Back In Town

So a very long (yet also short) summer has flown by thanks to my full time job at the beach, and now I'm once again back at school! With a very nice tan, thanks to spending so much time in the sun (and, unfortunately, a very obvious set of tan lines.) While I've been looking forward to coming back here all summer, now I miss home--and mostly my beautiful mare. There have been a lot of changes--school doesn't quite feel the same it did last time, and I was forced to give up my gelding due to both financial difficulties and time issues. I also had nearly completely forgotten about this blog in the heat of summer, a job, horses, and several others things that were little but mandatory and time consuming.

But all in all, it was a great summer. Went to Yosemite National Park again, this time with a very good friend of mine who had never gone camping before (!),taught my horses to drive together and my mare to jump, and read a lot of books. At least twelve. I've also gotten involved in a new Dragonriders of Pern RPing site (new for me, it's been around for a while). It's called Evergen. Here's a link, if anyone else is a fan of Anne McCaffrey and wants to check it out: http://z8.invisionfree.com/Evergen/index.php?act=idx
Oh yes, and I seem to be unable to stop from piling more things on my plate this semester, as if I don;t already have enough to do! I am taking four classes, being part of the work-study program, and secretary of Gaming Club (organizing Humans vs. Zombies is going to be FUN, though!)

I think that's a pretty good update of everything going on right now.

Home in TWO DAYS!

Yay! I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 I've already decided not only WHAT I am going to pack, but HOW I am going to pack it, and how many FOLDS each of my clothes needs so it all fits. Yes, I am THAT excited. I can't decide what to do first when I get home! Hoping I can see my horses right away, but I won't get home until 4 in the afternoon, so that might not happen. But just being home and seeing my family will be fine.

I have lots of plans for next week, things to round up to bring back to school (including my favorite book, The Hollow Kingdom, by Clare B. Dunkle, and markers.) Also can't wait to get full of horse hair again. :) Hoping to take my camera home so I can take LOTS of pictures, but I'm not sure if I can pack it yet. :( And, most definitely, I can't wait to see my best friend!!!!!!!

Might not have too many updates next week. :( Sorry.

There's no place like home!

The Awesomeness That is the LAN Party

I attended my first real LAN party not long ago on a Saturday night. What is LAN, you ask? LAN stands for "Local Area Network" : basically, we set up our computers in the same room and plug into the internet and play computer games together. Seven straight hours of StarCraft II, from 6 pm to 1 in the morning...it was fantastic. On top of the fact that I was nearly the only female present. Yes, guys are so much more fun to hang out with than girls. Definitely. Except for the yo-mama jokes. And the swearing. But otherwise it was great.

I am very open with my nerdiness, much to my mother's chagrin. She DOES NOT approve of my interests. I tried, for a long time, to reconcil the two. I won't play if she was present. I hid it from her, tried to avoid her disapproval. After a while, I realized that I was never going to stop playing video games, and she was never going to accept it. I won't apologize for who I am. She's taken it very well, though. She won't buy me games, but she did buy me an Optimus Prime Transformers blanket that I am currently wrapped up in. :)

I love my mother to pieces. She doesn't like that I'm into something she considers inappropiate for girls, but she loves me anyway. We've reached an understanding, I think. She rolls her eyes, I ignore her. And do little things around the house to make up for it. Like the dishes.

Stay the way you are!

Ebony and Ivory

Has anyone here every been to Yosemite National Park? I have. I was practically raised there, in the summers. Both of my parents have always been active and prefer to do something in the outdoors to some other sort of expensive vacation (we have pictures of my parents on a backpacking trip with me as a baby on my dad's back), so our family trips when school was out were camping 98% of the time. Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon--my summers were filled with car rides, hikes, rock climbing, getting out of sight to pretend we lived in the middle of nature and worrying my mother, exploring, and adventures in general with my younger brother at my side. I learned early on about the beauty of nature, and I have instinctually sought out the still, lonely places--through the tunnel in the pinetrees, behind the pile of rocks, under the bushes to the trickling brook--for moments of reflection. Or maybe my ten year old self was being sentimental, even at that tender age. I don't know, I didn't care about these things back then. Just wanted to do everything I could to fit in with the boys and not be called a girly-girl.

These memories of a past time in my life (my mother has lost interest in the hassle of camping, and my brother prefers to NOT spend time with my father) were brought on by the latest assignment for my art class, in which we are supposed to analyze a black and white photo. I chose no one less than the greatest black and white photographer of all time. I mean, of course, Ansel Adams.

He is legendary not only for his black and white photograph, but for his nature shots, particularily shots from Yosemite. Now you see how I was reminded of my summer camping escapades. If you have never had the opportunity to view his art, here is a link: http://simonestecher.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/ansel-adams/ansel-adams/ It's a link to another blog. To look at more pictures than the first one, scroll down and click on one of the smaller ones.

As a photographer and nature lover, I have always been enthralled by Adams' work. He just had an eye for moments that would make great photographs. It just came to him. We have a few of his images hanging, poster size, in my home (my dad still loves camping, and going to Yosemite, and also being a photographer, appreciates Ansel Adams work as well).

It struck me a moment ago that the memories I see in my mind are all in black and white now. I know when I experienced them it was in bright, vibrant color, but time has faded the edges and dulled the colors to gray, to simply shapes, moments in time instead of a running film. Interesting, is it not, that though color photography is the new, desired "thing", it is black and white photographs that last the longest, and seem the most dramatic, leaving the greatest impressions on us. Perhaps I will start doing more black and white photography.

Just some thoughts to comtemplate. Back to my homework now.

Live long and prosper.

Real Life Science Fiction

One of my favorite (possibly THE favorite) reading (and writing!) genres is science fiction. There is just so much freedom in that field: a boundless, open, unconstrained freedom to create worlds and fill them with your dreams. Two of my three most promising books are science fiction in classification, the When Worlds Collide trilogy and the novel Relentless(working title), as well as the short story "Symbiont". But beyond that, my memories drift to the books I have lived in: complex and beautiful worlds following invigorating characters, the end result one which could not be produced if not for the freedom of the science fiction genre. (That said, however, I must stress that a story's realism is important to me as well.) Timothy Zahn, Anne McCaffrey, and many, many more authors all have my respect and admiration for their fantastic feats. (Also, I must add, the best sci-fi films are those lovely, quaint, old black-and-white ones, like the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. )

But it seems to me that science fiction authors of this era live in a revolutionary day and age where the dreams of those who came before are starting to become realities. I came across this article earlier today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110224/ap_on_sc/us_space_shuttle
It is a discussion and celebration of the last space flight of the space shuttle Discovery. In it, nearly two-thirds of the way down, is a line or two about NASA retiring the space fleet by presidential order (Discovery is going to the Smithsonian after it returns from this flight on March 7) and letting private businesses (!!!) take over orbital flights. NASA's efforts will be centered on reaching Mars and asteroids. Our reach into the vast blackness is expanding. Also was a comment that the shuttle is carrying a robot (namely R2, which cracks me up) to the space station--and apparently Twitter is still available on the ISS!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/raw-video-shuttle-discovery-s-final-launch-24307276

It seems to me like impossiblites are becoming realities. But this isn't a sad post, don't get me wrong--while these new revelations may close some doors in the hallway of imagination, it opens countless others. The science fiction is genre is in for a change, that's for sure!

See ya, Space Cowboy!

Girlku

So there's a bulletin board set aside in the lounge upstairs for haiku about what it means to be a girl--appropiately named Girlku. For anyone who doesn't know, haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines, the first of which has five syllables, the second of which has seven syllables, and the last line which has five syllables again. Apparently, there's a book (or something) about boys called Guyku, and a couple of girls in my dorm wanted to be sure that girls were represented, hence they have started a board where we can post any haiku we come up with. These are my contributions:

Girl

Purple painted toes

Mud fights, coy kisses, roses

Grass stained knees

and on a more somber note:

Growing Up

Handsome Prince Charming,

Glass slippers and pixie dust

Fade as red dawn breaks.

Laugh, Love, Live.

(And yes, I know I am posting this at almost 5 in the morning, and I am as disappointed as you are.)

Average Joe

Wow, this week has been really crazy! Not that I mean busy, but my body chose this week to catch the cold floating around the University--and badly. I've been feeling terrible, and sleeping copious amounts. Slightly behind on my homework, but I'm feeling better now, and I have the weekend to catch up. So my blogging days are off to a slow start, but I refuse to give up. I will update daily! Although I may miss another day, because I'm going to be switching dorm rooms sometime in the next week, and moving will be hectic.

So you see, by the small size of that paragraph above, my week hasn't been horribly busy. All in all it was just a normal week for me: college freshman dragging myself out of bed at 7 in the morning, running for an hour in PE, eating when I can, being attentive for three hours in class, eat some more, work on homework, visit friends, watch movies, listen to music, play videogames and/or D&D, call home...yep. Completely average.

See ya later!

The Characters (Part 2)

Just a quick update before I run to class. It was so nice having yesterday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Did anyone else relax and enjoy themselves?

Anyways, onto Part 2:

This silly but handsome boy is Sam, also known as Samilton, Sammy, Peppermint-breath, Monster, and Headache. I have had him for several years as well, although I have not been blessed with him in my life for as long as I have Comrada. He is a month older than Comrada, with deep copper eyes and a coat that has started to collect gray sprinkles over the years. Still, he remains chipper and energetic. While he can be an annoying, grumpy monster, Sam is at heart a sweetheart with a sweettooth. His favorite treat is peppermints, and he also enjoys doughnuts (must be glazed!), cookies, cake, muffins, sandwiches--anything I will let him have, for the most part. (Just for the record, I am very careful about what I feed my horses. He only gets these rare treats on special occasions.) Where Comrada remains aloof, Sam enjoys having his withers scratched and loves to tickle my neck with his whiskers. (Also, he enjoys sneaking up on and snorting ALL OVER my mother. I don't blame him, her shrieking is quite humorous.) Sam currently lives in a large run by himself, although he has his friend Angel over one fence and whomever is turned out for the day over the other, so he is far from lonely. He was in a pasture, but we had to move him to a private run after the other horses started eating all of his food.

See you later!

The Characters (Part 1)

I thought it would be a good idea to introduce my two horses to everyone so when I make references to them nothing is lost in translation. Part 1!

This beauty is Comrada, who has been one of my best friends for the last several years. She is a mare in her early twenties, possessing liquid brown eyes and a gorgeous golden brown coat. She has a narrow white stripe down her face with a silly zig-zagging snip down her nose, and white socks on her back legs. Her mane and tail are beautiful, thick and flowing, but tangle and develop knots terribly easily. She loves carrots, apples, watermelon, tangerines, and bananas and hates anything with sugar in it. She also HATES having her nose touched, although I occasionally break this rule to give her a kiss because her nose is so soft. In general, she is a no-nonsense, practical, very dignified old lady. She lives in a large pasture with a small herd: Friday, Ashley, Buttercup, and Sally.

I love Fridays!

Who doesn't love Fridays? Yes, I know, it's a Saturday, but I figured that Fridays are so awesome that I can pay homage to them any day of the week. Has anyone seen Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts? That was the movie of the hour last night, and I enjoyed it. Although I was a bit disappointed by it, it did raise many good questions and cause me to think.

Moving on. I think what I love most about writing is the organization it provides. I can be overwhelmed by a thousand million different thoughts chaotically bouncing around in my head, yet once I begin writing, the tangled mess suddenly becomes an unwinding spool of thread that has a beginning and slides smoothly to the next thought, and then the story or paper or blog post takes over and writes itself, and all I must do is let my fingers move over the keys. It is a fantastic feeling.

Just wanted to post a quick little verse I constructed out of my homesickness when I first got to school:

I miss black on gold-brown and flaxen on red-gold

I miss a narrow stripe and a white star

I miss pricked black ears and pinned red ones

I miss soft brown eyes and wide copper ones

I miss quiet breathing and loud snorts

I miss gentle muzzles and swishing tails

I miss the crunch of carrots and the smell of hay

I miss manes that catch tears and comforting nuzzles.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

First Steps

I don't remember when I first decided I wanted to be an author. I think I was nine or ten, but what specifically inspired me to start is lost in the recesses of my mind. All I know for sure is that my love of writing stems from my love of reading. Be that as it may, writing has been a part of me for so long that if it were to be cut out...I don't know exactly what would be left of me. There is simply something about seeing words fall into place one after another and hearing a pen whispering across paper that stirs the soul, the way watching a sunrise or witnessing a newborn foal stand on shaking legs for the first time or galloping down the beach does.

Fiction writing is my greatest love--especially science fiction. But I enjoy nearly every genre--save mysteries, that's my mother's forte, and I am more than content to leave it to her and give her the newest novels as Christmas, birthday, and Mother's Day gifts. Unoriginal, yes, I know, but what do you give the woman who already has everything on a college students' salary? I digress.

So what do I hope to accomplish by writing this blog? At the moment it seems to be another of the crazy, spontaneous ideas that enters my head and I rush back from class, or the dining hall, or the library to hurriedly research and dive headfirst into without really considering all of the ramifications of doing so. Well, no one can ever claim that I do things by halves. Still, there are reasons for it, I suppose. Perhaps it will help me improve my always-lacking time management skills. Certainly it will give me writing practice. Maybe it's part of my subconscious looking for a new way to express itself. Or perhaps the memoirs we have been reading in my literature class have gotten the first person voice wedged in between my ears. Besides, it isn't like the idea just COMPLETELY popped into my head. It's been in the back of my mind for about year, I would guess.

So this is my first blog post. I am a bit excited, I suppose. Not sure what to expect, but that is part of the fun, no?