Last update: Sunday, March 17, 2013
Hi everyone!
Welcome to Social Notes, the sometimes weekly goings-on of Houston’s lesbian community. You can sign up to
receive an email notice every time I update the site (usually 2 to 4 times per month), by clicking on the blue
box in the upper right hand corner of this page. Now, let me show you around the website:
- The Calendar page contains a listing of events for the next couple of months.
- To find out about clubs and organizations, check out the Organizations page. This page is sub-divided to
make it easier to find things.
- I know all you kind-hearted pet-loving lesbians would want to know about animals needing a new home, so I
included a Pets page.
- The Jobs Page lists both women in search of jobs, and job openings for gay-friendly positions.
- If you want to support lesbian, women-owned, or just generally gay-friendly businesses, then check out
the Networking Page. This page has also been recently subdivided to make it easier to find what you are
looking for.
|
_____________________________________________________________________
|
Please take 5 minutes to fill our a survey for me!
As many of you know, it is my goal in life to own and operate an upscale dude ranch/wilderness resort for the
GLBT community, to be located in the Rocky Mountains. To help with my business planning, I am gathering input
about gay travel in general and about interest in my specific project. Would you all please take 5 minutes to fill
out a 19 question survey? And since I am asking for favors, would you also pass this request along to your GLBT
friends around the world? For this survey to be effective, I need lots of responses, from lots of
states/countries. This link will take you to the survey. Thanks in advance for your input and your help!
PS: If the link doesn't work, here is the address for the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225MAXB573C
|
_____________________________________________________________________
|
The Rant
Well, it's Rodeo time in Houston. And that means that it's time for one of my annual Social Notes traditions.
Pull up a chair girls, while I tell you the calamitous tale of my adventures as Grand Marshal of the gay rodeo
several years ago.
In 2005, I was honored to be named Grand Marshall at the Space City Stampede, which is the Texas Gay
Rodeo Association's annual event. My duties were minimal - all I had to do was participate in the Grand Entry
Parade on Saturday and Sunday. Simple enough, eh?
Sooooo, I had a special cowboy shirt made (white with LOTS of fringe - the better for waving, doncha know!),
and began practicing my float wave in anticipation of the big weekend. I had two wave choices prepared, which
can best be described as:
wave, wave, wave, glide or
Tits, teeth tiara
Be sure to ask me to demonstrate them the next time we run into one another!
But I digress...I was told that the Grand Marshall traditionally rides in the back of a pick up truck, but I asked
to ride a horse instead. In retrospect, things began to go downhill from this point.
I had envisioned that the Grand Entry would entail me in a parade with many other riders, all circling the arena
in a continuous procession. But when I arrived at the Rodeo on Saturday, I learned that the Grand Marshal
gets to make a solo ride around the arena, and then grabs the microphone to say a few words to the crowd.
Solo performance, eh? GULP! I had flashing thoughts of how safe and comfortable that ride in the back of a
pick-up would have been, but once informed that there were no more pick-up trucks available, I decided to
Cowboy Up and go with the flow.
They assigned me to a horse (let's just call him Bone Breaker) who behaved quite nicely as we were warming up
in the pasture outside the building. However, once we approached the entry gate, he became possessed. Turns
out that ol' Bone Breaker is a roping horse, and when he gets in the arena, he wants to run! Walking was
DEFINITELY out of the question, so we negotiated a butt-bouncing sort of trot around the arena.
I immediately abandoned any thoughts of fancy float waves, since my sole focus in life became STAYING ON
THAT HORSE! I think I managed to get my hand up to wave once or twice, but I certainly didn't win any style
points. And it is frankly a medical miracle that I didn't end up with two black eyes - the way my boobs were
bouncing around!
It wasn't pretty, but I survived. Saturday passed without further incident, so now we go to Sunday. I arrived
at the rodeo, full of confidence, since I had the drill down. The cowboys informed me that they had found a
calmer, and much more handsome horse named Tex for me to ride that day. Oh goodie!
One small problem - Tex's saddle seemed a bit loose, a fact that I noted to 3 different cowpokes before I
entered the arena. They all assured me that things were fine, so Tex and began our fateful trip. (Note: If
this were a movie, the background music would definitely be turning ominous at this point!) Tex and I walked
calmly down one side of the grandstands, and I am happy to report that my waving (both wave/wave/wave/glide
AND tits/teeth/tiara) was much improved from the previous day.
As we got to the far end of the arena, I decided that a short trot would be in order, just to speed things up.
Events went dramatically south at this point, in a very literal way.
The saddle (which was in fact loose despite the assurances of those 3 cowboys!) began its inexorable slide to
the starboard side of Tex. I tried using my fat but powerful thighs in an effort to "right the ship", as it were,
but no such luck. I believe the saddle had reached the 2 o'clock position when it became stunningly clear that
gravity was going to win this battle. I was definitely going down - but could I avoid getting caught in the
stirrup and dragged around the arena? Calling on my old soccer goalie training, I executed a perfect sideways
leap off of Tex, landing on my side in the dirt.
The entire crowd went deathly silent - partly out of concern for my well being, and partly out of sheer
mortification for me, I'm sure. I laid there in the dirt for a moment, wishing desperately to roll back the last
20 seconds of my life, and taking inventory to make sure that all my parts were still in working order.
Realizing that I needed to do SOMETHING to cut the awful tension in the building, I got up, dusted myself
off, and yelled to the announcer: "So, what was my time on that ride?" Luckily, everyone laughed and relaxed.
One of the cowboys had caught Tex and returned him to me, apparently with the horribly misguided notion that
I might want to remount - NOT! So, with Tex's reins in hand, I limped off into the sunset with what few
shreds of dignity I could muster.
Other than bruising both my hip and my pride, I came out ok. However, I'm not sure that my fancy white shirt
(with LOTS of fringe) will ever be the same!
I don't know if this was the worst Goober Moment of my life (although nothing worse is coming to mind right
now), but it certainly was the most public! So, the next time you do something mildly embarrassing, I hope you
will take comfort at the thought of me, diving to the dirt in my "moment of glory" in front of the whole rodeo
crowd. Remember, things could ALWAYS be worse!
|
|
And of course, the political rant happens right here.
It might seem strange to mix lesbian social info
with political observations, but it works for me.
If it doesn't work for you,
then feel free to skip ahead!
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________
If you'd like to receive an email notice when Social Notes gets updated,
please click on the box below:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
