Alternations: Part 2

Some of you may remember that my car broke down on the side of the turnpike a few weeks ago. Well since then poor Ripley has been sitting in my mother's driveway awaiting a brand new alternator. The plan was to fix the car last weekend, but mother nature had different plans for us involving rain. Instead this past weekend my mother wanted to do Family Photos, and we were set to fix Ripley after the shoot.

Aww! Aren't we cute?
Left to Right: C.J., Brendan, Mom, Rich, Me, Mikki
Photo by Anisa's Photography

When I arrived the dust covers and tire were already removed from my 2000 Infiniti I-30. Because of the way the Infiniti is built we also had to drain the radiator and move the air conditioner out of the way, two thing I can now say I can almost do by myself now (unless it's in a different car). Then came the daunting task of removing the bad alternator. It turns out there are a few blots holding it in place and one of them can be compared to the Lynch Pin on the Death Star. It was difficult to find and when we got it out the whole alternator could just fall out of the car.

No judgment on how bad I look trying to fix cars.

Now I would like to point out that I ad never seen, much less held, an alternator before. It looks like it maybe weighs 2-3 lbs. The thing is full of coils and magnets and who-knows-what-else and it weighs closer to 20-30 lbs. We then proceeded to AutoZone and bought a new alternator to bring Ripley back to life.
At this point we had taken the car apart, so putting it back together was fairly simple. Unfortunately we were running out of daylight and we had to work fast, but nevertheless we managed to get Ripley up and running like a champ. I even used the car to take my little brother to get ice cream to make sure everything was in proper working order.
Thanks to my parents who helped me fix my car up and my friends who drove me around for a few weeks. It was interesting to help fix my own car and the whole process was definitely an adventure.
-Allie

Super Lunar Eclipse

This year, as you may have noticed, a large part of the world was able to experience a Super Moon and a Lunar Eclipse at the same time.
If you didn't already read thousands of articles about it, a Super Moon occurs when the moon is in it's closest part of orbit to the Earth. Because of this it appears approximately 14% larger than usual. A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Earth is positioned just right in between the moon and the sun. It casts a shadow over the moon and sometimes even a faint red glow over our nocturnal, celestial friend.

Photos taken from my roommate, Addison Frazier's, cellphone through a telescope.

My original plan to watch this event take place was to sit in the courtyard of my building with smores and blankets and friends, however my plans never go the way I want them to. Instead I was helping my family change the alternator in my car (YAY my car's fixed! Read Alternations part 2 for more information) and we weren't finished until almost 9PM. By now the eclipse had started forming the moon into a slowly shrinking crescent shape, and I was desperately trying to get back on campus before the total eclipse happened.
Luckily, I was able to make it back just in time. I saw the red, shadow-y, I-guess-it-was-a-little-bigger, Super Lunar Eclipse. My friend James Tyler and I sat on a blanket next to a few other college students and watched it. I tried to take photos of my own, but my lack of telescope made them all look pretty terrible.
It may not have been the grand spectacle I had planned, instead it was a rushed kind of thing, but this particular lunar event isn't slated to happen again until 2033. Regardless of how, I'm glad I got to see it. Hopefully in 2033, my planning skills are better.
-Allie

#TBT Adventure: Padre Island

Spring Break is a magical time in a college students life when everyone packs up their car with their friends, swimsuits, beach towels, and loud culturally accepted music. Well, that's not an adventure I've been on yet, however I HAVE taken a Spring Break to travel to a beach.
Last year I was introduced to a thing we do here at UCO called Alternative Spring Break. Essentially, instead of taking a week off, student go for a week ON helping out the community and the world. I decided to go on a trip to Padre with 11 other people to help build nesting sites for the endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtle on Padre Island.

A lot of people would look at me sideways saying "You're going to Padre to volunteer?"
At this point I would like to point out that there is a difference in the miles of undeveloped beach on Padre island and the miles of party beaches on South Padre island.
So there we were at 5AM. A ragtag group of tired college students crammed into a 12-passenger-van with all their luggage for the week. Needless to say it was not the most comfortable road trip ever, but our discomfort didn't end there. When we arrived in Padre we were set to sleep in an auditorium at the tourist lodge; and by auditorium I mean a small room with a curtain that lead to a "stage area" that was full of podiums and chairs. The room was full of mosquitos and the floor was hard, but we played card games and bonded as we set up our sleeping bags side by side. When we wanted to leave the auditorium a few of us would go play in the ocean at the nearby beach (at this point I would like to point out that this was my first time touching the ocean and I was really excited).


The next day we packed back up and road with the Sea Turtle Conservation staff about 30 miles down the beach to a cabin area that we would be staying and working at. After that tasks included opening up the cabin, unpacking, and setting up our campsite (the cabin was small and was only supposed to be used for staff, so we set up tents in front of it.) At this point in the trip we hadn't started our real work yet. We spent the rest of the evening taking, bonding, and enjoying the beauty of the ocean only a few yards from our tents.


On the third day of our adventure we were set to get to work. We began with a beach cleanup. Because all the different currents in the ocean, a lot of trash from around the world ends up at Padre island. I found trash wrappers with different languages on them and even a few children toys. We had to clear all of the trash before the trucks arrived with to flatten the sand and bring the fence panels for us to build the nesting corral. Once we finished the cleanup we began to fill sand bags that would be used to weigh down and protect the panels in case of storms.

When the trucks arrived we got straight to work. We arranged the panels to their proper positions and we dug trenches for them to be placed in when we started erecting the corral. We broke up into two teams, each going the opposite direction, putting up panels around the corral. It was difficult. The sand kept falling on us and getting in our eyes, and some of the brackets were corroded from the salt water from previous years of use, but eventually both teams met in the middle and the frame of the corral was built.


Next our job was to kick in the trenches and bury the bottoms of the panels before surrounding it with a green mesh that would be used to keep ghost crabs and other critters from turning the baby turtles into snacks. Finally we dropped sandbags around the entire structure and we were finished!

The staff was shocked, saying they had never seen it go up so quickly and so well. the wire ceiling still needed to be built to keep out flying predators, but they decided to save that job for their hired bio-techs. So we were finished. We spent another night on the beach but then we went back to the tourist lodge to spend our last night in Padre island in the same auditorium we started in. This worked out well though because they had showers, and by this time none of us had showered in about four days. Then the staff showed us around their facilities and shared with us the importance of the Gulf region sea turtles and the importance of the work we had just finished.

With our work accomplished we packed up our 12-passenger-van and drove back into Corpus Christi.  We stayed in a hotel the last few nights and made plans to go to Sea World. It was fun getting to spend time with the people I had grown close to that week, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me sad. I truly enjoyed seeing ocean wildlife up close and in person; at Sea World the animals just don't seem as happy.


Our sea world trip marked the end of our trip and the beginning of another 12 hour drive, but this time we were going home. Beaten and worn our, our crew slept most of the way home (personally I slept for about 6 hours after we got home too). Our trip was enlightening and I came home with a better understanding of marine conservation and a new passion to save the ocean and all its inhabitants.
There is so much more I could say about this trip, but unfortunately I fear this blog post is already long enough. I would love to keep this conversation going if you care to respond in the comments. Just remember that, in our world, there is so much you can be passionate about.
Find something that makes you happy.
Make a difference.
Keep on Adventuring.
-Allie

A Trip to the Haunted Circus

Hello Sunshine!

First off, you may have noticed the blog looks a bit different... I decided to personalize it a bit! Now all the photos on this site were taken by me or of me (Hooray no more generic background image!) and I've added in a few pages to help organize the blog a bit better. I'm excited about it but please let me know if you want to see anything else.

Anyway on to the adventure!

So for those of you who don't know Gandini's Circus was an attraction in Edmond, Oklahoma between the 1900's and 1930's. It mysteriously burned down and the ruins were left in their places. I've heard many urban legends regarding the circus. For instance, I've heard that when the place caught fire it killed everyone who worked in the circus and when you go there you can hear chains rattling as if the ghosts are telling you to leave.

Now, I can't confirm or deny that these stories are true. Even after countless hours of internet searching all I've come up with is the information here. I'm sure if I could get a hold of Edmond newspapers from that time period I could get something, but the internet did not prove useful in learning the history of this place. What I CAN say is my roommate and I heard no chains, saw no ghosts, and we had a great time exploring the ruins together.

*DISCLAIMER* not all of the images taken are shown here. If you would like to see more of the circus check out the photos in the Gallery.

I had to make her pose a few times. =)

After parking in a nearby neighborhood we doused ourselves in bug spray and made our way to the circus. I will say, you really don't think to stop and explore when you pass by the entrance, but it was kind of thrilling to cross the gates.

After we walked through the field we made it to our first stop on the tour (my roommate had been here a few times before and she was showing me around). It appeared to be an old abandoned house. I'm not really sure what the house had to do with the circus, perhaps it was where some of the performers slept, but I may have been one of my favorite parts of the trip.

I took a lot of pictures here, one of which is the new backdrop to this blog. I think what made this place so fascinating to me was the complete destruction of it.

One thing Addison pointed out is that the circus looks different every time you go. I isn't uncommon for high school/college studnts to explore the area and it is apparently a fun hideout for local stoners to blaze up. The thing about ruins is people have no interest in preserving them. If it's broken then it's OK to break it more.

Personally I wish I could have seen it before it was so used, but I think the busted floors, ceilings and walls make for more interesting photos. Additionally, I am a strong purveyor of the arts and I love how the graffiti give the place more personality.

After the house she lead me to an old tour bus. It was also littered with graffiti which you can see in her smiling picture above. She mentioned that she would have taken me inside the bus, but she wasn't sure it was safe.

In this same area there were trailers decorated in spray paint that were apparently used to smoke weed. 

Anyway a little further into the circus we came across the old barn that she said used to house some of the animals. This area felt like a skeleton because most of the building was gone. All that remained were support beams and parts of the ceiling.

 Next we stopped at the train cars. This was probably my other favorite part of the trip. The train cars showed the most evidence of the place actually being a circus. Of course by now most of the paint has worn away, but if you look closely you can see the red and yellow swirls on the sides of the cars.

                           

The rest of the time we spent taking photos of smaller parts of the circus and making our way back to the car. I think this trip was one of the funnest I've been on in a while. Personally, I love old abandoned things. They make me feel happy and sad all at once, but in a way that makes me want to stay. I may return to the haunted circus someday just to see how it changes. 

I hope you've enjoyed exploring this place with me. There are more photos of this adventure in the Gallery. Let me know where I should go or what I should do next.

-Allie

Getting Sick?!?!

This time of year is notorious for tissues and GermX. I feel like all around me people are dying of one illness or another. My roommate and one of my classmates have had strep, one of my co-workers has had allergies bad enough to knock out a horse, and another co-worker even got pneumonia. I'm not a germ-o-phobe but I feel bombarded by other peoples illness and disease.
Now I was OK with this until last night. My throat started hurting.
I immediately sent my roommate a text about how much I was mad at her for infecting me with her illness. I've been drinking water and hot tea non-stop and that does help a little, but I don't have time to get sick! I'm trying to pull of my senior year of college while also juggling working on campus and my bustling social life.
Now that it's been about twelve hours or so since I started feeling bad I think it's safe to say I don't have strep. Oddly enough my roommate did a great job making sure I didn't get sick. I haven't developed a fever, chills, or blisters on my tonsils so I think it's safe to say my current sore throat is due to allergies and drainage (attractive, I know).
Thankfully I'm still functional, because I'm really looking forward to this weekend's adventure to the Haunted Circus. I will say, to the general public, cover your mouth, wash your hands, and keep it clean. I don't want your diseases.

What Will She Do Next?

Hello Sunshine!

I decided to share with you what adventures I have in the works. My head is spinning of new ways to explore the world around me and even more ways to share it with you.

Before I share where I'm going, I'm going to lay down some ground rules for myself.

1. I will be taking my camera with me everywhere I go. Words are fun, but they hardly can describe the natural beauty and excitment of life.
2. I will do my best to experience EVERY part of the adventure. For instance, if I go to a concert and a mosh pit breaks out, I will jump in (closer to the outside with a possibility of escape while my friend holds the camera, but it will happen). 
3. And finally, I post about it within two days of the adventure (this does not apply to #TBT posts where I tell about an adventure I went on prior to starting the blog.)

Now for the good part!

My next adventure will be to the Haunted Circus right here in Edmond.

Now, if you've met me you will know that I love abandoned places. If it's old, dirty, and a little bit creepy then I'm all over it.

The Haunted Circus used to be called Ghandini's Circus in the early 1900s. It burned down, but there is very little evidence about how or why it did. Some articles I've read point to arson and some point to witchcraft. Either way the circus was destroyed and it's remains still sit in a field here in town. You can read more about the circus here.

I also have plans to attend Life in Color in October.

I actually attended this event when the came to OKC last year and I had a blast! It isn't often socially acceptable to be drenched in paint from head to toe but I found the experience to be fun and liberating!

For those of you who don't know Life in Color is an EDM concert where spectators are blasted with paint and shown a spectacular show of music and acrobatics. Granted, there is a good amount of drugs and debauchery happening in the crowd but it is possible to have fun there without all that.

I will say that last year I went home with a concussion and a ruptured ear drum so I will be taking precautions, but I'm 100% ready to GO HARD IN THE PAINT!

Finally, to wind my self down from all this excitement, I want to plan a trip to Natural Falls State Park.

Granted this trip is the one I've done the least planing for. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to go, but I can't miss the chance to go camping in the Ozark highlands of Oklahoma where the state's only 77-foot waterfall happens to reside. This trip obviously has a long way to go in the planning stages before I can make it a reality, but it will happen. You can learn more about this beautiful location here.

So that's where I'm going.

Yeah, yeah, I know I still have some planning and work to do (especially on that last one) but I'm excited nevertheless. My Haunted Circus adventure will be out next week. See you soon and keep on adventuring!

-Allie

Hawkstock Adventure

So last week I found myself in a slump and my wonderful roommate looks at me and says "Do you want to go to this little music festival this weekend?" That's really all she told me about it. Just some local artists and food trucks. I figured, "why not" and I was all set to attend Hawkstock.
Hawkstock is an annual music festival put on by the Harding Fine Arts Academy in Oklahoma City to raise money for their school.

It was small. It was at an outdoor theater behind a mammary shaped church but, it was really nice. The people were friendly (granted that may have been because they all love my roommate.) and there was no shortage of food truck food. In case you didn't know, I love food trucks more than life.

Of course because of my dietary restrictions I had limited options, but Addison and I split three different kinds of gourmet pretzels. We had a Truffle Parmesan pretzel, a regular pretzel, and for dessert we had a cinnamon cheesecake pretzel dipped in nutella. I know that isn't the healthiest option but that doesn't matter when the food comes from a truck.

After we got Henna from this lovely woman. I got to discuss the best ways to make Henna paste and Addison got to talk to her about people I didn't know.

All in all we had a great time and I'm glad she dragged me out of my slump for an afternoon. I think I'll go next year too because Harding seems like a great school where everyone becomes family and loves and supports each other.

We don't wear makeup on weekends. No Judgement.

I Did A Photo Project!

In my spare time I've been known to dabble in photography a bit. I take my Nikon D60 and try and capture the beauty of the world around me. Sometimes that leads to my friends asking if I'll take their graduation pictures for them, but I don't mind.
Last semester I got really involved with a women's empowerment group on campus and I started thinking about how society is very backwards in the way it views women. Now I'm not saying all women need to be held up on a 50 foot pedestal of glory and gold, but I do think women deserve equality and to be treated like people.
Too often women are viewed as objects. They are taught to believe that their worth is based off of their attractiveness. If a woman isn't attractive enough, then she better learn how to use a curling wand and a makeup brush so she can make herself more attractive. It leads to young women feeling trapped in  a box of what they "should be" versus what they want to be.

Girls are taught this from a young age and therefor many of the grow up with this mentality that they have to always look perfect so they can be worth something in society. It leads to a mountain of young women with self esteem and body issues; in more extreme cases it can lead to young women with mental illness and eating disorders. For this reason I decided I would use my baby sister to mirror this cultural phenomenon.

I dressed Ariana up in some of her normal clothing because I didn't want her to lose the appearance of being a little girl, but I also caked her face with makeup. The girl is already blessed with long hair which I thought about curling, but I was afraid it would come off as too "Toddlers and Tiaras" for this shoot.

While I wanted to get some more grungy shots inside abandoned buildings (possibly appearing as if she were applying her own makeup in front of some dirty and broken mirror) I didn't have access to those places so I did my best to portray her trying to look perfect surrounded by an imperfect world.

I definitely think this shoot could have gone better, and maybe next time I get to visit home I'll revisit the idea. Ariana is only just now turning 8 years old so I am thankful to still have her youth to play around with in my photo work.
I hope I can keep going out an capturing the world around me, and I hope you enjoy seeing the photos. Hopefully my camera and I will be back to show you our next adventure.
-Allie

Alternations...

I'm no stranger to car troubles. My first two cars were totaled in accidents (not my fault, I wasn't even in them at the time), and my third car overheated and caught fire a couple of times. I'm now on my fourth car that I have lovingly named Ripley. Ripley is a 2000 Infiniti I-30. It was my dad's and he gave it to me over the summer because I needed a car to go back to college and he's going blind.
Everything with Ripley was going perfectly fine until..... BAM! Well really it was a slow and gradual fizzling out, but because of my lack of extensive knowledge about cars I didn't expect it to die on me.
Here's the story...

Earlier in the day I went to get new glasses with my good friend Bo. As we were driving around I thought I heard a strange whirring sound as I accelerated. I usually have music blasting so I decided to ask him if he thought that sounded normal and I just hadn't noticed it before. He didn't think it sounded out of the ordinary so we went about our day, got glasses and I prepared to leave for Bartlesville (where I'm from) with my friend Greg. We had just gotten on the road and had been on the turnpike for maybe 10 minutes or so when my air bag and seatbelt lights started blinking non-stop.
We started to pull over when the entire dash panel started flickering and we barely made it to the shoulder when the entire car just died. We couldn't get it to start back up after that, and I figured it wasn't the battery because driving the car alone would charge the battery. That left on option; the alternator.
So Bo, the car wasn't fine, but then I already knew you had minimal knowledge of cars. Sorry, for expecting you to know stuff like that.
Anyway. I called my dad (Bartlesville) and my mom (Midwest City) and they both told us to call AAA and see about getting it off the turnpike so we could be rescued.
We walked down the road until we could tell what the nearest mile marker was to tell AAA and called them to tow us off the side of the road.
Luckily we were very close to the Wellston exit and towing us to the nearest rest stop was within my 5 mile free tow limit. Even more luckily the time estimate was about an hour and the tow truck arrived in less than 15 minutes. He hooked up the car and dropped us off at Beu's Route 66 Travel Center where we could grab some food, drinks, let the dog potty, and because they were so nice they even allowed all 3 of us to wait for our parents inside.
At this point Greg's father was headed towards us to finish taking us home for the weekend while my mom and step dad had picked up my step Granddad's truck and trailer to haul my car back to the city.
They arrived a little more than an hour later and then we were back on the road. After a few hours we were safe and sound at Greg's parents farm and very thankful for all the help and kindness we received.


Now my mom and step dad have poor Ripley and they are working to fix him back up for me. Hopefully I'll be mobile again soon. Until then I'll just break out my long board and keep adventuring that way.

-Allie

Pescatarian For a While

I do strange things from time to time. For instance, once I ate Nutella on a Triscuit because they were sitting next to each other on my roommate's desk (It's not bad really. Just don't try to mix the rosemary and garlic ones with Nutella).
Anyway, about three weeks ago I decided to change a very large portion of my life, my diet. I decided to become a pescatarian. What's a pescatarian, you ask? Well I've included the dictionary definition for your convenience.

Now I love meat. My favorite food is hot dogs; don't ask me why and DON'T tell me what's in them. So why did I decide to cut most meat from my diet? The answer is actually pretty simple. I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time, i guess. I'm not one of those people to read something about something online and buy into every word it says, so I can honestly say I'm not doing it because someone ranted online about how much healthier it is.
I don't even know if I'm doing it for moral reasons. I love animals, but I don't feel disgusted by meat or feel the need to reprimand my friends for eating things that used to be alive. I still eat fish, and while they have creepy, soulless eyes, they were once alive as well.
I guess I'm just doing it to say I did. When I grow up and I'm talking to my bratty children, I can say "oh yeah I did this one thing and this is how it went for me." But that's what this whole blog is about isn't it. Trying new things and discovering the world around me. Maybe next I'll give up fish and try the be a vegetarian. Maybe I'll try to live of the Daniel Fast for a few months.  It's all new and interesting, and I like to see how my body reacts to the new lifestyle.
I'll see you next time with my next adventure.

A Political Aside

Three years ago someone could ask me who I thought should run the country and I would stare at them blankly and shrug. I had no interest in the matter and therefore I had no opinion. I will say I was adamant that I shouldn't vote unless I was well informed and, to an extent, I still believe that to be true. However, last year a few things happened that got me interested in politics and I started caring about who was in charge around here.

First of all, I will say that I'm not going to get into whether or not I think Obama has done a good job or not. I like to look to the future and so I will not focus on the past. 

Second of all, this post is purely my opinions. I respect the ability to form and hold opinions in this country, and I haven't formed mine around an agenda to personally upset you. Feel free to share yours in the comments, but don't berate me for sharing mine. That's bullying and I won't tolerate it.

Now, what spurred this sudden want to talk about politics? Well if you've been paying attention to the news (or been outside for that matter) you'll know that many candidates have announced their intent to run for the 2016 presidential elections. As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed I came across this post and it's many comments (I've covered the names to protect the identities of those involved).

Now I'll be honest, I originally thought this post was sarcastic. I go to college and I am frequently surrounded by liberals who are under the impression that Donald Trumps ability to run the country is similar to his ability to style his hair. As a liberal myself, I agree.

I read through, and participated in, the debate this post started and from what I gathered this person''s reasons for voting for Trump are as follows.

• "he needs to be president cause everyone in the white house is a pussy and we need a man who is positive to take charge" 
• "THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ARE TOO FOCUSED ON HAVING A GOOD TIME AND NOT FOCUSING ON OUR COUNTRIES PROBLEMS" 
• "he's a multi billionaire obviously he's doing something right." 

Personally I don't think these are reasons to vote someone into the White House. They aren't in depth enough and I struggle to find any mention of actual political agenda here.

This argument began to run all over the place after a while and hit on many issues. I did my best to try and reign it back in but I'm still unconvinced that Trump should be our President. I'm a Bernie Sanders' girl myself (and not just for the free college thing, although that is appealing), but I've come to this conclusion from researching the issues and deciding what was most important to me. I think that's what everyone should do. And yes, there will be those who disagree, but if we all thought the same American wouldn't be the wonderful diverse melting pot we've come to love and enjoy.


If you are interested in seeing which candidate you side with visit https://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz

What the Font?

This is kind of a weird post. It has nothing to do with discovering the world, but it has everything to do with my blog. I've been learning and working in the field of journalism for years now and one thing has always come up as a topic of conversation. Font.
As menial as it may seem, you'd be surprised to see how much it actually matters. For instance, when I worked on my high school newspaper I had to learn the difference between serif and sans-serif type. For some reason the little feet hanging off each letter makes it that much easier to read. For that reason I've littered this blog with fonts like Georgia and Merriweather.
I've also learned you can mix font types as long as they compliment one another. Here I've combined the serif fonts with each other because they are just different enough to bring them their own individual attention, but not overshadow one another. You shouldn't pair Jokerman with the Homemade Apple font. It would be weird.
Finally, I see this too often, script fonts are pretty, but the second I see an entire post in a swirling script font I will click away. they are just too hard to read for a long period of time. You can use them in invites or even for a title (Here I've used Pacifico), but it's important to remember that those pretty fonts have their place.
Ok I'm off my technical soap box. Blog on babes.