Learning to Breathe…

I can’t believe 4 years have gone by already since the death of one of my best friends, David. I met him when I was just 5 years old, he was 7, and we became fast friends. My mom and I even lived with his mom and him when my mom was unable to afford a home for us, and those were some of the greatest times of my life. When I was in 9th grade, David and I got very close, and were together as a couple from then until his death on February 25th, 2003. He died of an asthma attack and was only 19 years old. I miss him terribly. RIP David

Things in my life lately have been going pretty good. My dad is recovering really great from his surgery and has been going to all sorts of shows and events with me. It’s been nice having him home and getting to hang out with him a lot.

I started back at school about a month ago now, and it has been keeping me incredibly busy. The classes I am taking require more reading in one week than I have done in my entire life, and it just seems to never end. I am enjoying being in school though, which is a big step up from last semester for sure.

I am really looking forward to what the next few months have in store for me. I feel like this year is going to be a big year for me; I don’t know how or why, but I just have a feeling inside. Let’s just hope it is big in a good way…

Tomorrow at 12:25pm I will be on my way to San Francisco. I have never been to the city by the bay, and everyone has been telling me that I will love it. I can’t wait. I get to see my friend since middle school, Jenn, who moved up to Santa Rosa back in October. Tomorrow we are going to be hanging out in the downtown area near her home, then Friday will be the big sight-seeing day.

Other than going to visit her, the big reason for taking a trip to the North is for the Supercross race that is happening on Saturday night. I love going to these races almost more than anything else, and I am so excited to be seeing it in a new place.

=)

My dad came home tonight… finally! He is doing very well and will probably be able to start eating solid foods tomorrow. This past weekend has been one of the hardest I have ever been through. I think I maybe got a total of 8 hours of sleep in the past 3 days, and with being sick and everything else it has just been a rough time.

Today I am starting to feel better though, and my dad is home so I should be able to sleep good tonight. =)

So I have been in the hospital all weekend… and hospitals are supposed to be one of the cleanest places around. Somehow, I have caught a cold or flu, and haven’t felt good at all for the past 2 days. I woke up yesterday morning with a bit of a sore throat, didn’t really think anything of it, but by the afternoon, I felt like I would give anything to rip my throat out.

I had to miss the Vox Culture Pub which totally bummed me out. I had been looking forward to the event for weeks… and then I had to get sick.

I just hope that by tomorrow I feel somewhat better, especially since my dad will be coming home (hopefully). I don’t want to risk getting him sick…

Time to go lay back down.

So my dad had his surgery this morning, and they were able to remove the cancer completely, and the biopsy on the lymph nodes came back negative. [ENTER A BIG SIGH OF RELIEF HERE]

Got up this morning at 5:15 to get my dad to the hospital by 6:00. His surgery started around 7:30, and was done only about 2.5 hours later. My mom, aunts, uncles, and grandma were all there… the Ganson clan took up an entire watiting room! It was great to have everyone around for moral and emotional support. I spent pretty much all day at the hospital until 8pm when visiting hours ended. The only time I left was for a half hour to get some lunch.

It has still been really hard for me. Even though I know everythign is good and my dad will be fine, seeing him in such a weak state really gets to me. I think I cried more today alone then I have in the past year. I will be fine though, especially when he is home.

Tomorrow I will be going back to the hospital in the late morning (letting myself sleep in since I have been lacking sleep for quite some time) and will stay ther until I go to the Vox Cafe (which I am totally excited for).

Thanks to everyone who was praying for my dad, it means the world to me.

My phone died. Don’t know what the heck happened to it, but it is no longer with us. It has been acting strange for the past few weeks and finally yesterday it just decided to give up. I have brought it in to the tmobile store and all that, and they gave me a new battery to charge up and try. If that doesn’t work they told me to send it back in to the corporate office. What a pain…

It turns on and all that, but it will not let me make any calls, and if I try to view text messages or my phone book or anything, nothing shows up. Sometimes I hate technology. haha So yeah, if anyone has tried to call me in the past two days, now you know why you haven’t heard back.

Of course this happens at a time when I probably want to have my cell the most… since I am going to have to make a million phone calls on Friday about my dad’s surgery and all that. Hopefully the new battery will work, and if not, it just might be time for a new phone.

Lame post, but I wanted to vent.

Only a week from tomorrow until my dad has surgery. It’s so weird that his surgery got scheduled so quick… we assumed it wouldn’t be until February at least, but it’s coming up really quick.

My dad finally told all of the family this week. Now I am getting multiple calls everyday asking if I am ok or need to talk… I know it is all out of love but it just get’s tiresome having to say “I’m fine” over and over again. This coming week is going to be a tough one for my dad and I both… I know it.

I can honestly say that this year tops all of the previous ones in bringing in the new year. As I posted before… my friends and I decided to suck it up and face the crowds at Disneyland… and BOY were there crowds! Here is my recap of the day…

I left my house at 5:15am, yes 5:15AM. I haven’t been up that early in over a year… and surprisingly is was not any trouble for me to function that early. I drove to Long Beach to get my friend TeArra, an we were at Disneyland by 7:00. The parking didn’t even open until 7:30, and there was already a ton of people. It was crazy…

We went to the park knowing that there was a good chance we wouldn’t really ride much of anything, which doesn’t really matter since we have annual passes and go all the time anyway. haha We were in the park right when it opened at 8, and managed to get on Space Mountain, Astro Blasters, and Its A Small World Holiday. We went to go try and get on Pirates at around 9am, only an hour after the park opened, and the wait for it was already close to 2 hours.

My other friends Jason and Joy showed up around 11 and Disneyland had already completely sold out. They still got in though because they got annual passes (which automatically work as park hoppers) so they can go with me all the time, haha (our next trip is planned for a week from tomorrow). The four of us were able to get on the Haunted Mansion Holiday (after waiting 1.5 hours), and again walked by Pirates but the line was massive and someone said it was a 3.5 hour wait. HOLY MOLY!

At around 6:00 we decided to go stake out our spot for the rest of the night. I knew exactly where we should go, and luckily my friends all had faith in me and we went there. Played some cards to pass time… and at 7:30 a DJ kicked off the “Dance Party” and played a lot of really fun music. We were in the same spot for 6 hours… and I never felt bored once. As the night went on, more and more people packed in and by the time we did the countdown to 2007, there was no way you could even barely move. It was amazing.

Disneyland always has the most amazing fireworks shows ans the 2007 celebration was incredible. I seriously could not think of a better way to ring in the new year and will definitely do it to bring in 2008. I suggest that anyone who has the chance to go, should. You won’t regret it. =)

Here are some pictures and a video for your enjoyment…

CLICK FOR VIDEO

My nifty new Mickey ears…

The crowd of people waiting in line for Pirates… told you it was crazy.

The crowd of people in front of us…

…and the crowd behind us. It was pretty much an endless sea of people from It’s A Small World down to the giant Christmas tree near the entrance to the park.

TeArra and I

Joy and I

Jason and I

Group shot right before the new year

So yeah, I had totally forgot that a friend of mine was having a party tonight in celebration of school being over. Luckily, my good friend Shirley called and reminded me today, and her and I went together. This was my first real college party. There was a keg, tons of alcohol, food and people everywhere… poker, pool, beer pong, quarters, kareoke… it was amazing. I didn’t drink much because of having to drive home, but it still was a great time.

I don’t think I have ever done so much kareoke before… my throat even hurts. haha

Merry Christmas everyone! To the Sharp’s… have a GREAT time in Hawaii, you will be missed!