A few more arguments with technology and a new appreciation for magazine covers

When I left the office today, I quickly stopped in the restroom, and I noticed (to my horror) that I literally had bags under my eyes—not just dark circles, but BAGS. THAT is how tired I am, yet it is 11:45 p.m. and I'm still up writing this blog for probably the one or two people that will actually read it. Oh well. I think it's mostly for myself than anything else.

I think I am going to defy space and time and work backwards chronologically today because I think that makes the most sense. See, the reason I'm up very late with the enormous bags under my eyes and didn't go to bed super early (last night I had the glorious opportunity of going to bed at 9p.m. *miracle*) is because tonight I drove to Virginia. For anyone who has not been to the East coast, this might seem mind blowing, but in this area it is very quick and easy to get from one state to another. Just to get to Gaithersburg where I work is about a 3 1/2 hour drive and I go through 3 states. So Virginia is only about 20 minutes from here, and I have a friend who lives about 40 minutes away that I decided to go visit because I haven't seen him in about 3 years. And by 40 minutes, I mean 40 minutes in a perfect world. And a perfect world would have two things: 1) no traffic, and 2) no GPSs. The traffic around here is a NIGHTMARE. Literally. I'm starting to develop a phobia about it. I'm sure I'm going to start having like Vietnam-flashbacks about it. Today, it took me almost 20 minutes to get from the office to Panera, which is .9 miles away. Not 9 miles, but 0.9 miles. Ridiculous. I left Gaithersburg at 7 p.m. thinking that traffic should not be a big issue, but turns out I was wrong. It's bad at any hour, which leads me to my next problem: the GPS. Yesterday, I warned you never to trust that voice, no matter how friendly. But today I got sucked back into its magical powers and I let it temp me into choosing an alternate route to avoid traffic on my way to Virginia. It just made the option look so tempting, and I was so vulnerable because I was sick of traffic and anxious to get to VA. But I'm determined not to let it tempt me AGAIN. It took me through all of these bizarre back roads that it got me turned around twice, and two other times it told me to turn where there was no road, and once it straight up didn't tell me which road to take when I was presented with two options and then proceeded to yell at me when I made the wrong choice. I wanted to punch it in the face, if it had one. So it took me 25 minutes longer to get to where I was going than it should have. I did not fall for it's tricks on the way home. I stuck it out, patiently, through the traffic (yes, even at 11 p.m. there is traffic—thank you construction), and I came to the realization of why it must be making up streets and bizarre directions. There is a lot of construction going on on some of the highways I took to get to VA and back, and the GPS itself was confused by the traffic patterns. At one point on my way home I had to openly defy the GPS in favor of my own sense of direction because the traffic patterns had been greatly altered due to construction, and I was triumphant. I've decided to grow a backbone and not use the GPS as a crutch anymore—I have a good internal sense of direction and I'm going to trust that from now on, and Magellan will just have to deal with it.

At my internship today, I finished my first article! Well, the first draft anyway (which is punny, because the article is about a draft horse... some nerdy horse humor for you). I gave it to the managing editor to look over and edit. I'm excited! I think the article came out really well, I just hope my editor likes it. I also finished cataloguing all the back issues, so today I actually had to ask for my work to do.... Turns out I got something really fun! Hilary, the senior editor, told me I could help pick out the cover for the August issue! So I spent about an hour going through about a hundred photos and picking ones that would maybe make a good cover shot and ones that would be good for inside the magazine in the article that went with it. This task is actually WAY harder than it sounds. You would think that with a hundred photos, one would have to work. But there are a lot of things to consider, both artistic and technical. You have to find something that is beautiful and artistic, but it also has to have space for the title and the cover lines, the background needs to be subdued so the cover lines pop out, they have to their top hats on their head or helmets on their head, the horse needs to be in a technically correct position yet not look to "circus-y" so that our readers feel like they can relate and that they can make their horses do that too (even though they really probably can't), the tail can't be too high, the horse's head can't be at all behind the vertical, the list goes on and on. This is a very hard task. We found a few that we liked. And then inside shots were almost equally hard. It's all about balance. And these photos have to go through a technical review after we pick them, where someone who knows a TON about the sport (and the senior editor knows A LOT and she isn't even the final word) looks at them to make sure we are promoting correct images/technique. Basically, we have to find a safe photo for a broad range of audience, some more casual and some very picky, and ALL of them are very opinionated. So this can be a painstaking process if you don't want hundreds of letters to the editor each month with some small complain about a horse's ears being too far back or something.

I also had more fun with the Rolodex today. I was put in charge of sending out Complementary issues of the magazine to people who either wrote an article, had a photo included, etc. So I went Rolodex crazy and found out where some more famous riders live. Exciting. And I went through the drafts and final copies for our June issue, so I actually saw the entire magazine already and I know what's going to be in it. Its pretty freaking cool. It's going to be a good one :) I just feel so powerful.

Well all of this power and arguing with technology has made me very tired, and now I must sleep. Thanks for reading and please post lots of comments! They make me happy and let me know people are reading. And please follow the blog! You guys are great, thanks for making my life legit.