Frozen Dishes : life after the ice
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Well, the new people arrived last Friday and things around here are hectic. Especially in my neck of the woods. But, I've had many friends from last summer return, so it's been fun seeing them again. Good to see new faces running around. I'm out of here on Friday if the weather holds. Today should be my last working day in the galley. My replacement arrived on the first plane and then had an adverse reaction to the altitude. So, he is out of commission. Luckily one of the new DA's has really been awesome to work with. She's a hard worker and fun to work with as well. Today I'll be training the other DA. Met her yesterday and she seems cool. Tomorrow night promises to be a grand night at the bar. A birthday celebration and a lot of folks are flying out the next day. Well, off to work for this kid.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
My year here is almost up, about two weeks left. So, I took some measurements to give you a better idea about the size of my world down here. All measurements start at my bed:
My room is a lovely 10 x 6 palace
to the greenhouse 15ft (out of emergency hatch)
to the bathroom 22ft
laundry 30ft
front door 32ft
frozen burritos I sometimes eat on Sundays 70ft
gym 73ft
bar 107ft
dome entrance 115ft
entrance to new station (aka beer can) 267ft
coat room where I change into work clothes 320ft
the store 356ft
the geographical south pole 362ft
and finally work is 386ft from my bed
Sunday, October 17, 2004
I'm happy to report that the improv show went quite well. We had a nice crowd, maybe 30 folks, and they seemed to really enjoy the show. Lots of laughs. Went to the bar after the show to celebrate. Danced a lot. This is the last weekend of the winter, so people were in celebratory mood. Only six days until the first plane lands, if the weather cooperates of course. Then we will be invaded by orange people. After a year or even just a winter down here one tends to get ghostly white and when the new folks show up their hue looks like burnt orange. You get used to seeing only pasty people and it's a bit odd to see what people who have just come from sunny warm places look like. We haven't yet decided if we will put on an improv show for the new fools or not.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Had a dream last night that the plane arrived a day early. I was heading to the greenehouse in my flip flops and shorts when I looked over at a wave of people climbing off the plane. I was confused, one because they were early and secondly because the plane was a 141. (those planes don't fly here) Then a twin otter (a small plane) flew over and then crashed. I ran to the fire shack, but everyone was okay. I doubt there will be any crashes and I very much doubt the arriving planes will surprise anyone here. Tonight is the big show. We had trouble getting the lighting right, but I think we are good to go now. Should be a fun evening. The community seems excited to see something new or maybe they are just anxious to see us act likes fools. Either way, it matters not to us.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Last night I started to pack up my room. I took down all my decorations. I then proceeded to dream about packing boxes. I woke up to a very bland room. I'm taking some books over to the library to donate on my way to work. On Monday we are getting the chance to turn in any extra ECW gear that we don't want to haul back to NZ. All that we have to hold onto is what is required to wear while flying on the military planes. The population here is increasing drastically next year, so they need to restock their clothing cache. That's great for us. Cuts the amount of baggage we have to drag out of here considerably. I seperated out what I needed to keep last night. Now it really seems like I'll be leaving soon. Today I need to send out a message about the improv show. Word of mouth has already spread, but at this point in the winter if people don't read a written note they will forget. Today we also need to try out some lighting schemes in the gym. And I need to start buying the booze we are providing the audience. My good friend who organized the no cussing day is donating $50 from the fund she collected. So, that will buy most of the goods. Could be a busy day, seeing as I have to work 10 hours as well.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
I was planning on starting the task of packing up my junk last night, but instead watched a video, took a shower and went to bed early. I made the right call, I needed some sleep. I had stayed up late the last few nights. I had a weird dream last night. I dreamt that I had just gotten home to CO and was marrying one of my friends later that day. I had no idea about the wedding and was trying to decide if I should go through with it or not. Plus, she had dyed her black hair blond and looked quite odd. I will be seeing this person in January, but I don't see us getting hitched. As far as my packing goes, I don't have to move out of my room until next Wednesday, so I've still got some time to get my poop in a group. We were following the baseball game yesterday and the internet went out on us in the eighth inning. Had to wait until this morning to get the fnal score. That was frustrating.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Check out this site for some good south pole pictures. He has some nice urinal crawl photos to be enjoyed. www.seanhufstetler.com Last improv practice tonight. Looking forward to the show Saturday. Should be good times. Played some bad pool last night.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Today we are once again having 20+ knot winds. Luckily we did have a few days of nice weather this week. It was nice to finally see the sun and the horizon once again. Plus, out of the galley windows you can watch the guys work on the skiway. It's good to see a place for planes to land again. Only a few more weeks now and the first planes will be coming in. Weather depending of course. People around these parts are getting more & more anxious to get out of here. Improv the other night was really good. Everyone showed up, which is always a good thing. We ran through the games in the order we are doing them in the show. I think it is going to be a grand show indeed. One more practice then the big show is next Saturday. There is going to be a martini party this weekend - yum. A few people saved some vodka and are generously throwing the party. The ice cream machine continues to work like a champ.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Someone in the improv group pointed out that today is Cinco de Montho. She's been saving 3 bottles of tequilla for this fianl one. (we ran out of tequilla many months ago) So, we moved improv practice to tomorrow night. Hopefully people won't bail on it due to hangovers. After all with only 2 more rehearsals left, each one is quite important.
Monday, October 04, 2004
The storm continues. It's been windy for a week now. There are plenty of new drifts all over the place. At least we can see them now, so the trip factor is lower than it was in the dark of winter. A fun weekend I had. Did some dancing Friday night at the birthday bash. Played poker Saturday night. A group of us started at 8pm and played until 5am. It was super fun just sitting there cracking jokes all night. I didn't lose any money, but only made $1. Took it easy Sunday. Just lounged watchng movies and Star Trek episodes with a few friends. The hot dog eating contest got delayed because someone made steaks & crab legs for dinner on Saturday, so no one wanted to eat hot dogs.
