In Barrow Alaska the sun has set for the last time until January 22, 2014. Nearly two months of darkness for those people and you don't hear anyone up there complaining. They just do what they have to do, raising kids, shoveling snow, cooking up breakfast and going to work all in pitch darkness. Could I do it, even for just one year? Probably not. I would probably be found curled up in the living room with three inch fingernails, completely naked with milk jars filled with urine lining the walls. How do those people do it? If I had to guess I with a whole lot of good whiskey or maybe some vodka brought over the Bering Sea by dog sled. By January 21 I would be absolutely terrified that the sun would for some reason forget to rise on the 22nd. I imagine it takes a certain kind of person to be able to keep their heads. A similar kind of tedium one would have to face when, for example, trying to sign up for basic healthcare...
How many of you out there are sensitive to the weather and allow it to determine your mood either in the morning or throughout the day. I must admit that I am very much one of those people who simply can't ignore the weather no matter how hard I try, no matter how many curtains I draw, or how loud I turn up Jimmy Buffett on a chilly rainy day, I simply cannot seem to find myself under a shining, yellow, jelly, blob sun the size of Jupiter. If the weather is cold and rainy and damp and lousy I have to battle with myself not to feel just as lousy. Because I am this way is why I can relate to the people living in Barrow. But can I really relate to them, living in -40 degree weather, snow 10 months a year and no sun for nearly two months. Who am I kidding? I wouldn't survive six months up there.
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