Goddess is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy

Ok, that's not exactly how the song goes, but people ARE crazy! How do some people work 10 hours a day, 5 days a week?! And not sleep through the whole weekend? I am working 40 to 45 hours a week at my lifeguarding job. 11am to 8pm on the weekdays, 10am to 8pm on the weekends and holidays! I have Wednesdays and Saturdays off, which I chose since I have riding lessons on Wednesdays and my cleaning chore on Saturdays. And I am exhausted at the end of the day. You wouldn't think sitting in a guard chair is that difficult, but I am sitting in the hot sun. (Covered in 50 spf sunscreen! my fair Irish skin burns quickly) I am happy to be getting so many hours for work, I can certainly use the money to pay for tuition! It's just tiring, and I don't know how other people do it, especially if they're sitting in an office.

Well, back to horses... In addition to the cleaning I do on Saturday mornings, I also exercise one of the horses (Junior, a big bay Thoroughbred). The Heard Health directors of the Equestrian Club are putting all the horses on a type of "rehab" schedule, since many of them are lame. This week... 20 minutes walk! ooooh, exciting! I'm supposed to ride around 8:30 am on Saturdays, and clean whenever, as long as it's before 11. Well last Saturday I had to work because someone else needed the day off (I took Friday instead). And big shame on me I forgot that I had chores to do in the morning! In addition, I was covering someone else's riding, who would normally ride the horse later in the day. Oh man. So, 8:30 rolls around, and I'm getting ready to go to work, making myself some breakfast, and the girl who I'm supposed to ride with (the club has a strict rule that someone must be present when you ride, in this case, they scheduled 2 people to exercise the horse at the same time) calls. Uh-oh. I think my face went white. 15 minutes later I'm there. I felt so terrible for being so late (normally you should be on your horse at 8:30)! You can bet I won't forget again! She had to go to a wedding, too, and I apologized profusely. She was fine with it, and didn't seem angry, but I still feel so bad! *shakes head* Well, we rode (we both had 2 horses that morning), then I cleaned... and ended up 45 minutes late to work! yikes! I didn't get in trouble at work, since it's usually so slow the first hour. I feel pretty bad about forgetting; I know how important it is for the work to be done, and I don't want to leave it to someone else to do! It did get done, so I can't beat myself up too much since there was no harm done to the horses.

Wednesday the riding lesson went well - bareback again, since it was still 20 min walk for the horses. We worked on collecting the horses, some leg yielding, and 2-point bareback! Good thing the lesson time was limited... I gotta get me in shape, too!

Speaking of getting in shape...I have actually been going to the gym regularly! I go with my friend Mallory before work. We have a routine all set up - Monday is upper body, Tuesday is lower body and cardio, Wednesday is cardio, and then we repeat, with Sunday as our day off. I know that I would not have been able to stick to this routine if I wasn't going with Mallory! I could barely get myself out of bed this morning, and especially yesterday morning when we had to go at 7 (so she could go before class). I think we can keep this up, as long as I get enough sleep. I would like to lose a little weight, but especially gain back some strength and endurance that I've lost in the past year. No wonder I'm so tired!

Something happened at work yesterday that really bothered me. To keep track of our hours, the company I work for gives us employee ID numbers, and we clock in and out by calling a 1-888 number and entering our ID (they use caller ID to check where we're calling from). Well, yesterday, my manager said he was running late and asked me to clock him in before he got there, he said he'd be about 10 minutes late. Well, I did that (definitely against the rules), but he ended up being almost an hour and a half late. It felt like I did something so wrong, because he got paid for all that time when he wasn't even there. It was rainy all day, and nobody came to swim at the pool. The guards slowly started leaving in the afternoon, and I left about 6:45. Well, my manager said that I shouldn't clock out, he would clock me out at 8. I told him, no, I'll clock myself out, it was wrong for him to do it for me. He didn't understand why I thought it was wrong, after all, I hadn't had a problem with it that morning, and "who would know?" ( We were the only two left there.) I couldn't let him do it, even though I hadn't really done work all day (since nobody was there at the pool), it would have been being paid for not working. He thought it was so strange. He is from another country (Serbia), but that shouldn't change anything. Why didn't he understand why I thought it was wrong? And am I being hypocritical in seeing a difference between 10 minutes and an hour? They are both against the rules, although that is not why I think it's wrong. Of course, I wouldn't ask him to clock me in when I'm not there (although he did it that Saturday I was late for riding, and I didn't like it). I do feel better for having stuck to my morals and clocked myself out on time, but it bothers me that he didn't understand why I thought it was wrong. I am definitely not going to let him clock me in and out early/late in the future; I can't let it go further than it has. Any thoughts?

[Author's note: the astute reader may notice that I am posting this on Friday, which is not my day off, at a time when I should be at work. The pool was closed because of the rain, and I didn't have work today. Gave me a chance to finally post another blog entry!]

Bloodhound!

I am a big Tamora Pierce fan, and I have been looking forward to the release of Bloodhound, the second book in the Beka Cooper series. It was actually released last month, but I got a 40% off coupon at Border's and my husband bought me the book. :) It is young adult fantasy, but it is still mature enough for me to enjoy (or rather I am still immature enough to enjoy it...?). Well, Harry Potter was never restricted to only young adults!

I'm working as a lifeguard this summer, and I had my recertification class yesterday. I got burnt! I kept putting sunscreen on (I don't feel the need to have a tan, and I don't want skin cancer), but we were in and out of the water, and I didn't want to put the sunscreen on every time I got out. I thought it was a little more waterproof than it was... We were in swimsuits, too, since we were practicing water rescues. It's mostly my upper back and shoulders that got the worst of it. Fortunately we have a big bottle of a burn relief with aloe in it.

This weekend I'll be working 9am to 8pm Saturday, then 10 am to 8pm Sunday and Monday. Bring in the hours! I'm looking forward to making some money, although it is a 3-day weekend for my husband so I'll miss spending time with him. Ah, well, he'll just get to play more of his online games. ;)

We got the schedule for summer riding and cleaning for the Equestrain Club... I have Wednesday night lesson, and a Saturday morning cleaning. The club is also working hard to get the horses in shape, starting slow and working the way up, so we have "exercise riders" instead of "trainers" this summer. I will be riding on of the horses, Junior, Saturday mornings starting next week (they get a week off). Riding twice a week! I can't wait! Maybe I'll have more interesting things to write about for my blog.

Well, I'm off to get engrossed in Bloodhound. Maybe I'll get it all read tonight before I have to do all this work this weekend...

Time to celebrate!

All right, Spring Break is finally here! I get a week off classes, although not off school in general since I'll be doing a lot of school work. But it's so nice to get that week off! I had a test today in physiology and I know I aced it! I think they wanted to give the class an easier test because the first two had such low averages. I also decided to drop Organic Chemistry for sure because I don't need it. One less stressor!

My riding lesson on Wednesday was, again, awesome. No more jumping, but we did some dressage, working on laterals (a new termed I learned for stuff that I had already been doing). We did some stirrupless riding, two point at the walk (I'm still sore from that today!). Then we did some bending, walking and trotting around in a circle. We did some cantering, but not much. I rode this big paint draft cross, he was so big and smooth. Responsive to aids, but not as sensitive as I like (well, what can you expect from a school horse? he's pretty good considering). Then we started working on laterals - half-passing, shoulder in, etc. I got a couple of nice compliments from our instructor - first she put me on the horse that had supposedly acted like a "dick" earlier, because she figured I could handle it. He was fine, no problems, though. Then she said that she didn't know what I was doing in the lesson program, that I should be one of the trainers! That was very nice to hear. I have a lot to learn, but it's nice to know that all my riding has paid off and is obvious. It's been a long time since I've done laterals, and even longer since I've worked on bending (not as applicable on the trail). My muscles knew what to do, though, and I haven't lost the touch for being able to tell when they're legs are crossing over under neath me. Hard to explain, but I can always feel when those legs cross over like they're supposed to!

We're going to have a lesson next Wednesday during spring break, but only 2 of us plus our instructor will be there (usually 4 students). So we thought we would do some polocrosse, and have a longer lesson. Start on the ground to get used to the net (stick? whatever it's called), then get on the horses and try throwing the ball around. I'm looking forward to it! I also met someone recently that lives about an hour away who has horses and is willing to let me ride one of hers. That's too far to go every week, but I think I'll go next week and get to ride on some trails! She's really into competitive trail riding (CTR) and endurance, and CTR being my true love with riding, I'm looking forward to riding with her.

Have a great weekend everybody!

One week later...

Whew! Another week of ups and downs! It looks like I will be doing weekly posts (as opposed to more frequent), now that the school year is in full swing and I feel like I'm in over my head! Today I had a Calculus test (that I feel like I failed), and 5 references due for a Physiology paper. Since I had the Calculus test today, I didn't start looking for the references until I got home this afternoon. Fortunately, they weren't due to be uploaded until midnight tonight, and it didn't take as long as I thought. Apparently there is a lot more information out there about calcium-gated chloride channels then I thought there was. Go figure.

My husband and I were having a fight all week... we finally worked it out yesterday, so that was very stressful. And I was stressing about money (of course), and not doing well in school. I failed my organic chemistry test and my physiology test last week. Got an A on my bio test though! I wouldn't be so worried about the organic chemistry test because there will be a large curve, but I was almost 10 percent below average. Physiology I can drop a test, and pull up my grade from my last test (a 65) with extra credit. I have another Physiology test this Friday, and no other test(s) this week! So I can focus on studying for Physiology. Of course, that's what I thought I would do for calculus this week, and that didn't go so well...

Ok, onto happier things. And why I'm not as stressed out anymore. I met with an academic advisor today, and got a lot of things cleared up for what I have to do to become a teacher. The bad news: I didn't have to take Organic Chemistry and Calculus. The good news: I won't have to take Physics like I thought I did! When I got to UMD, I thought that the only option in the education department was for Biology, and that I would have to pretty much do a double major in Biology to fulfill the requirements to get into the program. But I talked to the advisor for the Ag Science and Technology major, which has the option for pre-education. He told me that the new Ag Ed track in the Education department just requires an Agriculture BS (like Animal Science, which I am). So if I can just make it through this term, next year should be a little easier and I can pull my GPA back up again! I came home so much more relieved - no more fighting with my husband, calculus test over, and school stress decreased.

Tomorrow I'll be helping with the 4-H horse bowl, on campus all day. It should be fun, but it's already almost midnight and I haven't gone to bed yet... so I'm going to be tired. But I'm looking forward to it. The Collegiate 4-H club is selling grilled cheese at lunch, but I already told the coordinator that I would help out with the horse bowl, so I can't help them with that fundraising. They'll also be selling baked goods, so I made some brownies they can sell. Actually, I made two batches. One for me and my husband, one for the 4-H club! They are tasty. And I made them out of a box!

We got all that snow Monday, and then it was 60 degrees today! So Wednesday, when I would normally have my riding lesson, the arena was a mess and we couldn't ride. Our instructor took us into the barn office and she went over some of the basic rules of polocrosse. We looked at some of her photos on Facebook (of polocrosse), and watched videos on YouTube. The club has been trying to do more polocrosse going, and I've been interested, since I had a lot of fun when I played polo. So that was really interesting. A lot of similarities, but a lot of differences. A true cross between polo and lacrosse!

Ok, it is midnight now. And I need to get up at 7am. So bedtime. Enough writing.

Another Friday, Another 2 Tests...

These past two weeks have been insane! In my last post I mentioned how I had been sick. When I went to the health center that Wednesday morning (over a week ago), I had a fever of 103 F! Tuesday night and Wednesday were the worst. I was taking tylenol, but didn't want to take too much; my husband the medic said I should only be taking the tylenol every 6 hours (they were very high strength), but they were only keeping the fever down for about 3 hours. So I was trying not to overload my liver with fever reducers, but I was desperate for relief. We didn't have a thermometer, so I don't know what my temperature was at that time, but I bet it was around the 103 it was the next morning. I didn't get a note to get out of classes, but they did run tests to confirm I had the flu, and not something else like mono (since I've never had it before). My friend from back home came in Wednesday, and I picked her up from the hotel where the conference was being held, after she checked in. We both came back to my apartment and fell asleep for like 4 hours! She was jet lagged, I was sick. Wednesday was supposed to be my riding lesson, but I was in no shape to go, no matter how much I wanted to. Thursday I was feeling better (it helped that my husband came home that night), and Friday I didn't have a fever, although I was still sick with stuffy nose and very draggy. I only went to one class Friday -Physiology - and we had a pop quiz! I hadn't done the reading, but I got full points on the quiz, from using my common sense and memory from Anatomy class.

My friend and I went into DC on Saturday, and spent all day there. We went to the International Spy Museum and the National Art Institute. The Spy Museum was very cool, although maybe not worth the $18 to get in. National Art Institute was free, of course, and very educational. I felt so sophisticated. I was still recovering from being sick, though, and was completely exhuasted by the end of the day. My friend and I were worn out and falling asleep at my husband's friend's house, where we went for dinner and watching movies. Sunday I took her to the airport (awwww, so little time), then started studying. I had a biology test Monday, which I think went well despite not having been to class all the week before (on account of being sick). I had two tests today - one in organic chemistry, one in physiology. I don't think I aced either one, but I don't think I bombed either one. Organic Chemistry was worse, of course, but there will be a curve at the end - everyone's in the same boat as me... Organic Chemistry is VERY hard! I am so relieved that those two tests are over, I was very stressed about them. I didn't have enough time to study. Wednesday I had my riding lesson (the first one where I got to ride, yay!), and so didn't get home until almost 8. Then I had to do my biology and calculus homework. Monday and Tuesday I had done some studying, but not much, so most of my studying for the two tests were last night. And that's not exactly good study habits!! It's over now, though, I'm so relieved.

So Wednesday was my first riding lesson, it was so much fun! I almost always have fun riding, but this was an extraordinary day. I jumped for the first time! I've never jumped before... except that one time in my western saddle... that was just bad. I didn't do amazing, but I didn't fall off, and my instructor said I did "good." She was just so happy that the 4 of us in the lesson know how to ride decently well. That's why we're in the B lesson! Ha ha. I'm still sore, though, two days later... I haven't done that much two-point since I was playing polo!

Well, I'm all caught up, and hopefully life won't be so crazy the next couple weeks, and I'll do a better job of keeping up with my blog.