Antarctica knows how to party

So I guess some explaination of the post below is needed.
When you fly to Antarctica, it is on a C-17, a plane with no real interior or stewardesses or anything. You are cargo. The USAP packs you a lunch, a bag lunch, called a "flight lunch" (we have shortened this to "flunch") which constists of two sandwiches, a cookie, a box of juice, a bag of potato chips, an apple, and a candy bar. I was contacted before I even got here about taking part in the group costume my friends were putting together. We were a flight lunch, I was the candy bar. A Kit Kat, which is actually the candybar I got in my flight lunch on the way down. I changed it to "Kit Kai". The McMurdo Halloween party is all about the costume contest, and you can win pretty awesome prizes.



And we did win.
Sandwich was a cookie
Michelle was Sandwich (a clever play on the food item sandwich, which is something different)
Bill Jirsa was juice (a New Zeland brand: "Just Juice" which he changed to "Just Jirsa")
Ruth was an apple
Craige was a sandwich
Mykle was a bag of chips (that said "All That: awesome-flavoured potato chips" on it)

We danced on stage and generally had a blast:



Our prize is a trip on snowmobiles to "Room with a View"...which I guess is some place covered in snow with a nice view. This is exciting, because it ensures that I will be able to leave the station, which most first-year employees (or, Fingy, as we are called....short for FNG which stands for "Fuckin' New Guy") do not get to do.

Antarctica knows how to party, by the way, a fact which I was pretty sure of through Mykle's stories, and now am quite sure of. At one point I looked through the swirl of the madly dancing, insanely drunk people, at the steam billowing out of the gym door in huge clouds into a brilliantly sunny midnight of frozen mountains, and thought: "This is what the apocalypse looks like."

hallowed ween

I'm in a too-warm lounge room with a million Polies, wishing you a happy Halloween;


I'm sorry that I can't update more frequently, but I can't do it at work (or at home since Mykle is not really into me being gone from the room when he wants to watch TV shows about vampires. Haha.)
I will update soon.
Halloween was amazing.....

Hellraiser and Weirdness

So. I work in an electrical supply warehouse that looks like it's just waiting around for someone to remake Hellraiser and use it as the picture-perfect chain-draped set. There are no windows, and many ducts, and the walls, ceiling and floor are thick but still battered grey steel. Today my boss, Mike (who I quite like) was like, "Oh I hear you are an artist....if you want to decorate you can"....So there's something. Apparently there hasn't been someone artistically-inclined in the building since Winter Season 2004. Now there is me, a fledgling tattoo artist, and my coworker Denise, who is a landscape architect from Alaska.
Here is Antarctica, everything is very heated, and most buildings are comfortable in a T-shirt. Not really so in 121 Electrical. It's a hoodie environment, but pretty darn comfortable, considering that the wind outside could make your face turn black (I'm being dramatic. It has actually warmed up to around 0, and the days have been gloriously sunny.)
It's "the driest continent" on earth, which is taking a toll on my papery and too-often washed hands. That's why I asked people to send me lotion last post. I am beginning to understand the mentality that fosters here where people talk about what flights took off today and marvel at the fact that all of the Polies (people on their way to The Actual South Pole) are taking up all the room in the cafeteria because it's -50 at the Pole and so therefore planes can't land and flights are delayed. See? I got excited today because Mykle got mail. Mail that I sent him, so no surprise even as to what's in it. Mail is now exciting, and I haven't been here a week. I am NOT INTERESTED in big trucks or planes taking off, and am sort of scared of the apparent isolation that makes these prime topics of conversation. Imagine only getting groceries a couple times a month, by incredible feats of derring-do (landing an Airforce C-17 plane on the frozen ocean ice that is only 9ft thick), and talking with everyone you meet about how much you want fresh lettuce. Hah. Weirdness!
I went into the laundry room in Hotel Cal (where we live) today and encountered a muscled man with a beard and long hair, dressed only in windpants (a kind of overpant with suspendery things) because all of his clothes were in bag drag (they make you pack up all of your stuff and be ready to go to the Pole every day a flight is scheduled, no matter if they take off or not.) and we proceeded to have a conversation about chef's pants and how awesome they were. More weirdness! You know, it's a coed dorm, and all the men walk around in just their boxers. I think I am one of the only girls here, especially on my floor. Most of the couples are downstairs. We've got two Daysleepers up here (folks that work nights and sleep in the day.I like the word, it makes them sound like a rarely seen type of exotic animal. And they are) and a lounge and an Irish guy named "Lucky" who walks around outside in a t-shirt (apparently, I have yet to witness it). So it's pretty awesome.

Mainly because of this guy right here:



I have been totally absorbed since I arrived in some serious crafting. There is a craft room, with a bitchin' and super-powerful sewing machine, and lot's of other stuff you wouldn't expect, and since I am part of a "group costume" for the Halloween party this Sturday, I have to bust ass on it every day. And go to sleep by ten. This is obviously a different Kai Smart than the one you know! (Never fear, I still wear eyeliner and we just started watching the 3rd season of Angel!)
SERIOUSLY, if anyone wants to send me some turquiose green and oatmealy-tan yarn I will be so happy (this is my new color combination that I wear often). Lamb's Pride (my favorite brand!) ? That's like a whopping $16. I'll love you forever!

love anyway,
Kai


I miss you! And thank you a million for all of the comments! It's like my comment-birthday! Also: you guys are pretty funny. And I love comments.

OFF TO THE CRAFT ROOM!!!!

Antarctikai

The Land of Daylight and the College Mining Town.
Or, The Land of 2D becomes 3D.
Or, Reunion Under El Sol Perpetua.


Arrived in McMurdo safely only two days ago. It is very surreal to be here, as I expected it to be. I found my boyfriend here, waiting in the snow outside the galley with his chrome bag strapped around his body and a plastic red stem rose. He alctually ran forward in slow motion to greet me (in the form of a person swaddled in a voluminous red coat. Hard to tell who everyone is, because everyone has the same jacket "Big Red". We have name tags though, which helps.) Slow motion because you can't really run here because you would fall and break your face. It is icy and slippery and everything is rock solid ice. The snow is layered on every flat surface like giant slabs of white frosting, frozen and whipped up into strange shapes by the unfailingly biting Antarctic Wind.
This is where Mykle has been. I'd like to report that it wasn't actually a farce and several really good photoshopped photos. I came here to the edge of the world, and found him here, in Antarctica.
It's sort of like leaving your home, travelling as far away as you can possibly get; through deserts and towns and cities and into jungles and sewers and slums, across frozen seas and drifts of cloud, and finally (as the map zooms in and focus tightens) finding him curled under a rock by a giant slab of ice in the dead middle of the most remote place on earth. Actually, it's not sort of that. It IS that.

I now understand the meaning of "windchill". I could stand the cold but the wind is what makes your whole face hurt like you've just eaten a giant bowl of ice cream. Really fast. They give you a lot of cold weather gear, so even though I just have my two patched hoodies and a borrowed jacket with me, I'm fine. The cold is a severely DRY cold, and the gear they give you is made to keep you warm, and the buildings are all very heated and cozy, so it's fine. San Francisco bone-seeping fog chill is totally worse.

We live in a dorm called "Hotel California" (or "HoCal") appropriately enough. We share a small room, and Mykle set it up really nicely, with some fox faces and photobooth pictures of him and I, and fake roses stuck in former nail holes. He put the matresses together on the floor, and the bunk bed is over it, kind of like a little loft. We have a fridge (I know: ironic) and a TV and two huge blue metal dressers. I really like our room. There is about a foot of snow piled against the window. The window looks out on a frozen snowy mountain and closer the helopad (which is where the helicopters take off and land). I haven't heard them once. The impression that it is actually getting dark is pretty strong, unless you go outside. It gets dim out there and everything is this weird shade of blinding grey.

So it's incredibly weird to be here. But it is also really amazing. It's pretty rad to do totally bizarre decision-making like this, and then follow through with it and find yourself in a mysterious land. It's a small and completely (almost) isolated community on the edge of a frozen slab of ocean. It is very "COLLEGE" around here, and the town itself looks very blue-collar, everything is industrial, nothing is pretty, unless you count insane giant bizarre trucks as pretty (which many do). There is a lot of quirkiness, which makes people feel more at home. I guess you have to be quirky to do this, come to Antarctica and work. This makes me feel more at ease. The trucks have names ("Ivan the Terribus") there is a free thriftstore named after a certain type of giant scavenging seagull ("Skua") and everyone is super into stuff like shipments and which planes are taking off when.

I'll write more soon, but it's already 8:00pm (tomorrow! Haha hello from the FUTURE!) and my workday starts at 7:30 AM. I hope everyone is doing good and will soon send me packages of polartech fabric, really nice lotion and lipbalm, and dried mangos and ginger candy.

Ok I love all y'all.
bye,
Kai from electrical supply (more on this next time).

Kombucha and Denver, CO

Damn Firefighters!

It's the begining of my last partial day in the US of A, and I wake up with a wine headache. At 6:40 in the morning. I stopped drinking coffee a couple days ago, and I now marvel at how I can wake up and be all spry yet blurry and then my body naturally wakes up without me telling it to.
I am in the surreal strip mall land of Denver, about to embark on a half day of training at Ratheon (we had one yeterday too) and then REALLY embark on a 19 hour plane trip. Do I have Valium or even Tylenol PM? No. I only have Valarian, because apparently I'm a hippie.
Everyone is getting close, like they do when thrown into weird situations, or in our case, weird chalet hotels, together. I have met a bunch of folks, and really like all of them. Most people are first-year ice people like me, and we all share the same clueless enthusiasm. The veterans are not old and codgery really, I met a lady who had spent 11 summers at Pole (the South one), and she was very upbeat and we talked about tattoos and ate yogurt pretzels together. The only codgery one is the young guy, who is just all about BEING codgery and pulling rank about wintering at McMurdo (that means "staying the winter" which means "no daylight").
I hung out with firefighters last night, along with a couple others....we went to some kind of bar/restaurant that had butcher-paper on the tables and I drew two guys on the table, and they ended up taking their spur-of-the-moment pictures with them, apparently to put on their wall in Antarctica?! It's amazing what a little portrait can do. Most people never have their portrait drawn. Hooray for art!
Do you want to know what I am about to do today?
1. Finish training, which means sitting in a room that has recycled air, and coughing and watching safety videos
2. Fly to LA (2 hours)
3. Fly to Sydney, Australia(14.5 hours- I have two friends on the flight,....hopefully we are seated next to each other)
4. Fly to Christchurch, NZ (3 hours)

Send me your best wishes for ease through airport security and safe travels. I will have to take off my shoes and declare stuff numerous times, no doubt.
I'm going to go take advantage of the "free continental breakfast" now, which at the chalet is actually more than a hard baguet and a bunch of cereal. Bon appetit!
I'll talk to you again from THE FUTURE (we cross the international date line) and also Spring (the seasons are switched)!
Much love,
Kai

El Video y El Procrastineo

Last night at Rockit! Jordan played a collection of Smashing Pumpkins music videos on the monitors. Making me think about how I've missed out since I was never ever an MTV baby. And what I've gained.....
I definately missed out on seeing this amazing Aubrey Beardsley music video for "Stand Inside Your Love":


also- have you ever seen a Sigur Ros music video? I was amazed that they even MADE them, but Jessica showed some to me and they are SO beautiful, and familiar, sort of like they take place inside the landscape of my mind:
Sigur Ros "Glosoli"

Blue and Green Grass

This weekend was the San Francisco madness that is the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. I rode down with my band (as in, I OWN them, not like I am IN them) on Saturday morning, sharing a car ride and much musical geeking out with the wonderful-as-usual Cooper. He has a CAR, folks! It is truly amazing, and smells like new car and cigarettes, a combination which I actually like. It reminds me of airport shuttles.
San Francisco was ACTUALLY sunny, a beautiful hot stunningly blue-skied day. There was a big crowd for the DM3, who were on first at the most remote-yet-big stage. I am used to Santa cruz lazyness STILL, and was shocked that all the hippies got to the park that early. I mean, the concert was free but still-- before noon!!?? The crowd got bigger, I got an all access backstage pass (which allowed me to begrudgungly pull rank and go use the star porta-potties so I didn't have to wait in line), and I began to meet up with almost all of my good friends:


(You can tell who they are mostly because of all the black they wear. They look like a pool of ink, or like a 9 person Motorhead cover band..haha.)

Ryan Rinker, Siobhan and Davey, JJ and Renee, Rico and Molly, Amelia and Jevin, and then my Mom and Pop showed up too. Pop has been in Canada, working on the cabin they are building up there, and coincidentaly decided to come down for the bluegrass fest. Good thing too, or else I wouldn't have gotten to see him until I came back from Antarctica.

I think the highlight of the first day was Seeing Jon Langford, Sally Timms, and Rico Bell, all of the incredible band of Welsch punks (who STARTED alt. country with their album from 1985: "Fear and Whiskey") The Mekons, do their silly and sarcastic banter on a stage about a fourth the size that the DM3 played on. They played this awesome song that Paul Davis sent me about a week ago, written by Jon Langford.
OK, for some reason that is the one song that I can't upload onto my website. Weird. Instead, on a totally unrelated note, you get The Gossip (soul-gospel girl-punk) covering Aaliyah (Glammy young soul singer who died young in a tragic plane crash)....
"Are you somebody"-The Gossip
Don't think I don't care about your musical needs.

Day 2 of the festival I had contracted a nasty cold from my tattoo artist. I'm not bitter, cause it hit her harder than I (Ha!), and besides I have a strong immune system that I put through it's paces pretty much weekly. The music wasn't that stunning, but the sheer volume of people that were there sure was. It was one of those, Oh-shit-I-am-at-a-fuckoff-BIG-festival moments, where you want to just lose your friends, eat some greasy food and lie in the mud. There is no way you are ever going to get a good seat...UNLESS you have a backstage pass! AHA!

They also have free tea, as I learned, and free beer, as my father learned in a story-for-another-time. It soothed my throat, and I was able to not go competely bonkers cause of the mass of people and pot smoke (that's the "green grass" reference in the title. Hippies love Bluegrass music, and think that everyone loves to inhale their disgusting second-hand smoke, including people who react badly to pot (me) and small children in the vincinity.) and uptight aging hippies. I'm such a hater, I know, but I really think that baby-boomers are some of the most wound-up, insane, an self obsessed people. SF has a lot of folks still pining after the 60's, and any free thing in the park brings them and their folding chairs out in droves. OK, now I'll stop being mean. Baby-Boomers that RULE include my parents;



with whom I had a tearful goodbye in a crowd of 10,000 people listening to Emmylou Harris. I don't like drawing out goodbyes, it makes no sense to me, and so by a certain point I had to GO. And so I went.

More later. But i must go pack my art supplies for a four month stint in Antarctica. You know how it is.

Naked in the Greenbelt

Man, I thought about doing a tattoo blog but I just CAN'T at this juncture. Probably since my life has turned into crazy-land populated by the crazy-people doing the crazy-things. I'll just post about tattoo here, cause that's part of my artistic life, and that's what this damn thing is for.
I have been neglecting my blog. Quick update: I leave on my sojourn (I love that word) to Antarctica in ONE WEEK!!! i will be going to lovely Denver Colorado first, for Orientation, then on to New Zealand (heretofore called NZ by the lazy typist, Me) by way of LA and Australia, mate. I've never been to Australia, but will be there for a whole hour and a half, so that's exciting. I think I even get to stay in the same terminal at the airport (does sarcasm come through in the typewritten form? I sure hope so!) and probably never see the eucalyptus groves or nothin. That's OK, cause I grew up in Santa Cruz and we grew Eucs for firewood. They burn fast and hot. See the things you learn by wasting time reading wankery blogs! YOU ARE SO SMART NOW!
We have currently been invaded here at Nutmeg Lane by The Devil Makes Three. That means that Cooper is here, since 2/3 of the band live here with me. Anyway, it's a very homey and wonderful thing.
Our psychotically wonderful friend Chris Kelly does a night bike ride on Thursdays here in Davis, as part of our super-dangerous bike GANG; Venomous Venom. We all went on it, Cooper having brought his super-orange fixie up with him, and I'd have to say that it was pretty fun. My ass is super sore though, Lucia and I have cruisers that weigh approx. 300 lbs a piece, so our asses look better than any of the other fools on the ride who have fast light bikes and never break a sweat.
Davis has never ending connected deserted bike paths unsullied by cars. There is a green belt, where surprisingly NO homeless people live, and where I feel I could sleep completely naked with 100 dollar bills taped to my body and wake up un-molested and still rich. You sort of can get to all parts of the city via these green alleys. I think Mykle will find it quite excellent.

Today I apprenticed, which was really exciting because I got to tattoo some more live human flesh! The other week I tattooed a little shaded window type thing on a dude who was getting the San Francisco skyline with the GG Bridge on his back, right above the giant nautical star on fire with tribal flames flanked by two snowboarder siloettes (I am NOT kidding this time). That made my day, but today I got to tattoo for a half hour or so one the piercer, Matt, who is getting a terrible tribal thing covered up with one of those awesome Chinese dogs. To do this, Joe (another tattooist at the shop and excellent guy) is tattooing white overthe dark tribal stuff. SO I got to do that for a while. Poor Joe was sick, and Matt didn't care, so I got to experiment on soemthing that will be covered up. They encouraged me, of course, to tattoo a cock and balls, but I don't do that sort of thing, so I concentrated on tattooing at the right speed and depth and making tiny little circles,and I had a lot of the sort of really tedious fun that I love! Hooray!


Check it! It's Jessica, my lovely and beautiful and PATIENT tattoo teacher. She's got green eyes, just like most of the auspicious green-eyed aliens that I find myself surrounded with. For instance, my boyfriend.

So I have sent myself a bunch of tattoo equipment in th Land of Coldness, and I hope that it gets there, because it's um,...not really my stuff, and I REALLY want to practice A LOT whole there. My life is about learning this craft mostly, you know, and I am going to Antarctica so that I will be able to learn with more flexibility and freedom and with my own tools. Mykle tells me that word is spreading down there (and shit I do mean DOWN) and it's probably all thanks to him and his mouth. I don't know. I just think I'll learn to do the outline of the Antarctic continent off the top of my head and I'll be fine. And a penguin.

Also, I got tattooed today, with small little birds that match Jordan's. Pictures soon I think. If I can reach that far around my head. I may need a helper.