Friday, November 13, 2009

Happy trails. Don't fence me in. Snake in my boots. (Or something)

If any of you have talked to me in the past 6 months you know that I've been in serious need of a hobby/something-besides-work to do.

Idle hands are the devil's tools.

...But I guess that doesn't really apply here considering all I've done with a large majority of my idle time is watch TV and create random errands to waste time. Although sometimes I think those errands are from the devil, and I think my bank account would agree.

Errands. That word really puts a responsible spin on "shopping," doesn't it?

Anyway, the point is, I was always busy in school. If it wasn't with class/school itself, it was with clubs and friends and parties and who knows what. There was always something going on, and there was never enough time to do all of it. Then in the blink of an eye UT gave me the farewell boot, I went to the Seton administrative offices for orientation, had my hands blessed by a chaplain, stuck my purple thumbprint on a welcome posterboard, and the rest is history. On the days I work, that's all I do. Work, eat, shower, sleep. It's a long day - so much can happen in 12+ hours.

On the other hand, 3 days of nothing-but-work still leaves me with 4 days completely off of work. They usually aren't in a row, and they don't always include the weekends, but they're there somewhere.

And I've been bored. Really bored. What should I do when I'm at home and the rest of the world is at work? Join a gym? Find some volunteer work? Try a new sport? Try to jump back on the running bandwagon? Learn to freakin knit? Shop like I need more things?

Last night Emily told me her friend started taking tennis lessons for a while and enjoyed doing that, and something about that conversation brought up an obvious solution that I should have thought of sooner.

And, with that, I did some google searching, made some phone calls, and I'm officially going to start getting back into horseback riding lessons. I used to ride hunter/jumper in middle school and part of high school until I just got too busy to keep up with it. I wasn't big into competition and showing like some of the other people I rode with, nor was I some equestrian prodigy by any means, but I really loved it. I'm really excited to do it again. I'll have to start back with the basics, I'll probably even need help remembering how to tack up a horse, and this will probably make for some sore legs - (slash) arms, back, entire body - you'd be surprised - for a few weeks.

But man, I'm so excited.

To seal the deal after I spoke with the trainer I went out and got a general lesson helmet (for fear that my old one has a shelf life and would crumble into dust or something) and some boots and riding tights, and I've got some half-chaps and gloves at Mom's that should still fit. Word.

Dare I say I'm even excited to pick a horse's hooves?

(I'm sure that part won't last long)

So here we go people. I was bitten by the puppy bug a year or so ago, and I have a feeling this is going to be much, much worse.

1 comment:

  1. Oh man, I can't wait to hear about this. I considered guitar lessons ... but this is so much better.

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