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RachelStormWLChasers

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Moved...

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Please note me if you would like to know my new account.

Journal Skin by kinga-saiyans for NanakoNyan || Free Lace Brush by inobscuro.com
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Skin by RachelStormWLChasers




Aw man... I got locked out of my Gmail account, and the paper I had that had the passwoed on it, has been ruined, and I can't read what the password was. ;-; So now I have moved accounts. I am not telling anyone publicy what it is. If you must know where my new account is, please note me. Thank you. :hug: *Sigh* I am so upset that I have got locked out of a account... Once again. :(

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Finally I decided to get off of my lazy ass and make myself another Journal skin! :la: I decided that I needed another weather journal skin, and I couldn't find many, so I decided to make myself a Tornado journal skin. :D Anyways, remember this old journal of mine? --------------->Yeah, well I decided to rewrite this journal. I felt the last one was rushed towards the end. :/

Here is my story:

A childhood passion:
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Every child has a dream, and like every other child, that dream had to start somewhere. I was only 4 years old when my dad went into the living room with a VHS called ''Twister''. (We used VHS tapes back then, because we couldn't afford DVD players and DVD's at the time.) I had asked him what he was going to watch, and he told me that he was going to watch ''Twister.'' Being the couch potato I was, I decided that I would watch the movie with my dad. BEST DECISION EVER! Other then the beginning of the movie, which had frightened me to no end, I LOVED everything about this movie, it was funny, had loveable characters, awesome music, etc. But I have to say, the best part of this movie, and what really intrigued me was the Tornadoes! I never knew what a Tornado was before I saw this movie, I was glad that now I finally knew what it was. I thought weather was awesome after I saw Twister. One day I had brought ''My'' VHS tape of Twister (Which was really my dad's, but I loved the movie so much that I claimed the VHS as my own.) to show and tell. I was only in Kindergarten at the time, but I told my teacher and all of my classmates how special that movie was to me. Later that same exact day, I had looked out the windows from my classroom. (I had heard a few minutes earlier from my teacher that a storm was coming.) I saw an eerie green sky, and black clouds that appeared to be rotating. I stared outside the window in astonishment. This seemed to me just like a scene in Twister! It sure felt like it. I stood frozen in place, just looking up outside the window at the eerie sky. I felt like how Jo was in Twister when they had to take shelter from the F4 tornado that was heading for the drive in. Soon I could no longer look out the window. My teacher had pulled me away, telling me, ''Come on! We got to take shelter, There is a Tornado warning!'' I took shelter in the hallway under coat hangers along with hundreds of other students and teachers. I wasn't really all that scared, in fact, I was amazed if anything. Later that day, I had heard from my father that the tornado touched down in the nearby city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. After that day happened, I loved weather even More. Especially Tornadoes. Ever since that day, I have never seen anything like that. I haven't even seen a Green sky in ages. As the years went on, we moved from Michigan to Texas. My Twister VHS tape was warn out due to the hundreds of times that I have watched, and re-winded the movie to the beginning. I could no longer watch Twister on VHS, but my passion and love for the weather never went away, if anything it grew. Being a scientist, one who chased storms, was one of the things that I wanted to be when I was younger, that actually had stuck with me. Everything else was forgotten long ago. When I was in third grade, I wasn't like the other children at recess, who would find themselves playing tag, or playing on the playground equipment. No, I found myself starting up at the sky and clouds most of the time, or digging in the dirt. I learned alot about tornadoes that year, I even learned that the scientists that chased tornadoes and storms were called, ''Meteorologists.'' That was exactly what I wanted to be. But at that time, I wanted to just chase tornadoes and storms to get pretty photos and videos of the tornadoes, but not help with the science part of it. In 2007, while on a vacation to Michigan, we drove through Colorado (Near Denver, actually.) I was 8 years old at the time. We experienced small hail, rotating clouds, and a wall cloud. Everyone else in my family was freaking out, but I was excited! I had my head peering out the window, and up at the eerie sky. That was and always will be the best part of that trip to me. There was no tornado, at least, not while we were there. It's a good thing to be honest, we were on the interstate, and it would of been a nightmare if there was a tornado. (My parents actually took a picture of this wall cloud, I am going to have to find the picture and upload the picture here for everyone to see. Even if it was taken half of my life ago. LOL) In 2009, I had seen the show called ''Storm Chasers''. The DVD's (Season 1 and 2) where given to me on my 11th birthday. When I had seen the show, I loved it! Before Christmas break, I had brought My ''Storm chasers'' And ''Extreme tornado videos 2007'' DVD's to school for movie day. All of the other girls in my class wanted to watch the sappy romance movies, but me and the boys wanted to watch Storm Chasers. My teacher had us do a vote, and we won! So we got to watch Storm Chasers! In 2010, We got to go as a class, to the Houston Museum of national science! It was such a fun time for me. The best part of that whole field trip, and the part I hold near and dear to my heart is when we went near the weather exhibit. I geeked out so much, I even got to act out what real Meteorologists got to do on TV! It was so fun! I'll never forget that moment. My 5th grade science teacher actually had alot of books on weather, it amazed me! She'd let me borrow these books and read them after I was finished with a test. I thank her for supporting my huge interest in science. She is another big reason why I want to pursue this career. She was the only one of my teachers that believed I could do it.One time in English class, we were doing a time for kids reading assignment, and we were asked to pick an article to do a report on. My crush tapped me on the shoulder, and he told me, ''Rachel, look at this! I think you are going to like this!'' He showed me an article that had Vortex 2 in it! It was amazing to read. Of coarse, I was the only one *Yet again* Geeking out in class. xD In 2010, my family was leaving burger king, and on our way back home, I saw this awesome tail cloud! Yes, a Tail cloud! (My dad had told me that was what it was called.) It was a band of inflow that was feeding into the storm. In fact, almost every year I was in public school, I had always checked almost every book about weather out at a library. It was a thrill to read home on the bus after a long day of school on library days. Unfortunately in 2009 and in 2010, my interest in weather wasn't as strong as it was when I was a little girl. Soon I wasn't really into the weather anymore. (I liked it alot still, but art started to take over. I started to Enjoy art alot more then weather. My passion for weather was dying... All for art and animation! I actually was hoping it was just a phase, even though I really enjoyed drawing, and I was glad that I had the talent to draw.

Years later... A passion revisited:
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I was now 14.5 years old. I was still highly obsessed with art, and put weather and tornadoes on the back burner. I no longer cared about that type of stuff, only animation and art. After a busy year in 2013, something tragic happened. The day was May, 31st, 2013, I didn't know about the severe weather that was hitting Oklahoma. I was too busy to pay attention, I was drawing all that day on MSpaint, but what I didn't know was that my Three favorite storm chasers (Tim, Paul, and Carl.)  were killed in the tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma. I didn't find that out until around 6:00 PM on June, 3rd, 2013. My mom had told me, and when I heard my mom go, ''Oh no!'' In the tone she uses when people have died. My heart raced, and the pit in my stomach grew more painful. I went over there to see if it was true when my mom told me that my 3 favorite storm chasers had died. It was true! I felt it was a nightmare. (My mom had found out through Reed Timmer's Facebook page.) I was so upset the moment after she had told me. I broke out into tears, and I shut down my computer and went into my room to hide. I was so upset over their deaths, that I didn't want to come out of my room for weeks. (Still going out of my room only to eat of coarse, or if my parents forced me to go somewhere with them.) After I had found out that they had died, I thought that it wasn't real, and that maybe they were still alive. In the months that followed after their deaths, I was still heavily into art and animation, I had thought a few weeks after they had died, that maybe I should be a storm chaser (Like I wanted to do as a little girl), but I shook my head, and turned the thought away. What little love I had for storm chasing and weather was gone... I was too scared of ever wanting to do that, in fear that I would get killed by a tornado. I spent the next several months fearing bad weather instead of loving it. I submerged myself into art and animation, but in the months that followed after their deaths, I grew more and more angry at the storms. After all, they had taken away my 3 favorite storm chasers. (I felt like Jo from Twister, after her father had died.) But along with anger was fear! I feared the storms after the El Reno tornado had happened.Whenever there was a severe thunderstorm warning, I would freak out and sometimes even cry, if it got REALLY severe. Along with anger and fear, I always felt the feeling that I was running away from something, but I always thought that it was something else, not weather! So I continued ignoring that feeling, and I continued my Art and Animation career. It wasn't until December of 2013 that I realized that the whole art and animation thing just wasn't going to work out for me anymore. I didn't like the field, and I knew it would never work out professionally. The field was full of elitists, and realism freaks. EVERYTHING had to be freaking realistic! I went back to thinking about my childhood. I remembered just how much I wanted to be a scientist when I was younger. On December, 21, 2013, I had thought to myself about alot of things. I decided that being afraid (and angry.) of these storms and not wanting to chase them anymore in fear of being killed is stupid. It wouldn't be what Tim, Paul, and Carl, would of wanted for me, or for anyone else who thought the way I did. Instead they would want us out in the fields of tornado alley continuing the research for them. (To this day, I don't care what people say/think. I believe that Tim, Paul, and Carl, had something to do with my rethinking on my career choice on December, 21st, 2013.) I also thought to myself, weather was my passion for years, especially as a young child, why would I want to give that up? Why did I even give that passion up in the first place? Over time, I had introduced myself to my childhood passion. I realized that Storm Chasing and weather was what I was running away from all of those years, it just took me until December of 2013 to realize it. I saw storm chasing and weather in a whole different way, from what I saw in my childhood. I no longer wanted to chase tornadoes to just get pretty pictures and video of them.... I saw how Tornadoes affected communities, and I wanted to chase them for science. I want to help save people's lives. I want to follow in Tim, Paul, and Carl's footsteps, and continue their research for them. Now here I am at 16.5 years old, It has been a year now since I had decided to reconsider my storm chasing passion and follow it. I am still going strong with this dream, and I never intend on giving it up. I have been in the weather community (online at least) for a little over a year now, and I absolutely LOVE it! I fit in the field wonderfully, and I don't feel like an outcast. I am so happy with this field. I have met so many wonderful people along the way, some of these people are my bestest friends, seriously! A huge shout out to these awesome people (My weather friends, as I like to call them. ^^) :iconstormchaserluvr::iconstormchaser1999::iconpaigeburress:
I plan to study at OU (Oklahoma university) here in a few years. I want to get a Master's degree in Meteorology. (I might possibly go back for a PH.D, but I haven't yet decided.) I plan on moving to Oklahoma (Norman to be exact.) In 2016/2017, just depending. I have an idea already for a Tornado intercept vehicle, which I will name, The ''Exterminator.'' The joking nickname for the Dominator.. xD Thought The Exterminator would be an awesome name for it, and I wanted to have something in honor of Tim, so I thought I would use his joking nickname for the Dominator for my car's name. I want the Exterminator to be modified out of a Diesel Ford Excursion. I never intend on getting very close to Tornadoes when I start in the feild, I don't want to get myself IN one. :XD: I want to only use my vehicle to anchor myself to the ground if I couldn't ever get out of the way of a Tornado, or the Tornado changes direction. I want to try to keep me and my team as safe as possible. I also want to be close enough to the tornadoes to gather data from them. I want to build my own probes to deploy in the tornadoes. My team will be called, ''White Lightning Chasers'', since that is the only team name that I could come up with. LOL Other then tornadoes, I also want to research Lightning, and Hail. (I feel we don't know enough about those either.) I plan on taking SkyWarn classes either this year or next year. I want to become a trained weather spotter for my area. In recent months I have seen the documentary called, ''Dangerous day ahead.'' (Video for the documentary is below.)


This Documentary is amazing! Very powerful and amazing. It teared me up at times. I honestly do believe that the El Reno tornado made me want to be a storm chaser, I swear, I really think that. It's quite possible that we might have tornadoes just like this one, or even worse in the future, so I hope that people will stay alert and aware of these storms.
Reed Timmer and Tim Samaras, will ALWAYS be my storm chasing inspirations. Both are very inspiring people. I really wish that I would of met Tim, Paul, and Carl, It would of been so awesome! I wish I knew about ChaserCon then, I would of have gone met them. (I didn't know about ChaserCon until late last year.) I am hoping that one day I will get to meet Reed, I will be so happy, I know that for sure. ^^ When I go up to visit Oklahoma to go storm chasing, and visit the sites around there, I will defiantly get some flowers and leave them at the Twistex Memorial in El Reno. I miss Tim, Paul, and Carl, very much, but I know that one day when I die I am going to meet up with them. I just hope that along with many other storm chasers, that I will make them proud. I have lost many friends since I decided to follow my true passion of becoming a storm chaser, but that didn't stop me from doing what I love. I kept on pushing on, Hell, just this week I lost 3 friends, but I still kept on going strong, I am NOT ever giving up meteorology again, not ever! I don't care about what people say, I am going to follow my heart and help save people's lives. I am so happy that I have friends that I can go storm chasing with when I am out in the field, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. I am happy again, being a storm chaser has brought me happiness, unlike being an animator did, and I am glad that storm chasing has brought me Joy. I'm even more determined to find out that secret, why do some thunderstorms produce tornadoes while other's don't?  I was reading my Into the Storm book the other day, and I saw this quote that Reed said in his book. It really spoke to me, and how my journey was for the first year. It said, ''Your family will worry about you. Significant others will grow tired of playing second fiddle. Peers will disagree with the way you chase, and you'll lose friends to your obsession. So when it comes to shadowing tornadoes, you have to ask yourself: What is chasing those violent, crazy, beautiful dreams--and I do mean Chasing them--worth to you?'' ~ Reed Timmer (From his book ''Into the Storm.'') After I read that my thoughts was that it is well worth it to me. It means the world to me. My passion for weather still stands today... To be continued.

Here are some awesome and Very inspiring quotes, I thought to share all of these with you. ^^

''Keep your focus on your passion in life and the things you enjoy doing. You'll get there. Trust me. I'm doing it.''
~ Tim Samaras (This quote is my personal favorite.)

''Never stop Chasing.'' ~ Reed Timmer

''Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain.''

"If you inspire only one person ever, even for a brief moment, it is still worth it." ~ Paul Samaras

"By the time I'm old and retired I'm hoping to contribute enough that people can take this piece and run with it then others, such as the college students that are participating on this can take off and finish out the mission when I'm long gone" - Tim Samaras

"You know we may celebrate at big probe intercepts but we can never forget this is why we chase." - Tim Samaras

"It doesn't matter about the fame it matters about the science" ~ Tim Samaras

"My passion for storm chasing has always been driven by the beautiful and powerful storms displayed in the heartland each spring." ~ Tim Samaras

''Your family will worry about you. Significant others will grow tired of playing second fiddle. Peers will disagree with the way you chase, and you'll lose friends to your obsession. So when it comes to shadowing tornadoes, you have to ask yourself: What is chasing those violent, crazy, beautiful dreams--and I do mean Chasing them--worth to you?'' ~ Reed Timmer (From his book ''Into the Storm.'')

“If something did happen to me or my team out in the field,” he said, “I’m going to go down getting my data. That’s the only reason I chase. It’s for the data.” ~ Tim Samaras


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Journal CSS made by RachelStormWLChasers
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This Documentary is amazing! Very powerful and amazing. It teared me up at times. Please watch this when you have the chance, whether you are into weather or not! This is probably one of the BEST tornado documentaries around. Very educational and interesting. I honestly do believe that this tornado made me want to be a storm chaser, I swear, I really think that. I'll make sure that before I become a storm chaser and go out and chase that I will be educated about these storms. It's quite possible that we might have tornadoes just like this one, or even worse in the future, so I hope that people will stay alert and aware of these storms. I also really hope that future storm chasers like me would really educate themselves and know the risks when they go out to chase. Have a wonderful day everyone. :hug:
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