And so I digress back to the topic of shenanigans and thus the topic of this post. While at the wonderfully beautiful and desolate South Pole there were many interesting people that I met and interacted with. On of them is a Ms. Shelby Handlin. She was, not necessarily the head of but a good portion of, the activities committee. So they would plan things like bingo, and trivia and what not. So since the fire department couldn’t necessarily play completely, due to flight coming day and night, the games we would attend and play but usually not finish. Now working at the South Pole there are some very smart people. It ranges from astrophysicist to rocket scientist to PhD students to engineers to well everything you would find to make a town run. The trivia was very popular since beer was given out as prizes for each round. But since 60% of the station has 1 bachelor degree at least it was difficult for some to have fun at trivia. Well one night the star finally aligned and we were able to do trivia. But not just as participants, we were the ones that made the questions. It was so fun that night at trivia and towards the end Ms. Shelby Handlin shows up which is an absolute surprise to the regulars at trivia since it was always “past her bedtime.” Now at this point everyone that is playing trivia is laughing and dancing and having a grand old time, so much different then the usual trivia night. You see when we put of the fliers to announce that the fire department was running trivia we put “make sure you brush up on” US international policy, foreign made cars, US history prior to 1844 and Costa Rica. Those are the real topics that we put but they will suffice for the point of this blog. We had about 15 people come up to us and say “you really want those topics for trivia?” and our response was “do you really think that we know that shit either. Make sure you bring plenty of beer it is going to be fun.” Well the word got around to the 40% of the station with 1 bachelor degree or less so when everyone got to trivia they were prepared for a good time, well a good time commenced. We had 140 possible points and out of the 8 teams the ones that were doing the best were the 40 %ers by a landslide, like 120ish points to 50ish. So I was the 3 of 4 to give my questions.Sorry I got off topic, so Shelby walks in and everyone cheers. With a little banter back and forth, between all 6 of the firefighters and her, the topic comes up that I, actually Danielle and I, will be leaving in 5 days and that “our time is limited now so we should make the most out of it.” Now you throw in my "glorious smile" my stunning physique and a joking wink and Blam-O! Right there in the middle of the galley in front of 40ish people that are on there way to being “3 sheets to the wind” Shelby, not to be out done, drops to her knee and proposes to me. Then of course Megan, who could possibly be the female version of me and who was coincdently on the microphone, announces it to everyone and the cheers begin.... again. Now I know you all are thinking “that is a funny story but unless the galley is outside what is the point of the story?” Well this picture is of her “actually breaking my heart and ‘demanding’ a divorce” on the day that I was leaving, well supposed to leave. I was lucky to get a 3 day furlough extending my time at the South Pole to the 30th of December 2009. The picture was thought to be lost but it mysteriously appeared on my Facebook and I just couldn’t let the story go untold.
So now that it is out there, everyone can enjoy it. I do enjoy it immensely when I remember the shenanigans of the night. It really is a highlight of my wonderful time at the South Pole.
Stay Frosty
-C
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