I Did Another Photo Project

I've mentioned before that I dabble in photography a bit and I've actually been taking a class on the subject to make my work look better. This past week we've had to complete a portrait project that not only shows a person in a pretty photo, but also tell a little about them in the process.

 I originally decided to shoot my boyfriend while he was out shooting his guns (which is where last week's post came from), but before I had the chance to back up my work all of the files corrupted and I had to format the card. Luckily, my best friend, Alison, loves when I take pictures of her.

So far I've taken pictures of her in winter, spring, and now autumn. Summer still hasn't happened yet, but we'll get there.

I had her bring "Betty", her ukulele, along for the shoot. Fun Fact-She is a very talented singer and songwriter. The ukulele was her instrument of choice and I've heard her produce amazing work on it. She is such an amazing person and being her friend has been one of the greatest adventures of my life so far.

Keep on Adventuring.
Allie

I Shot a Gun!

So with election coming up, people are concerned with their 2nd amendment rights. My opinion, people can have gun as long as they are qualified to used them. People should be take gun safety and be licensed just like with cars, and they should probably also not be crazy enough to shoot people. Shooting people is rude.
Anyway, I went to Enid, OK with a friend to be his date to a friends wedding over Fall Break. While we were there we had some down time and he took me out to his grandmother's house to shoot his AR15.
At this point I had shot a gun exactly one time in my life and that was about 3-4 years ago. He and his cousin shot a few mags before he started showing me how to use the rifle. He explained how to load it, how to work the safety, and a few gun safety rules.
I aimed at the target, slowed down my breathing, and when I finally got comfortable I pulled the trigger. Surprisingly enough I actually hit the target with the first shot! Granted, I didn't hit it again the rest of the time we were there, but I got close.

The rest of the time I spent taking pictures of my friend as he did what he does best, "throwing away money" as he puts it. Unfortunately my memory card corrupted and I lost all of the shots I took. He got a couple of me though. Apparently I'm adorable when I shoot guns. 

I don't know that I really learned much on this adventure, but I had fun. I always advocate for trying new things, so get out there and try something!
Keep on Adventuring.
-Allie

A Trip to Pagan Pride

Fun Fact about me:
My parents are pagan polygamists. Now when I tell people this I am usually bombarded with strange looks and questions about their lifestyle and whether or not I share that same lifestyle. In case you were curious, I don't. However, I support their freedom to express themselves and live their lives in the way that they see fit. It's not my job to tell them they are adulating wrong; I don't even know how to adult.

Over Fall Break Tiffany, one of my dad's partners, invited me to visit her booth at pagan pride in Oklahoma City. She sells all natural products and herbs that can be used for Wiccan practices and everyday life. I personally love the Shave Solution she makes and the BE Calm oil blend that she developed. Her products can be found here.

Going to Pagan Pride was a little nerve racking for me. I don't consider myself pagan. I'm Christian, but I consider myself to be more spiritual than religious and I don't believe in judging others for their life choices. I had originally planned on taking a friend or two with me for emotional support, but many them didn't feel comfortable going to this function.
So I packed up my dog and drove the 20 minutes to the festival. When I got there I parked in the grass lot, took a deep breathe, and prepared myself for whatever I was about to walk into.
I wasn't 100% sure where Tiffany's table was set up so I walked in and wandered for a couple of minutes. Thankfully I wasn't alone for too long. I ran into my brother, Brendan, and a family friend, Aqua, after just a few minutes. They lead me over to Tiffany's table where I got the chance to survey my surroundings. It was a small festival. People were all dressed up sharing their passions and beliefs with one another.

There was live music and a poetry slam happening on a small stage off to the side, but most of the activity was happening at the booths. People were selling handcrafted jewelry and decor as well as other goods. Some of the tables even offered psychic readings.

After a while I started feeling more comfortable there. Everyone was kind. I grabbed my little brother and he walked with me around the booths. He's ended up buying a painting and some runes and I bought some relaxation tea and a steeping spoon (by the way, the tea was fantastic).

Isn't my brother handsome?

I had to leave shortly after because I was set to work at 4 o'clock, but it was an amazing experience. Today's society paints pagans to be a group of scary devil-worshiping cult leaders, but in reality they are just normal people. To some extent I already knew this because I wasn't sheltered from it growing up, but there is a difference in your pagan family and all of the others out there.
Not all pagans are the same. Some are Wiccan others are Ásatrú and some choose not to define themselves with labels. Either way, they are kind people who simply want to express their beliefs. I think I left Pagan Pride even more accepting than I went in. If you get the opportunity to experience another culture, whether its geographical or religious, take it. You never know what you'll learn.
Keep on Adventuring.
-Allie

Diving into Slam Poetry

Lately I've been testing out a new hobby. As I mentioned when I started this blog, I not only want to experience places, I want to experience things and ideas. One thing that has always fascinated me is the culture surrounding slam poetry.
I imagine a dimly lit coffee house with artists pouring their souls out on stage to a sympathetic audience awaiting their turns to take the same stage and lay their own hearts out for all to see. I DO have a reason for picking up this hobby but I've decided to wait to announce my reasoning until later this week when it's been made official.
Anyway, I have been working on my own bit of slam poetry which I will post here either in text or video form when it's finished. Until then I've compiled a few feminist (of course this is the subject matter I've chosen to tackle) slam poems that have been inspiring me as I've been writing my own.

Pretty - Katie Makkai

I LOVE this one. It reminds me of the way I feel about how society expects a woman to look or to act. I have a lot of self-image issues and I hope one day I can move past my desire to be "pretty" and work towards being "pretty amazing".

My First Period - Staceyann Chin

This one is a bit longer than traditional slam poetry but I love the message behind it. It begins with the confusion and apprehension that comes in every girls life when she starts her menstrual cycle and goes on to remind women that they possess the power to create life! It's a truly amazing thing and you can see her passion as she recites the poem.

What Guys Look For In Girls - Savannah Brown

Here's another one I love (of course it's another body image one). I like that it points out the struggle that comes with learning to love yourself, but also struggling with wanting someone else to love you too. It shares the struggle of trying to love the skin your in while the world tells you to hate it more than anything. This particular video also has a response and a response to the response if those things peak your interest after watching it.


Hopefully the poem I write is a heartfelt and well-done as these. I'm not 100% sure when it will be done. As you can imagine it takes a lot of writing and re-writing to get it perfect. The announcement of what got me started on this journey should be coming out at the end of this week.
Stay tuned and keep on adventuring!
-Allie

The 5 Stages of Coping With Technology Failure

So recently I've been struggling with the world of technology. I'm not getting emails, some of them won't send properly, I keep leaving my laptop under piles of papers so I can't find it, and today the digitizer in my cellphone broke (that's the thing that registers your finger as a cursor). Because of all these woeful events I've been inspired to make this list for you, and I'm calling it The 5Stages of Coping With Technology Failure.

1.) Surprise!

What's this? A crack in my screen? Oh no! What do I do?


via GIPHY

2.) Denial

Oh this isn't so bad. Maybe if I just turn it off and back on again..........

via GIPHY

3.) Panic

Nothing is working! What will I do? This is an emergency! DEF-CON 7! CODE RED! CALL IN THE NATIONAL GUARD!


via GIPHY

4.) Acceptance

Ok...... It's broken....... I'll have to bite the bullet and fix it.


via GIPHY

5.) Hunger

Alright, I've spent my life's savings on fixing this piece of plastic and glass so I'll be sneaking into my parent's house to find food for three months, but at least now I can check Twitter!!!


via GIPHY


So that's my week so far...... I hope you've enjoyed this hot mess of a blog post and I'll see you soon adventurers!
-Allie

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