More Maui Moments

The Byodo-In Temple on Oahu is a replica of a Japanese Temple from, I think, the 12th Century. I love the mist coming off the mountains in Hawaii.



The Samoan presentation at the Polynesian Cultural Center was hilarious! And I was impressed by how quickly he made fire and coconut milk.



Tandem Parasailing with my sister.



Canoe Pageant was fun but very hot.



A temporary ink tattoo from Fiji. It would have lasted longer if it hadn't rained a half hour later and then heated up again so I was sweating.



On one of the hikes during our road to Hana my brother and I found a patch of bamboo.



Finally after 4 days in Hawaii I got Lei'd! Took long enough.

Maui Pictures

Here are a few pictures I took in Maui.











Why am I not on a beach right now watching the sun set?

Missing Maui

I had a wonderful time, despite things not turning out like I had planned, not that they ever do, but my expectations of traveling with my brother and sister were a bit off. We argue and fight when we are at home hanging out, what made me think traveling would be any different?

My idea of traveling and having a vacation is getting up around seven am, going out and seeing the sights, interacting with the people, experiencing their culture and way of life, fun activities like hiking and snorkeling, seeing nature and the beach, and a bit of shopping. I like to keep a journal and have quiet time in nature to write and sketch.

My sister's idea of a vacation: sleeping in till ten, laying out, spa treatments, lots of shopping, relaxing in the hotel room.

My brother's way of vacationing: sleeping in till 8 or 9, taking hundreds of nature pictures, doing many activities I like to do-but at a MUCH slower pace, eating good food, eating good food, eating good food.

But even with our different styles we still had fun. Ate lots of good food, played at the beach, went snorkeling and parasailing, saw Ulalena and Ha: the Breath of Life, had a Hawaiian luau and feast, saw the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pearl Harbor, kissed and got kissed by a dolphin, and spent more than I probably should have.

When I returned to work, a friend asked what my favorite part of the trip was. Is it sad to say it was not being at work? All I want to do is relax, travel the world, and write. Is that too much to ask for?

"Look me in the eyes . . . ."

... And tell me the truth, or tell me you do or don't love me. Those are the usual endings to that sentence. People use it all the time in movies and books, most often in regards to love. Someone will tell the person they love to look them in the eyes and say they don't love them back. Inevitably they will be told no, for reasons of great noble sacrifice, sometimes. More often than not the 'no' comes from fear. Regardless, why do they keep asking "look me in the eyes . . ." and expect to have some magical ability to know the truth? Or, every time they believe what they are told, also probably out of fear, that their 'worst fear' is coming true. I am fascinated by this. Apparently I need to work on my ability to read eyes in order to better understand why it is used so much.

Or Something Like It

I have not written in almost a month. Sheesh, what have I been doing with my life? Not much that is intensely exciting. I read a lot, I work a lot. I sleep a lot. Actually, I'm not sure I sleep enough so that might not be true. I certainly watch more tv than I should, but there are such interesting things on tv, shows like Chuck or Castle or Criminal Minds, (apparently I am into the 'C' tv shows.) I went home two weekends ago to spend time with my family and celebrate my parents' 36th anniversary.

My parents have spent more than half of their lives together, together for longer than they were apart. In the timeline of marriages in this world, 36 years is a really long time. But while we were celebrating, it just didn't seem like that long to me. In all the breaths of eternity, 36 years is one gasp. Which means my 26 years is maybe a half gasp, a shallow sniff through the nostrils, a flared testing of the air around me to figure out what is going on, a tensed awareness for just that sniff before I move on with my life. And what might happen in that split instance will determine the rest of my life. Kind of a cool thought, but I am busy enjoying my life in the stage it is in right now.

I am preparing for Maui, which is in 19 days and 17 hours. I got several ideas for stories, but I don't have time to work on them until I finish the novel I am working on now. Which was going slow for a while there because I am easily distracted and entertained, but is going faster now. My goal is to write 4 or 5 pages a week this month and next and then add more to that goal each month.

Festival of Colors

On Saturday my friends from Logan came down to participate in the Festival of Colors. Though they showed up freakishly early to pick me up (I wasn't even dressed yet) we got to the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, got a great parking spot and hung out until the chalk got flying at 1pm. The chalk cloud engulfed us in darkness, blocking out the sight of people even five feet from you.
It took forever to get cleaned up afterwards (I was snorting out purple snot for hours), but worth every moment of splattering chalk at my friends.

"Corner of Misery"

It started small, when I was at a different desk across the room.

We are required to bust up cds and disks when we are done with them. Broken bits, flashing in the light, gathered on my desk as I broken each piece and I thought, someone else could make a brilliant piece of modern, abstract art out of those pieces. Then I thought, why can't that someone brilliant be me? It started with bits of cds and disks and quickly incorporated bags of blood and the left over barbed wire from Halloween. After I moved to another desk and got to redo it, I added the purple tissue paper behind it. Over the months, I added the scissors I broke while trying to cut up a cd, a few marshmallows during the phase of throwing those back and forth, and some dried, crusty frog "throw-up" (that's the yellow stuff).

The flowers and figurines came later. I guess because everyone saw the "darkness" of broken bits, I got the persona of a more gothic, destructive type. People started to tease me by decorating my desk with flowers and pink and figurines, thinking it would bother me. Don't they remember that I hiked through England for two months twice? Immersed in nature and beauty and Romantic and Victorian literature? Don't they remember I write Fantasy? Anyone who writes fantasy is a romantic at heart. Haven't they ever found beauty in anything around them that isn't an obvious kind of beauty? Sometimes it's harder to find. It requires looking. The black film, closest to the light, reflects it so well, you can't tell it's black. Further down, the black mixed with the right light reflects the flower above it.

I added the flowers and figurines to my "Corner of Misery." Perhaps it should have a different name. It makes me happy every time I see it. I named the figurines: Tess, Dorothea, and Kathy. Some misery and happiness in their stories.