So tired. Not hung over today, but so very tired. Jen and I went over to her friend's Lindsey's house yesterday, lounged around the pool for a few hours. Very nice and refreshing, and then we went to barn to ride. Remy was pretty good, we're working on lightness these days. It's an interesting exercise, I give him a lot of rein, and sit back on him, playing with the bit with my fingertips, and hope he doesn't take off on me. About 60 percent of the time he enjoyed this, and did what I asked, the rest of the time, he raised his head up, sped up, and forced me to pull back on him-which made him try and plow through my hands- totally defeating the point of lightness.

We didn't finish riding until about 7:00, stopped to check on Lindsey's horses, and then dropped her off in Bethesda, making it about 8:45 by the time the day was finished. Jen and I were so wiped, we both agreed it was too late to drive back to Alexandria. I am now a couch leech.

So tired. So hungover. Wow. The A's - Yankees game that Jen and I watched ended up being a marathon 16 innings and 6 hours total. Although, 6 beers in 6 hours shouldn't leave me hung over. It was a bittersweet win for my A's, we gained ground on EVERYONE, since Seattle, Anahiem, and Boston all lost. It was still sad, because Robin, darling Robin, struck out to make the last out in a 3-2 game, with the tying run 90 feet away at 3rd, and the winning run on second. He looked so dejected afterward.

It was slightly annoying that past the 11th inning, they started going to the San Fran game, to watch Barry Bonds bat and try and hit his 600th. Okay, I can handle just Barry Bonds batting, but they kept lingering and showing other plays. I didn't tune into the Yankees-A's game in order to watch the Giants play. I had to watch some of the at-bats on Gamecast, and that's just not right.

Well I'm off to ride Remy, again. He got the crap worked out of him yesterday, about forty minutes around the barn, and thirty in the ring. He was so tired after we rode, he just stood stock still while I hosed him off, instead of dancing around like a fool. This is probably the most work he's had since last fall. Poor boy has no idea I'm going to ride him every day next week. He gets Sunday off, but that's it. I'm hoping for some major improvement by the end of the week.

I meant to post yesterday, but like usual, I forgot. It was a lovely day to ride. Remy was pretty good, a little obnoxious with his pulling. He leans on my hands, gets really down and behind the bit, and then loves to pull his head up, grab the bit, and try and take off. We had a few good circles, and basically did a lot of trotting. The ring that I ride it was in use by the annoying people at the barn, so I had to make do with the little field behind the barn to ride in, which isn't big enough to canter safely on an unbalanced horse like Remy.

I'm sure it was a little boring to watch, but I didn't do anything to get into trouble with my audience, so that was the bright point. Poor Jen got to the barn worn out and stressed like usual, because of work. Her boss, who is a tech like her, is just horrible to her, and has lately gotten worse with the abuse. She's okay with making mistakes at work, but getting screamed at, and then having no one show her how to do something correctly, doesn't help anyone learn for the next time. Of course, he never says when she does get something right, so it's all fucked. I hate what her job does to her, but she's not in a position to quit, since she has two hungry horses, an apartment to pay rent on, gas, and groceries. Not to mention when school starts up, she has to cover all her books and expenses there.

She woke up with a fever today, and got into another "discussion" with Mike, when she asked to come in two hours late, to give her a chance to get the fever down from 102. I think we're both counting until her vacation starts tomorrow. Me, so I don't have to go up there and kill Mike, and her, so she doesn't have to deal with his shit for a while.

Sunday Silence, probably one of my favorite horses, who I picked to win the derby in 1989, is in critical condition in Japan. He's 16, and has had 3 operations on his foreleg this year, and now shows signs of laminitus. I loved this horse, for like, ever. His stretch drive in the 1989 Breeder's Cup Classic to win over Easy Goer, was amazing. Still sends shivers down my spine. When Easy Goer died suddenly several years ago, of a heart attack, Sunday Silence was alone to represent their rivalry. Not many horses can duel in May, end up dueling again just as strongly in October, especially these days. Not to sound like my mother, but after reading yesterday's release where the Japanese said they believed Sunday Silence was on the road to recovery- I very much expected the headline today of him being in critical condition. I've been watching this story since March when he was removed from stud duty- that's when I knew it was serious. The Japanese routinely breed over 300 mares to him every year, which is 3 times more than the heavy load of a 100 mares.

Now I'm waiting for the notice of his death. Depressing, but realistic, I think.

Not much has gone right today, and it's only 1 pm.

My boy Barry is pitching today, against the front-runner for the Cy Young award, Derek Lowe. (Dan Patrick still whispers in my ear to kill kill kill). I'm not optmistic about his chances. I know Barry can beat the Red Sox, he did it earlier this year, but he can only do that with run support. I just don't see him getting any today. Of course, the team pleasantly surprised me last night by squeaking out a victory, and getting rookie Aaron Harang a victory (he's a year younger than me! Scary!).

I was looking at the Royals roster, since they are playing NY today (Robin homered, lovely boy-- Shit, another error, the sun was in his eyes, and he lost the ball. 18 this year. I guess I jinxed him.) Anyway. Royals have Mike Caruso on their roster, which was a name that was familiar to me. Turns out, it's the same Mike Caruso that was drafted out of my highschool by the Chicago White Sox. After a 2 year absence from the majors, he's back up again, this time as a Kansas City Royal. He's not in the lineup today though. Still, very interesting.

*sighs* Now I need to go check Eric Hinske's stats, to make sure he's still leading the majors with errors at third. Poor Robin. He was so good so young, my heart breaks when I think about what has happened to him with injuries. No longer a Gold Glove infielder. He's still beautiful though.

Since I wasn't productive yesterday, I decided I would be today. Err, um, Tuesday, since it's now past midnight, and this could show up to be Wednesday's entry. Anyway, I managed another 5 pages, pushing chapter 8 to the 11 page total. I think there's too much talking and not enough doing in my story, so I'll try and fix that tomorrow. Err. Today. Whenever.

Dylan scared me today pretty good by escaping. The cat pushed open my heavy front door, and then leaned on the glass door, and slipped outside. I think the mailman helped with the escape, by not closing the door completely. He was probably out for an hour while I slept. I screamed his name in the apartment, and then outside, before he finally ended up outside the door waiting to come in- my heart was beating a 1000 times a second.

He's now safely inside, and I'm keeping the door locked.

My first night of Extra Innings, meaning, I watched the Oakland-Boston game, was a success. Not that it's much of a test- since Wakefield was the weakest of the pitchers we'd face this week- Burkett and Lowe will be better tests. Burkett I think we'll get beat by, and Lowe...well, that game will either be a blowout, or it will be a 0-0 game into extra innings. I'm hoping for the close game. . .

I nearly busted a blood vessel surfing livejournals tonight, and saw another psuedo-Zito fan talk about the games on ESPN tomorrow. Apparently she thought the rotation was Mulder-Zito-Hudson. It's NEVER been Mulder-Zito-Hudson, for the simple fact that Art Howe doesn't like to pitch a left hander - left hander together in the rotation. He spilts it, lefty-right-lefty.

Again, the morons will drive me crazy. It's sooo not hard to go to ESPN.com, and click on Pitching Probables- which gives you the next 4 match-ups. Long story short, the psuedo fans will not be watching Barry on ESPN tomorrow- instead it's Aaron Harang. Serves them right, they don't deserve the beauty that is Zito.

I wish today were Wednesday. I'm really really looking forward to seeing Remy, and riding him again. We only had a mini-ride last Thursday, since the heat was so bad. Basically circled the yard about four times, and he was really good three of the times around. He has these moments where I think he understands what I want, and he starts to feel good about himself (this horse has no self-esteem) - so good about himself, he drops his head, gets behind the bit, and wants to take off. Nutty, crazy Remy. I can't wait to ride him.

The "cold" spell, I put that in quotes because it's August, anyway, it should drop the temperature to mid-80s for a few days. The heat never bothered me until this summer, now I feel sluggish, irritable, and lazy whenever the temperature goes up. Okay, so it's not that much different from how I am in Janurary, but it *feels* differently to me.

Dylan was seriously trying to get the neighbors to call the cops on us for a "domestic" disturbance this morning. He kept going after my calves to bite them, and then getting into my bag-o-candy, pulling at anything that made noise and was plastic. I screamed and screamed at him, but no use. The cat doesn't care. I drenched him with the squirt bottle, and all he did was give me a dirty look, lick off some of the water, and try and bite me again. I don't know what to do with him discipline wise. I think he's a lost cause.

Had a very good writing day yesterday, after taking a trip to Starbucks with my laptop. I walked the mile, had myself a hot caramel macciato, and a cold vanilla creme frappucino- at the same time. The vanilla creme got me cool, but then the air blast I was sitting under made me freeze, so I had to get something hot. All the caffiene made me sick to my stomach, since I forgot to eat. Anyway, I felt accomplished last night, after writing five pages, and then went home to watch my boy Damian pitch against the Cards.

It's the one time I like ESPN carrying the games (cause their announcers suck, have no idea what they're talking about, ever) since they have little interviews with the starting pitchers. I've never heard Damian speak before with his lucious Australian accent. Definitely different from the Victoria-Snowny River thing I hear in my horse movies, and way different from the Sydney accent I hear from Nicole Kidman or Russell Crowe. He spoke glowingly about Tommy, and how much he's learning, and there were many lovely pan-shots to the Braves dugout where Tommy was sitting, and scowling. Though we did catch a rare smile now and then. They had him miked as well, and occasionally had what he was saying, cracked me up when he said to Damian- after apparently getting three outs, and looking shocked everyone was heading to the dugout- "So there's four outs in cricket, right?" and Damian got all red, and said he lost track. 8 innings, didn't tip over 100 pitches, 1 walk, 1 hit, and no earned runs. Still got a no-decision. Sheesh, still, his best outting yet.

Not very accomplished today- having only written two sentences.