Hawaii #2

Without further ado - here's more!

You're standing at the top of Mauna Kea.  From its starting point at the very bottom of the ocean, it's actually taller than Mt. Everest!  All those manmade contraptions you see - telescopes.  Really big expensive ones - owned by programs like NASA.

This is the view from the top of Haleakala, the tallest mountain on Maui.  Haleakala (pronounced hall-a-ahh-kah-la) means 'house of the sun'.

The great Napali coastline, on Kaua'i.  This is the most inaccessible coastline in the world.

So, what is it?  This, friends, is REAL Hawaiian food!

Starting at 12 o'clock, heading to 3 o'clock: (Dark green stuff) It's called Lau Lau.

From 3 - 6 o'clock: Chicken long rice.  It tastes like chicken noodle soup.

From 6 - 8 o'clock: Lomi Salmon; often paired with Poi (there isn't any in this picture though.)

From 8 -9 o'clock: Hawaiian sweet potato.  Note the purple.

From 10 - 12 o'clock: Kahlua Pork.  Really tasty!

And the yellow stuff in the middle is, of course, pineapple! 

Good ol' Waikiki.

See the beach across the water?  That's Ala Moana beach.  From where the picture is taken, you're standing on Magic Island.

Kapi'olani Park; right across the road from Waikiki beach!  The bandstand, which you see on the right, holds various functions throughout the year.  

The symphony has even played here on occasion.

Time for audience participation at the luau in Wai Lea, Maui.

Hawaii #1

Without further ado.... a few relics from my time in Hawaii.

Enjoy.

The Waianae Mountain range, on the west side of O'ahu.  This was the only day I ever got to come out here.  I just wish I had come more.

Aloha Tower.  It used to be the tallest tower in the whole city (and probably island).   But, it didn't last.  Still a welcoming sight to incoming ships though.

My very first authentic Hawaiian lei, given to me upon my arrival by my aunt Marsha.  We then proceeded to get in the car, and I hadn't the slightest clue as to where I was, what I was doing, or where I was going, save for the overwhelming sensation of, "WOW!  It really IS like the pictures!"

 Sunset off Waikiki beach.  Need I say more?

This is a shot taken from Magic Island.  It was taken near the day I first arrived in Hawaii (if not the day).  You're looking off the coast of Ala Moana, one of the many beaches off the southern part of O'ahu.  Ala Moana was my favorite (and closest) beach.

I found this guy on Magic Island one night just strumming away on his Ukulele.  He graciously let me photograph him.  Ukulele literally means 'jumping flee', and his playing truly exemplified this translation.

If you've never heard a conch shell being played, it's very intriguing the first time you hear it.  First you wonder where the loud, deep sound is coming from.  Then you realize it's that pretty shell over there that's emitting such a sound.

Okay, okay, I cheated.  My aunt actually took this picture on one of her flights to a neighboring island.  (It's not my fault!  They always gave me a seat on the opposite side of the plane!)  But it's still pretty, yes?  You're looking at the Honolulu coastline.  Diamond head rounds off the tip.

The Mac is Back!

Ladies and gentlemen, after a month and four days of waiting, the MacBook is officially back in business with it's new and improved Hitachi hard drive, albeit minus several hundred pictures from Hawaii that, sadly, are not to be replaced.  The ones I did manage to have saved to other places online now are merely a portion of their former glory.  Oh well.  I'm sure there are more glorious things than pictures to come.

And of course, as all things in life go, I felt it more pertinent to stay up until 1 a.m. to run updates on the computer and download various items, than to study for my final math exam which was held this morning at 8 a.m.  Needless to say, the grade will not be as outstanding as it could have been.  But I don't think I'll bomb the course from one bad grade.

So - now onto Christmas break!

It's Quiet. A little too quiet.

I woke up this morning to several more inches of snow than the previous day held. Making me rather happy to see my dog outside romping joyfully in it, I commenced to dress, put on my snowboots (complete with a little mud from the previous year), grab some huge gloves and a jacket, and go outside to help my mom shovel the driveway. It was fun. At least as much fun as shoveling a driveway can bring you.

'Twas then decided that I was going over to the campus to take my Chapter 6 test for math (ugh), before beginning the ever-strenuous review for the FINAL exam, which will be cumulative, and held next Thursday. Goody.

So now I'm sitting here in the atrium, without anything else to do in the world. Okay, I suppose that's not entirely true. I could be doing an array of other things on this lovely computer, but I felt like typing. So typing it was. And what a better place to type than to update this blog that no one ever reads!

My dad and I were talking this morning before heading over to campus, and he said to me,"You want to go to seminary, don't you?" And it made me really happy that he had said it, not me. But it's true. I would like to go to seminary. Not that I ever will. It's expensive, and I have no intention of becoming a pastor. That, and I hear you have to have a bachelor's before you can even think about going. And I'm not aiming for the bachelor's right now. But hey, the more people who know about Jesus, the better. It's fascinating stuff to me. That's why I want to know more.

It's quiet because I don't have any music to listen to. It kind of makes me sad. Oh well. And the gum in my mouth is several months old (Read: The gum itself is very old. It was purchased in Hawaii, and I just now decided to have a piece). It's kind of dry really, and not very malleable.

Oh yeah, and my hard drive STILL is not here. It's kind of getting on my nerves. Oh well. I suppose the longer I go without it, the happier I'll be once it comes. Though I ordered it at least two weeks ago.

Three more exams, then I'm free until January 14th. Enjoy the snow(if in fact you have some), and the Christmas music.

The Trouble with Hard Drives

So, after a year and approximately 2 months, the hard drive on my MacBook bit the dust. November 8th, to be exact. Great. At least the whole computer didn't die. Unfortunately, it may as well have. I had hardly anything saved in other places from the hard drive. Which means, in short, the vast majority of the pictures I had from Hawaii are now nonexistent. Oh well. I did manage to have some of the better ones saved in various other places. And of course, everything else is gone too. Luckily there are other family pictures on others' computers. But all those documents I had going (ranking in a variety of importance) are also lost. A select few dated back to middle school. I suppose in the grand scheme of things that middle school doesn't really amount to much though.
I'm just kind of annoyed though. One year for a hard drive? Seagate, you really need to step it up. (For any Mac users/enthusiasts who may have encountered problems with theirs too, I am referring to the infamous Firmware version 7.01 they released - mostly with the original generation MacBooks, though not limited to just Macs.)
So, hopefully the Hitachi I ordered will pull through. Once I get it in two or three more weeks.

Free Rice

It's interesting the things you stumble upon when looking for innocent things like pictures of trash cans. Okay - the pictures of trash cans were for a test in Tech Editing. I had nothing to do with selecting the content. But I digress.... some of the sites I found were expounding on the fact that we're quite an over-consuming nation. And sadly, I have to agree with them. People laughed at the concept of "ORT" (some acronym for wasted food that I don't remember) at sixth grade camp, but it's so true. We throw away quite a bit of food. So, to contrast this, most of these sites also provided images of the opposite end of the spectrum, primarily of images of the effects of the famine in Sudan, Africa. They were a cause for lament, to say the least.
Thus, I present my newest link: www.freerice.com. They say on the site that for each vocab word you guess correctly, the UN will donate 10 grains of rice to its World Food Program. Can't hurt, ehh?! It might seem like a drop in the bucket to some of us - but just remember that story of the little boy throwing the starfish back into the sea. It mattered a lot to the ones that were thrown back in. And it'll matter just as much to the people who get the meals we were able to give them.
And would you know it? I think I even improved my vocabulary a bit!
Give a try. I don't think you'll regret it.

Profile Pictures and Ecclesiastes

Yay! I couldn't figure out how to post the profile pic via Blogger. Cheers to Photobucket for still having my ancient account. I had all of one picture uploaded there until I added the profile picture. How nice.

So, if you haven't yet - read Ecclesiastes - and enjoy. It's really quite good. Pretty much about the meaninglessness of life. It's a beautiful book. I'd never read it before today, but I read the whole thing in one sitting, aloud to my dad. Chapter 5, Verse 5 we thought was particularly good: "It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it."

I always want to spell Ecclesiastes 'Ecclesiasties'. But, it's not.

My lovely friend Elaine finally lent me two Newsboys CD's today. It made me happy.

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

So I decided to Google 'Optical Illusions' today, just for the heck of it. They're always fun to look at, and to see how much they can really mess with your eyes.
But one I found messes with more than your eyes, seriously. It messes with your brain.
Go to links at the right, and pick the "Dancing Illusion".
It's wild. It says on the website that for most people, the dancer will be circling counter-clockwise. I found that I could make it spin either way though, pretty much on a whim. Whenever I started thinking about math, it spun to the left. When I thought about emotions, like love, and relationships with friends, it started spinning to the right.
So, is this just me? Or can I just grasp really well how to use both sides of my brain? I know it sounds crazy, but I think I literally was staring at it for twenty minutes, just trying (and succeeding) at making it reverse the way it spun.
I'd be interested to know others' results from this optical illusion. Are you able to make it spin the opposite direction at will?

Yay for Source Code!

So for the longest time, I was trying to figure out how to add a "Blogs I Read" section to the sidebar of my blog. I tried copying and pasting similar code from the "links" section, but it didn't work, and I was sad. And then, I remembered that Cara has a "Blogs I Read" section on her blog. So, being the resourceful person I am, I immediately went to her blog, and checked out the source code. Long story short - problem solved, and I now have my very own "Blogs I Read" section. Thanks, Cara! And you didn't even know you were helping!
Other than that, the week was rather uneventful, aside from the fact that on Tuesday morning, I was sitting pretzel style on the floor, and my right foot fell asleep. I stood up later, thinking I'd be able to walk on it alright. Big mistake. I was wearing crocs at the time, and those are extremely hard to walk in when feet are asleep. I ended up tripping over the shoe, which was already on my foot - causing a rather painful sprain later in the day. Duuuhhhh. But, after several applications of ice packs, it's on the mend. Yay.
I also found the most hilarious blog today entitled 'The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks'. I put up a link in the sidebar. Check it out for some lighthearted amusement.

Ahhh.. Autumn.

I love Ohio. I really do. I mean, I hate it too. But today I love it. Why? Because it's COLD!! I've missed having a nice cold day. You just don't get them in Hawaii. But here, you do. I didn't have school today, so my mom and I went out for breakfast. It was yummy, and I don't think I'll be eating anything again until dinner - the omelet I had was huge.
I've been working on math for the test tomorrow - oh joy - but I decided I'd take a short break. Maybe I should actually come up and sit at the desk, instead of laying on the floor to work. It's a bit awkward at times, and the desk would provide better lighting, and workspace, methinks.
I love the way I can type "thinks" on this keyboard (the lovely MacBook). I feel like I don't even have to press down on the keys; it just sort of flows out of my fingers as they pass by the right letter. So cool.

Wherever We Go

I honestly can't think of a day that I ever felt more excited to be a Christian, and to know Christ. It's a truly liberating, freeing, joyful feeling. I think it was a combination of things happening today at church. Laura and I played bells for two services, and the gospel was very intriguing. There was also an older man being baptized today. He has great-grandchildren, and his family all grew up in this church, but he has been an agnostic most of his life. But he decided to make the step himself, and accept Christ. But even this late in his life, it is still a beautiful thing to witness - to know that no matter how old you might be, or how screwed up you think your life might be, Jesus will STILL take you without any misgivings, because he loves us just that much.
Truly awesome.
That, and I discovered Newsboys today, particularly their latest album "Go". I've heard of them in passing, but never really listened to their stuff. Well, that's changed. Their music is so great, and it's all for such a great guy :-)

Forgetfulness

Yes, indeed. They might as well just start calling me Forgetful Jones. You know, the puppet character from Sesame Street. Yes, it's been over a year since I've written anything in this blog. But, I daresay I haven't gotten any readers anyway! So, no problems there.
To make a long story short: I am officially back in Ohio, after a marvelous time in Hawaii. I'm not too terribly depressed about it though, as some people might think. No, I'm content. I'm taking a full load of credit hours at Stark State, and I'm going for a degree in Technical Communications. I'm now considering my year in Hawaii to be my "gap year", as they call it in Britain. It was nice for a change, to get away from a life I found to be redundant and simplified. Now, I feel like I have a broader grasp on where I've been, and where I needed to go. I'm now happy to be getting on with life, as it were, and get the degree I've finally decided I want to work towards.
It's a good feeling.
So, how've you been?