Went riding again yesterday. I borrowed Wendy (instructor)'s half-chaps and they really helped - covered the tongues of my sneakers so the stirrups couldn't get stuck behind them, and plus just the feeling of having something very tight around my calf as opposed to looser pant legs makes SUCH a difference. Everything feels 'tighter' and more controlled, not like last week - last week I was still the best of the group, but it didn't feel quite as 'smooth' as I remembered it all being. This was much better. And this time I have absolutely no pain or bruises or anything like last week - I think my body 'remembers' that it used to do this every week for seven years (LOL), 'cause it's readjusted very quickly.

So Lotte's and my silly online search for fat camps may really have turned up something for me - I suddenly got hit by the idea that we shouldn't GO to one as campers, we should WORK at one! Then you get money on top of it all. So I searched around and found New Image Camp in Lake Wales, Florida. That's only three hours from my house, instead of the (at least) seven hours to Ton-A-Wandah. And it looks *awesome* - there's an air-conditioned indoor gym, an Olympic-size pool, all kinds of stuff. And we sleep in air-conditioned dorms instead of cabins. That's amazing. I'll never be able to go back to Ton-A-Wandah again! LOL! Anyway, there's a four-week-long 'end-of-summer special' session from 14 July to 10 August, which would just work for me - I could come home a bit earlier than I planned and then I would be done probably the exact same day Martin comes to Florida (if he gets approved for the extra week he wants, otherwise I'd have a few days in between). Lotte doesn't seem so enthusiastic anymore - she says she has no experience and that she can't teach any of the activities on the list - so it looks like it'll be just me. I've e-mailed to see if they still have space for counselors. If they do, I don't see why they wouldn't take me - I've got tons of camp experience under my belt, as a camper (YMCA Camp Immokalee, Space Camp, and Ton-A-Wandah make 7 years) as well as a counselor (3 years), and I'm a lifeguard to boot. (If you check out that website, you'll see that they have tons of water stuff.) Anyway, I really really hope they take me. Once I'm home, I'm going to have my car back, which means I have to start making my own car payments again, plus saving up for my master's program plus all the little miscellaneous things that always come up... so it'll be nice to have a jump-start on the money situation this way. Plus I have no choice but to eat healthy! :)

Anyway, so tomorrow I have class from 15-17u, and then I have to rush over to the station to catch the 17.32 train and go to Zwolle and trade tickets with Elske. (Yes, yes, YES, I am FINALLY going to have the tickets I need!) We both arrive at exactly 18.40, me from Utrecht and she from Leeuwarden. And it turns out that Martin has a new shift and does NOT have to work until 1.00, so he'll already be home, so I can just keep on rushing (hope E is on time...) and catch the 18.55 train to Emmen. Then I'm there at 17.47, and we'll be home just in time for GTST... haha... funny how that all works out... I hope Charlie will be able to walk tomorrow... (we all knew she wasn't going to be permanently in that wheelchair, didn't we!)

Anyway, so I'll be in Emmen tomorrow night and all of Saturday (there is a slight chance that we might go to this spa-type thing that's in the area) and then on Sunday I'm going to Raalte, and then D's going to bring me back to Utrecht and we'll hang out here for a while and he can finally get his Starbucks, haha. Saturday is his birthday, so everybody send your congratulations (Dutch) or your Happy Birthdays (English), whichever culture you're from, haha!

But this means I have to finish all my homework, like, now, because on Monday I have to turn in an outline for one class and then on Tuesday I have (gulp) my presentation. I was rereading the article today, and there is just not a lot to talk about!

Request of the week: I also have to give examples of recent 'meisjesboeken'... books meant specifically for adolescent girls... can anyone help me? English or Dutch are both fine; they never said I couldn't use English. ;) Mom, could you ask Catie, or look in my bookshelf? The only ones I can think of are Lurlene McDaniel. (I have so many books that I don't even know them all myself.) Does anyone else have any ideas?