We'll Make It If You Believe
It's been a long week. I'm starting to think 2017 will just not be my year.
I started research on my senior thesis. I have narrowed down my focus to the use of pZP/reZP to control the population of wild and feral horses in the American Midwest. So far I think it is pretty interesting. It works the same as a vaccine, but the end result is a temporary immunocontraceptive. In most cases, the effect is temporary and by the following year the mare is able to foal again. What I have found helpful and rather cool in my research is that this method has been used on white-tailed deer and African elephants for decades.
On Friday night I finally finished FFXV's story. I still have a few side quests left to do, but I really wanted to finish the game before I forgot too much of the story. It was heartbreaking, but amazing! I won't put any spoilers in here, though if I think about it and have time I might write up a review at some point soon. Suffice it to say, I got very into it and invested in the characters. I may have shed a few tears, especially when I had to choose my one picture to take with me. I decided to pick the one below, because it was a reminder of the best of times, when it was about 4 best friends on a road trip to a wedding. I also picked it for the car. I have a not-so-secret obsession with the Regalia... Anyway, here is my certificate of completion!
Late Friday night I became officially single again. It didn't come as a surprise. For a few months now it has felt like I was carrying us. I always initiated actual conversation. Visiting him was always my idea, he never brought up me coming over (he lives about an hour from my home, and 4 hours from my school). Long story short, I am really busy this semester already, and I have felt the distance, but I was hoping that we could make it until May, and see if things improved when we were finally closer in distance and I no longer had to go back to school. Guess he didn't feel like putting in the effort. But he "still wants to be friends". Granted, I've stayed amicable friends with exes before, but I'm not so sure about this one given our complicated history. Anyway, I haven't felt like I was actually in a relationship for a few months. I am already ready to date around a bit while I am still up here for school. I am going to hold off on looking for a lasting relationship for a bit, at least until I get back home and find work. I prefer to have my ducks in a row to support myself before looking for other people, so that I don't end up relying on anyone. That makes things like this easier to move on from.
I have been up at the barn all weekend getting kicked, bitten, stepped on, and more, all in the name of graduation. In order to graduate, we have to fill a "practicum book" that has a whole bunch of tasks (including giving injections, cleaning stalls, handling for the vet, wrapping polos, etc). The last two weeks have been crazy at the barn with everyone body clipping their horses. A friend and I planned to tag-team our care horses this weekend, doing mine (Twist) on Friday and hers (Rufus) on Saturday. Twist was finished rather quickly and now looks dashing. He is always really good about clipping, and the worst he needs ia a chain over his nose for his second ear. Doesn't matter which you start with, he is great for the first one, and decides NOPE for the second. Anyway, we didn't have as much time on Friday, so we decided to clip Rufus on Saturday. Thankfully, we didn't have to do his legs because he lives outside. He was mostly well behaved, until we got to his face and ears. We had to use a lip twitch, which I am not the biggest fan of, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do when you're at a University barn. We made it quick and he now looks very handsome. When we finished, I ran into Dragon Age Girl getting incredibly frustrated and upset over her care horse. His name is Skippy and he really hates being clipped. To the point of trying to attack you. She'd been trying for hours, so I told her to just put him away for the day and I would help her Sunday (today). Well... today was interesting. We had to take a few breaks because he was getting too uncontrollable. He was kicking, striking out, and performing all sorts of creative stunts to get at us. We tried everything that we could. Nose chains, lip chains, lip twitch, skin twitch, lifting a leg, and none of it worked. It took 4 of us (me holding a nose chain, one lifting a leg, one doing a skin twitch, and one to clip) to clip a single leg. It was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, the vet was busy with the show that we were hosting all day, so we had to make due without sedatives. We did as much as we could until we all finally admitted the grade wasn't worth our safety any longer. I'm not a fan of using heavy restraint, especially for things like clipping, and prefer desensitizing the horse. Given the circumstances, however, that's not really an option because none of the students care enough to put in the time required. Anyway, I got myself plenty of battle wounds to go with my knee that is still recovering from the kick I took a couple weeks back. This has not been my semester so far...
Also! I made the decision - nay, commitment! - to getting into better shape, including eating better. At school I can't eat very well. At all. But I am trying to make better choices when I can. For instance, I have been trying to eat salad for lunch once or twice a week instead of the usual hot dog (it's either one of those or a tuna sandwich). I have a lettuce intolerance, so I can't have salad very often, but once or twice a week seems ok so far. I have also downloaded the 30-Day Fitness Challenge app and have been keeping up with it. I'm only on Day 3, but I am really set on sticking with it and seeing how much progress I make by the end.
Gaming: I finally finished FFXV. In its place I have decided to focus on the Thief Remaster for PS4. I enjoy stealth games a lot, and so far this one is, in my opinion, rather easy. I have the difficulty set to normal, but I can still sneak up on enemies incredibly easily. The voice acting is good, individually, but it is very easy to tell that they never heard each other's lines or really recieved any context to them. I am mildly interested in the story so far, and am curious to see where it goes.
TV/Movies: I haven't seen any movies this week. I have been keeping up with Supernatural (I am on S5:E20), slowly but surely. I really feel like I am forcing myself to sit down and keep watching. I hope it gets better soon. I am also on Glee S5:E2. I am not liking it a ton anymore. I feel like after season 3 it started getting... preachy? It feels like it was shoving morals down my throat relevant only to the week that episode came out. I also have to say, I watched the school shooting episode and was frustrated. It is a sensitive subject to start with. For what they made the show to be, it was far too real and made no sense in the long run of the show. Nothing really changed after it. *spoilers* When Sue tried to give her fake explanation for what happened, I was begging for them to just stop, end the episode, and go back to what they were doing before. Then they made it worse when they gave the real reason. Who it was and why she did it made next to no snese to me. It was like they wanted to make a big statement, so they picked a sensitive topic, a side character of an arguably minority group, and gave her just a dumb shallow reason to bring a gun to school. Anyway, I'll try to stop here and not keep ranting about it. I rather enjoyed the first three seasons of the show. I have to say, though, that I didn't like how they stuck with the graduates after they left the school. The show is about the club, but when you spend over half of the episode on people in other places it takes time away from the original purpose of the show. Anyway, I enjoy it enough to keep watching, so watch I shall. I think there is only 6 seasons total, so I am close, anyway.
I started research on my senior thesis. I have narrowed down my focus to the use of pZP/reZP to control the population of wild and feral horses in the American Midwest. So far I think it is pretty interesting. It works the same as a vaccine, but the end result is a temporary immunocontraceptive. In most cases, the effect is temporary and by the following year the mare is able to foal again. What I have found helpful and rather cool in my research is that this method has been used on white-tailed deer and African elephants for decades.
On Friday night I finally finished FFXV's story. I still have a few side quests left to do, but I really wanted to finish the game before I forgot too much of the story. It was heartbreaking, but amazing! I won't put any spoilers in here, though if I think about it and have time I might write up a review at some point soon. Suffice it to say, I got very into it and invested in the characters. I may have shed a few tears, especially when I had to choose my one picture to take with me. I decided to pick the one below, because it was a reminder of the best of times, when it was about 4 best friends on a road trip to a wedding. I also picked it for the car. I have a not-so-secret obsession with the Regalia... Anyway, here is my certificate of completion!
Late Friday night I became officially single again. It didn't come as a surprise. For a few months now it has felt like I was carrying us. I always initiated actual conversation. Visiting him was always my idea, he never brought up me coming over (he lives about an hour from my home, and 4 hours from my school). Long story short, I am really busy this semester already, and I have felt the distance, but I was hoping that we could make it until May, and see if things improved when we were finally closer in distance and I no longer had to go back to school. Guess he didn't feel like putting in the effort. But he "still wants to be friends". Granted, I've stayed amicable friends with exes before, but I'm not so sure about this one given our complicated history. Anyway, I haven't felt like I was actually in a relationship for a few months. I am already ready to date around a bit while I am still up here for school. I am going to hold off on looking for a lasting relationship for a bit, at least until I get back home and find work. I prefer to have my ducks in a row to support myself before looking for other people, so that I don't end up relying on anyone. That makes things like this easier to move on from.
I have been up at the barn all weekend getting kicked, bitten, stepped on, and more, all in the name of graduation. In order to graduate, we have to fill a "practicum book" that has a whole bunch of tasks (including giving injections, cleaning stalls, handling for the vet, wrapping polos, etc). The last two weeks have been crazy at the barn with everyone body clipping their horses. A friend and I planned to tag-team our care horses this weekend, doing mine (Twist) on Friday and hers (Rufus) on Saturday. Twist was finished rather quickly and now looks dashing. He is always really good about clipping, and the worst he needs ia a chain over his nose for his second ear. Doesn't matter which you start with, he is great for the first one, and decides NOPE for the second. Anyway, we didn't have as much time on Friday, so we decided to clip Rufus on Saturday. Thankfully, we didn't have to do his legs because he lives outside. He was mostly well behaved, until we got to his face and ears. We had to use a lip twitch, which I am not the biggest fan of, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do when you're at a University barn. We made it quick and he now looks very handsome. When we finished, I ran into Dragon Age Girl getting incredibly frustrated and upset over her care horse. His name is Skippy and he really hates being clipped. To the point of trying to attack you. She'd been trying for hours, so I told her to just put him away for the day and I would help her Sunday (today). Well... today was interesting. We had to take a few breaks because he was getting too uncontrollable. He was kicking, striking out, and performing all sorts of creative stunts to get at us. We tried everything that we could. Nose chains, lip chains, lip twitch, skin twitch, lifting a leg, and none of it worked. It took 4 of us (me holding a nose chain, one lifting a leg, one doing a skin twitch, and one to clip) to clip a single leg. It was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, the vet was busy with the show that we were hosting all day, so we had to make due without sedatives. We did as much as we could until we all finally admitted the grade wasn't worth our safety any longer. I'm not a fan of using heavy restraint, especially for things like clipping, and prefer desensitizing the horse. Given the circumstances, however, that's not really an option because none of the students care enough to put in the time required. Anyway, I got myself plenty of battle wounds to go with my knee that is still recovering from the kick I took a couple weeks back. This has not been my semester so far...
Also! I made the decision - nay, commitment! - to getting into better shape, including eating better. At school I can't eat very well. At all. But I am trying to make better choices when I can. For instance, I have been trying to eat salad for lunch once or twice a week instead of the usual hot dog (it's either one of those or a tuna sandwich). I have a lettuce intolerance, so I can't have salad very often, but once or twice a week seems ok so far. I have also downloaded the 30-Day Fitness Challenge app and have been keeping up with it. I'm only on Day 3, but I am really set on sticking with it and seeing how much progress I make by the end.
Gaming: I finally finished FFXV. In its place I have decided to focus on the Thief Remaster for PS4. I enjoy stealth games a lot, and so far this one is, in my opinion, rather easy. I have the difficulty set to normal, but I can still sneak up on enemies incredibly easily. The voice acting is good, individually, but it is very easy to tell that they never heard each other's lines or really recieved any context to them. I am mildly interested in the story so far, and am curious to see where it goes.
TV/Movies: I haven't seen any movies this week. I have been keeping up with Supernatural (I am on S5:E20), slowly but surely. I really feel like I am forcing myself to sit down and keep watching. I hope it gets better soon. I am also on Glee S5:E2. I am not liking it a ton anymore. I feel like after season 3 it started getting... preachy? It feels like it was shoving morals down my throat relevant only to the week that episode came out. I also have to say, I watched the school shooting episode and was frustrated. It is a sensitive subject to start with. For what they made the show to be, it was far too real and made no sense in the long run of the show. Nothing really changed after it. *spoilers* When Sue tried to give her fake explanation for what happened, I was begging for them to just stop, end the episode, and go back to what they were doing before. Then they made it worse when they gave the real reason. Who it was and why she did it made next to no snese to me. It was like they wanted to make a big statement, so they picked a sensitive topic, a side character of an arguably minority group, and gave her just a dumb shallow reason to bring a gun to school. Anyway, I'll try to stop here and not keep ranting about it. I rather enjoyed the first three seasons of the show. I have to say, though, that I didn't like how they stuck with the graduates after they left the school. The show is about the club, but when you spend over half of the episode on people in other places it takes time away from the original purpose of the show. Anyway, I enjoy it enough to keep watching, so watch I shall. I think there is only 6 seasons total, so I am close, anyway.