I'm 22, go me!

Plans for my brithday you ask? I'm going to hang with my horse. It's my first birthday with a horse so it's kind of a big deal to me. And it rained most of yesterday so I didn't get to go out to the barn.

My dad's going to make me homemade pizza for dinner and then we're hitting DQ. It's not much but I prefer that. I get me time on my birthday. Yay me time!

Now, to rock it 22 style.

I'm sort of enjoying apartment hunting. Is that weird?

Mostly this post is an excuse to show off my new Valerie Cruz icon. I'm cheap like that and she is very pretty.

Life here has been a string of super humid, super hot days. I couldn't ride in that sort of weather. The horses were sweating just standing there. I'm still working on Patience's ear issues but since the gnats have died down it's gotten better. Jodi continues to show me little tricks and training methods I can use not just for the ear thing but for other little fobles she has. I'm quite happy with my horse.

I have also started looking for apartments for next year near my campus. I'm not sure if I'll have roommates or not and all the other fiddly little details that come with apartments. First I want to find some places that look good and then talk it over with my folks. I'm also going to try and get a job at the campus bookstore next year. Just to have a little extra income to help with rent and horse things.

Movies have been good this summer. Up was fantastic and everyone needs to go see it. Now. Shoo. To the theater with you! Transformers was exactly what I expected with robots kicking ass and surprisingly funny bits of dialogue. Good soundtrack too. It won't be to everyone's taste but if you like senseless action, go for it.

“No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow,” Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend sent to his telephone. “It’s like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died.”
-MSN.com

Now, I have never been a big Michael Jackson fan and it is very sad that he is dead but no. The death of Michael Jackson does not have the same significance of the Kennedy assassination.

Maybe I'm a history snob or just not as torn up as I should be about Jackson's death but the Kennedy assassination is way more significant and always will be.

Sorry, Michael Harris, but you're wrong.

Just a general announcement for people, the dish for my wireless internet got knocked out of position and my net is really screwy right now.

I'll be in an out online until tomorrow when someone comes out to realign things.

Title: Opening Volley
Rating: R
AU: The Four Kingdoms. Link is F-locked.
Author's Note: So after doing all those massive notes, this AU wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote something for it. I couldn't write anything else, and believe me I tried, until I got something down for this. It's a mass of fandoms, muses and OCs, all lovingly used by me and twisted into my strange vision. I could list the fandoms I've screwed around with in this but it'd be longer than this author's note. It's un-betaed simply because this is insanity and really doesn't need to be taken seriously. Enjoy.

This is a thank you and massive love for all the muses and muns who have inspired and tolerated my strange writings and shenanigans in this epic insanity. This list will be updated the more and more muses I abuse.

If someone wants their muse off the list and out of the story, please tell me. If you'd like to have your muse involved somehow, please tell me. I'm more than happy to try and write more insanity in.

Muses & Their Muns who have inspired me:
a_specialist, abit_unsettlin, animus_noceni, bruisedwayne, hottestpsychic, laws_of_dawes, mabofwinterdark, magicians_son and more to come.
---

( Opening Volley )

Normally, I'm a big fan of summer storms. Lightning and thunder are cool. Thunder than can shake the house a little, even cooler. This summer? Not such a big fan of all the rain we're getting. I want to play with my horse, but my barn has no indoor arena so I can't when it's raining.

Curses. Hopefully this clears in the afternoon.

The weather finally cooperated with me long enough so that I could go to the barn, see Patience and actually ride. It reminded me that my horse and I have a lot to work through. She's a good girl, but out of shape so riding means we've got to build up our muscles again and remind her of what riding means.

We also need to work on her issues about her bridle. Right now the nats are really bad and they like hiding in her ears, so her ears are very sensitive. Putting the bridle on isn't as bad as getting it off. It took my barn manager, Jodi, a long time to get it off yesterday so we're going to need a lot of work. But so do I. I'm out of riding shape and need to get my seat back. If the weather holds for a few weeks, I can do that. Stupid rain.

In other news, I am still trying to find a job for the summer. I haven't had any luck so far, but I keep filling out applications. Hope springs eternal I guess. We'll see if I succeed in finding something. I still need to find an apartment for the school year too. Go me! At least I have things to do.

Bad weather means I can't go to the barn, so I'm stuck inside with the dogs and have nothing to do. I'm still very sleepy from last night so I don't want to do anything useful. What do I do instead? I let my mind wander and come up with a Pern AU for my muses. Along with graphics! Man, the weather needs to get better.

( Moose is bored. Very bored. )

You know what sucks?

Drinking coffee to stay up late so you can run a Naxx raid with your roomie and her guild then your internet lags so much you keep getting kicked from the server and dying and so have to bail on the raid.

I am so awake right now. I have no tolerance for coffee because I never drink it. Now I'm super awake and have nothing to stay awake for.

Maybe I should write things. Or do laps. Can you tell just by the way I'm rambling that I'm awake.

Okay, I'm going to stop this now. Maybe bust out Solitaire and kill time until I'm sleepy that way.

And yes, I play WoW. It's one of my well kept secrets. I just keep getting dorkier, don't I?

So, the morning started off exciting in my neck of the woods. I got up because the dogs were pacing downstairs which means they're lonely. When they're lonely they'll start barking to get attention and I like to cut that off at the pass by heading downstairs and camping out on the couch.

Imagine my surprise when I get to the couch and look out the windows to see my sister's cat Latte outside perched on some rocks. Latte is not an outside cat and never has been an outside cat. I am very quick to get shoes on and run outside to get her. She spent the whole time I herded her to the front steps hissing and meowing and RAWR! at me. I was lucky I didn't get clawed.

But, the cat's inside again and the dogs are sprawled out around me, sleeping peacefully. All is well in the house and I'm hoping by the weekend I'll be feeling good enough to go to the barn and play with Patience. Stupid sickness.

I'm building myself a nest of blankets and not coming out until I'm better. This will require lots of stuffed animals to snuggle, a truck load of Kleenex and all the sappy, fluffy, feel good fanfiction I can stomach. And naps. I need a lot of naps.

Fucking cold/flu/bug thingy. I get tired just walking my dogs. I have a wonderful new horse to play with and I'm sick. Curse you Universe and your ironic sense of timing.

*crawls under blankets and hides*

Feeling sick, but also still job hunting while playing with my horse. Got around to looking at saddles and tack. Shockingly what we got to try out all fit except the girth. My horse is a skinny thing, we need a smaller one. I'm pleased.

My mom came with me to the barn yesterday to be there when I filled out all the paperwork and handed over the check for Patience. She also brought a camera and snapped a few pictures of me with Patience.

( Me and My Horse )

Want to know why today is the best day of my life? Take a look under the cut.

( Best. Day. Ever. )

So very sunburned. So very worth it.

Things have actually been going on in my life. They're not terribly exciting but they're things I can update about for those of you who care.

My computer adapter has been on the fritz lately so I bought a new one. When I got the new one, however, the end you stick into the computer was too big for my computer. I thought I had just wasted $83 but when I called the customer service guys to get the correct adapter it turned out to be the same price so we're just doing a trade in sort of deal. While my fritzy adapter is still working, it's getting more fritzy. I hope the new one gets here soon.

I've been busy searching for summer jobs in the meanwhile. I applied to Borders and Barnes & Noble. A job in a bookstore would be a dangerous thing but I think I would enjoy it. I like books and book retail can't be as annoying as clothing retail. *shifty eyes* *knocks on wood*. I'm still going to call around to barns and see about summer jobs with them.

I go to the barn on some afternoons, but if Jodi's not there I can't ride which is a bummer. Maybe some of these barns I call, I'll ask about lessons, see what the prices are. I miss jumping a lot and can't do that at my current barn, it just doesn't have the equipment. I'd like to get back into that.

Well, things have actually been happening in my life and darn it, it's about time I write about it.

First off, I finished another year of college. Technically, it's my senior year and technically I should have graduated except I'm a double major and I've got some random classes to take. My roomie, however, did graduate and I saw pictures from it, Loyola's graduation looks epic. Very epic. And by epic I mean HUGE! She only went to the School of Communication graduation and it looked big enough. I can't imagine what graduation for the School of Arts and Sciences.

My sister's graduation wasn't bad at all though. She went to a very small school, so her graduation class was only 300+ people. Not a bad thing to sit through. There were a few good speeches too. I met a lot of her friends, had dinner with them too and her fiance. Basically, it was a typical graduation ceremony followed by a typical graduation dinner. The one problem was the ground was really soft and my heels kept sinking into the ground.

Now the search for a summer job beings! I'm going to call a bunch of local barns and see if they've got something I can do all summer long. If that doesn't work out, I've still got an apartment to find for next semester and I could probably stand to clean my room from moving back in.

And now I'm sleepy. Very sleepy.

So, I'm going to my sister's graduation this weekend. I should have internet in the hotel, but if I don't I'll be back on Sunday.

Try not to miss me too much.

Two finals on a Saturday, back to back.

Stupid Loyola.