It's only cancer. Elaboration of water 'issue'

For Kat :)

I tried to do a lot of research on the problem, and basically because Ketchikan is the rain capital of the country, all of our water comes from run off. Run off combined with deforestation equals dirty water, so they treat the water and the by product of chemically treating water is haloacetic acids (found in everyone's water all over the country) the gov sets a standard for what is acceptable in parts per million and we were notified because we were over double the acceptable standard. 

Now if I go back a couple months before we were first notified, I will tell you the type of experiences we were having.  I have never had a problem with dry skin (except sometimes my face a little when I was teen from using acne medicine lol) So it went a little like this, yay we're in Alaska. Summer, fun, sun, fishing. The first odd occurrence was the first time I used our new wash clothes, they were solid green and blue, and when I would use them to wash my face they would get what looked like bleach spots on them.  I attributed it to probably just being the washcloths fault, like they were cheap or something, basically I thought it was weird, but I didn't think too much about it. 

  -So then around the end of summer, I noticed my hair was starting to break off... And then my face was becoming so dry, and not dry like when I lived in Seattle this wasn't dry from weather, it was extreme. I knew something was wrong when all of my skin started feeling dryer than normal, not just on my face and I was starting to have little areas where I would feel where a grouping of my hair had broken off at the scalp.  Drew was experiencing it too, but not as bad as I was.  So itching of the scalp became normal, my face got progressively worse, it was to the point where I thought I was developing a medical condition. 

  -Ok so, next step, took a shower one day in the fall, got out and my face was BURNING, I told Drew, and he said the same thing had happened to him earlier that same day!  We were like wtf is going on, and we started making jokes about the water and how we should order a test kit and send in the results to some agency or what not.  

  -This one might be TMI, but we had been using the bath a lot because that's all we have upstairs, and I kept developing UTIs, now this is normal for some women but I had only had three in my whole life, I mean I love taking a bubble bath and it's never hurt me before, but here every time I took a bath or even long shower I would seem to start having discomfort... yeah... So I stopped taking baths all together (that's when I started noticing it happening from showers - I would have to rinse off in bottled water to keep it from happening)

  -Next step, our shower leaked because of an issue with the pump under the house that pumps all the used water up hill. We had thrown down a teal towel to absorb the water leaking through the wall (and called our rental agency to get it fixed) when i picked up the wadded up towel a day later it had huge bleach spots on it! Like bleach spots the size of basket balls. We were dumbfounded.

  -Then we get the first of two mailed notifications we have received telling us (I have attached them here) about the high concentration of these haloacetic acids, and I immediately ordered a shower filtration system. Low and behold even after the first use Drew was like, your skin is already softer! My hair felt better after one washing using the filter! Now I have had a hard time finding any proof to dermatological side effects of high quantities of these acids, but I damn well know that there are.  I am living proof. My skin is still not as soft as before but it is ten times better, and my hair is still dryer than normal but once again it has stopped breaking off at the root and is recovering. Also I stopped developing UTI symptoms after every shower long enough to shave my legs!  

So moving on to research. I of course tried to research the effects, and found only articles about studies done by universities.  From this I found links to miscarriages and dermatological side effects, but none of which any gov agency will substantiate.  The information I found was based on studies done in New Jersey, because apparently like us, they have a lot of run off and so they have to use a lot of chemicals to clean the water leaving behind the same by product that is left in ours... Or at least at the time this study was done...

  So that's my current water experience!  Sorry to bore you, but I bet there are at least a couple people who will find this interesting... Like Kat :) hehehe

found a pic I had taken of the towel...

'This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong...'

 

  

   I live in Ketchikan, AK.  We are basically part of Canada. We are completely isolated from the rest of the world, you cannot reach us by foot, the terrain between Canada and Ketchikan is too treacherous. You either fly here or take the Ferry out of Washington or Canada. The population here is about 8000. And you can drive about fifteen miles here alone the one main road.  That's right, one road in and out of town in both directions. You drive about twenty minutes North and you hit forest, to go any further you hike...

    

 You drive about fifteen minutes south and you hit a dirt road that you can drive over in a regular vehicle but only going about ten miles an hour because of how unmanaged it is. Obviously you can only make this drive during certain times of the year.  There is also a dirt road that spirals up into the mountains. And of course you can't go west cuz then there is water. 

It is kind of neat because as you can see on the map there are tiny islands to the west of Ketchikan, our Airport is on one of those Islands, and they are close enough that I can see their shores, trees, and if there were homes or people I would be able to see them too, but there aren't. 

So why is life here hard to get used to. 

One, I don't want to get used to life here. I have worked hard my adult life to set and meet high standards and living here severely lowers those standards. I do not want to become complacent, just because the standards are low, I hope this makes sense.  

Two, this is an industrial town with a population of 8000 people, half of which are natives.  The town is heavily male and dominated by the fishing industry. I believe logging is also present but not as much in my face so I'm not really aware of it on a daily basis. Only when I see big cargo ships sailing by carrying their gold mine in evergreens.

Three, tourism.  This town shuts down when the water gets to severe for cruise ships to make it safely in and out of Alaskan waters. That means from September to June this place is a ghost town. The majority of downtown shops are only stocked and open during tourist travel, which is fine because what need do I have for ten jewelery shops, fur shops, and $2,000 wood carvings.  My point is that the stores that open seasonally aren't for people living in the city anyway they are for tourists.  

This is a town that sold it soul to make a buck, no wonder the natives hate the white people so much here! And I'm not just saying that because it sounds right, Drew and I actually ran into a drunk older native while location scouting at totem park. He proceeded to tell us how racist they are and how he was raised to be a racist by his grandma and how he could not be racist in the army...etc etc. yes the conversation was that random, like I said, inebriated.  Anyway, I asked him if he was happy with how he has seen the town grow in his lifetime, and he shyly looked down grinned and said no.  He was so proud of his heritage and complained of the children in the Indian community playing video games instead of learning how to live off the land.  I really wish he wouldn't have been drunk so we could have talked longer, also the rain pouring down on us didn't help.

 So on to four, the stores and services here. As I mentioned there isn't much downtown except for stuff for tourists during the summer months. However to really spell it out for you, I shop at Walmart, and I am HAPPY to do it because it is the only real store here!  There are a total of three grocery stores. There is a McDonalds, and two Subway locations as well as a taco time in the 'Plaza'.  Yes Ketchikan has mall... MALL MY ASS, they have a two story plaza with a grocery store, a liquor store (because Ketchikan probably has fifty damn liquor stores - but no orthodontist) it also has a hair salon, the public utility office, a gross ass wanna be hot topic clothing store that clothes the emo culture here, a nail salon (where it costs you $80 for a set of acrylics!) a craft store, a second hand store, a sears mail order store, two cell phone stores (did I mention cell phone service is pretty much limited to a ten mile radius of what they call downtown, and if you have sprint there is no service here at all) some kinda kitchen store, and a few spots that only open up when tourist season arrives... And a lot of empty store fronts because the mall is too big for the amount of businesses actually setting up shop.  That's the mall that people here are so proud of because it's still new to them.  Anyway. there are a couple of hardware stores in Ketchikan, and outposts. Oh and there is a veterinarian! And that's basically it. There is a really tiny FORD dealership, I almost forgot.

 Five, medical. There is a hospital here. However this is a place where they hold like little get togethers at planned dates. Like lets say you need some kinda optical help, well don't worry on may 7th we will have 'such and such' here.  Since this is important to Drew and I, I will bring this up.  Pregnancy, Drew and I want to start a family while we are up here, and so we have inquired as to what the deal is with pre natal and delivery care.  Basically, they bring in a specialist once a month from Seattle, but not even the same specialist, different ones.  So you are constantly seeing a different doctor. Now I don't know if this is only a service offered to military or not, but I am at least thankful they send these people here! Now on to the scary part. Let's say you had a delivery emergency and one of these specialists wasn't here... AIRLIFT to Seattle, or so I've been told... 

  Six, We have now received two notices about our water up here through Ketchikan Public Utilities.  These notices say basically, hey there, your water has exceedingly high amounts of haleocentric acids, but don't worry it's safe to drink still. And cancer is only a problem if you are exposed for years. Have a nice day. I know this is not necessarily related but it needs to be pointed out.  You cannot leave your home without seeing a mentally challenged child or young adult here. Sometimes more than one during the same outing. With such a tiny population of people here, the proportion of those people with what appears to be down syndrome is overwhelming. The discussion on why I don't actually think genetics and a tiny gene pool is causing this will be saved for another time.

Sooo, I know it sounds like I hate Ketchikan, but I don't. If this were a blog about everything I hated about this place it would be EVEN longer, but it's not, I just wanted to give more basic info on the day to day reality of Ketchikan.  I know it got quite long, but I promise I tried to keep it short. lol  As for Ketchikan itself, minus the industry or low standards set by people who just don't know any better, it is the most GORGEOUS place I could imagine. Summer here is absolutely spectacular and I would live here through any winter to get to experience the amazement of summer. I love getting to go to the lake on a summer weekday, look out and see NO ONE. It was my salvation last summer and I cannot wait for this summer! :)

Live, Love, Laugh - makes me wanna gag!

So, I've been told, repeatedly, that I am a glass half empty type of chic. I think know I am simply a realist.  I call it like it is. The two people in the world who know me best, know that I pretty much despise EVERYTHING, and I have a 45 minute rant pocketed for each and every thing I hate.  So today instead of focusing on everything that is wrong with the world... like radiation seeping into the atmosphere, Fox 'news', ignorance and capitalism ;) I have decided to write about the things that make me happy. (Thank you Kati for the suggestion ;) )

I will try to add to this as I think of stuff... 

*My husband's love and devotion 

*Past accomplishments

*Cherry Soda

*Dancing

*Reading stuff that makes me feel smart hehe

*...Feeling smart.

*Visiting my family in Sacramento

*Playing with Roxie (or torturing her lol)

*Driving- I love driving, I used to drive about five hours a day once or twice a week to and from work in LA. Sometimes this was after working for on set for 12-15hrs... and I still loved driving... ( but I hate traffic... ugh see there I go, can't even get through this 'happy' list w/o interjecting a 'hate')  

*I love learning

*Playing with children, rough-housing, racing, I just love getting the opportunity to get muddy and act like a ten year old ... as long as I can shower immediately after hehe.

*Working out

*Doing photo shoots with great photographers for movies or print, if it's in a glamorous location in a metallic bikini or sparkly dress I'm happy lol... If it includes a large paycheck then it REALLY makes me happy lol.

*Getting mail, postcards, note-cards

*Shopping for shoes, clothes, or purses, I have a problem and probably need a 12 step program but I own about 15 pairs of boots alone and over 30 pair of pants, (to prove the point I have bought two pair of jeans this week already) Most of my jeans don't fit me now, I am having an increasingly difficult time finding jeans that are small enough... that topic just leads to one of those rants I spoke of earlier, so... moving on.

*I love getting my hair shampooed at the salon hehe

*I love and miss getting my hair and makeup done all the time in the makeup trailers at work!

*Hiking, and camping, exploring the wilderness...

*I love working with my hands, doing carpentry work gives me a sense of nirvana.

*Painting, I love painting walls and trim, but not ceilings.

*I love designing, pretty much any type of design. From architectural, to graphic, to fashion, and beyond it is my outlet for artistic expression.

*I love tanning in tanning booths (but hate tanning on a beach) haha, haven't done either of those in a while now.. hmmm

*I love my true friends. I don't have as many acquaintances as most modern young females, due to my lack of social butterfly-ness, but I believe I have made more true friends than most. :)

*I get joy out of sending people random gifts (and not random too... probably part of the shopaholic problem mentioned above hehe)

*It makes me happy when I can make someone smile and like me who wanted to hate me from the moment they saw me, this is probably one of the things I derive the most enjoyment from :)

*Skittles and Starburst

*Studying the processes of evolution

*Text conversations with Drew :)

This list got pretty long fast... I guess I do have a lot of things that make me happy in this world!  Which only goes to show, I am not an all around negative person who is incapable of deriving joy from life, just a realist. ;) -I cannot wait to write a blog about what makes me unhappy and on that list will be the kitschy,overused, generic expression, live. laugh. love.  So what makes you happy?

Who's Your Daddy?

I was raised by my grandparents, I will elaborate more on that at a later date.  The reason why that is important to know is that is explains how I could go my whole life never knowing my father.  I was almost five when I was put into foster care, and the last time I remember seeing who I remember as my father was around the age of 3, I know this because I can specifically remember where David (my brother) was, he was strapped into his, I don't know what you call it, those things you put your baby in where you can buckle them in, they can rock back and fourth? Anyways it was one of those, and David was still a baby, meaning I was probably 3. The memory was of my dad and mom fighting, him in his all white cover up (he was/is a painter) David screaming, precariously perched on the to top of a recliner chair and furniture being hurled through the air, I remember begging them to stop, I was scared David would fall if something hit the chair.  The other memory was of him trying to teach me how to drink a beverage out of a glass, while laying down on the couch (this was tricky, I still can't do it without spilling it all over my chest and face lol)

So this blog starting thing happened at exactly the right time because, I found my dad on Facebook!  At first I wasn't sure. But my maiden name is Wiland and there aren't really that many people with that name and spelling in the U.S. so my search was immediately successful and over as soon as it started, the only question was, is this him?  I could only see a few clues, the picture didn't help at all, but I saw a website link.  It was a link to his painting business in San Jose... At this point I knew it had to be him, but I was still unsure of what to do with the information. This all happened almost a year ago now, I chickened out.

Earlier this week I did the search again and more thoroughly, I was able to ask my mom questions to confirm that this was in fact him. (I now have communication with my mother almost on a daily basis, it's something I have come to enjoy and look forward to - more explanation of that budding relationship will be saved for another day) And so I took the next step. I emailed him!  I wrote something short, sweet, and non dramatic, never using words like father or daughter, simply stating who my mother was and that I hoped he had found someone special to spend his life with etc.  

This was followed up by him sending me a friend request.  I was able to then stalk his wife's facebook (because women always have more photos and info on their facebooks then men of that generation!) I was able to see how happy they are together, and it made me HAPPY.  I've always acted so indifferent to parts of my family so it's a little strange to be changing this late in the game, to actually feel happy for him was nice. 

This morning when I woke up my phone was blown up with facebook update notifications, one of which says that my dad has emailed me back!  I have not read it yet and am excited/scared to do so. However I could not fall back asleep after seeing that, so now here I am blogging about it rather than reading it.  lol. 

SO that is where we are currently.  I am excited and will post an update to this. And at some point probably post information that makes the situations around why I was raised by my grandparents more clear, and why this is all such a big deal a little more clear. I just can't seem to really get into details when I know I am sharing this with others and not a singular person, it's weird, I mean I fully intended to lay it all out, but I am definitely holding back, so please don't blame me for this, I'm just not ready. I am so thankful for the friends and supporters I have.  In a personal one on one convo I had with any of you I would be 100% up front about it, but I just can't seem to find the release button to make that happen here.

I will say one of my main motivations for contacting my father, is to find out what other family I have out there, Brother's sister's, cousins, etc.  Things I always wondered growing up, you know?  Well that's it for now, I'll let you know how it goes from here on out!  Thank you so much for listening. xoxoxxoo, from Alaska!

I don't look like Christina Aguilera!

I did a lot of awesome jobs working in the entertainment industry, all of which I am proud to say were legitimate, I made fast and easy money, and kept my dignity - not something a lot of people can lay claim to.

Today I received an email from central casting, apparently they have been trying to get in touch with me but the contact number they have for me is out of commission (I changed my number when I moved to Alaska).  They offered me a two day SAG promo as Christina Aguilera's stand in. 

...This is not the first time.

Back before Burlesque started filming I saw central casting had posted on LA Casting looking for a blonde bombshell, gorgeous, super sexy with a dancers physique, 5'2" and probably something about huge melons... I do not accept stand in work, so I laughed at the irony that Christina Aguilera herself would not pass the high standards they had set forth for her stand in... Anyway... A couple weeks later, I got the first of three calls from central casting telling me the production wanted to interview me to be her stand in for the movie, they emphasized what a BIG DEAL this was... and what a GREAT OPPORTUNITY etc. etc. I was pretty much guaranteed the spot.

...I declined... I was at first offended because I look nothing like her, and I don't find her facially gorgeous (although she is prettier now with some weight on her bones), and her wide hips and piano legs are anything but 'Heather-esque', (or the bombshell they described) it was then I remembered the original casting they had posted and I felt incredibly flattered that in the production's mind I fit their incredibly high standards... I felt even more flattered that I was getting offered the job when I never even submitted for it, but I still wasn't about to embark on the hell that journey would have been!

Anyway, all of this burlesque crap happened the end of 2009/beginning of 2010, but today's email from Adam at central brought back the memory - the horror, and the flattery... and for the record,

I don't look like Christina Aguilera!

So you actually showed up...?

Wow, so you've made it this far... Here is the first of probably what will ultimately be only a handful of blogs, I mean eventually I will figure out I have NOTHING to talk about and you will realize that I AM BAT CHICK CRAZY!  Sooo until then, here it goes!

Welcome to my blog! I use way too many exclamation marks, probably to make up for the mundane nature of what is actually being expressed. I say this to you as a warning. If you don't like punctuation, leave now. Okay moving on. 

Topics just may include the following: Fitness, stock market, evolutionary anthropology, Pole dancing, Sociology, Empiricism, Politics, Alaskan life, Domestic divadom, what makes me, ME, Modeling, Photography, Mental disorders, and why Glenn Beck should fall off the wagon, land on a hypodermic needle and drink himself to death fulfilling his ultimate destiny.

 So now you know what you have to loathe or look forward to, hope to see you for round 2 ;) Oh and please take the fitness poll on the right hand side of the blog. thx.