Hot Hot Hot!

I actually have a post already in place for today and that is to show you pictures of this year's Honolulu City Lights. However after last night, I desparately need to get this out of my head. The movie "Never Been Kissed" was on last night on BRAVO. I have never seen it and I wish I had. It wasn't a great film and some parts were a bit cheesey...ok, VERY cheesey. The other parts didn't make sense at all not to mention the inappropriateness (damn, is that even a word) of teacher-student relationship. But the ending threw me off and I felt warm inside. It was a very romantic ending and I don't think I would have liked it as much if the guy wasn't so HOT! Michael Vartan, a french guy who was in a bunch of other movies, including "Monster-in-law" which I had seen but never really noticed him. Awwwww, he looked so good in the movie. I wish I had a cute teacher to fall in love with...in high school...crap, did I just say that? He is now officially on my list of HOT guys :)

Will Smith
Johnny Depp
Michael Vartan
Orlando Bloom

(Note: The order the names are listed has nothing to do with ranking. I love them all the same.)

Christmas at Work

This is my cubicle at work, where I spend 9 hours of my life everyday, just sitting in that chair and staring at the computer. My cubie looks festive right now because I decorated it for Christmas and New Year's. Even though this is not my first job, this year is the first year I decorated my cubicle to celebrate the holidays. Now I just dread the week after New Year's when I have to take out the decorations, along with the holiday spirit :(

This is the back side of my cubie where I display pictures of my friends and family. It is also where I show my love for greenery. My bamboo and crazy plant (upper right corner) are adapting nicely to the cold air conditioning of the office.

Happy Sicky

I should have noticed that when the weather turns super cold and I am wearing a sweater, T-shirt, and sweat pants to sleep in Hawaii, something must be wrong...with ME. Monday morning, I woke up with a really dry throat so I overdosed myself with Airborne. Tuesday, I felt the same so I continued with the Airborne treatment. Wednesday, I felt better so I stopped the Airborne treatment and drank gallons of water at work so I had to pee every hour. Thursday night after I came back from Christmas shopping, I felt terrible. I was sneezing my head off and my runny nose was getting worse. That night, I had tissue flying around my bed and I couldn't sleep. Lucky I didn't break out with a fever. Friday morning, I worked half day and came back to rest. Today, which is Saturday, I feel GREAT! I still have stuffy nose but I have so much energy that I am cleaning the house to welcome the coming of Christmas and New Year's. Happy Christmas and New Year's my dear blogger friends.

So Cold...

Lately, it has been so cold in Hawaii. For the past week, the weather was rainy and windy. I couldn't go for my daily swim because the rain would come pouring down every 10 minutes. The wind was so strong (around 15-20 miles per hour) that generated waves in the pool. My pink umbrella broke because of the wind. At night, I had to wear a thick sweater to keep myself warm.

Yesterday morning, I saw that the rain had gone but it was super windy. I still went swimming because I needed some exercise from all the Christmas parties the previous week. I jumped in and I have never felt soooooo COLD in Hawaii! The water temperautre was freezing because the sun had not warm up the pool yet. It was so cold my muscles were freezing and my head wasn't functioning. Brrrrrr...maybe I'll stop swimming for awhile.

Not a Clue!

I saw this magazine at Narita Airport on the way back from Hong Kong to Honolulu. I took a picture because of the cover. If I am looking correctly, the rabbit is balancing a teapot with its left foot and the panda is imitating the rabbit's position, but without the teapot. Does anyone know what the title is in English? What is the rabbit trying to say to me!!! I am so confused.

Fart Bag

Along with the last few posts, this one is loooonnnng overdue since I bought this bag 2 months ago while I was vacationing in Hong Kong. I call this the "Fart Bag" for obvious reasons (see design). The mischievous looking creature on the bag has a name as with all other cool Japaneseeeee characters. His name is Suu-paawanpaku. Those of you who are Japanese know that "wanpaku" means naughty and "suu" means boy. In short, Suu-paawanpaku is a naughtly boy (even though I don't think he is human enough to be called a boy). There are lots of reasons why I like him: evil, cute, pointy tail, the crooked smile, bomb-shaped hands, etc... However, the main reason is that I can relate to him and that what he does for fun is definitely, FUN! (See him here).

If you have known me for awhile, you know that I have a serious problem with heartburn. I control it by taking meds and eating slower. In my case, gas often accompanies my heartburn so you guessed right, I get gassy. Nothing to be ashamed of because I am sure some of you are in the same situation when eating beans or spicy foods. So when I said I can relate to Suu-paawanpaku and this FART bag, you now know why :)

Thanksgiving Celebration

I believe we broke our record this year by eating 3 turkeys! The first gobble-time was the day before Thanksgiving. After trying the thanksgiving turkey dinner from Foodland and Starmarket, we still thought the one from Safeway was the best. The turkey was more juicy and tender, and the gravy was a bit saltier. The turkey was 8-10 pounds and we finished it in 3 days. However, after becoming spoiled by Bryan's delicious bacon-filled stuffing, I refused to eat the stuffing that came with the turkey dinner. Bacon makes everything taste good!

On Thanksgiving day, we were invited to a friend's house for a gobble potluck. She roasted two turkeys but we only got to taste one of them because we had to save room for a Thanksgiving Chinese buffet that same night. I wish I had 4 stomachs.

Two weeks later, we invited some friends over for a late thanksgiving celebration in addition to watching the UH football game (against Washington Huskies). This time, Bryan roasted the turkey all by himself in addition to preparing all the side dishes (i.e., stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and yam). He did a wonderful job on the turkey, even better than the Safeway turkey. No doubt the stuffing was delicious. I actually prepared the mashed potatoes because it was the easiest task. The yam was a great dessert. After this meal, I don't think I will buy the Safeway turkey dinner next year. Instead, I will help Bryan prepare our own special gobble dinner buffet :)

Koko Head Crater Stairs

This hike was all frakin' stairs...STAIRS! Some parts were scary because it was more like a bridge. I didn't count the number of steps but my legs were definitely shaking on the way down. We saw this fit and healthy asian girl jogging up and down the entire length TWICE! The time it took her to go twice roundtrip, we weren't even at the bottom yet. Her boyfriend (or so we assumed) was dark and buff. Bryan and I joked we would never be like them simply because we exercise to eat whereas they exercise to be healthy, and not to mention the good looking bods.


November 11, 2007. Koko Head Crater hike.

Tasty Plate

The sunday before Thanksgiving, Macy's had an early grand-reopening event when almost everything was on sale. While my friends were busy deciding whether to buy the elegant and festive white plates, Bryan and I went looking for food when we stumbled on these beautiful and traditional Japanese plates. We had seen and wanted these plates before but never bought because they were $39 each. We couldn't believe how reasonably priced they were - $16. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were cheap because anything over $5 is not cheap.

A week later, I cooked a simple lunch with noodles, fish cake, bell peppers, and bak choi. When I plated the food on the Japanese plates, I noticed how much presentation can entice the taste buds. Even though it was just the mind that was fooling me, the food seemed to taste better.

Kahana Valley

Looking back at my photo collection, I discovered two months of my life that I had completely forgotten, probably because I was frantically getting ready for my trip as well as preparing for my first day of work. Before the vacation (early September), we did a hike at Kahana Valley on the North Shore. I died many times on that hike as the frakin' razor grass was relentless in trying to carve out my skin. Every "ouch" was followed by profanity, then threats to kill my friend who convinced me the hike was "moderately easy". Then he tells stories of night marchers in the valley and that he had seen them before. If one of these night marchers see you, you die. Myth or truth, I definitely wasn't thrilled at the idea of bumping into one. I actually thought of hiding in the bamboo grove but then the bugs would get me. Despite the razor cuts and the ghost scare, the hike was fantastic! The forest was calm and filled with sounds of bamboo wavering in the gentle breeze. Bryan wanted a bamboo so he picked up a plant that looked like baby bamboo but was actually a baby razor grass that is now growing in my lanai. The fun part was hiking with poki, my friend's dog that I absolutely adore. I want to thank my friends for inviting me to this hike because it prepared me for the more strenuous hikes at work (to be blogged later).


Giant taro plant...NOT!


One of the river crossings.


Poki :)


Another river crossing.


Sea turtle at Lanikea Beach.

Note of Character

When I came back from swimming this afternoon, I saw this cute note on my desk. Most of you may think this is just an ordinary note. To me, this note says everything about Bryan. Since the handwriting is not as neat as his class/hospital notes, he wrote the note in a hurry (probably in a rush to go play basketball). The drawings resmble those of a little child so he is definitely a kid from within. He drew a TV to "hint" that completing this task TODAY is necessary to keep up our TV schedule. Lastly, the happy face is him :)

Voodoo

My cousin Jenny gave me this Japanese voodoo doll as a souvenir from Japan. This stirred my interest in finding the true meaning of voodoo. Nowadays, many people associate the word "voodoo" with black magic and cult mysticism, in which the doll is commonly used as a torture medium. (This was demonstrated in Indiana Jones.) However, voodoo is actually a religious tradition that originated from West Africa. The word "voodoo" comes from the West African word "Vodun", meaning spirit. Contrary to the modern belief, voodoo is a deeply spiritual process that involves healing and dieties. When the Europeans enslaved Africans of different ethnic groups, they came together as a community and shared a common faith - voodoo - in the misery of slavery. This makes me a little sad :(

Trip to Hong Kong

Hi hi! This post is long overdue. It originally started as a draft and has been sitting on the server for the past month because I haven't had the time to update it. As some of you know, I started my new job on October 1st. I work for the State as a hydrologist. (Oh, I love that title!) So far I have been working on creating GIS-maps. I also created a database that allows the user to search for data (e.g. area, land cover, etc) on specific watersheds.

I never thought I would feel this but I miss Hong Kong. Originally, I had the impression that HK was dirty (open markets commonly know as "gai see"), polluted (smog and smoke), and dangerous (pick-pockets and gangs). Well, all that but to a lesser extent. Besides, my parents made sure not to take me to the "BAD" places so I won't comment further on the subject.

Let's talk about the positives. Transportation is extremely convenient. Hop on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) and you can tour the entire HK. Almost every MTR station is directly connected to a mall so you can go shopping in a Category 3 typhoon (because you don't even have to step outside!). All the malls are at least 5 stories high with the escalators strategically placed to enhance the architectural design of the building. I shopped so much that I bought something everyday, even on days that I didn't visit a gigantic mall!

I stayed at my parents condo near the airport. Looking outside the window, I could see planes taking off and landing. Many flight attendents and foreigners live in the complex as well. The complex has a fitness gym with basketball court, tennis court, volleyball court, billards room, swimming pool (indoor and outdoor), kid's play room, and computer room. Everyday, I would swim in the gigantic outdoor pool for at least an hour. Gotta say tho, some people didn't look while swimming so I had a couple near-collisions.

A few days after I arrived, my parents and I left for Fukuoka, Japan. It was an awesome trip because the place was so peaceful (completely opposite of Tokyo). Fukuoka is a rural area where not many people understood English. As I looked outside the window on the tour bus, I saw rice patties and cute little villiage houses everywhere. Fukuoka is sort of like the village in the film "Totoro". We had breakfast and lunch buffet almost everyday. Unlike the sushi buffets in CA and HI, the Japanese buffets had fresh fish and delicious cooked food. Of course, I couldn't stay away from the HUGE tamagos. I remember we had a gigantic sushi boat for dinner one night and I had warm sake to go with it. Oooooooooooo, it was the first time I felt good even when I was 120% full :)

It is impossible to list all the places I visited. Maybe you can look at the pictures below and figure out yourself...ha ha :) Someday, I will put captions...someday.

Spying?

I think someone has been spying on us to get new ideas for Drabble.

Big Island Vacation

The start of my vacation was truly an interesting experience. We originally planned on going to the Big Island on the 13th, the day that my sister and brother-in-law arrived to Honolulu. However, Hurricane Flossie (a category 4 hurricane) was expected to hit the southern portion of Big Island on the 14th. It was pretty exciting yet worrisome to see that Flossie was all over the news with updates every minute. Not knowing what to do, HappyObilvion and I called my friend who called his friend on the Big Island to ask about the situation. His friend said Walmart and Costco were ransacked. She couldn't even get gas because the line was a mile long. I also called my friend who has lived in Hawaii for a long time. She suggested to stay in Oahu because of the unpredictable nature of the hurricane which may wipe out the entire island. Plus, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the heavy rain anyway. So, we decided to stay. With only a couple hours of time, we had to make important decisions and reschedule everything. First, we decided to go to the Big Island after the storm, which was the 15th. I called the vacation home owner and requested a refund for two days of rent. Then I arranged with the airline company to change the flight. HappyOblivion was busy getting a rental car for Oahu and the Big Island. After dinner, I called many hotels and finally reserved a room for my sister and brother-in-law. Even though it was a crazy night, I am glad I took control of the situation because I learned so much! My friends (Sue and Dale) were a great help! Mahalo!

We arrived Big Island on the night of the 15th. It was so dark it took us a long time to find the vacation home. The home was very nice even though the pool was a bit dinky. The floor of the shower in the master bedroom was made of rocks, supposedly used for foot massage. It was painful for me!

The next day, our first stop was Mauna Kea. I have been to the Big Island twice and still have not made it up to Mauna Kea (Grrr! That drives me crazy). We took a 4-wheel drive up there because the roads were not paved for the most part. It was a very bumpy and scary ride. We were above the clouds during the ride and we could see a fluffy sheet of cotton balls below as. If they were pink like cotton candy, I would eat them. Near the top, the heavy fog and clouds limited our view to only a hundred feet in front of us. I thought we would drive off the cliff! Finally, we arrived at the Keck Observatory, the largest telecope in the world! I don't know much of telecopes and planets, but these cute domes were neatly situated on the mountain like snow cones. One was very shiny too. On our way back home, we visited Manua Loa Macadema Nut Factory (my dad's favorite) and Akaka Falls which was pretty nice considering the amount the rain the hurricane brought.

On the second day, we started off with Punaluu Bakeshop. Everyone loved the bakeshop because of the soft yummy bread. My sister bought 6 loaves home and I bought two. I can still smell the wonderful freshly baked bread :) The next stop was Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park. Luckily, we saw at least 5 sea turtles swimming and basking in the sun! Then we drove for another 2 hours or so to get to Volcano National Park. We saw the usual stuff - lava rocks, steam vents, caldera. There was no active lava flow because of the recent movements that shifted the lava to flow east instead of into the ocean. Oh, I forgot how much I loved the brownie looking lava rocks!

On the last day, we decided to tour the resort area and do a self-guided tour of the coffee farms in Kailua-Kona. I woke up early so I went for a half-hour run around the resort. When I came back, HappyOblivion wanted me to run with him because he felt bloated from all the eating and sleeping :D I took him to the Mauna Lani Hotel to run along the beach. Then he decided to keep on going to who knows where! I followed him until he stopped and asked, "Where the heck are we?" I looked at him and said, "WHAT!!!!!!" I was so scared because I have no sense of direction and I always rely on him to get me home. If he has no idea where we were, then we were LOST! All around us were lava rocks. I was so scared and on the verge of crying. After half an hour, we finally found our way back to the vacation home. In the end, we took a one hour run and I was exhausted because I ran half an hour before that. We quikly took a shower and packed our stuff. Our first stop (which was 11AM already) was Mauna Lani Hotel. We went to see the baby sea turtles and the juvenile ones that will be release into the ocean on next independence day. Then we went to Ueshima Coffee Company and Kona Coffee Joe to do a self-guided tour. I have never seen a coffee tree in my life, not even a picture of one! How rediculous is that! Our last stop was the Mountain Thunder Coffee Farm which I learned has a pet feral pig. Yup, we drove almost 20 minutes just to satisfy my desire to see a feral pig :D It was worth the drive because we saw geese too!

I had a great time on the Big Island especially with my family. Too bad Frankie, Paul, Ellyse and Elliot were not able to join us. We missed you guys everyday! I want to thank you Vincent and HappyOblivion for driving us around the BIG FAT FAT FAT island. I know it was hard work and drained most of your energy. Mahalo!

Um...

It's been ages since I last posted. What kind of trouble was I in since June? Well let's see. HappyOblivion went to Kaua`i to do locums for two weeks. Feeling a bit lonely, I joined him for the last four days. Since we have been to Kaua`i many times, we visited random places...mostly waterfalls of course. My favorite was chasing the roosters and the chicks (duh, my relatives!).



The entire month of July was the busiest and most stressfull period of my life! I had to finish my research paper which went through 5-6 drafts. On top of that, I had to wrap up a couple of other projects. There was also a last minute project that I had to set up the week before my trip to San Jose. By the way, I passed the oral presentation and the written thesis. Whew, I can finally graduate! It was no vacation in San Jose. My daily schedule was: Day - spend time with family, night (10PM to 3AM) - work on research projects. Oh, and I went to my friend's baby shower. It was nice seeing all my high school friends again. I still cannot believe she is having a baby! HappyOblivion came for the last week to interview in Davis. It was nice having him around because I had an excuse to rest for a couple days to entertain him. Below are some pictures I took of my niece and nephew, and my beautiful turtles. There are also pictures of Davis.



I came back for my graduation ceremony which was on August 12th. I was so happy that my parents came to see me in my oversized Ph.D. gown. So stupid I wore the wrong gown. Well, can't complain because my good friend (Susan) let me borrow hers. Knowing how "pake" (cheap) I am, I ain't gonna pay $35 for something I will wear only once. I was mad paying for the hood and tassel already. We all went dim sum after the ceremony where my parents met some of my friends. My parents really liked the dim sum place. Mahalo HappyOblivion for organizing everything.

Your Love

Happy Oblivion heard this song on Kauai and got the lyrics for me. It is pretty funny and the song has a nice beat too :)

Performed By: Rukkus Entertainment

Intro

Woh yo yoy woh yoy woh yoy It’s a song about your love
Come (follow me 7x) now

Verse 1

Woke up this mornin’
There was a hurricane warnin’
Went to the store to get some supplies
Can goods and wata, but there as not a
Single roll of toilet paper inside
And it made me think that a oooh

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
Said uh I can’t get enough

Verse 2

Baby when I think about you
Can’t think of something that I want to
I know I couldn’t live without you in my life ooh-o-o-oh
I gotta have you near me (near me)
Don’t want your love to disappear see (see)
Don’t know what else I can say for this next line
But it makes me think that uh ooh

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
Said uh I can’t get enough

Rap

Oh yo oh yoy
Can you hear me now good!
If you ever wonder why I say what I say
Da good toilet paper keep me clean everyday
You stay by my side never ever go away
And never running out is what I hope and I pray
Your lovin’ is so fresh and so clean and so strong
Girl like a roll of charmine girl your lovin’ last long
Your love is so good and you girl are so pretty
With your love behind me girl I never feel shhh LORD!

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
(Said uh I can’t get enough 3x)

Source: http://www.tropicalstormhawaii.com/

Aiea Orchid Festival

Hello orchid lovers. I went to the Aiea Orchid Festival on June 16th and took some beautiful pictures to share with you. These are only half of the pictures. I will be uploading more later. Please check back next week!

I passed!!!

I officially passed my oral examination on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 12:10PM. Hooray! From Saturday to the very start of my defense, I was super nervous. I kept on practicing my presentation, looking at previous studies, and thinking of possible questions that may come up. I reviewed my slides probably 100 times, checking for errors and making them colorful and easy to understand. On the day of the defense, I woke up at 7:30AM to practice my speech again. Then I spend 30 frakin' minutes dressing myself. For some odd reason, I looked like a dork in every single outfit I tried on. Then my hair was stupid-looking. Grrrr!!!!!!!! During the defense, I was not paying attention to what I was presenting. The entire time I was thinking, "Oh no, these people are looking at me. Great, I am not going to pass. Can they hear me? Some people are sleeping!"

After my defense, the lab had a mini celebration with me and we had lovely cheesecake. Then I went to lunch with HappyOblivion at Asahi Grill (my favorite fast food place) to pig out more. Now I have to work on revising my written thesis so I can finally relax and not have this big fat weight over my shoulders wherever I go.

Orchid in bloom

My baby Nalo orchid finally bloomed! I have been waiting so long for this. I bought her when she was a baby seedling so I didn't know the color of the flowers. Over the past year, a few flower buds appeared but they all died. I guess the plant was still too young to push out any flowers. Look at her now! She has matured and her flowers are beautiful! There are more pictures of this orchid and my other plants in the "Color me life" blog. Check it out :)