Hiking

Aloha!


This weekend has been exhausting. On Saturday morning I cycled over to the bottom of Lē'ahi (Diamond Head) for another Geology field trip. In reality I was only there to hopefully see GG101L Guy again, but unfortunately he wasn't there. Our task for this field trip was to map the coastline in terms of the different rock types present. It was basically another exercise in colouring-in (as if I don't get enough of that in my Filipino class - but I'm not complaining). Note to potential exchange students: bring at least five different coloured crayons from home, you never know when you'll need them.

All aboard the Humbug Express!

Aloha!


In my two-hour break between classes yesterday I could have had a free lunch at the International Baptist Center as I usually do. Instead I bought yet another $5 footlong at Subway. I could have finished the homework that I was supposed to do for my Filipino class. Instead I did it at the very last minute and didn't even submit one part. So what stopped me from doing all of the above?

--Flashback--
I am on a quiet street, sitting on a tiny bike. No more training wheels. My dad is holding me up while I pedal and then suddenly he lets go. Why would he do that? Luckily a lot of practice and perseverance allowed me to remain upright for the seven or eight seconds of sheer terror. In those moments, it turns out, my dad ran across the street and fetched me a bunch of balloons that happened to just be sitting there - as if the balloon man wanted to congratulate me on my achievements.
--End flashback--

I've been thinking for a while about getting a bike. I haven't owned one since I was a kid, and even then they didn't belong to me. But I'm in Hawai`i, where it takes about 20 minutes to get almost anywhere by bike. Okay not literally, but you get the point. So anyway, Thursday was the big bike sale on campus. My awesome friend Ammi signed my name up after hers because I was in a class and couldn't do it myself. Here's how it went down:

1. Write your name on the list. I was #34 and there were a total of about 45 bikes.
2. Browse around for a bike you're interested in. I tended to look only at the blue ones. They ranged in price from $0 to about $50. Some were free for a reason.
3. Wait until your name gets called. It was a hot day and we were getting impatient. There were so many before us and we were becoming a little delusional from the heat and hunger, but by the time our names were called (in my case, "Jemmy") we were so excited that it didn't matter.
4. Shop for a bike with an experienced helper. Without hesitation I told my helper that I need a blue bike. There weren't many left. He showed me all the blue bikes they had and told me a little about them. There was a free bike whose derailers weren't working properly. We strolled up the aisle and eventually I found one that I really liked (although no kickstand).
5. Pay for bike. At this stage the heat and hunger pains were returning. The queue was long and moving slowly. I paid $30 for my bike and received some documents required to register my bike at some place I've already forgotten. Whatevs.

Introducing the Humbug Express! Why the name? Well, the brand is "Huffy" and I have a tendency to name things based on what they're already named (e.g. Lucius the Panasonic Lumix). In this case I was first considering "Huffington". Then "Hufflepuff". Then "Cedric Diggory". Then "Robert Pattinson". I settled on "Humbug Express" but I'm not too thrilled with this name at the moment. Your thoughts?

Anyway, now that I have a bike I need to buy some cool accessories to go with it. I already have some bad-ass paintball gloves to protect my delicate palms from its corroding handlebars. I'll probably get some bad-ass stickers to decorate it. And I'd probably want a helmet, too.

--Flashback--
I am cruising around the cul-de-sac on my brother's Jurassic Park (?) bike. There's nobody around, so I can be an idiot if I want to. I pop a wheelie, hands-free, and before I know it, I'm on the ground wondering what the heck just happened. I go back inside the house immediately, and pretend as though it never happened.
--End flashback--

Having not cycled (or done any form of physical activity) in years, I'm going to have to get used to all this pain on my thighs. Perhaps I'll go for a joy ride every morning, up and down the Ala Wai Canal - the first meeting place of my favourite Korean couple, Jin and Sun. Side note: I'm still hunting for Daniel Dae Kim.

A hui hou kakou!

Definition of 'Lost'

[adj.] having gone astray or missed the way; bewildered as to place, direction, etc.

Aloha!

Yesterday I travelled to Oahu's North Shore for a day at the beach with friends. Click on the links for photos :)

We went to Waimea Bay. It was beautiful. I took Lucius for a swim and we saw schools of pipefish and sergeant major damselfish. People were jumping off the rocks but I was happy just following the humuhumunukunukuapua‘a (Hawaii’s state fish). The water was so clear. We took heaps of silly photos like this one, this one, and this one. Taking this photo of Angela made my ears hurt. Back on the beach I revisited my obsession with macro and action shots. It wasn’t long before I got back in the water to try and look as 'Lost' as possible. More silly underwater photos here, here, here and here. It was such an enjoyable day at such a picturesque location. We have to go back.

So that was my yesterday! Scroll up to the top of this page. Then look to the right-hand side. You'll notice that I am now counting down to my trip to Kaua'i! Twelve days, baby!

Mahalo!

Black Smoke!

I had to share this one, for the Losties. This is a hydrothermal vent, where ultra-heated water seeps through the oceanic crust creating plumes of black smoke. The image popped up in my geology class this morning.

Did anyone else see the face?

Yogurtland again

Aloha!


Last night we had yet another meeting of the MIXers. This one was at the Varsity which about as dirty and sticky as the reviews on Google had warned me. But I'm not complaining - it's nice to hang out with familiar faces and even get to know more... while sipping on some PEAR CIDER! *slurrrrrrrrp*

I learned from a couple of girls in the MIX that a certain Daniel Dae Kim was at Yogurtland the other day. My reaction:

Literally.

So I went with a couple of friends to Yogurtland today after class. While I ate my ice cream - a mix of chocolate and vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries, blueberries, banana and chocolate sauce - I kept my eyes peeled for the ex-Lost (now Hawaii Five-0) star. Nothing. Just a bunch of children rolling around on the wheels embedded into their shoes.

Anyway, I had Geology and Filipino today. I feel like I can ace Geology because I've done it before (although not in a Hawaiian context) but Filipino - oh my gash! Looking at the syllabus for that class was like...

Literally.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I suppose I should do some readings etc. Maybe do a couple of extra readings. Maybe plan my semester in terms of assessments, field trips and other activities. Yeah, I'll do all of that...

While watching Glee.

Mahalo!

Moving on

It's time to bid farewell to the youth hostel. It was a sincere pleasure staying here at Hostelling International Honolulu - one of the best last-minute decisions I've ever made, I think.

Geckos commonly scurry about, predating on insects and
looking cute in general

In two hours' time I will move on to Waikiki, leaving behind the wonderful atmosphere created by fellow students in this "place between the worlds". I like to think of it as the place where the students stay before going their separate ways - whether to a residence hall on-campus or a share house off-campus. This is where it begins. For the Losties, this is somewhat like the sideways universe of Season 6.

I met a lot of other students here, and befriended many of them. The best thing about almost everyone here being a student is that we're all in the same boat - either waiting (like me) to move to the next location, or still searching for that place to call home. I think it'll be rather boring here after all the students have left, because the remaining type of guest would be holidaying backpackers who mostly keep to themselves.

The staff here are nice, too. One in particular is fantastically awesome. He's going to teach me how to surf. In my dreams *droooooooool*

An hour has passed since I started typing this. That's one down, one to go. I think I'll continue reading my book to pass the time.

Mahalo!

Statehood Day

One of Hawaii's many public holidays, Statehood Day commemorates the archipelago's admission into the United States of America as the 50th state about five decades ago. It is also the day I decided to "unintentionally explore" downtown Honolulu.

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been searching for a local SIM for my phone. Today I wanted to go to Best Buy - where I know they sell O2 Wireless SIM cards - so I Googled directions to the place and made my way there by bus. I was sitting on the bus for an hour before getting off (Google estimated a ten-minute trip) and unfortunately I was nowhere near my destination.

WAY OFF.

'Iolani Palace is where I got off the bus. I don't know why, but that's where Google told me to go. So I walked around the palace grounds, taking photos of the statues like the tourist that I very much am, but as much as I walked (and walked, and walked) I couldn't find Best Buy at all. I got a little excited at every hint of blue writing on a building, only to be let down each time I saw it read "Honda". Hunger eventually got the better of me so I stopped at Subway for another $5 foot long.

Above: Queen Lili'uokalani statue. Top left: King Kamehameha.
Top right: Hawaiian state flag atop the 'Iolani Palace.

It was only on a full stomach that I decided to finally ask someone if there's a Best Buy in the area, and the Segway-riding security guard at Hawaii Pacific University told me that there isn't one nearby. You'd think I would ask for directions to the one that I know does exist, but no.

I gave up on my search after a little bit more walking - my legs were starting to ache - and caught the bus back to the hostel (which was extremely difficult as I had no idea where I was).

There are at least three things I've learned from today's (mis)adventures:

1. I need to find accurate directions before journeying into the unknown
2. I shouldn't be afraid to ask for help and admit that I'm lost; and
3. I should probably invest in a map of the island.

While it wasn't my best day in Honolulu, I certainly can not say that I've had a bad one so far. After all, it was great to be welcomed back to the hostel this afternoon. By a certain somebody.

Mahalo!

Lost in Waikiki. Literally.

Aloha!


I went to Waikiki this morning, after picking up breakfast from 7-Eleven (kids: don't try this at home). Breakfast consisted of a sandwich and a Twinkie. I didn't really spend so much time at the beach, which at the moment is still very much packed with tourists, because I'll be living nearby during the semester anyway - there'll be plenty of time to go.

T.K. at Waikiki Beach. I could have gotten a little more creative,
perhaps a photo in front of the water itself, but meh.

And speaking of my semester accommodation, I thought I'd go looking for it since I was in the area. The address of the building is 2280 Kuhio Avenue. I started walking up Kuhio, then realised the street numbers were increasing from 2500 so I turned around and walked the other way. Fail. I got to the end of the road and started walking back towards where I came from. Eventually I found the building I was looking for, but it took forever and I needed to go potty so I didn't hang around much except to take these photos.

Hawaii has a bus system known simply as TheBus. Students flash their ID card to get a free ride, but because I don't get my ID card until Monday, I had to feed the machine with $2.50. The annoying thing is that the machines don't give change, so before catching my bus home I had to do a bit of shopping.


I bought a shell from the market, thinking that when I receive my change I could request some coins. Fail. The people before me who made a purchase from the same stall took the lady's last coins. So I went to Jamba Juice to get nice cold drink to survive the hot sun and some freaking quarters.

"Can I get a mango smoothie?"
"Do you want mango, or mango a-go-go?"
"...Mango a-go-go."

I eventually got back to the hostel and had a refreshingly cold shower. I don't know if the shower I used has a hot water tap, and I spent a minute trying to figure it out, but I guess it doesn't matter since it's hot enough outside anyway. For the past hour or so I've been in the lounge area, discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with some transferring grad students. Most of the people at this hostel are students, and many of them grad students. Apparently to them I look older than I actually am:

"So are you doing your PhD or Masters?"

*BLANK STARE*

I just heard someone's phone go off, which reminds me that I wanted to find a solution to my long-distance telecommunications problem at some stage. Back to 7-Eleven I go.


Mahalo!

Success at last!

I have a place to stay when I arrive on the island!

It's a hostel that is, quite literally, a walk across the road from my uni. Which is great because I'll have so many things to do at uni during that week - attend orientation, get my student card, register for classes, have a tuberculosis skin test, etc. Plus, in my spare time, I can trek the Manoa Falls trail where Charlie was left hanging in a banyan tree by Ethan. And possibly have a photo taken by that same tree.

Maybe even in the same pose.

In other news, I'm going out tonight!

Mahalo!

You only need seven shirts. Max 10...

...said the lady who packed twenty pairs of socks into a Space Bag for me, knowing full well that I'm travelling to a place where 90% of the time I'll be wearing my Havaianas. As my suitcase slowly fills up with clothes, my wardrobe gradually empties. It has come to my attention that I don't wear a lot of the clothes that I own, which isn't many to begin with. Most of them are, as mother would kindly say, "from when I was bigger". But over the past few years - and especially after my trip to the Philippines last year - the number of shirts in my closet has increased significantly, and I can't decide which 7-10 to bring with me to Hawai'i.

Perhaps one for every colour of the rainbow?

In other news, TWO DAYS... (and 20 hours, but still!) I'm a bit worried because I don't yet have a place to stay when I arrive in Honolulu. If it comes down to it, I may just have to camp on the beach for a bit. The thing that worries me about that is the number of, you know, b-o-d-y-s buried in the sand. Most horrifying is the idea of Nikki and Paulo emerging from out of nowhere as if they've been there all along, begging me for diamonds, acting terribly... If there's anything I've learned from Lost, it's that a gun can sometimes be your best friend.

*shoots Nikki and Paulo dead*

Mahalo!

I could play with HTML all day!

And I did... I pretty much spent most of yesterday working on the aesthetics of this blog (the rest of the day I was napping). For those of you who have seen earlier versions of this blog, I daresay you will be impressed with the new look. I have added a background photo to the title bar, which I took while snorkelling off Cairns in the Great Barrier Reef. From timeanddate.com I added clocks to display local times in Sydney and Honolulu, which should become a handy substitute for my previous "add four hours then subtract twenty" technique. Also with the help of Blogger Widgets I added a Facebook 'Like' button to the bottom of every post. So start liking everything, everybody!

One of the most exciting additions, I think, is the countdown timer that I also got from timeanddate.com, which I tried to fashion it to resemble the Swan station's timer as closely as possible - for the Losties :) (if anyone knows where I can get something that looks more like the real deal, PLEASE, for the love of Jacob, LET ME KNOW!!) Currently the timer counts down towards my flight out of Sydney, after which it will display something along the lines of "Time since HA flight 452 departed". I'm thinking, however, of changing it to display the number of days I have remaining in Hawai'i. If you have any other ideas, feel free to post a comment!

Other than that, I've just been playing around with HTML codes. I'm still relatively new to the blogosphere, so I'm going through a bit of a learning process. Anything and everything new excites me.

Mahalo!

NEW VIDEO

How many Lost references can you spot? I know there are at least two (aside from the music, obviously).

Mahalo!