The summer. Entirely.

So, unfortunately it seems as though I haven't written for 3 months. My profuse apologies. At the beginning of the summer I knew I wouldn't be writing anything for the remainder of the summer - but that doesn't really give me an excuse for this past month, does it?

This summer was basically amazing. The work was intense, but enjoyable. The people were awesome, the surroundings were grand. I didn't do the best of jobs at keeping up on journaling, but I made a valiant effort. Here is a collection of some of the writings from my summer:

DAY ONE
People generally have their own opinions about flying; either they hate it, or else they love it, with only an occasional oddy who couldn't care less either way about it. I lean more toward loving it - not even so much for the flying part as for the social interactions that ensues when a hundred people are cooped up in a tube for hours at a time. Of course, I do enjoy the amazing views, but even more so I enjoy people watching within the plane itself. The two flights that constituted our trip to Alaska were passed with reading, people watching, and chatting with our neighbor. ON the first flight we had the joyful company of a stuffed-up old lawyer from Lake Arrowhead. The second leg wasn't as bad - quite good really. Jack was his name, and he was on his way to Bristol Bay for commercial fishing. Arriving in Anchorage, we picked up our duffel bags and met up with a friend of Brady's, who promised to take us as far as Girdwood, which is about an hour down the highway. As soon as we reached the outskirts, everywhere I looked was like ap icture postcard - towering mountains, sparkling water, and bright white snow banks left over from the cold winter. As promised, Ashten brought us as far as Girdwood. The "town" consisted of a gas station, a bakery, and little else. Brady and I got to work finding a ride south. It actually didn't take that long - we ended up in a pickup with Richrad, a guy with awesome sideburns and Boston origins, who was on his way to meet up with some buddies for fishing. This one took us as far as Cooper's Landing. We stood by the road, waiting. We had made a cardboard sign with the word HOMER scrawled across it - we held that high hoping to improve our chances. Again, it didn't take long. After about 15 minutes, Hedi and Amy were kind-hearted enough to stop. Heidi was from Juneau, Amy from Vermont, and they were both on their way to camping in Homer. Hedi wanted to give Amy a great first "Alaskan Experience". They took us all the way to Cohoe, the fish site - and here we stay. After a brief tour and a late (but delicious) dinner of enchiladas, peaches, and pistachio pudding salad, it's time to rest for tomorrow. The oddest thing about today? It's midnight and still daylight out. Talk about playing with your mind.
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TRACTOR PAINTING
We woke up early this morning, expecting to take the sandbags out to the anchors. But after the "pros" (Kyle, Martin, and Dave) surveyed the waves in the surf, they deemed it too choppy for that kind of work. So, since we were all up anyway, we decided to start work and get the day off early. Of course, I got the fun job, with a few others. We had the privilege of sanding down and painting a gigantic John Deere tractor. The work wasn't much fun at all, but the guys made it good. We talked about everything from the meaning of art to musical preferences. Of course, none of us were smart enough to wear gloves, so we came out with paint all over our hands and faces. I'm telling you, this stuff will not come off. I give it two weeks, at minimum. Dave kept passing by and reminding us that it had only taken Kyle and him 2 hours to finish the whole tractor. We had been working 5 and hadn't even gotten to the bottom. None of us were sure if he was joking - we decided to believe that he was, if nothing else than to help our self esteem.
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A SUNDAY
We made the 40-minute trek into Soldotna two hours early for church so that some of us could catch up on technological communications and such. This was done at the Kaladi Brother's Coffee Shop, which is everything a cafe should be - quaint, warm, artistic, and set up for wireless internet. We then made the 8-minute hop across town to the local Nazarene Church. I'm not one to believe in denominations, but Nazarene-ness had always put me off. Now was a chance to experience first-hand what it was all about. The music was a little better than awful - I know I sound selfish and sacrilegious saying something like that. After all, it's about worship right? of course. But it's hard to get into the spirit of worship when all you can focus on is what's going on with the music. The sermon was pretty good, but here's the catch - it was given by a woman. She wasn't the pastor or anything, but here was a woman teaching the entire congregation. I'm not one to be politically correct. I just don't think that's right. Hm. To add to the mix, she had an incessant "sniff" throughout. I truly was paying attention - honest to goodness, I was. But it was just too hilarious to hear her speak. "..we ought to fear *SNIFF* the Lord, *SNIFF*. Fear gives way *SNIFF* to faith." You get the picture. On the subject of fear - this gal's last line of her closing prayer really put me off - paraphrased, sans sniffing, it sounded something like this: "And thank you, Lord, that if we fear you enough, you will spare us from hell." As the bowed heads raised and we were dismissed, Justin and I gave eachother sidelong glances. It sounded a bit fishy - a bit works based. Something to ask her about, I suppose.
The whole experiences wasn't too bad, albeit a little "churchy" for me. Besides, we got free pie out of the deal. It just so happened to be Father's Day, and their tradition was to give a pie to each father. Now, none of us were, or are, fathers (except Kyle), but we weren't about to let that stand in our way. We all milled about the two dessert-filled tables, waiting for the right chance. Alex snagged a chocolate filled crust - I scoured the building for forks, and we called it even, splitting it 50/50. It was a most healthful and delicious lunch.
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MUSICAL BOATS
I washed all four boats today. It wasn't until halfway through the second boat that I realized I needed music. So I put on the soundtrack of Ocean's 12. Man, that music is snappy and happy. I was literally dancing to it with hose in hand. (Additional tracks - Elephant, On and On)
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FISH DAYS
It's hard to take the initiative of picking up a pen and actually putting it to paper. I realize that. I'm not one of those persons that writes all the time, without trying. I have to try. I have the thoughts, the words written in my head, the ideas flowing around and around - my troubles begin when I try to put it all in tangible form. I'd much rather have a good discussion with someone (with tea, preferably). Yet, all the same, I like to get the thoughts on paper, if only so I don't forget them. The last two weeks have brought a whole array of thoughts and ideas and questions - separate bu sort of mashed together, like a rainbow. They're not the same, but they're connected - and each one makes another look even more beautiful.
1) We think backwards. We start with the question, and find the answer. We ought to have an answer, and find which questions it responds to.
2) Nature is like our life, not vice versa.
3) Our purpose is much broader than commonly thought, and we can and should glorify God through everything we do.
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INITIATION
As he grabbed me around the legs, I dropped to the bottom of the boat. There was no way I was going into that water - hang tradition. Uh oh..here comes a second. Now there were two of them on top of me, grabbing each leg, pulling it over the side. I kicked. That bought me some time, but not much - I curled back to the bottom. They reached again, I kicked again - this time a little lower and better aimed. I felt real low for using a move like that, but what choice did I have? I followed it with a punch. Oh no - now a third. Three to one. If that isn't an unfair fight, fish can fly to the moon. I grasped my arms around the closest object I could find, which turned out to be the life jacket of the enemy. It worked - but slowly, as the nanoseconds crept by, my strength diminished. My will weakened. My grip loosened. I wish I could say I brought the three combatants in with me, but that would be an untruth. In actuality, I was tossed head over heels into the water, and was thus initiated. But I fought for it. Epically.
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And that's the extent of my current record of the summer in AK. In addition to all that, I and we found a kite, jumped off 50 foot rocks, attempted to water ski without any skis, hitchhiked down to Homer, saw a lot of moose, drank a lot of tea, stayed in a homeless shelter, discussed life, religion, God, and love, visited friends and churches, shot black powder rifles and .22s, played a lot of boardgames, read books aloud (Mr. God this Anna), roasted fish on the beach, had fish-throwing wars, found a message in a bottle, jumped in mud puddles, and, of course, worked hard.


Here's a video that sort of summarizes my summer. ^^