Dancing like Nobody is watching and loving like it's never gonna hurt.

I am tired it is Wednesday afternoon. I was up at 4:08 to leave by 4:21 to be at work by 4:32. I ride my bike to work, and wear rainbow gloves my mom sent with me. It is cold in the morning and I can see my breath. Today I deadheaded to Denali park to pick up my people. I had to be there by 8. Anyways I did a funny tour, I was quiet most of the time, but I can pipe up when it is time to talk pipeline. I can bring the facts like I was a native. Now onto the goodness.... I got to eat at Big Daddy's BBQ for free, it was good ( i guess the cats out of the bag, i am not making my vegan dreams come true). I have to go pick these good people up at the river boats... then I get to count my tips. I am thinking 43. But last time I got 30 on this run.

I found out BYU said "NO to big Jodi, you can't come to our law school, but they assured me, I would do well where ever I go". Thats the truth BYU. I am going to excell where ever I go. And don't you forget it. Hmm....maybe the byu read my blog about getting a tatto at ricks. I would have liked to go to BYU for many reasons, and yet there were some concerns I had about being there in Provo too, most of them were about being 30-34 in Provo. I know it can be done, I just wasn't sure I wanted to do it. Anyways I am sure living in Moscow/Pullman will not be that much of a stretch for me. It is Idaho which I love( i loved Rexburg), and yet I will be up in the northern part next to the Washington border. It will definitely be an adventure. I guess it is all for the best.

I left my camera battery charger at home. My mom and brother are looking for it. I hope it gets here soon, so I can document all the goodness I am seeing.

XOXO from Alaska

I have had a little too much to think tonight.

The big 47....

I am going to tell you 47 things you don't need to know about me and my life. Thanks to my pal Jamie's blog, I decided to do the same thing.

1. I have failed at being 'rawsome' over 100 times (and those were the serious attempts)
2. my dog is named Heru (it means great white ninja).
3. My best friend is my sister Rita
4. I am finally an aunt at 30.
5. I used to want 12 kids out of my own womb.
6. I have 2 tattoos that I got at age 19.
7. I was at Ricks college when I got those tattoos.
8. I have never met anyone famous.
9. I used to hate to shower.
10. I love to drink Kava Kava.
11. I always wanted to get married at age 28, now it is at age 33.
12. I have the longest fingers and toes of any woman i have ever met (strangers tell me regularly).
13. I like to google ex boyfriends names (who doesn't).
14. I only go to Sunday school if we are not going to Krazy Sub for lunch.
15. I am addicted to Bingo at Fort McDowell.
16. I hate that I was not the homecoming queen, even though logically i know it doesn't matter, I still care about it.
17. I am the oldest of 6 kids.
18. I only date younger men (only 3 percent have been older).
19. I gave away all my thrift clothes ( my signature style) last year when I moved to Reno.
20. I will be living in Northern Idaho for the next 3 years.
21. I was rejected by 2 law schools, accepted to 6, and wait listed by 3.
22. ASU rejected me, even though I used to be a devil.
23. I can't swim good, even though I practice.
24. I can't play poker, but kick butt at Rook.
25. Junior high humor amuses me.
26. Life is fantastic in Alaska and yes I am happpy... he is pretty cool.
27. Dirty Dancing still is the best chic flick.
28. I love LOST and LAW and Order.
29. Law and Order is 18 percent of the reason I am going to law school.
30. Techno is my favorite music, followed by folk.
31. I have $2,800 dollars worth of kayak stuff, and can't wait to use it (besides ASU pool).
32. Dairy Queen is my ultimate comfort food.
33. I am a terrible dancer (my limbs are too damn long).
34. People tell me something private, and then say, "don't put that on your blog jodi".
35. I have the names for my first 7 daughters picked out. (Ruby, Olive, Navy, Scarlett, Violet, Ivory and Midnight)
36. I got no boys named picked out.
37. I got picked to be a highway driver.... now I got to learn 12 hours of material about the Denali Highway.
38. I have never shoplifted. Never.
39. I have never smoked, never.
40. I never believed in Santa or reindeer.
41. I got parasites on my mission and lost 40 pounds.
42. I hated my mission trainer... she was the worst.
43. I miss my family alot.
44. I am so glad I will not be teaching this year (we will see how I feel during my first year of law)
45. I don't really know what Mormon Dreams are anymore, but I will continue to try and make them come true.
46. I hate that so many jobs especially the one I currently hold, have to revolve around tips.
47. I recently cancelled my ldsmingles member ship... just kidding.
48. I hate it when I send an email and they don't respond, but yeah I do the same thing to people.
49. My new favorite part of Alaska is the sunlight.
50. I love and miss my Mesa Family.... that means all yous.

so just had to post on this Sunday night... I promise to blog more, with pics, with cooler stuff.

Cookies, the Alaskan Pipeline and dreams of SNL.

Sell out with me tonight, sell out with me oh yeah. i sort of feel like a sellout. I have to be cheesy and smilee and friendly all the time. In addition to all this madness I need to be funny on cue. Wait it's like i was in high School student council, I truly have returned to my roots. I sort of like being a tour guide/driver. I get lost once in a while, I forget to 'kneel' the coach which means lower it, and have old ladies and men straining their old knees, but other than that...smooth sailing. The hardest part of the job is that the hours are so long and funny. I have to be up at the bus barn at 4:45 am for pre-tripping the coach so that I can pick up rail crew at 6 am. They have Seth and Shelly doing a 2:30 am Airport run. I just don't know how they get all of us to buy into this...oh wait I remembered. We are poor, in credit card debt (it takes most people about 3-5 thousand just to relocate here) and have absolutely nothing better to do with our time than drive a big bus around Fairbanks.

Here are my favorite parts of the job. First the cookies you get at the gold mine gift shop. They are free, plentiful and tasty. I usually eat 2 peanut butter, and two macadamian/white chocolate chip (think Costco cookies only better). Doing the pipeline stop and having everyone gather around me like I am an expert... they are more attentive than Jr. High kids, or maybe the better at faking it, either way i got facts to share. The third thing I love, is making the guests laugh. They are sometimes a hard crowd, but I have 30 years of being the class clown/awkward testimony baring/say anything to get a laugh girl, so all in all my groups have a great time and I am just getting started.

I have about 82 days left, and have decided to stick it out. Obviously things change, but so far so good. I have found a Sam's Club so can now eat my apples and bananas(and not break the bank). The almost constant daylight is giving me a tan, but makes me slather myself in sunblock daily. I am getting tipped pretty well for the last 5 days I have been driving (the only 5 I wasn't trainig) I made 8, 13, 129, 30 and 118 dollars. So all in all not too shabby but a little random. I don't think this job is going to put a dent in my law school tuition, but every little bit helps.

Loves in Fairbanks.....

I am not sure what to say about my past loves.... i am not sure how to define what has happened since the first time I kissed Tad on 5th Ave. on New years in Highschool, followed quickly by a smoochie from 'Tinsell Tim' (quick note, ran into Tad at the Cafe Rio, he didn't remember me...shoot) to the recent 'hunt for men, like I am a native Alaskan hunting for Moose and Buffalo before the cold ace winter'. JK. But in all truths, something gotta change.

As I sit outside my one bedroom apartment, let's be honest because outside is the only place I can get wireless internet (aka stealing from someone else, OTIS blocked me already and linskeys just ain't coming in loud and clear) I am wanting to share with you a funny event that had nothing to do with loves but was typical Jodi.

I decided I needed to fast today. For spiritual and selfish reasons (I getting chubs out here). By the end of church I was starvin. I was waiting patiently for the Hawaiian haystack extravaganza to begin.... (in Alaska I take what I can get). The 'munch and mingle' commity was slower than usual. I saw a young man with the most beautiful mullet of all time. He was sitting on the comfortable chairs so I decided to mingle myself right over. He was awkward but silent. I appriciate silent awkardness. Then he got up... went to the kitchen. Then returned 2 minutes later with hot chocolate. I saw him enjoying that hot chocolate.

I asked, "is that for everyone". He said, "No just for me, I get tired and hot chocolate wakes me up". I said, "I get tired too". He told me where the chocolate was hidden, and off I went". You know the mingles committee hates the person who is all in the kitchen, making something on their own, instead of waiting for the meal like everyone else. I didn't care. I had been fasting, and I was tired, i needed some hot chocolate to wake me up...just like Jack, my mullet friend from Tennessee.

As I was reflecting back to Lehi 4th days. I snuck food all the time. But someone always called me out on it. And yet here, no one said a word. I wonder if the Fairbanks Singles don't care, but I think they did. I just think sometimes you let the mullet boy and the 30 year old new girl do what ever the hell they want....because if anyone in the singles ward deserves some chocolate goodnessess... you know we do.

Hello Everyone....

Well so much has happend... Olivia Diane was born. Well she was born to my little sister and brother in law. I have never been an aunt before... and even though I have not met Olivia yet (Alaska is 3000 miles and 800 dollars away on Alaska Airlines) I could not be more proud, of my sister and her Sumo, and my new niece. I have seen pictures of her and she is beautiful. I can't wait till Aug. when i get to see her. Olivia, just wait...I am going to spoil you, teach you all my tricks and lessons learned from life, and if you get married before me, Damn it.

Stayin

Well i am sticking it out... for now.

Cash in your bets kids, i have almost hit the two week mark. Done and done.

Horrible Day...

Today i had a no good, very bad, day. I am tired of worrying, plotting and planning. I am tired of messing up my road test, checking flights home, putting on a happy face when I just want to go to sleep wake up in a happy place. A happy place where I won't be getting kicked out of the hotel because another driver is a beast and has been upsetting all the hotel staff, so all other drivers must move out. A happy place where I got the gig to drive "highway", meaning I get to get out of here at least 2 weeks a month. A happy place where I haven't gained 9 pounds or so, by eating all the fried foods in this joint (they are cheaper than fresh food). A happy place where I don't have the desire to pack up and go home whenever things get tough. I know it is an inside joke that I pack up when things don't go my way. But I always had a reason. First Mission-parasites. Second, Reno-black tooth Asian. Third, Boise-questionable housing. Fourth Gateway-politics and parents. Even though I have had my reasons for jumping ship.... my early exoduses just don't sit well. So I am going to do my best to stick it out for the next 90 days, heaven help me. Or in the words of MOnique good luck to all of us. It really was a bad day.

I can't stop....

eating the employee specials at the hotel restaurant. I enjoyed sliders and french fries twice today, once for lunch box and once for dinners.

checking my blog to see if anyone left a comment, that goes for myspace and facebook and ldsmingles and the linksters.

thinking about law school and where i will go, and just worrying about making the right choice.

being super stressed and worried about where I will live, time is running out. Dry cabins look like the way it will have to be.

watching law and order at night time, how quick we fall into old habits.

wondering what the hell i am doing here in AK... but being crazy enough to see it through ( i think).

thinking about my new Fairbanks Single's Ward, thank goodness the goods weren't odd crush.

missing my family and friends in the Mesa.

planning (Amy, Sumo, Rita, Mitch, MOmo and Mom you know what that means).


I just can't stop...

Why is it so hard to find a roof to put over my head.

Honestly, i definitely should have brought the Element. Fairbanks is not the place to be without a car, i didn't know. Luckily i have been able to extend my hotel stay. Luckily my tax return has come back. Luckily i have made some very cool friends who have taken me under their wing. I miss my condo. Compared to the domains i have viewed here, Mesa "ghetto" is the best place ever. Let me tell you about the options.

1. The dry cabin. It is a clean, dry place to live. "Dry" meaning, no indoor plumbing (aka no showers, no toilets, no sinks with water). They are outside the city limits, and usually have a shared outhouse with someone who has a dog, and the dog poops everywhere around the outhouse. Basically this option looks good for a few reasons. They are cheap, one could get a gym membership and shower that way, and riding my bike 8 miles each way to the cabin, will help make my hot body dreams come true.

2. "Lisa's house". I wish I had taken pictures seriously. The outside was a junkyard. It was like a communal house and junk grave yard, where one would never want to live. I thought maybe the outside is just a front and inside it won't be so bad. I was wrong. Picture this, the fridge and stove is in this sort of storage area, which is storing heating pumps and systems, wires, tubings, old carpet scraps, etc. The bathroom has a sort of topaz colored tub (think 1968) which for some reasons (i do not know) had a bunch of duct tape around the tub and on the side of it. Now i have delt with bathroom duct tape before. When I moved into my condo, the renters before had cracked the fiber glass shower, and had duct taped it. I distinctly remember being grossed out then. Honestly no duct tape in the bathing vacinity, seriously. The bedroom had purple carpet, a nasty mattress, lots of wood paneling around the room, and a "mi casa es mi casa" craft. All in all it just didn't feel right. Why I would almost consider living here, it is close to work.

3. The College Inn. This seemed like a viable option until I saw the College Inn. From the outside it looked like the biggest hole i have ever seen. Now does everyone realized that I have lived in a cement one bedroom El Salvador Ghetto apartment...do you get that. I think I am not that hard to scare or in this case gross out. This is not New York City People. Why is the nastiest place i have ever seen in my life (maybe tied with Lisa's place) costing 650 a month. The room was probably 10 by 7 if that. It had a bed and a closet. The shower and pot was to be shared with everyone on your floor. This is sickening. Also it smelled like smoke and piss and death. Please.

4. The only place I loved is a short 1.2 miles from work. It was clean, cheap at 475 and smelled like a normal place. She said she is going to wait till Friday to make a decision, until then there will be a lot of wishin, hopin, thinking and planning that the place will be mine. Good luck to the Mesa girl in Alaska. Shoot.

Honey in the Element...

No that doesn't mean that Jodi and some sweet man-zi of hers went on a campout together in the Element. It means that as I was transporting all the crap (aka my posessions) from the Condo to my parents (where i am storing everything) a bunch (a quart or so) of honey spilled over, melted, spread out, sunk in and mixed with a bottle of pre-natal vitamins in the seat well of the Element. Seriously it took me 2 and a half hours to clean up the sweet mess. I did the best i could. The honey sunk into the spare tire compartment, basically saturating that area with a sticky, melty goop. I just wanted everyone to know my life isn't perfect... I got issues with honey, pre-natals, Elements and spare tire compartments, just like everyone else.

Alaska....

I am in Fairbanks, AK.

Yep. It is not as pretty as I thought it would be. But thats Ok. These pics were taken on a road trip to Copper. Copper is a place I will drive as a driver/guide, if I get chosen. It is highly competitive, and is what I want. I want to be on the road seeing the beauty of Alaska. I want to take passengers for 6 days at a time and sleep in a new place every night. We will see if I get chosen. It is highly competitive because so many people want the same thing. Basically I was in a bus for the last 2 days, checking out the route. The Denali Highway was closed so we had to go on a long cut. They had us all drive and talk on the mike. I don't know but I am definitely good at both. The only thing that would impede me from being chosen to drive "highway", is the fact that I am leaving to law school in the middle of August. Anyways, I have made some friends young and old here. I am going to singles in about 45 minutes and hopefully, "the odds will be good and the goods will be good". So the pics are a few from the trip to copper and Valdez. My life is good.

I arived.

So I landed in Fairbanks today at 3 thirty. It is cold, and deary and makes me think, "what the hell am I doing here?" I think everyone will be proud of me for a few reasons. First, I am planning on sticking it out, even though I have no car and housing is pretty expensive up here. Also, I flirted my way to getting rides from the shuttle bus driver (i don't know if it is his job or not, and yet I flirt nonetheless. And it is working he drives me places not on his route).

My dream of being a driver in Alaska is coming true. I am tired, and it is 11 pm here and still light out side, and so it begins. I will be here through the summer, and then off to law school. Sumo thinks I will only last 30 days (if that, I mean we all remember my untimely exodus from Reno) and yet I believe i will stick (yet it would be a lie if I said, I had not comtemplated and yes planned a way to get out of here, me being a commitment-phobe) and yet Cameo had the best advice. She said, "Jo, you gotta stick in Alaska even if it is hard, cause Law School is gonna be hard and you gotta know you can stick the hard stuff". Thanks Cameo.

So that's it, I will send pics, I will send stories, and hopefully I make some monies to pay the Visas. Goodnight lower 48, i miss you.