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?