Bagan

Bagan

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Alaska Times



Alaska is amazing but it is not easy to be here. People  worry about plumbing, water, and heat expense for their housing. There’s hardly natural gas at least in Homer and many people either live in a dry cabin (no running water) or pay to have water hauled to their house. Lot of peeps also burn wood in winter for warmth, but that’s a resource thinning out here as tons of trees were killed by the beetles. 

There are lots of retired people here and some only summer here while wintering in Mexico or Hawaii. So some people do have the finances to have it all. Speaking of housing, I am a nanny till mid July and found my own room to rent. I will be looking for another part time job. More on this later on..

I love listening to people’s story. One guy tells me he has to snowmobile to his house in winter. I can’t imagine it. There are so many characters, all telling an interesting story on how they got up here and what they’ve done for work. There’s no way I can write them down here in a quick summary. Everyone is unique, friendly, and talented. The people are truly one of the biggest draws for me here.  I have made friends in this cool community.  It’s actually overwhelming. I think the winter and hardships is what ties the community in a way. Homer is a bit rainy and cooler b/c we are by the sea. It stays at about mid 50s in summer. I feel like I am missing summer, so there's trade off for sure to being here.

I visited a friend in Anchorage and it was nice to escape, but that 5 hr drive is just too much for me and its nice to be back in Homer. Click here for pix.

Friday, June 8, 2012

QUEST


I feel that I am too old to be on this quest. I meet ladies my age that already have it figured out, at least more than I do, so it seems.  I am still trying to sort mine out on many fronts. All I know is am here till end of Sept b/c of work. I desire to be involved “work” with something that I love, that is meaningful and that I can live from. I debate w/ the idea of going back to what I know and having a regular stable office job. My life in PDX was not too bad.  I only seem to remember the good times. I miss the life I had there and maybe that’s because that’s the only place I was truly independent.

I am a bit jealous or envious, which is something I have not felt in a long time. I guess I am inpatient again. I searched and tried and gave myself time last year, so I am tired of trying. I am tired of settling in to a new place. Maybe I want too much; every place will have pros and cons and I need to just be content with one. Perhaps, I have it backwards. I know what I want, but just need to find the process to achieve it, while others had no clue what they wanted but are happy with the outcome. Maybe I am just trying to hard? There’s so much going for Homer and I really love the people and community here but I am just not sure if I can make the cut long term w/ the weather and darkness. Even summer is too cold! Hopefully all this trying will add up to something good.

I realized today that fear controls us in so many ways. For instance, health insurance and the fear of not having it. Would we work were we do, if they did not offer health insurance as a benefit? No wonder, social healthcare looses in our gov’t.

I must say though it has been very interesting living this new work lifestyle. There’s pros and cons to having a few “jobs” vs 9-5 M-F.  My only real paying one is the 8 hrs farmer market one. I wish I had more time to get another paying job. But, I hardly have a day off now. However, I am with people I like and working on stuff that interests me when I am not a nanny. There’s variety and my nanny gig is flexible. The hours are random at times so there’s still time for some fun at night, but I stay in usually. I took off this week from volunteering and got to escape again across the bay. Everyone says I should go when I have the chance and luck for me, my adopted family has a great place there. I am enjoying all the moments here while my mind races w/ the bigger life stuff. Homer being so cool (pun intended) makes it a hard decision if I stay or go.  Click here for awesome pix.