Playing Catch-up Again
Some fun things have been happening to me, lately.
I paid off my student loan last Friday! That was a relief, for sure. It only took me 9 and 1/2 years.
An amazing sunset photograph from Cornwall that I simply couldn't resist linking here.
John and I spent last weekend at the rodeo and I actually had a good time. I never did get my vintage Western shirt with the mother-of-pearl buttons, though. Probably, it was just as well. I arrived each day around noon, for the mounted grand entry (which is always my favourite part of a rodeo --- the way the flag-bearers spur their horses into a fast gallop around the arena is really awesome to see, and stirs something inside me that I used to call patriotism. The rodeo itself was poorly attended, which was a shame, but did allow me to watch some of the events and not have to worry about a crush of people at the vendor's booth, overwhelming John.
My favourite of the events was probably the Wild Drag Race. It sounds really silly, but it was actually a dangerous event. A cowboy and cowgirl have to drag a steer by a rope, out of the chute, and part way into the arena where a drag "queen" (often just a cowboy in a skirt) has to mount the steer and ride it back towards the chute. There were several contestants for this event, and it was very entertaining.
I also got to meet Mark Weigle, which was a thrill for me. He's a sweet guy, really. We knew about Mark because of his past involvement with various Bear events, and his cover of the great song "Bears".
John got him to come over to our booth so they could talk about Tapelenders selling Mark's CDs. I remained my usual shy self around him, and when he was leaving, he grinned a big grin, shook my hand and complimented me on my "cute smile." I was in that weird celebrity daze for a while, after that. John bought me his last 2 CDs, and got Mark to autograph them --- one says "To Mickey, at TGRA XX Rodeo" and the other says "Mickey -- thanks cute stuff!" Yike, he called me "cute!"
Last night was the annual "Dining for Life" night at Austin's best restaurants. On this day, a certain percentage of the bill goes to AIDS Services of Austin. The Cubs had called us and invited us to dinner with them, and we decided to try Castle Hill Cafe, a very nice, kinda expensive, place to which I'd never been before this. It turned out that there were 7 of us for dinner --- Roy, John and myself, Jack & Mike (the Cubs), Steve, and Ed. Together, we spent $350. I kept telling myself it was for charity, and that helped me enjoy the appetizer, main entree, and creme brulee for dessert. We were all happy bears when we finally squeezed out the door, around 10:30pm.
Everything else is going pretty much okay. There's some other stuff I want to say, but that'll have to wait. I have to get my body home and ready myself for some hot work in the garden.
I paid off my student loan last Friday! That was a relief, for sure. It only took me 9 and 1/2 years.
An amazing sunset photograph from Cornwall that I simply couldn't resist linking here.
John and I spent last weekend at the rodeo and I actually had a good time. I never did get my vintage Western shirt with the mother-of-pearl buttons, though. Probably, it was just as well. I arrived each day around noon, for the mounted grand entry (which is always my favourite part of a rodeo --- the way the flag-bearers spur their horses into a fast gallop around the arena is really awesome to see, and stirs something inside me that I used to call patriotism. The rodeo itself was poorly attended, which was a shame, but did allow me to watch some of the events and not have to worry about a crush of people at the vendor's booth, overwhelming John.
My favourite of the events was probably the Wild Drag Race. It sounds really silly, but it was actually a dangerous event. A cowboy and cowgirl have to drag a steer by a rope, out of the chute, and part way into the arena where a drag "queen" (often just a cowboy in a skirt) has to mount the steer and ride it back towards the chute. There were several contestants for this event, and it was very entertaining.
I also got to meet Mark Weigle, which was a thrill for me. He's a sweet guy, really. We knew about Mark because of his past involvement with various Bear events, and his cover of the great song "Bears".
John got him to come over to our booth so they could talk about Tapelenders selling Mark's CDs. I remained my usual shy self around him, and when he was leaving, he grinned a big grin, shook my hand and complimented me on my "cute smile." I was in that weird celebrity daze for a while, after that. John bought me his last 2 CDs, and got Mark to autograph them --- one says "To Mickey, at TGRA XX Rodeo" and the other says "Mickey -- thanks cute stuff!" Yike, he called me "cute!"
Last night was the annual "Dining for Life" night at Austin's best restaurants. On this day, a certain percentage of the bill goes to AIDS Services of Austin. The Cubs had called us and invited us to dinner with them, and we decided to try Castle Hill Cafe, a very nice, kinda expensive, place to which I'd never been before this. It turned out that there were 7 of us for dinner --- Roy, John and myself, Jack & Mike (the Cubs), Steve, and Ed. Together, we spent $350. I kept telling myself it was for charity, and that helped me enjoy the appetizer, main entree, and creme brulee for dessert. We were all happy bears when we finally squeezed out the door, around 10:30pm.
Everything else is going pretty much okay. There's some other stuff I want to say, but that'll have to wait. I have to get my body home and ready myself for some hot work in the garden.