get me off this crazy thing

Good morning, friends. Today, I have to go back to work. :( It's been a lovely break. Although being stuck at my parents for 3 days, while nice being with them, I was seriously bouncing off the walls by the end. I guess I'm not used to quite that level of inactivity, because doing nothing (physical) for 3 days by the third day my entire body hurt. lol.

I resorted to running around the house and up and down stairs.

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I did manage to finally (finally!!!!) upload all of my stories (as far as I know, I don't think I missed any) onto the AO3 archive. So, now, this has replaced my website. It's nice having them all in one place again. For the last few years they've been scattered among several different archives or LJ.

phew! That was hard work. I even backdated them all to when they were posted (or near to for a few that I have no idea haha). I had to go on to trekiverse.us to find some of my original ASCEM posts for the star trek stories! It was a bit like excavating or an archeological dig or something. hee.

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Highlander Holiday Shortcuts reveal is today!! Get your last minute guesses in. :)

There have been some truly remarkable stories this year, not least of which is the story I received this year, a bittersweet story that reminded me strongly of old school D/M. Trefoil. It's D/M, M/A and it's lovely.

I'm so immensely proud of us, as a group. We done good.

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We had a horse colic very badly Monday morning at the barn, and she had to be humanely euthanized. She was bleeding internally and any operation had little chance of working. Apparently she was in too much pain so they put her down. I wasn't there and only got word when I finally crossed the border midday on Monday. Her name was Delilah, although I usually thought of her as Louisiana, which is her state name (we give our horses state names; it makes it easier). She was a gray mare, and she puts me in mind of the horse in this story written for the hlh_shortcuts about Methos and his gray mare :D :D, both terrifying all the world. . She was really great mare, very willing over fences and dependable. You could put kids on her or adults. But, by God don't put her near another horse or she'd eat them up alive. She had to be a no tie horse (meaning you had to tack her up in her stall) because she would *literally* climb over the x-ties to attack another horse 2 cross ties over. Not kidding. And in lessons she had been known to cut across the arena and bite and kick other horses. It got pretty bad for a while there until we all had standing orders to keep her away and she chilled after a while.

She was the last horse I rode before the christmas break, and I was supposed to ride her yesterday.

I loved that horse. I'll miss her.

~~~

OMG there is so much TV to watch! I have yet to finish the most recent Doctor Who series and now there's a christmas special. And also I have yet to start series 2 of Downton Abbey and now there's a christmas special for that, too.

And what am I doing?? I'm rewatching Highlander. LOL. WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT AFTER HLH_SHORTCUTS?!?!

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I've only dipped my toe into yuletide. Every year I intend to read the whole archive and every year I don't get very far. Although I did read a lovely Breakfast Club story.

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Crap, I better get dressed and face the day.

( I had a birthday yesterday )

And THEN, the BBC decided to give me a lovely Doctor Who episode for my birthday. I really appreciate it. It's the thought that counts.... lol.

( The Doctor's Wife )

yay!

~~~

Lastly, Bogie and I doing dressage. Bogie is my friend's horse, and he normally goes western, so this was all sorts of exciting for both of us. LOL.

Hullo good friends, I am alive, and things are good, mostly even better than good, and some things doing the best that they can.

It was rather an agonizingly impossible feat, but my parents have officially moved and are now ensconced in their new home in Ensenada, Mexico, mostly intact, although as of last night the truck with their stuff hadn't arrived yet. So, hopefully that resolves today....

My week helping my parents pack can be summed up thusly: they don't throw anything away, and if you say, 'hey, you know, this [whatever] has been in the back of a [cupboard/closet] for years and you have [never used it/forgotten it existed/have done without it for YEARS] maybe you can [throw it away/give it away]?' you are met with either shock at the thought or an aggrieved sort of complaint about how it might be needed or it's still good or it'll keep or what have you.

The amount of expired food I threw away... let us not speak of it.

But, what I had to remind myself (constantly) is that of course this was rather a difficult thing for my parents, change always is, and at this stage in their lives, having to uproot and go somewhere unfamiliar, even with all the advantages that might or might not be there, was quite traumatic in its way, and they are not young, and not entirely well.

And now they're just far enough away that I will not really be able to help them much, which in some ways is a relief, and in other ways is a little frightening. I really do hope this is over all a positive change for them.

So, that's done, then.

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In other news, I'm busy as a bee. I placed 3rd in my class (training test 2) in the Dressage schooling show that my riding school had about a week ago, which is cool. And me and two other girls did a very silly Western riding exhibition, and that was fun, even if my pony spooks at loud music... haha.

Also, I may have ridden bareback on my friend's horse with another girl, tandem like (the two of us both on his back). There is a picture somewhere that I hope to get. At least I wore a helmet?

Also, somehow I've been designated as the go to girl/crash test dummy for kid horses that are acting out. How this happen?

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My roommate is leaving me AGAIN. And hopefully (really) for good this time because she's on the verge of getting engaged and I wish her all my love and all the best, etc.

I'm dreaming of affording my apt. by myself, but if that were the case I need more income. So, I need to get on that...

Or I could a) get another roommate, b) move to a one bedroom, which I can more or less afford on my current salary. CHOICES. OPTIONS.

~~~

I finished the audio book for Emma and then went on to Mansfield Park (LOVE. Although Edmund remains a boob. I love Mary Crawford!) And now I have Pride & Prejudice (read by Lindsey Duncan!!! I luff her! I totally have a girl crush on her big time), although I haven't really listened to it yet. There was a problem with the disks playing in my car so I'm ripping them for my iPod. I would rather have saved P&P for last, actually, and may do so anyway. Can't wait to listen to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

I have to admit that S&S is my least favorite of the JA books, although it's one of my favorite movies. hm.

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I finished the first 3 seasons of Burn Notice. The 4th is not out on DVD yet. So, meanwhile, I've moved on to The Wire, because everyone says it's the best TV show ever, and so naturally I must investigate.

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It's time for hlh_shortcuts!!

I truly debated whether to participate (with this and yuletide) or not this year, mostly because I am MIA from practically everything and not at all fannish, and easily distracted with Real Life, such as it is. But the truth of the matter is I love to write, and I have fun every year. So, there you have it.

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In the immortal words of Flight of the Conchords, "Come on sucker, lick my battery!"

The next 30 Days of TV post must wait till tomorrow because I want visual support and can't do that from work.

Finally got these uploaded and able to share. :)

( Ride 'em, Cowgirl )

The pretty draft cross mule is Duchess. We were facinated by her, and our other mule Aya (the regluar bayish mule). My horse was named Sundance, and he was a doll, and he had this big bouncy trot which I got to know well because he trotted every chance he could get, and even cantered when he wasn't supposed to. He was one of the few thoroughbreds they had. He was a good boy.

The dust was pretty bad, hence the bandannas, which made all of us look like helmet conscious outlaws. I dunno, I think I look a bit like Marvin the Martian in that pic. HAHA.

The scenery was truly breathtaking. We were on the western part of the Sierra Nevadas, and it was still pretty cold in late May. We froze our butts off the first night. My friends and I were more interested in riding and the scenery than spotting the wild mustangs, and I didn't have any proper camera equipment to photograph them, but we did see some wild mustangs here and there. We got a lot of lectures from the folks running the Pack Station on the history of the land and the conservation efforts, the problems with wild cats killing foals, etc etc.

There were over 20 of us on this trip, and I knew almost all of them from the barn where I ride. It was truly a wonderful experience that's stayed with me. My girlfriends and I were immediately talking about doing another trip (one of their horse drives that's less scenic but more cowboygirl-like driving loose stock from one location to another) and I know the group as a whole were already talking of doing something similar next year.

The rest of the pictures can be found here.

At this rate, I'm going to be calling him Bill and hanging with him in his tent. :D :D Okay, maybe not so much. This time we unknowingly spoke to his wife, who is lovely and very nice, and only figured out she was his wife after he finished his ride. haha,

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I witnessed the single most terrifying fall from a horse today. The school is trying out a new horse called Eli and I was hanging out watching how he was doing (so so) when all of a sudden apparently he shook his head hard enough that his bridle came off (none of us saw this happen) and it spooked him of course and the girl on his back had no way of controlling him. She tried! Valiantly, and we all sort of watched in horror as he galloped down the arena. He went all the way to the gate at the end, and she finally fell off (miraculously, she was fine, and every one else on horseback in the arena was fine, too. All other ponies kept their cool) and then an instructor finally caught him.

We were all pretty shook up after that! Instructors and students alike. Although the girl that was riding him was by far the most calm about it. She refused to be checked out, which we all thought would have been a good idea, but what can you do. From were I was watching, it looked like a really bad fall, but she was only a little scraped. We're all still a bit mystified by how he managed to get his bridle off. I suppose of it was ill fitted, but that's hard to believe, or just too loose on him.

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On day I'll talk about fannish things in this journal again. I did see the last two episodes of 24, and the last couple of Doctor Who, too. And I'm finally all caught up on Leverage. Maybe I'll talk about those tomorrow.

This weekend, I had pilates (@ Hutch's apartment, wheee! Not sure I'm ever going to get over that...), followed immediately with a Western riding lesson, and then a bareback riding lesson the next day. I was rather worried I wouldn't be able to walk today. haha. But, aside from being a little sore all over, it's not nearly as bad as the first days after starting horseback riding.

Here's the crazy thing I'm considering: buying a twelve pack of riding lessons, which I would need to use up in one month, plus a four pack of pilates. That's 3 lessons plus one reformer pilates in one week, for four weeks.... why, yes, that is kind of crazy. But, here's the thing, western is really not that strenuous. Bareback can be a bit hard on the thighs, but it's really more about learning balance, and after this weekend's lesson, I feel like having that class on a regular basis at least for a while would be very beneficial. And then, I want to add in a training dressage class, as well.

There's no way I could possible pay for this for more than one month. :D

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Meanwhile, I have notes for edits on the book that are percolating, while I hammer out a synopsis. woo!

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No, no, I admit it. I have a problem allowing myself to do nothing. Inevitably, the busier I get the more productive I am. When I have nothing to do, I get nothing done. Is that weird? Seriously, I actually have a tendency to panic if I have nothing to do, and immediately look for ways of getting busy again, doing *something* even if it's just going to a cafe with my computer and a book, or taking a walk. *twitch*

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So, am I the only one that' seriously disturbed by the prevalence of the use of the word "cougar"?? I want to stab people each time I hear it being used, which is ALL THE TIME it seems.

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Dare I get excited for Doctor Who? Also, Ashes to Ashes is almost here, right? WHEEE. I am so looking forward to more Gene Genie.

I miss you!

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Realizing that my actual online fannish activity has dropped below to negative integers, I remembered for the first time today to read my flist. I see there's some sort of greater discussion about LJ and DW. Frankly, I'd move to DW in a hot minute and the only reason I haven't is I'm a lazy bum. And straddling two journals is difficult for me. So, how's that for selfishness.

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Horrified that I hadn't had any honest to goodness fannish content on this LJ in weeks, I thought I'd do the fannish5 this friday.

List 5 fictional doctors you'd want treating you. (Or not.)

1. The Doctor (preferably Nine, but honestly, I'm not picky.)
2. The Doctor, EMH Mark 1, Chief Medical officer of the USS Voyager ( :D :D :D )
3. Methos (he's still a doctor!)
4. McCoy (if only for the running commentary.)
5. Dr. Bashir

Yeah, 3 Trek doctors. Well, what do you expect, honestly.

Also, I now think it would be hilarious for The Doctor to meet The Doctor. HAHAH.

~~~

In other news I'm in love with a gray western arab pony named Jake. He is the bestest pony EVAR.

~~ ugh. I have a cold! Not only do I have a cold, but I had a cold and then it went away and then it came back. This is outrageous, and unnaceptable. Also, I'm so generally a healthy person that the cold hovers just at annoyance instead of a real cold. I mean, if I'm going to get sick, I might as well get sick enough to be sick, instead of this twilight level of ickiness.

~~ One of the interesting things I'm learning as I volunteer at the barn in exchange for cheaper riding lessons, are low level equine veterinary skillz. Like taking a horse's temperature (ew) and hot compressess on an oozing absesss (GROSS). Joy? lol. My instructer keeps threatening me with sheath cleaning. O.o

~~Pilates in Hutch's apartment was totally lovely. And the wacky part is that, unbeknownst to me until I arrived there, I went to college with one of the owners. Talk about small world. In fact, we did a show together. So, there I was taking a pilates class from an old college friend in Hutch's apartment. Actually, I completely forgot where I was while I was there. The studio specializes in reformer pilates. It's like doing pilates with a rowing machine, basically. Totally fun. All the strength I've built up from horseback riding made most of the excercises relatively easy, although the ab work nearly killed me.

~~ My roommate was like, how crazy is it that for love a random tv show you decide to go to a pilates class and meet an old college friend? heh.

~~ I'll tell you what Dorothy would do. She'd call in sick. Why am I at work? bah.

Because I have a total hang-up about riding with my feet out of the stirrups, I jumped into the bareback class today. It was so awesome, I luv it. Of course, I was on the most wonderfulest, steadiest, loveliest mare (actually, at first I was on a new-to-the-barn pony, but the sweet pony was lame, so I had to switch), who is just a doll so it was really easy. Walking, sitting trot, posting trot sans stirrups, even two-point (ow. lol) and then a wee smidge of cantering. I want to do it again! But will probably flip flop between my normal english class and bareback, since they're on the same day. Each time I start to wonder why I am spending so much time and money with all this horsey business, I have an amazing class and feel rejuvenated. Also, my Western classes are so much fun, too. English is still a challenge... but I like the challenge.

whee!

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In other news, I'm trying not to panic about my hlh_shortcut story. I'm still frolicking with Starsky & Hutch, who are my new boyfriends, we're totally in the honeymoon lovey dovey stage. heh. And, I'm hella excited about my yuletide fandom, like for serious. I <3's it.