All right. My brain hates me. So, just for a bit of background, some news items from our widespread and sparsely-populated area. (and, just for fun, the backstory that goes with them).

Friday there was an armed standoff in Igloolik.

I ended up being involved in this a bit at work, fielding phone calls back and forth between the airport and Igloolik... didn't know air traffic control was in my job description. (I had more story here, but I'm still pretty nervous about talking about my job...)

Second news item has to do with the muskox harvest around here.

I saw the posters in the Coop a few weeks ago, asking for applications from hunters to be part of the harvest. I was joking around with Miguel, saying to him that I was going to apply.

Anyway. I'm told that there is a 45 minute window between killing and cutting the animals, which has to be done in the abattoir, rather than on the land as traditionally. All wonderful intentions aside, the problem with the new rules is that the time limits and the need for the abattoir have made it very difficult, given that the timeline requires a very early start that the hunters don't like. (I don't blame them one bit, it's bloody cold out there...) So the hunt is going very slowly and the folks manning the abattoir are bored. The best laid plans of muskox and men. (I personally don't understand the 45 minute thing, I'm pretty sure that in these temperatures the meat's not going bad in a hurry.) People have killed and eaten these animals for thousands of years. I think I'd rather eat a caribou that I can see was healthy and running around millions of acres of clean land than a cow that was stuffed into a feedlot in the Fraser valley within breathing distance of Vancouver's pollution. Who knows.

I went for dinner next door with the lawyers last night. I got to ask a lot of the questions I've been wondering about, to do with cultural differences and my place in the scheme of things. Although my brain still hates me, my emotions are a bit calmer. I love it here. Strange. Miguel's already starting to talk about wanting to go back to the real world. Not yet, but he's thinking finitely. I can understand that. But I'm in no hurry.