Birthday and Halloween!!

It's been a while since my last blog!! Here you go Jen, now you don't ever have to call me!! Haha, just kidding.

So it was my birthday October 22 and I am officially out of my teenage years. Woot woot! Fortunately I remembered my camera for my birthday adventures... unfortunately I forgot the battery. But here's what I got...

I came home after midnight to a house decorated just for me!!
My roommates bought me a fake mustache (so I could be Freddy Mercury for Halloween), chocolate cake, and chocolate covered raisins!! Mmmmm....

The next day I had no school or work, so my friend Jimmy and I got out for a day of adventure!! We went to Kailua Beach Park, one of my favorite places on the island. People kayak out to the little islands there, but we had no kayak... so we swam!! This is my adventure buddy Jimmy, and our awesome swim we did.
It was a fun day full of swimming, Jamba Juice, and radio dedications. I had an awesome birthday!

And I am so happy my roommates made it possible for me to be Freddy Mercury for Halloween. Unfortunately I am a bit too embarrassed to post pictures of my costume, but watch
this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hMrY8jysdg and I'm sure you can fill in the blanks...

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Fall Semester Starts is Here!

So Fall Semester has finally arrived! There has been a massive influx of students, especially new students. It's definitely different than First Term....

My First Term grades were OK. I got an A in Organizational Communication, a B in Western Culture, and a P (pass) in Personal Technology. Good enough for me!

Here is a picture of a dance that went on Friday.

I'm actually only friends with one of these kids, but oh well. Saturday was just full of laundry and homework. My major (International Cultural Studies- Communications) gives massive amounts of readings!!!

Anyway, happy Sunday!

Kokua Eat-In and Film Screening

Aloha folks!

This weekend the Kokua Foundation came to our school to host an Eat-In, where locals came and shared healthy organic food. Slow Food USA was there; it was also a push to get healthy foods into the schools. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) an organization I just joined, was helping also. They had biodegradable utensils, plates, and cups! Jack Johnson showed up with his family (I'm standing next to him in the picture). I got to interview his wife, Kim Johnson, and play with his kids, Moe and Leo, along with a lot of the other local kids.

We watched a film called FoodInc., and informational film about where our food really comes from. It is a very well put together film, but (as with most films of this sort) you have to be careful about exaggerations that stem from the film's bias.

I love SIFE so far! I have already been able to participate in the Kokua project, a project gathering and sending school supplies to Fiji (we sorted over 3,000 books), and we are working on helping a homeless shelter, H5, which I got to visit.

P.S. The term ends in two days, Big Island here I come!

Did You Know?

We watched this in my organizational communications class... its (mostly) about the exponential increase in information and information technology. I suggest watching it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8&feature=fvst

Here I am at last!

I know my absence has probably worn on all of you, for that I apologize.

I will write of my latest struggle of living as a poor and destitute college student. For the first of my afflictions, my beloved 1985 Honda Accord with 260,000 plus miles has surprisingly broken down. Although he still runs, he is bed-ridden and we don't believe he will last long. This leaves me living 4 miles from the school with only my old bike (which is now a compilation of 3 separate bikes) to rely on. Sigh. So I started riding to and from school and I can say I have a significant dolor de la caboose, and I also have to ride home around 11:00 p.m., with no lights for a portion of the ride home and no breaks. Not to mention Hau'ula isn't exactly a friendly atmosphere at night.

But at least I'm getting some extra exercise... and now I'm socializing more because I am trying to get as many rides as possible... Oh, and I've had a few occurances that have restored my faith in mankind. On Sunday (when I was attempting to walk 4 miles to church) a nice man and his son picked me up- even though they were going the other way- and dropped me off. And the other night I was riding home when it was late, not to mention I was pretty tired, and suddenly there was this guy (who I swear I just saw at Foodland) on the other side of the road yelling "Girl power! Girl power!" Haha. What a nice guy! If you ever see some girl toiling with all her might to get home in the middle of the night I recommend yelling "girl power" at her, it makes one feel good.

Anywho, I feel like giving some valuable cultural insight. I found a new composer I like, his name is Philip Glass. I believe he composes for orchestra and string instruments, including piano. I would look him up right now but I'm pretty sleepy. Just listen to this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kjBZJ1-bok

And, without a doubt, Eric Whitacre is worthy of your time. He composes choral and orchestral pieces. AND he has written choral music to the poems of e.e. cummings, who is by far the most creative and boundless soul I have yet seen in poetry. Those songs are (at least the ones I have discovered) are little tree, i will wade out, hope faith life love, i thank You God for most this amazing day. And he also has written to Octavio Paz, whom I adore; A boy and a girl and Water Night (both translated).

Go to www.ericwhitacre.com and you can play some nifty MP3s. Goodnight all!!

Whatever you are, be a good one.

So I got my old job back as an Athletics Laundry Worker. I tried very hard to get a more impressive job when I came back to Hawaii, but no dice. I only got one interview and they chose someone else. But behold, I am not discouraged!

I have noticed that even going back to my old job is different, and that I am different, even. I have to do a lot of scheduling with the coaches whereas before I kind of just let my supervisor plan and I just coasted through my already pathetically easy work. But I have turned over a new leaf. Even though I be just a mere laundry worker, I have decided to wash and fold to the best of my ability. I am going to go above and beyond the average laundry worker's duties, dignifying myself within this calling and taking pride in what I do! I even added it as my profession on LinkedIn.

So I might be dramatizing this a bit, but I felt really good after work today. Having recently learned how to use Microsoft Excel from my IS 91 class, I made my own schedules. And I folded a lot of laundry that I didn't really need to. The point is I'm trying to be better in my more-boring-than-average job. It reminded me of the quote that I carried on my binder in high school, one from Abraham Lincoln I believe -"Whatever you are, be a good one". Man, I'm going to be one dang good laundry worker!

I just realized that this blog is probably pretty boring and I only have three followers. I am going to commit to being a better blogger. Ha! Good night everyone.

YSA Conference

This is a catch up for yesterday. I traveled down with a friend and his ward to the Youth Single's conference in Honolulu (about 1 hr away). This weekend has been so sunny and beautiful, so even though the ride down was really nice (although I slept most of the way). When we pulled up to the tabernacle I almost thought it was a temple because it is so beautiful!!

The tabernacle has such an incredible atmosphere. The hallways are open air, and even the chapel had countless doors so it could be open air too, if it really wanted to. The chapel had rows of pews on either side of the pulpit as well as in front.

The service was really nice. It was cool to see all of the single adults on the whole island! It started out with music, and I was blown away by the super suave polynesian trio that sang. Along with the next music ensemble, I was pretty much more than satisfied with the music portion.

The best part, I would say, was when an old blind Japanese man (I forgot his name), got up to the pulpit to give a talk. He was so funny! He pulled out some super thick "reading glasses" so he could "see" us. He also played the piano, and he played so beautifully! It goes to show how obstacles are often there so they can be overcome. Not only could he play the piano, but he could entertain and speak to an audience he couldn't even see. My favorite line of his "My wife complains that when I go to the piano a lot of you can't see me. Well I just think, we're even then!"

After the service we walked around town and stumbled upon two beautiful churches. We noticed the larger one was erected in 1891. It was such a pretty pretty day in Honolulu!