#203 - Mt. Olympus

the day after christmas, ready for hiking, right? see how excited we all are?keane found a trail in manoa valley for novice/intermediate hikers, supposedly it goes up a few mountains, along the ridgetops, with great views of both valleys and at the top you can see to the windward side of the island.it was a really nice trail... at first, see how happy nicole was at the beginning (keep this face in mind, as a reference point, because it gets progressively more and more disgusted)now, i like hiking, but i prefer dryness to muddiness and slippy-ness, so by the time we reached this first clearing i thought it was a pretty nice hike, i could've busted out the picnic foods and sat at the top for awhile, but we weren't even close to being done.the scenery was nice all the way (although there were some steep drop-offs which my fear-of-heights did not like so much) so i was feeling pretty good about it, even up until this ominous looking path appeared through the trees with the "warning: hazardous conditions may exist beyond this point" sign looming ahead.after that point it was crappily muddy and my feet couldn't find a grip for anything, but there were nice sights along the way at least, including this little thing sprouting by the side of the trail, nicole said, "i've never seen a purple mushroom before." and then keane laughed (get it?).by the time i took this picture i was pretty saturated with nice views and was really just worried about the incoming rain and wanted to be off the mud trail before the rainclouds hit (as you can see if you zoom in on nicole's face, she also was ready to be done with the hike... in fact, pretty much every picture anyone took of this hike gets better and better exponentially the number of times that you zoom in on nicole's face).so after that point we split up (into Team A and Team Smart, the former group deciding to climb the last ascent up the mud-walls and sheer drops into the looming rainclouds to the end of the hike and the latter group deciding to head back before the rains hit). it was way tougher going down that it was going up, the slippy-ness definately took its toll, but no major accidents until we got back on the established trail and i looked at the worn path before us and said, "now THIS is a trail," and nicole started to agree with me and then immediately slipped and fell on her ass, resulting in the above picture.anyway, we still got rained on while coming down the trail, but by the time the rains hit hardest at least we were back on the established trail so we got by pretty good and then cooled down in the picnic area waiting for those other guys to come back down.and while we were waiting there i found the coolest water fountain... it starts off like this, then when you turn it on, the top lifts off from the water pressure into this:cool huh? now you don't have to worry about bugs crawling in the water pipe or drinking leftover bird poop! i think this was the coolest thing i saw all day, hand down (including the purple mushroom).

#202 - merry christmas to me

i don't really know why, but i decided to do some after christmas shopping this year. usually i don't because after all those christmas presents there's usually nothing else i want. but i had a quick return to make (at pacsun, my mom actually got it right this year, well, half right at least, she bought me a shirt that i had just bought myself = good, but then she also bought me skinny jeans because i guess that's what was being advertised, so anyway, i went to return the shirt that i bought and get something else, but everything was marked down so much, like 50 and 70% off that i got FOUR other things for just that one shirt, sweet!) so i decided to make a whole trip of it and get everything i could ever possibly need.

so i started out with the return, that went sweetly (see above) then i was walking idly through sears and the announcer comes on telling everyone there's a special demonstration with free gifts going on, so i thought, what the heck let's check it out right? turns out it was some lady selling sham-wow things, haha! now, i already bought myself some sham-wow because of the commercials but it was funny to see the demonstration in real life, it was just like the tv one but this one was called "magicloth"and it's actually the exact same material as sham-wow so i got myself a free little magicloth square to use at home, see?anyway, that was fun, if not frivilous, but i did enjoy being a consumer for a bit today, all the salespeople seemed more eager, and i didn't get all the "punk kid get outta my store" looks as i usually get for some reason. i picked up some frames from pictures plus (at 50% off again) for my new photos and was feeling so good about my consumer interactions that i even went to the piano outlet to try my luck at picking out a piano.

the salesperson there was so much nicer than usual, i even struck up a conversation with him and although he thought i was in high school at first, he quickly eased up when i told him i actually had a job and, yes, could afford to buy a piano. he was a pretty good salesman, leaving me alone when needed and asking the necessary questions to guide me toward a decision. i really wasn't planning on buying anything, but he told me that they're switching from dealing kawai to yamaha so their kawai pianos were on clearance. now, i've had about $6000 saved up in my piano fund, but i really wasn't sure how far that would take me, especially looking at yamahas. kawais are still very good quality, and cheaper than yamaha (just because yamaha's got the brand name recognition), so i was banking on finding a solid kawai. so they had two in the storeroom that were on clearance, they sell retail for over $5000 but he told me "if you buy today, i'll give it to you for $4200." sweet right? still, that's a ton of money, aside from my townhouse that's the most expensive thing i would ever buy. so after hesitating, playing a bunch of different models and being extremely reluctant to make a final decision, he took off another hundred dollars and split the delivery fee in half. not bad right? i'm sure that salespeople have their contingency strategies set before the customer even walks in, but in the end i'd be getting a brand new piano plus delivery, tuning and all that for less than $4500? that's way less than i was expecting... so i bought it!yikes right? well, i know that i take a LONG time to make decision, but i don't make hasty ones. even a decision like this one, when i really wasn't expecting to make a purchase when i walked into the store, is a decision that i'm confident in, because i've been researching for a long time and heck, i've had my place for over a year now without a piano, so i think it's about time.

so merry christmas to me. y'know even though i love living my life independently, at times like christmas, special ocassions, it gets kinda lonely, of course. so that's why it's so important to be able to do things for yourself. it's really nice to have other people in your life to share special times with, but when you can't it's just as nice to be able to enjoy life independently by being good to yourself and allowing yourself to take pleasure in life in other ways. so this piano is not only a present to myself for christmas, but for all year long, it will be so great to be able to play again (i mean, i've had that electric piano to play on, but that was more detrimental to music than anything else i think, ha), not that i can play that great or anything, but it's a good feeling, and very cathartic, i think. should be delivered within the week, hope everything goes okay, looking foward to it muchly.

#201 - you need awesome lessons

(it's from the office) and i, apparently, need underwater camera picture-taking lessons. because each time i grab myself an underwater camera the pictures come out blurry, off-centered, generally awful. i don't understand really because i think i take pretty good digital shots, oh well, more practice needed i guess.but we still got a few good shots... you can't tell, but this one i took while riding a wave and passing by brandithen we switched...the waves were pretty puny, but that made it easy to take pictures... or so i thought...sorry brandi, all your pics are off-centered, i thought i had taken it dead-on toostill looks kinda cool with the sun in the background thoughhere's your duke pic...the camera must've gotten smacked around a bit because all those pics at the end were way blurry... maybe i'll have to spring for an underwater casing for my digital, then i'm sure we'll get at least a few good pics!

#200 - SHARKS! Part 2 (or SHARKS! SHARKS!)

oh man, what better subject for my 200th post but SHARKS!

so i finally got my underwater camera developed from the haleiwa shark cage tour i took this summer (read all about that awesome adventure here), but in case you missed it, here's the rundown:
the ohio girls... jill, tracy and reneecan you tell that i'm super fricken nervous right now, even as we're sitting in port at haleiwa harbor?we rode out 3 miles outside of haleiwa, was a fun boat right, could see all the way up both shores from kaena point to waimea bay, sweet.here we are getting our instructions, by now the sharks are already gathered around the boat and they're just waiting to drop the cage in the water... yikes!oh... man... check out those sharks!it was mad rough in the cage, we were getting tossed around and beaten up by the cage and by each other, it was hard to take these picturesi swear at least 10 times i thought my legs were gonna get sucked out through the bars of the cage and i'd be a coconut-flavored sunblock shark chewie toyas if the sharks weren't bad enough, we were also getting airborne attacks from these dumbass birds, they sat on the tops of the cage the whole time swooping in for little fish bits caught in our hair and landing their ugly-ass disgusting webbed feet on our headsbut after a few minutes of fighting the current and the snorkel it was way cool being in the water with all those sharks, there must've been at least 15-20 of them, all gray reef sharks, the biggest ones probably around 8 feet long, def.i mean, how awesome is that? go sharks!

ps - doesn't the word "sharks" look funny now?

#199 - surfing at christmas-time

come on... who DOESN'T want to live in hawaii? here it is three days before christmas and i went surfing, how sweet it that? it's the first time i've been in a long time actually, and the first time that i've been to white plains in months, i've gotten too spoiled with the north shore (plus it's closer) and haven't been down south probably since summertime. but, with it being all humungulous up north lately, and then with all that rain and brown water, this is the first time i've been surfing since before thanksgiving. so it was perfect timing that brandi came back to visit just when the rain was letting up and the water was clearing.

unfortunately, it was still wicked cold so we couldn't stay long before freezing our asses off. but i still had my underwater camera from when i went on that shark cage tour this summer so we used that up and i'll FINALLY have my underwater pictures, woo!

then, since it's apparently become habit for me to couple my youthful activities with something elderly... we went to wongie's house to play mah-jong, something else i haven't done in a long time, except this time i haven't played for years. it's kind of hard to play anyway, since you need exactly four people each time and the rules are kinda complex if you don't know anything about it (plus the characters are all chinese), but tons of fun, old people need to have fun too right?

oh, and yes, kathleen WAS knitting while we were playing... i would insert a joke here, but really, why should i be surprised at all the old things she does anymore?

anyway, good day overall... up next... underwater camera pics = SHARKS! woo hoo.

#198 - what now?

gross yeah? sun's shining today after three days of rain. i liked the rain, sorta. as far as rain goes, i like it when it comes down hard, decisively, confidently. not like when it just whimpers and drizzles off and on. so this weekend was kinda cool (when i had no where to go at least, when i had to drive home from ala moana in it, that wasn't so cool... couple of scary moments on moanalua road, but all's fine). but even though the sun's out today, i still probably won't go in the water for awhile... just look how gross it is...

so all that rain gave me lots of time to myself this weekend, which was very cool. aside from vball (wahine beat purdue in the regional semi's but then got *whipped* by stanford to fall short of the final four yet again... but not that it mattered, all season long it's been penn state, stanford, texas, and nebraska way above everyone else, although i really thought washington would take down nebraska, but oh well, so it's a perfectly justifiable final four... and i still think penn state's gonna go all the way... easily) i did some final christmas shopping at ala moana (but only ended up with something for myself... oops) and i read like a mad man. i finished all of that twlight series... wow, four and a half books in three weeks when i hadn't read 1/3rd of a book in the previous four years... obviously i liked it, but i do have many many comments... if you didn't read it yet, then avert your eyes for a second, if you did read it, high-light below to see my commentary:

- after the first book totally hooked me on the series, it got way too slow in the second book, i must be "team edward" because the second book was a total bore and i was just running through the pages until he returned, who cares about jacob black? what a bore... but as soon as bella took that cliff-dive the book got exciting again and it only took like one night to get through the rest of the book
- the third book was better, but i really had no interest in that love triangle thing, seemed dumb to me, and i really wasn't interested in reading about werewolves anyway, but the third book had it's moments at least, bella's narration was getting kinda dull (so i was very glad when some of that narration switched in the fourth book, with good humor too), still, i like the vampire fights so i'm glad the conflict got back to that in the storyline
- wow, the fourth book was just weird! yikes, i wasn't prepared for the story to take such funky turns. i mean, c'mon, a mystic pregnancy? geez... so i was REALLY glad when the narration switched to jacob, to add some levity. i still don't like that whole twist, plus... eww! she's like 18? anyway, it got way too weird
- also... are you kidding me?! "renesmee?!" ugh! i couldn't read the name on each page, i cringed. what a horrid, horrid, name.
- after that it got a little to comic-book-ish for me. more like x-men. still, there was a lot of action and things happened fairly quickly so it was an easy read, and just knowing that i was getting to the end of the series was satisfying. plus it had a happy ending, so that was kinda nice, i've been in the mood for happy endings recently
- so i definately liked the first book the best, in fact, i think i could have read that one by itself and been satified with the entire storyline, but it was cool to read through the whole thing...
- i DID check out midnight sun though... and i REALLY liked that one. i think that might actually be my favorite out of all the books, i think that it showed real integrity on the part of the author to be able to write that first book from two perspectives, made her be real honest about her insights and obviously showed foresight (not like other writers who throw in facts and dialogues seemingly incidentally), it's too bad that one won't be published, i'd definately buy it

so after reading through all that, now i gotta ask myself, what am i gonna do next? what i gonna do with all that time that had been spent reading? how will i again attain that clarity of thought that calmed me down from reading? will i pick up more books? will any other books catch my interest? i know that i'm very picky, so will i be able to abide any other writing styles?

well, if you guys have any suggestions, i'm open to at least trying some new books. this twilight one really caught me by surprise though, it's not that i have never TRIED reading other books, it's that i'd run through about ten pages and either be bored out of my mind or completely irritated at the writing (something about the tone perhaps, or the persuasion in the words, or repetition... that's a big one). we'll see what happens... until then, i'm REALLY yearning for that piano now... i think that might solve some of this "what's next" problem... i've got a bunch saved up, but i'm not sure how much i'd had to fork over to get a good piano, not just some student model, i mean, i don't have a big place so i'd only be looking for some upright, but if i'm gonna buy one, i want quality. yeah, that'd be real nice...

#197 - i get it now

it's been a very busy week in my head, well, it's been a very busy past two and a half weeks in my head. if you had a chance to read the bamboocha long posts that i've been writing you might have an idea of that. still, throughout everything i have been able to find pockets of clarity, and i've embraced those moments fully and fostered its' growth, so that i might take complete advantage of the clearness of my thinking. this afternoon was one of those moments. okay, no exciting revelations or anything, just kind of a decompression, i got to take a moment to wind down and ready myself to move forward.

i've been very fortunate to be able to establish a pretty consistent work-out schedule for myself (it helps not only with keeping healthy and fit physically, but mentally also), not too much has deviated since i started working out and eating right in college, and that's a great thing because i know i'm doing a good job with it and i'm so happy that i've been able to keep it up. anyway, so i've been going to 24 hour to work out monday, wednesday, friday (although maybe half the time i switch friday out for happy hour instead), to yoga on tuesdays and thursdays, then surfing and tennis on the weekend, so i'm doing something active each day and that makes for a very full and vibrant life i think. i always wonder about people who can't seem to find the energy to get up and do, just something, everyday, like i'm just itching to do most days. and so i usually attribute it (in my head) to them being too stressed to think about exercise, or too busy with work or other things to take time out for themselves (and then i think that they should MAKE time for themselves, it's a healthier way to live if you sometimes put yourself first), or just too confused and distracted by other things in the world to realize the benefits of exercise.

on the other hand, i can definately see how it can be dragging to FORCE yourself into such an active lifestyle (rest and sleep are just as important), which is why a few months ago i had that epiphany and stopped marking down all my activities on the calendar and stopped chastizing myself for not adhering feverently to that routine. it's even healthier to follow what your body needs on a day-to-day basis than mindlessly struggle to follow a strict (although well-constructed) schedule. since that time i've been able to take days off without guilt and i think i've been much better for it, been able to sleep better (and thus go about the NEXT day much better).

but this week, since i was kinda thrown off by my birthday and indulging myself in some reading until about 3 AM that night, i've been very sleepy, but surprisingly calm. usually when i don't get enough sleep i lose my temper and patience very easily with my therapy kids the next day, but yesterday i was very calm with them, like there was real clarity to all my thoughts, so that i could see the consequences of all my decisions so early that i could strategize to use the absolute least amount of energy to achieve my goals that day. it was great. i didn't yell at anyone and i had some good therapy sessions, i thought.

but that was yesterday, and even though i took a break from yoga to go to yummy dinner, when i came home from work today i made an instantaneous decision to stay home and do the home stuff (my mail/bills had been piling up, there were presents to wrap, little odd jobs around the house kinda stuff) which might take an hour or two and then relax the rest of the night. luckily, since i'd gotten over the guilt i used to feel for skipping workouts (on a deeper level, it was really guilt over not using every minute i had to it's fullest extent, like i only had a certain amount of time to live or something and i wanted to make the most out of each moment, but that's really overdramatic and not actually what i would think... maybe just subconsciously), i felt really good about that decision and i thought to myself, "this is how people do it."

then i started thinking about all the things that could keep me tucked away at home. it was raining outside, although for me, rain always energizes me and makes me MORE motivated to get out into the world, but i also saw how cozy it was in my living room, and how i could sit and look out the window at the rain and be content. there were things to do around the house, i wanted to put up a few more christmas lights, there were plants to water, i just bought some eye-hole screws and picture wire to hang some photos on the wall, but really i could just sit and read and be peaceful for the rest of the night and that'd be perfectly okay with me too. perhaps this is how people get fat. i can see the lure of staying in, slowly stocking up a library of books or take up painting or something, of course, neither of those things hold any appeal for me (even though i'm stuck on these twilight books, i don't have any intention of becoming a bookworm now). but it seemed so easy. and if i lived on the mainland, where the air was cold and crisp like it is now, how simple would it be to live like this for months at a time, just going to work and them coming home to this. it's so easy to stay active in hawaii, the heat just begs you to be active, but lately the cool air has been making all of that so easy to ignore.

still, now that i can imagine it, even if i did live someplace colder i would still probably be busting out the door to get into the cold and do something active. eventually the novelty would wear off and i'd shift into another mode. i wonder if that's what it's like to have seasons? i think i might like seasons, that's a nice kind of balance, i think. but, until hawaii has seasons, i'll just enjoy the moment now, get a good night's sleep, and wait for the change to come whenever and however it will.

#196 - twenty-seven

today i am 27, that's way too old. well, not really, most things about my life seem pretty right, and even pretty good, considering my age. i got my own place, stable job, all the financial and practical things are in good shape i think (of course, it took a butt-load of crap to get to this point, so i feel like most of it was well-worked for, with some luck here and there to get me over some of the bigger hurdles). and i don't FEEL old yet... meaning i'm not aching or getting sick all the time, i can stay active and i feel pretty darn healthy (which also took a lot of work to get me to this point, but again worth it). so... after taking stock of my life up until this point on my 27th birthday, there's really only one glaring hole that i could really point to as i get one year older. i think i do lots of interesting and cool things with my life (at least i think i do, well, they're probably completely mundane to other people, but it suits me well enough to think that i'm doing exciting things), but each time i get to do something cool with my life i'm reminded that i have no one really to share that with. i mean, friends are great obviously (don't downplay that AT ALL), but there comes a point where a normal good day can be great or it can be spectacular... and i've been lucky enough to get a lot of great days as it is... but i want spectacular.

i want a girl who intrigues me. someone who challenges my thoughts and defies my assumptions. someone whose presence clouds my thoughts with her name. a girl who lives life vibrantly, chases her needs and longings. i need a girl who endeavors to inspire me with her honesty and integrity, so i may be compelled to do the same. i want a girl who understands my struggles to become a better person and will share in that process along with me.

today i had a fine day at work, i did some stuff around the house when i got home, cooked some food, got ready and went off to the concert, the concert was okay, [*TANGENT* i didn't know that there would be so many performances, i mean, i knew about the orchestra's 5-6 songs, but i didn't realize that the choir would also sing 5 songs and then a brass ensemble would do another 3 songs, so that made it long (and i had to sit there for the whole thing), it was kinda dinky, held in a senior citizen community art center, but whatever, it was fine for just having to go and play and be done with it (which is exactly what i wanted out of this hobby anyway), [*END TANGENT*] after that i went to have pupus with some new, semi-random people that emily knew... before that, i was considering having a solitary (but not depressing) evening, possibly even seeing a movie by myself and calling in sick tomorrow. i know that may sound sad and lonely at first glance, but i was actually really looking forward to it. well, it didn't work out that way anyway so no matter. the point is that i had a pretty well-rounded birthday, but in the end i find myself wanting something more out of those special occasions. and more than that, i want something meaningfully special.

i know i could try harder. i could settle for less and hope in vain that what i've settled for would turn into what i'm looking for. but i'm not interested in that. i don't equate those kinds of experiences to "practice," or things to get me ready for when the "real thing" comes along. not that i'm ready to jump into any "real things" right now anyway, i like how i'm living my life right now and i've got no plans to greatly alter that anytime soon (i.e. not looking to "settle down" or get married, for me, those things can wait), but any additions to my current life will have to be very meaningful propositions.

so that sounds like i'm asking a lot right? probably, but it seems like people everywhere are able to find it, so it can't be asking too much can it? i mean, i realize that a lot of this is my doing, for being picky, for not seeking out and partaking in less than ideal situations, and i'm okay with those decisions. i'm not going to be trying to change my outlook just because things haven't worked out yet, my plan is solid and justified and i'm sticking to it. still, doesn't mean i can't complain and plead a little does it? even on my birthday? well, i can wish at least.


SIDENOTE #1 - no pictures on these posts because... computer still gone! circuit city sucks. don't buy extended warranties. circuit city wouldn't fix my laptop (because they said my $459 extended warranty that i purchased doesn't cover broken hinges), so they kept it a month and didn't tell me until i called them about it. then the ONE nice guy i talked to there finally figured out that hp sent a recall notice because TONS of hp laptops were being reported to have the exact same broken left hinge, so the guy is gonna send it off to hp to fix... and that'll take another period-of-forever before i get my computer back.

SIDENOTE #2 - No. 7-seeded Hawaii (30-3) thumps USC 3-0 with wicked quick offense and awesome backrow defense to advance to the NCAA tournament regionals in Fort Collins, CO this friday to face No. 10-seeded Purdue, who Hawaii beat in the same round of the 2004 NCAA tournament before falling in the regional finals in a *heartbreaker* to Wisconsin (i'm pretty sure) for their first and only loss of the year to finish at 30-1. No.2 Stanford and No. 15 Florida play in the other regional match with the winners of both matches facing off for a chance to go to the final four in Ohama, Nebraska. GO BOWS!

SIDENOTE #3 - finished reading eclipse, now onto breaking dawn, things are getting a bit weird... but i'm sticking with it still... reading brings clarity to the mind, it helps.