TV News and Cats

So I’ve made it through my first month in Alaska as of Monday…go me. Had my first 16-hour day on Tuesday and am still alive. Actually, I have to work 68 hours next week which will be interesting. Allison and I just bought lots of food since we all work a longer week than usual next week and want to be prepared.

As I had the day off today and Allison was off by noon, we rode the White Pass train up to the summit. So basically we rode it through the mountains for three hours. It was alright I guess and I got to do it for free since I’m sort of a White Pass employee, but if I had paid $100 like everyone else on the train, man would I have been disappointed. Allison and I basically fooled around with our cameras and took way too many pictures of each other. The scenery was really beautiful but we’ve already driven up around that area so the shock value wasn’t really there this time. And as one of my coworkers told me I would…I slept on the ride back. The tour guide on our train car turned out to be from Stockton, IL though….which is crazy.

Last weekend Allison, Walker, and I rented a car and drove up to Altin, B.C. There was an art and music festival up there that we were dying to go to. On the ride up we pulled over at every “Welcome to…” sign and scenic spot we saw, and there were quite a few. The drive was gorgeous, especially the part of it that went through the Yukon Territory.

So anyway, Altin was awesome. We camped for two nights with some friends from Skagway we had met up with and saw a lot of great music. I bought my first bluegrass CD…well actually Allison did, but I’m totally burning it off her.

Atlin is such a small town that there was only one restaurant other than this outdoor café a woman had out of her home…and we ate at both. Surprisingly there was a street thrift market kinda thing going on for the festival and I had quite a few good finds. We made it out to Lake Altin while we were there too but didn’t swim much as the water was even colder than when I experienced when I was in Maine and the mosquitoes were loving us too much. Both nights at the festival I had the opportunity to flail my body to live music, which I always love. There was this one band that basically consisted of this 20-year-oldish girl who could play the fiddle like none other and then she started tap-dancing at the same time…it rocked my world. On both of the nights we were in Atlin, major jamming sessions were going on in the campground, it wasn’t until the second night that I was aware of it though. So after Walker and Allison crashed I went to explore and there was this circle of at least eight different people playing stringed instruments (fiddle, banjo, guitar, upright bass, etc.) into the morning. It was so cool how one person would start a song and everyone else would join in with their instruments, each taking turns with vocals and what not. I was one of the many people outside of the circle watching in awe.

But yeah it was a good time, and there were so many people up there that we knew from Skagway too which helped.

Everything is going well here. The other day when I got off work I was filling out my time sheet and my boss walked over with a beer and set it in front of me. I got a kick out of because I’ve never had a boss care so little that I’m not 21 yet. Work is repetitive here but I listen to all eight hours of battery power on my iPod each day and it gets me by. I’ve found that Fall Out Boy really keeps me awake and happy. Also to get by at work I talk to the staff on the cruise ships that also have to stand outside. I tried talking with this guy from Slovakia yesterday but he couldn’t figure out what I was saying because I talk so fast. He told me I’m very pretty but that I talk like liquid, Allison usually calls me marble mouth, but this liquid thing, I like it. For 45 minutes the two of us tried to talk to one another but I was laughing too much because I couldn’t figure out what he was saying either and it was a horrible cycle of me laughing and talking and then him really not knowing what I was trying to say.

So yeah, works hasn’t killed me yet, I get a little annoyed when older employees act like I can’t do aspects of the job without help, or think they have more of a say than I do because I have less “life experience”, but that’s an ongoing issue that I don’t want to get into. I got a kick out of the fact that one of the guys here at Cruiseline Agencies thought Allison and I were twins. He kept telling Allison, "That's crazy...so you're not identical! Because you really look like you are!" So then he thought we were fraternal twins. Finally Allison was like "James, Annie is three years younger than me."

Mom has lost twenty pounds since I left!

And Amy was voted the queen of her camp’s luau, which is awesome. Supposedly she’s having an awesome time there.

Allison wants to get out of Skagway, some days more than others. This job is getting to her, especially since we’re not making quite as much money as we had planned to. She keeps changing the date that she’s leaving Alaska to earlier and earlier.

I’m getting way too excited about Semester at Sea, I lay in bed wide awake some nights.

I haven’t talked to many people back home…I’m truly sorry for not returning calls right away. Off the subject… I’m in love with the song “How We Know” by the Thermals, so Millie and Kari, you should both download it. Also “Coin-Operated Boy” by the Dresden Dolls.

And after getting really jealous about Sammy Joe in New Zealand and getting even more excited about SAS I’ve decided that I want to travel more and see the world and all that jazz. Work for a summer, travel, repeat. That’s what I’m thinking right now for after college…do Peace Corp. too to mix it up a bit. I feel selfish going to different countries just for my benefit and not helping others or something along those lines, so I’ll have to figure out something. Sorry, I have a lot of free time at work and I just pace back and forth thinking about way too much. Most of the time I just think about how I’ll never do my hair like that woman and I will never switch to the kind of pants of narrow at the ankle when I get older. Hmm.

Anyway, life is good. The longer I’m here the more people I know and the more I don’t mind going to work. One month down, one to go.

Hope all is well in the Midwest.