Stuff plus horses. Horses! Did I mention the horses?
I seemed to pack a lot into today, for which I'm pretty sure I'll be punished soon, but it included several varieties of good news.
Woke up a bit early this morning, so foolishly hit the freeway at peak hour. Note to self (again): Yes, it *is* that bad. Stop it at once.
I went for a walk before settling to the computer, drank some caffeine, and spent about two hours clearing up my doc plans and publishing progress drafts. Carefully planned the next area to write up, only to find that priorities had shifted. Tomorrow is (hopefully) another day, and planning like that is never wasted.
Went home via:
1. Vet to acquire special crunchies. Discovered that the special crunchie goalposts have shifted again. Enquired about possible impact of heat on the cats.
2. Special supermarket for special things. That mostly weren't there.
3. Expensive health shop for special things. That were there, but seemed horribly expensive.
At home called:
1. The MRI place and found that my films were ready. What MRI? This MRI
2. RDA to do the next part of the horsie volunteering thingie.
Went:
1. To MRI place and back with brain films. Found that I am leopard-like in that I have not changed my spots. Was pleased at lack of nasty surprises.
2. To Carine RDA to hand over paperwork (about which they were surprisingly casual in the face of my administrivial onslaught), and to talk to on-the-ground people about what I could actually do to help around the place. It seems they're happy to let me pretty much turn up any time I can and do whatever I can, even if it's just (!) grooming one horse. There was some swooning at my expressed desire to be "invisible but useful".
Learned:
1. The most useful thing I can learn is which horse is which. No-one else seemed to know either.
2. The theory that every horse has their own labelled stall, gear, tack and grooming kit--and can thus be identified by the objects around them--is a fallacy. I have some unlearning to do: I have Levi and Pedro (Pancho?) mixed up for a start. That said, I have identified a bunch of personality traits amongst them (e.g. "the nervy chestnut who grinds his teeth"). All I have to do is match up their avatars and handles.
3. I can catch a horse. Granted it wasn't trying very hard to get away, but it felt good.
4. I can persuade a horse to be led in various directions, even if it initially expresses a desire to not go in aforementioned directions. I attempted to apply the give-them-a-little-space-then-ask-nicely-again principle, and by golly it seemed to work. I suspect I got off lightly, but it was good to see the horse say "Oh all right! I SUPPOSE I could go that way."
5. I can carry a saddle. I can carry lots of stuff; sadly not all at once, but I'm a good potter-and-tidy person which will come in handy at the end of the day when everything needs to be put away.
6. I ducked through too many fences today.
7. I like closing gates; it feels a bit obsessive (and very Australian). I suspect it's the easy thrill of satisfaction felt by doing something that obviously needs to be done. Instant gold star for me! In my universe the gold stars usually take a bit more to earn. I think I'll like this new universe.
8. Interacting with the riders, their mothers/carers, and the other volunteers will challenge and be good for me. It's a very different environment and kind of organisation, and I will need to adapt on many levels.
9. Being around horses is GOOD for me. I have to act not-like-a-predator for a change :-)
10. My new hat comes off too easily in the wind. Bad hat.
11. I still do good horse scritch.
12. I could correctly identify a too-tight bridle. This may have earned me more horsepersonship points than I actually deserve.
Then:
1. Home, to find The Nice Handyman fixing up a bit of loose guttering, having given the gutters only the mild clean that they required (best to be safe than sorry: now it can rain. Hello? Rain?). Paid him a perfectly reasonable price for the job.
2. Picked up Husband from the train station.
3. Had a shower
4. Put a load of laundry on.
5. Facepalmed briefly at the thought of all that's to do before Swancon.
6. Decided to defer the astrophysics and supercomputing study until after Swancon.
7. Wrote then read back this entry and was mildly astonished.
I think there's possibly a bit more, but I'm having a brain fail. And a well-deserved one at that.
THUD
Woke up a bit early this morning, so foolishly hit the freeway at peak hour. Note to self (again): Yes, it *is* that bad. Stop it at once.
I went for a walk before settling to the computer, drank some caffeine, and spent about two hours clearing up my doc plans and publishing progress drafts. Carefully planned the next area to write up, only to find that priorities had shifted. Tomorrow is (hopefully) another day, and planning like that is never wasted.
Went home via:
1. Vet to acquire special crunchies. Discovered that the special crunchie goalposts have shifted again. Enquired about possible impact of heat on the cats.
2. Special supermarket for special things. That mostly weren't there.
3. Expensive health shop for special things. That were there, but seemed horribly expensive.
At home called:
1. The MRI place and found that my films were ready. What MRI? This MRI
2. RDA to do the next part of the horsie volunteering thingie.
Went:
1. To MRI place and back with brain films. Found that I am leopard-like in that I have not changed my spots. Was pleased at lack of nasty surprises.
2. To Carine RDA to hand over paperwork (about which they were surprisingly casual in the face of my administrivial onslaught), and to talk to on-the-ground people about what I could actually do to help around the place. It seems they're happy to let me pretty much turn up any time I can and do whatever I can, even if it's just (!) grooming one horse. There was some swooning at my expressed desire to be "invisible but useful".
Learned:
1. The most useful thing I can learn is which horse is which. No-one else seemed to know either.
2. The theory that every horse has their own labelled stall, gear, tack and grooming kit--and can thus be identified by the objects around them--is a fallacy. I have some unlearning to do: I have Levi and Pedro (Pancho?) mixed up for a start. That said, I have identified a bunch of personality traits amongst them (e.g. "the nervy chestnut who grinds his teeth"). All I have to do is match up their avatars and handles.
3. I can catch a horse. Granted it wasn't trying very hard to get away, but it felt good.
4. I can persuade a horse to be led in various directions, even if it initially expresses a desire to not go in aforementioned directions. I attempted to apply the give-them-a-little-space-then-ask-nicely-again principle, and by golly it seemed to work. I suspect I got off lightly, but it was good to see the horse say "Oh all right! I SUPPOSE I could go that way."
5. I can carry a saddle. I can carry lots of stuff; sadly not all at once, but I'm a good potter-and-tidy person which will come in handy at the end of the day when everything needs to be put away.
6. I ducked through too many fences today.
7. I like closing gates; it feels a bit obsessive (and very Australian). I suspect it's the easy thrill of satisfaction felt by doing something that obviously needs to be done. Instant gold star for me! In my universe the gold stars usually take a bit more to earn. I think I'll like this new universe.
8. Interacting with the riders, their mothers/carers, and the other volunteers will challenge and be good for me. It's a very different environment and kind of organisation, and I will need to adapt on many levels.
9. Being around horses is GOOD for me. I have to act not-like-a-predator for a change :-)
10. My new hat comes off too easily in the wind. Bad hat.
11. I still do good horse scritch.
12. I could correctly identify a too-tight bridle. This may have earned me more horsepersonship points than I actually deserve.
Then:
1. Home, to find The Nice Handyman fixing up a bit of loose guttering, having given the gutters only the mild clean that they required (best to be safe than sorry: now it can rain. Hello? Rain?). Paid him a perfectly reasonable price for the job.
2. Picked up Husband from the train station.
3. Had a shower
4. Put a load of laundry on.
5. Facepalmed briefly at the thought of all that's to do before Swancon.
6. Decided to defer the astrophysics and supercomputing study until after Swancon.
7. Wrote then read back this entry and was mildly astonished.
I think there's possibly a bit more, but I'm having a brain fail. And a well-deserved one at that.
THUD