I can't believe that the first week of October is almost over already. I began my first semester of college as a full time student at the University of Alaska Anchorage this past August and I am already almost half way through my semester. I'm taking 5 classes: Rise of Civilization, Biological Anthropology, English Writing (I'm still horrible at punctuation), Algebra, and Small Group Communications. I have at least one class every day of the week, and 3 of those classes last for near 3 hours a piece. It makes me want to peel my skin to have something better to do. I'm holding fast at a 4.0 so far though.
Time is really flying by and I'm enjoying my time as a Seawolf. But what exactly is a Seawolf? I have no fucking clue, some mystical wolf/sea lion breed made up by the native Alaskan Eskimos I guess? We don't even have a football team, for UAA is all about their boys on the ice. They live and breath for their hockey team which really excites me. I've recently learned that I will be able to have one free ticket per game and my husband can get his ticket for 5$ which is full of sweetness.
While we are still in the month of October, can we talk about Halloween? I've already made 6 pounds of fresh pumpkin puree, made pumpkin pie, and pumpkin pasties. I do not mean nipple pasties, though the idea of pumpkin pastry pasties and nipple pasties has been mentioned, I'm talking about the pastry called a pastie. My husband is a Harry Potter dork and he suggested that I try to make them even though I have no idea what they are. My invention turned out to be really good though. I plan on making some pumpkin cheese cake this weekend, and continue to look for some other bad ass pumpkin recipes that may not be so traditional because that's how I roll.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Crazy Cat Lady
Summer is already over here in Alaska. Our midnight sun has stopped shining, our high temperatures in the 70s are no more, and the state fair has started. Fall will be here before I know it, or, "Extremely short 2 weeks period before Alaska becomes a snow globe." as I am calling it.
I spent my summer entertaining a friend of mine from back home that I have known since 5th grade. She got here in the middle of July and stayed until the end of August. We did so much crap while she was here that I felt like a tourist. We took her on a couple of hikes, one of which has a pretty steep climb to get to the top, but if you managed to make it without dying it was worth the view. We took her to Fairbanks, which I don't recommend. The only thing that was worth going there for was the sketchtastic Santa's House in North Pole, Alaska. I bought a bunch of awesome ornaments and then we decided to go to one of the hot springs. The hot springs in Alaska are well talked about in the Fairbanks area, "Only 50 minutes from Fairbanks!" boasted the visitors information. Well it was more like an hour down the shittiest road in Alaska, at the end of this shitty road was a monumentally shitty hot spring. The "resort" that we went to was disgusting, as was the "hot spring" which was at one point a hot spring but then filtered through about 47 times before being dumped into a man made hot spring. We didn't even get to see Mt. McKinley on the drive since the weather was also shitty.
We spent 2 weekends fishing for salmon. I am not a fishing person. I don't like fish, I don't touch fish, and I certainly do not eat fish. I only did this for my friend who mentioned "fishies!" eleventy billion times. I didn't catch anything the first weekend, surprised, aren't you? The husband and friend both caught a good amount though which seemed to have fueled her fish frenzy even more. The following weekend I finally caught my first fish EVER. A nice sized red salmon.
You know what I did with that fish after washing my hands so much they were raw because touching fish is disgusting? I sent it home with my friend BECAUSE I DON'T EAT FISH! I was to the point where if I had to hear the word "fish" one more time, I was going to pistol whip someone...I also made her watch Super Troopers.
We went to the Alaska Zoo and it ended up surprising all of us. The zoo was really quite nice and they didn't charge you an arm and a leg for the concessions. We took inappropriate pictures with the prop animals, and convinced a family of Japanese tourists that the one thousand pound Grizzly bear on display, "was just a baby." They had some really awesome animals there and there weren't many visitors, probably because of the rain. It rained here for most of her visit. So much rain. I still prefer the rain over the fish though.
One of the other things I made her do was run around with me while I was preparing for my first semester as a full time college student. I am so ready for school! After a ton of studying, I aced all of my placement exams and registered for 5 classes. I know, weak, but 6 just seemed to be a bit much for just starting. I spent almost a thousand dollars on text books! Out of my own pocket! Because processing a GI Bill claim takes the gestation period of an elephant, obviously! I probably won't be getting any money until the rapture, but at least my school of matriculation is understanding and is still allowing me take classes, which I start on Monday. My biggest fear? All the little children in class realizing how much older I am than them and asking me to buy them booze, or worse, go out with them for booze. I'm not a social person, I'd rather stay at home with my cats and husband and do homework. So I'm going to dress like a crazy cat lady my first day of class in hopes of frightening them all off.
I spent my summer entertaining a friend of mine from back home that I have known since 5th grade. She got here in the middle of July and stayed until the end of August. We did so much crap while she was here that I felt like a tourist. We took her on a couple of hikes, one of which has a pretty steep climb to get to the top, but if you managed to make it without dying it was worth the view. We took her to Fairbanks, which I don't recommend. The only thing that was worth going there for was the sketchtastic Santa's House in North Pole, Alaska. I bought a bunch of awesome ornaments and then we decided to go to one of the hot springs. The hot springs in Alaska are well talked about in the Fairbanks area, "Only 50 minutes from Fairbanks!" boasted the visitors information. Well it was more like an hour down the shittiest road in Alaska, at the end of this shitty road was a monumentally shitty hot spring. The "resort" that we went to was disgusting, as was the "hot spring" which was at one point a hot spring but then filtered through about 47 times before being dumped into a man made hot spring. We didn't even get to see Mt. McKinley on the drive since the weather was also shitty.
We spent 2 weekends fishing for salmon. I am not a fishing person. I don't like fish, I don't touch fish, and I certainly do not eat fish. I only did this for my friend who mentioned "fishies!" eleventy billion times. I didn't catch anything the first weekend, surprised, aren't you? The husband and friend both caught a good amount though which seemed to have fueled her fish frenzy even more. The following weekend I finally caught my first fish EVER. A nice sized red salmon.
We went to the Alaska Zoo and it ended up surprising all of us. The zoo was really quite nice and they didn't charge you an arm and a leg for the concessions. We took inappropriate pictures with the prop animals, and convinced a family of Japanese tourists that the one thousand pound Grizzly bear on display, "was just a baby." They had some really awesome animals there and there weren't many visitors, probably because of the rain. It rained here for most of her visit. So much rain. I still prefer the rain over the fish though.
One of the other things I made her do was run around with me while I was preparing for my first semester as a full time college student. I am so ready for school! After a ton of studying, I aced all of my placement exams and registered for 5 classes. I know, weak, but 6 just seemed to be a bit much for just starting. I spent almost a thousand dollars on text books! Out of my own pocket! Because processing a GI Bill claim takes the gestation period of an elephant, obviously! I probably won't be getting any money until the rapture, but at least my school of matriculation is understanding and is still allowing me take classes, which I start on Monday. My biggest fear? All the little children in class realizing how much older I am than them and asking me to buy them booze, or worse, go out with them for booze. I'm not a social person, I'd rather stay at home with my cats and husband and do homework. So I'm going to dress like a crazy cat lady my first day of class in hopes of frightening them all off.
Friday, July 8, 2011
I Want to Be a Mongoose
Now, lets talk about the hotel we stayed at. It was really nice until we found our way to the continental breakfast in the morning. As previously stated, I hate people. I REALLY hate people who try to talk at me before I've had my caffeine intravenously, and yet this old lady insisted on butting into our conversation and tell us stuff that we already knew about the island because she wanted everyone to know she had been there before. This happened more often than I liked so I found myself waking up at 6:30 just to get to the breakfast first time to avoid these flies in my otherwise fabulous ointment. This is too fucking early to be up in the wake of my daily alcohol binge. One morning I happened upon a nerdy/emo couple. They were a pair of the most pastie white people I had ever seen. What the hell did you come to Hawaii for? We know that it wasn't the sun and sand. Then there was the annoying family that made me want to hang myself. They actually sat there and had a huge chuckle out of the fact that they all ate their mango differently. It was total Leave it to Beaver shit and it made me go back to my room to immediately start drinking again.
The last thing about the vacation that bummed me out was the fact that I didn't get to hike the Haiku stairs. It is a nearly 4000 step hike up the mountain that was built by the Coast Guard back in the day to get to the satellites they had placed on top. The problem is that it is "closed to the public" and the little town where the trail starts has hired a guard to keep people from sneaking up the mountain. We would have had to wake up at 3 in the morning just to get there before he did to sneak up there and I was way too busy being drunk/hungover by that time to even fathom it. Instead, I just snapped my annoying tourist picture of it and made my husband promise to take me back and illegally climb the mountain sober.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Mooses of Mayhem
The post has a bunch of super random tid bits that have been happening lately. I couldn't really fathom making each paragraph into a separate post (not that it would have mattered as no one reads it) so what I have instead is a nice hodgepodge of useless information.
We're finally settled into our house, and by settled I really mean shoved everything under the bed or in a closet. Where the hell did all of this random shit come from?! I actually found a stress "ball" that is actually a cow. It has already met an untimely demise by the Edward Kitten. I got a new ride, a 2011 Nissan Juke, and I heart it. No one knows what the fuck this vehicle is though. I keep trying to tell the family about it and they just pretend to sound interested because they really have no idea what I'm talking about.
We've been out exploring nature lately. Nature is biting back. We climbed this mountain and decided the best way to get back down was to slide down some snow which would have been awesome had it not cut up my legs and every other inch of exposed skin. I may or may not look like the poster woman for domestic abuse. I've been wearing my super awesome Vibram toe shoes to hike in (you know you secretly want a pair, stop hatin.) You can really feel the mud between your toes yo. I've been trying, with no avail, to see a male moose. It's Alaska, they should be all over the place but finding a male moose is impossible. I think they've formed a, "Let's hide from Nicki," coalition. Well screw you male moose, I'll look for some fucking ptarmigans instead.
We've decided to take a very last minute vacation. We figure with me starting school and pursuing medical school, it will be eleventy billion years before we get to take a legit vacation again. We've decided to go to Hawaii since tickets are cheaper than your sister after a few drinks. We leave on the 20th which only leaves me 17 days to Get Fine TM. I've been doing my weight training in the morning and going to the gym to get on the elliptical for an hour. This has given me ample time to people watch. What I've noticed is that most of the men in the weight room spend more time sitting around than actually working out, women who workout in pairs spend more time talking than working out, and the old man who walks on the track with hand weights has the most amazing argyle socks ever.
We're finally settled into our house, and by settled I really mean shoved everything under the bed or in a closet. Where the hell did all of this random shit come from?! I actually found a stress "ball" that is actually a cow. It has already met an untimely demise by the Edward Kitten. I got a new ride, a 2011 Nissan Juke, and I heart it. No one knows what the fuck this vehicle is though. I keep trying to tell the family about it and they just pretend to sound interested because they really have no idea what I'm talking about.
We've been out exploring nature lately. Nature is biting back. We climbed this mountain and decided the best way to get back down was to slide down some snow which would have been awesome had it not cut up my legs and every other inch of exposed skin. I may or may not look like the poster woman for domestic abuse. I've been wearing my super awesome Vibram toe shoes to hike in (you know you secretly want a pair, stop hatin.) You can really feel the mud between your toes yo. I've been trying, with no avail, to see a male moose. It's Alaska, they should be all over the place but finding a male moose is impossible. I think they've formed a, "Let's hide from Nicki," coalition. Well screw you male moose, I'll look for some fucking ptarmigans instead.
We've decided to take a very last minute vacation. We figure with me starting school and pursuing medical school, it will be eleventy billion years before we get to take a legit vacation again. We've decided to go to Hawaii since tickets are cheaper than your sister after a few drinks. We leave on the 20th which only leaves me 17 days to Get Fine TM. I've been doing my weight training in the morning and going to the gym to get on the elliptical for an hour. This has given me ample time to people watch. What I've noticed is that most of the men in the weight room spend more time sitting around than actually working out, women who workout in pairs spend more time talking than working out, and the old man who walks on the track with hand weights has the most amazing argyle socks ever.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Leaving Without Ed...Oo La La
First of all, kitties! Keep that in mind before you stop reading because of the proceeding.
Today has thus far been an excruciating day, and I will forewarn you all that this first part is a profane rant. I had to go eat lunch with my husband's commander and his wife. The commander bought the newcomers lunch (it was at the chow hall so he spent about 10$ for 8 people it's really not impressive) Now during this lunch the commander never even talked, it was all his wife trying to pressure the spouses there to join their pathetic spouse's group. Being prior service, I have no desire to align myself as a "military spouse." I know that I am now but I am a veteran first. I hate the stupid stickers they put on their cars. "Half of my heart is in Iraq." "I <3 my soldier, airman, marine etc." My favorite, "Military wife, the hardest job in the military." What. The. Fuck. I'm pretty sure the hardest job in the military was that dude that took out Osama. Once you bitches do that you can have your gay stickers on your mini-vans. I don't want to go to your mani-pedi days, I have more important things to do like be pre-med, fuck shit up in Azeroth, and oh yeah, actually have an inkling of what it's like to be in the military because, I don't know, I have been in. So stop bitching about deployments, working holidays, and late hours. You knew what the fuck you were signing up for when you married a member of our armed forces...end rant.
Luckily my day is going to get immensely better around 6PM Alaska Time. We have adopted a new cat!
Meet Edward. She already has that, "I hate you," look down. Yes I did say she. You see, I'm more of a dork than just playing video games, I also enjoy anime. I'm a huge fan of the Cowboy Bebop series. One of the main characters is a girl named Edward. I love her with a passion, she spoke one of my favorite quotes ever, "Leaving without Ed...Oo la la." Then proceeds to crash their ride. She's awesome.
Today has thus far been an excruciating day, and I will forewarn you all that this first part is a profane rant. I had to go eat lunch with my husband's commander and his wife. The commander bought the newcomers lunch (it was at the chow hall so he spent about 10$ for 8 people it's really not impressive) Now during this lunch the commander never even talked, it was all his wife trying to pressure the spouses there to join their pathetic spouse's group. Being prior service, I have no desire to align myself as a "military spouse." I know that I am now but I am a veteran first. I hate the stupid stickers they put on their cars. "Half of my heart is in Iraq." "I <3 my soldier, airman, marine etc." My favorite, "Military wife, the hardest job in the military." What. The. Fuck. I'm pretty sure the hardest job in the military was that dude that took out Osama. Once you bitches do that you can have your gay stickers on your mini-vans. I don't want to go to your mani-pedi days, I have more important things to do like be pre-med, fuck shit up in Azeroth, and oh yeah, actually have an inkling of what it's like to be in the military because, I don't know, I have been in. So stop bitching about deployments, working holidays, and late hours. You knew what the fuck you were signing up for when you married a member of our armed forces...end rant.
Luckily my day is going to get immensely better around 6PM Alaska Time. We have adopted a new cat!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Nutty Wolves
It's been a month since I've posted because we've only just now gained internet access since the move from the base "hotel." We finally decided on the house in Chugiak because driving 50 minutes one way to work and school made my soul sore. Our neighbors are loud as hell and we have a pack of wolves living in the hill we live on. I thought they only howled at night, but not these guys they will go at it in the a.m. just to remind you that they are there, thus driving the Guinness Kitty into a fiendish frenzy of, "Oh my god, what the FUCK is that? Are they going to eat me?!?!" My husband says that it's just Team Jacob...you know how I know you're gay?
The unpacking is going very slowly but surely. The fun part is that we get to burn all the paper and various odds and ends that frankly, we just want to see if they will burn. A dvd case, pillows, a queen sized comforter, Body by Jake, catnip toys, (hopefully there are no mountain lions in our woods)and the heart of one small child
We have 2 spare rooms, one is being made into a guest room for guests that tell us how badly they want to visit but never will. The other is being made into a workout room. We have a weight bench in there now and hopefully soon a shiny new treadmill will be in there so I can start my Run 365* regimen which has already hit a small wall... I prefer the elliptical. So there is a very good chance that my Run 365* will turn into Ellipse 365* either way my fat ass needs to loose weight because I just unpacked the scales and we had a very "Garfield vs. scale" moment that ended in me saying, "Fuck you. The movers broke you ON PURPOSE!!!"
*unofficially my official title for running every day for 365 days.
The unpacking is going very slowly but surely. The fun part is that we get to burn all the paper and various odds and ends that frankly, we just want to see if they will burn. A dvd case, pillows, a queen sized comforter, Body by Jake, catnip toys, (hopefully there are no mountain lions in our woods)and the heart of one small child
We have 2 spare rooms, one is being made into a guest room for guests that tell us how badly they want to visit but never will. The other is being made into a workout room. We have a weight bench in there now and hopefully soon a shiny new treadmill will be in there so I can start my Run 365* regimen which has already hit a small wall... I prefer the elliptical. So there is a very good chance that my Run 365* will turn into Ellipse 365* either way my fat ass needs to loose weight because I just unpacked the scales and we had a very "Garfield vs. scale" moment that ended in me saying, "Fuck you. The movers broke you ON PURPOSE!!!"
*unofficially my official title for running every day for 365 days.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Termite Freeloaders
The housing situation here in Alaska is really leaving a lot to be desired. First of all we are forced to live in on-base lodging for the next 30 days, this wouldn't be so bad but for a few things;
1. The Guinness Kitty is not allowed in the room, so we've had to bring her to a new place and put her right into a kennel which is tres not cool.
2. We have a full sized bed to sleep on for 2 people that are above 5'9". Oh the comfort...
3. The heating system is not centralized so the heat from the neighbors seeps into our room making it a toasty 90F even though we don't have the heat on in our room. It's fucking snowing out and we have the windows open.
4. We don't have a kitchen. We will be here for 30 days with no kitchen and a minuscule microwave which means we are forced to eat out for almost every meal. This is no beuno.
Most of this is the fault of our "sponsor." This is the person who reserves your room for you for when you get here, shows you around town, and takes you house hunting. She really screwed the pooch on us and forgot we had a cat, or a need to eat healthy food I guess. Also we've been forced to spend money on a rental car and find our own way around a new place to look for a house. Can't you just feel the love.
First of all, Anchorage is a shit hole to live in. The houses are right on top of each other and have no more than 5 (five) inoperable vehicles sitting in the front lawn. Our sponsor really keeps pushing us to live in Anchorage because apparently she loves the idea of living on her neighbor's lap, or borrowing spare car parts. Housing for us is slim pickins yo. Mostly because of the Guinness Kitty. Most landlords won't allow pets or if they do, cats are not allowed. Also we refuse to live in an apartment or in town because we hate people and don't want to hear our neighbors having sex to create their 7th child so they can get more food stamps. This left us with 4 houses to look at. We still have one of these to look at but so far our choices are having a really awesome house on the lake (and Sarah Palin's lake house was seriously across the lake from it) but having to commute 50 minutes to Anchorage for work and school, or having a kind of crappy house but only living 20 minutes away. We're totally screwed any way that you look at it, so I'm hoping with every fiber of my bitter being that this last house pulls through. If not, I'm taking a page from the termites and finding the first piece of wood, hopping on, and living there...as long as there are no neighbors.
1. The Guinness Kitty is not allowed in the room, so we've had to bring her to a new place and put her right into a kennel which is tres not cool.
2. We have a full sized bed to sleep on for 2 people that are above 5'9". Oh the comfort...
3. The heating system is not centralized so the heat from the neighbors seeps into our room making it a toasty 90F even though we don't have the heat on in our room. It's fucking snowing out and we have the windows open.
4. We don't have a kitchen. We will be here for 30 days with no kitchen and a minuscule microwave which means we are forced to eat out for almost every meal. This is no beuno.
Most of this is the fault of our "sponsor." This is the person who reserves your room for you for when you get here, shows you around town, and takes you house hunting. She really screwed the pooch on us and forgot we had a cat, or a need to eat healthy food I guess. Also we've been forced to spend money on a rental car and find our own way around a new place to look for a house. Can't you just feel the love.
First of all, Anchorage is a shit hole to live in. The houses are right on top of each other and have no more than 5 (five) inoperable vehicles sitting in the front lawn. Our sponsor really keeps pushing us to live in Anchorage because apparently she loves the idea of living on her neighbor's lap, or borrowing spare car parts. Housing for us is slim pickins yo. Mostly because of the Guinness Kitty. Most landlords won't allow pets or if they do, cats are not allowed. Also we refuse to live in an apartment or in town because we hate people and don't want to hear our neighbors having sex to create their 7th child so they can get more food stamps. This left us with 4 houses to look at. We still have one of these to look at but so far our choices are having a really awesome house on the lake (and Sarah Palin's lake house was seriously across the lake from it) but having to commute 50 minutes to Anchorage for work and school, or having a kind of crappy house but only living 20 minutes away. We're totally screwed any way that you look at it, so I'm hoping with every fiber of my bitter being that this last house pulls through. If not, I'm taking a page from the termites and finding the first piece of wood, hopping on, and living there...as long as there are no neighbors.
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