I Should Know Who I Am By Now

Mansion of Terror (or Why I Can't Sleep at Night)

2008-10-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

Alright kids, it's become somewhat of a tradition of mine to plan some sort of outing when Halloween-time comes rolling around. Last year, my friends and I had SUCH an amazing time so we felt like we had to outdo ourselves this year. This meant that we couldn't just stick around San Antonio. We had heard that the haunted houses in Austin were so much better. We decided to give it a go. Why not, right? It's only an hour away.

We hit up House of Torment first (the one near Highland Mall.) That one was ALRIGHT. A little scary. Definitely not worth the price, though. At one point, this "monster" came out to scare us and the entire group I went in with sighed, groaned, and booed...and then laughed at his pathetic attempt. They SUCKED at scaring us. I'm not going to lie, I did grab the person in front of me (and probably rather inappropriately) a few times and I screamed a couple of times as well, but we didn't come out of it completely satisfied. We had seen better. We had built up this trip to Austin so much and we ended up totally disappointed.

We didn't give up, though. And I cannot tell you how glad I am that we didn't!

We ended up at the Mansion of Terror in Round Rock, TX. To put things into perspective, let me tell you that two from our group (who made it all the way through both House of Torment attractions quite easily) ran away before even getting into any of the Mansion of Terror attractions! We were greeted by a freaky ass clown with a chainsaw so two of the girls we were with ran out and away towards a nearby Hastings. They didn't come back. Wusses.

Little did we know, though.

This year they had TWO attractions at the Mansion of Terror -- "Slaughter Circus" and "Blood Frenzy." True to their names, they were bloody and disgusting and truly terrifying. I'm very surprised that we all made it out of there without throwing up or pissing our pants, seriously. THAT awesome.

I won't give much away. You're definitely going to have to go see for yourself because a lot of it cannot even be described (and thinking about it actually sends shivers down my spine.) I will say though that the costumes, makeup, and set were all AMAZING. It really felt like I had just stepped into the set of a horror movie. No, let's make it 20 horror movies combined. It was very obvious to me that the people who work hard to keep this nightmare factory running are talented people who care a lot about making things look as real as possible.

I was screaming the entire way through!!! I don't think I've ever reacted that way to anything in my life. The guy behind me was much worse though, so I didn't feel as bad. ;-) At one point, two actors came up to either side of me and followed me, whispering things and making me shake in fear! I would close my eyes and just when I thought that FOR SURE they'd be gone, I'd slowly open an eye only to see that they were still there! God, I was terrified.

I just could not get over how real it all seemed! I even got fake blood on me (All washable, so I hear) and I could feel the warmth on my arm of the sparks that were flying off the set.

We talked about it all the way back to San Antonio. It's been two days and I'm STILL having trouble getting to sleep. Once it gets dark, I check EVERYTHING. Under my bed, inside my closet, I open the shower curtain -- nothing goes unturned. Just a bit ago my internet connection went out and I panicked because I knew full well that the wireless router is in a different room and it would mean that I would have to face the darkness and all the images from the Mansion of Terror that will be forever etched in my brain...or at least until next year when we go again and they (I'm positive) will have even more terrifying stuff going on in there. I shudder at the thought. *shudders again*

Head out to Round Rock and pay the crazy folk at the Mansion of Terror a visit! It's totally worth the money and in addition to being really impressive and absolutely terrifying, the people who work hard to put it on seem really GREAT!

But I totally suggest you pee beforehand. You don't want to be the one to pee inside. No, you don't want to be THAT dude. :-)

puts fist up like Joaquin I HIT HILLARY

2008-03-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama, A couple of Fridays ago, Edinburg, TX

So it's about 5:30 in the morning and I've gotten little sleep because of the primary coverage. I've been an election year political junkie for as long as I can remember. I remember the Clinton/Gore years... yes, back when both of them were hot. Shut up :-p I was truly heartbroken when the election was stolen from Gore in 2000. I donated a decent amount of my own money that I got from my first real job to Kerry in 2004 and was disappointed when he lost. I swear, being a democrat these last 8 years has sort of felt like being a Red Sox fan... not like 2004, 2007 red sox...but the ones who made losing a total art form and broke your heart.

This election season has been different for me though. I was inspired early on by Barack Obama. As a matter of fact, I just checked my dashboard on barackobama.com and it says the following:

Created account 2007-02-19 21:22:34

So it's been over a year and I'm still a strong supporter. So strong that I became a precinct captain here in San Antonio and made phone calls and did some volunteering because I believe strongly in what he can do for America. Now, let me say this. Before throwing my support for Obama, I did consider Hillary and I did plenty of research and found that I caught myself thinking...you know what, she's a great lady. I do not doubt that she'd make a good president. I do not doubt that she wants to make this country better and she genuinely cares to bring change to America. They are pretty much the same on every issue, you know, slight differences but generally the same... and what it came down to for me was the way that they'd get things done. I continue to believe that Obama has the edge here. He is not nearly as polarizing as she is, he's inspiring and with the inspiration comes a more united America that is more willing to help HIM make that change. Let's face it...she's so polarizing, there's no way she's gonna be able to get done the things that she wants to get done in the white house. Obama is optimistic, he's positive, and he has so much passion and it's so infectious. He is the person I support and for what I think are very valid reasons. Because not only can he deliver, he can also inspire (which i promise you, will lead to more delivering :-p) . And I feel like that's what this country needs.

I don't hate on Hillary supporters. Well, let me rephrase that. I don't hate on Hillary supporters that have made informed decisions. My mom and other people I've heard about in the valley are so ridiculous. If I have to hear ignorant shit like "No,I can't vote for Obama because what if he's a terrorist...you know he went to a terrorist school, right?" or "Hillary, because she's not black" or "Hillary because she's been to the valley before" ..if I have to hear any of this again, I will punch myself in the face. It's really retarded when I've asked some people back home what they don't like about Obama and that's all they can say...either that he's black or that he's "inexperienced" ... Black? Yes. Inexperienced? I think not. He has many, MANY years of experience... true legislative experience (which he actually has more of)

Which is precisely why I've lost respect for Hillary Clinton. I know so many people have heard me say that I'm so genuinely excited that there has been this surge in voting amongst Democrats and that we're all so energized. And I am!!! I've said that no matter what the outcome, it's just great to see this kind of thing. Only, I can't sleep because I'm just disappointed in the way Hillary chose to run her campaign in the last few days. Her decision to go negative was a bad one, at least for me. As an Obama supporter, I've been quick to say that if she won the nomination, I'd vote for her without hesitation. But I just can't believe that she resorted to such crap just to win a few votes from people who scare easily without taking something as important as FACT into consideration.

I really, really hope that the Clinton campaign quits their shit. I don't want to have to vote for mccain if she wins the nomination (she won't but I need to allow for that hypothetical for now.)

Watching Obama's speech yesterday just solidified what I already felt about him. He was a class act, congratulating her on her wins and continuing to focus on what he can offer and not flinging crap at her like she does to him. Hillary supporters out there? I want to be ok with Hillary in the event that she does get the nomination. So start convincing me. After seeing how big of an annoying crybaby bitch she can be, I don't know how I can support her.

That's all for now. I need to sleep :-p

Oh and gotta love that after all of this hullabaloo, the delegate count essentially stays the same. :)

John Kerry, UTB-TSC, the day after Obama spoke in Edinburg

QOTD

2007-12-27T10:35:00.001-08:00

Jorge: hey well

it could be worse

at least you're alive

not like benazir bhutto

me: lol i know

Jorge: i bet she'd give anything to have pink eye right about now

-Jorge, on me being sick

Don't make me rub my eye on you

2007-12-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I woke up with mucusy discharge all over my eye. Yes, I said it. Now apparently all I talk about on my blog is gross stuff. Refusing to sift through feces for a piece of broken retainer, getting gross sick, and well, now this.

The good news: My fever went down yesterday. This means I have more energy and I don't feel like dropping to the floor every time I get out of bed.

The bad news: My sore throat got much worse and yeah, I woke up with conjunctivitis (pink eye). CRAP!

You know how my parents are. Overprotective, overbearing... call it whatever you want. That's them. They immediately insisted that I go to the doctor. This time I didn't fight them too much because I HATE HATE HATE crust. I hate the word "crust" if it's used to describe anything other than the outsides of pizza or pie. I hate feeling like my eye is leaking.

Day one:

Pink Eye on left eye (Yes, it looks like the right but it's the camera, you idiot)

It wasn't TOO bad the first day. But you know me... I always feel like everything is worse than it actually is... so to me? It was more like this.

Day One, Melissa-style:
When I went to the doctor, I was totally worried about how I would tell the doctor that I had lagana (oh, I don't know how to put tildes up in this bitch, so for you spanish speakers, you know what I mean)... so I asked my mom how to say it in English.

me: what do you say? Like... eye mucus? but that sounds kind of gross
mom: Well, why don't you just say discharge?
me: Oh, okay.

In the doctor's office, the doctor walks in and looks at my eye and goes...

Dr. Heredia: You had lagana in the morning, mija?

GOTTA LOVE VALLEY DOCTORS! THEY JUST GET ME :D

My mom @ Walgreens, about to bite my Dad's head off because the people at the pharmacy are stupid.

Despite my best efforts to stay healthy, I sit here today with strep throat and pink eye IN BOTH EYES. I woke up this morning and it had spread to my other eye. BLEH! Makes me laugh though because my dad was lysoling everything I touched. It got to the point where yesterday, I used the salt shaker and he refused to use it after me. Only I guess he really wanted salt so he put a napkin around it and used it like that. All of that and I still infect my other eye. Now I feel like rubbing my eye and spitting all over his belongings. That'll show him.

Ho, ho, ho, y'all :)

2007-12-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again, folks. For some reason, I wasn't very much in the Christmas spirit this year. I don't know what went wrong. I'm usually all about Christmas. A few weeks before, you can usually hear me humming or singing along to Christmas songs and talking about how great the holidays are going to be. But this year, I had several fights with people in my passenger seat. NO I do not want to listen to that radio station that switches to Christmas songs all day, every day until the 25th.

To tell you the truth, today hasn't been spectacular. It's been just as I expected. A disappointment. I woke up with a 102.5 fever. I've had the chills and I've spent most of my time in bed. My mom brought up the emergency room several times, but after the retainer incident, I think I'm steering clear of hospitals for a good while. :-p Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas anymore.

But you know what? I had a pretty great Christmas eve. My mom's side of the family has gotten together on Christmas eve for as long as I can remember. This year, however, my Aunt Linda and her family decided to spend Christmas in San Antonio. My brother's in Puerto Rico with Natalia. So this was the first year when our numbers were basically cut in half. Originally, my parents and I were just going to spend Christmas by ourselves but were pleasantly surprised when my Uncle George and his family still wanted to get together. So we actually spent the entire day at his house. My mom made menudo, we played jenga and pictionary, we saw oooold family home videos, we hung out and talked/laughed, the kids finally opened up a few presents and overall, it was a great, chill time. I'm pretty satisfied about the way it turned out. :)

So my Christmas Eve made up for a pretty shitty Christmas.

Now, I just hope I get better!

stuck in my head

2007-12-25T15:57:00.000-08:00

So I've had this song stuck in my head for the last few weeks. I thought it was good at first. Then I couldn't stand it for a while. And now I'm right back to loving it.

Random thought

2007-12-19T11:49:00.001-08:00

Waldenbooks, Harlingen, TX

Something about my mom holding up a book with the word "Bitch" on it makes me smile.

Everything comes down to poo

2007-12-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Do you remember Saturday mornings when you were younger? Did you get up really early in the morning to watch cartoons? Maybe jump on your parents' bed until they couldn't handle it anymore and they'd get up and make you pancakes or get ready for a fun-filled day? Why can't we have those days anymore?

You know what happened Saturday morning? I woke up to take a mad piss at 4:30 in the morning. I went back to my room (or not my room, the maid's quarters rather) and I was parched. I drank some water. And guess what happened then?

The big broken piece of my retainer came loose and followed the water down my throat.

As Chunk from The Goonies would say, "Ah shit!!!"

My parents were aware of the fact that my retainer was broken. And yes, they told me about a million times not to put the broken piece back into my mouth. I even told myself that. I said, "Self? Don't be stupid. Just throw it away. So your TMJ might act up and you might get a headache... but you don't want to swallow that thing now, do you?"

The ominous picture that was taken just days before the swallowing occurred.

A gloomy day. the plastic shard. San Antonio, TX.

I should've known. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! :-p

So It's 4:45 and I feel something stuck in my throat. I was at home at the time....perhaps I forgot to mention that. I was home for the weekend with Jorge. I guess now I see it as a very lucky thing because had it happened in San Antonio, it would have been much harder to get help. Okay, so I wake my parents up and tell them what's happened and they immediately say "emergency room." Crap. See, when I was a kid, I used to LOVE going to the doctor. I'd probably fake being sick just to go. But now? I realize how inconvenient it is and also, sometimes you just fear what your doctor may tell you. I refused for about a minute. And then it just hurt in my chest so I thought... NO...I have to go.

me: If I die....
mom: Don't you dare say that, Melissa! Don't give up on me now! You have to stay with us!

lol Okay, that didn't really happen like that. It was actually more like this:

me: If I die..
Jorge: (laughs)
mom: ay melissa, shut up!

My dad was taking forever to get ready but we finally left. Or at least we tried to leave. See, it had been raining that day so the outside tile was wet. I've lived with that tile in place for years so I knew that when it rained, it'd get REALLY slippery. So there I went, making my way across it and towards the car very carefully. Jorge? Oops. Forgot to mention to him that it might be a bit slippery. BAM! He fell! It was the best shit I have ever seen. It was like one of those dramatic falls where it's almost in slow motion. Jorge slipping and slowly making his way towards the grass, getting closer to the ground every split second. It's almost as I could even see his mouth open slowly...going... "NooooooOOOoooOOOooo!" He threw his keys up and they dramatically ended up on the grass. It was brilliant. I didn't laugh then. But once I was stuck in a room with my mom at the hospital? I laughed again and again. Just when I thought I was done? I'd start up again, replaying it all in my head.

So after hours and hours of waiting, they finally started doing x-rays and I was able to see the doctor. While I waited, the plastic piece ended up going down to the stomach....which is good and bad. Good because I didn't need a doctor to put something down my throat and fish it out. Bad because now? I have to shit it out. You heard me. I said I have to poop out a somewhat jagged piece of plastic. Crap. literally.

So? It might be painful. It might be embarrassing. But you know what? It's one to tell the children.

Jorge: "HAHAHA Hey kids, you wanna hear about the time aunt Mel shat out her retainer?"

I guess everything DOES come down to poo.

and in case you were wondering, I don't give a care. If I'm going to crap, I'm going to crap in style.

can't sit still

2007-12-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

nataliedee.com

July - November in Pictures

2007-12-08T21:57:00.001-08:00

So what's happened since July? Instead of writing EVERYTHING out, I'll just fill you guys in with mostly pictures. :-)

July: Emily came and stayed for a few weeks. My family also came to San Antonio and we did the whole family thing at Sea World and shtuff. My birthdayyyy blah blah blah... yeah, whatever.

August: I don't even remember what happened in August. I had to change my major AGAIN. That sucked.

September: Let's see... September. Jorge moved to San Antonio (I know! Whaaaat?!) and I finally went to visit Gabe and Natalia in Houston! That was actually really cool. Natalia took Lorraine and I to Kemah, this boardwalk on the Texas coast. It was soooo cute! It was so much cooler than Ocean City. It's not so much mehmeh-look-at-us-we're-a-big-tourist-destination. It's more like that really cute place that not many people have discovered yet and you wish you could keep it a big secret so it won't turn into a huge tourist attraction and it'll keep it's charm. I went to see Pat Green for the second time this year. Awesome as ever.

October/November: School school school. Ohhh went to the scariest Haunted House EVER. I ended up getting mononucleosis and got sick in all kinds of ways. It was probably the sickest I've ever been. That really sucked. Played a lot of guitar hero... and went to Houston for Thanksgiving.

And now it's December! And now you've been filled in!

first entry

2007-12-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

New blog! I decided to start a new blog because I stopped writing in my last one some time in July. I think it was because it used to be fun. I used to enjoy coming back and writing about my days -- funny things, happy things, dumb things and yes, even sad things. But I got to the point where I looked back and hated what I had written. April, May, and June were months that brought out things that I hated in myself and I no longer felt like sharing in such a public way. But now? It's December. It's cooler outside. I'm in a better mood. And it's time for me to make a comeback.

To the blog, I say!