I have decided officially that I hate the JPD. Now, I haven't heard many good things about them but I usually try not to take judgment on things until I have first hand experience to base them by. Well, this week I was out with a couple friends around one in the am. We were driving home from down town....Well, our lovely car L'il Blue has a few quirks and awesome traits. One of which is the speedometer isn't exactly correct. BEing the only car on the road I was in no hurry and I was enjoying the evening drive home using it for a little bit of contemplation on the day. All of the sudden I was looking in my vanity side mirror and seeing red and blue lights flashing. What?! I know I wasn't speeding, my car doesn't go fast enough to really speed. The second thought that went through my head was $h!# We don't have insurance. When the officer strode up to the window he said "I pulled you over because you weren't speeding, and I'm bored and have nothing else to do, and maybe since you are obeying the speed limit you are actually driving defensively because you have been drinking tonight and now you are driving and I'm and A hole and have nothing else to do but torment you at 1 in the morning." Okay, so I took some liberties in the actual quote but he did say that I was not speeding and I was driving cautiously so he figured he would stop me and check. Well, fine and dandy but now I have a $160 ticket because we don't have insurance on our $500 beast of a blazer. I wish that the Juneau PD would patrol and go out on calls where people actually need them. I have heard of more than one instance when the police were called because of actual criminal activity but were too lazy to go and check on a single woman when her home and car were being broken into. From now on I am no longer the defender of the police here. Thank you for nothing JPD!
And then, yet again I was pulled over. What for this time? Oh, the same thing....bored cops looking for someone to pull over for fun. I wasn't speeding, I wasn't swerving, I wasn't passing on the right, I used my blinker--I was just driving cautiously again and they wanted to make sure I wasn't drunk. My quick wits kicked in and this time I told him that I was dd for the night. It worked!!! I got away without him checking my insurance. My insurance was purchased and the court date came around. I hate the enforcement in this town. They are all ridiculous....An underage kid gets caught driving drunk, speeding, and wreckless driving multiple times and gets his fine reduced....me, who jumps through the stupid hoops gets stiffed with the entire bill. Oh well, this will be the last time as well. I now know the secret to getting away with being pulled over--claim to be the designated driver and you're golden in this town. I just hope they don't pull me over with the warrant that will be out for my arrest when I don't end up paying my fines :)

This was the 4th time we got pulled over. We tried to take pictures without turning around and making it obvious

Ode to summer loves

Classes have just let out, summer vacation is here. You think to yourself that you are going to rock this summer. It is going to be a blast, you've got all the plans, the box of otter pops, the new suit...you're ready. The only thing you need to pull the whole thing off is a short term significant other. You quickly scout those who are around and hastily make your move. You know we're all guilty of it at least once. The only problem with this hasty decision is that you have barely gotten their name much less anything about who they are. The short term significant other becomes even shorter term than you thought and pretty soon all social gatherings have the potential of becoming the most awkward. Who are they going to show up with...are you expected to talk, what do you talk about? A one time mistake like this has helped me to learn...the first offer isn't always the best offer. Hold out for a little while. If the summer sizzle is getting to you choose someone and make a game out of it. Once mission is accomplished the game is over and someone else becomes the object leaving there no awkwardness, just a friend you can share a sly little look with.

Four Square Revolution

So, yesterday my work day was ending and I was completely bored. All day the clouds were low so there were no flights going out even though I rolled out of bed at 6 to get to work and sit and wait. Well after many hours of waiting I got the most spectaclar idea.....Parking lot four square. Well, Whit (happy 21st!) and I grabbed a roll of masking tape and went to work making our arena. When we finally got done I was certain that nobody would really come out and play with the two morons of TEMSCO. I was wrong. We soon had 12 people playing with us!!! Young and old alike. We played until rides started to leave people behind. It would have done any playground moniter proud to see how well we all played together. No slams, no holds, no carries, no backstops....it worked perfectly. Tweedledee and Tweedledum started a new revolution. No fly days? No problem, just bust out the red four square ball and have a blast reminiscing of the old days of elementary.

Death by Venom

This morning I had quite the scare. I was in the shower and as I was scrubbing my leg I found a rather tender spot. As I brushed my loofa over it stung like nobody's business and it was red and a little swollen. Well, knowing that we have spiders in our house in mass numbers, and also knowing that there are brown recluses here in AK my mind automatically thought that I was bitten. I had never had a bite that stung and I know that when you are bitten by this spider it swells, hurts, and eats away the flesh. As I got out of the shower and searched my bed, my clothes, my whole room. I had Whitney verify that there were indeed marks and redness on my leg. I hadn't made the whole thing up. Nothing, not a single trace of anything venomous. I continued to keep an eye on my leg as I went to work. About half way through the day I remembered I had been hit by a metal door the day before and that was the cause of the pain and redness. I was seriously relieved that I wouldn't have to maim my gorgeous legs and scar them so that I could continue to walk with two legs. I'm so blessed to not have been bitten by a spider this morning. I thank the stars for that.

The Summer of 08!!!

Well, here I sit in Southeast Alaska. My friend Mike has made a few songs about our happenings. Actually it is only one song it is just continuous. The same two chords. He just sings many many verses. One that continues to stick in my head is "it's another rainy day in Southeast A-K." I have been horrible at writing in my journal, and that only benefits me. So, maybe if I know that this will be read by actual people instead of the imaginery 'prosperity' of my supposed future it will keep me writing and updating. I'm here with a great friend, Whitney, her two siblings Josh and Sydney. We're trying to keep it real while earning a little cash too.

I have had an awesome time here in Juneau. It is everything I ever could have imagined. We got into town did our drug test as soon as we stepped off the plane...before we would have any time to taint our samples. By that evening we had some instant friends and a new vehicle. Lil' Blue. He's sexy as well as tempermental. I wouldn't have it any other way though. He totally complete's the image I had of what my Alaskan experience would be. We then drove home....to our nice half of a double wide in a sweet little trailer park conveniently located next to Costco, and the prison. I was walking one evening and stumbled across a lot of razor wire fencing. There I was standing at the Juneau Prison. Awesome, just means the police drive by on an hourly period. Then, I found out the other awesome fact....all my neighbors are half way houses located for easy drug testing at the facility around the corner. I love my ghetto meth lab district!!!

So far I've done some really stellar things. We hiked Fish Creek. Whitney pretended that we were Lewis and Clark. Well, we found this old beached boat and needed to go and explore it. The only thing that was holding us back was a river. It was shallow, slow enough that we could have easily forded it. Shoes and socks were thrown off and I start the trek to cross the creek. About half way through my eyes are teared up because it is so cold that I'm not remembering to blink. Whitney is behind me telling me to hurry up. I get 3/4 of the way across and realize that because my eyes are watery I can't see how deep the water was getting and I was getting into the main channel of the waterway. We made an executive decision to turn around and return to safety. Mainly because there was no way we would want to get back into that water. When we were back on solid ground it took about another 5 minutes for feeling to return to my feet. Lesson learned-don't try to ford across a runoff river in Alaska. It will end poorly. Zipling and hiking have become passions of mine up here. Also, sneaking into salmon bakes. We have decided on a weekly ritual-the foreign film every Tuesday night at the local bagel shop, The Silverbow. Aweseom bages and a free movie can't be beat.

I celebrated my birthday this week. It was the first one that I really spent away from home. I loved it. I woke up and then Whitney and my boss had set up a day of river rafting. So fun!!! We went to the Mendenhall glacier and then floated the water that ran off into the river. Afterwards I got all dressed up and we went to dinnerat the Twisted Fish with 20 of my closest Juneau friends. I was treated to king crab legs. They were so delicious. Thanks again Steve!!!

Work here is radical. I work as a ramp rat at a helicopter company. I fuel the aircraft and get our tourists ready to go up. Sometimes it can be monotonous, but really, who fuels helicopters for a summer job? I love my co workers too. It is a party all the time.