Neglected, but not forgotten

Kind of like that toy you got from the cousins that live in a far away place. The one that was kinda neat, but not very exciting. That's kind of what this has turned into during my school time. Not much exciting happens to me when I'm at school. And if it does, well, something embarassing probably happened that I probably shouldn't talk about.

This semester has been...long. I feel little motivation in my classes, and an inordinate amount of frustration. Barely anything I'm doing is immediately applicable to what I want to be doing. More hoops. I'm tired of hoops. I would like to start working.

Dear University, I would like to start my life now, can I please have my degree? At least the next two years will (hopefully) teach me something I can use. For now, I have to sit through lectures about marketing useless imaginary products to consumer. While interesting, is not exactly what I wanted to be learning about business. It seems nothing is applicable to my future career plans this year. Paleobiology was interesting, for hte sole purpose of being able to see the evolutionary lineage, not just learning about the theories behind it. Other than that though, it was pretty dry. Give me igneous petrology, Give me geomorphology, give me some goddamn rocks. no more calculus, no more chemistry.

Hmm, I see I've started bitching again.

Well, on the plus side, the organization of the EOS ski trip is coming together nicely, I made the order for my first ever kegs today, and the bus is booked. It sold out in a timely fashion and Jeff and I are pretty much on track for where we wanted to be before the break.

Over reading break I had a nice relaxing time of it. Saw Modest Mouse for the second time. I have to admit though, the crowd sucked. A bunch of Orange County ho bags with no appreciation for the weirder side of the Mouse. Their new album should be pretty kickin' though, and I am looking forward to it greatly. I also got to see Joshua Tree National Park, which is pretty cool. i've never really been to a Desert, or really appreciated the vast, rugged, dustiness of it. Cactus and red dirt and crazy hardy plants as far as one can see. I am also goign to get into rock climbing as 1) I need the exercise and 2) it's bad ass. We climbed around on some of the easy stuff there (as our campsite backed onto a huge mound of coarse-weathered diorite).

Also hit Tofino last weekend before the big snow in victoria, saw some old friends, met some new ones. it was good times. i'd post pictures but, I'm lazy, and many are quite inappropriate. I probably shouldn't have gone swimming in the ocean at 1am while it was snowing. That was probably a poor choice.

Well, it's now time for the EOS christmas party, and I should probably attend. So I will get right on top of that.

Mundane

Being back in school made me realize my life is really not that interesting. And if anyone still reads this, I hope you gain something from it. Useful or otherwise.

I will comment on the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mars Volta show on September the 14th.

BAD MOTHERFUCKIN' ASS.

I had tickets to row SIX. Went with a friend from Victoria,and during the second song of the Chili's set (Dani California) we joined the surge and ended up around 2 people from the front grating. My only qualm was that I watched roughly 10% of the concert from behind people's cell phones. I understand this is part of the reaosn they're so popular, you can take video and pictures with them, but godamnit people, i don't want to see your cell phone hovering over where FLEA should be rocking out. TURN THE FUCKING THINGS OFF YOU"RE AT A CONCERT.

However it was quite stunning to look up, around, behind and see the massive amounts of people all around me. The sound was intense. The show was amazing. I wish a leaked video of it would showup somewhere, i'd kill a man for it.

The only other thing of import that has happened lately was Kate's Birthday last wednesday. We hit up Swans (cheap pitchers of their own brew!) and then Evo(lution) for 80's night. this was made that much sweeter by the fact that a few of us took the time to dress up all 80's cheese style. Blazers, big sunglasses, and bright shirts were the order of the evening. It rocked pretty hard.

Hockey starts up tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited for it, classes are OK, my only eos class is fairly dry (paleobiology), and my business courses are pretty intuitive. Math, as always, is a selfish lover, and I decided to drop spanish, I really just want to pass calculus this semester. that is job one.

Also, I'm prtty stoked as allyson is coming uup in the first weekend of October (Canadian Thanksgiving for all you yanks). Exciting.

Back to school, back to school, prove to dad that I'm not a fool

Whew, been awhile...

Back in Victoria now, have been for several days. Things of note that have happened recently that are awesome:

• Getting a macbook...so sleek and well designed. awesome.
• seeing all my friends in Vancover, their new digs
• Going to Tom's cabin on Thormanberry Island
• DFX is awesome. Dock Frisbee XTREME. we're hardcore
• moving back to Victoria
• Seeing all my friends in Victoria
• classes aren't all terrible
• a calculus professor who speaks english as his first language

That..uh...realy kind of sums up everything that's happened since I left Colorado.

The wolf parade concert was just bad ass. Leaving Colorado, not so bad ass. But not because I like Colorado (dot dot dot). Everything that's happened in the last two weeks has been a bit of a whirlwind. Getting back to Vancouver, going to Tom's cabin for 2 days, moving to Victoria. I've barely seen my family...or had any time for myself. I ended up doing that this weekend. Kind of went Recluse on all my friends...I really just needed a weekend to breathe, and sit in the sun with a cold beer. That was basically the plan of action for Saturday and Sunday, and I have to say, it was much needed. I've basically been feeling exhausted every day when I wake up since well...since I moved back to Vic. I think I've finally gotten enough sleep from long nights and naps, so now I get ot get into the swing of things as far as classes are concerned. First quiz on Wednesday...then Red Hot Chili Peppers on Thursday, and back to Vic on Friday afternoon or Saturday.

so busy...so much I need to do that I still haven't.

ANd I can't finish unpacking until Staples gets my goddamn bookshelves in. So many books, nowhere to put them.

Wolf Parade

How do you go about rocking your way into becoming my band?
You take a song I think is mediocre on the album, and you rock the fuck out of it for 20 minutes at the very end of your show. Along with just being awesome, and pumping out every song you have in a wave of unleashed energy.

A band that is fairly mellow on their album, really brings it out when they play shows. It was amazing. I didn't think anyone down here in the ol' states would know who Wolf Parade is, but the Fox Theatre sold out. The whole venue is about the size of the dance floor at the commodore, and a bit bigger than Sugar Nightclub in Vic. We were up on the side, in the under 21 section (stupid allyson not being old enough to buy liqour) which in my o pinion was a great spot. Usually I like being down on the floor for shows, but the crowd was pretty young and well, I wasn't so much up for crazy moshing to Wolf parade. allyson and I just rocked out on the side with a great view. Being eye level with the band isn't so bad. They played all my favourite songs, which is most of the album. All in all, definitely one of the best performances i've ever seen. It was that good. I hope these guys last and continue to churn out amazing albums. They really know how to put on a good show.

As for that last song, Dinner Bells....it's hard to find a band that can have all 5 members playing their instrument at the same time, with two other people from the opening band also playing, and have it sound as amazingly good as Wolf Parade did last night. Everything about the show was ..well....perfect. It was much more than I could have hoped for.

Going to the old high school today to see a few teachers, and then it'll be a nice relaxing day of....relaxing. I love vacation.

C to the Olorado

Back in the old stomping grounds. Had some serious nostalgia last night after I arrived in colorado. Drove through some of the old neighbourhoods, and felt awkward. Party tonight and I expect to be ridiculous. Not sure what else is in store for me this week, but it turns out Wolf Parade is playing up in Boulder on Monday, so I think allyson and I will be going to see that. crazy and awesome. back in 'couver on the 31st if anyone wants to hit the pub. and then to Vic on the 4th if anyone wants to hit the pub.

can you tell I've been in a dry camp for 2 months? I spent all morning/early afternoon at the pub.

awesome.

Almost Out

My last few days on the tundra. Camp is gearing down, stuff is starting to be packed. The last of the core boxes are being logged.

It's been a long summer, but very much a good time. And I did learn alot again this year.

Looks like I'll most likely be back again next year, and I gain more responsibility and knowledge every time.

Not much for this post, other than my mustache is coming along nicely.

This is from a couple weeks ago when we were out at the fly camp.

The mustache curls a lot more easily now.

The Day the Seagull Laughed

So, as I was saying, fly camp was interesting. Lots of hard work. Finally finished it and got out of there and back to the real camp with communications equipment.

I seem to have finally found a solution to my University problem. Hopefully the professor helps me out getting my courses sorted, as neither the chem department, nor the lab coordinators wanted to do anything for me. Hooray for 3 years of Uni instead of 4.

I have 6 days left in camp, and they're dragging out pretty slowly. The work isn't as intense as fly camp was, with normal hours, and dinner at 6.00 instead of 8.30.

Today has been spent water sampling. And the day is only half done. We had to break for lunch early as I was getting too cold and bad shakes. Basically I stand balls deep in a sub-zero celsius lake and fill little bottles with water. This sounds easy. Except we have no gloves that go nearly high enough up the arm to stop the water getting in. I eventually gave up on the gloves as they were just holding the water and getting me colder, faster, without a chance to warm up. The hip waders I'm using aren't exactly the most water-proof things either, and the water slowly seeps through them as I'm standing there.

It might also help if the opening of the bottle was a little bit larger than 1cm to fill a 500ml bottle. Takes a bit of time. By 11am my hands and arms were pretty numb, and we needed to refuel the chopper anyways, so here I am back at camp for an early lunch, sitting by the heating stove cranked on fool, trying to dry out and warm up before going back out to do it again for another 4 hours.

As for the seagull, we were landed on a small island about to prepare our sample, when over head I heard a segull cawing as they constantly do. But then, right as I was about to wade out into the frigid liquid, I heard it change to a stuttering laughing sound. I have never heard this from a seagull before. The bastard was laughing at us. I was not amused.

But it's better than till sampling.

And in 6 days I'll be on my way to Colorado for some much needed relaxation, and a cold damn beer.

I have survived

Peanut Camp was..umm...interesting. Our kilometre hike to work and back every day was in face, uphill both ways

I'd write more, but I have been invited to a tent to partake in drinking festivities.

Adieu.

Fly Camp

Well, there won't be much from me for the next 10 days or so. Heading out to a Fly camp, basically 4 small camping tents, camp stoves, and doing some field work further up north, about 50 clicks from the arctic ocean. Pretty exciting, and I get to be in charge of the gun, as I'm apparently the only one who knows how to work a shotgun.

Uh oh.

Well, Until then muchachos/chas

Prey

I've never been hunted before. It's....terrifying.

I was casually walking along my gird lines with my magnetic survey equipment, a 5 foot metal pole with a blunt point on one end and a 10lb magnet on the other, and a little box that hangs on my chest. Rocking out to my tunes and trying to ignore the bugs, i see some quick movement out of the corner of my eye. Upon closer observation, there was a medium sized, white with sooty black spots, wolf. Now, you might not think 50m is very close for a wolf to circle you, but, when you're all alone with no one within 20 some-odd miles of you, and your radio and sat phone are sitting four kilometres away because you can't carry them with you for the survey....it's pretty fuckin' close.

As I stood there, with my aluminum blunt pole in hand, ready to fend off a ferocious attack, I watched the wolf saunter around me, and head upwind. This is when I got scared. From all those damned nature programs, I figured he was going upwind so the pack/mate can attack from downwind. I started looking all around me, but nothing. Eventually the beast disappeared behind a low hill to the east, but I didn't relax my guard for one second.

this all happened around 10am. I was freaked out and paranoid until my pickup at 5.

needlesss to say it was a very interesting and exciting day. Part of me wishes it had made a charge or something, and I could take home a nice pelt for the wall, slightly punctured/clubbed. The other part of me, the rational and sane part refuted with "jesus fuck thank god it disappeared".

Today: less than interesting. Back to laying out pickets on a second, much large grid to the northwest. Pretty boring. I wish I could be looking at some actual rocks, but....such is the life of a student. Sucks for the people doing this that aren't students anymore. Suckers.


It is very nice to be back to working in the field. My week in Rankin Inlet really made me appreciate the time I have alone, in absolute silence (when there is no wind and it's too cold for bugs), to think. I really do love this job, and I certainly can make a life out of this. Though eventually I'd like to be working in some more...let's say....tropical locales.

Back to the Tundra

So I left Rankin, hungover, and half asleep at 10 this morning after loading two truckloads of cargo and food. The same two truckloads we'd loaded and unloaded a number of times the previous days. Apparently there was a severe bacon and toilet paper shortage in camp as we couldn't get the plane out of Rankin for 4 days. Tough times at Bullion. While it was nice to be back with a working toilet and uh...well...actually that's about all the nice things I have to say about Rankin...

Overall it was a pretty decent break, didn't have to work too crazy hard like last year when I helped expedite for 5 companies. 15 hour days are not fun, in any way. At least in camp I don't have to clean up dog puke at 4:30 in the morning after the damn animal eats a stick of butter (and not just one of those 1 inch x 1 inch x 5 inches sticks, we're talking a brick of butter).

Tomorrow I start up doing magnetic surveys again, and hopefully some more prospecting is in my future.

That's all for now, need to go find something to do.

Fog-gistics

I love waking up early in the morning and getting out to the plane, just to have it loaded and not go anywhere for 3 hours because there is fog so thick you can't see 30 feet in front of you. Just when we get things running smoothly, fog shuts us right down.

Another thing I don't really enjoy about Rankin, stereotypes of aborginal peoples just being proven true over and over again. It's a dry community, but they still manage to get their hands on booze quite a bit. It's difficult to get anything done without being overly persistent. Sometimes they just take off and don't finish doing what they're being paid to...it's frustrating.

But on the other hand, they are very friendly, and always smiling. Even if they're seething and probaly pissed off because you interrupted their morning coffee. Ah well. I'll be out of here tomorrow, and back to camp.

Should be nice.

Spankin Rankin

So, here I am again this year, in Rankin, running some logistics for the company. I'm helping out a new guy learn the ropes and cope with the crazyness of organizing cargo to and from camps, food orders, people...it's kind of hectic.

I'm also back in pseudo-civilisation...Though it's hard to think of Rankin and much more than a third world location. Reminds me of villages in Thailand and Mexico. Not exactly your portrait of Canada.

Anyways, I've got to run and get to another plain to unload..work days here last about 15 hours...though the weekend might be a touch slow, hopefully...

more to come later...

Weather Days

Soooo

TOday is a weather day, low fog, blowing rain, around 3 degrees celsius.

SO, I'm going to go ahead and do one of these cheesey things, as there is nothing else to do.

11 LAYERS OF YOU

LAYER ONE: ON THE OUTSIDE
Name: alexander stewart wallis
Nickname: wally, wallis, the professor
Birth date: may 23, 1984
Current Location: Kiavalliq region, Northeastern Nunavut, Arctic Circle (but I live in Victoria most of the year)
Eye Color: Blue/Grey/Green/crazy
Hair Color: brown
Righty or Lefty: Righty, at least that's what I'm best with, it's my hammerin' arm.
Zodiac Sign: Gemini

LAYER TWO: ON THE INSIDE
Your heritage: Irish/scottish/welsh/Australian/South African (my family roots are drifters)
Your fears: damage to my achilles tendon, dying before I've accomplished what I want, not being able to travel.
Your weakness: travel, good food, rocks, good beer, good wine
Your perfect pizza: garlic sauce, cheese, bacon, chives, chicken
Goal you’d like to achieve: visit every country. EVERY country. Bit of a pipe dream. I'd also like to own a sailboat, and property on a Gulf Island in BC.

LAYER THREE: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW:
Your thoughts first waking up: "Oh fuck it's 7am and I have to scramble over boulders" "Oh fuck it's 6:45, but oh, look at that, it's raining and visibility is at 100 metres, maybe it'll be a weather day" "Oh Fuck, it's 7am and I have to fly to Rankin Inlet at some point today"
Your bedtime: When I'm tired. ALternates between 8 pm and 1am.
Your most missed memory: How can I remember a memory I miss? Obviously if I can't remember it I meant to forget it and don't miss it. No.

LAYER FOUR: YOUR PICK:
Pepsi or Coke: Coke (glass bottle, third world countries, straw)
McDonald’s or Burger King: Neither
Single or group dates: Single.
Adidas or Nike: Adidas, though I can't say I actually own anything made by either of these companies
Lipton Tea or Nestea: not a big tea fan, except green and Chai
Chocolate or vanilla: Both
Cappuccino or coffee: both, though I'll drink anything with caffeine in it when I'm in the field.

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?
Smoke: Cigars(occasionally) and Cannabis.
Curse: More than any self-respecting person should in a professional environment
Take a shower: well..in the field...every few days....but back home it's a much more regular thing.
Have a crush: I do. I do indeed.
Like(d) school: Yes. I'd better seeing as how I"ll be there for 3 or 4 more years
Want to get married: Eventually. I'm not really in any kind of rush, I'm young and have lots to see and do first.
Believe in yourself: more than I used to.
Think you’re a health freak: Not really. I don't go to a gym, and I pretty much just eat what I want, though it is admittedly more healthy than it used to be. My vices probably don't help much, but ...meh.

LAYER SIX: IN THE PAST MONTH
Drank alcohol: oh yes. It hasn't quite been a month since Matt's wedding, and before getting into the field I was essentially on a 4 week bender.
Gone to the mall: Nooo. I didn't even go to the West Edmonton Mall, the biggest mall in North America while I was in Edmo...I don't like malls.
Been on stage: No
Eaten Sushi: No
Been dumped: Not in a loooong time. This requires some kind of lasting relationship....
Gone skating: no, but I wish I had.
Dyed your hair: No

LAYER SEVEN: HAVE YOU EVER
Played a stripping game: Yes
Gotten beaten up: Yes, my sister broke my pinky once.
Changed who you were to fit in: perhaps a bit. But not much. I changed more because I wasn't happy with who I was.

LAYER EIGHT: GETTING OLD
Age your hoping to be married? Yes, but I'd like to travel more (perhaps with that person?) and own a house, and possibly property.
What age would you wanna die at? I'm hoping to be bitten by a Vampire, so I can live forever in a youngish state. But just in case, probably in my late 80's. Seems like a good time. When I turned 20 I said "well, looks like a quarter of my life is over".

LAYER NINE: IN A GIRL/GUY
Best eye color: Green, and deep
Best hair color: Not Blonde. Dark brown/reddish is er..very attractive
Short or long hair: medim to short. Depends if the gal can pull it off. I know a certain someone is acutally pulling it off fantastically these days.
What do you look for?: i'm not too sure...I have pretty random attractions sometimes. As long as I'm entertained and they can hold my interest (a rarity these days) it's good to go.

LAYER TEN: WHAT WERE YOU DOING
1 MINUTE AGO: writing this goddamn thing
1 HOUR AGO: eating dinner
1 WEEK AGO: finishing dinner, probably spray-painting grid pickets
1 YEAR AGO: Saaaame thing as this year. In Nunavut, same camp and everything. Though we didn't have nearly as many amenities. We didnt' even have a phone that worked very well.

LAYER 11:FINISH THE SENTENCE
I LOVE: Lamp. and wine and beer, and relaxing in a hammock in the sun.
I FEEL: Cold and tired, and kind of alone
I HATE: stupid people, dickhead professors, incompetence, jumping through University hoops
I HIDE: what I really think of some people.
I MISS: my cat, my friends, and my bed. (and...also someone else right now)
I NEED: more travel, more free time, and a good stiff drink.

that was fun...kind of.

Wonderful Weather

So, today, in a glorious burst of typical Nunavut weather, I experienced nearly the entire spectrum o f what our atmosphere can drop. Started out with a weather delay due to fog. When we finally got out, it was very windy and raining. Cleared up, sun came out, heated up a bit, then after ...oh....twenty minutes the snow started. There was some alternating between rain and snow for a while, then it became sunny again. Then more rain, coupled with fog...then it decided that wasn't quite enough and the hail started.

More rain and fog closed out the day. Wasn't too terrible because I finally got to look at some rocks again. It had been too long since I'd been able to sample.

Not much else to comment on. The wolf was in camp the other day, but left pretty quick. Seems a little less inclined to come sniffing around camp this year with 30 some odd people. There was a few weeks last year with 13 of us where he wouldn't leave. Ah well.

Nick uploaded some pictures tonight, so I'm going to hijack his photo link as soon as I can. There have been some pretty spectacular sunsets as of late. But not much else is happening.

Core Boxes

Had a break from the monotony of laying out pickets in a 8km by 500 metre grid at 25 metre intervals today. Went up to one of last year's camps and laid out about 200 core boxes for some people to look at this week. Still a lot of hard work, but not roaming over the endless tundra or tramping through ponds fighting off mosquitos.

All in all, an excellent day, as I got a slight break, and it's also Ham for dinner, which is goddamn delicious.

Not much has really happened the last few days. Camp life is pretty much the same every day. Helicopter out at 8:30, helicopter in at 5:00, dinner at 6, sometimes more work after, usually a movie or poker, or I listen to music and work on my caribou antler carving skills (almost as cool as nunchuk skills)

Oh, I did recieve a couple of packages a couple days ago, which are awesome. I love having parents who drink almost as much as I do, and come through with requests that might be slightly against the camp regulations. Awesome.

Also, the other package from a certain person who usually comments here, which was, to say the least, a riot. That pink and blue princess eye cover is realy helping me sleep well. Thanks.
(that "gift" is going to come right back and bite you. Hard. You've been warned.)

Make up your mind Nunavut

Are you going to be hot? or cold? This swapping every couple days is bullshit. I never know what I need to take into the field anymore. Last week, sub-zero temperatures. Today, up in the mid 20's. Which feels like 30 after last week. So hot, milk was bad choice. So I managed to get pretty burned on my arms and face, got a pretty wicked farmer tan going on now.

Finished off the day with some extra carpentry after dinner, and since it was still pretty warm out, Nick and I decided it'd be a good idea to go for a swim.

...


It wasn't a very good idea. When you see snow that is still frozen in July on the riverbank, the river is probably pretty effin' cold. Sure enough, it was pretty cold. Though it was very refreshing after the body adjusted to it.

Mosquitos have come back full force, when we went to the river we were swarmed pretty bad due to the lack of clothing... But at least it's sunny again.

I am not a poker champion

I like to think I'm decent at the game of Texas Hold'em. But I've recently learned...that I am nothing special. There are a couple of very good players up here. We have a game every few days and I just got stomped the first game. Did alright tonight, was big stack for a little while, then just made some decent bets that just got beat by better hands . It happens.

Our three days of horrible weather are gone now, apparenlty a high pressure system has moved back in with a slight warmth...

The wind is still just cold. Bitterly cold. But at least it was sunny today.

Oh, and the shitty weather also means all the mosquitos are dead. Or at least the ones that had hatched thus far. A new batch will pop up in a day or two though. There's no stopping the little bastards.

I'm on a mission to destroy as many mosquitos as I possibly can.

Watch out.

killin' time

So, we had a second day off today.

yesterday the weather was terrible in the morning, but we did get out into the field to map some boulder fields for a bit in the afternoon.

Today there was a minor problem with the drill, so both the helicopters were occupied in trying to get more parts for it. So us geo's got to hang around camp looking for odd jobs to do. Lots of coffee breaks, and wandering around. Not much time spent outside, as again, the weather ended up being pretty bad. No snow today, but it was bitterly cold with occasional rain. Just another beautiful day in Nunavut.

I'm picking up a new skill/hobby. One of Geo's here broughtup a bunch of different files and such, and he's beginning to learn how to carve caribou antler. I became quite interested, and have decided to try my hand at it. Starting pretty basic, but hopefully I get some decent looking things as the summer goes on. Pretty much I can make rings. File out the middle, polish the surface...and there you have it. Rafael, the geo who started me on this is getting pretty good, and can actually create shapes on the rings and such. It's a pretty time consuming process, already killed a couple hours, and I just have the basic shape, and fitted to my finger, now just have to wear down the outside edges and polish it up.

I've also decided to grow a classic handlebar mustache. So, if anyone can suggest a decent mustache wax, I'd be much appreciative. I've almost got the curls going, just need the ends to be a bit longer. This is a classy Wyatt Earp style handlebar, not the biker handlebar. Think Captain Hook style. Oh yea. I'm bringing this to UVic, and it's going to be awesome.

Snow Hey Oh

It is 8:40am on July 7th. and it is snowing.

A lot.

With no sign of let up.


Summer seems to be over.