me:  ...reading the plot of the Brave Little Toaster, I wonder WHY DID I LIKE THAT MOVIE AS A CHILD
it's kind of fucked up.
Then again, a lot of the stories school thought were awesome! for children were kind of fucked up
(Flowers for Agamemnon, anyone?)
 Pixelated:  I've heard of Flowers for Algernon, but not Agamemnon.  XD
 me:  ...so I mangled it
 Pixelated:  LO!L
LOL!, even
 me:  ...where did I get the other name from?
 me:  wow
I am special.
We know this, though.
 Pixelated:  Agamemnon was the son of a Greek king, brother of Menelaus.
 me:  I have been knonn to refer to IRL things by named for WoW places.
Well, I pulled the name out of somewhere, at least.
Pixelated:  greek mythology.
*snerk
 me:  Though I study Norse and Celtic, not Greek, mythology
WTF, brain
 Pixelated:  I am TOTALLY going to write Flowers for Agamemnon now.  XD
 me:  "I can't remember what the proper name is SO I AM GOING TO PULL THIS RANDOM ASS NAME FROM NOWHERE ISNTEAD"
Pixelated:  there.  it's now on my list of things to write. XD
I am now going to write a parody of Flowers for Algernon and title it Flowers for Agamemnon. You will get the dedication page.
 me:  XD
 Pixelated:  "For Amber,"
Pixelated:  "A wonderful person who types in all caps (poorly), gives real-world places fictional names, and who confused two characters in literature to create this literary disaster."
"This book is dedicated to her atrociously great love for ellipses, and will be heavily peppered with semicolons in her honor."

It did warm up enough on Friday that I braved my lesson (it was 14 degrees!)  I'm still nervous cantering though.  Aaaaargh.  I don't think it's cantering itself that scares me-if you wasted two mircales on resurecting Beau from the dead (1) and then making him willing to canter (2), I'd canter all fucking day.  But he had that glorious Walker rocking chair canter, and also had awesome brakes if you even remotely thought of possibly stopping ever.  Junior...does not have brakes like that.  In fact, if someone used his bridle on his brother and forgot to readjust it, so that it's just one hole bigger?  LOL FREIGHT TRAIN HORSE LOL.  Or if he's been off most of the week and didn't get out to play?  LOL FREIGHT TRAIN HORSE LOL.  Diane's been making sure that he he gets out before my lesson, but there's still this lingering paranoia.

/facepalm

I might see about asking Diana (the owner of the therapy barn, not to be confused with Diane my trainer) if I could hop on Molly and canter her a bit.  Maybe some time on a less silly horse with a smoother motion would be good.  Or something.

Junior's a sweet boy, just an easily excited dorkface!

Why the fuck am I scared?  It wasn't even a bad fall.  jashdasadajdhasd.

QQ.

Also, Steve is irritating me and I'm going to kick him in the nuts.  Over World of Warcraft.  Because he's stupid.  RAWR.

Um...yeah I don't have much to ramble on about right now.  My life is ponys, and WoW, and Dragon Age (lol oh Zevran), aaaaand Fallout PnP.  Yes.  That's pretty much it.  Wee?

BRRRR.

It's like...-1 outside.  I hope that it does indeed warm up to 14ish later like they say it will, because if it's still THIS low I might have to bail on my riding lesson.  14 degrees? Okay.  -1?  Eeeerrrrr no.  If I fell off then I might shatter. 

At least the sun is out today.  Winter seems to = overcast all the time around here, which is depressing as hell.  No wonder Josh gets mopey!  But I do wish the sun wasn't current;y reflecting off the glass and into my eyes.

So I achieved my riding goal of NOT FALLING OFF.  I cantered, briefly, without spazzing.  Yay, that!  Where did my confidence go?  Hi, come back!  Stupid falling off....

The therapy barn has a new, lolchubby Fjord filly I need to take a picture of.  Her name is Santana but I call her Chubalubs.  She's only 3!  We'll see how she works out...

I'm back to flailing about my writing.  I'm still sworn off my novel, but my editors are busy and lord knows when I'll get any feedback.  So...in the meantime, I write PAGES OF NOTES.  PAGES.  I will not nag...I will not nag...I will not nag....

I also went back to my original draft (NaNo 08) and pulled out some scenes I liked that could function independently.   So for those of you who don't follow my twitter/myriad of blogs, I present to you The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.  I'm actually very fond of that story!

The "Bridges" blog holds most of my fantasy ramblings-from WoW fic to my original stuff.  Go ahead and poke around.  :)

Riding goal for tonight: Don't fall off, dumbass.

I'm going to make fun of some of the things you do (LJ, Twitter, blogging) and then be surprised and upset when you get upset and defensive!  Derp derp!

/thwacks Josh aside the head

Tardbucket.

In other random things, since I fail at updating:

-Fell off Junior on Friday.  Cantering, of course.  Yay for arena footing with lots of rubber in it?  It wasn't bad as far as falls go, but I need to not worry so much about others in the arena. If I need to circle then I need to circle and they can get the fuck out of my way.  I thought it was polite to give lessons some room, but no, they're all over my part of the arena all the damn time.  I haaaaateeeesss it.

-Having Steve call me a whiny blogger is genuinely upsetting.  :(  I'm ranty, but funny-ranty goes over well (and amuses the heck out of me).  I  didn't think that I whined enough to be called a whiny blogger...  /emo

-Also, having Josh's work friends poorly relay things I say in my blog to Josh is also upsetting.  I don't complain about him "all the time"  FFS.  The post in question was as much about me having NO SPINE as anything else.

("What blog is this woman going on about?"  "Her World of Warcraft blog."  "Oh, okay.")

-I realize for the 57th time that I have no actual friends up here except for Braden and Tia.  And maybe Charlotte.  Which for as long as I've been up here is sad, since TWO OF THOSE PREDATE MY COMING HERE.  Er...well, one of them does, but the other is included by default.  ...because girlfriends are default?...I have no idea where I'm going with this, sorry.

I will probably randomly vent here more, as venting to "friends" means those "friends" immiedately tell the person I'm venting about everything I said, thus making the situation worse.  Thanks, Steve. 

Tackof theday.com puts up the Ariat Bromont's for $69 shortly after I buy mine.  I'd be more upset, except I only paid $76 for mine.  \o/

The tops are a little stiff, so my ankles do NOT love me for wearing them the past couple of days, but such is life with new boots.

...yeah I don't really have much to talk about right now, except that Josh's Winter Sads are contagious.  >:|

So my NaNo is currently off in the hands of my volunteer editors, forcing me to sit on my hands and NOT TOUCH IT. 

This is harder than you'd think.  I've done some random ficlets in the meantime, and right now, have a story in my head that's wavering between Ficlet and...Somewhat Longer Story.  So I suppose I'll amuse myself by gnawing on that for awhile, on top of keeping up with my WoW blogging. 

If Daughters of Darkness hits an acceptable Beta phase, I might make it available again to those of you who are interested.  It was, of course, readable DURING NaNo, but I've gotten awfully shy about it since finishing-after all, NaNo is done, and there's no "excuse" for it to suck anymore.  During the process of shifting a lot of my Empire ficlets to their new (bloggy) home I realized how much of my own stuff I effectively ret-conned with Daughters of Darkness.  There's stiill a lot of good stand-alone stuff, though.  If my story is ever magically published, then maybe a collection of short stories can be magically published later.  There is actually a story that might be able to turn into a novel in its own right, following my notoriously loud-mouthed character Lyestra.

Ideas, ideas.

I don't post much because I don't feel that I have a lot to post about.  Let's face it, outside of pony time, and TV cuddle time, I'm mostly playing WoW (or DAO!).  My life is comfortably cozy without a lot going on.  Of course, Josh is starting a Fallout game soon, so maybe I'll have something else to write about then.

Saturday the barn was closed, so the volunteers showed up to ride-of course!  I got to hop on my favorite, Shiloh, who despite being an old gal (almost 25) actually gave me trouble.  I was amused at the depth of her lazy streak-she opted to go sideways rather than trot.  Then I was handed a crop (just to hold!) and her attitude magically changed.  Haha.  Silly girl.  I love the hell out of her though, she's sweet and snuggly.



Next was Nova.  Nova, if you don't recall, is the exceedingly cranky Morgan/Arabian gelding that indimidates most of the volunteers.  I love the little shithead, though, and since I knew he was one of the better trained horses in the barn, made sure to have my turn.   Riding him felt like sitting on a freaking fence post-I don't think I've ever been on a horse that NARROW!  He was a little jerkface, of course, so we did some circles in the corner he wanted to avoid, but his trot is lovely and I even got him to sidepass a bit.   I'm pretty sure he hasn't been asked to do that in YEARS, so kudos to him for humoring me. 



And then...I rode Benny.  Let me introduce you to Benny:

If you think he looks like an honest to go pony, that's because he is one.  I looked very silly with my legs dangling down, I assure you.  Posting on a pony took some getting used to, because it's such a quick beat compared to a horse-but that's all the little nutcase wanted to do!  Trot trot trot trot!  He even tried to canter for a stride or two, but I didn't feel balanced on him so I told him to cut that shit right out.  Seriously, ponies are hard to stay on.  O.o 

It was fun, and good to ride that day becuase my lesson had been shifted to Tuesday that week, thanks to Christmas.  Going more than a week between lessons never seems to be a good idea for me, so hopefully the extra riding was a good "bridge" and will keep me from randomly backsliding.  Bad enough I've managed to forget how to sit a trot.  /facepalm

Christmas loot was either 1) books or 2) related to riding, in particular STAYING WARM during my winter lessons.  I should not freeze to death now!  Yay for wool socks, glove liners, and other assorted things.  Oh, and a helmet far better than my cheap piece of crap.  \o/

Otherwise, I've been...playing WoW, especially as Josh has been distracted by other games he got for Christmas.  So I'll leave you with this lovely, random tidbit: 

Yay!

A winnar is I!


...now to actually write the massive, concluding scene...

5 years of fail to finally win. Holy shit. Go me?

me: Ky, my characters are running rampant in my story, halp
Kyrilean: "The clear blue sky suddenly began to darken as dark rolling clouds moved in."
"Lightning lit up the sky as the thunder rolled like massive freight trains through the sky."
me: okay mister metaphor
Kyrilean: "In a sudden flash, a lightning bolt slammed into the ground in front of Amber's characters!"
"As the light dissapated(? shit!) a being of immense power stood before them!"
"It was Kyrilean, God of the Skies, Overlord of All!"
me: ...
Kyrilean: "In a thundering voice he boomed, 'Knock that shit off! Your running rampant is giving Amber fits!!!"
and to think you didn't even have to pay for that!

So Saturday I go to pick up Ashley for pony time...

..and she doesn't respond to texts...

...and she doesn't come down...

...so 15 minutes later, I leave. She shows up at the therapy barn later (like, 10?) saying that she'd woken up at 8, but fell asleep leaning against the kitchen counter waiting for food to microwave. Then she left early because her ankle and knee hurt.

...

...

Girl, WTF am I going to do with you? GET THE FUCK OFF WOW AND PRETEND TO KEEP A NORMAL SCHEDULE, WOMAN.

I was pretty upset after Ulduar tonight.

So I've been GM for what, still less than a week? I'm still a bit insecure, still finding my feet...and raid leading has NEVER been something I've been comfortable doing by myself. Well, in tonight's raid I should have had Josh, Steve, Ashley, and Andy all with me. Well, Josh didn't want to go...

...and Steve said he needed to go grocery shopping....

...and Andy and Ashley didn't really want to go, either. They came, sure, but they came and did their job and were just sort of...quiet. Well, it went horribly. We downed Hodir...and only Hodir, and then only after a couple of wipes. Freya was more wipes. I deal with people well. Picking apart fights and seeing what we're doing wrong? No. So I flailed at the officers and...nothing. Ashley was alt tabbed when not fighting doing something else. Andy at least apologized and said he'd had a bad day and was tired, but the end result was still me feeling shitty and unsuppported.

Come on, guys. You're officers, and quite frankly, I need your help. If nothing else, I need your pats on the back while I find my feet. If you all flake out on me all at once, that's just...

...crappy.

My NaNo is plugging along here, for the interested:

http://darklordsblood.wordpress.com/

The thing with Arrens is actually a running joke stemming from Twitter and my World of Warcraft blog.  Sorry, Arrens!

Number of orchids I have killed: 5

Saturday, I hatched a random hare of an idea.  It will likely never be more than an idea, but I'm wasting time chewing on it anyway.

I wonder if the therapy barn would sell me Nova?

Nova is a Morgan x Arabian gelding.  He used to be a show jumper, and is now rather infamous for being a stall agressive, leader-nipping horse.  Few volunteers want to handle him and he's lightly used at the moment.  So why the hell do I want him?

I think that he needs, more than anything, a new job.  I think that if he had only one or two people who worked with him who took the time to learn his particular needs/wants (and he is a very particular guy), who gave him an active and more interesting life, that he might not BE such an angry horse anymore.  I mean, look at this face:
 

( Piccy! )What part of that face says "I'm a dick for no good reason" to you?  I just think that he's not a good fit for a therapy horse.  Besides, to all reports he's not bad under saddle...just a complete prick to everyone on the ground.  He's never actually bitten me, just threatened to...a lot.  Since even Shiloh, the worlds sweetest horse ever, has bitten me when uncomfortable, I'm not ready to write him off as mean just yet. 

I don't know-it's just a thought.  I mean first they'd have agree, and then he'd have to check out sound to still jump...

Lesson Recap:

Junior came up lame, AGAIN.  Those older throughbreds are something, aren't they?  So for lack of another mount, it was back to Lucky.

Poor insecure, unused to other riders Lucky.  Poor...SPOOKY Lucky...

I apparently am very good at staying on spooking horses, as Diane observed that not many people were able to stay on him, and I managed it three times.

...

...

I will say: daaaaaaamn, but that boy does NOT spook in place.  Good thing we were on a lunge line, or it would have been a wee bit more complicated.  You can totally get a death grip on the front of an English saddle-this is good to know. 

OMG HORSES WALKING IN FRONT OF THE ARENA DOOR IN THE DARK ARE GOING TO EAT ME OMG.
OMG SOMEONE WALKED IN WITH JINGLING KEYS OMG.
OMG SOMEONE WALKED IN-wait, didn't we do this already?  OH YES WE DID OMG.

Otherwise, it was a game of "let's keep the lazy sucker trotting!"  it's amazingly difficult to post, keep him trotting, and keep him on a circle, too.  Go figure.

/facepalm

So I'm all like

WTF

I have a box

and like

I open it

and I'm like, GOD DAMN IT

FUCK YOU ALL TO HELL

FUCK YOU ALL STRAIGHT TO GOD DAMNED HELL

and Josh is like, WTF is that

so I have to tell the story

and then I squeeze it

and I'm like OH GOD IT MAKES NOISE WTF

so

damn you,  _e of the IRC people

damn you for sending me sheep

Friday was a good lesson because not only did I find out that Junior CAN make smaller turns than bus, but I also somehow, magically, mastered the sitting trot on him.  Woo!

...of course I wasn't able to repeat that feat on other horses, but it's something, right? 

Saturday the therapy barn was closed for the summer-to-fall transition, so I met up with another volunteer to play with her horses.  She's looking for shareboarders for them, and I'm tempted.  I'm so very tempted, but I just don't have enough days in the week for this nonsense!

She has two geldings, Coldsteam and Grenadier.  Coldstream is 3/4 TB and 1/4 Percheron, and Gren is half and half.  The reason that she's afraid she'll have a hard time finding leasers is because they are also 17.2 and 18.1 hands, respectively.  Not everyone has the OMG FUCKING HUGE HORSES YAY reaction that I do.   Riding Gren was like riding a table in some respects (wiiiiiiiide back), and he was a wee bit lazy, but he seemed like such a good boy.  Coldstream reminded me more of Junior, being more full of GO GO GO and also being slyer about things like doing shoulder ins along a wall when I asked for a damn circle!   I've never ridden a more energetic walk, oh my goodness.

I really wish I could get Josh into horses.  Otherwise, I really have to cut back on how much time I spend with them, because it seriously cuts in together time.  Mrrrr.  I just wanna combine my two favorite thiiiiiings.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877155,00.html

...

...

REALLY?

In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes' right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes' "high moral and ethical standards," he said, the New Jersey state constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience." Despite Eleanor Katherine's tender years, he continued, "the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being."

/stabs

How is to say she can't?  KJajdhasjdhashdja.