Friday, August 24, 2012

Room by Emma Donoghue



Room by Emma Donoghue is a novel about a young woman who was abducted as a teenager and held captive in a storage shed. The story begins seven years after her abduction and she has a five year old son, Jack, who is unaware that anything exists outside of the room. He believes everything he sees on his television set is imaginary, including the people, and knows that a man comes to deliver supplies and a bonus ‘treat’ on Sundays. The mother has built a routine for the child and created impressive imaginary games to keep them occupied throughout the day, but when Jack starts to question things he sees on television, the mother devises an elaborate plan for their escape—and it works!

Their adjustment to the outside world is the second part of the book and things we take for granted such as sunlight, fresh air and special relations, are experienced by Jack for the first time and so scary for him. The media is hard on the duo and almost proves too much for the mother. The book was a reminder of the real life story of Jaycee Dugard that was splashed all over the news a couple of years ago.

At first, the book was difficult for me to get into. I was thrown off by certain aspects of it and felt incredibly sad for both mother and son; however, when I read on, I could hardly put the book down. It was a great read and I recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Kickball Play-offs: Summer 2012

*That's What She Said.  The Plex's Second Place Champions for Summer 2012*

For the first time since I began playing kickball (circa Fall '08), we had playoffs and championship games.  Last night was the big night.  Very exciting. 

Our team, That's What She Said, went into the tournament in the second tier since we had done so well during the season.  (side note: only two teams made it to the second round to begin).  Our first game was played against a team called Multiple Scorgasms, that won their first game.  We run ruled them, which is always awesome; however, the very last play of the game was when I was at homeplate (I play catcher) and the ball is coming to me to stop a runner from scoring.  I caught the ball, turned and he plowed into me.  This guy (hot, athletic) was pretty big.  I went straight to the ground, took one for the team and now my already aching knee is really messed up.  All I can do is stay off of it for a couple of days and hope it heals in time for my next race. 

Here is the sexy accessory that I got to wear to work today:


After owning Multiple Scorgasms, we played a team with the lamest name ever, JV.  Don't let their name fool you, though--they are a bunch of 25 and 26 year old soccer players who dominate the kickball league at The Plex in OKC.  If I wasn't injured, the mistakes I made at homeplate would have been avoided and we wouldn't have lost AS badly as we did...but we were always going to lose to them.  They are phenomenal...looking forward to squaring off with them in the fall.

Here's a picture of a few of the girls from our team after one of our games.  I don't really like posting pictures of me looking disheveled and worn out (um, or ever in the back of a pick up truck)...but I'll go ahead and take another one for the team, since the other girls look cute as ever!


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Midnight Streak 5K - August 11, 2012

I haven't run in over a month (since the Stars and Stripes 5K), so I was dreading the results of the Midnight Streak that I participated in this weekend. I even decided not to wear my shoe timer, but instead let Chanel wear it, since she was running rogue anyway.  I don't like to record failure; however...I did surprisingly well and my knee didn't give me any trouble at all, which was a shocker.  Plus, it was a beautiful, windless and not-too-humid evening here in Oklahoma City.

BRAG BRAG:  I finished before all of my friends and that's a small victory in my book for certain.

Here is our group of girls -- Stephanie, me, Chanel and Monica (finally, a picture debut for Monica!):


It's a dark picture (hence the midnight part of the race), but please take note and appreciate our beautiful glow sticks.  And what do girls do after they burn some major calories during a race?  IHOP of course...and despite our slimey little waiter and his bitchy little attitude, it was pretty delicious!

PartyGirl

I have amazing friends.  I can't even put into words how utterly fantastic they are.  I have been going through a lot lately...more than just a divorce and an adjustment...and my friends have been keeping me busy through it all.  I know that when the party stops, shit will get real, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. 

Until then, over the past couple of months, my friends have been by my side and I love them so much for it.

Swim day with Lacy, Amanda and Chanel:



Tulsa time with my sister and Evan:


My best friend Julie came up from Dallas for a weekend.  We went to dinner and then out to the dueling piano bar -- as you can tell by our air guitar and microphone display on top of the piano that we are clearly playing with our feet:


Amanda, Chanel and me at JJ's Alley, right before we went and got our groove on at Candy club:


Mustache Bash Music Festival with Roxanne and Chanel:



And...to top it off...a night at the Copa with Chanel and her friend Micah.  Let me tell you something about Micah.  He is gay...and he is completely awesome.  I love him!  I'm pretty sure he told me how pretty I was and how young I look about 100x that night--and for those words to come from a gay man with no ulterior motives is priceless.  Not to mention he is super hot...



So...keeping myself occupied is working for now.  Mostly, at least.  I have good days and bad days, as you saw in yesterday's post...but let's hope the good begin to outweigh the bad...in a major way. 

That's What She Said

I had to leave my long term kickball team due to divorce.  He inherited the team because his sister and brother in law are the originators and I had to look for a new team if I wanted to continue to play.

A guy I met during my final season with BTTW played for a team called Balls Deep and, through him, I found my new team for the Spring of 2012.  My contact with the team ended up not playing, so I met new people--some of which I really like--but I never felt like I really, truly fit in.  Although I tried.  I went out of my way to be friendly, even stepped out of the box to meet a couple girls at a bar one night.  Solo.  It was very hard for me, but making new friends has always been hard for me.

Balls Deep seemed to acquire many subs over the season, all of which fell in love with the sport (um, kickball is freaking awesome) and since there wasn't room on the team for EVERYONE, they defected and began a new team for Summer 2012.  They liked my little ninja move at catcher and asked me to come along...and since Balls Deep was going to fall apart, I said yes.

So my new team is called That's What She Said.  Each of our shirts has a different (dirty) quote on the front and "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID" really big on the back.  At first, I didn't join in with the tailgating festivities and hung out with BTTW during our breaks (my best girlfriends are there)...but lately, I've been coming around and truly enjoy these people.  Here are a few of the girls on our team (sans two) and our cute shirts.  Oh, and my quote is "Put it in the trunk"...as the picture is a bit blurry. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Weak

I am not strong enough as a person...as an individual...to handle my current circumstances.

Please God give me strength.  Please God help me find happiness. Please God just help me.

The last 14 years of my life seem to have crumbled into nothing.

Please help me get through this.