This is it

This is it. My final semester of my senior year at Albion began today. I actually feel quite productive. I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but it's at 8 am. This forces me to get up at a reasonable hour, which in turn gives me the whole day to get things done. I already crossed off everything I had listed to get done this week. Crazy! What will I do with the rest of my week? Oh, right, homework.

Anyway, this is it. Five classes, four months, and commencement separate me from the next chapter of my life. For the longest time I was actually kind of dreading coming back to school. I have a job I love back home; I make money (which I will never again take for granted); and I have two summer classes I'm teaching. I just kept thinking, okay, let this semester go fast. But now that I'm here, I'm content. Sure, I miss having a steady paycheck, and I miss the rambunctious seven-year-old and his sarcastic brother, but I also have friends here. I had forgotten that, I guess. And part of me is a little sad that this is in fact it. After this semester I will never again be an undergraduate. I have to deal with loans and moving out, and, well, life. So what do I do? Simple. I enjoy every delightfully bitchy, wonderfully bastardly, occasionally quiet, and always crazy moment of it. After all, this is it.

That's Cap'n Norasaurus to you!

I completely meant to write a blog post last weekend, but I went home and left my computer here (I wasn't going to cart my desktop when I was only home for four days). So I'm writing now. A lot has happened. I had a real week of class (no more sickness), which concluded with tryouts for the different teams. I was worried, I'm not going to lie. I didn't mind the idea of not being on the team, but I did really want another chance to make it to Nationals and this is my last chance. Well, we had a decent number of girls trying out for the dressage team, and when I left tryouts I was telling myself, "well if I don't make it, I'll save money." Results were to be posted Friday, but I would be in a car driving back to Minnesota. Once again, I'd have to wait to find out.

Or one can have great friends who go and check the results early in the morning and call you. I got a phone call before I left Michigan. "Congratulations," begins friend. Oh my god! I made the team! "Yes, and you're captain." Yep, that's me. Once again riding introductory level and captain of the Dressage team, and we have an awesome team this year. I'm so excited!

What else has happened? That's the biggest thing. We started lessons this week, and I had a good ride today. I may be working at the barn this year. They are allowed to use work study students, and I would love the experience of working in a barn. I spent the majority of the day out at the barn today. I don't have classes on Fridays and as captain, I'm trying to watch each of my girls ride at least once a week. I hung out after my lesson on Wednesday and stuck around today, too. I think I'm going to talk to my coach about being somewhere where I can actually hear what she's saying during the lessons. For one, I want to be aware of what my girls are struggling with, but I also want to see how they sit to help me with my own riding. Some of them have the same problems as I do, so it would be helpful to hear how my coach helps them over come those issues. Today, though, I spent most of the lesson bringing horses inside. It's always an interesting experience. Some horses are crazy about coming in, others are nice and calm. I like seeing how they act, and I like talking to them, which I'm a little more self-conscious about when other people are around. It was fun, and I'm rambling. Okay. I'm done for now. Talk to you next weekend (maybe).

Starting this semester off with a cough?

This first week of classes didn't exactly go as planned. It started off right enough. I got to campus early to train as a tour guide. That involved a lot of walking, leaving me very exhausted and sore at the end of the day, but with a weekend off and a great friend in town, I was more than ready to start this semester off right. It's my senior year, after all.

Monday went well enough. Tuesday I woke up a bit off and by the middle of my first tour of the year I was sniffling. Well, I thought nothing of it. I slipped Monday and ate soy, so I just figured the sniffling and sore throat was due to that. Should've known better. By the time my first class hit, I was blowing my nose every few moments and my head felt heavy enough to knock me off balance. By the time I got done with Tuesday's classes all I wanted was a nap. And I've basically been sleeping since then. I skipped classes Wednesday and Thursday and only left the apartment on Thursday to take (and somehow pass) the equestrian fitness test (well, and a meeting later, but I didn't say much). I was worried I wouldn't pass since I was coughing so much, but I pulled through... and haven't left the apartment again until today.

Today I woke up with sore abs from coughing. The coughing hasn't let up, but I can breathe now and I'm not sneezing constantly. Coughs tend to stick around with me. I don't imagine I'll get rid of it for another week. Guess this is one way to work your abs.

So, on a different note. I'm in an apartment this year. It's still on campus, but it's not a part of board. There's a kitchen, and I'm getting to be a pretty decent cook. By the end of the year, I might actually be a good cook. It would help if I had an oven that worked though. This apartment is what they call an efficiency. Basically, it's a glorified dorm room, but I only have to share the bathroom with my roommate (and any guests we have), and that's more than enough to drown the complaints about the size of the room. I am excited to be done after this year, though. I'm ready to get on with the rest of my life, whatever that means. When I know, I'll let you know.

Epic Fail

Here I said I was going to keep this blog throughout college. I would write every day and do a recap at the end of each week. Trouble was I didn't take into account that my life at Albion would be a lot different than the one I led at Century. For one, the class work at Century was much easier than that at Albion. At Century I had to cut all my papers and found that the easiest way to write a decent paper while putting the least amount of effort into it was to write it a couple hours before it was due or the day before it was due. I never had a problem doing the reading either because all my friends were busy with college elsewhere, so I had plenty of time on the weekends and after work. The opposite was the case at Albion. Suddenly I had to write 10 and 12 page papers, I had a lot more to read, and *gasp* I have a social life! I'm involved with the Equestrian club, as chair of the public relations committee and this year I'll be secretary. I also am involved with the horse team. Every moment I wasn't doing homework, I was chatting with my friends. That was the life I led now.

Now, now I'm a senior. This is my last year at Albion. I considered staying on for another year and doing the British Horse Society program, but for all I love my friends I'll be leaving behind, I've come to realize that what I want more than anything is to be around people my own age. Grad school has that to offer, but since thinking that, I've changed my mind further. I had an epiphany recently. I love school. I doubt I'll ever stop wanting to take classes, but what I really want to do with my life is become a self supporting author. Being a professor was just an academic career that allowed me to go to school. I wouldn't go to school to become an author. So, I'm not worrying about grad school just now and maybe I'll never go. Instead, when the year is over, I'm going to return to Minnesota, work my three jobs, ride my horse, and strive to get my writing career off the ground. Step one: finish the novel I've been working one for the last eight years. Wish me luck!

For this final year of school, I make no promises concerning this blog. It won't disappear, that's for sure. I'll write when I have time and that's the best I can do.

Nationals Bound . . . next year

So, Lake Erie didn't go exactly according to plan. My goal was to place in the top three, but I was so busy thinking about not being nervous and had too much time on my hands to think about not being nervous that I didn't remember until after I rode that I had a goal. Oops. Having a goal really helped me at the Albion College show, but then again, I was also riding a horse I was familiar with. At Lake Erie, all the horses were new to me. I rode a cute little mare named Addie. She was very energetic, and if I had remembered to think about each minute detail of my test while I was doing it, I would've had a really good ride on her. That's what helped me at Albion's show. Unfortunately, I forgot to think until halfway through the very short test. I started paying attention to something other than my elbows just in time to bank it like an airplane down centerline to finish my test. *sigh* And Albion's motto is Always Thinking. Apparently not true for me yet.

In the end, I got seventh place. Not the worst placing I've done, but definitely not an improvement over my last test, which was the goal. Overall, Albion finished the season fourth in the region, and our Captain, Kjirsten, despite her broken wrist and being unable to ride in this weekend's show, won the region for her division and will be going to Florida for Nationals! What an awesome way to graduate from Albion! Maybe next year, my senior year, I'll follow in her footsteps. We'll just have to see.

Make it or Break it

This weekend is the last official Dressage show. The team's heading to Lake Erie College and I'm planning on kicking some serious butt. We still have a shot at Nationals, but we have to do extra well at this show because we're down a member. Our captain fell off a horse last week and broke her wrist. She'll be there cheering us on, but she won't be able to ride. My goal is to place in the top three. It will be more difficult than at our home show because I won't know any of the horses. But I'm going to do my absolute best so that now matter what happens in the end, I'll have no regrets.

My Great Lakes Literature class has continued to meet out in the nature center on Wednesdays. It's been a lot of fun, and now that I'm acquainted with the center. A couple weeks ago, I found myself wandering there. After surviving a semester without being thrown from a horse, I finally got bucked off. I wasn't physically injured, but against my rational mind-set, my pride was bruised, and I needed to be somewhere quiet where I could come to terms with being thrown. The nature center did its job, but also made me homesick for my river back home.

I can't believe it's almost Spring Break. Only two more weeks then I'm home for ten days. I can't wait to ride my pony! The weather has been gorgeous up here for the last couple days and I wish I could go trail riding. I did go running the other day and that was fabulous! Though it made me realize I've been doing a horrible job of drinking water. Yesterday, I had a nasty fever and headache all day. I finally stopped by the bookstore and bought a nalgene water bottle. I  downed 32 oz during my last two hour class. Clearly, I needed water. Since then I'm being more careful and I'll be drinking a lot of water this weekend.

I am so excited for this weekend. I can't wait to spend two days (and a night) with the dressage girls! And now my focus is gone.  Wish me luck for this weekend!

Lock-down and Fire drills

The seasonal flu has struck Albion College. We had the same problem last semester, yet apparently it wasn't as big of a deal. As of Wednesday, 100 people on campus were diagnosed with the flu; last night, Student Health Services brought in the CDC and were advised to cancel all college activities. I didn't have classes today, but my lesson was canceled. Basically, the college is in quarantine.

So far, I'm not sick. My hall has been hit, but Alesha and my isolated little corner is still safe. I was thinking about this last night and I'm wondering if it's because we haven't spent much time in the dinning hall. Alesha is off board, so she never goes in there. I'm only going for dinner on Mondays and Wednesdays. The rest of the time I'm never near Baldwin, so it doesn't make any sense for me to go there. In the meantime, I'm upping my vitamin C intake and I'm avoiding sick people.

On top of that my building's fire alarm is either broken or some idiot has decided that there's nothing better for sick people than to stand out in the cold while an alarm blares. Last semester we had one fire drill, but I was elsewhere so didn't get to experience it. In the last twenty-four hours we've had two fire alarms. Just a bit ago the alarm went off again, but only long enough for me to consider whether I really wanted to go outside or not. Alesha's boyfriend thinks that there's probably something wrong with the alarms and it's being fixed. I hope so. I'd rather not become a cynic of the alarms. Maybe alarms are like smoke detectors, when the batteries die, the alarm just keeps going off.

On a different note, classes are going well. I like only having classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last Wednesday, we spent our Great Lakes Lit class at the Nature Center making journals. My creative writing class is evoking childhood memories that are actually turning into decent poems. My history of the philosophy of science class is introducing me to completely new philosophy. I sit in the class and just listen because I'm not fully understanding what's going on. I'm not sure what to think of it. I"m used to going into a class and knowing something about the subject. In this class, the names are familiar, but the text and ideas that go with them is completely different. I'm also having trouble understanding what I'm reading which is meaning that I'm not talking as much in class. Yet another weird thing for me. I'm kind of enjoying it though.

My final class is Victorian Britain. I didn't know a lot about the time period, but the more I read the more I realize that I actually have some experience with the time period. For one, the American Girl doll that I have has stories set in the Victorian era, albeit in America not England. Also, I was doing family history and I was able to track my great grandfathers life back to England during the end of the Victorian period. We also got to watch Blackadder in the last class. Rowan Aitkenson and Hugh Laurie should do more stuff together.

The television is calling, and with my hall and friends sick, my room seems like the best place to be right now.