p.s. anchorage in the springtime smells like dog shit. literally. everywhere. the remaining snow smells like poo, the mud (if it is mud..), the leaves and trees and of course my dog… everything is bathed in the stench of poopie!!!!
and yeah, i’ve been sick since sometime in february. it’s cold and dry… i can’t get enough lotion! ugh!!! i can’t get rid of my cold and have been forced into being like that kid in school with all the allergies: i sleep with a humidifier and space heater running and constantly need cold pills and cough syrup. there are soppy kleenex everywhere. and i’m pale. oi!

okay, so still in alaska… looking forward to moving back to california this summer (a year early)… looking VERY forward to it! i’m cold and bored and the education i’m receiving is laughable at best.

that being said, please check out http://heiferukraine.wordpress.com/ – it’s a blog i set up for my international studies/geography class. try to leave your location on the map… but it probably won’t work, so post a comment with your locaation and if i ever get the thing to work, i’ll add it in!! ;)

anyway, i’m anxiously awaiting summer and temperatures above 30. turns out i’m not exactly cut out for living in the ‘burbs! we’ve got more sunlight though, so that’s nice! and i’m looking forward to driving the alcan this summer!!

1. go here: http://heiferukraine.wordpress.com/

2. sign the platial map

3. help us buy a pig!!! (in a day or two, when i get it set up ;))

this is a blog i’m running as an informative project for a geography course. thank you!!!!

we’re down to like 9 hours of sunlight a day.. which sounds pretty normal- but trust me, it isn’t!!!!! i need a sunlight machine and a tanning bed, stat!

well since i’m clearly never going to have the time to write in detail about alaska and all the beautiful, fun, and (obviously) time-consuming things i’ve been doing and seeing, i’ll list a wrap-up ;)
during the slice of summer i had here, i hiked little o’malley:

went to whittier, explored the abandoned hospital and was chased by the cops:

found potter’s marsh:

went to the museum:

saw two moose:
{no photo available}

saw beluga whales:

{not an actual whale}

fell down, hit head, bruised bones, made friends at local er:
{thankfully, no photo available}

painted a spiderman:

additionally, the trailer for the moonlit road was finished! i’ll post that separately.

i went back to l.a. in the beginning of september to work on my sweetheart’s film (i’ll post separately about that too)…

link here!

and i swear to god it was summer when i left– though i needed my coat! i got back and there was termination dust on the mountains and a bitter effin chill in the air!

i woke up to a snowy ground the other morning:

bijou stopping dead in his tracks to figure out what’s on the ground

and this morning it was 18 degrees. my ass (literally) has been cold for about three weeks, i find it perfectly acceptable to wear uggs 24/7, and i’ve taken to slathering my wind-bitten nostrils with vaseline four times a day!!! it’s gonna be a long winter!
school is absolutely insane!! i was trying to be a superhero and take five classes… what a moron. never again! if i make it through this semester alive, it will be a miracle! working 3 or so days a week was also a mistake!!

i saw the northern lights!!!! from my backyard, through heavy fog… but still!!!!!!!!!!!! i almost shit myself!

fabien got into the anchorage film festival- YAY!! so he’ll be here for that, and emma and dan may come as well!! there will be a mob of alaskans and angelenos at the giant ice wall!

okay, more later… but now i must go plug in my jeep. how do i know if the heater’s on?

p.s. sign of acclimation: mom and dad are getting me auto-start for christmas… and it may just be the best christmas ever!!!!!

meanwhile, here are a few things i’ve learned so far:

1. crosswalks and red lights are more of a suggestion than a law.

2. 55 degrees is appropriate tank-top weather.

3. everything comes with mayonnaise. everything.

4. non-alaskan americans either live in the lower 48 (which makes sense) or “back in the states”… which makes little sense.

;)

got a car and started driving all over the place to check out the town! then i got a waitressing job… should’ve waited another week– i was hired and started the next morning!

then i cut off my fingernail and all skin underneath it in a freak watermelon-cutting accident. so basically, things are back to normal! lol!

eventually i’ll post more photos, but the finger thing makes typing difficult. and that, my friends, is a good excuse!!  ;)