Saturday was a ton of fun. I woke up and went to the Mule Jump of Pea Ridge. Now, this was basically a tiny town fair type thing. How did I know I was in the South? 1/3 of the booths were sugary treats and lard boats, 1/3 of the booths were for politicians, and the last third was for churches. They also had a beat the truck with a sledgehammer fundraiser booth. And three giant bounce houses. And of course the mules!
One mule decided to take a tour of my neighborhood. Several others choice the worst times to be balky. They weren't big on the barrels for the barreling racing and would shy and snort. This one guy could not get his mule Cooter to go forward at the barrel, so he had this brilliant idea to back him up to the flag. It almost worked, several times, but Cooter got wise to his scheme. But it was hilarious to see the tiny mule with his 3 year old rider chasing the dad across the field at a steady trot while the kid drummed on his sides (or tried to, considering his little legs were sticking almost straight out). This other little girl was maybe 9 or 10 and was riding better than the adults while she bounced in and out of the saddle.
My favorite parts were actually the stick pony races with the kids2-7. They galloped around cluelessly, sometimes doubling back other times missing the poles all together. I was just waiting for one of them to step in a pile of mule poop. I also enjoyed the "hog calling" which basically consisted of grown adults making fools of themselves calling imaginary hogs. The woman from Kansas won for her "longwindedness."
The mule jump part itself was really cool because these mules were literally jumping over their own height. I was rooting for Molly Mae while most of the crowd was calling for Radar. Radar was the biggest, ugliest roan mule I have ever seen. His owner wasn't much prettier looking either. But what was great about Radar was how his owner revved him up. The owner would get to hollering and yanking, screaming, 'go get 'em do it jump it do go go!' while stomping the ground and Radar would start bucking and stomping and lay his ears back. Molly Mae jumped 63" and Radar and Southern Peaches jumped 62". First prize was $500.
Ye-ah, it was totally hick, but it was fun, free, and in the sun. Plus the church booth was selling PIE. Shh, I stole Cara's pumpkin and swapped it with my chocolate.
I also went to the local fish club's auction. And was mostly successful about not buying anything. I only bought 4 plecos to keep my tanks clean while I'm gone and a pair of dwarf cichlids. I suspect I'm going to come back to plecos, dwarf cichlids, and guppies and nothing else. Other business I had there was selling $60 worth of fish. I walked in with $10 and walked out with $62. NOT BAD FOR ME IN A FISH AUCTION. The auction, of course, was really fun and I was jesting with this old guy next to me. He was cleaning the place out. I also got in a bidding war over all of my fish, but the old guy bowed out and the Corey yelled at me, "You're leaving town!" He had a point. I bought the plecos anyway.
Later that night I went to the fish club meeting and just hung out, trying not to fall asleep.
Overall, tons of fun.
Sunday sucked. I think one of the little plague carriers where I volunteer gave me a nasty bug because I was sick, sick, sick. Fever, chills, nausea, the works. I didn't get anything done I needed to.
Then I spent today at the doctor's making sure I'm not carrying any nasty infections. They did a pee test and a blood draw. I shook at the blood draw but did not run screaming from the room like a banshee... or whack the nurse... or sob hysterically. I can't get the stupid band-aid off. I usually tell them not to tape it on. Great, I'll have the stupid thing on for half a week before the adhesive gives up.
And I learned I had several symptoms Marfan's syndrome, which is basically elongated bodies. Apparently I have an increased risk of crushing a lung or cardio-vascular problems. Woot. I also have a dip in my spine, but my blood pressure was up to 110/70. I think that's the highest it's EVER been. Unfortunately, I've also lost some weight.
X-rays are fun. They weren't sure if my liver was enlarged or just elongated because my torso is so long. Eventually they decided my internal organs looked fine, there were no giant tumors, and my upper left colon was "fulla shit." Cue the laxatives. YUMMY.
Overall I seem to be fit for duty. I think. But I might still have Celiacs or hypothyroidism. I live in a world of rainbows, I tell you. Then again, everything could come back find and I'm still just fulla shit.
On a brighter note, I finished almost all of my Korea shopping. Now I need to work on packing. I got the pepto, dental floss, deodorant, painkiller, and long underwear. And dress socks.
So that's all the exciting things going on in my life. Eventually you'll get more interesting updates about Korea.
Ye-hah! Looks like fun fun fun!!!!
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