In memorium: Star Trek

The following is a response to a post I found about the new Star Trek movie.

I used to be a huge Trekker. I liked Voyager best, because I thought the concept was interesting (a starship left to survive on its own? Cool!) but I was also a lot younger at the time, and now I realize (well, I realized it then, but I really realize it now) that there were some really dumb story lines (um...the one where people aged in reverse? That's really the best you can give us?!). Some of the characters were interesting (I liked Janeway, I loved B'Elanna, the Doctor was great, and the idea behind Seven was great, although the fact that she was added solely for sex appeal detracted from that considerably). The idea of having two opposing factions forced to cooperate was great but they didn't use it enough. And the end...well, it was completely anti-climatic.
To me, the death knell was when Brannon Braga joined and obtained a position of power in the francise. He seemed to think that everything had to revolve around sex appeal, and when he was given responsibilities in creating that travesty known as "Enterprise" things went downhill from there. I watched the first episode and it so sickened me that I couldn't bring myself to watch anything more.
When I heard that they were doing "young Kirk and Co." I almost cried. Haven't they tortured Star Trek enough? If they're going to do a movie, why not make it something different? Bring back something else.
The difference with "Doctor Who" was that the essential spirit of the original remained the same. The difference with "Star Wars"...actually, wait, no, the second trilogy just plain sucked.
Rest in peace, Star Trek. You died many years ago, and you are greatly missed.
I'll see it, but probably not in a first-run theater.

GAH!!!!

So. As of yesterday, the Puddlejumper is no more.

I'm accepting it. Slowly. Not willingly. I've had that car for over three years. It was my first car. I bought it with the money from selling my horse. I mean, granted, I'll get another car, eventually. And it'll hopefully be a nice car. Dad asked me if I wanted to have his old car or if I wanted something sportier, like the twins have, and I had to admit I wanted something sportier. Plus, I drove his car the other day, and it's...all right. It doesn't have a RPM gauge which threw me off when I was guessing when to move it up a gear. But I'd still rather have my little Puddlejumper.

In addition to no longer having a car, I'm having trouble with even going on foot. Stupid warts STILL haven't disappeared. I even got the freeze-off stuff. Didn't help. Hurts to walk.

And my head is killing me. I just want to crawl into a dark hole and die. My head hasn't ached this badly in months.

And I've been at work since 1:00. I didn't even get to escape for dinner, since we had a meeting. So I've literally been in the ag dome for seven hours straight. Maybe that's the cause of the headache.

So...I'm really ready to go to bed. But I have to be here (officially) until 9, and I'll probably stay until 9:30ish, because I'm behind on hours.

Random Wrong Number

So, this morning, I woke up at 8. I figured, hey, the alarm's going to go off soon, why not get up and read the study guide for my test at 9:30. So I did.

8:22, I clambered back up into bed, reset my alarm for 9, and went back to sleep.

8:31, my phone rang (note to self: change ringtone, "God of Wonders" is a great song, but getting old).

I snarled. "Who's calling me at this time?!" I muttered. Linetta, my roommate, had just gotten up herself. She laughed.

I saw it was a number I didn't know, so I cleared my throat and answered the phone. "Hello?" I said, trying not to sound insanely grumpy, in case it was important.

"Is this Justin?" a woman's voice asked. Older, at least in her fifties. Probably a fairly fussy type, from what happened.

(huh?! Can't she tell that I'm a girl?!) Still fairly incoherent, I say "No."

A long pause. "Is Justin around?"

"No, you've got the wrong number."

A longer pause. "What number is this?"

(you dialed it, lady, don't you know what it is?) I tell her my number.

"Is this a cell phone?"

"Yes." (how is THAT relevant to the conversation?!)

Another pause. "Is this Justin's wife?"

(I'm fighting between the urge to laugh and the urge to bite her head off for just not getting it) "No. I don't know any Justins. There are no Justins around here."

"Oh. All right." (call ends)

So. Yeah. Don't know what that was about. But then I flipped over, laughed really hard into my pillow, and went back to sleep.

Changes in horse racing

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=12901&source=rss

So, the NTRA has implemented some reforms that are going to have a big impact on racing...

* Uniform medication rules for each state;
* A ban on steroids in racing;
* Out-of-competition testing for blood-doping agents;
* Uniform penalties for drug infractions;
* Mandatory on-track and non-racing injury reporting;
* Mandatory installation of an inner safety rail at tracks;
* Mandatory pre- and post-race testing; and
* Implementation of placement programs for Thoroughbreds that can no longer compete.

This comes on top of New York banning steroids the other day, Kentucky banning steroids a couple months ago, the Breeders' Cup banning steroids around that time, and Churchill Downs, Inc., putting serious restrictions on the use of toe grabs this week.

It just makes me think...all it took to change racing was for a horse to die in the Derby? I never like seeing a horse die. But what about Barbaro being injured in the Preakness? What about Charismatic being injured in the '99 Belmont? What about Pine Island being euthanized and and Fleet Indian injured in the 2006 Distaff? What about George Washington being put down in the 2007 Classic?

Was it just because it was the Kentucky Derby? Was it because the horse died, instead of just being injured? Was it because it was a filly?

Crazy.

A life? What's that?!

My life has been reduced to work, class, and study. I feel totally and completely swamped right now and dadgumit, I've got to go to a concert in St. Louis this weekend. It'll be fun, Linetta and I have planned this for weeks, but I REALLY don't want to waste time going to concerts three hours away when I could spend that time studying.

It doesn't help that I'm currently upset because Linetta was eating lunch with Tim Baker yesterday, and Tim asked if Stephen and I were going out. And then LINETTA asked if we were really dating. My own roommate! I laughed and told her that if we were, I didn't know it, but I wonder if that's why it feels like he's been avoiding me. So I'm doing the proper girl thing and brooding over it and generally flipping out over it and not coming to any resolutions.

Donn wants me to do a big research project for a scholarship. I don't know that I will; it's a lot of work. But I have until the end of February to submit my paper.

I'm back in ROTC. They didn't have enough people so they opened it up for anyone who wanted to do it, although normally you have to be enrolled in a military science class. I'm glad I'm doing it again; it was a lot of fun going to lab on Wednesday, and I got to be a squad leader. I was even taking point for part of the exercise, although I neglected to notice a trip wire (but Goodgion said that everyone did that, so I don't feel so bad). I also managed to trip over my own feet during one exercise where you were supposed to roll, pop up from the ground, run a few feet, and drop again. I rolled, tried to pop up, stumbled around, and slammed down onto my right knee. I have a fairly respectable bruise there now.

I was voted vice president of DTA. This really made me mad, I wanted to be president, but Lindsay Price got it, and since no one wanted to be vice president, Cambre suggested that I be vice president. Then Lindsay turned around and started trying to convince Cambre to run for vice president. She was kind of obvious about the fact that she didn't want me to be the vice president. Gah...I HATE the aggies.

Too tired to care anymore...

Is the semester over yet?

Uh, no. Because it started yesterday.

I'm tired, I'm a little frustrated, I'm confused, I REALLY don't want to work right now, I'm...AGHHHH!!!!

Tired is easy to explain. I was up at 6 to exercise. I'll do it again tomorrow.

Frustrated...well, Equine Science had the first class today. Donn talked too long and kept getting off track in the beginning so I had to give three presentations, including my genetics presentation that I spent the summer on, really rapid-fire. I wound up running out of time for my genetics presentation and yet I still went nearly ten minutes over. I know I was speaking fast and there are all levels of knowledge in the class but I feel like no one had a clue what I was talking about.

As for confused, my poor lazy brain hasn't had to work all summer and now it still doesn't want to. Unfortunately, cruel teachers have already given homework, so I have no choice.

Classes...well, my two ag classes were canceled, since everyone went to Tom Smith's burial. He died Monday the 18th. I wound up spending the morning in the office, working.

"Business and Professional Speaking" looks like it'll be interesting. I don't mind public speaking so it'll be easy.

Accounting is going to be my worst class. I can already tell. I think this is a hard teacher.

Tech Writing should be okay. We're writing a resume and cover letter, which we're doing for speech too, so that's killing two birds with one stone, woohoo. And the professor seems nice, and I've heard some great things about her.

Dance is going to be AWESOME! I need to get a leotard and tights though. I haven't had any since I was twelve...

Voice should be okay. I heard a lot of negative things about the teacher but she seems really nice. Apparently she's really hard on music majors, but I'm not one, so I seem to be safe.

Bleh...I really want to go to bed. REALLY want to. But I can't. I need to do homework. Nasty, nasty homework.

No more summer!

I've said this before and I'll say it again; I'm pretty sure this is the only college, in this state at least, where students are actually happy summer is over.

Tomorrow is going to be a lovely, lazy day. I've got to go to physical therapy at 10, and get a couple hours of work in during the afternoon, but I'm going to sleep in, and Linetta and I are going to Silver Dollar City in the evening. Yay! And then Tuesday, I get to go home. I spend a couple days at home, and then we're driving to visit my grandmother. Seven hours, one way...woohoo. And the house stinks of cigarette smoke, and we never eat anything healthy...

I'm really getting into the healthy eating thing lately. The whole healthy lifestyle idea, really. I'm anxious to escape college so that I have complete control over my diet. I feel better if I'm not putting a bunch of junk food into my system and if I'm working out. The only problem is, right now I have shin splints, and it hurts to run. I think I'm going to go for a walk tonight though; I've got a couple wraps and I was going to wrap my legs before I went.

I decided to drop one of my classes today, bringing my total credit hours down to 19 (plus one class I'm auditing). Still going to be hard, but easier than it was. I can take that class with an easier teacher later...one who assigns less homework. Mwahaha!

I can't wait for classes to start. Can. Not. Wait. Animal Breeding is going to be fun, Bryan's teaching it and his classes are always fun. I had Ag Economics with him, didn't pay attention to anything, and still got one of the best grades in the class. Tech Writing will be super easy. Business and Professional Speaking should be really easy. Ag Risk Management will probably drive me insane. Accounting, I don't know, I've heard mixed things.

Just a week until classes start! One week....yay!

Best. Day. Ever.

Summer is over...I am SO glad. I'm pretty confident that this is the only school where students are thankful to get back to classes.

Today has been so stinkin' amazing. Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes right? I was at work, and some of the other students and I were complaining to each other about one of the girls who works with us. She wasn't there, thank goodness, because she's the witchiest little thing. Anyway, we were complaining about her, and Justin said, "Yeah, she sent me a text message saying how much she hated Kate and junk, and then she sent me one, 'Oh no, I didn't mean it,' but how can you not mean a text when you take the time to type it out?" I just rolled my eyes. I know she hates me. "What I don't get," I said, "is why she hates me. I've never done anything to her." "She hates you because she thinks you're better than her at everything," Justin informed me, "and she doesn't want anyone to be better than her."

So, I'm taking it as the backwards compliment that it is...ha! I think it's kind of cool that someone hates me for being better than they are. Yeah, I'm weird.

The day just kept getting better. I went to lunch, and wound up sitting with the guy I kind of like. And I'm pretty sure he likes me. He wound up coming over to the mill with me and talking to me for about an hour, and he brought me some M&Ms. And he said I was pretty! I've never had a guy say that I was pretty before! My sisters are the pretty ones, I've always been the plain one. And then we wound up making arrangements to go running later in the afternoon. Then I went over to the ag dome and sorted through the rest of the papers for the Equine Science class, and I'm getting SO excited about it. It's going to be amazing. And quite frankly, I'm going to leave my mark on it in the future, because I've got such awesome handouts and such that Donn will keep using them.

And then I checked my e-mail, and I've gotten a scholarship! I was awarded a $200 book scholarship. I've applied for it every semester and I've never gotten one until now.

So then I went to change for running, and I went by the post office and mailed off my laptop to be repaired (the power port broke the other day, I couldn't plug it in...=C ) and then went to meet the guy I sorta kinda like (hereafter abbreviated "the GISKL") to run. Unfortunately, my shin splints that developed last week aren't quite healed. So that kind of hurt. But I had a good time.

And then Linetta's mom came and we went to a show. It was a typical Branson show, pretty good though. And that was my day, so now I'm tired and my head aches and I'm incredibly happy.

...after all this has passed...

So my sister came to visit me today. I was glad to see her, and not just because she brought some CDs and my MP3 player. We went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant near the school, and she told me about some of the junk that's going on at home. I'm not going to mention it, because it's too personal. But let's just say, it makes me want to scream, and cry, and cuss, and give someone a good shaking. It's something that has rocked my world. But instead, we came back to my room, put a movie on, watched it, I told her goodbye, and that was it.

I'm probably going to write it in my journal, because I need to get it out. But honestly, there's just so much in my head right now. One thing that keeps popping up is I wonder sometimes if I'm ever going to find someone who's willing to marry me. I'm so screwed up. I don't trust people. I've had virtually everyone I love and trust betray me. Whenever I think maybe it's safe to forgive those past problems, wham, they slam the knife into my soul again. When is it going to end?! I have only eighteen months left. Eighteen months and I move to Kentucky, and I'm free. My life will be my own. Kentucky has come to mean so much to me. It's not just the job I want, or the area I want. Kentucky is the light at the end of the tunnel.

My current theme song is "Beauty From Pain" by Superchick.

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night.
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died.

And all that's left is to accept that's it's over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I've made.
I try to keep warm, but I just grow colder.
I feel like I'm slipping away.

(chorus)
After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain.
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And you'll bring beauty from pain.
You will bring beauty from this pain.


There's more to it, but I can't type it in now.

Remind me why I thought this was a good idea....

So, getting a break has been awesome. I've remembered what it was like to sleep again.

Rachael and I were talking on the phone last night and she asked me how long it'd taken me to recover and get back to my normal self. I told her I hadn't been my normal self in so long I'd forgotten what my normal self was like!

I have to admit though, as nice as my break has been, my family is beginning to drive me crazy. And I wish I had some actual work to do. I'm so used to being busy with classes and work that it's weird not having that. And aside from church, I haven't really seen anyone my own age this entire time.

And...truth be told...I kind of miss going to classes. Even though I usually dislike them. Well, some of them.

Gah...this can't be happening. I can't actually be MISSING college! How weird is that?!

Shouldn't be doing this...

...especially since I have to be up at six tomorrow. Borrowed this from LiveJournal.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE. (I'm adding *** because I can't underline)
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen***
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte ***
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling ***
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (I love it in as much as you can love the book you base your spiritual beliefs on...)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (I don't like Emily as much as I like Charlotte and Anne)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (will NEVER read this)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (*snores*)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott***
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (don't intend to read them)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (never heard of it)
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks (never heard of it)
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (never heard of it)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (never heard of it)
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *** (T'was brillig, and the slithy toves...)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis***
34 Emma - Jane Austen***
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis***
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres (never heard of it)
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving (never heard of it)
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins (never heard of it)
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery***
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons (never heard of it)
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen *** (I just love Jane Austen!)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (well, I read half. Keep meaning to finish it sometimes...)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams *** (loved this book so much I named rabbits after the ones in it)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl***
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Hey! I have my summer reading list now!

Yay.

I have a new laptop. I bought it two days ago.

I had to restore (read: format) it today because it wouldn't load Windows.

I'm hoping this isn't an omen.

It's got a 250 GB hard drive. My old one had a 40 GB hard drive.

It has 2 GB RAM. My old one had 516 MB RAM.

It has a screen that is really shiny and crisp. My old one...isn't really shiny. Or crisp.

I really want it to work.

Oh, and my jump drive fried. Seriously. It wasn't good. Luckily, I think I can reconstruct most of my info.

Still bored

Like it says. Still bored.
Should have a new laptop by June 20th or so. I'm thrilled.

Obama = idiot. But we knew that.

Just have to say how disgusted I am with Obama. Mr. "doesn't want to wear a flag pin because he doesn't want to look like he's taking sides" when it comes to other countries.

DUDE. YOU ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THE WHOLE FREAKIN' COUNTRY. HOW MUCH MORE SIDE-TAKING CAN YOU GET?!

My greatest desire right now (even overruling the one for chocolate) - the opportunity to slap Barack Obama REALLY, REALLY, hard.

Summer. Depressed. Bleh.

So I was raising a baby swan. He was cute. Then he died.

And I'm babysitting. The boys are not the most intelligent, especially the older one. It kind of drives me nuts sometimes. But the family is really nice and the pay's good, which is nice.

And I should have a new laptop in a couple weeks, which is TERRIFIC!!!!!

That's my life right now. Fascinating, huh? (yes, that was SO sarcastic)

I have the best job...

I woke up this morning, helped Jessica pack and said goodbye to her, watched an episode of "Stargate" and then wandered over to work by way of lunch. Got to work at about 12:30. Finished my poster I'd been working on, contemplated ideas for redoing our display, finished the beef cattle inventory. Played around online. Around three, Donn came in and asked if I wanted to go riding. So I left early, and now I'm going to change and go ride for the rest of the afternoon. And nobody minds, my work has been done anyway.

Best. Job. Ever.

OK, this is weird

So...enjoy playing classic games like Tetris, Pong, and Breakout? Ever wished you had a REALLY BIG screen to play them on?

Stumbled upon this today...
http://www.blinkenlights.de/arcade/games.en.html

The basic idea is that buildings are turned into giant game screens, and people play the games with their cell phones. How weird is that?!

Random Thoughts of the Day

The younger brother of Barbaro, Nicanor, has been shipped recently to Fair Hills Training Center. I'm sure we'll be hearing soon about how his first workouts have gone. Poor guy, he doesn't realize that there are thousands of people out there holding their breath to see how he does. Probably a good thing too; I'd be nervous! I just hope everyone around him is able to keep their nerves down when he races, so he doesn't pick up on it. I hope they give Edgar Prado the first ride on him too, it would only be fitting.
And Big Brown's stallion rights are in the process of being sold...sigh. More bad feet coming our way in a couple years. Apparently there is a "major international stable" trying to get him - two guesses as to who. Gee, how many major international stables are there?! Darley or Coolmore. One of the two. He's scared off most of his contenders from the Derby for the Preakness...only Recapturetheglory is going to try to face him again. So, yeah, unless things go horribly wrong, I'm predicting another potential Triple Crown winner. I have mixed feelings about that; the thrill of it is great, we haven't had one in thirty years and the sport needs one - but I just don't think he's in the same class as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, or even Affirmed. And quite frankly, considering the publicity over Eight Belles' death, I don't think we need one this year. But considering how fresh he looked crossing the wire at the Derby, I think he'll make it the Belmont distance. Saturday, June 7 will truly be a day of reckoning.
Bryan was talking to me about how he saw something about Eight Belles being inbred, so I pulled up her pedigree online and showed him how she was very inbred to Native Dancer. Her second dam, Be A Prospector, is by Mr. Prospector (who is by Raise a Native) out of an Exclusive Native mare (who is also by Raise a Native). Raise a Native appears three times on the pedigree, and his sire, Native Dancer, appears once more as well. Even Big Brown has multiple names appearing multiple times; both his sire and dam are by sons of Northern Dancer, and the cross of Damascus to a Round Table daughter is in there twice.
I know you want to stick to what works...but seriously, this is ridiculous!
Anyway...it was really funny though, because Bryan was amazed that you could track pedigrees all the way back to the late 1600s.
I found a terrific list on this website...I'm going to print it out and put it up beside my desk. And I'm probably going to write it out and put it in the ag office.
http://www.glennong.com/post/32984296
And, finally...finals are almost over. I have one left. YAY!!!!!!

...tick...tick...tick...

I'm slightly bored. I'm supposed to be making sure that all the right papers have been turned in for Dr. Russell's farm finance class...but that's boring.

It's finals week (at last!). I have two tests tomorrow and one Friday. I'm kind of stressed about those. Oh, and did I mention I've been sick all week? First bronchitis, and then the flu, thanks to the steroids they gave me to clear up the bronchitis. And I woke up this morning feeling like I'd ripped out a muscle in my shoulder or something. It's better now, but it's still really painful, so that's not saying much.

*sigh* I just want to get this over with. Get my workweek done, go home, sleep. Babysit, earn money for a new computer. Work on my special problem (which Dan FINALLY approved, hooray!).

Summer, come quicker.

Mark the date! I was WRONG!

So. I cheerfully admit that I was proven wrong today, when Big Brown lived up to all the hype his trainer has said about him and won the Kentucky Derby. I didn't think he could do it, considering he had three strikes against him; he had only had three starts, he was coming from the 20th post, and he was the favorite. But, he ran a really excellent, picture-perfect race. He broke clean, made his way over, laid in fifth or sixth the entire race, accelerated REALLY beautifully there at the end, and won easily. He looked fresh and looked like he could have easily run another race right then. He was feeling good enough to unseat his jockey. I have never been so happy to be proven wrong, because he really ran a very nice race.
Is he the Triple Crown winner we've been waiting for? I've got no comment on that. He looks good, and I believe he could last the length of the Belmont. But he's also got a history of quarter cracks and if one of those pops up, he's out. I think the real make-it-or-break-it point though is going to be the start. If he gets a clean start and doesn't get bumped around, he'll be okay, but I think he's very much an outside-running horse, and if he gets stuck towards the middle, it could be bad. Either way, as happy as I am to be proven wrong, I really, really wish I was wrong...you just know that people will be breeding a ton of mares to him, which means we're going to have a whole bunch of new little Thoroughbreds with bad feet.
But, poor Eight Belles...I feel so sorry for her and her connections. She ran an amazing race and was another example of me being proven wrong...only to be so severely hurt, AFTER it was over. That's just devastating, and it casts a pall on the whole day. When the news came that she was hurt, my mom looked at me and said, "How can you want to be part of something where stuff like that happens?" My response was simply "Because I want to breed horses so stuff like that doesn't happen."
That's my philosophy of horse breeding, right there. Horses need to be bred for soundness, speed, and stamina, but in the last couple decades they've only been breeding for speed. When I have a breeding program, I'm going to look to bring the other two back into it.
In other news, my thoughts and prayers are also with Chelokee, a wonderful racehorse in his own right. Chelokee was injured the other day and the headlines are calling for a 50/50 chance. He's a GIII winner, a four-year-old, and he won the Barbaro Stakes last year...an especially sentimental win, as he is a Michael Matz trainee, the trainer of Barbaro. Best wishes to him and his connections.
I promised Emily I'd watch a TV show with her, so that's all for now.

Ugh

I'm sick (coughing really horribly and stuff) and feeling just plain bad, so I don't feel like finishing my handicapping efforts. Besides, it's not like anybody reads this besides me. But to paraphrase the movie "Sydney White" a bit, "It's not about the reading, it's about the writing."

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says.
"leftover metals and send them off to be recycled - meaning"
(the book is my "mental_floss" "Scatterbrained" trivia book)

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
Papers with songs I mean to get as MP3s

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
TV? What's that?
It would be "Doctor Who" last Friday (I know there are some people who would find it unbelievable that I haven't watched TV since Friday, but...what can I say? I'm a college student)

4: Without looking, guess what the time is.
10:18 pm

5: Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
10:16. However, I think my clock is behind. *runs to check time.gov* *awed* DANG I'm good. *fixes clock*

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The refrigerator. And myself breathing.

7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Um, about twenty minutes ago, when I came back to the dorm from Coffee House.

8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
The website I got this from.

9: What are you wearing?
The Kentucky Derby shirt Lindsey gave me last night (bless her!) and my favorite pair of jeans. And my tennis shoes, the white and blue ones. And socks. And underwear. And a hairtie. And contacts.

10: Did you dream last night? What about?
Since the human brain dreams every night, yes. I don't know what it was about, but I do remember something about trying to get an old friend of mine to recognize me.

11: When did you last laugh?
Not very long ago. I laugh a lot.

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Um, well, since it's my room...
- Picture of me and Smokey
- Patches from England of Scottish and Welsh flags
- Pictures of Ruffian and Barbaro
- Calendar of April that I never really got around to writing my stuff in on
- Piece of paper with next semester's schedule scribbled out
That's just in the immediate vicinity. I could list it all, but I would like to go to bed tonight.

13: Seen anything weird lately?
Does Bryan Oetting count? (one of my professors...hehe.)
Umm...not too recently. Unless you count what I've been coughing up...

14: What is the last film you saw?
You know, I watch a lot more movies than I do TV, but I'm not sure I can answer this. Probably "Sydney White"

15: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A farm in Kentucky.

16: Tell us something about you that we don't know.
Ummm...ummm...I would really, really love to collect old books. Right now I only have three; a copy of "Black Beauty" from 1895, a copy of "Pollyanna" (in BEAUTIFUL condition) from 1913, and a copy of "Diseases of the Horse" from 1938 (let me tell you, that's good for a laugh!)

17: Do you like to dance?
I love to dance. I blame it on the fact that I took ballet for like, six years straight. I took tap too, but I always liked ballet better. But I'll do any kind of dancing - swing, contra, ballroom, I'm game for it all.

18: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
I'm the typical girl, I've been debating this for ages. "Elizabeth" and "Emma" are both high up on my list. But honestly, I'm just not sure. I think I'm going to have to wait until I actually know she's coming before I figure out a name, partially because I want my husband to have some input (it'll be his too!)

19: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Well, "Jacob" and "Benjamin" have both been high on my list, but I'm not sure. I think this is another one of those "it'd have to be when I'm already pregnant and with my husband's input" things too. (I feel like it's such a cop-out!)

20: Would you ever consider living abroad?
You know, I actually have considered it. And still am, somewhat, because it's looking more and more likely that I can't get my Masters in what I want anywhere in the States. But honestly? I probably won't, because the place I want to go to wants you to have two years working experience after you have a bachelors, and since I'm going to be in Kentucky, I don't think I'm really going to want to leave (although it's a beautiful place in England) (but my primary reason is because once I get to Kentucky, the hunt for a suitable man is on full blast)

Three days

In approximately three days, three hours, and twenty-five minutes, twenty horses will be rushing out of the starting gate for my favorite horse race of the year; the Kentucky Derby.

As always, I attempt to handicap it. I'm generally not successful. But, here is my attempt.

Big Brown, who's looking to be the favorite, will get in an early speed duel with Monba and Gayego before taking the lead at the half, and fizzling out in the stretch to finish just off the board.

Visionaire, who is my sentimental favorite for being a Michael Matz trainee, is one who I think may be a wildcard. In six starts, he's won three and only been off the board once. He's never made it a full ten furlongs though, only nine, and that was when he finished fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes. While he showed a nice performance in the Gotham, I think he's just not quite cut out to compete at this level. I think he'll be mid-pack pretty much the entire race, finishing somewhere between tenth and twelfth.

Big Truck has shown some promise, but I just don't think he's cut out to go the distance. This has nothing to do with his last-place Blue Grass finish; that was on Polytrack. I just don't think he's going to be able to make it that far. His sire is a sprinter, and even though his dam is a Go For Gin daughter, I don't think that's going to help.

Colonel John seems to run whatever you want him too. I think he could be a real contender, and if I had a way to legally bet on him (without driving three hours) I'd at least bet him to show. My main concern is that he's really only raced on Western tracks. He's also from a pedigree that tends to be late maturing. Even if he doesn't win the Derby, though, I can certainly see Colonel John becoming the Lawyer Ron of 2009.

Z Fortune strikes me as one with potential. I think if he gets a clean break, he'll be right up in there during the stretch run. But it may well depend on what kind of day he's having; his fifth in the Rebel Stakes doesn't seem to have any good explanation as to why it happened.

Pyro may have only won his maiden as a two-year-old, but his record as a juvenile should certainly not be dismissed; he took second in the Champagne and the Juvenile, both to War Pass, who's not runnning due to injury. If War Pass was still in this, I'd go ahead and call it War Pass - Pyro - possibly Z Humor, the same as in the Champagne. Yes, Pyro had a horrible race in the Blue Grass, finishing tenth; but that was also the first time he'd raced on Polytrack (I love Polytrack for the safety factor, but I hate how it screws up a horse's running style!). I think Pyro will be a big contender. He likes to run from behind, but don't be fooled if Pyro is at the back of the pack in the first 3/4 mile. He'll make his move. He did it the same way in the Champagne, Juvenile, and Risen Star.

Eight Belles is a nice filly, but she should be in the Oaks. I just don't think she's going to be able to keep up with the boys and while she's certainly going to try, she's going to finish a well-beaten thirteenth or fourteenth.

I have to go now, Dr. Russell's wanting me to actually do some work, so I suppose I should. I'll continue this later, it's fun.

Quizzes!

What can I say? I'm addicted to these things!

74% Geek
(well, that just confirms what my sisters have known for years...)

(it's past 11:00 and I've had a long day!)

I SCORED A 90%

(I think it was the "Little Mermaid" questions that got me)

294 WATTS Body Battery Calculator - Find Out How Much Electricity Your Body is Producing -
(apparently, this is enough to run an Xbox 360)

2,876,160How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?
(apparently, it's equivalent to the germs on 575 toilet seats...eww...)

$4005.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.
(that's kind of depressing...)

52%
(thankfully, I'm fairly positive I've got a 100% chance of not needing to survive a zombie apocalypse)

I Scored a 100%!

(most of it was pretty easy though)

26
(however, this is only taking into account the down and dirty type of fighting. You can take on an almost infinite number, you just have to know the right time to yell, "LOOK! FREE CANDY!" and then run away really really fast)

51%
(luckily, I think the odds aren't high on this either, although perhaps somewhat higher than a zombie apocalypse)

90%
(honestly? Took me several tries. And it's based on the premise that you'd be able to utilize some of those things. How are you supposed to use water, food, a first aid kit, when you're trapped in a spacesuit?)

Yeah, this is going well...

So much for my "oh, I'm going to update my blog every day" resolution.

Not that much has happened. I guess I should probably tell the story of my experience as a goat doctor, though.

I was at work on Tuesday, April 1, and I was listening to our voicemail. There was a message on there from some people about a sick goat, and they wanted to know if we could help. Being inclined to help animals, I gave them a call and got the details. Turned out the goat had gotten her leg stuck or something, injured it in some way, and her owners were very upset, because it had happened a couple weeks before but they couldn't get a vet to come look at it. Like, no vet would come, because they'd definitely tried. There was also the complication that she was due to kid at any time.

So I hauled Rachael along and we went to go look at it. The owners were extremely grateful; it was sort of funny really. They were talking over each other, telling us about the goat, who was actually their grandchildrens who lived next door. I looked at the knee, and it was definitely hot and swollen. There was a lot of fluid, but she didn't seem to be in a lot of discomfort. A quick call to Mom confirmed what I thought, she needed her knee drained of all the fluid that had accumulated, so I had to tell them that the only option was for them to find a vet to drain it, and put hot compresses on it. They were very nice people, and insisted on paying me - "for gas" they said. The lady wrote me a check for $35, which was much more than I'd expected.

Otherwise, not much going on. I've spent the last two nights up late trying to get projects done. It stinks. I'm going to be here all weekend though and I plan on devoting Saturday to homework, cleaning, and necessary errands (and maybe unnecessary errands...I got a $25 tanning giftcard at the ag dept Christmas party that I still need to use. I've never been tanning before...)

It's been raining like crazy. I love listening to the rain, but I hate the fact that there's a dip in the sidewalk in front of the dorm, and it'll fill up with water six feet across. And it's deep, too, so you can't splash through. You have to find a way to get around it, which is incredibly annoying.

New season of "Doctor Who" premiered last Saturday. I really like it so far, there's another new(ish) companion; Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate (who is hilarious!), who was also in the 2006 Christmas special. Of course, she's really funny, and the interactions between Donna and the Doctor are great. The best part, though, was about two minutes and forty-five seconds from the end, when Donna is about to leave to travel with the Doctor. She chucks the keys to her mother's car in a bin (trash can) and tells a blond woman to tell her mother it's "that bin there." Yeah, I know, it sounds lame, but then the blond woman turns around, and it's Rose! She was the first companion in this series, and she and the Doctor were totally in love but weren't admitting it to each other, and then she was trapped in a parallel universe, and there was supposed to be no way for her to ever get back, but she is, and nobody knows how, except that she turned and walked away and when she did she faded, and there've been clips someone took of them filming a scene where there was a bright light and then she ran out. But, she was my favorite character, and she's back, which is what matters!

And I'm bored with this, so I'm probably going to go find some episodes of TV shows I like that I haven't seen yet and clean my room.

Pictures, Part 1

The long-promised pictures, before I run off to class.



Big Ben, as seen from the window of the coach as we drove by (we didn't get the chance to get any really good pictures of it, which was disappointing...)



Not the greatest of pictures, but there's the London Eye, with Big Ben in the background




Buckingham Palace, as seen over the heads of the huge crowd of people waiting for the changing of the guard (which was canceled).



I thought this was hilarious. All the doors have signs saying "This door is alarmed." What I want to know is, what's the door alarmed about? LOL



While my family is scratching their heads trying to figure it out, the "Doctor Who" fans will recognize this very familiar building...yes indeed, it is none other than the secret home of Torchwood! Our hotel was very close to Canary Wharf and nobody understood why I thought that was so cool...
(when we went by at night, I looked in the windows as much as I could trying to find the room where the main events in "Doomsday" happened, but alas, they all looked like perfectly normal offices. A very clever disguise by Torchwood, I'm sure...LOL)



While the rest of our group wandered off down the sidewalk, one of the guys and I stopped to get quick pictures with the traditional red phone booths. They're everywhere in London. How could we resist a picture? Obviously, we couldn't.
(I kept looking for a blue police box, but no such luck...)



Is that a five thousand plus years old giant circle of stones I see? Yes, it is!



Somebody (I forget who) advised me that whenever I go to see something like Stonehenge, always get a picture with me in front of it, because otherwise, it just winds up looking like a postcard. Of course, nowadays, you can make it look like you were on the moon if you've got any talent with Photoshop. But, anyway, there am I, in front of Stonehenge.



I'm skipping ahead a few days to put one of my favorite pictures on. This is one of the many statues at Coolmore Stud, and there's actually a guy leading the horse. Daniel was pretty good though at blocking out pretty much all of the guy, so it looks like I'm leading the horse. Give me a few years, then we'll get a picture of me leading a real racehorse...preferably into the winner's circle.

I'm going to be late for class (well, more than likely) so I'm going to leave this here. I should have an interesting adventure to mention tonight...let's just say, it involves a fairly unusual phone call the agriculture department received, and the fact that I'm very sympathetic towards hurt and injured animals.

A brief update

Huh. Who knew that Europe doesn't have free wireless Internet in hotels? Or even wired Internet?

Anyway. I'm back. I had an awesome time. Coolmore Stud was one of the neatest experiences of my life. We got to see a ton of their stallions, and I got to pet Dylan Thomas! He was one of the top European racehorses last year, and worth millions. His stud fee alone (INTRODUCTORY stud fee, mind you) is 50,000 euros. You can check out their stallions here. http://www.coolmore.com/stallions/ireland/roster/ We got to see a bunch of them and they were all absolutely gorgeous. They looked happy and the insanity was at a minimum. They take awesome care of their horses.

I'll be posting pictures later, I haven't had a chance to rescue them from the ag department laptop yet. My day so far has been sleeping, trying to catch up on my e-mail and such, shower, class, lunch (there was a cheesy eggplant bake...who knew eggplant could be so good?!), more sleep, work. But when I talked to Mom earlier she wanted to know when I'd update this, so I figured I'd type one up to say I'll be updating it more later.

Extra time, so pictures

One of the geese that kept Jeremiah and me distracted for a good two minutes over how cool it was.

The sign that caused the "you need to work on your accent" comment

Me in front of the Thames and Tower Bridge

Me in front of the Tower of London

ENGLAND!!!

Wow! I’m in England!

I’ve written pages and pages in my journal and haven’t even had a chance to update it today. A few brief highlights, not mentioned or expanded in the CofO Ag Dept blog (http://www.cofoagdept.blogspot.com)

The plane ride was awesome. I was so stiff and so sore though. I got to see Washington and New York at night, and it was just acres and acres of lights. It was really neat.

These two ladies across the aisle from me took some pictures for me, since I didn’t have a window seat, but I can’t post them tonight because British hotels (or at least this one) have not grasped the concept of “free wireless Internet” and it’s a stinkin’ six pounds (over $12) an hour. Um, hello, that sucks. But oh well, I guess I’ll have to bear it. Two updates on Tuesday maybe, we’re not paying for this again.

It’s SO weird to think that at home, it’s 2:30. The family has cleaned up from the Easter egg hunt at church and is back home, or about to be. While here, halfway across the world, it’s 7:30, and we’re going for an early bedtime. My family hasn’t even figured out what’s for dinner yet!

I dozed a bit on the plane, but not much, as it was extremely uncomfortable. I don’t like planes, they make my head ache like it’s about to explode. When we landed this morning though, I wasn’t paying attention until I glanced out the window and saw ground. “Oh! There’s ground!” I said, completely startled. The ladies across the aisle were laughing at me about it. I didn’t mind, because I probably did seem a bit ditzy.

I mentioned my story about getting yelled at by the British lady for taking a picture in the other blog, so I won’t repeat that here.

England is interesting. I saw a bunch of horses out in the field and they were all blanketed. There are no wire fences. Seeing the Royal Agricultural College horse farm should be fun.

I don’t know how I’ve made it off of two hours of sleep in about twenty-nine. I guess it’s the pure thrill.

We saw the Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. Jeremiah and I wound up separated from the group and wandered around by ourselves most of the time (Mom, quit it). We got distracted by some cool looking geese – they were brown! We took pictures. I’ll post them later. It was really funny, we were looking for the exit, and I saw a sign for Bloody Tower. I read it aloud, just in a normal tone, and Jeremiah, who hadn't seen the sign, said "Kate, you *really* need to work on your accent." (we had been talking about having a "best British accent" contest earlier)

London drivers are insane. There are plenty of stop lights, but NO STOP SIGNS. People are just EXPECTED to stop. It’s weird. And there are squiggly lines all over the road. I don’t know how people learn to drive, it’s completely incomprehensible to me. And the yellow light comes back on before the green light.

Beer is the same price as soda. That’s also weird.

We’re going to be buying raw ingredients to make sandwiches and stuff because food is so stinkin’ expensive here.

We then went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. I mentioned that in the other blog.

Anyway, I have a line waiting for me to get on the Internet (I’m typing this up beforehand) and I want to get a shower and get in bed, so that’s it for now.

(P.S.

Mom, send this to Aunt Ruth please!)

(Dad, I got some good pictures of me, including one in front of the Tower of London and one in front of London Bridge. I'm going to try to get the one Emily requested at Big Ben tomorrow.)

...I have no words...

Guh.

In twenty-four hours, I will be somewhere about the Atlantic Ocean.

My suitcase is packed. My backpack is packed. I've been working to get the ag department's laptop in shape (I have NEVER seen a computer so badly in need of defragmenting. It's quite possible nobody's done it in the seven years they've owned it).

My clothes for tomorrow are laid out. The old CD case that's being turned into my daypack is packed (almost forgot my American money, but I remembered eventually). I'm ready to go to England.

It doesn't feel real. England is this mythical place you see on TV and in the movies. It's this spot on the map halfway around the world that you know you've got ancestors from but you've never paid any attention to.

It's just really weird. The first twenty years of my life have been limited to one country, and I've seen, maybe a third of it. And while I do know my geography (hello, won the geography bee!) knowing something in theory and knowing something in practice is different.

THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!!!!!!

I was really scared earlier tonight though. I was feeling kind of nauseous. I still have a headache. But I told Donn the other night that I would have to be on the point of death not to go, and while I think he thinks I was exaggerating...I really wasn't. I just was scared I'd have the stomach flu while having to deal with airports and flights and stuff.

But, aside from the slight headache, all better now. Let's hope it stays that way.

Two(ish) Days/Some Tea With Your Sugar?

I leave for England on Saturday!!!!

How weird is that?!

It's going to rock, being the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and all. And I get the bonus of going to visit Coolmore Stud, one of the biggest racehorse breeders in the WORLD. Hoping to pick up some tips for my future career. ;-)

The trip is all ready. I made the notebooks for the professors leading it today, as well as the journals for the students on the trip. The journals are pretty classy-looking, if I do say so myself. They're in white folders with see-through plastic covers, and each one has the person's name on the front. There's a picture of a one of the traditional double-decker buses passing Big Ben, and all the writing is in Copperplate Gothic Black, and it just looks REALLY neat! I continued using that font for all the titles on the inside, and it just pulled together really beautifully. Tomorrow I've got to go into work for just a bit in the afternoon, make sure the ag dome is all locked up for spring break (take out the trash, mostly...Dan would not be happy if it stunk the place up) and count out everybody's money allotment. We're letting them have roughly $100, in a mix of pounds and euros. I said something about playing blackjack in the airport and Donn was really quick to say that wasn't going to be allowed. I would like to point out, I meant with Skittles, not actual money (although now that you mention it...).

And tomorrow I get to PACK!!!! I love packing things. Don't ask me why. And I have a really cool idea for making my suitcase easier to see, but I won't mention it. I'll post a picture tomorrow, maybe.

As for the "some tea with your sugar" title...lately, I've taken to attempting to make tea in the little pitcher that's actually meant to filter water. I think I'm going to give up, because I can't get the water hot enough and in a large enough quantity, but that's another story. Anyway, the latest attempt I made produced some tea that was really very, very weak, and out of desperation, in an attempt to make it taste better, I was adding some sugar. Well, I just added it to my cup, but I'd just refilled my little sugar-holder-thingy, and I'd apparently not screwed the lid on as well as I thought. PLOP it goes into my cup, and all the sugar starts to follow while I'm just staring at it for a second. I come back to my senses and pull it up, but then, unsure of how much sugar actually went in, I stuck the spoon in, swished it around, and tried it. I should have known it wasn't a good idea when the tea was a visibly lighter color (which is really saying something because it's nearly dark in here right now). But nope, being me, it went into my mouth anyway. And I started gagging, because it was worse than eating pure sugar.

All I want is a good cup of orange and black pekoe. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.

And on a last note...still planning to save money for a new computer. I'm wondering about the quality of mine. I'm wondering if motherboard issues could be causing my problems. If it is the motherboard, it probably won't really be worthwhile to repair it, because while it was a nice computer three years ago, it is an underpowered, outdated one now. Sigh. I do like my nice laptop skin. But unfortunately, my aged, arthritic computer is struggling to keep up with what younger computers could do in an instant. The processor speed is often maxed out (the new RAM isn't helping) and it's having difficulty doing things that used to be simple. Even as I type this, it tends to lag two or three characters behind. I was trying to play the game "Escape The Museum" a few minutes ago but gave up because it was so slow. Maybe I can steal some of the twins' baby-sitting jobs this summer and earn some extra money towards it.

Memory...

I used to have one.

I seem to have misplaced it.

'Nuff said.

Aspiring for an Internship...

So, I'm going to be home for six weeks of the summer (mainly because I've decided I'd rather incur a debt via a student loan and get a well-deserved break than go absolutely insane from being stuck here with no more than two weeks off until Summer 2009), and I thought, why not see about getting a summer job or internship?

So I went to Horsefest this weekend, optimistically anticipating I'd be able to find somewhere that would be absolutely perfect. I found one stable in Rogersville that will "probably" be hiring someone in late May for an all-summer job. It could be a great job, if I get it. Otherwise, no bites.

I guess I'm just going to camp out a bit, pray, and find out if this is God's will. To be honest, I really don't care that much. I want it for more experience on my resume, and the money to buy books and pay fees, but that's basically it. If I get it, awesome, if not, I'll hang around with Emily and maybe go volunteer at Camp Barnabas for a week.

A few other things going on, but that's a tale for another day...or at least later tonight. I'm supposed to be in the ag office right now (officially, I'm on mail run...*tries to look innocent*).

Bleh. I think I'm succumbing to the CofO Plague....

Almost forgot

Oh, and something else I'm very proud of...

I got my three summaries of Lewis' "The Abolition Of Man" back the other day. Each was worth 20 points, and I got 18 on all three. I forgot to indent (I'm bad about that!) and there were some minor things, but Dr. Head wrote on two of them "Excellent" and on the third "Wow," as well as the comment "This is superb work!" I'm still grinning about it, as you can guess because I wrote it here. Of course, my "grammar" is atrocious; I never learned parts of grammar, or things like passive versus active voice. I'm worried about our test over that next week. But my writing is, apparently, superb. I know I'm not always the most humble, but when it comes to writing, I don't feel like I should be. I am a GOOD writer. I'm not great (heck no, I'm definitely no J.K. Rowling), but I can make my point elegantly and occasionally concisely. I really want to get into writing as a freelancer. I just need something to write about first.

Oh well. I'm keeping a very detailed journal when I move to Kentucky. Then I'm going to turn it into a book (where do you think the title "Confessions of an Aspiring Equestrian" came from?). And I've got my novel I'd like to write, if I can ever bother to research it. And my fanfiction. I've got a story I'm working on that's turned out to be fairly popular. It's definitely going to be the longest story I ever wrote, I'm through with chapter 6 and I can see another ten to fifteen in the future! I would like to earn some money though, and I would like to maybe win some prizes. When I was ten years old, the American Girls club that Barnes and Noble held had a story contest, and I won third prize. I think that's what really cause the writing bug to bite me, because I've wanted to write ever since.

And obviously, I'm quite bad about writing, when I should be doing things like, oh, I don't know, SLEEPING maybe. Especially when I'm so tired it took me three tries to spell "American."

Bleh...I'm going to bed.

I'm insane...

I've been up since 5:45 this morning. It's now 1:00 a.m.

I had to get up early for the FFA workshop. It went all right. One of our classes of horses didn't show. I got to have the fun of handling a Fox Trotter gelding, coming two (in like, JUNE, maybe) who was very determined not to be a show horse. He was all over the place, trying to rub up against me, didn't want to move at anything more than a walk, took bathroom breaks (note the plural), neighed more in that period than I'd ever heard from a horse who didn't have the imminent prospect of food...it was interesting.

Ah, well. It's done for another year.

I used my gift certificate for Domino's that I got at the ag department Christmas party. I called them tonight and order a large, deep-dish, pineapple, mushroom, sausage, and ham pizza. You might think it's a weird combination, and I admit, the pineapple and mushrooms together were a bit odd at first, but delicious overall.

While I was waiting for that, I went to the dollar store. Picked up some sugar (now I can make proper tea!), a sugar shaker (well, I can't just leave it in the bag!), and a spatula. Funny story with that...I was going to get some eggs too, because I have a TON of salsa in my fridge leftover from Open House, and I figured, why not fry some eggs up and throw some salsa on? That's pretty good. So I bought a spatula, but no eggs. And now I have a small pitcher for tea, but nothing long enough to stir it properly. I'm *so* brilliant...*rolls eyes*

Anyway. I've been up this late ordering free samples. You know, it's really brilliant, all the free samples you can get. I've got a couple of T-shirts, a ton of shampoo, a razor, chips, coupons for free contacts, all sorts of stuff that I ordered tonight. This isn't the first time I've done it; I've got a ton of things. As a poor college student, I rely on free samples whenever possible. At one point, I ordered so many free samples and coupons for feminine products, I think I paid a total of $5 for six months worth!

It's sort of a thrilling/terrifying thought that three weeks from now - exactly three weeks from now - I will be in an airplane, over the Atlantic Ocean, within a couple hours of landing in England. It's so unbelievable to me. I'M GOING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY!!!! I've never been out of the States, unless you count, like, two hours in Mexico, which I don't, because I was seven, and I don't remember much other than I wasn't impressed. I can't wait for it, it's going to be awesome, but at the same time I'm sort of scared out of my mind. I'm not one who likes to go away from home and try really new experiences (says the girl who's planning to move to Kentucky...). And while most of the people going with me are good aggies (yeah, it's an oxymoron), they're still aggies.

Oh, yeah. I've officially decided I can't stand the aggies. They've got their little clique, and they think they're so much better than everyone else, because they listen to country music, and they go around in Cartharts, and they're usually covered in mud and manure. Yeah, I don't get it either. All I know is, I've been teased constantly by them; well, that, or totally snubbed. It confuses Dr. Lambeth, I can tell; he doesn't quite get why I don't participate in Spanish. I think he thinks I must be really shy or something. I guess I ought to let him know it's nothing against him, it's the fact that I'm the ag department outcast. Because I've never worked in the dairy, or the beef farm, or the hog farm, and because I like horses, and because I actually take care of my appearance and try to wear nice clothes. I know when you're out on a farm, it's harder, but they always look like they've been on a farm. Anyway, I've decided I'm going to go anti-aggie. I'm going to work even harder on maintaining a nice appearance. I'm not going to go out of my way to talk to them, but I'll try to be friendly if they talked to me. Except maybe to Kaycey, who's made it quite clear she dislikes me, and Renee, who was laughing at me the other day. I'm just ignoring them.

I'm also going to be making my own shirt. It's going to say, "Jesus loves me as I am, so why should I care what you think?" This is my statement to them. I'm sure they'll ignore it, but it's going to be there. And it's a confidence booster for me.

I would leave the ag department, if it weren't for the fact that I LOVE my job. I love working in the office and organizing things. Of course, when I'm trying to do a million things at once, and things slip through, I feel horrible. I need to learn to delegate. And I love all the professors; they're great to be around, and I'm pretty positive they all like me. Although Mark might be getting a bit fed up that I keep forgetting to clock in or out (ah, probably not, I've only done it five times this semester, and one of those I couldn't clock out, because they'd locked the building when I came back to do so). And I felt awful because there's a particular project Dan's been wanting me to do that I just haven't had a chance to do. I put Karla on it, but I don't know if she's doing the same thing he wants done or not.

And I still have to tolerate the aggies in my classes, anyway. Animal Science is the major I need to have. If they don't like it, tough. I've only got two ag classes next fall though, THANK GOODNESS, and one will be Animal Breeding (EASY!!!!).

And I've now rambled a good twenty minutes. I'm tired, beginning to hit the point where I can't focus, and thinking that it was a bad idea to drink half a pitcher of tea. Oh well. It was probably a worse idea to eat half that pizza....

Ah, I give up...

I give up trying to keep this related to horses. Let's face it; I'm not really around them enough for that to happen. Which sucks when you're an aspiring equestrian.

Although, actually, with the FFA workshop coming up next weekend, we're looking to have a couple of horses here on campus temporarily. I'm really hoping that happens, it would rock. Dr. Russell said that they'd need some exercising too...mwahaha!!!!

Unfortunately, I went roller skating with my roommate and her boyfriend last night, and while trying to avoid a girl, I crashed really hard. As in, every bit of weight and momentum and everything went crashing down onto my right knee. It's now bruised, and sore, and it hurts to bend. I wound up borrowing crutches from the firehouse, but they just frustrate me, so I've been staying still for the most part. My other knee's a bit sore too, and my arms from when I was trying to catch myself, but I'm just glad nothing was broken. I'm praying that it'll heal fast; if we do get horses on campus for the workshop, it's my responsibility to take care of them and to groom them. I could do that with a bad knee, but it'd be much easier without one! Plus, it's going to be really hard to ride with a bad knee. Not that it would stop me from trying.

Oooo....I want horses over here SO badly! I NEED horses. That's how I destress. It was actually really funny, because I was having a really awful day, and Donn asked me if I was okay, and I wound up telling him how stressed out I was. He looked at me, and he goes, "Kate, I think you need a horse." I was going "YES!!!! I DO!!!!" I love Donn...he's an awesome person. He's probably the only person in the entire ag department who has the slightest inkling of how I feel.

Just looking at my environment...I've got four pictures of me and horses, one of my little sister and a horse, two of famous racehorses, and a horse calendar. I've got a note with next semester's class schedule on it that's on paper with horses on it. I've got my Secretariat model on my desk, my Ruffian model on the shelf, and the rest of my models on the very highest shelf. I have a US Eventing Association sticker on my clock. I have a picture Emily drew me...of me on a horse. I have my various books - "The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing," "The Horse Doctor Is In," "Hunter Seat Equitation," "Lyons on Horses," "The Blood-Horse Guide to Breeding Thoroughbreds." I have my stuffed Beanie Baby racehorses on the dresser. I have a horse magnet on my fridge. I have horse magnets on my laptop stand.

I'm seeing a theme here...