Ok it's been forever and a day since I last posted, but that's what happens when you're driving a bus 60 hrs a week and live in the middle of nowhere, a place where the internet is hardly available. But here I am, 2 months into, a.k.a. half-way through this hectic summer. And somehow, not quite half way towards my financial goal! But I'm having fun, an adventure to say the least. I want to post some photos of my journeys, but before I do that, allow me to explain where I am and what I'm doing.

I work for Holland America Line, but for their Cruise Tours portion. This means, instead of a 14-day cruise, people opt to explore the interior of Alaska/Yukon via motorcoach for 10 days and then a 3 or 4 day cruise. I drive the route between Skagway, AK and Dawson, YT - about 500 miles. Well, here's a map so you can see- Skagway is down south, I drive to Carcross, pick up passengers, take them to Whitehorse. Then the next day I take them from Whitehorse to Dawson. When I get to Dawson, I usually drive a tour the next day in Tombstone Territorial Park which is on the Dempster Hwy (the road to the Arctic Circle), and pretty much the scariest road I've ever driven on before. Picture an 18-wheeler going  50 mph coming straight at you on a 1.5 lane road. One driver's windshield got hit by a golf ball size rock, and it ended up in his lap, along with a bunch of glass. Come to think of it, I think I almost died today while there. A story for another day.

Ok I'll tell it now. I came around a curb and saw 2 18-wheelers heading my way. The first saw me and clearly tried to slow down, as did I, but it was too close and I just felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as this truck whizzed past me, shaking my coach. The mirrors were maybe 2 inches apart, and the guide on my bus almost peed her pants. She spent the next 10 minutes praising me for a job well done, but what she really was meant was "thank you god for sparing us". Somehow no one else noticed! Oh well... 

In essence, I am very far north, in the middle of nowhere. The Yukon is the size of California with 1% of Cali's population. It's a weird place and I always trip out when I think about how desolate, yet how interesting this land is. 

Ok, enough yakking, I will try to load photos within the next day. The one above is just a gratuitous shot of Trent being molested by stuffed toys. 

yoo hoo!

so i am in alaska/yukon territory for the summer. it's super exciting, and there's so much going on up here! i have worked 12 hr days since wednesday. yea. also internet is totally at a premium up here, so i can't blog as freely as i would like. so i might have to take a semi-hiatus for the summer, but i will try to check in as often as possible! 

Sadness!

According to this article, some Brazilian priest went missing after trying to break the record for flying with the most helium balloons! This is all that's left of his effort! He's MIA, folks! He is thought to have floated 30 miles off course or something. Well, read the article, it gives more accurate details than me! Seriously, this is so sad! He looks so happy in the other photos as he's being lifted off! Now, why would someone do something this idiotic in the first place? Beats me! But am I the only one who feels a little bad looking at that photo? Bad, because you're half laughing half crying at this image? Yes, I feel bad that I laughed a little. 

PS- Here are some of my favorite comments from The Daily Mail's readers: 

Well what a stupid thing to do, of course he's lost! No way of steering balloons is there!
- Anon, East Sussex

So this is how the Ascension was accomplished. I must admit it was always a mystery to me.
- Thomas, Saltdean

What I am bothered about is the innocent seabirds and other marine life who will die a horrible death after eating the deflated balloons when they fall into the sea. Many, many animals, including dolphins, die each year due to balloons being released and them drifting over the sea- the deflated or burst balloons are often found in their stomachs during autopsy. All this to amuse one man and for him to feel macho.
- David, Newcastle

Catholic priests are not allowed to carry out stunts like this. Perhaps he will go to hell for this suicide attempt. He is clearly deranged.
- Aran, London

"Abortion Girl"'s Little Project is Banned!

"Yale University officials say they will not allow Abortion Girl to show her senior 'art' project at its scheduled opening on Tuesday unless she admits in writing that she's a fake.

School of Art Dean Robert Storr said, "Yale does not encourage or condone projects that would involve unknown health risks to the student. Nor does it believe that open discourse and inquiry can exist in an educational and creative community when an individual exercises these rights but evades full intellectual accountability for the strong response he or she may provoke.”

Abortion Girl has not responded to the University's latest 'ban' statement.

As of Friday, she was claiming that nothing was faked — she DID artificially impregnate herself and induce abortions.

Abortion Girl said last week that if the University refuses to exhibit her piece, she'll show it elsewhere.

Yale also announced that two faculty members have been disciplined for allowing Abortion Girl to move forward with her project."

Perezhilton.com

THANK GOODNESS!! She's an idiot. Oh and there's a vid of her on you tube that makes her look even more of an idiot. just thought you might like to know. : )

So Disturbing...

According to the Yale Daily News , this freak of an art major named Aliza Shvarts' idea of a senior art project was to artificially inseminate herself and then use herbal "abortifaciant" medications to induce miscarriages. She allegedly did this for a period of 9 months, recording these abortions, and will be displaying not only the videos of the miscarriages, but the blood will be displayed as well. Am I the only one who gets chills even reading about this? So wrong and evil!

However, the plot thickens, as THIS article from Newsbusters.org calls the entire scheme a hoax, claiming this girl is pulling the wool over the eyes of not only the public, her school's newspaper, but her professors as well! The author insists that miscarriages are not only physically painful, but emotionally painful, and the "abortifaciants" that she is using are extremely detrimental to a woman's health, especially considering she did not once consult a doctor. First, I really hope that this really is a hoax, because to repeatedly kill feti (fetuses?) for some stupid art project is not only disgusting, but completely degenerative. I am no right winger, but this is unacceptable behavior from anyone. I don't know how you could be proud and totally desensitized to even make up a project like this. Whether it is fake or real, it's so so sick.

Moreover, it's really sad that students have to resort to this kind of sensationalism to get their name out there. She's probably hoping that she will be canonized for this stunt, and sadly, she probably will be. There's so much competition in these schools for students to stand out that she has to scream "freak" like this.

Eww.

utahfashion.blogspot.com

In addition to liking to hear myself write, I have created the Utah Fashion Blog for those Utahns or otherwise-challenged folks to get a look into the outside world. Now, I can't really say I am the expert at fashion (I mean look at the socks I wear- white cherry socks with loafers? ), but I do think Utahns need some help some of the time in this department, and somehow I think I am able to do so. Again, I don't know how qualified I am for the job, but I'd like to believe that I nonetheless offer some pretty useful tips on occasion. So go ahead and check it out HERE and don't be shy, please comment on things. Oh and hey, anonymous guy, I don't think I've disabled anon comments on that blog, so go ahead and leave all the creepy comments you'd like! 

Corny = Cute