Tough Day At The Races

Hey people. So remember that race I went to last Sun? Here's a Video I made of it. The song is by Brad Sucks, "Look and feel years younger."

It's pretty chronological footage. It was such a hard slog for those guys. They apparently have the same weird thing I do where they semi-enjoy that feeling that you're about to die of a heart attack. Look for a pirate flag near the end if you really want to see someone coming into the finish line on heart alone-- It's my pal Rich, who hadn't eaten enough before the race and had run completely out of gas.



They're having another race Sun that I'll probably miss. I'm driving 1400 miles with Dan to buy a 10 year old used car. Don't ask. Hopefully it will wind-up being just what he wants-- a cheap, no frills, all-wheel-drive car to drive to work and back.

Remember-- next week "Gettin' it on Feb" starts-- oh screw it. I like Effin' Feb better. Actually, I like the more profane version of that better, but by next week I might be in a better mood. So we'll just have to see what I call it--- but whatever--- Prepare yourself for some bangin' tunes. Literally.

Just a ps-- This trip is a friggin NIGHTMARE so far, but more on that later... assuming I make it back north of the Mason-Dixon line at some point.

Get your doll on

Hey people. Couple of doll things for you today. First up is THIS LINK (sorry, pic didn't want to cooperate). It takes you to this woman's site who makes babies out of marzipan that are completely amazing. They look totally real. Not sure how she does it-- or more bizarrely why, but they are worth a look for sure. (Thanks Judy- who sent me the info.)

Next up is a video of a local punk band, "Babes in Toyland." Their wiki says their last activity as a band was a reunion tour & album in 2001, but they were kind of a big indie deal in the 90's. This vid features creepy dolls behaving badly so i knew you'd dig it. The song, "He's my thing" is kind of a preview of Feb. Kind of. Mostly it just goes with my current mood. More after the vid-- (Thanks Maery, for reminding me about this song.)

Babes in Toyland |MTV Music

In other SueNews:

I'm not into Valentine's day, but for some reason have gotten it into my head Feb should be "Gettin' It On Feb" here on the blog (because "effin' Feb" is just a little too coarse.) So all month I'll be featuring music to get busy by, along with other stuff. If anyone has any questions or wants to be set up or anything, I'll see what I can do. I'm quite the lay-relationship therapist. ;)

Writing is going good. The latest novel, "Threat Level Amber" is on track, for now.

Art is going awesome. I was wielding mondo mojo the last week or so making a little heron for a client's birthday and it came out swee--eet. You can check that out on the art blog later today.

Been kind of a tin foil beanie week around here. "I am the greatest man that ever lived..." "I suck and suck and suck and suck and suck." Probably not a bad thing I'm leaving for a few days to go pick up a car Dan bought in Fla. Poor Dan will be trapped in a car for hours and hours with head case me though. Send him good vibes. I should probably make him his own beanie.

My dumb tibia is being an ass again. I went running one day and now it hurts to walk. I'm super bummed. I'm going to go back to the doctor and try to get some better imaging done. Last time I had it checked YoungDoctorHandsome just pressed his thumbs up and down it torturing me and said, "We should have put the rod in," and turned me loose, saying, "It might always hurt." Not effing good enough. I'm pissed about this in case you can't tell.

Fri a Vid will post from the mountain bike race I went to last Sun. More Brad Sucks, who is awesome, so check it out.

Keep voting for the team name from the last post-- Team RAWR is in the lead so far.

That's it. Later peeps. Stay cool, and weird.

Hillside Hijinx, and-- help me and Pam pick our team name

Hey people. They were at it again yesterday-- the nutballs at the mountain bike trail (Hillside Park in ER) had another race. Last time it was below zero. Yesterday was nicer as far as extremities not solidifying and falling off, but the warmer temps softened-up the trail. Riders reported it was like riding in 10 to 12 inches of mashed potatoes.

Hard slogging to be sure. They came prepared, and a little snow and ice is not going to stop these guys (and two girls), but, conditions being what they were, only people with specialized large wheel bikes called pugs could race. Everyone who showed up with a normal mountain bike was out of luck. One guy made it one lap on a regular bike out of sheer craziness & stubbornness & apparently legs of iron, but the race was a lap and a half so he only got the bragging rights for his effort.

Even the pug riders-- generally the most elite/serious of the racers-- were practically passing out at the finish line. Well, not all of them. A few managed to bust out a wheelie, but they were certainly less frisky than they usually are after a race. It spanked them pretty hard yesterday. I'm always amazed at what they're able to do. Incredible. Legs + heart + a little craziness = mtb racer.

I just went to hang out and take video (I'll post that when I finish it, later in the week (?) ). I'll take about any excuse to tromp around in the woods, and like the vibe of the mtb crowd. Since I'm not good enough to really race (or even ride in the winter yet), it's fun to watch them. And, turns out, I like making videos. So I hung out with scratched racer Samantha and Kristin (Mrs. CoolTrailBossRich) and invented peep brule. (I don't know how to make that little accent deal over the "e". Peep "broolay")

The peeps weren't really in favor of this idea.

Unfortunately, some peeps were harmed in the making of this treat.

People scoffed. But they were an intoxicating combination of revolting and delicious. I think they'd have been even better if they weren't 2 to 3 years old and hard as peep rocks.

In other SueNews:

Remember when me and TPam rode the Urban Assault Ride last year? Our team name, you may recall, was "Finger Twist Of Doom", named after my trademark menacing pointy gesture.

Well, saddle up. We're doing it again. We have to sign up by Jan 31 to get an entry fee discount and need a team name again. Here are the finalists. We're letting you guys vote, so tell us your favorite, or if you have any other really good suggestions. We need to pick by Thurs a.m., because I'm leaving town for a few days.

Here's the list (in no particular order):

Pedal Pushers
Famous & Adjacent
Playing to win
Nacho Mama
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Team RAWR (random, awesome, wicked rowdy)
2 fools, 2 bikes
Off The Edge
Trophy Wives
Dorkalicious
As Yet Unsigned

Devil cuts loose...

Hey people. Today's pick for Fav Music Friday is totally unexpected. I was reminded of this song last night when I met with a bunch of people from my last major employer. We all worked for a small chain of furniture stores where there was specific approved music that could be played. Occasionally an employee's personal music would make it into the mix. This was one of those songs, and it was so out of place, when it came on it would almost be like someone just shot off a cannon in the store.

By my last year at this place I was so thoroughly burned-out, I absolutely HATED it. When this song would play it would be one of the few flickers of life in my day. I'd be super pumped someone was actually allowed to scream at the top of their lungs and get away with it. Check out Bjork--



It was really fun seeing these guys last night. It turned out to be only a small group, and I knew everyone except one gal, who seemed really fun. (She said she remembered me, had started about two weeks before I left. Our only exchange apparently involved me telling her "I fucking hate this place." Nice huh? Not very awesome of me.)

I haven't worked there for about 15 years. Funny how memory works. I was there for 10 years (gulp), and most of that time was spent being super into it. But after I *won at managing* and decided that wasn't the field I wanted to be in, I did spend one or two of the longest years of my life waiting for my profit sharing to vest so I could quit and not walk away from big dough.

The people there last night never even knew awesome me, only sick of the place, hating her job me. They all seem like really cool funny people, but I never even really bothered to get to know them because I was so mentally out the door. They were all really nice and acted glad to see me anyway.

The person I was especially happy to see, was an old, really good friend-- the guy who invited me to this shin-dig. We actually were friends in high school, and have somehow managed to keep cropping up in each other's lives. He still looks great and handsome and happy, and is living in the same cool old south Minneapolis home with his partner- another former co-worker.

It was fun seeing all those guys, and I'm glad everyone seemed to have happy lives now, including me. :) Maybe now I'll quit having those nightmares about this place, and those dreams where I'm beating the crap out of my old boss. Closure anyone?

Weird, but cool-- and just plain weird.

Hey people. This first Weird Wed item falls into the amazing category, more than the usual run of the mill "weird" zone. A friend sent it to me, and with how helpless and kind of hopeless I've been feeling this week, it kind of came along at a good time. Check it out:

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant. Make sure you read as well as listen forward and backward. This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Maybe there is hope yet huh? This resonates more with how I usually feel about things. I think I'm just having an off week.

Something is going on tomorrow that is bound to be pretty darn weird. Some of you who only know the present day me might be surprised to learn back in my regular job days I actually took "my career" very seriously. I didn't do art, had set that aside as something I was good at but was useless, and only wrote procedural or policy type stuff. I had, like, a whole staff of people etc. At one point I had 18 employees (it was a small company, not, you know, 3M or anything).

Okay-- yeah, that was never really my style. But I was intent on being "the best," and eventually became known as someone who could fix problems. I was given the most problematic locations, and employees, at one time assigned to reprogram a demoted manager. I was all about operations (policy), and gross profit margins, and motivation.

Totally weird to me now.

Anyway, I'm supposed to get together with a bunch of ex-employees of this company tomorrow night. I have no idea if anyone there will have been from any of my staffs, or if I'll even remember them. But it will be pretty freaking weird getting tossed back into that world for a night. The blue hair is bound to freak some of them out.

Glad I can just go back to my new life afterwards.

I so could care less "who they are wearing".

Hey people. This post is going to be "one of those" because I'm feeling a bunch of stuff this morning that needs to come out. I'm pretty scattered. Bear with me. Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

First of all, I didn't want to write about Haiti, but then again, can't stop thinking about it. Seeing all that suffering is horrible, and I feel so much empathy for the doctors who rushed down there, and are now drowning in a seemingly limitless ocean of injured and dead, without the proper supplies or enough personnel to help. What a nightmare.

When I see the footage of the fallen buildings, I can't imagine how they'll ever get the rubble cleared away, much less rebuild. What no one is talking about-- yet-- is that if there was some kind of magic time machine to put everything back the way it was before the quake, Haiti would still be an awful, poverty stricken, corrupt, shit hole. It's so depressing-- the thought that the whole world is down there desperately trying to help, when the best case scenario is to get it back to being super shitty.

Sorry to be such a drag, but that's how I'm feeling about it this morning. The colonialism/slavery that so many societies were born of has left scars I'm not sure can ever be healed. It all just seems so broken.

Deep breath.

Shake it off.

On a more positive note, I saw the coolest documentary this weekend on PBS. Check out the trailer first, then I'll tell you what I liked so much about it.



"Should I stay or should I go now" "It's always please, please, please. You're happy when I'm on my knees." OMG-- that song used to be my total anthem. (one of them anyway) (loved screaming along)

Old people scare the crap out of some of us don't they? Actually- specifically-- mortality does. And old people remind us of our own.

If you've always liked rock/punk/alt, I think you'll find the way these people-- many of whom are facing the end of their lives-- interpret these songs-- which are completely foreign to them-- extremely moving. If you are not a rock person, I think you'll be surprised at the emotional power these songs contain, when you hear them filtered though this very different perspective.

The thing that really struck me about the old people in this film, was how even though they are physically breaking down, they remain open to new things-- music in this case, and recognize leaving their comfort zone, while difficult, is extremely stimulating. They are trying to stay plugged in to the world in whatever way they are able-- right up to the end. Track it down if you can. You won't be disappointed.

It's scary to think about aging, and losing physical prowess, but reassuring to see that even when/if that happens, there is still adventure and brand new things you can expose yourself to, to feel like you're plugged in. I think it's something you have to consciously pursue though.

I had more for today but this is already long and kind of heavy, so that's it. Have a good Mon. Think about staying open and maybe getting out of your box. Tell me what you think about all this.

I am the greatest man that ever lived. Yeah, I said it.

Hey people. Today's Fav Music Friday pick is one I've been saving since I first found it back the the warm months. Some of you know I like me some Weezer once in a while. Their song, "I am the greatest man that ever lived" never fails to lift my mood. The unabashed, tongue-in-cheek swagger of it makes me laugh the same way the book title, "A heartbreaking work of staggering genius" does (and if you can picture a woman in her forties stomping around her welding shop singing along, that is pretty funny too.)

Enjoy the amazing, gravity defying skiing in the vid. More on that after.



I love watching footage of people doing things like this. For one thing, they have to be a little crazy, but it's way more than that. I see the same essential thing when I watch really talented boarders, skaters, riders, and surfers--

They have internalized the physics of their bodies falling through space. They get how they are weighted, and have an internal clock ticking off their hang time. In many cases they understand this intellectually-- they have to, to some extent, to be able to self-correct etc, but I suspect that knowing, pales in comparison to the inarticulate certainty inside them. They go by feel I think.

A couple other things- They've shed their fear. I'm sure it's still there to some extent, but they're so focused on chasing the high of when it feels totally perfect- that overrides it. The joy/energy buzz is stronger than their fear.

Also, they look where they're going or where they want to go. Look at some of the footage again. Their heads turn very decidedly in the direction they want their bodies to go.

Warren Miller (entertainment) shot this footage. He's a ski film legend who spent his whole life skiing and surfing, and making one feature length ski film a year since 1950. He's been indie the entire time. Now he's in his eighties and isn't really involved in doing the films anymore, but his company, now run by his son, goes on, documenting amazing skiers and boarders.

All this-- following something you love doing, sharing it with the world, feeling yourself falling through space and time, trying to let your joy override your fear, trusting your instincts, and looking where you want to go, all sounds like really good advice on how to live your life to me.

Unexpected Texas weirdness...

Hey people. First of all let me say the ART BLOG (look right) should be up again Thurs for anyone interested in that stuff, so head on over if you want to maybe win something.

Now for Weird Wed. Remember my trip to Texas? The flatness? The sisterness? Here's some more stuff from my trip.

There is exactly one store down there (that we found) that has the kind of funky old stuff from Mexico you'd hope to find. Stuff like this awesome metal bird.

And this super cool old hand-painted cabinet. If I'd had a few grand and trailer, my whole house would be full of this stuff right now, but alas. I was limited to just looking.

But I wouldn't come away empty handed. Way back in a corner was a rack of the strangest collection of postcards I've ever seen. Some were based on Mexican bingo like these, and to be expected.

But then when I swiveled the rack I saw I had stumbled upon some really primo disurbia-- Down there people just don't get weird, don't DO weird, not intentionally. Axman would never exist down there. The only weirdness you run into is stuff like the neon flocked Christmas trees, that sadly some people think are "pretty."

I was so pumped-- behold! (you may have to click on pics to fully appreciate the bizarreness) : Prom queen laying on king sized bed of grapefruits! Next to--Giant American Flag! Flanked by - (As sis called it)-- Hot, slutty dancer wasting her efforts on clearly gay guy. And-- Some kind of skeleton apocalypse. Awesome combo, whoever arranged this!


Next we have-- Young Sean Connery reflecting on his career. Some woman trying to brainwash her child into thinking domesticity is *fulfilling*, and the future baddest-ass in his nursing home. (Give it 60 years or so...)


Wow-- those angels are total pervs. Reverse divine pedophilia? A tribute to coffee and doughnuts, and er... spoons. And for some reason-- a blood sport. 10 points of you can find any relationship at all. Bueller?


Just to remind you we're like, 20 miles form the border-- some Jesus-y stuff! (or as I keep pointing out-- It could just be some random hippy-- How do we know?) In the first one he's being fawned over by Mary (I guess) and probably his common law wife, Mary M, who he turned into a fairy, while smart alecky people like me roast in hell! (Enjoy this tableau while you can judgey pious people. I'll be annoying you well into the after-life too, from the comfort of my pimped-out cloud.)

Don't ask me what the hand is about, but there are disembodied, winged heads hovering around it. On the bottom are the Rat Pack, and of course, Poker Playing Dogs. Naturally.


Claudia Shiffer making-out with Elvis. Sis's hubs making her pick up Lego's, in the fifties (This is like an excerpt from the kind of erotic dream he'd have. Sad huh?). "Save the date Mexico"?? Some lady who has locked her kid inside a toy box and is patiently waiting for her manhattan.

The most awesome postcard ever-- if you write kid's books. I actually turned this into my Twitter avatar for now. Look at the look on the kid's face--- this is how I fantasize my writing will be someday, (but make the kid about 15)--- underground (to parents), mesmerizing (to kids), and deliciously subversive. LOVE.

Rock on peeps. Stay weird. Remember, always taking submissions.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll possibly offer me medical advice

Hey people. Hopefully you survived the Tourette's inducing cold last week. There was one night when me and a friend went out and the cold air assaulting us on the way to our car unleashed a Steve Carell-getting-his-chest-waxed string of profanity.

This is what the most commonly used door to our house looks like right now. Our front door entrance was never really finished properly. There is a space for a sidewalk leading from the very dished 27 year old dirt drive, but no actual walk, just grass. Everyone just walks around to the back. In winter forget it. No one wants to tromp through our whole snowy yard.

So, after some standing around in the driveway surveying the house, people usually approach our garage door where they now find this helpful sign.

After wading past the six bikes, snow blower, firewood, art supplies etc, they come to the door to our house. Note open switch box with mysterious LIVE wires hanging out. The guy who built our house had Alzheimer's before he died and was fond of doing non-essential, (non-sensical, actually), electrical work.

Also note the post-it notes that act as our security system. Most people are still a bit befuddled once they reach this point so some instructions seemed necessary.






So far so good. :)

In other SueNews:

I think I broke my ass you guys. I fell skiing a couple weeks ago. It wasn't a huge fall, and the hill wasn't even that big, but I managed to fall straight back onto my tailbone. It still hurts and is beginning to piss me off.

Yesterday I tried riding the mountain bike trail for the first time. I have really missed riding, and it felt great to be hovering over Penny again, even if she drifted around a little, sliding on the snow. My pac boots did the job-- I figure most guy's feet are about as big as my boots anyway and they manage. The chopper mitts-- not so much. Couldn't really shift, and had a choice between hanging on OR breaking which made it kind of interesting. The main problem though was my tailbone.

Every pedal stroke was pretty much agony. This isn't a bruise thing, more like a pinched nerve thing.

I also have been still skiing, and I don't have as much kick because pushing off hurts. Eventually the extension behind seems to loosen it up, but climbing hills hurts. Mountain biking has, of course, ruined me for ordinary fun and the downhills are no longer exciting enough and all have to be bombed and still aren't thrilly enough. But they do distract me from the hurtiness. :)

BUT-- my butt you guys!!! I don't know if this is a case of keep doing stuff that hurts to get it over it faster, or if I'm delaying the healing by irritating it. Riding really hurt, making it frustratingly less fun than anticipated.

Any ideas???

You haven't cried yet you say? What about the crying? Well, get ready. Even you manly dudes may want to have a tissue handy.

Several people have brought this to my attention-- a vid about a service dog who flunked out of his program, only to become a surfing dog, helping paralyzed surfers. Amazing.

It might get loud...

Hey people. Welcome back to Fav Music Fri. Below is a trailer for a vid I rented a couple weeks ago- a documentary about the creative journeys of U2's Edge, Jack White (kaBLAM- head explodes), and rock legend Jimmy Page (Led Zep).

Check it out-- the opening sequence (where Jack MAKES a guitar out of a board, a couple of nails, and an old coke bottle, then plays it with a socket) alone is worth the price of admission.



I'm curious to hear how people who aren't really that into rock receive this. If anyone checks it out-- get back and comment. I found it fascinating- learning about how the different sounds are produced and the ways these guys think about music.

The coolest thing of all though, was seeing how they have really allowed their creativity and passion rule their lives, and determine the paths they took. I was especially delighted by Jimmy Page.

You think of aging rockers as being kind of road worn and tattered from having lived a very hard life of drugs etc, but he didn't give off that at all. He seemed very happy, and the joy he still takes in playing and listening to music is obvious. He kind of radiated joy. Awesome!

Anyway, I really recommend this documentary. It totally sparked me to get going on my own creative stuff.

Speaking of...
In other SUE NEWS:

I'm over 12k (words) in on my new project-- a novel about a girl who's trying to hide the fact that she's all on her own in the world, while doing battle with a very bad guy. The working title is "Threat Level Amber" because her name is amber, and- taking a lot of cues from things her mom taught her about how the world works, and the book "The Art Of War", she becomes pretty formidable.

This weekend I got invited to a reading by an author I really admire. Her agent is the agent I want. I've had some online interaction with her, but I was stunned she actually remembers me and took the time to invite me personally. Can't wait to meet her in person!

It feels really good to be writing again and pulled into that world. But the other world is pulling too.

Art stuff is kind of simmering on the back burner. Next week I fire up the shop again. I have 2 commissions waiting, and a bunch of stuff to begin planning for the coming year. I'm going to approach things a little differently this time around. More on that later.

I'm still pretty heavily involved in grandma stuff. She's definitely in decline. It's weird, being at the end and knowing it. We talked about her trouble breathing yesterday. She said at night when she's having shortness of breath in bed she just tells herself to calm down. She knows it's not going to get better. She's afraid to leave her apartment because she knows even a common cold will kill her at this point. Her life is reduced to breathing, & food and water in and out, broken up by a lot of t.v. and a little reading.

It's come down to just trying to help her be as comfortable mentally and physically as possible while waiting around to die. Seeing this, and how helpless she's become, has made me think squirreling away a bunch of Ambien is an excellent idea. When I'm like, 125 and fading fast, I think it would also be an excellent time to take up heavy drinking.

Weird Wed is back

Hey people. Welcome back to normal life. No more holiday garbage for roughly 12 months-- Yay! Time for the weirdness to ensue! (Hang in there creepy doll people-- You're heads will explode shortly.)

One thing about living where I do that might be weird to some of you guys who live in warmer places, is that our whole way of life changes in winter-- especially our wardrobes! It can be liberating. Some days you don't have to try AT ALL. No need to bother with hair and make-up when you're just going to don your blizzard burka.

Working for myself, and not having a ton of art orders right now, (galleries are super slow this time of year) it's easy to not leave the house all day except for whatever outsidey adventure I decide to get up to (a must). There are days when I just write all day (my so far non-paying other job) and don't even get dressed until it's time to throw on the kitty hat. Glam central. (not)

When you do what I do, you can get away with rather a lot in this department. People just chuckle and go, "Oh you creative types-- so eccentric!" --Yes. It is awesome.

So when we decided to have a few friends over New Years Eve for a casual get together-- playing wii and munching etc, Dan was kind of shocked to come home and find me in this get-up. That's right-- the Gold Pants Of Awesomeness! (*tip*-- if you add "of awesomeness" to anything, it automatically increases the radness of whatever it is by 50 points. *True Fact*)

I was like-- "What?-- I'm wearing this." (it was a joke) (but I strung him along for a while) You may remember these are the same pants me and my sister changed into last Christmas, causing our Grandma's eyes to bug-out.

Here's him coming home from a hard day's work. "Uh, what the hell are you wearing?"

Poor Dan. If anyone is ancient enough to remember the old Pink Panther movies from the 70's, Dan coming home is at times comparable to Inspector Clueseau coming home to Kato. He never knows if I'll leap down half a flight of stairs and show off my pretending to kick him in the head ability in my super gal shirt or if I'll be barely responsive-- typing away in the living room.

Look, here he is a few minutes later. He literally CAN'T LOOK AWAY people. The GPOA (goldpantsofawesomeness) have him in their spell!

Shortly after this photo I went up and changed into my not quite as awesome but still pretty rad purple cords. Hey-- gotta keep us entertained right? Defeat the boringness people!

Okay okay-- I can feel you getting all impatient for your creepy dolls all the way through the internet. Here. Here, just TAKE THEM ~throws at you.

Warning-- Creepiest. Ever. (Just so no one has a heart attack-- at the very end Regan from The Exorcist appears and screams really annoyingly.)



Apparently this is a thing now. People are making their own "living dead dolls" and making music videos with them etc. Wow huh? Who'd 'a thunk?

Along the "defeating the boringness" lines-- someone sent me this link (thanks Maery)-- for the Art Sled Rally at Powderhorn Park-- Jan 31st, 1 pm. Looks like a blast to check out!
See ya Fri.

Welcome to those feisty teen years

Hey people. It's the "Oh tens!" So far so good on the new decade-- went for an awesome "bracing" ski with the newest recruit to my girl posse of awesomeness-- T-rose-- on New Years Day, accidentally did a little powder baja-ing in the Suby Sat at the trail and helped haul some firewood for the first winter race of the year, (thanks Rich & Dan for helping push me around), and yesterday (Sun) went and hung out at the race.

I'm def going to have to de-wuss and ride the trail this winter. Mah girl Sam, (look for her at the end of the vid riding into the finish line) RACED, and it was her first time riding the trail in winter ever! (See? Me = wuss)

Enjoy the vid -- The music is Brad Sucks, natch ("Dropping out of school"). Oh-- some guy got shot off his ride by a roman candle-- anyone witness this? Hopefully he's okay.



You know how I always complain about not having enough people to play with? I think I've finally found my tribe. At first I was shy of showing up at these events because I'm new and not a very good rider yet, and thought people would be like, "What's she doing here?" -- But they're not at all.

Everyone is really cool and friendly. Some people race, some just come to support friends who are riding. Of the racers, very few are riding to win. It seems like 95% of them are just in it for the kicks-- just racing the clock/ themselves, and going for the group activity effect.

Almost all of these folks sound like they're up for other hijinx too. I'm going to start recruiting for the Urban Assault Ride (which me and T-Pam are totally doing again this year if anyone has any good team name ideas.)

My riding goals for '10 are:
To ride the trail this winter
To conquer all the features next season (not have to walk anything)
To ride a 45 min lap

What are some of your goals for the next year?

New video

Hey people. Since everyone is likely shivering inside bored this weekend I thought I'd post this. It's basically a not very good video of me and Dan messing around in the snow last weekend. At 1:02 you can see him nailing me right in the back of the head with a snowball.

I really like this Brad Sucks song. You can show him some love at Bradsuck.net-- good tunes cheap. Enjoy. (Edit to add: since someone asked- the end that is cut off I'm saying "Just deal w/ it-- It's BORING." @ Dan. Poor Dan. I'm a handful, in case you can't tell.)

Happy Birthday 2010-- and Sis!

Hey you hungover barely functional people. Hope everyone had a good time last night be it mellow or rowdy. Today is my sister Kate's Birthday so everyone send her a good vibe okay?

Katie-- I hope you're spending it doing at least ONE thing that's all about you! (Katie's life is WAY different than mine, and she doesn't often get to, let's just say, indulge.)

Having a birthday on New Years Day can be a bummer. When she was little we'd always go out for a nice dinner. Luckily she really likes Chinese food, because that was all that was ever open.

For her 21st I had this big plan of renting a limo that was supposed to get us into all the swank clubs without waiting in the lines or paying cover charges etc-- it was all "included in the package," plus hotel rooms downtown. Turned out to be a total rip-off, we didn't get in any bars, and the hotel treated us like second class citizens because we were young and they were worried we were going to trash the place. The elevators broke down and we had to walk up to the millionth floor, and when we finally got up there cops were walking down the hallway physically shoving everyone into rooms with nightsticks out, like we were cattle or something.

I was still me-- so feisty enough to be all pissed and outraged-- but was young, and not savvy enough to know the proper way to bitch and get results. It was a bit of a let down, but sis acted like it was super fun anyway, and we did spend it together so not a total fail.

She's way different than me, and sometimes says the most amazing, smart things. Recently I was getting all irate about her stich (her hubs is kind of a selfish jackass at times). She doesn't get fighty like me. Her first instinct is to smooth ruffled feathers. (I know. Can you believe we came from the same womb? Half the time I want to go down there and punch the world in the face for her.)

Anyway, I was getting all pissed, wanting her to fight harder for herself over some trivial point, and she said the way she sees it, the most important thing is to not get sucked into the negativity. To not let someone else's bad attitude change her, take away from her essential Katie-ness. That is more important than winning some argument.

Is that genius or what? If her Katie-ness gets diminished the terrorists win for sure!

Anyway, she is probably the funniest person in my life, and even though we think way different about stuff, can talk about anything, and are always, always and forever in each other's corners and I just feel so lucky to have her.

Happy Birthday Sis!