Another memorable weekend

As of today, I've been a college graduate for a year.  Eerie.  In less than a month I'll have been at my current job for a  year.  Double eerie.

This weekend the rest of my close friends graduated from college, though I only saw three of them walk (and only have photos of the two posted on the web as the other ignores all things social media).

Mr. Graduate and I.  He's headed west to CO later this summer for his new job.  Congratulations, dear.

Our Big Sky crew.  Yes, I'm blinding white, don't hate.  I like to think of it as "cancer-free".

It was fun to get to watch Chris make that walk across the stage, shake hands, fist pump, and grin excessively. He completed a dual major in aerospace and mechanical engineering.  Completed it cum laude.  A daunting task that few accomplish.  Fist-pump worthy, indeed.

Photo by one of Chris' family members

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I had the pleasure of doing the engagement shoot for our Big Sky trip friends this weekend, too.  It was the first time I've done such a lengthy shoot (~2 hours).  My editing skills are growing with this new load of experiences lately though, for that I'm thankful.  Granted, if I keep up shoots like this I'm going to have to start charging something.  I'll never be huge, but it would be nice to make a little something to help support the hobby and be able to provide more to any future clients.

I think the shots turned out beautifully.  I'm very please and the couple (+ family & friends) seem very pleased, as well, and that's what really matters.

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Despite my body (and my liver) begging me to go straight home after a weekend of celebration and last-hurrahs, I went to the barn on my way home.  (Can I have a gold star?)

Griffin played his na-na-na-na-na you can't catch me! game for a bit, but did eventually come in.  His herd of 3 has grown to a herd of 9 horses.  They're a pretty site to see on that lush pasture, bay roans, overo paints, a grey, a dun, a sorrel, a purlino, and a black.

I touched up G-man's tootsies and then suited him up with the surcingle and tossed him in the round pen to warm up.  Once he was chill and paying attention, I tossed on a side-pull bridle and long-reins.  I pushed him away from me into a few more circles and reverses with the long reins skipping along beside and behind him to let him figure things out.  He high-stepped a little, but no reaction otherwise.

Then we just jumped into the whole ground driving thing head first.

I've read some literature on it and knew what he should be able to do prior to beginning ground driving, and from the steps on articles I've read he can already do the pre-requisites.  Excellent.

I praised him for standing still, and then worked my way behind him, snapped the lines together, and gave a cluck and shake of the reins.

He walked forward, heading to the panels and around in a circle just as if I were in the center asking him to move around me.  Good horse.

I prepared to reverse, loosened one rein and applying pressure to the other.  We turned.

I had to straighten him out a few times, and we had one or two misunderstandings with him wanting to turn and face me instead of moving forward, but not bad!

We reversed direction several times.  We halted successfully several times.  And we even trotted for a revolution.  Good horse!

Its weird for me, and weird for him, but he's listening to me and giving to pressure.  I can't ask for much more from our first lesson.  He's a little superstar in the making.

Whirlwind

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activities.  I’m doing my best to bury myself in the moment and focus on the present.  Its been easier than it used to be because of my current Facebook hiatus.  I’m not getting lost in the internet for pointless minutes/hours/etc. perusing things that aren’t really pertinent to me.  I’m reading more, getting things done when I want to, and enjoying this beautiful weather! 

 Tuesday and Wednesday were full of horseback riding.  Orion and I completed our first five-straight days of training this week.  Once we really get into the swing of things we will be doing five on two off, but he’s going to get four off four on for the next set due to my schedule.  Little horse is rockin’ it.  He’s getting in shape and its so noticeable.  Super excited about the horse he’s turning into.  So far he’s mirroring Stan – my main man for so many years – in all aspects.  He’s more level-headed and calm about things than Stan was though, so Orion is getting through things a little quicker.  Need to put some pounds on him though.  Working with my barefoot trimmer/natural horse expert Suzanne on this…  We got our boots this week!

Pretty sweet.  I’ve put them through a lot and they’ve stayed on.  Rubbed his pastern below the fetlock a little, but not bad.  Suzanne called yesterday to inform me that Renegade carries a size between the double ott and the ott which is where Orion’s feet are – she ordered them so we should be pretty set on gear once they arrive.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s rides were with Hannah and Chelsey.  Love getting out with the girls.  Its such a great time.  We’ve known each other since kindergarten, too.  Horse lovers since ever.

Wednesday late afternoon I took Kenai on an hour’s long walk to attempt to wear him out.  He hasn’t been getting a lot of exercise lately because I can no longer trust him off-leash.  His taste of freedom when he ran off was too delightful so he now attempts it frequently.  Its so hard to break his concentration from whatever and get it back on me.   So until we do some more work, on leash he will remain.  Our walk had a second purpose of scouting out a creek crossing between neighborhoods – still possible, though I will have to skirt the edge of a new house’s yard, freaking developments.  I have always wanted to ride a horse to my house – that dream is going to be fulfilled this summer.  I’m uncertain if I will complete it in a day or two days, but it will be completed.  Should be about a 3.5 hour ride one-way.  Little girl’s dream come true – I can’t wait.

--Short aside: Five days training in the saddle + one long walk with the dog + all these events with me in a tank top (shorts for the walk) = this girl getting some sweet sun!  No burning (yet) for this redhead!  Ooh yeah!--

Wednesday evening Hannah’s mom took the graduates for dinner.  It was Hannah, her fiancé Jeremiah, Chels and I.  It was really fun to sit down and talk with everyone for a couple hours.  So crazy how much we have all grown up from the elementary school days.  I’m so happy to still have such close, amazing friends present in my life after all this time.  Back in middle school and high school especially, people always write on the backs of their school pictures that they swap, “Its so crazy we’ve been friends for so long, lets be friends forever!” or some crap like that.  Well, in our case, we have stayed true to our words. 

Yesterday Kenai and I returned to Morgantown to go on a whitewater trip down the lower Yough with some friends.  Four kayakers, Radley, Matt, Katie, and – new to kayaking making yesterday his maiden voyage down a river – Jason, and Chris, Kenai and I were in the shredder.  The Lower Yough is a class III river.  It was the only river I ever whitewater kayaked.  Freaked me the eff out in a kayak, too.  (Hence why I sold my boat and bought Kenai.)  But in a shredder?!  Freaking awesome.  

In his sweet NRS pfd

Jason only swam (pulled his skirt and came out of the kayak instead of rolling back up) two times.  He did amazing.  Even combat rolled the last rapid (rolling back up in a rapid vs. flat water rolling).  Kenai did great for his first time, too, considering his hate of water.  His only vice was that he was totally cued in on land.  He moved back and forth within the shredder (which due to our lack of a hand pump only had 60% of the air it should have, haha) to the side closest to land.  He squalled, squealed, and made his characteristic gargle-squeal noise a lot while we were in the flat water section between rapids.  I tossed him in twice to make him swim around and use up some energy.  Sled dog pulls the raft pretty effectively – in the direction of land.  Due to his extended water-logged state yesterday all the hair he hadn’t blown out became loose and is now fluffin’ out of him everywhere.  Good and bad.  Good because it needs to come out; bad because I don’t have a brush in Morgantown for him currently.  

After our river adventure – which for the record was so, so much fun – we went to the Firefly Grill for some yummy food.

 They have a lot of amazing wraps, sandwiches, and salads.  I got my favorite – Thai Tofu.  Their spicy peanut Thai sauce is amazing.  It really hits the spot after a day on the river.  I love how much energy water sports take out of you.  Its so satisfying.

And now we have today.  Friday, May 13^th.  The date of graduation ceremony #1.  It begins at 5:30p, though I have to be there at 4p.  So crazy.  This is the short one for the Honors College and other honors recipients.  Total of 160-ish supposed to be walking.   I’m looking forward to this ceremony because of its brevity and because I should know at least half of the participants.

The fact that college is over is still so surreal – though I’m sure this will quickly change after tonight.  I have another ceremony – the big one – on Sunday.  And then I’m done.  Four years of chaos, four years of amazing new experiences, four years of learning so many incredible things, four years of new friends and relationships – all over.  But with this end is another new beginning in the real world.  I’m a little reserved on my feelings towards that right now, but it will be a fun experience all the same, I’m certain.

Magna cum Laude

Its official.  3.74 final GPA, graduating magna cum laude - so crazy.  Its weird to see it online on my unofficial web transcript.  The Degrees Awarded area has been blank for so long, and now its filled in with Bachelor of Science and my awards are listed below.  I can't believe its over, I did it.  Honors ceremony is Friday night, Biology ceremony is Sunday afternoon - not looking forward to the second because the college within the university that my department is in consists of at least a dozen, if not more, majors.  Going. To. Be. So. Long.  ACK.  But, worth it.  That piece of paper that I ranted on about back in December or whenever, I want it now.  I've earned it.  So I want that piece of paper with the silly writing and the silly seal and the silly signatures.  Its mine.  And its going on my flippin' wall.

Rainbows and unicorns

I wish life could be all rainbows and unicorns, but alas, it isn't.  As Dolly Parton once said, "If you want rainbows, you have to put up with the rain."  And that was my day today in a nutshell.

Today was the big day.  My thesis defense.  I practiced and practiced my speech last night in full freak-out mode until midnight when I forced myself into bed.  I slept soundly until 4:30a when I woke briefly, then I dozed in and out of sleep and nightmares until 6a when I got up for good.  I ran through my defense speech a  couple more times, showered, forced some food in my mouth, and headed to the library to print off a tree or two - or, I mean, my thesis.  I made a stop for a half hour in my animal behavior class, discovered I'd received a grade of 100% on my past exam - whoop, whoop! - and then skipped out of class early to head to my defense that was across campus (one of the joy's of WVU!, three -or is it four? - campuses).  And of course, the PRT (WVU's little one-car trolley system between campuses) was BROKE DOWN - that is my West Virginia dialect for you, broke down, so deal with it.  Needless to say this frazzled my what-were-calmed nerves.  But I caught a bus and still got there early.

One of my Ph. D. candidate friends had almost completely calmed me again in the hallway outside the conference room I was to present in.  My GIS professor committee member arrived and we went in the room.  He helped find a projector for my slideshow and I worked on getting it setup.  Then the biology coordinator for the thesis program arrived.  Minutes passed, my two Ph. D. candidate friends arrived.  Minutes passed - my thesis adviser, a crucial person in this whole thing still hadn't arrived.  I was apologizing profusely to the biology director-lady.   She told me we kind of needed my adviser there.  So, beginning to panic, I jogged down the hall to check her office again.  Nothing.  I went down the hall to her husband's office and asked him where she was - and then I started crying.  Freak-out mode engaged.  He couldn't get a hold of her so I headed back to the conference room convinced I would be failing.  Jesse, one of the candidate friends of mine, met me half way to say my adviser was in the room.  I started crying harder.  Freak-out mode had taken over.  He calmed me a little and gave me a hug and told me it would be okay.  We headed back to the room where I had to sit for a moment to gain control of myself and stop crying enough to present.

I recovered beautifully and got stronger as I went along, according to Jesse.  I don't really remember.  To me the entire thing was a great big disaster.  But I passed.  I feel as if they passed me because they felt bad for me.  Who knows.  Biology-director-lady did tell me when things were said and done (an hour later) that she was very impressed with what I had accomplished, and how these kinds of statistics are so far beyond the scope of most undergraduates.  So that cheered me a little.  I walked out talking with my adviser, who it ended up, had the flu and her son has bronchitis.  I had figured as much, but this was an important day for me and I needed her there.  I'm so thankful she came, but man, I didn't need freak-out mode to become engaged in the process.

After the defense I walked aimlessly around the Evansdale campus calming myself down, telling myself it was all over and I was okay.  I walked to Kroger (a grocery) and picked up sushi to celebrate being done & and a Dr. Pepper.  I then walked aimlessly around the campus again trying to find the perfect spot to sit, relax, and eat.  My dress khakis and boots were really boggin' me down at this point in the 80 degree, full-out-sunshine.  Ack.  I finally found a place.  I sat down.  I opened my Dr. Pepper for a big refreshing swig...soda-splosion.  All over me and my dress clothes.  It was the ultimate soda-splosion.  And that was it.  The last straw.  I broke down again.  I called a friend I wouldn't usually call for favors and asked him for a ride home.  Class started in less than an hour and I simply wasn't going dressed like this.  He picked me up.  Words couldn't express my gratitude for this favor.  I was able to change into more comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing, eat my sushi, drink the offending Dr. Pepper, and ride my bike to class on time - where I presented my thesis in an abbreviated format for fulfillment of my final project for that class; and I presented it with gusto this time, might I add!! 

All in all, its been a VERY trying day for me.  Physically exhausting and mentally trying.  But the most important thing?  I made it.  I got through it.  And I passed.  AND I'M DONE!  I have a few corrections before I turn in the thesis to be bound and kept in the biology department.  But. I. Am. Done.  I will be graduating with honors in Biology.  I will be graduating from the Honors College.  I will be graduating magna cum laude.  I will be graduating magna cum laude, with honors in Biology.  Take THAT undergraduate college career.  BOOYA - yes, I just said booya, and I'm not ashamed.  I wanted my rainbows.  I put up with a lot of damn rain to get my rainbow.  There better be a flippin' unicorn, too.

i see the light...

I had my exit interview for the WVU Honors College this week.  I didn't really know what it was about - I though they would assess me and make sure I was still qualified to graduate from the Honors College or something...  Wrong-o.  All I had to do was tell them what was awesome about the HC and what they could improve on.  So... SWEET.

I would definitely recommend an HC experience to anyone if they had the chance.  I don't know how they run at other big universities, but it was a god-send to have it here.  It gave me the chance to have honors courses each semester that had a max. of 25 students.  I didn't try to take my honors courses in my subject field, instead I chose those that were taught by amazing professors.  Best. Experience. Ever.  Pseudoscience, Human Sexuality (yes, we talked about all those taboo things like masturbation and sex positions and...*gasp*...we watched porn - and filmed live births w/o anything left out, ack), Life Choices, City as Text (where I walked all around Morgantown instead of remaining in the classroom and explored all the history that is around town), Social Psychology, and Biometry (okay, okay, that one was in my field).  I gained SO much knowledge on sweet subjects from people who were SO into their field of study.  It truly makes a huge difference when professors are really enthusiastic about their subject.

So I checked out of the Honors College, shook the Dean's hand - he's also been my adviser for four years - and was handed these:

And then, as I walked home, it slowly dawned on me - I'm graduating.  I'm graduating college.  College is over.  I've always thought about this, and dreamed about this, and so many things, but DOING this?  Wow.  Its going to happen whether I'm ready or not.  Super exciting.  And super scary.  But walking across that stage in that gold gown amidst a sea of navy gowns will be so amazing.  My biggest achievement so far.

But damn, the real world is just looming over me.  I want to get my Master's of Science, but when and where are still up in the air.  I know the perfect opportunity will pop up when I'm ready for it, and I know it'll be awesome.  Just gotta keep my eyes and ears open for it.  Until then...

Real world, are you ready for me?  'Cause here I come to take you for a test drive.