creating confusion and future finaglings

I've come up with some analogies to life lately based on my experiences here.

One is that my head can be a lot like a bad game of pool. A couple of days ago, I racked the balls and took about 15 shots at them. Not one ball found its' way to the pockets (well, except the cue ball). I kind of feel like that is how I'm thinking about my travel plans and life right now. I have lots of thoughts banging around in my head up there, but none have put themselves away yet.

Then, life is also like the transition between land and sea that I drive through to get out to our Willie Field and Pegasus airports. There are some huge lakes in the ice (bigger than the picture I am posting). They are actually puddles, but the bottom is not visible. This is disconcerting; considering we drive over the Ross Sea. So, when driving through these puddles, we can either stop, or plow through. A drivers initial reaction is to stop before arriving at the puddle, but we can't make our journey if we stop for apparent danger. The next thought is to drive real slow in case something happens, but that may leave the vehicle stranded at the bottom of the puddle. So, the third option is to proceed with caution through the obstacle and keep up the momentum to push out of it. I guess that is how I ended up in Antarctica. I saw an opportunity that was scary and proceeded with caution and have been plowing through it hoping to exit this place with momentum to keep living life with the energy and faith I found in this cold place.

So, with that being said, I intend to give you an idea of what my general, unplanned idea is for the next few months:

February 24: My redeployment date. This is the date I am scheduled to leave Antarctica. If weather is bad, or there are mechanical issues, our plane will be delayed. The season could also be extended as late as March 3 and since I am scheduled on the last flight out, I will stay if they decide we need to stretch summer in McMurdo an extra week.

Because we could end up leaving Antarctica as late as March, I cannot make plans to leave New Zealand until then. I do intend to spend two to three weeks in New Zealand. I will be flying out with friends who I hope to travel with on the South Island for awhile before heading to Auckland to explore New Zealand's North Island with my Kiwi friends, Kirrin and Jeremy, who live there.

After my time in New Zealand, I will be headed to Sydney, Australia. I intend to spend a couple days in the city and then getting out for a couple weeks in the southeastern side of the continent. This should put me into the first week of April.

From Sydney, I will board another plane to Honolulu to spend 2-3 days in Hawaii. I cannot say I am particularly excited about making a trip there, but if I'm headed over the islands anyway, I may as well tick that difficult state off the list of 50. Sydney and Honolulu come at a grand total with visa fees and taxes to $270NZ (which should be around $190USD). I can't beat that!

After a short stint in Hawaii, I will complete my travels and return to O'Hare. Back in the Chicago area, I hope to catch up with friends, sort through my belongings, take care of taxes, and attend a wedding in honor of Lexi and Matt.

With the intention of returning to The Ice next year, I will be relocating to Washington State this summer and hopefully finding a job there as well. This entire grand plan will be completed by May, although, dates and times remain to be determined.

So, if you know of anyone who has some extra space to transport a few boxes from Illinois to Washington, let me know. Or, if you know of anyone who needs a summer employee on the west coast, drop me a line!