December 12, 1975: Friday

Kathy went to Taylor Valley this morning. I didn’t get up in time to see her off. She and Cal were driving down the hill as Dan Morton and I were driving up. I waved good-bye.

Bio-Mike said that she came into the Dark Room to check on her film, which she thought had broke. So Bio-Mike opened it up and she had never wound it onto the wheel. So all her pictures, since the drill site went down, were not recorded. She let out a screaming stream of cuss words that made the walls turn pink.

Sidebar: I wish I had time to comment. Tomorrow I will take time for a serious discussion about me, about Antarctica, and about Kathy and try to understand the interface between a person and a continent, and the interface between a person and another person.

But not tonight. It’s late. I want to apologize for not having been very descriptive in my writing these last few weeks. But my schedule has just left no time to think about what to write, just enough time to record my actions in sketchy glimpses.

I think I’ve learned patience, by developing film for myself and living through the horror and disappointment of ruining a roll of beloved negatives. It’s time for Kathy to learn.

Today we listened to Classical Music on Henry’s tape player in the front part of the lab. It was real classy.

Mailed my box of rocks home. Thirty-one pounds, 4 ounces, $7.24. Not too unreasonable. Cleaned up the lab. Returned all our borrowed things to the BFC.

Went to Penguin Ops (VXE-6 offices). They were all decorated up for Christmas. Delivered the confessions to the Executive Officer, who accepted them in the spirit it was intended.

Played bridge with Mike Chapman-Smith, Henry, and Howard. Howard was my partner. We did very well, getting used to each other. It was an enjoyable evening. I was dealt all four aces once, but Howard ended up with the suit and went down two. Almost got into club convention on that aces hand. I had seven hearts, ace high, and all three other suits had count. We ended up at four hearts and made it. Howard and I lost in three rubbers, by less than a thousand points.

Today:
$4.24 Box O’ Rocks postage