fl trip, phone call from John and Karen

03/06/2013

I bet no one will read this entire entry

People in this play
Danielle, 22, applying for grad school and is a health nut
Josh: 20, in college for videogame programming, sarcastic-jerk-says things that are “out there” lol but is a nice kid
Phyllis: mother, a 5th grade teacher, spoils me, has add-adhd. Tries to please all the people all the time.
Larry: the father, an elementary school principal. Big sports nut.

Friday
Danielle picked me up at the airport. We picked up Phyllis at a friend’s house who was having a little party. Danielle was telling me about this friend of Phyllis who is a millionaire. They live on a golf course, 7 bed 4 bath, in ground pool with a water fall and a basketball court… and they just bought a second home in Utah.
We went to Olive Garden for dinner. The last time I went to one out of state, it was with Karen.
Phyllis asked me if it was ok. Did I want something else. Are you sure?
It was going to be a 45 min wait… we put our name in and went to the bar and told them we’d sit in the bar and put our name in there. Within 5 minutes they called us for the bar.
I got tornalini with meat sauce and a salad. I had two warm breadsticks too. Danielle had a bowl of soup and some of my salad and I don’t remember what Phyllis got but she didn’t want salad or soup. Phyllis doesn’t like fruits-vegetables. I found that strange. Phyllis paid the check, I offered to pay my meal but she said that this is my birthday weekend.

Danielle wanted to take me to this frozen yogurt place for dessert. She usually goes there once a day. I went and it was pretty cool. They had 8 different flavors and then you put whatever toppings on you want as much as you want, it was a topping’s bar and you get charged by the ounce. So I had this topping that I never thought of before…honey. Omg, honey is really good on yogurt and I’m sure it would be just as good on ice cream. Phyllis said that she would wait to go home and have ice cream and Phyllis being a teacher, she knows someone everywhere. So she stuck up a conversation with some student’s mother or something while Danielle and I had our yogurt and chatted a bit.

Friday night, we just hung out. Larry had a movie night at his school and didn’t get home till 9 and Josh worked till about 9 as well delivering pizzas.

Saturday
Larry went to the PGA match they had down here, Phyllis went to one of her student’s soccer match and I have no idea what we did during the day lol. However, that night Saturday night…HELLO BON JOVI!

Bon Jovi Concert!

I think by me saying this was my 21st time seeing Bon Jovi in 6 different states, over 17.5 years says something about my love for Bon Jovi.

The concert itself was amazing as always. I went through the cds and listed the songs they played so you can see the set list at the bottom.
However, I will say that the crowd was well… they sucked.
First, I stood for the entire song except for two new ones. My knees were bothering me. Danielle told me after that only about 10% of the crowd stood for the majority of the concert. In all the other Bon Jovi concerts I’ve been to, probably 10% did not stand. John was not happy with this, and 3/4th through the concert he goes (first time I’ve heard him say this) “Everyone who is still sitting, I want you to get off your ass and let’s heat this place up”
During the song “raise your hands”, every time he says it, you are suppose to “raise your hands” I was the only one who did it.
In the song “you give love, a bad name” John sings the first sentence or two, and the crowd finishes the verse or if it is a good crowd, they go on to the second verse. John stopped after the second sentence and the crowd didn’t sing. It through him off and he sang the rest of the song till the end when he told the crowd “let’s hear you sing it”
It happened again with living on a prayer, he paused after the first line and the crowd didn’t pick up.
Last crowd complaint, during the song “you want to make a memory” I heard the guy say to his gf “do you know this song?” the gf said “ya, it’s a cover song” no it wasn’t. It was off the country cd “Lost Highway”

There was a song that I literally stopped in my dance and was pleasantly shocked. Of the 21 times seeing Bon Jovi, it was only the 3rd time he sang my favorite Bon Jovi song of all time, Born to be my Baby. So I freaked out a bit. Lol
There is a song off the new cd that comes out next week, that I love. It’s a ballad and it’s called “amen”

We got back to the house after 1AM and they both fell right to sleep.

Sunday
Danielle new someone who works for universal studio park and got us free tickets. So Sunday we drove 2.5 hrs to the park. The rides were fun but the waiting in the lines was almost (very close) not worth it.
The mummy ride was the worst. We waited in line for 40 minutes for a 90 second ride.
We went on the tornado which was ok, but that’s only because it was a very visual “show” It suppose to simulate an actual tornado.
Then there was a really fun show. I don’t remember what it was called but it is very crowd oriented and they take people from the crowd and act out a make believe scene to film for a make believe movie and in the end they actually show a commercial of this make believe movie, as a coming attraction with the people from the crowd who acted out the scene.
Next ride was E.T. Where you go on “bikes” and you go with E.T. to save his home planet. The really fun part of this ride is at the end, E.T. says your name. (as you walk into the ride, you give the person your name)
We went on one other ride I can’t think of at all.
Lastly, and we saved the best for last, was THE SIMPTSONS.
I don’t remember the point of this ride, something about aliens. So first you go into this small room and it looks like you are within a tv show. … I don’t know, but I got a history lesson from Homer.
Someone asks Homer who was the first person to land on the moon. He was thinking and Lisa goes “it was Neil Armstrong, dad” homer: no, no it isn’t Lisa. I got it! It was Chewbacca the Wookiee!”
I laughed so hard with that.
So anywho, eventually you the doors open in the room and you go on an actual ride and the only part I remember about the ride is that at one point, there is a giant Maggie and she throws baby powder and you can smell baby pouter.
We got off that ride and my legs could barely stand, I was ready to go and we met up with Danielle who said there is one more ride but the line is very long and it’s getting late so she asked me if I mind if we skipped it. I said I don’t mind at all. We got in the car and headed back to the house the 2.5 hr drive took just under 2 hrs…Danielle wasn’t speeding…no lol.

Phyllis texted Josh, asking what I wanted for dinner? I didn’t know. Danielle first suggested pasta cause there is sauce in the fridge. I was good with that. Phyllis wrote back “not Chinese?” I didn’t want her to get it just for me. Danielle said it would just be easier to order than to cook up pasta. I relented and ordered vegetable lo main and an order of dumplings. So when we got home, the food was there. Phyllis had made Chicken palm and they had ordered Chinese food that others would eat too so the chicken palm became leftovers for some other time. I felt bad but enjoyed the food.
We were all on our computers after dinner.

Monday
Phyllis and Larry went to work. Josh had classes but would be home by 11AM and Danielle had to go take a drug test for a job she applied to. So I was home alone for a little bit.

Josh and I left for the NY. Mets – Atlanta Braves game at noon. We got to the park and stood in line to get tickets. It hit me and I started bouncing on my toes that I was going to see baseball. I was crazy giddy excited. We wanted tickets behind home plate but they were sold out. We ended up with right field behind the bullpen…front row and we had isle seats. It was pretty good seats. I had my feet up on the bullpen for about half the game.

The Atlanta Braves had most of their starters playing while the Mets had all but two minor leaguers out there. In the first inning, Justin Upton hit a home run then his brother BJ upton was next, and he … struck out. At some point, there was a ball that went right over our heads and landed two rows behind us. I was busting Josh for not getting it for me after he had bragged about always getting foul balls while at games.

We went up to get food after the 2nd inning. I got a spicy sausage with peppers and onions. The peppers and onions were cold and the sausage if it was grilled than it wasn’t on for too long because it was cooked but didn’t taste grilled. However, the sub role it was in was extremely fresh. I loved that. I also got a lemonade. I was disappointed in that too as it tasted like melted lemon slush. I was expecting freshly squeezed lemonade.
Josh had to work at 5 so we left after the 7th inning when both teams had all minor league players in. I left the park a very happy baseball fan.
At some point during the game, Phyllis had texted Josh, asking him what my favorite type of cake was. (she wanted to get me a cake for my birthday) I told him, if it is up to me, I would rather have strawberry shortcake. He texted her and she said ok.

We got back to the house and Josh left for work shortly after. Phyllis, Danielle and I sat in the living room on our computers… I think Danielle was resting on the couch. Larry got home shortly after 5 and after relaxing for a few minutes started up the grill for dinner. Tonight was my “birthday dinner” Phyllis prepared a nice steak cabob dinner with rice and salad. Larry asked me how I like it and I told him well-done but it wasn’t well-done enough but it was still good, especially with the teriyaki sauce Phyllis put on it. Danielle had a smoothie for dinner. Phyllis asked me if I wanted dessert now (as soon as dinner was done) or later. I said later so Josh could be a part of it too. We sat around for the next few hours. At one point I went in my room and rested a bit. When Josh got home we headed into the kitchen and Josh went into the bathroom. Phyllis was getting impatient with him and after about 10 minutes or so, she said that we’re going to start without you. We waited a few more minutes and she said it again and I said, he can sing from the bathroom. So with a strawberry cake in front of me, every (including Josh from the bathroom) sang happy birthday. It did sound strange hearing just my name. In my head I said “Jonathan and Justin” (my twin) I blew out Larry’s whip cream lol I blew so hard and not on target but they directed me to the candle and I blew out my candle. It was so good that I had seconds. They also got me a gift. A red Sox t-shirt that had the B on the sleeve. I thanked them. Before too long, they were all getting ready for bed so I went into my room and jumped on the computer.

Phyllis came in to say bye, cause I wouldn’t see her before I left. I gave her a hug and thanked her for having me and for spoiling me.
Josh walked past my door and just said bye.
Larry was probably sleeping within 5 minutes of having dessert. He was very tired.


I had called my best friend earlier to see how he was doing. He was out with a friend but would call me later. Later came. He called me up. I asked him how he was doing. He said he’s doing ok. It is still very difficult. He’s most worried about the children and when he sees someday, Kat with another man. I told him that the good thing is, they are young and won’t know any difference because they they won’t be the only ones with divorced parents. You’ll take them to basketball or dancing by yourself. John goes, and that’s when I’ll swoop in and nab a single mom. We laughed. He told me that he let his other close friends know this week about it. He asked me if I told my parents, I told him no, I didn’t know if you wanted to tell them or you wanted me to tell them. He said that he thinks of my parents as second parents. He said that he’d rather if I told them because it would be too difficult for him to tell them. I said ok, I will do that.
We joked around a bit. He blamed this not working out on his friend Pat. At the wedding, Pat was laughing and it made John laugh. (Kat’s sister tripped up the stairs coming to the alter). I said, so shouldn’t we blame this on Kris then? John laughed. I asked him “so does this mean I have to give back the sneakers?” (he works for convers so he gave all his grooms men a pair of sneakers to wear for the wedding.) He laughed more. He told me that not only will they have to sell the house, but his car too as he won’t be able to afford it. He said that today he took off his wedding ring for the first time. He said it felt weird. He said that there was an intent in his finger. I told him I knew about that. I wore rings for many many many years and took them off 2 years ago and had the same result. He thanked me for calling.

Karen called me after midnight. I told her about my trip.

Karen told me she caught a cold. Her roommate wanted to do something specific outside. I don’t remember what it was. She said it was cold out and they were out for a long period of time. She would say "I'm cold" and he said "wait a while, your body will get use to it" god that made me so mad. I would have stopped what ever it was and gave her a hug and rubbed her back, kissed her and said, ok, let's go in but this guy told her that she’ll get use to it.

I had to tell Karen how I was feeling about her-me. I told her that I think she spoiled me when she was on sick leave for her sergery and we talked for a few hours every day. she laughed and said yup, I spoiled you.
I always feel so stupid after when I tell her how I have been feeling and what I've been thinking. She let me just go off about how I feel that she hasnt texted me or called me as much and I made her feel bad and I didnt want to do that but I did she said that she gets busy plus she cant always text, maybe she's working or driving or the roommate is right next to her or she was out in the woods for some quiet time and she doesnt get phone service out there. she said about 3 times that I worry too much. she does want me to come soon when she can figure that out and the thing that put the biggest smile on my face... well, second biggest (first being her saying "I love you Jonathan" was her saying "that your phone call at the end of the day makes my day because I get to have a normal conversation (unlike at work) and I can say anything. I dont have to feel like I'm going to say something wrong or that what I say will be criticized (like at home)... whether you believe me or not, I dont know, but it's true."

She told me that her other really close friend, Nick, (the 2nd guy in her life. I’m 3rd but somehow #1 now) is coming home for Easter. I am so excited, she said. I have so many people to see in a short time. I want to spend time with my parents, my brother and his family and (names of her female friends). I told her that I’m excited for her. It will be good for her. Her roommate didn’t want her to go home for Easter. She told him that she doesn’t get to go home much. “the last time I saw my parents was in November. You get to see your mom every day and your father at least once a week. You are welcome to come but I’m going home for Easter.” He wont. It’s good that she’ll be able to get away from him and the house.

I'm not sure if it is just her teasing me as she did the last time but she said when I mention about coming to see her, she goes in a curious tone "and what could we do while you're here hmmmm" I smirked to myself and said we’ll see. You just have to figure out when a good time is for me to visit but it’s all you.”

When we got off the phone, we said “I love you” but she said it with a sensere, soft voie. “I love you too Jonathan” *smile*

Tuesday Danielle drove me to the airport and I got home about 5pm.

It was very nice to be away from home but it is nice to lay in my own bed.

Bon Jovi song set list

1. Run away
2. You give love a bad name
3. living on a prayer
4. wanted dead or alive
5. Raise your hand
6. Bad medicine
7. Born to be my baby
8. I’ll be there for you
9. Keep the faith
10. I’ll sleep when I’m dead
11. bed of roses
12. Someday I’ll be Saturday night
13. It’s my life
14. Captain crash and the beauty queen from mars
15. Have a nice day
16. Who says you cant go home
17. last man standing
18. You want to make a memory
19. you got it going on
20. We weren’t born to follow
21. Not running any more

And 5 songs on the new album “what about now”
An amazing song, it’s a balid and it’s called “amen”