Catching Up - 2015

So it has been (strongly) suggested that I continue blogging about my new life in Anchorage.  And I really, really mean to do so, but time keeps whooshing past.  Funny how by staying in one place I have less time than when I was traveling the world.  Of course, in part it is that I have more people to spend time with, and a job, and stuff to take care of.  And part of it is that I now live 2 blocks from my mom, 5 blocks from my brother, sister-in-law and nephews, and 9 blocks from my dad and bonus mom.  I assume that they know what’s going on in my life.  Since they were a big element of my blog audience, and that was intended to keep them up to date, my sense of urgency fell away.  But my non-bio family, friends, travel-mates, etc deserve updates too!  Somehow I thought it would be in a Christmas card/letter, but here it is June.  June 2015.  So here goes:

As you saw from previous posts, I purchased and remodeled a condo.  I think it went well.  The furnishing process has been very slow, because I’m finicky, and Anchorage’s selection is poor, and I’ve made mistakes, and I’m on a budget.  And perhaps, most significantly, because I moved in a roommate.

By roommate I mean POSSLQ (Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters).  Because I just cannot say boyfriend.   I’m in my 40s now and that’s just too too.

There's nothing that I wouldn't do

If you would be my POSSLQ

You live with me and I with you,

And you will be my POSSLQ.

I'll be your friend and so much more;

That's what a POSSLQ is for.

                                    Charles Osgood

Luckily, I found someone who is almost as stuff averse as I!  So the space fits the two of us nicely.  Albeit a tad messily as we are still sorting out things like camping gear and the like.  My big give (all relationships have compromises) is allowing a television in the house.  I suspect his give is putting up with my constant flow of books.  With the limited space they are all library books.  So they are hardcovers and a bit bulky.  But they come and go quickly.  The first thing Brian moved in, before clothing even, were his spices.  I took that as a good sign.  My cooking skills are still iffy, and the experience of an Anchorage grocery store just makes things worse.  Here’s hoping the farmer’s markets make things better.  Last summer we made kolrabi fries and that worked out. 

On the job front I have been terribly busy.  Luckily it hasn’t all been in a desk chair, but perhaps more than I’d hoped.  Bizarrely, I have become a sort of manager—Sub-Practice Lead—so I even have an employee to see to and projects to manager.  Still all in cultural resources so there have been some cool things to do. 

The best of these was a field trip to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, which we accessed by helicopter.  And then, due to the size of the crew and the limits in the airplane, I was demobbed by flying in the helicopter back down to Wasilla (just outside of Anchorage).  I’m including a map so you can see how far that is.  We paralleled the Alyeska Pipeline and Dalton Highway for the northern portion of the trip, landed in Fairbanks for more fuel, then continued south past Denali.  We stopped in Talkeetna for lunch, by touching down on the completely legal landing strip in downtown.  I felt like a rock star.  We also picked up growlers from the Denali Brewing Company. 

https://www.travelalaska.com/Destinations/Regions.aspx

Other work travel included trips to the villages of Sleetmute and Noatak, down to Homer for a roads survey, and up to Fairbanks for a project I can’t tell you about.  Non-work travel included hitting Homer and Little Tutka (really people, you’re just going to have to look at a map for all this), riding the train to Seward and then taking the tourist boat out to the glaciers (Whales! Seals! Sea lions! Margaritas made of glacier ice!), and camping out and hitting the end of the season party in historic Hope. 

Out of state I flew to Seattle several times (more Ikea), visited Portland where B. and I took in the Book of Mormon musical (hilarious!!) and saw OK GO!, and visited Philadelphia.  All trips included visiting as many Outside friends and family as possible, which is still far too few.

In Anchorage I’ve made it to several musical events including The Duhks, Rhiannon Giddens, Lucia di Lammermoor (yes! We have opera here!), several symphonies, and SalmonStock.  The last being a 3-day folk and fish event in Ninilchik (really people – MAP).  We’ve been attending Arctic Entries, which is sort of the Alaskan version of This American Life.  http://arcticentries.com/  I’m looking forward to Rufus Wainwright’s performance at the end of the summer and a return to Ninilchik.

That’s about a year’s worth of whirlwind.  I’ll be posting more, and in more detail, as I’m able.