Last Week of Classes for the Semester!

It's been a while but just wanted to post to show that I'm still alive. ^_^

Well, I'm in the last week of college for the semester with just a few days of final exams next week. End of the semester is always a 'strange' time for me; on one hand I'm happy that all the schoolwork will be finished but on the other hand, I LOVE most of my classes, the teachers, the curiculum, and my classmates. So it's sad to know that it is... the end.

Ok, I'm being a bit dramatic. :P At least for like my musical theatre class, I'll be seeing most everyone again next semester. And I know that I'll still be popping into Mr. Cassity's history classes since he loves having former students come stop by. ^_^

Anyway, this morning I had history class then early afternoon had ESS class. Went home and found that my Amazon package had arrived! I had ordered the first season of Bones and the soundtrack from Happy Feet. Watched one episode of Bones while eating lunch and then it was off to Speech class. I got my Project 3 paper back.. 100%. ^_^ And I got the most fantastic news! Because of my scores from all the papers, projects, and attendance, I don't have to take the final exam next week; I'm still getting an A without even taking it! WOOHOO! I'm sooooo happy about that which means I only really have two finals to study for next week. I was also a bit groaning at the fact that I would have back to back finals (ESS then Speech) but now know worries!

Went home and relaxed a bit in front of the computer, writing a few e-mails. Then since it's Monday (my turn to cook dinner), I cooked though I didn't get to enjoy the food because Naomi and I had to leave for our perspective practices. Naomi had hula while I had worship practice at Kaimuki Church. Practice went very well with Kenny leading for this week's worship. Went home with Naomi then had dinner together while watching Bones.

Did some studies then video chatted with Maria quite a bit, talking about the upcoming Christmas pageant and how the preparations are going in Japan. Maki and I'll need to start practicing our own songs, too... :P

Yay, tomorrow's Tuesday! For musical theatre class we're preparing for our finals which will be this Thursday. We have to sing one or two songs and then we have a 'dance' final. Last week we were separated into five groups and each group has to pick a song from a Broadway show and choreograph a 20 - 30 second dance. My group had already choreographed our dance by the middle of our second practice last Thursday, and had extended it to a full 40 seconds, too! ^_^ So I think tomorrow we're just going to work on 'refining' it a bit. I'm going to bring my camera (hopefully won't forget) and try to video tape the dance. I also want to have some 'memory keepsakes' from the class and take pictures of my classmates.

I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow I have my 9:15 Psychology class. G'night! Until next time (hopefully tomorrow when I (hopefully) have pictures)).

Thanksgiving Weekend! (Revised and Updated) ^_^

Again, it's certainly been a long time since I've written blog. :P Part of this year's resolution will probably be to write my blog a little more often than I'm writing right now... lol!

This weekend is a special one since it's a Thanksgiving weekend! Last day of classes for the week was Wednesday so it's a nice long weekend which I'm thankful for. The only complaint I would have (if any) for this great weekend is the fact that so many of my teachers decided to give homework so I've been having to study and write papers and such. Ah well.

So let me tell you what I've been doing for this weekend so far...

Thursday was Thanskgiving so while Maki and I woke up around 9:00, Naomi and Erin had already been awake from around 8:00 to start cooking. LOTS of good food. ^_^ So after given just a few minutes to really 'wake up', started cleaning up the house. Also had to go last minute shopping with Erin at the grocery store.

Lunch was a simple affair of sushi makis. ^_^ Then around 2:30, Ericson and Tomoya (Maki's and my Christian classmate (Speech class)) came so we could have a short 'service'. We sang a few sangs and prayed; gave thanks for the day and prayed that we would be good witnesses to the non-Christians who would be coming over today.

Then from 3:00 we were pretty busy with people continually coming by. Some had to leave earlier but there was ALWAYS plenty of people around. :P As I said, lots of delicious food including turkey, lamb stew, mashed potatoes (I made!), candied yams, salad, stuffing, cranberry jam, stringed beans, spaghetti, LOTS of assorted pies, LOTS of chips (including avocado and spinach dips), cinnamon rolls, and more!

Not only was there lots of food and fellowship, we also played Mafia which was sooo much fun and really broke the ice to help people get to know one another and become comfortable with each other. Also played a Thanksgiving quiz game, Apples to Apples (a fun word/card game which Ericson brought), and Uno. Somewhere in the middle I showed some of my videos that I've made, including scenes from Newsies. ^_^

(Let me just introduce you to my good, great, fantastic, funny, hilarious friends/classmates from musical theatre class, Mitsuko and Kaori (picture to the left)~!

Here's a 'guest list' for who came:

Tomoya and Ericson as already mentioned... Erin's friends Michi, Sun, Mayu, and Miho. What was REALLY interesting was that Miho's current roommate was none other than my classmate from last semester's Japanese class, Maki! So of course we also invited Maki to come so it was nice seeing her again. Naomi's friends included her business associate/friend from Japan who is also called Naomi. :P She in turn also brought her friend Ritsuko. And Naomi also had her work related friend Adam come over. And as you can see I invited my musical theatre classmates/friends Mitsuko and Kaori. Later on in the evening, Brandie and Verano came over with their 3 month old baby, Aidan; Danny also came and stopped by for a couple of hours.

So... as you can see, LOTS of people. :P As I mentioned, we played games including Mafia which was soooo much fun! I was the "Narrator" most of the time but at the very end I played and Maki and I were the Mafia... and we won!!!!! ^_^ We were just too, too good and were the only ones left. muahahaha

Around 11:00 in the evening we began cleaning up and Erin and I took Mitsuko and Kaori home. On the way, we talked about how Kaori might come to see the Christmas pageant and also come to the church Christmas party! She's going to be going home for Christmas and was really interested about getting together with us during the holidays and coming to Kanto Christian Church. That was really exciting for me, getting together with one of my college classmates in Japan! ^_^

Do the math and you'll see that our Thanksgiving party lasted from almost 2:30 until around 11:30... almost 9 hours! Whew! Had such a great time and I know that everyone really enjoyed themselves which was the important thing; it was great hearing from everyone later about how much our house was really like a home and the four of us were like family.

Went to bed and the next day (Friday) I got to sleep in a bit though not too much. Studied history and then watched some NCIS while eating lunch. Finished answering all the multiple choice questions for my history take home quiz (had to read over 60 pages from my book to find all the answers :P) then because of the Thanksgiving sale, Maki and I went over to Borders. Got a couple of dvds and Christmas presents there; such great sales!

Got home then Naomi, Maki, and I went to Naomi's business networking group's holiday party. I knew a few of Naomi's business networking 'friends' which helped me relax. :P It's always a bit 'awkward' at first to go someplace where you don't know anybody. But all of Naomi's friends were soooooo nice and welcomed Maki and I with open arms. After eating a delicious dinner (including dipping fruits into a chocolate fountain... YUM!), someone brought a karaoke machine which we put to good use for the rest of the evening. lol! Had a great time singing and dancing; I was most definitely starting to lose my voice towards the end of the party and I had to sit down part way after standing and dancing most of the time.

Thus Friday ended and now for today, Saturday's, report!

Was woken up by a phone call around 8:00 which was a bit *hmph* but I fell right back asleep for a couple more hours. :P Started my history short essay part of my take-home quiz then around 11:00, Naomi, Maki, Naomi's business friend (whom I mentioned before) who is also named Naomi, and I went towards Hawaii Kai. Ate Greek food for lunch then shopped at Costco. Stopped by Naome #2's homestay place for a while then headed for home. The whole afternoon was spent in INTENSE concentration on the computer. :P

I finished up my history short essay then set to work on my last paper for Speech Class. I had to write a research paper about interpersonal communication and it's relationship to computer. *rolls eyes* It wasn't particularly a difficult report to write... the fact that I had to do 'research' and search for sources was the real drag. I didn't really have to look up other people's opinions about a topic I'm pretty up to date about... but it had to be done. I also worked on checking book reports for the high schoolers of KCIS (almost done guys!).

Before I knew it, it was dinner time and naturally, we had leftovers (SOOO much in the fridge right now). lol! Watched the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera then went back to work on my paper. It's 'tentatively' done right now (will have to read over tomorrow) then studied Business Law. Read a couple of chapters, took a quiz, and posted on the discussion boards. *sigh* I studied sooo much today my head feels ready to explode... :P lol! I'm just glad that I got so much done.

Tomorrow is Sunday! The plan is to have a short service of our own in the morning and then head of to New Hope's morning service. In the afternoon I might go see the movie Happy Feet with my classmates but we'll see how it goes. Ta-ta!

Rain Rain Rain Pretty Much ALL Day Yesterday... :S :P

I know, it's not really Thursday right now (Friday morning) but I wanted to put up a quick post of what happened yesterday before going off to babysitting in a little while.

In the morning I had a Psychology exam so I went to class a bit early so I can study on campus. It wasn't raining that much on the way but I could see that there was a high chance of the weather getting worse. The test was fairly easy so I finished in like 40 minutes. :P By then, it was POURING and most of us students were stuck in the building since we didn't want to rush out into the rain. Melissa (Psychology and Musical Theatre classmate) and I braved the rain and ran to the cafeteria to get some food (I wanted to hot, hot chocolate on this slimy, wet, and cold day).

That was around 10:00... the thing is, my class and subsequently Maki's class end at 10:30 and we were supposed to meet at the Great Lawn for the campu prayer meeting which is from 11 to 12. Because it was raining, I assumed the prayer meeting will meet in the cafteria.

So while I was waiting, was just having a grand old time when around 10:30 I saw two of my classmates from last semester. Jason, Nicky, and I had taken the History class together last semester and had been pretty good friends so they came to my table and we were pretty much catching up on everything (Melissa soon left for another class). Around 11:10, realizing that I hadn't seen anyone from the prayer meeting yet, I decided to take a quick look around the cafeteria and spotted Maki as she was just coming in. :P Becaue we had no means of communication, after her class she had gone to the parking lot, to my classroom building, and then back to the parking lot before deciding to come to the cafteria. :P I felt so bad because it had been raining so bad; fortunately though she had an umbrella unlike me... lol!

I saw one girl from the prayer meeting and found out that the prayer meeting had been cancelled. Since it was still raining and I was pretty comfortable, I stayed until around 12, talking to Jason and Nicky while Maki was with another classmate of ours, Tomoya. At noon we both went home.

Had lunch and watched (very hisashiburi) Law and Order then an episode of NCIS. Studied a bit then went to my Musical Theatre class. Mitch wasn't in class today (had to go to mainland because a relative passed away) so we mostly did singing for the better part of the class. Then, since Mitch wasn't there, Lina asked me to lead the class in some dance warm ups. ^_^ Then at the very end, she showed us pictures she had taken of us a couple of time earlier in the semester during our dancing. She pointed out our postures, arm positions, leg positions, etc. Then got to leave early class early though it didn't really turn out that way because Lina and I were talking about something else she might like me to do for her in future... :P When it becomes definite, I'll tell you what it is. ^_^

Went home and had dinner (thank you Maki and Naomi), watched NCIS, did some computer, then had our prayer meeting at 8:30. Afterwards, I got to talk on the phone with my father for a bit (really missing home right now), then read The Count of Monte Cristo. About 3/4 done! Such a thick book but I LOVE reading it; am getting especially tense because I'm getting towards the exciting parts!

Then it was off to bed for me. Here are my plans for today: going to babysit Malia and Bella from 10 to around 2 or 3 and then nothing planned until Friday night service in which I'm playing drums. Probably afterwards will go out to eat... to celebrate Matt's eye laser surgery! Yup, he finally got his eyes lasered yesterday! Soooo happy for him; many congratulations!

I'm off to babysit now... ta-ta!

Corner of the Sky

Decided to try putting up a video on my blog. :P Enjoy!

Ice Skating and Broadway Music

Whoah, again it's been a loooooong while since I posted. :P Many sincere apologies and my excuse, albeit lame one, is that I've been busy with so many things going on, including my midterms in school. But midterms are now over! ^_^

Let me tell you what happened on Saturday... Woke up around 9:00 then an hour later, Erin and I went to Ala Moana Shopping Center. Not to shop mind you but to do a kind of 'research' for my paper. What I had to do was visit an upscale retail store and write a report on it. For example, what kind of "feel" did the store have, where were the cash registers placed in the store, what color scheme was used, etc. Decided on checking out Coach which was fun and interesting. After making sure that I understood and new its layout, we left for home.

I started writing my paper then for lunch I made fried rice. Was sooooooo good! Because I've been so busy, the whole past week I haven't made myself lunch at all (just leftovers). Making lunch is sooo nice and much yummier.

Around 1:20, Naomi picked me up and we both went to take Aunt Jean and Reed to the airport (they're going on their belated/second honeymoon to Tahiti). Hope they have a safe trip and have lots of fun there!

Stopped by Tina's house because Tina is moving today. For the past two weeks, Naomi and Erin have been going to help her pack because she had a lot of stuff. :P Only stayed for a bit before Naomi and I swung by home for a second then headed off to the Ice Palace skating rink. Some of my musical theatre friends had decided to go skating and I had been invited (then I in turn invited Naomi). :P There were so many people, mostly kids! It was a very interesting experience to go skating in Hawaii. lol!

There were a few ice rink games I joined it which is a bit complicated so I won't get into. :P But both games I was among the runner-ups which was cool. ^_^ There was also a taiko game which to my shock and dismay, I lost againts Matt. :P Oh, well, I'm comforted in the fact that I'm a real drummer... lol!

In the picture above, that's Lani leaning over with Mitsuko and Matt behind her (I had a nice group picture but unfortunatley, blogspot refuses to put up any more pictures for some reason :S). Mitsuko and I REALLY get along because our personalities are very similiar. Plus she's also taken ballet with the same teacher at the college so likes to dance. She's also really energetic and funny... like me! It's so sad though that she's going back to Nagoya in December. *sobs*

Around 6:30 I say farewell to my friends and headed for home and a little after 7:00, with just enough time to change into nicer clothes, Tiffany picked me up to go to the Honolulu Symphony Concert. The concert was "Giver Our Regards to Broadway" in which there were several guest singers who came to sing famous Broadway songs from like The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Pippin, etc. One of the singers was Guy Merola who I had LOVED playing John Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Then there was Cathy Fox who played Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie (these two productions are the ones I saw at the Diamond Head Theatre). There was Rocky Brown who was in the actual Broadway cast of Miss Saigon when it first came out on Broadway in 1991. Then old-timer Jimmy Borgers and last of all, 21-year-old Jordan Segunda who was actually in the top 12 in season 2 of American Idol. Such a great group of singers!

Favorite singers who most defintiely have to be Jordan and Guy who were simply excellent! Favorite songs were... "Bring Him Home" (Les Miserables), "This is the Moment" (Jekyll & Hyde), "Guys and Dolls" (self-explanatory), "Luck Be a Lady" (Guys and Dolls), and "The Last Night on Earth" (Miss Saigon).

And that's it for my wonderful Saturday! Until next time!

Okonomiyaki!!~~~

Ok, so this is yesterday's blog which I'm writing today. :P I have some time before my next class so I decided to write a bit and give an update on what's been going on.

Yesterday I had History and ESS class in the morning/early afternoon as usual. History class was cool because we got to watch this video about the American Revolutionary war, mostly in the south. In one scene, on the soldiers was none other than... Philip Seymore Hoffman! I mean... it HAD to be! All my friends were talking about it and we all agreed that it had to be him (for those who don't know, he won Best Actor last year). Strangely though, he wasn't credited. Hmm... I'll have to check into that...

After class, Maki and I went home and then the two of us plus Mrs. Sato and Naomi went to have a late lunch at Big City Diner. I got the classic burger which was yummy and REALLY filling. Oh, yes, something interesting happened there. I wanted the meat cooked medium rare but for anything under medium cooked, I had to sign a form saying that I requested it that way! At first I was a bit 'mock' suspicious and the waiter was laughing and saying it was only the first of about thirty more I have to sign. lol!

Maki and I then had Speech class in the afternoon. I got my first project/paper back... I got a 100%! ^_^ Sooo happy about that. Another 'happy' thing was that we got to leave after only about 15 minutes because all we did was go over the exam prep sheet for the exam we're having next Monday. I'm hoping this exam won't be too hard... :S

Went home and I studied BLAW. And last night, Naomi was on the radio! She and three of her co-workers, who had been involved together in preparing for the Hawaii BioScience Conference this summer, were being interviewed on a local Hawaiian station. It was about a 30 minute interview and Naomi got air time! It was pretty cool hearing a 'familiar' voice on the radio. lol! So that was a really cool that happened yesterday.

I took a BLAW quiz before dinner (got 100%; so relieved since it was a bit of a complicated chapter). And what a dinner we had because Mrs. Sato made her wonderful, stupdendous, absolutely incredible okonomiyaki! AAAAAAHHH! Missed eating it so much that it was quite the treat for all of us here. ^_^

A bit during and after dinner I watched last night's episode of Bones. Very good episode yet once again... I like the developing storyline involving two of the secondary characters in the series.

For the rest of the evening, I was actually studying in the living room (mostly because I was too lazy to move my laptop back to my room :P). The next day (this morning) I had a Psychology exam so I was studying for that. It was nice because Naomi 'joined' me later on with her laptop in the living room and she was working while I studied. Listened to music together and stuff. Also got to talk on the phone with my mother which was nice since we haven't had a chance to talk in a while.

Ok, today's blog I'll wait to write until tonight. :P Till later!

Thus Begins the Seventh Week of the Semester

First, a quick post on what happened yesterday (Saturday)...

Got to sleep in (yay!) and after going to the post office to send something, the rest of the morning was spent cleaning up the house with Erin and Maki in preparation for Mrs. Sato's arrival tomorrow. ^_^ And seriously, we cleaned EVERYTHING! lol, I don't think I ever remember cleaning so much since my mother cleaned the house last time she was here. :P I must say... it's really clean here now.

Had a delicious lunch (ramen) which I cannot stress enough of how good it was! :P In the afternoon I watched a Bones episode and watched Control Factor which I borrowed from Netflix. It stars Adam Baldwin who is a completely different character from the 'Jayne' I know. :P It was quite an interesting science fiction movie; obviously a 'tv-movie' but actually well-done. Very tense and exciting though the ending fell a bit flat. One of those "not-concluded-and-you-should-still-watch-out-for-the-bad-guys-out-there" type of ending. :P If that makes any sense...

Did some homework, particularly History and BLAW. My teacher's catching up on checking the posts so I need to make sure to keep on top of things.

Had Panda Express for dinner then aftewards, Erin and I played Lord of the Rings on my computer. It was pretty interesting doing the game in two-player-mode, especially since it was Erin's first time to play the game. It was sooo much fun as we were yelling and making so much 'noise' while playing. lol! You can imagine...

And now, for today's post: This morning we had our church service in which we listened to Masa's sermon, "Steps from Baptism." He preached this sermon while I was in Japan but since I was in the nursery, I never got a chance to listen to it so it was good to have the opportunity to listen in our service.

For lunch we went to eat at Genki-zushi which was as usual very good. I like going there because I get to eat chawan-mushi. ^_^ Went home and watched a Bones episode with Naomi then since I had 'free' time, I did some homework. Good, huh? :D

Tonight was 'taco-night' as well as potatoes and corn beef night... MmmMMmMmmmmm. We watched The Big Store which was actually Erin's first Marx Brother's movie to watch! EVERYONE has to watch a Marx Brothers movie at least once in their lifetime, don't you think? :P Watched a couple episodes of Hogan's Heroes, too; gotta love Hogan and Newkirk, though I also am very found of Major Hochstetter. :P

Chatted with some people and now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow Mrs. Sato will be here!!

~Shu-ffle, Hop-Step, Shu-ffle, Hop-Step!~

Oooh... today was one of those good, happy, nice days. ^_^ Woke up early and since I'm getting sort of 'used to it,' I was able to actually get right out of bed. :P Tuesday/Thursdays I have to get to campus early so I can get parking. It's nice to just sit on one of the school benches in this nice green area and read my Psychology book to prepare for class. I'm really enjoying my Psychology class; my teacher is pretty funny and has us do lots of group discussion, watch videos, and play this like 'trivia' game where we answer questions from what we just learned. It's cool cause we get this 'clicker' things to answer the questions! ^_^

After class, went home with Maki and studied some Business Law. Ate lunch and after watching a couple of Hogan's Heroes I took my BLAW quiz. Sooooo easy so I got 10 out of 10. ^_^ It's funny because you get an hour to take but I took like 10 minutes. lol!

Before musical theatre class, I was just doing some random studying of different subjects. Then it was off to my FAVORITE class! ^_^ First hour or so was spent listening to everyone finishing up singing their first song piece; a song from the 20's, 30's, or 40's written by Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, or Irving Berlin. After today there were only two or three people left who'll sing next week. Then we're going to start on our next song piece which has to be from the 50's or 60's. I've already chosen to do My Fair Lady's "Show Me" which I'm really excited about.

After the singing we did our basic stretches then started our next dance 'program' which is... TAP! I'm really happy that we're getting to do tap though it's really simple stuff since most everyone has never tapped before. But it's great fun... especially since Mitch our dance teacher asked me to help him teach the next class... ^_^ I'm a bit nervous about that but he kinda 'auditioned' me after class the day before yesterday and even asked me to help choreograph a short tap number we're going to do while singing "Singin' in the Rain." Whoopee! I get to choreograph!

When class was over, a few of us stayed in class a bit just going over the steps. Went home and took a shower (it's sooo muggy recently, especially in the theatre building) and had a delicious dinner prepared by none other than the great Naomi! It's good to have her back and cooking for us... lol!

Watched some Hogan's Heroes then we had our weekly prayer meeting which Erin led today. Talked about some 'house' things, too. Afterwards I decided to do something I haven't done in a loooong while... play the Lord of the Rings PC game. ^_^ Very 'hisashiburi' so it was lots of fun.

Now it's getting late and I need to be off to bed. Tomorrow's Friday so no school and pretty much nothing planned for the day though I need to do my take-home chapter quiz for History. Perhaps some BLAW studies, too... We'll see how lazy I feel tomorrow. ^_^ G'night!

Newkirk (Hogan's Heroes): "I hate to say die sir, but I'd rather say it than do it."

Will keep this short as it's already midnight. :P This morning was really nice and relaxing; my class starts from 10:45 but I woke up around 8:30 and got to just 'relax' without having to 'rushed' about anything. Naomi and I picked up some Starbucks coffee (frappuccino for me as well as a lemon crumb bar... MmmmmmMMm!!) Went to class and handed in the paper I just finished writing yesterday. :P lol One good thing; I found out that the chapter quiz which I thought was due Wednesday is due next Monday! So happy about that because I had only been told about the quiz yesterday and just got it this morning in class. Mr. Cassity's chapter take-home quizzes require time to do so I'm glad it's due next Monday.

ESS class was fun as usual; Mr. Crowell is suuuuuuch a fun speaker and always has the class' complete attention. ^_^ Finished a bit early then went home. Had leftovers for lunch and watched some Hogan's Heroes before doing some schoolwork then heading off to Speech class. The class was pretty interesting; talking about interpersonal perceptions. Basically it's about how we view others, how we think others view us, and how we think others think about us. lol, confusing, huh? It definitely is... I kinda got it though which is good since I think the exam is going to cover this. :P

Class finished early so I when getting home, I began trying to put together and decide on my Speech paper which is due the day after tomorrow. I don't think it'll be that bad. It actually seems fun since we have to write about one person or event which helped in influencing the thoughts we have about ourselves. When I write it tomorrow I'll tell you more about it.

Tonight from 6:00 to about 7:40 I was at worship practice at Kaimuki church since I'm playing drums this Friday. Was a great practice; we're sort of a 'new' group but we're really playing well with each other and learning how to work together. I think my drumming has improved a bit as the others encourage me to try out my own beats. I still miss Joe helping me out though... :P Can't wait until he can make time to have his lessons again.

Got home and while eating dinner, watched some more Hogan's Heroes. Season 3 is definitely the best season so far... the plots though sooo simple are actually quite clever and the dialogue is very quick and witty. Long live Hogan and his merry band of spies! ^_^

Off to bed now; tomorrow's plan? Well, I'll be going to campus a bit early tomorrow so I can get some forms about my getting degree this semester. Also I need to find information about transferring next semester. Then it's Pyschology class in the morning, writing the Speech paper, then Musical Theatre class in the afternoon. I'm off now; ta-ta!

Definitely Ate Too Much This Weekend... :P

Again, long time no posting. :P It's been a really busy week/weekend so I'll give you a brief recap. First off, Saturday was Maki's birthday! We went to celebrate at Todai restaurant for lunch; all you can eat Japanese food... YUM! I especially love their sushi, chicken, tempura, and for dessert crepe. ^_^ Then since Saturday was election day, Naomi and I had to go vote. It was the first time for me to do that so it was an interesting experience. I did my civic duty!

For dinner that same night, a big group of us from Kaimuki church went out to eat Macaroni Grill to celebrate Christi's and jointly Maki's birthdays. There was 15 people altogether, plus Brandi and Verano's baby, Aden. He's almost a month old and is soooo adorable!!! We all had fun taking turns to carry the baby.

Today (Sunday), we had our service and listened to the sermon tape from church back home. It was my father's sermon about "Lonely Faith?" and it was really good to hear it. Applied a lot to us over here and it was really encouraging. ^_^ For lunch we ate at... you guessed it, Happy Days. Come on... it's delicious! I seriously can (and I think we do) eat there every week. :P

In the afternoon, I was working on my History paper. Yeah, I know, doing homework on Sunday. The THING is, my friend only just told me late last night that I had a paper due Monday morning. So I had to get it done today. Oh, well, I finished it fairly quickly and it wasn't too bad. I hope I did well. :S

Later in the afternoon, Gap was having a sale so Erin, Maki, and I went to Ala Moana. I got two really nice shirts which were sooo cheap ($6 and $8)! Right now the 'theme' for Gap is Audrey Hepburn from the movie Funny Face. You know, the one where Audrey dances in that black long sleeve turtleneck, long black pants, and black 'slipper' shoes. Really simple clothes but very stylish at the same time.

Got home and after grocery shopping at Times, we had curry dinner (thank you Erin!). Watched Kiss Me Kate which was tons of fun (remember Maria the song "I Hate Men"?! lol! "Like piggies in a pen..." *snort*). Best musical numbers are definitely all of Ann Miller's numbers and the Keenan Wynn number "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."

Afterwards, I mostly did a bit of 'song' searching. I have to look for the next song I'm going to sing for musical theatre class. I've narrowed the search down finally to My Fair Lady's "I Could Have Danced All Night." I've been doing Mezzo-Soprano/Belter songs so I want to try a Soprano, 'semi-love-song' for a change since the last two I sang "Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend" and "You're the Top." I'll have to get more details from the teacher however about the song choice; I just heard about the next song having to be from the 50's or 60's and am not sure whether there were any other specifications.

The past few days I've been going to bed pretty late so hopefully tonight I'll be in bed a bit earlier. Going to try to wake up a bit early, too, so I can put the finishing touches on my paper before handing it in. G'night, sleep tight!

One Quarterly Exam Down, One More To Go

Wow, tomorrow's already Thursday, the last day of school for the week! Very exciting... :P Today I woke up pretty early (got a phone call) then spent the time until my history class studying for my Exercise in Sports and Science exam which is right after the history class. I 'kinda' paid attention during the history class but the time was mostly spent reviewing in my head what I was supposed to remember for the exam. So when I left for the ESS class, it was funny because a classmate committed that I "looked tense." :P Well... I had good reason!

The great thing about the exam is... we all got the exam questions before hand (last week) so we could study them before coming in for the actual exam. :P Cool, huh? But it's not so much a great, great thing in that because we have the questions, we're expected to have it down pretty well. Soooo much writing to do! I took almost the whole class (an hour out of the hour and fifteen minute class) to write down the three essay. :S I can tell you that my hand was starting to cramp by the end. lol!

Went home and I was sooo starved that on the way we picked up sushi. MmmmMM~! I love the ikura rolls I can get at Kozo-Sushi! Before my speech class I was doing some things on the computer for Naomi (she needed some files). Speech class was pretty interesting; learning about how we perceive other people based mostly on their appearance and 'roles' (business man, student, parent, etc.). We did an interesting activity where the teacher brought several different 'color schemes' and we had to pick 'what color we are.' You know how people are characterized as white (Caucasian), black (African American), brown (Hispanic), and yellow (Asian)? Well, we got to 'form our own colors'. lol! Maki and I both were (I think) 'Sunland Park.' Coooool, wouldn't you say? Better than 'Mom's Apple Pie' which someone's color was. lol!

Got home and I started working on making the study sheet for my Psychology exam tomorrow. I'm not too worried about it compared to the ESS exam. It's an all multiple choice exam so I don't really have to memorize as intensely as for an exam.

Erin brought home McDonald's for dinner and I watched an episode of Bones. We then had our weekly prayer meeting; afterwards, Erin helped me with my song I chose for musical theatre class. The next assignment is to pick and sing a song from the 20's, 30's, or 40's by either George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, or Irving Berlin. I decided on Porter's "You're the Top" from the Broadway musical Anything Goes. Very fun and bouncy song; also extremely 'wordy' so my main concern is memorizing the lyrics. :P Thank you Erin for being my piano accompaniment and thank you Naomi for the sheet music!

Went back to studying for the Psychology exam. This weekend is going to be 'interesting' for me; I was suddenly offered three separate babysitting jobs! So I'm gonna be babysitting tomorrow (Thursday night) right after class, Friday from 11 to 4, and Saturday evening. :P It'll be fun though; I love the kids I'm watching and they're very good (and importantly, they listen to me and behave well). ^_^

I'm off to bed now; gonna go to bed slightly early so I can get a good night's rest and be well-prepared for the exam. G'night!

I Have My Computer Back!

I'm gonna keep this short since it's already midnight. :P First off... my computer is back! Got it back about two days ago and everything's working perfectly. My files all seem in order, too, which was one of my biggest concerns.

This morning after a quick breakfast, we 'three girls' had our church service and Erin led the service as well as gave the sermon. She talked also about how we have to individually and continually seek God in our daily lives. Afterward we went to New Hope Diamond Head where we heard the Pastor preach about creating and keeping healthy relationships as Christians.

For lunch we ate at Kimuraya's bakery... SOOOO GOOD! Haven't gone in a while so it was extra yummy. :P Then after stopping by Star Market to get a lei, we went to Punchbowl cemetery to visit my grandpa's grave. The day after tomorrow is the third year anniversary since he died but we thought it nice that the three of us could go all together.

Got home and after doing some computer, I took a short nap. Felt real good. :P For dinner we had cold udon which was delicious; Japanese food is always the best. ^_^ Maki and I watched an episode of Firefly then I worked on MovieMaker a bit. I love having my computer back so I can work on MovieMaker again. ^_^

Now I'm off to bed; tomorrow starts the fourth week of the school semester!

"Step; Step; Step, step" (Swing Step)

Wow, more than a week has gone by so quickly since I last posted! :S To sound very, very cliche, how time flies... ^_^

It's been a busy but fun week. Last weekened was 'longer' than usual since Monday was Labor Day and we didn't have school. Erin also didn't have work so the three of us went on a trip to Lanikai Beach. Had a real relaxing time, getting a tan and enjoying the beautiful drive since we took the 'scenice route.'

Then from Tuesday it was back to school again. Wednesday was the 'hardest' day to get through since it's the day I have three classes and for all of them I had tough homework. :P So Tuesday was spent trying to get all of the homework done. :P Now that I've gotten a sort of 'feel' for all the classes now, my favorite classes from most favorite to least favorite would be Musical Theatre, Exercise Sports & Science, Psychology, History, Speech, then Business Law. Actually, Speech and BLAW is a bit of a toss-up; I like BLAW but my liking it will depend very strongly on how hard the quizzes/exams are. :P

Today I had Psychology in the morning. It's a really 'interactive' class so we always get to do fun class/group activities. Today we split up in small groups and had to pretend we were an Ethics Committee. Then we had to discuss 4 'hypothetical' proposals of whether experiments could be performed based on whether they are ethical or not. My group was really on top of everything so the disucssion flowed well between us and we could report our conclusions and reasons for our conclusions to our teacher very well. ^_^ I love it when a 'group' comes together (borrowing from the great Hannibal from A-Team...)

In the afternoon I was feeling kinda... anxious for some strange reason so I went all crazy and cleaned the kitchen. :P lol, weird, huh? Even I felt a little werid. But the kitchen's clean now! I also did some 'casual choreographer' in my room; playing random music, choreographing little combos, etc. So much fun!

Had Musical Theatre class and today our music teacher was absent (she's conducting the orchestra for a play that opening tonight) so our dance teacher was in charge of the whole class time. In case I never really made it clear or not, we have two teachers in Musical Theatre class; one in charge of the 'music/singing' department and the other in the 'dance/acting' area. Today we spent most of the time learning the Swing Dance and several complicated steps. It was pretty cool though as a girl, it's 'fun' depending on whether your partner is good at leading or not. :P Some guys just don't get it... lol! And since there are more girls than guys, there's always about 2-4 girls without a partner (depending on absent students) so I usually practice dancing the guys part with one of the other girls. :P I got complimented that I lead better than most guys. lol! Well, I should hope so since I do choreography and to amateur teaching. Also, being a girl, I know exactly how the guy should be leading. ^_^

At the end of class Mitch (the teacher) let us listen to famous songs from famous musicals and we had to name the title and the play it's from. We listened to like "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls, "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, "Maria" from West Side Story, and more.

Maki made dinner tonight; cooked salmon and cold tofu... Japanese food is just so good. Didn't eat much though; I don't eat much on Tuesdays and Thursdays now since I have Musical Theatre class. Somehow, I get full soooo quickly when I eat after doing intense dancing. :S Weird, huh?

Dinner was a very 'long affair' as we just sat at the table and were just talking about most anything and everything under the sun. ^_^ We then had our weekly prayer meeting; the meeting was really good and we were able to talk openly about many things that have been in our hearts about our church and our lives coming back to Hawaii.

I watched highlights from Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly version) which was so much fun and gave me the nice fuzzy feeling I get whenever I watch a GOOD romance or romantic comedy. *sigh* Now I'm off to bed in a bit... I get to sleep in tomorrow! It's so exciting! :P Don't have any plans for tomorrow except that I need to work on my Business Law. G'night and till next time!

P.S. I might hopefully be getting my laptop back from Dell repair next weekend! Woohoo! Sooooo excited! ^_^_^_^_^

Computer-Less

It's been a week since I last posted my blog... but I have a good reason so bear with me! My computer sort of died on me last week, meaning I'm as of the moment out of a computer. Thankfully, Naomi, Erin, and Maki have been sooooo generous with their own computer time and have allowed me to use their computers. THANK YOU!~

So anyway, the past week went by pretty quickly what with school. The weekend was kind of a blur, too... :P I actually don't remember much except for church... lol! On Monday evening I went to worship practice at Kaimuki Church since I'll be playing drums at the Friday night service this week. Was so nice being able to play the drums and seriously... I need to keep practicing. :P I felt a little 'off' at first but hopefully no one noticed. ha ha... ^_^

This morning I had Psychology class and for the first time, I was on time to class. :P The first class I couldn't find parking and the second time I overslept. :P So TODAY I made sure to get up in time. It was still so crowded I couldn't park so had to ask Naomi to drop me off. Today we learned about the many different 'perspectives' of psychology. I never realized just how much psychology 'branches out' into soooooo many fields! Forensic psychology for example, where psychologists are used in court to help with juries and witnesses. Cool, huh? Well... I thought so... ^_^

Got home then since I hadn't checked my e-mail in the morning, I just found out about a two-page paper that's due tomorrow morning! I have to leave history class a little early so I missed out on the 'happy' news. Thank goodness for friends! lol!

Naomi and I went to Koko Marina and after a nice lunch, shopped at Costco for things Naomi needs to bring back to Japan. :P She has so much to do and so much shopping before she's REALLY ready to go to Japan the day after tomorrow.

Got home and I was doing homework until I left for my 3:15 to 5:45 musical theatre class. Each time I go, the more I love this class! Today, in preparation for the 'mock' auditions we're going to be doing this Thursday (and perhaps into next Tuesday), we had 2 hours of dance. :S Yeah, pretty tough! But, since I love to dance, it was great though my legs are 'ache-y' right now. :P Learned several little combinations and also learned a short audtion piece Mitch (the dance teacher) choreographed.

After talking about the upcoming audtions a bit, went home then spent about an hour or so doing homework before having dinner. Afterwards, Erin was kind enough to help me prepare for my audition piece. I decided to sing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" from the stage/movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Since I have to sing with a piano accompaniment, I have to practice on how it'd be like. Thank you so much to Erin for helping me and to Maki for giving me tips and ideas!

Back to studying again and thankfully I finished my homework. ^_^ Now here I am, finishing up my blog, trying to remember and make sure I don't have any more homework for tomorrow... :P Off to bed in a bit; it's nice that I can sleep in at the latest until 10:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays since my first class doesn't start till 10:45. ^_^ G'night, sleep tight!

I LOOOOOOVE Musical Theatre Class!

My day started off with Psychology 100 from 9:15... the thing was, though I got to the campus thirty minutes early, parking was soooooooooo crazy that I couldn't find ONE spot in the whole campus parking lots! Finally, when it got around 9:20 I realized that there was no way I would find parking so I drove home quickly and got Naomi to drop me off to class. :S I was about ten minutes late but fortunately there were a few seats... one of them right next to my friend from last semester's acting class, Melissa! We both had no idea we would be in the same class so that was a really pleasant surprise. My teacher, Mrs. Compton, seems like a really nice teacher; she's Russian, and more specifically from Siberia! That's just pretty cool to me; she also has a really cool Russian accent. :P During 'introductions with a new partner', I was partnered with this guy who is also interested in becoming a film director! That was pretty neat...

Class finished a little early so Maki and I walked home and after studying a bit, had lunch. Ate while watching a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie called Send Me No Flowers. It was pretty hilarious and Maki and I were laughing the whole time. Loved Tony Randall as well as Paul Lynde's character as a very, very, very happy head of a cemetery... :P lol!

Next class was musical theatre from 3:15. Went a bit early though and got to catch up with some of my friends from last semester's theatre class. This 2 1/2 hour class is taught by two teachers, one who is a music teacher and another who is a dance teacher. Well, actually, our dance teacher is actually a kind of replacement teacher since the original lady who has been teaching the class for years couldn't teach because of personal reasons. So the sub is a student from UH who is completing is PhD in Dance. He's REALLY good so am glad that the level of the class is pretty high.

Did a bit of dance exercises, singing exercises, and acting exercises. Got to finish early and while waiting for Maki, did a bit of drawing since that campus area has such a beautiful scenic view.

Went home and did very little studying, mostly talked with Maria about her day as she went on a tour thing with her parents. For dinner, we all went to eat out at Dixie Grill. Got the ribs which was, as always... completely delicious. ^_^ Also got the key lime pie for dessert which was Maria's first time. And she liked it! Very good...

Now am home, writing the blog after doing just a bit of studying. Did my ESS homework which was interesting. Explored my 'dimensions' (physical, emotional, social, etc.) and found out I'm very well balanced. :P Off to bed now, going to wake up a bit early to drop Naomi off at a meeting. Ciao!

And So It Begins... ^_^

Woke up excited for my classes. ^_^ I know that a lot of people get all sad at the thought of having to go back to school but for me... I just love school. :P Can't help it and though I may complain of school work etc., I still love it all!

Erin took the day off so she was the Kanais' chaffeur, driving them around so I didn't get the car. She was nice enough to drop me off for my first class though. It was good seeing Mr. Cassity again and there were a couple of familiar faces in History 281 class though nobody I knew very well. The teacher gives about five minutes for us to team up with a 'new face' and get to know them better. I paired up with this really nice guy named Jaco who turned out to have lived in Osaka a few years and speaks fluent Japanese (with a very strong Osaka accent)! So we spoke mostly Japanese to which Mr. Cassity was laughing at. :P

Since the class finishes at 12:00, at the SAME time my next class starts, I had to leave a few minutes then run aaaaaalll the way across campus to make it to Exercise in Sports and Science class. Made it in time and was so glad that Maki gets there early so she can save me a seat; it's a really, REALLY crowded class and if Maki hadn't saved me a seat, I would have had to sit way in the back or something. :S I prefer sitting at least towards the front where the teacher talks. From the first moment I really liked the teacher, Mr. Crowell. He's half-Italian, looks it, but talks local. lol! It was so funny when suddenly in the middle of his lecture he used the word "genki". lol! The class seems like it's going to be lots of fun; similar to health class back in KCIS but with the focus on each of the student's 'wellness'. Sounds like it's going to be lots of fun. Oh, and on an interesting note, the teacher it a Christian!

So, as you might have guessed, I don't have any lunch break at all so by the end of the ESS class (1:15), I was starved! :P Maki and I walked home and I immediately made myself a quick lunch. Naomi and I then left soon after to a jewelry store we go often which specialized in Hawaii jewelry. I might be getting a Hawaiian necklace so I'm hoping it works out. ^_^

Picked Maki up then Naomi dropped us off for our 3:15 Speech class. Much to our surprise, a classmate of ours from our very first semester is in our class! I saw him quite a bit on campus last semester, too, so we got to talk a bit afterwards since we walk the same way 'home'. The teacher, Mr. Johnson, is a really nice older man; very pleasant and 'jolly' (seriously, that's how I would describe him). Looking forward to this movie, especially since we're going to get to see some films in class!

Went home and fell asleep (by accident) on Naomi's bed. :P For dinner, the Kanais and 'us girls' went to eat Thai food. Since I had only a little bit for lunch, I was COMPLETELY starved so the food seemed to taste even more delicious than usual. lol!

Got home and did a little 'preparing' for tomorrow's classes, Psychology and Musical Theatre. I'm so much looking forward to the Musical Theatre class! Till tomorrow... I have survived my first day of the semester!

Excited for School!

:P Oops, got so caught up in preparing for school starting tomorrow that I almost forgot to write blog. Oh, well, at least I'm pretty much prepared for school tomorrow!

This morning woke up a little earlier than usual so that Naomi and I could go pick up Mr. and Mrs. Kanai to bring to our house for a short chapel/praise&worship time before going to New Hope Diamond Head church. Stopped by to pick up some breakfast which we ate in the car. :P Had a nice chapel time at our house and Erin talked a little about how we are 'new creatures' and that the old things have passed away, the new things have come.

The service at New Hope was very good and it's so good to worship with such a participating congregation. Pastor Fernando gave a very good sermon about what worship is all about and how it's not just coming to church and praising God; it's about our whole lives worshipping God not just on Sundays.

After the service, we went to eat at Happy Days. It was Mr. and Mrs. Kanai's first time and they really loved the food there. ^_^ *sigh* I love their duck and also their hot and sour soup. And of course, their shumai. MmmMMMMMMMM!~!

Got home and after resting a bit, us 'girls' went to watch Step Up at the movie theater. VERY good movie; loved every second of it. The dancing was superb and though the story itself was a bit formulaic (like the whole 'daughter and mother don't get along but have a nice talk and become best buds by the end', 'boy and girl start getting along but soon have a fight which ruins everything', 'a significant something happens which brings them back together', etc.), the story was handled well. Mostly due to the fact that the two leads were perfectly cast, especially Channing Tatum. Excellent dancer and he had his character down pat. As several critics have said, while High School Musical perfectly targeted the pre-teen crowds, Step Up is perfect for the older teen crowd and twenties group. The best part for me was that the movie was actually pretty 'clean' for it's target audience. Amazing, isn't it? :P

Went home and rested up a bit before having a light dinner of leftovers. Watched a movie then got ready for school which starts... TOMORROW! I also got a head start on my online Business Law course. Already read up a bit and also posted on the discussion boards. :P Oh, well... I get points for posting so might as well try very hard. ^_^ G'night!

Just to give you a plan on what my schedule is:

Monday/Wednesday
10:45 ~ 12:00: HIST 281 - Modern US History I
12:00 ~ 1:15: ESS 100 - Exercise Sports and Science
3:15 ~ 4:30: SP 181 - Speech (Interpersonal Communication)

Tuesday/Thursday
9:15 ~ 10:30: PSY 100 - Psychology
3:15 ~ 5:45: MUS 229 - Musical Theatre

Also taking BLAW 200 (Business Law) online course.

School Starts Day After Tomorrow! :S:P

One week has gone by soooo quickly... so strange to think that I'll be starting my second year of college in just two more days! *grimace* lol, just kidding though. I'm actually excited to start school again though I'm sure I won't be that excited after a few months. :P Well, just 4 months of college!

Slept in (again) and then went to campus with Erin, Maki, and Maria. 'Toured' a bit so we could show Maria around; got some really nice pics and videos. Plus, because it was Saturday, hardly anyone was around so we kind of had the whole place to ourselves. Such a beautiful campus, it really is no surprise it's said to be the most beautiful campus in Hawaii. Maki got her schoolbooks and I traded in my soprano music book for a mezzo soprano/belter music book for my musical theatre class. It was the last one so I was happy I got it today. I'm DEFINITELY more of a mezzo soprano/belter rather than a soprano. :S

Went to Kahala Mall where we met of with Naomi and the Kanais. Ate lunch (Panda Express and Korean food) then went our separate ways. Went to Jean's Warehouse, Claire, Macy's, Pac-Sun, Barnes&Nobles, and Tower Records... quite a bit, huh? Pretty much the whole afternoon was spent at Kahala looking at various shops. I was able to get a shirt and some other miscellaneous things which I'm very happy about.

Maki, Maria, and I went home a little earlier than the others (since I can drive now). We were soooo tired that we collapsed in our respective beds for a few minutes before actually doing anything. :P

Went to have dinner at Chili's which was very yum. I always love their Chicken Caeasar Pita and their Classic Nachos. MmmmMMmm. ^_^ Now we're home and I'm sooo tired. As Naomi said, my eyes are losing their 'numbness' from the surgery so I'm starting to get dry eyes. I have to make sure to put plenty of eye drops in.

Tomorrow's Sunday! We have church in the morning then after that we haven't anything planned. How nice... no real schedule!! :P Till tomorrow!

So Much Laughter, So Much Fun!

I had a strange experience early this morning... I went to bed with my special 'goggles' on (to protect my eyes from getting 'squished' accidently whil I'm sleeping). Then around 4 o'clock in the morning, I woke up, I'm lying on my back, my hands are folded properly on my stomach, holding my goggles against me. It was sooo strange! I don't recall taking the goggles off at all!! Kinda freaky... :P

lol! Ok, just an interesting thing that happened that I thought might be interesting to anyone reading this blog. Woke up a little after 10:00 then did some computer. Around 12:30, we picked up Mr. and Mrs. Kanai then dropped the three Kanais off at Ward center. Maki, Naomi, and I had eye checkups at Aloha Laser Vision so we grabbed a quick lunch at McD's then headed off for our appointments. My checkup went very quickly (I have 20/15 vision!) and while waiting for Maki's to finish, was chatting with the people who work there. They're all lots of fun and I can't believe how much I laugh when I'm there. ^_^ I was mockingly scolded by one person to stop smiling. :P lol!

After the checkup, picked up the Kanais then on a sudden decision we all went straight back to the Aloha Laser Vision place so that Mrs. Kanai and Maria could by sunglasses (was on sale). It was so funny to see all the ALV workers again. They were jokingly saying that they were getting tired of seeing Naomi and me. ^_^

Next went shopping at Nordstrom Rack where I got really nice pants and two REALLY cool shoes. Went home to relax a bit before going to Kaimuki Christian Church for the Friday night service. The service was conducted a little differently as there was a 'guest band' and guest speaker tonight.

For dinner, it was just 'us' (Kanais, Naomi, me, Erin, and Maki) and we went to Old Spaghetti Factory. We were all laughing sooooo much and have so much fun fellowshipping that whenever our waitress came by, he had a funny smile on his face. :P We're just SUCH a fun group, we can't help it! ^_^

Dropped Kanais off and now I'm at home, writing my blog. So full from dinner that I need to rest my stomach a bit before going to bed. Tomorrow we don't have anything definite planned though probably in the morning, I'll be driving (hurray, finally!) Maki and Maria to campus. Maki needs to get her textbooks and I promised Maria a tour of the campus.

As a recap, I'm making a quick recovery from my surgery so again, many thanks for all your prayers! I can see everything so clearly now, colors are so much clearer now, and Hawaii has become more beautiful to my eyes than ever! ^_^

First off...I can SEE!!

This morning I woke up early so I could get to the place at 7:30 and after a few very short eye tests, I was being prepped for surgery. I had to take this drug called valium and though my sister and my father said that they were pretty much knocked out by it, I felt every single thing!

There were two parts of the surgery. First part was the laser thing that cut a flat in both eyes. The most uncomfortable part was not the laser, but this thing that kept my eyeball and pressed down on it so it felt like my eyeball was popping out. :S Gross. Not painful, but really uncomfortable. The next part was when they actually lifted the flap off the eye and then used the laser to fix inside the eye. This felt weird because I could actually feel and see the flap being pulled off my eyeball.

It all together took about not even twenty minutes. When I sat up, every thing seemed hazy, but I could see the clock on the wall and read the time. Then they sent me home to rest. I was completely fine except my eyes felt kind of bruised inside. Pretty much the whole day seemed hazy and smokey, but little by little everything's becoming clearer.

Got home around 9:00 and then slept around 12:00. In the middle of that time, around 11, the Kanais, who just arrived, dropped by to say hi. They soon left; they didn't want to bother me. :P I was in bed until 5:00...no, I was cheating and opening my eyes and looking at stuff. Maria was a very scary nurse and ordered me to close my eyes all the time. She kept me entertained and by the end of it all, we were just saying anything that came to mind. Babbling away. :D I'm wide awake now, but Maria's tired out from entertaining me. :P So thank you very much to Maria who was a wonderful nurse and took very care for me and who is even now dictating this blog for me. I think I should check over what she wrote...

After Erin came back, we went by two cars (we have two cars! haha!) to pick up Mr. and Mrs. Kanai at their hotel. We went to eat at this steak house kind of place by the beach, called the Shore Bird. It was really good; the salad bar and entreas were great. We got very stuffed and had a fun time and good fellowship.

Now we're back home and I just got in trouble by Naomi for using the computer. So I'm lying down with my goggles on, not ready to sleep at all after lying down all day long! During the surgery, I was getting a little tense, but I was able to get myself under control and to relax. Thank you all for your prayers, they were greatly appreciated. I felt that God was watching over the whole thing. ^_^ Thank you to Naomi and Maria for escorting me back and forth to the place, watching over the surgery to make sure the doctor didn't do anything wrong (though they probably wouldn't have known if he had! :P ). Though I'm pretty wide awake now, I'll probably be lying on my bed for some time. ^_^

Getting My Eyes Lasered Tomorrow!

Today turned out to be quite the busy day; Naomi came to wake Maria and I up at 9:00 and after only fifteen minutes to get ready, we left for the airport to pick Maki up. It was nice seeing her again and good to have her here. At first she didn't 'recognize' us because we have a new car now. :P

Next stop was to the place where I'm getting my eye laser surgery tomorrow morning. I had my last checkup which took a while. Had to get my eyes 'dilated' which was weird. :P Very weird... The sunlight felt really bright so I had to wear these embarrassingly dorky 'shade' things that kind of attaches to my glasses.

From there we went to the windward side of the island to visit Brandy and Verano at Castle hospital; Brandy just gave birth to a baby boy, Aidan, eaaaarly this morning! The parents looked really good (naturally a little tired) and Aidan was sooo cute! There were some complications so the baby was in an incubator when we saw him but they're hoping that he'll be allowed out of the hospital by the beginning of next week.

We were there for about an hour before we finally headed home. Picked up some Korean food for lunch and ate at home. Then while Maki unpacked and got to relax after her flight, Naomi, Maria, and I went to the Diamond Head Beauty Salon to get haircuts. My hair feels really 'light' now which I'm very happy about. ^_^ Both Naomi and Maria are also really happy about their haircuts, too.

Went home and helped to wash the car before sitting down at the computer to do some net surfing. Then from 7:00 watched the 2-hour finale of "So You Think You Can Dance". Never watched the show though I had seen clips of the winner from the previous season, amazing dancer Nick Lazzarini. This season's winner was a favorite of mine from the beginning so was happy to see him win. Though, in my opinion, ALL the season one dancers were better than this season's 'best'. :S

Now I'm mentally preparing myself for tomorrow's surgery. Please be praying that everything goes well and smoothly! Wish me a good night's sleep!

Will be having TWO roommates from tomorrow!

For some reason, Maria and I were *slightly* hyper last night so though we went to bed at a fairly reasonable hour I guess, we were talking (aka, laughing quietly) quite late and it took a while for me to fall asleep afterwards. :P So... Maria and I slept in pretty late this morning. :P Yeah...

Lunch was REALLY good as Naomi (in between meetings) brought home some delicious sandwiches for us. Roast beef sandwiches are the best (besides BLTs). ^_^ The day was spent mostly relaxing, watching a movie and catching up on some of my reading. In the evening since Naomi was still out, Maria and I fended for ourselves and ate miscellaneous stuff out of the fridge. lol! It was good though so I'm not complaining in any way. :P

Flipped channels a lot before finally deciding on watching a Monk episode with Erin coming in to join us. Was a funny one where Monk gets amnesia and though I've seen it before, it was still hilarious and made me laugh a lot.

Maki will be arriving tomorrow morning! Before going to airport though, I'll be going to get my eye checkup and get the finally 'thumbs-up' for whether I can get my eyes lasered this Thursday. I DO hope so... I'm getting really sick of my glasses which I've been having to wear for almost a week. :S Wish me luck!

Many Songs Stuck in My Head... :P

Ah, a very long, fun-filled day! :D This morning, after Naomi went to her meeting, Maria, she, and I went over to campus to do some things that needed to be done before school starts next week. Went to get my receipt and proof of credits for the new semester then went to the bookstore to get my schoolbooks. It's about a book for each of my classes so altogether six books... all of them pretty thick with small letters. :P Ah, well... at least all of them look pretty interesting. Except for my Business Law book which is a HUGE hardcover; it's a very distinguished leather brown with gold leathers. ^_^ Coooool...

After also getting a parking permit for the car, went home for a bit and worked a bit on MovieMaker as well as did some writing. Picked up some lunch at the Christian Covenant bookstore (there's a nice cafe there) then went to Heather's house at 1:30 to babysit Malia and Bella. The two girls were taking a nap so after we ate lunch we watched some tv. Naomi left after a little bit then when the kids got up, we watched this children's 'numbers' video which drove Maria and I just a little bit crazy. :P Then watched an hour's worth of Chip 'n' Dale videos which also began to drive me crazy. lol! At least Malia and Bella were REALLY entertained and had fun.

Maria and I then played with the kids, taking pics and vids, until Heather came back around 5:30. Naomi picked us up and we went home for a little bit before going to the last part two of our tap dance workshop. There were several more people joining us today and we worked completely on tap 'dance'. The teacher choreographed a dance to a nice, upbeat Frank Sinatra song which was great fun and a challenging. Hmm... the song is somewhat stuck in my head. lol!

Picked up some dinner then ate at home while watching an episode of Monk. It was a bit of a disappointing episode since the ending was a bit... well, not quite 'sad' but more like 'unfair'. Now I'm doing some internet surfing while also trying to finish a Firefly vignette I'm working on (vignette is a short, one chapter fanfiction). Tomorrow we have nothing planned... wonder what Maria and I will do... I'm sure we'll think of something. ^_^ G'night!

Another quickie post... I should try writing my blog earlier in the evening. :P Oh, well.

Today is Sunday so after breakfast we had a quick chapel in Naomi's room then headed off for New Hope Diamond Head church. The service actually takes inside Diamond Head Theater which was really interesting. :P It was a good experience to go to a new church. The pastor was a really nice man and gave a powerful sermon about singing/praise/worship.

After the service, 'mingled' a little bit with other church people then left for Koko Marian. Ate Greek food for lunch then shopped at Costco for a bit. I was able to get a KT Tunstall album which I'm already really enjoying.

Got home and woefully, internet was down for a couple of hours :S:S:S I was pretty awful... :P So worked on MovieMaker for a little as well as did some writing. Took a very short nap then from 7:00 to 8:30, Maria and I went to day one of a tap dance workshop (two-day workshop). I knew one lady from when I had taken lessons before so it was nice seeing a familiar face. Altogether there were eight students so a nice 'small-ish' class. The teacher was really nice and looked over each one of us individually and helped us out with whatever we needed to work on. Mostly did the basics today while tomorrow we're going to actually do more tap 'dance'.

Picked up Jack 'n' Box for dinner then watched the Moonlighting pilot which I haven't seen a while. ^_^ Reminded me just how much I like the series.

Anywho... very late now and I'm off to bed. Tomorrow promises to be a full day as I'm going to campus to get some school things done (like get a parking permit and buy textbooks), babysit Malia and Bella in the afternoon, then have tap in the evening. G'night to all! Hope everyone is continuing to have a great summer. ^_^

Windows Movie Maker... F-U-N!

Going to keep this short as it's getting late. :P Tomorrow we have to get up 'semi-early' since it's Sunday.

First off, I woke a bit earlier than usual since I couldn't sleep; decided to finish reading a book I got recently (which I did) before watching some tv. When Maria woke up, we had a Monk-a-thon which was loads of fun. Gotta love Monk; Season 4 is really good and maybe slightly better than Season 3. Don't know for sure yet since I haven't finished watching all the episodes.

For lunch, we picked up sushi which always makes me happy. ^_^ Went to see a movie then shopped a bit at Kahala Mall. I actually didn't buy anything though! *shock* Ah well...

Picked up Panda Express for dinner than Maria, Erin, and I watched The Lost World: Jurassic Park. I think it's my favorite of the Jurassic Park movies though the first one is also really good. First one I think had a better more 'even' plot while the second one has better action and suspense.

I'm having fun with Windows MovieMaker. So far I have made a New Zealand video from my trip 'down under' and today I just finished making a kind of 'music video' based on the tv series Bones with the music "Hey You" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. ^_^ So pleased with it... now what to work on...

Tomorrow's Sunday so after having our own chapel at home, we'll be going to the New Hope church at the Diamond Head Theater. It'll be my first time to go there so I'm very excited. As for the rest of the day... perhaps we'll go down to Koko Marina. :D Sweet dreaaaaams!~

First Whole Day Back

Slept in until almost 10:20 today! Felt good to sleep in and catch up on missed sleep. :D This morning watched a Monk episode then did a little reading. I have lots of issues of Entertainment Weekly to catch up on since I've been away for a while. :P

In the afternoon, while Naomi went to a seminar, Maria and I stayed around Ward area. First had lunch at the Chowder House which is always delicious. Then for the next couple of hours we looked into a few shops; spent the most time at Borders bookstore (almost an hour). I got a couple of books and a dvd which is always nice. ^_^

Ate at Coldstone then Naomi came to pick us up. We went to the Friday night service and it was good to see some familiar faces. We heard some testimonies from the mission team who had just come back from a trip to Africa. One of them was Brad whose son Braden I babysit so it was nice to say hi. Since Maria was here, spent some time with the high school kids after the service, especially with Isamu and John, Jay's sons. They both play drums so the four of us were playing a bit while Maria took vids. :P

For dinner, went out to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory which is always a favorite of mine. Had a really great time of fellowship and got up-to-date on everything since I've been away.

Now it's getting late and I need to be getting off to bed. It's so weird; I feel soooo awake though it's late over here. Gotta get used to the time difference... :P G'night!

I Have Returned... :P

I'm back in Hawaii now! Been a long, fun-filled summer... but it's not over yet! I know my updates have been few and scarce between but to sum it up, I had such a wonderful time with my family and church family that I almost wish I didn't have to come back. :P Once school starts I know I'll get into the 'groove of things' but I'm still going to have to go through 'Japan-withdrawal-symptoms'. :P

First off, many thank yous to the people who came to see me off before I left for the airport. Your prayers have helped me so much while I'm in Hawaii and knowing that I will continue to have everyone's support is such a great encouragement. Oh, yes, before I go on, I didn't come to Hawaii alone; my good friend Maria also came along to spend a few weeks with me in Hawaii for vacation. It's definitely going to be lots of fun while she's here. :D

The road to the airport was a bit crowded so it was a bit slow going though it was nice getting to listen through a whole Dave Dobbyn album. ^_^ Got through the check-in veeeeerrryyy quickly so Maria and I were able to have a relaxing dinner with my parents. Good Japanese food; yum!

Good-byes are always really tough so with many tears and hugs, I said good-bye to my parents. *sigh* Going to miss them sooooooooo much though I know I can still 'bother' them through the internet. lol! Maria and I were able to share three seats between the two of us so got to stretch out and relax more than we would have had to if we had someone sitting next to us. Had our own individual tv screens so watched Ice Age 2 and while Maria slept I watched Take the Lead. First movie was really good, second was so-so though I really liked Antonio Banderas in it. He's really a talented dancer and played a really likable character. Slept a little bit afterwards but not too much. Did some computer then we landed in Hawaii, about 30 minutes off schedule since we had some departure delays.

Going through customs was crazy what with the heightened security after the Europe incident the other day. :S So it was almost an hour before we finally got through everything. Naomi was there to pick us up and we went straight home first. Unpacked a bit before heading to Happy Days to have a late lunch. Yum-yum! Missed their food...

Got home and did a little more unpacking before exhaustion set in and Maria and I just HAD to take a nap. Slept soundly for about 2 hours before Naomi came to wake us up since it wouldn't be a good idea to sleep too much else we'd be unable to sleep at night. More unpacking to do, plus I had to shuffle stuff around and clean my stuff up to make room.

Erin came back then after a little while, we went to pick up Taco Bell for dinner. Got the Mexican salad as usual; delicious! Watched 'highlights' of Fosse then watched an episode of Monk. FINALLY got my room cleaned up. ^_^ Took a shower and now here I am, typing away at my blog. I apologize that I have no pictures up; for some reason I'm having a problem with blogger.com and it won't let me upload pictures. Grrr... I have to try to figure out what the problem is.

Anyway, I'm off to bed! No particular plans tomorrow except we might do some shopping in the afternoon. G'night!

In Japan!!

Wow, already a few weeks have gone by since I last updated my blog. :P Sincerest apologies; got so caught up in other things. Not that I have been completely lazy or anything like that! Very much on the contrary, I've been pretty busy!

First of all, I'm in Japan now and am sooo glad to be with my family, dogs, friends, and church family. ^_^ I've missed everything about Japan so much; especially the food. lol! Truly! I've eaten so much food that I would imagine I would be quite... umm... 'large' by the time I get back to Hawaii except for the fact that I've been 'moving around' a lot in the form of taking up dance classes and helping out with the renovation at the church. Been taking tap and musical dance at Imai Jazz&Ballet Studio again; it's great seeing my teacher, her daughter and son (who are also teachers), and my fellow 'dance-mates' after a whole semester away. Fortunately, I don't seem to have forgotten how to dance so I'm able to keep up with the classes. :P

Before I get into the renovation work I've been doing, first off I have pictures from the Koinonia meeting from last Sunday evening. 'Koinonia' is the group of young people from our church (20's and 30's) who get together once a month to fellowship.

That evening we had the meeting at Erin's house so we also had Chocolat for company. ^_^ My father talked a bit about the idea of the Koinonia group starting up an evangalistic ministry to reach out for young families and university students who live in the area of our church. Then Erin talked about how as the Koinonia group we really have to come together as 'one' and to be unified in what we do together.

Of course, as you can imagine, the potluck dinner afterwards was DELICIOUS! Everyone made something and everything was too yummy for words. I liked the eda-mame and ate almost the whole bowl (and it was a fairly large sized bowl...) :P

After eating we talked about what Pastor had said and came up with some good ideas. Erin, Maki, and I won't be here but it was great helping out with the ideas and supporting this wonderful group. Many blessings on each and every member of Koinonia! And as you may have noticed, Ai-chan is veeeeerrry pregnant so many hurrahs for Ai-chan and Bob's baby!!!

On to updates on the renovation project. From two weeks ago, I've been going to church on the weekdays and with the help of my loyal sidekick Maria (:P), we've been picking up where the last renovation team left off. First thing we did was clean up behind the garage (lots of wood and 'junk' that needed to be reorganized), the sound room (just HAD to be cleaned up as there was hardly much room to walk back to the baptistry), and the OTG a.k.a. Over The Garage room (ALL the tools had to be reorganized and 'found'). Got all that done and it feels so nice to have everything so clean!

Then we starting on laying another layer of thin plywood in the fellowship hall and the kitchen; had to be pinned down with special pins since we were gluing it down. That was a LOT of work and took a better part of three (maybe four, can't quite remember) days to complete. THEN we also of course had to take all the pins out! There was about (and I'm NOT joking...) 1800 PINS to take out!!! Yup, that was hard work and have blisters to prove it. ^_^ But it looked so nice and clean afterwards.

But not as nice and clean as it looks now! Maria and I painted the kitchen then from yesterday, with Maria's and my mother's help, we laid down tiles in the fellowship hall. Also got the tiles laid down and finished in the kitchen today, too! So tomorrow, all we have to do is put up the baseboards and return all the tables, chairs, refrigerator, cabinets, etc. back to where their supposed to be. Then the fellowship hall and kitchen will be pretty much complete! Am very excited about it as I know it's going to look soooo nice when it's all done!

That's it for now; sorry I could only put two pictures up. For some reason, it's not letting me put more pictures and I certainly have lots more great pictures from Koinonia and the renovation work!! Ahh... well... will update again and soon as I can to put up pictures. G'night!

I Have Returned!

Yes, I'm back! It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? Let me give you a brief recap of what's been going on...

From May 13th to the 23rd I was in California! Got to stay and have lots of fun with Paul and his wife Lee and his step-daughter, Connie; also got to meet Mark and his family along with meeting and staying with a lovely young Christian family. Did soooooo much that it's hard to know where to start... drove around Hollywood and saw such places like the Stars Walk of Fame, Graumann's Chinese Theatre, Bel-Air, Kodak Theater, Capitol Recording Company building, the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and some plush housing areas. Nope, didn't see anyone famous. :P Also visited the Getty Museum which was really cool; LOTS of famous art painting, drawings, manuscripts, and sculptures.

We not only visited the Los Angeles area but also looked around Palm Springs and Santa Barbara a bit as well as going down to San Diego. Went to several 'parks' like Universal Studios (WOOHOO!), Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World and also took a tour around "Old Town" of San Diego. Even got to go to Coronado Island where the famous Hotel Del Coronado is (the famous hotel where the movie Some Like It Hot starring Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, and Tony Curtis was filmed).

Basically, everywhere was fantastic and I could go on and on. :P My pictures are still in Naomi's computer so when I get them all transferred to my computer, I promise to put up pictures. ^_^

Just after we got back,. then my parents and Aunt Doreen arrived in Honolulu then on Friday we all flew to the Big Island for my Aunt Jean's wedding. It was a really beautiful wedding and both Naomi and I got to be bridesmaids. We got our hair and make-up done "professionally" which was really cool. :P Again, will promise to put up pictures. Most of the time was spent with the wedding 'party' including many of the relatives of both Aunt Jean and Reed.

This morning we visited a church pastored by the pastor who did the wedding ceremony. He was a really nice man; from New Zealand originally! It was a really nice service and we all loved being able to be in the service. We were able to get an earlier flight back to Honolulu so instead of around 7:30 or so we got back around 4:30. Sooo nice! :P

Most all of us took naps since we were pretty exhausted from the busy weekend. Had a nice relaxing Taco Bell take-out for dinner then watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was my parents and Naomi's first time to watch it! SUCH a good movie... simply hilarious and I can't get over how cool of a character Gromit is even though he's just a clay character!

Off to bed now; good'night to all! Will get pictures up as soon as I can! What pictures do you want to see exactly? Just to get an idea of what you want to see and what I should put up. ^_^

~ERIN'S GRADUATION!!!~

Gonna keep this short and mostly just post pictures of the highlight of the day... ERIN'S GRADUATION!! Many congratulations to Erin for graduating college! The ceremony was really great and so many people came to be present for this important event!

At the ceremony I was able to really 'meet' Erin's whole family which was really nice as they are such a fun family. :P A few other classmates I knew were also graduating; one of them (a different Maki from my roommate Maki) graduated with honors and was one of the group of students graduating with a 4.0!) Down below you'll see a picture of me with her and some other friends including Robin (Linda Fujikawa's husband, the guy in the wheelchair), Matt, Masami, and others. Oh, just a interesting 'fact' but there are 20 students chosen all across US community colleges who receive a special award in excellence... and one of the 20 students was selected from Kapi'olani Community College! You can imagine how proud everyone was to have such a student. ^_^

Doesn't Erin look 'weighed' down with all the leis? lol!

After the ceremony, about twenty of us altogether went to Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate. We really had a fantastic time and had so much fun talking, laughing, and having good fellowship.

And now... tomorrow I'm off to California! I'm so excited about the trip though the downer is that I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning for out 7:30 flight... *sobs* I really hope I can sleep well on the plane. Paul will be at the airport to meet us and then on Sunday we're all going to Universal Studios! VERY excited about going there as you can imagine! Certainly a dream come true!

For 'the end', here's a picture of Erin and Tina fooling around. We had been teasing Erin about having to wear dark glasses at the ceremony because of her recent eye surgery so we got both her and Tina to wear sunglasses. You can see how 'cool' they are... lol!

So I'm off to Cali tomorrow; I'll try to post blogs but we'll see. ^_^

The Semester Is Over! A Whole College Year Gone By!

Can you believe it? One whole college year has come and gone by! I had my last two finals today and it feels so strange to not have any schoolwork to do. :P SUCH a nice feeling!

Erin went to pick up her mother, grandmother, and two aunts at the airport early in the morning so I walked to my 8:15 class. It wasn't really a final exam class since we didn't have any exam. Instead we just got together, we all handed in our final papers, and while Mr. Cassity taught us about the Iran-Contra affair, we got to eat ALL kinds of goodies. ^_^ There was cake, hopia doughnuts (plain and chocolate), fudge brownies, coffee, a few different kinds of poki, fruits, and more! Definitely got very stuffed during the 'class.'

Before heading home, I stopped by the campus bookstore to get the two books I'll be needing for my summer class. Yes, in case I hadn't mentioned this, I'll be taking a summer internet course; Hawaiian Studies 107. Sounds like it's going to be fun and hopefully not too difficult. :P

Anyway, walked home and around 11:30 or so, Erin, Naomi, and Mrs. Sato came back from Erin getting her eyes lasered!! That's right, Erin can now see perfectly without the use of glasses or contacts! She was really tired and of course went straight to bed. Her grandmother and two aunts were out shopping but Mrs. Sato had gone along so we were able to have a light lunch together at home. It's so good to see see her again! ^_^

It was study study study until around 2:30 when Maki and I had our final, final, FINAL exam! It was our Geography exam and thankfully, it wasn't too difficult even though it was a cumulative test of the whole semester. I know I made a few questions but I also know that I got the bonus question (everybody know where Nepal is?) :P

Got home and ran a few errands with Naomi. For dinner, Maki made chicken/tomato dish which was really good (we finished everything... lol!). Was able to chat with some people and here more 'reports' on how the renovation is going back home in Japan. Watched Sense and Sensibility and now writing my blog.

Still can't believe that I don't have any schoolwork to do! ^_^ Tomorrow's certainly going to be a big day, what with Erin's graduation and all. And on Saturday... Naomi and I are heading for sunny California! Yes, the two of us are going to go to Los Angeles and San Diego for about ten days. We'll be staying with my Paul and perhaps we'll get to see Mark, also (remember he was an exchange student at Yokohama University a while back?). Soooo excited to be going to California... HOLLYWOOD!!! I'm sooo excited about getting to be in Hollywood... I wonder if I'll get to see any movie stars... lol!

G'night to y'all! Thank you for all your prayers during my first year of college!

Only Two More Finals Left and Erin is FINISHED with her Schoolwork!!!

Ah, very late already but I have lots to mention today! ^_^

Woke up in the morning (naturally), and began work on my final draft for my final History 282 paper. Mostly did final research stuff to prepare. Around a little before 1:00, Naomi and I picked up some sushi for lunch then we both went to get haircuts! We have our 'regular hairdresser' named Monique who is sooo good at her job! She 'knows' our hair well so knows how to cut it just right. I actually didn't cut too much, around an inch trimmed off all over. Feels so 'light and layered' right now; just the way I like it. ^_^

Naomi and I stopped by this workplace for her to pick up some things and got to meet some of her clients/bosses (I don't really get it... :P). But anyway, the COOLEST thing about the trip was that in the private garage, there was a white Porshe Carrera!! I've never really gotten up close to a Porsche before so that was really cool. Didn't touch for fear to leave any prints; it was sooo purrrrrty!

Rest of the afternoon was spent writing up my History paper. Was veeery close to finishing but decided to start on my Japanese final paper.

At around 6:00, Naomi, Maki, and I went to the campus to see Erin's class presentation of their portfolio work over the semester. Of course I would have to say that Erin's work was by far the best among all the students' works. :P We saw a few familiar faces at the 'show' including Cameron, Christi, Brandon, and Tina who came to be Erin's 'suppor/fan club.' ^_^ (The girl in the picture with Erin and Naomi is Lisa, a good friend/classmate of Naomi's).

We left around 7:00 though Erin has to stay longer to receive other guests. Picked up Jack'n'theBox for dinner and after watching some tv, Erin came back and the four of us went to celebrate by going to eat ice cream at Bubbie's. The ice cream was delicious and I especially liked the waffle cone. Many congratulations to Erin who has finished all of her schoolwork!

Went home and Erin was nice enough to help me write up and FINISH my Japanese final paper! I'm sooo happy that it's done! Only have to finish my history paper then take the Geography final exam on Thursday. Oooh, can't wait until the semester is really over!


Off to bed; it's REALLY late now.... :P Till tomorrow!

A Day of Being Lazy But Still Got Things Done and Had Fun ^_^

Going to keep this brief since I need to be getting to bed. I slept in really late today (the latest since the beginning of the semester I think!) and had lunch instead of breakfast. :P I know, very bad but I guess I needed to sleep. Watched a little tv then did some studying for my History final exam which is on Monday. Wrote up my study guide which I'll be sharing with my classmates.

That was pretty much it for the afternoon besides doing a little writing though not very much. Around 5:45, the four of us went to the church for a special farewell-potluck for the Nebraska Christian College group which had been here for the past week. Was able to have good fellowship among the college students and other church members.

Got home pretty early since the group had to leave quickly to head for the airport. I was able to get a lot of pictures from back home in Japan! ^_^ Thanks so much Maria for all the pictures and videos! It was nice to see the church people, our wonderful guests, and the wonderful work they've been doing for our church! Many blessings to all!

Watched For Your Eyes Only which was very 'hisashiburi' ('has been a while). The Bond girl is in my opinion perhaps the most beautiful Bond girl in the whole series. Seriously, she's absolutely gorgeous!

Anyway, off to bed now, sorry this is short. I have a lot of pictures from the potluck but I'll put that up tomorrow. As Edward Murrow would say, "Good-night and good luck!" :P lol!

Last Day of Classes!

Going to keep this short since my computer is making odd noises... :P Today was the last day of classes! HURRAH! So wonderful though I'm going to miss some of my classes like the History classes and Theater class.

Had History class in the morning then studied with Nichelle a bit for our final next Monday. Then I went to Mr. Cassity's office to talk to him about my paper since I was having some trouble with it. A 'quick' visit turned into a 45 minute meeting (:P) but it was really good and nice to be able to talk to him one on one.

Went home, had lunch, then basically relaxed all afternoon in the living room, watching some tv and also doing my hobby project. It's coming along really nicely which I'm very proud of. ^_^

Erin prepared dinner which was very scrumptious then watched the second part of the House, M.D. two-parter. It was a cliffhanger ending which made me go "AHHHH!" so now I can't wait until next week's episode. :p American Idol was after that and happy to know that Elliot is still in the now Top 4! I have a feeling though that he's going to be leaving next week. Mou, and when he's the best of the bunch...

Was able to do some homework and prepare for my presentation which is this Friday. Now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I'm babysitting Malia and Bella then as for the rest of the day I don't have anything planned. Wow, no more classes!!!! ^_^