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I’m a fair-weather fan. That means that I only care about sports when something big is going on AND a social event is taking place. For example, I love playing tennis. Did I watch any of the French Open? No, I did not. If it’s on TV when I walk in the room, I’ll watch it. Otherwise I don’t care.

When UT played the championship game against USC, I tuned into the second half. I keep my ears open for news of UT’s wins but I seldom seek out sporting events. I’m glad I watched that game since it is perhaps the most exciting football experience I’ve ever had. I wanted to see UT win and I knew that thousands of UT fans were all hoping the same thing at the same moment.

So now we have the world cup. I’ve never cared about the world cup. The only players name I recognize is David Beckham and that’s bc he’s married to a spice girl. Why then did I feel the need to take a long lunch today at a pizza place where I knew they’d be showing a world cup match? Because cheering in a room with a bunch of fans is fun; even if you don’t know who is playing for what team, it is exciting to get caught up in the moment.

I was lucky. I caught the second half of the Germany/Poland match which ended with a goal for Germany in “overtime.” That was so freakin’ cool. I might watch more matches now. It was just fun sitting there with a bunch of dudes in business suits, eating pizza, and screaming at the TV. At one point, the owner came and sat down by me. I guess the lunch rush had passed.

Oh, and soccer players are WAY hotter than football players. Just FYI.

I should go to bed. Really, I should. But I didn’t get up until after 12 and I’m just not that sleepy.

I am quite inspired by your blogs though. Dipu’s theme of turning points made me recall important moments in my life. Although they seemed normal at the time, now I look back and realize that they were major events that should not be shrugged off.

Lisa’s blog has inspired me to think more about why I eat certain foods and why I eat them in certain amounts. Her diagnosis of emotional eating has made me realize how strongly food is tied to my daily routine. It’s time for me to slow down on the late night dove chocolate snacking and web-surfing. Also, her lament over not exercising enough made me get up from my desk do some yoga before my bedtime shower.

Matt’s blog made me remember my HS and college buddies with whom I would spend many hours drinking beer and “authentic” renfest foot long margaritas while traipsing around the fairgrounds dressed as a beerwench. I miss those friends. I called one of them today.

Tamara’s blog has me looking at my vents suspiciously. *shudder* I hope the cats would notice if something was amiss. I hope.

Babs’s blog brought back memories of scary 80’s fashion. Has it been that long since poodle perms and sky high bangs?

And last but not least, Amy’s blog reminded me that everything comes full circle. It was a little over three years ago that she and her then-boyfriend Chris set Danny and I up on a blind date. Thank God we got off our computers long enough to meet one another. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Wedding update: We’ve set the date for May 6 in Dallas. Since it will be a small family affair, I’m tentatively planning a big party in Austin in a few months. Self-indulgent? A little. Worth it? Hell yeah! Will there be a margarita machine? Of course.

Make’em eat shit! Da daadadaadaaadaaadaaaaa.

If you’re not into Chrismahanakwanzaka, it’s time for Festivus!

from Wikipedia…

According to Seinfeld, Festivus is celebrated each year on December 23, but many people celebrate it other times, often in early December. Its slogan is “A Festivus for the rest of us!” An aluminum pole is generally used in lieu of a Christmas tree or other holiday decoration. Those attending participate in the “Airing of Grievances” which is an opportunity for all to vent their hostilities toward each other, and after a Festivus dinner, The Feats of Strength are performed. Traditionally, Festivus is not over until the head of the household is wrestled to the floor and “pinned.”

Get out yer festivus poles and get ta wrasslin! Yeehaw!

of Texas….

Sorry. That was lame, but hey! I do have a friend named Dipu and I did see him last weekend during my visit to Austin.

The trip was a lot a lot of fun. I was exhausted but it was from staying up late visiting with my family and friends. I went swimming often and imbibed many refreshing alcoholic beverages. I saw my friend Ted, his wife, and their beautiful baby girl Hazel. I swam at Barton Springs. I had tacos at Polvo’s and coffee at Mozart’s. I even went to the big new Whole Foods.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. Next summer, I’ll have to come back for at least five days and just play.

Today, is Cinco de Mayo. When Cinco de Mayo rolls around, I get a little warm fuzzy in my heart. Until this year, I wasn’t 100% sure what it stood for. I knew it had to do with a victory by Mexico over some country other than the US. It never really mattered to me. I just knew it was a time for celebration. As the Cake song goes

I don’t know much about Cinco de Mayo,
I’m never sure what it’s all about,
I say I love you, but you don’t believe me
You say you love me, but I have my doubts,
Oh baby, I was bound for Mexico.

A couple of weeks before Cinco, there would be ads on the radio about upcoming festivals. There would be signs up around Austin for events such as 5K walks and parades. Most of the ads, however, were for restaurants offering drink and dinner specials on Cinco. Therefore, I closely associate Cinco de Mayo with margaritas. It really is the perfect holiday. Like ringing in the new year with champagne, people in Texas ring in the summertime with good mexican beer and lots of tequila.

I do miss the drink specials, but I’m sure I can find some decent margaritas out here in California. Have a tall, frosty, frozen, sour, sweet, salty margarita for me and feliz Cinco de Mayo!

New Year’s Eve was a lot of fun…for me. Danny said he had a good time, but he was the designated driver and had to put up with all of us crazies, so I’ve been really sweet to him all weekend. Aasma was in town visiting her boyfriend, so she and her friend Jamie arranged the festivities. Danny and I picked up Greg, Aasma, and their friend Quinn at Greg’s parents house then drove down to a Korean restaurant on Geary to meet Jamie and her boyfriend. The restaurant was small, cool, and not too terribly trendy. We had a dinner reservation at 9:30, but got seated around 10. The DJ had a good mix of hiphop and R&B classics playing and we began our long night of drinking mystery sake or champagne drinks. The food was really good in my opinion, but they were really slow in serving us. Also, there wasn’t much to it. It was a couple’s dinner, but there was probably enough food for one person. To make up for the lack of food, I took Danny out to eat pizza the next night.

Anyway, we had a champagne toast at midnight and I think everyone had a good time.

Although going out for NYE was fun, staying home with the kitties is nearly as exciting. They have discovered their toys and attack them when they’re not busy attacking each other.

Danny and I both had today off, so we took them to the vet for their “free first exam.” Since they’d already been vaccinated, neutered, and all of that other good stuff, the vet just gave them a once over and said that she probably wouldn’t need to see them anytime soon. After getting home from their exciting trip, we all took a short nap on the bed together. Awwww….

At the beginning of the holiday season, I decided that I would try to eat healthy as often as possible. I realized that trying to control my appetite at parties and special dinners was ridiculous, but I would at least attempt to eat healthy during the week. I did fairly well, but this weekend I gave up completely. It all started with Danny’s Christmas party. At it, they served an assortment of cheeses, crackers, and they even had a chocolate fountain. Yes, it was a fountain made of chocolate. Remember those little punch fountains that they have at lame wedding receptions? Well, it was sort of like that only it oozed chocolate instead of dribbling pink punch. Surrounding the chocolate fountain were plates piled with fruits, marshmallows and small pieces of yellow cake. The idea was that you spear some fruit or cake with your fork and then run it under the chocolate waterfall. This was fun until, predictably, after making my second chocolate-covered cake piece, I dribbled melted chocolate on the front of my dress. Damn you tricky chocolate river of misery! How could you betray me like this? After that, I cleaned the chocolate off my dress (the dress was black, fortunately) and moved on to the cheeses and veggie trays.

Back to my sugar story… By the morning after the party, my resolution had gone to pot. I had french toast with sausage and extra syrup, followed by a lunch of pepperoni pizza. Please note that I DID have a diet coke, but that was only because it was the alternative to root beer. That night, I went all out and made Christmas sugar cookies with extra sugar decoration. They and the bits of cookie dough I devoured tasted pretty good. This morning, I looked in the mirror and what to my wondering eyes did appear but a big honkin zit in the middle of my chin. At least it’s not on my nose so that I resemble rudolph.

I doubt, however, that my sugar binge is over. I have yet to go home and eat homemade flan, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies - my favorite. Today, I plan to have salad for lunch, but we’ll wait and see what happens.

There isn’t a whole lot to report this week, but I’ll do it anyway! On Saturday, Danny and I made it an East Bay day. We drove over the bridge to Fremont for a late lunch, went to insanity mall in Milpitas which was even more insane than usual, then drove all the way up to Berkeley for a Christmas party. I really enjoyed the party. It was casual and I had someone to talk to the entire time. The food was good and Danny enjoyed the professionally mixed drinks. I say professionally because the hostess’s sister is a bartender and they had her set up with the blender and a large liquor supply.

After chilling at the party for a couple of hours, Danny, Sonya (book club buddy and former coworker) and I checked out some stores on University Avenue. We then went back to Sonya’s apartment to meet her cats and have some tea.

Yesterday, we grabbed some breakfast, ran some errands, made some phone calls, and in general had a relaxing Sunday night.

I don’t have any big plans for this week except to finish up my Christmas shopping and go to Danny’s company Christmas party on Friday night. I don’t know why they’re having it on Friday, but at least we’ll have the whole weekend to recover. Yeah right, like we party hard anyway.

Danny told me that his company is having a Christmas party. I’m excited because we get to dress up and party at some nice place in the city. I’m assuming it’s nice. It’s not a Chuck-E-Cheese so it’s nice. The party isn’t for another month but I’m ready to get all dressed up and hit the town. I don’t know if my company is having a party. My guess is that it isn’t, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. The last company Christmas party I attended was a full-blown formal event at the Four Seasons in Austin. This was before the economy bottomed out and one third of the employees were canned. That is also the first time I learned that it is NOT so much fun to come to work on Monday after getting trashed in front of your coworkers. Fortunately, most of them were somewhat trashed too. Ha!