quite the little hit. People ask me some great questions on there... you can see them over at www.youtube.com/thejodieplatz along with some Monkey videos that I've taken.

I still have to upload some videos from Mechanical People back in March... I will get to that, eventually, I suppose.

Today I bleached the top half of my hair in hopes of getting back to blonde and pink soon enough... working on it... errr... it's... going. Some of it turned out a bit orange because my hair was red/brown... so... that's interesting... oh well, it will be pink soon. :) Pink will cover up orangey.

I want to put a 100 Monkeys sticker on the front of my Mac... I think I lost my stickers though. :( I don't know where they went to at all. *sad*

Picture of the day:

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Imaginary Friend

"there's a crazy cast of characters,
none of which are real at all..."

The lyrics couldn't be more perfect for how today has gone... iTunes was really feeling me on this one today.

I wrote about half of my blog and then I realized that you weren't worth the blast.

So I deleted it.

Oh, haaay, sort of like you deleted me! Fancy that.

Swiftly moving on... Today marks three days until The Vegas... Tonight is going to be busy. There's so much to do and... well... only three days left to do it. Wax eyebrows, dye hair, buy things for Vegas, figure out WTF I'm wearing to the shows... etc... laaaa... I'm tired just thinking about it.

I do believe we're going to [attempt] the champagne brunch on Sunday. Should be good times. We went to the MGM Grand champagne brunch in 2007 and it was quite enjoyable. Of course now I do believe we're picking a much cheaper one than that. ;)

I've been in a Spencer Bell mood lately.

That's all I care to say about that.

I guess today is a short blog

Pic of the Day:

Tonight I'm buying my ticket for Dread -- in select theaters ONLY on the 29th (this Friday!) Check your local theaters and see if it's playing near you -- if it is, PLEASE go out and support it! It's an incredible film, beautifully shot, beautifully executed and fucking terrifying. ;)

xx Jo

Friday, January 22, 2010

It's Not Right, But It's Okay



My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.

Heath Ledger April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008

I wasn't planning on blogging today... or talking today, for that matter... but I couldn't do that to Heath. I didn't want anyone to think that I forgot about him. Even with my life circling in a thousand different directions, my heart, my mind and my body being pulled in so many different directions - I still think of Heath. I didn't forget him.

[[my Heath Ledger post from last year... tons of pictures.]]

"I know it was me who called it over,
but I still wish you'd fought me till your dying day,
Cuz I can't wait to figure out what's wrong with me,
so I can say this is the way I used to be..."

There's been so many things going on in my mind this week that I can't even begin to set them straight. This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life emotionally. I've been so many things to so many people, yet not once this week do I think I've been myself -- to myself.

I've had a week of breakdowns.

You know... I almost apologized right there for being a little "emo", but you know what? You came to my blog... you came here for whatever reason -- to keep tabs on me, perhaps you actually enjoy reading what I write, or maybe you're just bored... who knows... but you came here. There is no disclaimer and I make no apologies. I am the way that I am... or I am not. I am not sure.

Earlier this week during one of my breakdowns I took a stack of Post Its and a Sharpie and made notes to myself. I then posted them all over a picture frame, so many orange sticky papers covered it that you could no longer see the photo and they all were overlapping.

I'd like to share those Post Its with you now.

-Believe in something real.
-Don't lie to yourself.
-hate yourself before they can.
-He won't love you.
-RUN.
-make your autopsy interesting.
-Never be alone with your own thoughts.
-No more emotions.
-Save your heart. Now.
-LET GO.
-Stop breathing. It doesn't help.
-Love is painful.
-Stop loving.
-Talk yourself out of it.
-control more.

That's all of them except for one... One that in the light of day I don't agree with, so I'm not going to post what it said.

You know what I don't understand? Why I am so fucking honest here. Like, I didn't have to tell you that I was hiding a Post It from you... I could have told you that was all of them, and unless you were here to look through the Post It stack, you would never know the difference... but instead of lying, I told the truth.

Weird.

I often find myself wondering if things matter... if I matter... If I was to disappear tomorrow, would people ever notice or care? And then as I was wondering this someone Follow Friday'd me on Twitter. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous... but it was someone who I had never gotten a Follow Friday from before and I realized that just with one song, I had touched this persons life -- just a tiny bit, but enough for her to think of me... just a bit. It made me smile on the inside.

I know that there's a handful of people who would be "sad" if something happened to me... I also know that I didn't make that big of an impact to where anyone would be changed forever if I stopped living.

I've got friends that I live in the same city with that I can't keep plans with... I see my Twitter friends and my favorite bands more than I see these people that live in the same city/state as I do. I know a lot of that is my own damn fault.

A Post It that should have been: Everything is your fault.

I'm tired.

Drained... completely. I'm too tired to search, to press on... to find the next big thing in my life. I'm tired.

There's so much that I want in this life and I let so much ride along with it. To quote Van Wilder: "You can't treat every situation as a life or death matter, cuz you'll die a lot of times."

You know, that movie had a lot of amazing quotes. That one is particularly true of me. I know that everything is very dramatic in the life of Jodie - I know that I treat so much like life and death. Just last night I was having one of those moments...

Perhaps it's better that the music career didn't work out for me - I really can't stand the thought of people hating me. When someone says something to me just a little curt I immediately think of how they're ruining my life when I'm not there -- how I hate the fact that they "hate" me. Meanwhile, I think I think people think much more of me than they really do. While it all lingers with me - I'm sure I've left their minds just as quickly as I came.

I don't know what I want to do. I know that there are a few things in this life that I will literally die without. All of which, I cannot name here. They're not hard to figure out, if you know me...

While the definition of "die" changes. When I say that I will "literally die" without these things. I do mean "cease to live". You may take that in any way that you desire. For some that will mean that I will stop breathing in the literal sense. Stop living in the literal sense... for others that will mean that I will stop living as in stop caring, cease to care about living... whether that may mean that I'll be careless in my actions, giving "fate" free will towards my body and soul or whether that may mean that I'll just remain a shell of my former self. (More than likely, the latter.)

"Everybody's just a stranger,
But that's the danger in going my own way..."

Sleep has been hard for me lately. Jennifer's not pleased with my recreational use of drugs, however... even with my recreational use of drugs, I slept a whole thirty minutes or so before jolting wide awake. Usually "fantasies" help to drift me back to sleep, however lately, they're just keeping me up at night. I try to be tender with them, gentle, should-be-happy-thoughts, but my mind has been black lately. One happy thought quickly leads to string of ten "bad" thoughts, my mind forever rolling around in it's own filth.

I wish I knew how to let go. How to breathe without trying... how to just live. How to not focus on these thoughts... They're mostly worries. Worries that... well... worries. Worries keep me up at night. Worries are the demons that hide under my bed, that poke me each time I try and get some peace.

I'm tired.

Picture of the Day:

Look in the mirror.

xoxox

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

We're Going Down


"Am I more than you bargained for yet?
I've been dying to tell you anything you want to hear,
Cuz that's just who I am this week..."

Ahh, Las Vegas... How I love thee, how I loathe thee... I wish that Las Vegas was a secret city that only a select few knew about and how awesome it is... I feel Chicago is very much like that. Most people have no idea how awesome it is...

Most of the time people don't know how awesome Las Vegas is, so it's always fucking fantastic to find someone who loves it just as hard as you do. [Insert sly eyebrow raise here...]

However, apparently EVERYONE knows how awesome Vegas is at the moment. After Tulsa we all (Jenn, Willow and I) decided that "fuck yes, we're going to see Monkeys in Vegas..."

Mnkys + Vegas = An awesome time that I will not remember the next day = WIN!

So we bought our plane tickets to Vegas, bought our Mnky show tickets and decided it wasn't THAT important that we go see the first Monkeys show... it starts at noon, meanwhile our plane literally lands AT noon... No biggie... We'd just go to the 21+ show later that night. (Those are more fun anyhow. *nods once*)

We didn't buy our return home plane tickets yet and I noticed on Southwest they were freaking edging us out... first the 1st went up to $281... that's fine, that's fine... we'll fly home the 2nd. So this morning I go to buy the return home tickets and the 2nd was $281... Well, fuck my life... so I'm staying in Vegas until the 3rd and meanwhile Jennifer is trying to either find a Greyhound or another airline... it's kinda becoming a pain in mah ass.

And then... last night I was on the computer and was just click, click, clicking things and totally decided that if the Monkeys and I are in Vegas at the same time that I HAVE TO SEE THEM. The end. So then we decided that we would not check baggage, get off the plane and fucking RUN to the Hard Rock in order to make it to the first show. :) That's love, boys... I don't run for anyone.

So we may not have everything all planned out, but who gives a shit. It's VEGAS. It's MONKEYS. Monkeys IN Vegas. The end. It doesn't get better than that... I'm freaking stokeeeeed and soo ready. 10 days.

We still have HELLA free VIP passes to Vegas clubs. I do believe we're hitting up Coyote Ugly again for Jennifer's birthday. :] T'will be greatness.

Dontcha wish your Larry was an Uncle, like mine...?

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Is That Duct Tape?!!?

"she said "I love you Daddy..."
I love you Rock 'n Roll..."

You know what? Tulsa was so epic that it doesn't deserve one icon. Though that icon says so much, it doesn't say nearly enough, so here are three other icons that fit Tulsa perfectly.



Let's begin.

First of all, I love that Willow came all the way out to Kansas City to take the trip with us to Tulsa. It *made* the trip. Twas epic. I forced her to watch some Justin Timberlake shit, we had more laughs than I think anyone in the history of the world has ever had and it was amazing.

The Monkeys show was January 11th and we left super freaking early for Tulsa on the night before. It's a 5 hour drive from Kansas City down there and I tried, tried, tried to stay awake as long as I could but ultimately, I napped in the car.

We got to the McDonalds that spans over the highway -- Jenn had always told me about it -- and she woke me up, "look, it's the McDonalds." I basically said. "Awesome. Let's pee here." She asked me if I wanted a "hashy" (hashbrown) and I said, "No. Tired." So we went pee and then I went back to the car and went to sleep.

I had some amazing dreams while sleeping in the car that day... somewhere they crossed over from fantasy, into the almost reality and back again into sleep. Amazing. :)

We got to Tulsa at nearly 9a and went into Ida Red's somewhere between 12/1...? When we walked in we were the first people there and actually got to help out with the people who worked there setting up their stuff and stuff. She asked us about the Monkeys, their music, what they were like live... what they were like as people... of course we told her all we could.

She was going to fetch some food for them and asked what they liked to eat. I said that Ben G liked sweets, but Jackson didn't care much for them so she should have something salty (err, you know... uh... not sweet) for him. Sure enough when the boys showed up, Ben came out with a Butterfinger in his mouth.

She said that the boys had asked for beer but the owner had vetoed the idea. So I turned to Jenn and Willow and told them we should buy the guys beer and keep it in our van so we could lure them in. (*wink*) They loved the idea and went to Quik Trip and bought the boys a 20 pack.

The boys came in not too much later, still before there were hella people there -- of course once the boys GOT there that's when everyone else did too... Within seconds of walking in Ben and Willow were talking. Jackson walked in and within seconds he was with the one he wanted to be with too -- the piano in the corner of Ida Red's. :) He was playing it beautifully.

Willow and Jenn went to fetch the beer from the car and they brought it to the boys, who were of course, fucking stoked to have beer. XD Jerad talked to Jenn a bit about Vegas... ... ...

So da da da... concert thingy started... twas good. I got video of the boys singing Junkie (errr, Jackson singing Junkie... Ben played the piano that was over in the corner. Twas adorable.)

They sang the Monkey Song... before which they asked if anyone knew of Spencer Bell. We all woo'd... of course I think the only ones who knew of Spencer were us three and Lisa... That kinda broke my heart but then Jackson said, "Google him, or ask one of these fine people about him." We shouted, "we love Spencer!" And Ben and Willow had a bracelet moment. :)

Johnson sounded INCREDIBLE during The Monkey Song this time. :) Very proud... at the end of the song I said again, "I LOVE YOU SPENCER BELL!" And Jackson kissed his thumb, crossed himself and looked upwards...

...and I also got video of them singing Keep Awake.

Ben and I had a laugh moment during Keep Awake. :) I did the knife movement for "a knife that's itching for your red blood..." and he smiled really big and pointed at me. At the end of the song the chick behind me goes, "so do you do weddings?" Jackson asked, "are you proposing? Cuz Jerad's already done a wedding... ...I'm looking for my first ex-wife, it's true..." and the look on Jerad and Johnson's face was PRICELESS. They were both in utter shock. I love it. Captured it on the vid. Epic. :) Ben G was just lauuuuuughing.

Then it was off to the autography thingy... we took up an insane amount of the boys time. It wasn't until later that I heard they cut it short and didn't even get to sign for everyone -- kinda felt bad about taking up so much of their time then... of course in the moment I was just happy to be spending time with them.

I gave them copies of the photos I have with each guy and asked them to sign them... I got an "I love U" from Jerad and a "much love!" from Jackson. :) Willow got a heart from Ben on her autograph and Jackson said to her, "that's serious business..." (hence one of the icons up there...)

I gave the boys their "tour survival kit" that I had planned since Nashville to give to them. Jerad and Jackson started going through it, naming off some of the things they liked. Jerad said they needed the Sharpies and the Germ-X wipes [for Ben's feet...] they both kept thanking me and then Jerad realized he was holding up the line and said, "what else is in there?" I told him there was water balloons, super glue and grow animals. (Amongst other things.) Jackson asked me what grow animals were and I told him they were the little things you put in water and they expand to grow. :) *shrugs* As Jerad was putting the bag down, thanking me again, Jackson looks up at me with these bright wide eyes and goes "is that Duct Tape?!" ((go look at the third icon up at the top of the post. XD)) I said "YES!" He said, "that's awesome!!!!!" ((yes, with that many exclamation points...)) and I said, "I KNEW you would love it." Because in all honesty when I got the duct tape, I knew that Jackson was going to be the one to hijack it.

Just like I got the Fender guitar picks thinking of Jerad... I got the grown animals thinking of Ben G... I got the Germ-X thinking of Johnson...

So right after the duct tape moment I got my picture with de boys again... The stupid "security guard" like, wouldn't let me any closer to Jerad... uhhh... I'm not going to hurt him. Swear.

I've, of course, compared the photos and Jackson is smiling wider in my photo here than in my last one. :)

So we leave the boys... "I'll see you later..." and head over to Cain's... not before we get lost forever on Jackson Av... Lisa said, "hey at least it's a good place to get lost." XD

Finally we get to Cain's. We hate their will call. Do me a favor -- go to Cain's. It's amazing... incredible... it's sooo wow... but DON'T get will call. Just, don't.

We get inside and *would* have had front row... if it wasn't for will call, but instead we're somewhere between the 2nd and third row--ish...

Opening act was pretty good... took me a second to get into them, but I really liked their sound. Willow said, "the opening act was... MEH. Sang about whales. Fuck them." (She *really* hates whales.)

We (us three and Lisa) were SOOO the only people who knew the words to most of their songs. There were some obnoxious bitches right behind us and all of us girls were ready to rip some hair out... I got some incredible photos from the show... check out some of them here.

During Sleeping Giants Jackson dug a blue lighter out of his back pocket and grinned at me... it was one of the lighters from their tour survival kit! :) He used it as a slide during the song and kept looking at me and smiling at me like, "yep, I'm using your lighter." (Photos of that on Facebook...)

The boys asked for their improv -- I suggested duct tape... my girls echoed my decision and Jerad chose...?

DUCT TAPE! XD

Twas a good and sexy song -- I got a video of it, however, youtube must think it's waay too awesome or something because it just won't let me load it for whatever reason. :( I'll eventually find a way around that or find somewhere else to host it. Will work something out.

After the show I ran up to Jerad as he was leaving (with the bottle of Jack from the stage...) and I said "JERAD!" He turned and smiled and I said "high five!" He high fived my hand and kinda grabbed it while I said, "great show tonight... I'll see you again soon." He smiled and ran off backstage.

The show was awesome, the energy was incredible -- especially for Jerad and Jackson being sick and feeling like ass. :( I felt soo bad for them, but then felt good that I had given them tea and cough drops. :) I think the Jack Daniels made them feel better... just sayin'...
It was the best Monkey show that I have seen so far. :) Annnnnnd... Jerad maaay have had something to do with us deciding to go to Las Vegas.


MONKEY! MONKEY! MONKEY!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

What Happens In Vegas... I Spill On My Blog


"Desolation... I don't even know my name,
And as the rain beats down, I think I've seen the ghost again,
Silver moonlight, soaking up the amber waves,
By the heat of the fire, I called your name.
Coast to coast, I will travel any length,
Through the Andes mountains,
Across the great, great lakes,
Through the grandest canyons,
And the highest craves,
Still I hear it's calling, it's calling out my name..."

**Please be warned... this is a VERY long blog... remember that it was an entire WEEK of my life... trust me in saying that it's worth a read. I dish about a lot of people and not all of it's good!**

I really had all intention to blog while I was in Vegas, however... we see how well that worked for me.

That had to be THE longest trip that I've ever been on.

We left the... um... 9th? And getting to Vegas didn't take as long as I expected it to. We actually got there early and slept in the car for 5 hours just outside Hoover Dam because we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel and we didn't want to pay for another night.

We took the southern route which led us towards Wichita, Oklahoma City then down to Amarillo, Texas and over to Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

I had never been to Amarillo, Texas (only Dallas) and I had never seen New Mexico or Arizona ever before, so on the trip there I was very excited.

The rest stop we stopped at in Texas was wonderful... it was huge and VERY nice... they claimed to have wifi, but I couldn't get their signal on my iTouch. :( While Jennifer went to the bathroom I went out into a field and took some photos which I posted on my site.

I saw a "moth" there that was the size of my hand! No lie. Everything really is bigger in Texas!

New Mexico was exceptionally cold. Texas was cold, but I expected it to be, we weren't that far south and I'm not stupid to know that Texas does get very chilly... New Mexico though? It's the desert and I honestly expected it to warm up the farther west that we got. Nope.

It rained and we broke one of our windshield wipers... that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as "Bad-Crap-That-Happened-On-My-Trip-To-Vegas" goes. I dubbed Albuquerque as "Not Much To See". I heard that it was like, a big city, but really... no. It was very... plain.

Arizona didn't warm up much at all but it eventually stopped raining. I was really hoping to see a cactus and that didn't happen. Very disappointing. Arizona was quite possibly the most beautiful drive of the trip. Winding roads through mountains, desert and wide open span of no man-made tainted lands... quite stunning.

We reached peaks of 7,335 ft. The elevation made my ears pop and made me antsy... in a good way... About 200 miles outside of Nevada I made Jennifer pull over to see the stars. I made her get out of the car and look up at the sky.

It. Was. Stunning.

I have never in my life seen so many stars that bright before. I could clearly see the Milky Way and all the constellations. The highway was pretty deserted so there wasn't any lights as far as you could see EXCEPT the stars. I'll never forget it.

We got to drive over the Hoover Dam at sunrise. I wasn't as moved by it as I had hoped or expected to be, but still it was quite amazing. Hoover Dam houses enough concrete to pave a two lane highway from San Francisco to NYC. It was huge.

We didn't have any problems driving in Las Vegas, which surprised me. Jennifer isn't the greatest driver and we actually didn't get honked at! Yay!

We were staying at the Motel 6 on Tropicana, (directly behind the Strip and right across the street from the MGM, it's the largest Motel 6 in the world and it's newly renovated with hardwood floors and plasmas! Plus, they accept pets free of charge. I pity those who spent $100+ a night when we only paid like $29. Hah!)

We got there Sunday morning and unfortunately our hotel room wasn't ready yet so we leashed the dog and walked to our favorite convenience store on the strip to get a beer... at 7a! (It's VEGAS baby! It's perfectly acceptable to start drinking at 7a!)

Everyone tried to come over and pet Bella... look, I know she's cute and adorable in her little shirt and all. I know she's like, the smallest Chihuahua ever, but YO. Don't touch my dog. People think that just because Bella is adorable that she's sweet. She is... she's very sweet and very loving and will lick your face of... if she knows you. Chihuahua's are very protective of their owners. They only obey one or two people and they are very loyal and think that all other people are a threat. So when these strangers come up and approach Bella, she growls and barks... strangers laugh at her because it's really cute to see a dog in pink barking at you, so they reach out their hand and I have to pull her back because she will snap at them. She doesn't know the difference! She doesn't know that you're complimenting her! She's protecting me. I'm her mama. That's all she knows. Children are the worst. Chihuahua's hate kids.

Eventually we got to check into our hotel and we got ready to head to Summerlin. They did things a little different this year and they held the golf clinic on Sunday instead of later in the week on Saturday.

We watched Justin golf for a little with Butch Harmon and I took a few good photos and some videos (someone remind me to get my ass to YouTube...) We were sitting right in front of Lynn and Paul and we laughed with them as Justin attempted to not make an ass out of himself.

We left early so we could go get our volunteer uniforms, which, ROCKED this year. Fitted and embroidered hats with the year on the back of them instead of lame tan hats like last year. A grey ACTUAL golf shirt that was tailored different for women than men instead of the salmon polo shirt like last year. And a black pullover jacket. I actually liked last years red zip up jacket, but the black one is one that I'm more likely to wear...

After we got our uniforms we went to the volunteer party and although I'm not going to say much about the volunteer party on here since this is public - I will say that Justin actually came this year... his table was right next to ours and we had a drink with him. That's all I'll say about that. :) Oh, and it rocked. I heart open bar.

Justin left the party early and then we met Phil there who volunteered with us last year. We had a few beers with him and tried to get as many of the cups as we could. On the bus ride back I told him that I thought we had about 42 cups. He said, "42 specifically?" And then I tried to explain to him the number 42 and the meaning of life...

When we got back to the hotel we counted the cups and we officially got 39... oh... sooo close!

*I had gotten to Thursday and then I had to scroll back up and add this in there! I nearly forgot to tell y'all this...

Jess from WorldofJustin.com was supposed to be staying with us. Jennifer was on the phone with her when she booked her airfare and she walked her through it slowly since Jess had never flown before.

So when we're at the volunteer party and Justin was there, Jennifer text Jess and told her that she should have booked an earlier flight so that she could have been there. I can't remember if Jess replied back or not. Anyhow... so the chick just DOESN'T SHOW UP! WTF? Then she texts us the next day and says that Hotwire.com fucked up her plane tickets or something and that she's catching a flight out on Tuesday or something... okay, okay... fine and dandy... Let me just tell you... the week came and went without her showing up.

Now tell me something - who just doesn't come to Vegas? For Justin? When you RUN a Justin fansite and I KNOWWWW that you're a huge Justin fan? Who? Well, apparently... Jess. More on that shit later.

We continued drinking and then decided we were going to go spread our awesomeness on the Strip again and we found ourselves walking through the NYNY. I can't remember why we were but it was all gravy when we got pulled into Coyote Ugly! I was wearing my tiara that night and not 2 seconds after walking into the bar the bar girl pulled me towards the stage and asked me what the occasion was... I told her that I was just there to party and she turned around and on the mic she said, "this girl thinks she's the princess of Las Vegas!"

TWAS AWESOME.

Later we got HELLA shots and danced on the bar! :) When I told my Mama that she goes, "wow, you areeee my daughter." XD

We left when I was plastered and then went to Denny's. I then ate the best pancakes I've ever had in my existence. However, they didn't taste so great coming up once I made it back to the hotel.

I have a firm belief: Never go to bed with alcohol in your stomach. Ever.

After drinking obscene amounts I'll honestly admit here that I force myself to throw up so I don't go to bed spinning. I have no qualms in admitting that. I'll also admit that I only eat when drinking so that I have something to throw up...

Monday morning I woke up at 730a. Why? Because the alcohol/hangover god HATES me. I always wake up early after drinking... lord knows why... I chugged some water and made myself throw up again.

Later I had Lays plain potato chips and an Arizona iced tea. Usually my hangover food of choice is Lays plain potato chips and a red Gatorade, but the tea was on sale and actually was quite tasty. :)

It was cold Monday and I stayed at the hotel while Jenn went to her first day of volunteering. She fell down in the Suncoast parking lot and hurt her knee really bad. (It STILL looks gross. You can see pics on my Facebook.)

Justin didn't show up Monday so I didn't miss anything. Actually now would be a really great time to tell you that Justin didn't show up for ANY of the tournament. The only days he made an appearance were Sunday for the golf clinic/volunteer party, Wednesday for the celebrity Pro Am and then Sunday for the trophy presentation.

Last year he actually came and watched his own tournament. Just sayin'...

I spent the day in bed with the spins and watched movies on HBO all day. Jennifer and I have decided we now need to invest in a television AND premium cable. We heart HBO. After Jennifer came "home" we went to In N Out.

Jenn had never had In N Out... I had it last year when I was in LA and lurved it. (It's a West Coast thing... you wouldn't understand.) Jenn was brave and had Animal Fries. I tried one and nearly gagged -- their "special sauce" is like 80% mustard. *barf*

That night... I can't remember if I drank anything or not but we walked the Strip and I took my open shutter photos. :) I am soo proud of those pictures. You have absolutely no idea. When I uploaded them it literally brought tears to my eyes.

Tuesday was my first day of volunteering. I had to get there HELLA early because of Jennifer and her stupid Marshals scheduling... I sat around and listened to my iPod for like 3 hours soaking up all the free Figi water I could hold.

Special Events had the same chairperson from last year so I was happy to see him again... unfortunately this year there were soo many more Justin fans volunteering. One chick even came to the volunteer party in a Timbershirt. Not. Acceptable. No. I think on the volunteer application they should put, "how big of a Justin Timberlake fan are you?" and if you even answer the question you're not allowed to volunteer.

I heard that most volunteers came and picked up their credentials and their uniforms and then never showed up for their shifts... Nice. Real classy, peeps.

My job for the day was wrangling children who were there to meet the pro golfers. I love working with the kids, it's soo rewarding. These kids were so cool and fun to talk to! They seemed so nervous to meet the pro golfers. I got to stand by Chris Riley for like an hour and I was like, "WHOA". Just sayin'...

Something else unacceptable? I saw so many volunteers asking for autographs while in uniform. There were rules about that last year and since there's so many fangirls on the course now, I guess they're out numbered?

That's a good segway into Wednesday -- I was supposed to work Wednesday but problems and issues later: I didn't. I did however get to see Justin play two holes. (I wasn't about to follow him around to all 18 like the other crazy bitches...)

At hole 10 I saw something that made me GASP. Three or so volunteers asked Justin to take a picture with him... WHILE HE WAS GOLFING. He walked away from one of them and she goes, "shit." He turned around and came back to her and said, "Well we should do this now then... I heard you, 'oh shit!' Let's do this." I know it doesn't sound like much as I'm typing it, but you should have heard the tone in his voice.

He was so cranky and irritated the entire week and I'll bet everything I have that it had a lot to do with the volunteers.

Also, in something that's potentially unrelated, this year seemed much more disorganized than last year. I heard many people say that it was more awesome than last year, but no, no no... they're wrong... Who knows, maybe they weren't even there last year. This year just kinda blew chunks all over.

Wednesday I got my picture with Chris and Alice Cooper. Both awesome. :) I got to hang out with Chris and his people for a good 30 minutes while he practiced his putting annnnd his Mama was there! You should have seen him run up and give her a hug! It was adorable! And then he was like, "watch me do this..." it was soooo cute!

On out way back to the hotel we got a flat tire. Fun. Stuff. The security at the Suncoast was nice enough to change us to our donut. Oh boy was our mini van awesome cool then!

That night we went to dinner at the Excalibur's "Tournament of Kings" dinner show with this chick named Diane. She was a fellow volunteer from LA and I *thought* that she was cool beans, but as you'll find out later in the week, she's not.

So!

At the volunteer party they raffle off items and whatnots... she won this dinner for 4 at the Excalibur. It's like a $200 dinner and she didn't have any friends with her or anything and I guess her and Jennifer had talked a lot during volunteering so she invited us to go to dinner with her.

We get to dinner and we're in the front row (how cool is that?!) The dinner is presented like in Renaissance times without any silverware. Diane bitched about that, but I thought it was pretty badass to just eat with my fingers. :)

I felt like the waitstaff should have had an old English accent, but unfortunately they were not in character. The dinner was exceptionally dry and bland and the show was good and entertaining, however the costumes looked like they were on sale at a discount warehouse. I never would have paid the $55/ticket price for this out of pocket. If I did I would have been PISSED.

The Excalibur in general is just a poor excuse for a hotel/casino. It's classless and cheap. I hate it. I hope it's the next to get torn down.

Diane was loud and obnoxious during the whole dinner and I didn't get to sit by Jennifer which irritated me.

Thursday Jennifer was supposed to work at 530a but that sooo didn't happen. We instead went to Walmart to fix her flat tire. Jennifer's dad gave her a credit card for "emergencies" and told her that "pizza was not an emergency"... Well after Jess didn't show up Jenn knew that she was going to have to use the credit card for some gas money home since Jess wasn't there to pay for her part of the hotel or the pass to the tournament that she was going to sell her...

The tire people at Walmart told her that her tire wasn't fixable and that she'd have to get a new one. Whatever... tis on Daddy's credit card. So we got a new tire. Yaaaay.

While waiting for the tire we went to get a drink at the McDonalds in the Walmart and they have hot and spicy chickens there! I just HAD to try one and oh my yummy. They also had pumpkin pies, which were... interesting. Jennifer liked them though.

That night we went to dinner with Phil and Paul. (We had drinks with Phil at the volunteer party earlier in the week. Paul was also a volunteer from last year, but he didn't get to this year.) Phil brought his girlfriend (which made Jennifer jealous) and Paul brought two of his friends from back home in Liverpool that had just flown in.

We all had a great time catching up... until Paul said that he was getting deported back to Liverpool in January unless he got married. :( I reckon that just gives me another excuse to go over to England. Gemma and Paul. :)

After dinner with them we went back to the hotel and changed and then went to get a drink on the Strip and walk around. I love just people watching in Vegas. It's very calm, ironically. Most people wouldn't see Vegas as calm but as I'm walking down the Strip my mind is clear. I think the bright lights, the people rushing and the ding-ding-ding's from inside the casino just take me away from all the bullshit that awaits me back in my real life. I adore it.

Around 1230 that night we went to Hooters (the casino/hotel is next door to the Motel 6) where they have 25c wings at Dan Marino's restaurant. We waited a good half hour to be seated at freaking 1230 in the morning! I reckon that's what Vegas is all about! The wings were great! I'm kinda sad we only went the one time... 25c wings?! Who can beat that?!!

Friday... Friday... I can't remember what happened Friday day... I think that was the day I hung out and watched movies while Jenn volunteered. I watched Fred Claus that day... strange that it was on, but it was soooo sweet... so sad. I loaded my photos that day. I spent like the whole day Photoshopping.

That night we went to Fremont.

I had been to Vegas 6 times and I still had never seen Fremont. It was definitely [as they say] an experience...

2 seconds after we parked we had 4 bums asking us for money. It smelled worse than NYC. (I didn't know that was possible.)

We found a place that had 99c everything. Jenn had a 99c deep fried Twinkie and I had a 99c frozen chocolate dipped banana. I *think* mine won on being healthier. :) It was super delicious!

We tried to find a good place to have a drink. The entire Fremont area had $2 Corona and Heineken bottles so we went into this place that had a 99c margarita and I ordered a Corona and a margarita. (Jenn wasn't drinking.) The bartender said, "$4... well, $3 plus tip." I kinda just eyed him like, "um... loser" and Jennifer paid. She gave him $3 and handed me my drinks. He stood there and waited for a minute and then took the money and said, "thanks... for nothing." I had to storm off before I ripped out his fucking hair!

Let me tell you something about the 99c margaritas in Vegas... they're awesome, no lie. They're 99c and well... you get what you pay for. They come out of a machine like a slushie and they're in tiny solo cups like you get for water at Starbucks. So this dude puts the cup under the machine and pulls the lever for 3 seconds, opens a fucking bottle of beer and he expects what? A dollar? AND he has an attitude?

No, dude, you DID NOT earn your dollar tip. If you were POLITE to me and you actually did something to be a bartender, not a bottle opener - THEN you would have earned your dollar. I hope every slob in Vegas stiffs you, asshole. What a prick.

We got some beads from a few casinos and walked the whole length of Fremont before deciding that it was awesome yet lame at the same time and we left.

Not being able to decide where to go for dinner we settled on the Denny's down the street from us on Tropicana. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I have an "awesome" story to go with it...

We order and get our drinks. Our waitress was exceptional. She was sooo nice, pretty and polite. She was one of those "above and beyond" waitresses that anticipates what you're gonna need. She was being extremely patient with the drunken family that sat across from us. (There were like 8 of them and they were all very loud and not very nice, yet she never wavered and was always gracious.)

Behind me as we sat down the lady behind me was just getting her food as her phone rang. She answered it and talked very loudly to her apparent boyfriend. He was wanting to come and see her and she kept telling him, "well get in your car then, I'm not telling you where I'm at until you're on you're way... you always tell me that you're coming to see me and you never do... all my friends think I'm stupid for taking you back all the time..." Blah, blah, blah... she was going over to his house in the morning to do his laundry... She complained that she wasn't going to talk to him while she ate and then she ate her entire meal while yammering away on the phone.

It was one of those situations where I tell myself, "if this bitch says oneeeee more thing, I'm gonna turn around and say something." Then she was done with her meal and she hung up and left... didn't tip the waitress...

But I learned more about this chick before I got my dinner than I needed to. I basically learned that she has no standards and she's a loud mouthed whore. She told her boyfriend, "sweetheart, when you get drunk every time you drink at your age... you have a problem..." blah blah blah... I wanted to turn around and say, "you just put this asshole down a hundred different ways, but you still fuck him! What does that make you?! You ain't no better, bitch! Shut the fuck up."

That's what I WISH I had the balls to say.

Saturday Jennifer worked and then came back to the hotel to get me when she was done. We got into the Hill and I finally got to try Justin's tequila, 901. :) Twas goooood. I had three palomas. Can you say, yummy?! I definitely was buzzing early on that day. I hadn't eaten anything, but whatevers. I got tipsy, so yaaay!

That night was the concert. Diane was supposed to come over to the hotel before the show and she was going to give us a ride over there and stuff... she gets there like .2 seconds before we're supposed to be walking out the door and then she wants to use our bathroom... use our hairspray... borrow eyeliner... do this... do that... blah, blah, blah... It was 30 minutes until the show and Jennifer and I were getting antsy. We're USED to this. We're GOOD at concerts. I know we don't do many things well in life, but we're fucking GREAT at concerts. Especially Justin concerts. We're PROS at Justin concerts...

So these two girls from LA are about to give us a ride... we're now sitting in their car and for whatever reason, I can't remember why... but we aren't moving. One LA bitch is whining about perfume or a necklace or something and the other LA bitch doesn't know what to do with her bag... Jennifer goes, "y'all don't go to many concerts, do you?" I was actually thinking it as she said it. It was miraculous. They laughed and said, "no, does it show?" I said curtly, "Yes."

Finally we started going and LA bitch number one nearly ran us into like, 4 cars... then she was going the wrong way.

Let me tell you something people... Mandalay Bay is not hard to find... it's right next to the Luxor... you know, that giant pyramid with the light shooting out the top of it? Yep. I coulda walked there faster...

Then this dumb broad decided to turn around in the MGM... okay... and then she pulled into the taxi cue where we SAT. And SAT. AND SAT!!!!!! I nearly got out and hailed a cab, no lie. I wanted to strangle this BITCH.

So FINALLY we get to the Mandalay Bay and she pulls into the parking for The Hotel, which is Mandalay Bay's sister building... I'm thinking that we're going to have to walk for like, evaaar... so we're in this parking garage and finally by the elevators I just fucking got out. Jenn followed, I never looked back and we never spoke to them or saw them again.

I don't care how good their intentions were. Their lack of brain cells were not going to make me late for Justin. NO ONE makes me late for Justin.

We got to the show and stopped by the bar before heading to our seats... I had another 901 and Jennifer had a Jack and Pepsi. All was right with the world.

Our seats were in the last row... again, this year. I don't care. Honestly, I don't. I saw him from the front row 7x during 2007 and I have it on the HBO DVD to prove it. I am more than happy to sit in the last row of his ONE concert in 2008 and 2009 because at least I'm there.

The show was good... I got a lil worried about Justin (even though he's a big boy and can [sorta] take care of himself...) because he was basically plastered at the show. It was humorous, but I don't really wanna laugh at him for that. He changed around some lyrics in Like I Love You from, "you will know the difference when I touch you," to "you will know the difference when I fuck you," I reckon he wouldn't have done that sober... just sayin'...

He did my favorite Nirvana guitar riff and I jumped along with him. :)

He started Cry Me A River out with Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody"... a song I haven't listened to since... well... in a long time. I wasn't sure I could handle it. He did it well... I was proud of him for it, but unfortunately it kinda ruined my favorite live song for me.

I cried three times during his set... for reasons that I'm not willing to discuss with you, but it was just... emotional.

After the show we went back to the room and drank. A lot.

(We went to his after party last year and it blew chunks... course most of that could have been the company that we were with...)

Sunday was our balls to the wall day... we had a plan. We had a damn good plan. It failed. *Insert Mute Math's "Backfire" here*. So instead of seeing Justin on Sunday we got facking parched, drank a liter of Aquafina in less than five minutes, left the tournament early without saying good bye to our friends and headed back to the hotel.

We went swimming for a while. Twas good. :) Later we went to the Strip... of course... since it was our last night we were going balls out, babes! We had drunk times, watched Death Race, had Panda Express (yummmmmy!) and called it a fucking WEEK.

Monday morning Jennifer woke me up waaay too early. (8a LOL) She had claimed that she wanted to leave by 8a... that didn't happen. I got dressed, didn't get a shower, but figured that I wasn't THAT dirty and that we would be home in a short 24 hours anyway. Jennifer was supposed to close at work on Tuesday night... so we HAD to get home... right?

We stopped at the gas station across the street from our hotel and Jennifer filled up the tank... with E85.

For those that don't know... APPARENTLY E85 (85% Ethanol) isn't supposed to go in all cars! And since it's 60c cheaper than regular unleaded, Jennifer thought this was a bargain... $46 in gas later we were on our way down Las Vegas Blvd when the car wouldn't accelerate... For whatever reason it wouldn't go higher than 25mph...

I'm going to shorten this down since it was a LONG hour or so before we figured out what was wrong with our car... three mechanics later we ended up with them all telling us it was the gas we had put in and that the gas had to be taken out and all the fuel lines flushed or it could do major damage to our car...

$500 and 4 hours later...

Yep. Thank god for that emergency credit card, eh?

We went and hung out at Bagel and Bagel for 4 hours. We sat outside... it twas VERY windy... dusty... we drank loads of soda and ate hella bagels.

Even with being 4 hours behind schedule, there was still potential that we were going to make it home in time for Jennifer to close... or so we thought.

We head home and think the worst of everything is behind us. We chalk it up to being a bad week and we had a whole year of being not so great to people to we called this our karma payback. That's fine. I accept my karma'd fate.

We stop and napped for a while when Jennifer got tired and waited for the sunrise in Oklahoma... as we were about to get back on the road Tuesday morning, hoping that Jennifer was just going to be a little late to work -- we had ANOTHER flat tire. Yep. Okay, universe... I get it... we need to be nicer to people. Duly noted.

Jennifer didn't make it to work Tuesday night. Or Wednesday morning.

Thankfully we did make it home however without any other major problems or issues. We got baths, we got food that didn't come in a wrapper and we got a real bed... we spent like three days in that stupid van and quite frankly, I don't want to ever road trip again!

So that was the trip, ladies and gentlemen! I just have one final thing to say before I end this novel...

So many people promised that they were going to be in Vegas this year. I can count at least 5 of them off the top of my head... and you know what? NONE of those 5 people showed up. All five of those people were somehow worked into our trip and it somehow caused a ripple into OUR trip.

Let me just say something here... I know that Justin isn't at the top of the priorities list for everyone, believe me, I GET that. But you don't cancel a major trip like Vegas 13 days before you're going... or fuck... THE day that you're supposed to be there.

Jennifer and I plan out our trip a year in advance and there would have to be some mayjah money issue or a death in the family to cause us not to go.

Although we considered this year to be shitty, we STILL WERE THERE. That's more than you five people can say. We learned a lot this week, honestly. We learned that the karma we have put out into the universe has finally come back to bite us in the ass and you know what? We're fine with that. EVERYONE gets what they deserve and we are not above that. We're already actively trying to better ourselves. We learned that we are NEVER going to be friends with Justin fans ever again. (Unless we're already friends with you... you're safe.) We are just too protective over that boy and can't stand how people treat him. We also learned that we're NOT inviting anyone on any Justin/Vegas trips with us ever again. We can't afford the backlash of it.

...So if you thought "hey I didn't go this year, but maybe next year Jenn and Jodie will help me out..." You're wrong. Sorry. But no... and also for the fangirls out there that might volunteer at the tournament 2010? WATCH IT. You break the rules or do something stupid towards Justin and I swear I'll break your face.

I'm going to get Jennifer to blog later because she has even more stories that will make you hate on the fangirls.

Thank you sooo much for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it and I would love you forever if you took the extra time to comment. :)