Uncontrolled Arrivals

I can take no credit for this awesome band name.  My friend Toby chose it for her funk band (in which I sing backup vocals).  It's a term from the airfield: since there's no air traffic controller and so few planes, someone loosely announces when planes take off and land.  ("Uncontrolled arrival announcement" sounds pretty scary the first time you hear it on the radio.)  We are attempting to be as raucous as a group of 30s-ish white folks can be while covering "Super Freak" and "Brick House," with the help of sequins and a dose of carefree abandon.

Playing carols over the HF radio to deep field camps.

I wish I knew who took this amazing photo of the Waste Barn show.

Things have been increasingly uncontrolled lately.  We partied good at the helicopter hanger a couple weeks ago, me with a slew of glittered and taught-dressed ladies scoping out the "second round" -- guys either overlooked or newly available after the early-season pairings-off have faded.  It was fun dancing, and (perhaps luckily) I limited myself to water that night attempting not to worsen a cold or act too rashly.  And just days later, two of the best events of the season: the acoustic pre-Christmas show at a transformed and decorated Waste Barn, and solstice silent dance.  You get lost in the whimsical ambiance of Wasteozoic Park, forgetting for the evening the relentless, harsh landscape in a cozy den of blanketed couches and sock-puppet dinosaurs.  And dancing overlooking town with the wind filling your jacket-arms like a sail, your sweat washes away some accumulated murk. 

My first penguin of the season, tobogganing away.

Christmas was cheese and bread and apples and almonds and coffee followed by beef filet and lobster tail and crab legs and chocolate truffles and chocolate cake and lemon cheesecake and a touch of pastis and then scotch.  And good people.  There are many kind and generous people here.  Aside from the penguins and unlimited free lunch meat, the best part of life here is the feeling of dumb luck upon meeting and getting to know and appreciating and building friendships with wonderful people.  Thanks to you, near and far, who help with and enjoy alongside.