I've got blisters on my fingers!

Well, maybe just some pretty raw spots and one nasty crack. I just finished playing guitar for three hours and feel like I've been drinking from the fire hose. This is the beginning of what will hopefully be a successful winter's participation in a rock band here at South Pole. I'm going to be a rhythm guitarist, and-yes-even a vocalist on a few songs. It should be a great way to keep busy in my off-time, and should be a great way to meet girls...oh, wait, no. Anyhow, it should still be a blast, and I will hopefully FINALLY fulfill a wish to be part of a rock band that I've had since way back in high school when some guys a year ahead of me had their little group called Deaf Man Missing that played at a lot of school functions. It's going to take a lot of work, time, and-initially-a lot of flesh off my fingers, but it's going to be so cool to really get up on stage and let it all hang out. Just to reiterate, yes, I did say I will be singing in public, which hasn't happened since 8th grade way back in 1992.

So, in other news, we're starting the process of jockeying for rooms here in the station for winter. I'm not sure exactly how all the precedence works out other than if you have more time on the Ice that you probably have more say. I just don't want a room that's half of what can be made into a double room. They have a partition that is especially acoustically transparent, and it'd be nice to have a little more insulation and privacy from the rest of the population. Even Superman needed his Fortress of Solitude, Captain Picard his Ready Room, and Pee-wee his Playhouse.

The temperature is steadily dropping here. In the last few days it has gone from about -29F to roughly -33F to -34F, with the windchill in the mid -50Fs. If it keeps up I may have to start wearing at least long johns under my jeans for my daily trips out to ARO...