Its later than you think

So in the end the 'sod it' vote on the optional essay won - more because I realised I'd left it a bit too late and 2 days wasn't enough to turn out something decent. Decided instead to focus on revising for test which... I'm sure I'll start soon. Have organised my folder! So am all ready to go. Any minute now. Honest.

Yesterday spent mostly with Ziggy (making up a bit for lost time over the last couple of months!); had a lesson with Lucy Adams (local Top Dressage Lady) which was a scary prospect but went really well, so having another next week! Poor Ziggy, she had to move Fast. then Sideways! She was not amused ;p

Today has been considerably brightened by getting results of that statistics assignment that very nearly broke me - scored borderline good pass/distinction (so 68/69 ish?)!! Am v. happy! Especially with the comment that it was "overall, a well implemented, focused and concisely presented piece of research" Woohoo! I thought I'd be lucky to scrape a pass on that one, the stats part had me so confused and I had to cut down a lot of intro/discussion to fit the word count. But obviously I did something right, and now don't feel so bad about not doing the optional one.

The rest of today ... go get horses sorted shortly then retire to sofa and drink cider STUDY for the rest of the evening. And weekend. Honest.

Well, that or take over the world... (Lana is Helping me study)

Hello! and Happy Solstice ! I have been meaning to post for aaaages, but just never seem to get to it! The last few weeks have been busy, but mostly in a good way, actual nights out in pubs, having fun with the horse and even doing interesting stuff at work!
Even the work christmas do was good fun, tasty foods, tasty drink in comfy, uncrowded bar.

This weekend, I even had visitors! thesme_01 and lazy_hoor arrived on sat. afternoon, after doing some very Unpatriotic Shopping around Belfast. We exchanged Tasteful And Interesing Presents (they got me the tastful one ;p), then went for foods and cinema.
2012 is great, if you like giggling at terrible terrible disaster movies that MAKE NO SENSE. The special effects tho are pretty damn awesome, but there should been more of them and less 'plot', 'dialogue' and pull-ups. On the plus side, Giraffe!
After 3 hours of that (THREE HOURS!) we returned home to sip fine, fizzy wines and discuss the issues of the day (that part is actually true!). BUt then, SNOW! Thesme took photos and had weathergasms, so we had to pelt her with snowballs to calm her down again, like the TROO FWENDS we are. Then, MOAR WINE. All this AND we got to see teh hoors Relaxoslacks. They are awesome, I want some!

Sunday was Cold and Snowy. After the ladies departed back for the south, I remained on the sofa for some time, til I could put off going up to the stables no longer. There was much thawing tho, so I figured it would be safe to take the windy, hilly, little lane rather than take the much longer route round the main roads.
It was all fine at first, then I turned a corner and... Oh dear.




'Maybe it'll get better further on' I thought...
(  moar snow! )

So there we go! Today we had a Solstice Day at work, in which I had to demonstrate our web mapping/database thingsy to The Public, then there was a talk on astro-archaeology and solstices, followed by an excellent (if less relevent) talk on tree rings, comets and mythology, which you can read about here and here, if you like that kind of thing.

Tomorrow, normal work day, the wed, Last Day, which usually means pub. Then HOLIDAY. For nearly a week! Hurrah!

How are y'all doing out there? I have been reading lj, if not quite managing commenting/posting, but have probably missed plenty!

Oh and, btw (if you are still reading) if you don't want do sit through THREE HOURS of 2012, Cleolinda has done a 15 minute review, here!

Today, I am less ranty and more tired. This is mostly due to The Many Adventures of Cats - at 2.30am (howling so loudly outside I had to get up, get dressed and go out to find teh bloody thing), 4am (wet cat in face) and 6am (cat tig round the bedroom causing Stuff to loudly fall over).

However, I have gone on a HMV raid and now have on dvd Colour of Magic, Season 3 of Dr Who (half price!) AND Muppet Christams Carol (what? It's not christmas without the muppets ;p).

So my weekend televisual entertainment is sorted. Which pretty much sums up my weekend plans really. Down to see family tonight, back home tomorrow, much sleeping and lying in front of tv til Monday.

Anyone else got any wildly exciting plans (feel free to make them up ;p)?

With another supposed 'momentous day' in the farce that is NI politics - Big Ian meets Catholic Archbishop, is it wrong that my first thought was wondering if the Archbishop will be able to restrain himself from blessing Herr Doctor's water on the sly? Or indeed flicking some at him to see if he burns?
This doesn't work on your standard Presbyterian [1], but I've never had a Free P. in close enough proximity to Holy Water to try it.

ION, there isn't really any.
Weekend was quiet as planned - tho Friday evening ended up a later one than intended due to discovery of Horse of the Year Show footage on Sky Sports at about 1am. Til 5ish, when I finally gave in and went to bed. Why people think this is weird I do not know.
Other than that, there was an exciting programme of de-fleaing house and cats, as they had managed to infest everything while I was away - presumably in protest - leaving me delightfully covered in tiny bites now I am home *scratches*; also buying cushions.

Must look into buying Frontline online, can never get to the bloody vets on time to buy it there.

Finally new icon - tis free for the taking fragglechick, tho I assume with credit to maker ;) Am seriously considering buying more icons now, have run out and had to remove one to get this one on! Woe, etc.


[1] Oh come on, you would too! He doesn't really mind.

Another day, another mouse. Thankfully completely dead, tho if it had been auditioning for the part of Z0BMIE MOUES it would have won hands down. Ragged, tattered fur and most of the skin gone off the head.
Oddly relieved that it doesn't seem to be the half-dead one from last week, tho that poor little bugger probably just died out on the front lawn where I flung him.

I'm not sure either why she always leaves them on the mat, but at least it makes them easier to find. I like this mat tho. I don't want to have to throw it out like the last one (it was cream and got bled on).

Just don't, you know, sit on it if you come to visit, ok?

So, last night I finally got round to going swimming, after talking about doing it for weeks. While fishing the travel size shampoo etc out of my backpack to bring with me I noted a distinct and not at all pleasant odour. So I pulled out the chair and had a look in case the cats had left a little something there for later but couldn't see anything. Figured maybe it was coming from outside somewhere as the chair is just below the window and went off to the pool (more on that anon).

Just before I went to bed I remembered something else I wanted out of the backpack and noted in the big front pocket (there are 2) that not only was there still The Smell but also dampness. Initially I thought maybe the shampoo/shower gel had leaked, but no cleansing product I've used has smelt quite like THAT, so I thought maybe I left something edible in the little front pocket. No idea what, but maybe. So I stick my hand in to investigate, only to withdraw it shrieking and cursing when I find a dead mouse. A very dead mouse indeed. A very dead and very stinky mouse.

Once the gag reflex has settled (it was VERY stinky) and I have scrubbed my hand with dettol, Out damn spot! Out I say I manage to steel my nerves and sacrifice the barbeque tongs to remove the ex-mouse. Why do I even HAVE barbeque tongs? I am not sure. But luckily I do and with the aid of them and a plastic bag I remove the remains and hastily fling them into the bin, along with the tongs, then go back inside to scrub my hands again Here's the smell of the mouse still to remove any Mouse Taint.
Even now thinking about it, my hand is twitchy and I am fighting the compulsion to run off and scrub it some more, What, will these hand's ne'er be clean? just in case. After all, there is still some skin left...

Then I went to bed, in a state that can only be described as EW. Tonight I shall have to take whatever else is left in the bag and bin it Who would have thought the old mouse to have had so much blood in him?, which is a shame because it was a very handy bag for weekends and stuff. Bloody cats.

What I'd love to know is
A. how long had it been there pinin' for the - what do mice pine for, holes? I'm thinking since the weekend, and
B. how the hell did it get in there? Did it escape the cats with its dying breaths and crawl in there to bleed to death, or did they put it in there for safe keeping and forget? Or as a lovely surprise/act of revenge for me buggering off to Dublin over the weekend? It was certainly a Surpise, I'll give them that.
From now on must remember to keep all bags firmly shut.
I'd also like to know where they're getting all these bloody mice from in the first place.

Maybe I should give up and go back to having fish. Fish never left me dead things. I liked the fish. Well except when I would turn round and all 3 of them would be in a row starting at me, that was freaky. But on the whole the fish were model pets.
The cats killed them :(