Outer Banks of North Carolina

as usual, i'm just very tired. been having less than 5 hours of sleep the past few days until last night when i think i had 5-6 hours, and i never really did recover from vegas.

went to work today, and it was tiring as usual. i think my feet are rotting cos my shoes are falling apart, and every single part is cui so when i step into 1 mm of water it gets in and my feet are soaked in dampness all day. inside, outside, insole, rubber etc. are all rotten, shall throw them away next week ;) i got many more weird bites, from mosquitoes, insects and whatever, giving those huge red pepperoni-shaped itchy sores on my legs =( if cortaid doesn't work tonight i shall use toothpaste tmr. have been itching all over for 2 days ;(

did trash today, and i had trash juice spilt on 1 side of my shorts, flowing down my legs. felt miserable ;( but i went to wash up after it had dried up, and hopefully after washing my shorts it won't stink and there won't be a stain.

north carolina was beautiful :)) i wanna own a horse! we went horse riding on the outer banks of north carolina, through forests and on the beach. lasted 2-3 hrs and cost $95 and all of us ended up with sore butts. haah. but it was fun! my horse, Tonka, is a 6 yr old male and he was HUGE. the largest and tallest of the lot, and they assigned him to me cos i was the tallest of the group, which was made up of all girls. most of them were younger than us too. there was this lil girl who got a really short horse haha. or maybe it was a pony. anyway although Tonka scared me whenever he kicked his hind legs (guide said it's cos there was a fly on his belly) cos i felt like i was gonna fly off, he was good most part of the way. when we cantered along the beach it was so violent i almost died-ed, cos i was practically flying up and down on the saddle. lol. my butt hurt so bad and i was desperately tugging on the reins to get Tonka to stop or at least slow down, i felt so helpless and pathetic. haha. but really, it was the experience of a lifetime. almost lost my cap on the beach, cos the wind was too strong, but the guides picked it up for me. was damn dirty though. then on the way back thru the forest Tonka suddenly started galloping to cover the space btn us and Jack (rode by Shimin), and i seriously almost fell off. my right foot came out of the stirrups and i almost slid off Tonka's back but lucky i held on for dear life. and he took me thru the pine trees, but the scratches weren't too bad. managed to take quite a few photos, shall post soon.

went up Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, covering 274 steps. wind was strong on top. it's the tallest brick lighthouse in USA!

on the second day we dropped by Elizabeth's house on the way back to Richmond, to return her all the camping stuff. her brown horse was beautiful :) Buddy's the name, and he used to be a race horse. cost USD1200. she had a white horse too, a female, which only cost USD500 cos she's limp in 1 leg. and her 10 acres of land cost like just 60K? and that's alr supposed to be very expensive. they say it's much cheaper in Indiana. oh man. her barn, house, fields and everything was just so surreal. i guess it's very different yet rewarding in a way to live in the countryside. with her own dirt bikes, boats, jeeps, horses, dog, cat, wake boards and all. says a horse can costs as cheap as USD300. eh, i can like almost afford everything there! house, car, horse. that's all i want!! hahaha.

btw we camped at Cape Point campground, and it was damn ulu and dark but the night sky was breath taking. i finally understood wat a blanket of stars meant, cos there were so many stars u didn't know where to look. uncountable! and they were everywhere, not just overhead. like if u sat up u could still see them hanging low without having to crane your neck 90 degrees up. seriously, i've never seen so many stars in my entire life, added up! had a BBQ and pitched our tent, but the tent was cui cos pegs were missing and we couldn't figure how to get it up so we took quite long. hey i still prefer the primitive old kind we used in Guides, cos then at least i'd have made more headway. lol. but i still rmb my 45 deg pegs and how to take footing for the lines! heheheeh. the tent flew off halfway cos the soil was too soft and the wind too strong, but after tt we managed to stabilise it. 3 of them slept in the tent, 2 of us (including me) in the car and 3 in the open. they slept on the tent poncho. in the morning the sea gulls came and made a hell lot of noise and i was wondering why there was so much quacking. they were actually feasting on our food! the remains of the BBQ the night before, which was lots of chicken, corn and fish.

anyway i didn't drive at all the entire trip, cos we had 2 guys = 2 drivers. so i had the luxury of backseat sleeping haha. but i was aching all over. i still am! my butt, neck, back...lol at least i didn't get car sick.

on the way back from North Carolina we stopped by some corn and fruit orchard thingy, and the peaches were GREAT. big, fresh, sweet and juicy!!! should have bot more :(

it's 2.04am and i still have work tmr. i just washed my socks with plain water and threw away 1 pair which was black and yellow and hardened beyond redemption, and i think i'll throw the rest away after i end work next wk. time really flies. all of a sudden my last day in Virginia will be next sunday. then off i go to NY and home i come! haha. then school will start :(

i hope i get the modules i want, cos currently everything's still on waitlist. oh and subject reg was 1 of the reasons i had so little slp before the trip, cos i did till 3+am and had to wake up at 8+am for work. it's irritating how everything i wanna take, or at least looks vaguely interesting or manageable clashes with my core modules or the exams. there goes my forensic science, psych and socio. sianzzz. so i chose biz law, biz finance, popular culture, jap level 1 and GN02 which is recommended by Joyce but looks freaking boring and i even forgot the name of the module, but i think it has sth to do with impact of architecture on the environment or sth lidat.

the power was out this morning for maintenance, and i had to pee and brush in the dark. i hope my fridge food ain't spoilt. and i couldn't make my daily dose of notty egg cos the m'wave was out. electricity really is impt!


Toyota Sierra that took us places. it's an 8-seater!


Tonka!!


Elizabeth's horses, in her field.

Buddy!

There shd be nicer pics and other grp pics in the other cams, but we haven't compiled the pics yet. ok i shall go slp. without brushing teeth again lol.