Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Welcome, Spring

Ah, Spring. Mother nature awakens, spreading light showers to dazzle the fertile soil and an eager sun to warm the hills. Either that... or ice-cold rain pelts down on us under grey skies and 35 degree weather (as is the current situation).

I've been back in Elgin for the past few weeks. I was really sad when I got back. Honestly, I think I was a little depressed for a few days. I guess all the flak I've been getting from people to have a firmer direction in life finally caught up with me. I realized that I was still living with my parents, didn't own anything, hated my job, had about six friends, just came from a "paradise" climate to a cold wasteland, and nothing was going to change for at least a few months.
Bummer...

Well, the circumstances are the same, but I am feeling better about myself. I talked to my sister and she told me to wisen up and remember the good things about the Midwest, the things she misses. Secretly, I wanted her to come and see for herself how miserable it was here. Then I went to Wal-Mart and unexpectedly realized what I'd been missing.

The greenhouses were open! The seeds are ready to plant! Everything grows in the summer! Odd to find it at Wal-Mart, but I'd completely forgotten one of the most critical things about Spring: it isn't about the weather. The weather is still horrible. It's about the anticipation. Everyone knows Summer's coming and is preparing for the wilderness to explode into a mass of green foliage. One thing people living in the tropics don't understand and won't understand until they experience it is the immense anticipation one gets from Spring after living through winter, especially one abnormally cold as the last few months.

So I've been scavenging the local stores and bought a plethora of seeds, ranging from sunflowers to pumpkins, and I'm actually going to follow through with it. It's been about five years since I've had both a backyard and Spring weather and who knows when I'll have this again, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

(Reenactment)

I know what you're thinking. Basically not much has changed since Hawaii, I'm just feeling better because I distracted myself with vegetables. Yes, that is exactly what has happened. I wonder how long this will last.

If you hear of any avaiable, cool job/volunteer opportunities, let me know!

Monday, April 6, 2009

waterfalls...

Today was great. My cousin and I climbed a mountain and dove into a few waterfalls in the middle of nowhere (AKA La'ie Falls). Both of us like to take pictures, so we stopped dozens of times to take flattering pictures of each other. Ironically, only one of these was posed. Can you guess which one?





You can see La'ie in the background of this picture. This is about halfway up and already it is a long way down. Yes, we did walk back to the coastline. Oh, and this was posed.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Hawaii Sun

My pilot cousin came out to visit this weekend and since then I've been having a blast. Everyday has been filled with lots of sun, water, beaches... basically what one imagines a Hawaiian vacation being. I planned on going back home sometime this week, whenever I can get a standby ticket. However... I just checked the weather report and supposedly it will snow there tomorrow with a High of 36F. You know when you're in the sun all day, and your skin almost burns but instead just darkens, and later that night your skin is still warm to the touch from the sun? That's what I feel like right now. It's great. Tomorrow we're going to hike up the mountain behind my sister's house and try to find a waterfall to swim in. I kind of don't want to go home.

jump.


We went SCUBA diving today by two shipwrecks. It was awesome. We swam in and out of the hull of the ships, with tons of fish, an eel, lots of sea turtles, and a few sharks. During the second dive, a submarine filled with tourists went by and we waved to little kids inside.


After, me and my cousin went to the beach and had a few drinks while the sun set and some surfers caught the last waves before dark.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Surfing

Well, things have a funny way of turning around. I went surfing today! ... More or less. I got up, but Ikaika (my brother-in-law) called my longboard a "moving sidewalk." That's pretty much what it was. Getting up on a longboard isn't hard. Paddling to get past the surf is, if you're not used to it. Maybe if I was remotely in shape it would have been easier, but I'm not at all right now. I've decided I'm going to start working out again. Here's a picture:


Also, as I was getting this picture off my sister's camera I found these other ones. I thought they should be shared with the world.


Look at this girl! She wasn't posing. She was just excited to see the show.

This is a picture of my nephew from Rachel's camera. Notice the green grass. That means this picture was taken almost a year ago and it's still on her camera. Oh well. I thought this was a nice one of the boy. There's so few pictures where he actually looks presentable.

Wake-Up Call

Location: Hau'ula, Hawaii

This morning I ignored the "tranquil" call of the rooster outside my window and decided to wake up a bit later, perhaps after 6AM.

I ended up waking to this:
"Oh Gross! Pepe* made dukilau** in your room! That's why it smells!"
*my sister's dog
** hawaiian slang for "poop"


I can tell today is going to be a beautiful day.