FIRSTS

Yesterday was a day of many firsts. To begin---It was my FIRST time at a hand specialist and my FIRST time of hearing the words "you need surgery." On Friday I will partake in my FIRST invasive surgery when the FIRST screw to ever enter my body will be placed in my scaphoid bone to hold the two pieces together allowing for it to *hopefully* heal and work again.
Yesterday was also my FIRST day of work at the Walnut Street Theatre as the audience services apprentice. It felt really great to be at the theatre again and for the FIRST time in months my job placement felt right.
Last night was also my FIRST time at a gay bar. I went to support the crew of the Fringe Show "Debbie Does Dallas the Musical." They were having a quizzo night to raise money for their production. Sara May and I played "Debbie Does Quizzo" together. It was a rather naughty game with questions that left my sweet sweet self blushing a bit. Funny though, Miss May and I won round two in which I received my FIRST sex toy as a prize. I blushed a little more as they handed the buzzing bunny on a keychain to me along with a tube of some sort of lubrication but of course in good fun I posed with my teammate for a photo with our prizes. I then proceeded to drink my FIRST drink called a Madra or something to that effect.
Following the game of quizzo I spent my FIRST night at Arizona, Rachel and Dalice's new place. Which of course led to my FIRST time going into work this morning wearing a lot of the same clothes I wore yesterday...Luckily Arizona used to be the one who lived far from everyone else and always used to stay at my place and borrow my clothing and so when I looked in her closet this morning for a shirt to wear...I found one of MY own shirts and wore it.
Over the weekend I endured a couple of other firsts like getting my FIRST ER bill, my FIRST moment of "I might have to move home," my FIRST full out breakdown in Philadelphia and my FIRST time of having to fight an insurance company...but I'm fine now and I am staying in Philadelphia so it's okay. Yesterday I also found a place to live but for the FIRST time in my life I'm going to be homeless for a short period of time and will be hopping couches and beds for the month of September. I think it's going to be a fun adventure though so wish me luck.
Ah FIRSTS are always an adventure.

Self-Medication is ALWAYS a Good Idea

So I have now been living with a fractured wrist for five days and I still don't have a cast or any PAIN MEDICATION. Now this is partly my fault. You see, I categorically am a badass who has an incredibly high tolerence for pain and so I don't always go to doctors the way a lot of whiney babies do...But in this case it may have been the wrong route to take.
So Wednesday night I did a swan dive off my bike. Now you might be wondering why I did this but then that just means you didn't read my prior post, you know, the one with ILLUSTRATIONS and everything just to make sure you got what happened. So I swan dive, cuss about hurting my bike and then get up, brush off and continue on my way to the bar without any idea that the pain shooting through my right wrist is from a fracture, not just the aftereffects of a tumble that will be healed by the "medicine" I'm about to injest. So I go to the bar and promptly belly up with Beffers, the best friend and order a Miller High Life (aw the champagne of beers) and a shot of whiskey (for the pain of course, and with the newly acquired road rash who was the bartender to disagree?!). I end up having a few more before it's becoming apparent that I need ice and head home.
In the AM the trouble started. There still wasn't swelling or bruising so I thought I was good to go (these 2 things indicate a fracture). As mentioned in Friday's post I had a paramedic (who just happened to stop into the MAC store where I used to work, I say used to because Friday was my last day, boomshakalaka!) look at it. He said it totally was a fracture so I got into my doctor, but not until Friday. So Thursday night I decided it was best if I turned into the usual PBR-swilling gal that I am and enjoy my night while dulling the pain. Thing is, right now I can't even remember what I did on Thursday night so that must mean it was quality...
Friday the xrays were done and it was official, the wrist was fractured...it's called a scaphoid fracture and it is no good because it's the bone below your thumb that connects into the wrist. Anywho, Friday was Texan buddy Arizona Dakota's birthday---don't get confused, yes she's from Texas and yes her first name is Arizona Dakota. As aforementioned, Friday was also my last day at the MAC store so it was time to celebrate, and the lame-o splint I was given to keep my wrist from moving wasn't about to slow me down.
Oh so back to the wrist. Being the xrays were done on a Friday afternoon and everyone in the medical world apparently starts their weekend trips to St. Barth's at 3:00 p.m. that day I wasn't going to be seeing the orthopedic dude till Monday (today) meaning I had to wear said lame-o splint for the weekend.
So Friday I get out of work and head to Chaucer's to meet up with a few of the people from my job who I enjoy hanging out with outside of the workplace. In the hour and 1/2 that I'm there I down 3 pints of stoudt and a shot of Jameson. Happy last day of work to me. At this point the wrist is mighty fine and I'm ready to start working on calligraphy or something.
I bid farewell to my computer nerdy friends and headed to AZ's birthday party at the Jerk Hut. Mind you, most people ate at the Jamaican Jerk Hut but I showed up after the food was consumed so I just jumped into the bin of Corona's and went ahead and drank my dinner. At the hut the rain started to roll in and since we were at tables in the patio we decided to head to favorite dive bar #1, Bob and Barbara's for some City Specials. For you out-of-towners that's a shot of Jim Beam and a can of PBR for $3, yup, heaven. While at BnB's I realized suddenly that not eating dinner really changes things and so I only indulged in 1 special. Needless to say, again, the wrist wasn't bothering me at all!
Saturday night was more of the same involving taking out of towner buddies to Neighborhood Bar and drinking there for approximately 4 hours and then hopping to two other bars.
Did I mention I still don't have a cast? Orthopedic specialist is apparently booked up to the point where he can't take emergencies, like me, today. Did I also mention that I'm flying to Michigan tomorrow and will be there for 2 1/2 weeks before I return to start my job at the Walnut Street Theatre? Yeah, so that's starting to get me wondering what I should do about the cast action...I just might get to spend my Monday in the ER---better get the flask out of the cupboard!<

Well...

Really, this doesn't need much of an introduction but rather the simple statement of, "Beer, it makes you super awesome"
Thanks for this one Sara May.

Plays and Pistons

Opening night at the Walnut Street Theatre is somewhat epic, at least we make sure it's epic. We get fancy, filled with alcohol and prance around the theatre like we own the place.
The opening for Carousel was no different than the rest minus the fact that most of my friends who are apprentices there were experiencing their final opening night. I on the otherhand was merely enjoying my last night there as a patron. The next opening I will experience as an apprentice.
There was whiskey and wine, beer and bouncing, smiles and frowns and the occassional well played flirtation. The show itself was forgettable, at no fault of the actors. They merely had a shit script to work with. As bad as this sounds, my two favorite scenes involved no dialogue, that gives you an idea of how mind-numbing the script indeed is, damn Rodgers & Hammerstein fluff. The most impressive moment is a mere five minutes into the show when a carousel literally comes down for the ceiling, bravo to the carpenters and scenic designers for that triumph of the evening.
Last night was another opening at the theatre but on a smaller scale. This was the opening for Side by Side by Sondhiem in the Studio 3 theatre space. I really enjoyed the show. It was a show much more than a play, in fact it was four actors and two pianists entertaining the audience with some of Sondhiem's most enjoyable musical pieces. It was kind of like going to a cabaret and even though I'm not familiar with most of his songs it was highly entertaining nonetheless.
The opening party for Studio 3 is always smaller but I have fun at them anyway because some of my closest friends at the theatre work exclusively at that venue.
Because the show was happening at the same time as game two in the Pistons series vs. the Cavs I had Beth texting me the score at the end of each quarter. I kept my phone in my hand on vibrate, it was kind of hilarious actually. And all I have to say about that is....GO PISTONS!
I also apparently met one of the actors the prior night at the Carousel opening and I felt a bit of a jerk when he came up and said "Amanda right" and I looked at him with a blank stare and no response except "Yes, have we met?". That's what happens when you introduce yourself to me later in the evening on an opening, I'll probably not be able to recall you, oops. He was obviously hitting on me and fit the standard age of I'd guess about 40, you know, the age men who hit on me usually are...

Isn't That a Woodland Creature?

Philadelphia continues to amaze me with the interesting, if not downright strange things I seem to encounter here. Whether it's a woman with bells literally on her toes, a man covered in pennies or a Mummer (because really, what's more bizarre than a grown man in drag running around South Philadelphia?) I'm always finding things that make me smile or repulse, just a little bit.
Last night Philadelphia amazed me again.
While sitting in my small, but comfortable 1 bedroom garden-level apartment with my roommate/best friend I encountered NATURE. Yes, I encountered nature within the confines of my city apartment, bigger nature than I've seen in Michigan too which is what boggles my mind the most.
So I am in my black leather chair sitting directly across from one of the radiators in the room. On said radiator is my red sport swimsuit. It's drying because earlier in the night I swam at the gym, easy enough right? Well, I'm sipping my 40 of Miller High Life (The Champagne of Beers) and chatting with my roommate/best friend when I suddenly think I can see something moving across my swim suit. I look over at my roommate/best friend and say "I know I'm almost done with this 40 so I might just be drunk but is that a GIANT SLUG crawling across my swim suit?!" Roommate/best fried is closer to the radiator and takes a look and screams. Yup, that means it's a slug. Now this is the biggest slug I've ever seen and I've been in my fair share of swamps, bogs, streams and creeks----most if not all had some form of slug roaming around in them but the guys I've seen in the past are no longer than a pinkie finger nail. This slug, who I named Pete, was easily as long as my index finger and what's more, he had the markings of a leopard making it very easy for him to blend in on say, the trunk of a tree.
After taking a few pictures and making roommate/best friend squirm for a bit I decided to put her out of her misery and take Pete outside on a paper towel.
We think he came in through a hole in our screen but we fear that it was just through the random empty spaces between the piping for our radiators and well....whatever is beyond them.
Oh Philadelphia, you are always good for a story or two and Pete damnit, you slug slimed ALL over my suit, you bastard.

Well, The Ice Caps Are Going To Melt.

So says Beth on this fine Sunday morning.
We were going to take a night off but then our drunk friend came along and whined and whined until we finally went with him to the Good Dog. We managed to get a table which is always a tough feat on a Saturday night. Taylor joined the team and our line-up was complete.
There's nothing like sitting in a booth with good friends, laughing like crazy and feeling like you are home. Kids dropped by the table to say hello and introdcutions were made. More faces, more smiles, less scene-dance-crap, more person-to-person chitchat.

The rest of the night was drunken banter at Taylor's amazing apartment on Rittenhouse Square. I dream of having a view of the skyline the way he does but unless I become a famous wrtier or something like that...it's just not going to happen. Beth and I said our farewells around 3:30am and headed to the bus stop, and that my friends, is when the magic happened. A cab pulled up, we said we didn't need a ride, he said he'd give us a free one, he was on his way home. "Well, where do you live?" "I'm going to 48th and Walnut." I look at Beth wondering if this could really be true. Is this guy actually driving to his home, a home that happens to be 2 blocks from our apartment. A few more inquiring questions to make sure we weren't about to be kidnapped and killed and we were on our way home in minutes. It was glorious.
Tonight I am actually taking the night off. I have a quad muscle that desperately needs some water rather than alcohol flowing through it in order to repair it's already torn fibers.

Headaches and Sun

It is beautiful outside and I am sitting in my darkened garden-level apartment on the internet trying to pretend I don't have a headache from three nights of debauchery. I have a sundress on with a bikini underneath and a good plan to go be in this beautiful day as much as possible but I'm definitely moving slow.

It was a nice night last night. Caught up with Arizona. We did our traditional wings and beer at Moriarty's and then Beth, Rafiq and Taylor joined us for more beer and being "those people" at the bar, it was lovely. Tara stopped by in her fancy dress. She was on her way to chaperone the prom of the high school where she works.
The rest of the night was a blur of Colt 45 (bad idea) and PBR (not as bad of an idea) and sitting at Tara's apartment in a haze unable to really converse because I was so exhaused. At one point Beth had to help me up because my right quad was flaring up pretty badly. I strained it again. I am tired of the injuries. The triathlon is less than 2 months away and it makes me nervous that I've re-injured it 3 times in the last 4 months. I am taking the next 4 days off and hopefully it heals up okay. Speaking of which, I must ice it now.

Summer Fun Times

Some Photos to Catch You Up on Summer Fun 2007

Summer Subway Fun

No Relation

The Delaware River on a solo walk along Penn's Landing

See you in August

The newest addition to the McKenna Clan, Jack William and my pops

Game Two

...Also known as the strikeout on getting someone to put on the Pistons because the Phillies were playing...
I'm almost convinced that I need to buy cable for the next three months just so that I can watch the Pistons whenever I want rather than hoping that a bar will allow me such a pleasure. In return for not being able to change the station for me (8 tvs on 2 cableboxes w/ the home baseball team playing=no soup on trying to convince my friend bartender to change the station) Jeff didn't charge me for the first 2 beers I drank nor the first one of Beth's so I suppose I can handle that. We ended up watching the Phils and then getting to see the highlights on ESPN later on. We were joined by Ambelyn, one of Beth's co-workers and the rest of the evening was dedicated to girl talk, beer and banter with our favorite bartenders at Moriarty's.

But getting to the point here...DEEE-TROIT BASKETBALL! Go pistons, you looked good last night and Sheed's crazy throw at the shot clock buzzer was top quality.

Game One

So game one goes to Detroit (92-100).
Go Pistons!

This week I am vowing to chill it out a bit because after a 3-day run of going out, taking off Saturday night, and then basically drinking from 11:30am until 1am yesterday. It was all quite fun and enjoyable and totally unexpected. Friday's danceparty with ADEN was top notch as well Sunday's impromptu Beth/MCK danceparty in our livingroom. The Spoon show was fun. The crowd really didn't move much, besides Beth and I, but man did they cheer so loud it was deafening. Good times.
I go home to Bath this weekend to see my fam and on Friday I'm visiting Kalamazoo. It should be a totally lovely weekend. I can't wait.