Web Log Entry #0025, Saturday, December 14, 2002: Day 26

Thu 12/12 Anchorage Sunrise: 10:04am Sunset: 3:41pm High Temp: 28° Low Temp: 19° Fri 12/13 Anchorage Sunrise: 10:06am Sunset: 3:40pm High Temp: 29° Low Temp: 19° Sat 12/14 Anchorage Sunrise: 10:07am Sunset: 3:40pm High Temp: 26° Low Temp: 22° What a day! There's way too much to tell in just one entry. So here's Part I: The peak event of the day was, surprisingly, the company Christmas Party. Most of my company holiday parties (almost two decades worth!) rank on the Fun Scale above dental appointments but below watching TV. I rarely socialize with coworkers. I'm not really sure why, maybe because of the frequent paranoid delusions where business associates conspire with the government to reprogram my DNA so I'll want to be a welder. With a few exceptions, I don't see people I work with outside of work. The company parties that I've enjoyed the most have been with WISDOM, where I know everyone. Maybe you enjoy making small talk with people you don't know and will probably never see again, but being of programmer background, I don't. This party was held in the largest ballroom in Anchorage. I would be surrounded by hundreds of strangers. But I'm here for adventures and pushing boundaries, so I donned the ceremonial tie (borrowed from Stan), and went. I wish I could report that the Alaskan holiday parties are rife with local color and tradition, and totally different from corporate functions in the Lower 48. I could tell you about the snow-slide from the buffet line to the dance floor, or the gymnastic Arctic Monkeys, or the caribou rides, but you might sense that I was making it up. Would you believe a no-host bar, buffet dinner, entertainment by company talent, dancing and door prizes? Okay, maybe not new and different, but like the mystic tree on Degobah in "Star Wars", what's there is what you bring with you. Much of the evening was spent with Stan and Mark being the Three Single Guys, but the night's high point was dancing with Shondell, a University of Alaska student there with her parents (Shondell, if you're reading this, let me say Hi!, I hope I've spelled your name correctly, and good luck at whatever school you transfer to!) People who know me are thinking "What? Evan was dancing?" Yes, sometimes I do that when I've been drinking ("WHAT? EVAN WAS DRINKING?" Well, I do, but just so rarely that most people think I don't. It's not a morality thing; it just takes a surprisingly small amount for me to feel crummy the next day). So I actually enjoyed talking with a bunch of coworkers, some of whom I just met, and I asked a gorgeous young woman to dance. It was even better than a night of good TV. I'm really glad I went.

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© 2002 Evan M. Nichols