What has gotten into me?

I mean really! What has gotten into me? Since school started this semester, my lifestyle has completely changed.

First of all, Guild Wars and I are taking a break. We're seeing other people and just really taking some time off. Is it permanent? I don't know. I'd like think its not; that our separation is just a temporary thing what with the added preasures of my school load this semester and all. We have really become very different from one another and our relationship had really just become a matter of going through the motions. Maybe in time we'll find one another again, but for now I'm living the life . . . .

. . . and trying out new things. Like hiking. I've sort of taken up hiking now that the weather has finally shifted from Summer to Autumn and it has given me an opportunity to get some needed exercise as well as get into the landscape of my area a lot more (mixed mesophytic forests in case you were interested.) So far, we've gone hiking at Cliffs of Boone and England-Idlewild, and this next week we're strongly considering Tower Park as another local hiking option, though I'm kind of excited to "make a day of it" a little more and head up to the Miami Whitewater area.

I guess it was pretty natural that, after starting hiking, we would turn to mountain biking as the next logical step, but bking requires a bit more gear than hiking and I am fickle, so, while I'm interested in trying biking, I'm also a little hesitant. I've basically got a bike on donation for now (though it needs some work) and I guess all I need is a decent helmet before I can go flinging myself into trees and creek beds in the name of health and recreation. It seems fun though, and whatever gets me moving some is a good thing.

Another big change lately is that Julie, the kids and I have been going out to the farm a lot more, so I've been doing everything else a lot less (like posting on here.) We've been out there 6 of the last 7 days by my figure. Not all day in most cases, but a good portion of the days nonetheless. Obviously, part of the reason for this is my starting to buy my horse from my father-in-law, though honestly I'm not sure if I'm more active outside now because of the horse or if I got the horse because I'm trying to be more active outside. I think part of it is just that activity begets more activity and it IS hard work. Just riding around on a horse for 45 minutes when you're not used to it can be hard on muscle groups that you're not used to working out.

Now, I'm only going to sing one virtue of this new lifestyle. Over the course of the weekend, I was stung by ground bees, stumbled upon a snake, went riding 4 separate times, went out to eat at Longhorn, FORGOT to eat 3 separate lunches and/or dinners, watched 2 movies, went hiking for 4 hours, rode a bicycle for the first time in 1o years, fed and watered horses, mucked out a horse stall full of manure, almost got kicked in the head by my horse, beat my horse with a broom for almost kicking me in the head, helped take care of the kiddies, did homework, and bought a supercool toy! I can tell you what I ate at every meal over the weekend and what I did everyday in the order that I did it. Oh, and I bought a pair of hiking boots too.

Over the summer, many (dare I say "most"?) of my weekends were spent only playing Guild Wars, reading books and eating, though honestly it all ran together into a blur.

I'm not sure why any of this is the case, except to say that something during this semester has clicked for me. Video gaming has been on a downhill slope for me for a long time now. I love my Wii and spending a blood-spattered hour or so every couple of days killing Andy online is actually pretty cathartic for me, but beyond that who knows? As my loathing of my job gets worse and my relationship with NKU continues to change, I'm finding that I need some new releases in my life. I've also boxed up about 3/4s of my books and placed them into storage for me to get to later one if/when I need them again.

I still read of course, but I savor what I read a lot more now and, for some reason (I don't know why,) I'm digging in a lot deeper to the books I'm reading. I've been spending a lot of my computer time researching the contexts of the books that I'm reading. I guess school mode agrees with me.

I'm also finding that the role I play in my life has needed to change. I don't know if this is the same for anyone else, but I think the person that I get tired of being around the most is myself. It's stupid to say, but I annoy myself more than anyone else annoys me. And I think its really difficult to break out of behavior patterns that you have made for yourself. But I also think that the rewards that I personally gain from how I'm living now are better than the rewards I gain from the type of lifestyle I've been living previously. There WERE rewards there.

More later. . . .