Burnt Out

3:59 PM
By Beka Burke
3 Comments

Or,.. "The Rainy Weather Inclines Me to Acknowledge That I'd Rather Sit on My Ass, Reading a Book and Drinking a Beer, Than Do Any Sort of Work. Whatsoever."

I have a pretty intense schedule. It'd be scary to some if they weren't accustomed to my history (see below). But it's my schedule and I've been developing it for months, so I'm pretty freaking unimpressed by it.

	Insanity	Riding	Running	Soccer
Monday	X	X
Tuesday	X		X
Wednesday	X	X
Thursday	X		X
Friday	X	X
Saturday	X	X
Sunday		X		X

Today, though, it's raining. Since I ride in a freaking stick and manure infested pasture and not a spacious dreamy indoor, riding is out. I thought, briefly, about dragging the kid out and taking him on a water-logged trail ride, bareback and in his halter. But something is screaming at me that I might die. I could go log a few miles on the treadmill at the gym that I haven't entered in months. But I'm also thinking that I'd rather not. I should have put a calorie column on that chart, because that shit is crazy. I should be a stick. Thank god I eat enough for two of me. :)

My History

Before the husband and I moved to Savannah, we lived separately in Augusta. It surprises people that we didn't live together before we got married, because we're both Atheists in the Bible-belt, which seems to mean that I should have no governing instincts and be incapable of subjecting my lifestyle to the mores and norms that I've attained growing up here. I'll be honest, though: we didn't live together simply because I didn't want to live together. We didn't live together because he was a student and I'd screw up his studying and he'd be a financial burden on an already over-taxed individual.

My car was totalled in April of 2006.. the same month I met my husband. That summer, even though I was a poor college student with credit card debt and an apartment I shouldn't have been able to afford, I bought my horse with the car money. Until I graduated college, I worked a compilation of part-time jobs to make the ends meet and still make it to school. When I graduated, I did an HR internship before landing my "grown-up" job (which I hated). While doing the full-time HR internship and for all of the "grown-up" job, I stayed at my night-time part-time job. For most of that, I was living with my mother and it was okay. Then I was able to afford to move back out on my own, so I did. Quickly. And, fortunately, an opportunity presented itself to pick up hours feeding at the barn at which I kept Archie in exchange for full board.

So, for about two years or so, this was my life:

Monday: Work 8am - 5pm, feed from 5:30pm - 8:30pm, train at vet's from 9pm - 12am
Tuesday: Work 8am - 5pm, work at vet's from 6pm - 12am
Wednesday: Work 8am - 5pm, feed from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, train at vet's from 9pm - 12am
Thursday: Work 8am - 5pm, work at vet's from 6pm - 12am
Friday: Work 8am - 5pm, ride Archie
Saturday: Work at vet's from 6pm - 12am
Sunday: Feed from 8am - 1pm, 3:30pm - 6:30pm

If you look closely, you'll see that I had Friday night and Saturday morning available. Archie was getting ridden about two-three times a week and I'm not sure when I slept. Fortunately, the girls were able to go to the clinic with me, so they got walked there pretty consistently. I had enough money for the occasional splurge, but no time to splurge. Grocery shopping was done immediately after feeding horses on Sundays, so I could then take a nap without having to worry too much about time. I napped a lot: parked cars, lunch breaks, the meager minutes between getting off at 5 and starting again at 6. I rarely ate out, save that I hated my coworkers and tried not to eat in the office. I'm not sure how I did dinner on the nights that I fed at the barn.

#Archie