Frozen Dishes : life after the ice
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Tomorrow is the big moustache unveiling. Looks to be some stiff competition out there. Tomorrow is also our second bowling match. We have been harrassing the other team all week. Giving the other team grief is always fun. Went to cosmic bowling last night. Good practice and it was a fun group down at the lanes. I rolled a 138, not too shabby in my book. There are 244 people here this winter and 66 of those are ladies. I estimate half of those 66 are in relationships of some form. Much better odds than farther south. Keep your eyes peeled for a new book due out very soon. It's called "Big Dead Place". An excellent novel about the society down here. This is a two day weekend for us and everyone is excited about that extra day off. No big parties are planned, so it could be a mellow weekend.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
My radio show is tonight at 6. At lunch I went to the firehouse and picked up the radio station key so that I could pull my music. I have my records picked out, but still need to grab some cd's. In my dorm we have two bathrooms upstairs. The one closest to me has two separate shower stalls in it. The other bathroom has what some call the gang shower or prison shower. It's a shower similar to what one would find in a locker room. Three shower heads in a large shower room. I'm totally a gang shower convert now. It's nice to have that extra room. Plus, nobody is ever using it. The mustache contest is soon to end. The offical word is we all shave our final mustache shape on April 1st. I'll probably start to shave my beard into odd shapes as the end nears.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
We had our first bowling match last night. We came out victorious. I bowled a 108. Not my best work and I wasn't sure if I'd end up on the other side of 100 or not. A few weeks ago I found a complete 10 tape program called "Positivity". It promises to teach all that listen to it how to take control of your life and run your own brain. So, naturally our bowling team name had to be Positivity. Tonight is open mic night at the wine bar. I'll be playing the theremin as a friend rattles off some random stuff he's written down. Or at least that is what I think he will be doing. We haven't really got a plan. We just decided at lunch to sign up for a slot.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
This afternoon we took the winter-over town photo. With approximately 240 people wearing roughly the same outfit one has to don something unique to stand out. The guy next to me wore a hunter orange colored knit cap & I had a Naval officer's cap on. Amazingly enough the whole process went smoothly. In the past taking the pciture has been a bit of a fiasco.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
The bowling schedule is now official. We have our first match this Friday. Can't wait. Then after the game I'll be going up to the band room for the first practice of a band I'm playing in. My old theremin is still here, but I haven't checked to see if it works yet. It should be fine. I don't think many people know what it is, so I doubt it gets much use when I'm not around. A new shuffle board table was just installed into one of the bars. I threw a quick game on it a few nights ago. It was like glass, so smooth and fast. Tonight is my first radio show of the season. I had a refresher last night, but I imagine it will take me a bit to get back into the swing of it. The radio station here has a great supply of music and even has a large record room with lots of obscure songs. There are even a couple of Leonard Nimoy's records in there. People usually call up the station and ask who the hell am I playing when I spin one of his records. Hopefully tonight I'll get a few listeners and some decent requests. Although a lot of the time I just make up fake requests to play jokes on my friends. I'll say that one guy requested this next cheesy love song for another guy, stupid things like that. It makes me laugh, especially if they call up to harass me while the song is playing.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Tonight we are having a hall party in my dorm. It's a chance to open your door up, serve cocktails and show off how you've set up your room. My room looks like a large den. I've got six faux leather chairs around the room and a bunch of lamps with soft light bulbs in them. I also set up the extra bunk bed as a day bed / lounge couch. My room has a nice mellow feel to it. Bowling league starts up next week. Should be good times. Looking forward to the sun setting. It's got a bit to go, but after midnight it is getting dark. In fact I saw my first star last night.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Tomorrow will mark week one of the mustache growing contest. At the end of the month of growing I'm planning on shaving my mustache into a hopefully quite creepy thin variety. And for the cherry on top I'll be cutting my hair into the shape of a mullet. Should complete the look nicely. This will be the first I've cut my hair since growing it out at the pole last year, besides a little evening up trim in Australia. Then I'll just shave it off again. It'll be fun to see what I look like with a mullet. I'm sure it will not be pretty.
The last plane flew out of here last Saturday. So, now the winter has officially started. Seems to be some quality folks sticking around, so that will help the winter go smoother. I've just about gotten my winter berthing set up the way I want it. Should be able to get it done over the next few days. I got rid of the couch and loveseat that was left in my room and now have four nice comfortable chairs instead. My room here is a palace compared to my old room at the pole. This weekend is our first two day weekend too. Everyone is excited about that naturally. One thing that is nice about being back in McMurdo is seeing the mountians. They are lovely. I will do my best to get photos posted.
