So I surf over to the new Houston House of Blues because I hear Ghostland Observatory is playing in October. I’ve only seen them once and that was quite a while ago, so I would love to check them out again soon. Then…what tha…?!?!?! Rick Springfield is going to be at the House of Blues?!?!?! GLO will be around for a while longer, but Rick Springfield…I so need to jump on that. He has got to be second on my freebie list of 80’s rock stars. You know, the freebie list? Not to mention, that concert will be so much more appropriate for a retirement celebration.

would have a car that astounds the Hyundai dealership with its mechanical issues. Only I could break a car so much that the service department admits to never having seen anything like it. Only I would pay almost as much to get it fixed as I owe on the car. Only I could still love that dinged-up, broken-down car.

I just got the news that I will now be one of three captains on the A Team for my rodeo committee. Duties include, but are not limited to, being responsible for a small group of committeeman (making sure they pay their dues, know the team schedule, etc.), being present at all committee and team meetings, and being early on days our team works the rodeo. For the next three years, my gold badge will say “Captain” instead of “Committeeman.” Ooo, the prestige! Ooo, the time commitment…

I have plans to relinguish my other captain duties, so I should be able to handle this. Right? Let’s see…two derby teams, a new job downtown, a kindergartener, and rodeo. It’s a good thing I love everything on that list.

or if you are me, be careful what you talk about. Before the bout Saturday night, I talked about how I am prone to having accidents at home and how I wanted one of our pets to die. Both of those things happened on Sunday. I broke my right pinkie toe again, and I found the psycho hamster dead in her cage. Spooky.

I don’t remember talking about winning the bout, but we did anyway. Yay! Come watch HaRD Knocks win again this Saturday…same Cat time, same Cat channel.

I am utterly appalled that Texas has only one huge being in the Gallery of Huge Beings. I know there has got to be more than one, although you couldn’t ask for a finer specimen! This is Texas, dammit, and everything’s bigger in Texas. At the very least, somebody should let those huge-being lovers in Minnesota know that.

At the end of the highly controversial Brawlers vs. Betties bout last night, Elle McFierce exclaimed over how I would write a happy post today. That was right before I fell over from exhaustion.

It’s not like I did anything to become exhausted. Except for one grand slam, an almost inefficient backwards whip given to Audiomind, and a fun little blocker takeout while jamming on Becky Booty, my performance was pretty much dismal. I wasn’t expecting it to be much more than that after a couple of weeks of forced inactivity.

I also wasn’t expecting the Brawlers to win, but we did. I really shouldn’t admit that I don’t have a lot of faith in my home team, but we all remember the tough year the Brawlers went through in 2007. 2008 was starting to look almost identical, but now we’ve won a game somewhat early in the season. I’m positive we can take another one if we all get and stay healthy. I still heart my Brawlers, even though the rest of my body is consumed with HaRD Knocks.

So I’m feeling alright today, even though I could barely walk last night. Then I get the bad news that I won’t get a job interview I was pretty sure I would nail. That just boggles my mind, because I look great on paper, and I’m even better in person when I really, really want the job (and who wouldn’t really, really want a job at a prestigious private school?). Damn. So I keep reminding myself it’s probably better that I don’t take a new job while my personal life is so stressful, even though I do have an interview with a major player in the oil & gas industry in a couple of weeks. Sweet.

Yeah, Elle, this post was a little bit happy, but a little bit bummed, too. I seriously need to get out of this funk before the summer gets outrageously busy with bouts, bouts, and more bouts on top of my obsession with finding the perfect job as well as getting a big girl ready for kindergarten. Oh, happy posts!

I was having a really good week last week. The library received a ton of donated design books, and I was just having the best time cataloging, processing, and getting them on the shelf. I got to sit down with a couple of fellow derby martyrs and churn out lineups for four games in two days, utilizing all twenty skaters on our roster for the Roll for a Cure tournament in Orange County, California. Most people complain about tasks like cataloging or manipulating lineups, but I love that sort of detail-oriented, mind-numbing work. Then, the shivering started.

Thursday morning, I took some Motrin for the aches and pains I usually have the day after derby practice. Thursday afternoon, I took some more for a slight fever. Early Friday morning, I woke up with a fever of 102. More Motrin, and wow, that stuff works on fever, but what about my legs that won’t work right and my brain that feels like it’s trying to get loose? The doc sees nothing causing the fever, but take these antibiotics anyway just in case. So the fever is under control, but good Lord, my head! I didn’t sleep more than thirty minutes at a time Friday and Saturday night. So Sunday morning, 5am, I can’t take it anymore. Time to go to the hospital. I practically have to be carried to keep from passing out, I feel like I’m freezing to death, I have to stop to dry heave, and my head throbs with the sound of a pin that fell next door. Been out of the country? No. Burning when you pee? No. Congestion? None that would cause this! Well, then let’s butcher your arm for blood and then pump some morphine and fluids in there. Next we’re going to take chest x-rays, a cat scan, and if nothing comes back from those, get ready for that SPINAL TAP! Whee!

After all that, nothing. Nothing! Everything is clear. I still have a headache, although it’s not as bad as Sunday morning. I can look back and laugh at the fact that I dry heaved all over the hospital, but the minute I walked out the doors, I puked water all over the bench waiting for my husband to bring the truck around. Nice. I cannot laugh about the fact that every time I am prepared to kick ass across the country as a member of HaRD Knocks, something happens to either prevent me from doing it or seriously hamper me in some way. So maybe I can’t skate, but I can be the leader I was chosen to be, and I’m not going to break my promise to take The Kitten to Disneyland. This one will be the bad week gone good.

“God help us…not another post on the rodeo when she hasn’t even told us about Sunday’s bout!” I know that’s what you’re thinking, and I do apologize. I’m waiting to see tangible evidence before I continue ranting. And we lost…I hate talking about that.

Anyway, I get a lot of questions about what I do as a rodeo volunteer, and although this article doesn’t tell you specifically what I do, it does give you a general idea of what it’s like to be a rodeo volunteer. I’m halfway through my fifth year of volunteering, and I get to pay $5 for a pin that says so. Yeehaw.

I have been a big fan of rodeoing for many years, which is really strange since I’m not a big fan of cows or horses. I guess I admire the extreme sport aspect of it all. Understandable. Then I saw an extended family member compete in the calf scramble last night.

My husband’s cousin’s son (what is that? like once removed or something? maybe I should use my skills and look that up?) enters a cow into the livestock show every year, but this year, he had a chance to win a calf he could bring back to show next year. He lined up about a half a foot shorter than the sixteen other boys and eleven girls, but he looked strong out of the gate. Within seconds, he tackled a calf, but the calf flipped around and took off. All the while, I’m jumping up and down, screaming, and trying to keep The Kitten informed on what was actually happening. It was the most exciting thing I have ever seen at a rodeo!

Our cousin kept running until the last calf was caught, and even though he wasn’t one of the fourteen who caught a calf, he’s still a winner to us. It made me even that much prouder to be a part of something that does good things for so many kids. Maybe that’s the real reason why I’m such a big fan.

OK, so he’s not the opening act for Rodeo Houston 2008, but Kevin Fowler is my opening act. The complete 2008 lineup was announced earlier today, and now I know who I get to listen to this year while I’m running full bottles of alcohol out to the bars and empty bottles back to the storeroom in the East Club.

My favorite dirty Texas music boy, Kevin Fowler, starts my work schedule off on March 5th. Yeehaw! The rest of my schedule is as follows: Martina McBride on March 8th, Rascal Flatts on March 11th, Clay Walker on March 14th, Miranda Lambert on March 17th, and Dierks Bentley on March 20th. Much better than usual since my committee is now rotating work schedules…no Black Heritage or Tejano Day for me this year. Although those are usually very easy days to work, I don’t find the music and/or the scenery as aesthetically pleasing as Kevin, Clay, Dierks or even Miranda. Meow…

The funniest thing about this year’s schedule…I get Miranda and my husband gets Hannah Montana. He just better not come home that night telling me about some girl who thinks he has the finest ass in the whole rodeo. That really happened last year.