23 today :)

Just felt like I should leave a quick note that I am 23 as of this morning. Amazing to think I was still lost and in such a very different place just 3 years ago on my 20th. I am much happier to be where I am now though, surrounded and embraced by the SPD community.

So, what I'm up to today. Well, I'm going to a couple hockey games in a couple hours. College hockey. Every year on the 29th and 30th, 4 college hockey teams play a regular season tournament (the Great Lakes Invitational) at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, home of the Detroit Red Wings.  Once every few years, my dad gets tickets to at least one of these days for my birthday.  This year, he ended up with tickets to both days, all 4 games. So, I am going to be doing that today and tomorrow.

So, I have the good and the bad to look forward to.  It's great, because I love hockey, and love to watch it live. For someone who used to breathe hockey, this is truly what I like to be doing. Unfortunately, it is incredibly overwhelming. This is 4 hockey games in 2 days. A double header tonight and another double header tomorrow night.

How will I survive 4 hockey games in 2 days at a 20,000+ seating arena?

Well, one thing is obvious to me, noise! It will be loud, and every time someone scores, they blare an amazingly loud horn. So, I will be bringing two sets of earbuds, which are like ear plugs, but are even better because I can listen to music through them. I got a brand new 16GB Walkman mp3 player for Christmas, so I will be using that a lot! I still have my old 4GB GoGear, so I'll keep that in another pocket, should the battery die on my new one while I'm there.

My stomach has also been bugging me lately. So, I will be bringing Maalox in one pocket of my coat, as well as a bag of crackers should I not be up to the arena food.  I will also have a cold wet washcloth in that coat. Sounds crazy, I know, but it's needed. My ears start burning as I get overloaded, so if I press a cold wet cloth against them, they will cool down and it will help me avert a meltdown. I will also have a bottled water, but that will probably have to be in the car, since I doubt they'd let me bring that in with the no outside food or beverages policy (though I'm confident I'll be able to get the crackers in).

So, wish me the best guys. This should be tough, but I'm glad to be able to do it so long as I survive it. :P