Alaskana, Part II: Another World Up Here

So, my apologies for not throwing in Part II until now.  I thought I would have finished it on Monday, but here it is now Thursday morning...I honestly do not know what happened to Tuesday...or even Wednesday for that matter.  I can't believe it's almost the weekend again. Which means it will be time for more exploring of the area. I will hopefully have a decent post early next week, depending on my weekend adventures.

Housecleaning:

First off, look at this!!!  

Yup, just picked it up yesterday; my boss drove me to the Anchorage port to get it. She's a little beat up, but otherwise ok. I'm still pondering whether to make a stink about the damage.  I haven't taken pictures of the issues yet, but there's definitely some things wrong with my car that weren't apparent before. If anyone has any ideas of why some of these things may have occurred, or any reasons for me not to be picky or anal or frustrated with the current condition of my car, please let me know!!!  

My odometer had a 16-mile difference when I first picked it up yesterday, from when it was last in my driveway; that's equal to driving from my house to Millie's 8 times. The gas light was on and the needle was as low to "E" as I have ever seen it before. I was truly nervous about making it to the first gas station available. On the side of my car in between the two doors on the passenger side, there is visible "damage control" of touch-up paint on an apparent scratch about 2-2.5 inches tall and about 5 inches wide.  There's also similar "damage control" on the hood of the car. And on the interior driver's side (haven't checked the full interior yet) there is quite a bit of dirt/dust. Also, my cd player is asking for the "code" in order to operate, and my clock is not only telling the wrong time, but it's telling me the wrong military time. Suggestions anyone?? Gary? Melissa? Tim? I guess it doesn't sound like there's as much damage as I first alluded to, but it's still frustrating for me because I put so much money into the car, and I care about the condition of it. The guy at the port was interrupting me when I was trying to talk to him about the damages. He was saying "What do you expect, I mean, the car is 12 years old" blah blah blah. That was not cool. Although my best estimation is that the damage was most likely caused by the trucking company, and no the shipping company. I guess at this point I should just say that I'm glad to have my car back.

On Monday I saw my first ever MOOSE.  There were two of them actually, but only 

one was really visible. A co-worker of mine was out on an errand when he saw the pair. He knew that I had never seen moose before so when he returned to the tv station he found me so that we could go back to the place he saw them and scope 'em out. Unfortunately it was a lesson for me to always, always have my digital camera with me. No pics this time. Sorry guys. 

Lastly for Housecleaning, Alyssa bought me a MICROWAVE and some real SILVERWARE... THANKS ALYSSA!!  Now I can eat my ramen with a 

real fork, make my PB and Beach Plum Jam sandwiches with a real knife and munch on microwave popcorn whenever I feel like it. 

Good stuff!!

Now on to business: the real reason for Part II...

A small part of the reason for me not posting until now is because I think I was putting too much pressure on myself to come up with an "amazing" post based upon the hoopla I built up in "Part I".  My apologies to all of you in advance, if I fail with "Part II"...

Last Saturday night was the Miner's and Trapper's Ball. People at work told me that if I went to the Ball, I would truly get a sense of Alaskana.  I was lucky enough to be handed free tickets to the event (they were going at $30 a piece!!), care of our Assistant News Director.  I took a bunch of pictures, many of them coming out pretty crappy, but if you can see through the soft focus and jumbled lights, you'll get an idea of what was going on there. You can find those at the bottom of this posting. 

Basically the Miner's and Trapper's Ball, from what I understand, is a "Mardi Gras-esque" event culminating the near-end of Fur Rondy. People will attend dressed in formal-wear, jeans and t-shirt (as I did) or as though it's Halloween. And those three generalized categories hold true throughout the characters in attendance. I should perhaps go into further detail to say that the formal-wear covered formal-wear from the middle-ages through the present. Just as the costumes covered everything from Alaskan life through St. Patty's Day. Take your pick, choose a genre, it was there.  There was a costume contest, a beard contest, a giant poker tournament, live bands (of which one of the members of the bands was the News Director from our station, and another was "Frank Stallone", supposed brother of Sylvester), and very, very expensive drinks, and not to forget, "too drunk to care about the price of alcohol" Alaskans. Alaskans LOVE TO DRINK. Basically it was a good time, and a good lesson in just how crazy Alaskans are. 

That's the thing I seem to be hung up on since arriving. The people here are fun, friendly, not-much-of-a-care in the world, dorky, relaxed, helpful...everyone seems to be a character, for one reason or more.

After leaving the ball, a co-worker and myself went to several bars. The reason for venturing out past my bedtime was not for quenching my alcoholic thirst, but more so for me to experience more Alaskana. We went to three bars, and at all three I was in awe. The third one in particular. I met three of my co-worker's friends and wow were they interesting. I honestly do not think that I can even begin to describe adequately what they looked like or their behaviors. Sitting there with them I felt like I was in a movie, another country, another world. It was dreamlike. Not like I was drugged-up or drunk, because I certainly wasn't. It was just the atmosphere and the vibe. It was weird. And it had an effect on me. One that I'm still trying to put my finger on...which I guess is why I've kinda been dragging my feet with "Part II".  I feel like I just can't write eloquently enough, or simply enough, to really describe life up here. 

One more try...

Life up here is still American life.  But the part that's different here versus lower-48 American life is that things just aren't done the same up here.  It's kinda like they can get away with more up here...and not in a legal or illegal way. But more like "anything goes". Kinda like, don't be surprised, because it's Alaska and that's just kinda how it is up here. Certainly "The Last Frontier"... Being here is relaxing; no pressure to act or feel or be a certain way.  

Am I still unsuccessful in trying to explain this?

I guess you'll all just have to come here to visit to get a better idea of what I'm trying to express. Jeff, you're going to like it here, and I think we'll have a lot of fun together.

Temperature update: 33 degrees F and mostly cloudy currently in Anchorage.

Alaska Trivia: The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.

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Here are those pictures I was telling you about:

The blonde is Marilyn Monroe, and next to her is Elvis

The Poker Tournament I was telling you about. Dave you would've been a star!

This picture is nearing the end of the tournament. This is only half of the room that the tournament was in. At the beginning the entire room was completely filled with people playing.

...Justin??  Twitchel??

The look on the woman's face says it all...

I'm told this was the cast from "Reno 911". My guess is they were the cast from "Super Troopers"

...yikes.

Now this guy went all out!!

These were during the costume contest...

The tall guy on stage with the microphone, whom you can barely see, is one of the reporter/anchors at our station.

In my co-worker's words, "Look at the nuggets on her!!"

...that's a jellyfish, folks.

The Alaska Railroad

Medieval Themed costumes

Live Bands

From what I'm told, the lead singer here is "Frank Stallone", the supposed brother of Sylvester...