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Guess where I was this past Wednesday…

Give Up?

 The year 1999

And it was AWESOME!

So maybe it wasn’t 1999…. But it sure felt like it. Screaming for NKOTBSB (New Kids on the Block/ Backstreet Boys) for a full two and a half hours brought me back to my 8^th grade year when I held the new Millenium CD by the Backstreet Boys in my hands. I believe I listened to that CD on repeat for the WHOLE. SUMMER.

This is a fact. 

Because as I breathed the thin air of being a mere six rows from the ceiling, I was able to recall ALL of the lyrics sang by my favorite band. An almost improbable feat of being poorly oxygenated unless the lyrics were permanently written on the hard drive of my brain. 

Although I wished more than a few times that I was closer to my once wished boyfriend (Brian Litrell) -being in the same building with NKOTBSB AND my good friends was SO. MUCH. FUN.

(I must admit however… New Kids on the Block was before my generation. At one point in the concert Donny yells “It feels like its 1989 and it feels great!!” I looked at my friend and countered, “Did he say 1989?? I was 3!!!” Hahaha.)

I keep asking myself if it truly has been almost 15 years since Backstreet Boys became big. As I inspected the big screen… (I couldn’t really make out their faces on the floor) they looked older. More wrinkles, balding hair… but it didn’t matter… they still sang just as I had remembered.

Still smiling… Thanks BSB for reminding me of my childhood loves!

Backstreets Back… ALRIGHT?!? 

Here are some pictures from the concert... unfortunately we weren't able to bring in a telescoptic lense (or my camera)... but thank goodness my friend was able to hold on to hers. ENJOY!!

NKOTBSB!!!!!!

Backstreet BOYS!!!!

BSB Again!!

Brian Litrell!!!!

Wooohooo!!!! Brian (in white) is wearing a University of Kentucky jersey!!!!!!

(keep in mind we were in Louisville)

And now it is over... but atleast we celebrated!

Oh, the tribulations of time - no matter how much you want to slow it down, savor every second… it will inevitably continue along its journey, stopping for no one. Those moments that you have been waiting for, sometimes for years, quickly pass by, leaving you only with the memories that you had managed to grasp in those fleeting seconds.  But Time, no matter how much you despise it, keeps you moving, growing, learning. You can’t stop time, and maybe that’s a good thing. Time forces you continue on the journey, the journey of life.

A few minutes after 2am central time, the credits began to role in theater 13. I rubbed my face. During the previous two hours I had laughed, cried, sat at the edge of my seat, and wished for time to stand still. I knew what would come for a few years now, but it didn’t make it any easier. As the lights began to grow around me, the silence continued throughout the theater. Reality had been waiting for this moment to strike, the second part of a vicious attack first experienced when I closed my Deathly Hallows book for the first time. It was over. 

I am not alone. Many people my age feel that the conclusion of Harry Potter is synonymous to the conclusion of their childhood.  Perhaps  this is what makes the acknowledgement of an end even more painful. This was one of the last things that I carried with me into adulthood, something that didn’t make me childish for following, reading, watching. 

And now it is over. 

Will there ever be anything quite like it? 

No. Although there might be another series written as creatively or as elaborate, it will not carry the same meaning. Thank you JK Rowling for creating a world that we have enjoyed for many years. I will be forever greatful. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II Celebration!!!!

 Tickets pre-ordered for the event. I was pretty excited at this point! We had 12 people see the movie together!!

Lindsey being her silly self 

I think baby Nora is a Gryffindor fan!

Sorry friends for the impromptu photos!

Playing Harry Potter trivia. These lovely ladies of Ravenclaw won. (Surprise, Surprise)

Gryffindors hard at work!

The group that made it to the celebration!!!

Movie Time! So I thought we would be alright showing up at 10:30p. When we arrived, their were two lines wrapping around the theater with vendors selling things outside!! I felt like we were in a theme park! Thanks to Lindsay's good looks and asking if we could go next, they seated theater 13 promptly after theater 8. Yay!

In the theater waiting for the show to start!

I survied the Harry Potter Movie Marathon...

(**Spoiler Alert: elements of part II of the Deathly Hallows will be discussed – including character deaths**)

I have survived the Harry Potter Movie Marathon.

Starting at 7am, two of my equally obsessed friends and I (we traveled to the HP park together last October together) began our journey of watching all of the Harry Potter movies back to back in order to prepare for the FINAL MOVIE, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, that opens July 15, 2011 at 00:01. 

For those wondering how long all of the movies are together without watching the credits, I can now give you the final answer:

18 Hours

My only complaint? I got sore from lying around for so long! Haha!

Now, it requires some dedication (and perhaps some insanity) to watch a series of movies for 18 hours straight, but I feel that I am now in a proper mindset for the movie series to complete later this week.  By proper mindset I don’t particularly mean that I am ready for it to end… just more prepared. 

Some people looking in from the outside wonder how people can get so intertwined with a series of books. Well, for starters, there are 7 books out there with some of them reaching the 700-800 page mark. If you actually read the books, it is hard not to become enamored with the characters and the story. With the exemplary attention to detail and the ability to craft such an extensive story, you feel that you might have actually been part of the story itself. It’s that sense of ownership that almost forces you to see the series through - even after the books have ended. 

Although I am “excited” to see the final half of the book make it to the big screen, there is a sense of finality of watching something on the screen versus reading it – the idea that the ending will now have “really happened.” 

We will see Harry Potter make the decision that for Voldemort to become mortal and subsequently be killed, Harry must allow Voldemort kill him. The Weasley twins, who never parted each other’s sides, will now be separated by death. Teddy (the son of Tonks and Lupin) will become an orphan. And most importantly, the death of  Snape, a character who does not live to see his name truly vindicated and be known as the hero that he had deserved to be.

The Harry Potter series has been a part of my life for eight years and it will be hard to let it go. I’ve got four more days (from midnight tonight).

Holy Moly

… Or should I say “moley.”

I thought I had been blessed “freckly.” There is nothing wrong with freckles, I think it gives people character. I was unfortunately informed recently by my dermatologist however that most of these thought freckles were actually moles. 

Moles?

I had just learned the difference between moles and ground hogs – which by the way – ground hogs are the size of small dogs. Neither one do I want to see in real life! Anyway… not the moles he was referring to.

I had arrived at the decision to see the skin doc because one of my moles on my back had started hurting. Probably not a good thing I thought to myself… hurting moles most certainly mean cancer… and if you have a mole that turns into cancer… that means you have malignant melanoma… and 7000 people a year die from that dreaded disease. (Yeah finding a mole that hurt was a slippery slope for me.) 

So I call my hospital’s dermatologist office who’s receptionist tells me that she can fit me in three years from yesterday. Okay, maybe she said September… but with my fretting it might have well been three years. 

“I am assuming these skin cancer things are non-emergent then?” 

In a nasally voice she answered, “No, if it’s hurting, that’s probably not a good thing.”

Greeeeaaaattt.  “So what do you suggest?”

“Probably calling another dermatologist.”

“Perfect. Thanks. Bye.”

Well thank goodness there was a satellite dermatology location south of the city, and I give them a ring. Initially the receptionist there told me August, which sounded a whole lot better than September, but all of the stars aligned and she was able to get me in that afternoon.

And you know what I thought, “I must have cancer if God wanted me to get in that quick.”

I might work in medicine… but if I get sick then it’s pretty much the end of the world. Oh, have I never shared? I am a hypochondriac. 

So I meet my dermatologist who is a sweet man.

“So you say you have a hurting mole on your back?”

“Yep” I respond.

“Well can you tell me which one?”

Wait. What? And that’s when he informed me that my once cute freckly back was actually covered in moles. Eeeewwwwwss.

He tells me in a nice way that my panicked brain could understand, he wasn’t worried. He wanted to remove the back mole and a few others though and send them off just in case.

Okay I can do that. I would have to look at my calendar. As I wipe my brow and move to jump off the table he stops me and tells me that he wants to remove them right now. 

“AHhhh!!!”

Okay, I did’t scream it outloud… but I mentally did. On cue the nurse brought in a 100 cc syringe of a liquid and butcher knife. 

I had thought I would have to come back in. I was not prepared for this. 

Well I survived…. Even after being told to lay down since I appeared (and felt) faint. Hahaha. I think they were starting to disbelieve that I was a nurse.

I find out the pathology in about a week… hope my little moles behave. Currently I feel like I have been scalped. Oh wait. I have.

RIP back moley mole. I will miss you. In memory of this and my other moles, I felt it only appropriate to include Austin Power’s encounter with a mole.

(It looks funny because when I was little I poked it with my finger nail. Whelp, it never really regained its shape.)

(You ask why I took a picture of my mole? It was on my back and I couldn't really see it otherwise! haha)