This is a fabulous find!

Someone's YouTube Video

I do not know the person who posted this video... but evidently they were standing right behind us at the Nightwish Concert.

At 1:01, you can hear a girl yell "Tuomas! I love your hat!!!"  That is my Mollie Bug. Then you will see Marco lift an imaginary hat off his head... that is the moment right after Tuomas tipped his hat at my daughter.

I can also identify my Mollie Bug's voice as she sings along with the song... particularly at the beginning, humming along with the pipes.  And the cell phone that keeps swaying into view with a little white dog on the phone's background... yep. That's Mollie's phone and that is our dog, Neeners.

We had some great conversations with the people around us that evening... so I really would like to know who posted this video. I only hope it wasn't that one woman who I scared the living daylights out of after I had a confrontation with a man who was pushing up against my child. I was ready to clobber that fool.  And the woman behind me at that time, was watching it unfold with wide eyes.

I am so grateful to whoever filmed this video. It gave me an awesome gift yesterday.  It gave me the chance to sit back and witness my daughter's amazement all over again! This was a glorious night. And as I sat on the couch beside Mollie as she watched the video for the first time, I paid special attention to her face.  She smiled, she laughed, she popped back in amazement and her hand covered her mouth as she heard her own voice.  She relived the moment. So thank you Charies S., poster of this YouTube video, for giving me a gift.  Thank you for allowing me, less than two weeks before my daughter goes in for open heart surgery, for letting me see her beaming smile, for letting her relive one of the best nights of her life.

Thank you.

Western Finland!!

I had a visitor to the blog from Finland! Awesome! I am sure the Nightwish post brought them here.

The Bug's dream has come true...Nightwish came to town.

I acknowledge that I have influenced much of Mollie's musical taste. But Nightwish is a band I did not introduce her to. Mollie discovered them on her own. They are truly her favorite band on the face of the planet! We purchased our tickets back in April and she awaited October 10 with crazy anticipation. Remember folks, the Bug won $100 in a singing competition and that prize money purchased her VIP Meet & Greet ticket. The day had finally arrived. 

I picked Mollie up at school at 3:50 PM. We immediately headed downtown to Emo's on East Riverside. The plan was to arrive early, grab a bite to eat and then go to the venue. When we arrived, the line was already forming. We skipped the food stop and immediately headed for the line. We walked through the parking lot, past two unmarked tour busses. After a few minutes in line, Mollie mentioned how hungry she was. I told her she could probably manage without eating until after the show. Once things got rolling and the adrenaline was pumping, she would forget the hunger. Then she said, "But if only I could do something about this need to pee..."

We were standing in a long line outside that was now curving around the south side of Emo's. We were parked on the north side of Emo's in a parking lot shared with a Mexican restaurant. I told Mollie to walk over there and use the bathroom. Once she was out of my sight, I began to get nervous because this is a wicked part of town. And I just sent my 16 year old daughter, unattended, walking through a parking lot to find a bathroom. I decided to call her and talk to her as she walked. She did not answer her phone. I knew she would have to walk past the tour busses again and across the parking lot. I could only hope that several people had arrived and were standing around in case she was accosted. I called her phone again and on the third ring Mollie picked up, yelling, "Mom! Mom!! I just met Tuomas! I hugged him! I saw Marco and Jukka too!!"

Turns out, as Mollie passed the busses, she saw movement behind the bus. She looked and it was Tuomas Holopainen. She said, "Oh my God! You're Tuomas!" He said, "Yes. I am." She pardoned herself and told him she was a little starstruck. He humbly told her "Don't be." She went on to tell him that she realized this was kind of awkward but since Anette's abrupt departure from the band and the fact that they were going to be in need of a permanent vocalist, would he be interested in taking her demo CD tonight for consideration? He thanked her but declined, saying he just did not want to focus on that for at least, a couple of years. Mollie accepted this news and then repeated, "Oh my God..." She looked up and around the corner came Marco and Jukka! Mollie looked at Marco and said "Holy Shit!!" Tuomas laughed and said to Marco, "Guess what, my name is Oh my God and you're Holy Shit!"  Mollie said they all laughed.  

When Mollie finally returned to the line, she excitedly exclaimed, "Pretty much the best bathroom break EVER!!!!" Her pulse was racing. This was the beginning of an epic night. An older man was in line ahead of us. He was wearing a Nightwish shirt and a big camera around his neck. He began talking to a bald man who was obviously security. The bald guy had a Nightwish Tag and the old man grabbed at it. The bald guy told him, "Please don't touch that. Please don't touch me. Dude! Let me go." Then he got on a radio and called for assistance saying there was a crazy 80 year old guy out here trying to molest him. Mollie and I were laughing and said something sarcastic to him about how he can't defend himself against an old man?? He handed Mollie an All Access pass and said she could have it if she agreed to go punch the guy. I grabbed the pass and said, "She agrees!" We had a fun conversation with the couple in front of us, and the couple behind us and the bald security guy, who turned out to be John, one of the two Nightwish Managers! Turns out, I had previously exchanged e-mails with John, so when I realized who he was, I introduced myself. He was really very cool to us and when he learned Mollie was my daughter, he asked "You two are together?" I nodded and then he handed me another All Access pass! (Neither Mollie or I ever punched the old man... although he kinda did deserve it...)

We stood in line for about another half hour before they finally opened the doors to the venue and VIP guests were allowed in. We lined up neatly and awaited the band. A roadie announced that the line would need to move swiftly and that we could not go behind the band members. (Okay, secretly, I told Mollie to ignore the bouncer and go behind Marco if she wanted to. All the bouncer could do is tell her no and redirect her...)  A table was set up with six chairs and a stack of posters. We were in the front third of the line. The band entered to cheers and applause. Seated at the table, from left to right were: Tuomas, Jukka, Floor Jansen, Emppu, Marco and Troy. When it was finally our turn to approach the band, Mollie went to Tuomas and said, "Hey! Remember me?" He said, "Yes! The Oh my God, girl." He signed two posters and two of Mollie's CD's, which he then passed to Jukka. I took a picture of Mollie and Tuomas. It is sadly, a tad bit blurry.

When Jukka stood up to take a picture with Mollie, I had figured out the camera phone a little better and snapped an awesome picture. And there is something I must say about Jukka. He has this total bad boy look, but behind his eyes I saw kindness and warmth. He listened intently each time Mollie or I spoke. In this regard, he stood out more than the others. He was drinking in each person's excitement.

We moved down the table to Floor and I said, "Hello. This is my daughter Mollie, she is a vocalist like you." She smiled and talked to Mollie just a little bit but I don't remember the conversation. Before she signed Mollie's CD's, Floor humbly asked, "Am I allowed to sign these?"  OMG OF COURSE!!!!!  Floor stood for a picture with Mollie..... these are two absolutely beautiful girls, in my humble opinion...

We moved on to meet Emppu. He did not say much and we did not really know what to say to him. I've heard he is still learning the English language. We obviously know the man's talent but he doesn't do many interviews and we really don't know much about him personally. Even if we did, we were moving along in such a rush, what could we have discussed??  But he took a picture with Mollie.

When we approached Marco, Mollie said, "I know we are not supposed to go behind the table...but can I please?? I really want to touch your beard." In the coolest Finnish accent, Marco said, "Of course darlin'! Come on over here!" I snapped three BAD ASS pictures of Mollie with her hands all in Marco's beard and his hair. This was the moment Mollie had been waiting for:

THE MOST EPIC PICTURE EVER!!!!!!!!

This last picture with Marco, you can see that his hair is caught in her bracelet (on the right) and pulled it. And just look at my darling girl's precious grin....

We snapped a picture with Troy, the horn blower and our Meet & Greet was officially done.

Then I remembered I wanted to show Marco my Bass clef butterfly tattoo. So I lifted my sleeve and said "Marco, I want to show you my tattoo." In that darling thick Finnish accent he said, "Oh! Iss a buttahfly." I pointed out the bass clefs, both he and Troy looked closely at it and Troy said it was really cool. Then I asked Marco if he would sign my tattoo and he said, "Of course darlin'!"

We then moved on to secure our place in front of the stage. We wanted to be right in front of Marco and Tuomas. Mollie kept our spot and I ran our autographed items and the t-shirt Mollie purchased, out to the car. Near us in the audience were the two couples we befriended outside. It was great. They were such nice people and the one girl was visiting Texas from Canada! Also near us was a skinny Hispanic boy who drove down from Dallas for the concert. We were telling them the story about Mollie's bracelet getting caught in Marco's hair, when she looked at her bracelet and screamed "Oh my God mom! Look! His hair!!" Sure enough, a strand of Marco's hair was still in her bracelet. She took it out and secured it in between her phone and her phone case. Then we told everyone around us about how her dream had just actually came true. She had dreamed earlier in the week that she was talking to Marco and touching his beard when clumps of hair started falling out of it. She stood there, still talking to Marco in her dream and stroking the long pieces of beard hair she had collected. And now, in real life, she had a strand of his hair in her bracelet!

Before the crowd got too thick, Mollie grabbed her demo CD and went to find John, the Nightwish Manager. She asked him if he would take her demo CD to the band. He looked at it and said, "Is it pornography? Because if it's not pornography, then I am not interested in it." She tried to tell him again that it was her demo CD but he turned away and started talking to someone else. Mollie took the hint and came back with her CD in hand and her spirit still in tact! She tried and that was good enough for her.

We were right in front of the stage, but not standing against the railing. We were behind the bodies pressed up against the railing. At first I was disappointed... but it proved to be the best place for me and Mollie to be. Before the end of the concert, we caught four guitar picks. The girls in front of us, pressed up against the railing got nothing. Every pick we managed to grab, would bounce off hands and land at our feet. I simply would bend down and pick them up.

Kamelot took the stage 30 minutes late! My feet were killing me and my knee was on fire! At 40, I'm afraid I'm losing my rock edge. I was beginning to feel ill from the lack of food, the body heat and everyone being crammed in together. The woman next to me was very nice but had bad breath and it was beginning to make my stomach turn. Finally Kamelot came on stage and things got better. The show was good but we know absolutely nothing about Kamelot and did not know their songs, so we could not sing along. Their background vocalist was incredible! She was beautiful and her voice was awesome. Then guest touring vocalist, Elize Ryd came on stage dressed in a corset & leather boots and did this wicked death growl. It was very cool.  She was captivating. We caught a pick, but Mollie had made a deal with the guy next to her that if we caught a Kamelot pick, we would give it to him. And if he caught a Nightwish pick, he would give it to us. So Mollie immediately handed the pick off to the guy. There were several folks around us who came to see Kamelot. That went beyond our understanding since clearly, we were there to see Nightwish.

After Kamelot's set, it was another 30 minutes of waiting before Nightwish took the stage. I just stood back and watched Mollie. She was jumping up and down and was so unbelievably excited. She was singing as loud as she could and screaming to Marco.

About four songs in, I caught Emppu's pick!

At that moment, the skinny kid from Dallas slid in front of me, next to Mollie. I didn't mind. He was a very big fan of Nightwish and would turn out to be an outstanding concert companion to Mollie. This was after all, Mollie's band and Mollie's night.

I was standing behind the skinny kid, whose name is Juan, and a short blonde woman was standing behind Mollie. Mollie was jumping up and down and thrashing her hair about and the woman was laughing and dodging Mollie's hair. There was a Hispanic man and his wife next to the blonde woman. The hispanic guy looked familiar to me and I caught him glancing my way a few times. I think we went to school together but I never talked to him about that. At a rare quiet point between songs, with my face in between Mollie and Juan, I screamed "MARCO!!!!!!!" He smiled at us, and Mollie said, "That's my crazy mother!"

Then Tuomas disappeared for a few moments behind a wall and came out with his infamous hat.

Mollie screamed, "Tuomas! I love your hat!" He smiled, nodded to her and then tipped his hat!!!!

Now check this out! See that bottle of red wine under the keyboard? Tuomas is known to enjoy "a good red wine". I wish I could have read the label but I couldn't make out the name. The thought had crossed my mind to arrive at the Meet & Greet with a bottle of red from a local Texas vineyard, but I knew better. The concert took place at Emo's. A bar. I could not legally bring a bottle of wine inside. And I had no idea that we would end up with All Access passes... oh well.  Next tour...

At some point during the show, a man in a blue shirt managed to push his way through the crowd and was now trying to push in front of Mollie. I told him to leave. He had a very thick accent but I couldn't place it. It was certainly European. But I did not like how he was pushing against my daughter and I yelled at him to get away from my kid. He was trying to reason with me and I got pissed! With as evil a glare as I could muster, I raised my voice at him, "Step the hell away from my kid!"  He said, "Wait, would you listen to me for just a minute?" I shot back, "NO!!! I came to listen to Nightwish, get the fuck outta here!" The people around us were starting to back up. Finally the Hispanic guy yelled "Hey! Get outta here man! If you wanted to be in front, you shoulda got here early!" The Hispanic guy pulled the blue shirt guy back and I slipped into place behind Mollie. The blonde woman took my spot behind skinny Juan and apologized to me. I told her don't worry about it and smiled. She was actually kinda scared and I immediately felt bad. Nightwish fans are generally a peaceful bunch and just a really nice group of people! But this guy was fixin' to open a can of Momma Bear Whoop-Ass.

Mollie later told me she has heard of fans who follow Nightwish all around the world and if the blue shirt guy was one of them, then I gave him a very poor impression of America. Well...I don't give two shits about that. A grown man is NOT going to push himself up on my 16 year old. Ain't gonna happen on my watch. Ain't happenin' captain.

Moments later, I caught a second pick from Emppu. The Hispanic guy reached for it, but I got it first and I heard him say, "Awww man." I stood up, slapped the pick in his hand and said, "Here man. It's yours. Thanks for helping me look out for my kid." He smiled, said thanks and that it was no problem. At a moment between songs, I leaned over to the blonde woman and apologized if I scared her. She said she did not blame me at all and understood. She was totally cool about it.

The cutest part of the night was each time Nightwish would start the next song, Mollie and Juan would look at eachother, scream, jump up and down and hug each other! It was adorable! I could only stand back and watch my kid having the time of her life! It was so incredibly cool. Really, there just are no words to describe.

And then...then....the band played Ghost Love Score. Oh my gawd the crowd went insane! And Floor freakin' nailed it! What an incredible, insanely talented woman! She was on fire! And when the song ended, Marco said, "We haven't played that one in years..." This song as NOT played anywhere else on tour so far. This treat was specifically for Austin, Texas and we LOVED it!!!

The Austin crowd was so loud, the sound guy had to re-adjust Floor's ear piece. How cool is that???

Sure, we had two all access passes, but we did not want to lose our spot in front of Marco. We were firmly planted right where we wanted to be. When the show was over, the band stood together on stage and bowed. It was beautiful. And then... they were gone. Mollie looked down and found another guitar pick from Kamelot. She gave it to Juan. They exchanged phone numbers and hugged one last time. He turned to me and I said, "Juan, next time you come to Austin, you call us. We will get you and Mollie back together to hang out." Mollie laughed and again said, "That's my crazy mother!" He hugged me and walked away with his friends.

It was now midnight. Mollie had school the next day and I had to work. We had our all access passes, but really, what more could we do? We already met the band, saw an incredible show... so we walked out to the car talking and reliving each moment as we walked. We passed the Nightwish tour bus and Mollie showed me where she first met and hugged Tuomas, and the corner which Marco & Jukka came around. She was glowing, she was giddy. It was beautiful. But she was also starving!!!! We stopped at the Wendy's drive thru for a double burger combo which Mollie scarfed down in a record four minutes and we were on our way home, headed north on Interstate 35.

This night was EVERYTHING Mollie dreamed of and so much MORE!! It was absolutely perfect.

Thank you Tuomas, Marco, Jukka, Emppu, Troy and Floor for making my daughter's year. She will never forget this night as long as she lives. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to see her this happy....

Dream Big

Sometimes, no matter how outlandish a dream may seem, you have to make an attempt. Even if it doesn't work out exactly as you wish it would, at least you can say you tried.

And never...never laugh at someone's dream. It may be all they have left.

We were not quite done....

Just announced this week....my all time favorite band on the face of the Earth, will be making a stop in Austin in November. It is going to be the scheduling week from hell. But it's Aerosmith. And with Aerosmith... all things are possible. 

And my Mollie Bug said she wants to go too! I got a presale password and purchased my tickets today. They are not the best seats in the place, but they were much closer to my price range than the VIP Fan Club seating. I had access to those...but at $500 a pop, there was no way.

And that my friends, is total bullshit. I was not thrilled about Steve's stint on American Idol... although I enjoyed it. But it is because of that fiasco, Aerosmith has been given a third wind. And it is because of that American Idol nonsence, that they can charge extraordinary prices. It's a bunch of crap, I tell ya. Folks like me should get a long term fan discount.

But all bitching aside, I am going to be there. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

And today marks 20 days until Nightwish. Twenty days until I get to be a first hand witness to my daughter's school girl dream coming true.

Lita Ford/Poison/Def Leppard

Lita's 54th birthday was just around the corner, so the Bug made her a sign. I wasn't sure Lita would be able to see it. Our tickets were in the 5th row, but the stage lights can be blinding. As soon as Lita took the stage, Mollie walked right up close and held up the sign. Lita looked at it, threw her head back and laughed!!

Lita Ford put on a great show.

 

 

 

Poison came on stage fast and furious! I swear C.C. Deville was looking right at the Bug. His hair was wild. I think I liked their show the most that night.

Bret did a lot of commercial talk. I couldn't bear to watch him on Rock of Love. I got sick of hearing his voice. In concert though, it was another story. I sang along with every song. I was dancing, jumping up and down, I can't even tell you what the Bug was doing. I was in my own world with Poison.

 

And then came Def Leppard. Oh my starz.

I forgot how hot Rick Savage was.

The one time Rick Allen came out from behind the drums was to do a short acoustic medley with the entire band. By this time, the battery on my phone was dying and I couldn't get a good picture of them on stage... so I took a picture of the big screen above us.

I had never seen Vivian Campbell play live before. He was great.

 

 

2012 is the year of live music

I have a lot of catching up to do.

In late July, I was given a wonderful gift by my friend Kelly.  I met Kelly in 1981 when we were in the 4th grade together. We reconnected a few years ago on Facebook where she made the announcement that she was looking for someone to go to the Dwight Yoakam concert with her at the ACL Moody Theatre.  The only catch was, she wanted to go super early and be sure to get right smack in front of the stage. I love me some guitars, Cadillacs & hillbilly music. I love me some Dwight. So I was game. We stood front and center with a full on shot of Dwight's camel toe all night long.

 

 

Then one afternoon in August, I was trying to win tickets to see Josh Turner at the ACL Moody Theatre. I was not having much luck. My friend Jennifer contacted me asking if I would be interested in her bosses free tickets. He makes heafty donations to ACL and in return, they give him superb seats to just about every show. He doesn't always use the tickets and gives them away to clients and employees.  Sometimes when the clients and employees don't want to go, I get to go!! Josh Turner sounded as good as he looked. My God, I am convinced the man could stand on stage and mumble incoherantly and I would still squeal with delight.

 



Allow me to backtrack a few months to Sara Evans. She played the rodeo in Austin back in March. Shark is in love with her and the joke is that I would look the other way if she ever came to town and allow him to sow his wild oats however he saw fit. So when it was announced that Sara was going to be in Austin, I not only grabbed tickets, I joined her fan club and threw my name in the ring for a Meet & Greet pass.  Turns out I won said pass and Shark got the opportunity to put his arm around his country sweetheart.

 

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the Lita Ford/Poison/Def Leppard concert. And of course, soon to follow in October are the creme de la creme of all concerts, Nightwish!

Rockstar Bangs, Vol. 2

This isn't a very popular blog. I don't expect it to be. But the most popular post so far has been the one from over a year ago called "RockStar Bangs" when I talked about the pros & cons of getting bangs.

Like in... Hair.

It is that post which brings more hits to my blog. Folks google "RockStar Bangs" and come here.

Yes, I still wear them.  And yes, I still love them.

Van Halen Concert

The Bug with a zombie outside the haunted house.

 

Kool & The Gang

Van Halen

 

Van Halen with Wolfie on bass

This was such a fun weekend! The Bug and I arrived at the historic (and haunted) St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio in Friday, June 22.  We got a cab to the Van Halen concert where we quickly discovered the AC had stopped working at the AT&T Center. It was quite uncomfortable. Mollie loved the opening act, Kool & The Gang.

Van Halen put on a decent show but Diamond Dave, I am convinced, was highly inebriated. He was slurring words and rambling about aimlessly, telling jokes that were older than me. I could understand, after this show, why the concert was cut short. San Antonio was one of their last stops before they called off the tour. It was a decent concert but certainly not worth two months of braces payments.

 

Concert Series 2012

I fell into a bit of a lull there for awhile folks. My apologies. But after the 3 concerts in 3 months stretch of 2011, we experienced a dry spell. Not only were there very few funds to purchase anymore concert tickets, but no one came to town worth seeing.

I was really disappointed in Avenged Sevenfold. It took me awhile to get past that. The Bug, however, had a great time. I mean, what 15 year old on the floor, in the pit at an A7X concert wouldn't be having the time of their life.  I was already stressed out.  But when M. Shadows screamed at the crowd that this was the last song and he wanted to see the entire floor turn into one giant mosh pit....all I could do was glare up at him and scream, "Really? Dear God is that friggin' necessary!???"  Then I blinked and the concert was over. No joke.

After a brutally hot summer of 2011 and absolutely zero concerts, I was given four tickets to Stone Temple Pilots at the Austin City Limits Moody Theatre!  These came from a friend who is a generous donor to ACL and in return, is given season tickets.  She is not a fan of STP and so I was the lucky recipient!  Four tickets was a JACKPOT! I took a friend and Bug took a friend. We sat in the front row of the balcony.  That does not sound like much, but this is the ACL Moody Theatre. The balcony is at eye level with the stage and sits just above the heads of those poor suckers on the floor. We were looking eye to eye with the band. And the show was phenomenal!

Then I won a pair of tickets to see Night Ranger, Foreigner & Journey at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.  I went to this show not expecting very much.  I invited a friend from high school to join me after the Bug said she was not interested in seeing this show.

We arrived late and missed Night Ranger altogether. Foreigner had just taken the stage and before I realized it, I was entranced. Color me pleasantly surprised. They put on a hell of a show! Journey eventually took the stage but paled in comparison.  Foreigner had provided all of the night's entertainment that was to come.  We left about four songs in to Journey's set.

Concert Year 2011 officially came to a close.

Open Concert Year 2012.

Van Halen announced their reunion tour with Diamond David Lee Roth.  I asked Bug if she wanted to go....her answer was YES!!!!  I checked out the tickets and they cost as much as two months worth of braces.  Considering I just paid the orthodontist off in December, I really didn't have much of a problem with buying these tickets. The seats are decent, not spectacular... and I do believe these are historically the most expensive concert tickets I have ever purchased.  The hotel reservation has been made... and now we shall await the month of June.

The next concert on tap for 2012 is Def Leppard/Poison/Lita Ford. Personally, I am a bit shocked that Lita still has a voice to perform with.  I really figured she would sound like a 75 year old lifelong smoker by now... but it turns out the old girl has held up pretty well. I am really looking forward to seeing her.  Our seats are outstanding!  We shall be drinking in this show from the fifth row!

The third (and as of this moment, final) concert of 2012 will be the most magnificent for the Bug. It is her favorite band on the planet. A band few Americans know.  They are a symphonic metal band out of Finland called Nightwish.  I found some VIP tickets along with Meet & Greet passes.  This is one time I will ask the Bug to pitch in toward her concert expenses. Normally I foot the bill and am totally happy to do so.  But the VIP tix with M&G's were priced steep.  So she kicked in $100 and then she screamed....because she is going to meet her number one favorite band of all time. She is going to meet Marco face to face.  She is going to (hopefully) touch his beard.

This is the stuff dreams are made of.

My Incredible Hulk Moment

On Tuesday I was getting out of the car after a long day at the office, a 20 minute drive to the grocery store, in rush hour traffic in a car that was sitting in 100+ degree temperatures all day, when I heard a snap. The underwire broke in my bra.  

It was at least 130 degrees in the garage and I had to unload several bags of groceries when the snapped wire began pinching the smallest section of skin on my boob. I was hollaring for someone in the house to come out into the garage and grab the damn bags but both the Bug & Shark had a mysterious temporary hearing disorder that has yet to be diagnosed.

So there I was, holding seven bags of groceries with my two arms, my boob in peril, sweating profusely and dropping F bombs faster than the Japanese on D-Day. I managed to turn the door knob with my left ring finger, swing the door open with a swift kick of the right foot, thus slamming the door into the drywall and leaving a perfectly round indentation.

I dropped the bags on the kitchen counter, walked into my bedroom, pulled my shirt up over my head and threw it on the bed and began trying to unhook my bra. But as I reached behind me, I would push the broke underwire even further into my flesh creating more pain.

Finally I roared like a lioness in the African wilderness, dropped one more F bomb for good measure, screamed something about being sick of shit, and proceeded to rip the bra off. I think my skin has taken on a greenish tint.....

Texts from the Bug, Vol. 2

Sent on August 30, 2011 at 5:07 P.M.

Shark just farted in the kitchen. So the cooking process may be delayed.

A Facebook Exchange

Rockstar Step-Daughter#1:  
TBH; you're a cool step-mom! ♥
Even though I rarely see you..lol.


July 19 at 3:25pm  *Like * Unlike * See Friendship


Rockstar Step-Mom:
Well...that whole rarely seeing each other thing can totally change now! ♥ I love and adore you Rockstar Step-Daughter #1. You're a totally cool step-daughter too. ♥


July 19 at 3:30pm * Like  *  Unlike


Rockstar Step-Daughter #1:
 I love you too, :)


July 19 at 8:41pm * Like  * Unlike

I read and re-read this exchange about 50 times.  Why?  Because, honest to God, I freakin love my step-daughters.  They are a part of the man I am absolutely head over heals in love with.  How could I not be completely smitten with them?  

When Shark and I first met, I was very open to building a fun relationship with his girls.  Afterall, I have no obligation to be these girls mother. They have a mom, so I get to be fun, the friend, not the disciplinarian, not the setter and keeper of the rules.  And of course it did not work out that way.  There was a ton of heartbreak, for all of us.  For the kids because they were stuck in the middle, afraid to go home and say if they had fun here out of loyalty to mom.  For Shark because the two entities he loved more than anything else on Earth, his children & his wife, were shadowed by a dark, menacing obscenely jealous cloud.  For me because I really really wanted to love these kids and have them love me too.  But every positive experience, every trip, every lesson we experienced, was met with bitterness, primarily for them.  Shark and I were able to erase voicemails, unheard, or delete text messages, unread.  We simply did not answer the phone.  But his daughters heard it all.  That makes me so sad for them.

So as much as it still kinda hurts, I would try very hard to understand when the things I got these girls, were left behind at our house, or tossed aside without another thought.  It wasn't a personal dig.  It was the situation.  But this is only to a certain extent.  I figured one day the girls might value a relationship with me as much as I looked forward to one with them.  But I wasn't going to hold my breath.

And then the oldest one turned 18 and a completely different kid emerged.  I mean, a total positive transformation.  The kind of kid who posts messages like the one above, randomly on my Facebook page.

I love this new turn of events.  I love this kid.  There is so much I want to do and show her. There is a whole side of this world and this life that I can uncover for her and watch her explore. How friggin' cool is that?

Don't Bother getting on my last nerve...it's pinched.

Two weeks ago I woke up with a kink in my neck.  Combine that with a typical day in the life of a Rockstar Mom and I quickly developed a tight knot in the left shoulder.  This led to a screaming headache.  The pain began to radiate down my left arm and this is where I turned into a savage bitch.

I put out a plea for help on Facebook.  Among my 450+ friends are a couple of Chiropractors, a couple of nurses, a medical assistant and a half a dozen Massage Therapists, and a couple other random folks who like to fancy themselves "Medical Professionals" based on their experience of previously diagnosing a neighbor's hamster with erectile disfunction.

I had an appointment at a friend's chiropractic clinic within 24 hours of my health insurance being verified. That day I was x-rayed, adjusted, hooked up to an electroshock machine and given a short trigger point massage.  The young man doing the trigger point massage put his hands on my shoulders and said something along the lines of "Girl! You are SO tight!"  It was at this moment that I choked on my saliva.  For about two hours, I had complete relief.  And then the pain returned with a vengeance.

I woke up this morning with numbness in my left thumb and pointer finger.  This caused me to drop my coffee and prevented me from blow drying or styling my hair.  I settled for a frumpy dark blue headband that now, six and a half hours into this God forsaken day, I realize does not match my sky blue t-shirt.

I called my friend at the Chiropractor's office and fought back tears as I asked to be seen again ASAP.  She got me an appointment within two hours.

I saw a different Chiropractor today and this guy actually sat down and looked over my x-rays with me.  The good news is my bone quality is good.  The bad news is, my alignment resembles that of a jackknifed rig.

He gave me another adjustment, I had trigger points done yet again (with another comment about being tight...Is it wrong that I feel a little flattered?) and I spent 10 minutes hooked up to the electro shock machine with moist heat on my neck.  This treatment needs to continue for a period of 90 days and relief will not come immediately.

Just.shoot.me.now.

I have another appointment day after tomorrow.  And I am sitting here fighting off tears because:

A. I am in pain.
B. I am tired.  I can sleep only in increments of three hours before I wake up in pain.
C. I don't know how I am going to pay for this. The Bug has some extensive doctor bills of her own going on right now, and my JackWagon Ex is currently sitting at $1966.67 in arrears on his child support with the date of his last sent in payment, according to the Attorney General of Texas, being February 10, 2011.

And I am due any day now, so um, yeah.  Tears are imminent.  I spent the weekend grunting with each move, bitching incessantly, smelling like a tube of Bengay with a moist heat heating pad, a moist microwave heated rice filled knee sock, slung over my left shoulder.  A real prize, I tell ya.  Shark wouldn't even look at me, much less claim me as the woman he exchanged vows with just three short years ago.

I just have to know things are going to improve at some point.  Please.

Because right now, death seems more and more inviting.

The Bald & The Beautiful butt kicking...

For about four or five years now, I have been playing pool.  (As in billiards.)  I am not that good.  But Shark is.  Thus, the moniker, Shark.  I have been on a handful of first place teams, gotten a few nice pins and patches for various accomplishments, nothing overwhelmingly special.

Last session, our team was thrown together at the last minute.  Our team name, naturally was "Thrown Together".  We ended the season in first place.  Our team is made up of 8 players, 4 women, 4 men.  Three of the 4 men are bald.  The one guy with a full head of hair is David.  He's kinda "GQ" and one night, this drunk stripper girl was really making a big deal about how "beautiful" David is.  So from then on, we have been calling him "Beautiful David". 

Now...think about this.  Four women, three bald men...and Beautiful David.  We have changed the name of our team this session to "The Bald and the Beautiful".  It works.  Almost.  The problem seems to be, we have lost all our billiard mojo and we are currently sitting in dead last place. 

A couple weeks ago, on Facebook, one of the girls on our team posted, apologizing for not being able to make it to pool night, and asking how our team did.  One of the bald guys posted a reply saying we got our butt kicked.  Another girl on our team said we got our butts kicked so bad, it still hurt.  And then I replied, "Yep.  My butt hasn't hurt this bad since that time we went to the coast for spring break, and I drank all those Jagerbombs and passed out on the beach and.....oh never mind."

Scorpions & Bad Tattoos

As of late, I've been dreading sleep.  My dreams are plagued with scorpions.  I know exactly what brought it on too....the stupid local news.  I guess there has been an influx of pests moving indoors due to the exceptional drought conditions.  That night, I wanted to sleep standing up.  There is no adjective in the English language that can accurately describe my fear of scorpions.

This is basically a fear of the unknown, since I have never in my life been stung by a scorpion.  They just look prehistoric and deadly, so they scare me.

*Side Note: Scorpions will sting you.  They do not bite.  I hate it when people say "A scorpion bit me on the bottom of my foot."  NO!  They have stingers.  Not teeth.  They may have teeth....I don't know.  I don't care! I am not going to get close enough to investigate.  Just get it straight people.  Scorpions sting... with venom.  And it hurts.


The last live scorpion I personally witnessed was in September 2010 at Evil Lynn's home. I was in flip flops, enjoying my seventh Southern Comfort & Diet Coke, taking a social break from the all girl Poker Tournament, when I saw the biggest prehistoric atrocity I've ever laid eyes upon, emerge from the space between two boards on the porch, and run straight for my vulnerable toes.  I think it was attracted to the freshly polished toe nails.  Who knew scorpions liked OPI's "I ate berries in the canaries"?

It spoke to me.  It did.  As it ran towards my big toe, it clicked in morse code with it's little pinchers... "I will get you my pretty! And your perfectly painted toes too." This is when I frantically began texting Shark to come pick me up.  He asked if I was knocked out of the poker tournament and I replied with a one word answer....

SCORPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Shark was immediately on his way.  So now, each night, I seal the dog door, refuse to sit in the chair by the dog door, because it is near the one spot where I am pretty sure a scorpion can enter the house.  I check the bed before I get in, and I sleep in short 2 to 3 hour increments because I have to get up, slip on flip flops and re-check the bed.

Once I am satisfied there is no immediate scorpion menace, I will eventually fall back to sleep.  This is soon to be interrupted by bad tattoo work.  I've repeatedly dreamed that I have offered my left arm as a drawing board for someone's ideas.  In both dreams, I have been unhappy with the work done and the fact that it more or less sleeved the entire arm and stretched down to the fingers.  I was horrified!  I love my tattoos, but I have them in spots where they can only be on display when I so choose.  Obviously I think highly enough of my tattoo artist to allow him to permanently alter my skins natural state for eternity.

So why would I be dreaming of such horrors?  When one gets new ink, this opens the door to a slew of other's horror stories.  Either that...or unsolicited sales pitches for someone else's tattoo artist.  This is often followed by the sliding up of a sleeve, or the lifting of a shirt, to expose a faded and often blurred monstrosity.  This also puts me in the position where I have to smile, nod, and politely utter "Oh my. Isn't that lovely?"  The next comment to come out of the unlucky individual's mouth is usually, "Yep! And my guy is so cheap!"


Hmm. You don't say....

An exterminator is scheduled to spray the house tomorrow afternoon.  This should alleviate my fear of the zombie scorpion apocalypse.  I don't know what I'm going to do about the tattoo dreams.  The jagged two toned and crooked angel wings are the worst.

Texts from the Bug, Vol. One

I have decided to start a blue entry.  These will be labeled, "Texts from the Bug".  They will be posted in blue. (Because that's her favorite color.) 

Sent July 1, 2011 at 9:47 P.M.

Dude! This really cute guy who looked like kirk hammett works at the walmart here and he was TOTALLY flirting with me!!

Avenged Sevenfold

Okay, so I am a little late posting these.  My step-daughter couldn't wait to see Synsyster Gates.

My girls were rockin' the devil horns.

I have more pictures of this guy, than I know what to do with.

M. Shadows.  He was sick and ended the show abruptly and early w/o an encore.

I think he still owes us the other half of the concert.



So I am a little late posting these.  I suppose I have a good excuse.  This concert was a sad disappointment.  Perhaps I expected too much.  Perhaps I set the whole night up for failure.  But I have come to the conclusion that Avenged Sevenfold was indeed road weary.  San Antonio was in the last leg of the tour and it showed.  So let's just skip the disappointing part and get to the good stuff.

The Bug knew she was going to this concert all along.  But my step-daughter (SD) did not.  The beauty of the timing is that this concert came to San Antonio the week of Bug's 15th birthday, and seven days before my step-daughter's 18th birthday.  Another seven days later, my step-daughter would be walking across a stage to accept her high school diploma.  Tickets to this show were the perfect gift.

We kept SD in the dark until three hours before the show.  Shark picked her up from school and high tailed it to my office where I was waiting in the parking lot.  I asked SD if she knew where we were going and what we were doing.  She smiled and shook her head no.  I handed her the A7X ticket and we actually saw her teeth.  The very teeth Shark shelled out 4,000 big ones to fix but had yet to see.  The flashing of the teeth was followed by a disbelieving "Nuh uh."

Highlights of the night:
The baffled guy behind the merchandise table had difficulty adding. Initially I thought we got a discount for buying four concert t-shirts.  On the way home, I realized, the guy just couldn't add and we had only paid for three.  Score!!

We claimed an amazing spot on the floor, in the pit in front of the stage.

Synyster Gates was so close to my SD, we could see him blink.  She said it felt like he was looking right at her.  And this made her year.

On the way home, we stopped at a roadside McDonalds. Equipped with a two lane drive-thru, capable of taking four orders at once, I figured we would be in and out of that place, and back on the road home in record time.  This was not the case.  We spent 15 minutes trapped in a lane with a picture of Ronald McDonald glaring into our windshield, that was growing creepier and creepier by the minute.  Finally as we approached the first window, we were met......with nobody.  So I continued forward to the second window.

An obviously unhappy employee handed me a bunch of drinks that I did not order.  I gave them back.  He opened several bags before he finally identified our order.  He handed me our food and shut the window.  I figured we could have been well into New Braunfels if the folks inside the Mickey D's didn't take their sweet time frying up our nuggets.  So when the employee of the year didn't ask for my money and shut the window, I decided we had better get on the road and make some miles.  Free concert t-shirt....and now a free dinner.

Bummer of the night:

The mosh pits were wicked.  And at one point, they were on both sides of us.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving, even when there was no pit.  The Bug was okay with this, but I do believe it scared the crap out of SD a few times. 

SD, having no concert experience, whatsoever, stood still as a drumstick came flying straight at her face.  She had a clear shot at it.  But she just stood there.  I guess she was waiting for it to fall at her feet and figured she could just casually reach down and swipe it up.  What actually occurred was a mob of diving bodies which ultimately piled at SD's feet.  The only part of her that touched that drumstick was the toe of her Vans sneakers.  I think she still may be wondering what the heck happened.

And of course the biggest disappointment of the night was the fact that A7X did a short set.  Their opening acts out performed them.  It was reported the next day that M. Shadows was in fact sick and the band ended up cancelling the show the next night in Dallas.  I know the Dallas fans were pissed.  But I say, it's better to have a show postponed than to pay the amount of money we did, haul ass to a town two hours from home, and then get a short set of songs, none of which were any of our personal favorites, and be disappointed by a band we waited so anxiously to see.

I have now taken the Bug and both my step-daughters, to their first rock concerts.  Some may think it's foolish, but I think it's pretty damn cool. \m/  Thus, I have secured my title of "Rockstar Mom", at least a little while longer.