Wake up and smell something

You: "I'm changing. I woke up. I woke up and smelled -- I don't like the taste of coffee --- I woke up and smelled the hot chocolate."

More friends every Wednesday

Wednesdays are new girl night, and I help out at practice. The new skaters say I am very encouraging, inspiring, that I am helpful and put them at ease and give them confidence.

Really, I have no idea what they are talking about. But whoever they are describing, that person sounds pretty nice.

I enjoy working hard with these ladies, and everytime we start a new round of recruits coming to practice, it's like a chance to make new friends and help them on their derby journey. I am not some benchmark on how to be the best derby player, as I am very, very far from being mediocre, in my own humble opinion, but I do have a stockpile of determination and sticktoitiveness to share. Often the mental acrobatics we put ourselves through hamper us from achieving amazing physical acrobatics, so perhaps that is how I serve them best, by negating the mental obstacles that slow us in our goals.

Or, at the least, I am there to be a friendly face.

So, here's to more friends every Wednesday.

My Google Calendar

I will probably regret saying this, but at least right this moment, I am in love with Google Calendar. I started to input a variety of events in there across my many activities (roller derby, work, chores, bill payments, social activities) and then discovered some amazing shit.
For one, you can change the settings on the calendar to send you reminder when a calendar event is coming up. You can have these reminders pop up on your google homepage, sent to your email inbox, or sent as an SMS message.
These means, when I program in gym time, my phone gets a reminder an hour before -- my Git Yo Ass To Tha GYM reminder.
I don't know about you, but this is a personal revolution for me.
What's more, I discovered there is a type of file called an .ical, and you can upload an .ical file to your Google Calendar. So I went to my local library's web site, found all the events I wanted to go to, and shared the .ical file with my Google Calendar.

As you can imagine, I went a little crazy searching online for .ical files (http://icalshare.com/) and added all sorts of layers to my calendar.

My Google Calendar tells me what week and day of the year we are in, the phases of the moon calendar, what happened this day in history, and when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has a new report scheduled for issue (such as when the latest unemployment figures are released.)

So, to recap, my Google Calendar tells me the last full moon was two days ago, yesterday was the anniversary of New York's ratification as a state, sunrise was 5:53 a.m. today, the Blue Claws have a home game on Friday, and my next roller derby bout is a month away.

Yes, I am a bit over-excited about my Google Calendar. But what do you expect from someone who gets excited to read stuff such as: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.nr0.htm


http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.nr0.htm

My high school poetry

I wrote this and it was published in Reflections, my high school "literary magazine." Prolly circa 1996-1997. I am trying to remember what sort of pain I was in that caused me to write this poem back then, and can't quite remember. I do recall being told I had a slight curvature in my spine. Maybe this was my reaction to that.

Chiropractor Conspiracy?
By Catherine Elizabeth Galioto

When I wake up in the morning
There's an ache I can't explain
I can't find reason or warning
Why I suffer from back pain.

Insomnia? It cannot be;
I'm dreaming well past five.
Though I get to bed quite early,
When I wake I writhe and writhe.

Is there something I don't know 'bout?
Ain't I just sleeping in my bed?
This is a mattress, have no doubt.
This a pillow 'neath my head!

Am I a sleep-walker of some sort?
Or a sleep-weightlifter, too?
Do I have sleep miles to report?
Is this what makes my back askew?

While I have my peaceful sleeping
And the earth is draped in black
Is there someone out there creeping
Doing evil to my back?

Though I've come to no conclusion
I am tired, and it's late.
It's not sleep that is my prison:
It's the waking up I hate.