Tori

So I just got done helping Mom outside. Why? Its name is Bill.

Yeah. Hurricanes do NOT like my family the girls in my family. (Dad's not here, yet Bill is headed for. However, in his defense [it wouldn't be fair to leave him out, after all] it did begin to form where his ship was, off the coast of Africa.)

"Oh that's just silly. Weather can't 'not like' someone!" you say?

Oh yes, YES it can!!!

( Let me elaborate: )

Uh... fun? -_-

ETA: WTF?! The news in America is so royally effed up that it can't even correctly tell you what is going RIGHT NOW. I have this funny feeling that it's:
A) Raining (not "10% chance of showers"... if it's raining, that means SAY IT'S RAINING!)
B) It's windy (and I don't mean "6mph" windy, as you seem to think it is. Seriously, it takes more than 6mph winds to pick up a large stick and throw it into the window. Seriously! Plus, based on the fact it's an H1 Hurricane right now, and how far out it is, we're in the 39-59 mph zone (roughly)... which is a tad more than six.)
C) You would think that, logically, you would match your "forecast" of what the weather is right now to what you "report" of the weather is right now (The funny thing is: their "forecast" matches the weather dead-on, but the current report is waaaaaay the hell off!)
D) I have lost what little faith I had in meteorology... or at least the people who play one on TV.
E) If you want to know the weather, buy or make this:

Grrr... my laptop's battery has officially kicked the bucket. I holds NO change anymore -_-

It still works while plugged in, but will suddenly shut down if the power cord gets knocked out (which is fairly easy to do while shifting it)

That whole "I need a new one soon" just became "ASAP"

Poor Atlantis, tethered to the wall!

- Read some fanfic
- Procrastinated betaing fanfic
- Procrastinated writing fanfic
- Ate some Win Cookies (my new name for my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies that turned out so amazing!)
- Broke my glasses (the left nose pad broke off). But don't worry, I have a backup pair! Now I just need to find said pair (which has been MIA for a couple months...)
- Did a 3.2 mile (5K) loop. I ran about a mile or so of it and got back before it started to rain (badly)
- Took pictures while on above mentioned walk/run
- Made a fruit smoothie (AKA, a "shake-shake-shake" *with dance routine* Blame my sister for that name... she's worse than Aiden Ford!)
- I am currently drinking said shake-shake-shake
- I'm going to train the dogs (AKA, they must work for their dinner) shortly
- Then we (Mom, Amelia, and I) are going to watch "A Very Potter Musical" :D
- Might watch Equus (1977) tonight as well, since I have that from Netflix. That or Horton Hears A Who (2008)Equus, she ordered the other one. Believe it or not, I'm much more happy-go-lucky than she is... which apparently isn't reflected in our choice of films!!!

That's it :)

( Sometimes, I hate being female... rant ahead! )

Which reminds me of a meme:

Leave me a comment and I will give you a letter. Then, write 10 things that you love starting with that letter. Post the list in your journal. Give out letters to those who comment on your list in return.
sparkly_sparky gave me the letter "R":

1. Remus Lupin! He is tied with Sirius for being my favorite male main character in the Harry Potter series. I love them because they're both flawed and have to overcome people's first impressions of them.
2. Radek Zelenka! He's my favorite recurring character on Stargate: Atlantis.
3. Mr. Raisley! He was my 5th grade teacher. That class was my favorite :) We did so much fun stuff that year. He was brilliant at keeping everyone interested and providing differnt levels of difaculty within the project (allowing us to move at our own pace.) It was the class I was the least bored in, thus, I loved it!
4. Mrs. Reed! She was my ELP (Enriched Learning Program) teach in 4th and 5th grade. I would spend 60-90 minutes with her and 3-4 other "smart kids" in a separate from 2-3 times a week. We did random stuff that was above curriculum level. It was a blast! We made claymation movies on the ways dinosaurs might have died out (I did super-volcanoes!), made websites, studied periods in art (cave through modern), learned about the Maya culture, and LOADS more! It was sooooo much fun :) Plus, she was the one who helped us figure out my CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder)
5. Random! That me, I'm random! Okay, well, I'm not... but I'm "good" at making lots of connections between topics in my head... and it happens wicked fast! So, after a 10 second lull in conversation, I'll say something like "Remember that time in Canada we ate at the restaurant with the moose outside?" When the conversation has been about crayons. Here's my thought process: crayons; crayons melted into the car seat; that happened while moving from Kodiak; Kodiak; moving to Kodiak; drove through Canada to get to Kodiak; long drive; I get hungry on long drives; food; food in Canada; restaurants in Canada; cool times at restaurants in Canada; that time there was a moose outside the restaurant while we ate. See it's "not" random :) And you totally followed that, right?
6. Ravioli! Dude, that it like the ONE food I miss gluten-free. There's plenty of GF pasta, but no GF ravioli, unless you make it yourself, and handmade pasta is a royal PitA!
7. Robin Hood: Men in Tights! Gotta love that Mel Gibson movie! It's just made of win and awesome :) "We are men, manly men! Men in tiiiiights! We roam around the forests looking for fights!"
8. Retried Thoroughbreds! AKA, OTTBs (Off the Track ThoroughBreds) Two of my favorite horses in Florida had been race horses previously. There's Nanny: he was a stud (literally, stallions are "studs") but very gentle. He broke the mold. Whereas most stallions are crazy, wild, and unpredictable, he was gentle, kind, sweet, and reliable. He was a good ride on the flat (knee injury prevented jumping.) He won over $200,000 racing. And there was Mr. Snowshoes. He raced three times, and lost all the races, before retiring... he just didn't like to run! But, what he did like was to JUMP! You had to aim him away from jumps! When he was bored in his paddock he would literally jump in and out for fun... it would seriously annoy the other horses!
9. Retrievers! I love both of my dogs, and they're both Golden Retriever/Chesapeake Bay Retriever mixes; although, Amber has more in her than just that.
10. R&R! If I read a fanfic, I'm really good about leaving a review... even if it's a crappy one (see previous post.)

Okay, "R" was hard!

*Sing to 'Deck the Halls'*

Drive we now across the nation.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Moving is this year's vacation.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Plugging ears, both parents demand:
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
"Are we there yet?" is henceforth banned!
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Although the trip is lots of fun,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
We'll be glad when it is done.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
After weeks we do arrive,
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
And wonder how we stayed alive.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la


Yeah, you know me, rewriting/spoofing songs is fun :) Ironically, I thought of rewriting this one because the line "'Tis the season to be moving, Fa la la la la la la la la." popped into my head, and I didn't even use that line!!!

Anyways, yep. That's the life of a military brat :) Our across-the-back-yard neighbors moved last week, and this week some are moving into the house next door (not the one that shares our driveway, the other next door.)

It has also "hit me." In less than a month and a half, I will be living on my own (well, I'll have a roommate, but no family.) Eep! This is longest I've ever lived in one house. I've been here for coming on three whole years! Seriously, that's the longest I've ever been in one house! And it's the longest by, I believe, nine months!!! So, while moving on is daunting, I'm itching for it! I mean, come on, I've been in the same bedroom for far too long! It's really weird! (And this isn't the first time I've "felt the need to move." I've completely rearranged my bedroom at least 3 times since we moved here... I would do it again, but it seems kinda pointless... I am, however, packing stuff up for MHC!)

I hate summer. My reasoning behind this:

- It's hot (duh)
- It's boring (no classes)
- I don't have as many social interaction (the tourists scare me)
- It's hot (I don't like hot, I like cold!!!)
- I can't exercise (see "it's hot")
- I had to religiously apply sunscreen EVERY FREAKIN' DAY (even when I don't plan on going outside.)
- I get sunburned (even with the SPF 70)
- My vitiligo gets even more sunburned (albinos don't tan well...)
- It's hot (I don't think I mentioned this...)
- My sleep schedule gets so messed up (my spirit is in Alaska - the land of the midnight sun - but my insomnia is here)
- I get bored

Yadda, yadda. You get the idea. Summer is overrated.

I love autumn for basically all the reverse reasons as stated above :)

*points to time for proof of insomnia* And I've only gotten like 5 hours of sleep the last two nights.

The real one this time, not a bad spoof!!!

We went to try and find fabric for my Ima's "IKEA hacker-inspired bed-of-doom project" today. Got some really pretty fabric for curtains or something. It's hard to describe what we got. It's thin/gauzy/see-through (can't recall the right name.) It's partly muted-sage-green, and partly muted-brick-red. It also has embroidery all over it in new-copper-penny thread (but it's thick, more like yard) in the shapes of leaves. It's drop-jaw gorgeous! I swear Lashy, you would kill for it!!! AND we got it for 75% off, how awesome is that?!?!? And it's SOOO "Ima" it's ridiculous! It's beyond perfect for her room... and I don't think Dad will mind it either :)

Anyways, we didn't find the perfect fabric for Ima's bed (which is going to "upholstered" by a slipcover.) We did order some swatches though, which should get here in a week or so :)

Then we went out for late lunch/early dinner. Mexican food! Yum! There's no good Mexican/Tex-Mex food nearby (we lived in Texas for a year, we've been spoiled by really good Mexican/Tex-Mex food and have become snobs about it!) so when we go far from the house, that's often the cuisine we choose to eat. It was delicious, as always! (Ironically, one of the best not-in-Texas Tex-Mex restaurants we've eaten at is in Kodiak, Alaska. Go figure!?)

Well, the restaurant we ate at is right by a Talbot's Outlet Store. So we went shopping :D Amelia got loads of ice tops that fit her so well that you can't help but wonder if they came and took a mold of her while she was sleeping or something! I got a cute skirt (that has pockets, score!) for wicked cheap (marked down to $24, and 75% off of that!) I love outlets! Pity I'm not a size 6, because this store was one of the ones that sells all the samples they make for "well, maybe this will be one of the lines this year?" But all the samples are in size 6 (some 8s, but that's not me either!) or in size 18W (Woman's, "plus" sizes, but not just bigger, cut for the different proportions [eg, bigger bust proportionately])

And guess what else I found? *drum roll* The prettiest dress ever!!! It's very "spring/summery", but it's amazing! The cut really makes me look good! For those who know me in RL (and maybe some that don't), you know I dress very modestly. I don't like to wear anything low cut (more than 2 inches below my collarbone), sleeveless tops, pants, shorts, or skirts that are higher than the bottom of my kneecaps. Yeah, "slightly" modest for your average teen... (okay, so I'm not "average"... by any stretch of the imagination!)

However, this dress is sleeveless and low-cut v-neck, and I don't care! It looks that good on me! I'm not even going to bother trying to describe it, because I need to just take a picture of it! I'm going to tomorrow! I love it sooooooo much :) It cost $60. That was half-off the already marked-down price! I don't get new clothes all the often (I'm very pro thrift store), and this is defiantly the most expensive clothing item I've gotten in a few years :) But it's so worth it! I don't feel self conscious at ALL in it, which is saying something! It makes me feel sexy! *loves it*

Alright... I'll stop talking about the dress... It's pretty by the way, in case you were wondering!

Well, that's it for now...

Yes, I'm still planning on doing a voice post soon.

Oh, thumb: not as injured as we orginally thought. In fact, it's not bandaged anymore (although it is a bit achy tonight after I used it all day...) I think I might not have fully dislocated it, just really stretched the joint (sorta/kinda like a sprain, but not) because it defiantly popped a bit. Anyways... I can type, yea!! 'Tis good news :)

Lilah Tov :)

Our dogs are weird.

Lily will eat anything, and I mean ANYthing. She particularly a fan of produce. She'll eat apples, carrots, lettuce, onions (raw and cooked), bell peppers, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, berries, avocado, basil, parsley, chives, mango, pineapple, peaches, plums, the list goes on! You name it, she'll eat it. Once we offered her a piece of lettuce, and a piece of leftover steak... after going back and forth, she reluctantly took the steak before quickly gobbling up the lettuce! So far, the only thing we have found that she won't eat is gluten-free vegan macaroni and "chreese"... yeah, it was that bad tasting!!!

Amber is picky. She LOVES meat (AKA, she's a normal dog.) However, since she's Alpha, we have to give her food before Lily. Which means when we give Lily bits of food, we give some to Amber. Since we know she doesn't like it, we give her really tiny bits; she then holds the food in her mouth for a long time before reluctantly chewing it and eating it with this look of "This is horrible! But I can't let Lily have it!!!" on her face. It's mega cute!

So, the only "non-normal" thing Amber loves is bananas... and she LOVES bananas! We would think she's losing her hearing in old age, except that she can hear a banana being peeled from across the house, while she's asleep, and comes running! It's ridiculous how much she likes them! Her second favorite this is anything baked.

So enters Banana Bread. This do will do ANYTHING for Banana Bread (I swear, she would jump off a cliff if there was banana bread at the bottom!) She's just absolutely in love with it.

Well, we had six over-ripe bananas, so I made some Banana Bread, which I haven't made in FOREVER! It turned out wicked yummy and good, so I'm very happy! Doesn't it look yummy?



( Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe )

Here's Amber getting some of her beloved banana bread! Note: She doesn't really chew it, she swallows it straight down because it's so yummy! (You would think she would take the time to savor it, but nope!) Also note the eager expression and perked-up ears!

I'm the one filming and talking. Behold once again: the bizarre accent! I should do a voice post at some point showcasing my many different accents. Anyone want me to do that? If no one cares, I won't bother.

And now *drumroll* The Eureka season premier!!!

One word: AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, that many exclamation points is required!)

Let's put it this way: you know are singer/bands will record a track multiple times, then pick the best parts and put it together for the CD? I think they picked the worst one to put on the CD, but it's NOTHING compared to her live!

It was in this big (well, biggish...) church. We sat on the balcony in the back corner, which had great acoustics (in my uneducated opinion...)

She sangs loads of songs, including two of my all-time-favs from any band/singer (they're defiantly in my top 20!) which is "When I Was a Boy" and "Are You Out There?" They're fantastic. And she told stories about them while she was tuning, so we got to know the background behind each song, which was fantastic :)

We also got to talk to her after the show! And we only slightly cornered her to do it as well! We told her she just had to come to Northampton/Hadley and play a gig there for the colleges! ("Mount Holysmokes") She said she would love to, but the colleges often don't want the "small people" to play; Amelia and I are already plotting!!!

We also told her that we'd grown up listening to her (the past decade) and loved her music. She told my mom (with a laugh) that she did a great job raising us. We all three then thanked her for playing "We Learned the Sea" which is about sailors. We told her what dad's doing right now, and she was absolutely thrilled that the military is helping other countries by teaching them ways to do things, without running in and saying "You're way is wrong, this is how to do it!" (For examples, see: Middle East.)

Also, Thai food was awesome! And I normally hate Thai food, but the pineapple fried rice was delicious!

All in all, amazing night! I'm in such a good mood, and so relaxed right now. I didn't realize I wasn't happy before, nor that I was stressed, but now that I'm not, I can tell that I was!... okay, that sentence got away from me, oh well!

Night :)

So, in my life I have seen Great Big Sea, and I've seen Kris Delmhorst. Tonight my ima (mom), sister, and I are going to see Dar Williams!

We're also going out to dinner (Thai food) with two of my mom's friends. Should be fun!

Luckily, I'm feeling better today; although, I know I'm going to be wicked tired by tonight!

Not that I dislike any of you Brits :)

Mom and I are watching the Boston Pops show on TV. The Narrator is someone who I've had the chance to hear speak before in real life. Reverend Professor Peter Gomes is a brilliant speaker!!! He's quite funny and personable as well :)

Hope you all have had a good day, even if you're not an American :)

So, while I've been training Lily to do the Spanish walk, I've gained some injuries to my arms. I am teaching her by shaping the behavior off of "give paw." Thus, she's trying to put her paw in my hand while she walks along my side. Well, she can be enthusiastic with the attempt to shake my hand. Since she's got the basics down now, we're working on lifting her paws up without touching my hand; that part is slow going!

Anyways, the insides of both of my forearms are all scratched up. What's worse, the pinky-side of my wrist has been hit numerous with her dewclaw. She's not broken the skin, but she damaged one of the arteries. She did is last night, and then again tonight in the same spot. So I have their huge contusion on my wrist that's really ugly and swollen, but it doesn't hurt too much.

Anyways, now my wrist is wrapped tightly (not cutting off the circulation) in an ace bandage. The wrap will "push" the blood into getting absorbed by the surrounding tissues.

It's wicked annoying though, I can't bend my wrist!!! At least I can use all ten of my fingers... which, trust me, is something I've not been able to say many time! I've dislocated three different fingers before (all at different times) which means that finger and it's neighbors are all wrapped together. That makes typing a challenge!

I can deal with the wrist thing!!!

Lily is ignoring Nuka, and Nuka is staying on the furniture and only bothering the other dog, so life is good for now.

I'm doing more training with them. I'm now giving them their dinner during a training session so they have to work for it. I'm also going to start doing that with breakfast (since mom wakes earlier than me, and dogs want their morning kibble, she's feeding them a 1/2 meal and then I use the other half around lunchtime for training.)

Amber is as much of a clown as ever, and very ADHD (like me!) She works well with the clicker though. Over the past three days she has learned to rollover on command :D I'm proud of her (I've tried to teach it to her in the past but she would get halfway rolled and then decide that a belly-rub would be a good idea, and she stays there...)

Lily has, in less than 24 hours (I started teaching her last night) learned the basics of the Spanish Walk! Like I've said all along, this dog is freakin' smart! For those who don't know what a Spanish Walk is, it's a historic horse "trick" used by royalty, nobles, and other upper-class. used mainly during parades, but also to clear a path through crowds when needed. Here's a video:


So far, her record is seven perfect steps in a row (switching feet, and not taking normal steps in between.) It's really cute :) If anyone wants, I can try and get a video of it tonight. We're still working on perfecting it (IE, not having to have me standing right beside her with the treats.) Previous times I've tried to clicker-train her haven't worked so well; she just never was into the whole idea. This time however she is FLYING through the tricks! I'm going to run out before long!

Quick, suggest some idea for tricks!!! I need help coming up with more!

So we now know where Dad's going!

He's going to Lisbon, Portugal, then on he goes to Morocco and Gabon in Africa! He's under instruction to bring Amelia and I "cool fabric" and I think he should score in Morocco at least!

It's nice to know where it is he's being deployed to, even if it's after he's been deployed! (He sent us an email from the ship.)

I was doing good for a few days there; going to bed around midnight and waking up around nine. I like that timing.

I couldn't fall asleep tonight though... well, this morning...

Let's put it this way: is it bad if you're still awake when the birds start to sing and the sky starts to lighten? Probably, eh?

I'm just not starting to get tired... I think I'll go hit the sack. The parents should be up in a hour or so...

There was a contest at the Relay between a group of soccer-team girls and their coach vs. whoever wanted to play. If you beat the people who knew what they were doing, they would donate $100 in your teams' name.

I joined another group of people since I was the only person on my team who wanted to play (it was 10 AM this morning, so 19 hours into the event.) I was assigned as goalie since I have past experience.

I blocked four goals! (Let one in, but we scored one too so tied. They donated $50 in our name!) One of the goals was kicked by the coach! He kicked it from the other side of the pitch (half-sized, but still) and I have a mark on my shin which is turning into a bruise, but dammit I blocked the goal! I found out after that the guy had played professionally in England for a few years! So I blocked a goal by a professional soccer [football, futball] player! And he was trying to score, at least by the look on his face. It was out of his pocket that the money was coming from *lol*

I'm made of win!

I've finished English comp II! I think I'll have an A in it as well!

I finished Relay for Life!

23 hours (I was there for longer than that... plus it didn't start until afternoon so I'd been awake for a while before it started.)

I managed maybe one hour of sleep, more like 40 minutes...

I personally walked 18.25 miles! That's 73 laps!!! I did it all sorts of hours, including 2 am... that sucked!

We won the Team Spirit award! Mainly because we didn't stop say "Arrrrg!" from the getgo... we were the "Pirates for Life" :) Seriously, my throat hurts from all the "Arrrg!"ing... and the other teams would encourage us to do it, so of course we did! Everyone loved the bandannas I made (and that my sister helped with)

I'm kinda tired... I should be much more tired but I've hit that point where you stop being tired because you're so tired...

Also, I ate waaaaay too much junk food! Of course, I burned off all the calories, but still!

First, the new:

Since our Mitsubishi Expo died, we had to get a new car. Plus, my sister and I are learning to drive and well, we needed something to drive! (Mom won't let us near the driver's side of her precious Mini Copper S, and I don't blame her!) So, that's our new car!

It's a Mazda Mazda5.... seriously, you say "Mazda" twice! I've decied to name it (it's a requirement to name one's first car!) and it's name is the "Bond-Mobile"! You know, "Bond, James Bond." That's all I can think of when I say/hear "Mazda, Mazda5" *lol* So, unless Amelia (we're sharing it) highly disagrees, the car is named Bond-Mobile! And I love her/him (haven't decided :P) Oh, and I'm SOOOOO totally adding bumper stickers! Well, my college at least!

And the cool:


See, I tooooold you! That's proff that they take military tactical vehicles to the commissary (grocery store) on base! Sorry it's a blurry picture, I took it on my phone (I'm a camera sniper... ok, probably shouldn't say that on the base...)



There, it's easier to see it in that picture. That's one of the cooler trucks they have here. We're swamped with them right now since a bunch of troops are about to get shipped out. It's sad that they have to leave their families, but it means that the people over there now can rotate out and come home, which is a good thing :)

In addition to the ground vehicles, there's a bunch of stuff in the air too! Loads of Blackhawk helicopters, cargo (C-class) planes, some fighters (mostly F-15s) etc.

Who needs peace and quiet? At least there's no airshow this summer! (The USAF Thunderbirds practiced here for TWO WEEKS before the show... for about 4-6 hours a day (or so it seemed) less than 1/4 mile over house... and they're L-O-U-D!!! And they we're the only loud thing that decided to practice over housing!) I'm SOOOOOOO glad for that fact!

If the base theater had Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince as a preview. They do 3-4 previews a year here, "for moral." Sometimes they're not so great (I.E. Happy Feet) other times they're fantastic (I.E. The Guardian)

They should totally have HPatHPB!!!! It would be *cough* good for moral *nods*

Anyways, I hope to go see Star Trek again this weekend (it's at the base theater now) and drag my dad along (who is yet to see it! *gasp*)

Also, I would be more that totally cool with the idea of someone else writing my English papers *nods*

This is a common site:


Also many, MANY other types of military vehicles. Blackhawks hovering over my house is normal. F-16s flying by is normal. The person in front of you, while buying groceries, wearing camouflage is normal.

Yeah, life on a military base is a bit "odd," but it's nice too. This is the least populated spot in this area; it's fantastic to live here!