FMB

We all know what FML stands for on the interwebs, but in this case, switch "blog" for "life".

Today I realized that since Houston Roller Derby went live with their new site, all my links to the old site are toast. Love the new site, ladies, but boohoohoo for me.

Anybody have a stash of all the 2006 to 2008 bout posters? Elle McFierce, I'm talking to you.

New Year, Same Ol' Stuff

In my last post, I mentioned I had a new job title. When I heard the news about filling in for my boss, I knew the only thing that would come with the new title was work that would hurt my head. Three days into the new work year, and my fears are confirmed. My head hurts.

So something's gotta give...

Unfortunately, that something will be all the fun I have online. Don't expect regular updates for the next six months, my four faithful blog followers. Try not to miss my wittiness on Twitter and my facetiousness on Facebook either. What really hurts is I religiously read everything (blogs, tweets, status updates) from the people I follow, and I might miss something important in their lives while I'm trying to keep up with mine.

And as we all know, I work to live, not live to work, so I'm also keeping up with...The Kitten trying to get through second grade, my last year as captain on my rodeo committee with a possible option to move up to Assistant Club Chairman next year, another year of derby four hours away, losing twenty pounds before the season starts...

If I don't see you until July...Happy Valentine's Day, GO TEXAN!, Drink a Green Beer for Me, He is Risen!, Give Your Mother a Kiss, Thanks to our Troops!, and Give Your Father a Hug. 

Christmas Before Thanksgiving?!?!?

I usually take the tradition of not recognizing the impending joy of the Christmas season until the day after the day after Thanksgiving.  (Yes, there are intentionally two day afters in there.)  However, it looks like my short-lived day after Thanksgiving tradition of visiting the Texas Renaissance Festival without The Kitten is most definitely short-lived, because the only companions I can find to visit with me today are my parents who are supposed to be watching The Kitten. And...I've already started shopping. Gasp!

On Wednesday, I bought my in-laws a GPS after checking out the online Black Friday deals, and last night, I bought The Kitten a Wii as soon as Best Buy opened up their online Black Friday deals.  Of course, I added Wii Fit to my wish list shortly thereafter.  Have I ever mentioned how much my agoraphobia loves the interwebs?  As if it wasn't obvious.

Now, with my plans dashed thanks to stupid Houston weather and my wonderful cable internet connection that never goes out, Christmas has come early to Catazonia.  I may even start decorating the house today.  Yaaaaay...

UPDATED: Yep, I'm done...

The Mystery of the Followers

I don't have much to say, but this has been driving me crazy for a while.

I only have three followers, and not a one of them wants to be recognized.

I'm sure the reason why I only have three followers goes back to the first six words of the post, but why do they all have to go incognito?

Seriously, thanks for following.  I'll try to be more interesting so you're not ashamed to show your face. 

30 Days of Truth

I heard about this meme from a blog I recently added to my Reader after a random follow on Twitter (if this isn't a web, then I don't know what is). I found it highly intriguing. Since I like to think of myself as an honest person and my blog tends to bog down so much nowadays, I thought it might be something fun to do.

Then I read through all the days,

Day 01 → Something you hate about yourself.

Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.

Day 03 → Something you have to forgive yourself for.

Day 04 → Something you have to forgive someone for.

Day 05 → Something you hope to do in your life.

Day 06 → Something you hope you never have to do.

Day 07 → Someone who has made your life worth living for.

Day 08 → Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.

Day 09 → Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.

Day 10 → Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.

Day 11 → Something people seem to compliment you the most on.

Day 12 → Something you never get compliments on.

Day 13 → A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)

Day 14 → A hero that has let you down. (letter)

Day 15 → Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.

Day 16 → Someone or something you definitely could live without.

Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

Day 18 → Your views on gay marriage.

Day 19 → What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?

Day 20 → Your views on drugs and alcohol.

Day 21 → (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?

Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.

Day 23 → Something you wish you had done in your life.

Day 24 → Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)

Day 25 → The reason you believe you’re still alive today.

Day 26 → Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

Day 27 → What’s the best thing going for you right now?

Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Day 29 → Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.

Day 30 → A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

And I thought, AWWW HELL NO!  The only and only day of truth I need is Day 2...

I am NOT a honest person. ;)

Bad Idea

So maybe it wasn't a very good idea to start saving money on my blog.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY TITLE BACKGROUND IMAGE?

Update: I think I fixed it by copying the link from Picasa over again, so did Blogger just decide to automatically change the link with me telling it? Somebody tell me if it looks too small again, because I don't check this very often. Oh, that's right, I only have 3 followers...never mind.

Diversionary Tactics

Last night, my family shared a very strange dinner. Since I had a meeting with Asia Pac at 8:30 p.m. and I usually don't get home until after 6:30 p.m., we had to find something quick to eat, especially after The Kitten threw a 15-minute fit because we weren't going to "Old Mcdonald's" or Willie's. We had decided on Mexican, and even though I don't like it, we went to the closest establishment of this type to our house.

First, we had to make somebody come take our order, and then he came back five minutes later and took it again. Not a good sign, but everything came out ok. I was almost done with my enchiladas when I saw something move in the corner of my eye, and before I could get my camera out to take a picture of the roach walking across the wall, the waiter came up and squashed it with a napkin. Okaaaay. You would have thought he could have comped our food for that, but no. While we were waiting an eternity for the check, I started hearing something that sounded like a real kitten. I kept looking around, but nobody else seemed to notice, and although my husband admitted to hearing the sound, he thought I was crazy for caring. Hello, I just shared dinner with a roach, and there is a kitten somewhere in this restaurant! Yeah, I'm crazy.

So, we never figured out where the kitten was, and we paid way too much for nausea from the unwanted dinner guests, but really I just told this story to take some of the spotlight off this interview I gave to a derby fan who posted today. Man, I'm good.

I'm Officially Cheap

So Catazonia may be taking a step down, but I think this house fits me better. Here's the post from my old blog on why I moved from paid hosting to Blogger:

I started this blog almost five years ago. Since I was finally on my way to being famous, I wanted to do it the right way. I got a domain that I thought was clever, and I paid for hosting.

This blog really revolved around my derby career, and over the past year and a half, without a true commitment on my part to derby, the blog has languished. Priorities change, and at this point in my life, it's not a priority for me to pay for web hosting on a neglected vehicle of fame. I'm not a very private person though, so I do want to keep a place for me to practice my exhibitionism.

Therefore, Catazonia is moving. I've already uploaded everything to Blogger and pointed a couple of other domains there. Very soon, catazonia.com will be pointing to Blogger also.

I still have some work to do on the new site, but it's good enough. See you on the other side, or in one of the other places where I tend to exhibit.

I Should Get Paid for This

I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I'm socially inept at gift-giving. I can usually disguise it by showing up with a bottle of Patron everywhere I go, but it gets harder to hide that major personality flaw around the holidays. The Kitten, (most of) the nieces and nephews, and the in-laws aren't really interested in getting drunk and naked, you know.

What I am going to harp on is that fact that it's socially acceptable to maintain a wishlist nowadays. Get your butt online and start one. Check out this helpful post on Lifehacker for some top wishlist tools. A wishlist not only makes life easier for your socially-inept loved ones, it also organizes your own thoughts. I would never be able to keep track of what The Kitten wants for Christmas if I didn't rush to Amazon everytime her eyes widen.

By the way, if you haven't been using a reader to follow interesting blogs like Lifehacker, you really are living in the dark ages. Haven't you heard that blogs are dying a slow, painful death? Oh, wait, that's just mine.

My Calendar Runneth Over

The 2009 Show has begun. I spent most of the weekend at Reliant Park...the Membership Dance Friday night, drink inventory on Saturday morning, and the equipment setup from hell on Sunday. After all that, I didn't feel very guilty while celebrating Mardi Gras at Willie's last night...listening to a good band, eating fried pickles, and drinking too many margaritas.

The goal was to get the taxes done before March, but I also promised to buy The Kitten some western jeans for Go Texan Day on Friday. If she's anything like me (and she is), we will visit all the Cavender's in town to find some jeans that fit. Sounds like a fun week, one which will end with my attempt to attend the largest cookoff in the world not only on Saturday night when the main group of friends will be at our regular stomping grounds but Friday as well so I can see and be seen. It all boils down to whether we trust a houseful of cousins alone.

Tomorrow at lunch, the city is staging an event called the Rodeo Roundup. Now that I work downtown, I get to check it out. No work meetings on my schedule yet, so I will most likely disappear for the whole two hours. One of the perks of having a boss half a country away. Then the parade is Saturday morning, and unless The Kitten changes her mind, we will be there, too. I already posted my rodeo work schedule, so I guess that means I'll see everyone in April (unless you read my Facebook and Twitter updates, of course).

That Last Title is So True!

While I was busy spreading myself even thinner across the tubes, my domain name was busy expiring. Panic ensued across the nation, I'm sure, but not as much as it did right here in Catazonia when I realized my GoDaddy customer number was at home! I just knew somebody was going to swipe my domain sometime in the next ten hours, so I sneaked out of work to retrieve my password list. Good thing I only live fifteen minutes down the road with no traffic. I heard the big sigh of relief when I finally charged my online life away again for the next two years. (Well, only my domain...my hosting renews in December. Who wants to bet that I forget that, too?)

I'm Intellectually Challenged

As if my online life isn't cluttered enough, I go and create a Google page for myself. Does anything scream "I need a new job!" more than this? I guess if I keep playing around on the tubes, I may be forced to find a new job fast.

Get yourself one here.

What Are You Hiding Under Your Sk*rt?

Last year, I enjoyed an extraordinary season with the Burlesque Brawlers of the Houston Roller Derby. Sometimes I would jam back-to-back and get lead jammer both times. Sometimes I would send the opposing jammer into the crowd and skate away. Sometimes my eyes would glow, and girls would just fall down. Well, that last one might be an exaggeration...

When I was excited about my performance, I would share my excitement with the crowd by showing them what I was hiding under my skirt.

Ah, yes...the Meow Butt. It became something so much more than a cheeky gimmick. Wasn't long before the announcers would start calling it out before I could even flash it. Many people made me smile through my injuries by just saying, "Meowch!" Really, I just hope I inspired others to quit taking themselves so seriously, because God knows I started having a lot more fun when I learned how to laugh at myself.

Why am I sharing this today? This was posted as a way to promote a new website called sk*rt. I can win a bunch of cool stuff if you go over there and vote for me. You can do a revealing post, too, and I'll vote for you!

Working for the Weekend

I'm going to do some other exciting stuff this weekend besides skating in my first bout in ten months on Sunday. For instance, lunch on Saturday will be with about twenty some-odd other people that I have only met online. No need to be alarmed, though, since they are Mama Drama readers and writers. Completely harmless, yet most likely bad influences for tempting me with margaritas the day before a bout. Sounds like I'll fit right in.

Am I a Movie Star?

As I was working on my Amazing Race application this morning, I came across the question, "Have you ever appeared in a publicly released film or video of any sort?". Well, let's see...when I was playing football for the Austin Rage, we had a documentary filmmaker follow us around for a while. He even interviewed me at MPOW one day, and I babbled on and on about breaking stereotypes and other optimistic crap. So I can see why I would end up on the cutting room floor, but since I haven't seen the finished product, I'm not sure if I have appeared in a publicly released film or video.

That made me curious to find out if anyone had seen the finished product, and I found the "Playing with RAGE" trailer on YouTube. Boy, did that bring back some memories! I didn't spot myself in any of the clips, but it still looks awesome. It won an award at a Memphis film festival in October of 2006. Maybe we will see it in Houston soon.

I'm a Little Late...

but for my blog's first birthday, I'm giving it a makeover. I'm still working on some things, like a new logo for one. For posterity, here's the old one:

To My Future Employers:

The big deal in job hunting these days is that everyone gets Googled. Fortunately for me, when my real name is Googled, neither this website nor my myspace page is found. Isn't it great to be a rollergirl and have an alias? Although it's not that hard to link my real name with my derby name, I'm going to assume that most people just don't have the time. With that said, here's what this post is really about...

My next employer should refrain from pressuring me to work 50+ hours a week. As you can see from this blog, I have a rather demanding personal life that doesn't allow me to work long hours. I have no problem with working through lunch or staying 30 minutes late or coming in every once in a while on a Saturday to help out with student orientations, but when my hours are posted on the door of the library and on the library website and on countless pieces of library propaganda, don't expect me to greatly deviate from them. Doing so tends to cause confusion for everyone involved. I feel that my devotion to my job when I am here (the same devotion that makes me skip lunch and stay late and come in for special functions) is sufficient enough for a "salaried" employee. So there, you pompous administrators, and if I never work as a professional again, at least I'll still have my health and my happiness.

Squidoo

As if I'm not busy enough, I started a roller derby lens on Squidoo. While checking out a librarian's lens, I got the urge to search on roller derby. No results. Naturally, the competitive and creative juices in Catazon started flowing...

Rob Zombie & Miss USA

I absolutely have to change my myspace music since I heard Foxy Foxy as the background music for the Miss USA teaser. WTF? yuck. I'm looking for All-American Rejects but it doesn't look like they have a myspace page. boo hoo. Help me think of another song quick!