I have a new love...and his name is Woodchuck. I met him when I was at the official home of the Rochester, NY chapter of Buffalo Bills Backers, Woody's II. There he stood, over the tap looking longingly into my eyes. I couldn't resist. LOL
His full name is Woodchuck Cider.
http://www.woodchuck.com/
What can I say, I've never been a beer drinker. Maybe it's because my father used to let me have sips of his beer out of his glass of Utica Club. My tastebuds were forever tainted. We toured their brewery once, I think it was a right-of-passage for anyone who lived there. I remember at the end of the tour they had samples of beer for the adults and rootbeer for the kids. It was the most digusting soda (or "pop" for you western, NY folks) that I have ever tasted. I remembering drinking from a keg at a HS graduation party...basically because everyone else was drinking and I didn't want to look out of place. Then I moved on to a deerskin flask of Peppermint Shnapps. Do all 20 year olds go through a Schnapps-stage? Then it was all those lovely fruity drinks out at the clubs. And shots, I always loved shots. Still do. Although you won't catch me anywhere near a shot of Tequila ever since I got kicked out of one of my favorite watering holes because I was going to start a fight with some girls who was trying to make the moves on a guy I liked. I had a 48 hangover after doing about 8 shots of Sambuca one night, the smell of it still make me nauseaus to this day. I'm a known Long Island Iced Tea lover and would be happy to tell the story some day of how my 70 year old grandmother and her cronnies up at the lake decided to have a pitcher of these concoctions one night and had to be carried to bed because they couldn't move after downing a few. There's a lesson to be learned there, never mix...especially after 70.

I thought about writing a book one time about being a female sports fan. I've been one all my life. Been a tomboy since I was born; always had guys as best friends growing up, played football with my uncles and cousins and my brother and his friends. I wasn't the girl inside playing with makeup, that's for sure. Infact I didn't start wearing any until late in my highschool years.
Being a female sports fan can be tricky. You have to balance that fine line of being a fan and being a groupie. Why men don't have those labels I'll NEVER know because I have met some male-groupies in my day. Guys who measured their worth by the semi-pro athletes they hung out with. I always called them the Left-over-hunters. Any girl the player would diss, the LOH would take a shot at. Or I'd call them the players entourage. I saw it quite a bit around the local minor league hockey team. There'd always be one or two of them who followed the guys around. I guess it made them feel important. Then there'd be the ones outside the arena with the notebook full of hockey cards. Would that make them a groupie or just an autograph-ant. What about those guys who always get into the camera shot when athletes are being interviewed on TV? What would you call them (other than fucking annoying!) It's RARE you see a women doing that, probably because we know the camera adds 10lbs.
So I teetered on that fine-line for years. Still do I suppose. I can tell you whatever you want to know about the game of hockey, football or baseball. I'm getting to know NASCAR pretty well. But I'm not so ungirl-like that I can't tell you who the good looking guys on the teams are. And I've been known to get tongue-tied in the presence of some of them as well. So what does that make me?

Animals, animals animals. I have them on the brain after watching Animal Planet last night. They were showing people down in New Orleans rescuing dogs, cats, birds, lizards and even turtles post-Katrina. Wow, talk about tugging at the old heart strings. It was happy and sad all at the same time. The best part was seeing the reunions of the pets with their owners but seeing the dead animals, the ones who were malnurished because they were on their own for so long or the ones they had to leave behind because they ran out of room at the places they had set-up to take them in.....made me cry like a baby.
I have a LARGE place in my heart for animals; wild and pet-like. I grew up with them all around me. English Setters and mutts and cats and cows and chickens and birds and fish....I had all of them. I can't imagine having a place without a pet, it wouldn't feel like a home. Unfortunately because of my allergies I can only have fish or birds. Right now i have two birds; Mario my incredible-singing canary and Louise; a chatty Parakeet/Budgie who I adopted from a friends brother. They keep me entertained.
I even worked at a veterinary office once and spent some volunteer time at the local zoo. Being a Leo you couldn't keep me AWAY from the big cats.
Anyway, for those of you fellow animal lovers there's a place where you can donate money to help with the rescue, care and transportation of the animals affected by Katrina.

https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?

WOOF!

So my days as a fan of INXS are over, or at least totally tainted. Last night they named that Canadian jackass as their new lead singer. Thanks but no thanks boys. If that's the kind of person you want...find some new fans to follow you. Obviously they never watched what happened at the house. Or they're into bastards. So I'll sit here and patiently wait for the new Jordis Unga CD.
at least TLC's R U the Girl was a win-win. I liked both of the finalists but I figured O'So Krispie had it from the get-go. Basically it was hers to lose and she didn't faulter. She did a pretty good job dancing with them to premier their new single last night. Her dancing was a LITTLE off but I think that was just nerves. I was happy for her. now if she would just do something else with her hair and get rid of those face piercings..geez! And Mirrah was totally classy in her loss. love that girl.
that's about all in the reality TV world. I don't watch Big Brother,..I stopped watching Survivor after season 3. I'll probably watch America's Next Top Model again.
And is it me or does EVERY station show the PG-13 version of Sex and the City now? Do the words "over-kill" mean ANYTHING to anyone in the networks?!

okay, let's talk about more irrelevant things. Celebrity meetings. I once heard someone say that the best thing to do is worship most celebrities from afar because 90% of the time, you'll be disappointed when you meet them. I totally agree with this theory because i have been on the receiving end of both treatments; good and "leave me the feck alone".
Case in point..Whitney Houston. Back before Bobby and drug allegations, when she was a skinny chick who sang from her freakin feet I met her when I was working at a local hotel. At the time, I was pretty much a fan. After her concert her, her band, her entourage and even her mother came into the bar to relax and have a drink. So here I am dressed in my semi-unstylish cocktail waitress uniform (this was a classy place so get that picture of short-shorts and a low-cut top RIGHT out of your mind) going up to her table to take her order. Everyone else at her table was VERY nice; smiled at me, didn't make any special requests...totally cordial. But miss Whitney, calling her a bitch would've been an understatement. And let me tell you something else about Ms. Houston or Brown or whatever the fuck she goes by now. If she didn't have makeup on you'd pass her aneroxic lookin ass without lookin twice.
Now let's talk about more positive things; pleasant celebrity encounters. Jeff Gordon; the guy has every excuse to be a top notch asshole but is the furthest from it. Dana Carvey; was a HUGE star on SNL when I met him at the same hotel ms. bitchney Houston stayed at. He was extremely engaging and hilarious. Howie Mandel; sweet, funny and always wears silly shoes. George Brett; one of the nicest athletes I have EVER met. Would remember your name even if you only met you once. (even remembered the stupid-ass Alf watch I was wearin) Don Mattingly; wow. a story for another blog! and recently the new Buffalo Bills starting quarterback JP Losman; May have a "I don't want to be at this appearance" look on his face but once you start talking to him....the personality just bubbles.
So what have we learned today. Nothing I guess. Just don't be surprised if they're assholes. Just like regular folk.
GO BILLS!

Week 1 for the Bills has come to an end with a 1-0 record. VERY nice. I was gunna stay home and watch but then I decided to go to this bar where the Rochester chapter of the Bills Backers allegedly meets. So I figure I'd get there early for a seat, right? Figured,..opening day it would be crowded. Well, I think I was one of two non-employee cars there when I pulled in. I thought "was this bar their meeting place LAST season?" So I stuck it out. A good crowd showed but it was some Bills fans, some Steelers fans, some of my least favorite fans (Dolphins) and a smattering of other fans who couldn't see their favorite teams game on local TV. One thing I forgot was what it was like to go into a bar by myself. Basically it attracts men who see you're by yourself therefore you have no defenses. (other girlfriends, guyfriends or dates...you might as well have a target on your head) Both men who sat near me of course had to tell me how they're divorced and have teenage kids, and how I don't look my age,..blah, blah, blah. Nice guys but, definitely not my type. I don't mind talking but I was there to watch the game. I met the guy who heads up the Rochester Chapter of non-existant Bills Backers. Nice guy that Steve but why someone would come to the bar with their wife and two kids is beyond me. Isn't the wife the automatic Sunday afternoon babysitter? Anyway, I offered my assistance so I guess I'm going to be VP or secretary or something of the local chapter. Kind of cool. and since I dumped my webmaster and pit person role on the local race team aside back in July...I was looking for a hobby anyway. So I guess our goal now is to get more folks to the bar next Sunday, get a banner for outside the bar and some more people to sign up. And a website. (hello..Christine,..I need your help,..AGAIN!) I'll tell you one thing, being in a bar with about 40 TV's that are showing 10 different games must feel like what a little kid feels when he walks into a ToysRUs store for the very first time. It's sensory overload! It would've made me dizzy if I were drunk. So our Bills beat that hot looking QB from Houston. That's what he gets for pointing into the stands after his lameass TD run. What happened to having to cross the plane to make a touchdown?!?! JP Losman...will you marry me?!?!?

Enough Katrina talk, time for some Reality TV stuff! Wednesday night is pretty much my favorite night on TV that doesn't involve anything having to do with NASCAR.
First on R U the Girl; T-Boz and Chilli narrowed it down to two girls. My two favorites no less. Mirrah who I think is going to win because of her spirit, how her look fits in with the girls AND her age. O So Krispie I like as well and find it funny now that she reminds me less of Left Eye than Mirrah does. They both can dance, sing and rap pretty differently; either one is a good fit but my mind tells me Mirrah. We'll see in two weeks. At least they got rid of that annoying "Black Britney" chick. So much for the smirk she had on her face when that chick Alji was sent packing last week.
Then Rock Star INXS; my girl Jordis was finally let go. Yeah, she was my favorite but I kind of knew that she wasn't quite the right person to front that band. Amazing voice but a few weeks back her confidence was shaken and she never fully recovered from it. I'll be keeping a close internet eye on her to see what's going on with her next. I'm sure that's not the last I'll hear of her.
Then Kathy Griffin on the D-list. I admit, I didn't much like this woman coming into this show. Granted, I didn't know much about her other than the fact that I heard she had some "work done". Then I saw the episode of Seinfeld she was on and wow, she DOES look alot different. But she's funny. Total smartass and you know I love that! I'd love to see her live. and i liked how honest she was in her show; showed her getting Botox, getting body makeup on her upperbody for the Grammy show. (which I never knew)
So that was my night.
All I have to say about tonight is "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!?!?!??!?!"