November 6, 1975: Thursday

A very quiet day, comparatively speaking.

Went down to the Helo Pad to load Jamesway arches. Darv drove up with another set. We loaded his onto the helo. Got back up to the lab and Leon says they need both arches. We fly back down to the pad and load the extra.

Got stuff for tomorrow. Six hundred pounds of food. I almost had an argument with Pat the GFA on how to get things out to 1A and what to send out. He thinks he knows best. I know I don’t know best, but I know I’m right.

Sometimes I get in a raunchy mood, feel like I could punch out the first lights that cross me. I must be tired.

Bought two penguins and another sweatshirt. I must have some sort of fetish, dressing all my 1128 S. 16th summertime friends in identical Penguin T-shirts. Cath and Debrushka get the Penguins.

Sitting in the pick-up waiting for the helo to rise, bein’ very mellow.

There’s a guy, an oriental, came down to watch the helicopters take off. A lonely fellow with short black hair and thick black glasses. He stands and watches with interest (and delight) the hovering craft, in his dark blue coat (blue, an unusual color for an overcoat), his arms limp at his side, shoulder against the whirling blast of air and gravel.

And I am reminded of thirty-year-old kids with simple minds and lonely lives, coming down every morning to watch (with interest and delight) the helicopters land and leave.

And after many days of lonesome, silent watching, a grounded crewman gives the thirty-year-old kid a helmet (like the ones they wear in the helo!) to protect his ears from the noise.

And he is happy. And the world really isn’t such a bad place, is it?

They guy showed up at the lab this afternoon. I gave him a tour and he offered to help us. We let him read in the library.

Mac Center still seems a little bit like the Wizard of Oz, big, tall panels with voices coming out of them, timid little men sitting behind the desk, pushing switches and running the entire Continent.

Dr. Treves (who lost the gloves Mike had given him after only a half hour, and found them again) left his new gloves at the 09:00 sched and picked them up at the 18:00 sched. He’s getting pretty good at answering the other traffic while talking to 590. “Roger, shuttlebus.”

Developed pictures tonight. Mine and Dr. Treves’s. Pretty good results.

Everything is working for me, the night before I go out to 1A.

Got my phone patch, at the Bio-Lab, to Cathy. An interminable delay while the operator looks up her number, and explains the phone patch.

Cathy has tonsillitis. The world is once more sweet and lovely because my usual luck has not left me. My mind is at ease because life falls neatly into comfortable places. I’ve always been nervous when talking to her. And now it’s over 12,000 miles. And she has tonsillitis. I told her not to get sick while I was gone. Told her I’d send her a Get Well Card.

And she said, “Where are you going to get a Get Well Card in the middle of Antarctica?”

Even though the words, at times, were lost, it was her voice. Two-thirty in the morning, tonsillitis, and everything I’ve ever desired.

I gathered that she was going to Auburn on Sunday to get Toodles. I guess she’s going to some fraternity function with Myron.

That doesn’t even bother me. For Myron is my friend, and Cathy told me about it, and it’s all in the family.

The call was short and nothing important transpired. But the purpose was to show Cathy that I care (even though that didn’t come across so well) and give her something to remember. My life is now complete. All else is frosting.

In the picture of Kathy and Peter pulling the sled, Kathy looks like Cathy.

Total Today:
$10.75 for Souvenirs