dustingstarsoff's Blog

So my three year old is now master of the television. I know a lot of you parents out there frown upon TV, it's what helps me get through the day..

anyways to the point of this. there are  a couple shows i'll watch with larry, and actually enjoy. Yo Gabba Gabba,and  imagination movers. they both are music based,

yo gabba gabba is created by the auqabats, a 90s punk rock band, who btw are really good. the show is amazing, feels like it's out of the 70s it has simple songs, famous friends and biz markie (just a friend singer) i could watch it all day, the colors are great for younger kids, the music is great for toddlers and the show is entertaining for adults.

imagination movers started out as a playhouse disney fill, now it's a full half hour show, they are great live, and the show is a little stupid, but it's only the first season of the full show. i love it though smitty's my favorite and Dave. you get to know the characters and you are sucked in.

larry watching noggin all day. which is as they say "like preschool on TV" and i adore it.

well the beef stew larry and i worked so hard on is almost done. hope everyone is enjoying the fall like we are.

i've had two, well three techincally, biopsies. wednesday i had yet another appointment for a biopsy. i was all set with it, had no issue besides left over anger, that that biopsy 10 days prior was "inconclusive. so i call a few people, make some plans and i go into the city on tuesday and stay with my sister.

we watched the movie "waitress" amazing, if you have not seen it and you like dark comdeies, not that this was dark, it was more well sad comedy. i can't say enough good things about it. GO WATCH IT! you'll thank me later. anyways to my point, with my restless mind and pizza filled stomach i had a hard time falling asleep. knowing full well my alarm was going to go off at 7.30 am. i finally fell asleep around what i assume would have been 4ish, i woke up a few times, tossing and such. so 8 hits, we get up andout head to JFK/umass stop. 10 minute walk. i'm completely nervous at this time, people everytwhere going on with their normal lives, i felt envious, almost greedy. it's been three years since i was in college and i miss that feeling of excitement getting ready for classes and work.

so we have a few minutes to waste before I have my appointment. so i go get my "light breakfast" which was a pumpkin spice latte, 2nd of the season and it tasted like more.(family joke) so i get to the waiting room with 5 minutes to spare, the receptionist remembered me, whether i'm that unforgetable or just the fact it hadn't even been a month. so i put on my sexy johnny, and by sexy i mean the most unflattering thing ever. and wait, what felt like an hour.

i get in the room and i notice the biopsy man, he's the one who did my first boston biopsy, nice guy, HAIRY arms. haha. so they prep me, after the ultrasound to "find the target" and the first needle with numbing stuff going in."little pinch."  um not just a little pinch, a nerve was hit, literally, i lost all feeling in my left arm and hand. i said "son of a shot gun that was not good" he gave me a literal minute to pull myself together. alas with the pain so bad, i simply held my arm and told him i might needa few. he stood there tapping his foot, and i finally caved after 2 more minutes. "i know if i waste too much time you'll have to put more linacane in, so let's get this show on the road." i put my arm back down and shut up about how muh it hurt.

he then proceeds, while i have tears streaming down my face. they take the first 6 samples, then they move to the other lymp node. the one they biopsied last time. it was tough, i hate them but they are a nessecary evil. they don't usually hurt as much as they did wednesday, maybe because of my cold making me senstive, whatever it was, was not fun.

so now comesthe waiting game. my doctor is on vacation til tuesday or wednesday. i can picture the results sitting on his desk, mary his secretary readingthem and calling him. wanting to call me, but can't. Every doctor i have knows me, my health records proceed me. a 22 year old with a large scar across neck from morethan 4 surgeries, yeah that's run of the mill. right? so the doctor's assistants all call me and talk to me like they do it all the time, some actually do so you get used to their voices and their mannerisims.

so as it stands now. i have two different areas of  my neck sore. looks like i have hickeys and all i want is a decent night sleep, but my neck hurts too much to do so without meds, and i'm too neasueated to take them. Wish me luck with the doctor's results. not that i'd be surprised by anything these days.

manda

i dislike archuleta. he has one beat, one tone, you know my dislike for the kid. Who in their right mind, besides people who loved sinatra, would listen to an entie album by this kid. He isn't as amazing in my eyes as everyone says.

cook on the other hand is  not going to make the best album he could because on thing will get in the way... American Idol. the first album will be forced and not as easy as his singer should be. after that initial album he'll be top of the charts and hit after hit... like daughtry, but again daughtry didn't win, but he's put out a lot of hits...

i just can't stand a lot of the idols that have been out there, but i won't lie, i have cook's billie jen on a few mix tapes.

who do you think will still be around n 15 years.

is it just me or does it seem like china's getting graded on a curve?

i'm a huge fan of the olympics, and this year the diving, and the gymnastics have been very hardto watch, given the fact that they are being graded very well, on things that aren't done so well.

the vetran diver jingjing, or something along thoe lines, did an ok dive and got three 9.5. when american's did the same dive, in sync non the less and got nothing higher than an 8.5. honestly it makes me sick. ithought the olympics were just and an amazing experience for all invovled.

The officals have not slapped china on the wrist for lying about  medal winner's age. they have been extremely gentle when grading china. American gymnasts who were beautiful on their turns got some hard love, and by that i mean they were nailed for tiny things, like a hand was wrong, or they didn't point their toes all the way.

go back and look at the men's sync diving. the leaders in the pack, the chinese, the older man doesn't point his toes half the time and they got amazing scores. they turned when they entered the water which is worh up to a point deducted, nope not for them let's add half a point! seriously i wish chin boycotts the next olympics so the rest of the world can be fair judges and a better host.

i'm just a little mad about this because i've waited 4 years to watch the sync diving, and the vault and uneven bars and i get this deep unnerving feeling of cheating, or teacher's pet.

can we discuss how this woman didn't call the police until 4 weeks after the last time she saw her child? i might be going out on a limb, but you don't contact police if you've 1. killed somoene and need time to hide the body. 2. don't care all that much about the well being of a child 3. you're in a drug induced haze that wares off in 4 weeks.

Granted i have gotten mad at my child, but never enough to hurt him morethan a tap on the butt. FOUR WEEKS! that is a little to much time to be like "oh yeah i'd like to report a mising child. Last time i saw her, ummmm, i can't remember let me check the calendar." really woman if you did kill your child, just say it was an accident, and you were worried about what people might think. the dogs have smelt death everywhere. call me crazy, but i think that might be a sign someone might have died. sure you can claim it was a luau hog, but those dogs don't often get such things wrong, they are trained to hunt the stench of death, if those dogs can smell bodies under tens of feet of rubble at the ground zero, i'm pretty dang sure it can smell death on thefibers of a truck/car.

i honestly think this woman has hindered the finding of her daughter, for that alone she should have her tubes tied, and be thrown in jail. i would expect nothing less if i ever do such a thing... not that i would i love my child enough to call the cops if something happened to his little blonde head.

this just smell fishy to me, and i'm positive this woman is a moron and needs to be hospitalized or jailed....

what's your opinion?

some of you may know my son is allergic to most basic foods, snacks, and treats. let me break it down. Wheat, eggs, dairy, soy. so i have become a very crafty cook. i have found things that work well for his specific allergies.  instead of wheat flour,  we use tapioca and rice flours. ENER-G egg replacer, goat milk.

i have tweaked rice crispy treat recipe. i make an allergy free deep fryed fish. i make chocolate cakes, almost anything a normal allergy free kid can have i have found a way to make it for my allergy man.

so i was wondering how many of you out there have kids with allergies, and you yourself suffer? i'm allergic to demoral (sp? it's a med) and goose feathers.

if you want bad luck, spend a few months in my shoes.

i went to my thyroid doctor monday, also part cancer doctor. He always feels my neck to look for new or bigger bumps, lumps what have you.... well he felt a new one. i can't stand my neck being touch makes me very ill, my nerve damage is off the charts. so they took my blood, and they are setting me up with a neck ultrasound at MGH. i am nervous, as i always am when i have to go to boston for my tests. i go at the very least every three months. i have had cancer on and off for 3 qand a half year. i haven't ha a surgery this year.... yet anyways.  my last surgery was a little more than a year ago. they nicked my vegas nerve which controls heart funtions. so i havea werid heart beat and i get very  dizzy somedays.

so i will be keeping tabs on my health, i mean between doctors and my son i have very little time to just be a normal 20 something. i would get into my whole story of the past 4 years but honestly you wouldn't believe half the things i've had done, or have seen. so i'll just keep you guys informed from here on out, maybe even bring a video camera with me to dr's appointments. who knows might be a big hit on youtube.

if you were wondering i've had 4 surgies in the past 3 years and no chemo. doctor's think it would be to hard to function as a single mom and a chemo patient.

until i hear news about my blood tests i'll talk to you all on the 5o'clock chats!!!

so i know canada as a pretty low murder rate country.about half my family lives in canada. I am honestly shocked that one of the only murders we hear about is a 40 year old who hacked off a head and devoured some of the victims flesh..

GROSS, first off. you really have to be a special kind of insane to stab a person who's sitting next to you on a greyhound like bus. secondly, i'm sure as sure can be that a man doesn't kill a first victim in their life and eat their flesh.. ewwww.

 i do know a couple things about serial killers, and this guy sounds like he might have been one, or at the very least was going to start to be one.i can not comprehend what makes a person kill others. childhood issues usually play a roll.

let's hope canada has no more issues this year. and i'm kind of happy the only thing that happens on buses in MA is fung wa roll over and catch fire, lot better than a crazed hacker.

the ting tings played last night at club hell in providence. L LOVE opened, they're a local electronic band. it's a duo of guys, who were wearing top hats last night, and they played for about 30 minutes, they had some good beats but ended up sounding all the same by the end of their set. they had a few songs you just had to shake to. but electronic type music isn't my scene.

so about a half hour after L Love played it was time, with about 300 people in the crowd, we were all ready, 10.05 they take the stage. they are a duo from across the pond, a girl and a guy. they both can play guitar, the guy plays the drums, and the female singer plays a keyboard, and a drum you'd find in a marching band.

they played all their amazing songs, and a new one to me "traffic light". their beats are solid and the lyrics are catchy and get stuck in your head.

"That's not my name" was so good live, but i'm used to listening to it with yo gabba gabba remix in the back ground. "great DJ" was one that had everyone singing along, as if it was a cookout. it's high energy, and loud! third to last they played their big hit over here in the states, "shut up and let me go".

i highly suggest you listen to them on youtube, then go out and buy the album.it's just really catchy and some people can't stand that type of things. .. my selling point for the ting tings, they had vinyl records for sale at the show.

over all it was a great close quatered club, with no pyrotechnics and the music wasn't all distorted from being played in a place way to big for their sound. next time they come around, i doubt it would only be 6 bucks, and i highly doubt it would be at club hell, maybe lupo's heartbreak.

so yesterday was the big day. the day i adore most in a year.

WARPED TOUR 08. i went as a volunteer to pick up recyclable product off the ground and from bands and such. The Warped Eco Iniative has picked up morethan 19,000 lbs of trash this year alone.  you read that correctly NINETEEN THOUSAND pounds of trash, just off the ground, not picking it out of trash or anything like that. it was a great cause and the bands, and the workers at the copmcast center all really appericated the hard work.

once 6:30 rolled around we were relieved from our duties and were able to do whatever we wanted. I walked overto the hurley stage, my friend is amazing and allowed me and my two friends on the side of the stage while a couple ofbands played. we the kings. Devil wears prada, AND greeley estates.  they were so awesome live, you would not have believed the crowd.

with tornado warning in efect we all got to a safe place, around 4, the storm came through, it wasn't too bad a ton of rain. it was a lot easier picking up bottle while everyone was waiting for the ok to go back in, and it wasn't as gross picking up the bottles and cans they were all rinsed off. the lightining was beautiful, as it usually is when you're in a safe place and feel no worries about the storm.

i saw my favorite band, say anything. The opened strong and stayed strong the lead singer Max Bemis we shocked at how many people showed up for that set. I'm a little upset they didn't play their biggest hit "baby girl, i'm a blur" i was excited to hear "woe" and "every man has a molly" so all and all the five songs they did play were high energy and the crowd we electric.

the horrorpops, a rockabilly band, played all their good songs, great dance beat, well as dancy as rockabilly can get. the lead singer patricia is a presence to stop and watch, she commands attention, and not only does she sing.... She plays the stand up bass. i'm slightly dissapointed they have not found new Go Go Dancers. They are worth the time if you ever get the chance. they have toured with dropkick murphys that's how some of you might know them.

greeley estates, the band is somewhat new to me, but they have great music, the drummer BChamp is energetic, and a character to say the least. they have breakdowns in their songs that just get your lood pumping and you feel the need to move around. the way they treat their fans is a breath of fresh air. i would love to see them again, and again.

Devil wears prada, they are a lot like the old school senses fail, a lot of deep throaty yells and a lot of stage use. the singer has a baby face and braces and he sounds nothingl ike you think he would. Again This band is greatful for their fans and to my surprise they actually thanked god for their fame and their fans. which was commendable, considering there were only like 4 christian bands this warped tour. i imagine they have a strong view in polotics, but i didn't get that far into conversation. haha.

the last i saw, We the Kings, they have like 7 members they are all over the stage, they are in your face with melodies and hypnotic rythms. you can't help but to nod your head, tap your foot and at the very least sing the lyrics. the red haired lead singer is attenion grabbing. he hasa sense of humor too, which i love in a band, he was wearing an Nsync shirt for their acoustic set. i have nothing bad to say about this band, except they needed to play longer, they needed the extra ten minutes.

the rain storm changed the schedule so i missed a couple of bands but the ones i did see i enjoyed. i saw like 3 songs by the gym class heroes, it was a solid set, and travis mccoy, lead singer and Matt, the drummer are extremely down to earth and will stop for anyone who wants a picture, which was kind of them.  but all and all it was a nice cool day.

next time you go somewhere please put your plastic bottles in the recycle bags/bins. there were so many bottles on the ground i was almost disgusted at the amount of trash there was. i took a picture of my best friend and i in front of the pile of RECYCLABLE!!! not trash. it is a huge pile and it should make people who care about the enviornment a little happier knowing thios GENERATION is leaving a mark, in a positive way. when only 10 people pick up that much trash it just goes to show what a classroom could do, or a cub scout troop could do. or let alone, a house can do.  Our booth was 100% solar powered, but alas we could not set it up due to the rain threat.

it was great and i will never forget the people i met and the friends i made. til my next concert

i was on vacation for two weeks. i went to Ptown with my son and grandma. it didn't take all that much gas to get down there. considering i'm from middle MA, i was impressed. we did the normal things in the cape, trip to chatham, orleans, flea market, and the always entertaining, provincetown fourth of juky parade.

also one of my favorite drag queens was down in ptown for the summer. i know that it might be taboo to mention such a thing, but she was hilarious, and i give props where props are due.

So i remember about ten years ago, before the fire in the "wharf" building with the huge shell shop in back. how great that store was, well more building than store. right next to the marine specialties shop. the new building is great too, not th marine shop, the new "wharf" you can walk out the back of it onto a beach, where the old dock crumbled about 12-15 years ago, and at low tide you can fine hundreds of scallop shells. amazing find for me and larry (just  under three years old) we took a special trip into town just for some shells.

the bay side's low tide has to be my favorite thing though, walking on sand bars and seeing hermit crabs. always interesting. i am a self proclaimed dork, and i was showing my  son all the other things that live in the bay side of the cape. we found moon snails, and horseshoe crabs, little sand crabs, that attacked larry.

when we went to orleans for the army navy surplus store, we went to dunkin donuts, which is where i learned larry knows who papalbon is! he sat at a table waiting for his hash brown to cool and was going "papalbon!" over and over again. slightly annoying but never the less, i might get him saying it and put it on youtube...

well i am sad to be in a landlocked town and i already miss the ocean view, but it's always nice to be in a town that gets random rain showers and opressive heat. i was in the cape for 2 weeks, and it rained one day, for 15 minutes, and one morning at like 5 for 10. i'm pretty sure it was amazing down there and i only have 50 weeks until i go back down.

oh side note, i would recommend only going on a saturday or sunday to the welfleet flea market for a while, i'm used to one hundred vendors, give or take , and there was only 64! ugh.

So i was trying to be healthier, and i tried that Green tea lean. hoping cutting backs on my sugars would make me feel better, ummm not at all, i get wicked neaused when i drink it... that's the only way it would help make you lose weight making you lose your apetite.

ok so here's what i'm mad about. they gave a 16 day trial period, for only 5 dollars. i thought  my trial period was over this week.... they say it was the 16th of june. i thought it was after they shipped it out, nope from the day you order...

i got charged 70 dollars the other day!!! i called and told them i thought it was from shipped date, since i recieved the product i assumed i had a few days... whatever i cancelled my "membership" and told them i want to make a formal complaint.

i live on a fixed income, if the product didn't make me want to vomit, i'd be ok with that but still, it's the fact that they can't comprehend that 70 dollars is too much for a product i don't enjoy, and which makes me sick... oh well right? you live you learn.

To the improv asylum. I drag all my friends there. It is the best time you can have in the north end and not be spending 200 dollars. for twenty buck you usually get two shows. the main show and then and NXT (next) cast. which are people practicing to be on the main shows. it's 20 bucks a ticket, and less if you are "rained out" of a red sox game OR if you havea student ID.

so let me paint the picture. Saturday night live, meets who's line is it anyway?. right now it's called MBTA- Hole haha get it? anyways. they have some amazing sketches right now. i've pretty much fallen out of my chair before. I have sen the improv aboot have dozen times, over the past 3 years. I personally suggest friday night, saturday if you want to stay out extra late... they havea saturday midnight show, seriously why go to cambridge for rocky horror at midnight saturday (i'm not knocking them they are good friends of mine) i just like laughing, HARD, and a lot. i want to say so much about the show that's going on now.... but i won't

i know i somewhat sound like i was paid to do this post, but really i am just so excited about being able to go to this place, laugh a lot, yell out some horribly funny things that are usually used.

i hope you'll take a mental note of this, it's a really good time (they do swear a little) and if you're birthday or wedding is coming up, they'll reenact it if you're THAT lucky.

but seriously improvasylum.com

the warped tour 2008 has been kicked off, its in san fran today.... july 23rd is going to amazing. there are some many outragous bands playing this year. I also wanted to talk about the organizations that go on tour WITH the bands. there is this one "keep a breast" which is a music fueled org. that spreads the word about breast cancer and how to detect it early, they are super nice. mostly women run this but they do casts of famous celebs (music, skate, and art celebs) chests. they let the celeb decorate these cast and then auction them off to raise money for their organization. There  is skate 4 cancer, this group of canadians have decided cancer is not out in the open to get younger kids to check themselves for it, so they're skating across canada and the US. i feel like everyone has the wrong image about the warped tour because like 5 years if not less, girls were supposedly raped, which in my eyes is hard not to notice at an OUTDOOR festival. the mansfield "comcast center" has enough security, and strong women to say something if they see something wrong. kind of like the MBTA.

so my point of this is music and information go hand and hand. i know for a fact that more girls have been checking their own breasts because of Keep-A-Breast.org and the tnt at warped tour dates.i'm just excited that we get to have such great musical guest in our area... Fox i'm expecting you to book an amazing one for the morning show of the 23rd of july!!!

my top 5 bands playing the mansfield date. (not particular order)

say anything

gym class heroes

paramore

against me

horrorpops

Faster than a concert.

that first percussion in the first song takes my breath away. there are some bands whom are better in concert than on albums. Bands that should never play a live show but are beyond amazing on CD.

there this the people who lip sync. whole other post for a different day.

the bands that played so far this week are the middle of the road good when it comes to playing live.

best band i ever saw live "something corporate" the lead singer just got so passionate and energized. that lead singer andrew, is a cancer survivor, and is now in a band called jack's manniquin. i've seen them around 5 times.

close second, New found glory, Jordan (lead singer) has ADHD, and his dance moves are something to contend with. the whole 45 minutes they are on a stage they are ALL over it . in the crowd  near the drummer (cyrus) and vey much audience interaction. i love them, they also know how to party quite well too.

bands i'd never pay to see again. haha, oh goodness who would top that list? Good charollette. benji and joel madden, nicole richie and paris hilton' boy toys, they look good on stage, but that's about the only good part ofthe show.

another band i hate live, i hate tp say it, saves the day, they need to take command of the stage. they are great on albums, real nice guys, but nice guys don't keep you entertained.

now the bands i can give or take while in concert.... aerosmith, jane's addiction, and bad religion.

anyone know a must see live band? because i pretty much need a show that will get me off my feet and dancing..