And, just to show you that I too can be artsy-fartsy, here's a picture of a Silene acaulis, one of many lovely flowers you can find up on Svalbard during the short summer ..

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1136/...8bf09d5acb.jpg

You have such an interesting job lost out there amid the beauty of mother nature. I know the loneliness may get too much sometimes but I should imagine that the solitude is also embraced at times.

Yeah, it's a bittersweet thing. It was especially weird for me during the polar night last november/december when it was dark all day and there were not many people around. I was going to work in the lab everyday, usually without meeting anyone on the way in our out and then walking in the dark, wind and the snow back to this empty barrack .. There was just this really strange and kind of unreal feeling to it all. Sometimes it felt like everyone was gone and I was the only person left. But yeah, it does have it's own strange appeal .. A part of me miss it .. And of course I miss drinking myself stupid in front of the computer just listening to music. ;)

Being up there on my own without music or internet would be too much for me, though.

Walking over the tundra for hours is really peaceful. I tend to get lost in my own thoughts and just walk while I stare like 2 metres in front of my feet until I suddenly remember that I should keep a lookout for bears.

It was during my last lonely period up there that I joined up on MB - another positive thing to come out of my time there .. :D

Those are some really beautiful photos toretorden! My brother is a marine researcher who has spent two stints working on the north shore of Alaska and your photos reminded me a lot of things he's told me about what it's like up there. I'd love to see it myself, but there's probably not a lot of call for graphic designers up in the arctic circle.

Here's a few photos I've taken. They're just camera phone pics but I still think they look okay. I kind of like the crappy, blurry look of them.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...1031072159.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...0617071629.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...ete/gazebo.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...Sleepyhead.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2...n/DSC_0604.jpg

My roommate's girlfriend's gerbil. I swear to god all that thing does is **** and chew holes in my clothing. I'm about to take it home and feed it to my dogs.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2...en/jamesbw.jpg
I don't usually take pictures of people for any arts reason whatsoever, but I still kinda like how it turned out

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c28/swincen/scout.jpg
This is one of my dogs, the big white thing near her foot was a snowflake, and i'm not talented enough in photoshop to know how to get rid of it

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2...n/DSC_0427.jpg
A flower from the villa I stayed at this summer in Italy

gerbils are f*cking evil, the worst pets ever. I had two when I was a kid and when we got back from holiday the cages were empty, we found two piles of guts neatly arranged at the bottom of the stairs. How the f*ck do cats do it? That photo is great but to me that looks like a wild animal, they shouldnt be skittering around chewing the sh*t out of furniture. Oh yeah and chinchillas are a pain in the arse aswell

Hedgehogs, on the other hand, are adorable, loveable, and sweet.

yes hedgehogs do rule :p: Until they catch you in the woods and attack in rolling formation

I'm a Alzheimer's patient concerning this gerbil.

About once a week I feel really bad for it having to be stuck in a ball all day and I let it out. And everytime I let it out it ****s everywhere and chews holes in the clothing that's on the floor, and I swear to god i'm never going to let out this damned rat again, and then the next week I forget what a pain it is when it's out, and I let it out and run around, and it ****s and chews things.