1. When were you last fooled by something you saw online? Hmm..maybe for a second around April Fool's Day. Someone on the bus got me though, he said Willie Nelson was found dead in the middle of the road. "I was like oh no!" and then he said "I'm joking, April Fool's!" I was wary about things after that haha
2. At this moment, what are you full of? Apple juice..I brought a big bottle of it to work haha
3. What is the most beautiful thing you saw this week? Murtagh by Christopher Paolini has a SUPER cool fancy fiery cover and pages..I want to buy it for that alone!
4. What is the most philanthropic thing you’ve done recently? I send money monthly to a cat shelter in New Jersey because I sponsor a special needs cat named Olive..I get an update monthly from her (with help from a volunteer haha), which I like too..she always calls herself things like "Queen Olive" lol
5. When did you last have any kind of flu? I had the stomach flu in 2024..I still have no desire to eat Oreos because of that D:

Today at work is another First Friday 50% sale..I woke up so excited! Customers were having fun buying lots of things! When I left the register was at $900 something, yay! We stay open until 8 during those sales so there's a lot of time left! We're probably going to do better than the last sale..pretty cool!

Yesterday, it finally got above 32 at the airport (where the official temperatures are taken) for the first time since October 31! That ties the record set in 2007 of the latest day above freezing. Wow. Someone needs to make an "I Survived the Winter of 2025-2026" shirt haha. This warmer weather is so nice! I wonder what this summer will be like..

( april 2-3 )

When did you last...
1. scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc) to make a purchase? Hmmm..maybe a month or two ago?
2. visit a dentist? The beginning of the month..so glad the extraction site is healed now!
3. make a needed change to your life? *shrugs*
4. decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal? I don't cook, but I knew what I was going to eat last night (Indian food leftovers), if that counts
5. spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked? Probably when I was a kid

This was Curti's face when I wouldn't give him some red velvet cake:

Poor kitty, no one ever feeds you! :P I let him lick the spoon when I was done though haha. His face is so expressive!

Fairbanks hasn't recorded a temperature above freezing since October 31st! Even when it got warmer and snowed it was around 0. Usually we get a Chinook and the temperature rises significantly (one year it was -40, the next day it was 40 above!), but that didn't really happen this winter. Definitely unusual! It's supposed to get around 32 in the next few days, so I don't think we'll quite beat the all-time record of 158..still impressive though lol

We got in SO many donations this week at work..yesterday someone donated 1200 or so comic books!! A little overwhelming, but it's fun to see what people donate. So glad the bookstore is thriving again!

( march 21-27 )

Today and yesterday, it got to -41, tying the previous record from 1930! That is crazy, everyone is definitely ready for winter to be over! At least the sun is high enough now that it warms up during the day. We don't need any more snow or cold weather, universe..give us a break!! Haha

It's been SUPER busy at work this week..LOTS of donations, and today a big tour group came in..one lady came up to me and said she was from England or New Zealand, and she said she saw my picture on the bookstore's website, and I have a quote next to my picture explaining why The Worst Journey in the World is my favorite book. The lady said that that book was her and her husband's favorite book too! They had also been to Antarctica and seen the Ross Ice Shelf and Scott and Shackleton's huts!! That is SO cool! She liked seeing my picture of me standing by Cherry's grave too. I've wondered if people looked at the website, and now I know haha. I bet they had been dying to actually meet me after reading my quote LOL

Recently the game developer Nukearts trademarked the term "Hidden Cats," so no developer but them can use the phrase now ("even something like "Cats in the Hidden City" isn't allowed). Developers have had to rename all their games (if they don't, the games will be deleted from Steam), even already published ones. That is RIDICULOUS!! Using "Hidden Kitties/Felines," "Finding Cats," etc is fine, but it's not quite the same as "Hidden Cats." People are now leaving negative reviews on Nukearts's games, because really?? Why would you trademark a super common phrase and hurt other developers?? I hope it doesn't hurt that genre of games, because it's one of my favorites! I don't think I'll be playing Nukearts's games anymore though..so mean :/

( march 7-11 )

1. What’s a stupid lyric from a song you like? From "Dirty Paws" by Of Monsters and Men:
Jumping up and down the floor
My head is an animal
And once there was an animal
It had a son that mowed the lawn
The son was an OK guy

Huh?? Haha

2. What’s a pretty good lyric from a song you dislike? Not sure..
3. What’s a good non-Weird-Al-Yankovic lyric about food and drink? I LOVE the food references in "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies: "I summon fish to the dish," "Chickity China the Chinese chicken, you have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'," "I like vanilla, it's the finest of the flavors," etc. So fun!
4. What’s a good song lyric to describe your week? "Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life"-"9 to 5" by Dolly Parton. I'm not a morning person haha, and I've been pretty tired this week
5. What’s a good song lyric about inclement weather? From "Tip of the Iceberg" by Owl City:
Welcome back, winter, once again
And put on your warm fuzzy sweater 'cause you'll feel much better when
The snowflakes fall gently to the ground
The temperature drops and your shivers freeze all the rivers around

Danae was having so much fun on her first 50% off sale today! It is addictive and fun..the customers have fun buying stacks of books and their happiness bleeds into Danae and I. We work so well together! There were way more people this time around, which was awesome. It'll be cool seeing how much the store made when I go to work tomorrow! SO happy people haven't forgotten us. <3 A customer called earlier and asked if we had The Worst Journey in the World! I kiiinda had to gush about how it was one of my favorite books LOL, and that I visited Cherry's grave in 2018. He probably wasn't expecting that haha, oops. :P I put him on the request list for it..hopefully we'll get in an edition I have already lol

( 6. Where do you want to live when you are old? )

A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan: Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass (Dec 31-4). The main character drives a bookmobile from her library, and her cat stows away, which all the patrons love. The character kept saying things I related to haha. Then her cat finds a dead body, oh my! (Or as the cat would say, "mrr!") Her descriptions of Michigan sound really pretty, and kind of made me want to visit!

A book with a character who has curly hair: Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass (Jan 5-11). I bought the third and fourth book after reading this one, the main character is so relatable! (Though why does she keep finding dead bodies?? Haha) Yay, a fun new series to read!

A book featuring a character with a hidden past: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (Jan 11-14). Everyone had secrets! The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff should be more well-known..it was similar to the Titanic but a lot more people died. So sad!

A book about new beginnings: Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson (Jan 15-18). The author moves into a house with 30 feral cats..she feeds them, TNRs them, cares for them, etc, and the cats transform into beautiful healthy cats. The author also rescues other feral/stray cats, and tries to stop their suffering (like she gets one spayed, and the cat is relaxed and happy, and doesn't have to worry about constantly getting pregnant). Very cool!

A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover: Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree (Jan 18-25). Main character has an existential crisis, gets drunk, gets on a cart and falls asleep and finds herself far from home and has adventures. The elf and goblin characters were cool, but the main character's crisis throughout the whole book got annoying. Legends & Lattes is definitely the best in the series so far

A book less than 260 pages: The Four-Poster Bed by Susan Hudson Chellis (Jan 25-28). Obviously I had to read this haha, but it was definitely one of the most poorly written books I've ever read. It desperately needed an editor, and I feel like she used autocorrect a lot. She'd say "boob" instead of "bob," "courtesy" instead of "curtsy," the sentences were repetitive and weird, etc. There wasn't enough about the bed either, which was mostly talked about at the beginning and end. So disappointing :(

A book in a different format than your usual: physical, audio, eBook: The Indestructible Tom Crean: Heroic Explorer of the Antarctic by Jennifer Thermes (Jan 29). I knew this would be painful, so I chose a short picture book..someone on YouTube read it..that always drives me crazy because I can read faster than they can talk haha. Crean really was an amazing guy though..walking 30 some miles to get help for your dying expedition member? Crossing ice with orcas swimming around you (Cherry was there too!)? Crossing the South Georgia mountains with almost no special equipment? Wow. I should find a copy to add to my collection..

( the topics )

That was a super fast month!! How does time somehow get faster every year??

Yesterday at the bookstore was awesome! Since Danae started, the customers have definitely noticed the changed vibes..it's so much busier, with people coming in the instant we open. That's more like it! She's definitely helped save the store and I'm so grateful. It's tiring, but fun too! Yay, happy fun vibes! A customer the other day paid his $57 balance entirely in quarters. O_o That's definitely the most amount of coins I've ever seen someone pay (he said his mom gave him a piggy bank for Christmas haha)

Jan 31. What is your favorite thing about weekends right now? Strawberry milkshakes, playing hidden object/cat games, reading in bed

Feb 1: Write down your fondest memories to do with a childhood pet: Swimming with my dog Max, playing Star Wars Monopoly with the Guinea pigs walking around haha, taking walks with the cats, etc

1. What is your favorite movie about a fresh start? The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, maybe? It definitely gets points for partly being filmed in Iceland with Of Monsters and Men playing haha
2. What is your favorite post-apocalyptic movie? The Road was very bleak, but well done too..Viggo Mortensen makes every movie he's in better LOL
3. What is your favorite animal movie? Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Finding Nemo, etc
4. What is your favorite me-against-nature movie? Twister, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012: Ice Age, etc
5. What is your favorite movie about forgiveness, atonement, or mercy? The whole movie isn't about those things, but both Les Mis and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe have forgiveness/atonement in them

Yesterday, for the first time since December 13, the temperature got above 0, ending a 32 day streak, the second longest since 1908! When I went outside this morning, it was 25 degrees, which felt AWESOME haha. Since the warm wind was pushing the cold up into the hills, the temperature on Birch Hill dropped 20 some degrees in 20 minutes (Bill was watching the thermometer up on Birch Hill on his phone haha)! In the mountains, the wind could gust up to 60-80 MPH! Chinooks are so cool lol. Next week it's supposed to get below 0 again, but at least we get a few days of warmth!

At work we've gotten a few donations here and there the last couple months, and it definitely picked up this month..we EXPLODED with donations yesterday (we have to count everything, and we got in a little over 1200 items!!), and had to put some boxes in the conex! There were a lot of great books that came in, which is awesome..seeing the same books all the time definitely got old lol. I'm glad customers have stayed loyal, last summer was rough!

( jan 14-16 )

I was right, the bookstore was SUPER busy today! Bill is still sick, so I was the only one at the register (good thing I'm still "refreshed" after the holidays haha). The guy who donates records put a lot of new ones out today, texted the regulars who always buy vinyls, and we sold a TON of those. Lots of donations, lots of sales..we did $800 something, a very good day! A customer came in asking for books about the Karluk expedition, where Stefansson abandoned the boat because he was bored, the ship sank and a a bunch of people died. I have read a bunch of books about the Karluk over the years (The Ice Master, The Karluk's Last Voyage, etc), so I thought it was cool she was asking about them. Then she said "I have the descendant of the last survivor of the Karluk voyage with me, she's in the car." Wait..WHAT?!? There was an Inuit family on the ship, the parents were named Kuraluk and Kiruk (spelling differs depending on who you talk to) and they ARE HER GRANDPARENTS!! They had two kids, Qaualuk and Ruth Makpii/Mugpi Ipalook, and Qaualuk was her mother!! Her aunt, Ruth/Mugpi died in 2008 at 97 years old, and was the last survivor of the expedition to die. Her grandparents definitely helped the expedition members survive..one thing that has stayed with me is that they chewed reindeer hides to make them soft. I've known this customer for years, and had no idea she was friends with someone with connections to the Karluk (she said for 20 years at least!). I asked her if she could ask the lady to come in, and she did, and learned her name was Mabel Kudralook. She remembers her grandparents and their stories. That is AMAZING and I was getting chills hearing her talk about it! I was starstruck haha and got a picture with her!

She grew up in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). She was very nice lol. So cool!! Alaska is definitely a small big state!

Here's a pic of her family:

Nice! There are other pics online, like Mugpi looking very happy. It was definitely an eventful day at the bookstore!!

Today's Dictionary.com word of the day is "Panglossian"..I'm pretty sure that was a Biz Bee word at some point lol

( 6. What was the last movie you watched, and did you like it? )

Wow, only one day left of 2025! This has definitely been a HARD year. The last week has been super cold, in the -30s and -40s. The ice fog was so bad you couldn't see the other side of the lake. Mom and I went to town today because it was "only" -27, and the next few days are going to be in the -30s and -40s again..the high for Saturday is forecasted to be -43!! Depending what weather site you look at, the lows could be in the -50s!!! I've never felt -50 before, but I'm curious to experience it haha. I'm supposed to work Friday and Saturday, but we close if the weather is -40 or colder at 7 AM, so Lucie will probably tell me to stay home. This is definitely one of the longest, harshest cold snaps I've experienced! Curti has been more snuggly too hehe, he's so cute. <3 Here are the highs and lows of 2025!

Lows: Losing Abby in March, which was devastating. We were soulmates..she stole my heart as soon as she sat in my lap at the animal shelter. She loved everyone! At the end she was so weak she'd just fall over when trying to walk on my bed, and had that "I'm done" look in her eyes, and she was SO skinny..I couldn't watch her suffer like that. I sobbed SO hard at the vet, and mom and the vet did as well..I told her how much I loved her and what a great cat she was. I watched her last breath and then she was gone. I got her cremated and have tattoos of her pawprints on my arm. I cried SO hard again when I walked into my apartment without Abby, and saw her water and food bowls on the floor. It was recently after that I went to bed and felt something at my feet..I'm sure it was Abby, telling me she was still with me, just in a different way, and another time I thought I heard her meow. Oof, that always make me very sad when I think about it. I'll never forget her <3

The move at work, which was very rocky and tiring, and then Vicki saying she was quitting after the move happened (I still miss her SO much). Bill and I felt abandoned during the summer and, the managers seemed to do everything in their power to make us suffer. Everyone was always complaining and hardly any customers came in anymore. Bill and I were about ready to quit! Amanda only lasted like a month, we were abandoned again, until we finally got a temporary manager. That's something I hope I never experience again. I hope the manager starting in January is nice!

I sprained my ankle in March. Very painful! In August I exhausted myself and didn't feel well, I had awful face pain and a migraine and a sore tooth, and had to get the tooth pulled. I then threw my back out, all in the same week! I'd rather not experience that again either lol

Dad's mental health hasn't been great since last summer, and his neuropathy is worse..hard to see :(

Highs: After Abby died, I started looking for a new cat. I looked at pictures online, went to a shelter, etc, but there wasn't an instant connection like there was with Abby. One day a picture of a tiny kitten was posted online..I showed mom the picture, and we both felt a connection, a very good feeling like "this kitty is the one!" We cleaned my apartment and got new cat stuff, and then met the owner in town. The kitty was meowing and scared, but as I held him, he relaxed and started purring. I'd been chosen! (Mom originally said no male cats because they might spray..of course a male cat chose me haha.) He explored around my apartment while I thought of a name. I said "hmm, Wilson? Nah," and then thought "can I shorten curtain?" I wrote it out and I was like "oh, curti!" I called it out to him and he responded right away! I said it again and he answered again, which in total happened in like 10 seconds..he approved! I knew he was smart from the very first day. He can be a handful, but he's SO cute and sweet, and has a fun personality. When he curls up in my lap, I think "just another reason I can't live without a cat" haha. I feel the connection deeply when he's on my lap! I'm very glad he chose me <3

I saw the play The Fourposter in April, which I never thought Fairbanks would do. Super cool!

I went to Santa Fe in May and hung out with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dean and their friends, and saw Drew Lynch live. He's so good at improv and isn't afraid to laugh at his stutter. Pretty cool!

In June, as a birthday present, I went flying around Black Rapids Glacier and the surrounding area with mom and her friend. I wish I had seen more of the glacier, but I still drooled over the snowy landscape..Alaska is just so pretty!

Going to the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics with mom and Ingrid, and helping with the blanket toss, and going to Music With Reindeer with them as well

Those are the major things, at least! I can't wait to do my end of year book post tomorrow, I look forward to it all year haha!

( dec 27-30 )

1. What brought you the most joy in 2025? If your answer this year is the same as it would have been last year, what brought you the second-most joy in 2025? Curti, going to Santa Fe in May, etc
2. What’s the best discovery you made in 2025? The song "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," Curti, the game Neko Atsume 2, etc
3. What’s the best feel-good story of 2025? The cat that was rescued after the Palisades Fire (since the fire, I keep seeing the word "Palisade"..weird lol). I definitely donated to the "get well" fund! Everything else has just been so negative :(
4. What was your best small win in 2025? If it’s the same as your answer to # 5 last week, what’s next on the list? Being able to say "have a good day!" to customers at work..out of nowhere I was able to say it. It gives good feelings to both me and the customers!
5. What was the kindest thing a stranger did for you in 2025? Hmm..maybe holding a door open for me? I'm too tired to think too deeply haha

This week was work's Christmas party..for some reason it was in the morning, so we wore pajamas and had breakfast (pancakes, eggs, etc). Like last year we did stocking stuffers, which was cool. They also brought cookies to decorate, but me and Juella had to leave to open the bookstore..still fun though! I have one more day of work and then I'm off until January 2. I definitely need a break, I'm so tired haha. The store has been busy though, yay! Lucie said she hired a new manager, who will start January 7th! I hope she's nice lol

( dec 13-19 )

Mom put the Christmas tree up a couple days ago, and of course Curti had to check it out!

So Christmasy! I can't believe how big he is now, he's very heavy haha. He was naughty and somehow pushed the giant turkey plate off the table, which shattered on the floor! He's not allowed on the table, but does it anyway to get attention :P

It may start getting dark at 2 or 3 PM now, but the sunrises/sunsets are great!

So pretty!

For the past three or so weeks my pleasant, regular bus driver was replaced with a VERY unpleasant lady, who hated everyone and everything and barely even looked at you when you got on the bus. She kicked off my friend who asked if she could be let on the bus because it was cold..she LOST it and was like "I HAD TO TO THE BATHROOM!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE IN A BAD MOOD BECAUSE OF YOU!! Don't tell me how to do my job! Get off my bus!" Awful. D: I could just feel the bad vibes coming off of her (there have been lots of complaints about her, but apparently won't fire her because they're short on drivers). Finally this week the regular driver came back and when I got on I said "nice to see you!" and he said "thank you!" The atmosphere on the bus was totally changed and everyone was super happy lol. He is definitely appreciated!

Work was pretty busy yesterday, yay! Velma Wallace (author of Two Old Women, Bird Girl, etc) came in and did some Christmas shopping lol

( nov 29-30 )