Tonight, we celebrated Earth Hour with a candlelit dinner in front of a blank TV.
The inclination to flick a switch was almost overwhelming at first, but in time it dimmed, and once we got comfortable with our books, we decided we wouldn’t mind making it a daily routine.
…maybe weekly. When the clock struck 9, it was back to Mario Galaxies.
I like holidays that involve sacrifice and suffering. They seem to me the only ones worth celebrating (yet another reason why I should’ve been a Jew). They’re harder to commercialize, and I think they tend to be the ones that bring people together more.
I caught a flight back up to Fairbanks two days ago on the spur of the moment — one of the benefits of having a few frequent flyer miles lying around. The aurora was back out and the forecast promised clear skies, so I gave it another shot.
I landed at 1am, rented a car, drove out to the middle of nowhere, came very close to hitting a moose, then sat for several hours in frigid, arboreal solitude.
The lights filled the horizon. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find a way to capture them on camera with my off-the-shelf equipment, but at least I got to see them unobscured and in their full brilliance. After an hour of toil, I finally just put the gear down and watched the show.
I caught a 7am flight home.
It was an unusual night.
I’ve got a few more days at home before I head off to the Middle East. I really don’t have much of a plan for this leg. I’m just winging it at this point. I get asked a lot why I don’t just stay home. The video is filling out nicely and my travel fatigue is becoming more and more apparent.
It’s tough to explain. This isn’t really about me having a great time anymore. It’s about making something. It’s a grand undertaking, which means I’m not necessarily going to enjoy every moment. I think that’d be easier to understand if I was painting a mural or, say, dog-paddling across the Atlantic. But the nature of my enterprise implies perpetual bliss, and I guess it’s disappointing to hear otherwise.
As of Tuesday I’ll have been working on this project for one full year with 3 months left to go. I may be tired, but my sense of purpose hasn’t dwindled in the slightest. And as the end result starts to take shape, I’m finding a whole new kind of satisfaction, different from anything that’s come before.
The wheels are now turning with the music. Garry has been writing and he’s starting to bring musicians in to record their parts. We’re both finding the new video hypnotic, which seems like a good sign. The big day is about a month away — a full orchestra. Can’t wait.
I finally got the map up of my 2007 travel. This should be of interest to no one but myself, but if you want to know where the hell I was last year, here ya go.