The Daily Adventures of Mercat

^If you get it, well, that's why I've been a terrible procrastinator lately.

Honestly I have lots of stuff to post about last week and adventures and whatnot, buuuut today was weird. Well, fuck it, these past few days have been weird. Completely intangible emotional rollercoaster and today I'm veeeeery tired. But I got a lot of good stuff done; picked out my classes (thank god it mostly all fell together with little effort... now I just have to be awake at 2 am Thursday to register), got Phi Rho stuff done (fees, planning, whatnot), got the phone numbers to call (TOMORROW YOU FUCKING PROCRASTINATOR) about the PEP presentations, looked at plane tickets to Maui (which are much more accessible than I thought they'd be--probably because Aloha airlines went down the tubes as of today?!), all sorts of responsible things for two hours.

Yeeeeah, and since then I've been dicking around on the internet, just like I did ALL weekend. (Literally.)

However I'm going to save the emotional crap for a friendslocked post and also for tomorrow. ( Instead here's my 51 (!!!!) day backlog )



( Shit, guys, somebody stole my idea. )


Side note: The Fall got rescheduled for a May release? Anyone else hear anything? DO WANT (to see)

[EDIT] Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat. Again? Presto! Let's see how many times I can edit this for errors because I'm half asleep.

Okay, so, did everyone in Ohio decide it would be a good night to get roaring drunk or something? I mean, I don't really have a huge problem with it (other than a certain scenario which I'm not really free to discuss, but I'm sure if you contact any student you know at a certain high school I attended you'll be able to find out), but... I dunno, is there something in the water? Lol. (Yeah, alcohol... Hey, you all know the polish word for water is about one letter away from "vodka" anyhow, right? Yay being Polish!)

Anyway, today Lauren and I took a historical tour of Chinatown. It was AMAZING. Chinatown in Honolulu is nothing like Chinatown in SF, and from what the guide said, nothing like the Chinatown in NY either. Chinatown here is basically where non-whites came together and lived.

Oh, by the way, our tour guide is a major native Hawaiian historian (he was of... Chinese descent, I think?), and also Don Ho's cousin. EFFING AWESOME.

So... yeah. American history was never my thing, right? Fuck it, history wasn't my thing. I'm not good on "what are the implications of xxx on yyy in regard to zzz?" because to I never know exactly what they mean. I can extrapolate pretty much any answer from questions like that, so I am a failure. =( BUT! Hawaiian history amazes me. I don't know, maybe it's because I started paying attention to years for costuming and my Indiana Jones obsession, or maybe for Art History. But I'll tell you one thing; Hawaiian History is fucking amazing. It's like watching the whole history of the world get wrapped up in about 150 years. It's fucking nuts, and I love it. You don't realize it until you study it, because there's very few signs and things, but the whole world was focused on the Pacific, and Hawaii was so important to that, and everything leading up to WWI and WWII is absolutely amazing in relation to Hawaii. I love it. It's such a thrill. If you come to Honolulu, go to Chinatown and take the tour. Crazy.

I think the reason I never did well in American history is that they never really give you a base understanding to go from... they just kind of jump right in with the details and assume you can extrapolate the consequences. Not so. With Hawaiian history you're getting the base understanding of the world in order to understand Hawaii, and that in turn actually helps you understand what was going on in Europe and the rest of the world. I mean it, Hawaiian history is amazing.

At the same time, most people to study Hawaii aren't natives; so Hawaiian history seems particularly misunderstood as far as I've seen. Both my Hawaiian and Pacific Globalization history classes are taught by Bailey, who is a riot and one of the first native Hawaiians to get a certain level of degree (doctorate... maybe?) from UH. And the guy today is Hawaiian, too, although big Chinese background, so we got yet another cultural perspective.

And you know what? I think Hawaiian history is ridiculously overlooked. I think that studying Hawaiian and Pacific history would really help people understand the globalization of the rest of the world, I mean by a ridiculous amount. And did you know that's it's still under contention, even today, whether Hawaii was taken rightfully by the US government and whether it should still be a kingdom? Crazy. Maybe I'll talk about Hawaiian history more later, it's just... God. Beautiful. Amazing. Ridiculous. I don't know. It's like the whole world came together and exploded. To go from the stone age to modern practically overnight, and to see your culture destroyed in the process. God. It's really unfortunate that history isn't more advertised everywhere, that it's such a toursity place, because DAMN it's beautiful.

So! The actual tour itself. He started out with a background of Hawaiian history and Chinatown, and did you know that the father of Communism in China was Christian? LAUGH RIOT. tangent: the word "laugh" looks really weird atm. Anyway he was raised here and brought the idea to China, so, yeah. Other highlights of the tour:

--seeing all the different food types in the open market, showing how Chinatown really isn't a normal Chinatown: Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Philipino and about a million other different types of food. Also, one of my comfort-boundary stretchers for the day. I dunno, there's something about being one of only a few non-natives being led around (though not terribly obviously) by a tour guide that just makes it so easy for me to get paranoid that I'm being hated as a tourist. I think this is different in mainland US and Europe than it is in Hawaii; for example, learning about different history classes, I don't think native Hawaiians who haven't been to the mainland understand how there's still a difference between the southern and the northern US that you have to look out for sometimes. Being in Spain I was completely scared that we, as tourists, were going to get picked on and stuff (I mean it was totally obvious we were wearing gym shoes, righto?), but nothing really happened (other than a little trouble with gypsies and pickpockets on different occasions) but I obviously stopped being nervous enough to yell "HEY, GRUPO" in a really bad American accent (not even "¡Oye, grupo!") across the street in... Granada, was it? Anyway. I sufficiently put myself outside my comfort zone today. (BUT! Did find a really authentic place to get sushi, should ai figure out how to eat it without looking like a fool. SOMEBODY FILLZ ME IN, PLZ)
--the fruit vendors... DAMN. What a lovely smell. I realized that I have not yet had a virgin piña colada yet since I got here. I must rectify this!
--Hotel Street: where all the GIs came for entertainment. Clubs, burlesques, "hotels". I LOVE IT. The only thing left is "Club Hubba Hubba" (everything else is stores), but from the looks of it, the only thing left is the neon on the sign. =/ Even the paint behind the sign is chipping and rusting, and the building is overgrown and boarded up. But... that could just be that it's a club, so they need it dark inside and inside it's clean and neet. (Anyway, lol burlesque.)
--Fish market! Wow. FISH SMELL OVERLOAD. Guh. Apparently Chinese/Japanese consider it somewhat of a sin to cook tuna, as they eat it raw. Their big appetizers are sushi, sashimi, and dum sim. And... I can't remember the term, but it's raw fish and seaweed and herbs all mixed together to eat. It kind of looks like salsa. (Wikipedia... why is there an ENTIRE CHUNK IN SPANISH in the middle of the English article on Japanese cuisine? I mean, I can read it, but... wut?) OH, it's called poke and it's actually a Hawaiian dish, but it's obviously got a lot of Japanese influence. (It's raw fish, c'mon.) My brain totally went "LOLPOKÉMON" when he pointed it out.
--more fish market! Kona crabs. Never heard of them before, but they're kind of weird looking. Also? Could have bought fish heads. LAWL. (Will admit: had the fish head song running through my head.)
--Fernandez Marín! Yay Spainiards. Kind of owned the Hawaiian harbor and dictated non-natives on the island while he was alive. Pretty cool shit. (Chinatown: utterly international. told you)
--SECRET BURIAL GROUNDS: After the US government burned down Chinatown (PLAGUE PANIC!) and it was rebuilt and they had to dig up the earth for concrete footwork, they found lots of bodies of plague victims. They buried all the bones together in a few secret green areas in Chinatown, but the gov't doesn't treat them that well. (Seriously. One's next to a dumpster in a locked alley.) Marín's remains were dug up when they built Marín tower, and the government gave them to his family in a gunnysack. Oh America, why do we have to be so insensitive? Anyway, they convinced the government that they wanted his remains here because he was happy here, and they put his bones in one of the burial grounds (if you can call it that) right on the edge of Chinatown right on the waterfront. (Seriously... it looks like one of those hotel building planters. That's the "greenspace" where Marín is buried. And there's no kind of historical markers or anything... The more I learn about Hawaiian history the more I think the US is trying to hide the fact they kind of took over illegally. LOL.
--Philipinos didn't get malaria during WWII while Chinese and Hawaiians and Japanese and Americans did! Guess why? Bitter melon! High in quinine. So, if you ever are afraid of getting malaria? BITTER MELON.
--First Catholic Church in Hawaii! Funded by Marín. Damn cool.
--more comfort zone stretching: "bubble tea" smoothie. What it is is this kind of big tapioca balls in a smoothie... they're interesting. I think in the right thing they'd be good, but kiwi was disgusting, and since I had a not-enough-sleep type of sore throat, the bubbles felt kind of phlegmy. I mean, I know they're tapioca or taro or whatever and they're kind of doughy, but... ew. Kiwi+phlegm=nasteh.
--watermelon used to be a huge import. Did you know they used to make watermelon alcohol? I'm not really surprised, I mean people kind of make it out of anything that will ferment. Just LOL. (My dad wondered last time we were here if they ever made taro alcohol? I don't know, I've never heard anything about it. I think taro might be too expensive.)

Lauren and I might bike around the island, it wouldn't be too long of a ride. A good, slow, day ride to get some miles on my butt for TOSRV.

Okay, I think that's everything for now.

81 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Today's trivia: I am convinced that Adventure Express at PKI was supposed to be an Indiana Jones ride before that was a Paramount park. (Was it?) I don't know, totally a guess, but they did play the music there the last time I was there. There was a rumor about four or five years back that they were going to put in an actual Indiana Jones ride. I AM SO SAD THAT PKI IS CEDAR POINT NOW. D= I hope they renew the Paramount licenses...? I mean, the Tomb Raider ride will kind of be dumb now, and I love that ride. =( Bets on whether Congo Falls goes back to being called Amazon Falls? AND WHO'S EXCTIED FOR FIREHAWK hell yeah. (You all probably rode it last summer while I was gone, I know. But I never got to ride King Cobra before it got taken out [I WAS TOO SHORT DAMMIT], and I really want to ride a standup coaster.)

...Lol. Crappy fact today. I don't care, I think the fact that I actually posted lots of realiztic historical information makes up for that. Fine, here's a TWOFOR! Hawaii + Indiana Jones: Indy IV filmed some on the coast of the Big Island. I think close to Kona maybe...?

HOW CAN IT BE MARCH ALREADY, DAMN.

Oh, I remembered another one of my "weird word" uses. I like to say "awesome possum" and "neato burrito" a lot. Haha.

( I also wiki'd Mad Anthony Wayne a little for you! )

SUMMARY: Wayne negotiated the Greenville Treaty that put the Ohio into the union. rock on

Ooh, also fell asleep watching Kiss Me, Kate today. (I didn't get enough sleep last night.) Pretty good musical, yay Cole Porter! And yay Shakespeare. But FUCK a play within a play within a play. AAAAAH gotdamn.

woooooo

[EDIT] I WANT A CHANTILLY CAT

And I totally stole this from somebody, it's hilarious:

I AM TRAVELLING BY MYSELF TO HAWAII TOMORROW

TOMORROW

I do not have time to write about the complexities of what's happening in my brain right now but the summary is

=D D= !!!!!!!!!!!!!








PS good news--don't have to friendslock, I created a separate journal for my family to read while I'm away. =) (username=hawaiianajones if you're interested... it will pretty much all be crossposted here, though. It will just be a "cleaner" version...haha)

Due to the fact that many of my friends follow Xanga, I update there more than here, but often with pointless posts just adressing issues or the like. Anyway, just this once I'm going to copy my post over to this blog; it was long and important and I don't want to rewrite it, with all the issues I covered. So, here we go:
"Wow, you guys left a lot of comments lately. Haha. Aaanyway, I kind of realized I like my othe blog more than Xanga because Xanga's protected entries can only be for 10 friends if you have a free acount, and that sucks.

So. An update. Visited the gradeschools today. Tell ya what. Best part of my day was learning how to conduct 3 versus 2 (for those who don't get it, 3 on one hand, 2 on the other). Yeah, so... life is kind of teh suck right now. I mean, I'm not depressed or anything it's just that there have been a million better times in my life than what's oging on right now. Argh, Grapes of Wrath, you spite me so!

What would be really sweet (only a daydream here, folks, not actually going through with it... I have a lot of "ideas" like that) is to just run away and live out west survival style. I think I could do it. It'd be tougher at first, but I'm smart and eventually I'd settle into it and just be happy. I just want to wander around for the reat of my life, learning. I think that's what I do best. I don't necessarily need other people, I'm fairly individualistic. Oh, understatement of my life... Anyway. I just need to get away. Somehow. Problens plague me that I know I can handle, I just don't want to. I've had to deal with them a million times before and I know I'll get through but I'm ready for soemthing new.

Maybe go with Operation Courage, haha... yeah right. Anyway.

In less important news that makes me feel awfully ashamed and egotistical, I am very pissed at (a person). I PLAYED WITH MEAGHAN, I PLAYED WITH THE DR. BEAT, I PLAYED WITH EDGAR, AND YOU CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER I'M SLOW OR FAST?! DID YOU NOT NOTICE THE ONE THING THAT IS MUY RAPIDO IS THE DRUMLINE, THE ONE BEAT KEEPING DEVICE I WAS NOT WITH OUT OF FOUR?! IS IT A COINCIDENCE THAT THEY'RE TOLD TO NOT WATCH MEAGHAN BECAUSE "THEY'RE THE BEAT KEEPERS"?

Yeah. I needed to rant. Sorry to any drumline peeps out there, I'm not really mad at you, just (a person). If you feel insulted talk to me, I'll give you a hug or advice or something (*coughadvice#1watchmeaghancough*). Anyway. Rant done. Needed to vent. I apologize again and again if you think I'm a pompous egotistical prat, but I suppose fair is fair.

Grrrrrr....just grrr...OH MY GOD TOMORROW WE'RE PLAYING BOLERO! w00t

I had some other good news somewhere but I forgot it... I'm going to write up the Diagnosis Murder Themesong tomorrow... I learned how to do a flag toss and drop spin today and might be in Winterguard if Sou decides that me being gone for WGI percussion finals would not merit me being in winter perc... Um... ugh. Just UGH. Just GAH and ARGH and FRUSTRATION and CAPTIALLETTERSZOMGANGST. I feel... restless. But it's coming out as frustration, and therefore lots of emotion and crying and ARGH.

Yeah, so I still can't remember that random good news I had. Hum. I miss some people, the perky people. There's so much DRAMA now. I wish everyone was more like... happy friendly in person and kept drama to themselves. (That includes PDA, and some other types of good drama... yeah, hold hands, hug, but not much more. Thanks.)

I think I'm going to keep typing until I come up with what I was going to say. argh, that's not going to happen. My two cats are killing eachother in the other room... just kidding. In other news, I'm going to steal Domer's cat Jazz (yay for me liking cats).

I need a good stress reducer... (or restlessness reducer? maybe it's just the moolatte I had, with choclate. talk about caffiene. Maybe that's why I'm jumpy.) other than telling people my problems... because I am always paranoid that they're going to tell someone and get them spread all over or start being stressed out themselves about my problem and more argh.

I WANT TO TRAVEL! I WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING, SOMETHING BIG! I WANT TO TAKE ON A BIG PROJECT OF MY OWN... but I have all ideas and no time, and not enough people or ideas to help out *le sigh*

Why am I so stressed? What the frick happened to me? Why am I so... restless? argh, argh, argh, argh, argh, and more argh.

(Randomness: A cheetah (or leopard? whatev) can jump higher than a kangaroo.)

What's his name and his gaxillion RVs (oh...yeah, his name is Tom Raper.) is sending 200 RVs to areas affected by Katrina, full of supplies, for families to keep FOR FREE. Talk about generous! If only more HUMOUNGOUSLY RICH people did stuff like this all the time, the world owuld be such a much sweeter place! I mean... wow. That's so the shiz. (Yay! Shiz! Wicked! w00t! ...gotta get me some green opera gloves, and a black dress. Yes, strange. But I'm like that.)

Lastly, Westy, why do you have Laura's skirt... AT HOME? (Seriously, the joke was funny, but I didn't think you were actually going to take the skirt home.)

*awkward* =^n.n^="

Update: Stress level significantly down. YAY.
Uh... yeah not much happened today. More updates later. =^n.n^=

(Oh, Domer left me a note on my Xanga saying that afer I hung out with his cat for a good two hours [the DCI thing], the cat is not crazy anymore, and I am now "The Cat Whisperer." Just thought I'd share that nerdiness. Haha.)