New Laptop!

I got a new laptop for Christmas. My old one died during the fall, making class very interesting. This one is nice. It's got a touch screen, plenty of memory, and awesome audio. It came with Windows 8.1, which is a total downgrade from Windows 7 but I'm slowly getting used to it. (I still hope whomever decided it was a "good idea" to use a single operating system for multiple platforms got fired for that.) Expect to see regular postings once I get the hang of this new OS.

Blue Belt Test

I passed my blue belt test for Tae Kwon Do last Saturday. The test was held at Fruit Cove Baptist Church. The gym's on the 2nd floor which makes things kinda interesting.

Thanks to the food being passed around, I ended up in the mask again. There's a "No Food" sign by the door but those never seem to apply during tests or tournaments. Fortunately, I caught it before I started reacting so I got to remember what happened during this test. (My memories are still a bit fuzy from my green belt test.)

See?! I do wear a mask in everyday life.

National Showcase 2014

I made a teenage girl scream and almost fall off a wall. You know a costume is good when you get double-takes, but a great costume gets screams and requests for pictures. ^_^

This was too much fun!

National Showcase this year was held in sunny, and oddly chilly, Burbank, California. The rink was all of 5 minutes away from the Warner Bros. Studios and the Walt Disney Studios and only 10 minutes from the Martial Arts History Museum.

I've been in D.C. traffic and Atlanta traffic and both failed in comparison to L.A. traffic. Never in my life have I sat in traffic like that! I ended up late for practice ice but luckily they were able to add me on at the end of session. Spotlight skating is a lot different then regular, house-lights skating and I'm glad I got to try it out without the judges staring at me.

I competed in 2 events: Adult Bronze Light Entertainment and Adult Bronze Dramatic Entertainment. My Lt. Entertainment was my Transformer Flutz program and that was such a disaster that this is all I'm going to mention of it.

Darth Maul, my dramatic program, actually wasn't too bad. I would have chopped off my leg at least 3 times if that saber had been real. I came in 5th and I'm okay with that. For my first time at Nationals, that's pretty darn good.

Star Wars Weekend 2014

When I heard Mark Hamill was going to his first Star Wars Weekend, I knew I had to go. I packed up the Junkmobile on Friday morning and began the 3 hour trip down to Disney World. (I just know I'm going to end up lost in a swamp one day.)

I got to ride the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride which is nice but nowhere near worth a 90 minute wait. Dinner(a.k.a. homework time) was spent at the food court at Art of Animation while I finished up a paper. I ended up meeting a member of the 501st, Hi Bones!, and his son. We had a great time before they headed out to the pool and I headed for a night of camping out in front of Hollywood Studios.

The Seven Dwarve's cottage

I never thought I'd be one of those people spending all night in a line for anything but that's exactly where I found myself Friday night. I arrived a little after 10 and the line for Lando was already to bag check. Darth Maul was almost to the end of the roped area. There was a tent up, some dude sleeping on an air mattress, and a table with card games going on. Some lady even tried to leave her 7 year old in one line while her and her husband stayed in another line. It was a pretty crazy night until everybody crashed around 1:00am. The alarm clock could not have been better: Darth Vader showed up at 4:30am for pictures.

He also played Snake Eyes!

Meeting Ray Park was a great experience. He signed my lightsaber; I can't wait to compete with it now. He wears the same mask I wear for endurance training. How cool is that! I videoed the parade and as soon as I get it all combined into one video, it's going up on YouTube. I will be in that parade next year...Girl's gotta have a goal.

Darth Maul wanted Ray Park's autograph! ^_^

And now for the food, forget to get a picture of my spaghetti Friday night but I did check out the temporary Captain Cook's location at the Polynesian. The Big Ceremonial House is under renovations but the food is still good. The manager had to go "borrow" a pan from Kona Cafe to get a clean, safe one as they didn't have any he trusted in the kitchen. I always appreciate being able to get food that I don't have to cook.

Stitchy still can't figure out chop sticks.

Adult Silver Figure Skating Tests

A little back story: I first attempted my Adult Silver Moves in the Field test in 2009. Well, I knew there was one move that was iffy, I fell on it during morning warm ups. Short story is that I didn't pass the test. Fast forward and US Figure Skating decides to change the test and I had to learn 2 new moves. A bunch of other things came up and testing was put on the back burner in favor of learning all my single jumps the opposite direction. Almost 5 years later, I decided to finally get it out of the way.

The test was held at RDV Sportsplex in Maitland, that's about half an hour north of Orlando for those wondering. I drove down the night before since Maitland is a couple hours drive and I am NOT a morning person.

Morning practice was interesting. It was mostly those of us getting ready for testing but there was another adult out practicing her showcase routine and a few kids that clearly weren't testing. I quickly discovered that the kids at this rink were doing the 8 step Mohawk sequence starting at the opposite side of the rink. I joined the line and practiced without any further issues.

I had to pass the Moves in the Field test in order to take the Free Skate test I was also signed up for. Honestly, I didn't care so much about the Free Skate as I was so nervous about the MitF test. The FS test was a bonus. I passed the MitF without any issues.

Where did my camel spin go? It was right here yesterday and now it's gone! I did not pass my Free Skate test because my camel spin decided to go on a vacation during my test. That's the only reason I didn't pass! Grr, now I have to wait and see if I'm doing National Showcase this year or not before deciding when to retake this test.

Christmas in Disney

A couple of weeks before Christmas, my grandma asked about taking a trip to Disney World the weekend after Christmas. The holiday came and went and then we decided to go ahead for the weekend. Finding a hotel room was interesting, planning the rest of the trip was surprisingly easy. My grandma has a few health issues and she originally said she'd just sit on a bench while my grandpa and I went on rides...I don't think so.

The great thing about the Magic Kingdom is that there's plenty to do even for those with medical issues. We drove down Saturday morning and parked at the Ticket and Transportation Center. The lines to get them tickets was crazy so we rode the monorail to the Polynesian for lunch and bought tickets at the resort. First thing in the park we got a DAS card. We only had to use it once but it worked for what we needed it for. Grandma didn't think she was going to be doing anything but taking in the atmosphere; I wasn't going to leave here out of the fun. We ended up going on the Jungle Cruise, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress, and the train; watched the Enchanted Tiki Birds, Country Bears, the Christmas Parade and went on a hunt for fudge that ended up being snack time at the Circus. She had a wonderful time and was happy that she got to participate with my Grandpa and I. There is a good chance that she'll never ride the TTA again but the look on her face as the car sped up will be something I will cherish forever. Unfortunately my phone died, completely died, after dinner at the Wave so I have no pictures from the trip.

We spent Sunday sleeping in and visiting the Grand Floridian. There is a gingerbread house in the lobby that is large enough for a store. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. My grandparents are awesome. We've always been close and it was nice having them to myself for a couple of days.

It's a Disneyland Halloween - Days 4 & 5

Today was my last day in California, tomorrow it's back to Florida and back to work. I started out the morning navigating the public transportation system in Anaheim to get to the ice rink. The ice was nice and hard just like at my home rink. Nobody but the lady at the register said a word to me the entire couple of hours I was there. No luck with my Axel though my flying sit spin decided to finally make an appearance.

Since I went skating early, I had a late breakfast, which ended up being an early lunch, at Surf's Up at the Paradise Pier Resort. Stitchy finally ran out of good behavior during breakfast. He met up with big Stitch and they made a huge mess while I was talking to the chef.

The badness level is rising...

I was disappointed that I couldn't get Mickey waffles because they didn't get the safe mix in. Instead I got tacos, fresh fruit, and breakfast potatoes. It took so long to get my tacos that Stitchy and I were some of the only people left in the restaurant. One of the men in a different group started to make a big deal about my meal until I explained my allergies and then he looked kind of mad that I didn't get breakfast food. It was a little funny that this stranger was getting upset for me. I understand that my allergies come across to many as being impossible to deal with but it doesn't usually bother me anymore.

Chicken tacos

Mickey's Halloween Party Time! Disneyland lets people in 3 hours before the official start of the party. Stitchy and I got in a few rides before the party activities started.

Quick ninja-nap on Space Mountain

The Trick or Treat lines moved quickly and they had snacks I could eat, bonus! They pass out bags at the front of the park and mine was full by the end of the night.

The line for Haunted Mansion Holiday never seemed slow down but it was worth it. Disneyland does an amazing job on the overlay; another thing Disney World should really consider bringing over. The rest of the ride lines were nowhere near as busy.

One thing the parties are noted for are the rare characters. I ran into Aladdin and the Genie in the Oasis while getting ready to eat dinner. We got to talk for a good 10-15 minutes before anyone else realized they were there. It was a rare treat having characters all alone without a line waiting.

Stitchy's trapped in the backpack because I don't trust him alone with my food.

The one character I really wanted to meet was Jack Sparrow. He only comes out for parties now so this was a one time shot and I got lucky. Jack stayed in character despite me not saying a word during the whole meet. We had the groups behind me completely in stitches the whole time. Jack tried for a good five minutes to try getting anything out of me and gave me one of the best complements ever. According to him, I am a really good ninja.

I got a hug; Stitchy wasn't so lucky.

The only thing left after that was to watch the parade or cavalcade as they called it. It was short but the floats were nice and the characters were in Halloween costumes. The whole event was fun and I would do it again if given the chance.

Bai bai California. All that's left is to shove my Halloween candy in my suitcase, sleep for a few hours, and get back to the airport.

Okay, for all the complaints, security at LAX was not difficult. I got to my gate with plenty of time to check in back home and get early boarding. I really don't want to sit in a seat area that could have potential allergens so I request early boarding and wipe down everything around me. The trip was uneventful and now I'm back in Florida.