You know,

[camwyn]

As nice as the Second Story is, there's only one computer there and if someone else wants it the most time you get is half an hour. I'm told you can manage long stretches at the computers in the UA Fairbanks library, but it's a long smegging walk to the campus and I didn't see lights on when I passed the library on the way back from the campus museum. So now I am at the Campus Coffeehouse again, and I have a mug of chai latte and a book of Lord Peter Wimsey short stories from Ms. Sayers, and a wicked case of both museum foot and saddle bum. (The first is caused by walking for long stretches, sitting down for a few minutes, then getting up again. The new pain is worse than the old. It commonly occurs when walking through large museums and stopping to rest, hence the name. As for saddle bum - the seat on the mountain bike I rented was too narrow and I have no idea how many miles I rode today.)


But the chai is good and the sun is exerting itself nicely through the clouds despite it being 7:15. And despite my cellular phone saying 'Extended Network' and demanding a credit card to make a call (Verizon said the phone would work here w/o roaming charges - liars), I can talk to people through the miracle of Telnet. So that's okay.

My bunk in the hostel is the topmost one in my room. It is right next to a window. I expect to be up relatively early tomorrow; I will see about renting another painful bike and riding over to Inua Wool Shoppe, which is supposed to be one of the best yarn stores in the state if not THE best. They may have qiviut for sale. Even if they don't I intend to make a purchase there; I want to make myself a pair of fingerless gloves in the state colours, as it's a bit too warm for my mittens and too cool to ride in wet weather without something, at least. Fred Meyer's sells yarn but I'd rather see what this place has before buying there.

I know the University's large animal research facility has qiviut fiber but I don't know if they have any actual qiviut yarn. I'm going to the LARF on Saturday, when they have walking tours. I was told today that someone cut the fence on the facility and the university's prime breeding male caribou got out - I hope it was just an idiot and not an animal rights activist or something like that, as from what I hear the animals are very well cared for and have plenty of room to roam. Oy.

Oh, yes, I have eaten reindeer. Bought a strip of jerky today. Unfortunately all jerky tastes more or less the same, although I will say that this particular bit was quite good. Substituted for an actual breakfast, anyway.

Tomorrow I hope to visit Mary Shields and her dogs. I am hoping that this will provide a bit of inspiration; I have a notebook with me and have been scribbling in it as I go, mostly about what I see, but I should like to get another Diary entry written sometime soon. Also going to make arrangements for a trip up to north of the Arctic Circle tomorrow. My dad's Uncle Francie might've been stationed in the Aleutians during WW II, but nobody in my family's ever been that far north. Call it the asinine urge to conquer some part of the landscape. I have no urge to make any kind of attempt on Mount Denali (ain't gonna call it McKinley and you can't make me), but it'd be nice to be present on some kind of major geographic feature, even just for a short time.

You know, this chai is really quite good.

Most of the people at my hostel right now are foreigners. Several are from Britain. Two were from Sweden and were waiting for berths at the University to open up (they did so late yesterday). At least three are Japanese. I am told that come the winter months, most of the tourists drop off, but the Japanese just keep on coming. Somehow I would not have thought of that - I mean, Fairbanks is in the middle of the state and it's not exactly the end of the Iditarod or something famous, you know? And the mountain that the Japanese visitors to the States call a local equivalent to Mt. Fuji is on Sitka's island, it's not Denali. Still, it's kind of cool.

Dammit, I wish this chair had a cushion.

I believe I am beginning to adapt to the time zone weirdness a bit; while I am tired, it is not as bad as it was yesterday, and my stomach was willing to put up with being fed at 5 PM instead of being very puzzled about what it thought was 9 PM. I did wake up at 5 AM this morning, but went back to bed and eventually cracked awake a little before 8 AM, which is when I had wanted to get up anyway. I am currently on the tired side, but since I was biking for most of the morning, this is no big surprise. I think when I go back to the Hostel I am going to work on my knitting for a bit, and perhaps on my writing. Right now I have a black and white watch cap on my needles, but they're the dpns because I left my circs at home; that's one of the things I want to get at Inua, a proper circular needle. I do not much feel like conversation with the most talkative guy in the hostel tonight - he's a resident who helps run the place but lordy that man can talk. Just wanna sit on something with a cushion and do quiet things with soft yarn for a while. Maybe read some Sayers.

The next time I go to Fred Meyer I am going to pick up a couple of packages of dry, cheap food (macaroni, most likely, and probably beans) so taht I will have them when I get to Denali. The local restaurants are few and far between there, whereas here I can at least get a sandwich or something. An expensive sandwich ($6.50 at the Cafe), but at least there's the option. No such luck in the Park.

That's about it for now, I think. We shall see if anything else arises before I go back to the hostel.