I've only bought two pairs of shoes since my last post. That's not too bad is it? Oh yeah, and two pairs of socks. Which would have been 4 pairs if they hadn't been sold out of the other two pairs I wanted...

Money, that's what I want

Hmmm. So I'm one of the managers at a backpacking store now. Big career change for me but so far it's been lots of fun. The only problem is that I see everything that comes into the store and I want it all. I just bought a wicked cool tent. And a new Therma-rest. And today while looking at a different product, I just about bought a camp stove and a down sleeping mat. They are both amazing products which is why I want them but I totally can't spend that kind of cash right now. And I haven't even added up what I've spent on clothes in the past 3 weeks. It's slightly ridiculous. Now here's the thing, compared to most people, I probably haven't really spent that much or gone that crazy. But compared to myself, this is INSANE behavouir. My family has always known I was the lone gal of our clan that didn't like to shop. But it appears that I just never had the right motivation. I've never really had too much of a problem with overspending. I've been fairly careful with my funds and usually have decent self-discipline. But apparently I've lost some of that discipline. I don't know what to do. This is foreign to me!

Someone's been sitting in my chair...

Ahhh. Hee hee. Ahem. You know when you were supposed to do something for a friend and you didn't and then it got to the point where it was embarassing to admit that you forgot because it had been so long so you sort of just avoided the entire situation? That's sort of how I've been feeling about this blog. I have lots of stories about Hawaii to tell but never enough time (it seems) to tell them. And so I've avoided blogs almost entireley to not have to think about how longs it's been. So that's my story about why I've been away so long. But I really am trying to get over my pride about things, especially that involve communicating with people so here's my attempt at getting myself back on the bandwagon.

So a few weekends ago I was out of town. I'd left breakfast's dishes on the counter. I'd had company the night before but I'd peeked into the spare room and noticed that she'd made the bed. Sunday afternoon when I returned home, I noticed that a glass that I never use was on the counter with traces of orange juice in it. I knew I hadn't used it and my first thougt was, "Who's been drinking my orange juice?" Then, a while later, I was using the phone in the spare room because my cordless sucks and dies after like 20 minutes but I don't want to spend the money on a new one yet. Anyway, the bed looked like it was made kind of funny. And differently than I remember seeing it before I left. I assumed that I must have just not noticed that my friend made it like that, but a small part of my brain thought, "Who's been sleeping in my spare bed?" When my basement roomate got home that night she informed me that I indeed did have a Goldilocks stay at my house that weekend. She was a girl whom I had actually already considered asking to move in as a roomate this summer so when she phoned my other roomate desparate for a place to stay, the girl told her to come on in and make herself at home! So it was fine (except I would have liked to clean up a little bit better) but boy is it ever a creepy feeling to realise someone may have been inside your house without you knowing.

That, my friends, is my attempt at getting back into this strange blog world. See you soon.

Karma bit me in the butt

Sorry for making fun of how cold it is back home.

I swear that this video was taken in Maui on Christmas morning. No beautiful sunrise for me.



And yes, we will be releasing a cd very soon.

Baby it's cold outside

I hear that it's been wicked evil cold back home.

I feel for you.

I mean, I was out for dinner the other night after hiking through a bamboo forest and jumping from waterfalls all afternoon. And it was so cold we commented several times how we wished we had a light sweater.

I love it here.

Is that a lock on that closed gate?

Still loving it here. I have had so many fantastic experiences and am very thankful for them. I shall now tell you about an excursion I took on Tuesday evening.

A friend and I decided to meet in Kahului to hang out one evening. It's about a 45 minute bus ride for me from Kihei to Kahului. I was supposed to catch the 5:44 bus and be there around 6:30. I have been trying to sincerely make an effort to talk to people that I come in contact with throughout the day. I've had some successful attempts. Like the 20 minute chat with the cutest old lady by the bus stop on her way home from church. Coincidentally it was the same church I'd attended that morning so we had lots to chat about. She also told me of her time spent being forced to work for the Germans during the war and how it felt to come to the USA later in life. Also successful was the lovely conversation on the plane on my way home from Oahu two weekends ago with a Philipino woman on her way to Maui to visit her husband. They've been here for years but always living on separate islands due to their work situations. I've also had two encounters where I've either been totally creeped out (like the MUCH older guy at the airport who basically invited me to the Big Island to drink Pina Colodas and see the sights with him - gross) or been made to miss the bus. As in the case I am about to explain.

So I get to the bus stop at about 5:35 which is way early but you just never know with these buses. Sometimes they are late, sometimes they are early. There is an older black man sitting on the bench. The only reason that I mention the colour of his skin is because he called me "Sista" when I sat down and that was seriously cool and would have sounded completely different coming from a white person. It was awesome. Anyway. We were having a good conversation for the most part. He swore a bit and was kind of negative about the cops and his previous job, but I dug his accent and he's a reggae musician and had good stories. Then a bus pulled up.

I got up to get on. Now before I pay, I always tell the driver my destination to check that I'm on the right bus. So I'm sure I would have quickly realised it wasn't the bus I wanted. Instead this guy tells me it's not the bus I'm looking for. I looked at the bus schedule in my hands, argued with him for a moment and then agreed. He was right and it was the wrong bus. I felt kind of sheepish for having argued but he didn't seem to care so we continued our conversation. Then another bus pulled up with no sign and no bus number on it, only the word Aloha on the digital screen where the route would usually be printed. I again was going to at least go check with the driver but Mr. Reggae music is like, "No girl, chill. You're bus is the big green one. This ain't the right one." Having felt silly for arguing before, wanting to be Maui-ish and just hang loose, and (more importantly) knowing that in the past, yes, it always has been a big green bus, I stayed put. By the time the next bus (not my route) came so I could talk to the driver it was 6:10 and she told me I'd totally missed my bus. It was the Aloha one. Apparently the real bus had a breakdown and the little Aloha one was covering. Sigh. Buses only come once per hour. Bummer.

So, at 7:30pm I finally made it to the mall in Kahului where the buses all stop. After listening to some Christmas carols on the Ukulele (just imagine "Carol of the Bells" on the Ukulele. It was kind of weirdly good) we decided to go hang out at a cool park. It was maybe 8:30 or so by now. We played on the monkey bars, walked around and saw a stray dog and then laid on the grass to watch the stars which are pretty good here. Such a great evening. Sometime after 10:00 I decided I'd better get him to take me back to Kihei so I could get some sleep before work the next morning. Plus it was cold. And I had to pee.

The problem was, we entered on one side of the park that had no sign telling us that the park gates are closed and locked at 10:00pm. We quickly discovered that though. We were locked in the park. We also quickly discovered that the washrooms were locked as well.

We did some exploring to see if we could find any spot to squeeze the car out but everything was definitely locked. There was one spot we thought we could fit through the trees, but the ditch on the other side was very deep and it was extremely possible that we'd get stuck. During our exploration to find an escape route we came across the single sign (even though there are three possible entry points) telling us that the gates are locked from 10:00pm until 7:00am. In Maui, 7:00am doesn't necessarily mean 7:00am. It could mean 7:10 or even 7:20. I had to be at work by 7:30. And it was a half hour drive yet once we finally got out. And I'd then be arriving to a morning devotional meeting not only late but in the same clothes as the night before without having brushed my teeth or combed my hair. Which just might look kind of bad. But, it was starting to seem like spending the night in the park might be the only option. And hey, it's not like I haven't slept in a car before (Maryanne, that's still a great memory). Then my friend thought of phoning the cops. I'd heard lots of bad things about the cops (some of them that very night from my reggae-bus-stop friend) so I didn't figure they'd help us. But they totally did. They tracked down the park's security guard and he told them to tell us about the two posts that are just wide enough to squeeze a car through. We only had to drive up a curb, cross a grassy field, sneak through YMCA's adjacent property, drive along their sidewalk, squeeze through the posts and then go down a big curb and pull a u-turn across a busy street. It was a fun adventure!

We were famished (it was around 1:30am by now as it took us awhile to escape), having not previously had dinner. And, I still had to pee. We tried to find an all night IHOP but no luck. So we went to Safeway and got hummus, seasoned bread and a carrot and had a late night feast in the car. Then we finally drove to Kihei and I got just enough sleep to be fresh-faced in the morning and tell the ladies at the devotional my story. It was great fun and I'm glad to have had the experience! How fun.

Camping in Hana

Having a great time! Between camping at Hana, celebrating birthdays with food and song, spending Thanksgiving with new friends, and watching the stars while sitting next to the ocean, I have no complaints.

I do, however, have no time to sleep. And I've got to be up for another trip to Hana tomorrow so I must go to bed now. But I will leave you with a quick photo explination of my camping trip from two weeks ago.

The drive to Hana is the whole point. Getting to Hana is cool but it's the drive that makes it worth going. There are all kinds of waterfalls and pretty things along the way like this.

A bit of car sickness meant many stops. But no complaints from me because look at where we stopped!!

The guys foraged for coconuts (which we later ate).

We had a feast for dinner and then went fishing by moonlight on the rocks. See the part that is sticking up from the water at the end? That's where we were at a lower tide. (Scary to see it covered with water in daylight the next day.) Because a few of us were "nervous" about how close we were to the water we backed up and sang any church song that had a round that we could think of for about an hour. It was such an uplifing evening and so beautiful. The moon was a night past being full and provided plenty of light.

We packed up the next morning so we could be on our way to the 7 Sacred Pools.


First we had some breakfast and ate those coconuts I mentioned previously.


Everything is so lush. It's hard to take in so much beauty.

We spent the morning jumping into the lower pools. We even found a natural rock waterslide that entertained us for awhile.

Then it was time to go home. This is a VERY common sign to see.

We took a different way around the back and got to see some amazing views.

It was a truly fantastic and refreshing weekend.