[Sksouth-l] Light at the end of the tunnel, or something like that

[Sarah Kaye]

We got around to it a bit late this year but we did
finally fulfill another winter tradition: watching the
movie "Groundhog Day." If I have to explain that to
anybody who knows what the movie is about, I disown
you. "What if you were stuck in one place...and every
day was the same...  and nothing you did got you
anywhere?" Our biggest laugh was when the DVD skipped
in the middle and started over again at the beginning.

Spirits are rising a bit now that the sky is light,
although we won't see the sun itself for another
couple of weeks. Now that we're short-timers a certain
cynicism has set in, and I have to admit that I'm not
immune to it. I still have a fair bit of work to do
and I intend to do a good job, but I don't care quite
as much as I used to do. You could say the community
is fractured, or you could say the social groups have
settled. With this many people on station it's just
not going to be the same as the "old days." Me, I am
getting dopey and forgetful but I'm mostly happy and
I'm still having a good winter. Nobody here is ready
to crack (I think) but there is some crabbiness
around.

We still do have some old-style creative amusements
going on. We had an informal acoustic night that
turned into a loud, happy, loud (did I mention loud?)
singalong: good fun. Last week one of our prime
instigators led the first-ever South Pole Clown/Ninja
Urinal Crawl. We had about 14 people dressed like
clowns and we think 2 ninjas (they're hard to get a
handle on, you know) and we visited most of the
urinals in the Dome/New Station carrying booze and a
boombox playing lounge music. It was random and goofy
and a whole lot of fun.

The band played a couple weeks ago, this time we were
named CRS and the Croutons. We had a great time, we
still don't like playing in the New Galley but people
are finally getting warmed up to dancing in there. Oh
yeah, and there was an art show with some good entries
varying from ridiculous to satirical to actual art.
Mine was somewhere in the middle, combining Buddhist
philosophy and bowling. I drew a Buddha that actually
looks like a Buddha, very proud of myself.

Work is cruising along. October is going to be VERY
busy as soon as the UT's (Utilities Techs) start
warming buildings up and we start moving equipment
back to summer locations, so I'm trying to get
everything done that I'm not going to want to bother
with then. It's a good poke in the butt to quit
procrastinating on some of the lower-priority items.

It's been blowy and overcast for a couple of days, so
there's ambient light but no shadows: I still need my
flashlight so I don't trip over the sastrugi. We got
some big lumps out there. The sunlight is bright
enough now that the science techs gave the OK to
remove the window coverings in the New Station, which
makes it look much more cheerful from the outside and
less confined from the inside.

Hokay enough words. I hope you're all well out there.
Welcome to the world, Ian Woolgrove Good. It can be
rough but you picked some quality parents - good luck.


Best,


-Sarah

ps - my website is back, thanks Murkfolks!
www.murkworks.net/~sarah. I'm aiming to have some more
pictures up in the next few days. Info on remote
voting is at www.murkworks.net/~sarah/vote.html.