Tonsillectomy at 26 Part 2: Pre-surgery preparations / Food Post

So I left off telling you that the surgery was booked and I was playing the waiting game. (Well, in between calling my family, friends, and the office with my questions and concerns...) But aside from that I preoccupied my brain with creating the perfect shopping list for my recovery. Everyone knows the typical popsicles and ice cream, but a lot of sources said to avoid dairy for at least the first few days because you don't want anything really coating your throat and tongue. (Coughing and/or clearing your throat is not even imaginable for the first few days). Plus who wants "milky tongue" as my mom says.

A week before surgery I was at Harris Teeter and saw several clearance carts filled with pouches of fancy baby food. I got a couple as a joke, but then I realized that was probably going to be one of the best ways to get some variety and maybe a little flavor in, as well as having a manageable portion. Then the major shopping happened the Saturday and Sunday before my Wednesday surgery. 

I was going to write about the surgery, but hey food is more fun so I'll just list everything and how it rated during my recovery below. Keep in mind these were my taste buds and everyone has different likes/dislikes. Here it goes:

Note: Cat was not for consumption. Pre- or Post-tonsillectomy.

• Baby food, pouches and containers: pear and butternut squash was the best, I actually got my boyfriend to go out and buy me more. He couldn't find the combination so he bought them separately and we mixed. The plum and berries were way too sweet for me to handle, and I actually didn't even eat any of the meat or plain veggie ones. The big mistake we made was crushing up medicine in the baby food to eat. DON'T DO THIS! Ugh it was terrible. I'd have to take a bite of the medicine food, sip of water, bite of real food, repeat. It took forever and was just terrible. Overall though, baby food was a good idea B+

• Jell-O: I was advised to stay away from citrus (for obvious burning reasons) and anything with red dye (in case you bleed, you're going to want to know how much is actually blood and not just red spit). The whole two weeks we (my mom, who am I kidding) only made the berry blue and grape jello. I remember it being good, but not being able to eat a lot. And I actually still have some in the fridge. Solid B there.

• Applesauce: NOPE. Tried this day 1 and it was too gritty. I didn't like the consistency or taste of this. F.

• Instant mashed potatoes: As you can see I got several different kinds of potatoes. The main thing is to read how they are prepared and what they're made with. No chunks of garlic or herbs. All of these are just made with water. I found the first week they were too thick. My mom thinned them out with chicken or vegetable broth but that made them taste too weird for me. The second week it was easier to eat them though. And I love potatoes. So let's give them a B.

• Gatorade: NOPE! All these non-red and non-citrus flavors were terrible and acidic and too sweet and burned going down. I only had a couple flavors to be honest, but I wasn't interested to try again. D- (I do like both Gatorade and G2 in my normal state of health when I'm super thirsty though)

• Chocolate Liquid Nutrition/Ensure: This was the best ever! I'm still drinking these on Day 14 as I heal. Tasty chocolaty vitamins that make you feel at least a little bit satisfied. I could only have them room temperature at first but now they're really good right out of the fridge. I went through at least two cases. They come in vanilla and strawberry, but I stuck to chocolate. A+

• Ensure Clear in peach: No no no. That burned. I hated it. F-

• Mini marshmallows: I don't know why I grabbed these but I'm glad I did. They were a fun, squishy, manageable snack around the end of the first week. I also stuck a baggie of them in the freezer. That's fun to do even when you're not recovering from a tonsillectomy. Solid A.

• Cream of Rice: my mom prepared this, I had one bite and refused it. Too gritty. Sorry Mom. F.

• Soup broths: Chicken broth was a bit too strong in the potatoes, I don't think I had too much of it. C+ The vegetable broth heated lukewarm was AMAZING! I don't think I had it until a few days after surgery, but yes, so good. That gets an A.

• Cream of wheat, pea soup, pear nectar, beef broth, tea: Didn't even open any of this yet. Maybe I'll do a post-tonsillectomy review.

• Popsicles! (not pictured): Anything frozen was way too cold the first few days. But when I could, I loved Dole banana popsicles, Philly swirl brand cotton candy ice pops, and Fla-Vor-Ice freeze pops my beef in Tennessee sent me. I bought Fruttare mango popsicles, but they were too tart/acidic. I also avoided red dyes and citrus flavors (which is harder than you think!) B

• Ice cream: Like the popsicles, too cold at first but then I graduated to milkshakes made with almond milk. That was tasty. Around Day 10 was when I could finally handle a scoop of ice cream with a spoon. C+

• Smoothies: Almond milk + frozen fruit + chocolate syrup + peanut butter. Delicious. Sometimes too thick. I didn't attempt these until the second week of recovery, but they were a good way to switch things up. B
• Vitamin Water Zero in fruit punch: Okay, here's my best secret/tip for the entire experience. If you forget to ask for liquid pain killers or they don't do that, then buy a pill crusher (should be around $5 at any drug store) and crush your pills into a few tablespoons of Vitamin Water Zero in fruit punch. Take a sip then follow it up immediately with a sip of water. There's some chemical that makes your taste buds tingle with a delightful sweet buzz. I don't really like this stuff by itself (it's ruined for me now anyway) but THIS is what you should mix your medicine with. (I had Oxycodone-Acetaminophen as my main/only painkiller just as a reference point for everyone). It takes about two or three turns switching sips, but it was by far the best way to take my medicine. And we didn't realize this until at least Day 3!

 Pill crusher, I love you.

Okay, that just a food post. I will write about surgery and recovery, but this was fun and on my mind. Comment if you have any questions or feedback!

Tonsillectomy at 26 Part 1: You're crazy, why'd you do that?

So it's currently Day 12 of my tonsillectomy recovery. I'm off of the heavy duty pain meds (switched to Tylenol when I think I need it) and I finally feel like myself again. I feel like I should write a recap of everything while it's still fresh, but I will warn you a lot of the details are foggy since I was pretty drugged up. I'm going to use my facebook and twitter updates as helpful hints to remind me of each day. And if my mom or boyfriend wants to comment about their experience taking care of me or details I left out, I definitely encourage them!

Alright, let's start with the big question:
WHY did I decide to get my tonsils out?
Answer: Tonsil Stones.

I've always had large tonsils. New dentists or doctors would comment on them saying "Wow, those suckers are big!" and I've been told they were between a 2-3 on the size scale. Nice reference picture below:

 From sleepmedicineboardreview.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/tonsil-size-scoring/

But I never had too many problems, only a few instances of strep throat growing up, so I was never advised to get them taken out. Fast forward to high school and college and I started getting tonsil stones. If you don't know what they are, and are kind of squeamish, you may want to skip this part. Tonsil stones are basically calcified bits of food and bacteria that form in the crypts/holes of the tonsils. Sometimes you can cough or gargle to get them out, and some people resort to picking or squeezing them out if they can stand it. I've also heard water picks on low settings can blast them out. (If the pressure is too much it can damage or tear the tonsil) But once you start getting tonsil stones, there's no way to permanently get rid of them besides removing the tonsils completely.

Another fun side effect of having tonsil stones is that you have pretty terrible breath. Especially in the morning. Like super rank. And trust me, I brush, floss, and use mouthwash before bed but it was always terrible again in the morning. I thought this just happened to everyone, but apparently tonsil stones are the culprit. Once my recovery scabs finally come off I'm very much looking forward to not having such nasty morning breath. Alright, now back to the main point...

I tried all of the methods of getting rid of my tonsil stones (also known as Tonsilloliths or tonsilar calculi) using all of those methods I mentioned above. It would work for the smaller stones or the stones I could reach but never for the big ones in the back. And the problem with picking or squeezing or prodding very sensitive tonsils is that they get super mad. They turn red and swell up and get infected. If I didn't get the stone out, then a day or two later I'd get cold-like symptoms and feel really terrible. Sore ears, sore throat, coughing, runny nose, and all of that. Once I got the stone out though, those symptoms went away almost immediately. As the years went on this pattern only increased. Although it was never bad enough to send me to the doctor's office it was still a miserable few days to a week. And as I got older I saw the stones getting larger, meaning the crypts I was poking and prodding must have been getting bigger. I searched endlessy for solutions online but just came across what I already knew.

I hit my breaking point at the start of this year and started seriously researching tonsillectomies. I found out about laser cryptolysis which is where a doctor uses a laser to close up the crypts in the tonsils and also reduces their size. I was pretty interested in that option since a lot of online sources said the recovery time was far less painful and much shorter. I didn't find too much information about them though or specific doctors that did them. I also read about traditional tonsillectomies and typical adult recovery time. SO many sources said adults need a minimum of 10 full days to recover. I couldn't believe it would take that long, but the more I read the more I saw accounts of people needing two weeks. The best source for me was a good friend who is around my age and had her tonsils out last year. I must have emailed and texted her dozens of times with questions and brought it up every time we were together. (Katherine, you were an invaluable resource, so thank you!). Alright, so about 2 weeks... I could luckily fit that into my work schedule so the next step was finding a doctor.

I actually used www.zocdoc.com/ to find an ENT in my area that took my insurance. I settled on Dr. Jack Williams since he had over 20 reviews, and all 5 stars. I booked my consultation online and a week or two later I was in his office. He made the usual comment about how big my tonsils were and once I told him about getting cold symptoms from the stones, he immediately said I should not be suffering like that and to just get them out. I had a pesky tonsil stone that visit so I asked him to take a look at it. He got a long skinny metal tool with a tiny scoop at the end and got that guy out first try. (Maybe I should have just bought one of those!) I asked about the laser cyptolysis and the pros and cons and why it isn't done more often. His answer was that it doesn't really work as a long term solution. And if the tonsils aren't completely eliminated, they can grow back. Clearly that was not going to be for me. We discussed tonsillectomies and went over what to expect during and after. He said if I chose to do it I would be cursing him during recovery but praising him afterward (so true). He said to think about it, get a second opinion, and gave me the surgical coordinator's card if I decided I wanted to book it with him. I felt really comfortable with going ahead with the surgery but happened to have a doctor's appointment coming up.

My primary Doctor admitted she didn't know much about tonsil stones but did print out some information about tonsillectomies and gave her okay for me to get it. She also gave me a list of other doctors that could perform the surgery, but I already had my mind made up. I called my mom to see if she could come take care of me for the first week and talked with my boyfriend (we live together) to see if he could take some time off work to watch me once my mom was gone. Once that was settled, I called the Feldman ENT Group to book my appointment. Since the recovery is so long, I scheduled surgery for Wednesday, May 22. That way I'd have Memorial Day built in and one less sick/vacation day I'd have to use.

The surgical coordinator mailed me a packet of information as well as a pre-surgery physical health form my primary care doctor had to fill out 30 days or less before surgery. Luckily, again, I already had an appointment booked within that range and got those filled out and mailed in no problem. Leading up to the surgery I did call the coordinator a few times for random questions I had and they were always very helpful. I had booked the surgery more than a month in advance and got the time off approved at work, so now it was just the waiting game.

Part Two will get to the surgery, then we can go through how fun my recovery was! Stay tuned!

(I'll also add before pictures of my tonsils and even some stone pictures I think I have if anyone is interested...)

Tastykake® Kandy Bar Kakes Review

Tastykake® Kandy Bar Kakes

 Just wanted to write a quick review for Tastykake's new Kandy Bar Kakes. I just tried the "S'mores" flavor this morning, and let me say it was soft and delicious! It's been a while since I've had a snack cake, and I'm also still recovering from my tonsillectomy (full post on that soon!) so this is just my opinion with my taste buds now.

Chomp!

Since my throat is still sore, half of a bar was a good size for me, but I'm sure devouring the whole thing will be no problem in the future! One cake is 260 calories, which is about the same as a regular candy bar but less than a slice of cake or some of the more decadent cupcakes. I think this is a quick snack or dessert to grab if you want something easy and sweet. Definitely goes into the treat category, but we all need that every so often. (I usually "treat" myself once a day, either with sweets or other small pick me up purchases).

I'd be really interested to see how the flavors come out in the York and Reese's kakes! Hopefully Harris Teeter or Safeway carries them so I can do my own taste test. A box usually runs for $4.49 or $1.69 for a single bar.

Check out all the flavors and more at:
www.tastykake.com

 I received this product complimentary for testing and review purposes from Influenster.

Dinner with Andrew WK (+ my obsession with Andrew WK)

I was trying to think of a way to split this into two blog posts, but to keep it chronological and consistent, I thought it would just be easier to start from the beginning. If you're here just to read about the dinner, scroll down, I clearly labeled where that part starts.

It all started when I first heard of Andrew WK. I remember watching "Party Hard" and "She Is Beautiful" on MTV after school one day. I've never seen anything like it before and loved it. For some crazy reason I never actually bought "I Get Wet" in high school and Andrew fell off my radar. Flash forward 7 or so years later when I'm out of college and on my second year internship in Washington, DC. I'm checking my email and I see that Andrew WK is playing a show at the Sixth & I synagogue in Washington, DC with Calder Quartet. Tickets were cheap and I thought it would be fun. A few weeks later the venue ended up changing to the middle of nowhere in Virginia. I was still determined to go. I took a metro and walked a few miles to the venue. It was a strange coffee shop/venue. I got some spinach and artichoke dip (good show snack right?) and sat down. The show was awesome. Andrew played piano and sung his classics that I still knew from high school, but he was backed by an amazing string quartet. They also played more classical arrangements. It was definitely a one of a kind show, so I just had to stay for the meet and greet afterward. I was in line and knew I would miss the last metro, but I stayed anyway. The quartet guys were awesome to talk to, but this post is about Andrew. He was so friendly and genuinely enthused to meet everyone. I got a signed poster and a picture and merrily went on my $60 cab ride back to the city.



From that meeting I was hooked on Andrew as a performer, artist, entertainer and human being. I instantly scoured the internet to get copies of his old stuff and discover his newer albums. I read all the ridiculous conspiracy theories, read into all the motivational speaking and other work he has been doing all over the world. He is truly an inspiration and the party king. It wasn't long until I started following Andrew on twitter and getting his tweets sent to my phone. One night I checked my feed and saw he was performing for FREE at 8am for DC101's Kegs and Eggs. I of course woke up early, dragged myself to the 9:30 Club and got in the super long line. Andrew WK started the show and it was amazing! Complete high energy so early in the morning! He played maybe 5 songs but it was perfect. As soon as it was over I rushed to work, and even made it in on time.


It wasn't long before I found out about the Party Crew Street Team. I officially joined the Party Crew on May 26, 2010. I thought it would be a good way to spread the word about the new stuff Andrew was doing while also earning points to get free merchandise. Since joining I've gotten a pack of buttons, stickers and a t-shirt. (I'm currently just sitting on a whole bunch of points, because I don't know what to get next).

Andrew also does live chats every week. I've written about them before and try to watch them as often as possible. He does lots of giveaways and contests on there too. I won a PARTY HARD patch for correctly guessing Dave Thomas as the restaurant mascot he was thinking of.



My Andrew obsession only grew...

I wrote about my Warped Tour experience which was amazing!

I painted my boyfriend's truck for a street team order:

I dressed as Andrew for the Rally to Restore Sanity:

I also dressed as Andrew for Halloween (complete with bloody nose makeup):

I won a spot on his guestlist at Santos Party House to see Cherie Lily and Aleister X perform while he DJed:

I dug around until I found enough information to get free tickets to The Most Interesting Show in the World, which he hosted and also performed with his full band:

Family, friends and co-workers started asking me more about Andrew and my obsession so clearly I was doing my street teaming properly. A few months after joining the party crew, Andrew announced the Dinner Contest where he would fly the top street teamer and a guest to New York for one night and have dinner with them. I never really thought I would win, and just did every single order I could to spread the word of Party.

At the end of 2010 it was announced that they would be picking the contest winner soon, and it would be based on most orders completed. If you looked at just points I wasn't the top, but I was still in the top 3. Then they revealed the top 5 people with the most orders completed. And there was my name at the #1 spot with 73 orders completed. I couldn't believe it! I still didn't want to get my hopes up though. They said they would announce the winner in a couple weeks on one of the livechats. I was fully concentrated on watching that night when my boyfriend came in right as they were going to announce the winner. I literally squealed with delight, shock and awe when he said my name! I couldn't believe it! I won!

I got a congratulations confirmation from Andrew and his assistant and it said they would organize all the details in a few months. Flash forward to April and I got an email asking me for my available dates, my guest and any information they needed to know. I gave her my best weekends and before I knew it, we had Saturday, May 14 as our dinner date.

Now, since I live in Washington, DC getting a flight to New York seems silly when I can just take the train. The flight is less than an hour, but once you add in getting there and going through security you have just as much time and double the stress. So before I knew it I was sent an Amtrak reservation for that weekend along with the hotel details. About a week before the dinner date, the location was finally revealed. Big Nick's Burger Joint at 9pm.

My boyfriend and I rode the train up to New York and got there around 2pm. There was a slight snafu at the Ramada Inn (they needed to see the physical credit card the reservation was booked with). I kind of freaked out, but thank goodness I had Andrew's assistant's cell number. She was gracious and amazing enough to drop everything and come down. We got to our room, dropped off our bags and then went exploring. We first went to lunch at Pho32 and then got some Pinkberry to satisfy my sweet tooth. Then went on to Times Square, walked around the fashion and theatre districts before becoming bold enough to figure out the Subway system. I grabbed a free 11x17 map at the hotel, and am so glad I did because that thing took us everywhere! We went to the Lower East Side, explored Little Tokyo and many other side streets before heading back to the hotel around 8. Did some brief resting and got ready for dinner. Throughout the day I got a few texts from Andrew's assistant checking in and then saw Andrew tweeted about me and our upcoming dinner that night. It was all so exciting!

(THIS IS FINALLY WHERE I TALK ABOUT THE DINNER)

We took the subway up to Big Nick's Burger Joint and met Andrew's assistant inside. It was a tiny restaurant packed with character. Wall to wall signs, head shots and knick-knacks. The menu was a pretty thick paper booklet. It even had a table of contents on the back! (seriously, check out their menu!) I wasn't even through page 2 when Andrew walked in in his signature white jeans and t-shirt along with an awesome leather jacket. We all stood up and hugged and I introduced my boyfriend. We sat down and Andrew explained his love for Big Nick's and took us on a brief tour of the menu. But before I could go further into the menu Andrew pulled out his new EP from Japan, Aleister X's EP and a signed EP from his wife, Cherie Lily. He said she would have loved to come, but unfortunately couldn't make it. I was not expecting extra gifts, so this really made my jaw drop. I profusely thanked him for everything and he thanked me in turn for being such a great party crew member.


Andrew started off ordering a pizza slice with pepperoni and grilled jalapeno slices. Andrew's assistant ordered a frisco melt, my boyfriend ordered the bistro burger and I got the aloha burger. The slice came first and Andrew piled on the red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, garlic salt and black pepper. Then sliced into up into bite size samples for us all. It was delicious!! The rest of the food came and I have to say everyone else ordered such tasty food. Mine was just a plain burger with some fresh pineapple chunks on top. It was still good but after trying everyone else's food and eating all my fries (and 2 tator tot garnish) I was stuffed. Andrew went on to order french toast with bacon and we all talked and ate until it was almost midnight. I'm pretty sure I was just starstruck half the time and all of things I had months to plan to say went out the window. Still conversation was fantastic and it's so easy to talk to Andrew. And to listen! He has such great stories.


Andrew got some food to go for Cherie and then paid the bill. At the cashier there were some Big Nick's balloons for children, but you better believe I got one. Outside the restaurant we snapped some pictures and Andrew asked if we still wanted to go to Santos Party House (we asked about what was going on there at dinner). My boyfriend and I said definitely and Andrew hooked us up by emailing some people and giving us a $20 for a cab. We hugged again and parted ways, and my boyfriend and I took the Subway to Chinatown.


There was a little issue with walking past the huge line for Santos and trying to explain to the bouncer that Andrew just put us on the guestlist. But after the 2nd time trying to explain he just sighed and let us through. At the will call our name wasn't on the official guestlist, but said they could get us in for the reduced $20 fee. Andrew's $20 came to the rescue! It was a huge slumber party themed rave and it was out of control amazing! There was body painting and a photobooth (I took full advantage of both) and the DJ was awesome. (They were even throwing free CDs to the crowd, adding to the previous 3 in my purse!). We danced and grooved and finally left at 3am, coming back to the hotel exhausted and completely content.


That morning we went to the Andrew WK recommended Barney Greengrass (The Sturgeon King) where I got Nova Scotia salmon scrambled with eggs and onion with a bialy and my boyfriend got the sturgeon with a bialy. Both were tasty and not something I would normally ever get. Afterward we walked around Central Park until it was time to take the train home.


It was an amazing adventure that I'll never forget, and I'm so grateful it happened. Andrew always says his fans are his friends. And I can't wait to hear more of Andrew's new music, go see him again on tour and be supportive in any and every way I can.

Celebrities of 2010

I have a knack for meeting celebrities. It helps that I try to go to a lot of concerts and am just crazy enough to be willing to wait around to meet them.

Here are the most notable celebrities I had the privilege of meeting in 2010:

OK Go puts on one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Easily in my top 3 ever. Amazing energy and all of them were nice enough to stop and talk/take pictures with the fans after the show.

Elizabeth Ashley played the title role in Mrs. Warren's Profession. I was able to quickly introduce myself before they snapped this picture at the Opening Night party.

I'm lucky enough to live in the same city as Chef Spike and his two delicious restaurants Good Stuff Eatery and We the Pizza. Lucky for me, he did a book signing of his new cookbook at the amazing kitchen store (Hill's Kitchen) that is pretty close by. You better believe I got a toasted marshmallow milkshake at Good Stuff afterward.

I already blogged about how fun Warped Tour was this year. But I have to mention that getting to meet and talk to Andrew WK again was beyond words. He is the most genuine person I have ever had the pleasure of talking to. I am really hoping that there is more AWK and more party in my 2011.


I have loved Tom Green ever since I was a little girl in Canada watching his cable access show. 2010 was the first year I was finally able to see him live. It was seriously a dream come true. He was everything I expected and more.


Jaime Gordon of The Constellations was super nice. We talked about Andrew WK for a good 10 minutes and then he gave me a free CD.


I got to see Electric Six in Baltimore at a club they always stop to play at when they're on tour. The crowd was small, but the show was still fantastic. The drummer talked to me for a pretty decent amount of time and was one of the nicest musicians I've ever met. For some reason I ended up telling him I was Canadian and he told me his current girlfriend is as well and how nice and beautiful all Canadians are. Dick Valentine on the other hand just wanted to get his beer(s), pose and go. (I realize I'm wearing the cat shirt in the last 3 pictures... it's a good shirt)


This year Annette Bening was awarded the Will Award at the Harman Center Annual Gala. She brought husband Warren Beatty and I was lucky enough to meet them both at the after party.


The Most Interesting Show in the World was definitely that! It was beyond incredible and to top it all off it was FREE! I really should have written a blog about how amazing this show was. Andrew WK headlined the show. It was my 5th time seeing him and 3rd time seeing his awesomely talented wife Cherie Lily. She was nice enough to come meet and greet the crowd after the performance. Can't wait to see more of her in 2011!


I got to meet Amy Sedaris as part of her book signing tour for Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Her train was over 30 minutes late, so she wasn't dressed up like for her other stops but she was still super funny and genuine. I had to wait until she was done with the call on her iPhoney before she would sign my book.


This was my third time seeing Tim & Eric live. Their shows are always amazingly ridiculous. This was their stop in Falls Church, VA on their Chrimbus tour. I was only able to say a quick hello to Tim before he got on the bus, but I was able to snap a quick picture with Eric.

Noteworthy close calls:

I had to pay $1 for this photo, but chubby Spider-man in Vegas was worth it.

Clearly still in Vegas. This Captain Jack Sparrow was really convincing.

I went to the 2010 Cooking Expo in Washington, DC. I got to see a live cooking demo by Paula Deen, but I didn't want to pay the extra $100 or so it would have taken to actually meet her.

So here's to meeting more famous people in 2011!

Andrew WK live chat

Every Monday night Andrew WK does a party chat on stickam. He's been doing it for months and months, and more often than not it is the highlight of my week. He usually gives out prizes. Ranging from stickers and air fresheners, to shirts and live phone calls from Andrew himself. One time there was even an iTouch giveaway. You win these things through live contests Andrew decides then and there. Lately they have been the first person to correctly identify a picture of someone. I haven't won yet, but it is always entertaining to play.

More fun than the contests though, is interacting live with Andrew each week. He talks about anything and everything. Sometimes he'll have a topic ready to go, and other times he'll answer questions from the fans. In addition to this he also always does massive shoutouts to members on the livechat. This is probably what I enjoy the most. There are many people who are there for almost all the chats, and Andrew definitely remembers. He welcomes old, new and everyone in between. He sincerely wants everybody to have a good time. And it is always amazing.

Lately there have been computer problems on his end, which usually only result in some sound or video lag, but the last 10 or so minutes of today's party chat were utter chaos. The sound sped up and sounded crazy robotic. Simply watching Andrew is just as fun though. I think he realized the sound was messing up, so he just started being himself.

The following are a few screen shots I was able to grab.

(this was before the sound went crazy. He was showing us some of the post-it notes he keeps. The "I LOVE T.V." made me smile)

(this is when the sound was messed up. he started with just a finger in his cheek)

(finger tricks)

(the accompanying robot noises made this even better)

(invisible burger?)

(this is a good look for Mr. AWK)

Things I took for granted part 1

Throughout all of my childhood my mom did my laundry for me. I lived in a magical world where my drawers would suddenly be restocked with clean clothes on a regular basis.

In high school I started doing most of my laundry myself, but every so often I would come home to clean piles of clothes folded neatly on my bed. Don't get me wrong though, I definitely did appreciate it and am fairly certain I thanked my kind-hearted, amazing mother each time, but I'm sure some part of me still took it for granted.

In my first apartment away from home I had a washer and dryer right down the hall. I knew what I was doing and it was free. No big deal. Sometimes dirty laundry would stack up, but it was a pretty easy fix. I could leave it overnight in the dryer if I wanted.

The next apartment I lived in had the washer and dryer in the basement. You had to pay 50 cents to use the washer but the dryer was free. It was a minor inconvenience to haul my laundry down two flights of stairs and knowing that at least 10 people were sharing two machines, but it was still not a huge deal. The worst part of this was getting all of my laundry ready, bringing it downstairs and finding out that there were two loads ahead of me. The other bad part was having my favorite laundry bag taken and it never being returned.

I'm currently living in an old apartment building on the third floor. The laundry room is in the basement. To get to it though, I have to go outside and around the building, cut across the parking lot, go down the stairs and use a key to open an old metal door that leads into a giant cement room.

(at least there's a "safety light")

There are two washers and two dryers in this room. The washers cost $1.75 and the dryers cost $1.50. They only take quarters and you better believe there is no change machine down there. I try to save as many quarters as I can through regular shopping, but every few months I have to go to the bank to get rolls of quarters and store them in my hall closet like a squirrel.

The good thing about these ridiculously expensive machines is that they are a pretty decent size (thank goodness I only have to worry about laundry for one) and that they are pretty quick. Each machine takes roughly 40 minutes. So at least that’s one plus.

A minor negative is that the washers are far away from the dryers. God forbid I drop a wet sock on the journey to the dryer, because that sucker will be covered in filth.

I usually don't mind doing my laundry here, but since it's getting a lot darker a lot earlier, the giant cement room with the old metal door is getting creepier and creepier. The room is 85% empty. The only objects are the washers, dryers, a big sink, a trashcan and an old plastic chair. There is a locked door in one corner and another locked door labeled "GAS ROOM" against the other wall. There is one more door in the room but this one is open. There is nothing in this tiny cement closet except cobwebs and despair.

(spot the two non-working giant electrical boxes and the GAS ROOM)

(so much empty space)

There are some broken electrical boxes and the occasional non-offensive sharpie messages on the wall. There are also a couple signs that would be perfectly normal if they weren’t written in my landlord’s creepy squiggly writing.

(Or I will murder you)

As it gets darker and darker, earlier and earlier I continually get more paranoid. I can only hold onto the fact that daylight savings time will be here soon enough. It could very well be worse though. I could have to go to a Laundromat.