#205 - thanksgiving trip

i'm not sure when the last time was that i was home for thanksgiving. maybe 2003 after i graduated from college? it's been awhile. in less than 24 hours i will be on a plane to hawaii, my boarding pass is printed and i am (not) packed. with the new baggage policy i will be just bringing a carryon. i don't need much anyway, swimsuit, some t-shirts and shorts, and slippers. what else would i need? i am gonna try to workout everyday since a lot of people will be busy during the day with things like work. other than that i have a few plans.

tuesday
arrive around noon
lunch with mom

wednesday
beach?
dinner with friends

thursday
thanksgiving!
brunch with family

friday
surfing?
mom's b-day dinner @ ige's

saturday
sister time?
UH football tailgate and game - go warriors!

sunday
golfing maybe?
tennis at night?

monday
beach?

tuesday
golfing with dad?
flight to maui

so i am trying to get in a lot of sun while i am there, store up some vitamin D. haven't been in strong sun in awhile. i have my oregon tan right now. all my plans with ?s are up in the air but strong possibilities. i haven't been working too hard on making plans because i know they will come together without me. things always workout in the end. i am looking forward to lots of things like seeing friends/family, surfing, golfing and eating. some foods on my list are big city diner, mililani golf course, loco mocos and ramen. also tokyo tei in maui! i am getting hungry just thinking about all this. so because of all this eating i need to be hitting the gym or beach everyday. if not, the plane won't be able to take off because of too much weight. hahaha

i always fill up my time in hawaii with lots of things so it goes by really fast. in no time i will be back here so i want to just make the best of it. i have been posting a lot about oregon state football but it is real now. we are playing the civil war on december 3 at autzen stadium. it's the biggest one of them all, and i am not just saying that. whoever wins goes to the rose bowl! the granddaddy of them all! it has been quite the season and we are just getting better. we have a little over a week to prepare and it is on!! i am so excited but unfortunately i'll be away from the state of oregon. not to worry though, i am bringing a lot of OSU paraphanelia and t-shirts. i will be representing and watching it wherever i can. hopefully with oregon state fans present.

see you all soon.

#158 - snow day!

yesterday i woke up to a blanket of snow and wind outside my window. i didn't have much to do except hang out with friends to eat and drink coffee. what an awesome day! i've got pictures of the snow covered streets and what not, will post soon. it's been awhile since i've posted pictures. i've been very lazy with picture taking. or maybe just busy with other things. today my work was canceled so i got another day to just play. it's been awesome and i had more coffee and food with friends! i wish that was all i had to do, everyday. no real commitments, just fun and laughter. i cannot wait until june when school will be over and done with and i can have one less thing to do. it will be work, dodgeball, friends, food, etc. work cause i have to and all the others cause i want to. hopefully i'll find a job that i actually like though. well i like mine right now good enough but it's not a forever type of job.

i love coffee. i know that i shouldn't drink it too much cause it kind of makes me jittery but i love the flavor and warmth it gives me. plus it's a great excuse to hang out with friends. i feel so adult when i say "wanna get coffee?" i'm not much into the fancy espresso stuff anymore cause it's too spendy. i like a good latte now and then but good ole plain drip coffee does it for me. mmm...i think i wanna go get a cup right now!

#121 - stranger than life

i don't even know what that title is about. i think everyone gets a little weird around their birthday. some are scared of getting older but mostly i think we like to re-evaluate ourselves and our accomplishments. a year has passed and so we think about it. i do this at new years also. once i reached my 20s, life started getting better every year. if you ask my favorite age, i'll say it's right now. i'm figuring stuff out every day.

my bday is less than two weeks away and i've come to several conclusions. waking up at 4am on the side of the road kind of does that to you, details are unimportant but let's just say it involved drinking and i really woke up. i love to have fun but usually that means going out with a bunch of people to the bar. it's how i spend a lot of evenings and i enjoy it, it's what people do right? so now in order to avoid doing that i need to think of new things. the thing is i really enjoy beer, especially the microbrews of oregon and the northwest especially. i like going to beer fests and what not. it was one of my hobbies, okay maybe my only hobby besides pseudo sports (in which you get free beer for losing). i will probably watch more movies and i want to read more. i will probably end up being a hermit because most of my friends like to drink, a lot. i don't want to put myself into positions where it is hard to keep promises to myself. it's just easier to stay home than go to a bar with friends and not drink.

so back to my birthday. i've never had anxiety about growing older, probably because i'm still in my 20s. almost to my late 20s but still young. whenever i tell someone they say "oh you're a baby!" and really it's true. so much has changed since my last birthday, i started playing dodgeball for one. also, i have many new and exciting friends. went on an awesome trip and had a few new hairstyles... but many things are the same. i live in the same room in the same house. i work at the same job. i have a lot of same, great friends. but i am barely farther than i was in school last birthday. some would say being in the same house and same job are good things but it makes me antsy. not many understand that antsy feeling; i like change i guess. last year for the "special day" i went to the coast, hung out with family/friends, ate moroccan salsa and greek pasta salad all day, went to the river to swim and drink beers, and had a great day. it was just the sort of birthday i like, no expectations, just hanging out and having a good time.

this year my uncle (also a leo) is coming to town from san diego so we will be having a birthday dinner and hang out. i'm not really sure what i want to do to celebrate with my friends though. in all reality it is just another day and nothing special in the big scheme of things but i am a year older and it was a better year than the last. you can't go wrong with the making and eating of good food with good friends though, i'm thinking maybe mexican.

#109 - herron island 2008

i don't quite remember what i did for memorial day last year. i may have been working. usually when i am at home i visit punchbowl cemetary and give thanks. my dad's parents are inurned there. it's cool because the boy scouts put out flags and leis on each of the regular grassy graves. it's neat. this year a friend from dodgeball asked if i wanted to come up to his property on herron island. it's one of many islands in the puget sound (washington) but is privately owned so you need an invite. the island i believe is about 1.5 by .5 miles and is home to 150 year-round residents. how could i pass this opportunity up?

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in order to get to the island you need to hop on the ferry or a private boat. when we got there we just missed the ferry so i called my friend and he came and picked us up. it was one of the best weekends, filled with friends, fun, and food. we got to his trailer property late on saturday. we took the opportunity to drive up the coast and see a little bit of oregon and washington's coastline. it took a few hours extra but was a nice side trip. we were in time for dinner, which was grilled elk, cedar grilled salmon and sturgeon! it was all amazing! we then had tastings of a dozen red wines. someday i will have a better idea about wine but for now, let's just say i enjoyed them all. we were of course stuffed but found lots of room for other tasty libations. we were invited out to the dock for a bonfire and met quite a few locals there. it was a great first night. we got back, crawled in the tent and slept.
when i woke up it was raining. i looked out and saw my backpack, which i had left outside like an idiot! of course when i went to bed it wasn't raining, but this was the pacific northwest afterall. so dumb. so then i had to deal with a bunch of wet stuff. oh well. we headed down to the little community center for a little cinnamon roll and coffee action. i couldn't eat it cause it was too sweet but when we got back to camp, there were a few different breakfast casseroles and biscuits & gravy, delicious. i was craving the salty i guess. after stuffing ourselves silly it was just hanging out until kickball. we invited some locals, adults and kids, to join us in a friendly game o' kickball. i haven't played since october but i dusted off the cleats, and it felt great! we just headed out to the field by the community center with our cooler of bevvies and were ready. it was good times of course. at one point one of the kids kicked a ball and headed for first base but didn't see this other kid casually walking across the first base line. heads collided and kids started crying. boo. he recovered eventually after some tlc from mommy. after kickball we went back and decided on some croquet, but not just any croquet.
(our gracious host, scotty)
drinking croquet. in this version, the first person through a wicket gets to make a rule. then when you break a rule you need to take a drink. we had 8 wickets and some pretty silly rules by the end. and the end was ONLY four hours later. it was certainly the longest game i've ever played. rules included jumping and saying "woo" before you hit, spinning around on your mallet, scott can't talk (that was the best!), running to your ball, high fives, chest bumps, etc. it was a riot! let's just say a lot of people broke rules. four hours + rule breaking = lots of drinks. it was a pretty fun game and the "peanut gallery" of four people tried to speed it up by getting dinner ready. it pretty much worked. the hot lasagna with lots of goodies in it (zucchini, spinach, cheese, olives, peppers, etc) and garlic bread was almost enough for us to call it quits but we got through it and finished. after dinner we all sat around the campfire and hung out. it was a chill night and i was exhausted!

woke up at 5:45am to the sound of crows. they were loud, obnoxious and very awake. i laid there in my tent for awhile and tried to sleep. i eventually did and woke up for real about 9. everyone else had the same experience. some were trying to throw rocks but were not successful. we didn't do much but eat some leftovers and break camp. i did get to get another ride on the boat though, seeing a few of the other islands and driving too. whoohoo! there's nothing like boating and going over huge wakes! when we got back we went to sit in line for the ferry. it only holds 11-12 cars and goes every hour or so. since it was the long weekend there were a ton of people waiting. not to worry, we were on island time, and didn't really want to leave. it may have been a fun-filled and packed weekend but it was very relaxing. now since i've been there, i know the rules and can go anytime i want. it's a dangerous open invitation because i definitely want to take advantage of it. i love sleeping in a tent (but also having the trailer for bathroom/shower), relaxing, sitting around a campfire and next time hopefully fishing or clamming. i will be back herron island.

#93 - nikita

my dog nikita is the smartest one i know. he can do all these different tricks, or at least used to. we got him on easter, 14 or 15 years ago from my mom's friend out in nanakuli. we went there to see her litter or 5 or so baby chihuahua-terriers. we were playing with them and they were so cute! i really liked the runt. after an hour or so of playing, my mom said "this one is yours!", giving us a cute little white puppy (not the runt). reina and i were so surprised and excited! we had never had a dog before and this one was so cute! he was a total puppy with so much energy. we didn't know much about taking care of him but we immediately loved everything about him. that night i slept with him on the floor of the bathroom. i'm sure he was scared so i cuddled him close to me. i named him after a character in a movie starring one of my favorite actors, river phoenix. he was the son of kgb agent parents and his name was nikita. i thought it was a great name and he seemed to like it too.

through the years he learned many tricks. he was a very well behaved dog, even though in those puppy years he was crazy and ran through the house a lot. he chewed things. he ate things. he ruined things. he ruined me, for the better. even though he was the one we had to feed, bathe, walk and take care of, he was the one who took care of us. when i had a problem or issue i would talk to niki. he always listened and no matter what he would give you kisses. he loved going places, especially maui, where he has been for the past several years. he and my grandpa spent a lot of time together. they would sit out in the yard under the cherry tree and just hang out. when my grandpa had a stroke he said niki acted strange. he knew what was happening i think. even so, niki was there for him. my grandpa got better and niki was there for my uncle and grandma as well. he was always there, waiting for you to come home, wagging his tail and waiting for butt scratches. he LOVED it.

we found out last year that he had a heart murmur, which is pretty common in chihuahuas apparently. they weren't too concerned about it and told us a couple things to look for: mostly getting tired quicker and short of breath. well it's come to that point. he kind of stopped eating, so the vet said to feed him anything that he WILL eat. the other day that was part of a manapua! yum. he's been short of breath and just acting different. my mom went over to maui to take him to the vet and they took an xray and gave him a shot. he's got congestive heart failure and i think some fluid in his lungs. the shot made him a little better but it's clear that he won't get too much better. the last time i was home and saw niki was february when i went home for a funeral. i've been saying bye to niki for a couple trips now but this time i knew it probably was the last. he's been getting deaf and blind for awhile and slowing down. i guess it happens when you are 90 or so. he was still very happy and loved his butt scratches. i did a lot of yard work and niki would just sit and watch me. my last project was painting this house for him. my grandparents bought this new recliner and it came in this big box. so i added some pizzazz to it. niki loved it and kept sitting by it. he's always so smiley in his pictures and i'm glad he's happy. he's made our family happier and when the time comes, as i know it will, we will only have pictures and memories (and the big box).

my mom talked to the vet about when to know to put him down and stuff like that. when it comes to the point where he's in too much pain or can't enjoy life, it's time to think about it. although he was having trouble breathing, he still seems to have life. he was wagging his tail. it's so hard not to be there to cuddle him again like i did that first night on the bathroom floor. he must know his time will come eventually. i really hope he goes in his sleep, i don't want my mom to have to make that decision ever. she's been through a lot of deaths in the past few months and this hopefully will be the last for awhile. he's had a great long life and so when the time comes, it comes. i've said my goodbye and gave him kisses. what more can you do?

#75 - i miss dodgeball

i enjoy being here in hawaii, it's great to see family and just do nothing but i'm getting bored. i'm here till monday night, when i take the red eye back to the mainland. but i really miss dodgeball! it's not only a great way to take out the stress in my life (which is not that much) and workout, it's a great way to meet people. i've met so many awesome people through dodgeball!

although i don't necessarily miss work, i do miss seeing my old people and friends at work. i actually do enjoy what i do. if only i got paid more (and certain people were FIRED or quit) it'd be a great job. i enjoy going to workout at the gym after work then going home and relaxing for a bit before making dinner. dinner is always the same, a salad, but i have come to look forward to it.

i play dodgeball on tuesdays, thursday, and friday. somehow that is not enough. it is really strangely addicting and i really want to get better at it. we have two more games then a tournament, then the season is over! i think we start again in april but it's just sad. my current teams are so awesome! they are both great teams with great people who don't take themselves too seriously (i don't think you can when you're playing with a red rubber ball) and have fun afterwards at the bar. =)

i miss portland and oregon, the cool weather, my room & roomies, cooking for myself, eating healthy (not eating everything in sight, at every meal) and working out almost every day. here i am so lazy. i have worked out a few times but it's just not the same. i have no motivation, it's called "polynesian paralysis". you don't want to do anything. and there is no surfing here, well at least not for me. i'm pretty home bound cause the g-parents need help and stuff like that. 3 more days.

#36 - being away

it's hard being away from home. although i've lived away from home and parents for almost 8 years it is still hard. it is totally by choice and i love oregon and portland. i love being able to jump in a car or on a train and go somewhere without spending $500 on a plane ticket. i love the seasons and all the rain. all the friends i've made here are great and i wouldn't trade them for anything. can't forget dodgeball, partying, living in the city, being 2 hours away from the ocean, and mountain. there are many reasons why i love living on the mainland.

but at the same time i miss my high school friends at home. they all stay really close and see each other often. some have even married each other! we've kinda got an unofficial "unmarried" club that's getting smaller every year. i am not worried about not being married or anything like that, no way! i just found out about another wedding and a birth of a baby!! that is just crazy. i'm definitely not ready or looking for that.

one thing is that i am not very good at keeping in touch. i used to be a great pen pal but now that i have virtually no time, keeping in contact with all those great people is often the last thing on my mind. luckily for me i get to go home for holidays and summer usually so then i see my friends often.

my family would love it if i could live there but i just couldn't. i love seeing them and spending time with them when i am there though. it is especially hard when i call and there is something wrong that i can't help with. or if someone is sick i can't just be there to help them. when my grandpa had a stroke it took awhile for me to be able to go visit and we didn't know if he would make it. but he did and is still very much kicking so i am thankful for that. i get to go spend time with them soon and we'll go to costco on a sunday to see his friends cause that's what he likes to do.

you hear about things that happen and things you want to do or would rather do, but you've made a decision to be away and just have to deal with it. sometimes it hurts and you just want to go home and let your mom take care of you. sometimes you just want to get onto a plane and go visit your friends. being away and living the life is great but sometimes it is hard because of the things you miss out on. choices, decisions and sacrifices.