Thursday, May 28, 2009

2 down...One More to Go!!!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!! I am on step closer to being set up for my Euro-tour, and I'm so stoked. I just purchased my Eurail pass which will take me from Paris, France down to Rome, Italy and eventually over to Athens, Greece....with a few stops in between. I'm so freakin' stoked. I wish I took a picture earlier to document that amazing moment where I clicked "Confirm." Soooooo awesome. My trio has increased in size and we are now 5 strong!!!! Woot, woot! The more the merrier. So, for those of you who love to live vicariously through me, here's a rough draft of our schedule...LOL!

July 2 - July 5: Paris, France
July 6 - July 8: Bern, Switzerland
July 9 - July 12: Venice, Italy
July 13 - July 16: Rome, Italy
July 17 - July 22: GREECE!!!!

These are tentative dates, but that's what we've figured out so far. Now, all I need to do is take care of my ticket to Paris, and I'm set. I can't believe its all going to happen in about a month!!! Insanity!!! And I can't believe how broke I'm going to be after this is all over, but it's all worth it! I can't wait!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Overwhleming Morning...

It has by far been the most traumatic morning! Here are the events in a nutshell:

- Wake up at 7:30 am to get ready for work. Called the parentals for a ride...and they agreed to pick me up by 8.
- Parentals are late, and pick me up at 8:15. Confirmation that I need to get my own car. Ugh.
- Get to work by 8:40, the store's supposed to be open by 8:30. Oh well...it happens. I search my purse for my keys....NO LUCK! The thought just dawns on me that I left my keys IN THE STORE on Saturday.
- Make mad phone calls to all the other girls to see if they can bring me a key. Again, no luck. Since there is another girl scheduled to come in at 10, I decide to wait for her. She should have her key.
- 10am rolls around the corner, the girl comes, and she doesn't have a key either!!!! We're officially screwed!
- Phone calls start up again. Finally somebody answers, and says their on their way from Hau'ula. It should take another half hour. It ends up being 45 minutes.
- We open the store and we jam out an easy 20 bowls within the first 10 minutes. Things look good. Then...the POWER GOES OUT! If there ever was a sign that I SHOULDN'T be working...this was it.
- I close the store down....due to the recent power outage. Arrive at home. Get ready for the beach since its GAWGEOUS outside. Boss calls...asks if I can come in later today if the power's back on. Like an idiot I agree. So my almost "beach day" has been cut in half. If I do go in, and the power goes out AGAIN, I'm burning that store down!!!!! Hahahaha...j/k.

So there you have it. My overwhelming morning for the year. And how appropriate it be on "Memorial" Day. Wut a tragedy to remember!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Beautiful...

I've never had a greater appreciation for that word. It applies to so many things. Weather. People. Personalities. Music. LIFE.

The past couple of weeks I have been blessed with all of the above. After what seemed like forever, the sun has so gracefully returned. Needless to say we have had the most BEAUTIFUL days here in Hawaii Nei. You're just going to have to imagine it because I lost my stinkin' battery charger, and have been unable to take ANY pictures.

Anyhoo...this has been a pretty busy month so far. Along with BEAUTIFUL weather, I've been fortunate enough to enjoy the company of BEAUTIFUL people. Its always nice to visit with friends from out of town. Line, Savani, Ana, Mele, Deb....and many more...you guys are awesome.

I'm still trying to recuperate from the many adventures I've had so far this month, which include the following:

- 3rd Annual "Mother's Day" Get-Together with an ever increasing crew. The tradition started 3 years ago when a bunch of us decided to go to Waimea for the day. We would swim, tan, eat, sleep, etc...pretty much all day. Then later that night we'd take a trip to the airport to get a lei for our mothers. We had a great turnout this year, and improved on our provisions, complete with the essential pop-up tent. Keep in mind we started off with NOTHING the first year. LOL. Again...sorry no pix. But lets just say that I pretty much got fried....but it was all worth it.

- Visitors galore!!! Ana came in earlier this month on the 9th...and just barely left on the 19th. Now Mele and Deb are here along with Mele's two cousins from Salt Lake. So, its been hard trying to juggle school, work, and cruising around with everyone. But again...all worth it.

- The semester's coming to an end, and I must say it hasn't been TOO stressfull. Majority of the work I need to turn is over, and now its just cracking down on doing all the work for my online class. *Sigh* I can't wait to go back to doing nothing but working soon. I feel I've learned so much this summer, so even thought it was a lot of hard work, it was all worth it.

Hope I didn't lose you in my random ramblings of all that is BEAUTIFUL. But, that thought provoking word...BEAUTIFUL....can really get my mind going. What word/words do that for you?

Thursday, May 7, 2009

School's Cool

It's been a while since I've posted anything mostly because my camera has been completely dead and I can't seem to find my charger, and I don't really like posting anything without pictures. But anyhoo...the past couple of weeks have been pretty boring anyway. LOL.

I am totally in love with the classes that I am taking this semester. Even though the classes are 2-3 hours long. The classes include Pacific Regionalism, History of Surfing in Hawaii and an EXS class online. I never realized how much I LOVE learning about the countries in the Pacific, and the different issues they have to deal with like the rising sea level (poor Tuvalu), phosphate mining (Nauru), and various native land rights issues (all of them!). I think the reason why I enjoy it so much is I am fascinated by the many similarities we all share. We've all been screwed somehow by some foreign colonial power. How annoying!

Then, with my History of Surfing in Hawaii class...I feel so connected to my heritage as a Native Hawaiian woman. I LUV LUV LUV IT!!! It is a little disturbing reading about all the ways Hawaiians were mistreated and even marginalized in the past. And seeing how that is commonly overlooked even today. It really makes me think about what I can do to work towards making positive changes for my Hawaiian community. I get all hyped up when I read about the hoale trying to make surfing a part of THEIR history. But...ummm..yeah..we'll have to leave that for another post. Did I mention that we get to go on field trips for this class too! Yup...we already hit up Malaekahana and Sunset, and then on Tuesday we're going to Waikiki!!!! Woot woot!

I wish all my classes could be like this!