The Daily Adventures of Mercat

Wow, so today we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

If you ever go to Hawaii, DO IT. It's AMAZING. You see those movies of reefs with all the anemones and stuff, so you're kind of shocked that everything is so bleached when you first get in the water. But once you make it past the barrier, the water is colder and deeper, and a lot fewer people snorkel out there because the pull is stronger. But the coral starts to get color, and the fish are more numerous, and it's absolutely fucking nuts. It's gorgeous. I'm going to try my best to talk my mom and dad into going, because my mom hardly ever goes swimming anymore but it's not difficult. But she rides bikes, so as long as it we took it slow I think her back and her knee would be fine, I mean you get flippers. (My toes cramped a little, and my ankles hurt after a few hours, but it was TOTALLY worth it. If we go again I will invest in an underwater camera DEFINITELY.) I saw a good number of fish, stuff I remembered from that lagoon on the Big Island (which sucked because it was a manmade lagoon and was too shallow, so there was lots of sand that got stirred up and not many fish because there was no where to feed and it was too warm, but the turtles were cool except that you lost them if you weren't three feet away) like parrot fish and the humuhumukunukunupuapua'a (state fish of Hawaii!) and angelfish and just freaking EVERYTHING. It was amazing. The coral kind of looks all the same, until you look closer. It's amazing. And all these different types of urchins hiding in the rocks, too. I think I somehow scraped my knees on some rocks/coral without knowing?! Meh, it doesn't hurt. God, I can't get over how beautiful it is, it really is like going to a completely different world. I'm going to get some pictures up, but none of them are underwater. =(

Also, speaking of having a totally cracked out day, after we left Hanauma Bay and had our cookout on Ala Moana beach, we were laying out (napping yaaaay) while the people who went back with the van (we had to turn it in at three) came back on the bus. And guess what. They fucking ran into David Beckham. LOL. I wonder what I would have done if that were me. First of all, I hate soccer. Second of all, my roommates and I mercilessly make fun of that stupid underwear ad (Calvin Klein or something?) because there is a WALL-SIZED version of it at the Ala Moana mall, and it's so ridiculous. Third, for some reason I have it in my mind that he's a douche? But I don't know if that's actually something I read somewhere or I only thought that because I was half-asleep on the beach.

I have a feeling I would have given it a totally sarcastic face, especially because I am one of those people who believes in not freaking out when you meet celebrities, but treating them like normal human beings. (I have yet to put this into application, because the only celebrities I ever met were Maynard Ferguson [who was kind of being a douche] and Winnie the Pooh at Disneyworld, and I think I am perfectly justified in smiling like a dork at hugging Winnie the Pooh.) Also, I totally can't get this hilarious image out of my mind of him going to the Ala Moana mall and just laughing at that damn ad. I mean SERIOUSLY.

I'm kind of inclined to not believe them until they post pictures, so if they do I will swipe them and repost them for proof for you guys. (Haha, I am such a paranoia freak.)

Oh damn, my third thought after all that was that I kind of wish I had met him so I could send back photos to my sister and two cousins who all adore soccer. I am such an evil bastard sometimes.

Guess what, guys! 88 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! 88 days! Yaaaaaay! Sorry, I get kind of excited because 88 is my lucky number, and always has been. (When I was little I used to think 88 was inifnity... I'm not really sure why. I mean, I could count to a hundred easily. I also quickly realized that I was born in 1988 and a piano has 88 keys and I thought that thinking it was inifnity was cute in a silly kind of way, so it became "my" number.) In celebration the image you see as my icon is also now my facebook photo. =D Today's trivia: I'm going to guess you all knew that the mine car chase from Temple of Doom was originally an idea for Raiders, and I already told you about the infamous swordsman fight scene. So how about another removed scene? When Indy escapes from the Bantu Wind onto the Nazi sub in order to follow the ark they have reclaimed, they obviously don't show him sneaking into the sub, as it would be a rather difficult thing to do. In a removed (I believe never filmed?) scene (shown in the comic books, however), Indy used his whip to tie himself to the sub (I think the periscope) and ride through the seas that way. Rather tiring, though, wouldn't you think? However, in actuality, most subs in that time (including the Nazi submarines) only traveled underwater when being sneaky. The rest of the time they traveled at the surface, so the scene was unnecessary as Indy probably wouldn't have had to worry about it. Also, the submarine used in Raiders is the same one used for the movie Das Boot, which was being filmed around the same time and saved the movie lots of money by not having to build their own model.

Also, we saw a sub today out at the Ala Moana beach. Crazy.

I almost forgot to do my update today, guys! I've been catching up on webcomics. (Yeah, I know.) They are awesome (especially when they have Indiana Jones references--I love nerds).

Yes, yes, I know, I have no life. But I'm going snorkeling at Hanauma Bay tomorrow, so that's pretty exciting. =D

I'm still working on that epic post, I promise, I'm just trying to get over the moodiness and crying because I miss my Nana every so often. I think for the first (maybe second, if you count this summer) time in my life, I might actually be experiencing homesickness. I don't know though, it seems like everyone I know who got homesick just didn't want to be where they were and wanted to go home for pretty much no reason at all. I really love it here, and yeah I'm trying to work up the guts to do something by myself (like ride the effing bus without getting lost), but I just miss everyone back home a little (I miss laughing a lot), and that lead to this whole thing about missing high school, and oh my god that just pulled me deeper and deeper into "hate college life" zone.

But!

Becky and Megan and Aaby sent me a silly card that made my day. It's just so silly that I laughed out loud in the middle of a parking lot. Heh. Yay for having friends who can make you laugh.

Also, believe it or not, reading webcomics (specifically Shortpacked! this time around) is getting me less worried about Indy IV. The comic is about how comics fans are way too obsessive about stuff and end up not being able to enjoy stuff like they did when they were younger and first discovered stuff. Believe it or not it's relaxed me a lot.

Also, if you're looking for webcomics I would recommend xkcd, Questionable Content, and Starslip Crisis. (There are a lot of other good ones, though, too.) I think in order to combat my boredom (because all my craft supplies are at home, and in order to procrastinate about working out some more) I may actually get back on working on the webcomic Johnny and I started. =)

Anyway, for spending all this time moping, I am in a good mood, though I am about to fall asleep at the computer due to roommate issues (rant forthcoming).

Tangent--You know, it's really interesting to see what little things you pick up as you go through life. Generally mine are speech pattern things, and it's just interesting to see where they came from because I don't very often see how I worked them into my own style, exactly. For example, I now say "also" a lot and then go off on some seemingly tangential thing (though in reality my brain isn't very tangential--there's a path in there that I can see, just it's often so "6 steps of Kevin Bacon" type that I don't bother explaining), which I'm pretty sure I picked up from Dinosaur Comics, because T-Rex seems to do that a lot at the end of comics. He gets to his point and then says "Also, (some weird comment)." I don't know how I picked that up though, I never consciously did that. I know I kind of picked up Austin Powers (especially Dr. Evil) quotes because my sister and I used to quote them all the time, but yeah. I'll keep track of any more I notice.

I've noticed that when I try to make my brain come up with random words, it usually jumps to "hippopotamus" or "cupcakes." I don't know why. I think cupcakes are inherently cute-random because of cat macros or something, though. (By the way, the cake is a lie. Does anyone know how to say that in Latin? Also, I found out that one of my band friends from high school INVENTED PORTAL. That is unbelievably cool, because that game is amazing.)

Also, this morning, I got up and it went something like this:

My Brain: Von Danaken! (Yes, my brain misspells things when I'm tired.)
Me: Von Daniken? wtf? Why is the first thing I thought about this morning von Daniken?

FYI, Von Daniken is the guy who thinks that anything remotely beyond one human's power was done by aliens; the pyramids, the South American pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and the settling of the Pacific islands. Yeah, so.

I don't know where it came from, either, because my dream last night definitely did not have anything to with von Daniken. Or aliens, or anything. (I believe it had to do with ninja-sneaking into some sort of concert or something so that we could perform. Or to watch some movie in a secret above-stage den, or something. Some kind of party that involved sneaking into, and it was above this very large room. All I can picture is the room, so, sorry about that.)

Does anyone else have dreams that ocurr in the same places as dreams you had years ago, but not the same thing happens? I've never had a recurring dream, only dream places. (That or a ridiculous sense of deja vu.) The other night I had a dream that I was in this neighborhood built around our actual house, and I know I've had dreams there before. (I was being chased by some kind of alien nazis, or something, and they were forcing me to look for something. And I tried to run home or something, and I ran out on the porch and these giant bees came through the screen. I remember they were super fuzzy like bumblebees and were called buffalo bees or something not only because of their size, but when they squished through the holes in the screen their heads looked like bison heads. And anyway they were some sort of message harbinger or something and they all had these white earthenware mask-trinkets that were a symbol for me to go back to the nazis and show them what I had found years before in the previous dream. [That almost always happens when I have a recurring dream place--I know I've been there before, and usually why, though the why isn't always true.] Anyway so I went back outside and proved to them that I had already done what they'd asked by years before digging up our front lawn [which was stll very dug up] looking for a crystal skull which I'd found and yes believe it or not this is the first time that I can recall I've had an Indiana Jones reference in one of my dreams. Usually my dreams are just so weird that they relate to nothing or little in real life. I don't recall having a single "corps dream" this summer though they are apparently common occurrence. ANYWAY.)

89 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Today's trivia: Much of the mine car chase in Temple of Doom was filmed with miniatures on a track, and a camera on a track behind/in front of them. The cave walls were made with painted aluminum tinfoil. I think that's so cool. I'm wondering though, when/if they put these out for BluRay, are they going to digitally clean those scenes up or something? Because you can already tell they're superfake. Meh. The only reason I care about BluRay details is so I can obsess over details, so yeah, it's not that important.

Also, I had a request for a little information about Tom Selleck, so here goes. He was originally supposed to play Indiana Jones, but eventually had to back out because of his contract for Magnum P.I. I have the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" old board game and from the sketch (which was a character sketch) you can tell he was what they were originally looking for (ah, here it is), but it would have been a totally different character (more like James Bond), because Ford added a lot to it. I saw his screen test a while back, but I don't remember where it was or I would totally link it for you. (I don't think Marion was Karen Allen for that test, but I could be wrong.) (Nope, imdb is telling me it was Sean Young.)

Ok, yay trivia! =D Tomorrow is exciting... lucky 88 days.

[EDIT] Link to board game was forbidden (curse you, Google images), so I linked another one. Let me know if it doesn't work.

I'm just going to do this now, so I can get it out of the way and anyone who actually cares is on track. ;D

90 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Today's trivia: Just in case you hadn't figured it all out, the beginning of Last Crusade explains some of Indy's quirks; why he's afraid of snakes, why he has a whip, where he got the hat, and where he got the scar on his chin (which is actually from when Ford was in a car crash).

That feels cheap. Does anyone else think that feels cheap? I have a feeling I'll add something else with my later post.

(Also, two days until lucky number 88! w00000t)

[EDIT] I'm totally trying to break my smiley habit, but I decided this post needs an Indy smiley for good measure.

E|;D