What are you thinking RIGHT NOW?

[Marizzle]

10 minutes until Act II. So hyped!

[Gemini]

Well, looks like I've finally done it. I made it onto the equestrian team. My evaluation was today so I guess it's official.

Granted, I was placed into the lowest show class, and I still have a lot to learn... but gotta admit, not bad for a poor kid who never even had any real lessons to speak of before moving out, much less my own horse.

This has been a dream of mine for nearly ten years, and now it's finally coming true. /3 My hard work and persistence has gotten me far, despite all the times where I felt like giving up (and believe me, there were many).

[Queen Elsa]

Just asked my dad if I can quit the job. He'll probably say no, though. I just hate this busy barely-any-freetime life. I barely finish all of my homework in time, let alone everything else. And when I go on vacation in two weeks, I'll be away for two weeks and will probably forget everything I learned, or, if I don't, the managers might still follow me like a hawk, correcting me with every little thing I do. That's another thing I hate is all of their corrections. It drives me nuts! I really do want to quit this job.....

[Carl]

@Elsa You're an adult. It's really up to you whether you quit or not whether your dad likes it or not.

@Twin That's pretty awesome, congrats and good luck!

[Si-Amber]

^ It's not a very "adult" thing to quit a job just because you hate it though. The adult thing to do would be to find a more suitable job first. As an adult, her dad may rightfully expect her to support herself financially.

[Carl]

That is true, but ultimately it is up to her to decide. Without knowing the full situation, I can't really say what's best for her to do right now, that's for her and perhaps her folks to work out. My point just is that she doesn't, or shouldn't, need permission if that is what she concludes is best.

[Gemini]

@Twin That's pretty awesome, congrats and good luck!

Thanks, dude. I'm really stoked!

Think the nicest thing is that everyone I've met so far in connection with the team has actually been very friendly and patient with me. I'm not really afraid or made to feel embarrassed/incompetent when I have questions or don't know how to do something.

I know for a fact that definitely not all horse-people are like that, so it's kind of a relief, to be honest.

@Elsa - I would recommend trying to stay for the time being, even though it sucks. Sometimes you just end up really busy like that and toughing it out looks a lot better than balking out on a commitment and being fired. You can try to find a replacement job in the meantime.

If you don't desperately need the money, though (ie, you're getting scholarships of some kind) I would consider focusing on school. If you feel like it is getting in the way of your grades or doing well at college, that's another thing I would bring up with your dad. Personally speaking, I didn't try to work part-time and go to school as a freshman. Granted, money was pretty tight (dorms are expensive yo) but I need really good grades to keep my scholarships and hope to even have a chance at vet school so it was a necessary sacrifice for me.

Now that I'm a sophomore and know people and know how things work here, I was able to get a really flexible part-time job on campus without any extra problems. I work about 10 hours a week or so. Much more than that would really get in the way of the other things I want/need to do while I'm here so I'm comfortable with that amount of work.

I don't know what your money situation is like or what sort of grades you need to keep but honestly in some ways it's easier to work a full-time job than to try to balance part-time and school. At least in my experience. So my advice would be, simply, to know your limits. Don't overextend yourself in terms of commitments if you won't be able to dedicate the necessary time and effort to all of them.

tl;dr Stick it out for right now, possibly - things could get better. But try to find another job and also consider, realistically, your dedication to school or other commitments as well.

[Carl]

I'm glad to hear that. When you're pursuing something you love and stuck up jerks are in charge it kinda ruins it for you. That was my experience with art and theatre in college—so I can definitely say it's great they're understanding and patient. That's really the best way to teach most people things and help them improve.

---

I really don't remember why I chose not to buy the BVB debut album back in the day. It was like $10 and autographed and I remember really wanting to buy it, but I didn't. The group is still super amazing and anytime I end up in a mood where I'm listening to them a lot I regret not buying that back then.

[Shadowfax]

@QE - I agree with Twin. Plus, you're job might be a bit more bareable if you know you're looking for something else to replace it :3 Helped me in the past anyway when I was looking for something else to replace my at the time, crappy job.

Twin - Ooo, that sounds awesome! Have fun with it and good luck!

I hope my partner gets his paper work sorted out today so we don't have to be disturbed on our holiday next week.

[Gemini]

I'm glad to hear that. When you're pursuing something you love and stuck up jerks are in charge it kinda ruins it for you. That was my experience with art and theatre in college—so I can definitely say it's great they're understanding and patient. That's really the best way to teach most people things and help them improve.

Yeah, it definitely can ruin it. And as for that last part - you'd think that would be pretty self-evident, but I've definitely met people who made me feel like an idiot over, I dunno... simple mistakes. Like sorry bro but I'd bet quite a bit that if your parents hadn't gotten you your horse when you were five (or some such other thing) and didn't teach you all of this growing up then you would have had a phase like this, too. Gimme a break.

I don't know what it is with horse people but they're either A) super neat people who you should totally be like because they're really nice and A+ in just about every way ever or B) judgmental AF, usually for no reason. I actually don't even really know if there's a third category because honestly most of them can be lumped neatly into either of those two.

And then if it wasn't that, then the issue was usually that I never really got to learn anything because the horses I worked with were never mine so I wasn't really ever trusted to do all that much with them aside from things I'd already done a bunch of times (not that I can blame anyone for that, I guess - I understand that - but it's honestly taken me about 5 years to learn what other people have been able to do in a few months with regular lessons: it's just that those were way too expensive and most barns were too far away for me to be able to conceivably work there in exchange).

I guess that's just the luck you get when you get interested in one of the most expensive sports out there, though. lol But hopefully this will kind of make things better. Like I said, I've wanted to ride regularly and learn to jump for about... I dunno. Probably six or seven years at the least. Likely closer to ten. So this is kind of a big deal for me.