un jour comme un autre (really)

So, another day. Happens to be my birthday, but my family has always been so lax about these so called special days. Which is fine, I only get self-conscious when people make a fuss over me anyway.
But it's funny, because when I signed online a while ago (it was past midnight on the east coast but not in AK), I got some random IMs from people who I hadn't spoken to since...well, since my last birthday. And they probably only knew it was my birthday from thefacebook. It's nice and all, I suppose....but more than that, it's just a false sense of security and friendship, which isn't so nice.

But who am I to be complaining on my birthday.
I just got back from the airport where we dropped off two of our guests (dad's friend & wifey); I've only known them for two weeks but they feel like family and I miss them already. They're the extroverted, flashy, funny type who spoil me and make me laugh, so naturally I adore them. And they love it here so much that they're thinking about moving here, huzzah!
Anyway, on the way back from the airport, it was dark (egads! dark, in alaska?! sacrilige!!) and my dad pulled over the car on the highway. So we immediately jumped out and looked up into the night sky. He pulled over in a section of the highway that didn't have lamps on the side so it really was dark, save the few headlights that sped by every once in the while.

And you know, in most other places, you see the night sky and some stars scattered here and there. Here, I saw stars & stars & stars, and a little bit of night sky somewhere in between. It was breathtaking; I saw the Milky Way, the Big Dipper...it was cold enough to see your own breath, too. The only other time I've seen stars like this was back in Yellowstone Park, I think. Years ago.
And as the four of us, my parents, the lone houseguest, and I, stood there gaping - my dad started singing Happy Birthday, and my mom hugged me close, and I had a huge, dopey grin on my face. That was enough of a present for me, that moment.

Ooh, and on the way to the airport, a patch of the sky was this crazy shade of opal....and below it, some clouds...and then under THAT, the sky was tangerine. Opal and tangerine sky...maybe that'll be in a new song. I have a chord progression stuck in my head, Am7..DMaj..C....F...I'll work on it tomorrow.

So okay, here's the thing:
I've been here for about two weeks, and this is usually when I start to get extremely bored and wish I was back in the city. But this time it's a little different - mostly due to the guests - but I'm starting to understand why people love it here so much. The batch of friends/family that my parents have had over are the most down to earth group of people, and I feel so incredibly comfortable around them...which, given the language barrier and such, is rare. It's the kind of comfort that comes from lots of laughing, good food, and the lack of superficiality that permeates manhattan. And don't get me wrong, that superficiality is partly why I love the city so much, but alaska is such the polar opposite - or at least, my dad's friends are. These are people who seem to know my parents better than even I know them, and they're so optimistic I sometimes can't take them seriously.
And so I'm starting to see the appeal...the escapism factor, isolating yourself with good people and good food in a place that's stilll relatively untouched by everything. I used to be afraid of isolation, but I mean...where I live isn't the middle of nowhere, and it's not icky monotonous suburbia either, but rather an interesting medium. I never thought I'd be saying any of this, by the way.

The one guest left (for now) is becoming one of my favorite people. At first he seemed introverted and shy and quiet, and.....well, he actually is all of those things, but he still manages to get the biggest laughs out of everyone, including myself; he's the eternal optimist and one of the most kindhearted and genuinely good people I've ever met/ever will meet; and he intentionally tells me corny jokes and stories to get me to laugh, because according to him I need to laugh more; he even showed me a slideshow of his trip to McKinley, explaining everything from how to build an igloo to where/how climbers respond to mother nature's call up there on the mountain. I just had to rave about this guy because I absolutely adoooore him. He's adorable.

Speaking of McKinley, I'm becoming obsessed. All of these first hand accounts/pictures/seeing it for myself on the plane....I'm afraid I'm going to get bit by the climber's bug. And of course I'll never be able to summit or anything, but apparently non-climbers can get up to Camp 3 pretty easily, just to ski or snowboard down. I did not know this.
So, who wants to come to McKinley with me? B.Y.O.S (S = ski/snowboard/sled. just kidding about the sled...but how awesome would it be to sled down Mt. McKinley, criiiikey!)

Have to get up early to go to the airport once again, this time to pick up two new guests...and Teri's coming in on Friday, my brother on Saturday. I might as well pitch a tent outside the airport and live there. So goodnight.

Love,the girl who got caught turning away from the camera
(goddamnnn - is my hair really that brown?!)

p.s - if you really want to know where/how they poop up on McKinley, just ask.