One 'Howie' of a 'Day'
My friend Stef is unfortunately moving to Florida this week. I've often mentioned her on this blog like when she did my eye makeup, was there when I lost my cell in Hoboken, when we went to the fortune teller, caught U2 or when we attended the sex class together. Her moving is only unfortunate for me though and great for her. She's going to be teaching down in Ft. Lauderdale area and living in a great new apartment with two bedrooms and paying less than my discounted NYC studio. Her family is moving down there too and I think the change will do her the world of good, especially to be away from her ex cop boyfriend. Yet, I'm also selfishly upset to see her go. She's the kind of friend who would call me at 10:00 at night and say that she felt like a Magnolia cupcake, so she'd jump in her car and drive over from New Jersey, pick me up, eat a cupcake and then head back, *sigh* good times.

So this weekend Stef called saying that she had won tickets from 95.5 WPLJ to see an up close performance by Howie Day at the China Club on the same night as her drive to Florida and as the radio station boasts, "The only way in, is to win." First let me set the scene, she is obsessed with Howie and knew of him way before his recording career and radio hit "Collide." I remember seeing her AIM icon with his face on it at least five years ago and wondering who it was. She's now seen him over a dozen times and so far I had managed to escape seeing him at the many signings and concerts that she's attended and invited me to. But now that I knew she wouldn't be in the city again for awhile, I accepted her gracious invitation to join her at the show. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Howie, I just didn't know any of his other songs. Thus, I wasn't expecting to have a good time while Stef and Jay were, as you can see here:


ha ha no we actually staged that photo, I wasn't really reading while sitting on the stage, that would just be rude.

To my surprise and relief I had a great time and that's not the Baybreeze I had talking either. We stood right next to the stage and witnessed first had Howie's contagious passion and skill. At his feet he had a piano of foot peddles where during his songs while singing and playing the guitar he'd pound on the peddles and record his own singing and beat and then have it repeat in the background. So although he was singing solo without any back up musicians or singers it sounded like he had a complete band. I enjoyed almost all of his songs even the new yet to be released ones and the covers. He also made a some funny jokes in between songs and overall it was a very intimate and mellow atmosphere. Stef is burning me his CDs.

On a happy note: I'm now a Howie Day fan.

Sad note: My friend is moving to Florida.

Gay Pride Parade
Today I wiggled though the crowd up to the barricades along 5th Avenue for the annual Pride Parade. It's a real communal experience seeing all the nationalities and sexual preferences both in the parade and clapping along the sidelines in support. Like any parade there were floats, music and bands, plus walkers giving out candy to the crowd. Just add in some wigs, cross dressing, rainbow flags and Trojan's being tossed out to the on lookers then you got the Pride Parade.

Here are some photos:


News: Parades celebrate gay pride nationwide

Shop till you drop
Last night three brave girls went to another Shecky's Girls Night for cocktails, shopping and yes, a free goodie bag (which was even better this time). Despite their efforts to keep their wallets shut and credit cards unswiped they failed miserably. Here are their purchase adventures.

Karen:
Was all about the circles and purchased gold cascading circular earrings from Lola Bean and an almost matching necklace from a vendor named Circa 610. Take a look:


Shirley:
Had the most willpower of all three shoppers and despite liking several necklaces and earings that her friends declared looked gorgeous she would willfully put them back down and move on to the next vendor. She finally purchased a shirt on sale by Candid Couture, which reads "I Have Misplaced My Crown" (Tara bought a shirt from them last time with a heart on it that reads "You Break It You Buy It"). Shirley's big purchase came just as the trio were leaving when she returned to the first booth that she had visited, Fashion Doll Accessories to buy a fun fabric purse with big circular plastic handles perfect for the beach. What do you think?


Tara:
Bought a pair of blue jean capris by James Jeans Cured by Seun, which retail for $170 and were purchased for only $60, thus Tara figured this wasn't really a purchase--it was a steal. They also have fun stitching on the butt and look pretty fine on.

Then she tried on two different pairs of earrings by MLevinson and because she couldn't decide which looked best and her friends were just as indecisive she bought both, but only $25 each compared to the fifty and change ones at all the other vendors. Tara blames the fact that she had a small bottle of red from Little Black Dress Wines making her sillier than the other girls and more loose with the purse strings. These are the earings.


Oh and every shopper received a large bottle of Dove Energy Glow, which all were delighted to try.

Special Delivery
Look what I received today at work:



Sorry, mums the word. I once was sent a teddy bear but never flowers...and plus the bear was from my step dad :-P

The flowers above also happen to be the first photo that I've sent from my new Verizon LG VX-8300 cell phone that I got this week, and now that I finally have a camera phone do expect more photos accompanying my posts.

Fainting Adventure
On Sunday, the hottest day this year in New York so far, I headed to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey for some roller coaster riding. I hadn't been since my 9th grade school trip back when the only big ride there was Batman The Ride.

While standing in the long line for Kingda Ka--the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world or as a friend said Galaxy--I fainted from the extreme heat combined with lack of sleep and water. And when I write faint, I don't mean those dainty swoons that you see in old movies, I mean my body shuts down and I fall right there and then, with only a 20 second warning. I've once landed on my chin without even bending my knees. The scariest part for those around me is that I go extremely white and my eyes stay open without blinking, thus I look dead.

So this time I wake up on the cement floor to the words, "she's coming back," since my hearing is the first sense to come back to me causing everything to be super loud at first, then my sight, speech, feeling (which hurts the most since it feels like all my nerve endings are being turned back on at once) and then smell and for some reason I always end up smelling the scent of blood. Luckily my terrified friend Raphael was with me since I couldn't even walk over to the medics who were waiting beyond the fence. I don't remember falling just telling him that I was going to faint then waking on the ground to his words and much embarrassment and pain. Some guy in the line apparently gave me his water and another man offered to help carry me, which was all very considerate. Extremely embarrassed I rushed getting up to only get a few steps when I dumped the water over my head in order to snap out of it, but to no avail. I had to slump back down once again as I saw pairs of feet try to step around us on the line. I was then brought to the park's hidden air conditioned medics area, which resembled an army barrack. I was given a "grape flavored Gatorade derivative" (the EMT's words not mine) and ice to put on my temples and behind my neck to cool my body down.

After a little while my strength and color returned with the help of the grape liquid and a salty pretzel. Now I was pissed my day would be ruined and that we had missed the ride, plus also afraid we wouldn't know how to meet up with our other friends since we had all left our cell phones in the car. A water bottle later we headed back to the ride to see our friends just getting off of it. Feeling much better and determined to go on the fastest roller coaster in the galaxy (I'm still thinking there might be something cool on Uranus tho ;) I went to the security guards area to see if we could go back to the head of the line. Maybe not the wisest choice given my health, but that's me. Actually we ended up cutting, since they didn't even notice us go up the ramp to the loading carts area. My faint ended up lasting longer than the ride itself, it was that quick. So some good came out of my humiliation and ickyness, we didn't have to continue to wait on that line in that heat. After that I kept standing on the bridge near the water ride to be soaked by the big wave that results from it.

I've fainted since childhood many times, usually 2 to 3 times a year, due to seeing blood, feeling extreme pain, being dehydrated and now it seems from heat exhaustion as well. It runs in my family on my dad's side. After many many tests in college like an EEG, EKG, MRI, stress test, etc I was finally diagnosed with vasovagal, a.k.a. the classic faint syndrome or neurally-mediated syncope. Meaning I'm a fainter plain and simple and it's my bodies response to pain or my body being off. People with low blood pressure like me are more likely to have it too. "A vasovagal attack happens because blood pressure drops, reducing circulation to the brain and causing loss of consciousness. Typically an attack occurs while standing and is frequently preceded by a sensation of warmth, nausea, lightheartedness and visual grayout." (WebMD).

Luckily I don't pass out from fear or anger which can happen to some cases with vasovagel. The only thing the doctor recommended was that I avoid stressful situations. I was like "yeah, ok I won't live then." I can try preventing my fainting sometimes by drinking a lot of water and eating more salt in my diet. WebMD also writes: "Some types of fainting seem to run in families. While fainting may indicate a particular medical condition, sometimes it may occur in an otherwise healthy individual. As many as half of people faint at least once in their life. Three percent of people develop it repeatedly." Of course I have to be in that 3%!