Ready, set, go.

And the semester begins at last. Not that I was eagerly waiting for its arrival, but it is here. I'm not really all that excited about my coursework to be honest. I didn't even go and buy books yet. Shakespeare might be interesting, however the professor seems like a ridiculously large dork. Now I like dorks, but this could just be on the verge of aggravating dork. You know, dorks that boast that they were a child prodigy and started teaching university at 22 (insert stuffy chuckling here). No really, he actually did that. Perhaps he will redeem himself. Mostly for the time we were trapped in that god awful conference room I spaced out and thought about whether I should grin or grimace over an obscene postcard I sent a fellow classmate this summer. Hmm.

In other more interesting news, I just got back from Alaska. As far as I'm concerned Alaska is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Then again I haven't seen all that many places, but I'm working on it. My god, it was so incredible. I love Alaska. I wish I was there now and not going to school for year 5. It was good to see Nicole. We did many exciting things. I drove the Alaskan Highway and lived. Moreover, Timmi and I did not get mauled or eaten by bears like we so feared. The bears that we saw were actually very beautiful, that being grizzlies, a sow and her two cubs. Upon seeing these very fine and very large creatures, a feeling somewhere between awe and immense respect infected me, a feeling I didn't excpect mostly because of my previous intense fear of these animals. Not that I want to get up close and personal with any bears ever, but it was a nice, unexpected emotion towards the bears.

Other trip highlights include (in no particular order):

Timmi and I climbing a mountain. (I thought I would surely die, but didn't.)

Many moose sightings.

Nicole freaking out when we came into her work at our arrival in Denali. "Peeps! Peeps!"

THE SUNFIRE! (Our beloved rental vehicle with 420 on the Alaska "The Last Frontier" plates)

Camping on the Homer Spit, including Timmi's ability to start a campfire in 40mph winds.

Belugas.

Fine specimens of the male species aplenty.

Hugging a glacier.

Spenard Hostel in Anchorage.

Drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon with dude from Holland who gave us a free tent.

Denali.

Drinking at the Spike.

Weedkend 26.

The bus driver who loved me. (Oh yeah, I got the hookup.)

There were many more great things of course. But I suggest you check it out for yourselves someday. I myself will return. I'll just have to add that to my giant list of possibilites for the next few years.

So I've put off semester cleaning since I've gotten back home. I should probably try and do that now. I procrastinate much too much.

Here are some pictures:

Timmi in the pristine Alaskan wilderness. Me playing in glacial silt.

Timmi and Nicole at Spike. I made it to the top!

You see, I would add more pictures but the process is excruciatingly slow because my computer sucks. There will be more someday.