Once upon a time, I thought coming to this part of the world would be completely unacceptable in the summer. But so far so good. I do have loads of pictures to share and many different stories to write about, but we’ll see what we have time for today. I already made one maaajoorrr purchase that I am pretty embarrassed about (but happy!). This is probably what killed my willingness to spend on anything else. I saw some belts & wallets that I definitely wanted to buy some months ago (but they were out of stock back home) and I didn’t even give them a second look. Wanted to say that I’m proud of myself for it… but I will probably go back eventually.

On my plane-trip, I actually fell asleep! During take off & landing (seriously, this is when things are as noisy as they can get). At the take off I woke up because someone was violently twisting my arm, and at the landing I only woke up when we collided with land. During my trip I played an old arcade game that gave me some insights, I don’t have any doubts that this will change the way I think about things & look at people’s behavior even if by a little. What if every outburst, every fit, every unpleasant moment that another person caused you was not even meant for you? What if your enemies don’t even see you? That they put on clothes covered with thorns, to reflect how hurt they feel, and just randomly destruct their surroundings. If we can look at these situations in this way, maybe all we need to do is avoid contact with them until they are no longer destructive.

Every time I came here, I felt like there was something missing. Something I should have done. Something I used to want to come here for ever since I was a child. This time: I did it.

This was a care package that a friend gave me before she left on her own trip (and I left on mine). I love how the gift wrapping looks like some exotic skin ♥

Being in denial about what was going on, and not listening to the rest of us when we try addressing the matter. He decided that he didn’t want me going off on my own and that he doesn’t want to deal with the drama of having a “new sister”. He quietly dropped by for a visit and started telling me that I’m pretty, and that my hair is pretty, and that the outfit I chose for the day was beautiful then proceeded to compliment my taste in decorating and desigining my room. It took me some moments to try and understand what brought that about. He didn’t want me to go. By the way, he’s 7 years old.

Now that I’m done putting myself down for my lame upper body position at the canter and in-between obstacles, I decided that it was time to look at the good stuff, because they do exist! While my upper body tends to look like jello – I noticed that my lower body looks consistant and mostly correct. Heels down, holding the stirrups the exact same way on my way to the jump, over it and beyond. This is one thing I hope I can keep consitant while I go back and work on my upper body. Like I mentioned before, I still lose a stirrup from time to time but it has certainly improved. These days even if I’m at my desk or on a couch in the living room, if my feet aren’t directly on the ground I position them in the way they should be if they were in a stirrup. I feel that this helped imprint in my mind the way they are supposed to be. I just hope that this isn’t a short-term sort of thing. Although the upcoming vacation is certainly a good thing, I don’t really want to stop riding.

This is a box of mints that I picked up from Marks & Spencer’s some weeks ago. It’s true, they’re really strong.

brush from angelic-trust

It’s that time of the year again. The time when everyone you know is out of the country, escaping the harsh heat. So the usual company is away, and you’re stuck with not much to do if you have a holiday. This year, however, that is going to change. I’m taking the plunge and I may as well try. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. My youngest brother caught a glimpse of my nearly-packed suitcase and gave me a worried like, “What’s going on?” he asked, the reply came mentioning that I am going on a trip. He started to pout and said, “Fine! I’ll just get a new sister then!”

After playing Guild Wars on and off since I got it, I decided that I will never be overly fond of this game. You can tell they probably tried to create something that is different than other massive multiplayer online games, and made it so that a lot of the problems that you would usually see aren’t there… I don’t want my only contact with other players to be in towns & guild hall. I don’t want to play in my own version of the world map all the time, I want to see other players in levelling spots… I want there to be levelling spots! It’s nice to see players that always level where you level. A lot of the time we end up in the same guilds in other games.

There is a video of my latest jumping lesson, but it makes me cringe. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it’s there. How else would I have realised how ridiculous my position looks when I canter in between jumps? My shoulders are far too forward usually. It takes a lot for me to remember not to bring my shoulders forward when cantering, but I guess in between jumps I’m too busy thinking of the next jump to think about my shoulders, and in my excitement I become unable to contain my own energy and end up pushing forward faster than usual. So it’s not like I stay in two point, but I don’t sit back either. But I do believe this happens more when I ride bigger horses with bigger strides.

This was a graduation present from one of my aunts. I think the graduation cap was such a cute idea!

Lessons learned:

• When cantering GRB, don’t stay in two-point when trying to stop her. When your ass is out of the saddle, there is no stopping her!


• S was unimpressed with riding lessons because she was going LAME and no one realised it. Sorry for misunderstanding, girl. I should have been more persistant in insisting something was wrong when I noticed you mostly got upset when I asked you to canter on your right. I know you tried really hard and I love you for it.


• No matter how lazy/grumpy/chubby of a schoolie F seems to be, don’t let appearances fool you. Put some jumps in front of him and you can almost hear him screaming, “Yippeee!” while tackling them. He’s a wonderful pony to jump, and a pleasure to ride!


• L has returned to the riding school! You cannot imagine how happy we were to see her little palomino face. She stuck her nose into my bag to explore it as a “greeting” and it was more than welcome!

My brother had his first jumping lesson today. I’m so proud of him! B is a big horse and has very little respect for the jumps that we were going at, but I think it was ok for his first lesson. There is no need for him to speed into it. When I first got on F today I wasn’t sure where my knees should go. I was riding all wrong and felt extremely uncomfortable, regardless of how comfortable he is (he’s like a pillow), but after warming up everything came by naturally. It reminded me of how much I love to jump. Speaking of which, at one point when we were cantering towards the jump I somehow lost my left stirrup (I guess it still happens from time to time) and it went something like this:

Me: Uhoh…
Trainer (instantly noticed): No… stop. Don’t jump.

But we were too close for me to even react and stop. So we jumped. I don’t plan to make a habit out of this, but it went well. I was able to get in two-point and continue cantering beyond the jump. It wasn’t even high, but it felt great. F is really easy to ride and hold on to but it is giving me the confidence to move forward. School horses are such a blessing, I’m also thankful for learning to canter and sit the trot without stirrups before being able to ride with them. A year and a half ago I could not even get F to walk, and the one time he trotted out of his own accord is when he saw a BIG SCARY HORSE EATING CREATURE (it wasn’t big or scary, it was a dog and he wanted to play but F wasn’t feeling very social).

Now for the main event of this post, Stacy Westfall and Wizard’s Baby Doll. This video makes me cry my eyes out. It’s cute in the end when her horse walks behind her, and when she runs her horse trots.

DUBYA TEE EFF!

Livejournal is BLOCKED! W T F!

My Garden Party bracelet is finally here, and I love it. I also brought a saddle home today. What kind of saddle though? That is for me to know! All I’ll say is that … it doesn’t actually go on a horse.

My brother showed me some news about a new Gyakuten Saiban game… Except that it isn’t a Guyakuten Saiban. It’s a Gyakuten NOT Saiban! According to wiki, it’s called Gyakuten Kenji starring Miles Edgeworth. If you’re interested, I’ve just linked a trailer. I really do hope that this game gets released in English & outside of Japan.

Understanding the language of the Lagomorphs is crucial in understanding them as a species. The website I’ve just linked has given me a good laugh, and some wonderful insight on why my bunny behaves in a certain way. A lot of people find rabbits boring, in our case our bunny brought additional life into the house. The first time saw him binky we felt we had to stop and clap. For a long time, he behaved like a gymnastics champion and the house was his gym. He had his favourite spots and all the regulars knew them. The way he begs for food & WHEN he begs for food are all known to us already. When he sees someone opening the fridge, he knows that it’s that time (even when it isn’t) and starts standing on his back legs doing his, “Please please!” as my mother calls it. If you put your hand in front of his head, he would lower it, because he knows this is the time for a grooming. If you get him relaxed enough, he may even close his eyes. If you don’t do it right, he will always keep moving his head to show you where he likes it best.

Since the day we brought him home, I was sure he actually understood us. We were afraid that he wouldn’t know where his water was, but right then he went and took a sip then gave us a look. Like, of course I know this is where the water is but I’m not thirsty right now, ok? The other day we put him in his playpen so he wouldn’t get into trouble. I put his food in a container. Due to his blindness in one eye I was afraid the he wouldn’t know where it is. So I brought it and put it in front of him, he turned his head away from it. I put it under his head, he lifted his head away from it. So I lifted it up and put it face to face with him. So he grabbed it… and spilled it all over the place. Well. He may have been misbehaving but I was wrong also, he knew where his food was! When he got hungry he actually ate it all. The other day he was wandering around the kitchen but we wanted to lock up and go so I wanted him to return to his house. The door he usually uses was open, but I sometimes take the shortcut by picking him up and placing him in it through the top. When he heard me opening the top of his house, he hopped inside himself as if to say, “No need, I know my way around,”. There are so many other stories about him that I could share… but I think I’ll save them for another time.

When I felt I needed a change from Persona 3: FES, I decided to find an old friend that I never continued due to playing a certain MMORPG…

Brushes from angelic-trust.net