1 Month Down!

Wow, January screamed by and we are already into February.  That is crazy! I finished my book for January a few weeks ago: The Toy Collector, by James Gunn.  It was a very good book.  Very well written and interesting, and not at all what I was expecting.  It is about a man who works as a pharmacist, and begins selling pharmaceuticals to fuel his toy collecting hobby.  The book is not what I would have normally picked to read.  I'm trying to branch out from my normal "zombie books" that I read constantly! My book for February is "I'll Scream Later", by Marlee Matlin.  I better get started! :)

I didn't write my chapter for this month. :(  Looks like I'll have to write 2 chapters this month!  It used to be so easy....what happened to all of my inspiration??  I haven't decided which story to write more of yet.

I have been doing very well on the keto diet for January!  Today I'm having some chicken wings, chili, and wine....so today is my cheat day.  I also had a cheat day 2 weeks ago for a girl's dinner night of lasagna and tiramisu.  I did not do so well on the 30 day workout challenge though.  I did a combination of Melissa Bender or pole fitness only 17 days last month.  I have to try to be better this month!  Pole Fitness is getting easier!  I can finally do the pole sit to bow, and the skin on my legs doesn't hurt anymore.  I am pretty excited about that.  I may have to skip tomorrow's pole fitness class, but it is worth it to hang out with a good friend I hardly ever see anymore. 

I'm looking forward to what February brings.  I have a cosplay photoshoot for my Fallout costume scheduled for some time this month.  Possibly the 16th, but I need to check with the photographer.  I plan on buckling down at some point to actually write the 2 chapters, I hope to learn more pole and do a little more running to get back in shape for running season.

And now, I'm off to register for the Big Wild Life Half Marathon!

Happy Feb 1st, everyone. :)

New Year, Same Old Stuff

Happy 2015 everyone! I can't believe it's 2015.  2014 flew by so fast, I don't think I even made any posts on this blog last year.  Resolutions for this year are the same old stuff.  I'm doing 3 30 day challenges by Melissa Bender, she has amazing workouts! They are similar to the Boot Camp class I went to in 2012, mostly body weight workouts with some dumbbell exercises thrown in.  I'm back on my keto diet, and it's only been a week but I am already feeling so much better! Funny how that works.  I hope to run another half marathon at some point this year, so I've started jogging again.  I have found a new form of exercise that I absolutely love, pole fitness, and I go every chance I get. It is so hard, but also so rewarding once I finally get to the point that I am able to do a new spin or climb the pole with more ease.  I hope to learn an inversion move soon, but it's been a few weeks since I have gone due to the holidays, so we will see. I also added a few new resolutions to my list this year...to read at least 1 book per month and write 1 chapter per month.  That's probably going to be the hardest to find time to do, but so far I'm almost done with January's book.  I chose "The Toy Collector", by James Gunn, and it is very good so far.

Dragon Con is coming up in about 265 days.  I'm in a predicament now where I need to find another host hotel room, which sucks because all the host hotels are sold out.  So I suppose I am going to try to find a room transfer.  I was excited about Dragon Con this year, but now with the added stress of trying to find a new room, I am not as excited.  I feel sad about feeling this way this year.  Since 2003 Dragon Con weekend has been my favorite weekend of the year, but this year it's just starting to feel like a hassle.  However my friend who is flying down with me from Anchorage is over-the-moon excited to go to Dragon Con again.  It's all she talks about and she has a lot of costume plans she wants to make :) I will help her as much as I can!

Rocket Raccoon and
Baby Groot at Senshicon 2014

Juliet Starling at Dragon Con 2014

 I have several new cosplay plans for 2015, but we will see how well I am able to finish these projects.  First on my list is adding a chainsaw prop to my Juliet costume, and a gun for my Rocket Raccoon costume.  Those will be the most challenging.  I am also in progress with making a Bulma Briefs (Dragon Ball Z) costume.  I haven't seen Dragon Ball in such a long time, but I used to love it! I've been thinking of watching it over again.  I also have a lot of new plans for upgrading my Fallout jumpsuit, including a new belt, AK license plate armor for the shoulder and forearm, and hopefully some kind of gun from the Fallout Universe, plasma rifle or something like that.  I also LOVE this "Hello Kitty Fallout Outfit" mod.  I don't remember where I've seen it, but I so want to make it!  It makes no sense, but I love it anyway. 

Bulma Briefs - pink dress

 outfit

Fallout Alaska at Senshicon 2014

 

Hello Kitty Fallout outfit

Nothing else is going on in this little town.  I hope 2015 is the year I am finally able to buy a nice single family home, but we will see.  We have been living in our tiny condo for 10 years, and we would like to keep it as an investment property but we will sell it if need be.  I know my dogs would love to have a yard to run and play in!

Back to Life

        I just want to start by saying that Kennecott, McCarthy and the whole damn Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have been to in this entire state.  Sorry Kenai/Soldota/Homer...you all are cute but nothing rivals the idyllic beauty of the barely touched land in the Wrangell area, at least in my opinion.

        The moment we crossed the bridge over the Copper River and started heading down McCarthy road, traffic was sparse.  And by sparse, I mean we didn't even see another car until we got 10 miles in, to Strelna and Silver Lake.  McCarthy road, for anyone curious, is a 58 mile long stretch of bumpy gravel road.  At times it was so narrow that we would have to pull over half into the bushes to let another car pass, which was hardly ever.  Sure, people live on McCarthy road, i.e. Papa Pilgrim (caution, his story is disturbing) and clan, but cabins and houses along this road were really few and far between, which I guess is why Pilgrim picked that particular location.  Most of the houses in that area looked like they had accompanying outhouses and sheds just stacked full of wood for the winter.  I get the feeling that a lot of people live subsistence style on that road.
        The first stop we came to was the Kuskulana Bridge.  I'm not all that fond of heights, and something about being in a car on the bridge made me nervous, so driving over the one lane bridge 238 feet above the river was not on my fun list of things to do.  Then my crazy ass decided it would be a great time to go walk along the metal grating underneath the bridge, which was still 210 feet above the river.  Go figure...in the car, it's scary; out of the car, it's fine! Why is that?

Our friend stopped his camper on the bridge so I could get a shot of him on it.

~210 miles straight down, and all that was between me and open air was that grating.

I did have fun though, I would do it again tomorrow if I could.

    
         I'm actually surprised I've never heard of people bungee jumping off of it, or something like that.  Although I'm not any kind of expert on bungee jumping, maybe it's too low? Who knows.  It was fun and exciting, that's all I know.  After a quick lunch, we got back in the car and continued our *slow* path down McCarthy Road.
        I want to point out right here, that after hearing all kinds of horror stories about how McCarthy road was just so terrible and people just had so many tales of getting flat tires and getting stuck or whatnot, the road really wasn't that bad.  I can see how it would be, if you were flying down the road at 60 mph, but we were going about 20-30, and it really wasn't that bad.
Our next stop was the Gilahina Trestle.  Awesome.  I don't think my husband or our friend really wanted to stop, but I thought it was neat, so we stopped.  Here it is:

Gilahina Trestle: Leftover old world beauty

        On we go.  About 4 hours and many pictures later, we arrived at the Kennecott River, the end of the main road.  There was a little campground, and the only way to get across the river to the little town of McCarthy is a small footbridge.  It used to be a hand tram and people would have to slowly pull themselves across, part of the hand tram is still there, sitting broken and dilapidated. Farther on to the very end of the road is the town of Kennecott.  It was 5 miles, and luckily we brought our bikes, otherwise the walk to Kennecott would have been slow going.
        The campground at the end of the road was just beautiful, but also full of hippies. Lots and lots of hippies.  On a scale of places I like to hang out, a crowd of hippies rates about the same as in a truck on a 238 foot high bridge.  It's not that I think "They're bad people!" or anything, it's just not my vibe.  I think it there was a 4th of July hippie-fest in going on in McCarthy, but maybe that's the usual crowd.  There was a live band that night at "The Potato" (the main area of downtown, I'm guessing), and fireworks.  The view from the campground had a roaring river in front of us, mountains on all sides, and off in the distance we could see the old abandoned town of Kennecott nestled in the the base of the mountain.

Kennecott, all tucked in for the night.  Or something.

Freya exploring the campground.  She's not a big fan of the outdoors.

Main Street McCarthy, it's a happenin' place!

          We biked up to Kennecott the next day, and took our sweet lab/husky mix, Deshka. She had a fun 10 mile run that day. She could have run forever if I let her, but I kept stopping to make sure she was doing okay and not going to collapse. Kennecott has an interesting history about it.  It was founded in 1911 and in 27 years managed to profit about $100 million.  In 1938 it was very quickly abandoned, and a lot of things were left behind because the company didn't feel it was that important to cart back out.  It's currently a huge tourist trap, and looks like it's in the process of being restored. Although it's considered "abandoned" I think about 12 families live in the Kennecott-McCarthy area year round.  That's gotta be rough.

         I still can't believe our 5 day road trip was over in the blink of an eye.  It went by so fast I feel like I barely had time to think, and before I knew it we were back in Anchorage.  I could literally feel a heavy net of depression settling over all of us in the truck as we turned down our street and headed home. Yes, even our dogs were pretty sad that our long trip was over.  Back to the daily grind, back to working most of the day and having about 3 hours left to do anything at all afterwards. Back to being constantly nitpicked and told I'm doing things wrong, wrong, wrong, and being hassled every hour of every day of my frickin life.

The Mill

I think this was the old hospital and the schoolhouse(?)

Inside the factory

Climbed up on the dam to enjoy the view!

Inside the old General Store

      

        So damn you, Wrangell-St. Elias, McCarthy and Kennecott for being so damn beautiful that I just want to leave behind the city, throw away the confines of everyday life and embrace my inner hippie.  I want to frolick through the forest wearing flowy dresses and flowers in my hair and live off the land, not ever worrying about the daily grind ever again.
        Alaska, why are you so gorgeous! Kennecott, you are definitely getting a spot inside one of my books.  Maybe this coming weekend I can get back out there and be in the peacefulness of nature again.  Maybe not.  Even in this state full of unbridled wilderness, it's hard to find a place quite like Wrangell-St. Elias.

        Join me for my next adventure when I travel with my friends back inside the Buckner Building in Whittier next month.  Because for some strange reason, we are obsessed with that place. 

5 day Road Trip

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.  I've been feeling really down lately...haven't wanted to do much of anything.  Made me sad because during that time, time just FLEW by!  I can't believe it's already July!  I took a few days off of work (really needed a break from everything Anchorage) and tomorrow we embark on a 5 day road trip/camping trip.  I can't wait to be out there in the Wilderness.  We're headed up towards the old abandoned town of Kennecott.  Used to be a mining town back in the day.  I've wanted to go since 2006, so I am extremely excited to leave.
We're leaving right after I get off of work tomorrow(the whole family; my husband, two dogs and a ferret and I :) ), around 3:30/4:00.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.  Hoping to do a lot of writing if it's raining...I had wanted to take a few wilderness cosplay pictures, but still haven't finished my gunbelt (see above, been feeling down and not doing anything.) I regret that now because I bet this weekend will be the perfect time.
I hope everyone has a fantastic week/weekend!!  Hopefully I'll get back into posting blogs.  I really was hoping to keep on a once a week schedule, but that didn't happen.

Happy week and weekend (and 4th of July, if you're celebrating!)

:)

Aurora in Alaska - Spring 2012

I should be finishing up a paper, but I wanted to take a few moments to share a beautiful site, the Aurora Borealis in Alaska.  My friend and I drove up to Birchwood a few miles north of Anchorage and stayed until around 1:30 in the morning snapping picture after picture of the beautiful aurora.  Although when we arrived at our shooting location the aurora was not much more than a faint green light, by about 11:45 it became a vibrant, dazzling, dancing display of lights and colors.  Much brighter and more active than anything I have seen during the last 8 years that I have lived in this state.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that night:

It's been cloudy ever since this night, but I really hope that the clouds disperse and leave at least one more clear night that I may hopefully be able to practice taking more pictures of the aurora.  Although I'm not sure if I will see it as vibrant and beautiful as it was last Thursday anytime soon in the future.

A New Year!

Wow! A new year is here already! I haven't written in this for a while, I know. Let's see how many new years resolutions I can break this year:

1) Get in shape! (Almost certain to be broken by next month, but we'll see...)
2) Actually finish something I'm writing! (I'll give that one about 6 or 7 months before it's broken. I have lots of ideas, I just feel extremely lazy lately)
3) Pay off most of my debt! (HA! Well...we'll see...)

Okay three's enough for now.

It has been extremely cold here lately. -31 out in Willow when we all woke up New Year's day. It was cold enough to keep food frozen on my windowsill overnight! Wow. Well classes are going wonderfully, I must say. I start a new job on February 1 (Programmer/Analyst 1 job). I was trying not to write it too much anywhere until I actually move over to that department, but I am just so extremely excited. SO EXCITED. I can't wait to be over there. My work will help me with school and my school will help me with work. I just...seriously can't wait. Speaking of school classes start next week. I still need to buy books, they are just so expensive.

I hope this new year brings a lot of good things! For everyone! 2012 has to be good! There have just been so many unhappy years in a row for so many people, I just want things to start looking up now.

Dash got me Skyrim for Christmas....I have been so addicted to it. I know I have heard so many stories about how it craps out at around 40-60 hours of gameplay on the PS3, but here's hoping they make a patch to fix that before I get there. :) haha!

April Already?

Well, I had really wanted to accomplish a weekly blog. Looks like monthly will be more my style. So far, since last month, I've somehow managed to dig myself into a deep hole, financially. I made a big payment to my overdue condo bills, had another large bill go through, which bounced my mortgage check, had my car broke down and needed to use the two credit cards I had JUST paid off to fix it, and had to take two of my animals to the vet. I'll be taking a third animal, my ferret Odin, to the vet tomorrow. Also, I just got a letter from some lawyer saying if I don't contact her about 500 dollars in late condo dues, she wants to send a foreclose lawsuit on my house? What? And I've been callig her every day and no one ever picks up the phone? How the he'll am I supposed to get into contact with her. What the hell happened in March? How did all of this shit fall on me at once?!? And everytime I think that this is the worst it can be, something else breaks, or another pet gets sick, or something else on my house breaks. I just wish paydays were not as few and far between.
In other news... I opened an Etsy store for my photography. Haven't sold any yet, but I only just opened it last weekend :-) it only has 6 pictures on it for now, but my computer has since died and I am not able to list any others. Come to think of it, I should put most of the pictures on hold until I can get my computer back.

Here is my store:

MARCH?!

It's hard to believe it is already March! Three months into 2011 and I have accomplished almost nothing. School is going fairly well, my Anatomy & Physiology course is a complete bitch to take, I can't believe I let me friend talk me into taking it. It would complete my Natural Sciences GER, but has absolutely nothing to do with my Computer Science degree. If I pass this class with a C, I would be ok with it. I've been able to keep up an A in my math class, and I'm doing fairly well in my other biology class. At least I have that much.
I haven't been running a lot. (Mostly because I've spent the last week and a half trying to cram my brain with Anatomy & Physiology words.) But I hope to get back into it soon. I am doing the annual Fur Rondy "Running of the Reindeer" this year, and I am looking forward to it! It should be fun, although it's a short 4 block run. For those who don't know, Fur Rondy is an annual celebration week long celebration which happens the week before Iditarod. It has competitions, (like the outhouse races and Yukigassen) and hosts fun events and parties like the Miner's and Trapper's Ball. Dash and I usually go downtown to watch some fun every year, but this will be the first year I've actually participated in anything.
I'm still working on my story/book/whatever, but I have come to an unfortunate writers block. I guess I should write more of what I know about, so I am writing a short story about zombies, told from first person perspective, instead. That's about it for what I've been up to. It's a short blog, but I'm trying to post one at least every week, I think it will be fun to read back on in a few years or so.

Hiking South of Anchorage

This past weekend we went hiking on a trail somewhere south of Anchorage. I'm not sure exactly what trail it was, because there are so many in that area, but it was a beautiful trail, and a beautiful day! We were originally going to go hiking at McHugh Creek, but it was so completely packed that people were parking along the side of the highway.
















Pretty little mini-waterfall we saw along the way.


Kino sure had a ton of fun on the trip. We have to take the dogs for trips more often I think!


Dash and I standing on the side of the mountain. It seemed like we were so close to the top!!





We had beautiful view on the trail, I just love the mountains here! It was pretty nice out too, sunny, warm...ish (about 60 degrees...cool wind although warm enough to not wear my hoodie!) I love summer days like this, I hope the whole summer stays nice!

Buckner Building/Whittier, Alaska

So, over the weekend, my friend and I drove an hour and a half south of Anchorage, to a little town called Whittier. Whittier is a pretty unique little town, the population as of 2000 was 182, and it hasn't grown or shrank much over that time. The town is connected to the rest of the world through a train tunnel, which opens every half hour about to let vehicle traffic through one way. The tunnel takes about 7 minutes to drive through, or maybe this was just my experience on Sunday because the person in front of us was driving incredibly slow. Driving through the tunnel is interesting because there are a number of safe houses along the way, and the only light is eerie yellow lights hung along the ceiling, along with your own headlights. I can't help thinking that it would probably be a safe place to go if the US ever got attacked.

Anyway, Whittier itself consists of a boat harbor, the Begich Towers (where 95% of the population lives), a separate set of little townhouse style condos, a nice hotel that is currently in foreclosure, and the Buckner Building. The Buckner Building was completed in 1953, and contained 1,250 housing units for military personnel and dependents, a hospital, prison, swimming pool, theater, restaurant, night club, bowling alley, beauty salon, and various lounges/common areas. I think I'm forgetting a few things. Apparently when it was at it's fullest, it house 30,000 people. (Back in the 1950's Whittier became the site of a secret military base.) There are supposedly underground tunnels connecting different parts of the building to make it easier to get around, but we have yet to find them. The section of the basement we found had been completely caved in, and I didn't see an easy way around the debris. The structure of the Buckner Building was severely damaged in the 1964 earthquake (9.2!) and was then abandoned. Now it sits, on a hill above the town in serious disrepair, rotting and decaying. As I saw someone write in another blog, "the Buckner Building is 273,660 square feet of dark, scary, flooded hallways", and they are very right. Go check out that person's pictures, they are amazing! I only wish I could get the colors to pop out as well as he does. Although he had natural sunlight to work with, I think. It was so overcast and dismal out when we went on Sunday.















Next month we're going to try to go back, and I hope to find the underground tunnels, the hospital and the bowling alley next time! I'm sure I'll take a billion more pictures, and I hope to get better at taking them by then! I think exploring places like these is one of my favorite things to do...If I'm forgetting any information about Whittier or the Buckner Building, I hope someone tells me. I'd love to find pictures of it back when it was full of people and thriving. Walking through the hallways and looking in the rooms, I always think of what it might have been like when it was first made. I haven't ever seen any pictures of it when it was used, but I was thinking next time I'm in Whittier, I might check out the library or museum to see what I can find.