wait! i need closure on that anecdote!

the only thing standing in between me and my ability to mail in my visa application, is the fact that wells fargo apparantly decided not to upload my august savings statement to my online account.  and july won't work because that was JULY a whole EIGHT weeks ago, not SIX.  as if that really makes a difference.  if they are worried i spent all of my money already those two weeks wouldn't matter, it would have been in the last three weeks since i got home.

so far i have spent an insane amount of money, so this had better go all according to plan.  plane ticket: $1700, visa: $495, mandatory 12-months of bunac's travel insurance: $479.  i just spent in about a week and a half the entirety of what i grossed in naknek.  when i think about it like that, i want to pass out.

on friday my grandparents came to town with my aunt and two uncles, and gave me the thurber album and the thurber carnival. which means that if i don't have a thurber story somewhere, it doesn't exist. then, yesterday was my birthday, which was fairly uneventful.  not really much of a change between 25 and 26.  i had my usual lasagna for dinner, and this year my mom made me a boston creme pie instead of german chocolate (since she made it for grandmere last week).  i talked to laura for the first time in three weeks, and i got the chemical brothers cd i wanted.  oh, and i started my temp job for the week.  it's really, really, really boring.  and it starts at 7am.  in spirit lake, which is at least half an hour away.

the only nice part about it is that it is also really, really, really easy and i finish at 3:30.

you could be a part-time model

i am in desperate need of jeans.  i bought some cords online, relying solely on customer reviews and a sizing chart to decide if it i should.  then after i placed the order, i thought i had made a terrible mistake.  i can't find pants that fit even if i try on a hundred pairs, what would make me think these would work?  i got home today, and there was the box.  and you know, they fit perfectly!  it was completely amazing.  especially since i spent two hours today trying on jeans at the mall in ames, and found exactly one pair that i liked the fit of.  that are also $60 and one inch shorter (or three inches longer, if they are the regulars) than i would like.

other recent purchases include the new M.I.A. cd, which i have yet to listen to, and the flight of the conchords the distant future.  it was at target for $4, and they are from new zealand.  i know this because i am smart.  actually, i know this because i saw their show a couple of times on HBO when i was taking over eli's tv in naknek this summer, and then laura reminded me of their existance.  (btw, i can't figure out itunes...i think i need help 'cause i sure would like to see more of it.)

this week i went to ames because my grandmere turned 80.  two of my uncles and aunt were there as well, so it was a grand old time.  tomorrow they are all coming up to our house to see it, and then i think we are having lunch to celebrate my birthday.  which isn't until monday, but if i can extend it to a four-day weekend, like i would complain!  i will milk it for all it's worth.  especially since i will start my temp job monday, doing i'm not really sure what but i think i will be making boxes for a week.  hooray.

my application is almost done, i just need to do a few more pages and get my plane ticket and my passport out and put it in the mail.  holy cow.

 

i love this photo!

aaron, corinna, and ryan at the top of deer mountain.

some of my film has been put online at snapfish, and this is one photo i was looking forward to seeing.  the four of us and billy hiked up deer mountain one day.  we picked a really good day to go, it was one of the few days we had off where it didn't rain, and it was just a beautiful climb.  ketchikan is a rainforest with over 14 feet (yes, feet) of rain a year, and so the beginning was sort of this weird pre-historic forest that somewhat reminded me of louisiana.  and even after you pass the tree line, it's still not like a typical mountain with the fragile tundra.  there were plenty of plants and mud puddles.

i keep wanting to talk about alaska, but i can't.  when i was in naknek (which, by the way, is where my banner photo was taken*), erin and i talked about this.  naknek is just this place that sort of gets in your blood.  you may not really mean to go back when you leave and are exhausted and sick of the food, but after about eight months you just get this sort of itch to return.  and the place and the people and the whole experience (that's the key word i think) is just something you can't really describe to someone who hasn't ever done it before.  so even though i love it and it's this big part of my life now, i find it difficult to talk about it because i just don't know what to say. 

i also love that it enables me to do things like, oh, GO TO NEW ZEALAND!  which i am a little excited about, but i mostly feel trepidation.  i know very little about new zealand if i'm honest, and i know nobody there.  it's kind of like jumping off of a cliff...but a lot scarier.  if anyone knows of any blogs or websites or books or whatever that might be a good resource, please point me in the right direction!

*bunkhouse 88 may not have more than three hot showers a day, but at least i can take really good photos out of upper 88's windows!  right?

now that i am no longer a slave to dial-up

i can finally watch all of those online videos my friends have sent me. 

moving big rocks
one man demonstrates how stonehenge may have been built.

percusienfa de erik mongrain
a really cool way to make music on a guitar.

goreyesque trouble with tribbles
not a video, but it combines two of my nerdier obsessions.

ray troll and the squawking fish
and their 1988 music video "spawn till you die".  which is probably funniest if you are familiar with salmon breeding habits, or have seen the masses in ketchikan wearing troll's "spawn till you die" shirts.  (okay, so i stumbled on this one myself.)

and to update everyone on what i am doing next: today i mailed in my application and $495 cashier's check to bunac for my visa.  i said i wanted to leave at the beginning of november.  whee!

new family member

this is sky, our new cat.  she's cute, but she also likes to bite, torture book, and try to claw out my eyes.  i'll be glad when those get removed!  the best part about sky is that she's not nearly as anti-social as book, so i can just pick her up and torture her in return.  all of that petting is going to take her fur off!

(she has adopted apollo as a surrogate parent, and in that last picture she put herself there...apollo just looks sort of like "what is this thing?!?")

this is corinna, displaying the wonderful view from the top of deer mountain, just outside of ketchikan.  it took us five hours to get up and down, mostly because i am a) out of shape and b) had a sprained ankle.

i got home wednesday night, after spending two days on the m/v malaspina, and one flight from seattle via phoenix to minneapolis.

i am still tired but have a to-do list already.  get a plane ticket to new zealand so i can get the visa ball rolling.  get a temp job.  the next three days we are going to be selling art at the clay county fair.  etc. 

i have, at least, started editing photos, so those might be up shortly.  anything to avoid what i really need to be doing.