The Barn: a good way to wake up

DF&F,

Today I had a good day, and I want to make a note of it so that when I'm down in the dumps or sleep-deprived or stressing out on Sunday night because of our Monday exam, going, "Do I really want/need to be a doctor?" -- I'll remember that not all days suck, and some of them rock.

I went to the barn this morning, and rode Applejack. This horse is adorable, except for his habit of trying to eat my fingers. He's head-shy and he's been spoiled with too many treats before his workout, so he both expects carrots all the time and doesn't want you fussing near his face. BUT I managed to tack him up without too much drama, and then we went down to the ring. It was a glorious blue-sky day, and AJ did EVERYTHING I wanted him to. He was in high spirits, and the poor lil pony wanted to canter the whole time, but we only cantered once during the lesson. He needed to just shake his feet out and run. He's a dun pony with a stripe down his back, and I love riding him. Maybe, if I can ride him, I'll get up the confidence to be in the show...

Anyhow, then I came home and FINISHED the write-up that had been plaguing me (yes, the one about the 7 yr. old child that I wished the Write-Up Fairy would do for me). My friends are holding a study session tomorrow, which means I have to read LOs about one of our hardest cases, but that's okay, since I'll have to study it anyway and this will force me to. And I also have one last, lingering write-up. I'm up in the air as to whether I should just finish it now, or whether I should study for tomorrow and then do the write-up in the morning. Sigh. I should be better at finals strategy by now, this is the twentieth final exam period I've had in my life!

And my mom, dad (who's here from Japan), and I went and had a grand old time at a chaat house. Yum. I had dhai batata puri, which is puffed up mini-puris with chickpeas and potatoes and yogurt and tamarind and spices. And I brought aloo tikki cholle home with me for exam studying.

And then I found an abstract online from my old lab, with my name on it! It's from the Society of Developmental Biology meetings -- the abstracts get published in the journal. Apparently, my old lab went last year. Plus, yesterday, I found out that I got a grant for the summer, so I won't have to be poor and work at Pete's Coffee to support my thesis writing. I just have to figure out the details.

Yay!

Now, back to work!!