Blog-a-Mania!

Okay so I'm feeling exceptionally "bloggy" today. C# pisses me off sometimes. There are a lot of great things about it, but in a lot of cases it's just not as flexible as C++. I was trying to serialize a class that contained lists. This works fine in C#, however, the lists have to have public properties to be serialized. I didn't want to make the lists public, I wanted them private. I did a little research and found you can implement ISerializable, which seems straightforward enough, but this still didn't work for my private members (unless I was implementing it incorrectly). I remember in C++ you had to implement a Serializable interface as well, but I don't think it mattered if your members were private or public. I need to do some more research to see if it can actually be done at all in C#. It's not a huge deal for me to make them public, but I don't want to admit defeat! :)

Second thing that was perturbing today, I can't find any Iron Maiden the Trooper Hi-Top Vans in my size. Granted I probably could have looked longer, but I found some low tops in my size for $35 including shipping! That's a great deal so I went ahead and ordered them. I hope the site ACTUALLY has them, because I'll be pissed if they turn around and say they are out of stock (like every other site).

I'm also really excited about our FIRST HOME ROLLER DERBY bout this weekend!!!! Wooooo! I have posts below with the specific details but it's going to be awesome. A great bunch of gals from Arizona are flying in to play us, there's going to be amazing half time entertainment, the only thing that really sucks is moving the track to/from the Cox Center. But for those great events there is usually a struggle so I'm happy to help. I'm really happy to just be a part of all of it. It's going to be great, come out Saturday and be a part of history!

lessthanthree,
V

This Saturday!!!!!

Red Dirt Rebellion is putting on their very first roller derby bout! Come watch banked track derby in action! Only $10 in advance at the Cox Convention Center downtown OKC. Doors open at 6pm, bout starts at 7pm. Yes there will be beer, and halftime entertainment!!! Listen people, we've worked our @$$es off for this, so don't bail out now!!!!

If you need tickets contact me!

<3
V

Red Dirt Rebellion's First Bout!

That's right! After so long, lots of practices, the roller derby league I play for is having their first bout at the Cox Center! A banked track team, the Arizona Derby Dames is flying in to play us! The bout is July 11, which is a Saturday, doors open at 6pm, the bout starts at 7pm. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, and $8 with a military ID (kids free). Come watch us skate, it will be tons of fun!!!!

<3
V

Abortion Kills

Let me preface this by saying I'm not by any means a religious person. However, no matter what you do or do not believe killing an innocent person is wrong. I'm assuming the majority of people agree with me on that note, regardless of what you believe. However there are some people that because of their beliefs would disagree.

Recently, an abortion doctor was shot and killed simply because he was an abortion doctor. Usually, people are against abortion because it is the killing of a fetus, and for some they believe the fetus has a soul. So this "suspect" believed he was doing the right thing by killing the doctor who performed abortions. I am assuming he did not think the doctor was innocent since he was responsible for performing the abortions.

Normally, when someone is accused of murder in this country, they are kept in jail, given a fair trial, appointed or hire a lawyer. However this man felt like it was his responsibility to take "justice" into his hands. Well, regardless of what beliefs you have, you by law cannot do that. However, what I still don't understand is, the accused is no better than the doctor himself, I mean, from the accused perspective. He kills the doctor for killing unborn babies. That just doesn't make sense to me, I can understand that he doesn't see him as innocent, but killing him isn't going to fix the situation in any way. Abortion is legal in this country, and there are thousands of other doctors out there performing them every day. There are a lot of laws we have that we may not agree with, I know I don't necessarily agree with all of them myself, but I don't go around killing people because of them. That is what makes this country so great is the diversity of beliefs and cultures.

Just to give some insight into my opinion, I think abortion should remain legal. One of the articles stated that the doctor had previously been attacked numerous times by activists and continued on in his career. I think that is very admirable. Women should have the right to choose, as it is their body. I definitely believe in many cases, the baby should be delivered and given up for adoption, since there is so many couples out there that can't have children and adopt every day. However there are many circumstances where I would agree abortion is the best choice, like for example if a woman was raped. I cannot even imagine the mental and physical anguish she must feel from that traumatic experience.

When I hear about these kinds of activists, it is extremely upsetting, because they are forcing their beliefs on you, even from afar. This story was obviously nation wide (global because of the internet) and therefore you are forced to hear about his actions and his opinion in the media. People need to have a more open mind and to be tolerant of others beliefs. That is the main problem with human kind right now, there is not enough tolerance. We can not live in peace if we do not have tolerance.

That's enough ranting for now.

Less than three,
V

Twelve Years in the Making

Tragic Kingdom was the first album I ever bought. I was thirteen and primed for a hot female rock n roll chick to look up to. One day, on MTV, there she was, singing I'm Just a Girl. "YESSS!!!" I thought to myself, and listened to that album non stop for years. I remember writing notes to Emine and signing them as Gwen. We were soooo bummed when we didn't get to go see No Doubt and Bush together, man that would have been the concert of the century! However more than a decade later, I have finally seen No Doubt and believe me they did not disappoint.

They played pretty much the entire Boom Box album (greatest hits) with the exception of a few songs. There was a large screen behind the band that showed different videos during the songs. They were very bright and colorful (a nice contrast to all the metal shows I've been to ;). During one song (I can't remember which one now, one of the slower ones) they featured a video of clips of the band from back in the day when they started. It was really neat and gave you a sense of "look how far they have come." The stage setup was pretty cool, it was all white, with a large semicircle sloped platform of which the drums sat in the middle. The entire band came out initially in all white suit type outfits, which really worked nicely with the lighting. Of course there were costume changes and by the end of the night Gwen had on a sparkly silver and black top and Adrian had on a Dallas Stars jersey, pink tutu, and tube socks... HA!

The Sounds and Paramore both opened. I hadn't heard The Sounds before but I knew they were Swedish, so they already had my attention (I have a thing for Scandinavian bands). They were pretty good, really reminded me of Blondie and Abba. Paramore was next and I'm already a huge Paramore fan so I was really looking forward to seeing them again. They played a great show and everyone was really into them. It was interesting to see so many different age groups represented. There were the young 14 year old girls all the way to 30 year old woman. That of course makes me feel old, since I'm on the older end of that scale, but whatever.

I haven't uploaded pictures yet, I should do that tonight and they will be on facebook. All in all it was an AWESOME concert and if you get a chance to catch it, please do. I will definitely try and get floor tickets the next time they come around.

Less than three,
V

New Beginnings

Congratulations people! Congratulations to all those new graduates, freshly born to the real world, or maybe just the partial real world. I think college is only partial real world, really it's the best of both. You still have the freedom to do what you want, but confined enough it's not so scary. It doesn't seem that long ago that I graduated, but sitting at my sister's high school graduation the other night sort of brought me back to another time and place. It seems even in the real world people confine themselves though, I mean depending on what career they go into. You confine yourself in such a way that you're not free to just leave or move when you want. I suppose you could, but there would be large consequences for doing so. I don't know, I just think it's interesting to think about.

On another note, my work is offering a Weight Watchers program so I was talked into doing it. It actually works out because my stomach does best when I'm on Weight Watchers and I had been thinking about doing it again. I haven't really lost any weight yet, I don't expect to lose a lot really, it just helps out my stomach and helps me to get in shape a little better. Really it makes me feel better all around, I feel like I can skate better, drink more, have more energy, it's all around good. I recommend it.

One of the first bands I got into back in the day (seventh grade, sixth grade maybe?) is No Doubt. I was very sad when Gwen left for her little solo business. I do love Gwen, but I was not such a fan of her solo material, so you can imagine when I found out they were touring together again I bought tickets! I still have never seen No Doubt, so I'm very excited to be seeing them in Dallas this weekend. A band called Paramore is opening for them, whom I'm also thrilled to see, I'm a big fan. It will be fun and I'll get to hang out with my sister and Jenn, two people who definitely fall in my "favorite people" group.

Okay, I better get back to work... code awaits!

Less than three,
V

New Babies

Hola mis amigos! I recently returned from Phoenix. One of my best friends lives out there and recently had a new baby boy!!! He is so adorable but cries a lot :( I feel very sorry for my friend because he is so colicky. Really it makes me have more respect for my mom since I hear all too often I was a colicky baby as well. Visiting her always forces me to put my life into perspective, because she's hit all these lifetime milestones before me. She got married a couple years ago, now has a baby, is a homeowner, she has just created a fantastic life for her and her family but she's only three months older than me. Trust me, I'm in no hurry to have a baby or anything, but it is crazy to think about her and I growing up as kids, having fun, learning about the world, and now all of a sudden she has a kid, whom will grow up and learn about the world in his own way. Not only that, but the world was a lot different in 1995 than it is now. Man, where does the time go?

I also found out I'm officially on the roster for Austin, which means I will officially be participating in the Battle of the Banked Track 2 in Austin, TX June 20-21!!!! I would love for anyone who can to come down that weekend and party in Austin with me!!! I'm really glad the summer is almost here, I think it's my favorite season, even if it does get unbearably hot.

Less Than 3,
V

(Oh that rhymes!!!!)