Chickenshit in the arena

My folks have eloped to the happy Paris for a few days. Paid for by somebody's workplace. Of course I never planned to go along, IN CASE I GOT A JOB... ha... ha... ha... and now it would have cost 3000 SEK to drag me there. I'm saving myself for a last-minute trip somewhere. I have no idea where to go, which is fine, since I can make a last-minute decision any day... Hence my feeling that I'll never get around to go anywhere. :p And I've never travelled alone to a place I've never been, rilly. If chickenshit goes alone, she'll get lost, get on the wrong plane, wrong bus, wrong hotel, get left behind, robbed, raped, infected, parasitically oppressed, mutilated, enslaved, murdered and dumped. Aye. But then, some of those things could happen anywhere.

Where the feck should I go, though? FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Uh... Greece, Croatia, maybe Spain are fluttering around in me head. If it goes well, it could be so cool. (:B

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To get out, about, heavily exercised, maddeningly stimulated, filthy rich, deliciously crisp-burned, insanely famous & orangely tanned, I have started shooting small-time showjumping. I mostly did international, indoor, distant stuff before, and have hardly ever been to one of these little outdoor local competitions. I surely haven't been in one! :p It's... it's... just like in them horse novels of my youth. Potentially. *anxiety attack* COMMON EVENTS IN THEM HORSE NOVELS OF MY YOUTH: X gets too tall/old to keep riding/competing her beloved pony. X's overly ambitious parents sell her beloved pony, possibly to the meat market. Or: X finishes second out of only 3975 competitors. Overly ambitious parents spank her good.

Some sure get spanked a lot at those competitions. Is it just me, or do loads of riders whip their horses when the latter refuse fences for getting spooked or coming at it in a suboptimal way? (Of course, I suck at seeing the difference between that and the horsie trying to make the rider their bitch, or something.) Yeah, maybe that'll get the horse thinking "I SUDDENLY HAVE A GREAT FEELING ABOUT THIS PREVIOUSLY SCARY SHIT AND I CANNOT WAIT TO APPROACH IT AGAIN!" But what do I know...! :C *mutter*

What about dressage? Whipz are outlawed there, aren't they? How do THEY survive without? Hey, jumping and racing might get more interesting without. Cleansed, ya know. :B Well, the pony racers aren't allowed whips! (Another bizarre difference between pony and TB racing is that everyone in contact with the racing ponies must wear helmets. I mean... as in nobody ever got their brains mashed by a TB? Um...)

Hehe, I could take up shooting dressage and pony racing only... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! And mounted games of course...

Approximate scale of fun, photo-wise:
Jumping > Mounted games > Arabian racing > Pony racing > Thoroughbred racing > Dressage

But... but... staring at small-time dressage...? :/ *evil* Well, we'll see... Maybe I'd lose a load of Real Guy Photographers that way! Maybe they only like da jumping action! :B *prejudiced* *sadly action-lovin*

At the latest competition I had to share my planet with an Evil Other Photographer who was also a Real Photographer! He had huge equipment, access to the paddock, a humble servant, a tent containing a laptop + printer, and a deal with the judge, who screamed every now and then "BUY HIS PHOTOS IN THAT TENT OVER THERE!"

Wonder if they'll want more photos... when mine are all edited, 4000 years from now. Must build wee reputation.

The cool thing was, the Evil Other Photographer charged 80 SEK for a 13 x 18 cm photo, 100 SEK for an A5 and 150 SEK for an A4! :B That miiiiiiiiiight only work when the buyer has some sentimental connection to the pic... and his pics were so pwetty... but still! :)

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My auction-won Goblet of Fire DVD arrived yesterday. It was new, fresh, crisp, supposedly Swedish, and actually Danish. The auction text said: "100% Swedish edition!" The photo showed a Danish edition. I assumed the seller had got his hands on editions from all over and only bothered to photograph one.

HELLO! MY EDITION OF GOBLET IS DANISH! HI, A DANISH-DUBBED ALAN RICKMAN IS SITTING ON MY SHELF! YAY! No. :S I was almost gonna ask for my money back... The guy was bloody lucky I didn't need subtitles, at least... but I watched a few deleted scenes (Ahhh, wizard rock! AHHHHHHHHHHHH, CHRISTMASSY SNAPE!) and my mood improved. Dammit. This was around 4am. :) Then I watched the movie, until a double dose of the first scene with the Voice knocked me out hot. :9