"So How was Hawaii??"

Did I mention on this blog that I went back home to Hawaii yet? 

I go back every year around Christmas to visit my family and old friends from high school who still live on the island.  I always have a great time catching up with people and reminiscing about the ‘good ole days’ when we were young and stupid, er….not as mature as we are now. 

But whenever I tell people here (“on the mainland”) that I’m going back home to Hawaii, they bring it up ad nauseum. 

“So, are you excited to go back to Hawaii??” 
“When are you going to Hawaii??” 
“Are you counting the days?” 

And here’s the thing about being asked the same question over and over again; after a while, you start to lose your enthusiasm for the topic.  In a way, it’s kind of like being bombarded with the same piece of news over and over again….! 

Until, eventually, I got sick of people asking.  And it’s the same thing when I get back…..! 

“So how was Hawaii?” 
“Did you go surfing??” 

“You look so tan!” 

“Was it fun?” 
“Did you have fun?”

And usually that’s when they look at me expectantly, waiting for me to give them their vicarious thrill-fix.  (My stories usually disappoint them)   

Don’t get me wrong – going back home is *always* great.  Christmas is a time for family and I appreciate being able to come home a lot.  But, to me, Hawaii isn’t some exotic place where I can be adventurous and try new things; it’s not that kind of vacation.  I go back to visit family and reconnect with friends.  In fact, when I go home, that’s pretty much *all* I want to do. 

That and eat the “ono food”….it was probably the one thing I didn’t get sick of talking about! 

I even made a list of all the food I wanted to eat as soon as I got back, entitled “THING TO EAT IN HAWAII:    

-          Shave Ice

-          Mochiko chicken

-          Curry house curry

-          Zippy’s Chili

-          Ahi Poke

-          Jello cream pie

I’m glad to say I finished the list. 

*NOM* *NOM* *NOM* 

Resolutions 2011

As is my tradition during Januarys (Januaries?), I try to come up with New Years Resolutions to follow through on in hopes that I grow and become a better, more evolved human being.

It doesn’t always work, but the important thing is that **I TRY.**

So, after spending (literally) a few minutes thinking about how I want to improve myself this year, I came up with the following resolutions:

Say “No” more often: You ever feel like you try to do too much? I feel like that a lot these days….and the majority of it has to do with my inability to say “no” to people; different friends will invite me to hang out with them at the same time and I find myself saying “yes” to them regardless of the scheduling conflict. It’s what causes me to leave early and arrive late.

Make more plans: This is the other effort I’m making to manage my free time better. By organizing my own get-togethers, I can invite whoever I want

Take a summer vacation (for real this time): I broke this resolution last year, but I intend to keep it in 2011. Not sure where I’m going yet, but……….hoping to see my friend, Amos, in Europe!

Take the GRE: Not sure if I ever mentioned this before (too lazy to look back in my Blog archives right now), but I made a plan to go back to school before I hit 30. It’s a slow process as Grad School isn’t cheap and I’ve only started saving since last year (2010). The cost of tuition alone is very discouraging. But they say to take things one step at a time, so that’s what I’m going to do starting at the beginning. And that first step? Take the GRE (and get a good score).

So there you have it, folks – my New Year’s resolutions for 2011. It’s not the traditional kind that most people do, but I think keeping them specific is what helps you achieve them.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS??

In the year, 2010...!

Hey Blogspot – long time no post!
(Sorry about that, btw)

So I think I kept about a third of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010: 2 out of 5 isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing, but it’s better than nothing….!

- cut back on the sugar.
- keep this blogspot account for the whole year. 

And while I didn’t really keep track on exactly how much less sugar I consumed last year, I have to say that I’m pretty impressed I was able to blog as much as I did in 2010. And while I tend to think that 2010 was an overall crummy year in my life – see posts from last year – I’m pretty proud of some of the posts I wrote.

….particularly the one about Hipster-hate & my theory on why people hate L.A. (Although the one entitled “Speaking of movies…!" got the most comments by far ~ mostly SPAM, but still….!)

I’m also pretty proud of a lot of the things I actually set out to do that I got accomplished: my volunteering, competing in dance competitions, my promotion, etc. etc.

So maybe it *wasn’t* such a crummy year….!

Anyway – as I said in my first post of 2010 – I wanted to keep this blog for a year to see how I liked it….and I do (like it). And especially now that my new job takes up a lot more of my time, I probably won’t be able to commit to a blog like I should if I went back to Xanga, so I think I’m going to stick with Blogspot.

Also – it’s kind of a pain (for me and all of you) to just up-and-move blogs again……!

Happy 2011, everyone!
May it be the best year we’ve had yet!

My "To-Do list" Life

My friend, Evan, noticed a habit of mine where I refer to everything that I do as a nagging obligation, even activities that I normally enjoy. I didn’t believe him at first, but then I looked at one of my infamous “To Do” lists and realized he was right:

TO DO:
1. Watch Netflix movies
2. Check facebook / catch up on webcomics
3. Drinks at Lucky Baldwins

And while I have now added “do not refer to fun activities as obligations” to my list of things to do, I had to argue that, in the hectic lifestyle of the modern-day twenty-something year-old, I kind of *need* to think of those things as obligations…..otherwise, I’ll dismiss them in lieu of other, more pressing things that I feel I need to do. 

But really – I need to devote as much time to the fun things in life as I do my responsibilities….and thinking of them as obligations is how I get it done.

I started this train of thought when I realized I don’t write as much as I used to anymore. In college I did a lot of writing; even produced a play or two. But I always viewed it as more of a ‘hobby’ than anything else….and work would always come first.

Later, as my work / responsibilities piled up, the less time I had to devote to writing and now….I don’t write. At least not the way I used to.

....and I kinda regret that.

Sorry this post is such a downer, but I've been meaning to write it for a while. 

Not so X-mas-y movies

I dunno if you can tell from reading the entries on my old blog, but I kinda like Christmas; people tend to make an effort to be a lot nicer (and closer) to each other around this time of year. Maybe it’s all those sappy “Christmas movies” I used to watch over and over as a kid…!

(24 hrs of “A Christmas Story” on TNT- FTW!)

But I have noticed that I’m a little de-sensitized to “Christmas-themed” movies after all these years. So I like to watch some of the “non Christmas-y” movies that pop up on cable around this time to get a break from all this “Holiday Cheer”

DIE HARD

That’s right – the original John McClain action movie was set during his wife’s Christmas party. It was kind of easy to forget with all the blood, explosions and crawling through vents that happened in this movie. 
 

GREMLINS

Remember that Gizmo was originally bought by Billy’s dad as a Christmas gift for his son! I think my favorite scene in this movie is when the mom is fighting off the Gremlins in the kitchen, brandishing a butcher’s knife. 

THE REF

This movie wasn't so much about Christmas as it was about marriage & family counseling.  Kevin Spacey & Judy Davis do a pretty good rendition of George and Martha from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in this movie, with Dennis Leary as a burglar-turned-hostage taker.   

IT’S A VERY MERRY, MUPPET CHRISTMAS MOVIE

Okay, so this is a pretty big “holiday-themed” movie, but the scene where Kermit finds out what happens to the Muppet Theatre if he was never born is worth the 2 hours it takes to watch this movie I couldn’t find a clip of it on youtube, but the Muppet Theatre turns into a Rave club - I'm not joking. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Not so Single Helping

Hey everybody - guess who's back to blogging?  

That's right - it's me.....kinda.  

I just had a really good idea for a blog post....and here it is! 

A lot of people think that Thanksgiving can be a pretty rough time for people like me who are single and living away from their families.  I mean, the holiday obviously reminds us of how we don't have anyone to cook Thanksgiving dinner for us like we used to when we were little.  And it can even make some of us feel a little lonely at times.  But it you know your way around the Holiday--and how to manipulate it to your advantage-- Thanksgiving can be pretty awesome. 

For you see, Thanksgiving is a "Family Holiday" - a time when everybody gets it into their heads that if they're not part of some wedded, coupley, baby-harvesting, child-rearing collective, then they're unhappy.  And that widely-held belief (which might possibly be true) is how you can manipulate tons of families and couples into inviting you to their Thanksgiving meals!

All you have to do is mention you don't have plans for Thanksgiving to your "coupled" friends and one of them will eventually invite you to theirs.  And if you mention this multiple times to multiple people, you will get invited to multiple Thanksgivings. 

That's right - MULTIPLE THANKSGIVINGS.  

And if you're lucky enough to have friends who are celebrating Thanksgiving at a different time of day, you can go to ALL of them....and win Thanksgiving.  

Please sir, can I have some more?  I have no one to share Thanksgiving with! 

Obviously there are drawbacks to celebrating this many Thanksgivings: it's greedy, manipulative, and takes advantage of your friend's well-meaning generosity.  Plus, eating all that turkey is bound to make you fat.  Maybe man was not meant to celebrate Thanksgiving more than once. 


......but it's a fun thought, isn't it?

Blogging Return - TBD

Hey Everybody who follows my blog! 

So I dunno if you realized by my lack of posts this month, but I’ve been slacking on my blogging lately.  Otherwise you'd probably be seeing some obligatory posts about the Election, Daylights Savings and Halloween (again). 

Unfortunately there’s a good reason for that.  I got promoted to a new position at my job this past week and the training is turning out to be pretty intense!  And since the majority of my posts are written during work hours, I just haven’t had time to write (or think about) new posts.  

I’m *HOPING* this will change once my training is over (next month) but the job seems to keep a lot of my new co-workers really busy, so the blogging slump MIGHT be a permanent change. 

On the plus side though, I get business cards through my new position!  Now I can toss them into fishbowls at Sandwich shops in hopes of getting a free sandwich!  

See you when I see you....!