Merry Christmas everyone! I know it has been a little while since I last wrote but I've had a good excuse. I've essentially been hobbling around on crutches for about three weeks now. A lot longer than I had anticipated. However, thankfully, I am just about off of them. I am supposed to be weening myself off of the crutches and maybe by weekends end I can return the crutches to medical.
I don't think that it is in God's design for me to have a white Christmas. I've made it all the way down to a continent that is almost entirely covered in snow and ice and yet I walk outside and the whole town is brown.
It's been kind of lax down here lately for me. Really can't get out and do all that much while on crutches but I am really excited to be getting off of them and start hiking again. There was a softball tournament down here last weekend which I missed but that might've been a good thing. Four people that were playing are all being sent home with various injuries. Everything from a separated shoulder to a torn ACL.
Last night was the Christmas party down here, it was also the first night I attempted to be without my crutches. By the time I went to bed my leg was a little tired but not all too bad. So the good news is I'm healing. Aside from the injury I seem to be the luckiest guy on station... At my departments Christmas party I won a free day off (would've actually won three days if that were allowed). We played a couple of games and the prize for each one was a day off. And then last night as I walked into the Christmas party you were supposed to grab a piece of paper out of a sack, most of the papers said naughty and you didn't get a present. Surprise, surprise, mine said nice and I got to go and choose a present from under the tree! It was Jenga a fun game of course!
I really don't have a ton to write right now, I don't know why. It could have a little bit to do with the fact I'm not very motivated. Being injured sucks! It really hasn't even felt like I'm in Antarctica aside from the fact that I am away from everyone I love and hold dear. Luckily there is a good support system down here. There are a lot of great people and I've made a lot of really good friends. Once I get back to my full workload I think the season is going to fly right on by. I can't believe I've been gone for 81 days! And I've only got 50 days left on the ice and 54 days until I'm with the family in Italy.
Sorry for the boring blog, they all can't be winners! I will try better next time. On a closing thought. One thing I do like about spending Christmas down here is the fact that a lot of the fakeness of Christmas from back home is eliminated. I'm so glad to not have had to deal with all of the BS that goes on with the mad dash to find the "perfect" present for everyone. I'm not inundated with commercials about Christmas or complaints that you can't say Merry Christmas. I myself have never had a problem with the meaning of Christmas but I feel a lot of people do. It's turned into this monster that does nothing but stress everyone out.
I definitely don't miss going to the mall and dealing with the million people doing their last minute shopping. Christmas is about family, it's about love and most importantly it's about God. Don't get me wrong, the gifts are a nice thing but it shouldn't be the focus of the day. I love my family and friends and I wish them all a Merry Christmas, not a happy holidays but a Merry Christmas. Because that is what today is, those who don't believe in it don't take it as an insult or an attack, take it as a compliment. Because to me, saying Merry Christmas is like saying I love you, because God loved us enough to save us all by giving us Christ. So enjoy the day, don't be sad it is a day to celebrate!
Love and miss you all,
D
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
I'm an Antarctic Statistic...
This one will be short, maybe...
Since I'm writing again so quickly since the last one I only have two things to really talk about today. First on the agenda will be something I left out from the last blog, Freezing man... what is it?
As many of you have probably heard of the event called Burning Man that takes place in the dessert that is a start. Freezing man had the same objective as Burning Man. It was an attempt at a mass gathering of people to interact in live art. I'm not an expert on Burning Man but from some documentaries I've watched it appears to be a week long party in the dessert where people get grants and/or build art projects. The art is designed to allow people to become a part of the artwork itself. It has the reputation of being a bunch of hippies running around naked in the dessert taking all kinds of drugs. While that may very well happen the intention behind it all is the celebration of art.
Well Freezing Man was just that (we have a lot of hippies down here) except nobody was naked and there were no drugs. Just lots of beer! The organizers of the event had a lot of stuff mailed down here from all over the world. They went to a lot of Burning Man sites and expressed their desire to put on an event like Burning Man in Antarctica. For some specific reasons we couldn't follow all of the rules of Burning Man so it was somewhat an unofficial off site event.
If you have looked at my pictures from the event I was wearing some clothes that were actually donated from people all over the world. The pants themselves were skin tight purple sequined and the shirt was a baby-doll t-shirt that said drop it like its hot. The party itself was like a big dress up party with music and dancing. I spent a lot of my night making a hoola-hoop and then showcasing my hoola-hoopin abilities. There was also a lot of light dancing as well as a beard making center. The event had a lot of body painting and also a dunk tank out back. Which proved not to be the most intelligent choice for some people. One of my friends got hypothermia and had to been taken away by the fire department and warmed up at the firehouse. All in all though it was a very interesting experience!
Ok, now to make the title of this blog make some sense. I am on crutches right now and probably for at least the next week. It's not anything serious I just have a bone contusion in my right ankle. I was playing indoor soccer on Friday night and I got kicked in the ankle while I was passing the ball. It immediately became swollen, somewhat looked like somebody cut a tennis ball in half and stuffed it under the skin in my ankle. At first I didn't want to go to medical but about an hour later when it really started to hurt and the swelling wasn't going down I finally called medical and the doc came to see me.
I was really nervous because a lot of people have been sent home recently. Some for things less dramatic than a broken ankle so I was pretty sure I was going to be sent home soon. The doctor came and looked at my ankle and from the swelling he thought I could have a broken bone in my ankle but he couldn't tell for sure until he x-rayed it the next day. In the meantime he got me some crutches as well as some pain killers. He didn't really tell me what the pills were but the instructions were on it. 1-2 tablets every 6 hour or as needed. So I took 2 at about 11PM, I woke up and at about 3AM and my ankle was throbbing so I took two more, minor mistake. I woke up the next morning and felt drunk and went to the medical building. As I was waiting for my x-ray to come back I became really sick to my stomach and almost threw up. Came to find out that he had given me percocet. If I had known that I would've only taken one more at 3Am but oh well.
So as it stands right now I'm staying on the ice, but I'm just on light duty until my ankle is completely better. I imagine that if it gets worse or just doesn't get better I could be sent home but that's very unlikely. So for now it's just a pain in the ass being on crutches and trying to get around, Antarctica isn't very handicap accessible. The ADA is not being fully followed down here, shame on the government :P haha but I must say I like the attention!
That's all for now, as promised a little bit shorter than usual!
Much Love,
D
Since I'm writing again so quickly since the last one I only have two things to really talk about today. First on the agenda will be something I left out from the last blog, Freezing man... what is it?
As many of you have probably heard of the event called Burning Man that takes place in the dessert that is a start. Freezing man had the same objective as Burning Man. It was an attempt at a mass gathering of people to interact in live art. I'm not an expert on Burning Man but from some documentaries I've watched it appears to be a week long party in the dessert where people get grants and/or build art projects. The art is designed to allow people to become a part of the artwork itself. It has the reputation of being a bunch of hippies running around naked in the dessert taking all kinds of drugs. While that may very well happen the intention behind it all is the celebration of art.
Well Freezing Man was just that (we have a lot of hippies down here) except nobody was naked and there were no drugs. Just lots of beer! The organizers of the event had a lot of stuff mailed down here from all over the world. They went to a lot of Burning Man sites and expressed their desire to put on an event like Burning Man in Antarctica. For some specific reasons we couldn't follow all of the rules of Burning Man so it was somewhat an unofficial off site event.
If you have looked at my pictures from the event I was wearing some clothes that were actually donated from people all over the world. The pants themselves were skin tight purple sequined and the shirt was a baby-doll t-shirt that said drop it like its hot. The party itself was like a big dress up party with music and dancing. I spent a lot of my night making a hoola-hoop and then showcasing my hoola-hoopin abilities. There was also a lot of light dancing as well as a beard making center. The event had a lot of body painting and also a dunk tank out back. Which proved not to be the most intelligent choice for some people. One of my friends got hypothermia and had to been taken away by the fire department and warmed up at the firehouse. All in all though it was a very interesting experience!
Ok, now to make the title of this blog make some sense. I am on crutches right now and probably for at least the next week. It's not anything serious I just have a bone contusion in my right ankle. I was playing indoor soccer on Friday night and I got kicked in the ankle while I was passing the ball. It immediately became swollen, somewhat looked like somebody cut a tennis ball in half and stuffed it under the skin in my ankle. At first I didn't want to go to medical but about an hour later when it really started to hurt and the swelling wasn't going down I finally called medical and the doc came to see me.
I was really nervous because a lot of people have been sent home recently. Some for things less dramatic than a broken ankle so I was pretty sure I was going to be sent home soon. The doctor came and looked at my ankle and from the swelling he thought I could have a broken bone in my ankle but he couldn't tell for sure until he x-rayed it the next day. In the meantime he got me some crutches as well as some pain killers. He didn't really tell me what the pills were but the instructions were on it. 1-2 tablets every 6 hour or as needed. So I took 2 at about 11PM, I woke up and at about 3AM and my ankle was throbbing so I took two more, minor mistake. I woke up the next morning and felt drunk and went to the medical building. As I was waiting for my x-ray to come back I became really sick to my stomach and almost threw up. Came to find out that he had given me percocet. If I had known that I would've only taken one more at 3Am but oh well.
So as it stands right now I'm staying on the ice, but I'm just on light duty until my ankle is completely better. I imagine that if it gets worse or just doesn't get better I could be sent home but that's very unlikely. So for now it's just a pain in the ass being on crutches and trying to get around, Antarctica isn't very handicap accessible. The ADA is not being fully followed down here, shame on the government :P haha but I must say I like the attention!
That's all for now, as promised a little bit shorter than usual!
Much Love,
D
Thursday, December 4, 2008
They say familiarity breeds contempt....
Well, I don't really buy it. It seems to me that people like what is familiar as opposed to change and what is new. Of course, that can't be said for everyone or everything but for some things I think it holds true. My beard for instance; I've gotten emails from some of your back home about the dislike for the beard or downright hatred (love). So for Thanksgiving I shaved the beard off, just for a little bit of shock factor. Surprise, surprise it shocked some people down here. It was really funny to go down to the galley for dinner and have about half of everyone I see on a daily basis not recognize me. On top of that I've had a good 6 or 7 people flat out tell me I need to grow it back. Not because of what anyone is saying down here, I am. Mainly I'm growing the beard back because, well, I'm in Antarctica for Pete's sake! My face nearly froze off the other day because it was so damn cold and windy. So until I'm in Italy my face will be covered with fur! Anyways, aside from that, let me tell you how the past 10 days have been.
Thanksgiving was great. Did it compare to the feast that I'm use to back home? Absolutely not. It's impossible to duplicate what I get with my nearest and dearest anyplace other than with them. This is the first year I didn't have mashed potatoes (right there with ya Emily), however I wished that I did. I had a baked potato but it's not the same. This is also the first Thanksgiving ever without Gulliver's corn (tear, running down my throat to my cornless belly) as well as none of Noni's magnificent rigatoni and her famous sauce. I definitely missed the normal family drama that occurs, gladly missed the nearly violent karaoke though. Nobody should be forced to listen to some members of the family sing before they get pie, I don't want bloody ears and an upset stomach before dessert! Love ya sis!
Although, I missed Thanksgiving it was still a pretty special treat down here. I had the three o'clock seating for dinner and in the hour and a half I got to eat I ate so much food that I didn't need to eat until 10:30 the next morning. It was quite a feast. The meal consisted of Turkey (duh), beef tenderloin, shrimp (yummy, fresh!), baked potatoes, candied yams, bread, gravy, truffles, pumpkin pie, and about 3 other desserts (I didn't eat them all but they looked great) and some more sides I'm sure. I was fortunate enough to eat at a table with 8 or 9 good friends that I've made down here, it was all by chance because we all signed up to eat at different times.
The rest of the day I pretty much just relaxed and let my food digest. I watched some Californication as well as some more True Blood, I love those shows! I figured that I definitely needed to rest though, it was in fact the only two day weekend I will have the entire time that I am down here. So needless to say I took full advantage of it.
As some of you know I am a compulsive sleep walker. Every place I've ever lived and numerous places I haven't, I have been caught sleep walking. Some of you might know about the time I woke up in a friend's mom's bedroom (I was on the ground) that I had never met before she asked me who the heck I was and what I was doing in her room. Others might remember the story about the time I found my pajamas in the freezer in Connecticut. If you don't know about these stories just email and I'll give you a quick summary on the events at hand.
You might be wondering where all of this is going... Well, be patient I'm getting there. I live in a room with two other guys, Shaun (essentially my best friend down here) and Nate (total frat guy at first impression, good guy though). Well Shaun had been at a field camp for the last two weeks so Nate and I had the room made for 4 all to ourselves. So on Monday night I actually woke up twice in the middle of a sleepwalking episode. The first time I found myself standing up on my bed and lifting one of the ceiling tiles out (think the kind that you throw a pencil into in high school). I have no idea why I was up there but I quickly gathered myself, went to the bathroom and went back to bed.
About two hours later, Shaun returned from the field camp that he was at (WAIS Divide, West Antarctic Ice Sheet kind of like the continental divide in the states). Apparently I had a conversation with him for a few minutes before I woke up. Most of you are about to learn a little nugget of information that I only recently realized. My sleeping walking all has a theme. When Shaun walked in the door apparently I was really happy that he got there just in time and now I wasn't going to lose the game that I had been playing. For the last few years every time I've caught myself sleepwalking or somebody else has it has something to do with this game. My dreams are full of this game and I absolutely have no idea what the rules or objective to it are. If I'm going to do a little dream analyzing I think it has a lot to do with the fact that since high school ended I haven't really engaged in enough competitive sports.
I've done crazier things than that but the point of this rambling is that I think I'm finally becoming comfortable being down here and having roommates. I am essentially sleeping through the night aside from the occasional restroom trip. I feel as though the rest of the season will be pretty easy. Christmas will be difficult and so will missing all 4 of the most important women in my life birthdays but this has been extremely rewarding.
I've learned so much about what it is to be on your own, truly on your own. And I know that no matter what goes on in life I'll be able to handle it. Life is great, you sometimes just have to take step out of your comfort zone to really appreciate it. I've always been a happy person, laid back and easy going. That's not going to change either, I just appreciate this life I lead a little bit more. I'm definitely thankful for all of you that are reading this (thanksgiving theme a little) and I miss you all terribly (N).
What I really like about this online blog thing is I never really have a plan on where it's going to go, it just kind of goes. So if it seems a little scattered and all over the place, that's because it is and that's kind of nice to not have any rules. So at this point I've drawn a blank and to me that means I'm done for the night. I hope you all take one thing out of my blog, if you ever catch me sleeping walking, don't wake me just have some fun and see where you can make the conversation go. If I wake you up it'd be easy to be upset but the point is, don't let my sleepwalking upset you because that's pointless why be mad when you can have fun!
Much love,
D
Thanksgiving was great. Did it compare to the feast that I'm use to back home? Absolutely not. It's impossible to duplicate what I get with my nearest and dearest anyplace other than with them. This is the first year I didn't have mashed potatoes (right there with ya Emily), however I wished that I did. I had a baked potato but it's not the same. This is also the first Thanksgiving ever without Gulliver's corn (tear, running down my throat to my cornless belly) as well as none of Noni's magnificent rigatoni and her famous sauce. I definitely missed the normal family drama that occurs, gladly missed the nearly violent karaoke though. Nobody should be forced to listen to some members of the family sing before they get pie, I don't want bloody ears and an upset stomach before dessert! Love ya sis!
Although, I missed Thanksgiving it was still a pretty special treat down here. I had the three o'clock seating for dinner and in the hour and a half I got to eat I ate so much food that I didn't need to eat until 10:30 the next morning. It was quite a feast. The meal consisted of Turkey (duh), beef tenderloin, shrimp (yummy, fresh!), baked potatoes, candied yams, bread, gravy, truffles, pumpkin pie, and about 3 other desserts (I didn't eat them all but they looked great) and some more sides I'm sure. I was fortunate enough to eat at a table with 8 or 9 good friends that I've made down here, it was all by chance because we all signed up to eat at different times.
The rest of the day I pretty much just relaxed and let my food digest. I watched some Californication as well as some more True Blood, I love those shows! I figured that I definitely needed to rest though, it was in fact the only two day weekend I will have the entire time that I am down here. So needless to say I took full advantage of it.
As some of you know I am a compulsive sleep walker. Every place I've ever lived and numerous places I haven't, I have been caught sleep walking. Some of you might know about the time I woke up in a friend's mom's bedroom (I was on the ground) that I had never met before she asked me who the heck I was and what I was doing in her room. Others might remember the story about the time I found my pajamas in the freezer in Connecticut. If you don't know about these stories just email and I'll give you a quick summary on the events at hand.
You might be wondering where all of this is going... Well, be patient I'm getting there. I live in a room with two other guys, Shaun (essentially my best friend down here) and Nate (total frat guy at first impression, good guy though). Well Shaun had been at a field camp for the last two weeks so Nate and I had the room made for 4 all to ourselves. So on Monday night I actually woke up twice in the middle of a sleepwalking episode. The first time I found myself standing up on my bed and lifting one of the ceiling tiles out (think the kind that you throw a pencil into in high school). I have no idea why I was up there but I quickly gathered myself, went to the bathroom and went back to bed.
About two hours later, Shaun returned from the field camp that he was at (WAIS Divide, West Antarctic Ice Sheet kind of like the continental divide in the states). Apparently I had a conversation with him for a few minutes before I woke up. Most of you are about to learn a little nugget of information that I only recently realized. My sleeping walking all has a theme. When Shaun walked in the door apparently I was really happy that he got there just in time and now I wasn't going to lose the game that I had been playing. For the last few years every time I've caught myself sleepwalking or somebody else has it has something to do with this game. My dreams are full of this game and I absolutely have no idea what the rules or objective to it are. If I'm going to do a little dream analyzing I think it has a lot to do with the fact that since high school ended I haven't really engaged in enough competitive sports.
I've done crazier things than that but the point of this rambling is that I think I'm finally becoming comfortable being down here and having roommates. I am essentially sleeping through the night aside from the occasional restroom trip. I feel as though the rest of the season will be pretty easy. Christmas will be difficult and so will missing all 4 of the most important women in my life birthdays but this has been extremely rewarding.
I've learned so much about what it is to be on your own, truly on your own. And I know that no matter what goes on in life I'll be able to handle it. Life is great, you sometimes just have to take step out of your comfort zone to really appreciate it. I've always been a happy person, laid back and easy going. That's not going to change either, I just appreciate this life I lead a little bit more. I'm definitely thankful for all of you that are reading this (thanksgiving theme a little) and I miss you all terribly (N).
What I really like about this online blog thing is I never really have a plan on where it's going to go, it just kind of goes. So if it seems a little scattered and all over the place, that's because it is and that's kind of nice to not have any rules. So at this point I've drawn a blank and to me that means I'm done for the night. I hope you all take one thing out of my blog, if you ever catch me sleeping walking, don't wake me just have some fun and see where you can make the conversation go. If I wake you up it'd be easy to be upset but the point is, don't let my sleepwalking upset you because that's pointless why be mad when you can have fun!
Much love,
D
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