My Home for the Season

My accommodations for the summer, Hotel California
On a bright desert island, icy wind in my hair
Cold smell of nothingness, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw fata morgana
My cheeks grew frosty and my sight grew dim
I stopped for my parka

My original ideal for this post was to edit the lyrics of Hotel California to fit what I needed to stay, but I'm tossing that idea out. I think I tossed it out when I had to settle on parka to rhyme with the fata morganas that we see in the distance. I'm just not creative enough and certainly not motivated enough to find the rhyming words.


My side of the room.

The communal side of the room.

Meg's side of the room and us in our Halloween costumes.

My living situation is great this summer. My first year on the ice, I was in a 4-pack without a window in a loud dorm. This time, I was able to pick my roommate, pick a bay side window, and make sure I was in a quieter dorm. Seniority can be good. Meg and I chose Hotel California because it is a little quieter, more community oriented, and closer to skiing. Meg taught me how to skate ski (fancy cross country skiing) our first season on the ice. She is from Idaho and she is brilliant. She is going home in two weeks for nursing school. After that, I might be playing roommate roulette.


Upstairs lounge.

Upstairs lounge balcony.
Hotel California is one of two dorms on base that don't have TVs and cable in the room. We only have cable in the lounge. We also have Internet in our lounge which most dorms don't. Most just have the TV cable, microwave, games, books, puzzles, movies, and other fun stuff that people have left behind. I think not having TV in the rooms makes more people hang out in the lounge, which gives a more community feeling to the dorm. I like it. Our dorm also has the only balcony that I know of. It is brilliant to sit on when it's warm out. I can't wait until we are above freezing and I can run a phone line out there to call back home and work on my tan. It is going to be such a treat!

That's home. Not much to it. Each day, I wake up there at 6am, sometimes make a smoothie with our blender, boil some water for tea, and eat granola for breakfast. Then, I head to work by 7am usually, run and eat lunch at 11, work until 5:30pm, eat dinner, hang out friends, and get back to the room to pass out by 10pm. Six days a week that is my day. On Sundays, I usually go for a longer run and enjoy a terrific brunch with friends, followed up by mellow goodness and catching up on chores like cleaning the room or paying bills back home. That's my routine which also doesn't have much to it. It is simple, I like it, and am sticking to it except on nights like last night where I end up chatting in the sauna hours past my bed time.


The Royal Society Range across the McMurdo Sound yesterday (12-2-2009).