Brrrrrrrr

Camping out in my truck has become very very cold....honestly I am shocked that it is so cold here....its supposed to be the sunny south...lol. So now I am camping out on Adriana's couch instead. I talked to the store manager at work and he is going to work on getting me a few more hours so I am hoping that all works out so I can save enough money over the next month to try and get a small apartment.

I am also going to try and sell my horse trailer :( so I have some extra cash to get by until February. I hate parting with it but its the only thing of real value that I own and I am pretty desperate for the money right now. One thing I know for sure is that I wont sell it for too low of a price just because I am desperate for some money; I have learned that lesson the hard way in the past. If I cant get a good price I will just keep it or I will be very sorry later :D.

School has been a bit of a struggle to keep up with just because I have so much going on right now, but other then missing a couple of classes I am hanging in there and passing them all. I am looking forward to getting this mess sorted out before next semester so I can re-focus and get back on track.

Grade updates:

Math: "C"

English: "B"

Photography: "A"

Sociology: "B"

Camping out...

It's a bit of a long story, but after discovering that my dad expected me to be home by 11:00pm, share my private information, and let him know where I was and what I was doing at all times.....among other things....I decided that I couldnt really live under that kind of scrutiny, and so I moved out. I was starting to feel like it was high-school all over again, only worse because now I know what its like to make decisions for myself.

Ofcourse the downfall is that I work limited hours because of school (that was the whole point in moving here) and so I cannot afford to get my own place. Which means I am now officially living in my truck which isnt even licensed in the state of Alabama and even if It was I couldnt afford the gas to drive it..... sigh.

Camping out was fun for the first few days, kind of like an adventure, but now reality has set in and I realize I am going to have to get more work and my own place soon. I am going to ask for more hours at my current job and if they don't have them I will just stay there until I can find something else. I know everything will work out in the long run but right now the situation feels pretty danged impossible! Stressed if I live with dad.....stressed if I don't....lol :D

On a more positive note, Jeramie has been a life saver this week -making me laugh and forget the trouble, not to mention toting me around and letting me use his car to get to school and work, I don't know what I would have done without him, (Thanks Jer :D )

Well....its off to work now and then back to the bed of my truck for what I am hoping will be another rain free night and dare I say some decent rest?

Hip Hip Hooray!

I have been working really hard to bring my math grade up and I am very pleased to announce that I was able to bring my second test up to a 74% and my most recent test came up to and 83%!!!!! I was so excited....over a B...lol. I normally struggle to a be a C student in math but this particular class requires at least an 80% to pass so I am having to work extra hard. I was relieved to find that I will be able to drop one of my test grades so that 64% wont count towards my final grade :)

Picnic by the pond

On Monday I had Adriana, Jeremy, Damien, and CJ over a picnic. The weather was perfect for a day outside, warm and sunny but not too hot. Actually I believe it was the first day of fall. We set up at the back of the property behind the pond; it was strange because even though I live there it felt like we were camping with the cars parked in a little half circle and the camp chairs and picnic table set up. Adriana and Jeremy enjoyed chicken while I stuck with salad and Damien enjoyed grapes, grapes and more grapes! Baby CJ had his own food later on; although I think we (CJ and I) were wearing as much as he ate :D

After food, Jeremy helped pull out my dad's old flat bottom boat so Adriana and I could paddle around the pond. We all joked about whether or not we would sink since the boat sprang a small leak when we first got in, but it held up okay. We saw a lot of minnows in the shallow side of the pond and a few small-medium sized fish when we were quiet, but the coolest thing was this little tiny frog that went hoping across the surface of the water before diving down deep and swimming away. He was the cutest little thing!

Jeremy took a turn around the pond too, but he chose to go about in his kayak, grinning and posing for pictures. Then it was back to the bank to help Adriana get a fishing pole set up for her and Damien. They fished for a short while, giving me an opportunity to grab her camera and get a couple quick pictures, but they didn't have any luck with the fish. Maybe next time. :)

By that time the sun was starting to set and the mosquito's started coming out, so we decided that it was time to pack it in. I had no desire to be eaten alive!

I had a great time getting outside and enjoying the benefits of living on all this beautiful property, and getting to know knew friends; sure hope we can do it again soon!

Branded for life

I have always wanted a little tattoo somewhere inconspicuous but have never gotten one due my phobia of needles.....until now.....

I recently had the mandarin phrase "nai li" tattooed on my low back, and now I am feeling very brave like I can conquer anything!

Separately the first symbol means "to endure" and the second one means "power" or "strength". Combined the phrase means: "endurance". Its only about 1 1/2 in. long x 1 in. wide, so its pretty small, but boy did it hurt!!!

My reasons for getting the Mandarin phrase for endurance are: #1 - I am getting into the sport of endurance, and # 2 - because my main focus of study after my AA is going to be Chinese language, art and culture, and then one day I hope to build a career on that. With Chinese and Endurance being such a big part of my future it felt like the perfect tattoo. It looks really urban and cool, and I am really happy with the way it turned out!

School stuff

As most of my friends and family already know, the main purpose of my move down South was for school. I am currently taking: Basic College Math, English 1o1, Sociology and Digital Photography. I handed in my first assignment in English this week so I should know how I did on that one soon (probably an A or B)....my first math exam was 64%....gulp.....so that needs work for sure. I signed up for the free math lab here at the college and I am hoping it helps. On the positive side I scored a 92% on my first exam in photography so that was good news indeed!

More updates later...

Here we go again...

I tried having several blogs on here before but couldn't keep up with them so I deleted them....I ended up sorry for deleting my horse blog and so started it up again this summer. Now I have been thinking that there is alot more going on in my life then just horses that my family (now far away) might like to know about so here I am starting blog # 2..... again. :)