rodeo

Carnival

Tonight, we attended the rodeo carnival. My husband and I went in with my brother and his wife, because a friend gave us some carnival packs he never ended up using or reselling. Plus, we had a few free ride tickets from the volunteer appreciation brunch the rodeo had this year (which was quite cool, by the way).

I think we all went into it a little tired, but game. And I think we all ended up having actually a really good time. We walked around a bit to get an idea of pricing and availability, and then we rode the gondola across first (after I got a corn dog with the food card we had). It was actually quite neat, but also slightly terrifying. Something about it just felt kind of janky, when compared to ski gondolas, and we had this paranoid feeling that our phones were going to plummet at any second, and our hats would go flying, forever lost to us. It also stopped twice, though briefly. That didn’t make it feel any better. But it was still cool, and I’m glad we did it. Definitely a fun view to have of the whole complex.

Then we all needed a bathroom break, so we went over to Center to use real bathrooms and to see the youth agricultural mechanics contest. My committeemen who told me about this contest were not wrong: these kids make aMAZing things. We talked with one girl who is a senior in high school, and she presented her project to us. It was an automated washer and dryer for sheep, goats, and cattle (they do this for showing constantly, and it is actually kind of hilarious to watch folks struggle to clean and dry these animals by hand). It was immensely sophisticated, it boxed up neatly for transport, and it took her over a thousand hours of labor, which she did by herself, and cost $24,000 in materials. She plans to patent it in the very near future, her siblings will use it for their show animals this next year, and she hopes to get it contracted for production and sale at about $80,000 a pop. Oh, and she also demonstrated its functionality for us with life-sized stuffed animals. That was both awesome and adorable.

Pretty neat, huh?

Then we wandered back to the carnival to use up our tickets. Should have done it earlier, we quickly discovered, because the place was packed and the lines were long now.

Nonetheless, they rode a swing ride, a spinning ride with almost no line, and another flipping-spinning ride that went super high up and, somehow, had an almost-zero line as we walked up to it (which didn’t last).

We spent the final tickets on a game we had seen and called unfairly priced early on, where you get to throw baseballs at overturned beer bottles and try to break them. But you only get two balls per turn and have to break two bottles. (So, if you miss the first, why bother throwing the second? Exactly.) However, we had tickets to spare and no one wanted to wait in any lines for rides anymore, so we went for it.

The boys enjoyed it and did not succeed in breaking the bottles. They did, however, succeed in getting tiny bits of glass all over their hands from the used baseballs that had been falling on the piles of broken bottles all day (and all rodeo, most likely). So, that sucked. After they washed their hands, it was immensely better, but not all the glass was gone, apparently. I’m just hoping it’ll be fully clear from my husband’s hands during his shower, so he can come to bed with fully clean and safe hands. I’m too sensitive for stuff like that, and probably would freak out for weeks if any ended up in the bed.

Anyway, we then went to the club we enjoy, partly just to use he tickets my mom had given us, but also so my brother and sister-in-law could try the awesome frozen (think frostie-style) Jack & Coke and the awesome Milk Punch (also called Rodeo Punch), a milky drink with nutmeg that is like horchata, but not. On the way, a girl from one of my committees was clearly leaving and she could tell we were going up to the club, so she handed me a handful of drink tickets she was not going to be using before tomorrow night. (Not like we needed those, but more to share! And we did both sue them and share them, which was great.) We still ended up with three drink tickets leaving in my hat, but those had been a gift in the first place, so no monetary loss on our family’s end, anyway, and more money for the kids (scholarship money).

We finally left to go home at eleven o’clock, all of us wiped. But the highways were actually open tonight, free from construction shut-downs, so it was a quick drive home for once. (Yippee!)

So, yes, another night both out and up late for me. And I had a very nice time with my family, doing something we don’t usually get to do. So, that was fun, and so am grateful.

Thank you, God, for such a nice time with my family and for keeping us safe. I love you. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Done

We are done with our rodeo shifts for this year’s rodeo. “We” being my mom and sister-in-law and I. My husband still had two more to go with my stepdad. But we are finished for the year now. We finished this afternoon. And then we had prime rib for having paid our dues early as a team, then tres leches for my miniature surprise birthday celebration. My brother brought the cake and the surprise, and my husband joined us, too, for the planned family hangout. We then strolled around with purpose, aiming to have the random terrible-for-you food stuff we had wanted to try this year. So, we each had a fried Oreo, we shared a funnel cake, my man and I shared a fried Snickers – actually, I like those lots better normal than fried, because it just seemed like warm crunchy peanut butter when fried (Not that it wasn’t good. It just wasn’t snickers.) – we considered some Fruity Pebbles things – it sounded kind of awful, in the end, either with friend shrimp or pineapple – we sat in absurdly expensive massage chairs that were so-so, and we watched some steer being judged in one of the youth shows for ‘lightweight’ steers, which are up to 1150 pounds… can you believe that is considered light weight?

Anyway, it was a good time. I am grateful to be done with shifts for the year and I am grateful to have had a good time with my family this afternoon and evening. Now, I shall sleep and truly relax.

Thank you, God, for the good time. Help me to recover well with my sleep tonight, please, that I may continue to improve our home tomorrow and the rest of this week. Help me to honor you through honoring my family and our home. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

I love volunteering with the rodeo. But things I love can become things I dread when I don’t get enough sleep. And that is somewhat the case today. I still love the rodeo and doing our shifts, but I found myself feeling worn out by the one committee and not being interested in our shift tomorrow morning, let alone the fact that we have another on Monday. I noticed that I could hardly wait to be done with the Monday shift, so I could be done with all my shifts for the year.

I think I’m just worn out in general.

Yes, from rodeo, but only in part. Mostly from work, I think. I have to strike a balance between doing all the stuff I really want to do for my students and what I’m actually being paid to do for my students – hint-hint: I’m paid roughly half a regular teacher’s salary this year, since the previous teacher quit right before school started – as well as between the two possibilities of whether I will be offered the position for real for next year or not, which determines whether I’m doing things one way now in preparation for next year or in preparation for leaving. And it’s a lot mentally, especially on top of all the regular stress of teaching I have in the first place. And on top of those caddy and rude girls in class… that, too.

And my sleep schedule has been wrong for me. I think I need to be absurd to society and go back to an 8:30pm bedtime. Lights out, goodnight. My body wants to be up before five AM, and I need to give it sleep when it will allow itself to sleep best, so that I can be my best.

Anyway, going to bed now, totally worn out but grateful to have had a delicious steak for dinner earlier.

Thank you, God, for my husband and our home. Please, help us both to be our best selves each day and night, always growing closer to each other and you. Keep us safe, please, and thank you for our food today especially. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Police

I love and support Police. I despise their quotas and the system of issuing traffic tickets. It is unfair, unkind, and truly unjust. I constantly see unsafe drivers, yet they receive no repercussions. Because the rodeo has begun and it is the end of the month, my husband got pulled over while exiting the highway… for going 60 miles per hour as he exited onto the feeder road. And he was given a ticket straight up for it.

What makes it worse is that half the information on the ticket isn’t even correct. It wasn’t daytime, it wasn’t medium traffic (it was 10:21pm and there were very few cars out), and his license plate is not even similar to the one listed. So, the officer didn’t even take the time to put the correct information. The entire pull-over process was completed within four minutes, from lights on to the officer completely gone.

Given that today is the last day of the month, all this information had us both wondering how many exact same tickets the officer gave today from that same location, getting people as they exited the highway, so they effectively would be speeding on the feeder road for three-to-five seconds.

But don’t worry about all the drunk drivers leaving the rodeo or the folks driving high, actively smoking in the car as they drive. Just be sure to meet those quotas. And then deny that they exist.

It is not justice… it just isn’t.

It really hurts to see a system so terribly implemented by an organization created to do good in society, to promote and to give safety and justice. Instead, they give $500 traffic tickets to people who have been actively working on driving not with traffic when traffic inevitably speeds, and who have just lost their jobs and can’t afford such a price. And they don’t bother pulling over the fancy cars, because those always get out of paying the ticket… which they actually can afford financially. So, we have inflated tickets prices for folks who can’t afford it, and most of the bad drivers never even see them, anyway. Ugh…

God, give us all justice, please, and help us to help each other alway to be better. Help us al to pursue and fulfill your will and give your justice and love on Earth. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Rodeo

Day one of rodeo is completed. And I am exhausted. Tomorrow is my birthday. I will go by the rodeo because I told folks I would go by and because I have some printouts I said I would do and bring. I might even attempt the pull-up challenge with the Marines if they are still out there, though I’ve been doing a terrible job with pull-ups and general strength lately. But, after that brief stop, I think I will head back out and go to dinner with my family. Have a nice dinner with good, loving company, and then go to bed early and happy…. yes, that sounds great. 😀

Thank you, God, for this life and its many gifts. Keep my husband and me safe, please, and help us always to pursue and fulfill your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Being of service

Today, there was much setting up done on the rodeo grounds here in Houston. I was volunteering for one of my committees. There were many times I could have left, but I stayed and worked more. I had hopes of getting something specific accomplished before leaving, but that didn’t happen. As I said to my husband on my way out, the true point of my being there was to be of service, and I was very much of service – I accomplished and helped loads. Though I was a bit sad and disappointed not to have achieved this one particular thing, and so have a tendency to be sad and disappointed about the whole day, I notice that I was actually very fulfilled every time I got to accomplish something for someone else. That is, I felt fulfillment in being of service.

Perhaps this is a big guide for me in life. In all that I do, I find true joy in making a difference for others.

Then again, there is also the thought that the reason I want to be of service is so that I become invaluable and thereby worthy of being loved.

However…

I once functioned that way. If I wasn’t being of service, I became somewhat stressed and panicked. I had to be of service. Because that was my unconscious way of guaranteeing love for myself. Once I saw that, though, I was able to do something about it.

When I am not of service now, I am not panicked. I do want to be of service. But I want to be of service. It is not longer a sort of necessity or obligation for me. It is something I can want freely, and do. And, when I am of service now, I find joy in sharing love. When I walk away from it, I am not crushed it is over or wonder if it was enough and if something will come along soon enough next… I just get to be happy about the service I gave.

So, that’s cool. I’m not sure I had really thought about that in recent years. And I may not have explained it well here, but the difference is massive to me, transformational, from back then to now. I love to serve, and I get to serve freely now. And I do it. And I love it. And I’m grateful for that.

I’m still bugged I didn’t handle what I had hoped to get done today (even though I did accomplish something very useful for myself and for many on my other rodeo team, which wasn’t expected for today), but I guess that’s okay. I didn’t speak up about what I wanted – I was embarrassed and opted not to ask. Okay, got it. Space for improvement next time. But I kept my integrity, which is more important to me than getting stopped by embarrassment on something that isn’t critical on any level. I’ve been working on speaking up, though, so I am still frustrated with myself. And it’s okay to be frustrated with myself. It’s part of my process of growing. I had a breakdown. Therefore, I now can have a breakthrough.

Work on the courage, babe. And, also, acknowledge when it feels greedy, and get clear on everything. Perhaps you need only share your concern of its being greedy to ask, and that will communicate clearly that you understand if the answer is no to the request. That’s okay. And it’s okay that you failed at this today. I’m still proud of you for keeping your integrity and for letting go of control many times today, especially considering that it often meant things being done less efficiently. Some people can only give certain service. Sometimes, being of service means letting people do things an inefficient way, so that they can contribute, too.

Thank you, God, for today. Thank you for the lessons of today. Thank you for my husband. I love him and am grateful for him constantly. Keeps us safe, please, and help us always to be our best selves through you, pursuing and fulfilling your will in our lives. Thank you. I love you, too. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Impressive

Today was the finals for the youth clay shoot that the rodeo hosts. My mom came and joined me to watch the kids shoot, and, by golly, these kids are impressive. Sure, some have tempers and others have varied emotional reactions to missing a clay they feel they should have been able to hit. But the amount of training that has to go into any level of natural talent for them to do what we saw them do today… that is dedication. Guns always make me nervous. Not a single moment today did I feel nervous being around the hundreds of shot guns these kids were handling and carrying around. They are capable and reliable regarding all things shooting, including safety.

And it’s all just really, really cool to see.

I am grateful to be a part of it, as well as a witness to it all. Thank you, God. Keep us all safe, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Well, then…

I was supposed to go to the rodeo with my friend and her husband and baby (and the husband’s stepmom) tonight. But the friend was so exhausted, she ended up not going. Therefore, I turned in my exhaustion card, too, and stayed home. So, it is 7pm, and I am already in bed and finishing up my bedtime routine.

I wasn’t joking when I said I was exhausted. While I would love to wake up early tomorrow, I have a feeling I will need all the sleep between now and 7am… we shall see!

Thank you, God, for this unexpected blessing of having plans cancelled. Help us all to sleep well tonight and to prices and release that which holds us back from loving you fully and pursuing and fulfilling your will on Earth. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Only at rodeo

Only at a rodeo meeting can I casually mention that I discovered that Willie Nelson is 90 years old now, and have someone respond, and absolutely unpretentiously, “Oh, yeah… He is. He’s a long-time personal friend of mine, you know.”

These people. What a beautiful mix we all are. I love it and I am grateful to be part of it.

God, please, continue to bless us all at the rodeo. Thank you for the blessings you have granted us thus far. Thank you for the love and the learning and the countless opportunities to make a positive difference for others and to share your love with the world around us. Thank you. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Rodeo Closing

Tonight, we said goodbye to RodeoHouston until next year. We hung in the wine garden, meandered and looked at school art in Center, hung in a couple clubs to have drinks and watch the rodeo, went into the Stadium to watch more of the rodeo and then Luke Bryan’s concert – including his current dad-bod – in great seats, ate some grilled meats and a funnel cake using our discounted food cards, had drinks and danced in one of the clubs, and then wandered around in the crisp and cool air after they closed down the club and kicked out everyone – and I still managed to be gifted a couple extra drink tickets that I never got to use, which was exciting!

My man danced with me – real dancing – and it was spectacular. It was spectacular.

He also danced with my friend who was with us. And he danced with this other lady. Her friend came up and asked us if she could borrow my man, not for herself but for her friend, just for one song. I told him it was a polka, and he then accepted the request – he could do polka decently enough for the task. I told the lady it was a polka and that it was just triple steps the whole time. They succeeded in dancing together. While they danced, the original lady who’d made the request explained to us that her friend had wanted to dance at least once. However, she was worried about guys grinding on her and humping her. So, her friend had said they just need to get a respectable guy. ‘He looks like a respectable guy and like he knows what he’s doing out here,’ she said about my man. ‘As long as she doesn’t get her ass smacked and tits grabbed, she’s good,’ she said about her friend. Fair enough, ma’am. Fair enough. 😛

Anyway, so, we had a great night. We used the rest of our drink tickets. We used a couple extra drink tickets that were given to us. We got to have a small adventure, the three of us (and my mom and stepdad earlier in the day, until we went into the stadium – they’d stayed in the club to watch the whole rodeo before going home). And it was really great.

Thank you, God. Thank you. Please, continue to keep us safe. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023