Wow, another year has come to an end..somehow each one goes by faster than the last. 2024 was pretty good..I got to see my grandma a couple times before she died, and my family celebrated her life after her funeral. I went on a glacier cruise and got right up to the face of Harvard Glacier on a perfect sunny day. I found lots of cool curtains to take pics with LOL. I had fun at work. I was hospitalized with pneumonia, but kept my sense of humor by posting a picture of me "with the right book to be hospitalized with" (Les Miserables). I had covid, which didn't break me. And...I read ONE HUNDRED books!!! I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I did! (Are short books cheating?? Haha.) I definitely earned my shirt that says "I read like it's my job." :P I'm not sure if Ryan and Jo are going to join us today, they haven't been upstairs since everyone got the stomach flu..not that I blame them, but I do miss them! Today is the first day I've felt myself since getting sick, which is nice. It's too cold to watch fireworks outside, but I imagine people in my parents' neighborhood will set some off we can see from inside the warm house haha

( here are all the books i read thia year!! i look forward to doing this all year LOL )

Sometime in August, I read most of Anxious People for book club, but abandoned it when I went to Kansas. I deleted my second reading from Goodreads, but the stats falsely still said 100, which is super weird (I noticed when making the "Books I Read in 2024" list on List Challenges that there were only 99 books). I panicked, and then realized I could probably read the book online, which I did..I couldn't remember exactly where I left off, but I guessed and was able to finish it. Phew!! That definitely saved me lol. Except that now my stats say 101 books read, even though I counted and it's definitely now 100 books. O_o Must be a bug in their system??

I read 33,717 pages altogether (Les Mis was 1,416 of those pages), nice! I can't wait to read more great books in 2025!!

Hope everyone has a great New Year! *throws confetti*

31. Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions? To read lots of books haha. Hopefully there's a 2025 meme out there somewhere that I can find..

In Shackleton's Wake by Arved Fuchs (Oct 1-3). Recreating Shackleton's lifeboat voyage after Endurance sank does not sound like my idea of fun D:

Antarctic Night: One Man's Story of 28,224 Hours at the Bottom of the World by Jack Bursey (Oct 4-6)

Follow the River by Paul Greci (Oct 7-8). Rowing a canoe through a forest fire?? Intense!

Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond by Robin George Andrews (Oct 9-15). Fascinating! So many cool facts, like Jupiter's moon Io has over 400 volcanoes and is the most volcanically active object in the solar system. Some volcanoes can shoot sulfur dioxide plumes 300 miles into space!!

Where the Irises Bloom by Will Lowrey (Oct 16). A kitten's mom gets killed and is alone on the streets until she meets a homeless man who stutters, and they bond. The ending was pretty sad, but hopeful too

The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton's Endurance by Mensun Bound (Oct 17-27). I remember when the Endurance was found in 2022 (exciting!), so of course I had to read the book about how it was found lol. The author also mentioned Stephen Scott-Fawcett, who runs the Ernest Shackleton Appreciation Society group on Facebook! I thought that was cool, since I'm a part of that group too lol

The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku (Oct 29-30). His revenge on the Nazis was to live a happy life. I have a fridge magnet that says "be happy, it really annoys your enemies!," so that's how I try to live too! Anger and hate just destroys you. I'm always amazed at how anyone could have survived those awful concentration camps D:

I've been really tired all this week because I didn't get to rest after traveling, and it's dark so late now. Today has been the first day this week I've felt more myself. Denise came in to work today and I went to eat lunch, then went to a staff meeting, which Denise seemed fine with when I asked if it was ok. One of my coworkers might adopt a puppy, and brought him to work for everyone to see! After the meeting, of course we had to pet the puppy and show him some love! (He loved licking me and Vicki's hands hehe.) Denise came in the room and I thought she was going to pet the puppy, but she came to me and very nastily said how she'd been waiting for me to relieve her and that she had a ton of work to do. I would have been fine with "hey Heather, would you mind taking over the register while I work in the back?" It's not my fault how long the staff meetings are, and of course I had to say hi to the puppy, so I was pretty upset. Vicki said I was fine and didn't do anything wrong..I had her permission to be there, and she's my supervisor, not Denise. I actually had to wait for Denise to relieve ME for lunch because she's ALWAYS late for work, and I didn't yell at her! Me and Vicki went back to where Denise was and I don't know what came over me, but I just..lost it. I told her I didn't appreciate being yelled at, she started yelling at me about how it makes her super angry when I'm late in relieving her or something, and we've had conversations about it. Uhh..really? I do remember one time everyone was eating lunch in the classroom and she looked at me and made the motion to eat faster, so I could relieve her. I physically CANNOT eat fast without choking, and I've TOLD her that, but she was still annoyed, so now I feel guilty whenever I eat lunch and someone else is at the register. As Denise relieved me today, I told her someone left their drink on the counter, because I knew she'd ask me, but she just gave me this weird annoyed look as if to say "why are you telling me this??" and a second later was like "oh, yeah, I probably would have asked you." I've been dealing with these "looks" and her seeming inability not to get annoyed about EVERYTHING (when she tells me something is her pet peeve, I want to say "what ISN'T your pet peeve??) for YEARS and I'm SO TIRED of it. She's even yelled at customers, once when I was in the back helping unload books, and they posted a review online saying how awful me and Denise were to her. I was MORTIFIED. Probably one reason I just couldn't take it anymore and couldn't control my anger. She was actually yelling loud today it echoed in the building, and I was shaking from everything. Lucie and Shelby also came back and were trying to control us, but I couldn't stop trying to defend myself! Finally Lucie told Denise to go home, and said something about me having to stop too, and I finally got control of myself and apologized. Lucie said she wanted to have a talk with us in her office, first Vicki, while I hid in a classroom and started crying. I was worried I'd be in huge trouble. I almost NEVER react that way to something, especially in public. That's probably the only time any of my current coworkers have seen me act that way. I'm known for being calm and polite, not "yelly" and combative! Lucie then called me to her office, where I apologized profusely and I said I could have handled that WAY better. Lucie and Vicki made it clear I wasn't in trouble, but next time just let one of them handle a situation like that..they're the managers, not me! They said that's their burden to carry, not mine. I just kept apologizing because I was so embarrassed I had acted that way. I said being tired from traveling didn't help, which they understood. I love how calm and comforting Vicki is in situations like this, one reason she's an amazing manager. She said they're going to have a talk with Denise on Tuesday..maybe there's something going on with her that she hasn't told anyone about. I'll also have to talk with her, to hopefully mend the hurt from today. Neither of us acted appropriately, but Vicki said we're only human, and now I know how to act better in the future. So embarrassing! Vicki is positive things will work out next week, when emotions aren't going crazy. Things must improve!

( oct 29-nov 1 )

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd (Aug 1-4). A novel partly about the Batavia, which wrecked on a reef and the insane commander killed a lot of the survivors. This one wasn't quite as brutal as Batavia's Graveyard, thankfully

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke (Aug 6-9). The main character gets deathly ill if she spends too much time in one spot, and can't go back to places she's previously visited, so she traveled all over the world. Unique premise!

Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival by Tom Clavin (Aug 9-12). Oh man, I learn something awful I hadn't heard of every time I read a book about concentration camps. I'd heard of Auschwitz, Ravensbruck, etc, but I wasn't really familiar with Buchenwald. I have no idea how anyone could have survived in there O_o

Farallon: Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore by Steve K. Lloyd (Aug 12-13)

The Ice Orphan by Kathleen O'Neal Gear (Aug 14-16)

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Aug 16-19). Wow. I have NO idea how Zamperini survived everything he went through. Dad said there's an airfield in Torrance named after him, where dad learned how to fly! How cool is that?

Hemingway's Cats by Lindsey Hooper (Aug 20-22). I needed something light after Unbroken haha. I love that I got to see the polydactyl cats there lol

The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman (Aug 23-26)

Yesterday was mostly spent with grandma, who was sleepy but able to talk to us. In the evening, we got her in her wheelchair and took a walk around the building (thankfully it's been cooler this weekend). Cindy put on 50s music and started dancing haha. I found a song awhile ago called "Big Four Poster Bed" by Brenda Lee, and of course had to play that one haha (and got it stuck in my head :P). Not really a fan of that kind of music..unless it's about a four-poster bed LOL. After we got back to grandma's apartment she sat in her wheelchair awhile, then called the attendants to put her in bed. Since Gina had to drive back to Wichita, me, Ryan, mom and Cindy stayed with her until she fell asleep. Grandma said that when she was so ill the day before we got here there was a needle that came very close to "getting" her, but she flicked it away and said "I'm not doing that again!" She said there was an explosion and her legs were flying, and she could smell the wood of the floorboards. She said Ryan picked her up out of the mess of the floorboards. We're not sure if she was dreaming or hallucinating or what (she was on morphine at the time), but it sounded like she thought it was the "Needle of Death," and barely escaped it. She said I'd always been smiley and happy and always enjoy things I like..that's the secret to looking younger! Just enjoy yourself lol. She also looked at me and said "you're not really leaving tomorrow, are you?" Omg. :( :( I said I had to go back to work, but we'll visit again! We stayed until she fell asleep, then went back to Julie's

Today mom and Ryan and I said bye to grandma..mom's coming back on Friday, but I just said "see you next time!" Pretty sure she is part cat lol, she has many lives! Cindy drove us to the airport and we departed to Denver, then rushed to the flight to Fairbanks (mom wanted to avoid Seattle because they haven't recovered from last week's cyberattack), which I'm on now. I'm glad I have an extra day to recover before I go back to work lol

( a few more pics )

31. When Do You Become an Adult? It happens over time, over many years of learning. Definitely not overnight lol

September 1. How Often Does Your Family Eat Together? Mom and I go to dinner on Wednesdays, and sometimes Ryan and Jo joins us. We all usually have at least one dinner together on the weekends too

A book that was turned into a musical: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (May 9-June 3). Wow, THAT was an accomplishment haha..probably the longest book I've ever read. It was interesting, but a bit TOO detailed haha. For example: "Who destroyed this? It was the improvisation of ferment. Here! This door! This grating! This weatherboard! This window-frame! This broken brazier! This cracked pot! Hand it all over! Throw it all on! Push, roll, dig, dismantle, overturn, bring everything down! It was the collaboration of cobblestone, rubble-stone, wooden beam, iron bar, broken tile, bottomless chair, cabbage-stalk, rags, tags, tatters, and execration." When I was in the hospital, I amused myself and mom with reading sentences like those..no wonder the book is so long LOL. I'd like to see the musical on stage someday..

A book that came out in a year that ends with "24": The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (June 4-7). I was SO excited when I heard this was coming out, because I loved his other books..I definitely pre-ordered it haha. It wasn't quite as good as the other two, but still interesting. I like how unique his books are!

A second-chance romance: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (June 8-11)

An autobiography by a woman in rock 'n' roll: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (June 12-13). Probably a stretch, but I read somewhere pop is a sub-genre of rock. I remember when she released her first two albums, and became obsessed like so many other kids haha..I think I even had a Britney Spears Barbie! It was awful reading about how controlling her father was, ugh..I hope she'll be able to heal from everything she's gone through..

A book originally published under a pen name: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (June 14-18). Like the first one in the series, I actually guessed who the murderer was! Now I'm addicted to this series haha. The TV show is pretty good too! I like that the main character is disabled (he lost part of his leg in Afghanistan and has a prosthetic leg). I guess having a disability myself, I'm drawn to other disabled people lol

A fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (June 19-22). Omg this book was AWFUL. "Yours in calendrical heresy"??? Stuff about "invariant ice" and the "hexarchate" and using math formulas to do battle in space..ugh, please stop. Definitely not reading the other two in the series :/

A book with a main character who's 42 years old: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (June 22-25). Meh

A book with an enemies-to-lovers plot: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (June 23-29). Lovers to enemies and then lovers again haha. I was actually reading this at the same time as State of Wonder, I was addicted and wanted to keep watching the TV show! The murderer sent the detective's partner a leg, and while she was horrified he was like "it's not even my size!" OMG haha. The fourth one in the series is now on my nightstand..I must read them all!! Haha

( the prompts )

The cooler weather and rain finally came!! (Thanks, Siberia :P) It's supposed to last all this week. It's still pretty smoky, but the rain has slowed the growth of the fires. A new one started yesterday at Denali National Park, across from where the hotels and shops are..that one they are fighting and the park is closed. Scary! It's still very hot at work, but hopefully it'll cool off this week..

29. Do You Have Childhood Memories of Being Read Aloud To? Oh yes, mom loved reading to me and Ryan! She even made a hand puppet thing which read to us too haha

30. Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Picky Eater? Yeah, always have been, though I've learned to like other things as I've gotten older (not kale, peanuts and mushrooms though..gross D:)

July 1. How Easy — or Hard — Is It for You to Say No When You Want To? It just depends on the situation

A book set in space: Network Effect by Martha Wells (Apr 1-5). Poor Murderbot, it has to talk to humans when all it wants to do is watch TV LOL

A book set 24 years before you were born (1965): We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam by Harold G. Moore (Apr 5-11). I had a lot of trouble getting through this book..I kept falling asleep! It wasn't terrible, just not a subject I usually read about. I gave it to dad when I was done, I'm surprised he hadn't read it yet! I wanted to ask him what battles he fought in, but I was too scared (when I was a kid I asked him if he had killed anyone in the war. D: Obviously he hedged around the question). He doesn't talk much about Vietnam, but I'm sure he has some crazy stories..

A book with a one-word title you had to look up in a dictionary: Semiosis by Sue Burke (Apr 12-15). It means "a process in which something functions as a sign to an organism." This book was..weird. Basically sentient bamboo that could make words on its stem controlled the humans living by it..they even named it "Stevland." Parts of the book were written from Stevland's perspective..interesting, but weird too lol

A book about a writer: The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf (Apr 16-18). SO good, I loved the mystery and plot twists at the end!

A book that starts with the letter "X": X Marks the Spot: An Anthology of Treasure and Theft by Lisa Mangum (Apr 19-21). An interesting collection of stories, from the perspective of a cat (I was freaking out because I kept thinking the cat was going to die D:), a "digital person," and even cancer! Very unique lol

A book by a deaf or hard-of-hearing author: Not a Sound by Heather Gudenkauf (Apr 23-28). I really liked this one too, though the main character kept making iffy decisions haha. Heather Gudenkauf is partially deaf, and the main character was totally deaf with a service dog who alerted her if the phone rang, someone was at the door, etc. Cool!

A book with 24 letters in the title: Beyond the Barrier with Byrd by Harry Adams (Apr 28-30). It's so weird to me that if you're at the South Pole, every direction is north and it could be "yesterday, today or tomorrow" there, as the author said. Trippy haha

( the prompts )

Alaska decided to celebrate the beginning of May by snowing..not very nice, summer is already too short LOL

27. Do You Have a Best Friend? I have more than one..Dana and Vicki for sure. I'm lucky to have found such great people to be friends with!

28. Should What You Say on Facebook Be Grounds for Getting Fired? If you're talking about how much you want to kill a race or something like that

29. Have You Ever Lost (or Found) Something Valuable? Ryan and I used to metal detect when we were kids, and we'd find cool old coins. I lost my jacket I got at Kilauea years ago..it was valuable to me because it was warm and comfy!

30. Do You Like Being Alone? Yeah, to an extent..it's nice after work, but after like a day I'm restless and bored and want someone to talk to lol


May 1. What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused? "Yeet" is such a dumb "word" lol..just say that you're throwing something :P

A book set in the future: The Ice Ghost by Kathleen O'Neal Gear (Feb 1-4)

A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list (Iceland): Outside by Ragnar
Jónasson (Feb 5-6)

A book from a genre you typically avoid: How to Survive in the North by Luke Healy (Feb 7-8). A comic book about the Karluk expedition, where Steffanson abandoned his men and a bunch of people died..crazy

A book set in the snow: Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates (Feb 10-13). This book literally gave me nightmares..everyone was getting their heads chopped off. O_o I usually like locked-in mysteries, but this one freaked me out lol

A book with a neurodivergent main character: I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder by Sarah Kurchak (Feb 13-15). Parts of this book were relatable, like her saying jeans felt like being in an iron maiden, but unfortunately is was pretty boring too

A bildungsroman (coming of age novel): The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene (Feb 15-17). Yeah I read this way after it was popular, but books are immortal, so it doesn't matter lol. I enjoyed it (I had already been spoiled years ago what happens at the end), and the movie was really good too!

A book recommended by a bookseller: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Jan 20-Feb 18). This was the next book club book at work, but it matched a prompt anyway. I probably wouldn't have picked up the book on my own, but it was pretty good. It's fun to talk to the book club regulars about books!

A book by a blind or visually impaired author: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Feb 18-21). A group of 80-year-olds in a retirement home help the police solve murders haha, it was so funny! The police officer would be talking and one character would be like "did you have some cake, dear?" I hope the rest of the series is just as good!

A horror book by a BIPOC author: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (Feb 21-22). This was supposed to be horror? Dead of Winter freaked me out way more lol

A book with the word "leap" in the title: The Cat, the Cash, the Leap, and the List by Sue Campbell (Feb 23-24)

A book about pirates: Cutthroat Island by John Gregory Betancourt (Feb 24-25). When I typed in "Cutthroat Island book" on Amazon, I didn't expect to ACTUALLY find one! It's one of my all-time favorite movies and always will be, so I was very pleased to find a novelization! "Bad Dawg!!!" :D

A book about women's sports and/or by a woman athlete: South with the Sun: Roald Amundsen, His Polar Explorations, and the Quest for Discovery by Lynne Cox (Feb 25-28). She talked about Amundsen along with her swims in 28 degree water (WHY??). Amundsen is kinda overrated to me, though he was a pretty good explorer. Scott is just way more interesting to me (Feb 26 was my 6th anniversary of going to Cherry's grave! One of the best days of my life and still makes me emotional to think about <3)

( the prompts )

TWELVE BOOKS IN ONE MONTH heck yeah!!! Most of them were short, but still..so cool! When I told mom how many I read she was like "you're crazy!...but in a good way" LOL. I've read 22 books so far this year :D

A lot of people see my opal necklace and say "it's so pretty! It's bad luck to wear it if it's not your birthstone though." Uh..thanks?? Also, that's ridiculous, and after the 40th time of someone saying that it has gotten really annoying. Just say it's nice and move on lol

28. Do You Believe in Ghosts? Sure, since I've seen one lol

29. Are Digital Photographs Too Plentiful to Be Meaningful? No way! I have plenty of pics of the same glaciers from different years, but they're all meaningful and have fond memories of whatever trip I was on when I look at them. Film cameras were always stressful because I was always afraid I'd run out of film before the trip ended haha

March 1. Can You Separate Art From the Artist? They seem to be..intertwined? They have other traits too, but of course I'll think "Van Gogh!" when I see the Starry Night