Backend of Forever

It is Sunday night, once again. I almost forgot to post! I don't have too much to talk about, but then when has that ever stopped me from rambling before?

I moved back home May 12. Since then, I have accomplished a fair amount of things around the house and yard. I weeded almost all of the flowerbeds and landscaped areas. I helped install a gutter system on our front porch roof. I rearranged the trail cameras (three times) and threw bird/squirrel/deer feed (three times). I rearranged and reorganized the playroom , where all of my games, systems, dvds, board games, etc are all kept. I opened the pool and hot tub and got them well on their way to being swim-ready. I planted strawberry roots, baby sugar watermelons, and cucumbers (the only things that have sprouted yet are the cucmbers). I learned how the filter and heating system works for the pool and hot tub. I built several pieces of furniture for the playroom now that I am actually residing here and need furniture.

I'm sure I missed at least something, ut there is what I can think of at the moment.

I found out last weekend that what I thought was a sinus infection was, in fact, strep throat, so that's been fun. I also may be allergic to half of the plants growing in the woods on our property. I never had to deal with allergies until last spring, because I am apparently allergic to half of New Jersey. I guess I stayed there too long and now I am allergic to my own locale. Yaaaaay.

I have been lightly looking for work (I originally decided I would relax and wait until June 1, but I jumped the gun). So far, nothing. I absolutely despise third party job search sites. I can't even count the amount of times I would fill out a resume online, then take their stupid questionnaire and have them tell me they weren't sending my application because heaven forbid I not have every exact answer they were looking for. It's absolutely idiotic. I miss the days of walking in and handing in either a paper application or giving them your resume. Or even just emailing your resume. Too many places don't even do that anymore, they just let the third party site decide if they want to send your application or not. It's so aggravating!!! Anyway, I have been keeping an eye open for county agricultural jobs and anything at the Department of Natural Resources (they have an office nearby), but nothing has opened up for the last few months. Wish me luck that something opens up soon.

I have been more active on OkCupid. I would prefer to meet someone in person, but in this day and age that is far from likely. I don't mind the online dating thing, but I wish people actually communicated or were willing to meet in person. I'm not looking for hookups, and when I get to actually talking to someone for a bit, very rarely do they actually want to meet in person for coffee or anything. Most of the time, however, if I message a guy I won't get an answer. When one messages me, 19 times out of 20 it's just "hi" or something suggestive or asking if I want to hook up. Seriously? The least you could do is speak politely. This isn't Tinder. I'd also appreciate something to go off of for a conversation. There is one guy, though, who I have been talking to for a week now. We message about once per day, and they are pretty lengthy messages, just chatting and getting to know each other. He seems really nice, is literate and intelligent, and knows how to have an actual conversation. I strongly hinted at us grabbing coffee or something in my message I sent a little bit ago, so maybe he will get the hint and we can meet up and get to know each other that way! I'm happy because he is also fairly nearby (most tend to be over an hour). Keep your fingers crossed for me?

TV Shows: I finally made it all the way through Friends. It had the rare moment where I chuckled at something, but overall I don't feel any better or worse for having seen it. I don't really see why it's been so popular for so long. I started Lost again. This is the third time I have restarted the series. The furthest I have gotten was the beginning of Season 5. I would like to finish it this time, since I shouldn't have any major life changes that interrupt it again. I am still enjoying All Hail King Julien: Exiled, one episode at a time. I keep falling asleep after one episode, haha.

Gaming: One of my friends from school got himself a PS4 and picked up Destiny. I gifted him 3 months of PS+ to get him through the summer, and we have been playing together when we can. It is wonderful to have someone to play with again. It also gives me a chance to replay the missions again. I don't get any rewards, but I don't mind. It's fun to see someone going through it for the first time, and remember that feeling. I also am working through one of the free PS+ games for May. It is called Type:Rider. Basically, it is an educational game that teaches you the history behind some of the major fonts. It is set up as a puzzle platformer, and the platforms you roll on are made of the letters in the font that you are working on. You also play as a semi-colon. It's very unique, and a lot of fun! I am also learning quite a bit of cool trivia about the history of fonts. It is nice and laid back, too, so good for when you want to game, but don't want to stress. I like it!

Books: I am working my way through American Gods (Neil Gaiman). I am five and a half chapters in, and finding it interesting. It is not very fast paced, and there seems to be two different stories going on (one modern, one seems to be various points in history), but there is enough happening in the main story to keep me going. I am interested to see where it is heading.

Hope everyone has a whimsical week!

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!

I'm excited, I'm only a week away from heading off to camp for the summer! That sounds kind of dorky, I know. I'm so excited to be a riding camp counselor this summer.

I've been home on break for a little over a week now. It's been relaxing, for the most part. I got myself a new pair of glasses. My old ones were a bit off because my bad eye is getting better (my right eye is super near sighted, but is improving. The left one is fine). The new ones are transition, and scratch resistant. I also went out of my usual comfort zon and got a Vera Bradley pair. Normally I don't care for her stuff, but I thought they looked really good one me, and the colorful part is mostly hidden underneath.

I also went to see my dentist. Guess who gets to have another root canal... A bit of background: my genetics, in a lot of ways, are awful. When it comes to dental stuff, I got the short end of the genetic stick. Essentially, I'm screwed no matter what I try because my teeth are way too fragile. Soft bristles tear them up, alcoholic mouthwash eats them alive, and even just eating food damages them. Plus, I had 3 permanent baby teeth. 3. Had. Ended up getting them removed because, go figure, they were causing health concerns. This will mark my third (and hopefully final) root canal. Goodie. I am getting ti done Tesday, and I leave for camp on Friday of next week, so hopefully I can get in to see my normal dentist that Wed or Thurs to see if I can get a permanent filling, or if I have to get a buildup for now and then a crown when I get back at the end of August. Really aggravating timing. I called a month back to get an emergency appointment that weekend when I was back in town, but the idiot secreatry chick I spoke to (who deserves to be slapped) essentially told me I am a POS for not being psychic, and for making her have to do her job. So the ealiest appt she would give me was yesterday... a month after I called, and over a week after I got back. If she had given me one of the open slots (which I knew were open when I called thanks to their website calendar) I could have this whole process done before heading to camp. But because she had to be a disrespectful little snot, now I'm forced to rush things, which can't actually be rushed. I freaking hate people. I had planned to let the owner (my dentist) hear all about the incident, but as soon as I told her the chick's name she said she had been "let go" because of some concerns about her job performance. So I guess that was good to hear.

In happier news, I had a good Saturday. I went to hang out with a certain guy I talk to all the time. The week I moved to school was the week he moved practically down the road from me. We swapped states. The Universe is an ass. So we wanted to hang out while I am in town, before I head off to camp. We hung out and watched movies for over 12 hours, haha. No, we didn't do anything else. It was actually kind of fun. We both enjoy sarcastic commentary. I think our running commentary during Starship Troopers was the best. We also watched Wreck-It Ralph, Ratatouille, Monsters University, and Aladdin. I think that was all of the movies. Hopefully I can escape and we can hang out again this weekend. We are thinking of binging Archer, but I will probably bring a couple of movies, too. This guy doesn't really watch tv or movies... and it saddens me, the references I make that he doesn't get. So we have a long list of stuff to watch! Oh! We also went on a really nice walk around his area. It's a really pretty little suburb, and the weather was pretty much perfect (up until the severe thunderstorm warning - we made it back in time, don't worry). And while we watched movies I also got to see Agent KITTY, his cat. Ok, her name is Smores, but I call her Agent KITTY because I am taking over the world and she is going to help me. Shhhh it makes sense, honest. She was rather curious about having a visitor over, and eventually started coming over to say hi. He has a fake fireplace in his tv stand and he turned it on and she kept attacking the fake flames. It was pretty funny.

On the TV/Movie, front, I recently watched the first 50 episodes of Steven Universe on Hulu. I have to say, it grew on me after the first 10 episodes or so. It took a bit for me to get past the oddness (for lack of a better word). It's not my kind of thing, but I can see why people really like it. I am currently working through The Mindy Project. RomComs are almost never my thing, but I have to say I am really enjoying this show. I'm not a comedy person in general, but Mindy actually makes me laugh, and this show isn't a stereotypical romcom/sitcom. I am a few episodes into Season 2 already.

As for writing, I am actually feeling a bit inspired, so I may work on my main story a bit this evening. I am planning to bring my NEO to camp with me so that I can keep writing, in case anything happens to my laptop... I have horrid luck with laptops... Anyway, I am off to go write! Hope everyone is doing well =^.^=

-N.E.

Figured I should update. I'll try to make this quick. I'm not doing well.

Last week, up at the barn, we were getting ready for ANRC. We hosted it over the weekend and our team won! Pretty exciting. We are hosting IDA (dressage) Nationals this weekend, too.
( My long weekend )
Anyway, sorry I haven't really been posting/commenting the last week. I've been... beyond stressed out. And sorry this is such a downer post. I know most people would prefer to read happy things only... Just needed to tell someone, I suppose. Didn't know where else to say it.

-N.E.

Hey there. Sorry it's been a few days since I've updated. Having some trouble typing. Turns out, last week I screwed up my ulnar nerve in my arms. The left is worse than the right by far. It keeps going all tingly, and typing aggravates it. So does riding. The doc thinks it was caused by one of the horses pulling too hard. It's messed up in 2 places: under my shoulder, and in my ring finger, so that makes sense. If it is still messed up when I get back from spring break, she said she will check to see if it may have actually been torn. I hope that's not the case. It's not too bad, most of the time, but when it kicks in it's not very pleasant. It's kind of like when you get numbed at the dentist and the feeling in your lip starts to come back. It's cold and dense and fuzzy feeling... if that makes sense. Only, it stays like that for about an hour or so each time. Argh.

Anyway, haven't been up to much the last couple of days, aside from the usual. My Course Design midterm was Monday evening, and I think I actually did pretty well. Not perfect, but probably a mid-high B. For my riding class today, I had Chester again. My instructor did inform me, though, that she is giving me another horse, Zanga, for Thursday and Tuesday. Zanga has a reputation for being a "land shark", which means he likes to make faces and try to bite everyone, haha. Apparently he is rather nice under saddle, though, which will be an incredibly welcome change from Chester. We had quite the battle today, but by the end of it we had to compromise. He may have been trotting at the speed of molasses, but at least he looked fantastic doing it.

Tonight, I went with Dragon Age Girl and another friend to see Zootopia! It was super cute and had some really funny parts. I also enjoyed the numerous references to classic movies and popular tv shows. I recommend it if you enjoy kids movies with plenty for the adults.

Anyway, my arm is tingly, so I'm going to go put some heat on it and see if that helps. Catch you later!

-N.E.