Wednesday, January 12, 2011

sunrise. sunset.

it's 3:30pm AKST, got my comfy pants on, for the sun is settling in for the night, and so am i. a couple years ago, i remember reading about a virtual daylight clock that someone designed and was trying to sell. i wished that person good luck because i never thought i'd ever want to pay for something that only shows sunrise and sunset (okay, maybe also twilight, no pun intended). i still don't want to pay for it, but i did download the "daylight" app onto my phone. and now, most of my life revolves around trying to race the precious sun. actually, it's kind of a relief every afternoon when the sun hightails outa here, because i can finally stop trying to make the most out of daylight and can now make a nice cup of hot tea and logs into the computer without feeling like i'm wasting anything.


























another reason for this sun race is that juneau is apparently the rainiest city in the entire country. that's right, forget seattle or portland, juneau gets ~100 inches of rain, twice that of the seattle or portland. as someone reviewed online: "Sure it's raining, or just-finished-raining, or just-about-to-rain. Dress for it, though, and you'll come home knowing more about rain than you ever thought there was to know. Invent your own 30 words for different kinds of rain." wikipedia says juneau gets an average of 226 precipitation days a year, compared to say, Ann Arbor, which only gets 128 days (and we all thought ann arbor was grey enough). although currently, it kinda feels the opposite: juneau is enjoying 8 straight days of cloudless sunshine. kinda makes me feel like i hit the jackpot and landed in an alpine southern california.

all this clear weather, however, is making the air feel cold as...well, alaska. i was thinking of checking out the glacier (real glacier, not dry land that used to be a glacier thousands of years ago), but it was really just too cold to be hanging out outside for any significant amount of time. no matter tho, i visited a potential new home, since my current apartment is rather temporary. the new house has 3 other guys, one of whom is native alaskan, and was doing arts and crafts at the time. he's also learning how to tattoo, so maybe i'll start thinking of a design.

random observation: a girl walking to the University of Alaska Southeast (formerly known as U of Alaska - Juneau) was wearing ugg boots today. good to know that college students everywhere follow similar fashion rules.

last rays of sun:


4 comments:

  1. :P Universal Youth Culture thanks to the internetz... huh so the sun rises at a normal time but sets absurdly early. Does that mean most people run around with flashlights and the like? And... what kind of tattoo?? I've been sitting on the idea but haven't gotten any inspiration yet...

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  2. ahh 3 guys yeah? lol...i'm glad you're enjoying yourself out there! i'm thinking of a tattoo as well...let me know what you decide on :)

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  3. I like that app too. Makes me think of pie :) Glad your having fun (and aren't afraid of the dark like me)!

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  4. The nice thing about short days is that you get lots of warm, magic hour light. Take photos with long shadows.

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