Summer is Over (in my book)

The Summer of 2011 was hell...absolute, energy-draining, soul-sucking hell. Not only because of the things everyone knows about...record-breaking heat, drought and wildfires in the wonderful state I call home...but also because of a ton of personal burdens. Today, after I completely get the Summer of 2011 off my chest, I'm walking away from it for good.

This summer started out with The Kitten attending a new daycare...for one whole week. She hated it and cried herself to sleep every single night she knew she had to go back there in the morning. Since she was traumatized and refused to try another daycare, we catered to her spoiled rottenness the rest of the summer by driving her to whatever extended family member she wished to grace with her presence or bribing her cousins to come to us. At least one of us had a great summer! I don't know of anything stronger than your worry for your child(ren) that can drag you down to a dark, dark place. Unless you have a demanding job too...

So during all that scrambling for babysitters and driving all over the northwest side of Houston, I was also dealing with work. You might recall a while ago I started talking about this big strategic project to which my very cool boss was reassigned and I would be backfilling for her in the meantime, but then as the project moved through its phases, we discovered the entire company would be reorganized and I started tweeting about how I wasn't going to have the same job (my original Business Analyst job) at the end of the six-month project. No? Well, that's your background, and all you really need to know is all that waiting and worrying over the summer came to a head when the available jobs were posted last week. I've narrowed down my five choices (although I know they will most likely place me in the job that most closely resembles the one I hold now and don't want), and now my fate is in somebody else's hands. Of course, I won't know that fate until the end of October, but like I said, I'm walking away. Letting it go, and hoping my company doesn't let me go.

Now the summer wasn't all bad. We had an awesome trip to Disney World the beginning of June. I skated in not only one but two banked track bouts. I spent a weekend with a friend I had not seen since high school. And today...today, I finally found the motivation I need to move to a better place. I start rehearsing with the rodeo choir on September 26th, and our first performance is October 15th. I bet you didn't know that Catazon was a good enough singer to try out for a choir that performs in front of, oh, a few thousand people for three weeks out of the year and actually MAKE IT! Well, you oughta know.

Summer of 2011...you can kiss my karaoke-ing ass.

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...

Hitting a Car was the Highlight of My Week

Last Monday, I floated the Comal River like a rookie. Maybe it was because it was The Kitten's first time to float the river, and I was a little nervous, hoping she would love tubing as much as I do. Maybe it was a bit of showing off in front of my cousins on my dad's side who all are younger than me. Maybe it was way too much cider. But anyway, I fried my legs for the first time in twenty years. And not just fried all over...burned in a candy-cane pattern. Yes, I have red and white diagonal stripes up and down the fronts of my legs. Lovely!

Still, my candy-cane legs can't top the marks I received from skating the Pride Parade Saturday night. Before the parade even started, I hit a car. Poor car! It was just minding its own business, and I came along and tripped into it. It was too dark to see how bad my Catazonianess damaged it, but the bruise on my upper arm says there might have been a dent in the passenger door. The bruise is even bigger than the one when I fell in the clothes hamper, which you can actually see in the picture on my Blogger profile. Nice!

By the way, I'm waiting to see pictures from that night, so if you have any of the roller derby girls rolling down Westheimer, either on wheels or on the ground wrastling, put 'em out there! And thanks, Rushin' Cleavage, for such an enjoyable evening. ;)

I didn't think the week could get any better than once again getting the crap beat out of me by stationary objects, but then I went to a Roger Creager concert yesterday evening, right smack-dab in the middle of what I like to think of as my old 'hood (Oak Forest), and I know it's hard to believe that only about 75-100 people would brave the heat wave from hell to see him at such a great venue (a little league ballfield), but the few, the brave, the crazy were rewarded with a free beer from Roger himself. Awesome.

Spring Break!!!

I'm taking my first spring break in years. I'm finally in a job where I'm encouraged to take vacation, I actually have vacation to take because my employer respected my experience when I was hired, and The Kitten is taking her very first spring break ever. Boy howdy, do I need a spring break!

• Rodeo is kicking my butt...not from working, but from listening to everyone complain.


• Work is kicking my butt...The Dark Side is working against the Force.


• My husband's truck got its butt kicked by a Mustang last Thursday night...damn the rain that lasted way too long and helped to depress me on top of everything.

Wish I could use my free plane ticket and take a real spring break, but that will have to wait.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Ike

It's been a week since I stated that I was eager to make more hurricane memories, and I can truly say I have been blessed. Good things that came from Ike include:

• My husband now realizes we need to fix the skylights that leaked all over the atrium and that I've been telling him to fix for six years. Maybe he will get it done before the next hurricane.



• I got to see a bout on a Monday night - TXRG vs. Madison - and totally free!



• I spent a whole uninterrupted week with The Kitten - until I dropped her off with Gramma about an hour ago.



• I finally got the new barstools I've been needing for six years (see above...we moved in six years ago!).


• 
  The 2008 Season page was updated to the best of my ability - hadn't done that since the HaRD Knocks season went down the tubes in June.

Yes, it has been a good week because our yard only looked like this...



and we had another little visitor who only stayed for a few minutes...


I'm still using Ike as an excuse to drink heavily, and I just noticed my long, tall vanilla vodka and coke is empty, so I'm sure this post does not make a coherent summary of my awesome week.

Hurricane Memories

Today, my family is one of the many in Houston who are hunkering down for Hurricane Ike, ready to make more hurricane memories. I can't help thinking about how mad I was when Alicia hit and I couldn't go see my boyfriend at the skating rink. And how we had a baby possum take shelter in a birdhouse in our backyard when Rita was blowing around.



Later this afternoon, I'll be moving my bed and the computer I'm working on right now. Then I will pull the carpet up and away from the back of the house, because our backyard tends to flood when we get a ton of rain. We are also worried how the construction on our road is going to affect this tendency. At least I don't have to worry about skating in a bout this weekend. Houston Roller Derby will be playing our Championship bouts on September 28th instead September 14th. Hey look, that's me getting an elbow in the ta-tas!



I'll also be dreaming about the beautiful weather where I was a week ago:

Weather? What Weather?

Houston Roller Derby at the MLK Parade 2008

Originally uploaded by Catazon.

Hmmm...where would I rather be? On the phone with other disgruntled library directors or on the cold, wet streets of Houston with a few of my leaguemates?

Yep, you got it! I hate my job more than I hate Winter.

I'm Swamped Over Here!

And some say that I overreact...but sometimes I just question my femininity.

Oh, Humberto, thanks for the break from reality.

WHY?

Do I have to go back to work? What a glorious 4-and-a-half day weekend! We celebrated an actual holiday on Monday, then someone had the bright idea to cancel classes on Tuesday before waiting to see if the weather was going to cooperate. Does weather in Texas ever cooperate? I'm not going to complain about another day away from the most boring library in the world, though. Now, it's back to "work" at noon on Wednesday. [This post originally mentioned my Amazing Race application and linked to the video, but I am erasing all traces of that from my life. Sorry.]