18 April, 2003

I've settled into a routine here. Once a person gets his/her bearings, it's easy to settle into a schedule. Writer's block becomes a problem because there are no new experiences to share, but each day is a blessing in itself just to be alive and healthy. Still, I want to keep my audience interested and it seems that sensationalism is what produces interest and that can be unfortunate. I'm not philosophizing, but life shouldn't be that way I don't think. The longer I live here the more routine it will become.

So, what has a typical day in Antarctica become for me? Well, my roommate and I get up at 4 AM. We get ready for the day and have our morning chit-chat. Then, she goes to the kitchen to fix breakfast. She is the station chef. I go to the lab to set up amphipod experiments. Around 7:30 AM I go to the galley, that is the dining area, and eat breakfast. At 8 AM we have our daily team meeting. After that, I write and answer e-mails and work on each day's journal. I am a morning person so, I need to be writing when I am at my best and can think clearly. Noon is lunchtime. In the afternoons, I have been dive tending because that is my worst time of the day. I get real sleepy so, I have asked my PI to let me tender to keep me active and awake. I also like getting outdoors at least once a day and tending does that for me especially after being in all morning. I want to be involved in every aspect of the station, so, in the in between times, I visit the different areas of the station such as labs, logistics, computer techs, etc to see what is going on elsewhere. I want to know what is going on in each area because it takes everyone pulling together to make a successful work environment. We have dinner at 5:30 PM. The rest of the evening I finish writing, visit my team members in the lab, and go to bed unless I have an experiment to take down. Then, I either stay up late until it is complete or I go to bed, take a nap for a couple of hours, and then get up around 11 PM and work until I'm finished with my experiment around 1:30 AM.