Making Local News!

Saturday night was "Freakfest" here in Madison. They blocked of State St. and prepared for a huge crowd. In the past there were as many as 100,000+ people that would flood the street and it would end in a riot, property damage, and ultimately tear gas and lots of arrests.

This year they charged a fee to get on State Street. $5 for advanced tickets, and $7 at the gates. But if you were smart like us, you get there before 7 PM and get on State Street for FREE before the barrels were up! ;) HAHAH! They estimated there was only about 34,000 people at Freakfest this year. A dramatic drop in attendance, but also a dramatic drop in disorderly conduct arrests. :-D

Many local news organization covered the event, doing live blogging.

I was mentioned in the blogs, and there was even a picture of me singing "Me and my Bobby McGee"!!! Here are the snips, and links to the full stories:

8:43 p.m.:
The State Street entrance to Peace Park is blocked off by fences, notes Rachel Tatge, so the only way to access this stage at Freakfest is via Gilman Street. Gomeroke is currently underway there, with the group bringing singers on stage for "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick, as well as a song by Black Sabbath and a couple other tunes.

Source: http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=12231

(I was the one singing the Cheap Trick!)

8:50 p.m. Isthmus Stage
I see a woman dressed like Cheetara from "The Thundercats" quietly take the stage with the Gomers and tentatively launch into Janis Joplin's version of "Me & Bobby McGee." As the song picks up steam, Cheetara's confidence grows and she begins to belt it out with bluesy fervor.

The photographer on the ground, and me up on stage does nothing for my hips! ;)

Source: http://www.channel3000.com/freakfest/14442493/detail.html

More pictures from this Halloween are on http://dressjess.blogspot.com/ . Once I get ambitious, I'll tweak and make that page look decent. It is really rough right now...

This new site is more a collection of pictures of me in costume. I made it more for people interested in my costumes than my weight loss. ;)

Moving Across the Yard & FREAKFEST!!!

Aaron and I were contacted by out landlord if we’d be interested in a larger apartment for + $30 rent.

A dollar more a day and we basically get another room and double the closet space!?!?!?! ? Sweet! Hook us up!!

We signed the new lease and got the keys on Monday. We’ve done a few trips, but Aaron is doing most of the work because of my knee. He is so perfect.

We’ve got until Nov. 1st to get moved. It is nice. :) We’ll have a bit more help this weekend, and I need to call the people we bought the Precor from to help move it across the yard. (I doubt we’ll be able to move it ourselves…)

We are not really “packing” more just filling up laundry baskets, and taking them to the new place, emptying it, then back to the old place - repeat. I've also thrown out so much stuff!! It feels GREAT!!! I also have a huge bag of stuff for good-will. Nothing cleans a place like a move! :-D Once we are out, and the place is cleaned, we’ll turn in our old keys.

We took our gray cat, Sabina, over to see her new digs. She was like. “All of this is MINE!” She was not happy when she had to leave her new “Kingdom,” and return to our smaller place. We’ll be all moved soon, and Sabina will return to her Throne. She is such a spoiled sweetheart!

This weekend is going to be WILD!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited for FreakFest! (The 100,000+ people party on State Street in Madison.) I have my weekend itinerary planed: Cosutme contests, karaoke and people watching! :-)

We're going to karaoke tonight. I plan to try some songs as practice for when I do it LIVE ON STAGE at Gomeroke™ tomorrow night!!!!

Gomeroke™ is when you do “karaoke” but with the Live Band, The Gomers, playing the songs!

They know over 2000 songs. But I’ve narrowed my song list to down to these "classics":

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

Creep - Radiohead

Dream On - Aerosmith

D'yer Maker - Led Zeppelin

I Touch Myself - The Divinyls

I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick

Me And Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin

Rock And Roll - Led Zeppelin

Surrender - Cheap Trick

Sweet Jane - Velvet Underground

Sweet Transvestite - Rocky Horror Picture Show

Under Pressure - Queen/Bowie

What's Up - 4 Non Blondes

You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

You're My Best Friend - Queen

Please let me know what song you think would rock the crowd the best! (Hurry time is limited! ;)

Have a Fun and Safe Weekend!!!

Jess

“But… My Knee!”

After 19 days of basically sitting on my growing butt, finally did something “active” last night.

About 3 weeks ago I stopped working out because it triggered so much pain in my knee. But last night I did a mile on the elliptical trainer on lowest resistance. It took me about 15 minutes to do that mile at a comfortable pace. In doing so, I realized that I was just making excuses to avoid exercise these past few weeks. It is so obvious now!

While it’s true, I can no longer workout like I did - I can still be active! Walking is very healthy, and walking on an elliptical trainer helped reduce the strain on my bad knees.

“But… My Knee!” is no longer a valid excuse. I can go a mile on that knee! :-D Sure it takes time, and is not as effective as my previous high-cardio workouts… but I can’t just sit on my butt waiting for surgery! ;)

Cheers!

Jess

Preview - Halloween 2007

I love Halloween! :-D This year I am going to be Cheetara from the Thundercats!





It is going to be AWESOME! :-D

Knee Update

Yesterday was my knee appointment with Dr. Timothy J. Docter, MD. (Yes. My Doctor is Dr. Docter. Try not to sing the song...)

I had to arrive early so they could take some x-rays. They took SOOooo many x-rays. (7!)

Then Dr. Docter came in to examine me.

“Can you straighten your leg for me.”

(crack-snap-crunch-slurp-pop!)

“Alright, let’s schedule your surgery!”

Seriously, it was that fast!

My right knee will have arthroscopic surgery on Nov. 8^th. There is an 80% chance of improvement, and I’ll take those odds!!! If all goes well, I will get my left knee done once my right is recovered.

Last night I biked for a bit. I can’t do resistance higher than 3 without my knee acting up, and also my pace can't exceed 12 mph without pain. :-(

It will be tough the next few months. I am worried about my limited activity and the Holidays... but in the long run, I know that I will be healthier! Soon as my knees are better I'll be able to be fully active again! :-D

Cheers!

Jess

Being positive through Injuries and Setbacks

I had all of my wisdom teeth extracted last Friday. Ow. I've been in a medicated haze since then. I have not been working out, and my "diet" has mainly been chocolate ice cream. I also have an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor next Monday about my bad knees. Surgery is likely for my torn cartilage (meniscus).

It is so hard to get healthy and stay healthy when your body is falling apart!!

Over the years, I’ve had lots of injuries and setbacks that hampered my weight loss goals. Eventually I recover, but it takes a long time, and it can be so frustrating!! Now is one of those “down” times, and I am trying not to get depressed. Sometimes, I feel like a failure even though I know I shouldn’t. It is easier for me to beat myself up for gaining 5 pounds than to feel proud of the other 130+ I’ve kept off!! I keep trying to cheer myself up with “The People Magazine Thing”, but that is not “confirmed.” And each pound gained makes me more paranoid of appearing in a National Magazine as a weight loss example! Things will be okay, and I will turn things around once I am healed.

Another thing that should make me happy: I am going to be in the 2008 Honors Edition of Cambridge’s “Who’s Who of Professional and Executive Women”!!!! Actually, I am really excited about that. It will look great on my résumé! I am not looking for a new job though. I really love my job! (I just got a raise!) But in my “dream world” – I’d work as a motivational speaker, touring all around the world! Funny how I just blogged about how I feel like a “failure,” yet I want to be a motivational speaker! Oh, how I love the irony!

But honestly, wouldn’t that be more motivating? Knowing that a *real* person, like you, was able to do it? It would be great to get motivating talk from someone who doesn’t have that “fake-smile, hyper-perky” B.S. personality most “guest lecturers” have! ;) I could really see myself as that person but I guess in a way, I’m already *that person* with this site, and that makes me happy!!! :-D