Bucket List

Things will be added, things will be crossed out, but all of them will be done at some point in my life.

• Visit the ocean
• Go to Wisconsin Dells
• Swim with dolphins
• Ride a horse on the beach
• Visit Sea World
• Visit Universal Stuidos
• Visit Disney something
• Own a horse
• Win a class on a national level 
• Travel to London
• Travel to Italy
• Travel to Paris

Post Midwest Charity

I am home safe and sound and back to the daily grind of school.

I know I wrote that I would like to do updates from the hotel while we were in Springfield. Unfortunately our hotel had NO internet signal. Literally, I couldn't hook up to the internet on my laptop to do my homework, my phone had no 3G signal, and our phones wouldn't connect to the internet. It was like being in a black hole of despair.

On the plus side, Jennifer and I avoid killing each other which always seems to be a miracle to both of us. We successfully made it there and back in the car without getting lost (going through Iowa to get there and through Madison to get home). Music was a good companion as was the never ending supply of gummies. We were witness to some weird stuff but that seems to be the norm for us.

The show itself was AMAZING. Words cannot describe the caliber of horses that were there. I was awe struck by some of them. It was interesting to see who the judges picked to win classes (a lot of the time I didn't agree) but I guess it's a whole different game there. I loved getting there early (as much as I may have complained about it) to watch the trainers work the horses. There are so many different methods that go into making a horse do it's job and it was fascinating. Of course I just wanted to go home and ride every horse. I saw some stuff that could apply to Buzz and some other stuff that made me wish I had a big park horse to ride. Maybe one day I will! Now I am desperate to go to a show.

I also got to meet some new people and talk to some people that I have admired for a long time.The 12 year old in me was kicking her feet in glee over meeting the people that I have been in awe over for so long.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. Seriously. I advise anyone who wants to see a cool show to go to Midwest.

And now I'm home trying to purge my system of all the crap I ate (I'm looking at you Steak n' Shake) with a fruit and spinach smoothie. My body is adsorbing nutrients like a sponge. I've also been trying to catch up on all of the sleep I've missed. So life as normal.

On the plus side, I downloaded a bunch of songs with a wolf theme because I love wolves and I introduced Jennifer to the Thrift Shop song.

*Dusts Off Blog*

Well this blog has certainly had time to become dust covered.

The last few weeks of last semester were the craziest thing I have ever endured. Having a horse show at the same time as finals week is not good. I had a crazy amount of papers due and I was literally too tired to write them.

Granted, I still managed an A, A- (in my seminar no less! I kicked that paper's 17-page ASS), B+, and two Ss. YEAH BUDDY!

So I had a week off and then I jumped into Spanish 1001. It's a 5 week course and is SUPER intense. I feel like I did at the end of last semester all of the time. I take a nap almost every day. The teacher basically only speaks in Spanish and we're totally immersed in the language.

Yeah. Boo hoo. Poor me. Really it's not that bad. I'm very very privileged to be able to go and take summer classes and be able to finish my degree without having to transfer out of the U of M for money purposes. I may complain about my parents but I am very blessed to have them taking care of me.

Change of subject- The hell is up with this weather?

This blows. Hardcore.

All I want is a week of nice weather. Not like sweltering hot or anything just nice.

Oh but wait...This is Minnesota. Nothing ever goes right with the weather here.

On the plus side, I'm going on vacation to Springfield to watch Midwest Charity on Wednesday.

PRAISE THE GODS.

That is going to be a long car ride but Jennifer and I always managed to make it fun with weird pit stops and chatting.

I am SO excited!!!

I'll try to blog stuff while we're there if I remember!

Put On Your War Paint

SPRING TUNE-UP IS IN ONE WEEK. Well a week and half, BUT STILL. HORSE SHOW.

HORSE.

SHOW.

Like with the riding and the ribbons and the smell of baby oil and fake peach face black.

I am giddy beyond belief. I've also been obsessively trying on my hunt coat to make sure it fits every day (it still does THANK GOD). My caboodle is organized and pristine.

My horse is a big black fuzz ball with a cranky attitude!

So basically I'm just going to be sitting here for a week unable to do anything but think of the show.

I'm not obsessed or anything.

I literally haven't blogged in a month and I have nothing interesting to report. At least not that I can remember. Let's see.

I caught up on Spartacus and I am ready to tear my hair out because my husband is in bad shape.

Dan Feuerriegel is my husband. He just doesn't know it yet.

That. SMILE.

I have lost like 15 pounds hence the hunt coat fitting again.

I have watched The Hobbit 3 times since I got it.

The pick-up line "Do you have a boyfriend? Because if you don't, I would take you out and cherish you." was used on me today. That gave me great joy and a 5 minute laugh.

I was called spoiled. I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF.  If you know me, I've been working since I was 12 years old to ride horses and show them. I have no money in my bank account because I've never had a real paying job. I AM BROKE AND IT IS HARD BUT I GET TO RIDE HORSES.

I have a kajillion papers due including my senior project paper and I'm DYING. Not only that, but I'm taking Spanish through the Summer and into next school year so I'm NOT EVEN DONE. It never ends. I'm basically going to die in college. Death by schooling.

Or maybe I'll just end up in an asylum.

Is it next week yet?

Song of the Moment: 

 

The Phoenix- Fall Out Boy

 

How Wednesdays Have Forsaken Me

I don't know what it is about Wednesdays but I hate them. Completely and utter loathe them. Maybe because tomorrow is my Friday, maybe because my bad luck days are always Wednesdays, or maybe they just plain suck rocks.

Let me explain.

So I had an exam this morning and that was all good and dandy. I actually managed to get into a groove while writing and managed to get out 10 pages of semi coherent writing on all the topics I wanted to cover. I even had time before class to study and get my triple caffeine cappuccino. So cool, day was going good until I looked in the mirror.

Holy crap.

I looked like I had been on a bender and put through the ringer. My eye makeup had totally faded, the bags under my eyes were standing out stark (and I mean they were freaky obvious), and I was freaking pale looking (I know I'm pale but where did my blush go?!).

I looked like a zombie.

Or a college student.

Either or really.

So whatever, guess I'll have to deal with walking around looking like a corpse for today but that was okay because I was done with one of my exams and my exam tomorrow was finished, just waiting until class to be performed.

So I wander over to my Keats class. This is class that makes me feel like a total jackass because there are like 3 of us that talk in it. I'm not even exaggerating. There's like 10 of us in there (it's my senior seminar in case you don't have my schedule memorized, which, if you don't, shame on you.) and only a few of us are actually brave enough to answer questions about poetry. I just sit there and spew out bullshit answers that sound intelligent and manage to provoke the professor into discussion. Well I'm getting really sick of being one of the few people that talk because I feel like everyone is looking at me like "what a show off" blah blah blah. SPEAK UP PEOPLE. I hate awkward silences. I hate when a professor is standing up in front of the class waiting for an answer. I hate wasting my time just sitting there. So guess what.

I answer the freaking questions and ask appropriate questions.

It's not hard.

But apparently for some it is. One of the few other kids in the class that frequently speaks up likes to hear himself talk. I've never heard someone articulate a question in such medieval language so slowly. He's all like, "well I am of the belief that, as opposed to his earlier works that we have read such as so and so, this ode lacks the paradoxical language that Keats is known for frequently using," and yada yada yada. Seriously dude? I hear his voice and instantly feel my eyes start to roll. So he pulled this Ode to Indolence missing a paradoxical twist view point.

So of course I had to raise my hand.

Actually, the whole poem itself is paradox because it's A POEM ABOUT HATING WRITING POETRY. You are a doucheknocker that just wants to sound impressive and you have wrong opinions.

He is also obsessed with the idea that Keats was on drugs while he wrote 3/4 of his poems...which he was not FYI.

So I was already in a mood from lack of sleep and knowing I looked dead but this kid just kinda pushed me that little bit further into having a bad day.

Then I got stuck walking behind a group of 4 girls that felt that need to walk 4 wide. They also had the inability to walk and talk at the same time so they were MEANDERING. I could not pass them, I was stuck walking behind them for a good 5 minutes and was about ready to throw myself in the snow and die of suffocation.

All this led up the culmination of there being an evacuation in the science building that was next door to the building my Victorian Literature class was in. The fire department guys would not let us in Ackerman to get to our classroom so we were all stuck standing outside for 20 minutes. I got cold and crankier.

They let us in the building at 4 (our class was supposed to start at 4) and then we got an email from our professor saying that if the alarm was still going at 4:30 that we wouldn't have class. Um, we're in the classroom? Where are you Mrs. Professor? WHAT THE STINK. She showed up at 4:30. We all sat in the room playing on our phones and yelling random things at people who walked by the door because we're all 5 year olds at heart. I also found some string cheese that I forgot I had packed for lunch.

The cake of my day was the kid that decided to argue that Sherlock Holmes was really a decent human being with emotions and was really a people person.

What.

What??

Dude. Don't even get into anything Sherlock Holmes related with me. It's basically my politics. I could literally feel my jaw clenching. I wanted to do that dramatic turn around and glare at the kid (in my head, I did and it was epic). This is the kid who is also a self proclaimed Sherlockian. YOU SIR, ARE WRONG IN THE FACE AND HAVE WRONG OPINIONS. It's not even me having my own opinions, his thoughts aren't even backed by the text! Where is he pulling these ideas from?! What the hell is happening today?

It was like a nightmare.

So that was my day. It was full of me walking around like a zombie and basically responding like one too.  The only good part of the day was finding string cheese.










Freaking Wednesdays, man. I hate them.

There's a Grief That Can't Be Spoken

I'm too tired and sad to make a happy post.

I was informed last Thursday (Valentine's Day, of course) that Soldier had passed away. He was found out in his pasture after being turned out. There didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle or pain involved in his passing. It seemed to be a quick thing.

I pray he passed without pain. I can't even bear to imagine him in pain.

That horse was my baby. He taught me more about patience, perseverance, and caring than any other horse I have ridden and worked with. Soldier was my teacher in the way of understanding a horse and taking their emotional state into account. He was so special to me in ways that I can't even describe. I've never understood what people mean when they say a piece of their heart went with the animal and now I do.

I hate that I can now only see him in the pictures and videos I have of him.I have to touch my computer screen to even remember what it was like to pet him. I hate that I can't go out and pet his soft little nose. I hate that I have no one to share my boxes of Nerds and Smarties with. Those were always his favorite.

No more trail rides on a happy prancing horse that liked to flick his tail up and snort at the wind. No more joyful greeting snorts from the greatest horse in the world.

My boy is gone and I never got to say goodbye.

I would love to know when the spontaneous crying and tears will stop but I know it never will and I almost don't want it to. It feels like if it stops, that means I've stopped caring. I feel like this pain will always be in my stomach and I know that it will never go away. That horse took something of my heart with him when he left and I'll never get it back.

I'll eventually get around to writing our story together but not right now, it was hard enough to write this short entry.

Here's to the greatest horse. We will meet again some day.

I love you forever Soldier.

Blergh in the Blog

Dear friend,

I have finally found Charles Dickens book that I enjoy! It's only the most obvious choice in the world: Oliver Twist. I love it. I've always loved the movie renditions so the book was the obvious next step. Aside from my discovery that I don't totally loathe Charles Dickens, school is super boring right now. My brain is in over drive trying to piece everything together and remember when everything is due.

This week at school is also a total drag because of Valentine's Day. I wish I had the ability to be one of those girls that are like "yeah singledom! Go girl power! I am a successful independent woman! Woo!" Alas, I am not. I hate Valentine's Day because it makes me feel uber shitty about myself no matter what anyone says. Granted, I have friends that more than make-up for this but still...

I went over to Erin's again this past weekend (BIG shocker, I know) since the NCMA banquet was Saturday and Dash won Reserve Champion in Open Hunter Pleasure. I was so proud! Princess Dashel worked very hard this season. Now that it's the off season, coming up to show season, I asked Erin to give me a hunt equitation lesson. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. Even my abs hurt. I've become very complacent in my riding and I need to fix that before show season if I want any chance at doing well.

I also proceeded to get back to Erin's house and fall down the stairs. I don't know how it happened or why but I swear I did major damage to my tailbone. So what do I do? I ride two horses on Monday! Oh man. That killed but I never turn down a ride. NEVER!

Today I slipped and fell into a puddle and was stuck with wet jeans all day. That was so great. Good thing I have a sense of humor about my own clumsiness.

This is the most uninteresting post ever in the history of blog posts since I don't actually put what's happening in my life out into the public sphere. I'm pretty shameless but not that much. I'm not as interesting as some seem to think I am. Although, I do hope to meet a lot of my Facebook friends at shows this year!

I'll blog something more interesting sometime this week. I'm contemplating putting some of my fiction writing works up on here but I'm very self-conscious about those so we'll see.

For those of you who want to see an excellent made-for-TV series, here's BBC's Oliver Twist (Tom Hardy as Bill Sykes...oh yes).