Latest
Update: August 29, 2001 by Ben Marcus
21:55
ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 29, 2001 THE BREAK ROOM AT NAUTILUS
FOODS
MONEY
Made
more than I spent today. Hurrah. That is why I am cutting fish.
It's
22:00 and I'm done cutting fish today. After coming back from
the library we got into a nice batch of silver salmon, and they're
a pleasure to work with. These fish are big and solid and easy
to cut and clean. Some of them are loaded with roe, and at $20
a pound for roe and $2 a pound for the fish, some of those fish
can be worth $30 to $40. And there are A LOT of them.
The
pinks are a pain in the butt. The sorter guy (see attached photo)
just told me that the pinks aren't really worth selling. They
go out in cardboard cartons worth $110 and the fish are only worth
about $80. They make it up in the pink salmon roe, which I guess
is the best. The fish are just a pain to deal with, soft and slippery
and ucky.
Everyone
else went back to work. Processing is done, so I'm going to sit
and watch CNN and work on things. I want to touch up the BORED!
pitch a bit, and get back to Deus ex Machina. It would be nice
if one of these things actually went somewhere, but at least all
these projects give my brain something to chew on.
Earlier
today during the dinner break, two of the Turks asked me if I
would drive them to Anchorage on September 2. The way they asked
and their hand movements looked exactly like the scene in Lawrence
of Arabia where Daud and Farraj ask to be paid "one shilling.
Each." I cracked up and tried to explain it to them. The two guys
are coming in later and I'll show them the scene.
Nothing
much else exciting today. Just cutting fish with my head down,
thinking about good things and bad things. At least I'm earning
money and not spending it. I guess that was the point of this
all along. Every once in a while I'll poke my head outside and
get a nice glimpse of Alaska, but this all reminds me of my Harmony
Foods days, including the Talking Heads soundtrack.
I'm
dying to go check e-mail. One of the Young Turks has been kicked
into management in the office. Maybe he'll let me plug in a little
later.
Don't
know if there will be fish tomorrow. Two of the Turks want me
to take them to Anchorage on September 2 and they've agreed to
pay guess. I might just do it, if only to pick up all my swag
at Scott Liska's. I should go there sooner to check out the Montagu
Cup over Labor Day. We shall see. If there aren't any fish, then
I won't be missing anything. It's 300 miles to Anchorage, but
I'll have the Turks with me so it'll be okay.
Time
to work on all my sketchy projects. I should write a letter to
send en masse to all my creditors and tell them to hang in there.
Miracles happen.
10:05
ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 29, 2001 THE DINING ROOM AT NAUTILUS
FOODS
MONEY
Nothing
lately.
I'm
getting a sore throat. Can't imagine why, working in an ice box
in Alaska in rainy August. My camera is suffering from the dank
musties as well. I think the wet, cold weather finally did it
in. Now my keyboard is getting glitchy, too. It's not putting
spaces in between things. I think I better get out of here before
all the wheels fall off.
No
fish this morning. Maybe later. Last night they were up processing
halibut until the wee hours. I think they get around $5 a pound
for halibut and there were some fish over 100 pounds. Apparently
there is one coming in that is 400 pounds. Righteous bucks, as
Spicoli would say.
Last
night I did a little espionage and snuck into the Owner's office
to tap into his fax line. Nothing super important, just trying
to get more people interested in the Tidal Bore deal. Eric Nelson
and Curt Myers might come up to shoot it. We shall see.
Made
some progress on the BORED! proposal last night. No idea if that
thing is going to go anywhere, but it would be nice.
Now
I'm in the dining room with scoundrels and Mexicans and Turks
all around me. Here is Tio. Aqui es tio. Es un hombre correcto.
Tiene muchas dientes do oro. El no usa su sombrero bueno ahora
por que el no quiere el sangre sobre son sombrero. "Si, sangre
de pescado," he said.
Sangre
de pescado. Hay mucho sangre de pescado.
Time
to work on my projects. I'm watching Hunter on the TV and I'll
come back to this when something interesting happens.
10:53
ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 30, 2001 THE VALDEZ LIBRARY
Crud.
I'm in the library and I can't log on to AOL. There is a guy from
Santa Cruz sitting next to me, logging onto swell.com. Why can't
I log onto AOL? Shit. Another technical glitch. I guess I have
to call the 888 customer service number.
Okay.
Got it fixed. I had an AOL 800 number bill for more than $600
and I guess they thought that was a problem.
Got
that problem fixed and ran into others. Here is an e-mail from
the Guinness World Records people. I guess I didn't give them
enough time. "To your e-mail.." ???? He sounds like the Turks.
In
a message dated 8/30/2001 5:13:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time, simon.gold@guinnessrecords.com
writes:
Dear
Ben,
Thank
you very much to your email to Michael Feldman at Guinness World
Records Television.
THANk
YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE.
We
were very interested, however, with such short notice, we will
be unable to accommodate your record attempt within our schedule
THAT
IS DISAPPOINTING.
COME
ON, YOU CAN DO IT.
IT'S
EASY.
I'LL
SET THE WHOLE THING UP FOR YOU. YOU SEND A DIRECTOR AND I'LL
PROVIDE THE CINEMATOGRAPHERS.
SOME
OF THE FOOTAGE ALREADY EXISTS. A LOCAL CINEMATOGRAPHER HAS A
35 MM TIME LAPSE OF THE WATER MOVEMENT TAKEN FROM A LOCAL MOUNTAIN
WHAT
ABOUT IF WE PUSHED IT UP ANOTHER MONTH???????
YOU
GUYS NEED TO DO THIS. TRUST ME.
Good
luck, and thanks again for your interest.
WHAT
ABOUT JUST SENDING OUT SOMEONE FROM GUINESS WORLD RECORDS TO
ADJUDICATE AND OVERSEE THE ATTEMPT?
SORRY
TO PLEAD, BUT THIS IS A WORTHY PROJECT.
Yours
sincerely,
Simon
C. Gold
Associate
Producer
GUINNESS
WORLD RECORDS TELEVISION
338
Euston Road London NW1 3BD
Tel:
+44 (0) 20 7891-4566
Mob:
+44 (0) 7803 85 66 18
Fax:
+44 (0) 20 7891 4535
Okay,
just sent a bunch of e-mails, not all of them as pleading as that
one. The Santa Cruz dude just left. He's stuck here with a 33'
ketch called the Arctic Turn. I guess he needs money and he as
an 18-year-old girl he is sweet on.
He
is jonesing to go do the Tidal Bore attempt. I may take him with
me when I go to Anchorage on the 14th.
He's
gone, and I've gone through all my e-mails. AOL gave me a temporary
password so everything worked out okay.
Now
what? Work on the BORED! proposal. Work on Santa Cruz. Work on
Deus ex Machina. Work on Prudhoe Bay Pipeline proposal.
I
should go back to Nautilus Foods and see when the fish will be
around.
I'm
getting tired of this, but I'll hang in there.
Evan
just asked if I've sent him a check to reimburse the $4000 he
sent me.
I'm
checking my Wells Fargo account now.
I'm
afraid to see what I am going to see.
Oh,
not so bad. Just under $2000. I'll send that all to Evan and then
were will I be?
Oh
well, at least I earn money at the Fish Plant and they feed me.
It's
13:30 now.
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