I froze my piñata off in Alaska

(This was posted at Shakesville on June 11, 2007, and was part of the “Get to Know Bill” series, which included posts about my fear of bats and ratdogs. Please note, it was written before Sarah Palin entered the national consciousness, which I wrote about here.)

As a young man, growing up in sunny Southern California, I longed for bigger, better things. It was new adventure I yearned for, new mountains to climb.

So I moved to Alaska and spent the better part of a decade freezing my piñata off.

Oh Lord, have I been cold

I moved to Anchorage, Alaska when I was 21 and didn’t have the common sense the good, non-existent Lord gave a chicken. In hindsight, living in Alaska was a nice thing to have done. The actual doing it part was what was tough.

My years in Alaska were spent as a bouncer, bartender, carny, commercial fisherman, and finally a student. Of those diverse occupations, all I truly remember of them was that I was cold. Really, really cold. And one thing about having lived in Alaska: It doesn’t make me impervious to cold weather. On the contrary, these days I’m cold when the temperature gets under 70. I gave at the office. My ability to handle cold left me some January evening in the early ’90s when the wind chill hit 50 below.

But it was being cold that ultimately got to enroll at the University of Alaska Anchorage. I was finishing what was my final tour of duty on a longliner in the Bering Sea. Freezing, tired and 28, it finally occurred to me that being a fisherman was not really the plan I had for my life.

So I became a Seawolf. And now more than a decade later, I’m glad I did. It got me out of the cold, both figuratively and literally.

I’ve had reason to think about Alaska recently. First, I found out an old friend and mentor – Mike Doogan – had left his job as a columnist at the stellar Anchorage Daily News, and had entered the world of politics in the state legislature. The news did my heart well, as he’s a lifetime Alaskan who truly wants what’s best for the state.

Then, I learned that the nephew of my closest friend in Alaska has just signed an NHL contract. His name is Tim Wallace, and he has signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. I met him a few times back in the day, and I truly couldn’t be happier for him and his family.

It’s been nice thinking about Alaska. So much that I did there now seems more like a movie I once watched rather than a reality I once lived. But I did live it, and have the fear of cold weather left behind as proof. But cold weather or not, a part of me will always remain in Alaska. It is a glorious state, inhabited by an eclectic group of people.

Alaska is legendary for taking in misfits, and I was one of them. And I wouldn’t be the person I am now without the experiences I had in the 49th state. Whether that’s good or bad is left to you to judge. But let there be no debate: I have been cold.

–WKW