I recently read On the Edge of Gone, by the autistic author I wrote about a couple months ago..the main character was autistic as well, and here are the passages I could absolutely relate to lol

"It occurs to me that I'm being rude. I almost flop back into my seat again because I know what comes next--that frown on people's faces, having them mentally adjust their image of me..."

Ughhh yeah, I hate that look!! That happened just today, when I told a customer Harry Potter was "just a book" and not evil witchcraft..the look she gave me made me want to melt into the floor. D: You think I'd learn by now not to just blurt out what I'm thinking LOL

"She introduced herself as nicely as possible and has mostly ignored me since, but Iris tells me that's because everything about my manner screams for people to do just that. Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't touch me"

Haha that's what I do when walking down the street.."you don't see me, I'm not here!" I've convinced myself that staring at the ground intensely makes me invisible LOL. I need to get shoes that aren't purple though, because those attract attention haha

"You should at least wear a wetsuit under your clothes"
The thought alone makes me itch. A wetsuit would prevent hypothermia if I fell in the water, but I tried it on and peeled it off before I even got it up to my waist. The fit was perfect, but the fabric was all wrong and unfamiliar...wearing it would be the smart thing to do. I just wouldn't have been able to take a step without screaming

OMG YESSS. Uncomfortable clothes are the worst, especially tight and clinging fabrics..my skin is crawling just thinking about it!! (There definitely has been times where I tried putting something on and got it halfway before I went "NOPE" and clawed it off me haha.) It's a miracle when I find pants that I actually like lol

"Does [eye contact] hurt you or something? Can I ask that?"
"Eye contact? No. Maybe it hurts for some people, but not for me. I can do it for, like, half a second. Anything longer is just too much. Too intense. It scrambles my brain"
It's intimate, I think, but don't say aloud
"Right," he says slowly
"Like a shock," I say, trying again. "Like a jolt that goes through me the second I make eye contact, or someone touches me when I don't expect it...like those things are suddenly so present, so loud and intrusive. It's so overwhelming I can't think right"

Oh my, yes! I'll have something I want to say and as soon as everyone looks at me my brain panics and locks up and end up sounding dumb haha. Mom said after I was born I wouldn't look her in the eyes, and fussed when she tried holding me close. I definitely look away for a second often when talking to people, because it IS overwhelming, and hurts my brain haha. Close ups of eyes are the worst, like in LOTR when Galadriel is talking to telepathically to Frodo, and in the beginning of The Worst Journey in the World (even if they are Cherry's eyes LOL)..I have to look away, it just gives me a feeling of panic or something. Anyone that I've met online in person can tell you I don't look them in the eye right away. So weird haha

"...seeds on the crust are often a warning sign that there's all sorts of weirdness in the interior of the bread, too, seeds or almonds or raisins"

Ew yes, raisins ruin everything LOL. I also hate biting into chocolate and finding there is some weird filling in it *shudders*

Good thing we'll be accepting books next week again, because people have been NASTY to us..they look at you like you just told them you hated them or something. One lady who had a "haughty" air about her took Donna's and Mike's business cards, and was apparently going to call to complain about Donna not taking her books. Another was like "I'm NOT going home with these, so I WILL leave them outside the door if you don't take them" (to be fair, she is in a wheelchair, but she didn't have to be so rude!). I don't know why people have to be so nasty, it takes so much energy and ruins people's day!

( Day 202-205 )

Today's trivia: Armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish

I just finished With Scott: The Silver Lining by Griffith Taylor, and it was so much fun! Most of the expedition sounded like a huge party haha..so many things made me smile. :D They were such great guys. <3 Here are some excerpts from the book!

"[Cherry] came out from home on the Terra Nova, and was one of the landsmen who took kindly to a sailor's life. A characteristic of Cherry's was his never-ending series of gifts to his mates. A most acceptable pair of huge Jaeger socks brought about our real introduction!" (Awwww, Cherry, you were so sweet! <3)

"People have often asked me what attraction Antarctica had for me personally. It was purely scientific at first, but now I realize that the companionship with such ideal mates was the chief joy in Antarctic life" (yesss <3)

"An unlooked-for happening, however, spoilt [the dogs'] good record. Cherry-Garrard had caught two penguins, and was carrying them to the ship, when the dogs caught sight of him, and bolted for the penguins. Then might have been seen a noble panorama: Dr. Wilson hanging on the rope ladder over the deep water to receive the penguins, Cherry fleeing for his life, the dogs tearing after him at their top speed, in spite of the efforts of Meares on the rocking sledge; our honored commander roughly upset as he tried to stop the procession, and Gran flapping along on his ski to be in at the death" (OMG!! I don't remember reading about THAT story before haha! Poor Cherry!)

"In another way also is this expedition almost unique. It is hardly credible that twenty men should associate for three months in somewhat cramped quarters without a jar; yet I can truly say that the best of good fellowship has always existed" (wow)

( more )

October 15 - What’s in your handbag? I have a ~backpack~ LOL..a notebook, money, phone, a wallet, a pen, etc

Today's trivia: Africa is the only continent which is located in all four hemispheres

I just read Tryggve (apparently that's pronounced trig-vuh lol) Gran's diary from Antarctica, so here are some passages I'd like to share! (There are other members' diaries mixed in too)

"No one can complain about the 'nursery.' You would have to go far to find chaps like Wright, Cherry-Garrard, Day, Priestly and Debenham" (squee!)

From Scott's diary that was added in: "Gran tried going on ski with his pony. All went well while he was alongside, but when he came up from the back the swish of the ski frightened the beast, who fled faster than his pursuer--that is, the pony and load were going better than the Norwegian on ski" (heh :P)

"The horses also seem to enjoy the sun; even 'Blucher,' who looks like a question mark with a sack over his hind quarters and back..." (well that's an interesting description :P)

"[Scott] was happy to see the good health and spirits of the expedition during the past winter months. He is right; no expedition could have had better comradeship and health. Not one case of sickness the whole time. The dinner table was very animated" (heck yeah!! I love these guys lol)

( more )

March 26 - What does your average day look like? Work, go online, maybe go to dinner or a movie with mom. On the weekend I'll do laundry and maybe go geocaching or something like that

Today's trivia: Queen Elizabeth's full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor

OMGG I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. I'd seen the poster for it, but didn't know what it was about till Tina posted a link on my Facebook. That is absolutely 100% my kind of movie lol..I got chills watching the trailer! It's also a book, which I might have seen before..I've heard of Charles Martin anyway. I'll have to see if I can find it lol

( here are some passages from alaska days with john muir )

Today's trivia: The British royal family isn't allowed to play Monopoly

I just read a novel about the Scott expedition..different parts of the expedition were told by each member who went to the South Pole (Evans, Wilson, Scott, Birdie, Oates). I thought it was just going to be the march to the Pole, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was about different parts of the expedition. Birdie's part was the journey to Cape Crozier, yay!! I never get tired of reading about that amazing journey (I'm sure the author read The Worst Journey in the World, since some of the sentences were very similar to ones from The Worst Journey). I shivered with delight whenever Cherry had dialogue LOL

( here are some passages i'd like to share! )

I hope nothing terrible happens with the new Terms of Service thing..I will be here till the end. I have a Dreamwidth in case LJ implodes or something so I have a backup, but LJ is like a second home to me since I've been here so long (since 2004!). I hope everything turns out alright..

Last night I had a dream I went grocery shopping with Samuel L. Jackson LOL..how random :P

( pics for april 4 and 5 )

Today's trivia: The signature line on checks is not a line. It is actually made up of very small repeating print, "AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE." The MP (micro-security print) logo at the end of the "line" indicates that the very tiny print is present (WHOA. Mind = blown)

I finished Ghosts of Cape Sabine, so I'm going to write some quotes from it here. A lot of the book was pretty boring (I agree with the person on Goodreads who said at least 100 pages should have been chopped out), but when it finally talked about the poor starving men..wow. D: Only six people out of the 25 survived (now I know who Fort Greely is named after lol, which is about an hour south of Fairbanks)

"For a further nine hours, they struggled on in darkness, guiding Elison ahead, but he kept staggering off course, his eyelids frozen together as if glued" (ouch!)

"Trudging over rough and heavy ice, they spent seventeen hours bringing the three men in. So solid were they frozen in the bag that it had to be chopped apart to release them" (and hope they don't accidentally hit you? D: Yikes)

( if you are squeamish, you probably shouldn't click on this lol )

If there's one thing I've learned from reading polar exploration books, it's that even though Robert Falcon Scott may not have been the best prepared, he had the best men on any expedition I've read about so far (Shackleton's were pretty good too, but Scott's men just stand out to me). Other expeditions were always fighting and stealing from each other and stuff, but Scott's men got along amazingly well. They seemed like amazing people, especially Wilson, Birdie and Cherry <3

( Feb. 13: Tiny )

So I just finished reading Murder on Mt. McKinley (there were more typos, but nothing like the previous book) and it was interesting reading an Alaska novel from a non-Alaskan author lol. Here are some interesting passages:

"In the distance was the Alaska Range and there was the object of my visit, Mt. McKinley, 130 miles away. I took it all in before picking up my menu and scanning the listings for dinner. No moose. That was a good start." (Whaaat..moose is delicious!! Haha. I don't think you're allowed to serve moose at restaurants anyway..)

"A related group is called the Yupik. They live adjacent to them and also over there in Russia." Only in Alaska is Russia "over there"

I'd selected it because it was reputed to be relatively free of hazards and required no technical climbing. I'd mentioned it to a climbing friend who pointed out that given the general ease of the ascent McKinley was known as "The MidLife Crisis Mountain." (I have never heard it called that before, but I found a site from Google that says it has that nickname lol. I doubt it's THAT easy to climb though..)

And then there was this sentence: "We had breakfast in the dark the next morning." Umm..they were climbing the mountain in July..IT DOESN'T GET DARK HERE IN JULY!! OMG lol. There are other parts in the book that mention darkness too (like "after dark.." Really?!)

And later in the book was THIS sentence: "This time of year at this elevation, over 17,000 feet, the sun disappeared from view but the night never grew entirely dark." Wow, way to contradict yourself. And I think he meant latitude..eesh. These books are interesting but very poorly edited :/

( 11 Day- A Screenshot of the last thing you wrote on your computer )

Today's trivia: A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth from up to five miles away

I just read a book called Blind Descent, and it had some interesting/funny passages I'd like to share. I should do that more often, I read lots of interesting things. :P Here they are:

That night we walked through Kathmandu to get pizza at the Fire and Ice Pizzeria. I took a deep breath of the night air, which was a dense mix of smog, dust, and gasoline. That certainly didn't feel like the right combination to be breathing prior to climbing Everest...

"Don't make eye contact with them, the locals warned us. "The monkeys take it as a challenge." Challenge accepted!...I decided to test the theory by tipping my sunglasses down and winking at one of the monkeys. Before I even had a chance to put away my camera, the monkey was charging straight at me! Fortunately it stopped before I had to defend myself; otherwise I probably would have screamed like a girl and started swinging my camera

Tenzing-Hillary Airport has the shortest runway in the world, which makes it one of the top 10 most dangerous airports in the world. If you don't take off or land the plane quickly enough, you crash into the mountain

I got ready in silence and then headed to the dining tent. Before leaving, I logged into Facebook and updated my status: Heading to the summit of Mount Everest. BRB!

( the rest )

Today's trivia: The flashing warning light on the cylindrical Capitol Records tower spells out HOLLYWOOD in Morse code