Holidays And Play
It is less than a week from Christmas on The Ice.
For McMurdo, this too is a holiday season with planning for celebrations and festivities underway, the Galley reserving tables and times for work centers to meet in company together over a grand feast. For the three or four per cent of Christians here Christmas is still a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and for all the agnostics, atheists, and pagans, it is still the day to find fellowship with the colorful cadres of adventurous souls living on the edge of the map.
It is a God haunted place, McMurdo... even for those who are ghosts in the middle world, drawn together for what light of the Imago Dei is borne by their fellow shades. There are four memorial crosses that are kept to commemorate those who have fallen in pushing beyond the edge in olden days. They are a nostalgia for something that has been forgotten by so many in this hoary age.
The reality, is that for all, there will be two days off, for some to rest, and for many a two night bacchanalle, much like Halloween and Thanksgiving. There are those who will seek other company and other recreation, fueled by tea and hot chocolate rather than alcohol. There are a myriad of activities beyond work shaped by a myriad of people of manifold interests and multitudinous in life experiences. People come here with more work than time, and this season has been two weeks behind schedule since Windfly because of weather delays. But while people work hard, they play hard as well, and there are a hundred things to do outside of work.
Scheduling anything is a frankenstenian endevor at best, requiring not only time according to the peculiar shifts that organizers may have, but also around the shifts of others of like mind, and around the scheduled time that the galley is open for meals, and the times that aircraft movement activities might be, and the odd times that other activities might occur.
Activities are often ad hoc or on the spur of the moment. The weather
warmed up enough to snow several days ago, and the drifts were ankle
deep of snow wet enough to pack into a snowman. A couple went to skua
and made use of the moment.
There are three channels on TV with activity advertisments for science and travelogue lecture activities, for fitness and outdoors activities, and for the array of activites outside of that inclding when the bars, the coffee house, the library, the craft room, Hut 10 parties, dances and live music events at the Big Gym, or Helo Hangar, or Carp Shop.
The notices are designed by each individual and run by the Recreation Director, and then posted in high traffic locations. Some of them change and others last the season depending on the rotation of people running the activities. Some last all the way from Windfly in August, others from Main Body in October, and others change week to week.
Perhaps the most lively and protean place to look for activities
are the two bulletin boards on Highway One in 155, one outside the Store
and one beside the coatrooms. Bills to buy and sell goods and services
as well as short notices for the movie of the week on Samurai Saturday
or one off meetings go up here.
Another side activity that nearly everyone participates in, is the acquisition and trade of stickers for work centers, organizations, and projects of the season. It's like pokemon... gotta' catch 'em all.
The store sells Antarctica stickers of various kinds, and those are a good start. But every season, new stickers come and go.
Some are for projects that are happening that season, some are new stickers for old organizations. Either way, these are the ones that are the ones to look for, because you have to meet the people that have them to get them.
One way to tell the ones who have been coming for years is by the stickers that have years. It is all fun and games and as everyone has their desert issue nalgene water bottle, there is a place to show off the stickers.
Sometimes other odd and creative rabbit holes start here. I found one such invitation, and I had to play...
I looked high and low through the galley and along Highway 1 until I found some. Then I emailed the address...
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Sun 12/8/2019 11:37 AM
I have four of your lost animals.
They won't get hurt if you pay the ransom of one million in unmarked snow flakes.
Details of the drop will be forthcoming.
Do not contact the police.
You will need to come alone to the designated drop point.
We will be watching... we know where you work... we know where you live...
Don't let those animals end up on the back of a milk carton.
Have a nice day.
* * * * *
Rempel, Rebecca (Contractor) <rebecca.rempel.contractor@usap.gov>
Sun 12/8/2019 5:04 PM
If you look outside your window, you will see that I have delivered. Please return my animals unharmed. Otherwise I will find you. I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my animals go now, that'll be the end of it.
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Mon 12/9/2019 7:39 AM
Very well...
I will meet you in the darkest corner of the coffee house.
Make sure you are alone.
Your animals will be unharmed if I walk away unharmed.
Have a nice day.
* * * * *
Rempel, Rebecca (Contractor) <rebecca.rempel.contractor@usap.gov>
Mon 12/9/2019 9:23 AM
I’ll meet you in the galley by the silverware at 0530 sharp. Today.
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Sat 12/14/2019 1:48 PM
You see, when a person with a "particular set of skills" wants to meet at 5:30 sharp beside the silverware - a thing full of many sharp things... it sounds like a trap for sure. However, I have a story to tell you...
Once upon a time, there were several zoo animals, a donkey, a deer, a chicken, a frog, and a kitten. They went on several adventures.
Donkey thought it was great fun to nibble on dry cereal, and got so carried away that once, he climbed up INTO the cereal hopper, and ate so much that he got stuck! If it weren't for the slicky-licky tongue of froggy to lube him up, the animal friends would have never gotten him out.
Froggy liked getting his slicky-licky tongue into all kinds of things, and sometimes that got him in trouble. When the animal friends snuck into the coffee house, Froggy thought a little latte would be tasty, and so he sampled some. But after the hot and foamy beverage, he thought he wanted some wine too, and hopped right into the glass down the bar when nobody was looking. He swam around and liked the wine so much he hopped into the next glass, and then the next after that. Let's just say, that when Kitten and Hen managed to extract him, he was embarrassingly drunk and the patrons could not figure out where his froggy song was coming from... the animals barely escaped without being caught.
Hen had an adventure of her own, even though she was a very practical creature. One day, she found herself in the Balloon Inflation Facility, and she got so excited when she saw a weather balloon that she thought it was the most beautiful egg she'd ever seen! She went and sat on the balloon thinking that she would hatch an egg with the biggest, most amazing chicken ever, but when it went outside to be launched, her animal friends began such a ruckus that she came to her senses at the last minute before the balloon got fatally high and it was too late. She is still just a little sad though, and looks wistfully in the sky sometimes.
Deer is, well, a dear. She means well by everyone, and one day, she decided that what the animal friends really needed to do was make themselves useful. So she snuck into the laundry room to fold clothes for everyone as the clothes dried, and do a good turn for others. Unfortunately, Deer does not have any thumbs, or even fingers. She meant well... but trying to fold laundry with only her horns... it turned into a miserable mess. She put so many holes in one person's underwear that they looked like lacy panties after it was all done, and the bath towels were not good for anything but cleaning rags.
Kitten thought it would be great fun to drive a Pisten Bully. At 2am, she snuck down to fleet ops, and climbed right in with her little paddy-paws. She turned the key and told Deer and Donkey (they were the heaviest) to stand on the accelerator, and Hen to stand on the brake just in case. She told Froggy to mind the turn signals and the wipers because he was looking a little sullen, but really, he was not heavy enough to really help with the pedals. He was OK with that, and he hopped back and forth clicking the blinkers and the wipers on-off-on-off and having a great old time! Kitten said to put on the gas, and they tracked their way through town with all speed down to the ice. It was a
marvelous time! That is... until they crossed the line past the snow poles... Oh, Kitten! When the Pisten Bully first went into a crevasse, and then down, plop! into the sea, it was all they could do to escape before they sank. Cold and shivery, the animal friends decided that they needed to make a proper plan.
And to this day, they are in their new club-house. And of course what better club house could animal friends have than a tree-house?! There they are, planning, plotting, thinking, and laughing the day away. Perhaps if you find them there, they will invite you to tea.
* * * * *
I have not gotten a reply yet. I left them for her to find, but... will she?
For McMurdo, this too is a holiday season with planning for celebrations and festivities underway, the Galley reserving tables and times for work centers to meet in company together over a grand feast. For the three or four per cent of Christians here Christmas is still a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and for all the agnostics, atheists, and pagans, it is still the day to find fellowship with the colorful cadres of adventurous souls living on the edge of the map.
It is a God haunted place, McMurdo... even for those who are ghosts in the middle world, drawn together for what light of the Imago Dei is borne by their fellow shades. There are four memorial crosses that are kept to commemorate those who have fallen in pushing beyond the edge in olden days. They are a nostalgia for something that has been forgotten by so many in this hoary age.
Scheduling anything is a frankenstenian endevor at best, requiring not only time according to the peculiar shifts that organizers may have, but also around the shifts of others of like mind, and around the scheduled time that the galley is open for meals, and the times that aircraft movement activities might be, and the odd times that other activities might occur.
There are three channels on TV with activity advertisments for science and travelogue lecture activities, for fitness and outdoors activities, and for the array of activites outside of that inclding when the bars, the coffee house, the library, the craft room, Hut 10 parties, dances and live music events at the Big Gym, or Helo Hangar, or Carp Shop.
The notices are designed by each individual and run by the Recreation Director, and then posted in high traffic locations. Some of them change and others last the season depending on the rotation of people running the activities. Some last all the way from Windfly in August, others from Main Body in October, and others change week to week.
Another side activity that nearly everyone participates in, is the acquisition and trade of stickers for work centers, organizations, and projects of the season. It's like pokemon... gotta' catch 'em all.
Some are for projects that are happening that season, some are new stickers for old organizations. Either way, these are the ones that are the ones to look for, because you have to meet the people that have them to get them.
One way to tell the ones who have been coming for years is by the stickers that have years. It is all fun and games and as everyone has their desert issue nalgene water bottle, there is a place to show off the stickers.
Sometimes other odd and creative rabbit holes start here. I found one such invitation, and I had to play...
I looked high and low through the galley and along Highway 1 until I found some. Then I emailed the address...
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Sun 12/8/2019 11:37 AM
I have four of your lost animals.
They won't get hurt if you pay the ransom of one million in unmarked snow flakes.
Details of the drop will be forthcoming.
Do not contact the police.
You will need to come alone to the designated drop point.
We will be watching... we know where you work... we know where you live...
Don't let those animals end up on the back of a milk carton.
Have a nice day.
* * * * *
Rempel, Rebecca (Contractor) <rebecca.rempel.contractor@usap.gov>
Sun 12/8/2019 5:04 PM
If you look outside your window, you will see that I have delivered. Please return my animals unharmed. Otherwise I will find you. I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my animals go now, that'll be the end of it.
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Mon 12/9/2019 7:39 AM
Very well...
I will meet you in the darkest corner of the coffee house.
Make sure you are alone.
Your animals will be unharmed if I walk away unharmed.
Have a nice day.
* * * * *
Rempel, Rebecca (Contractor) <rebecca.rempel.contractor@usap.gov>
Mon 12/9/2019 9:23 AM
I’ll meet you in the galley by the silverware at 0530 sharp. Today.
* * * * *
Dwight Upton
Sat 12/14/2019 1:48 PM
You see, when a person with a "particular set of skills" wants to meet at 5:30 sharp beside the silverware - a thing full of many sharp things... it sounds like a trap for sure. However, I have a story to tell you...
Once upon a time, there were several zoo animals, a donkey, a deer, a chicken, a frog, and a kitten. They went on several adventures.
Donkey thought it was great fun to nibble on dry cereal, and got so carried away that once, he climbed up INTO the cereal hopper, and ate so much that he got stuck! If it weren't for the slicky-licky tongue of froggy to lube him up, the animal friends would have never gotten him out.
Froggy liked getting his slicky-licky tongue into all kinds of things, and sometimes that got him in trouble. When the animal friends snuck into the coffee house, Froggy thought a little latte would be tasty, and so he sampled some. But after the hot and foamy beverage, he thought he wanted some wine too, and hopped right into the glass down the bar when nobody was looking. He swam around and liked the wine so much he hopped into the next glass, and then the next after that. Let's just say, that when Kitten and Hen managed to extract him, he was embarrassingly drunk and the patrons could not figure out where his froggy song was coming from... the animals barely escaped without being caught.
Hen had an adventure of her own, even though she was a very practical creature. One day, she found herself in the Balloon Inflation Facility, and she got so excited when she saw a weather balloon that she thought it was the most beautiful egg she'd ever seen! She went and sat on the balloon thinking that she would hatch an egg with the biggest, most amazing chicken ever, but when it went outside to be launched, her animal friends began such a ruckus that she came to her senses at the last minute before the balloon got fatally high and it was too late. She is still just a little sad though, and looks wistfully in the sky sometimes.
Deer is, well, a dear. She means well by everyone, and one day, she decided that what the animal friends really needed to do was make themselves useful. So she snuck into the laundry room to fold clothes for everyone as the clothes dried, and do a good turn for others. Unfortunately, Deer does not have any thumbs, or even fingers. She meant well... but trying to fold laundry with only her horns... it turned into a miserable mess. She put so many holes in one person's underwear that they looked like lacy panties after it was all done, and the bath towels were not good for anything but cleaning rags.
Kitten thought it would be great fun to drive a Pisten Bully. At 2am, she snuck down to fleet ops, and climbed right in with her little paddy-paws. She turned the key and told Deer and Donkey (they were the heaviest) to stand on the accelerator, and Hen to stand on the brake just in case. She told Froggy to mind the turn signals and the wipers because he was looking a little sullen, but really, he was not heavy enough to really help with the pedals. He was OK with that, and he hopped back and forth clicking the blinkers and the wipers on-off-on-off and having a great old time! Kitten said to put on the gas, and they tracked their way through town with all speed down to the ice. It was a marvelous time! That is... until they crossed the line past the snow poles... Oh, Kitten! When the Pisten Bully first went into a crevasse, and then down, plop! into the sea, it was all they could do to escape before they sank. Cold and shivery, the animal friends decided that they needed to make a proper plan.
And to this day, they are in their new club-house. And of course what better club house could animal friends have than a tree-house?! There they are, planning, plotting, thinking, and laughing the day away. Perhaps if you find them there, they will invite you to tea.
I have not gotten a reply yet. I left them for her to find, but... will she?
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