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Well, to start with, in May I got an AA in English!!!! This may not seem like a lot but I'm the first person in my family to ever get a college degree so it's HUGE! I'm still in school, trucking along to more knowledge, so that's great too.
Sadly, in June my grandfather died. It was all just horrible in general so I didn't really want to talk about it on LJ. I mentioned it on twitter and facebook, but it wasn't something I really talked about. On March 1st he got admitted to the local hospital after fainting and they found he had a urinary tract infection. However, they also discovered that his heart had some blockages and the tumor on his pituitary gland had returned (He had it removed in the 70s). The tumor wasn't a big deal really, because it was just a thing that was there, probably not a problem. His heart, however, was an issue. Well, they transferred him to The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and about 2 weeks later (he had some blood pressure drops and spikes since he was 77 and a diabetic and in the hospital about to have surgery so they had to wait) he had open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass. A routine surgery that went well, he was totally fine afterwards, no big deal. Then the day they were going to release him to go home, they came in and he wouldn't wake up. Without them knowing, he'd developed an infection. However, they never could FIND the infection. He was in a coma for almost a week and they never found WHAT was infected, they never found what KIND of infection, they just pumped him full of antibiotics and it helped. However, when he woke up, it was clear he'd suffered some brain damage. Nothing serious, he just kind of behaved like someone who had a minor stroke would. He was able to talk and use both sides of his body, but you could tell he wasn't 'all him'. He forgot stuff and would forget when the last time he saw someone was, and he'd think he was told things that he wasn't. It was really bad. Well, he'd get better, then get worse, then get sick again, then get better, then get sick, and it kept on and on until the end of May they sent him home to the hospital here. He was there for a week before he was sent to a nursing home. He was only in the nursing home for a week before they realized the tumor was why he wasn't getting better (something about his adrenal gland wasn't producing correctly) and when they did another check-up of his heart, they realize that being bedridden for three months had basically undid any good the surgery did. He ended up passing away at the nursing home a week later.
So yeah, it was bad. I mean, so bad that we were all really totally okay that he died. You know it was bad when I woke up to the phone ringing and when my dad said "Pa died" I was actually relieved. Without fail, it cemented my desire to absolutely never end up suffering for months like that. If I'm ever in a situation like he was in, I want to sign a DNR. I really do. He did but only after he woke up from the coma with brain damage. He was on full life support for the first few days in the coma because he hadn't signed a DNR and he DID wake up, but still. I never want that. Never. Not for myself. Everybody can pick their own way, but watching him suffer for OVER 100 days was just... no. Not me if I can help it. Nana dying 2 years ago was hard, you mostly all remember that, but I'd much rather it be less than a week from 'admitted to hospital' to 'died'.
So, apart from the 'now none of us have grandparents' thing (Nana and Pa were the only grandparents my siblings or my cousin had. I do worry about my sister being almost 10 and having no grandparents because they still do grandparents day in elementary school and she's only in 4th grade), 2013 has been AMAZING!
Getting the sad out of the way, like I mentioned, DEGREE! Also in June, pre-sadness, I SAW FALL OUT BOY! I know I posted a post about that (didn't I?) but AHHHHH! FALL OUT BOY! The concert was amazing! The venue was amazing, the show was amazing, the OPENER was amazing, and then afterwards I got to take a picture with Patrick Stump! SQUEE! I'm sure I've shared it but for reference:
Then the rest of my summer was spent planning for... DRAGON*CON!!!
Okay I'll be honest. Dragon*Con was way more of an undertaking than ANY of us planned on. Like... I would recommend Dragon*Con, sure, but I'm not doing it again. Not anytime soon at least. It was AMAZING fun, the cosplays were the best part (besides finally getting to meet one of my longtime internet friends in real life!), but dude... there is nothing to describe how exhausting and painful of an experience this was. I cannot find words. Okay, any of you do theatre? You know how bad Hell Week is? FUCK HELL WEEK! Okay, we were people who (between us, not all of us) do theatre, are college kids, work a 'standing for 7 hours straight' jobs, and one who works at an AMUSEMENT PARK running RIDES all day. We are not wimps by any means! And JESUS CHRIST it killed us. It killed us dead. We were like... murdered by Dragon*Con.
The first thing that went wrong: We thought 'oh, we'll stay up and only sleep about three hours the first night, we're college kids, we're good at this!' since we got to Atlanta thursday and DragonCon started Friday... BIG mistake! Second mistake: We should've pre-registered Thursday night! First thing Friday morning what did we do? Stood in line for TWO HOURS circling around the Sheraton to get registered. Let me tell you this, dudes. Standing is WAY more exhausting than walking. Standing in lines is like foot and ankle kryptonite. Working at an amusement park or at a Starbucks, you are on your feet for 7 hours, but you walk around while doing it. Standing? NOT GOOD! So first thing in the morning, we were already suffering sore feet. Terrible start. Well, basically the entire fucking weekend is standing in lines. It's lines and crowds. We were prepared for CROWDS but dude... there is CROWDS and then there is 'having to wait in a line for 10 minutes to use the stairs since the escalator lines are 20 minutes long'.
Never have I seen a HOTEL full of people so packed in that it's like being in the pit at a concert, only you're all moving trying to get somewhere at a shuffle. It was oppressive and horrible. I heard rumors that the problem is the projected attendance was about 60k this year and the turnout was like somewhere around 80k-100k (no official numbers, just rumors), so I get it, but GOD. It was horrific. I'm not a claustrophobic person but being trapped in a giant mass of bodies like being at the barrier of a concert was just... not cool. Not at all. And it was basically that way EVERYWHERE.
For example this is a LIGHTLY crowded pic of the Atrium/Lobby levels of the Marriot Marquis:
I'll post a full post on Dragon*Con when I eventually get around to editing together my documentary I filmed (aka, shaky shitty handheld cam vids edited together to show the story, lmao) and the rest of the pics uploaded.
But yeah, it got to the point that on Sunday and Monday (the last 2 days)we skipped the night parties and we said 'fuck it' to panels we wanted to go to that started before noon and slept from like 2-11 just because we were SO tired and in SO MUCH pain. I took more pain pills that weekend (I should've bought stock in the OTC acetaminophen/ibuprofen companies)it was crazy.
So yeah, next year our plans are NYCC since Amber and Angela are FROM NY and they've been to NYCC and it's better organized so that crowding isn't an issue, even though there are WAY more people to attend. ALSO! ATLANTA IS AN EXPENSIVE ASS CITY! Even the two from NYC were all "oh. My. God!" at the price of just stuff. I SAW A FUCKING $4.75 BOTTLE OF WATER! WATER! I've seen water that much at CONCERTS because they jack up the prices, but DUDE! This was in a DRUG STORE! Holy shit, we had burgers and potato chips for lunch at this one place and our bill for 3 people was $60! And PARKING! We spent about $40 a day in parking alone!
Anyhow, that's the 'things so far'! Some great movies have come out this year, I'm taking the BEST class this semester now that I've started taking junior level english classes for my bachelors degree (omfg Special Topics in the American Gothic, HOW COOL IS THAT?!) and I'm doing WELL in Spanish for once (I made my first A on a test in the history of my courses for my Spanish degree!!!) and right now, things are going GREAT! Amber and I were worried it would be weird to be together in person after years online, but we actually got along SO WELL and it was SO NATURAL that we miss each other all of the time now, lmao. SO we've planned two trips next year! She's bringing Angela down here again and we're going to Savannah for her birthday in June and then in October I'm going up there to them for NYCC.
Sooo yeah! That's my 2013 so far. HOPEFULLY it only gets better because tons of good movies came out and still are going to come out in 2013 and SO MANY TV SHOWS!
OH!
Yes, tv shows! Okay so this fall, starting in the first week of October (full week), I'm going to have SEVEN SHOWS A WEEK to watch! I usually have like 3! Already started are an old favorite, Top Gear USA, and A NEW FAVORITE, SLEEPY HOLLOW!
DID YOU GUYS WATCH SLEEPY HOLLOW?! OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD! Wow, so excited for Monday nights now!
My week once all the shows get going is going to look like Sleepy Hollow on Mondays, Agents of SHIELD and Supernatural on Tuesdays (And TGUSA but I'll have to DVR it cause the others have to be seen live!), Arrow and Ghost Hunters on Wednesdays, and Elementary on Thursdays!
Speaking of Arrow! Okay so last year when it came on, it looked really lame in the commercials, right? Well Amber started watching it because of John Barrowman and she went 'WOW YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS!" and I did and HOLY SHIT! Dude! THAT SHOW IS AMAZING! The marketing department failed at life last year, because I'm more excited for Arrow to come back than Supernatural! That is how good it is and how HORRIBLE the cliffhanger was! ASLDKFjk;alfj;lds TOMMY! ARE YOU ALIVE TOMMY?! AHHHHHH!
Also, it ends next week on BBCA but have any of you watched Broadchurch? WOW this show is GOOD! I'm watching it on BBCA because I almost like the psycho anticipation you get at the end of each week, but GOD! This show is the BEST crime/mystery show I've EVER watched. Every time you think you're gonna get an answer, you just get 50 new questions. SOOOOOO GOOOD! I'm dying to know who did it (NOBODY TELL ME! NO SPOILERS!)
And in closing, have the BEST cosplay EVER that I saw at Dragon*Con! Holy shit this dude looks JUST LIKE RDJ doesn't he?!
Tags: 2013, dragon*con, fall out boy, pics, randomness
