Day #19: It's Been a Busy Week

Sunday was the 3rd of July here, and since we don't have enough darkness at 10pm, in Juneau we celebrate the 4th on the 3rd at midnight. So Sunday evening about 40 of us went over to a coworker's place (he lives on the water on south Douglas) and hung out on the beach until the fireworks. There were probably over 500 people on the beach from houses all along the water, and dozens of bonfires. Someone even built a 40 foot tall wooden replica of Sauron's tower and set it on fire. So we all hung out on the beach until the fireworks, which they set off from a barge in the middle of the channel, and they lasted almost half an hour! It was a great show, and a great time. Then, on Monday, they had a 4th of July parade. Because of some logistics of the parade and the amount of roads they had to shut down to have the parade, we were barred from our destinations and were therefore forced against our will to be paid to watch the Juneau 4th of July Parade. Pretty much our whole fleet was down there, except those who were actually in the parade. It was a really great time - and afterwards, I gave a city tour to a great group. We found a box of ridiculous red white and blue decorations, so we all decorated our buses and uniforms to be more festive. There were a bunch of really weird happenings yesterday as well, and I'll spare you the details, but all in all it was a weird day with a lot of confusion and a lot of pay for not a lot of work.

Today was the 7th consecutive day that I've worked, and I've worked 66 hours in the last 7 days. I therefore only have 14 available hours tomorrow and will probably have the day off. But today was good, except that I slammed my finger in the luggage bay door (my finger is now black and I had to fill out like 6 forms for worker's comp). I was a little tired from having worked 7 days straight, and my tour may have suffered a little because of that, but everything else went really smoothly. I also may have talked Daniel into coming up for a week or so in August. He has never been to Alaska, and we miss each other a lot, so I am really hoping that he will visit! If he does, I'm going to take the week off and comp some tours with him. I think he'd really enjoy dog sledding, a whale watching tour, and probably a helicopter ride! We'll see where he stands in a couple of days, but hopefully I have him convinced!

So now that I've talked to my parents about this, I feel like I can share my possible change of plans with everything. I may not be going to Colorado this fall or winter after all. Daniel and I are going to do a lot of travelling and climbing this fall (City of Rocks, ID, Red Rocks, NV, and probably Red River Gorge, KY). Because we will probably be gone until mid December, timing doesn't work too well for working at any resort in Colorado. This doesn't mean for sure yet that I won't go to CO the following fall for grad school, it just means I'd pay more for an additional quarter if I did. That being said, I feel a great need to travel and be young while I can, and go back to grad school later in life if I still feel that Music Therapy is the path for me. It may not be. Needless to say, I have a lot of soul searching to do over the next year and I'm really excited for all of the endless possibilities. Now I know what you're thinking - and the answer is yes, part of my motivation is, in fact, Daniel. I am serious about my relationship with him and really want to be with him, but the beautiful thing is that it works and that it's really what I've longed for all along. I've finally found that person who simply wants to travel, see the world, and be a dirtbag with me for a while, and I happen to care immensely for that person. We are perfect travel companions and best friends, so it couldn't be more perfect. I want to live my life: be a tumbleweed, find a world outside my own, and do it with someone who makes me incredibly happy. I feel really, really great about this decision; I just thought you all should know that the plan has indeed changed to not having a plan at all...