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

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

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!

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?

Goals & Motivation Are A Good Thing. Lack of Patience, Not So Much

First off, Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Thank you to those who serve, have served, or will serve for keeping us free.

Next, this seems like the perfect day to post this blog because of it's big topic and how it relates to me and our country.

I am one of those people that needs a hard and fast goal to focus on to try my hardest. If I have a general goal like "Graduate school" I only put some effort into it but if I make a solid goal, I throw myself into it and focus on what needs to be done to reach it. Since I was really young, I've wanted to serve the United States in some way. 9/11 pushed that motivation farther than I would ever have imagined and I planned on enrolling in the military the second I turned 18. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control prevented me from doing that (yes, I know I have recourse for it, etc but I've never been one to use my circumstance to say "hey, I should have that" and I didn't want to take on the military when they have other things to worry about) so I started searching for other ways to serve my country. For a while, I looked into an international relations degree but upon research, I found out it wouldn't do all that much towards my goal. Enter the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Everyone knows that I'm a big sports bluff and love writing but before the Olympics, it had never crossed my mind that these things could be combined into a career. It also never crossed my mind that sports could also help international relations until I paid attention to the news during the Olympics. Surprising to me at the time, the Olympics are more than a sporting event where the world unites, this event strengthens relations between countries (and in each country itself but that's another point for another day). So there you have it, I have my new plan to do something for my country and it may be even more productive than the military. I want to work for a US National team of some sort or even our Olympic committee to help strengthen and build our relations with other countries. So now I have my solid goal to work towards and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

Now enter the lack of patience. If you know me, you know I am one of the most impatient people in the world. I don't want to wait two years to do something, I expect it to happen and to go right right now! This often leads to a grumpy attitude (something that I really need to work on) that sours up whatever experience I am having. That's what happened to my first year at West Texas A & M. I've been in college since 2006 and my brain tells me I should be done and moving on to grad school. This makes the rest of my body impatient and brings on the whole "I don't care about anything, I just want to be done" thing. You could say that it really soured up the whole 2010-2011 school year because I wanted to be done. So remember that solid goal from above? A part of it is to have patience. I guess we'll see how long it lasts because it's definitely a huge weakness of mine but I figure if I keep myself busy, I won't have time to focus on the "living in fast forward" thoughts I have.

Matt Cooke's Suspension

By now if you follow hockey, you've heard about Matt Cooke's hit on Ryan McDonagh that happened on March 20th (if not, see below). You've probably also heard about the suspension, but if not, let me enlighten you.



Cooke was suspended for the rest of the regular season (10 games) plus the first round of the playoffs, so a potential 17 games. I'll be honest, I was just expecting 10 games for him but the NHL had to make an example out of a head hit since it was a huge topic of conversation at last week's GM meetings. But I also think that the suspension by the league isn't nearly as damaging as the punishment from the Penguins may be. Shero released a comment soon after the NHL's ruling and it makes me feel that something is brewing in the Pens' head office.

"The suspension is warranted because that's exactly the kind of hit we're trying to get out of the game. Head shots have no place in hockey. We've told Matt in no uncertain terms that this kind of action on the ice is unacceptable and cannot happen. Head shots must be dealt with severely, and the Pittsburgh Penguins support the NHL in sending this very strong message." (NHL.com)

The part that sticks out most to me is:

"We've told Matt in no uncertain terms that this kind of action on the ice is unacceptable and cannot happen."

Matt Cooke is known for dirty hits and was hit with a suspension earlier this year because of the same kind of behavior in addition to a dirty hit on Marc Savard last year that went unpunished. Mario Lemieux has come out with statements talking about changes on the ice in relation to hits and getting rid of Cooke makes a statement that he is dead serious about the issue. With over three hits in the past year, I'm thinking "Cookie" can say bye bye to his Pens jersey soon.

I have no doubt that if Cooke gets released, someone else will snatch him up. He is a good player when he plays clean, it's just keeping his game clean that is the hard (if not impossible) part. But I feel that if he doesn't shape up soon, he will be saying bye bye to the NHL and trying to find ice time somewhere else.


Is this a bad thing? At this time I really don't think it is. If he can't play clean, he has no place in hockey, especially if the only thing he focuses on at times is hurting other players instead of going for the puck.

My opinion may be harsh, but I believe that more responsibility needs to be taken for intentional actions, especially those that are obviously aimed to hurt someone. A 17 game suspension is a step in the right direction and if that doesn't get the players' attention I'm not sure what will when it comes to head hits other than kicking repeat offenders out of the league. If we want players to keep playing, intent to harm needs to be addressed no matter who the offender is.

Egypt and Journalists

As a "wannabe journalist" like the title of this blog says, I try to keep myself updated on what is happening in the world. I'll admit that I don't focus on the "real" news as much as I should since my real love is sports, hockey, NASCAR, and horse racing to be specific, but the conflict in Egypt has held my attention for a week now.

After doing some research about the Egyptian government and what the people of Egypt were protesting for, I took a pretty educated stance on what side of the "fight" I wanted to be on. I also took more interest in this than I have other conflicts because Egypt is a pretty big ally to the U.S. and what happens over there will affect our country as well. But over the last few days, another issue has caught my attention when it comes to Egypt, the violence towards journalists.

At first, we heard of a little violence towards journalists, such as the police taking away equipment and arresting journalists but now the violence has heated up and been focused towards those trying to get the news out to the world.

"There was no control. Suddenly a man would come up to you and punch you in the face." Anderson Cooper of CNN reported.

Yet another journalist was escorted to her hotel at gunpoint and the Hilton Hotel in Cairo was raided by pro-Mubarak supporters looking for journalists. Throughout the day, I've seen lists of injured and unaccounted for journalists and their assistants grow longer. I find it incredibly sad and unsettling that the people trying to get news out of Egypt to let the world see what is going on are literally putting their lives on the line to get us this information.

As someone that hopes to get into the journalism ranks in the next few years, this definitely opens my eyes to some of the risks I knew there were in the profession but never really thought about. Does this make me rethink my career choice? No, but it does make me rethink where I want to go when I get out of school. It definitely opens my eyes that there are more than just sports when it comes to journalism choices. Will I reconsider the idea of going to sports and hopefully working on a Kentucky farm or at a racetrack? I honestly cannot answer that question at this time, but it is something that has been floating around my brain over the past few days.