How I Spent My New Year's Eve

Once upon a time, last night I went to a party! I don't usually go to New Year's Eve parties, being that I'm not a drinker or a partier in any way, but last night a bunch of people got together specifically because none of us wanted to drink, so it was okay. We were hanging out, playing games and just talking and having a good time. My friend Jamie was telling everyone that it was now 1990 instead of 2011, just 'cause he's weird like that and the 90s were awesome. ^_^ So we were playing Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare, your basic 90s movie party games, and one of my friends dared me to eat a spoonful of cinnamon.

Apparently this is a thing, the Cinnamon Challenge. I didn't know it was a trend. But I agreed to do it, thinking it would be a small spoonful - but no, it was a heaping tablespoon of cinnamon. And though I was aware it would be hot, and thought I could handle that, I didn't take into account the fact that it's a super-fine powder. =/ You guys probably see where I'm going with this.

So I put the spoonful into my mouth, holding my breath for some reason. I realize I can't swallow it all at once, and I exhale, preparing to swallow it bit by bit. I just exhaled. I didn't choke, cough, anything like that - I just breathed out.

Aaaand a cloud of cinnamon goes *poof*ing out of my nose, which makes everyone else laugh, but BURNS. And I try to breathe back in, which causes a bunch of cinnamon to be inhaled into my lungs and the back of my throat, which makes me choke. Choking with a mouthful of cinnamon, by the way, is a terrible, horrible plan. Don't do it if you can avoid it. =/

So now people have noticed that I'm legit choking, and I'm freaking the eff out. I can't swallow, I can barely breathe, my nose and throat are burning, my eyes are streaming. I'm trying to wash the cinnamon out of my mouth because I can't actually swallow any water. Eventually, I do get enough out so I can swallow a little water, and I'm breathing, though I can barely talk. By the time it was over, everyone was laughing again because we were all so relieved that I didn't die. And apparently if you almost die in a game of Truth or Dare, you win and that gets you exempt from the rest of the game. So yay for me!

But seriously, it nearly killed me. There was a moment or two when I was actually honest-to-God afraid that I was going to die, right there at my sort-of friend's house with a bunch of people I didn't know and a couple of boys I thought were cute. What a way to ring in the new year, huh?

I blew my nose about thirty thousand times, and it was really gross for the first ten or so. It got steadily less gross all night, and by the time I woke up today, almost all of the cinnamon was out of my nose. :D But last night was freaking TORTURE. I had to drive my friends home, and I was burning and sniffling and choking the whole time. The first thing I did when I got home was chug a glass of water and take a Tylenol Extra Strength dude because my head was killing me, probably from the lack of oxygen and pressure from blowing my nose so much. I couldn't fall asleep for a long time because of the pressure in my head, behind my eyeball, and the clogged-ness of my nose. I was having trouble breathing because the left side of my nose was clogged, and then I finally cleared it but my nose was so chapped and my throat was so irritated that breathing hurt. And to top it all off, I felt like I was going to puke for the whole five hours after I did it to the time I fell asleep. It was awful.

Other than the whole nearly-dying thing, though, it was a terrific party and I had a great time. :D



Moral of the story: No matter how much someone offers to pay you, no matter who dares you, or who you're trying to impress, it is NOT WORTH IT to do the Cinnamon Challenge. Seriously, it is dangerous - I could have actually died. And it was unpleasant enough without dying, thank you. So don't let anyone you know do this, and please don't be the one suggesting it. It is not fun, nor is it funny to watch someone almost choke to death. So don't do it. :D

TRIPLE RAINBOW AWESOME TOUR

Hey, remember that time when I used to update this? Let's bring that back. :D

Once upon a time, around 3:30 Monday morning, my friend Carmen and I set off for Washington DC for the Triple Rainbow Awesome Tour! :D It was a long drive. A loooong drive. =/

We get to DC around 12:30ish, having stopped to eat and getting lost once or twice. :D Then we still have to find parking, which is just ridiculous, because it was Columbus Day so forty thousand people decided to go to DC and just take up all the parking spaces. =/ A nice meter maid lady told us it was free because it was a holiday, but thanks to stupid jerkfaces who can't park, we just ended up paying $10 to park in a garage. We figured it was less frustrating, and thus worth the money and the walking. It wasn't far to the park, anyway, but then we decided to eat. It was around 2 (yes, it took us THAT LONG to park) and we had seen a Subway somewhere while circling looking for parking, and a security dude in an art museum directed us to Pennsylvania and 7th, which was really close! Yay! So we set off!

And then we got to PA and 7th and didn't see a Subway or ANY restaurants, in fact. =/ I asked a lady, but she thought I meant a real subway, not the food Subway, so that was useless. Then I got attacked by a bug. Then we found a Starbucks, rested, and decided to try a place called Au Bon Pain, I think. I was deeply unimpressed. It was $8 for a crappy little ham sandwich and a Pepsi, and I didn't even get refills, and they didn't even get it right. =/ Not a fan. Oh well. There isn't one here, so it's not a problem. :D

ALSO: walking back and forth between this place and Starbucks, there was a LEGIT CRAZY LADY. On the way past the first time, we thought she was talking on a bluetooth thing. She didn't look crazy. She wasn't dressed horribly, and she had a roll-y suitcase guy with her, but she was just sitting on this wall thingy talking to herself. It was kind of terrifying. =/

Then we hung out in Starbucks charging our phones for an hour or so, waiting for 4:00 to happen. We were sleepy, but by the time we made it to the park, I was pretty excited again. ^_^ And guys - I've never been to a YouTube gathering or a Nerdfighter meetup, and the other two wrock concerts I went to were kind of small, so it was freaking AWESOME to see like, 70 people in HP, Doctor Who, wizard rock, Nerdfighter, YouTube people, and generally nerdy t-shirts, all hanging out together and being awesome. There were two groups when we came up, and then by the power of the Sons of Admirals and Doctor Who, we joined together (two girls in one group were wearing those shirts and I went to compliment them and said they should come join the other group). :D WOOT. It was fairly awesome. Everyone introduced themselves, even though there were far too many people to remember names... it was fun.

AND THEN. The stars showed up! :D Luke Conard, Kristina Horner, Mike Lombardo, Alex Carpenter, and Jason Munday. Weeeee! :D We relocated to another bit of the park, and then the concert started. Highlights:

* I am TOTALLY IN LOVE with Mike Lombardo. Seriously guys, go look him up on YouTube. :D SOOOO CUUUUTE. :3
* ALEX CARPENTER WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE. Why didn't I love the Remus Lupins before now?! Everyone was right - he's pretty much a god. :D <3
* Jason Munday is frickin' adorable and played two songs I love, but unfortunately not California Dorks, which has been stuck in my head for about a squillion years.
* ALL CAPS acoustic was pretty good, and even though I was sad I didn't get to hear them/MoM in all their glory, it was a really cozy familiar setting, and it was really nice. :D
* Mike Lombardo solved my Rubik's Cube, which sounds like an innuendo, but it's just a fact. XD In one of his songs he says he can solve it in 2 minutes, and I wanted to see if it was true, and he didn't do it in 2 minutes so I felt bad, but he did eventually solve it so it was okay. :D
* Nerdfighters will clap at anything - parrots, fire trucks, some guy shaving in the park...
* Did I mention how cute they all are? 'Cause they are. SO CUTE.

I talked to Mike Lombardo, and guys, he is just so sweet. He's one of the sweetest guys ever. :D He was so nice to me even though I'm a crazy fangirl who was like "HELLO MIKE I LOVE YOU YOU'RE CUTE AND I LOVE YOU SERIOUSLY I LOVE YOU AND YOU'RE CUTE. I LOVE YOU. :DDD" And they were all pretty impressed that we drove so far to see them. ^_^ So that made us feel special.

Then we napped for about three hours in the rest area right outside DC on the way back to Richmond. Totally didn't even die. :D And then we drove home, and it was mostly okay, but the last 3 hours were just torturous. We were hallucinating and cranky and just wanted to teleport home. And we saw a weresheep. D: For reals. It followed us. ;-;


Anyway, so that was my adventure to DC for one day! :D It was a good time. People who performed:

Mike Lombardo - http://www.youtube.com/user/MikeLombardoMusic
ALL CAPS - http://www.youtube.com/user/ALLCAPSBAND
Ministry of Magic - http://www.youtube.com/user/ministryofmagicmusic
Luke Conard (ALL CAPS, Ministry of Magic)- http://www.youtube.com/user/LukeConard
Kristina Horner (ALL CAPS)- http://www.youtube.com/user/italktosnakes
Jason Munday (Skyway Flyer, Ministry of Magic)- http://www.youtube.com/user/JasonMundayMusic
Alex Carpenter (The Remus Lupins)- http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexanderCarpenter

Check them all out, they're all amazing musicians and really great people. :D