The annual events that mark the passing of the 4th… July 4, 2009

Well Happy 4th everyone. I am currently sitting in the hot tropical oasis known as Hawaii and listening to the beginnings of fireworks being set off in my neighborhood. I have been warned that I should expect to not see much beyond smoke in our valley tonight…so hopefully I wont choke to death!

I think its kinda funny to read on twitter, facebook, and other news outlets how people celebrate the 4th. Of course there is the traditional BBQing, fireworks, and camping that seems to accompany every 4th. Oh and there is of course the annual Nathans Hot Dog eating contest, where Joey Chestnutt remained world champ eating 68 hot dogs this year. But how about protests? Well I guess it wouldn’t be a true rememberance of Independence Day without someone protesting, after all, thats what this holiday is kind of about.  And in true fashion, those protestors held a TEA party demonstration, and of course it was about taxes…again. And then there is the media, public relations friendly event of opening the Statue of Libertys crown for the 1st time sine 9/11.  Which has been a long time coming…  And then there is the odd…like someone naming a sea turtle after Obama and freeing him on Independence Day.  Yes that reallyhappened.

While these are all ways the US celebrated the day, there is of course North Koreas answer to the holiday…setting off 7 short range missiles to send a signal at Washington DC that it will not cave to international pressure. But this isnt the first time that Kim Jung Il has done this. He has used the 4th of July in the past as his own version of firepower. 3 years ago, he made a similar move, by attempting to launch a long-range, multi-stage ballistic missile, in explicit defiance of a U.N. resolution. So, Kim Jung Il…have fun with your fire works displays…it doesnt bother us.

Well, apparently google search must think that since Im a Packers fan, that searches for Tramon Williams wedding pictures must be available on my blog, because for the past several weeks, it has been one of the more frequent search queries that have lead to my blog…and NO I do not have any pics or news on this wedding…heck I dont follow the players personal lives unless they end up on the front page news for something stupid.

Later!

Happy King Kamehemeha Day! June 11, 2009

Well day 2 back in Hawaii and the weather continues to be hot…although there was a little wind today. My days activities: woke up, cleaned the house…it was kinda gross, watched Family Guy with the roomies, read and wrote for class …soo much fun!, watched Josh continuous die while he tried to take down a cartel with Erik in the video game, and had a visit from a friend. Selina got to find out the hardway that I wasnt lying about my stairs! I know. I lead such an exciting life! Its so much fun living in Hawaii! Wait this is stuff I would be doing whereever I lived…Damn!

Also today ws King Kamehemeha Day..so Happy King Kamehemeha Day to everyone!  I love that local schools are closed for random Royal holidays here in HI. I think that every school kid should want to live in HI cause there are alot of days off due to randomness like this. Yes there can be an arguement made for living in the Midwest, and for snow days, etc…but here you can get off for weather too…its called flooding! Not nearly as fun as the snow though!

My bubble of reality was burst last night by landlord.  Here I was thinking that riding the rails was a mainland dream of mind, only to find out I can ride the rails here on Oahu too. Of course its all like 5 miles of track. But Hawaii has a railway!

I read an artilce today about the best cities for singles to live. Number 1 was Boulder CO, but Honolulu was in the top 25, and was noted as the best for gay/lesbian singles. Stella I think if there was a volcano here for you, then this would be your dream spot! j/k…

And a bit of randomness for today…apparently a teen diagnosed herself in science class. Yes, after all those doctors visits no one could find anything wrong with her. And one day in science class she was looking at her own intestinal tissue (how and why she had it im not sure) she discovered a granuloma and is now being treated for Crohns disease. Im sure her teacher felt all sorts of pride that her student was smarter then any doctor in the area. Actually thats frightening.

Later!

St Pattys Day, Honolulu Style March 17, 2009

Me

Bree, Selina, and me

Selina and me

Well I had another eventful St Pattys Day….and again my “colors” came out.  oh how I misses thsi time of year. The evening started at Indigos with Selina where we drank our happy hour martinis and drank some Jager. We are soulmates because we are both Jager addicts. Eventually we made our way to the block party and Murphys, where we did more Jager and started our beer run. I definately had plenty to drink!  I gotta say, Irish Kevins will always be a mianstay for my St Pattys Day celebrations, but the Honolulu Block Party was definately a blast!  I got to meet all kinds of people, and got guys to show me their nipples  for once (for beads).  All in all it was a good night!  Im exhausted, and tired, but I had fun!

Things I noticed tonight…Some people d0nt follow the St Pattys Day trend (ie: Ramona and her attempts to be ethnic).  I also saw a guy wearing egyptian style head gear. Not sure what that had to do with St. Patrick, but then again, what does green beer and drunkeness have to do with it either?!  Regardless, I got to listen to some good live music, drink some Guiness, and even ran into my old roomies Charlie and Kim with their little one Kai.  Yes they brought the new baby to a St Pattys Day block party!  Gotta love em!

I posted a few pics, and now im off to bed…

Later!

COIN update, unsuccessful shopping, and the wonders of birds March 16, 2009

Oh boy. Second paper done on COIN, one more to go!  Yay!  Then my Monday class will be done!  Slowly, this semester is ending, and March is flying by. I have alot to do still, but Spring Break is next week, and I should be able to relax and finish some of the readings I have to do…on top of working onmy thesis prospectus…ok, maybe i wont get to relax much.

My afternoon was good. Class finally let out and I went to try and find some St Pattys Day attire. I was slightly saddened by the fact that I wasnt able to find any green lipstick or giant St. Pattys Day earings, however I think I still have plenty of green to wear tomorrow!  Im looking forward to it!  Should be a blast!

My walk from the bus stop was interesting today.  As I was walking over the Laimi bridge area, I caught a glimpse of something truly disturbing. At first glance, I thought I saw two Mallard ducks trying to drown another duck, but then I realized it was in fact a bird orgy. I guess spring has finally arrived afterall. I wouldnt know since there is no change of seasons out here, and every day seems like summer, while some are just more rainy.  I have to admit I felt sorry for the female bird because, she was almost drowned in the process as the 2 guys tried to make it with her. Poor girl, men are so rough at times! My favorite part of th scene was the fact that the two guys eventually forgot about the chick, and continued their fight as they were swept downtstream.  Hmmm, Im finding it kind of disturbing that males of every species fight like idiots over sex!

Well Im off to relax and get some dinner…

Later!

Leave a Voice Mail for God, double assassinations in Guinea-Bissau, and the Bong Cat… March 2, 2009

Just in case anyone wants to celebrate tomorrow and needs an excuse…its Square Root Day 3/3/09.  Have fun…go do some math…maybe come up with a new drinking game for it!

Sometimes you have to wonder if people have just gone insane!  Apparently a Nebraska man said his cat was going crazy and needed to “chill” so he placed the cat inside a homemade bong…and when the police arrived he was smoking Marijuana out of the contraption with the cat still inside.  Somehow Im guessing the cat was “chill” and probably had the munchies from that experience.

News around the world:  Guinea-Bissau had a day of violence yesterday, in which their head General was killed in a bombing, and the military retaliated against President Vieira, killing him.  They are not stating it as a coup, but intend to let the constitution work, and the Prime Minister will be taking command until an election can be held.  Interestingly enough…as a gesture to the international community they took the Presidents wife and kids to the UN Ambassadors house for protection.  Definately not a sign of a coup, but still an interesting turn of events in already plagued country full of historical riots, coups, and drug trafficking.

In case you missed the news, Obama decided to release Bush anti-terror memos, which is unconventional to the standard 30 year wait for declassification.  The memos contained signs of exceptional search and seizure powers as well as records stating that the CIA destroyed over 100 tapes of interrigations.  interesting that this is being released now.  Im not sure what Obama is trying to gain except maybe using this release as propaganda move to show that the new administration is open, transparent, and changing tactics in the War on Terror, which is what the international community wants, but doesnt expect to see.

If you are having issues, are stressed by the world today, or just need someone to listen, forget blogging or ranting to a friend.  Call God.  Dutch artist Johan van der Dong has set up a local telephone number in the Netherlands, where he urges people to leave messages for God on his answering machine.  In fact if you call 06-4424-4901 (or +316-4424-4901 if calling from outside the Netherlands) , you will hear “Hi, you are speaking to God. I’m not in right now so leave a message after the beep.” No joke!  He is doing this to give people an outlet to contemplate life.  Hmmm…I think he may need more than answering machine, cause you know that some crazies will call just for fun!

Obamas pick to be US trade representative is in hot water with the IRS…making him the 4th nominee to owe back taxes.  I wonder if this is bad vetting, coincidence, corrupt politicians, or if the IRS is out to get all nominees.  Im going with the latter…I think the IRS is out to get nominees…its their way of impacting policy!

Later!

 

Fear of fire trucks, a new valentines day tradition, and they call it mellow yellow? February 14, 2009

Well I havent posted for a couple of days, mainly because Ive been busy writig papers, and the idea of typing even more, even for fun wasnt too appealing.  But Im back, and I actually get to blog tonight, which is amazing because I spent most of the day without power here at the house.  Im not sure what happened…no storms that Im aware of but, definately no power.  The entertainment for the evening came from reading Mao’s On Guerrilla Warfare until the sun went down too much for me to see the print, and then I watched the firetrucks that all arrived in the neighborhood with my roomie Josh for an hour.  Our guesses as to the presence of the fire trucks was either gas leak or downed power line, cause there was no visible smoke or flames., but it could have been an electrical fire too with all of the seizure inducing flickering of lights we put up with tonight.  Either way I have decided that Honolulu Emergency Response management could be better.  For whatever the problem was, three different fire trucks showed up at the scene…I decided that if a fourth showed up then it was overkill cause a fire could be waging somewhere else on the island and there would have been no one to respond to it!  It was entertaining to watch the firetrucks try and manuever around my neighborhood (which has hilly, curvy, and dead end roads all over the place…plus very thin lanes).  It was humerous.  And my education for the night came not from my book, but from my roomate who I discovered has an irrational fear of fire trucks!  Maybe my tsunami obsession isnt so weird now?!

In case you missed the news, and I know everyone is wanting ot know this one, Zimbabwes powersharing deal is about to die…again.  For all of you out there who were hoping that this time it would be successful, Im sorry.  Tsvangirai may have made it into office as PM but good ole Mugabe decides that he wasnt going to honor the powersharing arrangements within the cabinet appointments and arrested the opposition cabinet appointee Bennett on suspicion of treason.  Good ole Mugabe.  This was so predictable!  Something gets rough, arrest someone or shoot someone….cause thats always the answer!

Something thats not so predictable, but just as distrubing in a different way may be India’s new idea for a drink.  Apparently a new soft drink will be launched that is made from Cows urine.  Now I realize that cows are sacred in India, and that sometimes cows urine is drunk at religious festivals and for medical purposes, but to market it beyond the “special occasion” for mainstream consumption is making my stomach quesy just thinking about it.  I may be very open minded about many things, and willing to try almost any food, but this is one im going to have to say no to.

Now many of you who know me realize that Valentines Day is not my favorite holiday.  Its not because im single, and get depressed, but instead is linked to the cookie shop, and the hours upon hours i spent every V-day decoraing cookies and not sleeping. I cant think about the holiday without thinking about insomnia, cookies, and the nights with Dan checking over EVERY order. I miss the craziness of it, but am glad not to have to see, eat, or smell a cookie right now!  That may be how I spent many V-days but in a weirder twist to the holiday many Indian women decided that filling local bars and sending cartons of pink panties to a local Hindu radical group who is anti-women, is the best way to spend the holiday.  Hmmm…maybe this can become my new holiday ritual…pink panty mailing, bar hopping, fun….we’ll see.

Well Im off to spend sometime on the computer…cause there is POWER!!!

Later!

 

Happy New Years to all, and the craziness of 2009…already… December 31, 2008

Happy New Years! Hope everyone stayed up late and had fun with friends and family!  I know our little game night with wine and champagne was a success…lots of wine…alwyas a good thing!  And the entertainment always comed from my friends…and stellas drawing skills of Mt Rushmore…

I wonder what the new year will bring, although its definitely starting off in a bad spot…horrible economy, war in Irag and Afghanistan, disasters around the world, crazy athletes already causing trouble before the first hour of 2009 has passed…well maybe a little before… 2009…definitely the end of 2008. In case you have no clue what Im talking about, Charles Barkley was arrested in AZ. He was pulled over for speeding and a DUI…when asked by the officer why, he said he was on his way to get a blowjob, and that he was pulling around the corner to get one from his passenger…apparently he proceeded to tell the cop he had one a week earlier and it was the best one hes ever had and asked the cop if he thought the girl was hot…um…Charles…i’d expect to hear from divorce lawyers pretty soon… This one ranks up there with Plexico shooting himself…poor athletes…it must be hard to live a life of athletics…what with all that money, and publicity, and of course the chicks…(well unless you are a chick…well…nevermind)

Later!