The goat

This weekend, I was unceremoniously attacked by a goat.

Hal and I traveled to St. Louis for a wedding this weekend. While there, we spent some time at Grant's Farm with several of our friends (Hal's college friends). Grant's Farm is a really cool place, and I highly recommend it if you happen to be in the area. We were impressed with the park and the staff and really left with the sense that the animals were very well-taken care of.

We got to run around and see the animals and they also had opportunities to feed several of the animals. We fed the camels and the alpaca.

And the goat.

I have a vague memory that once when I was very young I went to the Cincinnati Zoo and was much loved by a goat in the petting zoo who smelled some sort of yumminess on a napkin or tissue in my pants pocket. The goat followed me around trying to get in my pockets, which was possibly a traumatizing incident -- if I didn't make it up.

At Grant's Farm, you could pay $1 to buy a small bottle of milk to feed the goats. Then you could wade into a pen of goats who were conditioned to know that they could get FOOD from these people.



I was enjoying feeding my white goat, who was being very polite, when a little gray goat (you can see him here at the bottom of the picture), decided I wasn't sharing enough and took his horned little head and rammed it right into my shin! Hal took this shot, which is as close to an action shot as you can get of the little goat ramming me. I even LOOK startled in this picture.

Little gray goat (perhaps I have a different name for him in my head) did this to me several times. "I. Want. Food!" *BUMP* "Give. Me. Food." *BUMP*

When I see an animal using its forehead to attack me when there are numerous children much smaller than me running around, I think of my grandmother consoling me after Hal and I accidentally road-killed a groundhog. Very kindly, she patted my hand and said, "It's okay. It wasn't very smart." So, there, little gray goat, you are NOT VERY SMART. Stop hitting me with the part of your body that houses your BRAIN. Do goats have brains? If the little gray goat did have a brain, he could have seen that there were many little children running around with bottles of milk to share. Perhaps he just wanted to share that moment with me.

Then!

The white goat, just like the white stallion Prince Charming would ride, came to my rescue. It turned around to the little gray goat and headbutted it right in the side!

After that, the little gray goat was off to find more willing food dispensers. I was able to exit the pen unscathed. Luckily, the little gray goat was not big and didn't hurt me at all (kudos to Grant's Farm people for only keeping small and small-horned goats in the pen -- they are harmless, although perhaps a little startling).

My army brother responded to this story by telling me that he ate goat for lunch while "working."

I can only hope it was a little gray goat.

10 lists of 10

It is my 100th post on this blog!

I was trying to figure out something appropriate to write for my 100th post. Most people write 100 things about themselves. I don't think I have that fortitude. However, I'm going to go with 10 lists of 10 and see how it goes:

10 Songs That Evoke A Memory
1 "Ice Cream" by Sarah McLaughlin
2. "That's Amore" by Dean Martin
3. "Set Me as a Seal" by Matt Maher
4. "Selfless, Cold, and Composed" by Ben Folds Five
5. "Round Here" by Counting Crows.
6. "Piano Man" by Billy Joel
7. "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly
8. "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
9. "Ignition-Remix" by R. Kelly
10. "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James and the Shondells

10 Interesting People I Came Across While Reporting
1. An adult film actress
2. An 89-year-old man who played piano in a bar on weekends
3. The casting people for MTV's Real World/Road Rules
4. Film director John Singleton
5. A former Playboy bunny turned AIDS activist
6. Author Jonathan Ames
7. Flipper the dolphin
8. People who run a summer camp for autistic children
9. The international students I interviewed on 9/11
10. The El Mundo De La Suenos cast

10 TV Shows I Loved As A Kid
1. David the Gnome
2. Sesame Street
3. Stick Stickley (not a TV show, but close enough)
4. Baywatch
5. American Gladiator
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
7. Hey Dude
9. Salute Your Shorts
10. Are You Afraid of the Dark?

10 Cool Cities I've Visited
1. Juneau, Alaska
2. Prague, Czech Republic
3. London, England
4. Dublin, Ireland
5. Salzburg, Austria
6. Munich, Germany
7. Belize City, Belize
8. Budapest, Hungary
9. Cozumel, Mexico
10. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

10 Sports Teams I've Played On
1. Erlanger Elsmere Youth Soccer
2. NKAC Cougars (soccer)
3. St. Henry Track and Field Team (shotput)
4. Hagendazs FC (soccer)
5. JV Soccer Team
6. St. Henry Volleyball 8A Team
7. Indiana U. Swim Club
8. St. Pius Panthers Softball
9. White Lightening Soccer
10. JV Basketball Team

10 Books In My Possession That I've Read More Than Twice
1. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2. Wasted by Marya Hornbacher
3. Lucky by Alice Sebold
4. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card
5. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
6. Strip City by Lily Burana
7. The Hunter by L.J. Smith
8. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
10. Something's Rotten in the State of Maryland by Laura A. Sonnenmark

10 Foods Often At Family Parties (not all at the same time....well, maybe)
1. Bagel Dip
2. Beer Cheese
3. Black Bean Salsa
4. Mary Ellen's potatoes
5. Pretzel Salad
6. Angel Food Cake
7. Puffed Rice Balls (on Dad's side)
8. Skyline Chili Dip
9. Salami Roll Ups
10. Macaroni

10 Songs I Would Hear At A Middle School Dance
1. "The Tootsee Roll" by 69 Boyz
2. "Hero" by Mariah Carey
3. "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams
4. "End of the Road" by Boyz to Men
5. "When I Come Around" by Green Day
6. "Whoomp (There It Is)" by Tag Team
7. "Waterfalls" by TLC
8. "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan
9. "Hold My Hand" by Hootie and the Blowfish
10. "Strong Enough" by Sheryl Crow

10 Board Games I Liked Through The Years
1. Mall Madness
2. Guess Who?
3. Risk
4. The Game of Life
5. Trivial Pursuit
6. Chutes and Ladders
7. Cranium
8. Monopoly
9. Don't Break the Ice
10. Hungry Hungry Hippos

10 Plays/Musicals I Like (and have seen live)
1. Closer
2. Wicked
3. Les Miserables
4. Godspell
5. Once on this Island
6. Cinderella
7. Once Upon a Mattress
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. Rent
10. Jesus Christ, Superstar

(This took too long! :) Back to my regularly scheduled type of blog tomorrow!)

Anxiety

I am a type A person, which means I often am anxious over things. I don't like not knowing what's going to happen.

So this whole PhD application process has got me a little crazed. Today I popped my head in the Dean's office for an update.

The committee will not be meeting until November 10. I won't find out until then.

So there are three more weeks of waiting.

Sigh.

Photos of Me at 26

Taken on my web computer in September, 10 days after turning 26. :) (So terrible quality and no prep on my part!)





Apparently I look a little better than I did when I was 25.



(Ha!)

Vertical Kick of Death

My swim coach keeps coming up with various ways to torture me.

Last week it was the sprint drill of doom at the end of practice. Actually, all of last week was pretty hard core.

Tonight, it was the vertical kick of death.

In the vertical kick of death, you "stand" upright in the water while kicking either a fly kick or a free kick for a set time period. You hold your hands out of the water next to your head so you can't cheat by using your arms to keep you from going under. Of course, this is in about 8 feet of water, so there isn't any way you're touching the bottom, which is kind of the point.

We did this 5 times for 40 seconds each and then went a minute on the 6th time.

The boys in my lane warned me it wasn't going to be good. And since the boys in my lane are approximately 6 years younger and 5 times faster than me, I had no reason to doubt them.

So imagine my surprise when we started the drill and I was staying curiously afloat with not a fatal amount of effort. I had my hips in line with my shoulders as I was supposed to. I had my hands out by my face.

What possibly could be the trick that I was employing? I looked to the boys, who were bobbing a little more than me.

And then I looked to the girls. On the whole, we seemed to be having an easier go at it.

And it just came out. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I exclaimed, "I think this is easier when you have boobs!"

Poor boys, apparently laughing during the vertical kick of death equals instant mouth in water.

Sputtering ensued.