Tag: life experience

I’m Free! Motherf*ckers!

It’s been a while, I know.  2019 was certainly a whirlwind.  Last time I posted, It was in late June, early July, and I was only a couple of weeks away from moving.  I moved out of my parents house at the beginning of August.

In the months preceding my move, I had a great deal of help from one of my doctors, who helped me find a dining room table and chairs, and a couch (with a queen fold out bed).  I used Facebook Marketplace to my advantage and got myself a toaster, microwave, microwave stand, little coffee table and book shelves.  Walmart came in handy and I got a TV and TV stand on their last sale.  I was being as thrifty as I could.

My apartment went from looking like this:Unfurnished Apartment

Before they fixed it up for me.  It then looked like this:

First Moving In

When I first started moving things in.  This was the next phase:

Partially Set Up

Still getting situated.  Finally, it came to this:

Finished Apartment

Finally, this was it looked like finished (ignore the boxes the TV is sitting on.  I do have a TV stand now).  I have cooking implements that were given to me by family friends.  I’ve been enjoying cooking my own meals, but I only really get to do it twice a week: Sunday night and Monday night.  All the other nights I work too late to cook my own dinner.  This Sunday night, I have my younger brother visiting and I said I would cook Katsudon for dinner (Japanese pork cutlet bowls).  I’m looking forward to it.

Anyway, I am very happy with myself and where I am right now.  I have my own space, I’m engaged, and looking forward to 2020.

And on that note, it’s been real!

The Fillmore, Philadelphia – Sabaton

Last week, I got the best birthday present to date.  My brother and I drove to Philadelphia so that we could see Sabaton perform live.  We left Tuesday morning a little after 10:00 and started our drive to Philadelphia.  My brother drove for most of it, but we switched when we were almost to the city.  It was almost ironic fate as I hate driving in cities.  The roads are too narrow, the turns too weird, and the idiots too numerous.  But, we made it to our hotel on the banks of the Delaware river and crashed.

We brought our bags in, cleaned up and went looking for the venue.  The GPS was a little confused, as were we, but we did find it and checked out the parking.  Once we gauged everything, we returned to our hotel because we still had two and half hours before the start of the concert.  In all honesty, we probably could have stayed in our room till about 10:00.  There were two cover bands before Sabaton: Cyhra and Kreator, and they took about that long.  But… we went around 6:30, and stood in the cold for an hour, and were let through the doors around 7:30.  We went out onto the floor, had a hard time deciding if we wanted our coats off, finally made the decision, and then stood in line to get some Sabaton shirts.  Well, he got a hoodie, and I got a tank top.

We listened to a bit of Cyhra and Kreator after getting our paraphernalia, but Kreator almost blew my eardrums out and we stepped into a quieter area to recoup.  There, we waited for Sabaton to start.  When we saw the sound guys taking out and testing their guitars and mikes and drums, we started getting twitchy excited.  Then, they announced the band and they came out on stage.  The screaming was thunderous and people started crying, “Sabaton!  Sabaton!  Sabaton!”  We joined in.  These are the songs they played:

  1. Cliffs of Gallipoli
  2. The Final Solution
  3. Primo Victoria
  4. Sparta
  5. The Last Stand
  6. Winged Hussars
  7. Resist & Bite
  8. Uprising
  9. Carolus Rex
  10. Gustavus Adolphus
  11. Night Witches
  12. Swedish Pagans
  13. Screaming Eagles

They played till almost midnight and my brother and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  He crowd surfed three times, filming for the last one.  There was a ‘mosh pit’ (friendly rough housing at a rock concert) that was going on beside us at one point, and I was smacked by somebody who got pushed.  I went flying in a complete 360 degrees, but many helpful hands saved me from landing on the floor.  My brother tried to put himself between me and the ‘violence’ but sometimes, he partook of it.

When we finally made it back to our hotel room, it was after midnight, and my brother just crawled into bed.  I took the time to remove my makeup, get changed and brushed my teeth before I went to sleep.  Of course, the alarm went off all too soon, but the breakfast and coffee was worth it, and then it was the long trek home.

I was sad to leave, almost hoping for an encore performance, but I will remember that concert and the fact that I did get to see Sabaton live.  It will probably be years before they come back and when they do, I hope to be waiting for them.

And on that note, it’s been real!