Shezada Saheem

I have picked up a new sport that takes just as much a beating as boxing: Endurance Riding. Every summer I like to set goals for myself to accomplish. This summer, one of my goals is to complete a 25 mile endurance race. But for me to accomplish this goal I would have to overcome a lot of my fear of riding. Yes, I love horses, but that doesn't mean that I was the best at riding them. I have always been scared of what the horse was going to do while I was on their back. But I've determined that if I was going to beat this fear I needed to face it. Which meant a lot of time in the saddle.

To begin my adventure I needed a noble steed to carry my scardy butt around. And that noble steed would be Shezada Saheem, aka, Sam. Mind you, the last time I saw this horse he was just getting saddle broke, so I was kinda unsure about riding this horse up and down steep hills. But he's been in training since I've started college and was starting his career as a broke horse so I wasn't too worried.

It all began with my first trail ride on Sam. Before I left for college I went on a trail ride with my horse Tawshi, and that experience didn't go so well. After that ride I swore off ever really riding horses and just excepted the fact that I probably wont ever get to really ride horses because of my fear and I just gave up. So when I got on Sam I was pretty nervous, I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was I wanted to get over this stupid fear.

And believe it or not, I worked through it. Through a lot of tears and anger I got through it. I just remember being so frustrated at myself being scared. But one step at a time I worked through it, and found myself coming out a stronger person. And God bless Sam boy for putting up with me every step of the way. That horse really knows how to teach a person how to ride. After I worked through my initial fear, that's when the fun started.

Sam and I started to hit it off. We both started gain confidence on the trail and in each other. There is nothing like the feeling of trusting in horse to carry you to the top of a hill, to just run strait up and once you get to the top both you and your horse get a feeling of accomplishment. And together, we both reached our goals. I have concluded that this horse has made a major dent in my life, a good one too. Before I met Sam I was swallowed up in depression, I lost sight of who I was and what I wanted. But Sam showed me what I really could do if I set my mind to it, and with a push (more like a buck) Sam gave me the boost I needed to get out of the hole I was in. I'm back to my good ol' self and I'm happy as I could ever be. Throughout the summer Sam and I have a couple of endurance races that we plan on racing in, you will here more about that in the next couple weeks.

The Good: I'm happy to be just me
The Bad: Leaving for college, I'll probably cry when I leave. It'll be a bitter sweet moment
The Ugly: Me in tears from fear while riding on the trail, lots of thanks to my riding buddies for putting up with me

Continuation

It is summer of 2011 and discovered that I've totally neglected my blog. I forgot how much I enjoy writing all my adventures of college life down. But then I've reached this slight problem, during the summer I'm not in college and rarely think about school, so I'm going to at least try to blog a bit through the my summer breaks.

To start things off I thought it would be a good idea just to post a picture of me with ten random facts about myself. Enjoy!

1. I love the color purple
2. My best friend is a horse named Tawshi
3. I can't live without Snickers or Squirt
4. I have a dream of flying
5. I play the sousaphone for the Idaho Vandals Marching Band
6. My choice of sport is boxing
7. I love to hunt, fish, camp, mud, hiking, riding horses, and anything and everything that involves the out doors
8. I drive an '89 Isuzu Trooper that has a cherry bomb on it
9. I love to country swing dance and I go crazy if I don't get to go out with my friends and dance
10. I am blessed with the best friends and family a person can ask for

The Good: I have started blogging again
The Bad: My little brother's attitude towards my parents
The Ugly: My tan line I have on my face from my sunglasses

Squirt and Poptarts

So I'm sitting here at my desk with nothing to do. Finals are here and past, no more classes for the next three or four weeks, and I'm feeling pretty good. I started looking back at the start of this chapter in my life and started thinking....wow, I've come a long ways but yet at the same time it was such a short distant. So many things have changed about me since I've left home. One, for instance, is I have developed a liking for s'mores pop tarts. I can't live without the taste of them. I also have become obsessed with Squirt, if you want to make me happy on a bad day just give me some Squirt. I have changed in so many other ways I can't explain them, I have changed mentally (for the better), physically (in a good way), and spiritually.

I have learned how to take life as it comes, for one it's less stressful than wanting things to come, and for two it's more fun when the unexpected shows up at your door.

I have learned to be dependent on myself, I now know that I can make it on my own. It may be painful at sometimes but I know that I can handle myself and work through it. I may even just stay up here, get an apartment, and just work all this summer.

Though I still have a lot more to learn in life all I can say is to bring it on!

When I first arrived at college I didn't know what I was expecting. For one thing I wasn't expecting to be where I am right now, but where I am right now I'm happy with. I have met so many new and great friends, and hopefully I'll continue down the path that I am because I'm liking it.

The Good: All the changes that have occurred
The Bad: My Core Discovery Class Grade
The Ugly: Students rushing to get everything done for finals

Tuba Time

So finally got the pictures from the first home football game and thought you guys would love to see them so....Enjoy!

So first thing first...face paint. The goal is to get the whole tuba section painted in like an hour. This was great fun giving that I had no clue what was getting painted on my face.

Here's the finished product. This is all the women in the tuba section and were ready to kick some serious bootay. Just wait till next game day and see what we do!

This was during tailgating. The whole Vandal marching band goes out and plays for all the tailgaters and during one of the songs that we play the tuba players have a "match" and fight each other. I just thought that this was an awesome picture.

Here's the band getting ready for our first pre game show of the season. I feel we did really good for our first show ever.

Then the whole band forms a tunnel and welcomes our boys onto the field. Overall our first game was tons of fun, the Vandal football team totally kick butt and the band did an excellent thriller dance during halftime. I can't wait till homecomming, I have a feeling it's going to be crazy.

The Good: The tubas making a successfully making a pyramid without getting run over by the football team

The Bad: Paint in the eyes

The Ugly: A kid puking in the stands and still continued to cheer for the Vandals...Go Vandals!

Vandal Game Day!

Last weekend the Idaho Vandal Football team kicked butt against the Rams. This is a major cause to celebrate and have fun. This is how it went down.

First thing of the day the Vandal Pep band played at the first home volleyball game which was a blast. Of course our team won for you people who don't believe in the awesomeness of the Vandals. This was the first pep band game of the season and the turnout was awesome. Hopefully I'll get excepted into the Pep band for the basketball team!

 

Here are some of my fellow tuba players, Henry (in front) and Kyle. Lets just say they are you're typical tuba players, they keep each day of marching band interesting, and in a good way too.This is what happens during pep band games, we get just a little crazy at times.

Then right after the volleyball game it was strait to the football game. Before the game the tubas have a tradition of going out to the tailgaters and running around and playing the Beer song for everyone. This is great fun and if you ever decide to go tailgating at one of the Vandal games give me a holler and I'll run over there and play the Beer song for you. If you want to hear what the beer song sounds like just follow the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks98eHwQNaM

 

The stands were totally packed. At least the student seats were totally packed. It was amazing to be out on the field marching in front of everybody, it just gives you a rush. That night was probably the night where I had the most fun with marching band. When I was standing out on the field I just felt so proud of myself because I made one of my dream come true and the one of the cool things is I'm living my dream.

After the game I went to the bagel shop down town with an awesome guy that I met and then went and watched a movie that I've never seen before. It was a good way to end a great day and even though I was dead beat tired I would do it again in a heart beat.

The Good: The amazing school spirit

The Bad: Carrying a 50 pound tuba on your shoulder for 8 hours

The Ugly: All the homework left for Sunday

Recovering Introvert

So this weekend the College of Natural Resources held leadership Retreat that I decided to go to. The trip was completely free and I didn't have to spend one penny on the trip. (excellent for a poor college student)  The whole them of the retreat was "A team of leaders" and throughout the retreat I learned about group dynamics, power, and the art of negotiation, compromise, and conflict resolution. Plus we did a voulnteer activity which was a blast and I met all kinds of neat friends.

 

I stayed at Dworshk State Park, very beautiful place. The first day that I arrived the camp host said to beware because there was a mama bear and a cub running around and also a cougar lives in the area. So the first night I was there I was kinda paranoid about running into a bear or being stocked by a mountain lion.

 

So one night me and a couple other kids decided to camp out on the side of the lake. The night the starts were beautiful and the night night was warm but once morning hit it got freezing cold.

  

The first morning I decided to go on a early morning hike with my body down to the lake, about 6:00 in the morning so I was really still asleep. I saw this black think off in the distance and I almost freaked out because I saw this black object off in the distance and the first thought that came to my mind was "BEAR!" because the host had told me about the mama bear and the cub. But no, it wasn't a bear, but a silly cow.

 

One of the leadership challenges that we had was called " Leap of Faith " The point of this game was to get the whole team over the rope without touching the rope. So I got to crowd surf this weekend, which was awesome, different, but awesome.

 

On the retreat we did community service. We go to cut down pine trees and de-bark them. This was all done for the Nez Peirce Indian tribe and the whole point was these poles that we were making where to go the the elders so they can make tepees. It was pretty fun, I got really sappy but at least I smelt good.

 

In the end we ended up making about 50 poles. It was great.

The whole leadership retreat was really fun. I got to meet some really neat people and friends and hopefully I will beable to stay in contact with the people I met.  I also learned a lot about my self as a leader and as a person. I learned what typed of leader I am and what my strength and weaknesses are. In the end I had concluded that I am a recovering introvert and I'm thankful that I am no longer that painfully shy person who sits in the corner anymore, I'm not afraid to step over my boundaries and push myself over the limit.

The Good: I am better person as a whole and I'm not ashamed of who I am

The Bad: The world better watch out for me because I'm comming

The Ugly: How much sap I was covered in, that stuff is impossible to get off

Saturday Nights

So on Saturday nights people in the dorms can get really boring. So what do you get when you put a whole bunch of kids in one room with flashy lights and loud, and not so good, music? A "rave".  My friends and I decided to check it out to see if it was any good. When we showed up the room smelt like BO and you could barly breath. But other that my friends and I decided to stay awhile and dance and this is what happened.

 

Like I said, not to shabby for a dorm rave. A couple of guys just threw everything together and this is what we got.

 

 

Just another picture I wanted to add add because it  makes me laugh with the guys in the background.

 

And here are my buddies goofing off. Most of the time we were trying to get the rest of the girls to dance, but at least they showed up.  That was pretty much my weekend, other than homework and sleeping.

The Good: I can sleep in as long as I want

The Bad:   I miss my friends and family back home

The Ugly:  Me waking up in the morning