http://www.aeonity.com/tori The 10 most recent public blogs by tori Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:23:57 -0500 Aeonity Blog v2 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/29775 yeah, it's been a while since I've written. We all know I go through these phases where I say I'm going to write, but I never do. But this time is different (ha!). I say that too, but I mean it this time! For the first time in my life, I'm starting to discover my adult self. You know, that part of you that you said that you'd never be. The one that prefers older people, thinks about these "damn kids" that are ruining the world, and starts to enjoy culture, getting wrapped up into the world of the everyday, of their career, and their family. That's me. Scary, huh? I thought so too. It's not so much a sudden thing, just something I've noticed. I've spent the past few months in Florida despising the very place that was harboring the biggest change in me. Although I still have the emotional and relationship issues that I've always had, somehow, it's normal. I can now apply for jobs that are real, not just measly part-time work. I'm looking at where I'm going to live for real. No momentary blips in time anymore. This is it. I'm about to set sail, for good. I just wanted to share. More coming soon. Probably less about me, although I'll throw those in there occasionally. I want to make this blog more of a societal perception from a crazy twenty-something trying to peak into the final stages of adulthood. We'll see. http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/29775 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/27 Tue, 30 May 2006 10:14:43 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/23955 I've decided that Florida is the worst place for rain. Everytime it rains, I feel myself slip into this pitifully drowsy, agitated mood. Perhaps it's the people I surround myself with, or perhaps it's the sleep deprivation mixed with the heavy, ominous music I've been listening to. I knew that there was a reason pop was so popular. Wanna know what else I've decided? The music scene in Orlando sucks balls. We have the bigger acts that come through here, but that's usually expensive and a lot further away to drive to. Aside from that, the whole local band scene is pretty much non-existent. God, I miss Nashville. *sniffle* Other than that, I pretty much am in class most of the time, all of the time. Occassionally, I have time for sleep or cleaning. Or getting drunk. Where has my life gone? http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/23955 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/26 Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:45:07 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/22627 Well, well. So what has been going on in life? Not a whole lot lately, I must admit. I'm busy with school and work, and more work. I've decided that living in Orlando is insanely crazy. Rent is expensive, life is expensive, and when you're in class 40 hours a week, you don't have a whole lot of excess time to get a job. I've applied to be a freelance music writer at a local paper around here, so hopefully that turns out for the better. I guess I just have to keep in mind my dad's quote growing up: "God won't ever give you any stumper harder than you can handle, but he won't give you an easy way out, either." Aside from being stressed about school, life, and money, I've just been realizing how sometimes unsettling it is to grow up. It's hard, sometimes. You go off to school, pick a major, pick a career, and essentially, pick your life. Most of the time, though, we never really realize that we're picking our life. I know that nothing's definite--you can always change your mind if you don't like something--but at the same time, you can't change something that you haven't tried. Intricate madness, that's what it is. And forever daunting. Regardless of all of the stresses around here lately, I'm doing well in school and I've met some really great people down here. I've taken up photography and I've been playing my guitar more. I'm reading, and learning--and that's really all you can ask in life, right? When all else fails, I know that I'm thankful for finding the good Show Pro kids that I'm really starting to get close to. I have a feeling we'll all become very close to each other. I also have great Gen Ed friends that have been there with me through a lot, even though I don't get to see them all. And on top of all that, I still have all of my beautiful, unforgettable friends in Nashville and at home. I miss you guys. I hope life is treating you equally as well. Alas, I must go to bed. Enough talk of sad topics and complicated mind musings. I hope all of you are doing well, you're in my prayers. And to those of you who made me smile today when I found it hard to, you know who you are, and I am eternally grateful for your gratitude. I hope I can extend the same to you someday. :) http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/22627 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/25 Thu, 10 Nov 2005 01:53:03 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21709 It seems every day we add something to our to-do lists; something that we want to do, be it now, in the near future, or in the distant future. Such items include you know, grocery shopping, tattoo inking, body piercing, or hell, even bunjee jumping. Or for some of us more southern, rural, or family oriented people, it's marriage and children (as opposed to career oriented, not necessarily southern or rural--but typically urban life is associated with careers and is the antithesis of baby-making, although the process I hear is still in full effect). These are all lofty, attainable, sometimes routine (and some not) goals that we all have at the back of our mind at some point in our lives, even if you aren't a "typical" goal setter/to-do list maker. My question, however, is this: Have we become so pre-occupied with life's daily occurences, our careers and our daily routines that we somehow find goals no longer...plausible, realistic achievements? Or has our culture just produced such busy, lazy people that we are incapable of carrying out such endeavors? Whichever the answer--or even if it's not one that I've thought about--we should do something about it (ironic, huh?). I know that I am guilty of this to-do list writing syndrome all the time! Oh, I want to work out this many times this week, or oh...I'm going to do chores on this day, but it really gets pushed back to a few days later...or oh, I'm going to go grocery shopping and buy all natural foods, but you end up buying frozen pizzas and going out to eat later on that evening...or oh, I'm going to learn to speak German and buy the disk, but never actually use it...and the list goes on. But how do we change? How do we change the perspective that has washed over our culture? All that we seem concerned about lately is work and being successful. It's almost to the point that I think we sometimes can't even fully achieve what we set out to do in our personal relationships, careers, and in life. I guess there's not much to do. We could add it to the to-do list, but let's be honest--it won't get done. Everything is nicer in theory. :( I wish I had my own little Buddha to belly rub for all of the answers. The moral of the story, I guess, is to try and be more realistic when it comes to things you want to do. And if you really want to do them, you must forge past the forces inside of our measely horrific American mindsets to overcome and achieve. Don't settle...don't be subdued. Fight the man! We will rock on! http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21709 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/24 Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:27:06 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21702 Do you ever watch commercials and wonder why your life isn't like that? Seriously, how many times have you turned on the tv and there's people madly in love, or people laughing and falling into a huge pool of those styrofoam 'S's.' Or how about having a facial orgasm ove r a pot of soup? I'm pretty certain I could make a really long list of all the commercials that depict gorgeous people having the time of their lives. If this is the case, why is it that real life is never the same. I realize that companies make commercials to entice you to buy their product by making you think that their wonderful gleaming heap of cheap plastic will make you or your life as beautiful as those gorgeous people on tv. And if they don't use the beautiful approach, they use the fear factor approach, which in essence makes you believe that if you DON'T buy their product, then your life will be worse off than it is now. Well, you know what I have to say to that? Do you? Well... Fuck that. http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21702 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/23 Wed, 19 Oct 2005 00:51:09 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21460 I know I haven't written in a while, and for that, I'm sorry. My life has been consumed by school, and that, my friends, is no joke. It seems the only free time I have, I spend either sleeping, cleaning, or working on projects; occasionally I'll get to spend it with some of my nifty new friends down here. It's not as easy, though, to have a social life as it is in normal school. It's not that it doesn't exist, it's just that it mostly exists in the classroom and whenever I'm not too tired to go out. It's killing my social karma, as those of you who know me know that I thrive on people. Anyway, enough of the ranting about school. I'm sorry for apologizing, but I guess it's second nature to me. I promise I will try and write more. Enough of that. So what has been going on in my dismal life aside from school? Ho hum, not much. These past few weeks have been pretty great. I've blindly stumbled upon some great friends that I thankfully get to spend a lot of time with, even if it is mostly in class. I try and spend as much time with my best friend, Brandy, as possible, but it seems that the cross town travel and busy schedules are keeping us pretty sedated. We fortunately got to spend last night togehter, and that was quite humerous. We decided to eat at Planet Hollywood down at Pleasure Island, since everything else in the entire state closes at 10:30, I'm convinced. We first got this waitress in training, who wasn't really pleased with our partie's particular pickiness (which for those of you don't know, Brandy is the pickiest person I know when it comes to food. But hey, she knows what she wants, that's all that matters). We then got transerred to this waitress, Mimi, who was absoultely hilarious. Mimi wasn't your average waitress. She was tall, blonde, curly hair, reflectively pretty light colored eyes. She had a pretty high bone structure, and overall, she was pretty thin. She said things like 'hun' and 'sweetie,' and treated you like a guest is supposed to be treated. But us girls, we can never have things simple, and we never quit talking--what a combo with Mimi. Towards the end of the night, when there was hardly anyone left in the restaurant, Mimi came over to check on us, and somehow we got into this long, long discussion about College Program kids, which led to the best places to eat at Disney, which led to Mimi's unbeatable animated discussion about O'hana's in the Polynesian Resort, getting drunk off of Lapu Lapu's and watching the fireworks go off at the castle at 8:45. I know this may seem like the simplified version, but said story took about 40 minutes to tell, complete with overly animated facial features and voices. So...we gave Mimi our number, and sometime in the near future, we WILL be going to O'hanas and drinking Lapu Lapus. I can't wait. http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/21460 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/22 Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:58:21 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/20252 Today was another day in the lovely Full Sail realm. I'm finally getting adjusted to the crazy schedules and the hectic qualities of it all. I really don't think I would feel overwhelmed if I didn't have an administrator or educator telling me every five seconds how overwhelmed I'm supposed to be. Bastards. I went to the cognitive learning seminar today. I know I don't need it, as I've already got a Bachelor's, therefore I obviously know how to study. But hey, let's be honest: everyone has room for improvement, and I like to have the cushion of those five extra points. Let me tell you about this seminar. First of all, there's this whacky lady that teaches it. I swear she's on crack. She giggles like it's going out of style, and every once in a while, her voice will get really deep and scary. She also likes to hint at being dirty: for example, she talked about visualizing a frog in a thong today. I'm sorry, but that was a little much. I think she mostly bothers me because her eyes are crooked and she looks like a crack whore. Other than that, and the boring content, it wouldn't have been so bad. But alas, I have a midterm to study for, so off I go. Frogs in thongs. *shakes head* http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/20252 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/21 Fri, 09 Sep 2005 01:35:02 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/19987 You know, I've been getting pretty fed up with people lately. It seems that everyone has their own agenda, and everyone likes to be blind to the truth in the situations. In fact, I really don't think that people like to hear the truth. When people do hear the truth, they can't handle the idea that there might be a small little fault with thier personality, and instead twist things around to make everything your fault. This makes me angry. But it doesn't make me half as angry as lies. Why can't people just be honest with each other when they make a mistake, or when they know that they are at fault. Why must we always be quick to come up with lies to cover our own faults. We are all human. We are all fallible. You know what that means? It means that we all make mistakes. But why the hell would you want to make up so many lies that you can't keep up with them just to cover up your own personality flaws? It will catch up to you eventually. I'm not bitching because I think I am without faults. God knows that I have plenty of my own. I am persistant, opinionated, and I hate conflict more than anything. In fact, I have a long ass laundry list of faults, mistakes I've made, and lies I've told. I am not perfect, nor do I try to be. However, there is one simple thing that I ask in people, and one simple thing that I think you should all think about, and that is this: Be sympathetic to the way that other people feel. When people are expressing their feelings with you, it's just that. It's the way that they feel about something, be it an event politics, religion, whatever. Sometimes it's hard for people to tell you how they feel, because most people in this day and age disregard people's feelings. Another tip: don't lie. Even if you're doing it to protect your fragile ego or using it to make you somehow better than everyone else in the world. It doesn't work. People see throught lies. People aren't stupid. Even though you think you're getting away with it, that it's somehow projecting this magnamous image of your infallible character...it actually makes you that much more see through. I know...I've been there. I've seen it happen. I've done it. So a tip to all you people out there about some conflicts. Respect each other and don't lie to protect yourself. It only makes things worse. And you never know who you lie to that may make your life the biggest living hell ever. There are some people you just don't want to mess with, and I have also learned that from experience. Think about it. http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/19987 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/20 Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:04:22 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/19930 Sorry for the long delay in a post, but things have been crazy busy down here in the good 'ol sunshine state. But with it, some changes and new life perspectives have arisen in my all-too often naive self. The move was successful, even though my mother (who followed me down in an SUV with all of my crap) was sans brakes for most of the 24-hour trip. That was fun. On arrival, the apartment and furniture situation was a little hectic with arrival schedules and office hours, but alas--I do have furniture. It is nice. I think it's worth the $188 a month; at least I don't have to move it. So...the apartment. It's cute. I like it, for the most part. I mean, it's nice, beautiful, cute and all that junk. I like everything about it, except---the Florida part. It's hot, muggy, sweaty, and buggy. The only saving grace is the cute little lizards that jump around outside. Other than that, it's like global warming hell. With bugs. Really, really big ones. On the topic of bugs, I've already had waaay too many encounters for one lifetime. The first was on move in day when I found a cockroach, aka "palmetto bug" in the sink. I never understood this since I got there. Everyone refers to them as "palmetto bugs," as if that makes their ickiness less daunting. Or perhaps to make you feel better about yourself because "cockroaches" are typically associated with dirtiness. Regardless, it's still a fucking cockroach. It's still dirty. It's still ugly, and it still makes me scream. The second encounter was with a much smaller bug sitting on the wall. I came out late at night for a glass of water, hoping to whet my appetite,a nd saw a black thing on the wall. My first thought was, "oh cool, a nail to hang my keys on. I didn't see that before." I then went to inspect it and said "nail" moved. I proceeded to scream and beat at it until it was dead. The third was with this bug they call the "silverfish." I can commiserate with it's name 'cause a) it's silver and b) it's sly and slippery and moves like a fish. This little fucker darted out of nowhere like a flahs of lightning on one of my midnight drink runs. I tried to swat him, but it was hard. He was a quick little bugger. Finally, I killed him. Proud? Nah, more pissed because I had to clean up the silver residue left behind from my swatting spree. The last was more recent. My friend Brandy (who was staying with me for the weekend until she moved in) and I got back, and she immediately went to the bathroom. As she opened the door, this HUGE cockroach about 2 inches long started crawling on the floor. It's the biggest, ugliest bug I've ever seen. She rolled away, being she's in a wheelchair, and I screamed into my room. We debated for about 5 minutes on who and how we were going to kill it. Finally, I killed it with a shoe. Other than the move, weather, and bugs, not much has been going on other than school. School is really a whole 'nother story, though. It's crazy. My school is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have class for four hours at a time, and labs three times a week, all at different times. I also have a Midterm on a Saturday, and a couple of 1am labs. That should be fun--not. I'll keep you posted on the school thing. At least there are A LOT of hot boys. That makes me happy. :) http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/19930 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/19 Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:26:16 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/18867 Okay, so the day has been pretty eventful, and in my obsessiveness with getting all of my music on my new iPod, I've resorted to watching daytime tv (on the satellite)--and there is one conclusion that I've come to. If I see another ad for diet pills, I am going to shoot someone. I realize that the majority of America is obese with the onslaught of fast food and technological conveniences. But should we really resort to diet pills? Yes, the diet and food industry gross billions and billions of dollars per year, but let's think about this America. There are so many different diet pills out there, that even if one were to purchase a diet pill, how could one tell what the best decision would be? See, that's the problem with dieting and with the media. There are so many different options, so many different avenues that affect you differently, so many different points of view--how could someone possible make an informed decision in this day in age, when media advertisments don't have to tell the whole truth. I find it hard to digest. The information superhighway and its mass media counterparts have infiltrated our society and overwhelmed to the max. That's for sure. But seriously, do we need that many different diet pills? http://www.aeonity.com/tori/blog/18867 http://www.aeonity.com/tori/18 Thu, 04 Aug 2005 19:25:28 -0500