What a Show!

Mania is the word that describes the activated phase of bipolar disorder. The symptoms of mania may include:

• either an elated, happy mood or an irritable, angry, unpleasant mood
• increased physical and mental activity and energy
• racing thoughts and flight of ideas
• increased talking, more rapid speech than normal
• ambitious, often grandiose plans
• risk taking
• impulsive activity such as spending sprees, sexual indiscretion, and alcohol abuse
• decreased sleep without experiencing fatigue 

Sometimes individuals may experience an increased frequency of episodes. When four or more episodes of illness occur within a 12-month period, the individual is said to have bipolar disorder with rapid cycling. Rapid cycling is more common in women.* 

Oh so tired.  My little sister and I went to the Channel 93.3 (radio station) Not So Silent Night show tonight.  It was AWESOME.  We got there an hour before the doors opened and spent that hour freezing our arms off (we dressed for the concert, not the waiting in line), but since we got there that early, we saw all four bands in the second row.  However, that also meant being on our feet for 6 straight hours, which was tough for her because she's got mad sciatica right now and tough for me because I'm not used to standing for 6 hours.

We got totally shoved around, slimed by other people's nasty sweat, breathed on, stepped on, and we almost got in a fight with a fat kid who is apparently related to Sean from 3Oh!3 after he smushed me and then called my sister a skank.  I pulled his ear and elbowed him real hard in the gut.  He was really stinky, too.  

We both had a great time, though.  The music, especially up that close, was fantastic.  I really love 3Oh!3's music, like a lot (check out House Party on the Streets of Gold LP).  It's so different from everything else out there, and the guys are really down to earth and very talented, and great performers.  Innerpartysystem was fantastic, so loud and so crazy (American Trash is their newest single).  The Epilogues are a great band, too (listen to Hunting Season - LOVE IT).  They're going to go far, I think.  Oh My Stars was good, too, but the lead singer's appearance took away from my enjoyment of the music, which is unfortunate.

Anyway, I am beyond exhausted.  My whole body hurts from being shoved and falling over and dancing and fighting and being squished.  I'm interested to see how tomorrow goes around here - my older sister is really mad that we went to the show because she wanted to go, too, but she couldn't because we got the kids tonight.  And so we have the kids.  Til Sunday.  I'm tired just thinking about it.

*"NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness | Mental Illnesses." NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness - Mental Health Support, Education and Advocacy. Web. 26 Nov. 2010. <http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=23037>.