Wow, the first three weeks of school are flying by. I only have two more days of classes this week, which is really crazy, but that's what happens when you keep yourself busy.
I've been joining clubs, going to soccer games every weekend (I have reached my goal of writing about soccer since that's what I'm covering for the school paper), and looking at grad schools. While I am still applying for a few overseas, I am also applying for a few in Kentucky as well as that's where I want to end up (yes things have changed).
Honestly, there's not much to report on any front right now since even though it's hectic, there's not much interesting going on. Hopefully I'll have more later on.
Until next time,
Mel
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Road Trip Thoughts
First of all, my horse is amazing. We just finished up a two and a half day 1,700 mile road trip and there was no fuss at all on her end. Since she has only been hauled about five miles since March of 2010 (and that was t0 the vet three weeks ago to get her travel papers), I was expecting at least some fuss. But even when she had to sit in the trailer for four hours while we got a blow out repaired, we didn't know she was there other than her sticking out her head at the tire shop to watch everything going on.
Sure, we had a small trailer loading issue the next day (if you had to stand in a trailer for 15 hours straight then just get an eight hour break before getting back in, you'd probably be mad), but after a little tap on the butt from the whip, she jumped right in. I was expecting major problems loading due to her very inconsistent trailering past but once again this horse surprises me.
I really can't wait to see what she does when I actually get to spend some time on her. She will get a few days off to acclimate to the weather and elevation but I'm hoping to get on her later this week just to get her out of her small pen and let her chill out while exploring more of her surroundings.
Now on to the non-horse stuff.
I am finally moved into my room, although there is a ton of unpacking to do. I did get a makeshift dresser built (tuberwear drawers come in handy) and my book case up (although, I need to put more books on it) but I still need a desk and to get my school stuff unpacked. I can't really unpack until I have a desk, so everything is a bit on hold right now. At the same time, I don't feel like writing without a desk (I know, bad me), so that desk is super important. Maybe I'll put that on my list for tomorrow.
In good writing news, I have a new story kind of outlined so at least that's something. Well that's about all I have to say tonight so good bye non-existent readers. Enjoy the last week of summer break (unless you work or started school today. In that case, I'm sorry).
Sure, we had a small trailer loading issue the next day (if you had to stand in a trailer for 15 hours straight then just get an eight hour break before getting back in, you'd probably be mad), but after a little tap on the butt from the whip, she jumped right in. I was expecting major problems loading due to her very inconsistent trailering past but once again this horse surprises me.
I really can't wait to see what she does when I actually get to spend some time on her. She will get a few days off to acclimate to the weather and elevation but I'm hoping to get on her later this week just to get her out of her small pen and let her chill out while exploring more of her surroundings.
Now on to the non-horse stuff.
I am finally moved into my room, although there is a ton of unpacking to do. I did get a makeshift dresser built (tuberwear drawers come in handy) and my book case up (although, I need to put more books on it) but I still need a desk and to get my school stuff unpacked. I can't really unpack until I have a desk, so everything is a bit on hold right now. At the same time, I don't feel like writing without a desk (I know, bad me), so that desk is super important. Maybe I'll put that on my list for tomorrow.
In good writing news, I have a new story kind of outlined so at least that's something. Well that's about all I have to say tonight so good bye non-existent readers. Enjoy the last week of summer break (unless you work or started school today. In that case, I'm sorry).
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Superstitions
As a very superstitious person, I'm one that has some of those crazy avoidances (for example, if I can help it, I don't walk under ladders and am pretty sure I will die if I do) and I found myself breaking a few of my superstitions over the last few months that have come back to bite me.
Over the years, I've come to believe that if I write something down or say it, most of the time it will not happen. Say I want to go somewhere for the weekend. I can have it all planned out and at the last second something is almost guaranteed to make it not happen. Unfortunately, I forgot this little detail that I let have an impact on my life (yes, when you keep having this issue over the years, it's kind of ingrained in your brain that you keep your mouth... and your fingers closed) over the summer and let two things slide.
1) I told people I would be back in Texas by August 20, that was a mistake as the date of departure from Washington with basically all my important possessions (minus my cat and a very fat, retired horse) was moved back to the day before the 20th. If you've driven from Washington to Texas, you know making it there in one day, especially when pulling a horse trailer with a not so fat and not so retired horse, is not possible. I don't really mind the setback as I'm not all that eager to move back to a place that is currently hotter than hell, but it would have been nice to have a little time off before school starts back up again.
2) I talked to my friends about this one and I posted it on this very blog... grad school. In my last post, I said two grad schools in Canada and two in the UK were all I was going to apply for. Hello jinx. Because I like to look around, that two in the UK has now gone up to at least three, if not more. While this betters my odds of getting in over there (and a few schools are very willing to let me do the equine journalism thing in their program and one even has equine degrees at the school), it adds to a whole lot more pressure doing applications.
So note to self, avoid ladders, try not to have black cats in front of you, and don't say anything out loud or write it if you are really serious about it because it bites you in the butt!
Until next time,
Your very superstitious friend.
Over the years, I've come to believe that if I write something down or say it, most of the time it will not happen. Say I want to go somewhere for the weekend. I can have it all planned out and at the last second something is almost guaranteed to make it not happen. Unfortunately, I forgot this little detail that I let have an impact on my life (yes, when you keep having this issue over the years, it's kind of ingrained in your brain that you keep your mouth... and your fingers closed) over the summer and let two things slide.
1) I told people I would be back in Texas by August 20, that was a mistake as the date of departure from Washington with basically all my important possessions (minus my cat and a very fat, retired horse) was moved back to the day before the 20th. If you've driven from Washington to Texas, you know making it there in one day, especially when pulling a horse trailer with a not so fat and not so retired horse, is not possible. I don't really mind the setback as I'm not all that eager to move back to a place that is currently hotter than hell, but it would have been nice to have a little time off before school starts back up again.
2) I talked to my friends about this one and I posted it on this very blog... grad school. In my last post, I said two grad schools in Canada and two in the UK were all I was going to apply for. Hello jinx. Because I like to look around, that two in the UK has now gone up to at least three, if not more. While this betters my odds of getting in over there (and a few schools are very willing to let me do the equine journalism thing in their program and one even has equine degrees at the school), it adds to a whole lot more pressure doing applications.
So note to self, avoid ladders, try not to have black cats in front of you, and don't say anything out loud or write it if you are really serious about it because it bites you in the butt!
Until next time,
Your very superstitious friend.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
A Weekend off Is Not a Weekend Off
I went to our cabin (and a NASCAR race) this weekend with the goal of shutting off my brain to all real life related thoughts.
I had literally spent all week trying to get everything done so on friday, I could load up and head to the family and friends retreat we had planned (okay, my mom and stepdad, some friends from Seattle, and two cousins from seattle as well) with no problems. Well... me being me, I didn't get everything done during the week (I definitely tried my hardest though!) so I worked on school stuff until 2pm. You'd think I'd head straight out of town, right? Yea, I'm not that smart.
First I had to go to dad's to clean out my car, followed by checking the oil and such, add a call to my dad after checking oil to ask if he had any oil then waiting for him since he was picking me up some (we did find out that he had oil after he bought some), the wait was highlighted by washing my car (poor Betty was extremely dirty, I think she planned the oil thing so she'd get washed), then I had to do another errand after leaving my dad's... the final result, leaving town around 5 and making it to the trailer by about 6.
The drive up to the trailer was the start of the end... if you know me when I'm working on my stories, I am constantly thinking about them. What can I change? Why is this character so blah? Can I kill this character off? All go through my mind ALL THE TIME. But this year we're also joined by the grad school questions. See, I thought graduating with my bachelors would be easy. Graduate, pick a grad school, apply, the end. Kids, that's not how it works.
I have three places that I want to go to school, England (I'm not picky, put me on that island or on the Irish island and I'm happy), British Columbia, and Toronto. Yes, I realize how different these places are. The end result is that my brain can't decide. I'm a pro/con list kind of girl, it's hard when all the areas and schools have the same amount of pros or cons. So, going back on my "everything happens for a reason" theory that I love to live by (yes, I am one of THOSE people that tries to think that even when bad things happen) I think I've convinced my brain to just settle down, apply to all four schools I'm looking at (2 in England, 2 in Canada, hopefully no others pop up), and hope that they decide for me. If not, it can start worrying again. Don't tell it, but I kind of want to do the worrying thing since that means I got into more than one.
Another thought this weekend consisted of school since I have three tests this week with two finals and a regular class test. Thanks for that, teachers. I also have my three assigned articles for the week and my on call day. I'm shooting to get this all done by Thursday afternoon, wish me luck.
And finally, the last thought was about my story that I've been working on since I was born (okay, just last year but it feels like 22 years). I'm pushing for an edit done date of August 14th and my brain is spazzing out. I love to write and re-reading my "babies" after they are written is fun but editing is kind of like voluntarily sticking yourself in the eye with a needle at times. However, I LOVE this story and really want it to succeed (and possibly even open it up for a series down the road) so I'm pushing on. Because of this, my brain did not want to forget about it for a weekend.
So overall, while this blog post wasn't supposed to happen because my brain was supposed to be down for maintenance for the weekend, instead, y'all get this nice mumbo jumbo that my brain decided to throw together for your entertainment and to release its frustrations at the internal argument about vacation. We'll be trying another one soon, maybe my brain will finally get the memo.
Until next time,
Mel
I had literally spent all week trying to get everything done so on friday, I could load up and head to the family and friends retreat we had planned (okay, my mom and stepdad, some friends from Seattle, and two cousins from seattle as well) with no problems. Well... me being me, I didn't get everything done during the week (I definitely tried my hardest though!) so I worked on school stuff until 2pm. You'd think I'd head straight out of town, right? Yea, I'm not that smart.
First I had to go to dad's to clean out my car, followed by checking the oil and such, add a call to my dad after checking oil to ask if he had any oil then waiting for him since he was picking me up some (we did find out that he had oil after he bought some), the wait was highlighted by washing my car (poor Betty was extremely dirty, I think she planned the oil thing so she'd get washed), then I had to do another errand after leaving my dad's... the final result, leaving town around 5 and making it to the trailer by about 6.
The drive up to the trailer was the start of the end... if you know me when I'm working on my stories, I am constantly thinking about them. What can I change? Why is this character so blah? Can I kill this character off? All go through my mind ALL THE TIME. But this year we're also joined by the grad school questions. See, I thought graduating with my bachelors would be easy. Graduate, pick a grad school, apply, the end. Kids, that's not how it works.
I have three places that I want to go to school, England (I'm not picky, put me on that island or on the Irish island and I'm happy), British Columbia, and Toronto. Yes, I realize how different these places are. The end result is that my brain can't decide. I'm a pro/con list kind of girl, it's hard when all the areas and schools have the same amount of pros or cons. So, going back on my "everything happens for a reason" theory that I love to live by (yes, I am one of THOSE people that tries to think that even when bad things happen) I think I've convinced my brain to just settle down, apply to all four schools I'm looking at (2 in England, 2 in Canada, hopefully no others pop up), and hope that they decide for me. If not, it can start worrying again. Don't tell it, but I kind of want to do the worrying thing since that means I got into more than one.
Another thought this weekend consisted of school since I have three tests this week with two finals and a regular class test. Thanks for that, teachers. I also have my three assigned articles for the week and my on call day. I'm shooting to get this all done by Thursday afternoon, wish me luck.
And finally, the last thought was about my story that I've been working on since I was born (okay, just last year but it feels like 22 years). I'm pushing for an edit done date of August 14th and my brain is spazzing out. I love to write and re-reading my "babies" after they are written is fun but editing is kind of like voluntarily sticking yourself in the eye with a needle at times. However, I LOVE this story and really want it to succeed (and possibly even open it up for a series down the road) so I'm pushing on. Because of this, my brain did not want to forget about it for a weekend.
So overall, while this blog post wasn't supposed to happen because my brain was supposed to be down for maintenance for the weekend, instead, y'all get this nice mumbo jumbo that my brain decided to throw together for your entertainment and to release its frustrations at the internal argument about vacation. We'll be trying another one soon, maybe my brain will finally get the memo.
Until next time,
Mel
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
School, Journalism, and Novels
You know those times where you are so busy that it seems like you are just in one long day with a series of little naps? Welcome to my life. I'm wrapping up an 11 hour day of writing articles and schoolwork right now and will spend a little while longer editing a novel I've had stored away and finished for over a year.
We've entered what I like to call the "Week of Doom" every semester with finals and projects due in addition to regular homework. Technically, finals are next week but they've enjoyed creeping into this week and I'm hoping that means they'll be light after Friday. In addition, I started two new classes last week so I'm dealing with that as well and am working on a scholarship application for England that I have to have to my adviser by a week from Monday.
However, on the fun work front of my summer, I've been writing articles like mad and just submitted my last assigned one for the week about an hour ago. I'm still waiting for another one I posted earlier this afternoon to be published but it looks like its gone to never-never land, I'm really hoping that's not the case since I forgot to save it. I'm also toying with the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone and in to soccer and tennis land at some point but a bit more research is needed before I do that. I want to get a wider range of sports under my belt so that's one of my goals for this coming year.
On the hobby writing part of things, I've pulled up a story I labored over last summer so I can edit and hopefully find an agent for it. I love the story so I'm hoping I can present it good enough that someone will fall in love with it too. I want to get it edited and query letters sent off before I go back to school in the fall so I just have three more weeks to work on it.
There isn't much on the horse front to write about since I'm basically only taking my weekly lessons (which the week of doom made me cancel this week) and have spent very limited time with my ponies so we'll skip that.
Until next time,
Mel
We've entered what I like to call the "Week of Doom" every semester with finals and projects due in addition to regular homework. Technically, finals are next week but they've enjoyed creeping into this week and I'm hoping that means they'll be light after Friday. In addition, I started two new classes last week so I'm dealing with that as well and am working on a scholarship application for England that I have to have to my adviser by a week from Monday.
However, on the fun work front of my summer, I've been writing articles like mad and just submitted my last assigned one for the week about an hour ago. I'm still waiting for another one I posted earlier this afternoon to be published but it looks like its gone to never-never land, I'm really hoping that's not the case since I forgot to save it. I'm also toying with the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone and in to soccer and tennis land at some point but a bit more research is needed before I do that. I want to get a wider range of sports under my belt so that's one of my goals for this coming year.
On the hobby writing part of things, I've pulled up a story I labored over last summer so I can edit and hopefully find an agent for it. I love the story so I'm hoping I can present it good enough that someone will fall in love with it too. I want to get it edited and query letters sent off before I go back to school in the fall so I just have three more weeks to work on it.
There isn't much on the horse front to write about since I'm basically only taking my weekly lessons (which the week of doom made me cancel this week) and have spent very limited time with my ponies so we'll skip that.
Until next time,
Mel
Monday, June 13, 2011
Journalism and Dressage Queen
I am a journalism and dressage Queen!
Okay, not really but it felt good to say it.
Last week was an insane writing week. On top of my regular internship assignments, I also helped cover the Belmont Stakes, which I loved doing. I'm a huge racing fan (well really, I'm a huge horse fan so anything horsey, I love covering) so taking on those assignments made my week. This week, it's back to the normal grind of school and my internship but with Royal Ascot starting in the morning, I think I may do some international racing coverage on the side.
Now to the riding side of things.
Vegas gets adjusted by the chiropractor this week and I'm hoping that will help the little attitude problem we've been having. While she acts more like a four-year-old under saddle since she hasn't been rode all that much, our issues over the last few weeks have been more than just baby problems so its back to the physical drawing board. If the chiro doesn't help then we'll go back and work on her teeth, but I'm really hoping the chiro does the trick. I guess we'll find out later this week.
And to my dressage queen statement from the beginning of the blog. I took my first dressage lesson today and had a blast. I'm sure I'll be super sore tomorrow and will hate life from that standpoint but I'll be back to torturing myself in two weeks at my next lesson. I've gotten kind of tired of the western riding thing so going to english is a breath of fresh air, plus I've always found dressage fascinating to watch (watch the video below to get hooked) so riding it makes it even better. Vegas hasn't been subjected to dressage yet and she's probably happy about that but she will soon enough. I'm not sure she'll know what to think after going western for the past four years. After I get the dressage down, maybe we'll try jumping!
Okay, not really but it felt good to say it.
Last week was an insane writing week. On top of my regular internship assignments, I also helped cover the Belmont Stakes, which I loved doing. I'm a huge racing fan (well really, I'm a huge horse fan so anything horsey, I love covering) so taking on those assignments made my week. This week, it's back to the normal grind of school and my internship but with Royal Ascot starting in the morning, I think I may do some international racing coverage on the side.
Now to the riding side of things.
Vegas gets adjusted by the chiropractor this week and I'm hoping that will help the little attitude problem we've been having. While she acts more like a four-year-old under saddle since she hasn't been rode all that much, our issues over the last few weeks have been more than just baby problems so its back to the physical drawing board. If the chiro doesn't help then we'll go back and work on her teeth, but I'm really hoping the chiro does the trick. I guess we'll find out later this week.
And to my dressage queen statement from the beginning of the blog. I took my first dressage lesson today and had a blast. I'm sure I'll be super sore tomorrow and will hate life from that standpoint but I'll be back to torturing myself in two weeks at my next lesson. I've gotten kind of tired of the western riding thing so going to english is a breath of fresh air, plus I've always found dressage fascinating to watch (watch the video below to get hooked) so riding it makes it even better. Vegas hasn't been subjected to dressage yet and she's probably happy about that but she will soon enough. I'm not sure she'll know what to think after going western for the past four years. After I get the dressage down, maybe we'll try jumping!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Growing Up Is Hard
Yep, I said it. I'm rapidly approaching my (hopefully) last year of my bachelors (where is summer going so quickly?) and its about time to really look at graduate schools. You know how high school kids get so excited to pick colleges? Let me tell you, it's not the same for grad schools. I've been looking near and far (England far) and while I've found ones that I really like, it's one of those "Oh my gosh, I think I'm going to die" moments whenever I really consider it. I'm giving myself until mid-July to put a list together. One of the big questions about that is; do I want to leave the country? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
On the other front, my "don't think about grad school" time is riding time. Before this summer, I hadn't really rode since March of 2010 and I was hurt then so I didn't ride the best. I have a REALLY nice six year old sitting in my pasture that needs time put on her and she hadn't really gotten the attention that she needed since the last few years I've been really busy and have put her on the back burner most of the time. But when I did get around to riding her, it was always focusing on barrels. Barrels this, barrels that and not the foundation that she needed to be a well rounded horse.
Well since I'm in the middle of "musical disciplines" mode (do I want to do barrels anymore? maybe I should try jumping or dressage, etc), I'm focusing on make her well rounded and getting those fundamentals that I ignored on the way to the barrel pen. Don't get me wrong, she's well broke and can do a lot of stuff but she's more at the 4yo level than the 6yo level. She can do almost everything you ask (rollbacks are a bit hard still but we're getting there), she just hasn't mastered most of it. So this is the summer of focusing on making an all around, well broke horse. Just another thing to add to my already busy summer but at least it is a fun part!
School, internship, horse, grad school... are we sure its summer time?
On the other front, my "don't think about grad school" time is riding time. Before this summer, I hadn't really rode since March of 2010 and I was hurt then so I didn't ride the best. I have a REALLY nice six year old sitting in my pasture that needs time put on her and she hadn't really gotten the attention that she needed since the last few years I've been really busy and have put her on the back burner most of the time. But when I did get around to riding her, it was always focusing on barrels. Barrels this, barrels that and not the foundation that she needed to be a well rounded horse.
Well since I'm in the middle of "musical disciplines" mode (do I want to do barrels anymore? maybe I should try jumping or dressage, etc), I'm focusing on make her well rounded and getting those fundamentals that I ignored on the way to the barrel pen. Don't get me wrong, she's well broke and can do a lot of stuff but she's more at the 4yo level than the 6yo level. She can do almost everything you ask (rollbacks are a bit hard still but we're getting there), she just hasn't mastered most of it. So this is the summer of focusing on making an all around, well broke horse. Just another thing to add to my already busy summer but at least it is a fun part!
School, internship, horse, grad school... are we sure its summer time?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)