Christmas 2013

     Hey, Merry Christmas. I say ‘merry’ at the beginning of every holiday now, because ‘happy’ is a feeling, but ‘merry’ is an attitude, like a higher level of happy. But everyone looks at me funny when I say “Merry Thanksgiving!” Or “Merry New Years!” So it’s nice having a holiday where you can say merry properly.
     We’ve got a very big show for you today, first a video of me telling a winter–type story, perfect for all you displaced northerners, and then we have a bunch of pictures. Not a lot of text, because it’s all packed into the video! Almost a thousand words and the bonus of my face. You’re welcome. Merry Christmas. Merry Holidays too.

From Alaska To Arizona [2013]

     MY DAD is pilot, he has his own tiny plane that he loves to fly. Every year we fly from our house in Alaska to our house in Arizona, and every year we fly back. This takes takes us a week and most of the time we are in Canada.
     If you are a new reader I’ll just lay it on the line here; I have some neuroses. These manifest in what I would not precisely categorise as obsessive behaviours, but I do prefer certain things to be consistent in my life. Certain patterns. Listening to the same record repeatedly, Espresso in the morning, a particular method of dress. I see old home movies of myself and I recognise these behaviours but for different things and I see young me lose his mind when these patterns are broken.
     So I have been trying to get away from that.

Autumn in Alaska {2013}

It’s pretty neat up here when autumn rolls around.  When some trees turn bright yellow and the mountains turn white, it’s a visual poem in primary colours.

The Obscurantists

     I was reading a book about libraries, and they made reference to this old guy who had opposed the exploration of the new world. I forgot his name, but they called him an Obscurantist. That word struck me, I was sort of familiar with the concept of someone who would oppose new things, who would embrace obscurity in all its forms. I am that guy, most of the time. Then this record cover came to me almost in one piece in my brain. 

    I sort of imagine them playing retro R&B style music with a saxophone, a xylophone. some drums, and a crackly electric guitar. All their songs would sound uplifting, but are in fact veiled cries for help,  or angry sounding but with very cheerful lyrics. There would have to be that juxtaposition. And they would have lots of secret references to an agreed upon, very boring text. Possibly a history of europe. 

Tracks: {*Most if not all imaginary}

[Side 1]

1. I’m Alright, Alright!
2. Please Stop Calling Me
3. Here We Go, Oh No
4. Glorious Court 
5. Love is for Losers and Us Two Too

[Side 2]

1. You’re Okay By Me
2. Sometimes is not Forever All The Time But it is When it Rains
3. Nothing Can Hurt You if You Don’t Care
4. Let’s be Boring Together
5. We’re All Going to be Okay

Original

Better version of original

Arbiter

Follow me on twitter: @STCroiss

Robot on a Field Of Pine

Robot on a Field Of Pine, a Self–Portrait. 
2013
Mixed media; Pencil, coloured in photoshop. 

Alaska State Fair 2013

I didn’t take as many pictures as I usually do.
That’s odd.
But I did see some fake egyptian artifacts, and a bunny. So, definitely a good day.

So before we left I saw this smug little snotface. 

Stayed just out of reach too.

Hatcher Pass

     Yesterday Dad, Hanna, several friends of ours who will remain nameless and secret, and myself, visited the magnificent and majestic natural wonder just minutes from where I live; Hatcher Pass.
Now, despite it being named after a person, it is not Hatcher’s Pass, even though that is what everyone everywhere calls it.

     Anyway.

     We parked the car and walked up a mountain to a lake that a friend of mine who will remain secret and nameless knew about, and had been to. As we walked I was struck by how crazy nature is, just the sheer amount of detail in nature blew my mind, the tiny, tiny swirls of plants that grow in hard to access locations.
   
      I have always sort of suspected that nature and the earth is a sort of trick, a simulation provided for the amusement of people, that the only reason anything exists is so that people can go and look at it but you go to a place like hatchers pass and that’s so obviously not the case. You walk up to any rock and you stare it and no matter how long you stare you just keep. Noticing. Details. If I were to recreate this somehow it would take me so much time, and so much energy and would be so. Boring. Our nameless and secret friends are religious and I felt so, sad for them. I mean, I understand. It is so, so easy when presented with something so strange and complex that your mind can’t handle it to just push it aside and say, well of course, God made all this so that I may see it and it is great. But whatever. Isn’t this supernatural being great! God is the amazing thing here.

      That is the wrong thing. You’re still stuck in that mind set of ‘Of course everything exists so that I may see it’ and you are not seeing the thing that is in front of you. Because the world is not a simulation for your benefit it just is there. Lichen will continue to grow on rocks and create the most insane patterns whether you walk past it or not and that is awe inspiring. Rocks can be perfect cubes in nature and that is so weird. There are tiny black flowers and it is all basically pointless and that is amazing. Those flowers and massive forests aren’t growing so that they may be good plants and then go to heaven or something, trees don’t have a concept of anything because they are trees and that is okay.

      The concept that the world is massive and insanely detailed and doesn’t exist just for me is a thought I try to have regularly but it is hard to do that. And when this concept is presented in a way that you cannot ignore and you cannot deny and when this all happens in a very low-oxygen environment it is the craziest thing. Awesome in the true sense of the word.


     So here are some pictures.

As you drive up you notice how intense everything is. How green the ground, how blue the sky. 

Hey, our town’s down there. 

On Tardigrades

     SO back in may I enrolled in a biology class at the college near here, I needed the biology credit and man if biology isn’t half hard. It nearly killed me learning about chemistry and cell organelles, {Fun Fact: All of your energy is created by teeny tiny turbines in all your cells. Literally turbines. Anyway.}
     For the final part of the class I had to write a paper {4–6 Pages, double spaced} cited to APA standards with at least six references. The topic was up to me but it had to be biology related. I’d never written a paper before, and I’d never even heard of APA.

Some Videos on Alaska

What it's REALLY like in Alaska!