Summering in Alaska

The city awakens

My next Around the World book is going to take a while (it's long with small print) so I thought I'd update you all on life here in Juneau. 
Guys. It's like a completely different place. I've lived almost solely in northern areas where things change drastically in the spring, but not like this. In the downtown area, stores close in the winter so they're all opened back up, people are out and about, cruise ships are here almost every day (Soldier said this is the last day for the summer that there isn't a ship), tours have started up, there are boats and planes going by all the time...and I have a prime view of all of it. 

Let's start with...the boat. A few of the guys at Soldier's work have a skiff, and he got a share in it. I'm not a super fan, partly because it's a lot of work, partly because it's small and doesn't feel stable and the ocean is big and has lots of creatures in it. However. It does mean fresh crab and adventures. For example, I dropped my phone in the ocean while preparing for a boat ride. This was not ideal. 
I was holding the boat at the dock while Soldier parked the car and it just slipped out of my pocket. The water was murky and it disappeared before I could even reach for it. I was pissed and couldn't even get excited at the little seal heads popping up as we passed. I take much better care of my phone now. 
But this week, we went on an adventure that turned out much better. We went to an area that had super clear water, so we could see down to the bottom and we saw a bunch of crabs chilling in the sunshine (the weather has been gorgeous the past few days). We sat on the beach with a picnic and went to check the crab pots again, when we saw some chuffing not too far away (that's when the whales spout). We went a little closer...and I saw my first whale ever! A couple of times we saw the fin and tail...it was amazing. I was so excited. 

The other day I went out with work to check out all the places our tours go. It was really cool. There are a lot of neat hidden places in Juneau. We ended with ziplining, which is pretty awesome in the mountains. 
The weather is supposed to turn back to normal (not great) tomorrow, so I've been soaking up the sun. I even went to the beach a couple of days ago! 

Lastly, I've been trying to get rid of my winter hibernation weight. Whyyyy is it sooo haaard?! And I've been procrastinating the working out by writing this. I'm trying Insanity today. We'll see if I make it through. 

Seriously, if any of you get the chance to visit Juneau, do it. It's amazeballs. Remind me to never say that again.  

169 Books: Andorra

The Teacher of Cheops by Albert Salvado

Andorra is a small country in between France and Spain. 

When Soldier was still in the Army, he told me he did some special favor for someone high up in the Andorran hierarchy. Because they owed him, I would be able to become a princess of Andorra. At first I thought he was making the country up and it was some cute little story he was spinning. Turns out the country is real, but of course the rest of it wasn't. Regardless, Andorra has a silly, special place for me. 

But, again, the author is from Andorra but the book isn't set there. It's set in Egypt. This was the only book on the list I'm using, but that's not really an excuse for me. Anyway, the deets:

This is the history of the time of Pharaoh Snefru and Queen Hetepheres, the parents of Cheops, who built the largest and most impressive pyramid of all. It is also the story of the high priest Ramosi, Sedum, a slave who became Cheops' teacher, and how the first pyramid came to be built.

Sebekhotep, the great wise man of that time, said, "Everything is written in the stars. Most of us live our lives unaware of it. Some can read the stars and see their destiny. But very few people learn to write in the stars and change their destiny."

Ramosi and Sedum learned to write in the stars and tried to change their destinies, but fortune treated them very differently. This is a tale of the confrontation between two men's intelligence: one fighting for power, the other struggling for freedom.

And away we go!

• We're starting off pretty quickly with a sex scene. Of a very young slave girl losing her virginity. Lovely.
• This is written at a pretty low level. I can't decide if I like it or not. 
• According to this book, basically everyone in ancient Egypt was kind of a twat.
• So the Pharaoh died, and everyone mourned for a week. And after that week was up, this is what I imagine happening: 
  

• Here's a really cool thought: [T]he universe is mental, it only obeys intelligence because everything is perfect. Imperfection only exists in our eyes, which only see part of the whole."
• I wonder if any of this is historically accurate. 
• Oh. Pharaoh wants to have sex with his niece. But she won't sleep with him until he marries her. Cool. 
• They're all wily fuckers.

Alright, the end. This book was okay. I'm still kinda disappointed it had nothing to do with Andorra, but it was entertaining enough I guess. It did seem kind of shallow. Personally, I like to be immersed in my books and feel like I'm actually part of the story, and this just didn't do it for me. It was a decent story, but it seemed to skim the surface for most of it. After finding out this author wrote children's books, it makes more sense...this could almost be for kids, except for the random sex scenes. They made me uncomfortable. Not in a good way. 

Anywaysies, I'm neutral on this one. Carry on. 

Fine Line

Assertive: having or showing a confident and forceful personality

For the most part, wedding planning has been tolerable. I think it's helped that I'm far away; I'm not exactly the shy, blushing bride. So far, I've used pretty much every excuse in the book to get out of the typical bridal milestones. 
The other day, I got an email from Mom in Law really pushing me to agree to a bridal shower plan. So far I'd been pretty adamant that I did not want a shower, and used excuses that I'm in Alaska, it's hella expensive to get home from here, I can't really get stuff back here, and I'll be working. MiL even went so far as to say their present would be to fly me back for it...excuse 1 down. I texted my mama to ask for some advice and she responded "Let me get this straight. She wants to fly you back here which means I'll get to see your face, and I am supposed to object?!" Mic drop. 

Well, I started thinking about it, and asked Soldier if I should just suck it up and do it. Of course he was indifferent, as he has been with much of the wedding stuff. Guys. Normally he's fantastic, and you know how much I love him, but it's kinda frustrating not getting any feedback. 
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea to do it; I'd get to visit with everyone and it would give me a chance to bring back some wedding prep stuff. But, that still leaves the problem of getting gifts back. For the wedding, we're only doing an online registry and asking that gifts be sent to us as opposed to physically brought to the wedding. 
Welp, I dusted off my assertive hat. It doesn't get much use. 

I made sure to first thank her for her generosity. As much as I don't like being the center of attention and having a crowd stare at me, it is very generous. I let her know that gifts are kind of an issue for us, and that I'd like to do something a little different. I suggested everyone bring a favorite recipe instead. 
The reply I got was that we can store gifts at home. 

This has been stressing me out to no end. What's the point of getting gifts and sticking them in an attic? Am I being ungrateful? Do I really get any say since she's being kind enough to throw the shower? 
So I thought maybe I could come up with a theme for small stuff that people could stick to. But, for once, the internet was not much help. The best I got was gift certificates, although I did run into the recipe theme a few times.
I honestly don't know what to do. (And don't get me started on the wedding guest list that she wants to tweak again. But we're paying for that so I guess we have a little more say.)

Then I start to get all worried that I'm just being a stubborn jerk. I get that some people are squeamish about the idea of opening gifts in front of a crowd (and admit that I'm one of them) but I feel like the fact that I live in m'fing Alaska is a legit issue. 

So then I got a little silly. I was once again talking to Mama (she's always my go-to when I need some advice. ...like that's unique.) and I told her it might be okay if I could figure out how to make sure we only got small things. My dad's suggestion? Diamonds. YES, PLEASE! 
Building on that, I said I'd make a Tiffany wishlist just for the shower. Best idea? Sex toys. I was joking with a friend and imagining that conversation. It was hilariously mortifying. I wouldn't make it 10 seconds in. 

Maybe a paper theme, since our wedding day will actually be our first anniversary. And how big can stuff get with that? I still like recipes. I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with it. 
While Soldier sits blissfully in his non-wedding-planning ignorance and apathy, I have the growing thought in the back of my head that we should perhaps have just stuck with eloping.