I came to realize last night that...
I've talked to doctors. Three of them to be exact. The first one, a psychologist, told me to talk to a therapist on a regular basis. She said I may not feel any of it now, but in due time it could start haunting me and hurting my relationships. That eventually the guilt might eat up at me and keep me from trusting people.
She was right. It's been almost two years since i've spoken to her.
The second one told me if I started having nightmares and such, it'd be normal. That the pain and suffering I was going through was normal. However, he told me that if it kept up I would have to go see a specialized therapist.
I ignored the advice from him too.
The third doctor I spoke with, I spoke to her a few months back. She told me what I was experiencing was normal, yes. That I would probably be living with it for the rest of my life. But she told me there was hope. That talking to a therapist or going to group therapy with others like myself would help me. That it wasn't too late for me to get help before it overran my thoughts and my life.
Can you guess what I did? I ignored her too.
But last night, it has come to my attention that ... it's true. I need help.
My confession? I won't get into detail about it. Not here, not now. Now is not the time.
I guess this is kinda why I have so much pity for our members in the military returning from a war zone where they've seen things and experienced things we civilians have the privileged of not seeing/experiencing. The nightmares, the flashbacks... all of it. I know how it feels. I know what it's like to wake up kicking, screaming and crying in the middle of the night. To have those flashbacks. To freeze in the middle of a movie or anything because something triggers that memory.
I may be young, but I've seen enough PTSD to understand what it does to it's victims.
And I? Yes. I'm a victim as well.
I have PTSD.
I don't want to admit it, and I've always put it off, but it's been two years. The dreams still seem just as vivid as always, I still experience the flashbacks.
I feel like i've already said too much when i've barely said anything at all. One baby step at a time. PTSD ruins lives, yes. But I won't let it ruin mine. Maybe I'll get into detail about this some other time. We'll see.
Other than that, I'm alive and well.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Last Three days in Paradise
So I don't really remember my last few days, but I do know I enjoyed them and I miss that place, horrid.
Saturday June 5, 2010.
Breakfast with Andrea went GREAT! Her daughter, Aria, was absolutely ADORABLE. She loved us apparently. Lol. She didn't want to say goodbye and kept crying whenever we tried to put her back into the car seat so that they could go. Andrea herself was really nice(: I like her. She said she was bummed out I wasn't staying longer or being stationed there so she'd actually have someone else to talk to. (Her other close friend had just been stationed elsewhere.) She has other friends, but I guess she wouldn't mind having another asian female around that her daughter enjoys being with. Along with Nick of course. Hahaha. Aria really liked Nick. It was so cute!
After breakfast we headed to the other side of the island and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). I've been before, but Nick hadn't gone in forever and kept persisting we went. The drive out was beautiful. Past Chinaman's hat, Kualoa Ranch, Lionhead, and finally to PCC. Nick got an annual pass (which was completely pointless because he won't even have time to be home for the next year and a half. but the lady INSISTED it was cheaper so... we did it.) We took the canoe tour first, and walked around the place and took a few pictures. We watched my favorite Samoa show thing (I've been there 4 years ago, same guy runs the show!) and after Nick tried for at least half an hour to start fire! It was hilarious. Three different guys checked in on him. One of them came up to us like, "Hey brah, you okay? You've been at it for some time now." Hahahaha. They were all really friendly though. Later, Nick got picked to participate in one of the family shows in Samoa. It was a firemaking contest - what Nick had been working at for probably 40 mins by then. Lol. He got up there, beat the other guy (who was Navy), but didn't exactly MAKE fire. It was a timed competition and Nick at least got his pile smoking, the other white guy? Nothing. Hahahaha. Anyway, so they called up the real Samoans to do it, Nick and Navy guy were paired up with one each and their partners started racing to make fire. Nick's guy, an ex-Army guy, wasn't able to beat the other Samoan guy, butttttttt, who cares. He didn't give up and that's what matters! Woot! Anyway, after the contest they made them dance. This is where things get HILARIOUS. They weren't told they had to dance, so they were forced to. Navy guy and his paired Samoan dude were just doing traditional stuff. Nick's guy however, ex-Army guy, hahahaha.. had a better idea. He entwined the traditional like dance with body slapping and... (this is the funny part) decided to call Nick out in a pushup contest. Nick was confused when the guy got down into the push up position, but he eventually got down and started matching the guy push up, for push up. Ex-Army man started doing claps inbetween, so Nick did too. But he did the guy one better. He did one where he clapped BEHIND his back. The audience (myself included) found this impressive. Ex-Army Samoan dude decides to do the same. He pushes up, claps behind his back with a BIG smile on his face, but before he can put his hands back down... HE FACEPLANTS. Oh dear, it was the FUNNIEST moment of the day. The best part? I CAUGHT IT ALL ON VIDEO. It's on Facebook if you'd like to watch. Freaking HILARIOUS. The poor guy was so embarrassed he got up, continued the traditional dance with Nick, and after the show walked off the stage in a different direction as I was asking if I could get a picture of him and Nick together. I mean, this guy was BIGGG. Like, knock-you-out-in-one-hit, big. His arms were probably twice the size of my thighs. Good lookin' fellow. Hahaha. I just find it hilarious he'd pick on Nick, who wasn't even nearly twice his size or weight! It's because he thought he was better than Nick the Marine. I'm sure he could've beat the white Navy guy though. Lol. xD Just jokes.
After that, we came home to go fishing with Kevin (again), but instead we went out to dinner with Nick's parents at some Korean place. It wasn't as good as I would've liked it to be, but it'll do. After that I think Nick and I went home and knocked out..? I don't remember.
According to my twitter, we went for a stroll in Waikiki with his friends! Oh, that was SO much fun!!! Gilbert has the CUTEST little Corolla! I mean, it's REALLY nice. I'm not a fan of suped up Corollas but this one, it was just FANTASTIC! I wish i'd gotten a picture of it. Hahaha. It wasn't like, overdone, it was just right. Manual transmission. Full leather interior. The little GPS screen thing that was full touch, large, and folds out. The lights in the interior were nice too. Anyway, yeah, I won't talk about the walk much besides the fact that I really enjoyed spending time with his friends. Justin, Gilbert, Jason, and Nick. (: It was a fantastic, memorable night. Hahaha.
Went to dinner at some Korean place again. That was fun too(: Lol.
Sunday, June 6, 2010.
Woke up in the morning, Kevin packed the poles, and we headed out to Sea Life Park area for spearfishing. We met up with Jay (the guy who said he'd have to watch while I tried on the bathing suits) and Jason drove Kevin, Nick and I out there. We also met up with some female (forgot her name) and a guy friend of hers. As we headed out deeper into the water, I felt a sudden burning, very painful stinging sensation on my right hand. I had just released my spear at a fish so I figured it'd just rubbed my skin the wrong way. But it didn't make sense, my hand wasn't red or anything. I figured I was imagining the pain but it only worsened. No one else around me seemed to have mentioned the pain, but they were at least ten yards away. As I quickly thought of what might be wrong it came to mind that it could be a jellyfish that had stung me. So... I peed on it. Sorta. I mean, i'm still swimming in the water so I did what I could. Call it gross, but it helped a little bit. Eventually, the pain I was trying hard to ignore went away and I continued to look for fish to spear. I speared one - on accident. I freaked out and was nearly in tears as I frantically searched for Nick to get it off my spear. It was so young, I felt HORRIBLE. There was a bigger fish in front of it but it'd darted away and the small one behind it hadn't even seen me, nor I, it. It gets me sad every time I think about it. Anyway, Nick removed it from the prongs of my spear and I had to look away as it made a feeble attempt to swim away from us. I felt so horrible... I can't even put it into words. Anyway, Kevin soon showed up with a fish on his spear and Nick laughed and said the fish he caught wasn't edible. I had to remove his fish from the spear because Nick and Kevin both have a fear of touching live fish. Which makes no sense because I think ... nevermind. Anyway, yeah. I felt bad for that fish too, although it was decent in size.
Ooh! We saw a sea turtle. It was just chilling under a chunk of coral staring at us. I left it alone after a few seconds though. I'm pretty sure there's a law saying we can't swim closer than a certain distance to them.
We finally decided to head in and ... once again, that horrible stinging feeling. It was so shocking I gasped. I looked around me, quickly. Nothing. I was swimming about five feet from Jason so I looked at him to see if he would show any signs of the same stinging I was feeling on the length of my arm. He just looked at me and waved, and continued looking around for fish. The pain was becoming unbearable, I rubbed my arm harshly, thinking it was maybe just something I was imagining. But I knew I wasn't... I swam toward shore, doing my best not to whimper in pain. Feet touched sand. I ripped off my flippers and quickly walked over to where we'd left our things. People seemed to be staring at me, I didn't understand why. I picked up a towel and wrapped myself in it. My arm was still burning. So... I looked at it. A long red line ran from my shoulder to my elbow. I guess that's what people were staring at. I saw Nick starting to swim in so I waded into the water and waved him toward me. He asked me what was up (everyone was talking with other people) and I asked him if there was anything in the water that would sting me. He said sure. I said what. He said, the Portuguese Man o war. I said, "shit". He said "what?" and I showed him my arm. He said, "F***" He turned to his friends behind him and announced I'd been stung by a Man o' War. They all agreed that he should rush me to the 7-Eleven nearby (still like a 10-15 minute drive) to get me some meat tenderizer to take away the pain. I refused continuously. It wasn't something I couldn't handle. It was just pain. As long as I wasn't going to die from it, I'd be fine. The pain, I can handle.
Here's one photo of my sting after it'd been awhile. it stayed red till like the next day after.
Eventually they gave up on trying to make me go so we headed out to where Kevin had set up his poles and was fishing. There was some big blue fish that swam by twice, forgot the name of it. They went nuts wanting to catch it! We even sent Nick back into the water with a spear to wait for it. Hahaha. Eventually, it started getting late and we packed up and left.
On our way back home, we swung by the 7-Eleven to pick up ice for the fish Nick caught. Much to our dismay, however, Jason accidentally locked his keys in the car. After a phone call to his dad, and me trying to look up the number to AAA, we were still stuck. Eventually, I DID find the number to Triple A on my phone (thank God i'd called them a few weeks earlier for someone), and they sent someone out to help us. He had some trouble, but he got it eventually and I bought him a coldddd bottle of SmartWater. He deserved it. Poor guy. Anyway, we tossed the fish, assuming they went bad, and headed home. We got home, and Nick and I did our best to finish packing. His mother had bought me things to take back to the mainland as gifts, and i'm forever thankful for that. I hardly had time to go shopping. Hahahaha.
His friends called, and they wanted to do something. Hit the club, that's what it was. However, we decided not to (although some still went after they swung by to say hi), and started a game of Texas Hold'em. To be honest, I haven't played in forever and practically forgot how to play. I started betting the minimum bets, had Nick help me a few dozen hands, and... Yeah. Hahaha. It was Gilbert, Nick, Jason, and Justin, but Justin left for the club just in time for Kevin to take his place. Kevin K. Not Kevin, Nick's brother. I think Nick ended up falling out first, then it was Kevin and Jason at the same time (I knocked 'em out with one hand. Kevin thought he'd go all in cause he thought he had better cards.) I won that round. Haha. I think they were getting really annoyed that I was winning and only caring about color coding my chips. Eventually, it was just Gilbert and I and he was getting so worked up about beating me. But of course... he failed. I won. hahahaha.
After a bit, everyone hugged us goodbye and left. So, that was that. I really did enjoy my time with everyone though. It was really great, honest.
Monday June 7, 2010.
Woke up early, finished packing up the last minute stuff, and his mom took us to the airport. She hugged us goodbye, and we headed in through the sliding doors. However, we ran into a bit of trouble. The night before while trying to 'Web Check-In', it kept saying I had to use a kiosk. So when we got to the airport, I tried, but it kept telling me I had to talk to an attendant. So I did, and there was some mass confusion. Finally by the time they overrode whatever was happening, the system said it was too late for me to Check in. Soooooooo, eventually, the lady had to manually print my baggage tag. While standing in line for security check in, we realized I had no boarding pass. So we rushed back, where they finally were able to print my boarding pass, and then went through security. Finally we got to boarding and we hopped on. Everything was pretty smooth sailing after that.
We landed at LAX, where Leslie was gonna pick us up. Apparently though I'd only told her that she was only picking ME up when it was both Nick and I. We made it work though. hahaha. Shoved all our crap into her cramped, full car.
Got home, and Nick left soon after. Yeah, that's pretty much the summary of my time in Hawai'i.
Peacee(:
Saturday June 5, 2010.
Breakfast with Andrea went GREAT! Her daughter, Aria, was absolutely ADORABLE. She loved us apparently. Lol. She didn't want to say goodbye and kept crying whenever we tried to put her back into the car seat so that they could go. Andrea herself was really nice(: I like her. She said she was bummed out I wasn't staying longer or being stationed there so she'd actually have someone else to talk to. (Her other close friend had just been stationed elsewhere.) She has other friends, but I guess she wouldn't mind having another asian female around that her daughter enjoys being with. Along with Nick of course. Hahaha. Aria really liked Nick. It was so cute!
After breakfast we headed to the other side of the island and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). I've been before, but Nick hadn't gone in forever and kept persisting we went. The drive out was beautiful. Past Chinaman's hat, Kualoa Ranch, Lionhead, and finally to PCC. Nick got an annual pass (which was completely pointless because he won't even have time to be home for the next year and a half. but the lady INSISTED it was cheaper so... we did it.) We took the canoe tour first, and walked around the place and took a few pictures. We watched my favorite Samoa show thing (I've been there 4 years ago, same guy runs the show!) and after Nick tried for at least half an hour to start fire! It was hilarious. Three different guys checked in on him. One of them came up to us like, "Hey brah, you okay? You've been at it for some time now." Hahahaha. They were all really friendly though. Later, Nick got picked to participate in one of the family shows in Samoa. It was a firemaking contest - what Nick had been working at for probably 40 mins by then. Lol. He got up there, beat the other guy (who was Navy), but didn't exactly MAKE fire. It was a timed competition and Nick at least got his pile smoking, the other white guy? Nothing. Hahahaha. Anyway, so they called up the real Samoans to do it, Nick and Navy guy were paired up with one each and their partners started racing to make fire. Nick's guy, an ex-Army guy, wasn't able to beat the other Samoan guy, butttttttt, who cares. He didn't give up and that's what matters! Woot! Anyway, after the contest they made them dance. This is where things get HILARIOUS. They weren't told they had to dance, so they were forced to. Navy guy and his paired Samoan dude were just doing traditional stuff. Nick's guy however, ex-Army guy, hahahaha.. had a better idea. He entwined the traditional like dance with body slapping and... (this is the funny part) decided to call Nick out in a pushup contest. Nick was confused when the guy got down into the push up position, but he eventually got down and started matching the guy push up, for push up. Ex-Army man started doing claps inbetween, so Nick did too. But he did the guy one better. He did one where he clapped BEHIND his back. The audience (myself included) found this impressive. Ex-Army Samoan dude decides to do the same. He pushes up, claps behind his back with a BIG smile on his face, but before he can put his hands back down... HE FACEPLANTS. Oh dear, it was the FUNNIEST moment of the day. The best part? I CAUGHT IT ALL ON VIDEO. It's on Facebook if you'd like to watch. Freaking HILARIOUS. The poor guy was so embarrassed he got up, continued the traditional dance with Nick, and after the show walked off the stage in a different direction as I was asking if I could get a picture of him and Nick together. I mean, this guy was BIGGG. Like, knock-you-out-in-one-hit, big. His arms were probably twice the size of my thighs. Good lookin' fellow. Hahaha. I just find it hilarious he'd pick on Nick, who wasn't even nearly twice his size or weight! It's because he thought he was better than Nick the Marine. I'm sure he could've beat the white Navy guy though. Lol. xD Just jokes.
After that, we came home to go fishing with Kevin (again), but instead we went out to dinner with Nick's parents at some Korean place. It wasn't as good as I would've liked it to be, but it'll do. After that I think Nick and I went home and knocked out..? I don't remember.
According to my twitter, we went for a stroll in Waikiki with his friends! Oh, that was SO much fun!!! Gilbert has the CUTEST little Corolla! I mean, it's REALLY nice. I'm not a fan of suped up Corollas but this one, it was just FANTASTIC! I wish i'd gotten a picture of it. Hahaha. It wasn't like, overdone, it was just right. Manual transmission. Full leather interior. The little GPS screen thing that was full touch, large, and folds out. The lights in the interior were nice too. Anyway, yeah, I won't talk about the walk much besides the fact that I really enjoyed spending time with his friends. Justin, Gilbert, Jason, and Nick. (: It was a fantastic, memorable night. Hahaha.
Went to dinner at some Korean place again. That was fun too(: Lol.
Sunday, June 6, 2010.
Woke up in the morning, Kevin packed the poles, and we headed out to Sea Life Park area for spearfishing. We met up with Jay (the guy who said he'd have to watch while I tried on the bathing suits) and Jason drove Kevin, Nick and I out there. We also met up with some female (forgot her name) and a guy friend of hers. As we headed out deeper into the water, I felt a sudden burning, very painful stinging sensation on my right hand. I had just released my spear at a fish so I figured it'd just rubbed my skin the wrong way. But it didn't make sense, my hand wasn't red or anything. I figured I was imagining the pain but it only worsened. No one else around me seemed to have mentioned the pain, but they were at least ten yards away. As I quickly thought of what might be wrong it came to mind that it could be a jellyfish that had stung me. So... I peed on it. Sorta. I mean, i'm still swimming in the water so I did what I could. Call it gross, but it helped a little bit. Eventually, the pain I was trying hard to ignore went away and I continued to look for fish to spear. I speared one - on accident. I freaked out and was nearly in tears as I frantically searched for Nick to get it off my spear. It was so young, I felt HORRIBLE. There was a bigger fish in front of it but it'd darted away and the small one behind it hadn't even seen me, nor I, it. It gets me sad every time I think about it. Anyway, Nick removed it from the prongs of my spear and I had to look away as it made a feeble attempt to swim away from us. I felt so horrible... I can't even put it into words. Anyway, Kevin soon showed up with a fish on his spear and Nick laughed and said the fish he caught wasn't edible. I had to remove his fish from the spear because Nick and Kevin both have a fear of touching live fish. Which makes no sense because I think ... nevermind. Anyway, yeah. I felt bad for that fish too, although it was decent in size.
Ooh! We saw a sea turtle. It was just chilling under a chunk of coral staring at us. I left it alone after a few seconds though. I'm pretty sure there's a law saying we can't swim closer than a certain distance to them.
We finally decided to head in and ... once again, that horrible stinging feeling. It was so shocking I gasped. I looked around me, quickly. Nothing. I was swimming about five feet from Jason so I looked at him to see if he would show any signs of the same stinging I was feeling on the length of my arm. He just looked at me and waved, and continued looking around for fish. The pain was becoming unbearable, I rubbed my arm harshly, thinking it was maybe just something I was imagining. But I knew I wasn't... I swam toward shore, doing my best not to whimper in pain. Feet touched sand. I ripped off my flippers and quickly walked over to where we'd left our things. People seemed to be staring at me, I didn't understand why. I picked up a towel and wrapped myself in it. My arm was still burning. So... I looked at it. A long red line ran from my shoulder to my elbow. I guess that's what people were staring at. I saw Nick starting to swim in so I waded into the water and waved him toward me. He asked me what was up (everyone was talking with other people) and I asked him if there was anything in the water that would sting me. He said sure. I said what. He said, the Portuguese Man o war. I said, "shit". He said "what?" and I showed him my arm. He said, "F***" He turned to his friends behind him and announced I'd been stung by a Man o' War. They all agreed that he should rush me to the 7-Eleven nearby (still like a 10-15 minute drive) to get me some meat tenderizer to take away the pain. I refused continuously. It wasn't something I couldn't handle. It was just pain. As long as I wasn't going to die from it, I'd be fine. The pain, I can handle.
Here's one photo of my sting after it'd been awhile. it stayed red till like the next day after.Eventually they gave up on trying to make me go so we headed out to where Kevin had set up his poles and was fishing. There was some big blue fish that swam by twice, forgot the name of it. They went nuts wanting to catch it! We even sent Nick back into the water with a spear to wait for it. Hahaha. Eventually, it started getting late and we packed up and left.
On our way back home, we swung by the 7-Eleven to pick up ice for the fish Nick caught. Much to our dismay, however, Jason accidentally locked his keys in the car. After a phone call to his dad, and me trying to look up the number to AAA, we were still stuck. Eventually, I DID find the number to Triple A on my phone (thank God i'd called them a few weeks earlier for someone), and they sent someone out to help us. He had some trouble, but he got it eventually and I bought him a coldddd bottle of SmartWater. He deserved it. Poor guy. Anyway, we tossed the fish, assuming they went bad, and headed home. We got home, and Nick and I did our best to finish packing. His mother had bought me things to take back to the mainland as gifts, and i'm forever thankful for that. I hardly had time to go shopping. Hahahaha.
His friends called, and they wanted to do something. Hit the club, that's what it was. However, we decided not to (although some still went after they swung by to say hi), and started a game of Texas Hold'em. To be honest, I haven't played in forever and practically forgot how to play. I started betting the minimum bets, had Nick help me a few dozen hands, and... Yeah. Hahaha. It was Gilbert, Nick, Jason, and Justin, but Justin left for the club just in time for Kevin to take his place. Kevin K. Not Kevin, Nick's brother. I think Nick ended up falling out first, then it was Kevin and Jason at the same time (I knocked 'em out with one hand. Kevin thought he'd go all in cause he thought he had better cards.) I won that round. Haha. I think they were getting really annoyed that I was winning and only caring about color coding my chips. Eventually, it was just Gilbert and I and he was getting so worked up about beating me. But of course... he failed. I won. hahahaha.
After a bit, everyone hugged us goodbye and left. So, that was that. I really did enjoy my time with everyone though. It was really great, honest.
Monday June 7, 2010.
Woke up early, finished packing up the last minute stuff, and his mom took us to the airport. She hugged us goodbye, and we headed in through the sliding doors. However, we ran into a bit of trouble. The night before while trying to 'Web Check-In', it kept saying I had to use a kiosk. So when we got to the airport, I tried, but it kept telling me I had to talk to an attendant. So I did, and there was some mass confusion. Finally by the time they overrode whatever was happening, the system said it was too late for me to Check in. Soooooooo, eventually, the lady had to manually print my baggage tag. While standing in line for security check in, we realized I had no boarding pass. So we rushed back, where they finally were able to print my boarding pass, and then went through security. Finally we got to boarding and we hopped on. Everything was pretty smooth sailing after that.
We landed at LAX, where Leslie was gonna pick us up. Apparently though I'd only told her that she was only picking ME up when it was both Nick and I. We made it work though. hahaha. Shoved all our crap into her cramped, full car.
Got home, and Nick left soon after. Yeah, that's pretty much the summary of my time in Hawai'i.
Peacee(:
Monday, June 7, 2010
Ah! No time!
Okay, so I have no time to post about the past few days. Hahaha...
I'll post when I get home.
My flight leaves at 8AM tomorrow. I wanna wake up early, clean the room a bit, then finish up packing.
Oh, and I'm so totally in debt right now. >__<
right well, i gotta finish packing now! ttyls.
I'll post when I get home.
My flight leaves at 8AM tomorrow. I wanna wake up early, clean the room a bit, then finish up packing.
Oh, and I'm so totally in debt right now. >__<
right well, i gotta finish packing now! ttyls.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Diary Day Ten/Eleven
So last night we went fishing. Didn't catch anything, and the night ended like the way it started. Me being annoyed at Nick. I won't bother going into details. We got home early last night but we were all pretty tired still. About 12AM maybe? I'd been feeling kinda sick all night and I ended up puking a bit in the sink. Man, it didn't look like anything I ate. It was like, black, brown and green and looked like chopped up wet tea leaves. Pretty gross. Sorry if that was too TMI for you. (TMI: Too Much Information)
Went to bed.
Friday June 4th, 2010.
Woke up when Nick was leaving for work, he told me his mom was going to pick me up and we were going to go out and pick up some fresh lychee from her friend or something out in some city. She wanted to show me around some more before I leave, I guess. I feel bad, I picked up her call, but hung up on her like ten seconds after. She didn't say anything to me and I heard her talking to someone else so I figured she called me on accident. I was also asleep when she called so the phone vibrating near my head woke me up a bit. I feel bad.... anyway, apparently Nick called me too but I slept through those two other vibrations. Oops? So that was that.
Went back to sleep, then finally woke up again when people started texting me. Returned Nick's call, got the 411, and then decided maybe it was time to get up and do stuff. But, I have yet to. I put my glasses on, and went online. So this is where it ends. Hahaha. I'm on Facebook, chatting, and blogging. I figure i'll get out of bed soon to wash up and shower. Wear one of those new shirts I bought myself. Which reminds me... I need to call my mum and ask her to put more money in my account. xD Eh, i'll get to that later.
Anyway, Nick wants me to come up with a list of things I'd like to do today before we leave Monday morning. I've been REALLY wanting to go to the USS Arizona Memorial. I've seen it from afar (Nick's house overlooks Pearl Harbor and my previous visit to Hawaii I visited the little Pearl Harbor section area thing) and i'd really like to see the inside of the Memorial up close. Along with looking down at the ship of course. But like I've said before, i'm afraid I might get too emotional. I also want to go for a stroll in Aloha Tower and Waikiki. I wouldn't mind visiting the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) again, but it's kinda expensive (for non-locals) and I don't wanna make Nick waste any more money on me. I feel bad. Nick also wants to take me to Kualoa (no idea where that is) and the Waikiki Aquarium (driven by that a few times). So, I'm really looking forward to my weekend.
Oh! And we've got an old family friend's son that moved out here a few years back. He got married and settled down here. Sorta. Him and his wife met in the Army and she's out now, but he's still in. I think he might be a lifer. Medic. Over in Afghanistan right now so my prayers for him. I've never met his wife or his kid and she ended up contacting me on Facebook when she saw me post on his wall that I was on Oahu. Not only that but the city she lives in is only about 2o minutes away from where Nick lives! So we swapped numbers and I texted her asking if she'd like to do breakfast, lunch, or dinner sometime. She called back and said she'd love to and we picked a time and place. The IHOP in Pearl City at 10AM this Saturday. I'm excited!! I finally get to meet his family(: (I had the chance before when they came to visit in Cali but was really busy with school)
Really, i'm seriously excited. xD
Anyway, I'm gonna go wash up now because I really need to pee. Until next time, lates!
<3
Went to bed.
Friday June 4th, 2010.
Woke up when Nick was leaving for work, he told me his mom was going to pick me up and we were going to go out and pick up some fresh lychee from her friend or something out in some city. She wanted to show me around some more before I leave, I guess. I feel bad, I picked up her call, but hung up on her like ten seconds after. She didn't say anything to me and I heard her talking to someone else so I figured she called me on accident. I was also asleep when she called so the phone vibrating near my head woke me up a bit. I feel bad.... anyway, apparently Nick called me too but I slept through those two other vibrations. Oops? So that was that.
Went back to sleep, then finally woke up again when people started texting me. Returned Nick's call, got the 411, and then decided maybe it was time to get up and do stuff. But, I have yet to. I put my glasses on, and went online. So this is where it ends. Hahaha. I'm on Facebook, chatting, and blogging. I figure i'll get out of bed soon to wash up and shower. Wear one of those new shirts I bought myself. Which reminds me... I need to call my mum and ask her to put more money in my account. xD Eh, i'll get to that later.
Anyway, Nick wants me to come up with a list of things I'd like to do today before we leave Monday morning. I've been REALLY wanting to go to the USS Arizona Memorial. I've seen it from afar (Nick's house overlooks Pearl Harbor and my previous visit to Hawaii I visited the little Pearl Harbor section area thing) and i'd really like to see the inside of the Memorial up close. Along with looking down at the ship of course. But like I've said before, i'm afraid I might get too emotional. I also want to go for a stroll in Aloha Tower and Waikiki. I wouldn't mind visiting the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) again, but it's kinda expensive (for non-locals) and I don't wanna make Nick waste any more money on me. I feel bad. Nick also wants to take me to Kualoa (no idea where that is) and the Waikiki Aquarium (driven by that a few times). So, I'm really looking forward to my weekend.
Oh! And we've got an old family friend's son that moved out here a few years back. He got married and settled down here. Sorta. Him and his wife met in the Army and she's out now, but he's still in. I think he might be a lifer. Medic. Over in Afghanistan right now so my prayers for him. I've never met his wife or his kid and she ended up contacting me on Facebook when she saw me post on his wall that I was on Oahu. Not only that but the city she lives in is only about 2o minutes away from where Nick lives! So we swapped numbers and I texted her asking if she'd like to do breakfast, lunch, or dinner sometime. She called back and said she'd love to and we picked a time and place. The IHOP in Pearl City at 10AM this Saturday. I'm excited!! I finally get to meet his family(: (I had the chance before when they came to visit in Cali but was really busy with school)
Really, i'm seriously excited. xD
Anyway, I'm gonna go wash up now because I really need to pee. Until next time, lates!
<3
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Diary Day Eight/Nine/Ten
Let me start off by saying i'm in a kinda annoyed mood. So this should be short and simple.
Tuesday June 1st, 2010.
Nick went to work. When he finished we headed out to North Shore area. Swung by the Dole plantation where I got the "kama'aina" discount. It's a discount that locals get when they show their Hawaii ID. So that was that. We also stopped at Matsumoto's for some shave ice. It's quite popular there and the line was... well, wasn't that long when we went. After that we hit the beach and Kevin caught some waves on his body board while I worked on my tan and Nick did... nothing. We saw some turtles swimming in the water but... didn't get a real clear view. And Nick would like me to mention that we saw some dumb haoles. It's the term for ... well, white people.
Headed home, and uh... that's all I remember for that.
No wait. Okay, we went fishing with Kevin randomly. Checked out a couple locations but they were either closed, fenced off, or just not a good place to fish. We finally went to a place Kevin said would be alright. They call it "China Wall". We set up two poles and they went at it. Kevin ended up catching a scorpion fish. A baby one, and they were freaking out when I said it was poisonous only if you were stung. They kept telling me to just cut the line, but I refused. I didn't want the poor thing to be in pain even more. I soon realized he'd swallowed the hook and I couldn't get it out no matter how much I twisted and tugged (I feared to pull too hard. I didn't want to rip anything). So, I had to cut the line. I tried to throw it back in, but he hit the cliff edge before bouncing off into the water. I felt so bad. ): Anyway, we got back at home around 2AM. Knocked out.
Wednesday June 2nd, 2010.
I can't say I remember clearly, but I don't believe we did anything. Oh, i spent like forever in Hawaiian Island Creation (HIC) looking at stuff. They've got a LOT of neat stuff in there! Nick and I ended up leaving though to pick up some fish for his dad and I didn't make it back in time so I had Kevin set it aside. Oh, Kevin works at HIC so I get his 40% off(:
Wait, backtrack a little bit. Nick was at work, finished, came home, we went to the NEX with Kevin, bought 2 fishing poles (one 10ft one 11ft), and dropped him off at work (where I went shopping.)
Okay, so we picked him up and we went to go night fishing. We again went to a couple locations and finally settled on Bellows Air Force Base. There were roaches and I was freaking the hell out. Not cool. Nick got on my ass about being afraid of them and I argued back with him about touching fish. Oh, btw, Nick and Kevin are afraid of touching fish. I said roaches outrank touching fish ANYDAY. I can't stand roaches. We got home around 2AM again and knocked out.
Thursday June 3rd, 2010.
Today, Nick went to work, I slept in like twenty more minutes, then got ready and went to work with Kevin. I swung by Nick's office to say hi, then went back to the mall to go shopping. It was that or do paperwork for his recruiter. I spent like another three or four hours in HIC shopping. I tried on like 4 different bikinis and eventually settled on one with some help of friends and picture messages. Amazing how far technology has advanced. xD So yeah, I ended up spending like $215. Did I mention i'm totally broke? Yea, I just kinda screwed myself over.
So uh, I think we're gonna go fishing again later tonight. Kevin's bringing his friend and his girlfriend. That'll be fun.
So that's pretty much the update for now.
Peace.
Tuesday June 1st, 2010.
Nick went to work. When he finished we headed out to North Shore area. Swung by the Dole plantation where I got the "kama'aina" discount. It's a discount that locals get when they show their Hawaii ID. So that was that. We also stopped at Matsumoto's for some shave ice. It's quite popular there and the line was... well, wasn't that long when we went. After that we hit the beach and Kevin caught some waves on his body board while I worked on my tan and Nick did... nothing. We saw some turtles swimming in the water but... didn't get a real clear view. And Nick would like me to mention that we saw some dumb haoles. It's the term for ... well, white people.
Headed home, and uh... that's all I remember for that.
No wait. Okay, we went fishing with Kevin randomly. Checked out a couple locations but they were either closed, fenced off, or just not a good place to fish. We finally went to a place Kevin said would be alright. They call it "China Wall". We set up two poles and they went at it. Kevin ended up catching a scorpion fish. A baby one, and they were freaking out when I said it was poisonous only if you were stung. They kept telling me to just cut the line, but I refused. I didn't want the poor thing to be in pain even more. I soon realized he'd swallowed the hook and I couldn't get it out no matter how much I twisted and tugged (I feared to pull too hard. I didn't want to rip anything). So, I had to cut the line. I tried to throw it back in, but he hit the cliff edge before bouncing off into the water. I felt so bad. ): Anyway, we got back at home around 2AM. Knocked out.
Wednesday June 2nd, 2010.
I can't say I remember clearly, but I don't believe we did anything. Oh, i spent like forever in Hawaiian Island Creation (HIC) looking at stuff. They've got a LOT of neat stuff in there! Nick and I ended up leaving though to pick up some fish for his dad and I didn't make it back in time so I had Kevin set it aside. Oh, Kevin works at HIC so I get his 40% off(:
Wait, backtrack a little bit. Nick was at work, finished, came home, we went to the NEX with Kevin, bought 2 fishing poles (one 10ft one 11ft), and dropped him off at work (where I went shopping.)
Okay, so we picked him up and we went to go night fishing. We again went to a couple locations and finally settled on Bellows Air Force Base. There were roaches and I was freaking the hell out. Not cool. Nick got on my ass about being afraid of them and I argued back with him about touching fish. Oh, btw, Nick and Kevin are afraid of touching fish. I said roaches outrank touching fish ANYDAY. I can't stand roaches. We got home around 2AM again and knocked out.
Thursday June 3rd, 2010.
Today, Nick went to work, I slept in like twenty more minutes, then got ready and went to work with Kevin. I swung by Nick's office to say hi, then went back to the mall to go shopping. It was that or do paperwork for his recruiter. I spent like another three or four hours in HIC shopping. I tried on like 4 different bikinis and eventually settled on one with some help of friends and picture messages. Amazing how far technology has advanced. xD So yeah, I ended up spending like $215. Did I mention i'm totally broke? Yea, I just kinda screwed myself over.
So uh, I think we're gonna go fishing again later tonight. Kevin's bringing his friend and his girlfriend. That'll be fun.
So that's pretty much the update for now.
Peace.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day Seven - Memorial Day
I posted in the morning so, this will somewhat be a continuation of it.
The hike kicked my ass. Like, it was horrible. We went clockwise on the Aiea Loop Trail instead of going counterclockwise. I really think we should've gone counterclockwise. It's just ridiculous to do the whole trail, then have a whole uphill, muddy, slippery, humid, mosquito-filled, and hot section to deal with when you're already exhausted! It was only 4 1/2 miles but we ran most of it. Kevin and Nick didn't seem to be so bothered by the heat and humidity but oh man, I ain't used to that weather. We met some nice people along the trail though(: Everyone's so friendly....
Oh wait, let me backtrack a little bit. We headed out from home, swung by a grocery store to pick up some extra snacks and food items, then headed up to the trailhead. Once we got there (it was superpacked with tourists and such), we started a fire in one of the fire pits (which took some time) and started grilling our food. Hot dogs and galbe (korean style short ribs marinated) along with some Flamin' Hot Muchies and an Ewa sweet onion were also on the menu. Hahaha. Those onions really are sweet! They're grown in the city of Ewa (obviously) which is like... I wanna say 15mins from Nick's place. Anyway, after we finished eating we started out on the trail at a brisk pace. I wanted to get it finished as soon as we could so we could make it back home in time to get ready for the lantern festival.
Right, so I talked about the trail run a bit earlier before. There were some tourists on the trail that were really holdin' up the line. Some parts of the trail were really thin and could only allow one person to pass through at a time. We found the airplane after some trial and error (a WWII plane went down somewhere along the trail. however, due to time, lots of debris and a fallen tree have made the crash site almost unnoticeable. I climbed down off the trail to get a closer look at the plane. If I wasn't told it was a plane, I never would've known.) and after getting a few shots of whatever I could we continued on down the trail. Oh man, being me I forgot to pack my belt and decided to wear my Juicy Couture jeans that were a bit too big for me. While I was running I'd have my thumbs in the loops of my pants at the side, be holding a big water bottle, and running behind whoever was leading. I must've been some sight to see because when Nick was running behind me he made us stop, and asked Kevin to give me his belt. Which he did so without a problem but I still felt bad. The belt didn't help much though, and if not made it only harder for me to pull my pants up. Hahaha. Anyway, that was that. We made it back to the car and my face was probably just as red as a ripe cherry tomato. I hung my head outside the window as Kevin drove home to cool down. As soon as we got home I changed into some shorts and sandals. We waited for his girlfriend and once she got there we headed out to Ala Moana beach park where the Lantern Festival was being held. Man, that place was PACKED. We parked at the shopping center and ran over to the site where we ran into Nick's mom. We filled out the paperwork, and headed to the volunteer tent where we got name tags and told to meet at the tent by five thirty. So Kevin, Nick, Shayla (Kevin's girlfriend), and I headed to the water to wade around a bit. Oh man, tourists really pack that beach. The water isn't so clear, and the sand is pretty rocky. I'm assuming due to the coral reef just off the coast maybe four hundred yards out. I saw bits of corals rolling around in the surf. Anyway, we left after a bit just standing in the water up to our knees and talking. Walked around for a bit, then went back to the tent. Got bored, headed across the street to the park, did some pull-ups, monkey bars, a climb thing, and I climbed a pole. Then we headed back to the tent and just hung out. Finally it came time to take the lanterns. We all lined up behind the guy and he lead us through the lantern request area where we were all handed a wooden lantern (not the paper ones the other people got). I was first in line, then it was Nick, then Kevin, then Shayla and everyone else with the group. We all walked in a line through the crowd (some people were just being completely ridiculous. We were part of the ceremony and they were giving us crap for walking in front of them. Us, rude? No, excuse YOU, YOU'RE being rude sitting in the walkway that was cone-d aside for us, retard.) and eventually made it to the area we were supposed to be at. (I give pity to the newspaper guy who kept trying to interview me and take pictures of me and I just kept ignoring him and waving him off. But I was only trying to do my job.) We stood with our feet in the water as the performances finished off and Her Holiness Keishu Shinso Ito gave a speech, and her and her high priests lit the flame of... Harmony! And then they lit the big lanterns and put them on a canoe boat like thing and floated toward the middle of the little cove we were in. Tourists begin releasing their lanterns and then we were given the 'Okay' to put ours into the water. Then the big lanterns were also put afloat. It was so beautiful to see all those flickering candles in those lanterns float out toward the ocean. Like, I can't even express the beauty of it! It was so emotional too. Nick had given me some money to donate so I could have a lantern float with my Uncle's name. Oh, how I wish i'd been able to take pictures! But doing my job, they didn't allow us to have anything and wanted us to be formal the whole way. I did sneak a few shots after we were clear. I also know that we were on the Jumbotron, TV, and photos in newspapers and websites.
Haha, funny moment. Nick was trying to hug me while I was making a mass text of a picture of the lanterns floating when a man put a camera on us. When Nick pointed this out I slowly leaned into him more and put my phone behind his back and out of sight. Hahaha, embarrassing, yeah? Soo, we were on the jumbotron. Nick's mom thought it was funny how it all happened with me and the texting. Hahaha. Oh well. Anyway, I had a great time. It was really beautiful. I recommend everyone to fly out a Memorial weekend and watch, if not participate, in the Lantern Festival.
We went out for sushi after. At a conveyor belt place. That was alright. Headed to Hickam Air Force Base to get gas but ... omg, it was so ridiculous. We had to go in to get a pass, but then had to go BACK in to get our pass revised. So retarded. Anyway, we got our gas, and went back home. I fell asleep next to Nick who was online playing his little Facebook games and woke back up when he forced me into the guest room to sleep for the night (he read a text on my phone and wanted to squabble). He came back in a bit after and after I explained it was lyrics to a song he made me go to the bathroom where I washed up and took my contacts out and retired back into his room. We watched TV until I fell asleep.
I didn't get to sleep well last night though. The right side of my throat has been killing me nearly all day. My left side feels fine, but the right one is swollen or something. Oh, who knows. It still hurts.
Anyway, that's about all there is to blog about. My postcards to my family should be in the mail by today, hopefully. Nick left for work at 9AM where they force him to sit there and do nothing. I was texing Kevin earlier (even though he's at the other end of this hallway) and he was asking me what I'd like to do today. We'll see. I have no plans. Haha.
I think i'll take a shower... Then text Nick and ask him if he wants me to walk over to his recruiting place or have Kevin drop me off. Yepp, that shall be the start of my day.
Other lanterns being set off from the beach.
The hike kicked my ass. Like, it was horrible. We went clockwise on the Aiea Loop Trail instead of going counterclockwise. I really think we should've gone counterclockwise. It's just ridiculous to do the whole trail, then have a whole uphill, muddy, slippery, humid, mosquito-filled, and hot section to deal with when you're already exhausted! It was only 4 1/2 miles but we ran most of it. Kevin and Nick didn't seem to be so bothered by the heat and humidity but oh man, I ain't used to that weather. We met some nice people along the trail though(: Everyone's so friendly....
Oh wait, let me backtrack a little bit. We headed out from home, swung by a grocery store to pick up some extra snacks and food items, then headed up to the trailhead. Once we got there (it was superpacked with tourists and such), we started a fire in one of the fire pits (which took some time) and started grilling our food. Hot dogs and galbe (korean style short ribs marinated) along with some Flamin' Hot Muchies and an Ewa sweet onion were also on the menu. Hahaha. Those onions really are sweet! They're grown in the city of Ewa (obviously) which is like... I wanna say 15mins from Nick's place. Anyway, after we finished eating we started out on the trail at a brisk pace. I wanted to get it finished as soon as we could so we could make it back home in time to get ready for the lantern festival.
Right, so I talked about the trail run a bit earlier before. There were some tourists on the trail that were really holdin' up the line. Some parts of the trail were really thin and could only allow one person to pass through at a time. We found the airplane after some trial and error (a WWII plane went down somewhere along the trail. however, due to time, lots of debris and a fallen tree have made the crash site almost unnoticeable. I climbed down off the trail to get a closer look at the plane. If I wasn't told it was a plane, I never would've known.) and after getting a few shots of whatever I could we continued on down the trail. Oh man, being me I forgot to pack my belt and decided to wear my Juicy Couture jeans that were a bit too big for me. While I was running I'd have my thumbs in the loops of my pants at the side, be holding a big water bottle, and running behind whoever was leading. I must've been some sight to see because when Nick was running behind me he made us stop, and asked Kevin to give me his belt. Which he did so without a problem but I still felt bad. The belt didn't help much though, and if not made it only harder for me to pull my pants up. Hahaha. Anyway, that was that. We made it back to the car and my face was probably just as red as a ripe cherry tomato. I hung my head outside the window as Kevin drove home to cool down. As soon as we got home I changed into some shorts and sandals. We waited for his girlfriend and once she got there we headed out to Ala Moana beach park where the Lantern Festival was being held. Man, that place was PACKED. We parked at the shopping center and ran over to the site where we ran into Nick's mom. We filled out the paperwork, and headed to the volunteer tent where we got name tags and told to meet at the tent by five thirty. So Kevin, Nick, Shayla (Kevin's girlfriend), and I headed to the water to wade around a bit. Oh man, tourists really pack that beach. The water isn't so clear, and the sand is pretty rocky. I'm assuming due to the coral reef just off the coast maybe four hundred yards out. I saw bits of corals rolling around in the surf. Anyway, we left after a bit just standing in the water up to our knees and talking. Walked around for a bit, then went back to the tent. Got bored, headed across the street to the park, did some pull-ups, monkey bars, a climb thing, and I climbed a pole. Then we headed back to the tent and just hung out. Finally it came time to take the lanterns. We all lined up behind the guy and he lead us through the lantern request area where we were all handed a wooden lantern (not the paper ones the other people got). I was first in line, then it was Nick, then Kevin, then Shayla and everyone else with the group. We all walked in a line through the crowd (some people were just being completely ridiculous. We were part of the ceremony and they were giving us crap for walking in front of them. Us, rude? No, excuse YOU, YOU'RE being rude sitting in the walkway that was cone-d aside for us, retard.) and eventually made it to the area we were supposed to be at. (I give pity to the newspaper guy who kept trying to interview me and take pictures of me and I just kept ignoring him and waving him off. But I was only trying to do my job.) We stood with our feet in the water as the performances finished off and Her Holiness Keishu Shinso Ito gave a speech, and her and her high priests lit the flame of... Harmony! And then they lit the big lanterns and put them on a canoe boat like thing and floated toward the middle of the little cove we were in. Tourists begin releasing their lanterns and then we were given the 'Okay' to put ours into the water. Then the big lanterns were also put afloat. It was so beautiful to see all those flickering candles in those lanterns float out toward the ocean. Like, I can't even express the beauty of it! It was so emotional too. Nick had given me some money to donate so I could have a lantern float with my Uncle's name. Oh, how I wish i'd been able to take pictures! But doing my job, they didn't allow us to have anything and wanted us to be formal the whole way. I did sneak a few shots after we were clear. I also know that we were on the Jumbotron, TV, and photos in newspapers and websites.
Haha, funny moment. Nick was trying to hug me while I was making a mass text of a picture of the lanterns floating when a man put a camera on us. When Nick pointed this out I slowly leaned into him more and put my phone behind his back and out of sight. Hahaha, embarrassing, yeah? Soo, we were on the jumbotron. Nick's mom thought it was funny how it all happened with me and the texting. Hahaha. Oh well. Anyway, I had a great time. It was really beautiful. I recommend everyone to fly out a Memorial weekend and watch, if not participate, in the Lantern Festival.
We went out for sushi after. At a conveyor belt place. That was alright. Headed to Hickam Air Force Base to get gas but ... omg, it was so ridiculous. We had to go in to get a pass, but then had to go BACK in to get our pass revised. So retarded. Anyway, we got our gas, and went back home. I fell asleep next to Nick who was online playing his little Facebook games and woke back up when he forced me into the guest room to sleep for the night (he read a text on my phone and wanted to squabble). He came back in a bit after and after I explained it was lyrics to a song he made me go to the bathroom where I washed up and took my contacts out and retired back into his room. We watched TV until I fell asleep.
I didn't get to sleep well last night though. The right side of my throat has been killing me nearly all day. My left side feels fine, but the right one is swollen or something. Oh, who knows. It still hurts.
Anyway, that's about all there is to blog about. My postcards to my family should be in the mail by today, hopefully. Nick left for work at 9AM where they force him to sit there and do nothing. I was texing Kevin earlier (even though he's at the other end of this hallway) and he was asking me what I'd like to do today. We'll see. I have no plans. Haha.
I think i'll take a shower... Then text Nick and ask him if he wants me to walk over to his recruiting place or have Kevin drop me off. Yepp, that shall be the start of my day.
Other lanterns being set off from the beach.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Diary Day Five/Six
Friday May 28, 2010.
So, we never ended up going out that night with Kevin. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember we left the house (Around 2AM Hawai'i time) to a "secret location".
Saturday May 29, 2010.
We drove east, I believe. Took the long way and he pointed out some things as we drove by them. Drove through the end of Waikiki (didn't want to get stuck in tourist traffic, plus, our hotel four years ago was right smack dab in the middle of it overlooking the beach.) near/around Diamondhead, Blowhole (the waves weren't big enough to show the spray. they put up some new railings to keep ppl from going down. stupid tourists probably hurt themselves. -___- ), Sandy Beach Park (I think it was called this), and Bellows Air Force Base. We decided to just stay out and watch the sunrise (which is why we drove to Bellows) and it was worth it. We parked right on the beach around 4AM facing the ocean. I was tired, so I took a nap while Nick went for a stroll and succumbed to his addiction. Eventually, he woke me up about ten minutes before the sun was scheduled to rise. I dragged myself outta the car and was hit by some pretty strong winds. I grabbed my second jacket, thinking I might need it incase I got cold. Hah. Wrongggg. I walked out onto the sand and surveyed our surroundings. It was so beautiful! There was no one on the beach but us. A fishing pole was buried upright into the sand, it's line stretching out into the ocean. As I got closer to the water I realized something scurrying across the sand and into the water. Then more of them. It clicked that they might be baby sea turtles and I rushed toward them. Much to my dismay, but excitement, they were crabs! They've got real sharp eyes too. They would run into the water as soon as I started making a move towards them from 20 feet away. If i'd stop, they'd stop. It was the most magical sunrise ever. Nick stood on the beach watching my shoes and holding my jacket as I ran around on the sand and in the water attempting to catch the crabs. My laughter pure of joy must've woken some of the campers kids nearby because after I successfully caught one, a small group of kids ran out onto the beach trying to catch their own crabs. I took a few pictures of the one I caught, showed it to Nick, and asked one of the kids if they'd like mine. They were standing there gawking at how big the one I caught was and I felt bad. They most likely weren't going to be able to catch one. (I mean, these things are FASTT.) Plus, what was I going to do with the crab? Nothing. Just release it. So I carefully handed it to a little girl, and the group ran back to the camp, I'm assuming to show their parents the crab. There were clouds, so we couldn't get a clear view of the sunrise, but once the sun started streaming it's rays through the clouds and onto the trees, sand, and outcrops of island near us.. oh, it was so beautiful. The way it just lit everything up. I kept thinking, "Mornings like this just aren't meant to happen!" Everything was so calm, beautiful. The crabs continued scurrying into the water as I chased them and attempted to catch a few of the swimming ones. The water was so warm and clear. Just all of it was ... beyond words, beautiful.
We left the beach a bit after to head back off base and get Kevin back his car. On our way back we saw a mongoose and a bit later on our drive off base, a peacock in the middle of the road. Random, I thought. We began our drive home, and at one point there was this kinda-long tunnel that Nick said I wouldn't be able to hold my breath throughout the length of it. So, I turned on my camera and recorded a video of us both holding our breaths. Towards the end of the tunnel Nick started slowing down, what a butt! Anyway, we were both able to hold our breaths. There were some beautiful landforms (and so green!) along the way home. Along with the "Stairway to Heaven". It's like a never ending stair master. Or, so it looked like. It's pretty much (what I saw of it) a staircase that goes up along the side of a very steep mountain. One slip, and I swear you're a gone-er. Google it for more information.
We got home where Nick's parents asked us where we'd been. They were surprised when we told them we'd been out all night. They didn't really care about that, just as long as we enjoyed ourselves. Nick told them how I was running around on the beach trying to catch the crabs and they asked me if I caught any. I told them one, and they seemed impressed. We went downstairs to go back to bed and Nick's mom told us she'd be leaving at 11AM for her parent's. I woke up around nine, showered, and got ready and Nick followed suit. I thought we were being dropped off in Chinatown but, apparently not. Hahaha. She drove us around, showed me some of the things along the way, and we did a speedy tour through Chinatown. We were back on our way to the grandparents when she asked if I'd like to see the kois of... whatever restaurant it was. Seriously, the setup to the place was beautiful. It was like the whole thing was built on the koi pond! There were different sections of koi (but you couldn't tell because the fences ran under the complex net of bridges suspended over the water) where they were separated due to size, or breed. On our way back out of the restaurant, I saw a man holding a bowl of chunks of raw fish. He was pounding the handrails and I couldn't understand what he'd be doing with all that raw fish. Did he plan on eating it? As I turned around for one last glance into the pond I heard violent splashing. There, the man was throwing in the chunks of fish and the fish in that area of the pond (forgot the name of them) were thrashing violently in the water to eat it! These were HUGE fish. I recorded a video of them feeding. Wow, they really splash.
We got to his grandparents where everyone again thought I was a local. They were all pretty friendly and seemed to enjoy (or at least not mind) my company. One of his uncles came by a bit later after we had lunch with ice chests of fish. He attends the fish actions at the fish market and buys and sells for his boss and has his own customers as well. It's a side job which everyone thinks will soon become a full time job because of how much more he makes. He let me take a picture of the fishes he bought and told us to wait around because he wanted to show me a tuna he'd bought. It was an Ahi Tuna, and weighed 62 pounds. The mouth on that thing was HUGE. I stuck my hand in it (Nick's uncle got me a glove because he didn't want me smelling like fish however much I told him I could handle it) and Nick's mom took a picture. His aunts and uncles seemed to enjoy my humor and I heard them laugh as I made a "OWW!" facial expression. His uncle cleaned the fish, and cut it and what not. Nick and I also took a stroll around the area to the park, and his uncles houses (they all live fairly close to one another). While we were at the park we came across a little boy with a duckling in his water bottle. He said that he'd tried to catch all five of them but four got away. I wanted to say something but I didn't know how to say it because things in Hawai'i are just... different. Later though, we saw him again and noticed his bottle was empty. So, he let it go, which is good. I was very relieved. Nick and I came across a small coconut tree and we both attempted to climb it and pick one. I was in sandals though and had no luck. Was two feet too short. Nick however got one but he tasted the water in the husk and said it'd already gone sour (which means it's old and no good).
We headed back home after his grandparents and we took another nap. We woke up again and instead of going out like we thought we would we watched Labyrinth. The one with David Bowie? I fell asleep towards the end of it but I found it interesting.
Sunday May 30, 2010.
Woke up, and texted Jason. Nick's friend, the one that made me feel real welcome at bowling? We were supposed to go spearfishing at nine, but we lagged it back till ten. We hit the beach we were to fish at and it was PACKKEEDDD. We swam out and they were fishing while I enjoyed watching them attempt to spear fish and the beautiful fish around the corals. I kept yelling at Nick whenever he got close and tried to spear a fish I deemed too small to spear. Jason would just laugh and swim away. Nick dropped his weight belt and Jason's knife so I had to dive down to get it while Nick thrashed around above water acting retarded. To sum that up, we didn't catch anything and headed back in because I said I was getting cold. I didn't mind swimming in alone, but they both insisted it was time for a break and said it was fine if we all headed in. Anyway, we were laying on the beach next to the water with all our gear when the beach got... really packed. So, we decided against going back into the water, washed our gear and ourselves, and got into the car to head west on the island. We drove as far as we could go and Jason, as adventurist as he is decided he wanted to go off-roading in his two wheel drive 4Runner. Sure, it was a dirt road and cars were driving down it, but in a two wheel drive? I can't say I was so for it. It was bumpy, and scary as hell for me. I kept thinking we were gonna flip! But we made it a certain way down the road, parked for a bit to let me look around and then headed back. We got home, and got ready to go to his grandparents (dad's side) for Kevin's family graduation dinner. I wore this white dress with black stitchings of flowers on it (quite cute everyone thought) and Nick's mom saw me and said I didn't have to dress up. I said Nick made it sound like the dinner was a big deal and she scolded Nick but said I would be fine in whatever I wanted to wear. We left soon after and I was dozing on the way there but woke up when some... white guy was driving down the wrong way on a ONE WAY street and nearly hit us. There was a guy soon after him that almost went the wrong way as well until someone trying to turn left honked at them and waved their arms wildly while yelling, "WRONG WAY!".
We got to his grandparents, and to be honest, I didn't feel as welcomed there as I had at his mother's grandparents house. I mean, some of the aunts were nice but I since one of them seemed like she tried extra hard to ignore me (she held a conversation with Nick and didn't even acknowledge I was there sitting RIGHT next to him) after she introduced us to her nieces and nephews, I kinda kept to myself. However, most of the aunts and uncles were super friendly as we were saying goodbye to leave. (Kevin, Nick and I retreated downstairs a bit earlier to avoid everyone and watch TV.) We headed home, and I washed up and headed to bed. It was almost 11PM. I finished Labyrinth, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
Monday May 31, 2010.
Memorial Day. I was awakened by the sound of jets flying over the house. At first, I thought it was an airplane about to crash - they were so loud! Then, it kinda clicked that they'd be jets and I was freaking out about how they might be flying toward Pearl Harbor and try to bomb it again. It IS Memorial Day, ya know? Maybe the N. Koreans got mad and decided to bomb Pearl Harbor like the Japanese did. Anyway, I guess my bolt upright in bed woke Nick up and he told me they were just jets. I couldn't go back to sleep after though.
I'm assuming it was a tribute for the fallen military service woman and men who have lost their lives serving their country. I kinda wish i'd seen them. I also kind of wish that we'd be able to go see the USS Arizona memorial but... other plans have been made.
Well, we're about to head out to hike and I've gotta get ready so... toodles until next time.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Please, think of all our troops overseas and those that have died serving their country. Don't take this holiday for granted.
I'll be participating in the Lantern Festival tonight. We'll be lighting lanterns in memories of friends, and family (whoever would like to donate and have a lantern be lit and floated in the memory of a loved one) and floating them out into the harbor. Lets hope I don't screw this popular tradition up.
God bless.
<3
So, we never ended up going out that night with Kevin. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember we left the house (Around 2AM Hawai'i time) to a "secret location".
Saturday May 29, 2010.
We drove east, I believe. Took the long way and he pointed out some things as we drove by them. Drove through the end of Waikiki (didn't want to get stuck in tourist traffic, plus, our hotel four years ago was right smack dab in the middle of it overlooking the beach.) near/around Diamondhead, Blowhole (the waves weren't big enough to show the spray. they put up some new railings to keep ppl from going down. stupid tourists probably hurt themselves. -___- ), Sandy Beach Park (I think it was called this), and Bellows Air Force Base. We decided to just stay out and watch the sunrise (which is why we drove to Bellows) and it was worth it. We parked right on the beach around 4AM facing the ocean. I was tired, so I took a nap while Nick went for a stroll and succumbed to his addiction. Eventually, he woke me up about ten minutes before the sun was scheduled to rise. I dragged myself outta the car and was hit by some pretty strong winds. I grabbed my second jacket, thinking I might need it incase I got cold. Hah. Wrongggg. I walked out onto the sand and surveyed our surroundings. It was so beautiful! There was no one on the beach but us. A fishing pole was buried upright into the sand, it's line stretching out into the ocean. As I got closer to the water I realized something scurrying across the sand and into the water. Then more of them. It clicked that they might be baby sea turtles and I rushed toward them. Much to my dismay, but excitement, they were crabs! They've got real sharp eyes too. They would run into the water as soon as I started making a move towards them from 20 feet away. If i'd stop, they'd stop. It was the most magical sunrise ever. Nick stood on the beach watching my shoes and holding my jacket as I ran around on the sand and in the water attempting to catch the crabs. My laughter pure of joy must've woken some of the campers kids nearby because after I successfully caught one, a small group of kids ran out onto the beach trying to catch their own crabs. I took a few pictures of the one I caught, showed it to Nick, and asked one of the kids if they'd like mine. They were standing there gawking at how big the one I caught was and I felt bad. They most likely weren't going to be able to catch one. (I mean, these things are FASTT.) Plus, what was I going to do with the crab? Nothing. Just release it. So I carefully handed it to a little girl, and the group ran back to the camp, I'm assuming to show their parents the crab. There were clouds, so we couldn't get a clear view of the sunrise, but once the sun started streaming it's rays through the clouds and onto the trees, sand, and outcrops of island near us.. oh, it was so beautiful. The way it just lit everything up. I kept thinking, "Mornings like this just aren't meant to happen!" Everything was so calm, beautiful. The crabs continued scurrying into the water as I chased them and attempted to catch a few of the swimming ones. The water was so warm and clear. Just all of it was ... beyond words, beautiful.
We left the beach a bit after to head back off base and get Kevin back his car. On our way back we saw a mongoose and a bit later on our drive off base, a peacock in the middle of the road. Random, I thought. We began our drive home, and at one point there was this kinda-long tunnel that Nick said I wouldn't be able to hold my breath throughout the length of it. So, I turned on my camera and recorded a video of us both holding our breaths. Towards the end of the tunnel Nick started slowing down, what a butt! Anyway, we were both able to hold our breaths. There were some beautiful landforms (and so green!) along the way home. Along with the "Stairway to Heaven". It's like a never ending stair master. Or, so it looked like. It's pretty much (what I saw of it) a staircase that goes up along the side of a very steep mountain. One slip, and I swear you're a gone-er. Google it for more information.
We got home where Nick's parents asked us where we'd been. They were surprised when we told them we'd been out all night. They didn't really care about that, just as long as we enjoyed ourselves. Nick told them how I was running around on the beach trying to catch the crabs and they asked me if I caught any. I told them one, and they seemed impressed. We went downstairs to go back to bed and Nick's mom told us she'd be leaving at 11AM for her parent's. I woke up around nine, showered, and got ready and Nick followed suit. I thought we were being dropped off in Chinatown but, apparently not. Hahaha. She drove us around, showed me some of the things along the way, and we did a speedy tour through Chinatown. We were back on our way to the grandparents when she asked if I'd like to see the kois of... whatever restaurant it was. Seriously, the setup to the place was beautiful. It was like the whole thing was built on the koi pond! There were different sections of koi (but you couldn't tell because the fences ran under the complex net of bridges suspended over the water) where they were separated due to size, or breed. On our way back out of the restaurant, I saw a man holding a bowl of chunks of raw fish. He was pounding the handrails and I couldn't understand what he'd be doing with all that raw fish. Did he plan on eating it? As I turned around for one last glance into the pond I heard violent splashing. There, the man was throwing in the chunks of fish and the fish in that area of the pond (forgot the name of them) were thrashing violently in the water to eat it! These were HUGE fish. I recorded a video of them feeding. Wow, they really splash.
We got to his grandparents where everyone again thought I was a local. They were all pretty friendly and seemed to enjoy (or at least not mind) my company. One of his uncles came by a bit later after we had lunch with ice chests of fish. He attends the fish actions at the fish market and buys and sells for his boss and has his own customers as well. It's a side job which everyone thinks will soon become a full time job because of how much more he makes. He let me take a picture of the fishes he bought and told us to wait around because he wanted to show me a tuna he'd bought. It was an Ahi Tuna, and weighed 62 pounds. The mouth on that thing was HUGE. I stuck my hand in it (Nick's uncle got me a glove because he didn't want me smelling like fish however much I told him I could handle it) and Nick's mom took a picture. His aunts and uncles seemed to enjoy my humor and I heard them laugh as I made a "OWW!" facial expression. His uncle cleaned the fish, and cut it and what not. Nick and I also took a stroll around the area to the park, and his uncles houses (they all live fairly close to one another). While we were at the park we came across a little boy with a duckling in his water bottle. He said that he'd tried to catch all five of them but four got away. I wanted to say something but I didn't know how to say it because things in Hawai'i are just... different. Later though, we saw him again and noticed his bottle was empty. So, he let it go, which is good. I was very relieved. Nick and I came across a small coconut tree and we both attempted to climb it and pick one. I was in sandals though and had no luck. Was two feet too short. Nick however got one but he tasted the water in the husk and said it'd already gone sour (which means it's old and no good).
We headed back home after his grandparents and we took another nap. We woke up again and instead of going out like we thought we would we watched Labyrinth. The one with David Bowie? I fell asleep towards the end of it but I found it interesting.
Sunday May 30, 2010.
Woke up, and texted Jason. Nick's friend, the one that made me feel real welcome at bowling? We were supposed to go spearfishing at nine, but we lagged it back till ten. We hit the beach we were to fish at and it was PACKKEEDDD. We swam out and they were fishing while I enjoyed watching them attempt to spear fish and the beautiful fish around the corals. I kept yelling at Nick whenever he got close and tried to spear a fish I deemed too small to spear. Jason would just laugh and swim away. Nick dropped his weight belt and Jason's knife so I had to dive down to get it while Nick thrashed around above water acting retarded. To sum that up, we didn't catch anything and headed back in because I said I was getting cold. I didn't mind swimming in alone, but they both insisted it was time for a break and said it was fine if we all headed in. Anyway, we were laying on the beach next to the water with all our gear when the beach got... really packed. So, we decided against going back into the water, washed our gear and ourselves, and got into the car to head west on the island. We drove as far as we could go and Jason, as adventurist as he is decided he wanted to go off-roading in his two wheel drive 4Runner. Sure, it was a dirt road and cars were driving down it, but in a two wheel drive? I can't say I was so for it. It was bumpy, and scary as hell for me. I kept thinking we were gonna flip! But we made it a certain way down the road, parked for a bit to let me look around and then headed back. We got home, and got ready to go to his grandparents (dad's side) for Kevin's family graduation dinner. I wore this white dress with black stitchings of flowers on it (quite cute everyone thought) and Nick's mom saw me and said I didn't have to dress up. I said Nick made it sound like the dinner was a big deal and she scolded Nick but said I would be fine in whatever I wanted to wear. We left soon after and I was dozing on the way there but woke up when some... white guy was driving down the wrong way on a ONE WAY street and nearly hit us. There was a guy soon after him that almost went the wrong way as well until someone trying to turn left honked at them and waved their arms wildly while yelling, "WRONG WAY!".
We got to his grandparents, and to be honest, I didn't feel as welcomed there as I had at his mother's grandparents house. I mean, some of the aunts were nice but I since one of them seemed like she tried extra hard to ignore me (she held a conversation with Nick and didn't even acknowledge I was there sitting RIGHT next to him) after she introduced us to her nieces and nephews, I kinda kept to myself. However, most of the aunts and uncles were super friendly as we were saying goodbye to leave. (Kevin, Nick and I retreated downstairs a bit earlier to avoid everyone and watch TV.) We headed home, and I washed up and headed to bed. It was almost 11PM. I finished Labyrinth, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
Monday May 31, 2010.
Memorial Day. I was awakened by the sound of jets flying over the house. At first, I thought it was an airplane about to crash - they were so loud! Then, it kinda clicked that they'd be jets and I was freaking out about how they might be flying toward Pearl Harbor and try to bomb it again. It IS Memorial Day, ya know? Maybe the N. Koreans got mad and decided to bomb Pearl Harbor like the Japanese did. Anyway, I guess my bolt upright in bed woke Nick up and he told me they were just jets. I couldn't go back to sleep after though.
I'm assuming it was a tribute for the fallen military service woman and men who have lost their lives serving their country. I kinda wish i'd seen them. I also kind of wish that we'd be able to go see the USS Arizona memorial but... other plans have been made.
Well, we're about to head out to hike and I've gotta get ready so... toodles until next time.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Please, think of all our troops overseas and those that have died serving their country. Don't take this holiday for granted.
I'll be participating in the Lantern Festival tonight. We'll be lighting lanterns in memories of friends, and family (whoever would like to donate and have a lantern be lit and floated in the memory of a loved one) and floating them out into the harbor. Lets hope I don't screw this popular tradition up.
God bless.
<3
Friday, May 28, 2010
Diary Day Three/Four
Ahh! I know, I meant to blog last night but I was just SO exhausted!
Okay, sooo, let's start with the last thing I posted about Wednesday night.
Bowling went fine. I met some of his friends and they were all so friendly. Jason really made me feel welcome by asking me questions about home and stuff and suggesting places we should go see and yadda, yadda, yadda. I think we're going spearfishing on ... tomorrow or Sunday. We shall see. I was pretty tired so after my 5th frame I had Nick's brother, Kevin, bowl for me. He was pretty good after he warmed up(:
We got home about maybe 2:30AM local time. I went to bed - so tired, ya know?
Thursday, May 27th, 2010.
Woke up with Nick to go to work. Walked over to Longs Drugstore to pick up some chips and drinks for 'Noah' back in the office. Poor, sweet kid, he's so grateful whenever someone buys him food. I feel so bad for him. Anyway, the recruiters eventually came in and had some meeting about who's shipping out and what not. It was so pointless for Nick to be there! And such bull too because they said they'd give him Thursday and Friday off. I can't say I remember much of what I did yesterday... All I know is that we went to the Navy Exchange (NEX) to pick up some brass plate for a Master Gunnery Sergent for some personal gift item to be presented to him at his retirement ceremony that night. I did a quick short walk through and we got "chow" and headed back to the office. His Staff Sergent excused us awhile after we got back. So, Nick and I called up Kevin to ask him where he was. He invited us to go to White Plains, a beach like half an hour or so away. We got home, I changed into my swimsuit and some shorts and we headed out. Along the way I lathered on the sunblock. It was raining and overcast, but it was still pretty warm. We got to the beach, laid out our towels, and just laid out looking over the water at the swimmers, body boarders, and surfers. It wasn't raining at the beach which I thought was kinda odd. Anyway, eventually we gave up looking for his brother (if you consider us just looking out into the water 'looking' hahaha) and headed back to the house where his dad told us he'd be making teriyaki chicken and beef. As we pulled into the drive, it smelled delicious! I thought one of his neighbors was having a bbq but it turns out Nick's dad had pulled out the grill onto the top porch and was grilling the chicken and beef. It was quite delicious(: I'm not kidding either. Pretty damn good. We went back downstairs and watched a movie while eating and Kitty got into my bowl of food. I was already done though so all she did was really lick up some of the sauce from the bbq. Tricky, smart dog I tell ya. Hahaha. Apparently, she'll do nearly anything for food. Took the dishes up to wash, but his mother said I'd just have to put them down because there was no room for me at the sink. Liar! She just didn't want me to do the dishes. Hahaha.
Nick and I headed out for a short "hike" into some lower part of the ... area. Apparently, it used to be a road. However, we soon found out that no one must've gone down that trail in... MONTHS. It was so overgrown with Elephant grass (it's leaves are like sugarcane; it has those little prickles that stick into your skin? Painful!!) and we weren't prepared. All we had to chop through were throwing knives which we soon gave up on using. Instead, Nick pushed through first, plowing through the grass, pushing it down with his feet, and making his own path because there wasn't one anymore. I walked into him when he stopped suddenly (I wasn't prepared for the elephant grass and only had a short sleeved shirt on. Was trying my best not to rub against the grass and was too busy to focus on when Nick stopped or not.) and told me to hold on. This is when we found out why the road hasn't been used. There were danger fences that we nearly walked straight into. Thank God they were there or we would've stepped right over a cliff. Turns out, the road had caved in. There was just this deep gully that lead down to ... more forest I guess you could say. However, Nick formed an alternate route and we made it to the end of the trail where I found pigs and goats all locked up in these tiny little pens! I'd say animal cruelty, at least for the pigs. The two goats didn't look like they had it bad. Nick picked me some cherry and ... a ka-something nut? Apparently the nut is used for leis when they dry out. The cherry was super sour! And like nothing i've ever seen. I had Nick take a bite of it first out of fear it might be poisonous. xD Anyway, we hiked it back home and retreated back into the room to take a nap.
Upon waking, we headed out to Foodland to buy some things for Nick's dad. With my current obsession of 'Munchies' (the hot ones) I added that to our grocery list. (Random fact: Nick and Kevin had NO IDEA what 'Munchies' were [starting to assume it's a Hawaiian thing. :P ]!! His mom knew, but she didn't know they made spicy ones. hahaha.) We bought the stuff and headed back home, unloaded, and went back into the room to think about what to do. Nick seemed like he really wanted to hit the club, but that's not really my scene. So instead, he took me out to Ford Island. Part of the Pearl Harbor Navy base. I really thought he was planning something bigger - if you get what I mean (Involves a ring, hint, hint?) - because I'd found him researching about the island's lodge a little bit. Anyway, we looked at the city lights from a dark part of the island near the lodge. Beautiful(: Oh, and the bridge we took to get to the island (it's the gate to the base. Guards are at the front beginning of the bridge.) is right next to the USS Arizona memorial! Nick pulled over for a quick stop so I could take a picture of it at night. The thought that more than a thousand of servicemen were down there was a very sombering thought that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I can't take thinking about the death of our military women and men. It makes me so depressed and I almost always get watery, teary eyes and need to fight to keep my composure. It's a confession i'm embarrassed to make, to be honest. Anyway, after that he lead me to another 'surprise location'. Where was this? Tantalus. A popular destination for the younger generation (I'm sure I don't need to say what for -__-" ) as well as drifters. It's one of the mountains on the island of Oahu that is said to be haunted in some areas. Filled with plenty of sharp turns and super dark, along with only one way in, one way out, makes it popular for drift races. I'm telling you, the view is gorgeous, but the drive is pretty dangerous. We were going maybe about 30mph and I can't imagine how these drifters can push past 40 on those turns. Nick wants me to go up sometime with his friends. I told him, hell NO. I do NOT want to know what it's like to go careening off some mountain in a car with a stranger I just met driving, and Nick. I don't care if they've raced the mountain a million times, accidents are called accidents for a reason! No one ever plans them to happen. Anyway, Nick shared some ghost stories with me and there were a couple teens that parked near us but stayed in the car. I was starting to get spooked so we walked back to the car and left. He asked me if I'd like to go to Waikiki but I was just so exhausted I asked if we could just go home. He seemed a bit disappointed but understood and drove me home. I was dozing our way down the mountain and on the freeway. Eventually I gave up trying to fight it and just fell asleep. I woke up when he was pulling into the garage, stumbled (literally the whole way, hahaha) out of the car and down the stairs and into the bedroom where I collapsed on the bed. Nick dragged me out to take me to the bathroom and begged me to at least take my contacts out. I did, stumbled back into his room, and knocked out. I think he said something about taking a shower but I was so tired I didn't care. We got home at like 3am.
Friday, May 28, 2010.
Woke up, went to work with Nick and Kevin, waited for the Poolies to all get there, took them to the Pearl Harbor Navy Base to work out in their gym, Nick, Kevin, and I grabbed breakfast at Burger King instead, then walked next door to the gym and "worked out". Well, they worked out, I kinda just stood there. Nick made me do some curl ups, bench, and some other machine thing. I kept complaining I was on vacation, and not another one of his poolies. We left the poolies there to go to the postal exchange to grab anti-itch cream for my bug bites (They're eating me here!! Ahh!!) and some drinks. Headed back to the gym to pick them up and headed back to the office. We were waiting for a text from his Staff Sergent letting us know we're good to go for the 72 weekend. Until then, Nick sat me down on the practice ASVAB test thing where I scored a 70. (I got lazy halfway through and stopped working out some of the questions. It was a lot longer than I thought it was so I stopped being so 'gung-ho' about it two sections in. Lol.) I came back out and asked what it was out of. The poolies said '100'. So there I am feeling pretty shitty about getting a 'C' and thinking maybe I should've actually tried. That the poolies probably all scored higher than me. However, when they heard I got a '70' they kept saying that it was a pretty high score and that would allow me to get almost any MOS I wanted. I still felt like crap. It was a 'C' in my book and that is NOT that good. I don't care what you say, buddy. Lol. Anyway, we got the text soon after and was about to leave when I realized 'Noah' probably hasn't eaten anything all day. So I went back to the office and asked, he said it was fine, but I walked next door and bought him something to eat. It was a little Mexican restaurant called 'Banditos'. Nick used to work there so we struck up a conversation with a waiter Nick knew, and the owner. Food came out and I delivered it to 'Noah' who seemed really thankful but looked like he felt bad. I told him not to worry about it and that it was really my pleasure. I don't care how broke I am, I'm not gonna let some poor kid starve. I really hope everything works out for him and he can get into the Corps. At least he'll have food, and a place to stay once he gets in. :/
We got home, I showered, and Nick's mom came home. We headed to the NEX for the case lot sale (held in the parking lot) where we had some trouble getting in, but got in eventually. Bought some stuff, then headed into the NEX itself to shop for groceries I guess? Nick dumped me on his mom so her and I walked around looking at name brand purses (Coach, ... etc. Sorry, I don't know my name brands.) and jewelry from other name brand.. places. I explained to her I wasn't much of a shopper and didn't really know my big brand names. She said that was good and there were better things to spend my money and brain cells on. Hahaha. An Air Force woman asked us which purse thing to buy and Nick's mom seemed pretty helpful. She also struck up a conversation with the girl and eventually thanked us and left. Nick found us and eventually we headed back out to the car with our bag of groceries (four packs of mini mallows and string cheese. Ooh, so much to carry. Haha.)
There was BADD traffic on the way back home and we swung by 'Curry House' to pick up dinner. His mom offered to take us out and wanted me to try the Curry House. We walked by some sushi place that had the conveyor belt thing and she asked me if i've ever been to place like that. I said no and she was so shocked. Lol. We got into the car where she told Nick and he was like, "SERIOUSLY?! YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO ONE!?" So now, Nick's mother insists we go out to a family dinner to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. Hahaha. His mother's hilarious! She says comments that I didn't think someone her age (Not that i'm calling her old!!! >__< ) would say. I'm not even going to quote her on what she made me laugh so hard about in the car. Hahaha.
Anyway, we got home, ate, watched some TV with his dad, and went back into the room. I opened up Blogspot to blog about the day, but Nick took over (with the excuse that he'd find a better place to buy his brother's graduation present. I figured out the perfect gift for Kevin! A Playstation 3!!! Nick's mom insists he doesn't need one and that it's a waste of money. Haha, but Kevin seems to really enjoy playing it at the recruting office and he's pretty damn good. Like, I mean this boy can go pro.) and I ended up knocking out beside him. I guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought.
Nick is still knocked out which is why I stole the laptop away to blog about the past two days. He just got a call from Kevin (not his brother but his best friend) asking if we wanted to go out and do something. He agreed, said he was gonna shower, but knocked back out. Hahaha. I guess I should wake him up.
I'll post about how tonight goes. xD
Until then, toodles!
<3
Okay, sooo, let's start with the last thing I posted about Wednesday night.
Bowling went fine. I met some of his friends and they were all so friendly. Jason really made me feel welcome by asking me questions about home and stuff and suggesting places we should go see and yadda, yadda, yadda. I think we're going spearfishing on ... tomorrow or Sunday. We shall see. I was pretty tired so after my 5th frame I had Nick's brother, Kevin, bowl for me. He was pretty good after he warmed up(:
We got home about maybe 2:30AM local time. I went to bed - so tired, ya know?
Thursday, May 27th, 2010.
Woke up with Nick to go to work. Walked over to Longs Drugstore to pick up some chips and drinks for 'Noah' back in the office. Poor, sweet kid, he's so grateful whenever someone buys him food. I feel so bad for him. Anyway, the recruiters eventually came in and had some meeting about who's shipping out and what not. It was so pointless for Nick to be there! And such bull too because they said they'd give him Thursday and Friday off. I can't say I remember much of what I did yesterday... All I know is that we went to the Navy Exchange (NEX) to pick up some brass plate for a Master Gunnery Sergent for some personal gift item to be presented to him at his retirement ceremony that night. I did a quick short walk through and we got "chow" and headed back to the office. His Staff Sergent excused us awhile after we got back. So, Nick and I called up Kevin to ask him where he was. He invited us to go to White Plains, a beach like half an hour or so away. We got home, I changed into my swimsuit and some shorts and we headed out. Along the way I lathered on the sunblock. It was raining and overcast, but it was still pretty warm. We got to the beach, laid out our towels, and just laid out looking over the water at the swimmers, body boarders, and surfers. It wasn't raining at the beach which I thought was kinda odd. Anyway, eventually we gave up looking for his brother (if you consider us just looking out into the water 'looking' hahaha) and headed back to the house where his dad told us he'd be making teriyaki chicken and beef. As we pulled into the drive, it smelled delicious! I thought one of his neighbors was having a bbq but it turns out Nick's dad had pulled out the grill onto the top porch and was grilling the chicken and beef. It was quite delicious(: I'm not kidding either. Pretty damn good. We went back downstairs and watched a movie while eating and Kitty got into my bowl of food. I was already done though so all she did was really lick up some of the sauce from the bbq. Tricky, smart dog I tell ya. Hahaha. Apparently, she'll do nearly anything for food. Took the dishes up to wash, but his mother said I'd just have to put them down because there was no room for me at the sink. Liar! She just didn't want me to do the dishes. Hahaha.
Nick and I headed out for a short "hike" into some lower part of the ... area. Apparently, it used to be a road. However, we soon found out that no one must've gone down that trail in... MONTHS. It was so overgrown with Elephant grass (it's leaves are like sugarcane; it has those little prickles that stick into your skin? Painful!!) and we weren't prepared. All we had to chop through were throwing knives which we soon gave up on using. Instead, Nick pushed through first, plowing through the grass, pushing it down with his feet, and making his own path because there wasn't one anymore. I walked into him when he stopped suddenly (I wasn't prepared for the elephant grass and only had a short sleeved shirt on. Was trying my best not to rub against the grass and was too busy to focus on when Nick stopped or not.) and told me to hold on. This is when we found out why the road hasn't been used. There were danger fences that we nearly walked straight into. Thank God they were there or we would've stepped right over a cliff. Turns out, the road had caved in. There was just this deep gully that lead down to ... more forest I guess you could say. However, Nick formed an alternate route and we made it to the end of the trail where I found pigs and goats all locked up in these tiny little pens! I'd say animal cruelty, at least for the pigs. The two goats didn't look like they had it bad. Nick picked me some cherry and ... a ka-something nut? Apparently the nut is used for leis when they dry out. The cherry was super sour! And like nothing i've ever seen. I had Nick take a bite of it first out of fear it might be poisonous. xD Anyway, we hiked it back home and retreated back into the room to take a nap.
Upon waking, we headed out to Foodland to buy some things for Nick's dad. With my current obsession of 'Munchies' (the hot ones) I added that to our grocery list. (Random fact: Nick and Kevin had NO IDEA what 'Munchies' were [starting to assume it's a Hawaiian thing. :P ]!! His mom knew, but she didn't know they made spicy ones. hahaha.) We bought the stuff and headed back home, unloaded, and went back into the room to think about what to do. Nick seemed like he really wanted to hit the club, but that's not really my scene. So instead, he took me out to Ford Island. Part of the Pearl Harbor Navy base. I really thought he was planning something bigger - if you get what I mean (Involves a ring, hint, hint?) - because I'd found him researching about the island's lodge a little bit. Anyway, we looked at the city lights from a dark part of the island near the lodge. Beautiful(: Oh, and the bridge we took to get to the island (it's the gate to the base. Guards are at the front beginning of the bridge.) is right next to the USS Arizona memorial! Nick pulled over for a quick stop so I could take a picture of it at night. The thought that more than a thousand of servicemen were down there was a very sombering thought that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I can't take thinking about the death of our military women and men. It makes me so depressed and I almost always get watery, teary eyes and need to fight to keep my composure. It's a confession i'm embarrassed to make, to be honest. Anyway, after that he lead me to another 'surprise location'. Where was this? Tantalus. A popular destination for the younger generation (I'm sure I don't need to say what for -__-" ) as well as drifters. It's one of the mountains on the island of Oahu that is said to be haunted in some areas. Filled with plenty of sharp turns and super dark, along with only one way in, one way out, makes it popular for drift races. I'm telling you, the view is gorgeous, but the drive is pretty dangerous. We were going maybe about 30mph and I can't imagine how these drifters can push past 40 on those turns. Nick wants me to go up sometime with his friends. I told him, hell NO. I do NOT want to know what it's like to go careening off some mountain in a car with a stranger I just met driving, and Nick. I don't care if they've raced the mountain a million times, accidents are called accidents for a reason! No one ever plans them to happen. Anyway, Nick shared some ghost stories with me and there were a couple teens that parked near us but stayed in the car. I was starting to get spooked so we walked back to the car and left. He asked me if I'd like to go to Waikiki but I was just so exhausted I asked if we could just go home. He seemed a bit disappointed but understood and drove me home. I was dozing our way down the mountain and on the freeway. Eventually I gave up trying to fight it and just fell asleep. I woke up when he was pulling into the garage, stumbled (literally the whole way, hahaha) out of the car and down the stairs and into the bedroom where I collapsed on the bed. Nick dragged me out to take me to the bathroom and begged me to at least take my contacts out. I did, stumbled back into his room, and knocked out. I think he said something about taking a shower but I was so tired I didn't care. We got home at like 3am.
Friday, May 28, 2010.
Woke up, went to work with Nick and Kevin, waited for the Poolies to all get there, took them to the Pearl Harbor Navy Base to work out in their gym, Nick, Kevin, and I grabbed breakfast at Burger King instead, then walked next door to the gym and "worked out". Well, they worked out, I kinda just stood there. Nick made me do some curl ups, bench, and some other machine thing. I kept complaining I was on vacation, and not another one of his poolies. We left the poolies there to go to the postal exchange to grab anti-itch cream for my bug bites (They're eating me here!! Ahh!!) and some drinks. Headed back to the gym to pick them up and headed back to the office. We were waiting for a text from his Staff Sergent letting us know we're good to go for the 72 weekend. Until then, Nick sat me down on the practice ASVAB test thing where I scored a 70. (I got lazy halfway through and stopped working out some of the questions. It was a lot longer than I thought it was so I stopped being so 'gung-ho' about it two sections in. Lol.) I came back out and asked what it was out of. The poolies said '100'. So there I am feeling pretty shitty about getting a 'C' and thinking maybe I should've actually tried. That the poolies probably all scored higher than me. However, when they heard I got a '70' they kept saying that it was a pretty high score and that would allow me to get almost any MOS I wanted. I still felt like crap. It was a 'C' in my book and that is NOT that good. I don't care what you say, buddy. Lol. Anyway, we got the text soon after and was about to leave when I realized 'Noah' probably hasn't eaten anything all day. So I went back to the office and asked, he said it was fine, but I walked next door and bought him something to eat. It was a little Mexican restaurant called 'Banditos'. Nick used to work there so we struck up a conversation with a waiter Nick knew, and the owner. Food came out and I delivered it to 'Noah' who seemed really thankful but looked like he felt bad. I told him not to worry about it and that it was really my pleasure. I don't care how broke I am, I'm not gonna let some poor kid starve. I really hope everything works out for him and he can get into the Corps. At least he'll have food, and a place to stay once he gets in. :/
We got home, I showered, and Nick's mom came home. We headed to the NEX for the case lot sale (held in the parking lot) where we had some trouble getting in, but got in eventually. Bought some stuff, then headed into the NEX itself to shop for groceries I guess? Nick dumped me on his mom so her and I walked around looking at name brand purses (Coach, ... etc. Sorry, I don't know my name brands.) and jewelry from other name brand.. places. I explained to her I wasn't much of a shopper and didn't really know my big brand names. She said that was good and there were better things to spend my money and brain cells on. Hahaha. An Air Force woman asked us which purse thing to buy and Nick's mom seemed pretty helpful. She also struck up a conversation with the girl and eventually thanked us and left. Nick found us and eventually we headed back out to the car with our bag of groceries (four packs of mini mallows and string cheese. Ooh, so much to carry. Haha.)
There was BADD traffic on the way back home and we swung by 'Curry House' to pick up dinner. His mom offered to take us out and wanted me to try the Curry House. We walked by some sushi place that had the conveyor belt thing and she asked me if i've ever been to place like that. I said no and she was so shocked. Lol. We got into the car where she told Nick and he was like, "SERIOUSLY?! YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO ONE!?" So now, Nick's mother insists we go out to a family dinner to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. Hahaha. His mother's hilarious! She says comments that I didn't think someone her age (Not that i'm calling her old!!! >__< ) would say. I'm not even going to quote her on what she made me laugh so hard about in the car. Hahaha.
Anyway, we got home, ate, watched some TV with his dad, and went back into the room. I opened up Blogspot to blog about the day, but Nick took over (with the excuse that he'd find a better place to buy his brother's graduation present. I figured out the perfect gift for Kevin! A Playstation 3!!! Nick's mom insists he doesn't need one and that it's a waste of money. Haha, but Kevin seems to really enjoy playing it at the recruting office and he's pretty damn good. Like, I mean this boy can go pro.) and I ended up knocking out beside him. I guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought.
Nick is still knocked out which is why I stole the laptop away to blog about the past two days. He just got a call from Kevin (not his brother but his best friend) asking if we wanted to go out and do something. He agreed, said he was gonna shower, but knocked back out. Hahaha. I guess I should wake him up.
I'll post about how tonight goes. xD
Until then, toodles!
<3
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Diary Day Two
Hmm.. So a bit after I posted that last blog I got distracted by GivesMeHope.com and LoveGivesMeHope.com. (I'm such an optimist, I know. But I was bored outta my mind!)
I was still in bed when Nick called me to check up on how I was doing. When I admitted I hadn't really left the bed, he said he'd call me back, promptly hung up, and left me waiting. I heard someone coming down the stairs and his dad peeked in through the door with Nick on the phone asking me to come upstairs and grab a bite to eat or at least grab a drink or something. I really was fine, hahaha. I kept telling myself I'd go upstairs and strike up some sort of conversation with his father but I kept getting distracted by friends messaging me, GMH, and Facebook. Yes, I'm the usual typical teenager obsessed with those social networking sites (not really). Anyway, about 4:45 PM his mother came home and realized I was still in bed. She was like, "Oh my God! What are you doing here?! Where's Kevin?!" Hahaha. She asked me if I'd eaten anything or if I even left the room. When I said no to both questions she was just, shocked. She went to look for Kevin and when she couldn't find him she asked me where he went. I told her all I knew that Nick had called him and asked him to bring in his cammies to the recruitment office and that I hadn't seen him since. Anyway, she apologized saying that it was Kevin's job to take me around the island while Nick was at work that day. I said it was perfectly fine that I'd been distracted by the internet anyway. We chatted a bit more and she went back upstairs. She came back down a bit later and told me she'd warmed up some spaghetti for me to eat. I thanked her and said I'd be up in a moment. I called Nick who said he was almost home. I went upstairs where his mother had prepared me a bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread along with some iced tea. Yeah, it felt kinda awkward with just her working in the kitchen, me across from her eating, and small conversation. She said she really enjoyed the pastries I brought over, which is really good. I practically bought at least one of everything in that bakery. Hahaha. I guess they haven't seen an order that big in a bit so they all seemed a bit confused. When I explained I was flying over to Hawaii and going to present them as a gift they started to wrap each pastry in an individual bag. So considerate! I had to tip them. I only had $2 cash though. The pastries ran me around $50 but they were still pretty fresh when I landed. Yay!
Anyway, Nick came home and he made himself a bowl of spaghetti as well and sat down next to me explaining that I didn't HAVE to eat at the dining table if I didn't want to. I got up to clean my plates when I noticed the view outside his window - GORGEOUS. When I exclaimed this (more to myself then anything), his mother overheard and told Nick to open up the blinds. This whole side of the house is made of sliding glass doors that open to a back balcony/porch that has BEAUTIFUL views of Pearl Harbor. It was breathtaking! I totally forgot I was holding plates and I went outside and explored. Hahaha. Eventually I went back in, did the dishes, and went back outside to explore. He has two ponds! One is full of guppies. I noticed they were mostly Swordtail guppies (i'm a bit of a fish nerd). The pond in the front is full of Kois. The top (separated by a waterfall) has younger koi, and the bigger bond below has HUGE kois! I stuck my finger in a bit to see if they'd try to nibble at it. Nick said they would. Haha. However, I freaked out when one of the bigger fish started swimming towards it, and pulled my finger out last minute screaming. Hahaha. His house is amazing. His family is SO great! I met some of his friends earlier today and they were SO friendly! I'm starting to wonder why I was freaking out about coming here. Nick was right, everyone here is just so friendly and nice! Helpful too!
After dinner (my breakfast/lunch [now that I think of it the only thing I ate all day]) we sat down in the living room to watch some TV with his father. We had a bit of small talk but it was mostly between Nick and his father.
Anyway, Nick and I went back into the room and watched videos on YouTube (I didn't know what a kookaburra was or the song), looked into the pure silver and gold collection he has and what not and.. just random stuff. His mom invited us out to go walking and I accepted. I want to see more of his neighborhood. It's pretty nice. Everyone was so friendly. I guess everyone here walks their dogs all at the same time. Hahaha. They took me down to the park because they said the view would be even better. All those city lights? It was breathtaking! His mother apparently studied botany when she was in college so she'd pick flowers, hand them to me, and tell me the names of them. Nick says this is a sign that she likes me. That's really good news to me.
We got back and I chatted with his mother some more before heading back downstairs with Nick. I complained about needing a shower so he showed me to the shower and told me how to use it. Which, was pretty simple I guess, but nice to have the rundown. I moved my stuff into the bathroom and showered as fast as I could. It was kinda late and I didn't want to annoy his parents or anything. Anyway, after my shower, I knocked out on his bed and no matter how much Nick protested I refused to get up. I was just so exhausted! I didn't even take out my contacts before I knocked out. I guess eventually he gave up because when I woke up this morning he was sleeping on the other side of the bed. Hahaha.
May 26, 2010.
Nick had work at 9AM and I decided I would go with him. I figured I'd just walk across the street to the mall and do some shopping. I dressed up in a high backed skirt and a plain black shirt with black flats (I gotta look decent, right?) and headed out. I ended up getting distracted at Nick's work. His Sergent and Staff Sergent never came in (they ended up being at an all-hands meeting and they left Nick in charge) so Nick sent them all to the Pearl Harbor Navy base to go work out. Anyway, long story short, they left, Nick took me out for breakfast next door at Dennys (I was craving a lumberjack slam!) and we saved our pancakes for a poolie in the office. Sad story when it comes to him, but I don't think i'm really allowed to tell it. Not until he's officially enlisted into the Corps anyway. We hung out at the office playing CoD:MW and CoD:W@W. First Nick and I, then another poolie came in late so he played a bit as well. After an hour or so, Nick called the other poolies at the gym and told them to come back to the office. When they got back, Nick excused them. His SSgt texted him telling him to take "Noah" (sad story boy) for a bite to eat and a shower. So we grabbed the keys to the govvy and took him to PHNB. We dropped him off at the gym to shower and Nick and I went to the gas station to put gas in the car. We picked him back up, dropped him back off at the office, and went for a walk in the mall. Shopped around a bit till Kevin got there, picked up his car keys, and we went for a drive. We got shaved ice, and headed to the park that is like, right next to the water of Pearl Harbor. Just past the bridge to the left, the Arizona Memorial could be seen. I can't wait to visit that area! Anyway we got back in the car and was going to go pick up some fish for his dad's aquarium in the bar (it has one lonely fish! ): ) but his dad kept saying not to soooo, we didn't. We got home, I did the dishes while Nick played with Kitty and we knocked out in his room while watching TV. No joke, like, we were GONE. Haha. Actually, he's STILL knocked out. (:
There's bowling with his friends tonight. I'll be meeting a pretty big majority of them I'm assuming. I figure I'll just wear jeans with the black shirt I knocked out in. Hahaha.
Anywho, it's 8:30. Bowling's at 9PM. I guess I should wake him up now.
Until tomorrow, toodles(:
I was still in bed when Nick called me to check up on how I was doing. When I admitted I hadn't really left the bed, he said he'd call me back, promptly hung up, and left me waiting. I heard someone coming down the stairs and his dad peeked in through the door with Nick on the phone asking me to come upstairs and grab a bite to eat or at least grab a drink or something. I really was fine, hahaha. I kept telling myself I'd go upstairs and strike up some sort of conversation with his father but I kept getting distracted by friends messaging me, GMH, and Facebook. Yes, I'm the usual typical teenager obsessed with those social networking sites (not really). Anyway, about 4:45 PM his mother came home and realized I was still in bed. She was like, "Oh my God! What are you doing here?! Where's Kevin?!" Hahaha. She asked me if I'd eaten anything or if I even left the room. When I said no to both questions she was just, shocked. She went to look for Kevin and when she couldn't find him she asked me where he went. I told her all I knew that Nick had called him and asked him to bring in his cammies to the recruitment office and that I hadn't seen him since. Anyway, she apologized saying that it was Kevin's job to take me around the island while Nick was at work that day. I said it was perfectly fine that I'd been distracted by the internet anyway. We chatted a bit more and she went back upstairs. She came back down a bit later and told me she'd warmed up some spaghetti for me to eat. I thanked her and said I'd be up in a moment. I called Nick who said he was almost home. I went upstairs where his mother had prepared me a bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread along with some iced tea. Yeah, it felt kinda awkward with just her working in the kitchen, me across from her eating, and small conversation. She said she really enjoyed the pastries I brought over, which is really good. I practically bought at least one of everything in that bakery. Hahaha. I guess they haven't seen an order that big in a bit so they all seemed a bit confused. When I explained I was flying over to Hawaii and going to present them as a gift they started to wrap each pastry in an individual bag. So considerate! I had to tip them. I only had $2 cash though. The pastries ran me around $50 but they were still pretty fresh when I landed. Yay!
Anyway, Nick came home and he made himself a bowl of spaghetti as well and sat down next to me explaining that I didn't HAVE to eat at the dining table if I didn't want to. I got up to clean my plates when I noticed the view outside his window - GORGEOUS. When I exclaimed this (more to myself then anything), his mother overheard and told Nick to open up the blinds. This whole side of the house is made of sliding glass doors that open to a back balcony/porch that has BEAUTIFUL views of Pearl Harbor. It was breathtaking! I totally forgot I was holding plates and I went outside and explored. Hahaha. Eventually I went back in, did the dishes, and went back outside to explore. He has two ponds! One is full of guppies. I noticed they were mostly Swordtail guppies (i'm a bit of a fish nerd). The pond in the front is full of Kois. The top (separated by a waterfall) has younger koi, and the bigger bond below has HUGE kois! I stuck my finger in a bit to see if they'd try to nibble at it. Nick said they would. Haha. However, I freaked out when one of the bigger fish started swimming towards it, and pulled my finger out last minute screaming. Hahaha. His house is amazing. His family is SO great! I met some of his friends earlier today and they were SO friendly! I'm starting to wonder why I was freaking out about coming here. Nick was right, everyone here is just so friendly and nice! Helpful too!
After dinner (my breakfast/lunch [now that I think of it the only thing I ate all day]) we sat down in the living room to watch some TV with his father. We had a bit of small talk but it was mostly between Nick and his father.
Anyway, Nick and I went back into the room and watched videos on YouTube (I didn't know what a kookaburra was or the song), looked into the pure silver and gold collection he has and what not and.. just random stuff. His mom invited us out to go walking and I accepted. I want to see more of his neighborhood. It's pretty nice. Everyone was so friendly. I guess everyone here walks their dogs all at the same time. Hahaha. They took me down to the park because they said the view would be even better. All those city lights? It was breathtaking! His mother apparently studied botany when she was in college so she'd pick flowers, hand them to me, and tell me the names of them. Nick says this is a sign that she likes me. That's really good news to me.
We got back and I chatted with his mother some more before heading back downstairs with Nick. I complained about needing a shower so he showed me to the shower and told me how to use it. Which, was pretty simple I guess, but nice to have the rundown. I moved my stuff into the bathroom and showered as fast as I could. It was kinda late and I didn't want to annoy his parents or anything. Anyway, after my shower, I knocked out on his bed and no matter how much Nick protested I refused to get up. I was just so exhausted! I didn't even take out my contacts before I knocked out. I guess eventually he gave up because when I woke up this morning he was sleeping on the other side of the bed. Hahaha.
May 26, 2010.
Nick had work at 9AM and I decided I would go with him. I figured I'd just walk across the street to the mall and do some shopping. I dressed up in a high backed skirt and a plain black shirt with black flats (I gotta look decent, right?) and headed out. I ended up getting distracted at Nick's work. His Sergent and Staff Sergent never came in (they ended up being at an all-hands meeting and they left Nick in charge) so Nick sent them all to the Pearl Harbor Navy base to go work out. Anyway, long story short, they left, Nick took me out for breakfast next door at Dennys (I was craving a lumberjack slam!) and we saved our pancakes for a poolie in the office. Sad story when it comes to him, but I don't think i'm really allowed to tell it. Not until he's officially enlisted into the Corps anyway. We hung out at the office playing CoD:MW and CoD:W@W. First Nick and I, then another poolie came in late so he played a bit as well. After an hour or so, Nick called the other poolies at the gym and told them to come back to the office. When they got back, Nick excused them. His SSgt texted him telling him to take "Noah" (sad story boy) for a bite to eat and a shower. So we grabbed the keys to the govvy and took him to PHNB. We dropped him off at the gym to shower and Nick and I went to the gas station to put gas in the car. We picked him back up, dropped him back off at the office, and went for a walk in the mall. Shopped around a bit till Kevin got there, picked up his car keys, and we went for a drive. We got shaved ice, and headed to the park that is like, right next to the water of Pearl Harbor. Just past the bridge to the left, the Arizona Memorial could be seen. I can't wait to visit that area! Anyway we got back in the car and was going to go pick up some fish for his dad's aquarium in the bar (it has one lonely fish! ): ) but his dad kept saying not to soooo, we didn't. We got home, I did the dishes while Nick played with Kitty and we knocked out in his room while watching TV. No joke, like, we were GONE. Haha. Actually, he's STILL knocked out. (:
There's bowling with his friends tonight. I'll be meeting a pretty big majority of them I'm assuming. I figure I'll just wear jeans with the black shirt I knocked out in. Hahaha.
Anywho, it's 8:30. Bowling's at 9PM. I guess I should wake him up now.
Until tomorrow, toodles(:
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Diary Day One
Alright, so I thought i'd blog about where I am, what i'm doing, blah blah blah, so I can remember more detail when I get back home.
I understand I haven't blogged in the longest time - kept putting it off. Kept putting other things first.
Alright, so first off, i'm currently in Hawaii. Island of Oahu. I flew in last night from LAX. I've had the ticket for two months already and I kept dreading the day of my departure. Anywho, i'll just start from Monday morning.
Monday, May 24, 2010.
Mom asked me to go in to work and sub for her a bit till she finished some stuff up at home. Since i'll be gone for the next two weeks I say sure. I head to work, and I was ok'd to leave by 12. However, I didn't leave till 2:30, completely ruining my plans of getting ready for my flight. After arriving at home and running around packing some last minute items, I took a shower, and headed to the airport with Bryan. He dropped me off at the curb and we had (well, I had) a tearful goodbye. He's shipping out the day I return so I don't know when i'll see him again. He stood there and hugged me for a bit and promised he'd come back to California when he could. I sent him home because I didn't want to get even MORE emotional, grabbed my bags and went through the Check-In and what not. I got to the security checkpoint, where the TSA man checking my ID and boarding pass couldn't stop looking between me and my license. Then he tried to flirt with me, which I found really creepy. He was TOTALLY like WAYY older. People kept staring at me walking around so I just found a corner near my gate and sat down and waited. Boarded the plane a bit late, and the man I was sitting next to turned out to be really friendly(: As I struggled to load one of my carry ons in the top bin a few people offered to help me. I thanked them, but denied their help. With one last push, I got it in and closed the door, cautioning to the others to be careful when they opened it because I wasn't sure how well it fit. I sat down, and the long flight begin.
In the Plane.
I admit I was terribly nervous. I hadn't eaten anything all day because of my nerves. The plane took off and we hit a bit of turbulence, where... I admit I freaked out JUST A LITTLE. The guy beside me just chuckled. They served us dinner, some crappy enchilada stuff and a brownie cake thing with frosting WAY too sweet. I figured I had to eat something so I snacked on that. My dvd player died like 2 and a half hours into the flight so I started dozing and took a half hour nap. I was pretty comfortable surprisingly. but once i woke up, i couldn't get comfortable again. Anyway, they had us fill out some paperwork an hour before we were scheduled to land. Some contract thing saying we weren't bring anything to the islands we shouldn't be bringing. We started descending after. The city lights were SO beautiful! The landing was a bit rough, but nothing I couldn't handle. I held a conversation with the man next to me to keep myself occupied. He laughed every time the plane lurched and I'd make some sort of "Oh my god" comment to myself. He asked me why I was visiting, why I was alone, blah blah blah. So I told him some stuff about me, and he told me some stuff about him. Pretty interesting and hilarious man. xD Anyway, they towed us into the gate, but we had another long wait because two people on the plane got real sick so they had EMTs board and get them off first. Finally, we were given the ok to get off the plane and Mr. Man sitting next to me got my carry on for me. I got off the plane and headed to baggage claim and was being attacked by a flood of text messages. I was also sending them out to closer friends and family saying I just landed and everything was dandy.
Honolulu Airport.
So I walked over to baggage claim and still had NO idea where Nick was. I said screw him, i'll get my own luggage and stood over by the belt to look for my (actually his, but my stuff was in it) bag. After a few minutes of glancing around at the crowd and looking for my bag, i heard running footsteps behind me. I knew who it was, I didn't have to turn around. He tackled me in a hug from behind and all I replied with was, "You're late." He said he wasn't late because I hadn't gotten my bag yet and waiting for him. Anyway, my bag came out soon after and he grabbed it for me, along with my backpack carry-on while I held the pastries. We headed out to the parking garage and it was decided I would go with him back to work.
After the airport.
His Sergent had called a few minutes after I had called and texted him saying I had landed. So I went to work with him to two different locations. Met the Sergent and some other poolie who seemed... eh, I guess kinda normal? We finished up cleaning some other office (more or less the Poolie. I sat helped a bit.), and headed back to the other recruiting office. After waiting for half an hour or so, we finally headed out to get something to eat.
Zippy's.
He decided to take me out to Zippy's to try their one-of-a-kind chili. There was like, a Zippy's on every corner! Lol. I guess it's REAL popular here in Hawaii. We sat down, and when the waitress didn't understand why we were taking so long to order, Nick said it was my first time here. She nods and walks away only to make a sharp turn and dash back to our table and say, "Wait! How have you NEVER been to Zippy's before?!" She seemed completely astonished and forward that I was stunned and confused. As I was trying to stumble out that I'm not from here, Nick explained that he had just picked me up from the airport and that I was from Cali. It all clicked then and she encouraged me to try one of the chili containing plates because that's what they were most popular for. Nick ordered me some like.. fried chicken, white rice, veggies, with chili and got himself some samin noodles. I admit, the chili was pretty good. But maybe that's because I was starving. Soon after I started feeling reallyy nauseous. Nick paid our bill, and our waitress gave me some encouragement on meeting his parents. She said, "You look like something parents would want. You'll be fine." Hahaha. Nick and I both found it funny. Anyway, we headed to Long's Drugs right next door to look for some Nauzene. Unsuccessful after walking down three rows three times, I was too tired to care and requested we head home. So we did.
Temporary Home.
So we got home, parked the car in the garage and walked in. We left the pastries on the stove for his mom and I was ready to head downstairs when Nick started making a whole lotta noise to wake his dad up. He was asleep on the couch, and the tv was still on and Nick just HAD to wake him up to tell him we'd come home. His dad like, jumped off the couch and had a huge smile on his face and shook my hand. I guess he was really eager to meet me? He seemed really nice(: I apologized for waking him up, which he said was perfectly fine (it was only 12:30 local time. 3:30AM Cali time) because it wasn't too late. I'm still running on Cali time ya know? So i'm exhausted as hell. We went downstairs to the bedrooms (which are still above ground, mind you!) and he led me to his room where he made me wait outside. I figured some last minute cleaning, okay, sure. He opened the door and there were candles lit up, like everywhere! I said, "Aww, you're so lame..." and he was like, "Heyy! ): " hahaha. We moved my stuff into the room and he told me how happy he was that I'd decided to come and blah blah blah. I stressed how exhausted I was and he showed me the bathrooms and gave me a short tour of the downstairs. I washed up while he showered, and I retired onto his bed and knockkked out.
Night One.
So, funny story, right? The night was humid, but cool, Nick turned on the AC in the room so I'd feel more comfortable. Sometime during the night I rolled over onto my right side, and felt my cheek touch something wet. I twitched and just thought I was imagining it. But I wanted to check so I extended my hand and touched the area again. Yeah, it was wet all right. With my exhaustion preventing me from thinking straight I followed the trail toward Nick's side of the bed where there was a pool of drool near his mouth. I exclaimed, "Eww!" which woke Nick up and made him ask what was wrong. When I explained he was drooling, he just laughed, wiped his mouth, and apologized. I rolled back over to my side of the bed and told him I wasn't going near him again. Hahaha.
So it's the morning now, sorta. It's almost 1PM here. Nick had to go back to work in the morning so I decided to sleep in till about 12pm. I'm pretty exhausted from last night and the flight.
JUST met Nick's brother, Kevin. He called Kevin to look for these white shirts for his uniform and asked him to pass the phone onto me. Hahaha. I went rummaging his whole room for those shirts, I found them though! Now Kevin's off to drop them off along with his uniform to the recruiting office place.
So yeah... I guess I should wash up, put some jeans on and clean Nick's room. I'll be moving into the guest room today. We thought it wasn't cleaned last night but apparently his mom went in and did some last minute cleaning before I arrived.
Hopefully, Nick'll be off work soon (although it doesn't look it, why would he need his uniform if he was.) and we'll be able to go grab a bite to eat and tour the island a bit.
So that's up until now... I'll probably do some more lounging about and chatting online before I wash up and explore the house a bit. Yepp yepp.
Wish me luck on meeting his mum when she gets home later. Hahaha.
Until then, toodles!
I understand I haven't blogged in the longest time - kept putting it off. Kept putting other things first.
Alright, so first off, i'm currently in Hawaii. Island of Oahu. I flew in last night from LAX. I've had the ticket for two months already and I kept dreading the day of my departure. Anywho, i'll just start from Monday morning.
Monday, May 24, 2010.
Mom asked me to go in to work and sub for her a bit till she finished some stuff up at home. Since i'll be gone for the next two weeks I say sure. I head to work, and I was ok'd to leave by 12. However, I didn't leave till 2:30, completely ruining my plans of getting ready for my flight. After arriving at home and running around packing some last minute items, I took a shower, and headed to the airport with Bryan. He dropped me off at the curb and we had (well, I had) a tearful goodbye. He's shipping out the day I return so I don't know when i'll see him again. He stood there and hugged me for a bit and promised he'd come back to California when he could. I sent him home because I didn't want to get even MORE emotional, grabbed my bags and went through the Check-In and what not. I got to the security checkpoint, where the TSA man checking my ID and boarding pass couldn't stop looking between me and my license. Then he tried to flirt with me, which I found really creepy. He was TOTALLY like WAYY older. People kept staring at me walking around so I just found a corner near my gate and sat down and waited. Boarded the plane a bit late, and the man I was sitting next to turned out to be really friendly(: As I struggled to load one of my carry ons in the top bin a few people offered to help me. I thanked them, but denied their help. With one last push, I got it in and closed the door, cautioning to the others to be careful when they opened it because I wasn't sure how well it fit. I sat down, and the long flight begin.
In the Plane.
I admit I was terribly nervous. I hadn't eaten anything all day because of my nerves. The plane took off and we hit a bit of turbulence, where... I admit I freaked out JUST A LITTLE. The guy beside me just chuckled. They served us dinner, some crappy enchilada stuff and a brownie cake thing with frosting WAY too sweet. I figured I had to eat something so I snacked on that. My dvd player died like 2 and a half hours into the flight so I started dozing and took a half hour nap. I was pretty comfortable surprisingly. but once i woke up, i couldn't get comfortable again. Anyway, they had us fill out some paperwork an hour before we were scheduled to land. Some contract thing saying we weren't bring anything to the islands we shouldn't be bringing. We started descending after. The city lights were SO beautiful! The landing was a bit rough, but nothing I couldn't handle. I held a conversation with the man next to me to keep myself occupied. He laughed every time the plane lurched and I'd make some sort of "Oh my god" comment to myself. He asked me why I was visiting, why I was alone, blah blah blah. So I told him some stuff about me, and he told me some stuff about him. Pretty interesting and hilarious man. xD Anyway, they towed us into the gate, but we had another long wait because two people on the plane got real sick so they had EMTs board and get them off first. Finally, we were given the ok to get off the plane and Mr. Man sitting next to me got my carry on for me. I got off the plane and headed to baggage claim and was being attacked by a flood of text messages. I was also sending them out to closer friends and family saying I just landed and everything was dandy.
Honolulu Airport.
So I walked over to baggage claim and still had NO idea where Nick was. I said screw him, i'll get my own luggage and stood over by the belt to look for my (actually his, but my stuff was in it) bag. After a few minutes of glancing around at the crowd and looking for my bag, i heard running footsteps behind me. I knew who it was, I didn't have to turn around. He tackled me in a hug from behind and all I replied with was, "You're late." He said he wasn't late because I hadn't gotten my bag yet and waiting for him. Anyway, my bag came out soon after and he grabbed it for me, along with my backpack carry-on while I held the pastries. We headed out to the parking garage and it was decided I would go with him back to work.
After the airport.
His Sergent had called a few minutes after I had called and texted him saying I had landed. So I went to work with him to two different locations. Met the Sergent and some other poolie who seemed... eh, I guess kinda normal? We finished up cleaning some other office (more or less the Poolie. I sat helped a bit.), and headed back to the other recruiting office. After waiting for half an hour or so, we finally headed out to get something to eat.
Zippy's.
He decided to take me out to Zippy's to try their one-of-a-kind chili. There was like, a Zippy's on every corner! Lol. I guess it's REAL popular here in Hawaii. We sat down, and when the waitress didn't understand why we were taking so long to order, Nick said it was my first time here. She nods and walks away only to make a sharp turn and dash back to our table and say, "Wait! How have you NEVER been to Zippy's before?!" She seemed completely astonished and forward that I was stunned and confused. As I was trying to stumble out that I'm not from here, Nick explained that he had just picked me up from the airport and that I was from Cali. It all clicked then and she encouraged me to try one of the chili containing plates because that's what they were most popular for. Nick ordered me some like.. fried chicken, white rice, veggies, with chili and got himself some samin noodles. I admit, the chili was pretty good. But maybe that's because I was starving. Soon after I started feeling reallyy nauseous. Nick paid our bill, and our waitress gave me some encouragement on meeting his parents. She said, "You look like something parents would want. You'll be fine." Hahaha. Nick and I both found it funny. Anyway, we headed to Long's Drugs right next door to look for some Nauzene. Unsuccessful after walking down three rows three times, I was too tired to care and requested we head home. So we did.
Temporary Home.
So we got home, parked the car in the garage and walked in. We left the pastries on the stove for his mom and I was ready to head downstairs when Nick started making a whole lotta noise to wake his dad up. He was asleep on the couch, and the tv was still on and Nick just HAD to wake him up to tell him we'd come home. His dad like, jumped off the couch and had a huge smile on his face and shook my hand. I guess he was really eager to meet me? He seemed really nice(: I apologized for waking him up, which he said was perfectly fine (it was only 12:30 local time. 3:30AM Cali time) because it wasn't too late. I'm still running on Cali time ya know? So i'm exhausted as hell. We went downstairs to the bedrooms (which are still above ground, mind you!) and he led me to his room where he made me wait outside. I figured some last minute cleaning, okay, sure. He opened the door and there were candles lit up, like everywhere! I said, "Aww, you're so lame..." and he was like, "Heyy! ): " hahaha. We moved my stuff into the room and he told me how happy he was that I'd decided to come and blah blah blah. I stressed how exhausted I was and he showed me the bathrooms and gave me a short tour of the downstairs. I washed up while he showered, and I retired onto his bed and knockkked out.
Night One.
So, funny story, right? The night was humid, but cool, Nick turned on the AC in the room so I'd feel more comfortable. Sometime during the night I rolled over onto my right side, and felt my cheek touch something wet. I twitched and just thought I was imagining it. But I wanted to check so I extended my hand and touched the area again. Yeah, it was wet all right. With my exhaustion preventing me from thinking straight I followed the trail toward Nick's side of the bed where there was a pool of drool near his mouth. I exclaimed, "Eww!" which woke Nick up and made him ask what was wrong. When I explained he was drooling, he just laughed, wiped his mouth, and apologized. I rolled back over to my side of the bed and told him I wasn't going near him again. Hahaha.
So it's the morning now, sorta. It's almost 1PM here. Nick had to go back to work in the morning so I decided to sleep in till about 12pm. I'm pretty exhausted from last night and the flight.
JUST met Nick's brother, Kevin. He called Kevin to look for these white shirts for his uniform and asked him to pass the phone onto me. Hahaha. I went rummaging his whole room for those shirts, I found them though! Now Kevin's off to drop them off along with his uniform to the recruiting office place.
So yeah... I guess I should wash up, put some jeans on and clean Nick's room. I'll be moving into the guest room today. We thought it wasn't cleaned last night but apparently his mom went in and did some last minute cleaning before I arrived.
Hopefully, Nick'll be off work soon (although it doesn't look it, why would he need his uniform if he was.) and we'll be able to go grab a bite to eat and tour the island a bit.
So that's up until now... I'll probably do some more lounging about and chatting online before I wash up and explore the house a bit. Yepp yepp.
Wish me luck on meeting his mum when she gets home later. Hahaha.
Until then, toodles!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Regret.
"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." - Harriet Beecher Stowe
A lot has happened in my life since the last time I posted. Well, maybe to you it may not seem like much but to me I feel as if a lifetime happened.
I've come to realize that I don't take the deaths of others easily. Well, death for anyone to deal with is pretty tough so I guess I shouldn't feel too behind.
November 21, 2009.
I was sitting at the kitchen table having dinner with my parents and more or less just picking at my food because I had lost my appetite. I was off in my own world, thinking of the projects I had to get finished and the papers I had to write. I thought I was drowning, but of course, life has a funny way of hitting you with something harder making you realize that what you thought was a mountain, was smaller than a grain of sand. It was my uncle. And he was dying. He had been having health problems over the past two years (that I was never informed about, nor did he show that anything might be wrong) and his kidneys were starting to fail. I asked if he had been put on a transplant list, my father simply, "He's too old." Okay, well, there should be matches within the family right? My father looked at me and simply said, "The doctors are saying it's too risky to attempt surgery. He might not make it." Silence settled over the table as I realized what my father was trying to say to me, oh so gently. I felt my eyes begin to burn. I excused myself from the table with the excuse of needing to use the restroom. I went into my room, locked the door, and cried.
About five to ten minutes later, I was called out and forced to finish my dinner.
That night, I cried myself to sleep.
November 22, 2009. - The day after.
We went to church, and I was sure to keep this day unplanned because I knew we'd be visiting my uncle. He was leaving us his truck, he knew how much I loved trucks when I was little. I tried to smile but it was just so hard. I couldn't bear to look at him lying there in that bed. I avoided eye contact with anyone. Instead, I attempted to make small talk with his son, my cousin Steve. I hadn't spoken to him since .. well, forever. He's 39 now. Time flies...
Thanksgiving.
It was alright. Not the usual huge crowd. Nick and Andy got along fairly well(: That's good. I've always tried to keep that boy company, i'm glad the two of them hit it off so well while I was finishing plate after plate of food. Hahaha(:
Days passed and things only got worse for my uncle. It was cancer. His doctor hadn't even considered cancer; never bothered to test. We found out it was cancer when he had slipped into a coma and taken to a bigger hospital. I called hospitals in the area trying to find where he was. Thanks to Nick, I found the one he was admitted to at the first call I made with the list he gave me. It had progressed so much that his whole body was just riddled with cancer.
There were moments when I'd sit in my room and cry. I'd try to talk to friends about the oncoming death but... I'd stop myself. Every time.
December 11, 2009 - 10PM
My phone had been dead for the past few hours and I'd been spending my nights with Leslie. I was emotionally unstable at the time and it never hurts having a friend around. I knew something was different. I started growing restless. Something just didn't feel right. I figured it was just nerves for the upcoming finals week, but something just told me it wasn't. I got home around 2AM that night. And the first two texts I received were from my mother and sister. My mother put it simply: "He died."
I dropped my phone. The wave of emotion that came over me was ... astounding. I stumbled to my bathroom, stifling my sobs so I wouldn't wake my parents down the hall. I nearly choked on my toothpaste and my Listerine.
I retreated back into my room. I called Nick a few times, but there was no answer. I was so angry. So heartbroken. So mad. I don't remember falling asleep but I woke up to a salty, tear stained pillow.
That and a text. I vaguely recalled texting my cousin about how sorry I was about his father's death and if there was anything I could ever do for him that he could call me whenever. A fifty minute drive is nothing compared to the usual hour and a half drive to Camp Pendleton. His text said, "Hey Sarah, my dad is at peace. He is at a much better place now. I sensed him smiling when he died. That probably sounds weird. Your parents were a great comfort."
I read his text, cried some more, then fell back asleep. I would wake up again for minutes at a time only to realize what had happened, cry, and fall back asleep. I didn't plan on leaving my room, or for that matter my bed, at all that day.
Then it hit me. He wouldn't want me to be sad. Nor should I be sad. This is what I had prayed for. He was in so much pain, and now, he was free from it. It was selfish of me to have asked God to keep him on this earth a little longer. I always knew that, but I still wanted him here with us...
I dried off my tears, blew my nose, and went to the bathroom to wash my face. I went to the living room and spent the rest of my day entertaining my cousins.
My uncle was amazing. I'm sure a lot of you think that of your own uncles but I'm hoping you'd understand how I feel about mine. He truly was incredible. He hunted, fished, and worked construction before being blacklisted by the government (one of his workers accidently caused an electrical fire and caused a whole Navy base to burn down, haha - err.. I mean.. ha..?)
This was a man who survived a 150 foot fall off a mountain in his truck. The only thing that saved him were the metal racks that extened the length of the truck, above the truck. They acted as roll bars and he hiked the mountain back to the street where luckily, a ranger was passing by and sped him to the hospital. I can't remember what he broke...
This was a man who would hunt large animals. His house was littered with the skins of animals he'd hunted. I still remember when he brought us a bear rug. He'd shot it and skinned it himself. Scared the living hell outta me....
I can't believe I never took the step of wanting to get to know him more. When I was younger, him and my aunt would talk about getting me a horse to keep in their backyard. They thought it would get me to want to visit them more, haha. Which would totally be true! Their yard is the perfect size for a horse or two(: He would take us fishing and him and my dad would talk about taking me along with them down south for a weekend fishing trip. He laughed at me when I struggled to pull back the string on his hunting bow because he knew I wouldn't be able to. He used to talk about taking my father and I hunting with him some time... So many memories...
Yesterday, I broke down just thinking of him. I mean, it's been a few weeks, I thought i'd gotten most of my tears out by the second week. I'll always remember him though. And I hope that when I finally get the nerves to drive that huge truck without breaking down, I hope I drive it to make him proud. There's nothing like a huge silverado 4x4 with manual tranny to make a girl happy(:
I've just realized the time so i'll have to cut this post short. I know what you're thinking. This is already like, eighteen pages! But there is this one special person I'd like to write about too. Josh Wright. Because I won't be able to write about him until tomorrow, here's an article about him that I truly adore. We need more heroes like him. Click here for the article.
Early day tomorrow. Gotta hit the stables by 0600 and take Rosie out for a ride.
Thanks for reading, I guess. Haha(:
God bless the souls of my dearest uncle, and a good friend.
Rest in peace, uncle. <3>
A lot has happened in my life since the last time I posted. Well, maybe to you it may not seem like much but to me I feel as if a lifetime happened.
I've come to realize that I don't take the deaths of others easily. Well, death for anyone to deal with is pretty tough so I guess I shouldn't feel too behind.
November 21, 2009.
I was sitting at the kitchen table having dinner with my parents and more or less just picking at my food because I had lost my appetite. I was off in my own world, thinking of the projects I had to get finished and the papers I had to write. I thought I was drowning, but of course, life has a funny way of hitting you with something harder making you realize that what you thought was a mountain, was smaller than a grain of sand. It was my uncle. And he was dying. He had been having health problems over the past two years (that I was never informed about, nor did he show that anything might be wrong) and his kidneys were starting to fail. I asked if he had been put on a transplant list, my father simply, "He's too old." Okay, well, there should be matches within the family right? My father looked at me and simply said, "The doctors are saying it's too risky to attempt surgery. He might not make it." Silence settled over the table as I realized what my father was trying to say to me, oh so gently. I felt my eyes begin to burn. I excused myself from the table with the excuse of needing to use the restroom. I went into my room, locked the door, and cried.
About five to ten minutes later, I was called out and forced to finish my dinner.
That night, I cried myself to sleep.
November 22, 2009. - The day after.
We went to church, and I was sure to keep this day unplanned because I knew we'd be visiting my uncle. He was leaving us his truck, he knew how much I loved trucks when I was little. I tried to smile but it was just so hard. I couldn't bear to look at him lying there in that bed. I avoided eye contact with anyone. Instead, I attempted to make small talk with his son, my cousin Steve. I hadn't spoken to him since .. well, forever. He's 39 now. Time flies...
Thanksgiving.
It was alright. Not the usual huge crowd. Nick and Andy got along fairly well(: That's good. I've always tried to keep that boy company, i'm glad the two of them hit it off so well while I was finishing plate after plate of food. Hahaha(:
Days passed and things only got worse for my uncle. It was cancer. His doctor hadn't even considered cancer; never bothered to test. We found out it was cancer when he had slipped into a coma and taken to a bigger hospital. I called hospitals in the area trying to find where he was. Thanks to Nick, I found the one he was admitted to at the first call I made with the list he gave me. It had progressed so much that his whole body was just riddled with cancer.
There were moments when I'd sit in my room and cry. I'd try to talk to friends about the oncoming death but... I'd stop myself. Every time.
December 11, 2009 - 10PM
My phone had been dead for the past few hours and I'd been spending my nights with Leslie. I was emotionally unstable at the time and it never hurts having a friend around. I knew something was different. I started growing restless. Something just didn't feel right. I figured it was just nerves for the upcoming finals week, but something just told me it wasn't. I got home around 2AM that night. And the first two texts I received were from my mother and sister. My mother put it simply: "He died."
I dropped my phone. The wave of emotion that came over me was ... astounding. I stumbled to my bathroom, stifling my sobs so I wouldn't wake my parents down the hall. I nearly choked on my toothpaste and my Listerine.
I retreated back into my room. I called Nick a few times, but there was no answer. I was so angry. So heartbroken. So mad. I don't remember falling asleep but I woke up to a salty, tear stained pillow.
That and a text. I vaguely recalled texting my cousin about how sorry I was about his father's death and if there was anything I could ever do for him that he could call me whenever. A fifty minute drive is nothing compared to the usual hour and a half drive to Camp Pendleton. His text said, "Hey Sarah, my dad is at peace. He is at a much better place now. I sensed him smiling when he died. That probably sounds weird. Your parents were a great comfort."
I read his text, cried some more, then fell back asleep. I would wake up again for minutes at a time only to realize what had happened, cry, and fall back asleep. I didn't plan on leaving my room, or for that matter my bed, at all that day.
Then it hit me. He wouldn't want me to be sad. Nor should I be sad. This is what I had prayed for. He was in so much pain, and now, he was free from it. It was selfish of me to have asked God to keep him on this earth a little longer. I always knew that, but I still wanted him here with us...
I dried off my tears, blew my nose, and went to the bathroom to wash my face. I went to the living room and spent the rest of my day entertaining my cousins.
My uncle was amazing. I'm sure a lot of you think that of your own uncles but I'm hoping you'd understand how I feel about mine. He truly was incredible. He hunted, fished, and worked construction before being blacklisted by the government (one of his workers accidently caused an electrical fire and caused a whole Navy base to burn down, haha - err.. I mean.. ha..?)
This was a man who survived a 150 foot fall off a mountain in his truck. The only thing that saved him were the metal racks that extened the length of the truck, above the truck. They acted as roll bars and he hiked the mountain back to the street where luckily, a ranger was passing by and sped him to the hospital. I can't remember what he broke...
This was a man who would hunt large animals. His house was littered with the skins of animals he'd hunted. I still remember when he brought us a bear rug. He'd shot it and skinned it himself. Scared the living hell outta me....
I can't believe I never took the step of wanting to get to know him more. When I was younger, him and my aunt would talk about getting me a horse to keep in their backyard. They thought it would get me to want to visit them more, haha. Which would totally be true! Their yard is the perfect size for a horse or two(: He would take us fishing and him and my dad would talk about taking me along with them down south for a weekend fishing trip. He laughed at me when I struggled to pull back the string on his hunting bow because he knew I wouldn't be able to. He used to talk about taking my father and I hunting with him some time... So many memories...
Yesterday, I broke down just thinking of him. I mean, it's been a few weeks, I thought i'd gotten most of my tears out by the second week. I'll always remember him though. And I hope that when I finally get the nerves to drive that huge truck without breaking down, I hope I drive it to make him proud. There's nothing like a huge silverado 4x4 with manual tranny to make a girl happy(:
I've just realized the time so i'll have to cut this post short. I know what you're thinking. This is already like, eighteen pages! But there is this one special person I'd like to write about too. Josh Wright. Because I won't be able to write about him until tomorrow, here's an article about him that I truly adore. We need more heroes like him. Click here for the article.
Early day tomorrow. Gotta hit the stables by 0600 and take Rosie out for a ride.
Thanks for reading, I guess. Haha(:
God bless the souls of my dearest uncle, and a good friend.
Rest in peace, uncle. <3>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
