Playland

Frank the fish has left us. He didn't seem to be doing well for a while. He looked dead but never actually was. Then one day last week I realized that finally he had died. So down the garburator he went and we have a new fish. He is still unnamed but hopefully something will pop into my head soon. The new one is big and red and seem quite healthy so far. I'm trying different water this time to see if maybe that was the problem with Frank.
Yesterday I went to Playland. The kids from the barn are always inviting me to everything that they do and so far I've always turned them down. But this time I said yes and so ended up at Playland. It was so much fun. I'm glad that I went. At first I hung around with the other adults and the younger kids but soon we met up with the older ones and they dragged me off to go on rides with them. It actually worked out well as there were 5 of them so I made it an even 6. The parents told me later that they were glad that I'd come because then there was an adult with the kids and they didn't have to worry about them. The kids tend to think of me as a friend more than an adult so they actually want me to stay with them the whole time. They tried to get me to go on all kinds of rides but I can't handle the rides that spin so I refused to go on them. I love the roller coasters though. There is a ride (that you have to pay extra for) called the Drop Zone. Basically they put you in harnesses and attach you to a cable so that you are lying on your stomache. Three of us went together so we're all on our stomaches hanging from this cable side by side. They then slowly raise you up and backwards into the air until you are extremely high off of the ground. I don't know how high it was but it was really very scary. When you finally get to the top the count down from three and then one person has to pull the cord that lets you go. That person happened to be me. It was scary to know when you were going to start falling. Then you fall down and then swing forward and you keep swinging for quite some time. It was one of the most fun things that I've probably ever done. I think that it might come second to skydiving. It was definitely more fun than bungee jumping. And way cheaper too. I want to go back and do it again. The other girls loved it too. Lindsay is now trying to make me promise her that I'll take her skydiving when she's old enough. I think that you have to be 16 so she's got three years to wait. Anyway the whole day was great. I really do enjoy all those kids. They make me feel good too because they want me to hang out with them and I get a lot of hugs all day.
I didn't realize that I still like rides so much. Usually I end up going on a spinny one and then I feel sick for the rest of the day but yesterday I told them I'd go on a spinny ride as the very last one. So I was able to enjoy the day as I felt fine. I did end up going on the one though at the end and I felt sick for over an hour afterwards. But it made them happy. They were laughing at me during the whole ride because I wasn't looking too good.
I am starting an extremely part-time job in October. I will be helping at my church during sunday school but I will be working one-on-one with a young boy who appears to have ADHD. I will be working with him every other month just during sunday school. I haven't met the boy yet but I'm looking forward to it. On the off months I help with the kindergarten/gr.1 class. This class also has a boy that can be quite a challenge. So I'm getting lots of practice as I deal with him every week. As usual, I'm really enjoying helping with Sunday School. This year the lady that I've been helping so far is new at teaching. So I'm finding that I'm doing a lot more than I used to and I have to take charge more as well. I kind of like it. It feels like it's just one more step towards moving from helping to teaching.
Brig is still doing well. He has still not ruined anything lately. I've been trying to find more cheap toys for him. He spends his days pacing in his paddock. It's not really a habit that I want him to start so I'm trying to find something to keep him busy. I think that he's started pacing because I've cut back his daytime food as he's getting too fat. I don't want to cut back his food at night because he seems to be more destructive when I give him less food. Maybe I'll just end up letting him get fatter though. I don't know what's worse for him. The pacing or a little extra weight. Both are going to put strain on his legs. Maybe he'll go through another growth spurt and lose weight. Although I don't want him to get any bigger. I have been trying to figure out what I'm going to do about a blanket for him this year. His rain sheet from last year is ruined and I don't want to throw money away on a new one that he will only rip up. But today when I mentioned my dilemma to a couple of the ladies at the barn one of them offered me her horse's old ripped blanket. She doesn't want it because it's ripped quite a bit but it is still usuable. So she gave it to me. I put it on Brig tonight. So hopefully he has grown out of that stage and he won't wreck it. Then maybe I'll buy him a new one.
My half marathon training is not going very well right now. I was doing fine until my knees started to hurt. They ended up getting really bad. I went for an ART treatment but it didn't help, so I took 9 days off. They felt quite a bit better after the 9 days but today all the muscles in my legs are horribly sore. My knees were sore after the run yesterday too. I think that my muscles are so sore now that I can't notice my knees. It was supposed to be a recovery run yesterday too. We went back down to 10km and I ran way slower than usual and even took several walk breaks. I mentioned that my knees have been bothering me so the leader guy asked one of the ladies to watch me running. She is a chiropractor. I was impressed with what she could see. She noticed that my left leg wasn't swinging easily and that it looked like I had to force it. I had just been mentioning a couple weeks ago (to my roommate) that for the first 6km of my runs lately I don't feel like I can run smoothly. I feel like I'm hobbling along with an uneven stride. So it was neat to have her say that she could see the same thing even though I hadn't told her anything about it. The funny thing is that I couldn't feel it that day as much as I had been feeling it. She noticed quite a few other things as well about my running. She gave me some stretches and exercises to do. I'm going to try to get in for a massage somewhere tomorrow if I can and I'm going to a chiropractor on Wednesday to see if that will help. She had mentioned that one hip was slightly more forward than the other. The chiro should be able to do something about that. I don't know what I'm going to do if this stuff doesn't work. I really want to do this 1/2 marathon. I'm going to really upset if I have to stop running because there is no way that I'll be able to catch up. Oh well. I'll just do what I can. She did suggest rollerblading as a good cross training exercise. I've been wanting to go forever, maybe now I'll make it a priority. There are too many hills around here though so it's not easy to just go anytime I feel like it.
Well, I'd better go ice my knees and quads. I think that is all my news for now.