It's Raining Dooooooooooooom!
Excerpt(s) from Jari's Backlogged Diary....
Part I: The Reign of Fire
Nearly a year ago now, last summer, there was a flood in Alaska. Most of the Mat-Su Valley was submerged, a stretch of track was mudslided into infinity, and one major bridge was destroyed. The bridge just north of where I was stationed. The bridge just south of my facility was on 24-hour watch by a structural engineer because it was just about to go as well. One freak day of clear weather in the middle of the torrential downpour saved the McKinley Princess's staff from having to be heli-rescued from the Princess's island. My Alaskan friend and I were highly amused by it all (though admittedly, neither of us were looking forward to being stranded in Wilderness Lodge with 800 angry guests that couldn't leave), and we joked that it was likely my fault, since weird, often impressive things tend to happen around me. We both agreed that it wasn't really my style, though--things are much more apt to explode (or at least spontaneously combust) around me.
The following fall said Alaska friend informed me that the hotel she was working at in the off season flooded, destroying the mainframe and most other bit of electrical equipment in the affected areas. Apparently Mom has a reason when she tells you to always turn off the water when you're done taking a bath/shower. This is what happens if you don't. My friend and I decided that yes, it was definitely because she was in proximity, and we likely also resonsible for the Twenty Year Flood mentioned above.
This spring my high school burned down, bringing fire crews from as far away as Ontario (read: Oregon) to help fight the blaze. People cried, everyone was sad, stuff happened, and I laughed, but that's another story. The point is, the school burned down. Things randomly catching fire is much more my style, and I kind of have a history with spontaneous combustion--likely the brunign school was somehow my fault.
This summer, not more than a week ago, the Su Valley High School bruned down. To the ground. My first thought was: again??? A year ago, the roof had caved in, so the building was condemned. In a show of spirit befitting the McKinley Princess (and her determination to keep bringing in tourists even though they'd likely end up being stranded there if the bridge didn’t' g out while she was brinign them across it), the school year continued in the condemned building. But now it's burned down. And while the roof collasped from water damage (likely my friend's fault), I'm forced to accept that, well, things are still burning down around me.
Now I'm kind of worried, though...is it something sabout the year? Last year was the reign of water...this year seems to be the reing of fire. We've had one major fire event...is this it for the season. What will happen this fall? o.0
So, ummm...I'm sorry in advance if your school (or anything else) burns down!
Part II: The Reign of, Well, Everything Else
It may have begun a bit slow, but the Princess's Season is off to a grand old start, and likewise here at her lodge. Shortly after posting my last entry about the flooding last year and the burning this one, our annual freak lightning storm whipped through, igniting hundreds of small fires in the parched forest. Some wildfires have grown to large (note that I don't say huge) proportions, measured in tens of thousand of acres. Two tiny (hundred-acre) fires were only a bit north of the Lodge, and one medium (thousand-acre) is still raging a dozen or so miles south of us. /Luckily it rained for a solid week after, clearing the eerie pink-gray skies of smoke and damping (and in some cases dousing) the fires back considerably. And more importantly (at least to me), cooling it down.
This (area, not Alaska in general) is a crazy place when it comes to temperature, and doubtless not just because of the loon that is calling outside my window as I write. When the sun is out on a clear day it is blazingly hot. Even the Texans and Arizonans on our staff complain about it. But if you were to check the thermometer, it wouldn't read more than about 72 F. Which doesn't sound that uncomfortable, but under the Alaskan sun, it is. But it clouds over a bit, you feel an abrupt drop to pleasant temperatures, but the thermometer only read 68. That's only a couple degrees difference, but it feels huge! Something about the sun, I guess. Now if it were then to start raining, it would feel cool but not unpleasantly so; perhaps light jacket weather if you were faint of heart. On the thermometer, though, the temperature would have dropped to 60 or even the high 50's. Big change in temperature, but it doesn't feel like much. Crazy, huh? Alaska doesn't even follow it's own weird weather pattern.
Speaking of temperature, a lady came into the gift shop and said, "Wow! You don't really understand how bitterly cold Alaska is until you actually come!" It was 55 degrees outside, and it felt 65. We had the doors open because the gift shop felt hot! The two Texans standing on either side of me just kind of stared at her, and I imagine we all three had the same jaw-dropped expression on our faces. She's the first person from ANYWHERE in the world that's told me that, and she was only from Florida! Admittedly, they have no concept of even cool weather, but Florida is hardly the hottest place in the world.
Better cold! BITTERLY cold! *falls over laughing*
Back to the fires. Or the afterwards, rather, since the fires are basically contained, thanks to a solid week of rain. Not two days ago, barely a week after the fires, my friend from the pervious entry gets a call from one of the Lodge's visiting VIPs announcing that his toilet has stopped working. Subsequent investigation by maintenance reveals that perhaps "detonated" would have been more apt terminology. My friend, who is downstairs in the command center for the Lodge at the time, notices a minor but steadily increasing drip-drip coming from the ceiling. The toilet had flooded the poor VIP's bathroom and the raging toilet torrent was rapidly making its way down through the floor into the vital computer systems. This is EXACTLY what happened to the hotel my friend was working at over the winter except that it had been a faulty bathtub in that case. Luckily, the problem was intercepted before it had a chance to destroy anything important (unlike at the first hotel).
In light of all this, my friend and I wondered if perhaps the Reign of Fire had expired early and we were defaulting back to flooding. Then we received a call from the lodge on our joint day off. I think my response was something along the lines of "What can it POSSIBLY be that you need to call me in the middle of a baseball game in Palmer (150 miles from the Lodge) on my day off? And why are you using the emergency frequency?" The reply I received will likely make my next "Reign of" disaster installment very interesting but I daren't get into details yet except to say that I may not be online much the next few days/weeks. Apparently I am one of those lucky(?) souls that has a natural immunity to the Avian Plague. Stupid random immune system.
Buuuuuut my AFF t-shirt came today, so I'm okay with it all!