The Daily Adventures of Mercat

Yeah, so, even though I got back last night and could have posted, I'm technically still on spring break and enjoying the relaxation, plus a multitude of other issues I will get to later.

God, I have so much to write and right now I just do not freaking care. So, in the meantime, linkspamination!

Goddamnit, I did not know it was this possible to hate crocs. They are already the ugliest shoe on the planet... are these really necessary?! (BTW, only the classic style are truly horrific. The Mary Janes and flipflops are perfectly acceptable; it's just that the regular ones make everyone but toddlers look like ridiculous gardeners.) But this, I just... I have no words. What the shit are those things?!

Oh, HELL NO. Fuck you, scientology. You're worse than the effing commies.

Wow, I am a lazy-ass. I have lots of links and news to make up for my week of Indy-countdown absence, but I am just not in the mood to be posting them. (53 days)

Bleh. I am just not really in the mood today.

Yay nice day today! Tried to sleep in again but that damn rooster woke me up again. We went to a super sweet zipline which was fun for the first few rides, but later it was just sort of a nice view and now my inner thighs are sore because of that freaking harness and the whole thing not really being set up for short people. Grr. And I don't know if I just ran out of adrenaline or if I was disappointed we weren't at Kipu falls and the ropeswing or if listening to Laura and Savannah have a general disregard for societal politeness drove me kind of crazy, anyway, I got bored about halfway through. I dunno, I think if you're already going to put up a zipline, why not put up a hard-core superfast one? I mean, these were nice and all, but they started off high, fast, and long and got lower, slower, and shorter. You would think you'd finish it off with a good one down the hill face or something...

Anyway it was really beautiful where we were, though, and interesting to learn a little about the area. The land it's all on is beautifully pristine, and privately owned. It used to be a sugar plantation but like all the others in Hawaii, it closed in debt. (Last one to, I believe? Basically, when Hawaii became a state, labor laws kicked in and the cost of sugar skyrocketed to pay for wages, effectively killing this market.) So along comes this guy, Steve Chase, who just buys it up. And of course all the locals are worried because if you have that kind of money you're probably going to want to develop it for businesses and stuff, but. So everyone was kind of surprised when he not only kept it development-free, he paid off the debt, paid retirement for the workers, and leases the land out to local farmers for $15/acre per year. Apparently the guy who created AOL (and subsequently made his billions selling it to Time Warner) is from Kauai, and nobody knew it until he bought the land. So this zipline/tubing business is the only one allowed back on the land. Though, last summer they were filming a movie there, the one that's coming out soon with Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller. It actually seems pretty interesting, I just read an article about it; it's about an actor in a Vietnam war film, but it's Robert Downey Jr. who decides to take on the role and in order to do so has to become a black guy. Craziness. But, Ben Stiller directing and acting so it can't be that bad, right? (Not as bad as I Am Legend, by far, which was sold out at the grocery store for $20.99. Wut?)

So then we came back and lazed around and mom and dad took a walk on the beach (and mom picked up a cowrie that we found out a few hours later was still alive, so I had to walk down to the tidal pool and throw it back in, lol), and then we drove into town to look around and pick up some more necessities and stuff. I got a cheapo lavalava (which, it really pisses me off that they're all sold as "sarongs" here) that's yellow with blue flowers (utterly fantastically tropical and tacky), and we also found the best thing ever at Safeway. A dinosaur sandwich cutter. What it does is decrust (who cares) a sandwich so it is diagonally cut (essentially) in the shape of two brontasauri. (Brontasauruses? Apatosauri? oh fuck me, I really don't care.)

Probably the most awesome thing to ever happen to a sandwich.

In other news my mind's been totally in the gutter the past few days. I mean, no big surprise, that's pretty much how band kids are all the time, right on? Well, yes, but at the same time it's quietly in the gutter when in mixed company (ie with not band kids). But Laura and Sav have been on a "that's what she said" kick, and they are the kind of people who say whatever they want, whenever they want, as loudly as they want, without caring whether what they said was impolite to be overheard by everyone around them. (Which was kind of a problem earlier today as they have no problem gossiping or mocking or dropping the f-bomb, and we were ziplining with a family with a slightly retarded son. Not the best sitch.) Anyway, what with Melissa and I training eachother last semester into "whatever whatever" "you whateverwhatever" "your mom whateverwhatever" "your face whateverwhatever"
"your mom's face whateverwhatever", it has all resulted in some interesting things coming out of my mouth and a lot of laughing.

And there are a lot of things that halfway through saying them I'm just like "oh damn, I set myself up again." It's getting rather annoying, tbqh. Not even the joke, just the mind-in-the-gutter-ness. Eh, it'll pass.

So anyway we came back and watched V for Vendetta, which I forgot how much I loved. I had only seen it the day around when it came out (a Wednesday) late night senior year with Rob and Lara. Somehow we all decided that we'd go see it and convinced our parents that I needed to see it for my senior thesis for Hemmert, which involved masks. That wasn't the real reason but I did end up using it in the paper. (But that paper was a piece of shit, I rambled on for ten pages without ever making a point.) Anyway I pretty much fell in love when they started it with the 1812 Overture, which has been my favorite piece of music since as long as I can remember (thank you Ernie Kovacks and Grandpa.). But there are so many good things about it that I enjoy; a lot of the message is good, there's art and music appreciation, literature references, costumes and a good futuristic manipulated-government storyline. (What's the word I'm looking for here? Like the opposite of anarchy...?) Anyway, and the whole time I just kept thinking "haha, it really does fit so well with Anonymous" even though I think they wear the mask originally because of Epic Fail Guy. I could be wrong, it's all rather complicated, especially when lulz are involved. But, the "a revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" pretty much hooked the "we did it for the lulz" connection for me.

Who wants to go blow up cannons (or something) for the 1812 with meh?

[[sorry but I'm about to collapse so tomorrow I'll edit in my Indy fact (I forget what I was going to say anyway...) and some tags for this sucker.]]

[EDIT] Well it's been a few days so I'm not going to add much, just that LJ ate the txt-to-post that I had sent previous to posting this. I don't know where it went and I can't check my phone because it's disappeared from the sent folder. Oh well, I don't think it said anything particularly important anyway, just that I wasn't getting good internet and yay 59 (?) days.

Yay! I got to the airport fine, pretty much a whole hour early. I called a cab and the guy was really nice, he knew who the Flyers were and talked to me the whole way. =) Nice cabbies are a blessing on the earth, lol. So I wandered around the airport a little trying to figure out where I could meet my parents (had to aska security guard how to get downstairs to baggage claim--the escalator was closed off), and then sat around trying to figure out where they were coming in from. Around twelve I figured my best guess was O'Hare so I went and sat by the baggage claim and read some Douglas Adams. That man is a genius. Anyway, they showed up around two (they landed at 1:35) and we got the luggage and the rental car and found the condo-thingy and walked up and down Waikiki a little and then got dinner at Lulu's. They got rid of the Elviki! I'm kind of sad. I'm hoping they just moved them upstairs to the club or something. But still, Elviki is like perfect 50's kitsch. I got a Magnum PI burger, which is a bacon cheeseburger with guac. Not only is that sort of thing delicious I just kind of went "hee Indiana Jones" like you would expect me to, lol. I had a virgin pina colada (pretend there's a tilde on my "n"), actually the first since I've been here. I don't go out to eat that often but I just found out that there's a really good, pretty inexpensive greek place a block away! That is so taking over for Subway. Hummus/pita/kalamata olives? Oh hells yes. Anyway, I think I can tolerate pineapple more, but I still think straight up pineapple would be too strong for me. But the apple-pineapple juice they have at the caf that they soak the apples in isn't too bad. For desert we had something called the Foster's (or Frosters?), which was vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel topping with banana slices. Pretty good, though I'm not a huge fan of bananas in my ice cream. All in all a very Elvis meal.

Speaking of apples, the last few days when I've snacked on apples, it's aggravated this pain in my jaw. The pain is kind of throughought my jaw, but my ears feel tight, too (like they're on the verge of popping), and the other day my neck started hurting. Yesterday I kind of freaked for a moment because I thought it might be mono (there was an outbreak on campus), but I thought maybe just TMJ. But it definitely is painful and gives me little headaches and makes it difficult to sleep. I talked to mom and dad today though and they think I've either started grinding my teeth in my sleep (that would be a weird trigger, since I'm less stressed for once in my life) or that sleeping on the couch is too awkward for my neck, which is actually plausible but makes me kind of sad. So we'll have to see.

Oh, I forgot to post on Sunday that one of the guys living at IT (Timmen or Timmeh or something?) said that my skull ring was BA when I put it on. Lol. It's kind of funny but also awesome when guys comment on jewelry. =P

Let's see, otherwise... just two classes tomorrow and maybe uke lessons and I am done! Plus these classes are all fun... I love it here. Really.

63 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Woo! Today's trivia: Apparently Lucasfilm sort-of released a statement the other day that the diamond Indy goes after in ToD is the Peacock's Eye, a diamond he was after he was younger (which you can see in the YIJC). Everyone kind of guessed/suspected this because they looked the same, but it's a good chance that it's sort of a fanservice-afterthought. ;)


Ugh... I don't want to do lauuuundryyyy...

I haven't decided about the LJ strike tomorrow. I really don't think it will do much good, and since LJ seems to have posted an apology (though not very well), I will stick through to see what happens. I'm not really against the ads, I can see why they would have to add them, it's a business. I'm just very ticked off they didn't say anything, tried to hide it, and didn't use the resources in front of their faces. So... anyway. =/ If I do get internet in the condo (which will probably be better than wireless here?!), I will probably be posting. A strike seems kind of futile, though I could support some sort of movement for the cause.

Plus I have my dedication to my 100 days 100 posts... ;D Oh, silly, silly.

In the meantime, I have a brief assignment and some email inbox-clearing to attend to...

Just watched Legally Blonde again, too. It's actually pretty decent. I think a lot of stuff in movies went over my head when I was a kid, so I liked it but I didn't really get it or remember it all. But that could be a lie, even movies I love, if I give them some breathing space, I forget things about that I enjoy rediscovering. =)

[EDIT] Note to self: "strike" tags do not work in titles.

Augh, screw my computer. I finally get back and I'm halfway through catching up on everything I missed this summer... and now it's broken. I don't know if it's hardware or software yet (I'm praying to god it's software), but as soon as I get it back and actually do catch up on everything... there will be a post of legitimate substance.

I HATE YOU, WINDOWS

Well... yeah. Here it is, Christmas Eve, and once again, it blows. Actually, this year it's worse. (Christmas Eve dinner-- way fucking expensive, and not particularly great. Would hav been happier at Taco Bell. And lots of family suckage.)

This upcoming year, I am going on a search for our lost Christmas Mystery. I mean, I can sit here when it's dark, alone, with my hat on, and my nails painted (though not this year) and revel in the fact it's Christmas Eve, while God Rest Ye plays.

But tomorrow will suck. And the following days will suck.

And just... what happened to Christmas? ='(

oh my FUCKING god. My family does not understand the meaning of, I dunno, relaxing. After watching Doctor Who (hooray) for two hours, they decided we'd meet the rest of the family at the restaurant at the top of the mountain they were skiing at. Only it wasn't a restaurant, it was a lodge foodline. And it took us FIVE GODDAMN FUCKING HOURS. So now we're FINALLY back to the house, and I can sit down to read my book, and you know WHAT? WE'RE GOING OUT TO GODDAMN DINNER.

This blows, mucho majorly. So, looks like less skiing for me so I can do more reading later (which is not a loss to me, but my family, but for now I DON'T CARE. It's vacation, I want some me time). I am SO not happy at the moment.

I will be out of town until the 12th, with no internet, so if you need or want to talk, call me on my cell. Then I will be back with updates (and probably pictures)!

Aloha always! =^n.n^=

MELE KALIKIMAKA, ALL! Yes, I know it is Christmas on your clock. But to me, it just very late on Christmas Eve, and Santa hasn't come yet. Alas, I can't do a special Christmas update like I traditionally do; I have to sleep so I can catch the plane to the Big Island (Hawaii) tomorrow (we're on Oahu in Honolulu [Waikiki] right now... on the ocean, looking at Diamond Head...it's AMAZING).

So, I must just say MELE KALIKIMAKA:


and ALOHA and MAHALO for all your gifts this season!

=^n.n^= and \mn/ (Hang loose!)

*sigh* Yeah, I know, w00t, going to Hawaii. I mean, I'm excited, but... it's Christmas. I want to be home for Christmas. Anyway. I learned that the December Hindu holiday is Pancha Ganapati, so:

Happy Christmahanakwaanzadansticeyulapati, or no holiday at all! (That last bit is for the athesists.)

Anyway, had a pretty good day-- sorry to Rachel for forgetting to get you your present... Ty got me a PlayDoh sheep thingy...LOL... gotta go out and buy the tiki now, haha. I found these Rock-em-Sock-em Robot rings for the guys, and they liked them. YAY. Lara got me a "Hawaii Survival Kit" which had a lei, sleep medicine (yay spain stories...) and motion-sickness medicine (in case my head explodes again on the plane). I've managed to not take too much stuff in my carry-ons this time. Oh, my light-up necklace caused quite a stir! Don't worry, I'll wear it to Alicia's New Year's Party and all-- after all, Christmas goes on after that! (At least, I think I'll be there for the party-- no guarantees.)

After school was JAM, which rocked. We did one spontaneous prayer, which I like better than reading the passage and answering questions. (I dunno, I'm just bad with that. My mind tends to wander and I can't ever think of anything applicable that's very good. Singing is my form of prayer, pretty much; that and thinking alone or with friends on stuff. Not that I hate church, it just doesn't impress me that often.) So we sang lots of carols and it was AWESOME. Then the 6 band kids who were there decided to completely wing God Rest Ye with what we could pull together-- Westy on set, Alicia on flute, Kevin on alto sax, Fisher on first trumpet, Domer on euphonium (sightreading music on a different staff AND transposing keys--can you say HOLY CRAP?!), and me sightreading the first horn part. Lara played the jingle stick but that was kind of disastrous, so about half way through we all tuned her out, lol. It was kind of empty at times, but people seemed to like it, we had fun playing what we wanted to, and it makes a sweet ringtone for Ty's phone. This day is the first day everything started to feel like Christmas. I can't wait to listen to my burned Christmas mix on the plane (although I forgot "The Christmas Shoes," but that's ok, I'd cry anyway).

I have a picture for a gift I promised last year. It will be up, at the latest, when I get back.

Have a rhapsodical Christmas and a eupeptic New Year! =^n.n^=