Ahh. So I don't much know what to write right now. I just feel like this is the thing to do right now, so I'll apologize in advance for any incoherent or seemingly psychotic prattle.
My departure from the ice grows near, and honestly I'm looking at it as a god send... but then again my initial plans for post Antarctica travel seem to have fallen out of the bottom like sea ice in a paper cup. Just trust me on that analogy. So as I sit and listen to The Annuals, I find myself wondering if there is something bigger to any of this or if it's just a stroke of bad luck. I'm resolved to make this my year, and I'm not going to let one hitch in the road mess that up for me. I've been down on myself for too many years and I've been treading water too long to go right back to that. So, it looks like I'll spend a few days in Christchurch and maybe a day or 2 in Sydney, then head to Hawaii for a couple of days. After that I'll likely head in to the left coast and visit my brother before making the flight home. So, my grandiose idea of traveling from Budapest to Prague to Frankfurt to Amsterdam via some combination of hostel work and vagabonding is all but dead... even if I desperately try to find ways to necessitate it as if I was someone who just lost the love of a life, screaming at the doctors how very unfair it was and how this can't be happening... all the while I know hope is all but dead for it. Wow, how over dramatic of me. Ah, well. Worse things have happened. I will create another opportunity to go see the beauty that Europe has to offer.
"And the songs that we sing, still make the bells ring.. but we fell asleep for the sermon."
Discovering new music is awesome. On a different note, I'm getting tired of Iron and Wine. However, I'm thrilled with Sufjan Stevens. And Forest Sun.
So the way I see it, you can hope to see me in Asheville town on or around the 22nd or 23rd of February.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Eat this grade school english
What could be more fun than floating outside of yourself in shorts and a tee shirt in the middle of an Antarctic summer trying to figure out if you are finally starting to beat what is now a recurring sinus infection that never seems to go away and continues to wreak havoc on your immune system.
Down here... not much.
After being out of work sick for the better part of the week and being put on an ever changing battery of medications for what was, in December, a standard sinus infection with bad headaches; last weekend, a series of symtoms caused by migraines (symptoms including but not limited to; migraine pain headaches, body pain and stiffness, vomiting, and general congestion); and now full blown sinusitius (? whatever that really is) and intense non-migraine but with the power of migraine headaches and body pains. So after being out of work until at least Friday, I can safely say, I had the best bad day ever, thanks most definitly to the awesome things my friends and family sent me over the holidays and the medication given me by McMurdo "General Hospital" aka the med clinic. Anyway, time to attempt sleep, run on sentences complete, eat that grade school english!
Down here... not much.
After being out of work sick for the better part of the week and being put on an ever changing battery of medications for what was, in December, a standard sinus infection with bad headaches; last weekend, a series of symtoms caused by migraines (symptoms including but not limited to; migraine pain headaches, body pain and stiffness, vomiting, and general congestion); and now full blown sinusitius (? whatever that really is) and intense non-migraine but with the power of migraine headaches and body pains. So after being out of work until at least Friday, I can safely say, I had the best bad day ever, thanks most definitly to the awesome things my friends and family sent me over the holidays and the medication given me by McMurdo "General Hospital" aka the med clinic. Anyway, time to attempt sleep, run on sentences complete, eat that grade school english!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Hitting the Pause Button on the Real World
That is what life if. This little adventure is like hitting the pause button on real life. The title is a bit misleading, because I am a fan of the question "When and where does this real world begin and end." But, I'm also a fan of the saying "Hell is the doing the same repetitive task over and over again for eternity." If both what I have equated this too with my pause button thing, and that quote about hell are both true, than this place is really like pausing life and going to hell for a little while. It may give you a chance to think on things, but it won't be pleasant. Although, taking from that what you will, I have been able to get a few thoughts through my head. I know better what I want to do with my life, and because my answer is frightening to me still, I'll keep it to myself. Also, I haven't quite figured out how to accomplish it... or rather how to procure financial backing for this venture. Hell, to be perfectly honest, the things I want out of life, I'm not ready for... and I'm not sure my life is ready for me.
Anyhow, new happenings. My radio show show starts this Wednesday, and that should be exciting, hopefully recordings will come home with me. Umm... Beck rules... David Bowie rules.... I've been playing too much tetris on facebook... uhh... er... uhhhhhhh..... yeah.
Peace Easy, all you Tricks, Johns, and Marks!
Anyhow, new happenings. My radio show show starts this Wednesday, and that should be exciting, hopefully recordings will come home with me. Umm... Beck rules... David Bowie rules.... I've been playing too much tetris on facebook... uhh... er... uhhhhhhh..... yeah.
Peace Easy, all you Tricks, Johns, and Marks!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
A Crimmus Story
It was the day before Christmas, and I got package mail.
Opened both of 'em up and was like "HOLY HELL"
The first one was littered with holiday cheer
The second wasn't actually for me, and I thought that was weird
So I decided that it was time to go get some grub
Cause it was like 4:30, and I was hungry, bub
At dinner I made lewd comments galore
Something about someone being a whore
So back to my room for Fritos and Beer
Even though Speights tastes like piss from reindeer
Then I was chillin' with Rich and food warehouse Ben
Then off to Gallagers and Southern to find my other friends
After refusing to dance and stealing Nolans drink
I said, "I'm going to Midrats for tacos, I think"
After that ran it's course I stole K-Dawgs hookah
Comiserated with Drew and smoked shesha too-sah
Once that was over I headed back to my room
To watch Life Aquatic, but was inturpted by a boom
A bang, a clank, and a clatter
Oh here's a drunk roommate and a drunk girl.......
Shit there goes my night, I'm getting out of here!
So basically now I'm locked out and getting ready to wake someone up on this fine Christmas Eve Night..... even though technically, it's Christmas morning now.
Opened both of 'em up and was like "HOLY HELL"
The first one was littered with holiday cheer
The second wasn't actually for me, and I thought that was weird
So I decided that it was time to go get some grub
Cause it was like 4:30, and I was hungry, bub
At dinner I made lewd comments galore
Something about someone being a whore
So back to my room for Fritos and Beer
Even though Speights tastes like piss from reindeer
Then I was chillin' with Rich and food warehouse Ben
Then off to Gallagers and Southern to find my other friends
After refusing to dance and stealing Nolans drink
I said, "I'm going to Midrats for tacos, I think"
After that ran it's course I stole K-Dawgs hookah
Comiserated with Drew and smoked shesha too-sah
Once that was over I headed back to my room
To watch Life Aquatic, but was inturpted by a boom
A bang, a clank, and a clatter
Oh here's a drunk roommate and a drunk girl.......
Shit there goes my night, I'm getting out of here!
So basically now I'm locked out and getting ready to wake someone up on this fine Christmas Eve Night..... even though technically, it's Christmas morning now.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Things I don't Remember
"There were jokes that didn't land, disco dancing neighbors, they were born in mashed potatoes.... how the hell'd we get here..."
"Let me go on like a blister in the sun..."
Man!
This adventure is awesome in a lot of ways. Not every bit of it is so cool, but hell, I never expected to just have fun the whole time I was here.
"Day, after day, I will walk... and I will play.... but the day after today, I will stop and I will start...."
I've rediscovered a lot of music I hadn't listened to in awhile. I've met some cool people, and some not so cool people. I've learned some cool things about science. Not that I could explain most of it, but hell it's still cool. I've grown, and continue to.
You maybe saying, James you keep saying one day you hate it, the next you love it, but what's it really like there?
Well it's like this.
The social structure, as I've said before, is much like high school meets summer camp. Not especially great in concert.
There are these special rules, on a count of this being a US Government facility, and also one of the largest travel hubs on the continent. I know that sounds funny, but not 5 miles away is New Zealand's Scott Base, also I've met Aussies, Kiwis, Italians, Irishmen, Polish peoples, and other non-Americans here. Some are living on base, some at Scott base, some are just passing through. The best thing about my job, as far as the experience of it all, is that it puts me in a unique position to meet literally everyone on base. I don't necessarily get to have in depth conversation with each and every person, but I have had short conversations with many of them, probably the vast majority. I have learned several drinking games just through conversation as well. Take, for example the Kiwi tradition of "Where you from?" which I learned about by wearing my APBC "I'm from Asheville, where the hell you from?" shirt out to the bar, Southern Exposer. Basically, if you say, "'ey where you from?" to a Kiwi, they must cheers you, finish their drink, and then tell you where they are from. They aren't allowed to return the favor. My personal favorite game I was told of, but am very afraid to play, is the Ferris Bueller game. It consists of watching the movie of the same name and drinking whenever the main characters name is said.... recipe for disaster, that is.
The long and the short of it is that this place isn't like anywhere or anything else you could ever experience. The beer is all a year since it's on can sell by date, looks putrid when poured into a glass, and has gotten worse as the season wears on. I've stopped drinking it entirely. When I was still smoking, the American Spirits were stale and easily broken when attempting to ash, while the Marlboro's and Camel's were only on the cusp of being stale, but all of them were cheap. The chips and candy and most of the food we prepare in the galley is also well past its sell by date, and in some cases its use by date. But it still gets used. The fruit is often beginning to mold. But at the same time, I would wager that there have been almost no food poisoning cases here. That in and of itself makes me more than raise an eyebrow to the FDA and it's policy on expiration dates. There are also rigidly enforced recycling and trash sorting rules, which makes me see just how wasteful Americans are, because it all gets shipped back to the states, every bit of it. From used condoms and rotten food, to tattered cloth, to aluminum cans, to glass, to non-recyclable material.
Anyhow, I'm hungry and it's breakfast time (dinner for me), so I'm off!
"Let me go on like a blister in the sun..."
Man!
This adventure is awesome in a lot of ways. Not every bit of it is so cool, but hell, I never expected to just have fun the whole time I was here.
"Day, after day, I will walk... and I will play.... but the day after today, I will stop and I will start...."
I've rediscovered a lot of music I hadn't listened to in awhile. I've met some cool people, and some not so cool people. I've learned some cool things about science. Not that I could explain most of it, but hell it's still cool. I've grown, and continue to.
You maybe saying, James you keep saying one day you hate it, the next you love it, but what's it really like there?
Well it's like this.
The social structure, as I've said before, is much like high school meets summer camp. Not especially great in concert.
There are these special rules, on a count of this being a US Government facility, and also one of the largest travel hubs on the continent. I know that sounds funny, but not 5 miles away is New Zealand's Scott Base, also I've met Aussies, Kiwis, Italians, Irishmen, Polish peoples, and other non-Americans here. Some are living on base, some at Scott base, some are just passing through. The best thing about my job, as far as the experience of it all, is that it puts me in a unique position to meet literally everyone on base. I don't necessarily get to have in depth conversation with each and every person, but I have had short conversations with many of them, probably the vast majority. I have learned several drinking games just through conversation as well. Take, for example the Kiwi tradition of "Where you from?" which I learned about by wearing my APBC "I'm from Asheville, where the hell you from?" shirt out to the bar, Southern Exposer. Basically, if you say, "'ey where you from?" to a Kiwi, they must cheers you, finish their drink, and then tell you where they are from. They aren't allowed to return the favor. My personal favorite game I was told of, but am very afraid to play, is the Ferris Bueller game. It consists of watching the movie of the same name and drinking whenever the main characters name is said.... recipe for disaster, that is.
The long and the short of it is that this place isn't like anywhere or anything else you could ever experience. The beer is all a year since it's on can sell by date, looks putrid when poured into a glass, and has gotten worse as the season wears on. I've stopped drinking it entirely. When I was still smoking, the American Spirits were stale and easily broken when attempting to ash, while the Marlboro's and Camel's were only on the cusp of being stale, but all of them were cheap. The chips and candy and most of the food we prepare in the galley is also well past its sell by date, and in some cases its use by date. But it still gets used. The fruit is often beginning to mold. But at the same time, I would wager that there have been almost no food poisoning cases here. That in and of itself makes me more than raise an eyebrow to the FDA and it's policy on expiration dates. There are also rigidly enforced recycling and trash sorting rules, which makes me see just how wasteful Americans are, because it all gets shipped back to the states, every bit of it. From used condoms and rotten food, to tattered cloth, to aluminum cans, to glass, to non-recyclable material.
Anyhow, I'm hungry and it's breakfast time (dinner for me), so I'm off!
Friday, December 18, 2009
The songs of the 50 States Playlist
Here is a playlist dedicated to the 50 States.
- Alabama- Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) by The Doors
- Alaska- When it's Spring Time in Alaska (It's 40 Below) by Johnny Horton and Johnny Cash
- Arizona- By the Time I get to Arizona by Public Enemy
- Arkansas- Arkansas Blues by Fats Waller
- California- California Uber Alles by The Dead Kennedys, Going to California by Led Zep and California Love by Tupac
- Colorado- Colorado Kool-Aid by Red Sovine
- Connecticut- I live in Connecticut by Aerosmith
- Delaware- Delaware Slide by George Thorogood and The Destroyers
- Florida- Florida by Modest Mouse
- Georgia- Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles
- Hawaii- Rocking Chair in Hawii by George Harrison
- Idaho- Private Idaho by The B-52's
- Illinois- Illinois Blues by Alvin Youngblood Hart
- Indiana- Goin' Back to Indiana by The Jackson 5
- Iowa- Iowa by Dar Williams
- Kansas- Going to Kansas by The Mountain Goats
- Kentucky- Kentucky Mud by Nappy Roots
- Louisiana- Red Hot Momma From Louisiana by Parliament Funkadelic
- Maine- Maine by They Might Be Giants
- Maryland- Maryland by Jesus Jones
- Massachusetts- The State of Massachusetts by The Dropkick Murphys
- Michigan- Michigan Militia by Moxy Fruvous
- Minnesota- Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota by Weird Al Yankovic
- Mississippi- Mississippi Goddamn by Nina Simone
- Missouri- Missouri Loves Company by Ringo Starr
- Montana- Montana by Frank Zappa
- Nebraska- Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen
- Nevada- Sands of Nevada by Mark Knopfler
- New Hampshire- New Hampshire by Sonic Youth
- New Jersey- Jersey Girl by Tom Waits
- New Mexico- New Mexico by Johnny Cash
- New York- New York, New York by Ryan Adams
- North Carolina- (Going to) Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor and Oh my Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams
- North Dakota- North Dakota by Lyle Lovett
- Ohio- Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
- Oklahoma- Oklahoma USA by The Kinks
- Oregon- Oregon Trail by Woody Guthrie
- Pennsylvania- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Guy Mitchell
- Rhode Island- Rhode Island Red by Ike and Tina Turner
- South Carolina- South Carolina by The Archers of Loaf
- South Dakota- Deadwood, South Dakota by Nanci Griffith
- Tennessee- Memphis, Tennessee by The Beatles as well as Chuck Berry
- Texas- Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughn
- Utah- Sign in The Window by Bob Dylan
- Vermont- Long Vermont Roads by The Magnetic Fields
- Virginia- Sweet Virginia by The Rolling Stones
- Washington- Spanish Castle Magic by Jimi Hendrix
- West Virginia- Country Roads by John Denver
- Wisconsin- Wisconsin Death Trip by Static X
- Wyoming- Wyoming by Elton John
So, I tried to stick to the rule of having the song title contain the state name, but for some it was difficult or the song was too awesome to pass up. Also, I would apologize to Wisconsin for the Static X thing, but at the same time, you are to blame for the them to begin with so live with it. Ahhh, time waster fun stuff!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Roots
Things that I miss list:
Night time
Trees
Video Games
Grapes
Food that is in date
Good Beer
Good Pizza... and I never thought I'd crave pizza again
My Fam
My Friends
Rowdy
Rain
The Parkway
Buildings that aren't made of sheet metal
Private Bathrooms
Private Bedrooms
Privacy in general
Animals... they exist here but I can count the number of live animals I've seen on one hand
that's all for now, when more comes to mind, I'll make a new list.
Night time
Trees
Video Games
Grapes
Food that is in date
Good Beer
Good Pizza... and I never thought I'd crave pizza again
My Fam
My Friends
Rowdy
Rain
The Parkway
Buildings that aren't made of sheet metal
Private Bathrooms
Private Bedrooms
Privacy in general
Animals... they exist here but I can count the number of live animals I've seen on one hand
that's all for now, when more comes to mind, I'll make a new list.
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