All Things Must End, But Mostly Years

 Every year my golden cousin writes a Christmas newsletter filling us all in on her amazing life with her amazing husband and children.  This year there were trips to Hawaii, hiking, lounging by the pool with girlfriends, wine, scuba diving and the incredible accomplishments of her golden offspring.
 I usually have to drink heavily prior to reading it which leads to my own version of a Christmas newsletter.
 The only problem is I don't have a perfect family, trips to exotic locales or any money.
 I spent New Year's eve at home but I didn't mind because I didn't want to leave my little Piper who died two days later.
 After that the whole year seems to be a blur so I used my Instagram account to refresh my memory and obviously I have a possibly unhealthy attachment to my dog, and an obsession with notebooks, paper and pens. I made an extremely questionable decision involving bangs and I did that sober!
 However there were plenty of things I didn't do sober… Like my birthday. I celebrated with so many awesome friends. I don't know why they all like me but I don't care...they bought me vodka. I only have a vague memory of returning to my hotel room that night. I'm so lucky I have such good friends that take care of me and stop me from doing things like telling a scary looking lady holding her stilettos in her hand on Main and Texas at 2 am that I liked her weave.
 According to Instagram I ate a lot of sushi, drank a lot of coffee, went to a lot of Astros games and took a lot of awkward selfies.
 In 2015 I got tattooed again, tested for every G.I. abnormality under the sun, scheduled a surgery then canceled.
 I learned that if I needed a place to stay after surgery no one in my family would offer to have me. I also learned that the friends you choose can become your real family, that dogs are the best therapists but can't prescribe meds, that if you quit gluten and carbs your friends will get so sick of hearing about it, that I paint pretty well when I've had lots of wine, that driving a new car is pretty cool but BUYING a new car makes me want to vomit and crying at the dealership gets you a nice discount.
 I would like to say that previous years I learned that bottomless mimosas are a bad idea but I did it again at a birthday brunch and ended up spending a Sunday afternoon wasted in downtown Houston, giving uneaten gyros to homeless guys.
 Aside from my awkward moments and embarrassing memories, I spent a lot of quality time with my friends, my dog, my mom and my books.
I don't have a fine house, fancy cars, perfect children or money to burn but 2015 wasn't so bad – I lived.

The Many Themes of 2014

It’s the time of year again where we take a look back and wonder where it all went wrong.

Some people take this time to send out newsletters to let everyone know how perfect their lives are and  I would love to do that but I don’t live in a world of make-believe or fantasy.  I live in a world of booze, hard truth and a bit of levity.

2014 started out with a fabulous dinner with some fabulous ladies and I was home in time to kiss my dog at midnight.  This became my theme of the year.  Suddenly, in 2014, I couldn't wait to get home.

The beginning of the year saw a character actor give me his phone number in a Vine comment and some strange, flirty texting followed briefly.  Sometimes, I’m too impulsive for my own good.  My 80k tweets speak to this fact.

Another theme for the year was similar to last year; friends.

I spent lots of time with friends at places like Reserve 101, Warren’s Inn and Molly’s Pub.  Also, it seems alcohol is a theme here, too but who likes to drink alone?  Especially when I’m pretending to be Pat Benatar & Gladys Knight (complete with my own Pip, Alyson) at a spontaneous night of karaoke at Molly’s Pub. 

This followed another successful FanFest at MMP where I asked the GM of the Astros what he had been up to during the off-season and he shrugged and said “Not much.  Just hanging out.”

Baseball!  There is another theme for 2014! Baseball and friends?  Who could ask for more?  I spent the summer traveling to Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros continue to improve so I can say “I was there!” when they finally get to the World Series!  Who doesn't love a day at Minute Maid Park?  Fist-bumping ball club presidents, hugging your favorite usher, screaming for your favorite beer vendor, eating GIANT salads or Korean waffle fries, smuggling vodka in your cleavage, dodging those people who want to give you a "free" Astros towel, weaseling your way upstairs to the Club Level merely to get the “good” potato salad, signing up to be a designated driver for a free soda, taking #selfieswithroy, meeting people you only knew from Twitter, oh! And watching a baseball game!

In 2014, I finally decided to join the modern world and I got internet at home.  Some people say cable TV is next but hold on there, cowboy…don’t get crazy.  I might be a luddite at home but at work I’m an IT wiz!  This year I solved a huge problem that not only helped me at work but in libraries all over the state of Texas and I got zero credit for it because I couldn't figure out how to tell people without sounding like an obnoxious blow-hard.  Maybe I’ll become one in 2015!  Fingers crossed!

Speaking of obnoxious blow-hards…I learned a valuable lesson about friendship and loyalty this year.  I learned that friendship, loyalty and common decency mean nothing to some people.  I am naive enough to be surprised that grown women behave like they’re still in junior high but I’m mostly happy that I’m not accustomed to terrible people doing terrible things.

Books became my refuge this year, even more so than before.  I joined a book club that included exactly ONE other person and we argued over what to read as if we were a group of drunken women and not a grown man and woman.

Reading is a lonely and solitary exercise that is sometimes made better with a partner.  It was cool finding a reading buddy this year.

I bought far too many books in 2014.  I am afraid that one day I will go missing and my body will be found under a pile of toppled books in my house.  I guess there are worse ways to go!

2014 certainly wasn't perfect.  I came dangerously close to losing a good friend but we held on with both hands for as long as we could until we made things right again.

November was a terrible month that saw the death of my 15 yr old cat, Hemingway, car trouble, the flu, and a bad rollover car wreck in Nicole’s brand new Escape.  But we were lucky it was a brand new car with good airbags and a sturdy frame because we were pulled from the sunroof with only bumps and bruises.

I could think about all the things that have bothered me since getting into a car accident…like I’m a little nervous when I drive at night or I now think that anything bad can happen, anytime, anywhere, before you even know it.

But I choose to think about all the people who stopped and came to our aid the second the accident happened.  I just remember the sound of multiple impacts, metal tearing and car horns.  Then total silence.  I lay there, on my side, wondering what was going to happen now but before the fear could set in, I heard voices; voices of people coming to help.  And help they did.  I don’t remember their faces and I didn't get names but I think I thanked them.  I hope I thanked them. 

I’m afraid this time next year, I will be writing about the loss of my 15 yr old dog Piper.  However, each time I think she’s near death, I start feeding her cheeseburgers from McDonald’s and she perks right up.

I’m not sure how much longer I can keep her alive on fast food but hell; I've survived on it for 42 years!

In conclusion, 2014 has had many themes and for this I am grateful.  Life should be a variety of fun, crazy shit.  Life should be full of surprises because sometimes it's fun not knowing what’s coming around the bend.

Note to 2015: please don’t take me too seriously.  I’d like a lot of peace to balance out those surprises!

My Effing 2013 Newsletter

I have a cousin who sends out newsletters at the end of each year.  They have absolutely no sense of irony or reality.
The newsletters gush about lavish vacations, their perfect children and all the wonderful things they do all year.
Last year, I posted a sarcastic, profanity-laden "newsletter" of my own that I, of course, didn't share with them, but with my favorite people on Twitter.

Now, as I look back on 2013, I can see where so much went wrong.
I wasn't alone when I rang in the New Year and that set the tone for an odd year involving the opposite sex.
Men are painfully frustrating....did you all know this?

My year consisted of one emotional entanglement after another but I kept it interesting with lots of alcohol and lots and LOTS of Astros.
I rode some coattails, shook some hands, fist-bumped some ballclub presidents, mingled with ballplayers and guys with cool titles like Director of Decision Sciences.  Seriously, what does that even MEAN?
I lost some friends but regained some old ones! I ate a lot of great food, had the best birthday ever, got a new tattoo and slept in a haunted hotel.
I laughed a lot, cried a little, embarrassed myself online and in public; I may or may not have shown a non-English speaking bar employee one of my boobs and I definitely told Reid Ryan that I was "kind of a big deal" when I introduced myself to him this year.  I blame that on bottomless mimosas.
I discovered new music, took on the challenge of reading all the volumes of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust with a friend but only completed one GIANT volume, took two online courses, had a stalker, still haven't figured out what the hell a bitcoin is, was called a Midtown hipster pseudo-intellectual, sat in the Diamond Club at Minute Maid Park, invited strangers from the internet to hang out with me and my friends, texted friends so late into the night that I often fell asleep with the phone in my hand, got to take my mom places she had never been and bought books...lots and lots of books.
I challenged myself to read 40 books this year but will end up having only read 34...and a half.

I watched too many friends go through painful loses and felt the helplessness that comes with being unable to take the pain away.
But watching from the outside, I found most of my friends incredibly brave this year.  I learned a lot from them, too.
I lost my own brother-in-law, suddenly...shockingly...and it still doesn't seem real.

I don't have the right clothes, I don't go on incredible vacations, I don't drive a fancy car, I don't have a lot of money, I eat Cheetos with a fork and I use the f-word a lot, but I do have some really amazing friends who are so good to me and I have a lot of fun.

2013 could have been better but it wasn't so fucking bad.

Holiday Reflections

As the year comes to a close & I reflect on the moments I experienced, I can't help but think about the main theme of my year: friendship.
I have made some friends & unfortunately lost some friends this year but in all, I was lucky enough to have all of these people in my life at some point.
If we've shared dinner, drinks, tweets, confidences, FB messages, Astros games, texts at 2 am, hotel rooms downtown, cried in bars, whispered about men, commiserated about women, road tripped to Kissimmee, written actual letters, taken pictures we can't allow out in public, molested bears or just shared our lives, I am grateful to you this Holiday season!
Happy Happy Holidays



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Reading Emma

Often said to be Jane Austen's most perfect novel, Emma" is also the perfect read - with a very imperfect - but loveable - heroine...Beautiful, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse thinks she knows best. She only wants to help others arrange things as she thinks they should be done, and, convinced she's just not destined to find true love herself, she believes she must instead devote herself to playing Cupid for others. But absolutely nothing goes to plan - and in the process, Emma has a lot of learning to do: about others, but most of all about herself...

Discussion question 1:  Jane Austen famously said that Emma was a heroine whom no one but her will much like.  What do you think of Emma?  Do you like her?

You can post comments here or on twitter.  Use #Emma!

Saying Goodbye Is Never An Easy Thing...

This is hard to write because like most people, I start believing that things will always stay the same and the thought of some kind of change seems scary.

However, I’m an adult and I do know that change happens and in order for us to grow, we have to evolve and move on.

As an Astros fan, I’ve had to learn this the hard way.  We grow to love our players and yet, sometimes…a lot of the time…we have to say goodbye to them.  Yes, it can hurt, but we trust in the people running the show that this is for the best.  Didn’t our parents tell us that time and time again as we grew up?

Over the years, we’ve bid farewell to many of our favorites and have wished most of them well (I’m looking at you, Carlos Beltran).

Yesterday, we found out that we’re losing another member of our Astros family.  No, not a player, but someone who changed the way many of us experience baseball.

Alyson Footer is leaving the Astros organization for a pretty sweet national gig with MLB and we do wish her well.  I’m sad that we will have to share her with all the teams but you can’t let someone who literally changed our lives just stay in one place her whole career.

Through Alyson, her Social Media Nights and her Twitter involvement I met a large group of really great people who have enhanced my life in so many ways.

I’m also honored to be able to call Alyson my friend & hope we can continue to share adult beverages together (off the clock of course) even after she moves on.

Because of Alyson & her Social Media phenomenon, I have met baseball players, met Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, road-tripped to Kissimmee for Spring Training with my AstrosTweeps, met my BFF Dave Raymond, attended countless Astroline broadcasts during the off season and have been to more games than I have in my entire life.  You see, before Alyson merged Social Media and Astros baseball, I was just a casual fan; I watched the games, I attended maybe once a month and I read a few baseball articles here and there. 

Now, the AstrosTweeps and I are immersed in it.  We live and breathe Astros baseball and we couldn’t be happier!

Astros fan were so lucky to have her as long as we did.  Now, our fairy godmother has to move on to change the lives of other baseball fans but her work here will never be forgotten.

Alyson Footer brought baseball closer to us all, and in doing so she brought us all closer together.

The Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

I finished this book around 10pm last night and as I put it down, I thought to myself, "I need to stop reading Murakami because I don't know what the hell just happened in this book." The thing is, that's what happens in all the books I read by Murakami; I never know what the hell is going on but for some reason, that's ok. Haruki Murakami has this bizarre way of writing that is so captivating and so lyrical that you can't stop, even if you realize you're reading about a talking sheep. I mean, what the hell? I wrote something similar about Kafka On the Shore but I guess sometimes, even in books, it's not about the destination but the journey. All at once, this book is a hard-boiled detective novel, a fantasy adventure, a shining example of postmodern literature and a commentary on modern Japanese culture. To describe Murakami's writing as "quirky" would be an understatement. It's bizarre but at the same time, it's charming and engaging. I surprise myself by hungering to read another one of his novels but this is a journey I'm not quite ready to give up.