'Please Hogan... why do you do this to me?'

School for this week started off with English classes where Mrs. G read from some of the students' comments about the class, like whether the assignments seem boring or if we could go over more 'grammar work'. We then took a quiz which was pretty confusing; I hope I didn't mess it up too much. We then had a discussion on our reading assignment from last week on 'The Truth About Lying'. An interesting topic for discussion though it was REALLY annoying when this one students kept going on and on and on about his own personal life. :S He's really annoying whenever he talks because he talks fast and stumbles over his word so it sounds like he's slurring the whole time. *rolls eyes* A lot of us in class were trading glances and trying not listen... :P

Had lunch at home and watched an episode of Hogan's Heroes before going off to Math class. Very easy class, we actually went over two sections though we still finished thirty minutes early. :P So after class I took a few minutes to call up Naomi; she's in Ohio now having got there safely earlier this morning.

Ballet class was tough as always; I have to work really hard to be able to do any pirouettes. I'm still trying to strengthen my ankles so that I can probably go on the balls of my feet as high as I can.

Went home and read up last week's Entertainment Weekly magazine since I had to catch up what with the new issue arriving today. :P Then did my math homework and started on my English essay for which the first draft is due this Wednesday. Such a boring topic... about American TV talk shows. :S

Since Erin was still at class, Maki and I ate dinner just the two of us while watching a few episodes of Hogan's Heroes before trudging off to our rooms continue work on our English papers. lol! Seriously, we were almost going at a snail's pace back to our room...

We later on had an interesting experience when we heard kids yelling out 'Trick or Treat!!!' outside our house. Thankfully, we had little treat bags filled with goodies which Ericson had given us from the Pumpkin Party on Saturday. So we gave the goodies away and the kids were really happy about that. *wink!* Yeah, it's Halloween today... we're not celebrating in any way but we did put out our pumpkins in front of our door.

I've almost finished up my English essay but I'm going to 'tweak' it tomorrow. I think I have a History quiz tomorrow... oh well, probably not too difficult and besides, it's a quiz on Roman History! ^_^ Fun!

The Trouble With Harry...

Today we had our service with just the three of us; Erin, Maki and I. It's a bit 'odd' without Naomi. :P Erin led the service today and preached on Our Relationship With God; how we have to seek a truly personal relationship with God, not just the type of relationship with the church.

Went to the 10:30 service and was able to see and talk to quite a few people. After the service, we ate out with Kaori and Ericson at a Chinese restaurant at Kahala. I got the lunch buffet and ate sooooo much! The food is really, really good though the 'hot and sour soup' wasn't too 'hot'. :P It was still good though and we had great fellowship together.

After dropping off Kaori at her homestay place (she's staying at one of the Kaimuki church family's house) then went home to basically just really, REALLY relax for the rest of the afternoon. At first I was doing some writing then Maki and I watched a couple of Hogan's Heroes episodes. Such a great show!

Kind of dozed off later on then had a chance to chat with my parents then later on talked with Naomi on the phone. She was at the Seattle airport at the time, waiting to board her flight for Ohio. She sounded a little tired but from all that she said I think she's already having a great time over there. ^_^ I hope she has a nice flight and gets to her next destination safely!

We had dinner fairly late, around 8:00 since I was on the phone with Naomi then Erin talked to her for a bit, too. Erin made dinner which was very good; nice to eat home. We watched The Trouble With Harry while eating. It's been a while since I've seen it so it was especially fun to watch if after such a long time. I love the banter which is very witty and sooo dry. Here's one of my favorite scenes from the movie when Sam (John Forsythe) is talking to little Arnie:

Sam: Perharps I'll come back tomorrow.
Arnie: When's that?
Sam: The day after today.
Arnie: That's yesterday. Today's tomorrow.
Sam: It was.
Arnie: When was tomorrow yesterday?
Sam: Today.
Arnie: Oh, sure. Yesterday.

LOL! Such a funny scene; the look on Sam's face is priceless!

Now I'm going to finish up my blog then perhaps do some more creative writing before heading off to bed. The 11th week of school is about to begin!

Pumpkins are Fun to Carve!

Ah, very interesting day today. ^_^ This morning I had tap class which was fun as always. The song is almost done! It's kind of embarrassing though because everyone makes me dance up front because I'm one of the very few who has actually memorized what we've done so far. :P I thank my teacher back in Japanese for learning how to memorize quickly and keep it memorized. lol!

Went home and had lunch of leftover pizza while watching a few episodes of Hogan's Heroes. After than, the three of us went over to Border's bookstore at Ward because we had downloaded 20% off coupons from the internet. I think both Maki and Erin got calendars while I took a looooong time to decide what I wanted. :P At first I wanted to get the 100 All Time Best TV Theme Songs but it cost around $18 even with the 20% off coupon. So I finally narrowed down to buying a dvd and had a difficult time choosing between two movies. In the end, I decided upon The Trouble With Harry, an Alfred Hitchcock movie which I've always liked but I only had one which I'd taped in Japan (commercials and scenes cut out... :S).

Went home and I watched the thirty minute documentary of The Trouble With Harry which was really fascinating with lots of interesting trivia. Like the trivia about The Trouble With Harry's musical score was Hitchcock's favorite of all time; he even liked it better than Psycho or even North By Northwest! Haven't watched the actual movie yet, but I'm already very happy with the choice I made. ^_^

Maki and I were going to the church 'young people/college students' Pumpkin party at the church and since we had to wear 'orange clothes' if possible, we were trying to decided what to wear. It all came down to Erin being the only one among the four people living here together to have any orange clothes. :P She was very nice enough to lend Maki and I some orange shirts. Many thanks to Erin!

The party started off with mostly doing some ping-pong and fuseball which was lots of fun. We also had some very nice food for dinner, including spring rolls, sushi, vegetables and dip, and shrimp! Yum...

We also played some games including one wear two gummy rings were connected to each other with a piece of 'floss' string; two people each put one of the gummy rings in their mouths and had to pull them away from each. Whoever's gummy ring was the srongest (with the string on it at the end) is the winner. An interesting game... hard to explain so if you don't really understand it, I sincerely apologize. :P

The next game was one where mini marshmallows are put on a plate then covered completely with flour. Then the referee will time how many marshmallows each team can take out the marshmallows using a toothpick... but you don't use the toothpick with your hands but from using the toothpick in your mouth. So you can imagine your face really close to the plate full of flour so you had to be really careful to not breath in the flour or blow on it. It's was sooo hard because we were all laughing so much! Ericson did not help Bao and I (who were teamed together) by actually blowing at the flour on our plate! :p

Next thing we did was divide the group into two groups and we had to carve a pumpkin. My team included myself, Ardell, Anna, Nadine and Sloane. We decided on a lion pumpkin and it turned out really cute! Got really dirty though... it was just so much fun though because it was my first time to carve a pumpkin! The other team did a cat which was really cute, kind of like an anime cat. ^_^

Ericson and Sol were the judges and the winning team was... team #1, my team! But both pumpkins were really cute, they said they had a hard time deciding. So congrats to both sides for excellent pumpkins!

Played Chinese ping pong which you go round and round the table, taking turns. If you mess up three times, you're out and little by little people are eliminated. In the end, it was always Bao, Ericson, and Sol against each other since they're really good ping-pong players.

Left a little before 10:00 and Maki and I got to take both pumpkins home which was really nice. Erin really liked them and thought they were soooo cute. We're putting them outside, one at each 'gennkann' of our house since we have a front door and a back door. Took a picture of my pumpkin when it's lighted up from inside. Cuuuute, don't you think? He's smiling! lol!

Tomorrow's Sunday, off to bed in a little while; good night!

Long, Busy Day

Ahhh... such a busy Friday! Well, first off, I slept very well and slept in, I mean really slept in as in didn't wake up at all until 9:00 or so. Usually I wake up sometime around 7 o'clock or so but I really slept straight through till 9. Felt nice, though prehaps I would have like to sleep some more. :P

Today was the day Naomi left for the mainland for her vacation so I drove her to the airport around 11:00 with Maki. She's off to Seattle first to see Nana, my aunt and uncle, and my father's cousin, the 'celebrated' Aunt Penny. :P Going to miss Naomi a lot...

Went straight to Heather's house to babysit Malia and Bella for a few hours. They were very good and we watched Dora and VeggieTales: Madame Blueberry. Very cute. :P Then I *thought* I brought a Hogan's Heroes dvd with me to Malia and Bella's house but when I opened the case, the disc wasn't inside!! :P So, watched an episode of Dick Van Dyke while the kids were taking their nap.

Heather came home and we talked a bit then we had to leave because I had my ballet class. Went home, got change and got my things before leaving for my class. In the process of learning a new pirouette called the pique pirouette. Pretty difficult...

Went home and after taking a very quick shower, went to pick Erin up from her internship. The highway and roads were sooo crowded! Ah, well... I was only a few minutes late to pick Erin up so she didn't have to wait too long. I *finally* had some time to relax after running around all day then Erin dropped me off at the church around 6:00 to practice with worship team before the service started at 7:00. It was lots of fun playing tonight as usual though it's sooo cold in the corner where the drumset is!

Pastor Ron, back from visiting the mainland, concluded the series on Jesus and other Religions, stating that Jesus is the ONLY way, the truth, and the life. Very good sermon, a good conclusion to what we've been hearing about.

Afterh the service, Erin, Maki and I had planned out an evening for some our church friends to come over to our house and watch Batman Begins while eating Pizza Hut or something. As it tunred out, only Ericson came over though we still had a great time with just the four of us. SUCH a fantastic movie; waaaaaay better than the preceding four Batman movies. Batman Begins is so superior to all these recent 'no-plot, just action' movies out there right now.

Now it's really, really late so I'm off to bed. Such a long day; am very sure I'm going to sleep well tonight. ^_^

Another Week of School Over

Today's History class was sooooooo much fun! I loooooove history, especially Roman history and we started from the 3rd Punic War and covered a lot of Pax Romana, I think up to Emperor Nero. I'm most definitely going to try to get into Cassity's 152 class next semester which I think would be lots of fun.

Went home and had lunch while watching an episode of Hogan's Heroes. Went to ASL class next; today we went over describing family members again. We split up into three groups with about five or six people in each group. We had brought pictures of our family and we had to explain each member, telling their names and such. My group was laughing when I said I have two dogs named 'Sophia Loren Stafford' and 'Bianca Audrey Stafford'. Movie star names... ^_^

Got home and after cleaning my room a bit, watched Dear Frankie. Excellent movie, though not a kids movie because they would be totally bored. It's a serious drama and because it's an independent film, it's fairly slow and 'plodding'. I liked Gerard Butler in it though; played a very nice character.

Since I wasn't hungry at all, I didn't eat dinner but went straight to church for the worship practice at 6:15. Neither Joe nor John were at the practice today so I had to kind of figure out how to play the songs by myself. :P I think I did pretty good, though I seriously think I need to practice more, not just for wroship practice but on my own.

Went home and had a small dinner and watched a few episodes of Hogan's Heroes with the other 'three girls'. ^_^ Like I said, we're all such big fans of the show now.

Off to bed now; it was nice though because I got to see Masa, Mayumi and Miriria on video chat when they stopped by my house back in Japan! Also, before I go off to bed, just want to mention that tomorrow is when Naomi's leaving for the mainland. Wishing her a safe and fun trip!

"Don't we get a trial or anything?" "This is Germany. Although I do appreciate your sense of humor..."

Got up and decided it was time I should finish my History reading assignment of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. It's really, really dull... nothing else to really comment about it. :P

Today's English class was evaluation day so one by one, Mrs. G called up the students to have a very, very short talk about how we're doing in class and what our midterm score was. While waiting, we had to write a reaction essay to a short essay from our textbook. When it was my turn, all Mrs. G told me was that I was a model student and that most definitely I'm going to probably get an A for the class (got an 'A' for my midterm paper). ^_^ I guess it's not surprise in a way but I'm happy that I actually was told from my teacher.

Because we could leave the classroom after talking with Mrs. G and writing the reaction essay, Nichelle, Maki and I left the classroom around 11:30. Since we had plenty of time before our next class, we left the campus by Nichelle's car and drove to Jack-in-the-Box. Maki and I got sandwiches there while Nichelle went next door to get Jamba Juice. There was a funny incident when I had to go get my jacket from Nichelle's car and because it has like a complicated alarm system, I triggered it by accident and I nearly jumped out of my skin when the car started flashing lights and the loud, LOUD alarm went off. :P Very funny... fortunately no police cars nearby or anything to inquire after what had happened.

Went back to campus and stopped by the bookstore for a bit. Felicia, my ASL classmate, works there so I was able to say hi. I think I want to get a KCC sweatshirt though I still couldn't decide which design I liked better. Ended up not getting anything.

Walked with Nichelle to her one o'clock class then after going our separate ways, Maki and I headed for the International Cafe. I'm thinking of taking the Japanese 298 class (the highest level class) because if I can take it, it'll count for four whole language classes, which will be nice so I don't have to take another higher level ASL class and take two classes for another language. Linda Fujikawa, the head of the JPN 298 class and involved in the International Cafe, was there and for those of you who know, she used to go to the same high school as my dad. ^_^ Interesting coincidence, huh? Anyway, she remembers Naomi and my dad and she *kind of* remembered me from when I saw her four years go; she was kind enough to answer all my questions. I thought that I would have to take some sort of test or something to get into that class but when I asked Linda about it, she said that I didn't have to and all I had to do was give her my student id number and she'll give me the waiver!! So hurray!

Math class was fairly easy today as usual; lots of fun 'calculator work'. ^_^ Ballet was lots of fun, too, as I *think* I'm getting better at doing pirouettes. So much fun, so much fun!

Nichelle drove me home and then I started trying to figure out what classes I'm going to try to take next semester. I think I've got it down to History 152 (with Mr. Cassity again), Geography 101, Geography 101 Lab, Japanese 298, Speech 151 and Theatre 121. We'll see how it goes; registration begins November 15th or so...

Had a nice audio chat with my parents and while Naomi took her turn to talk to them, I did my math homework (easy...). Didn't eat dinner until Erin came home around 8:00 then afterwards we all watched two episodes of Hogan's Heroes. We ALL four are big fans of it now... so much fun!

Well, getting late and I'm off to bed. I might be getting my History and ASL midterm exams... :S ARGH! 'See you' tomorrow! Ciao!

Busy, busy, busy

Today was a very busy day with lots of driving around. ^_^ First off, since I'm going to be having to drive Erin to and from her internship while Naomi goes on her vacation in a few days, I went with Naomi and Erin downtown so I can get used to the route. After dropping Erin off, Naomi and I went to Walmart since she needed to buy 'omiyage' for people she's going to be seeing in the mainland. Mostly lots of Hawaiian chocolates and snacks.

Being going home we stopped by Boba Loca's so we could get some drinks. Naomi got a mocha smoothie and I got a kiwi slushie, both of us having bobas inside (bobas are those black, tapioca balls). Boba Loca's has such delicious drinks, and so many varieties. I need to go often so I can try out all the different kinds... :P

As soon as we got home, Maki and went over to campus a bit earlier than usual so I could meet with Ami, my ASL teacher, for the one-on-one expressive test for the midterm. It was fairly easy; just holding a conversation with her so it was relaxing and fun!

Went straight to History class where Mr. Cassity announced he would maybe give back our midterms this Thursday. I hope so; it's better to get the results as soon as possible. At least in my opinion that is... Today we finished up on Alexander the Great and went into Roman history, stopping at the second Punic War. Oooh, Greece and Roman history is sooo much fun, with one of my favorite historical characters of all time, Hannibal!! (think 'Hannibal' Smith from The A-team) :P He was such a genius...

Dropped Maki off then went to pick Erin up. I panicked for a moment before getting on the highway when I realized I didn't remember the name of the exit I was supposed to take. :P Unfortunately, I'm pretty good with remembering thing 'visually' so I was able to pick Erin up no problem. ^_^

Had a quick lunch then it was right back to campus for ASL class. Had the written test today and though I wasn't too prepared for it, I think I did ok. At last, the midterms were over and done with! Half of the class was spent in taking the test so the rest of the time we resumed 'studying' as usual. Learned about 'families' today; it was funny because Ami taught like telling a story. She had characters, for example 'this student and this student get married, they have children, and two of the children get married and have children of their own'. She did this by picking out students and making them stand up front. :P Then through that, she explained how to say 'aunt', 'uncle', 'step-father', 'brother-in-law' and so on and so forth. Very fun way to learn. ^_^

Went by the library since Naomi was going to meet her two friends to help them with their work. I've been hearing about them so I wanted to meet them. :P The two of them are brothers and don't look similar at all but are very similar in character in lots of ways. Really funny guys.

As soon as I got home and was just about to watch a movie or something, Naomi called to say that she, JP and Brandon (the two brothers) needed to go by Barnes&Nobles so I drove to the campus to take them to Kahala. While they were at the bookstore, I walked over to Tower Records, though they still didn't have the album I wanted. :S I was sort of compensated when I went to records and got a book that I had wanted. ^_^

After Naomi, JP and Brandon were done, we drove them to Hawaii-Kai where they live. Since Naomi and I were going to go to Costco anyway, it was right on the way. Dropped them off and got lots of stuff at Costco (which is normal; this IS Costco we're talking about). :P I bought Hogan's Heroes 1st season dvd which I'm soooo happy about! I wanted to buy a special dvd with part of the money I earned for my first babysitting job and was thining that it was a good price for a tv series dvd. Then when I was paying for it, I found out that an additional $12 was taken off! So I got the five-disc dvd set for a very, very good price! Hurray!

Brought home some sashimi and california rolls from Costco so we had that for dinner when we got home. Maki and I (Erin popped in for a bit) watched the first two episodes from Hogan's Heroes. The first episode is sooooooooooooooooo good! I've really only seen the latter episodes and not really the first season episodes. It's really not as stupid as it got later on; still hilarious but seems a bit more thought out. Favorite characters are definitely Hogan, Newkirk, and Schultz. 'I know nothing... NOOOOOOTTTHING!"

We had prayer meeting in Maki's and my room today with Naomi leading. Afterwards, Erin, Maki and I presented Naomi with a present we had originally gotten her for a Christmas present but decided to give it for the completion of her surgery and her upcoming trip to the mainland. We got a small, very fluffy, very soft pillow which she can take on the airplane with her (she wanted to take my Genie pillow but I thought she'd like her own pillow, and something more 'Naomi-ish'). ^_^

Tomorrow I'm getting my midterm results for English... hope it turns out to be good news! Good night!

Mooooonday...

Fortunately, Nichelle had reminded me last night about our English homework so I did that this morning before heading to class. :P At first it was really strange because when Maki and I got to campus, we saw that the picnic tables weren't occupied so we were thinking maybe everyone had already gone into class. But when we went into our classroom no one was there! Well, it was still only fifteen minutes before class so we knew more people would come in later. Eric and David came in and until just a few minutes before class, we four were the only people in the class! Soon though, a total of about seven people came in just before class (and even after class had started). :P Even our teacher came in only a few minutes before 'time'.

Today's class was sooooooo dull and boring. We were learning about antecedents and pronouns; Maki and I were so bored learning about such 'basic' things but later we were shocked during the exercises when so many of the other students had NO clue about these basic grammatical elements! So odd... well, I guess it's normal but seriously, this is supposed to be college level, right? *sigh* Maki and I were doing ASL while our teacher was explaining and going over some of the grammatical rules. It's nice being able to communicate 'secretly'. :p

Went home and had a relaxing lunch before heading off to Math class. Got back our tests from last week but I already knew my score so hadn't been worried about it at all. ^_^ Hurray for 'A'! Now we're going over 'probability' right now; today we started off with the basics that both Maki and I knew from high school math so it was very easy. Left class really early so I spent a loooong time at the chapel doing my own stretches before ballet class began. I really like this time of doing 'dance' on my own without many people around. Also, Sharon is also there preparing for class but always takes time to give out helpful tips and pointers whenever she sees me practicing some difficult steps or techniques.

Today's class was tough as usual though fun in it's own way. Little by little I can 'feel' myself becoming better balanced as we do several exercises which will help out in pirouettes. Such fun, such fun! I'm hoping that I can teach one P.E. when I go back to Japan to the KCIS students; I've learned a lot that I want to share!

Went home and after taking a shower, did my math homework. Naomi actually helped out a bit though some questions we couldn't for the life us figure out. Hmmm...

At around 6:00, Aunt Jean picked Naomi, Maki and I up to go out and eat Thai food for dinner. Erin had gone off to class but luckily, her teacher didn't show up so Erin could meet us at the restaurant and eat with us! I love this Thai restaurant (forgot the name) because the food is really delicious. I love their 'stuffed chicken wings', 'yellow curry' and 'pineapple fried rice'. Sooo good!

Afterwards, we stopped by Long's Drugstore for some things then went home. Got a chance to video chat with my parents which was nice. Tomorrow will be a 'busy' day (sort of) as I'm taking two parts of my ASL midterm that's left: written and expressive exam. I hope I do well... ^_^

A Nice Day to Begin the Week

Naomi had to go dance hula for the 8:30 service so we didn't start our own service until she got back just a little after 9:00. Naomi led service and preached about 'The House of Chloe' and how it relates to our church right now.

Went to the 10:30 service next where I played the drums on the worship team. As always, it was really fun to play drums; can't get enough of it! Listened to Pastor Jay's again which was fun even the second time around. ^_^

For lunch we went home and Naomi made fried rice and some soup. Very yummy, we all ate quite a lot (no leftovers except just a little soup). :P The rest of the afternoon was spent in complete relaxation. I finished reading The Great Train Robbery and did some writing as well as playing some games.

A little before 6:00, Erin, Maki and I went to the church to watch Left Behind III with the church people. The seats were almost all full but luckily we got some nice seats so Ericson got to sit with us, too. The movie was 'ok'; unfortunately, though the acting was really good, I thought the quality of the filmmaking was pretty low. The music was almost 'tv-movie' quality, the cinematography/editing was choppy, and some of the 'situations' was completely over-the-top. Kirk Cameron and Lou Gossett Jr. were the best actors in the whole lot as well as Kirk Cameron's real life wife, Chelsea Noble. In the three movies, the first one is definitely still the best.

After the movie, we had hot dogs in the lanai thanks to some of the church people who helped prepare a light dinner. There was also some really good deserts and snacks. Yum!

Got home fairly early and spent most of the time chatting with Maria. It's funny, though we talk almost every day, we ALWAYS have lots to talk about and catch up on. :P Also, I'm finally having some success in the newest LOTR chapter of mine; gotten over a 'tough' spot.

Off to bed soon now. Tomorrow starts the 10th week of school. 10th week already! Hurray!

Relaxing and 'Working' Saturday

This morning I had my tap class but because last night had been such a late night, I decided to go a little late (which is ok because they go through the very very basic tap routines that I can afford to miss... :P). Unfortunately, when I got there, I realized that I had forgotten to bring socks and though I tried to dance without the socks, I could just feel the blisters starting to form. So I drove back home to get socks and because luckily I live so close, it took all of maybe 5 ~ 6 minutes. ^_^ We're mostly done with the dance routine now. Because I'm one of the very few who can dance the whole way through (of what we've learned so far), I'm officially made to dance in the front most all of the time now. :P

I had a slight headache after class but felt good after taking a shower. Did some cleanup though the other three girls had mostly finished doing a lot of the cleanup. Naomi prepared lunch for all of us, eating up most of the leftovers as well as eating Naomi's freshly baked croissant rolls with sausages inside! Yum!

After helping with some of the laundry, I started watching The Great Gatsby which I had rented the other day. It was a loooooong movie and what's worse, it felt like a looooooong movie. :S Those are the worst kinds... The acting was superb, especially Sam Waterston as one of the main characters. Unforunately, I found Mia Farrow incredibly annoying; I could see no reason why in the world Robert Redford was in love with her. The costums and scenery was beautiful, and the message was pretty good, though in a depressing way. All-in-all, a depressing story which is strictly a 'one-time-watch-worthy' movie (and maybe not even that...)

Around 4:00, Connie Hall, this lady that I know from church, picked me up to take me to her house since I had agreed to babysit her kids. They live not too far away though it's a bit complicated to get to her house since the roads are very twisted and windy. Connie left around 5:00 and I was left with her son, Braden (two years old) and her daughter, Jessica (thirteen yeras old). They were really good kids and fun to watch. Jessica was a really good helper and was doing a lot to get me comfortable with the house. We watched Incredibles after dinner then after Braden went to bed, Jessica and I watched the first Harry Potter movie (she fell asleep midway). :P I was able to do some reading before Connie came home around 10:30. She was nice enough to drive me home afterwards and said that she would probably like it if I could babysit for her another time!

Already late so I'm off to get ready for bed. Ta ta, tomorrow is Sunday!

Yesterday's Blog

Again, many apologies that I wasn't able to write yesterday's blog yesterday. :P So, here go my account of yesterday. Maki had her ASL class is the morning with Erin so I had the room to myself and did some computer stuff. As soon as they got back, we all left the house to go downtown. We dropped Erin off for her internship job while Naomi, Maki and I went to various places.

First went to the bank because we all had to do some 'bank' stuff. The First Hawaiian Bank we went to was decorated for Halloween which was interesting. Next we went to Borders Bookstore at Ward which also has a large DVD selection. This bookstore is huuuuge so thirty minutes was a bit short if I had wanted to really look at everything. Next time I go, I really want to take a look at their chess sets because I've been meaning to buy one for quite a while... I was able to get a book though so after I finish Great Train Robbery, I'll probably start reading that.

Next went to Naomi's eye laser surgery place for her 'after-the-surgery' checkup. It took a little longer than expected because it was pretty crowded but thankful the doctor gave Naomi two thumbs up, saying that her eyes are healing perfectly well. ^_^ Hurray!

Stopped by McDonalds to pick up some lunch before heading home. You know, the double cheeseburgers here in Hawaii seem smaller than the ones in Japan... iiiiiinteresting. After lunch I was in front of the computer doing some writing and after a while took a very, very short nap.

From 3:15 to 4:30 I had my ballet class which was fun EXCEPT that two crazed birds were 'trapped' in the chapel. Somehow they got in and somehow they couldn't get out so they were flying around annoying us. They'd sometimes swoop down low over our heads (at one point it scared me out of my mind because it swooped down just as I was doing a pirouette towards the bird :P). So class was very interesting as Sharon was getting upset because the birds were distracting her.

After I got home I relaxed a bit then Naomi and I went to the church early so that she could practice her hula for tonight. It was very nice because Michelle was there and it had been so long since I had seen her! They practiced hula for a bit and after they finished, the music team practiced.

Pastor Jay Jarman (who came to Japan to help with the Kanto Christian Church renovation project) preached today on Scientology. It was such a funny but very firm talk on the 'stupidity' of Scientology and why believing in Jesus is waaaaaay above Scientology's ridiculousness. I liked one scripture he read from: 'He who is fulll loathes honey, but to the hungry evcen what is bitter tastes sweet' Proverbs 27.

Playing the drums tonight was soooo much fun. I loved this one new song in particular which at the very end we were completely jamming. For musicians in a band, the best feeling in the world is when the band is completely in tune with each other and on top of that, the feeling that we're all playing for the Lord. Such an unbeatable feeling. ^_^

After the service, Erin, Naomi and Maki went out with Tiffany but I went with the TransPacific Japenese students. Two of the girls were baptized in the service so we went to each Japanese/Chinese food to celebrate. Went to the restaurant with Matt and Ardell. The food was really good; it was nice to eat ramen again. ^_^ Ericson took me home since we left a little earlier than everyone else.

I got home earlier than the other girls so I chatted with Mrs. Kanai which was nice. Chatting with her made me realize just how homesick I was. :P As soon as Naomi, Erin and Maki came home, Naomi and I holed up in her room and had a very long video conference with our parents. That's the reason it got so late that I couldn't write my blog last night. :P We talked till well after midnight; it was worth it to stay up and talk with my parents and watch Bianca play with her frisbee. ^_^ It's so cute, too, when Bianca nuzzles Sophie who doesn't mind! Can't wait to go home; just a little less than two months to go!

VERY Short Post,,,

I'm just writing a quick post to tell you that it's really, REALLY late right now so I have to go off to bed. Sorry that I have no time to write a proper blog entry. :S I'll write again tomorrow to tell how today went. Good night! Zzz...

Hurray! History and ASL (receptive) Midterms are Done!

First off, I need to make sure to tell you that Naomi had her eye laser surgery today and is now able to see without contacts or glasses! The surgery went smoothly and now all she has to take it easy and rest her eyes for a few days. Thanks for all your prayers!

On with the blog!

This morning I woke up early so that I could go with Naomi to first drop Erin off to her internship place downtown. Naomi and I had some breakfast at McDonalds though neither of us ate much. We were both nervous: Naomi for her surgery and I for my history exam. :P We did a bit of shopping, first to Sports Authority. I've been wanting to buy a basketball so that I can go 'shoot some hoops' so I got one which was on sale. Soo happy bout that; can't wait to go play some basketball! There are some courts near the house so prehaps I'll go this weekend though it seems I'm going to be busy. Naomi and I went over to Ross' then; both of us got some really nice sweaters. Mine's a blue, light sweater that has 'Pooh' written across it. Perfect for me, isn't it? ^_^

I dropped Naomi off at the place where she would get her eyes lasered. Unfortunately, though I wanted to watch the surgery, I had to go home to pick up Maki then go to campus for class. Hmph...

So, this morning I had my History midterm exam. Because I had been studying so hard this past week, it was fairly easy though I took the whole hour and fifteen minutes of class to work on it. Most of it was doing a lot of writing; for the last essay question (which made up for half of the midterm points) I wrote about three pages worth. :P Am so glad that it's over and done with! I'm pretty confident I did well though I'll just have to wait to see my score.

Went home and by that time, Jenny had been kind enough to pick Naomi up and bring her home. Naomi was already sleeping since she needs to rest and close her eyes about five hours after the surgery. So said a quick hi to her then had to make some phone calls to tell everyone that Naomi was ok and the surgeon hadn't lasered off her nose. :P lol!

Had a nice lunch then went back to campus for my ASL midterm. Today was the receptive test and it was actually a lot easier than I had been expecting; and it was lots of fun! Finished class early and went home. Felt soooo *light* after taking today's tests and getting through this week of school! I watched a movie to relax in the afternoon (I hadn't watched a movie in a few days!! :P). Naomi woke up and since she felt like Korean BBQ, Erin, Maki and I went over to Kahala to get some take out Korean BBQ. VERY delicious though I had to eat quickly to get to Kaimuki Church for worship practice.

Today's practice was lots of fun; there's a really cool new song that I really like. Almost 'reggae-ish' at one point, lots of fun to play the drums (of course, it's ALWAYS fun to play the drums). ^_^

When I got home, I called Aunt Doreen and got to talk to her for a bit. It's been a while since we talked so there was a lot of catching up to do. Mostly talked about college life, our dogs, and movies. ^_^ I spent the rest of the evening chatting with many people on the computer (though got signed off quite a bit... Completely not my fault :S). Going to try to update my fanfiction though by this rate, it might be updated by the end of next week. :P

Oh, well... so happy that this school week is over! Just ballet class tomorrow and all done! I love weekends, don't you? ^_^

I Just Need to Get Through This Week...

Since Naomi had to have the car early this morning, she dropped Maki and me off at campus around 9:30. Had basically about an hour and fifteen minutes to kill so I was reading 'The Great Train Robbery'. Still haven't finished it yet though it's getting really exciting. A lot of the other students started arriving at 'our' usual picnic table where the English 100 students gather before class begins. It's halfway through the semester now so a lot of us are getting to know each other a lot more now so there's a lot more joking and teasing going around. There was a funny incident when we all went into the classroom as we tried to turn the ceiling fans on. It moved sooooo slowly it wasn't doing good but by the time class ended, it was working fairly well! Guess it just needed to slow up...

Oh, yes; got Essay #2 back from Mrs. G... got an 'A'! Now all I have to worry about is the next essay and the results for my midterm essay...

Walked home today thought it wasn't too bad because it was nice and cloudy so the sun wasn't beating down on Maki and me or anything like that. Naomi came home at the exact same time we did; she had been nice enough to buy sushi for lunch! Soooo good, I liked the crab/avocado one as well as the tempura shrimp one.

Studied the formulas for today's math test before heading out back to campus. Took the test which had ten questions altogether. It was fairly easy (multiple choice!) though when I went to take my test back, Mr. Astromoff pointed out that I hadn't done the questions on the back of the page. :P Hee hee, hadn't seen those questions... Finished them up quickly then took them back to the teacher. Most of the others hadn't finished yet at all but Mr. Astromoff asked if I wanted to know my score today or wait until Monday. Of course I said 'today' so he was nice enough to look over the test quickly and told me that I got... 10 out of 10 correct! Hurray! So relieved that I did well.

Since today was test day, as soon as Maki finished we left the classroom early. Went to the chapel but it was still closed so wrote some notes for my fanfiction. I like making up quick outlines and thinking of how characters would react to situations and say in those situations. Character analyzing is soooo fascinating.

Ballet class is getting more and more tough as the classes go by... there's a lot of balancing and jumping involved now, as well as doing more complicated choreographies.

As soon as I got home I took a quick shower then began studying for the History midterm exam which is tomorrow morning. I started writing out practices essays which will be included in the exam so that took quite a while as well as a bit of research. For dinner Naomi made soup and portuguese sausage-lasagna which was... ok, I use this word a lot, but the food WAS delicious!

After doing a bit more studying (by this time my head was about to explode), Naomi, Maki and I went to Ala Moana because Naomi wanted to buy some sunglasses for after her eye laser surgery. She got some nice Ray-Bans (everyone 'oooooo's') and we also got some nice baked breads for breakfast tomorrow.

Went by Blockbusters and was actually delayed there a bit. And no, it wasn't because I was taking too long looking down the aisles. :P What happened was that the computer was showing that I hadn't returned some dvds I had rented before. But I HAD returned them last Thursday so the guy working there had to look around for it. Took a while because the dvds weren't where they were supposed to be, too... Anyhow, he finally found it so I didn't have to pay any late fees or anything. Soo relieved!

Relaxed a bit when we got home then we had our weekly prayer meeting. It was also a very good time for the four of us to talk about our vision for the church and what each of our parts are. It's really nice that we make a time once a week to just sit down together and discuss what's been going on during the week and pray about what's been on our hearts and minds.

Tomorrow is going to be a very full and busy day. Naomi's going to be having her eye surgery tomorrow; please be praying for her! Then Maki and I will be having our History midterm exam. Later on in the day, I'll be having the receptive midterm exam for ASL. In the evening I'll be going to worship practice at Kaimuki Church. Soo much going on, huh? I just want to get through this week quickly... ^_^ Good night!

My Brain is 'Maxed Out' at the Moment...

This morning, to half of the students' surprise, Mr. Cassity came into the classroom announcing we were starting History class with a quiz! I say 'half of the students' because before Mr. Cassity had left the room for a few minutes, he had told some of the students who were already in class about the quiz. He ALSO told them to tell whoever came in later that there was going to be a quiz and did they do as he asked? Nooo... lol! You can imagine the horror on our faces for those who had arrived in class after Mr. Cassity had gone for his break. Thankfully, he's a nice teacher and gave us a few minutes to go over our notes for the quiz. Fortunately, it was an easy quiz. :P

Today we finished up on Hellenic Greek history which was very interesting. I had always loved Greek history (as I always mention) but this was the first time to 'hear' the story of the Greco-Persian war. It is SUCH a cool story to hear how the Greeks were able to keep back the invading Persians. It's too bad that later on that the Greeks will go to war amongst each other (Peloponnesian War).

We finished early so Mr. Cassity had a 'free' time where we could all ask questions for the upcoming midterm exam this Thursday. Gr.. lots to study even with a study guide.

Went home and after lunch, went to ASL class next with Naomi. Found out that Ami will not be going to the mainland so we're back on schedule: the midterm exams will be starting from this Thursday. :S Thursday we'll have the receptive exam, on Tuesday the written exam, then during the next week we'll have the individual expressive exam. I'm fairly confident in everything though I'm still a bit nervous. To prepare for the midterms coming up, today was spent in reviewing everything.

Finished a bit early then I went to the cafeteria around 3:45 to meet my history classmates to study together for the History midterm exam. Kari and Nichelle were already there so we got started. Shannon (who's also in my ASL class) came by next with her two-year old daughter, Piper, who is sooo cute and looks just like her mom! Maki came over around 4:15 after her oil painting class. Though Kari and Shannon left earlier, Nichell, Maki and I stayed until 6:00 going over our notes. I have never done so much studying in my life for one test... :P But it was good studying with other people and going over each other's notes.

Nichelle was nice enough to take Maki and I home after studying together. Since Naomi was out, Maki and I made dinner for just the two of us. 'Unagi'... mmmmm!!

Deciding that I had already done enough studying for the day, I played some games then concentrated on my newest fanfiction chapter. I actually got a few pages written tonight! Later on, Kari sent over the History study guide notes which Maki and I filled out some of the categories. *sigh* I'm seriously tired of studying for history now... :P Sent it off to Nichelle just a little while ago, it should be coming back soon so that I can send to some other people next...

Tomorrow I have my math test! I hope I do well... thankfully math is something you really can't 'study' for. Either you know the formulas... or you don't! I just can't wait till this week is over and done with, so many midterm exams...

9th Week of School Begins!

Monday... the 'school cycle' has once again begun. :P English class was terribly dull though at the same time, it was the funniest class I've had! What happened was while we were going over our handbook (I was sort of trying to concentrate) but I realized that Nichelle was trying to catch my eye. She was trying to get me to look at something across the room and when I looked, I saw that one of my classmates was nodding off! His eyes were completely closed and his head kept slowly lolling forward. What was funny was that obviously the whole class noticed him nodding off but the teacher didn't have a clue since he's way in the corner so out of her line of sight.

The classmate finally put his head in his hand and it was obvious he had fallen asleep because he wasn't turning the pages with the rest of the class. By this time, we were trying sooo hard not to burst out laughing! Then we reached the point where the teacher was going to hand out some papers so she started going around the room, all of us wondering how Mrs. G was going to reacte when she reached the sleeping student's seat.

When she reached him, she just stared at him for a second, then slipped the paper on his desk and because his head was in his hands, 'eyes' looking down at his desk, he should have looked up or something. But no... he didn't even reacte when the paper was placed on his desk. Mrs. G very calmly stated, 'He must be asleep'. This was the breaking point and we all starting snickering very loudly. But alas... he still didn't wake up! Our teacher is so nice, she let hime sleep. :P

Went home for lunch then back to campus for Math class. Today we had the practice test for our test coming up on Wednesday. Fairly easy, though I need to work on all the formulas for interest rates and such. Bleh. Did well though I need to go over the formulas a few more times to really get it.

Since I got to the chapel early (as usual), I was able to 'break in' my shoes as well as do lots of stretches. Today's ballet class was tough as Sharon is getting more strict on form and techniques, especially since we're working up to higher level techniques. I can't wait to do pirouettes and maybe fouettes...

As soon as I got home I started writing up my math notes that I'll use during the upcoming test. After doing some more studying I think understand all the formulas a lot better so am now a bit more confident. Like I said, I actually am enjoying math since the work is challening and my teacher is a good teacher.

Naomi made minestrone soup for dinner which was delicious (naturally). After dinner I sorted out all my computer files. I had soooo many files and extra music files that I got rid of so I know my hard drive feels less 'loaded' now. :P I also got to chat with Maria for quite a bit as she keeps me 'updated' to what's going on back home. ^_^

Tomorrow is History class which will be fun because it's on Greek history still. I am sooo NOT looking forward to the midterm exam coming up this Thursday. *sigh* Ah, well,; will study hard!

Lots of Thinking as Well as 'Mindless' Fun Animation Movies :P

This morning we woke up early to make it for the 8:30 service at Kaimuki church. Since Pastor Ron and Dee are in the mainland right now to visit family, Pastor Mark Gallagher preached on "Hedonism" today. It was quite an interesting sermon, especially as he was talking about the 'American culture' we live in today.

After the service, we went back home and had our church service which Erin led today. She talked about Fellowship and I'm sure all of us could really learn a lot from the message. There were many things she mentioned that I had never thought about before.

Since today is the third Sunday of the month, and due to the 'tradition' we have back home (^_^), we decided to eat out for lunch... at Happy Days! Definitely one of the my favorite restaurants and one of the best Chinese restaurants out there. I especially love their hot and sour soup as well as all their dim sung.

Went home and relaxed in the front of the computer, half asleep and listening to music. :P Around 1:30, Erin, Maki and I left for Ward theaters to meet up with Don. We watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was soooo much fun to watch and kept true to the spirit of the original 'movies'. Gromit is without a doubt the coolest dog 'actor' since Lassie. lol! Such a smart dog... There was actually a very cool 'twist' in the story which I seriously hadn't seen coming at all!

Oh, and it was nice because before the movie started, they showed the short movie of the Madagascar penguins. It was simply hilarious, rivaling Ice Age's Scrat's short movie. Haven't seen Madagascar yet which I think I'll have to get around to seeing when the dvd comes out...

Oh, yes! An interesting trivia: the upcoming animated movie Over the Hedge (by the creators of Shrek and Madagascar) has the voice talent of... Bruce Willis! That was completely unexpected that I gasped really, really loud in the theater... lol!

When the movie was over, said goodbye to Don and walked over to Office Depot so Maki could get a scientific calculator for Math class. She got a really nice one so hurray for her! Stopped by Nordstrom Rack and I was able to get two really nice shirts and some nice earrings which were all on sale. ^_^

Got home and relaxed a bit then watched Shattered Glass again with Naomi while eating dinner. For Naomi it was a good 'one-time-only' movie. :P Ah, well, Naomi and I have different tastes in movie at times but I'm glad she liked watching it this one time. On my part I just love the acting in the movie; a very good rental for me, indeed.

The four of us got to have a nice video conference with my father back home and we got to talk about some things going on in our lives right now. Lots to think and pray about...

It's getting late (yet once again). :P Someone pointed out that I tend to have a few typos and grammatical errors which I apologize for; when it's late at night and I'm all 'fuzzy', things that I've written make a lot more sense than the next morning. lol! Good night!

Hiking!

This morning I woke up at 8:30 and was like, 'Oh, I can sleep in just a bit more...' Before I knew it, it was 9:40 so I quickly had to get ready for my tap class. Erin was nice enough to drop me off before she went out for the day. Our tap choreography piece is getting more and more difficult every lesson; we reached the part in the song where there's a drum solo, so the tap dance sequence during that part is really difficult...

Walked back home and had a very quick shower and lunch before Matt picked Maki and I up to hiking. Picked up Yuriy then Yoko and her friend who lives in the same dorm, Satoko (NOT S'o'toko :P). We got to Nuuanu Trails a bit later than expected because the Pali highway exit was close so Matt got us slightly lost as we tried to get to Nuuanu Trails a different way. :P

We got a call from Ericson on the way, saying he was going to join us. Since we got to the trails before Ericson, some of us did some tree climbing. Ahhh, and so many killer mosquitos! Thankfully, I didn't get bitten though Maki sadly got bitten quite a bit...

The hike was fairly easy at first then it started getting REALLY muddy and slippery so we had to watch our step. Some of us slipped and got pretty muddy, though on the whole, everyone's shoes and legs were muddy, worse for those who were wearing sandals. :P

We took some breaks; the most fun was at this little bend in the trail with a huge tree growing right by. Yuriy, Matt and I, the 'haoles' (and myself being half haole) climbed the tree while the others looked on from below in amusement. :P The view was really nice though so I was able to take some really nice pictures.

We got to the top around 3:30 and the view was, as promised, beautiful. The bench was much more a sight for sore eyes though... lol! No one felt much like moving so we basically stayed up there relaxing for a bit (except for Yuriy and Satoko later on who decided to explore a little path going on upwards a bit more).

Starting going downhill around 4:00 as Yoko was starting to get nervous by how 'dark' it was getting. :P No, not really, as in it wasn't really getting darker, but it seems Yoko was taken through a traumatic hiking 'experience' a while back when during the hike it got really dark and they kind of got lost... :P Fortunately, this hike wasn't anything like it and we didn't get really lost. Going down only took about an hour and fifteen minutes as some of us were running (no names, but you can guess who) and 'making' shortcuts.

When we finally made it back to the cars safe and sound, we decided to go out for dinner. Ericson suggested a Chinese restaurant so we went back to Kaimuki to Lam's Garden Chinese Restaurant (I think that was the exact name of the place...) We shared all the food and everything was delicious, so thank you to Ericson for suggesting the place! The conversation was very funny throughout the dinner and it was nice to relax in a nice, cool place with lots of cold water after a long hike (of course, we had a little 'discussion' on how to define 'long' and 'short' hikes).

After the dinner, Ericson dropped Maki and I off back home. Immediately took a shower which was real nice after the hike. Got to audio chat with my parents which is always lots of fun. They went to a bazaar at this new church which was recently moved into their own building not too far from my house! So my parents were able to have some nice fellowship with the Pastor and his family. ^_^ Of course, I heard Bianca did her duty and said hello to everyone as well as mooching for some food (and who can deny her oh-so-cute face?)

Decided to relax and watch a movie, Shattered Glass. It was a fascinating drama about the true story of Stephen Glass, a young, Washington D.C. journalist for the magazine, 'The New Republic'. For three years (1995-1998), 27 of his 41 published stories were either partially or completely made up. Looking for a short cut to fame, Glass concocted sources, quotes and even entire stories! (using some of the imdb.com summary).

Anyway, it was a REALLY good movie which I enjoyed completely, though Hayden Christensen is sooo annoying, though that was the whole point as he was playing 'Stephen Glass'. My favorite character is most definitely Chuck, played by the talented Peter Sarsgaard (Flightplan). He got an Oscar nomination for this role though he didn't win (he was up against Tim Robbins (who won) as well as other INCREDIBLE actors such as William H. Macey, Ken Watanabe, Alec Baldwin, and Albert Finney). I also loved the small role by Steve Zahn, where he actually plays a serious role (compared to That Thing You Do or Sahara) though of course he gets a couple of funny lines.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now as it is getting late. If you want to see more pictures from the hike, visit Ericson's site: (http://homepage.mac.com/moonarts/PhotoAlbum41.html) Great pictures; I especially like the picture of my looking like I'm doing some sort of 'martial arts' stance though I was actually trying to avoid him taking a picture of me. :P Nice pic! In closing, a nice view while hiking.

Gotta Go to Anna Miller's Again! Such Good Pies...

This morning I watched Can't Buy Me Love, a really cute chick flick from the 80's starring Patrick Dempsey and Molly Ringwald (you can imagine the Beatles song playing during the opening and closing credits :P). After watching this cute movie with such a young Patrick Dempsey, I've been 'researching' him (what I do whenever I find a 'new' actor). Well, I've actually known him in his semi-small roles in Emperor's New Club and Sweet Home Alabama. There's several movies I want to watch with him now. (pictures of him are from Can't Buy Me Love when he was 21 and a recent picture of him...)

Had leftovers for lunch and watched some tv. The afternoon was mostly spent doing random thing like doing some writing, did Mahjohng, played Bejeweled, did some movie research, etc.

Later on in the afternoon I had ballet class. It was pretty tough today because I was 'breaking in' my new ballet shoes. Leather and cloth shoes are so completely different as well having the different type soles. So my feet hurt after class so it was nice to put my feet up when I got home.

Naomi was babysitting for the Friday night service but Erin, Maki and I stayed home. After the service, Naomi called me up and asked if we wanted to go out with the 'Friday night group' for dinner. Erin and Maki decided to stay home so I drove to the church to meet with the others. (I can drive myself anywhere now! :P Well, not really, I still get lost... lol!)

We all went to Anna Miller's for dinner, my first time to go there. It was a fairly large group of 16 people but thankfully we were able to be seated right away. ^_^ Had a really great time there and got to know two of the Japanese girls more. Of course, having Ericson, Bao, Yuriy and Matt means that there was a lots of 'craziness' in the group. :P

I just have to mention that I had fresh strawberry pie for dessert. ^_^ Hey, it's Anna Miller's! You have to have pie when you go there! Sorry, no picture of it. It looked so good I at it up before even thinking about taking a picture...

(The picture on the left may seem like the same picture above but this picture was taken by Rocky and Ericson is included in now. Which reminds me, Ericson will probably have some more picture on his blog for tonight if you want to check it out).

I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow proves to be a busy day maybe... tap class in the morning then might having something going on in the afternoon. Thankfully all my homework is done for the weekend! It's so nice having a free weekend. ^_^

~La la la~ It's the Weekend!

I'm always so happy on Thursdays. ^_^ It's such a nice feeling to know it's the last day I have to study hard for the week. Anyway, this morning had History class, starting off with a quiz on Early Chinese Civilizations. Real easy stuff, I think I got 5 out of 5. We also got our study guides for the midterm exam coming up next week. :S It looks 'ok', I'll just have to study a lot next week for it. Hopefully it won't be too difficult. Thankfully, our next paper which was due in two weeks is postponed a little. Hurray!

Went home and made ramen for lunch as well as having some leftovers. I was hungry! :P ASL class was lots of fun; learned quite a bit. Our midterm which was supposed to be next week was pushed back because our teacher, Ami, might have to leave for the mainland for some kind of family emergency. So I'll just have to see if I'm going to be studying hard in the near future for it or not.

I finished up my learning log homework for ballet when I got home then started doing some more writing for my fanfics. Walked over to Times supermarket to get some groceries for dinner. It was actually nice to go 'walking', especially while listening to my i-Pod. ^_^ Very relaxing.

I had been thinking about going to the music practice at the church tonight but it didn't work out what with things going on. Helped make dinner and we ate pretty late. Erin and Naomi had their Bible study with Lani tonight so Maki and I 'holed' up in our room. :P Since I had to return the dvds I had been renting from Blockbusters, I watched Runaway Jury again, this time with Maki. It was better the second time watching because I could understand what was going on a bit better. Maybe I'll try picking up the original novel, though instead of dealing with guns the book originally had the main focus on the tobacco/cigarette industry. So it'll be interesting just how different the movie is from the book.

Went to Blockbusters to drop the dvds off then came back and once more am trying to get some more written for my Lotr story. *sigh* I'm at such a difficult part to write! I want to get at least another page done if possible tonight... The weekend is upon me, hurray!

Step 'n Up!!

Today I had my midterm exam for English class. We had to write an in-class essay on a short essay we had read for homework, titled The Rewards of a Solitary Life. We basically had to write our own opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of 'being alone' and whether we agreed or disagreed with the author's view of 'living a solitary life'. I think I did fairly well; hope I get an A...

After class picked Naomi up at the bank (she had been babysitting Malia and Bella then walked to the bank) then went home. Thanks much to Erin who made yakisoba for lunch! Very yummy, it's been a while since I had yakisoba.

Math class was fairly easy; learned the last formula we would need to learn for the upcoming test next week. Got to leave early as usual and went to the chapel for ballet class. Today was the second part of the ballet midterm where we had to do a choreographed dance in groups. Sharon was congratulating everyone on well we had done in class.

Nichelle had invited me to go with her to the dance store called Step 'n Up so we left right after class. I simply fell in love with the store as soon as I went in! Soo many nice shoes; ballet shoes, toe shoes, jazz shoes, and tap shoes, ALL kinds, shapes, and sizes. I was very much tempted to get several (:P) but decided to just get the leather, full sole ballet shoes. My other ones have been getting pretty ratty. Sharon also recommended me to get the full sole so that I can strengthen my feet since they're already very flexible. Nichelle got herself some slip-on jazz shoes which were very nice. I also tried on the slip-on tap shoes but I actually didn't like it as much as I thought I would. The soles are so soft that it seems like I can't control the 'taps' as well as I can with my other shoes.

I basically wanted to buy the store out since they have such beautiful and cool looking dance clothes, bags, and accessories. :P I'll definitely have to go there again. Another reason to go is that there's a Boba Loca store in the same shopping district and they have DELICIOUS drinks! Nichelle got a mocha smoothie while I got a mango 'slush'. Mmmm.. so good!

Overall, I had a great afternoon being with Nichelle. It was nice getting to know her more and we were able to talk about Asian culture a lot (her father's side of the family is very Chinese it seems).

Got home then Naomi and I walked over to Times supermarket to get some groceries for dinner. As soon as I got back home I did my math homework. *whew*, today's math homework was very 'complicated'. Fun, but complicated. ^_^

Had dinner fairly late today but it was all worth it! Homemade harumakis, cooked salmon, and fresh rice. YUM! Very Japanese and very healthy! lol!

Tonight we had prayer meeting which I led. Read from Psalm 3 and Naomi and I sang the song which came from the Psalm which is taken mostly for verses 4 and 5.

Afterwards, did some work on my ballet homework which is due this Friday. A little over halfway done so I'll have to finish it tomorrow. Ahh, tomorrow I'll probably have a history quiz on Chinese history. :S Hmmm... I don't enjoy Chinese history much... *groan* Oh, well, good thing as an overall I really like history. :P Till tomorrow!

I Love Getting Scores (If They're Good) :P Naturally...

Had history class this morning and got my quiz back as well as my Epic of Gilgamesh report back... and got A's for both! So relieved about it; after class I talked to Mr. Cassity about my report and he said that I did very well. In today's class we finished up with Chinese civilizations and got started on Greek civilizations. I love Greek and Roman history for some reason so I'm looking forward to the next couple of classes.

Went home for lunch then afterwards went to ASL class with Naomi. Got my quiz back from last week and found out that I got an A+! I had made mistakes but got the A+ (101%) because of the bonus points! Sooo happy! ^_^ In class we learned the signs for the Hawaiian islands along with names for places in O'ahu (ex. Pearl City, North Shore, Ala Moana, etc). It's hard to finger spell some of the Hawaiian names (try Mililani...)

After class went home and saw that my The Interpreter dvd had arrived! I immediately watched the Alternate Ending and Deleted Scenes though it wasn't as 'exciting' as I was expecting. I had been wanting more Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn scenes but there weren't any. :P How sad...

When Maki came home, we watched my new dvd together. *sigh* The movie seems to get better every time I see it; there are so many subtle layers and the acting is just as subtle and there's something new in every scene. Once more I'm inspired to try writing another Interpreter fanfic. My first one was a fair hit on the fanfiction.net though that may be because it's only one of like six stories on the site. lol! As all movies seem to have recently, I wonder if there'll be a sequel... which would be very cool if they do it right.

Was going to watch the new episode of House, M.D. but strangely enough, for the second week in a row it was canceled! So terrible! So, instead watched Diagnosis Murder (whoah, it HAS been a while!) then an episode of Cheers! which was 'hisashiburi', too. Wow, it's interesting to see the actors when they were sooo young (Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammar, Shelley Long...)

Tomorrow is Wednesday, thus meaning that I have English, Math, and Ballet class. For English and Ballet I'll be having my midterm.... EEP! Hope I do all right... Good night y'all!

8th Week of School Begins

There should be a law passed on the level of noise a garbage truck can make... the garbage trucks here in Hawaii are so incredibly noisy! ARGH! Got woken up just before 7:00 with the house shaking... :P Seriously, it's that bad!

I dozed off for a bit but finally woke up. Studied a bit of the essay I had to read for English class. English class today was fairly dull with most everyone looking like they'd rather be anywhere else. :P No one exactly 'participated' in class so the time went by slowly...

Got home and made a nice ham sandwich for lunch. In the afternoon Maki and I had Math class which was pretty easy. No homework, hurray! ^_^

Today I had my barre exam in ballet for the midterm. It was fairly easy, I think I did very well though I won't know the complete score until I have the 'center' exam this Wednesday. I think I'll do well... hopefully. :P I heard my foot again at the end of the class so sat out for the end exercises. I don't know my that certain muscle in the arch of my right foot just gets so 'tight' all of a sudden. I'll have to be careful... Just in case though, Nichelle was kind enough to drive me up to Kopiko where my car had been parked. :P

Went home and watched Law and Order (has been a while, hasn't it? :P) Naomi made dinner of taco salad which was just sooo yummy. It's nice to eat home after eating out recently. Dropped Naomi off to her hula practice then Maki and I started watching Charade. I haven't seen it in such a long time; a nice, fun, scary, romantic movie to watch. ^_^

Picked Erin up from her class then later on picked Naomi up. Got some new music from some of Naomi's albums so I'm having fun listening to all of them now. ^_^ Also getting to chat with family and friends. Good night! Tomorrow we'll see how well I did for my ASL and History quiz... :S

Sunday and Another Birthday!

Before having our church service, Maki and I gave the car a quick wash. We've been meaning to wash the car for so long and this morning I was like, "Gotta do it!" So we did, and now it looks very clean. ^_^

Naomi led the service today and preached about The Law of Christ. It was a very good talk and it really spoke (at least it did to me :P). Afterwards we went to Kaimuki church for the 10:30 service. I played drums for that service and it was lots of fun and nice to be able to worship God in that way. It was nice because Heather's mother and grandmother were visiting; it was really cute to see all four generations sitting together (Bella was on her mother's lap towards the end, and being very nice and quiet ^_^).

After the service, some of the church people were making fried rice and scrambled eggs as well as serving all kinds of cereals. So had a nice, light lunch there and got to fellowship with several people, including the Japanese girl, Kaori, who I think I mentioned had recently become a Christian. She's coming Sundays now, too.

Went home and I was pretty exhausted (for one thing, still felt all 'tight' from the muscle pain from yesterday :P). Took a very nice two hour nap then did some more writing for my newest Lotr chapter.

Tonight we went to Ward Shopping area to celebrate Tiffany's birthday at a restaurant called Kincaids. It's a slightly 'upper class-ish' type of place and the food was simply delicious! I ordered the garlic prawns which words cannot describe to how good it was...

We also all shared bread appetizers with assorted dips and cheeses. I think my favorite was the crab/artichoke dip. A little buttery but overall a very good dip.

Doesn't Erin and Yoko look so alike? I think they could seriously pass off as cousins or something. They were laughing so hard when I mentioned that. But it's true, don't you think? ^_^

<--- Happy Birthday Tiff!

Went home fairly early and got to chat with friends and family. ^_^ Going to bed now as it is getting late... another week of school! And midterms!! :P

SUCH a GREAT Day! Can't Wait For Another Beach BBQ!

Today was just SUCH a fun day! But first I have to go chronologically so I shall beging with the morning. :P I got to sleep in today... ok, I know I 'sleep in' a lot but for the first time I slept completely through till 9:00 when usually I'm woken up from 6:00 on and off for a while. (btw, picture on the left is from last night at Dixie Grill; ignore Christi and Brandon's 'fish-faced' looks... lol!)

Went off for my tap class at the Diamond Head Theatre. The parking lot was closed for some reason so I had to park at the campus (real close by). Saw some of my classmates so that was interesting to say hi to them on a weekend. :P

Tap class was fun; each week we're adding more into the dance so every week it's more challenging for me. :D I really like the song we're using and we're at the 'drum' solo part where *if* everyone makes all the tap sounds clear, it would be really cool...)

Came home and after lunch watched the last two episodes of House, M.D. SUCH a good show, I am completely stunned as to why Hugh Laurie didn't deserve the Emmy award for best actor for this show! He was remarkable, now I'm excited to be watching season 2 now which is showing every week now. ^_^

Oh, yes, the reason why today was such a perfect day... today was the church 'young people' BBQ at the beach! We went from two o'clock and the first thing we did was start setting up things. One of the most interesting things to watch was some of the guys trying to figure out how to put up the volleyball net... LOTS of fun. :P (90 degree angles!!)

Most of the afternoon we played volleyball which was just so much fun since it's been a while since I've actually played a sport. It took a lot of getting used to the hard volleyball though (my arms are sore.... :P)

Later in the afternoon, we played a couple of games. First we did 'Crack the Whip' though in the end we only played it once. :P Then we played 'My Captain, My Captain' which I would love to teach the kids back home in Japan. It's a really fun game involving a lot of mindless running. lol! Not really, but it does involve a lot of running. It was loads of fun and amazingly enough, I always wound up being one of the last people caught. :D

(Oh, yes, the picture on the right is Ardell and Matt doing handstands while Maki watches in amusement...)

Dinner was a delicious affair with hamburgers, hot dogs, carrots and other vegetable dips, and lots of chips! Dessert was also really good; Tina brought a delicious chocolate pie. Mmm!! Somehow, the talk went to 'massages' and before I knew it, I was cracking some people's backs and showing how to do hand massages! lol! That was interesting... Oh yes, the entertainment was provided by Matt who just had to climb the tree we were eating under. ^_^ I really like that picture of him posing, the lighting was really good and the leaves came out real clear (ok, I know, I like taking good pictures :P) That's a nice picture of Naomi and Tina, too, though the light is a bit 'bright' in Naomi's face. But a nice 'friendly' picture of two good friends. ^_^

Played a lot more volleyball later on then it was almost 7:00 when we started putting everything away to go home since it was getting dark. We couldn't see the lines for the volleyball 'court'. :P There was a really funny incident at the cars when Ericson lost his car keys... lol! Thankfully, it was during everyone loading up his car so everything was 'open' and eventually he found it in the trunk... somehow... (sorry Ericson! I just had to tell about that incident, it was just so funny at the time! :P)

Matt, Ardell, and Yuriy dropped Yoko, Naomi and I to our individual homes (Erin and Maki had left early in the afternoon to meet with Aunt Jean and her friends to go to some sort of concert. They got back and said that they had a really good time which was nice!) Anyway, arrived home around 7:30, and Naomi and I watched a movie together. It was really nice because we had a video chat with our parents afterwards and got to talk a lot of (and laugh a lot. :P) We're such a crazy, fun family. lol! Bianca and Sophie also 'posed' for us into the camera which is always cute.

In closing, today was just a really good day for me. It's nice being with friends and just being outside. :P I've been indoors quite a bit recently and haven't done so much running around and 'competitive' sports in a while. Old and New faces are always nice to be around. ^_^ Good night, I'm definitely sleeping well tonight! (I have a very nice tan and I have sore muscles everywhere... :P good pain. lol!)