Just press '2' for awhile.
As usual, I have spent the past few days composing paragraphs in my head. They are usually bloggy paragraphs, using my bloggy voice and my bloggy point of view for reporting the cold hard facts. As UNusual, the past few days have been exceedingly time consuming- and not filled with familiar events (otherwise it would be quite usual; we are always busy). Therefore I have neglected my typing.
It’s moderately surprising that the typing is still possible after the summer that my hands have had. Currently I have approximately six OTC wounds and one chamber base injury. Also my cuticles are quite disappointing, and I’ve duly canceled my watch-modeling appointment for next week. Will I never learn to moisturize?
My hands have good reason to be looking abused. We have worked hard this week. It was not apparent to me just how hyperactively we were working during the marathon Atqasuk weekend until we attempted to accomplish the same tasks in Barrow and it took twice as long. The scampering just wasn’t there, maybe in part because we weren’t trying to catch a plane, but also in part because site-teardown and thaw-depth measurements are kind of rough. Rougher the second time around. I managed to bang my knees all up as well, slithering over the boardwalk and remarking the site labels with a beautiful giant chisel-tipped Sharpie.
Tearing down the site (the chambers and the Crazy Tent) seemed an awful lot like putting the summer in rewind. Other efforts in removing evidence of the summer included shaving for Papasaurus (who we dearly hope will enjoy middle school this coming fall) and cleaning out the huts and lab. Some members of ITEX (not the vegetarian or the… English major) chose to further eradicate the lemming population, as if the ermine , owls, and the jaegers weren’t doing a perfectly adequate job. We are bringing five (or six?) frozen (and DROWNED, at the hands of MEAN JOBBY) lemmings back to Michigan. You know. For science.
Papasaurus is famously a non-violent vegetarian, and he nobly vowed to have no part in the slaughter. So noble were his efforts that he held his head high as he stepped his first step onto the tundra on that last fateful field day. So high was his head that he could never have noticed the adolescent lemming that scuttled right underneath his powerfully waterproof tundra boot. Lemmings, upon having their skulls smashed, twitch in a most unsightly fashion.
Readers-in-the-know were aware that my flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis is going on… now. There may not be many readers-in-the-know, so I’ll clue you in: Anchorage to Minneapolis from 9:30 pm to 6 am, and then in Grand Rapids by 9:22! In the morning! Nextly, our NWA flight is not sophisticated enough for weblog-updates. Result: ta-da! Not on the plane. Overbooking struck again, and in the spirit of community service, I volunteered when they asked for… volunteers. To stay until tomorrow. I figure I can put my new domestic flight voucher to good use somehow.
This wasn’t exactly what I intended when I annoyed my coworkers with my wishes that the summer adventure were not at an end, but, in the spirit of adventure, I am quite enjoying my solo detour. It is nothing more than a re-booking, a shuttle ride and a check-in at the Puffin Inn, but it is an adventure nonetheless. I’ve hopped onto the wireless from the neighboring Wendy’s, and this Inn bed is more of a bed than anything I’ve slept on lately. I am both comfortable and disoriented. (Air mattresses actually aren’t that bad.)
One of the events of the week that most seemed to put the summer in reverse was Wednesday’s dinner at Northern Lights. Our first night in Barrow included dinner at Northern Lights, with many of the same people. Only a different (and decidedly pleasanter) dynamic between the groups distinguished the two nights. That, and the nostalgia- we were saying goodbye to UTEP that night and some people are disgustingly sentimental in that way. (Me.)
Despite the fact that her presence was due to some botched and frustrating travel plans, the members of ITEX were exceedingly happy to reconnect with Gilda in Anchorage today. We enjoyed some seafood, beer, and bookstores. Yay Alaska.
I’m going to leave off writing and go to sleep now. Show of hands for who is worried that Jenny will not make it to the airport in time in the morning…