Not really sure where we are at the moment, but somewhere further north. I’ve noticed that the nights are getting lighter. We had a gorgeous sunny day (VERY RARE) a while ago and I was hoping for the clear sky to show off a starscape different and brighter than the one at home. It never got quite dark enough though and I’ll have to cross my fingers for starry nights once we head towards the south and October.

I’m not so good at keeping up with the cruise plan and the scientific schedule around here. Once the engine goes off I know that something is cooking and I assume that they’re fishing for water or mud. Muddy mud mud. I was surprised to hear a disappointed voice longing to find methane the other night. It didn’t make sense to me. Seems that it’d be much better for the human well being to find as little of that stuff as possible, but I guess new findings and scientific papers were of bigger interest.

It made me curious to ask people more about their expectations for the future and the climate. Take advantage of being around people that knows the data. I overhear a lot of conversations on specific subjects and related tasks, but I have yet to hear thoughts on the bigger picture. Maybe that’s what the findings made on this trip will lead to though, rather than the talking taking place up here right now.

My personal findings are moving forward, but at a slightly slower pace than initially. Everything being new and exciting made work come easy, but I now find myself making comfortable and expected decisions. Will have to find ways to fuck things up and that’s a lot harder than the other way around.

A few nights ago I made my first crucial contribution to the operation here though! I spotted a big emergency sign waving in the wind after breaking loose from three out of four nuts and the wall. I called the bridge and they assured me that Kenneth would be on his way to save it before sailing off. I had been on my way to the ping pong hangar and was not dressed appropriately for holding down signs in the arctic breeze, but eventually managed to gaffer it to the wall with the help of Adam (a serious ping pong cup contender). Kenneth showed up sometime later and we took it down together. It felt nice to save a sign from a life in the ocean and the ocean from a large piece of plastic. The emergency instructions make a lot more sense on Oden, even though I’m sure they could have offered some kind of comfort to an explorer lost on the ice.

I have recently become aware of a substantial comfort that this inhospitable place has to offer. The complete lack of bugs! No mosquitos, not a single spider web and no roaches chewing away on cardboard to be recycled. It’s a pleasure. There are other things to home that I do miss though. Like a wife and burritos.