Yesterday was the first clear, sunny day in Fairbanks in what seemed like a very long time. It was nice eating a milkshake with my parents on the deck again lol. Around midnight I was about to get in bed, then remembered it was clear and looked outside to see if the Northern Lights were out, and sure enough, there they were! I watched from my window for awhile and when they didn't go away, I went to tell mom the lights were out (she was about to go to bed. Everyone except dad is a night owl lol). We went outside and mom texted Ryan and Jo, who came out too. Ryan said he walked Sid a little earlier, but didn't see anything. I looked at just the right time!! They got bright and started dancing..I'll never get over how cool that always is! The lights are almost never directly overhead at my parents' house, so that was cool too! After awhile they faded some and we went back inside. I was about to go to bed again when mom told me they were good again. We watched from her window and went back outside when they started getting really good. After I got back outside the sky just EXPLODED with auroras!! You couldn't see all of them at once because they were just everywhere!! They turned purple and were dancing like crazy..so beautiful! Around 1 they faded and just stayed white, so then we went to bed for real this time haha. That was super cool and fun and lucky. Thanks, nature!

( a few pics )

When everyone was at grandma's, we were watching videos from America's Got Talent..one of them was Richard Goodall, a humble janitor who liked to sing. He seemed SUPER nervous and "plain" (he himself said he wasn't a fancy person), but when he started singing "Don't Stop Believin," Simon Cowell's jaw dropped to the floor, and I said "what?!" His voice sounded SO much like Steve Perry's, and he added his own touches too (like when he said "he took the midnight train going anywhere," he did a hand motion like he was showing where the train was going). His hands were shaking the entire time, but he was SO good and completely owned the song. Definitely a "don't judge someone by their looks" moment. He got the Golden Buzzer (I think it sends you straight to the live shows). A couple days ago I saw he was the winner of this year's show!! I watched his other performances, and yeah, he absolutely earned his win (Simon was right when he said America's going to love him!). I'm so happy he won, just a regular guy who'd never even been on a plane before going to audition. Nice!

28. What Famous Landmarks Have You Visited? The Tower of London, the Eiffel Tower, the Alamo, the Colosseum, the Grand Canyon, Kilauea, Carassonne, Columbia Glacier, Westminster Abbey, La Sagrada Familia, the Empire State Building, the Matterhorn, Mt. St. Helens, etc

29. What Are Your Healthy Habits? I drink Emergen-C most days to ward off sicknesses, I walk to and from work, I brush my teeth, etc

I've had a really, really rough week..I think that isolation killed my mental health and made me insanely anxious (I went to the ER twice D:). I never should have stopped the Amitriptyline..I went from ravenous hunger to no appetite, even to the point where I've felt nauseous if I've tried eating. I've lost a few pounds from hardly eating. I haven't had the energy or mindset to write here. I didn't realize how much Amitriptyline helped with anxiety too until these past couple weeks. I would way rather have too much of an appetite than this, so I'm going back on it. I tried working Tuesday, and didn't last too long (covid is exhausting!), but I lasted much longer today. Hopefully I'll just keep getting better each day (things must improve!!)

The season finale of Stranger Things season 4 was EPIC though..Eddie playing Metallica on his guitar in the Upside Down was one of the best scenes in the whole show. Sad there's only one season left! (Pretty sure Robin is autistic too lol, I could definitely relate to her!)

( pokemon update )

2. What do you want to remember about today? What would you like to forget? Mom got me a milkshake, I think. I was very tired of isolation lol

3. If you could wish for one thing to happen tomorrow, what would that be? I was wishing to get out of the house haha

4. What colours are you wearing? Uhh..I think I had on some blue and grey..?

5. What is a political issue that interests you? Bleh politics..I guess global warming, if that counts

6. Do you still carry cash on you/use cash on a regular basis? Not *always,* but yeah..sometimes it's just easier lol

7. Messy or neat? I'm kinda more messy..oops :P

Today's trivia: Kaieteur Falls (822 feet) in Guyana is the world's largest single drop waterfall by water volume. The average flow rate of the waterfall is 663 cubic meters per second

There's been lots of Abby snuggles this long weekend lol. <3 She's so spoiled hehe

Dinner last night was fun..Ryan made these AMAZING bread rolls. *drools* They have Disney+, so dad and I checked that out while the others were getting ready..so many nostalgic things on there! We watched Drain the Oceans, which was 110% AWESOME and fascinating..amazing they still come across long-lost shipwrecks! Amazing what they're still finding, like ancient Greek helmets and battering rams that were on their ships. On one site they found a bunch of discarded cannon, and further down something else, and then artifacts in the shape of a ship. They concluded the ship got stuck on something and threw the items overboard, but they sank anyway. That is SO cool they can figure that out! One episode talked about the giant impact crater from the meteor crater in Mexico that wiped out the dinosaurs..there's a site in New Jersey with tons of fossils..the paleontologist said all around the world the fossils go up to a certain layer..and then disappear, which means everything was suddenly wiped out. Totally fascinating! I was so cold because I kept getting "Omg this is awesome" chills haha. Another episode talked about the Atocha, which sunk off the Florida coast..when I was a kid I went to the Atocha Museum in Vero Beach! So cool! I can't wait to watch more episodes!!

( Day 333: A song from the 50’s that you think should be sampled or covered )

This weekend mom and I watched The Last Place on Earth, a miniseries about Scott and Amundsen's race to the South Pole (it's been on my list, but for some reason haven't watched it until now :P). Hugh Grant played Cherry!

Guess I'll never look at him the same way again LOL

It was extremely biased against Scott, and showed him always angry and impatient at his men, which made the men hate him. Sorry but no, every diary or book about the expedition written by one of his men praises him highly, especially the fact that he chose men that got along with each other. He absolutely cared about his men, and his men knew it. Of course Scott made mistakes, but he was not the tyrant shown in this miniseries..ugh. I wish Cherry had been it more too, besides like 2 second glimpses of him..siiigh. :P I'm glad they showed the mistake of Amundsen setting out for the Pole too early, to show he wasn't perfect. Someone should make a new miniseries that shows Scott in a more positive light lol

Rhapsody's coming out with a new album, and out of curiosity I watched the new music video, "Rain of Fury." It's..not HORRIBLE, but it's not the same at all with Fabio and Luca gone. I wish they'd change their name, because they don't even feel like "Rhapsody" to me anymore..siiigh again :P

( Day 19 and 20 )

Dad's in Payson right now, and last night he called and said he had heard the crash! Today he called and said he had walked over to the crash site, which didn't even take more than five minutes! That's so sad and scary, especially since our house there is in the same neighborhood and right across from the airport too..I always worry about that happening when I hear low flying planes. D: Sadly the pilot died, but the homeowner survived. That's so scary!

After binge-watching Designated Survivor..can Tom Kirkman PLEASE be our president?? Someone needs to make this happen, even if he is fictional LOL. The tough lady FBI agent is super cool too :P

( October 14 - Can you play chess? )

via GIPHY

Yesterday at the hotel mom turned on the TV and discovered the hotel had Netflix! I was looking away when she was picking a show, but when it came on, I could immediately tell Sam, the narrator of the show (Atypical), was high-functioning autistic. Intriguing, but THEN he kept describing how much he loved Antarctica and penguins! My jaw dropped to the floor..wow, of all things! How had I not heard of the show before?! And THEN he kept making references to Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, and I was just like *IS DEAD* (I was waiting for him to mention Cherry, then I really would have freaked out lol.) Needless to say, we binged-watched the entire first season haha. Watching shows or movies with people with autism is hard for me, maybe because I'm reminded of myself and I'm constantly thinking "is that how I seem to people??" Sam would say stuff like "that's not what I expected a dorm to smell like," which is absolutely something I would say. When he was upset he would recite the names of the Antarctic penguins, which is like how I say "stick it" to myself when I'm in a hard spot. I very rarely cry when I watch movies or TV shows, but the scene where Sam had a breakdown on a bus and his mom comforted him definitely made me cry (the movie Temple Grandin had me bawling lol). Maybe because it's extremely real to me..or something like that? Sam also said autistic people have more empathy than "regular" people..I've heard that on a YouTube video as well, and that is DEFINITELY true, at least for me. People's emotions can definitely rub off on me. I hope there's a second season..there must be!! Haha

The drive home from Anchorage was definitely nicer than the drive down..it rained a little, but nothing like Friday, and eventually the clouds parted above the mountains and it was insanely beautiful lol. Alaska is beautiful even when it's cloudy, so when it's sunny you're just blown away. When we arrived at Fairbanks it just felt..like a warm comforting blanket was tossed over me. I think Fairbanks is just the right size..Anchorage is too big for me (and you spend FOREVER at traffic lights). Ahh, cozy Fairbanks. :D Weirdly, I didn't catch any new Pokemon in Anchorage (and I only saw one in the "nearby" corner of the screen), but as soon as I checked in Wasilla, one appeared! I also caught a Butterfree when we had dinner at Denali Park, which I had before only one of..I'm really surprised there weren't more in Anchorage! It's always a little weird returning to "reality" after a trip lol

( some pics from the drive home )

OMG MARK GATISS IS ADORABLE. I watched the first episode of Sherlock and I love it! I didn't expect it to be funny lol..I couldn't stop squeeing at the scenes he was in. :D He seems like such a nice person! (That would be interesting if he was the last surviving character on Game of Thrones lol..it sounds like he'll get killed off from his "sharpening the knives" comment though..nooo. :( lol). I wish I could find the book by him I saw the other day, I want to read it!

It's supposed to be 28 degrees on Thursday! That's going to be AWESOME lol

Jan. 23rd's prompt: Action

OMG STRING

( 10. the best view in the house )

Today's trivia: The world's longest recorded carrot was 20 feet 5.9 inches in 2016

Let the craziness begin :P

( spoilers )

Aw man, only two more episodes left :(

( List three words that you wish described you more )

Let's see what horrible thing is gonna happen on Game of Thrones this week.. D:

( spoilers )

Today mom and I saw the Angry Birds Movie..it was fun lol. As usual I liked the adult humor, like there was a book in the pigs' ship called Fifty Shades of Green, and one of the businesses where the birds lived was called Birds and Bees Fertility haha. I was totally surprised that Peter Dinklage was the voice of the Mighty Eagle!

( List three fruits you like )

( spoilers! )

( Name a cartoon character )

Today's trivia: Mariah Carey was the only artist to have a number one Billboard hit in every year of the 1990s