timing is everything

I know I need to write about Sam's visit to Alaska. It was amazing and I had an uber good time. But when there is so much t write about I can't seem to get the focus to go ahead and do it.
I do just want to take a moment here to say that today I experienced the most perfectly timed Earthquake ever!
I was at a dinner party, Asian themed. Just anything Asian. I didn't feel like cooking so I classed it up by bringing a bottle of Sake, a box of fortune cookies, and a half eaten carrot cake that was given to me for giving a lecture about Kyrgyzstan(a country in... Asia).
The dinner was at my dance instructor's-Breezy- house. Not a dance activity but that is how I know her. The house is A-mazing! It is this beautiful wood house. Rustic with an amazing view of the bay. This is not a house for a young adult. She was telling us that the house was her grandfather's and he had died in the house. We had noticed that one of the many stuffed animals in the house was not facing the same direction it was when we had first come in. Breezy said she thinks her Grandfather is still in the house. We all joked around that he just starts moving stuff for kicks and to remind people he was still around.
All of a sudden EVERYTHING started to shake. It only last for a few seconds but it was a good size earthquake. We all sat there staring at each other. Was it an Earthquake? Or was it Grandpa trying to remind everyone he's still in charge.
We decided it was a earthquake. Realizing it was an earthquake only mildly relived the eeriness of the timing. We than realized if it's an earthquake we should look out Grandpa's giant window looking over the bay and keep on eye on the water. If it started reseeding quickly an old ghost shaking the house would be the least of our worries. For along with angry ghosts, volcanoes, and earthquakes... we also have to keep a look out for Tsunamis.
I love living in Alaska.

You NEED to watch these.

I know I normally make post of stuff I find funny and call it a day but you gotta watch this. Susan Boyle has become a sensation in the past couple of weeks out of a small village in Scotland. The link is to Susan Boyle's appearnce on Britian's Got Talent(imagine American Idol-Simon is even on it) People laughing and snickering at her. It's absurd. The arrogance to assume cuz someone doesn't fit a certain look that they must have no talent. She seems to be a simple country gal who gets confused easily... but don't let that foul ya.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnmbJzH93NU



This is a sound recording from a charity album she sang for back in 1999. I hput it on repeat for about an hour. It is fantastic!


There are tons of ugly male singers who don't live up to a cookie cutter image of beauty. It's nice to finally see a female who is steping out of her village to show you never know where talent is.

Side note about me....Cuz Ilike to bring all things back to myself. I spent a day lawn bowling in Scotland...in her home town. One of my favorite days ever.

Whad up dog?

Just wanted to post this little rap that Caitlin left me on my Facebook Wall:
they call her c to the roll, she's outta control, firstsecondthird world, got that travelin soul. / put a mic in her hand, she'll blow you awayyy, buildmeup buttercup, what more can i sayyy. / best friend you'll ever find, she'll take away your fearrrs, but mess with carolspacelynn, she gon' leave you in tearrrs. / droppin bows droppin game, all over your faaace, shotputs her life to the top, makin herself a naaame....


My homies know how I roll. :)

quotas and Karaoke Nemesis

It's Friday night and I'm in. I'm in because I want to be in, yet I feel like I should be out. Sometimes when Friday/Saturday roll around I feel like I NEED to be out, even if I have no desire to be out at a smoky bar. It is my inner insecure 15 year old girl screaming at me to go out. That old idea that you need to be out on a Friday and Saturday night or you aren't popular. I'm 25 and single with no kids so maybe I should still have that philosophy, the thing is I usually have a 2 day going out quota. As long as I go out two days in the week I feel like I have a social life going. Most of my life two nights in the week was all I had available to go out.
Tomorrow I'll be out all day for hopefully a very fun day so that is 1 day out. On Thursday I saw The Reader(see below) on Tuesday I went to Condom Craft Night(see further below) and on Monday I went out and defeated my Karaoke Nemesis. So, quota for the week has already been met.
Oh, did I mention a Karaoke Nemesis?
Why yes I did.
I tried to slip it in but I see you caught that.
If you are a regular reader you will remember my Karaoke Nemesis.
If you are new to reading my blog click on the title to this post and you can read about the beginning of this rivalry.
After Michigan State's devastating loss to North Carolina on Monday I wasn't ready to just call it a night and head home and sulk. First my friend Jana and I went out and had the best burger I have had since moving to Alaska. Than I was able to talk her into going to Karaoke with me. I had to finally face-off with Dax, the man that dared to tell me I don't know crazy karaoke.
I promised Jana I would only sing one song and than we could go. I almost believed it myself. But karaoke is like chips you can't just stop at one. I eventually roped in Jana's friend Tex(who is from Washington) to sing some songs to prolong the karaoking Madness.mwhahahaha
okay I went to a Count from Sesame Street place for a second.
The thing is the Karaoke was far from madness. It was also far from crazy. It was regular. When I got my shot to take over the microphone I knew I had to rock it. I have been toying with the idea of adding "The Distance" by Cake into my repertoire, but for my first song I had to go with one I knew I could rock. Dax is known for cutting off people and changing their songs and kicking them off stage if they aren't good singers. He had also kind of blown me off before it all started when I said I had come to do some karaoke. I ended up opening with, no surprise, Build Me up Buttercup. The crowd went wild, again no surprise. After I finished Dax said, "Wow! We need more people like Carol!"
Point for me.
I didn't sign up for a second song because I really did intend to stick to my promise of one song. Eventually there was a point where no one was signed up for a song. How does that happen at the craziest karaoke in the world? Because Dax was being heckled(mostly from my table-not by me I was stony silent-Tex and Jana let him have it) he decided not to sing another cheesy song where he changes the words to be about Homer. He eventually found his way over to my table. And got me to sing again. I feel he was trying to embarrass me. To try and reclaim some power. I agreed. Bring it. A Ms. Sara Lutz signed me up for "I Believe I Can Fly" once and I brought it. He played "Don't Stop Believin'" Can't embarrass me with a song that I have rocked many a time.
I had a Michigan State Shirt on with a "Go State!" sign on the back of my shirt. When I did the "From south Detroit" part I turned so the crowd could read my "Go State" sign. And than I did it again at the "Some will Lose" and had a really sad face... Still I rocked the shit out of that song.
Point for me.
After I was all done Dax proclaimed, "Carol where have you been? We need you here all the time!"
Point for me!
And in your face be-otch!
I got Tex to sing "Friends in Low places" by himself and than talked him into doing "Bohemian Rhapsody" with . Dax said this was a sacrificial song, a song that people glutton for punishment sing.
Guess what Tex and I did? Yeah We totally rocked it.
I'm giving myself 5 points for that.
IT was getting time to leave and I just want to sing "Sweet Caroline" a song I never get to sing. Tex needed to go and I got him to agree to stay through an insanely drunk girl's rendition of "Dirty Deeds" if we went right after her. I went up to chat with Dax about getting in one more song. He said he could do it but I had to do something for him. He than puffed out his cheek and tapped on it. I acted as if I haven't had creepy old men all over the world give me this move. My eyes got all big and became glazed over with question marks.
"Ummm, ahhh" I then puffed out my cheeks and pretended to be a blow fish.
He looked at me and then said, "Do you want the song? Cuz you gotta do something for me."
I tightened up my face and did it.
Damn you Dax! You brought me down a peg.
Point for Dax.
He tries to pull that shit again I'm out of there.
Tex and I did rock it good enough to get the one man left in the audience to applaud.
So I take back my point.
Dax...my Karaoke Nemesis... I don't feel I can call you that anymore. You suck and I'm pretty amazing.And I'm really modest about my skills. It's beneath me to have you as a nemesis. You think that it is all about the voice and as I have preached to people all over the world, Karaoke has nothing to do with your voice but the show you put on. This was far from crazy karaoke. To me crazy karaoke is Crunchy's right before our whole table gets kicked out because Sara is kicking someone, Tom keeps singing with people who don't want his help, and I like to show people how fast I can drink by using their drinks to demonstrate. It's giant sing-a-longs. Dax. You don't know what I've seen. And how hard I can rock it, I half assed it for ya! But my friend Sam is coming, so I'll be back. And I will destroy you again.

Side effect of Volcanic Ash.

My friend Elizabeth and I went to see "The Reader" tonight and were greeted with several surprises. I don't want to give away too much of the movie but I will say if you were ever interested in getting a good look at Kate Winslet's breasts, you will have ample opportunity in this film. They are out there for about half the movie. If you were thinking I would enjoy watching a soft core porn, but are embarrassed at anyone finding out that you are watching a soft core porn than this is the movie for you. Soft Core Porn with a great story to come along.
The biggest surprise was waiting for us as we entered the theater. We had to remove our shoes and leave them by the door. We cracked jokes with other audience members about pretending we were at a slumber party. The owner of the theater must have heard everyone making so many jokes and came out to explain that the ash will make the film reels catch on fire. So, that is why we needed to take off our ash covered shoes.
I have seen a film catch fire once before in Phoenix Arizona 007 was rapping up is escapades and the entire picture melted away. Got two free tickets for it.
I enjoyed having an excuse to take off my shoes in the movie theater. It is perhaps the only perk of having everything covered in ash.

Bill Murray knows that Bill Murray is not funny, and so should you.

Okay I know I'm posting stuff from other people instead of myself for the second. But these people are more talented and brilliant than I'll ever be so I just need to post another thing. This is Bill Murray on his first season of SNL. It's hilarious and feels very intimate. It's especially funny knowing the star he later became.

My Favorite MAd TV Sketch

I like Mad TV. I know that isn't a popular thing to say and that is why the show is going off the air. However, this year featured my favorite sketch on the entire show. It's a parody of that ridiculously annoying song, "I Kissed A Girl". You need to watch this is an amazing Ellen impression:

OP-ED from New York Times about Iowa

My whole life my mother, who is from Iowa, has told me that people from Iowa are just naturally better people than all other people. Modest too. Nothing I ever saw supported the things she said. However, this past week and this op-ed are helping understand what my mom has been talkign about.
I have to admit I got a little misty eyed reading this. GOOD JOB IOWA! Equal Rights for all:

April 9, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
Iowa’s Family Values
By STEVEN W. THRASHER
IF it weren’t for Iowa, my family may never have existed, and this gay, biracial New Yorker might never have been born.

In 1958, when my mother, who was white, and father, who was black, wanted to get married in Nebraska, it was illegal for them to wed. So they decided to go next door to Iowa, a state that was progressive enough to allow interracial marriage. My mom’s brother tried to have the Nebraska state police bar her from leaving the state so she couldn’t marry my dad, which was only the latest legal indignity she had endured. She had been arrested on my parents’ first date, accused of prostitution. (The conventional thought of the time being: Why else would a white woman be seen with a black man?)

On their wedding day, somehow, my parents made it out of Nebraska without getting arrested again, and were wed in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on March 1, 1958. This was five years before Nebraska would strike down its laws against interracial marriage, and almost a decade before the Supreme Court would outlaw miscegenation laws throughout the country in Loving v. Virginia.

When the good state of Iowa conferred the dignity of civic recognition on my parents’ relationship — a relationship some members of their own families thought was deviant and immoral, that the civil authorities of Nebraska had tried to destroy, and that even some of my mom’s college-educated friends believed would produce children striped like zebras — our family began. And by the time my father died, their interracial marriage was seen just as a marriage, and an admirable 45-year one at that.

That I almost cried last week upon reading that the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the state law banning same-sex marriage will therefore come as no surprise. I’m still struck by one thought: over the years, I’ve met so many gay émigrés who felt it was unsafe to be gay in so-called flyover country and fled for the East and West coasts. But as a gay man, I can’t marry in “liberal” New York, where I’m a resident, or in “liberal” California, where I was born, and very soon I will have that right in “conservative” Iowa.

Of course, the desire to define relational rights and responsibilities with a partner, to have access to the protection that this kind of commitment affords, is rather conservative. But it’s a conservative dream that should be offered to all Americans. Though it takes great courage for gays to marry in a handful of states now, one hopes that someday, throughout the nation, gay marriages, like my parents’ union, will just be seen as marriages.

It’s safe to say that neither the dramas of our family, nor its triumphs, could have been possible without the simultaneously radical and conservative occasion of my parents’ civil marriage in Iowa. And so when the time comes, I hope to be married at the City Hall in Council Bluffs, in the state that not only supports my civil rights now, but which supported my parents’ so many years ago.

Condom Craft Night

Every Tuesday at Kharacters(a bar here in Homer) there is a craft night. This week is Sex Education week at the bar, so the theme for Craft Night was Condom Crafts. I went with two new friend,:Elizabeth and Bryan. We made a variety of crafts in an attempt to win a prize or two.
Here are some of the ones that didn't place:

Elizabeth sign has the Condoms as "O"s and at the bottom it says, "Safe Sex Wins."
Bryan made the most disproportionate women in the world. Makes Barbie's measurements seem possible.


My Condom-nose Pig Mask. I love this thing. I have it hanging on my fridge now.

The Evil Butterfly.

When they were announcing the winners the said first runner-up, second runner-up,third...
There was no real consistency with the places. We thought they had announced all the places and were gathering our things to get going. I was bummed we didn't win anything between the three of us. I was in the bathroom and heard the "Slug" had finished second. I had already told Rudy, the judge, that it was a snail... a slug doesn't have a shell. But who cares, we placed! I finished up my business and came running out saying, "whada we win? whada win? That was our snail!" Rudy stared for a second and than said, "The slug is yours? She said it was hers." Bryan, Elizabeth and I all turned and looked at a girl that was going through a little baggy of prizes. Bryan and Elizabeth were calmer than me I just went ahead and shouted, "Those are our prizes! You didn't make the slug!"
She didn't even bother to fight us as we gathered up our prices. Elizabeth and I each took something we wanted and left the rest for Bryan. I am now the owner of a comical long Jagermeister lanyard. It feels good to be a winner.
mwhahahahaha

Keeping Ebay at bay.

As some of you may know I have been on a bit of a Ebay bidding kick. I say bidding and not shopping because I like to low ball bid to feel apart of all the excitement, damn well knowing I won't get the stuff. I won't go into too many details but some of my lowballs actually won.
I am now the owner of two sets of pearls, two pairs of lacoste sunglasses, and a pair of vintage Armani aviator sunglasses. I think I will be uncomfortable having designer shades on. I traditionally buy cheap shades cuz I lose or break them. My most recent ones being from Mexico in a buy 2 for 9 dollar set. My friend Caitlin owns the other half of that set. They were broken a month ago....mysteriously... though some suspect them being at the bottom of my laundry pile and me stepping on them had some thing to do with it... but those are just speculations on my specs(I wasn't planning on going to that cheesy of a place, but once I was there I couldn't turn back.)
I need to take a minute here and talk to my larger gals. So, skinny girls...dudes feel free to go eat a donut through this next section, you can catch up later.
If you are the kind of lady who would type in Plus Size Dress into Ebay than you should never, ever, never, never, never be looking at this dress to buy:

Yeah... on ebay you can find THIS dress under Plus Size Dress. Not just in 2X but also in 3X! Sorry ladies... actually I take that back, for once in my midwestern politness riden life I am not sorry... LADIES! Yeah I just type-yelled "Ladies"... I needed to make sure your full atttention was on me. Do.not.buy.this.dress!
It will not make you look sexy, it will not make the good times roll. It'll just get a lot of stares, jokes, and an incrediably uncomfortable vibe.
Okay, any of you girls who aren't plus size you can start reading again, how was that Donut? hey! Plus size come back here, I'm not done. You can get your donut later. Regular size gals, girls with little boobs, women with real boobs, ladies who are not models... there is a dress posted above. You don't need to read the text, but please don't wear this dress in public. Ask yourself, could my dad be proud of me in this dress? Even if you were winning the Noble Peace prize and decided to except it in this dress, could he be proud of you? If this answer is, "no" than you probably shouldn't be wearing it.
Guys, you can come back. Oh, you had time for two donuts? Well good for you. oh, you saw some slammin' bitch the other day? yeah... sure, motorboatin' son-of-a-bitch...original. Ashton Kutcher is your role model? Demi Moore is one fine Cougar. Red Soxes, Baby? Well I'm really more of a Tigers fan...YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH ABOUT THE TIGERS... FINE! We'll agree to disagree. Your Frat bro did that once? cool. No, I don't know Petey...

Guys, I can't believe how much effort we go through to get your attention...

Vegas.com

I have to say, even though my Mama always said never to use the word "Hate", I HATE the Vegas.com commercial. I find it extremely annoying. I have included it at the bottom but in case you have an extremely slow computer like mine I'll tell ya about the commercial. It basically is following around a Show Reviewer for Vegas.com and all that he has to do in a day. He has a segway that he is riding around on going from show to show and sitting in the best seats. The guy is pretty dumpy but is constantly surrounded by beautiful women.
What makes this commercial so bad and annoying is that the whole time the guy in the commercial is extremely bored. He is so uninterested in everything that he is doing. He seems annoyed at having to go to shows and review them.
How does this make anyone want to go to Vegas? It certainly doesn't make me want to go...I mean I'm not that interested in going back anytime soon... but that commercial doesn't make me want to go every, especially if it is as boring as this guy is leading us to believe.
I would have liked to go to Vegas this past week because my friends Tom and Shawn(a Girl) were both in Vegas. if I had been there I could have followed through with my brilliant plan of setting them up and having them fall in love and get married. And what better place than Vegas for that? They could have fallen in love and gotten married in the same weekend in Vegas... The way marriage is suppose to be entered into, as a drunken dare at the end of a long day.
Since life is not a Chick Flick, Tom and Shawn didn't run into each other and get married...
Maybe someday...
until than I will keep hating the guy in the vegas.com commercials....
and enjoying life...

Twouble with Twitters

I recommend you read my post "Being deep in a 140 Characters or less" before watching this video. But this is so funny and totally spot on about Twitter:

A Moose is Loose

I give my best moose face.

Being Deep in 140 characters or less

Twitter is the new "it" thing that the media is latching on to. Especially with the poorly behaved and patently uncool politicians using Twitter at inappropriate times. For those that don't know Twitter is micro-blogging... or just a more self-serving version of a blog. I write in this mostly to keep track of my life for myself. I go back and read old entries to realize how far I have come.
Oh... no I mean I write this for my dozen or so loyal readers... I live for you people and your comments fuel my soul... forget the part where I said it was for me. I like imagining I have a legion of fans, despite having no talents. I feel this is the same mind set that people on reality shows have.
What was I typing about?






That's Right.
I'm on Twitter. I even use it. Mostly since I'm not smart enough to use the new Facebook and still want to use some kind of technology type thing that people my age are supposedly all doing... I watch Cable news...they always let me know what people my age are doing.
I mostly use Twitter to look for good travel deals, check up on my two friends who are on it, and get my sports stats for MSU and all my Detroit teams. However, I "follow" a fellow RPCV(Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). I won't use his name. Not because he'll be reading this-I am a 100% sure he won't. And not to protect his identity from other RPCVs, because I'm pretty sure they could figure out who it is without my help(Guesses will be accepted). No I won't write his name cuz I can barely stand to acknowledge I read the crap he writes. I feel if I type his name I some how validate him. I can't do it. Don't ask me to.

Boring people like Jimmy Fallon use Twitter to write such interesting things as:
"national lampoon radio hour" is a required listen
I forgot how much I love radio...
Happy Saturday. Making a homemade Sausage McMuff

I make fun yet I am boring on Twitter too(everyone is)I write important things like:
"Couldn't figure out where I knew a girl from tonight and convinced her we hung out the night before, she ended up being my dance teacher"
"80s pop is like comfort food to me."
"Gave a 13 year old girl advice about navigating through high school politics. I almost forgot how how good I was at it back than."


Real hard hitting stuff there.


The Un-named RPCV, however, uses Twitter as a way of trying to show the world how deep he is. In the same vain as Aristotle just limited to 140 characters. I find it annoying, arrogant, and frankly I don't understand most it. Here is a sampling of his Tweets(these aren't even as bad as some of the others I just picked his last ten to save time):
"People seem to be more willing to wait for something they believe in. Hot dogs, love, democracy, art, shoes, etc."
"There's the image I want to have, the image I project, and the person I am. Somewhere in all three is me."
"To the tune of 50 folk guitars: "I will find the wind and let the colors become my only lens." In the words, people. In the music, spirit."
"So polished he's stale. So unique she's common. So observant I'm blind."
"Irony: A billboard advertising minimalism. The sun sets in the West; he'll never make it. Chewing gum is like wool socks for sheep."
"I've tried to go back and see the world through my eyes three years ago. I can't do it. The best I can muster is questioning who I am now."
"Do train conductors feel their lives are comfortably predictable or painfully monotonous? Can they drive a car or do they stop ever 2-3 min?"
"American Irony: For better mental and physical health, you must sacrifice sleep and work more."
"I think the novelty of dressing up is starting to fade. It always does. Or my fascination with Mayan tribal wear is growing."
"It feels like a blur. A lot of water has passed under the bridge. I still don't know if I want to be on the bridge or in the water."

"Tweeting" is the verb used for writing in these micro-blogs. I feel tweeting is the shallowest form of communication. Yet RPCV is using it to show how deep he is... I guess when you have never gotten out of the kiddie pool the shallow end can seem deep.

hmmm.. maybe I'll Tweet that last sentence.

At Home in Homer

My Junior Prom date(and current boyfriend to my good friend Rachael) Tommy's parents lived in Alaska for seven years. They said it just sort of happened. They warned me that I should not move up to Alaska unless I was prepared to stay up here for at least a few years. They warned me that most people living in Alaska just came for short visit and found themselves never wanting to leave.
I couldn't understand this form of thinking pre-Homer. Now...now I get it. If I could stay in Homer permanently I would. I would absolutely live here for at least a few years to forever. Unfortunately the cost of living here is ridiculously inflated. Even more so than the average ridiculous inflation in Alaska in general. I find myself becoming increasingly bummed that I will be leaving Homer at the end of May. I'm just starting to get into the swing of things. I keep meeting cool and interesting people. I have only met one person who is originally from here, so my standard opening question is, "Where ya from originally?" Most of my clothes have Michigan State, Pistons, or Tigers scrawled across the chest in large letters ruining my answer to the question.
Since moving up here I have only left Homer once and it was to go to the town of Soldotna for some shopping. While there I ran into a girl from my high school whom I hadn't seen since my graduation in 2002. Neither of us knowing that the other had moved to Alaska.
Alaska genuinely has some cool people. I think Homer my have more than the average. This is an artist colony so many people are very involved in the arts. Despite only have around 5,000 people I am never lacking interesting cultural events. There are many art galleries in town. On the first Friday of each month they have something called First Friday(Clever I know) where all the galleries put out their new displays and have catered food and the artists come and give talks about their work. This past Friday I attended one about the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Oil Spill. It was fascinating as people's emotions ran high. I was coolly detached always thinking it was a tragedy but never having any personal connection to it.
Every Friday night there is a free foreign film at the college in town. It can be a bit hit or miss but overall I have been happy with the films, also there is free popcorn...if you know me you know Popcorn is my favorite food. There is a regular movie theater too that gets the movies a couple months after they originally came out.
There is a theatre in town and many grand productions that go on at the high school.They bring in artists from all around to perform.I saw an amazing one woman show called Wong flew over the Cucoos nest. On my birthday I attended one of the big events of the year-Jazzline. A monster-sized Dance recital. It was great! I'm hoping to start taking dance lesson from one of the stars of the show soon.
On top of this cool arts community there is very cool brewing community here. There is brewery, Meadery, and winery-wine in Alaska...yeppers and pretty good too. They all host events that are quite fun to introduce a new flavor. One Saturday there was a Home-brew competition. A five dollar donation got you a cup and all the beer you could drink. If you brought your own cup you could drink for free-something to know. These weren't just regular home-brews these were the best of the best. There was a Chocolate Hazelnut one brought down by a guy from Nome who has won tons of National competitions. It was amazing. There was also a large selection of Meads. At the end of the night my original group(a group of people I met just by sitting at their table, I only sat there because a guy had a Flint shirt on) had all left so I went out and stood where they were holding all the beers. I asked the man who was officially in charge to make me a little crate of all the beers that had already been judged by the judges meaning they were free to be drank by everyone. He did and when he left I suddenly became the de facto leader of the beers. Telling people what ones they could drink and giving my suggestions, pumping the keg, and filling their cups to the brim. I love being next to the keg, you meet everyone that way. This was something Tom and I figured out early in college that being in charge of the keg was where you wanted to be early on to meet everyone. The people were fun and energetic at the end of the night when the awards were given out.
There are quite a few bars in town. One even has a craft night. Most of them feature cool local bands most nights of the week. The music scene in this little town is awesome and only suppose to get better in the summer.
There is a cool Coffee Shop called All Hopped Up. I love drinking coffee from there and than saying I'm all hopped up. I am well aware of how dorky that is.
When I first arrived there wasn't much sun, however Michigan doesn't have much sun in January either. The good thing is the days get longer at an amazing rate. Now I would argue it is considerably sunnier than I remember in Michigan at this time of year. For my birthday I had the best weather I have ever seen.
The people up here are fearless. I have met several people who have lived in Antarctica for extended periods of time.There is a pretty big surfing community here but they only surf through the stormy winter weather. Taking the summer off to pursue other activities. The Time Bandit guys(featured on Deadliest Catch) live here.
Tonight I got invited to join a game night that some of the people in the community go to and my church is starting a game night soon... Playing board games is always something I miss after an extended stay at home(my mom and I really got into Boggle at the end of my visit) You better believe I will be bringing Settlers of Catan with me to game night(one of my only regrets in life is that I don't have a picture of my friends and I playing Settlers of Catan my last year at university-a pretty regular occurrence)
There are museums up here. The Pratt Museum being the most famous and respected of the museums. If you aren't into the natural history that the Pratt Museum offers there is also a hair comb museum.
There are many scientists and researchers up here. This past weekend had a science conference. In the summer there is a well known writers conference-Amy Tan attended one year. A Few weeks ago there was a big Quilters conference. I know one of the women that attended and she said it looked like little sweatshop with each woman pouring over her sewing machine.
My church is pretty awesome. Absolutely no people my age. Not even in the surrounding age brackets of my age. But it is still cool. I enjoy the vibe. Just wish they had better music...I'm amazed when we sing a song post-1919.
The sports and activities are great here to. There is a very large trail system throughout town and surrounding town. Many people spend the sunny afternoons in the weekend cross country skiing the trails. I don't know how to ski very well. I do know how to walk, wish is fortunate because at the Alaskan Coastal Studies they rent out free snow shoes. I have taken advantage of this and enjoyed walking around the trails with the snow shoes... Just have to keep your eyes open for Moose. There are also tons of sports you can join in through the community. I play volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I love it. Although tonight I stayed a half hour longer than I usual do and found I get a little loopy after 9:30 and just start doing my best impression of a Frisian boy dancing. Most of the rest of the week when I want a bit of exercise I got to the pool. Yep, in a community of 5,000 there is a 25 yard pool with three times through out the day to do Lap Swimming. It is a bit pricey(like everything here) which I don't mind because than I really try to get a full work out in.
Near the airport there is a lake where water planes can land in the summer. In the winter while it is frozen there have race car competitions. They are pretty big until the fiching derbies start. Homer is after all the Halibut Capital of the world.
Homer is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The architecture is crap, but the natural beauty is amazing. Located on the Katchamak Bay and surrounded by snow capped mountains it's no wonder so many cruises dock here in the summers.
I have also been lucky enough to be here in the winter and witness the huge Eagle population.
If I haven't convinced you this is an amazing community and that I truly regret that I won't be able to afford to stay here after my contract is up than please let me know what you need from a town that this place is missing. Because I don't see it. Sometimes the end of the road isn't too bad.

Cougar Barbie

Mandy showed me this and it was too funny not to post on here:

It's not all about Taste

Even beyond sunny smell or the delectable taste, the greatest thing about an avocado is the texture. It's not too hard, ti's not too soft it almost melts in your mouth. Mash it up and mix it with some other veggies to make Guacamole and it becomes the perfect texture for a dip.
I thought fasting would free up my time to get stuff done. Not to think about food and what not... I realize now that I eat without thinking. So, all that time I had to not think and eat I now fill with looking for fantastic recipes that I fantasize about making.

I have made some good use of this time. I have found the wikipedia page for avocados:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

I also found the official Avocado website:
http://www.avocado.org/

There are some amazing looking recipes on it. There is even a kids section if you want the kiddies to learn about avocados-which if you have a child you should. I didn't learn about them till going to Honduras my last year at university.
Now I gotta find some avocado seeds and in a month or so I could grow my own.

love

It's not just because I am heading into my 8th day of fasting. Not because my tummy is rumbling. Not because I have been looking up recipes that I wanna try and cook. No none of these reasons are why I'm about to type this next sentence:
I LOVE SANDWICHES!
I do, I really love sandwiches. I love the whole idea of two slices of bread with a slice of meat a slice of cheese. Not enough foods involve the word slice and sandwich is just choke full of them.

ooooo what about Grilled Cheese sandwich? I haven't had one of those in well over a year...maybe two. When I get off this fast I need to make one of those with some tomato soup.

oh, I need to go before I get on to that wonderful topic of soup. Cold Shower, I need a cold shower.

Carol's new hat

This is sort of my rip off of the "Kinky Reggae" Hat. The instructions were only half complete so I had to improvise a lot and the part that did have instructions I didn't realize til I was almost done that I was not doing what it said at all. It turned out alright though. I like it. Crocheting most of the hat didn't take too long, crocheting around the elastic at the end took twice as long.
Well now that I got my Reggae hat on I gotta put on my Toots and the Maytals album and chill out.

Rugged

Growing up in Michigan I would often spend my winters imagining myself in some far off land. As I grew older the imaginings became more sophisticated. I imagined myself in a Paris bistro, African safari even strolling along the great wall of China. However, when I was very little my world of imagination wasn't that grand and I got through winter imagining myself in as far off of a land as I could imagine: Alaska. I had seen a documentary about it on PBS. Growing up PBS was my window to what was "out there."
I know it seems a bit odd to imagine yourself in an even colder and harsher environment than you are already in. I did it because it made me feel tough. Rugged in fact. A real bad ass. There was a ditch at the end of our yard that would freeze and become my entery into my Alaskan Adventures. I would trudge through the snow and by the time I had gotten to that icy ditch I was in Alaska. I had places to explore. Animals to see. Dangers to survive. By the time I reached the end of my icy path I had survived a plane crash, fought of grizzlies, and now found myself desperately trying to find a civilization of some sort to let them know I was alive. The journey normally came to an abrupt end as the short winter sun settled in for the night and I was forced to make a B-Line for home, before any real dangers set in.
Although I eventually stopped pretending I was in Alaska every time I went out in the snow I still couldn't help but imagine myself moving to Alaska and proving that I could be a rugged as the best of them. So, here I am in Alaska. Homer, Alaska-a place that is considerably less rugged than the environment I grew up in in Northern Michigan. Between my wireless Internet, the little coffee shops, brewery, art galleries, winery, all-green library, meadery, Chinese buffet, respect for performing arts, bicycle shops, yarn store and a respected museum it can be difficult to remember that I'm in Alaska. It was very dark when I first arrived but there is more sun everyday and I never had a nicer day(weather wise) on my birthday than I did up here.
I sometimes need a reminder I'm in Alaska, the mountains are great at reminding me. Fisherman in a shabby saloon help, so do the eagles. However, the other day I needed and activity to remind me and to connect with something I often imagined myself doing on those wintry days of my childhood- snowshoe walking.
In town they will rent you snowshoes for free. I rented a pair for myself and the five year old I take care of(I only rented some for her because she was with me and assumed she was getting some too). I decided we should use them to go for a walk along the trail system around Homer. We were warned over and over again to be careful of moose- YES! Dangerous Moose! Look at me being rugged in Alaska- and to have fun.
We didn't seen any moose but we saw some Austrian Skiers-almost as dangerous. We may have been on a trail system and never very far from other people or our car, but I didn't know that. I thought we were no where near our car, until our walk back and I could see it was rarely out of view. Also, I was on the look out for moose-rugged.
While snowshoe walking with a five year old maybe not even make the rugged meter it made me feel like I was that kid again, only this time I actually was in Alaska.


Somethings that help remind me I'm in Alaska:






Something that made me forget surfers on my birthday-February 20th:

I sure know how to waste time

There are so many things I should be doing. Cleaning my cottage, working out, writing my grad school app. Instead I ahve spent a considerable amount of time really trying to memorize all the lyrics to a Dutch song Rosanne. This is why I need a roommate, I'm too weird on my own. I know I know... if you ahve lived with me you probably know I'm not normal either way. I gave that away pretty quick after moving into 318 when Tom caught me arguing with the TV commercials. They are just fool of crap someone needs to tell them off.
Well, if you can't think of an original way to waste time you can do what I did tonight and commit this song to memory:



Rosanne ik weet dat er heel veel mannen zijn
Elke keer weer een ander en mij doet 't pijn
Want jou liefde waarmee jij mij soms verblijdt
Wil ik liever liever liever liever voor altijd

Als ik dacht dat ik je had dan had jij je weer bedacht
Onvoorspelbaar en zo onverwacht
Ik keek maar toe hoe jij mij in verwarring bracht
Ik wil zekerheid dat ik bij jou ben vannacht

Oh oh oh

Rosanne ik weet dat er heel veel mannen zijn
Elke keer weer een ander en mij doet 't pijn
Want jou liefde waarmee jij mij soms verblijdt
Wil ik liever liever liever liever voor altijd

Jij kan je rust niet vinden jou geest is veel te vrij
Jij bent morgen weer anders dan vandaag
Jij wilt je nog niet binden maar dat hoeft ook niet van mij
Ik wil gewoon die zoen het is al dat ik vraag

Oh oh oh

Rosanne ik weet dat er heel veel mannen zijn
Elke keer weer een ander en mij doet 't pijn
Want jou liefde waarmee jij mij soms verblijdt
Wil ik liever liever liever liever voor altijd

Weet wel dat ik hier op je wachten zal
Tot je eindelijk je rust vindt bij mij

Oh oh oh

Rosanne ik weet dat er heel veel mannen zijn
Elke keer weer een ander en mij doet 't pijn
Want jou liefde waarmee jij mij soms verblijdt
Wil ik liever liever liever liever voor altijd



-After the song would end normally Toto's Rosanna would play.... I'm well on my way to ahving that memorized too.

Sweat Stain

This morning I gave a talk about Kyrgyzstan and Peace Corps and what not. I know, my use of the English language shows how I'm meant to speak in front of people. I didn't realize till half way through how bad I was sweating. My armpits were soaked but I didn't even notice those till later. I had a random sweat patch on my side. I'm always classy. I ended up giving the second half of my speech with my arm pinned next to my side to try and hide the huge sweat stain as best I could.
I always find giving little speeches or talks about yourself so revealing. I enjoyed that after the talk I was able to go to the library to get some reading done and be totally anonymous. However, my anonymity got blown. One of the ladies from my talk happened to be at the library with her grand daughters. She brought them over to meet me and started telling them all about how I had been in Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan and where that is. The girls asked me some questions, I answered, it was all very polite. Afterwards is when it got weird. There had been a real Alaskan type gentleman- long white hair, scraggly white beard, leathery face, big boots and standard issue flannel- sitting across from me for a few hours before this interaction. He hadn't taken any notice of me, because there was nothing to notice I was just some girl reading a book. After, however, I apparently became the most interesting thing in the place. He just stared at me. I made the obligatory stare back, the kind of stare where it says say something or stop looking at me. He did neither. I eventually just got so creeped out that I left. I normally don't let on lookers win the battle of the creepy stare, but I had a a book to finish and some anonymity to reclaim.

Learning Cockney

During my university years I spent a summer working in Uganda. Many of the people working there were British. Including my roommate Kelly. Kelly a lovely girl whom I love has one of the hardest accents for me to understand. She comes from a small village outside of Manchester. Another British Girl Laura would sympathize with my plight at trying to understand my roommate and than would try to teach me another strange British Accent: Cockney, which is chalk full of unusual phrases. There is this whole rhyming scheme which I have read a lot about in the 5 years since I was in Africa. I have used some of it correctly to the great shock of several Brits. Sometimes followed with a, "Are you taking the Piss?" Thankfully, Laura corrected me on that phrase early and made sure I knew that it is "Taking THE Piss" not "Taking A piss".
I was youtubing to see what cockney videos I could find and I found this one. I found it to be delightful. I hope you enjoy learning some Cockney...

And to think Brits think our accents make us sound stupid. At least I can say "THree" unlike David Beckham who says, "Free" as in "Yeah, we had Free goals last night."
"I drank Free cups of coffees this morning."
Oh, Cockney accents how you torment me!
"She has Free kids"

Trying to make Knitting and Leg Warmers cool again.

My old high school buddy Mandy recently said she wanted some knitted leg warmers with skull and cross bones on them. Well, here they are:

The Small Town Parade

Homer's Winter Carnival was this past weekend. Like any other small town the carnival was used as an excuse to have a parade. I have to admit I have a weakness for small town parades. I love that it is used predomiantly as free advertising for local businesses. I guess it isn't totally free, you have to include the cost of whatever candy was extremely discounted at the local grocery store. I would say judging by the candy thrown out this past weekend Dum-Dums and mints were on sale. Yep, mints-the kind you get at Piozza Hut after a meal. The people up here took being cheap on the candy to new levels. I loved it. I did grab a sweet tart packet that was sitting in the snow and none of the children a round me seemed to notice it.
I love the lack of floats, big showy marching bands, and crowds. Give me a small town parade over New York's Thanksgiving Day Parade any day. I've included photos to take you through the parade. Pretty much if you scan through these photos you will ahve seen the entire parade. The last photo is my favorite.