Good morning Sunshine, the world says hello!

I just took a riding lesson with a friend's instructor (www.unicorndressage.com).

He is incredible. I love him. He's not afraid to say, "do it like this" and actually show/explain/move you to whatever 'this' is. He's picky. I LOVE it. He shows you how to do it right and expects you to try to do it like that and improve as you go. I got a lot of things to work on and improve on my own out of it. It was great. I can't wait to have another lesson with him, though it might be months before I can.

So, as a reminder to myself while it's still fresh in my mind:
( Notes to myself, probably somewhat indecipherable to others. )

Rode a thoroughbred named Sparticus, he streched down in the trot, which is apparently pretty good. Jim seemed pleased that there wasn't too much in the way of gross issues to fix, instead we got to do improvements and fine-tuning. My lateral hip flexors (do those exist? where'd they be if they did anyhow) were sore! I definitely feel it even immediately after. We'll see what it's like tomorrow. Core muscles all around are tired, especially in my back. After doing some posting my pulse was definitely going. I certainly didn't feel like I was in great shape then, with my pulse pounding and being out of breath after posting just a few circles, but man! It was tough!

I am now a third year vet student. I will be spaying a shelter dog this fall. That's right. Me. Doing surgery. On a live animal. This September. Apparently neutering cats doesn't count in my mind as surgery...probably because you don't have to suture anything. I am absolutely thrilled to be done with school. It could not come fast enough, even with the sunny weather coming on, I was still getting very grumpy about having to wake up and go sit in lectures every day. I'm pretty sure I passed all my finals, and as that was the only requirement for me (since I passed the midterms as well) I am confident that all is well.

( Pets )

( Summer )

( Entertainment )

Lookit. It's only the second day of summer and I'm already writing LJ novels for lack of something better I want to do. I'd better get busy!

I find my interest in school waning in light of the spring sun.

I find myself drawn outdoors to run and to ride.

I might even move all the compost I've got laying about.

( Meander, or perhaps, March to the Army Drum )

I am in fact still alive. I just got back from riding a Pony of America. He's pretty good, he's gotten over some of his little asshat ground mannerisms and is great under saddle. For a 15yo gelding who has spent at least the past year as a pasture ornament, he's getting into shape fast. Last weekend we did a lesson and then a two hour trail ride including lots of mud and hills. Thursday we did some loping. It mostly consisted of him running as hard as he could for the first five minutes with little to no coordination or control and then spending the next thirty minutes four-beating and otherwise trying to avoid having to work any more once he realized I was serious. Today he was great. Had trouble walking, just wanted to Go! but not out of control or anything, and he was great at the lope today. Nice, controlled, transitioning okay and actually keeping up the pace pretty well for the entire time. Not loping the whole time, but willing to do it on request and not being a dork. Then he even stood and led nicely after! Yay pony! He'll be going up for sale sometime this next week. Whoever buys him is gonna have a nice little guy on their hands.

I helped out at TNR event for ferals today. Neutered 1.5 kitties. That's right, all of three testicles. Out of thirty cats, only six were boys and two of those were too sick and had to be euthanized. The others were all girls, only three of whom were not currently or recently pregnant. No near-term pregnancies though, thankfully. Hopefully there will be a bigger kitty turn in for the next one.

I did my first successful blood draws in a couple years. One on a budgie, one on a cockateil. I can't hit a jugular in a dog, but a teeny tiny bird? Apparently that's okay.

I'm really beginning to wonder if I'll be going home this Christmas. It's the plan, but the weather both here and there is awful. Highways both north and south of my town have been shut down, the road I take west has an advisory out on it, all the planes here have been grounded and there's more snow in store for tonight and tomorrow. Then, over there, the pass is just flat out closed, and now I see posts that there's a foot in Seattle. Here that's okay. There that's gridlock and major accidents.

I want to leave Tuesday in the AM and get there before dark. Now I'm worried that it might not happen. And if I do get there...will I be able to get back? I have pets that I'm leaving here that will need seeing to.

My friend had come over, and we were talking about things of a serious nature when I heard a CRASH from my computer room. In the past two weeks my cat has taken to looking for trouble in there, so as I ran towards the room, I was not surprised to see him run out and away towards the bedroom.

Unlike events of the past week however, I didn't see any damage. I didn't see a pile of newspapers knocked onto the floor. I didn't see the dirty dishes I had ever so carelessly left on my desk strewn about. I didn't see anything out of order. Odd, I thought, then returned and resumed my conversation in the living room.

After shoveling the foot of snow we've gotten in the past four days off my walk and getting my pickup dug out and warmed up, I ran some errands. Then, about an hour later I came home and let my emaciated foster dog out of the computer room and outside. I returned to the computer room, bent over, thinking to refill her water bucket, and froze in shock.

I found out what the cat had done. I found my brand new copy of The Da Vinci Code, the book I had just started reading and left on my desk, in the water bucket. It was spread eagle, spine up, the pages floating leisurely in the now dark water. I told myself that it would not help my book to murder the cat, scooped it up gingerly and took it to the bathroom sink, dribbling water along the way.

Then I went and yelled at the cat. He had no idea what I was upset about and merely looked annoyed that I had woken him up.

I have now researched how to save a soaked book. It's not likely that it will ever look good, but if I'm lucky it will still be legible, and if I'm luckier still, it will even fit on a shelf once I'm done.

This is a great start to winter break.

In other news: I have another dragon

Your rainbow is shaded green and orange.

What is says about you: You are a strong person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. Others are amazed at how you don't give up. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Hey, lookie here!

I have free time, so I grabbed myself an egg...apparently it grows if some things happen, including people clicking on it and looking at it (no spam results from you doing so, I checked!). But it gets sick from some things too, like one person clicking on it too much. Not sure how this works, but it's got to be more fun than studying, right? Now I can go and ready goofy forums.

Eggy Eggy

ETA: Because I am so cool

More eggies! Hopefully one of them will live...not sure how to make that happen yet though.

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

I am sitting right next to two book shelves, so I grabbed the first book from the middle that wasn't in Japanese. Because getting kanji into my computer is a pain.

"The ex-flight attendant knew right from the start, but I bought him off by approving his phone sex." -My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki

Post this on your blog if you're in an opposite-sex marriage and you don't want it to be "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage cheapens or hurts it somehow.

It is the morning of October 12th and it is 19 degrees out, that's -7 in celcius, as in, respectably far enough below freezing to be considered freaking cold!

I never post, not when I think I should anyway. Sometimes when I do, it's because I procrastinating. If I fail school because of this, at least I'll have something in writing to point to and blame. So far, that hasn't happened. So far, in a pinch, I always squeak by. Sometimes I wonder if I wait so long to study, so long to get organized, just to see how far I can push before it fails. Maybe I need more real risk in my life so that I don't have to make some up like this. I wouldn't really want it though- because then I couldn't conveniently escape whenever I want to, like I can now. But I still wonder, if in a real disaster, I'd be the one getting things done and saving myself and others, or if I'd be one of the ones sobbing in the corner, waiting for fate to happen. Is it hubris to think I would actually be the former? Or just optimism?

I post now because the internet is not as interesting as I want it to be. I don't want to work and find things, just be entertained. For this, TV is actually better IMO. I have been riding a lot lately and I enjoy it. It's a bit of real adrenalin, and being outside helps when I just don't want to be stuck inside the vet school or stuck inside my house studying any more. I like to get outdoors, away from having to memorize what makes C. perferingens type C important, or what it means when I have a lymphocyte count of 23,000 including metamyelocytes in a horse. I just go out and ride them instead. It is good, even when I got a chaffed spot on my ass. I deserved it for wearing the pants I did.

Now, off to eat some cheese.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
( Food Meme )
Some of this stuff I'd never heard of. I'll try anything once though.

It's been a busy summer so far. Not just with work, or chores or anything, just everything put together has added up to busy.

Done on the house thus far: Ceiling, fence, painting, moved rocks, windows to be put in Wednesday. Left to do: re-enamel sinks and tub, make flower box, seed/sod area where rocks used to be, rip out carpet and put in something else.

Working forty hours a week at a job I have no desire to do is a chore. I don't know how on earth people actually do this for a life. There's no way I could. I can barely do one summer of it. Luckily the summer's winding down and I've got the okay to only work 30hours a week for the rest of it.

Riding is going well. I went out and rode a friend's horse today. He's a good boy, and much more with the 'go' than the lesson horse I ride. That in itself was a lesson today; how to turn it down a little and not constantly push him to go. I think I got it though, and it should help me with the other horse too. My pants got all horse-sweaty and he got a butt-mark. Fun times.

So much to do still and so little summer left to do it in!

Advertisement