The Spike

So, I've found my favourite bar in Alaska.  Its in an old rail car in Denali National Park, and it started out as not really a bar, just a rail car that some guys would stock with booze, then it got too popular and some tickets because it never had a liquor license, but now its on the up and up.  

After work one night we did a hike in the park and then went to The Spike for drinks.  Outside they had an open area with hula hoops, so after some competitions of hula hooping while drinking, we went back inside, and my assistant manager found this wheelchair just chilling in the corner of the bar.

She sat in it for the rest of the night, and got pretty good at turns and inclines.

But she went up a ramp and we didn't see her for a while

I wanted to play too, so I found a stuffed miniature pony and rode up the ramp and around the corner to where she was hiding with her wheelchair.

Then our friend Matt came bursting through with a wooden sword and shield.  All this stuff was just lying around in the main room of this rail bar.  Then, we almost got kicked out because I tried to roll a keg out the door.  The night ended when I lost my phone, but made up for it by stealing some hipster's old man blazer.

Toilet Talk

Like I've said earlier, I've somehow found myself with an abundance of LDS (Latter Day Saint; aka Mormon) friends.  I don't mind, really, I do enjoy drinking, but I enjoy sober fun also, and its been nice to have a friend base that doesn't revolve around drinks.  One of my favourite LDS traditions is family home evenings.  The church encourages families to pick a night to spend at home together, and this usually involves playing board and card games.  I've had some people over to play scrabble before, but this story takes place while playing a game of uno attack.  I was with my co-worker Lexy (non LDS) and another friend, we will call G (LDS).

The other thing you need to know for this story is that my housing here in Alaska is in a two story cabin with 8 rooms, each room shares a bathroom with the room next to it.  I live next to two ladies in their 40s and they are the hairdressers at the salon at the lodge.

So, one of the ladies went into the bathroom, we can't see her, we just hear the door to their side of the bathroom open.

G says he's never been in a room like this before when you can hear neighbors in the shared bathroom.  He lives in a different style room with its own private bathroom.  This was surprising enough, but then...

We all went silent for the longest time, and we were laughing and talking before the person went in the bathroom, so I'm sure they know we heard them.  Later, I had to break the news to G that girls actually do poop and fart and we're not just made of sugar and spice and everything nice, he took it ok, but I think its a process.

Complisult #163

Awkward Alaska

As mentioned multiple times before, I'm not all that great with remembering names.  Well, I managed to take it a step further here in Alaska.  I was hanging out in the lounge of the employee housing building and a co-worker passed by and introduced me to a guy she was seeing, we chatted for a couple minutes, then went about our separate business.  Later that week, I was in the employee dining room and saw the guy, so I smiled and waved.  I saw him again the next day and smiled and waved again.  Then he asked if I'd like to join him, so I sat down with him and we did the normal surface get to know you chit chat.  As I was walking away from the dining room I realized this was not the same guy and felt like a total creep.

In this situation I ended up not being the total creep though.  This guy started coming up to the front desk where I work and lingering around.  He ended up asking me out, and I'm not used to being asked out, so I stammered a yes and immediately regretted it.  He asked me when my co-worker was standing next to me as well.  To make matters worse, after he left, the co-worker told me he had hooked up with her last season, but mid hook up pulled the brakes and told her he couldn't hook up because he had a girlfriend...gross.  Then she continues to tell me he is only 21 or 22...double gross.  Mind you, I am not at all attracted to this guy, and now I'm stuck going on a date with him.

Luckily, the day of the date was super hectic at work and I ended up working overtime and missing the date.  So, I thought I was in the clear.  But this guy wouldn't take a hint...ok, to be fair I didn't give any clear hint, but I was never flirting with him, I had like one lame conversation with him.  He kept coming up to the front desk and asking about my schedule, and I kept putting him off.  Then, one I got on the employee bus that takes us from the lodge to the employee house about 20 minutes away, and who was on the bus...this creeper.  He lives at the lodge, so he doesn't even need to be on the bus, he rode it, just to trap me.  It was horribly awkward, and when we got back to employee housing, he told me he could ride the bus with me every day, I just laughed nervously.  Then, he offered to walk me to my room, but I told him I was meeting up with a friend to watch a movie.

The next day, he was lurking around the front desk towards the end of my shift so we could ride the bus together, and I was thoroughly creeped out, so I told my supervisor about the situation, because I'm a baby and can't clean up my own messes.  I was hiding in the back and she went out and asked if she could help him.  He asked where I was, and she told him I had clocked out, but she was going to be giving me rides home from now on.

I've seen him in passing a couple times now, but I think he got the hint.

Cartoon Partners Wanted

I'm back in the states, Alaska to be exact.  In my pursuit to never let myself be comfortable for very long I left my cushy job and good friends to shiver in the land of the midnight sun.  I thought I might be ready to move back to the states for good, but wanted Alaska as a buffer, a tester state, if you will, to see if I can handle living here before going back to big america.  I don't regret coming here, and I'm mostly enjoying it, but I'm missing HK immensely.  I don't know that I hate America necessarily, but I do know I'm not a fan of these asshole Americans I keep running into here.  I quickly made friends with some Mormons, and I'm slowly finding some drinking friends, but all in all my life here is much tamer, so i'll do my best to keep kellyasacartoon interesting for the next few months (I'm working a summer seasonal job, so i'll get out of here by the end of September).  Until then, to make up for my lameness, I will be accepting reader submissions.  Send me your stories of mistakes and grandeur, and I will cartoonize them, or if you want them to stay in your own words, I can just post them.  Send your submissions to kellyasacartoon@gmail.com