The Adventure has Begun! And It's a Big, Messy One.

So I'm sitting in the Metropolitan Lounge right now in Chicago's Union Street Station. I haven't gotten a chance to explore the station yet because I'm here trying to finish my blog from yesterday and I realize that I'm swaying back and forth slightly. I guess that being on a moving train for a few hours does that to you. lol.

I realized something else about myself. I am apparently, very easily amused. I had originally had my SO 'N' save a bunch of programs on my computer (including all Seasons of The Biggest Loser except the 1st) so that I'd have something to do to while away the time on the train. Instead, I happily sat on the train and looked out the window for hours until it grew too dark to do so. Yup. Easily amused. It wasn't anything interesting at the time either. It was mainly just woods, some water here and there and a few small cities and towns.

* real time update:

Had plans to post my blog with some flip cam videos via youtube but the internet connection here is far too slow. It says it's going to take 5 hours for a 1 minute clip. Soo... sorry guys! I'll update this with the vids later. It'll be fun, promise.

So, since I am majorly sleep deprived and I've been typing whenever I had the chance to do so, here are some random thoughts and postings I made throughout the day:

So, I'm sitting here in the First Class Lounge right now in New York Penn Station. I want to take a flipcam video but the place is packed. I'm going to wait a bit until it quiets down before I mosey around filming strangers.

Being a good samaritan isn't always beneficial to health and safety. While assisting a woman with some questions about Amtrak and the first class lounge, I was repeatedly contaminated by her microbes as she launched several full-frontal cough attacks at me and in my water. I hope I don't get sick!

I mentioned the incident to my friend,'P,' who said this:

Stay away from her or anyone that is sick. You need to be in the best health possible! Dont let your good heart derail you from your mission!

Great choice of words to someone who's about to board a train, right? lol.

So to continue in this extremely disorganized and disjointed post (hey, I'm on the road, ok?) here is what happened to me in the evening before I left:

I grabbed a very unhealthy dinner with 'N' and had Fish Nibblers from White Castle. Someone up above punished me by filling one of those suckers with hot oil which burned my tongue pretty badly. (It's two days on and it still hurts!) Then I went home to pack.

I packed all night long. Mind you, I've been packing for this trip for a few months now. I sectioned off a portion of a room and have been depositing all my purchases for my trip in that area ever since I made my reservation. The evening before was just organizing it all and packing it into my suitcase. I finished up roughly around 7:15AM, dropped into bed for an hour and was back up. I managed to fill a medium sized hard Samonsite suitcase, a backpack and also a large USPS flat rate shipping box. Here's my packing list:

Contact stuff (holder, eye juice, glasses, glasses wiper, glasses cleaner)

hairbrush, curler stuff, hair ties, head band (get travel-size hairspray, put in purse) volume spray

body brush, body scrubs, razor, body wash, shampoo, conditioner.

toothbrush, toothbrush charger, flosser, braces wax, q-tips, cotton, pimple med, mouthwash, clarisonic, clarisonic charger, travel baby powder, cough drops, bug spray, shower cap, flash drive, vaseline/bodyglide, manicure set (bring big clippers too), purex, boxing gloves, poncho/rain wear, goggles.

polar ft7, socks, bras, shirts, pants, jammies , nightlight(wear 'uniform of fleece, big t-shirt, fleece pants, socks & sneakers on train. bring spare pair of lighter pants, flip flops in carry-on) dresses for normal nights out. one pair of jeans and 'normal t-shirts'

2 pairs of flip-flops (high,low) additional pair of sneakers, sunglasses, sunscreen & sulwahoo uv face cream.

stuff to wash face, moisturizers. body lotion, foot lotion

laptop, laptop charger, ipod, ipod charger, cellphone, cellphone charger, camera, camera battery charger, camera cable, flip, flip renewable batteries. ALL cables needed to blog!!!  extension cord. extra AA batteries

makeup stuff: makeup remover, travel-size dhc. acerola lotion. brushes, foundation, tinted foundation, chapstick with spf, lipsmacker for carryon AND makeup. lipgloss, lipstick, blush, contour, a few palettes & eyeshadow shades, eyeliner, highlight, etc; TWEEZERS, bandanna, hat

mentholatum, advil, atomizers, chargers, additional batteries, additional eliquid, passthrough. stronger juice. ear phones, both sets!! camelbak, light fleece jacket, umbrella, makeup bag, a purse or two. cards, i.d. just a bit of cash for the trip. walking sticks, hat, toothpaste, tissues (carry on), body scrubbie, hand sanitizer, bengay, earrings!! perfume, water bottles

female products, pillow, bandages and wrapping stuff, first aid kit.

Write down travel itinerary, address and phone numbers, cab numbers, keep in carry on. mini speakers

- END PACKING LIST -

So after my invigorating one hour nap... NOT... I hitched up with the 'rents and headed to NYC. After some nice goodbyes, I headed into Penn Station. Before I got to the lounge in Penn Station I managed to chip my prayer bracelet that I had brought to keep me safe and rip off part of my fingernail. Fun!

I then sat down for a few hours and read some news and attempted to blog a bit. Here's what I came up with at the time:  My NOTES!! (I'm running out of time in Chicago and it's difficult to cram two days in when you're sleep deprived and not making any sense)

feelings: nervous, excited, scared, anxious. adventure will really begin when I get on the train. prepping for months for 'stuff'. should've prepped my body but as i said earlier, we all wouldn't even be going if we had good habits to begin with. scared to fall off mountains. worried about having enough time to run back to the room to clean braces between meals. insert some adult braces jokes. excited about meeting the biggest loser resort celebs. worried i won't be able to keep up.

Tell Curves Fitness story: Nearly passed out once at my first training session at Curves of all places. One second you're jogging in place to muzak, the next all you're seeing is black spots on the floor.

scared of everything, I'm turning into my mother. scared of snakes, scared of falling down mountains, scared of heat stroke. scared of pain. worried about this, that and everything else.

- END NOTES-

After my brain fart regarding the planning of what was supposed to be a nice new post, I came up with some sections that had actual complete sentences. e voila:

Want to talk about lost opportunities? I am a huge huge fan of Robert Pattinson... at least of his face. This super-sleuthing chica here managed to find out where he was staying and some of his event locations in NY, including one radio apperance at Z100. I contemplated back and forth about going to go stalk him. In the end, I knew I was going to regret it but I talked myself out of it. Why you ask? My FAT stopped me. It's become it's own entity. My Fat is fear embodied into a physical mound. I gave up the opportunity to meet the heartthrob of decade, the one whose skin glitters in his movies and girls paid $10,000 each for a peck on the cheek because I was too embarassed about my weight..

Oh, that's not all. That's not all indeed. Want to hear of another opportunity that I turned down because of my fat? A friend of mine from college, his name is 'J.' J used to work for Sony Music, toured with Britney Spears, etc; He is close personal friends with some of the members of The Fray, apparently they went to school together and during the height of their popularity with the song, 'Over My Head,' I was invited, nay, my friend J pleaded with me to go with him to a concert for free AND hang out with them back stage after the show. I hemmed and hawed again. I wanted to go desperately. My fat said no. I didn't go. :(

When I was thinner, you couldn't keep me away from even the inkling of a possibility that I'd get to meet a celebrity. Don't let yourself be me. Don't let the fat win.

Cr@p. Stupid woman talking on the phone right next to me just ruined the rest of my witty written epiphany. It just flew out of my mind. Darn it. 

For a celebrity ho like myself, can you believe that?

How many of YOU would have done what I did?

So back to the future. It's almost time to go so I have to run. I'll try to blog a bit more later about my train trip. I will also try my best to make more sense and be coherent. The only reason I put up such a disjointed post is because many were requesting an update. I really appreciate that but this is the best I could come up with in my current physical and mental state.

*real time update:

Some of my short vids uploaded! They're going to call my train in just a few minutes so here they are, promise next time they'll be in a decent order:

Amtrak Lounge & Trek to Track   (this one is me videotaping the Amtrak Club Acela Lounge in Penn Station, NY and then stumbling to my track. Pardon the humming.)

On Da Train (This is on the train)

Blog you all later!