nf793: (coheed)
It's Sunday again! I thought this day would never come. Geez, it's been a long week. I'll skip most of the boring details.

My riding lesson on Tuesday was off. Everything was just off, and I can't pinpoint any cause. I almost fell off over a jump, too. We were going over an oxer (two jumps one right in front of the other, and you jump them both at once, if that makes sense. Here is a picture if you want to see what one looks like), and Kip took off way too far ahead, and landed way too far behind it. Instead of a nice half-circle of an arc, it was more like the long side of an oval. I ended up slamming my jaw into his neck, biting my lip in two places, losing one of my reins, losing one of my stirrups, and very nearly ate dirt. And of course Kip just cantered away like everything was going great. The rest of the lesson wasn't much better. My lesson on Thursday wasn't too great, either. I was supposed to ride Zanga, so I was looking forward to a straightforward, uneventful ride. While I was tacking up, I went to pick his feet and found out he had lost a shoe when he was turned out earlier in the day... What bothers me the most is that the working students are supposed to pick horse's feet when they bring them in from turnout. If they had, they would have noticed then that he was missing one and the whole mess of what happened next could have been avoided. I had to take him to the main barn to get his foot wrapped, which took time. Then I had to get barn management and my instructor, and we spent over 10 minutes trying to find a horse for me to ride. All of the horses had already gone, and only a very select few are allowed to go twice in one day. I ended up being put on Jebb, a pony that we lease from a summer camp. When I rode him at the start of last semester, he was really well behaved. He doesn't know much, but he would give his all and try, which is all I can ask. I haven't ridden him since September, and I can honestly tell you the horse I rode Thursday was not the same horse I rode back then. He fought me the whole ride, with his head up in the air, very stiff and not bending, would run away at the trot instead of canter, and didn't relax for even one second the entire ride. Plus, I was fifteen minutes late. It's a shame that this pony came to us so willing and kind and over just a few months we have made him into a tense, misbehaving, avoidance-prone animal.

On Wednesday, I recieved a call about the Barn Maager position I applied for. I think the phone interview went decently, but I am not entirely sure that I am what they are looking for. Plus, the woman knows that I am still in school, due to finish in May, so I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm only around 20. No, sorry, I'm almost 25. She gave me the speech about how barn managers work long hours every day, don't really get benefits, have a high risk of injury, don't get vacations, etc. All stuff that I know. Why do I know this? Because, like it says on my resume, I have been in the industry virtually my entire life, and I have managed at barns before. I don't know, I like the job, it is right down the road, and it would be a decent job to start at, but I don't see myself staying there terribly long-term. I have also been looking around for more office-related work in the industry, since I think it would be nice to have a normal 9-5 job, which comes with more benefits (health insurance, dental, vision, etc, whereas most barn jobs don't offer any), and would provide normal hours, weekends off, and evenings free. Since I have been pretty much living out of my car for the past two years, living across 3 different states, I really want some stability and predictability for a little while.

Yesterday, I had a nice outing with Dragon Age Girl. We went to Dover Saddlery, where I picked up some new half chaps. We had lunch at this Italian joint in the same plaza as Dover. I absolutely love that restaurant! It is a bit pricey, but you get enough food to have an entire meal's worth of leftovers that is still delicious reheated. Plus, they have these softball-sized ice cream truffles that are to die for <3 Over this weekend, I have spent a lot of time with my little group of almost-friends. I have to say, it has been nice having company and people around. I don't care for the drama that comes along with it, I just like the company when a certain few drama-creating brats aren't around.

Gaming: I played FFXV:Episode Gladiolus a couple of times. I enjoyed how they wrapped so much story into just a couple few-minute long dialogue sections. I also liked that there are game modes to it, which means added replayability. I feel like it was pretty short, though, and focused more on Cor than it did on Gladio. Don't get me wrong, Cor is cool and all, but I was hoping to learn more about the King's Shield. All it really did was reiterate that Gladio is really good at beating things up, even though the Big Baddie kept saying he needed to have brains, too. I would have liked to see a few puzzles to show that he used his head and not just his muscles. That being said, I am looking forward to playing it some more and beating my times and scores.

I played some Horizon Zero Dawn the other day, when I was hanging out with the group of acquaintances. They actually wanted me to bring my PS4 over, and they all voted on watching me play Horizon. I found it pretty funny. They started getting really into it, too, voting on quests to do, dialogue options to pick, etc. It was really fun!

Destiny's latest and final event, the Age of Triumph, started on Tuesday! I have a love/hate relationship with Destiny, mostly because people suck. For the last few months I have been flying solo, though, which has been nice. The event, though, means grouping up with people for certain activities (because who really wants to take on the Challenge of Elders solo?), so I have been getting in touch with the Dames of Destiny (I joined a few years  ago because I kept running into too many guys who acted like shitheads and I wanted some fellow chick gamers to fight alongside), and I applied to join Safe Gamers. I am on Planet Destiny, too, but most people I have run with from there are very competitive, and I prefer to put enjoyment over scores. I spent a good chunk of Friday on the Destiny LFG board and was, for the most part, having a good, successful time. I ran into a few unpleasant idividuals that I peaced out on, but overall it was a successful day.

TV/Movies: I am close to giving up Gossip Girl and I think I have only finished three episodes. That's what, one a week on average? Painful. I don't like quitting shows, but I am just really not feeling it. I binged Stranger Things yesterday while I worked on my Warlock characte in Destiny. I thought it was good, but I'm not sure it's the "best thing ever" like so many people keep telling me. Maybe it's because it was just like tons of scifi movies I have already seen. I also watched the first season of Cooper Barret's Guide to Survivng Life. I started it when I used to have Hulu (rip Hulu's golden years), but didn't get to finish it. It is pretty funny, and a decent show to watch.

Anyone have any suggestions of shows or movies that I should see on Netflix?
nf793: (coheed)
I feel like a lot has happened in the past week, but when I think of everything, it really wasn't that much.

I had a bad day, ok? Mostly venting. )
In more optimistic news, I applied for a job! It is a Barn Manager position at the barn where I first learned to ride when I was 7 years old. I did a presentation on the facility for one of my classes last spring, too. I sent in my cover letter and resume, and the barn owner replied to say that she was going to try to call me soon. She and her daughter are at the Carolina International Horse Trial this weekend, though, so I don't expect to hear from her until later this coming week. I hope she considers me. I am a little worried, though, because I don't graduate until May and the job posting says it is "available immediately". The woman does know, though, what I am going to school for, and she has had riders from her stable graduate from here before. The barn is also a few minutes away from my house, which would make commute easy, and I could save money living at home for a while and paying off some debt. Cross your fingers for me!

TV Shows/Movies: I have watched a couple movies this week. I watched Coraline and was rather unimpressed. I remember not caring for the book, but usually I enjoy Tim Burton's stop motion movies. This just didn't seem on par with his other works. I also watched Pete's Dragon, the 2016 remake, and was more annoyed by it than anything. It was ok, but I felt the story was missing a few steps. I don't remember the original movie, since I haven't watched it since I was probably four, but I do remember Elliot looked way different too. I get wanting to make it a more realistc dragon, but didn't Elliot talk, too? Oh, I do remember some o the songs from the original, and was kind of sad that they didn't keep them. I was also a little annoyed by the not-very-subtle "deforestation is bad" message they hid, but I could let that slide. I guess it was an ok movie, but probably not one I will choose to watch again on my own.

Did I mention I finished One Tree Hill? I started Gossip Girl. Not sure if I will keep with it, but I will give it a few episodes. I also started Voltron Legendary Defender, on Draco's recommendation, and I have to admit I am really enjoying it. I don't usually care for the whole giant cartoon robots thing, but I am enjoying the dialogue and character interaction. Originally, it was going to be my "I can't sleep so I will watch this cartoon til I fall asleep" show, but I was getting too invested, so now it is another show to watch. My insomnia show is now All Hail King Julien, and it is craking me up. I never really liked the Madagascar movies. I tried to like the Penguins of Madagascar show and movies, but still couldn't get too into it. This spin-off, however, is fantastic. It's almost too amusing for me to watch when I am trying to sleep. Almost. But I am running out of shows that fit that niche, so this one works for now. Regarding Supernatural, I just finished up S7:E21, and I am really not caring at all for anything anymore. The characters are played out, they keep all the wrong charactrs around, they keep writing themselves into a corner only to suddenly have some new thing show up out of nowhere to save them... Plus, I'm 21 episodes into this season, but I feel like they have only had enough actual material for maybe 4. It really feels like next to nothing is going on. But! I told myself I was going to try to make it all the way through every episode on netflix to get caught up, so I will keep pushing forward.

Gaming: I have some big gaming news! I finished the storyline in Horizon Zero Dawn! And a couple nights later I got the platinum trophy for getting every trophy in the game!!! I'm so proud of myself, it is the first game I have achieved platinum in. I still have to finish collecting all of the logs hidden around the world, but once I do that I will have officially done and found everything in the game there is to find and do! The scene after the credits makes me wonder if there will be a sequel, since you defeat the evil computer program, but you can't eactly delete him with your little sphere, not that I'm sure the thought ever crossed Aloy's mind. Her culture is pretty much "stab it and if it stops moving it's dead for good." I spent some time reading some of the lore from the collectibles, and I am in love with the writing. The story made me a bit nervous because it's one of those "almost too realistic" scenarios, but they used it well and eventually it created more hope than dread. I was glad that the name of the game finally made sense, since it really isn't even mentioned until most of the way through the main story. I read most of the ancient lore, but I still need to read the more recent lore about the tribes. A lot of that is in the logs that I still need to hunt down.

Hope everyone has a great week!
nf793: (coheed)
Missed a week, I know. I can assure you that nothing terribly thrilling has happened in my little corner of the globe. My last week of classes before break was average, though my last riding class was a lot of fun. I was the only one who showed up, so it was a private riding lesson. I was on Kip, who is very well behaved and well mannered, even if we don't quite communicate well (long story short, we are both crooked, which makes us go sideways a lot). My instructor worked a lot on my lower leg position and strengthening, then we had some fun with music. She put on the Game of Thrones theme and had me cnter around. The goal was to get my horse to canter to the beat, and I managed to accomplish it by the end. It was so much fun! I was exhausted by the end, but it was very much worth it.

I have been on spring break since two thursdays ago. I go back to school tomorrow. I really don't want to. It's been so peaceful and uneventful this past week and a half. No elephants living above me, no roommates filling the air with nauseating smells, no annoying children calling me to complain about each other... I'd say it was close to Heaven, but I would be lying. Living with the family has its own set of problems. These problems, however, are more familiar and I have learned how to cope over the years, so I will take it over the school situation.

We moved into this house two summers ago, less than a week before I moved for school. My belongings are still in boxes from the move, because I have not stayed here for more than 2 consecutive weeks since then. Since I will be moving back in come May, I started trying to at least sort my boxes and tidy up what everyone else has dumped into my closets over the years. Apparently my rooms have become storage for things no one knew where to put... Last I checked, we had a guest room, so I don't know why they didn't put this stuff there. I have very little furniture, and 2 rooms to fill. When we moved, I was given a bedroom that is half of a jack-and-jill thing, so there is a bathroom connecting my two rooms, if that makes sense. The second room is more of an entertainment room, and where I spend most of my time. It has my computer, all of my game systems and games, and all of the DVDs I have. I have some books, but only one bookshelf. I am hoping to get more shelving for in there, and at least a night stand for my bedroom when I finally move in. Really, the second room is mostly for my gliders to play in. Since I can't take them to school with me, Mother has been caring for them for me, and that is the one room in the house that they are allowed to run free in. I managed to glider-proof it, but I still want to make it more glider fiendly when I move in, and add platforms and stuff for them higher up. Right now they are mostly stuck on the floor... not a natural place for tree-dwelling ceatures. Decided I will also be donating quite a bit of my wardrobe to GoodWill in May. Most of it either doesn't fit or I don't want to keep it. I really would like to overhaul my wardrobe entirely once I get a job. Maybe get a new shirt or two per week for a few weeks until I have more clothes I will actually wear. Most of my wardrobe in my closet is stuff I have had since high school. I graduated seven years ago...

Gaming: Between bouts of cleaning and organizing, I have managed to get in a fair bit of gaming. Since I have had my desktop for a bit, I sarted Stardew Valley on Steam. I really enjoy farming games. I know, I'm a loser. But at least I am a happy loser. I got a fair bit into it, but decided to set it aside until May because it requires a fair bit of note-taking on my end and I will probably forget what I'm doing by then and will have to start over. I have also been playing Horizon: Zero Dawn and am truly, madly, deeply in love. The game is absolutely gorgeous! Don't believe me? Check out my media tab in my gaming twitter: https://twitter.com/Gamerfly793/media No spoilers, don't worry. I have managed to get just about every collectible, and have finished most side quests. I think that I am probably 3/4 through the main storyline, but I don't want to look it up to find out because I don't want to find spoilers. I will say that the story is frightening, but very intriguing. It is scary-close to reality, but also provides hope in a way? I know that doesn't make sense, but if you play the game it does. I keep getting lost on purpose just to find places to take photos of the gorgeous landscape. I am also loving the main character, too. They gave her a believable and unique personality, not the usual heroine stereotypes where she is either upbeat and high-strung, or all serious. She is humorous and about what you would expect form a 19 year old who was raised an outcast by a very caring father figure. It has led to some amusing bits of dialogue with a certain male character.
For the record, Erend is toooooootally hitting on Aloy. She has just never encountered flirting before, so her reaction is highly entertaining. He is not the only one, either, but he is the most recurring and persistent. ......... Ishipit.

TV Shows: I managed to get a few more seasons into One Tree Hill. Once Lucas and Peyton disappeared, the show got kind of weird. Not bad, necessarily, it just feels VERY different. Plus, they keep adding in these huge dramatic events (characters getting shot by a psycho stalker, someone dramatically drowning then being brought back to life, etc), and the events take up an entire episode, then are never referenced again. Not one. Like, in this one episode a character drowns to save her best friend's son during this hurricane-like storm, but her fiancee brings her back. The next episode starts with her waking up drunk after her bachelorette party and the entire episode is a parody of The Hangover. Oh, and there was this kid who got a massive concussion and was essentially as good as dead, but the next episode he was A-OK and his usual annoying self. I don't know, I guess I just wish it were more consistent.

I also got further with Supernatural. I think I finally left the whole Angels/Demons arc in the dust, but now they are going on and on about "the Leviathans". I know I'm a bit rusty on my Christian mythology, but I thought there was only THE Leviathan. Not multiple, just one. My friend also stated that this is by far the most annoying and boring season of all of them. I am 10 episodes in and I have to agree. I feel like nothing has really happened, aside from them killing off one of the best characters in the entire series. His death was dumb, anyway. I am really not happy with how they did that entire episode... I texted my friend when the character died and ranted, and he simply said "Oh just wait." Great.

Anyway, I know this is a kind of short post, especially since I didn't post last week, but there you have the highlights. I'm not feeling especially chatty, mostly just brooding. I really don't want to go back. The next 7 weeks are going to be a whilrlwind of crazy, and I don't feel like going through it. Wish me luck...

Hope everyone has been doing wonderfully!
nf793: (coheed)
Posting a little early, I know. I have something going on tomorrow that I plan to post about, that may take up an entire post on its own, so I thought I would post a little early.

The start of the week was just off. It was three days in a row of "those days". You know, the ones where you're dropping everything, running into stuff, words don't work right, and you can't seem to function properly. By Wednesday afternoon it was at least getting a little better. That day, after classes, a friend and I went to a hair salon and I finally got my hair cut! It was down past my shoulder blades and was becoming too much of a hassle to care for, so I have been wanting to get it cut. I decided to get it just about shoulder length (so I can still pull it back in a pony tail), with layers. I love the layered look.Rambling about riding! )Gaming: I caved and preordered Horizon Zero Dawn a week before it dropped. I regret nothing. I have been keeping an eye on it since its first announcement, and was so excited to play. It definitely did not let me down. I have put in just under three hours so far, because I have been busy working on my senior thesis, and I love it. The setting is pretty large, and looks gorgeous. The enemies are unique and really cool, and their AI is really interesting and advanced compared to most enemy AIs I have seen in games. I will say that so far I'm not overly impressed with any of the characters, but I am also not very far in the main storyline at all yet, so that may very well change. I love the unique concept and the combination of technology with the stone age. I like the simple crafting system that you can access on the go (it makes encounters so much nicer). And I am so excited to see where the game goes! Oh, and I think my favorite thing so far is photo mode! You can hide your character, change brightness, time of day, add filters, and so much more! When I game, I love to take screenshots of landscapes, and I can see myself abusing the hell out of photo mode and taking way too many pictures, hahaha. If you want to see the game for yourself, you can watch my playthrough of the beginning of the game here!

Wow... I don't think I have much more to say. In regards of tv shows, I have watched some more One Tree Hill and Supernatural. I started Wakfu and am only a couple episodes in. My thesis has been taking up almost all of my free time, so I haven't been able to do much of any reading or gaming. Tomorrow is the annual Random House Book Fair! I am pretty excited! I go almost every year. I plan to post about it this weekend!

Hope everyone is having an awesome week!
nf793: (coheed)
Another week come and gone. Another list of events that have ocurred.

I really need to start jotting down notes of what I do every day. I've been staring at this blank entry screen for the last five minutes or more trying to remember anything that happened earlier this week, and I'm drawing a blank.

Recap of my week )

TV/Movies: I am on S3:E15 of One Tree Hill. Things are starting to get dramatic in regards to suspects in Dan's attempted murder. They finally said who it was, and I was actually a bit surprised. I am getting annoyed with the whole Nathan/Haley marriage thing, and I know I'm a horrible person for wishing they would just split up. I'm also getting increasingly frustrated with the Brooke/Lucas situation. I really don't care for Brooke. I haven't since the first episode. But at least I have someone on the show I dislike more than her. Rachel. Come on, Mouth, you can do so much better than her!

On the Supernatural front, I ams on S6:E17. I think I am almost out of the Armageddon arc, which is nice. I was getting bored of it, if no one could tell. It only took a few months to get through season 5 and most of season 6. I gotta say, though, the soulless Sam arc was just dumb, in my opinion. Seriously? His soul was just stuck down there in hell with Lucifer and Michael and his half-brother, and then Death could just waltz in and get it? And now he is fine as long as he doesn't think too hard about it? Ugh, th writers really need to do better.

Today, I watched the movie Spectral. It. Was. PHENOMENAL! It managed to have some realistic science/physics, just the right amount of action and explosions, and a pinch of the supernatural. I'll admit, in the beginning I wasn't too sure and I wasn't very into it, but by the 40 minute mark I was glued. Though I do think that they picked some more complicated, less ideal plans of action at points, and left a pretty big question at the end of "WHY?!" Putting that aside, though, I walked away thoroughly happy with the movie and I recommend it.

I also watched Good Kids. It was ok, I think. It was reminiscent of the mid-2000s summer coming-of-age comedies a la Michael Cera, but was a bit less fulfilling. It had me laughing a good chunk of the time, but for some reason I felt like it was missing something. It just seemed tame to me, but was a good attempt. Not a bad movie, though, so I gave it 4/5 stars.

Books: I finally finished reading The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu. I am madly in love with the animated movie musical based off of the book (Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart). Basically, it is the story of a boy who was born on the coldest day on earth. His heart was frozen solid, so the midwife replaced it with a clock, and he had to abide by three rules, including not falling in love, because his heart wouldn't be able to handle it. Well, when he is 10 years old, he falls madly and passionately and hard for this girl, and a few years later travels across Europe to find her. It's a roller coaster love story filled with a unique cast of characters. The movie has a fantastic and catchy rock score not typically found in musicals. My favorite line from the book: "People might be fascinated by your wounded heart, but that won't make them love you for who you are."

Gaming: I played a little more Destiny. I even caved and joined Planet Destiny in case I need a fireteam or want to raid again. I really do love this game, and am excited for Destiny 2, whenever that decides to finish production and become a thing. OH! And I am SO EXCITED!!! I preordered Horizon Zero Dawn!!! It looks like it is going to be such a cool game~ It is set to unlock in 24 hours! I am probably going to start playing it Tuesday evening or Wednesday since I will have a lot more time. Shameless plug: if anyone wants to watch me play it, you can catch me on Twitch.

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May 2017

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