cindy's world

You know how when a toddler does something remotely coordinated, such as bend a knee halfway in time with music, or spin around lopsidedly, or almost make palm-to-palm contact when asked to clap, the grownups all go crazy and cheer and compliment the kid, and the kid’s face lights up and suddenly everyone’s watching this toddler just go nuts showing off and repeating movements that really weren’t even that interesting to begin with?

Well, thanks for all your encouragement and compliments on my Hawaii photos! Here’s MORE!

The reason there’s a rainbow on the state license plate:

Some place on the North Shore (I think):

I had to climb a tree hanging over water to get this shot (photos of tree climbing to come; they’re in Mr. W’s camera right now):

(rest mouse pointers over photos for captions. If you’re on FoxFire, you have to right-click and then drag down to the option for alternate text content or something like that.)

This is Roxy. She is the happiest dog I have ever seen. She pounces around the waves, and jumps in and ducks her nose underneath the foamy waterline. I wish Mr. W got a photo of her doing that, but this is the only photo he took of her. I met her when I emerged from snorkeling.

If I had known that Waikiki Beach hosted freaky All Hallows Eve Parade of Drunken Patrons Staggering Around Kalakaua Avenue, I’d have brought a costume. Or at least my camera. But I did have a camera when I saw this home decor:

(as with all my photos, rest mouse pointer over picture for caption.)

Vicky called me earlier in the evening and asked what I’d been doing all night. I told her that I’m in the middle of a ton of stuff, irrate that so little of the tasks I had at hand were done.
Vicky: Like what?
Me: I have a week’s worth of mail I was going through, and partway through I saw a letter from Citibank telling me they were gonna change my account unless I called this number, and my phone downstairs doesn’t work so I went upstairs to call, and while I was up there I saw my luggage I still had to unpack so I started doing that, and half the stuff was still damp from the humidity in Hawaii so I’m rewashing everything. And then halfway through that, I realized I had to take some stuff downstairs I’d need tomorrow so I came down, and saw that my mail’s still unfinished so I sat down to do that, and then Dwaine called so I was talking to him, and then Andy called so I talked to him, and then I decided to eat a little something so I turned on the TV and now I’m watching that for some reason, and then you called so I’m talking to you. Nothing’s done!
Vicky: So life’s pretty good, huh?
Me: [pause] Yeah. Life’s real good. I’m all tan from Hawaii and I have the luxury to do my chores really slowly, and I got to talk to my friends who called to say hi.

I’m pretty happy, despite the fact that I’d called Josh around 7pm (5pm Hawaii time) to ask what they were doing. He said they’d just gotten back from a hike where they saw waterfalls, they were waiting around about to go out for dinner, and then they thought they’d go hang out in the hotel’s hot tub afterwards. “I’m so jealous! Work here sucks!” I wailed. He said, “Yeah, I’m sorry, we wish you were here, too.” And then I heard everyone in the background of his phone telling me hi. But even work wasn’t too bad. We started a criminal trial today, but that didn’t come until after lunch, and during lunch, I met up with Mr. W and we napped off our jet lag exhaustion in his portable hammock, set up in the shade of a building on a private rooftop. After work and starving, having last eaten at lunchtime before my flight back Sunday, I hit up Vons and filled up a grocery basket with a tub of cashews, 2 packs of honey twist pretzels, Fuji apples, variety of yogurt, loaf of sprout grain bread, spicy jack and baby Swiss cheese, eggs, canned corn and margarine. $30 with a Vons Club card! I should grocery shop more often than my two or three times a year. They say to never shop when you’re hungry, and it’s a good thing I limited myself to one handheld basket, or I would’ve added ice cream, powdered hot chocolate, cereal, milk, chips, and cookies to the mix. I ended up eating a couple handfuls of cashews, some honey twist pretzels, yogurt , a slice of each type of cheese and 2 apples for dinner. That pretty much hit all the food groups, and was faster than what I’d planned to have but was too hungry to wait for — creamed corn egg drop soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. And I did manage to unpack, catch up my checkbook to all the debit card purchases I made in Hawaii, get through all my mail, and spend quality time with some friends on the phone. I also spent quality time with the Doey boy (who’s asleep upstairs on my bedroom floor right now, curled up in a cookies n’ cream colored ball) and changed out an ugly wall switch plate for a prettier mosaic one.

What a frazzled, aimless post. My point is that recognizing my small increments of successes brings me a sense of accomplishment and happiness that I’m glad I didn’t let pass by unnoticed.

Mr. W and I spent a lot of time wandering along Waikiki beach and its shops and tourist areas on foot while waiting for the class to arrive (we got there Saturday and the class got there Thursday). One afternoon we went into a Wolfgang Puck Express to order lunch to eat outside in the patio area and enjoy the street scene (facing the beach). While in line, I noticed a 50-ish homeless-looking black man when he entered and greeted another homeless-looking white man heartily. The two sat and chatted with each other as they ate. The first man was in amazing spirits singing along with the radio playing in the restaurant — I think it was some 70s R&B song, practically dancing as he emptied his trash from the food tray into the trash can. He then waltzed back to the table and wiped off his crumbs and emptied that in the trash, too. Mr. W and I, upon receiving our food, took it outside and nibbled at a sidewalk table. I fed a pigeon and was instantly surrounded by other shamelessly begging birds. Minutes later, the two homeless men walked out, strolled by us and the black man turned and said to us, “Success is great even [he held up his index finger professor-style] in small increments, ya know what I mean?” He finished his statement with a wink and I smiled at him. He hummed and walked off into the sunshine.

“Why’d he look at me when he said that?” Mr. W asked.

Earliest vacation memory of this trip: Walking down the temporary ramp linking airport to the plane to board for Hawaii on Saturday morning, there was a sign posted about 7 feet up the wall inside the tunnel ramp thing. I looked up to read the sign and consequently, tripped. The sign said “Caution: Step carefully when inside the JetBridge. Floor surface is uneven.”
Weather in Oahu: Saturday through Tuesday was sunny with the occasional rain drizzle. Wednesday and Thursday poured so much that it caused mudslides, one of which trapped an SUV and caused the closure of a major freeway. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, sunny, and humid. Surf conditions were pretty rough, altho there were beautiful aquamarine barrel waves in the northeastern part of the island, and surf contests were in full swing. Snorkeling conditions were poor as the rain and rough waves churned up enough sand to cause uncharacteristic murkiness of the waters for this time of year. The water, however, was usually a comfortable high 70s Fahrenheit.
Most noticeable difference between Oahu locals and California locals: the driving. Hawaiians don’t cut you off, don’t tailgate you, and when you signal, they wave you in. When you let someone in your lane, they wave in gratitude. I do that here, but it generally goes unacknowledged, and when the occasional driver waves his thanks, it nearly moves me to tears. (An example of Californians: The week before I left for Hawaii, I was signaling for minutes to go into a lane to my right the freeway in stop-and-go traffic, and finally a big cargo truck backed off and let me in. I waved my thanks, and still signaling, started my merge into his lane. Suddenly, this stupid white trashy Corolla came out from the other side of the truck and stole my lane, nearly side-swiping my car, never signaling, and I honked to keep her from hitting my car. In front of me, she flipped me off. WTF, you stole my lane, nearly hit my car, cut me off, and then you flip me off?! I honked again. She flipped me off again as she changed another lane to the left. I SO wished I had something to throw at the bitch.)
Bonding quality: Extremely high with my jujitsu buddies. We laughed and joked and hung out and battled each other. I didn’t know some of my classmates were so damn funny. Several comments had hit my funny bone and even now I chuckle as I think of them. I’d write about them, but they’re those you-had-to-be-there things. Some of my favorite people in the world were on that island.
Celeb sighting: Wally Amos of Famous Amos Cookies. He didn’t even identify himself to us! We walked by a cookie shop called Chip n Cookie that looked really good, and there were 2 guys standing behind the counter but the sign said “Closed.” We figured they were still setting up to open. But they waved us in, and we told them their sign said closed and Wally said, “No wonder we were standing in here with the door wide open and nobody was coming in! You guys must be readers!” We chatted awhile, Wally directed the younger guy to give us free samples, and Wally popped a few of the little cookies in his mouth as he was taking them out of the oven. I asked how he stays so fit working so close to cookies, and he said, “A lifetime of the cookie diet.” He also told us you can buy their cookie dough from Costco now. I told them how my high school economics class showed a video of the Famous Amos success story, and they pointed out Amos’ book. And then we left. Later on in the hotel room, a children’s program came on TV, Reading with Wally Amos. And it was him!! I had seen the “reading with your children” sign at the back of the shop, too!
Injury count: various bruises from a 7-hour long martial arts clinic day; tweaked neck that’s getting better; 5 hugely swollen and itchy, rashy mosquito bites obtained from the Polynesian Culture Center; no sunburn! (altho a distinctive attractive flip flop strap tan and a bikini tan)
Photos: forthcoming.
What I learned: people can be really nice; friends can feel like your family; coconuts are really hard; Mr. W is a romantic gentleman; it takes a 4-year-old boy 17 minutes to break open a ceremonial coconut with a rock; a rolled up magazine can break cement bricks; pineapples are expensive; hotel guest parking is a rip-off ($15/day); Tahitian pearls are ridiculously cheap with vendors; swap meet style vendors don’t bargain as much as you think they would; marijuana smells like rotting vegetables in a dumpster (and I would know about the dumpster smell); sand finds and hides in every crevice on your body imaginable, even if that part of your body never made contact with any sandy surface.
Time of return to home: 3 a.m. this morning
Current location: work, feeling funny in heels instead of flip flops. *sigh*
How I feel now: rested re-energized pooped.