This post contains two parts, a written portion, and a few little slideshows which I hope you may move through as if they were flip-books.

Slideshows are ordered:

• Family/Lower 48 things
• Training and Racing
• School and Studying
• Foods of 2023/24
• Fun and Adventure
• Restorative things
• Views

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An overarching update! It has been a while, and I’d like to make a resolution to be more consistent with my blog. However, I have come to the conclusion that little bits is all I am willing to put out. Let me expand on this. I love to keep my friends, family, and supporters up to date and share all of the fun and rigorous activities I indulge in. But, I also feel disdain for the feeling of being perceived. Much of this disdain has come from an increase in my understanding of how our data is used by the companies many of us frequent most (usually social media platforms). I find myself wishing to hide from the world of advertising and marketing, wishing I could put on a digital cloak of invisibility so that my personal conversations, interests, hobbies, connections, and habits are not put up for auction. I wish not to have my attention monetized. This is not to say that I don’t like cheeky Super Bowl ads, or well-crafted ad champions that show goods and services that I need or like… But I wish they couldn’t anticipate my next want. It is an odd thing to wish because not so long ago I bet many of us wished for some technology that could anticipate your needs, passively listen to your conversations by just having the device in the same room as you, and give you suggestions the next time you go on the web or a shopping application. 

Perhaps I am prone to this frustration, coming from a small town with one four-way stop, growing up on a hill out of town with only a handful of neighbors to speckle the land nearby. Now I live in a city, mind you, Anchorage is no New York, but I hear more sirens on an average day than I have within any one year from my house back home. Maybe privacy, simplicity, nature, and calm are the qualities a city lacks… There are surely pockets of tranquility around the city, but it is no mountain village or countryside. It is infested with the riches and slums of society. A city displays in harsh contrast the consequences of innovation. But that is another saddening truth of the ever-increasing societal divide.

That is the real world, now think back to the internet. Technology seems to be the Wild West right now, lacking in decency, privacy, and property rights- don’t even get me started on small business artists. 

But, such is life. Society is like wind, sometimes you may predict its future or tendencies, and other times it is influenced by unforeseen factors, having branches of butterfly effects. But enough of my excuses and philosophy, maybe I shall start a line of t-shirts that say 

“PLEASE

Do not perceive

Me.”

It would be blissfully ironic because to have any effect they would have to be read, thus catching and forcing perception- but with the overarching goal of the opposite impact! Brilliant! No no, in all fairness, the world does not need more stuff, stuff however well intended is still clutter to the cogs of the world and the evolution of matter. But how can you sculpt society without things in our consumerist world? How can a positive impact be made without a product and some tangible thing for people to hold onto and say ‘look! Look! See how proud I am, this t-shirt means I donated to save the world!’… etc. The tragedy of the world is a lack of education, food, safe water, fossil fuels (but not even electric is better because of the environmental cost of all that digging for metals, and those toxic, what is it, lithium? Pools that birds immediately die upon touching?)… Much more. And here I am trying to sit down and give you an update on my career, my life, my interests and joys… All for it to be stored on a server that is ultimately heating up the planet as well. 

But nothing is perfect, life is life and people are people, the world is the world, and no drastic change is going to change it all… Mostly because the drastic change needed is still being fathomed. At most right now, the solution is a half-baked idea and has not been implemented or even engineered to its best because of the greed and stubborn comfort of humanity. 

So, perhaps… Advertising and marketing are the future of the world… If only subliminal messages were hiding keys to health and prosperity for people and the planet. Rather than this week’s new drug that will cure the side effects of last week’s new drug; fast food made of microplastics, inhumane and inorganic raising and growing practices, and the classic cheap gadgets you can buy if you just call that number on the screen for a limited time only deals on some hunk of forever plastic packaged in styrofoam. 

But, identifying problems is only so useful. I think that step one is simple, easy, and at no cost to anyone: talk about it. Start the conversation. If you feel defensive at any point in the following discussion, maybe a lifestyle change could come into consideration- or, if you are unable or unwilling, think about larger-scale examples of the sustainability issues you see in your own life, then see if you can do something about it. Your knowledge and opinion is at no cost to you, card stock is optional, and stamps are less than a buck. Time is an amazing tool that we have all been lucky enough to be granted. 

Now that I have concluded my thought, I realize I just had an internal conversation, between myself and you, the reader. I followed the pattern I just outlined before I even knew there was a pattern to growth! Identify the issue, simmer on it a bit, let it steep, stir in some potential solutions, maybe get a second wave of frustration, then develop an opinion- pair it with knowledge or research, then talk, write, communicate, and improve. 

I may not know the most, but by maintaining kind intentions, and feeding inhibition and passion, I think that no one can go wrong. 

Now I may continue with my update. In a nutshell, I am pursuing a career as a pilot, I am going into my third year of college now studying business, and I am proud to say that this will be my second summer training with the amazing crew here at the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center. 

I have almost completed a quarter of my flight training with Angel Aviation, I intend to earn my ratings up to flight instructor (CFI) while I continue ski racing and training full-time, and as long as I am in school. After that I’ll likely take on higher commitment jobs, likely bush flying, potentially even passenger airlines!

I am playing around with different ways to also pursue my love of art and find a way to have it support me. I am still playing with mixed media through acrylic and watercolor with stitchwork and penwork. Perhaps I’ll eventually get a grasp of shading and deeper dimensions in my work. My style is strongly attached to crisp clean B&W linework drawing, vibrant overcontrasted color in my experimental shading, figure drawing, and landscapes. 

As for school, I am stoked for another great year with APU, perhaps accounting isn’t so scary! We’ll see. 

I am over the moon about the accomplishments of my teammates and am striving to match them at their National, World Cup, and Olympic levels. But that is an elephant, and as we all know, it’ll take a few years to work through that. One day, one bite, one workout at a time, progress is inevitable. Crazy how positive and negative action both have a snowballing effect. So glad I have that endorphin junkie in me!

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Here are the slideshows, please enjoy, and know that they are not organized in any specific order with a variety of different shots within each, perhaps they are an apt reflection of how my mind felt while organizing and selecting each photo!

Family/Lower 48

Just a sprinkle of family and lower 48 things, for reasons established above, I am keeping most of this content to myself. But I love all of it so much that I’ll share a little.

Training and Racing

Lots of races, racing started in early December with some Super Tours, then a few restorative building races back here in Anchorage, and then back on the Tour in the spring! I certainly could not do it without the amazing support of Advanced Physical Therapy, the warmth of our Hestra gloves, the speed of our Borah race suits, or the camaraderie and strength of my teammates and coaches!

School and Studying

Foods of 2023-24

Yeop, that’s just food. Only the most exciting time interval marker throughout one’s life.

fun and Adventure

Not organized by date… Or even trip, just a smattering of contrasting activities that make life vibrant!

restorative things (:

Knitting, painting, gardening, playing outside, building things, drawing… Footed pajamas… Animals, friends… Cooking, eating, family… Mud.

Views

These are the highlights, certainly not all, but these cover most of the amazing sights from this past year.

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Thank you for your attention and interest, please reach out with any questions, art inquiries, support, or the like!

P.S.. please comment or reach out if you’d like an email update for new posts, I am still working on the technical logistics of the blog, but it would be good motivating feedback if folks are interested.

contact: evaweymullerdesigns@gmail.com