Don't Forget the Murphys

Current Conditions
Temperature: 8F
Wind Chill: -10F

Bamma's here! And she brought me Pad Thai from a restaurant in Christchurch. It was fantastic! (for the 3 seconds it lasted) Thanks Bamma!

The weather finally broke and we've gotten three flights in the past two days, bringing the population up to about 720. The galley is packed. Finding an empty table is nearly impossible, which means I will have to start settling for atypical, foriegn tables. Crushing.

We, as fellow winterovers, are now brutally aware of each other's toastiness, and are more and more able to recognize the affliction in ourselves, like being at the wheel of a train wreck, unable to switch tracks. Against my will, I mumble disapproval under my breath as people gather and stand in the busiest corridors, undermine any flow that may exist in the food line, turn blind corners without pausing to consider traffic. I've begun to wonder if there is a deeper subconscious that develops among winterovers. Even when there seems to be no one around (a rarity now) someone will still round the bend intent on collision. I don't recall this happening in winter. The intersection of Highways 1 & 2 was never so dangerous, even at peak mealtimes. Did we develop a subconscious traffic pattern? I don't know, but there was flow. It worked. It's gone.

Gone, just like our filters. Things come out of our mouths without concern for consequence. Some little annoyance, that would not normally even provoke irritation, will start a chain reaction in the nervous system ending at the lips with some muttered exasperation. Shawn told me today that he saw the line for food and some expletive came out, unwittingly, unprocessed by consideration, and several people heard it and moved aside. So that's a plus.

Yesterday I got to see another returning summer friend, Eric. Eric has been following my blog and he noted the conveyance of my mental decline over recent weeks. He said he half expected me to throw something breakable after every sentence (sarcastically, of course... I think), and so approached me with care. I didn't realize my ranting on the whole "toast" topic made me sound so dismal, so I want to put in the disclaimer that I'm still myself; I'm still generally happy, easily amused, and enjoyable to be around (I hope). I really just want to capture this winterover state honestly, while I'm experiencing it, because it is downright bizarre.

The sun is now up most of the time. It settles behind the mountains for a few hours at night, but the sky remains quite light. I love the sun. And hate it. It is fantastic to have it back, a beacon in the sky over a desolation of white, but at times it's too bright. This is a combination of the immense amount of reflected light in a snow-bleached landscape with the vampire-loving levels that my eyes are accustomed to.

Erebus had a fantastic plume in dazzling sunlight yesterday, and I actually took some pictures, something I haven't done in a while. This one is the drift that has accumulated over winter in the lee of the Arrival Heights building; it's 8 feet tall and hard as a rock:

The recent storms have piled mounds of fine powder over sections of road. Fleet Ops has focused on clearing town and Pegasus airfield, but have neglected the road to RaySat and AH, much to my driving pleasure (Fahrvergnugen, anyone?). I've been plowing into a drift that's taller than my Ford F150's bumper on a daily basis. The extremely light snow washes over the hood and windshield like flowing water, and puts a huge grin on my face. It's finally starting to stiffen up into styrofoam, but I might get one more good day out of it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: The Murphys' Winstock performance is now up on Surlyjam.