Yesterday the bookstore had its semi-annual sale, where almost everything in the front and back is 50% off. Denise said she'd be happy reaching $3000, and Shelby wanted to reach $5000! Me and Denise thought that unlikely (our record was $4000 last year). As soon as we unlocked the doors, TONS of people came pouring in. Usually there's a little lull after an hour or so, but that didn't happen for HOURS. People just kept pouring in..I was amazed at the amount of people in the bookstore at once. In one hour, we did $2000!! An hour or two after that, we broke $4000, still going strong with customers (we had music playing too, which made the atmosphere even more fun..me and a customer broke out singing to "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." Adam was like "we need no education"?? How dare they play this at the Literacy Council, that's our whole mission!" LOL). We were all amazed. The numbers kept rising..and rising..until I just KNEW we were going to reach $5000! (I was going to leave at 3:30, but there was no way I was going to miss breaking $5000!) And then we did it..we broke $5000!!! I was freaking out haha..everyone was amazed! I think we ended up doing $5600 something..amazing!! It was tiring, but fun. It's crazy how many books were still on the shelves after that though lol. I'm glad I was there to make bookstore history!

( pokemon update )

15. What was your excuse the last time you arrived late to something? Not sure, I hate being late lol

16. In what way is your life lately imbalanced? I'm tired, possibly from long-haul covid..ugh

The BBC estimates that most people will only read 6 books out of the 100 listed below.
Reblog this and bold the titles you’ve read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller (I tried reading it but I thought it was dumb, so I didn't bother with the rest lol)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffeneger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon (OMG I couldn't get past the second page of this book..once I read the "curious incident" was a dog stabbed to death with a fork, I was like "HECK NO"..ugh)
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

I've read 13, so yay, I'm above average haha :P

We've had an EPIC day at the bookstore today..when I left, we were over $800!!! Part of it is the plant sale we're having this week, but even without it we'd be doing well. That's incredible..I told Donna to text me after she closes, it'll be epic! (Donna's been working at the bookstore a year now! That was fast lol)

( Day 249-251 )

Today's trivia: The dude in Aerosmith's “Dude (Looks like a Lady)” is Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, whose long blond locks Aerosmith mistook for 
a woman's at a bar one night

Today mom and I went kayaking on Piledriver Slough with Bonnie (we went geocaching there a couple years ago too)! She and mom and a falling-out for a couple years, but they suddenly seem to be fine with each other again lol. I missed hanging out with her, so that was cool. It takes 2-3 hours if you're just lazily floating along, which is enough for me..it gets uncomfortable sitting for so long! It was nice listening to the Swainson's Thrushes and smelling the spruce forest. <3 We saw a moose too! It was SO HOT though (89)..the breeze felt like it was coming out of an oven! I bet that fire near Murphy Dome has grown a LOT today. Still nice to get out in nature though! It's nice getting better at paddling too :P

Today and yesterday were Customer Appreciation days at work, where most everything in the store was 50% off and there were garage sale type things too..we made over $2000 yesterday!! Awesome. It's fun, but VERY tiring..worth it though!

( a few pics from today! )

Day 179. A song that makes you think of the color red: "Crimson Thunder" by HammerFall

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Neither, I'll stick with smoothies LOL, even if it is -20 :P
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? My parents don't have room to put up a tree, but the presents are wrapped lol
3. Coloured or white lights? Colored
4. Do you hang a mistletoe? No
5. When do you put your decorations up? I don't put much up, but maybe the beginning of December (I have a cat ornament hanging on my door right now lol)
6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc
7. Favourite holiday memory as a child? Waking up and seeing all the presents and stockings and stuff, for one
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? 5th grade..my brother showed me "Santa's" signature and told me it looked just like mom's. I was like "oh..ok then" haha. Ryan figured it out way before I did :P
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not anymore, since I don't get that many presents anymore (which is fine, spending time with family is more important :))
10. How do you decorate your tree? I'm always too lazy to get it out of my closet LOL..oops :P
11. Snow - love it or hate it? I love how peaceful and quiet it is when walking in it, but it can be really hard to walk in when there's a lot of fresh snow (I remember one time being up to my waist in snow when geocaching!)
12. Can you ice skate? I haven't in many, many years, so I'm sure I'm super rusty lol
13. Do you remember your favourite gift? Seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert, a bike, books, etc
14. What is your favourite holiday dessert? Cookies, pumpkin pie..
15. What's the most important things about the holidays? Spending time with family and friends and wishing each other good cheer lol
16. What is your favourite holiday tradition? Opening a present on Christmas Eve was always fun lol
17. What tops your Christmas tree? I don't think anything does..
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Both!
19. Favourite Christmas song? Here are a few:
"Wizards in Winter"-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness)"-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo"-Trans-Siberian Orchestra (and other versions of Carol of the Bells)
"Wonderful Christmastime"-Paul McCartney
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" LOL
20. Favourite Christmas movie? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
21. What do you leave for Santa? Nothing

The bookstore is doing so awesome this month..when I left today, we were over $600, and when Denise left, we were over $800!!! (Last minute Christmas shopping probably lol.) That's incredible! I can't wait to find out what the grand total is lol

( December 17-20 )

Today's trivia: Nova Scotia gives Boston its Christmas tree for free every year, as thanks for city's help after the the Halifax Explosion in 1917

→ Comment with "Come at me, bro"
→ I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
→ Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
→ Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

monkiainen asked me:

1. If you could meet Cherry right now, what would you ask him? Haha honestly, the question I've been dying to ask him is "why did you hate your glasses so much??" It must have been amazing to be able to see after 15 years of not being able to lol, but he seemed ashamed of them..

2. If someone would ask you to go a polar exploration, would you go? How would do prepare for the journey? It would be a lot of work, but I don't think I could say no to an opportunity like that lol. I'd have to get lots of supplies, study maps, exercise so I don't die on the trip lol, and I'd probably need training in ropework and first aid and things like that

3. What is your favourite literary genre and why? I like mysteries, historical ones like Charles Finch and C.J. Sansom, and adventurous type ones like Nevada Barr's..they keep your attention and are exciting to read. Of course I like novels about Antarctica and polar explorers as well, and sci-fi like The Martian (it was hilarious, and a survival story too!). I like adventure in my books :D

4. What has been your worst journey so far? What made it so bad? Physically, the time I had a meltdown on a plane because I couldn't handle sitting in the middle seat..I just started sobbing and begging Ryan to trade places with me, but he wouldn't. Amazingly, the person sitting by the window seat saw how upset I was, and she traded places with me! Mom gave me her iPad so I could listen to Enya, both of which helped calm me down. But what I call MY "Winter Journey" was my depression in 2015..I felt anxious and angry all the time and didn't know why, and didn't enjoy things I normally would have loved. I'd just lay in bed crying and think of hurting myself with Abby's claws. I was always in pain from being so tense. I knew I had to get help when I just wanted to end it all and actually got partway out of bed. That scares me every time I think about it. D: Thankfully my doctor heard my pleas for help and gave me the amazing Prozac, which has (probably literally) been a lifesaver. Depression is definitely not something to take lightly!

5. Your favourite Simon's Cat episode and why? Hmm..maybe Cat Man Do, where the cat is doing anything he can to wake up Simon. It reminds me of Abby, especially the paw on the face haha

Look what someone donated to us at work!

A SIGNED copy of a book by famous polar explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson?!!? He might not have been the nicest guy (he abandoned his ship because he was bored, the ship sank and a bunch of people died), but wow!! I snatched that right up haha (it was surprisingly cheap!). My job is so cool lol

( September 22-26 )

Today's trivia: Linda Wolfe has been married 23 times, making her the most married women in the world

Today is my 10 year anniversary of moving to Alaska!! I can't believe it's been 10 years already! It's so weird to think of my life before coming up here..it feels like it was from another lifetime (not much happened at the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 before I moved up here..my LJ entries from then are really boring haha). I'm pretty sure I'm a completely different person now. It was VERY hard moving, and a huge culture shock. I remember before leaving Texas I was looking at the scenery and was like "wow, I'm so proud to be a Texan," or something like that, and when I came back a year later and looked at the same scenery..nothing. It was so weird! I wonder what I saw before, because it just looked boring to me after LOL. It was around 9 or 10 degrees when I landed and I was just wearing a light leather jacket, so I was FREEZING haha. I still remember the first time the thermometer reached 0 degrees, seeing my first moose, and seeing the Northern Light for the first time (they were awesomely purple!), I remember feeling so lonely and left out the first time I went to the Midnight Sun Festival because I didn't know anyone, and now I pretty much always see someone I know. I've had SO many amazing experiences here, it's such a great place! Here's to many more great years and experiences <3

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Cherry's signature??

So beautiful and perfect, I could look at it all day! *swoons*

( April 9 and 10 )

Today's trivia: In Utah, it is against the law to fish from horseback

Merry Christmas! Here are a few pics:


Mom made me a cherry pillowcase so "you can sleep with Cherry every night!" OMG haha awesome. :P My jacket has penguins on it and is super soft..I found it when looking for gifts for the Christmas party at work, and mom made me wait till Christmas to wear it haha

( the rest )

Hope everyone is having a good Christmas too :)

Today at work I was checking a customer out..she paid with a credit card, and I saw her last name was Cherry. I couldn't help saying "oh my gosh!" to myself lol, and she was like "what?" I told her there was a famous explorer I like with that name, and I expected her to look at me like I was insane or something, but I didn't expect THIS: "oh, Apsley Cherry-Garrard? I'm distantly related to him! My grandma used to tell me stories about him"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!
OMG
OMG
NO WAY

I completely freaked out and just stood there in awe LOL. A distant relative of Cherry lives in Fairbanks, Alaska!??! What are the chances of that?? She said she had read The Worst Journey in the World and Sarah Wheeler's biography of him, and that her grandparents had gone to Antarctica. OMG. She must have seen how shocked I was, because she was like "I hope you don't have to use your brain now" LOL. Wow! I went back to tell Denise ("you'll never believe who I just saw!!!") and she said I HAD to call mom because I was just vibrating and she didn't want me to explode LOL (I was literally walking around in circles haha!). Mom was disappointed I didn't get her phone number lol..I hope she comes in again so we can talk more! That is absolutely amazing and completely made my day..wow!

( September 13: Comfort )

Today's trivia: Sleeping on the job is acceptable in Japan, as it is seen as exhaustion from working too hard

Yesterday mom and I flew to Glacier Bay..first we had to fly to Anchorage. Denali was out, but the engine was in the exact viewing point as the mountain..good thing I've seen it many times lol (I saw one of its glaciers through the clouds, possibly Eldridge). After that short flight we flew to Juneau..I saw some cool glaciers before it clouded up..I'm pretty sure one of them was Harvard Glacier! It has super awesome moraines. :D It usually takes an hour and some minutes to fly to Juneau from Anchorage, but the bad weather made the traffic back up, so we had to divert to Sitka to get more fuel. I'd never seen Sitka before, so that was cool lol. Eventually we took off and got to Juneau just fine..I'd never been to the airport in Juneau (dad and I stopped there on the ferry through the Inside Passage a few years ago), so that was cool to see too (we saw an eagle!). After a little time to kill there, we boarded the plane for Gustavus/Glacier Bay. I looked for Mendenhall Glacier, but it was on the other side! At least I got a glimpse of it. :P If I thought the flight from Fairbanks to Anchorage was short, it has nothing on Glacier Bay..it only took like 20 minutes! Probably the shortest flight I've ever been on lol. After we landed a bus took everyone to their respective hotels. After we got our room (which has great pics of glaciers lol) we explored outside..there are baneberries EVERYWHERE, which are super poisonous. D: We stopped in the Visitor Center..I showed the Park Ranger lady my pic of Harvard Glacier and she was like "wow, this picture is amazing!! Check out the moraines, it's like moraine pie!" OMG lol..I've compared moraines to chocolate on ice cream, but never pie! Awesome. :P I love seeing others get excited over glaciers too! This Tlingit lady gave us a presentation telling of their history in Glacier Bay..they kept almost getting wiped out by natural disasters, but always managed to survive..wow. After that we had dinner and went back to our room (which doesn't have wi-fi, boo! We have to go in the main building of the lodge for it)

( more under here! )

Today was the annual Rubber Ducky Race on the river..always amusing seeing thousands of ducks floating down the river haha. I had only bought one ticket, but it felt "lucky" somehow. While mom and I waited for the (unofficial) results to be posted, we went to that store with all those awesome polar books..we were finally able to go down into the basement! There are LOTS of cool old books down there, but the guy showed me the little polar section, since he knows that's what I like. And OMG..I found a 1951 edition of The Worst Journey in the World!!!! Mom thought my reaction was hilarious..I grabbed it and hugged it LOL (Cherry was still alive when that edition came out!!). I also found a book of Edward Evans' Antarctic diaries (he was with Scott too). I was also excited to find that one, since I'm trying to collect all the diaries/memoirs from the people on Scott's expedition. That was AWESOME and I'm so happy I was finally able to go down there haha. Some of the other polar books looked cool too, but I saved those for next time lol. After that we went to check the (unofficial) results of the race..I told mom my number and she was like "hey, there it is!" Mine was the Wild Duck, which I think they pick randomly. We looked at my ticket for the prize and mom was like "...did you just win $500?!?" OMG. There are 7000 or 8000 ducks, so that is pretty awesome, especially if they just picked it randomly!! I knew I felt lucky for a reason haha. Mom was like "I'm so honored to be in your presence right now" LOL (she didn't win anything though, even though she bought four tickets!). Wow. I guess they'll call me when the "official" results are in (and hope that they didn't make a typo lol). Wow, what an awesome day!!

( some pics! )

( July 22: A Favorite Routine )