~Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day~

As you can tell from my blog title, it's still been raining here in paradise. :S I really wish it would just stop raining and let us all get to the beach at least once during Spring Break!

Aaaaanyway... ^_^ Woke up late and then around 11:00, after doing laundry, the three of us went off to Waikele Outlet Mall. By the time we got there we were already hungry so instead of hitting the shops immediately, we had lunch at Genki Sushi. Sooo good; got chawamushi and of course my favorite sushi, ikura (salmon roe). ^_^ Also ate another favorite; raw salmon with onions and mayonnaise. May sound 'strange' but it's really good, trust me!

First shop we went to was Old Navy. I love Old Navy but unfortunately I couldn't find something I really liked and wanted to get. Next went to EverBlue, another favorite store of mine. Again I wasn't able to find anything but I did get some really nice earrings which were only $3! Very good price.

Peeked into a few stores then leaving Erin to look around some more, Maki and I headed off to Borders. I love Borders just as much as I love Barnes and Nobles. I got a Borders card so I can earn points and get lots of coupons; also got a Bones novel based on the tv show. Get this (I'm going to try to write this down right). Kathy Reichs, a real life forensic anthropologist, is the author of a series of books about a character named Temperance Brennan who is a forensic anthropologist (the author writes from her own experiences). The tv series Bones, produced by Kathy Reichs, has a character named Temperance Brennan who is a forensic anthropologist who in her spare time writes novels about a character named Kathy Reichs. lol! Ok, bored you enough, but for me I thought that was really mixed up. :P

Headed home around 3:30 or so. Got home and found my Netflix movie waiting for me. ^_^ I was so excited because I've been waiting quite a while for this particular dvd to come; Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra. It's a special show that played on tv in '85 and has Mikhail Baryshnikov, along with members of the American Ballet Theater, dancing to Frank Sinatra as well as some other music. VERY cool. Mikhail Baryshnikov has got to be and will forever more be one of the best dancers out there. He is soooo good... (Cool picture of him from White Nights, huh? Oh how I wish they'd hurry up and get that movie out on DVD!!)

Erin made dinner tonight and while eating I watched the new episode of Bones. Then watched the half-hour show of American Idol; it was really cool because the guest music artists were Wyclef and Shakira. They sang a new version of Dance Like This which was really, really cool. Sadly, tonight it was time to say good-bye to Lisa Tucker though it's no surprise. She's been picking songs which were just not right for her.

Read halfway through my new book and did some more writing. Am on page 16 right now so I'm going to try wrapping up soon so I can upload the new chapter by perhaps tomorrow. ^_^ I'm going to go to bed now; nothing's planned for tomorrow though I'm going to try to finish my book and do my paper on the Drood play I saw the other day. Then in the evening I'm going to music practice because I'll be playing the drums for this week's Friday night service. For some reason I'm nervous... I hope I can still play the drums well... lol!

Another Great Day (Except I Wish It Would Just STOP Raining!!)

Another day of relaxation. ^_^ Slept in late then after having a late breakfast, Maki and I walked down to Benjamin Franklin, a fairly big craft store. It was raining a bit but not too bad, hence the reason why I wanted to walk and get some exercise. I didn't buy much except for a small keychain kit. Walked back home then I had to drive to the bank to do some 'bank things.' :P

Had a late lunch and watched a movie I borrowed recently called Better Off Dead. An interesting mid-80's movie starring a very, VERY young John Cusack. A 'strange' movie but pretty hysterical. :P There were some really funny, witty lines which had me cracking up. It 'exaggerates' lots of the usual 'teen' troubles of the 80's (and some even now).

Did some reading then went to pick Erin up. Her internship finished early so she was at Ala Moana Shopping Center. However, going to pick her up turned into quite a fiasco as the roads were crazy crowded, roads were blocked up, and it was nigh impossible to get to the Mall. :P We were finally able to make it there which was nice, whole trip took a little over an hour. :P Oh, well, a fun drive. lol!

I made dinner tonight (omuraisu) and Tina came over to have dinner with us on a sudden invitation. Was nice to have her over for dinner. ^_^ Watched American Idol and I must say, tonight's performances were pretty unimpressive. Mostly because of very bad song choices. Tonight was 21st Century Night meaning the contestants had to pick a song to sing between 2000 and 2006. However, bad song choices all around. :S Even Chris (one of my favorites) choice a kind of 'noisy, rock' song that just didn't show off his vocal range. Taylor's song was a bit quiet and Mandisa was a bit 'off' sorry to say. Fortunately, the the whole night saved by Elliot doing the last performance. He has SUCH a good vocal range and put it to great use (that's him on the bottom right in the group picture and on the left).

Watched House, M.D. afterwards then chatted with some people on the computer. Also did some more writing. AH, I have to finish this chapter! Taking waaaayy too long. :P

Tomorrow the three of us are planning to go shopping at Waikele. Fun fun fun! G'night, sleep tight!

~Stick to the Satus Quo~

Got to sleep in late again (this will probably be how I'm going to be starting my blogs during Spring Break :P). For lunch, the three of us went out to eat at this ramen shop. It's our first time to eat there but I must say, will definitely be going there again. ^_^ There specialty ramen is that tantan-men which was delicious.

Afterwards, stopped by Walmart and this little Japanese store. At the Japanese store I bought a craft kift to make glasses' stands. I really miss doing crafts so it'll be fun to do. Got home and immediately got started on making them. Fun, fun, fun! ^_^

Had leftovers for dinner and watched You've Got Mail. Took a break though to go buy Cold Stone ice cream. SOOOO good! I always love good ice cream. ^_^

That's it for my day. I've 'moved' to Naomi's room so I can sit in her nice CEO chair. :P It's such a nice chair!! ^_^ Going to go to bed now; getting late. :P Very late... Till tomorrow!

~Sunday's Child, Oh Yeah~

Don't know why that song's in my head right now... well, probably because it's Sunday. :P For breakfast we had Costco muffins which I haven't eaten in quite a while... SOOO GOOD! I especially like the chocolate muffins... who wouldn't like them I ask? ^_^

For our Sunday service, Erin led worship and then we listened to the sermon tapes sent over from Japan. Listened to my father's sermon of "To Be A Fool for Christ" which got a lot of 'amens' from us. It was a really good message and in way, something we could relate to here in Hawaii.

After the service, we stayed at home until around 12:30 when we went out to eat lunch with some people from Kaimuki Christian Church. Met up at Happy Days with Tina, Brandon, Cristi, Pastor Cal, and Pastor Chris (though he came much later). Had some fun fellowship while getting to eat VERY good food. ^_^

Tina and the three of us then went to the theaters to watch Failure to Launch. It was... not one of the best romantic comedies I've ever seen. :P Matthew McCounaughy was cute but the story was VERY lame (though it could have been handled much better to make it enjoyable) and Sara Jessica Parker wasn't too likable. Best thing about the movie was Justin Bartha (yes, Rie, I wrote 'Justin Bartha' :P) who was very hilarious. Unfortunately, I don't think I recommend this movie for the 'younger age group.' Would be enjoyed more by 'older' teens and up.

Got home and did some reading (fanfiction and actualy 'print'... lol!). Erin made dinner tonight of cooked salmon, salad, asparagus, and a potato dish. Verrry good; became very full afterwards. :P Watched some tv and now it's getting late (oops...) and I'm off to bed. G'night to all!

~We're All In This Together~

Slept in again this morning though I hadn't slept too well because I wasn't feeling too well. :S Thankfully I was feeling better by the end of the day. In the morning we did house cleanup and then around 11:30 we went to Costco. Before shopping we had a 'Costco lunch'; I had the cheese pizza of course which was delicious! ^_^

I always love shopping at Costco, mainly because of the countless dvds and cds. lol! I actually got one thing for myself, the soundtrack to Disney's High School Musical which became the number 1 selling album for this week after being in the top 10 since its debut three weeks ago. I'm really excited about this tv movie because Kenny Ortega is the director and choreographer! (for those who don't know him, he directed and choreographed Newsies as well as choreographed for Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller's Day Off). I've only seen video clips but the dancing is stellar as can be expected of Kenny Ortega. The album is pretty great I must say.

Went home and did some writing as well as worked on sorting out my computer files. My folders have been getting a little 'cluttered' so I spent time mostly sorting out my musical files as well as burning some discs of some pictures to make room.

Later in the afternoon I watched some tv and caught the end of While You Were Sleeping. *sigh* Such a cute movie, I definitely need to see the whole thing again. Tonight for dinner we had sushi which we had bought at Costco; sashimi and salmon. YUM! Soooo good... I can't understand some people who don't like raw fish! :S Very weird, don't you think? lol!

Watched an episode of Bones then worked a bit on my fanfiction. Still slow going but it's coming along. Chatted with some friends and my family back home in Japan. It was great hearing about the Pioneer Sign Dance & Worship Event which took place yesterday. ^_^ A great big CONGRATULATIONS on all those involved in putting it together and having it work out so well! I'm very excited to see the video! ^_^

A very good night to everyone out there!

~The Mystery of Edwin Droooooooooooood~

Ahhh... it's Spring Break! Such a wonderful feeling to be able to sleep in without worry of having to go to class or print our your homework... Ahem, well, kinda. :P I actually did have one homework that I needed to have done and sent by e-mail by 6 pm today. Japanese homework, a one page reflection paper on my Samurai presentation at the International Festival. However, it wasn't big deal as I slept in real late and was still able to finish writing it up in less than an hour.

For lunch I decided to make fried rice. Had to go to Times Supermarket to pick up some groceries then made a very good (if I may say so) lunch. ^_^ After lunch, I watched some tv then I concentrated on writing my fanfiction. It's real slow going since I'm at kind of a 'boring' part... :P My readers are getting restless though; I've recently received a few threatening e-mails telling me I had better update soon or else. lol! I'm trying!

Erin made dinner which was chicken in tomato sauce. Then upon a sudden decision made this morning, the three of us decided to attend the opening night of The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Diamond Head Theater. It's a Tony Award winning play from 1985 and the reason for its popularity is that it's a 'Solve-It-Yourself-Mystery'!! Yes, that's what I saw! 'Solve-it-Yourself-Mystery'! Except it's more like 'the-Audience-Will-Solve-It-Together-Mystery'. :P

The show started from 8:00 so we went there early to be able to relax a bit before the show. It was also raining like crazy when we got there. :P I wish the weather would just give us all a break! Anyway, it was my first time to be 'in the theater' though I've been backstage in the rehearsal hall for classes I had taken there last semester.

Very nice theater, medium sized but in my opinion just right. I won't go too much into detail but I must say I really, REALLY enjoyed the play! The singing was fantastic; some singers were 'so-so' but a few were exceptional. I especially liked one of the main characters who had studied opera. No wonder he was good. :P

Anyway, so at the end, the audience had to vote on three things. 1) Who is the mysterious 'detective in disguise', 2) who is the murderer, and 3) who ends up happily ever after. ^_^ It was loads of fun to vote and in the end, the person I voted for ended up the murderer. Hilarious to the end, everyone's comic timing was perfect. It was fun hissing and booing the bad guy (who was my favorite character in the play). :P All-in-all, an INCREDIBLY enjoyable evening 'out to the theater'. ^_^

The show altogether was almost 3 hours long so got home at around 11:00. Tomorrow's Saturday, probably will go to Costco for some shopping; otherwise, no other plans are made. Isn't it nice to be lazy? lol!

Also, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NAOMI! Today's her birthday (over in Japan) so she is now 22-years-old! ^_^

YAY! It's Finally Spring Break!

Hurray, today was the last day of school before spring break starts from tomorrow!! ^_^ Very happy about that since I really want a break. This morning it was raining like crazy so got a little wet going to school. This time, I was prepared and had an umbrella; I also had an extra jacket to wear in history class so i wouldn't freeze. :P Theater class went by quickly, doing a few monologues and uninterrupted scenes. Our teacher had to leave early so for some reason, though we had a person 'in charge' (one of the students), somehow the uninterrupted, improvisation scenes didn't have much 'spark.' Dunno, it just felt like that for me.

The cafeteria was jam-packed with so many booths set up along with a special dance presentation going on (flamenco dancing). I only stayed for a moment to buy and eat okonomiyaki. Wasn't that good, and now I really want to go eat at our 'family' okonomiyaki restaurant back home in Japan. :P

Today we were going to have the Tea Ceremony event but since the cafeteria was super crowded, we suddenly had a change of plans to have it at the International Cafe. So there was a lot of running about as I had to go back to the cafeteria and have it announced over the PA about the change of place. Then I had to go back and help set up the room. Changed into my kimono, too (don't I look nice?). ^_^

The Tea Ceremony took place between 1:30 and 3:30 though I had to leave 10 minutes early to get to my Geography class. About thirty people came which was pretty good considering we were doing it in the International Cafe (a bit out of the way compared to the cafeteria). It was lots of fun to do the serving; though I've never tried my hand at waitering, I think it would be interesting to do. I actually didn't have any chance to speak Japanese in explaining how to drink since most everyone who came spoke English. ^_^ Was lots of fun to meet new people. (Btw, my teacher is the lady in the pink kimono in the second picture, Maki is in the third pic, Nao is in the fourth pic).

Had the early 'rush' and after a 'calm' period, I finally got to eat around 2:00. Hard to eat though while wearing the kimono. :P Sumi-san was nice enough to make obentou for everyone; unagi, egg rolls, daikon, and chirashizushi. YUM! Gotta love Japanese obentou.

There was another huge rush later on which kept me busy right up until I had to leave. The Geography class was pretty empty; seems like everyone's getting a head start on the spring break. :P

Went home and after doing some computer, I took a short nap until dinner time. Unfortunately, thouh it was nice to rest, I got a bad crick in my neck. :P Maki made dinner tonight of fried chicken, salad, and soy-sauce cooked asparagus. Was pretty hungry since I didn't get to really eat too much for lunch.

After dinner, we watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The scary thing was, while we were watching, a REALLY bad thunderstorm was going on. There was a lot of lightning and thunder; lightning struck really close one time, it must have struck only a block or so away! The sound was incredible! We also had an electrical blackout for a few seconds which was really creepy, too... :P All the while we were trying to watch The Curse of the Were-Rabbit which had lots of 'lightning' and 'scary' scenes, too. lol! We were getting freaked out/hyper a bit... *snicker* But seriously, the thunderstorm WAS really scared. So glad that it's finally quieted down.

Read some fanfiction and got to video chat with my family. Always fun! ^_^ Wow, I can't believe it's already pretty late right now. :P Not too tired because of the nap but I'm still ready for more sleep. Hurray for Spring Break! Going to PARTY! lol! *wink!*

Busy Day Tomorrow... Then SPRING BREAK!

Naomi left early this morning so I woke up around 6:10 to see her off. Sad to see her go since I'll miss her. :P Went back to sleep and woke up at 8:00; got ready and walked to school for my History class. I was so relieved to be able to turn in my paper for The River Between and not have to worry about it over the spring break. Plus it's nice that I'll be getting the five extra points for being able to turn it in today. ^_^ I also got my midterm back... 97 out of 100! Better than last year, the three points I got off were from my long essay which I mentioned I didn't have quite enough time to write a reallly complete essay. But still, a good score so I'm very pleased about it.

Went home and relaxed a bit before picking Maki up at noon. At lunch and watched some tv; the rest of the afternoon was spent working on a reaction paper on a short essay called The "Liberal Media" Myth. 'Interesting' is the word to describe it as well as it being a very liberal outlook on the news media of today. I'm glad that this is one of the 'free' papers, meaning that I won't have to worry about the grade or anything. I get the chance to really write out my thoughts and opinions.

Erin made curry for dinner which was REALLY good; I think I had like three servings. :P Watched tonight's episode of Bones; not quite a good an episode as last week's (which was phenomenal) but it was still lots of fun. Then watched the half hour show of American Idol with Barry Manilow making a guest appearance. One more contestant was dropped and that was... Kevin Covais! So glad he's gone; he's one of the 'annoying' ones and he looks like Chicken Little! Seriously! :P Plus he's not too good a singer. It's down to ten now... going to be interesting how it progresses!

I got the news later on that Naomi got home safely. I was able to video chat with my whole family back home which was an interesting experience. :P My dogs are sooo cute...

Tomorrow's a busy day what with three classes and I'm also going to be doing the tea ceremony. I hope I do well and don't mess up... :P Yay, tomorrow's the last day of school until spring break! Soooo excited!

Can't Wait Till Spring Break!

I'm going to try to keep this short since it's getting late... :P Very sleepy right now...

Had history class in the morning and though the lecture was interesting, it was really, REALLY COLD in the classroom! So many of us were freezing; there was this one poor girl who was actually shivering! Anyway, imagine how 'excited' everyone was to get out of the classroom and outside where the sun was shining oh, so warmly down! :P Before we got to go we were handed back our midterm papers. I got 98 out of 100! *mind is still boggled* I guess it really helped that I had written the first draft and Mr. Cassity had been able to give me lots of helpful tips and suggestions on how to make the final, completed paper good.

Today in theater class I did my monologue. Beforehand, everyone complimented me on my beautiful clothes, high-heels, and my hair (Naomi had pinned my hair up elaborately this morning). I slightly messed up on my first try of my monologue because I was going a bit fast. I was really nervous. :P However, my teacher being an excellent teacher and director, gave me a few suggestions here and there and my second time around, it felt sooo comfortable and I really felt like I did well. And everyone did say that I did really well. ^_^ So happy!! Two more monologues after me; one was simply hilarious! *still laughing*

Went to the cafeteria but on the way, we stopped by to watch a 'presentation' on medieval times. There were guys actually dressed up in armor and did some mock fighting! It was pretty cool. It seems that those people were from an actual 'club' which meets often to practice fighting and really pretend to be in medieval times. They make their own armor, stage actually mock battles, and go on camps without any modern conveniences. Iiiinteresting is all I can say. :P

After eating a quick lunch, from 1:00 to 2:00 my JPN 298 group set up a booth for our Samurai: The Japanese Warrior Class presentation. Many people stopped by, mostly to make origami Japanese helms though. lol! It was lots of fun though it would have been more 'interesting' for me if people really wanted to actually learn about Samurai. :P Ah well... college students. lol! At the time in the cafeteria, the music students of KCC were singing and playing music; like having a recital. As you can imagine, they aren't professionals so some were pretty good... and some not so much. :P

Right afterwards, I went to the International Cafe to have my Tea Ceremony dress rehearsal. Lots of fun thouh I never want to wear my yukata/kimono over long jeans again. Sooo hot! It was a good rehearsal though and I'm feeling ready for the actual 'ceremony' on Thursday.

Rushed to Geography class which thankful wasn't too boring but more importantly, finished early. :P Went to do something quick at the International Cafe; on the way it was funny because I saw a few friends of mine were playing around after doing some kind of presentation. One of them was sing/doing(?) the DJ type of music where you just make all kind of noises on beat and with rhythm. Anyway, one of my friends just yelled out through the microphone (where anyone in the vincinity could hear) "Priscilla! Break dance!" Of course, naturally if someone tells me to dance, I do. :P So that was a funny little incident. lol!

Went home and after a very quick break, went to pick Erin up from her internship. Then went to pick up some dinner at Panda Express and ate while watching tonight's American Idol. Everyone did really well tonight and it's certainly going to be interesting over who's going to be dropped tomorrow.

And the rest of the night was spent completely focused on writing my 4-page paper on the African story The River Between... which is due tomorrow morning. :P All right, I really wasn't procrastinating! Mr. Cassity only talked about it yesterday and because I was sick most of the day, I could only work on my paper which was due today. And today I was not home pretty much the whole day except for the evening. However, like I mentioned, I didn't really have to write the paper for tomorrow... however, having the extra 5 points sounds nice. ^_^

Naomi's leaving for Japan tomorrow! I'm so jealous and I wish I could go with her... am going to miss her tons while she's gone. Will get up briefly at 6:30 tomorrow morning to wish her a safe trip, after which I will promptly go back to bed until I have to get up for my morning class. :P G'night and sleep tight! Aren't you all (who go to school) excited that Spring Break is coming up? ^_^

Donated Blood And Didn't Die ^_^

This morning's class was spent the whole time talking about the book The River Between; the African book I finished reading a few days ago. A report is due on it this Wednesday, though we can hand it in the Monday after spring break if we wanted to. However, if we hand it in on Wednesday, we get an extra 5 points! So I think I'm going to try to write it by Wednesday.

Went home for a bit and finished answering the mutliple choice questions for my take-home chapter quiz which is due tomorrow. Picked Naomi and Maki up from their classes and ate a quick lunch before heading back to campus. Peeked into the cafeteria since the International Festival was going on. Not too interesting.

From 1:15 to around 2:00 I was 'prepped' to donate blood... most of the time spent just waiting. :P They first pricked my finger to test my blood to see if it was 'good blood.' I seemed to have good blood at the time. ^_^ Then I was asked a looooong series of yes/no questions which was pretty dull. Most everything was 'no' for me. :P

THEN it was time to actually give blood. It didn't hurt at all actually; the thing that was most 'uncomfortable' was that my whole arm was going numb and the tips of my fingers were tingling. :P It took less than 10 minutes for the blood bag to fill up since I have pretty good blood pressure. I thought I was pretty fine but when I got to the Great Lawn on campus to meet up with Maki and a few of my friends, I started seeing black spots. I was seriously close to blacking out. :P So I had to lay down on the bench for a bit. Drank some water and Matt was kind enough to offer a brownie (VERY good) and a few of my friends were trying to hold a conversation with me. The funny thing was, I could not or the life of me hear what they were saying! I was sooo dizzy! So said good-bye and Naomi picked me up.

Went home and immediately went to bed until around 4:30 or so. Got up and had to work on my short essay part of the chapter quiz which is due tomorrow. Was hard to concentrate on writing it since I was still feeling queasy. Tried to get up a few times but was still having dark spots in my eyes so had to sit right back down.

Naomi made dinner (very good as usual) and by that time I was feeling much better though after getting up again I was getting slightly queasy. Spent the rest of the evening finishing up the short essay and watched some tv. I also got to work rehearsing for my monologue for theater class tomorrow. :S Getting a bit nervous now... I have a stellar costume, complete with some cool stilleto heels (^_^) but I'm just worried about mixing up my lines. It's hard to speak with a British accent...

Anyway, I'll off to bed in a bit. Tomorrow's a busy day; I'm also having my 47 Ronin Story presentation!! ^_^ I hope that goes well... Ta-ta!

Kahala Mall Third Day in a Row

I promised to put up pictures from Naomi's surprise birthday party last night... and here they all are! ^_^ Doesn't my Oreo Cookie look delicious? :P

Anyway, on to "about today." This morning I woke up a bit early because there was a HUGE rainstorm! Lots of thunder, crazy rain, and everything! And the pressure all around was all wacky so my nose kept getting stuffy and unstuffy. Very annoying... I was still able to sleep in until around 9:00.

After breakfast we had our Sunday service, today led by Naomi. She talked about God's grace and how we must use the name of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. Today was 'Third Sunday' so we had our church communion. ^_^ So nice to be able to have our own communion services in our church.

For lunch we went to Kahala Mall to eat at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). Even though it was still raining really badly (there was a flow of water in the streets and some really HUGE puddles all over) it was still pretty crowded. Lunch was very good including my favorite; spinach and artichoke dip. MmmMMmmmmMMMm!!! ^_^

Shopped a bit in Macy's and Long's Drugstore then went home. Mostly did some 'clothes cleaup' and finished writing up my score for the upcoming monologue I'm doing this coming Tuesday. Also chatted with many different people, catching up on all the news back home in Japan. lol!

Had a light dinner after such a big lunch and watched Unbreakable with Naomi. It's M. Night Shyamalan's second film after making The Sixth Sense. Though not as good as The Sixth Sense (NOTHING beats that movie in having the best surprise ending), I thought Unbreakable to be quite interesting. A bit slow in my opinion, could have been more 'thrilling', but I enjoyed it. Bruce Willis was superb as well as the young actor who plays his son; was a bit disappointed with Samuel L. Jackson. His character could have been portrayed better I think. It had a nice twist in the ending which caught me by surprise though after thinking about it, I kind of saw it coming. And let me tell you, I thought about the movie quite a bit after watching it since it's one of those movies which makes you think aftewards. :P Better than Signs for the ending, but The Sixth Sense is still Shyamalan's best. Gotta see The Village though to make a final decision. ^_^

Now I'm ready for bed. I have only one class in the morning, but I'll be donating blood in the early afternoon. :S Please be praying for me that I won't get all stressed out over it. (must remember to breathe). lol! Good night y'all!

Happy, Eary Birthday to Naomi!~

Wow, I was able to sleep in til around 10:30 this morning! And because I slept in so much the day seemed short (except I'm staying up late right now so it still feels like a long day). :P Ok, confusing... on with the blog!

Erin and Naomi were out in the morning so Maki and I did our weekly cleanup. Erin came home for lunch and the three of us ate homemade ramen. YUM! Though I kept telling myself that I should do some homework, I was instead inspired to write my fanfiction. I was feeling very 'creative' so I just needed to let my creativity out today. :P I also did some reading to relax which was really nice. But not to fear, I did some homework, don't worry. ^_^

Erin, Maki, and I went to Kahal Mall later in the afternoon to do some birthday shopping. :D Not telling for who though I'm sure 'certain people' will guess since there are several birthdays towards the end of March. lol! Anyway, got what I needed to get so I'm happy about that.

Went home and watched a Monk episode. It was kind of a sad one... *sniff sniff* Erin made dinner for Maki and I since Naomi and Tina went out to eat dinner. And from here began a series of 'spy games'. ^_^ What happened was that this morning, Erin and some church friends decided to throw Naomi a surprise, early birthday party. So to make sure not to get Naomi all suspicious, Tina said she and Naomi will go out to dinner and pretend to meet Erin at Ward theaters to watch a movie. Instead, we planned for a bunch of us to meet at Big City Diner and surprise her!

So right after Naomi left, the three of us rushed to get a table at Big City Diner. Ericson came by first and we waited for quite a while. Naomi and Tina finally came in with Danny who had been waiting outside. Anyway, Naomi was really surprised and shocked we had put this all together for her. ^_^ Naomi had been like "huh?" the whole time Tina was telling her to meet Erin inside Big City Diner. Then she saw Danny with a balloon and finally put it all together when she saw us inside. Christi, Brandon, and Yoko also came over a little later and we had a nice party at the restaurant. I ate a HUGE Big Oreo Sundae which Erin and I couldn't finish! It was HUGE!

Ok, you're thinking "Priscilla should have taken pictures of such a special time." And I DID!! I promise! But for some reason, blogger.com is being a pain and has decided to bar me from putting up pictures. *sobs* So I'm sorry but you'll have to wait till tomorrow for me to put up the pictures from tonight. :P

Tomorrow's Sunday! :D Sundays are always so refreshing. Going to catch some zzz. G'night and sleep tight! Till tomorrow!

~It's a jungle out there~ (from theme song of Monk)

Woke up early this morning to drive Naomi to her meeting then went home to stay awake in a 'hazy daze' until time for my 9:00 class. Today's Japanese class was lots of fun; all the groups had to practice giving their presentations today. My group's presentation of The Samurai: Japanese Warrior Class went very, very well and we got compliments from our teacher on how well prepared we were. ^_^

Because everyone's presentations went by fairly quickly, we all got out about an hour early. Yay! Went home then Naomi, Maki, and I went to Kahala Mall to do some shopping. Stopped by Barnes and Noble and Tower Records. I was able to get myself the play The Miracle Worker; I might be doing my final scene in theater class from that play. I'm excited to play Anne Bancroft's Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher.

Picked up some Panda Express for lunch and we all went home. Maki and I then went to our Geography Lab class. Was a fairly quick class since it was pretty easy. Our 'lab group' has gotten bigger for some reason as some more people has joined our group. :P After class, my teacher wrote me up a letter of recommendation for my joining the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society. It was a really nice letter and I'm so honored that she wrote it for me. ^_^

Went home and watched Walk the Line with Naomi. Such a good movie and watching it makes me reaffirm just why I'm so happy that Reese Witherspoon got Best Actress for it. She really deserved it.

Had a light dinner and watched some tv including the season finale of Monk. VERY good episode; Maki and I were laughing so much during it. lol! Afterwards I was able to finish reading up my African story. *sigh* So glad that's done. Now I just have to write a paper on it... *groan!*

Well, I'm off to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow! How exciting! Definitely planning on doing nothing... well, not really true because I think I'm going to write up a 'score' for my upcoming monologue next week and start reading my textbook for American History. G'night!

Kimonos are hard to wear and harder to breathe in...

Hello to all! Thursday has already come and gone (well, a little less than one hour more to go). But still, it's been a fast week! ^_^

Nichelle was nice enough to pick Maki and I up and take us to school. However, it was pouring rain by the time we arrived and today was the day I had to carry around my poster board since my group would be working on it in the afternoon. :S Fortunately, Nichelle was soooo kind enough to let me leave my poster board at the campus office where she works. ^_^ So I didn't have to 'lug' it all around with me! VERY happy about that.

So I got to History class a little late but most everyone was a little late so it was ok. :P I was soaking wet and had been running all the way across campus so I it took a while for me to catch my breath and be able to pay attention to the lecture. lol! My friends were teasing me about that but hey, I had RAN all the way! I had good cause! Most everyone had gotten wet from the rain and since our classroom is always cold, we were all extra cold from being wet through. :S One girl was really shivering!

After class it was sooo nice to go outside because... it was sunny! *raised eyebrow* Yeah, I know; strange weather. Theater class was fun as we got to see four more monologues. Everyone did very well so it went fairly quickly and we got to see a one-beat-interrupted scene. I didn't get to go in so didn't do any acting at all. But my monologue is coming up next Tuesday. :S Getting a little nervous though I think I'll do ok.

Had lunch in the cafeteria though this time I brought myself an obenntou. ^_^ Very good, huh? Everyone wanted to eat my lunch of 'mixed' rice and chicken katsu. lol! Made everyone jealous...

At 1:00 I went to Nichelle's office to pick up my poster board then went to the International Cafe. One of my classmates is the daughter of a Japanese calligraphy teacher so is VERY good at it; she was nice enough to write some kanji to put on my group's poster board. So we were able to work on that a bit before tea ceremony practice. Besides practicing to carry Japanese sweets and tea, today was a special day... I practiced putting on a kimono. :P Yup, I must have put on and taken off the kimono at least three times. Real hard to do, as well as hard to breathe while wearing it. :P I feel so 'bulky' in the kimono since the material is kind of thick.

Geography class was interesting; there was a lot of joking going around and being a little tired and slightly 'hyper' because of that, I was laughing along with my classmates though I was trying very hard not to disrupt the class. :P I couldn't help it! Even the teacher was laughing along though. lol!

Stayed at the cafeteria a bit just working a bit on my monologue then Naomi picked Maki and me up. Caught a bit of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show which was interesting; first time to watch a talk show and actually understand all the political jokes (I can't believe I'm actually quite up to date with politics and world news with taking Mr. Cassity's classes). :P

Dinner was of leftovers while Maki also made an interesting hashbrown type of dish. After dinner, we had our prayer meeting/Bible study which was my turn to lead. I talked about what it'll mean, as a small church, to actually witness and have a personal relationship with people who will come to our church. Also, among the four of us, we have to submit to one another and have responsiblity over each other. Big job, huh? :P

Watched two episodes of Monk I hadn't seen yet. Very funny and very 'hisashiburi' ('been a while'). I might catch the season finale tomorrow evening. Gotta go to bed now; I have to be up early to take Naomi to a meeting then I have some classes. Can't wait till the weekend, though I'll probably be doing some homework. :P

"Don't call me Bones."

This morning I had History class; we began learning about the Industrial Revolution, in Mr. Cassity's opinion second only to the Neolithic Revolution in how much man's lives were affected. After class I was able to ask Mr. Cassity to write a letter of recommendation for me to give to the Phi Theta Kappa Society. I'm very excited and pleased that he's going to be writing a letter of recommendation for me since I respect him very much as a teacher. ^_^

Hung out with Nichelle for a bit, going to Subway and getting some cookies. YUM! The Subway cookies are simply delicious; I especially like their peanut butter cookies and their double chocolate chip cookies. ^_^ Three cookies for only $1.34 is a good price...

Stayed at the International Cafe from 11:00 to 12:00 for a presentation on how to protect yourself from Identity Theft. Learned some very interesting facts, like how almost $3 billion was 'lost' last year through identity thefts.

Stopped by the Phi Theta Kappa office to drop off my application form then went home with Maki and Naomi whose classes had finished around that time. Went home and made myself ramen for lunch. Did some reading of my African novel for which a paper is due next week. *sigh* Not looking forward to having to have to write about the book. *groan* Also worked on my two-page Japanese reflection paper on the Honolulu Festival I went to last week. Fairly easy though a bother... :P lol

Erin made a delicious dinner of chicken katsu... though I think it was so good that I might have eaten too much. :P After dinner I watched an episode of Bones. I've always been meaning to watch an episode but never got around to it. I actually liked it quite a bit and might try to catch a few more episodes. Kind of reminds me of Sue Thomas F.B.Eye though a bit more... interesting I think since it deals with forensic science, too, and not just the FBI. Watched a thirty minute show of American Idol where Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance! He also sang a song from his new album which was really cool.

Got to chat with my parents tonight which was very, very funny. ^_^ I know I always say it, but I love video chatting with them and getting to laugh soooo much as a family.

I'm off to bed and a night of sweet dreams!

"I think it is high time Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live... or die." LOL!

History class this morning was pretty fun as there was a lot of laughing, joking, and teasing going on. :P Yes, we were discussing lots of serious issues concerning WWI and current events but still, somehow or the other there's always something to laught about. :P It's a very fun and open group; and I'm also very happy that no one is very 'sensitive' about certain subjects... lol!

Today's theater class was 'mixed' both great and not-so-great. The great part was that Maki's monologue was excellent! She had everyone laughing soooo hard with her pompous Lady Bracknell! Everyone was really complimenting her on how good it was! ^_^ Another classmate did really well.... but the not-so-good part of the class was that the two others didn't do too well. :S They kept starting over because they forget their lines or something. Overall, weren't very prepared. And this one girl has a really bad attitude and doesn't like the class, acting, and mostly our teacher for some reason. Oh, well...

Lunch was lots of fun; a few friends were studying for upcoming tests while the rest of us were having a good time 'talking story'. At one point I went down to one of the offices to pick up an application form for Phi Theta Kappa, a 2-year-college-degree honors program. Definitely am going to try to get in.

At 1:30 I let for International Cafe for tea ceremony practice. That went well and since another activity was going on at the same time, I got chat and know some other members better. Starting to get really comfortable with the International Cafe people. ^_^ Oh, and an interesting happened; the teacher in charge of the Cafe, Kalani, said he wants to recomment me for the Freeman Scholarship to go for a few to Japan in the summer! I was surprised as I never thought about going to Japan 'to study'. :P I'm not sure if I'm going to accept at all since I hope to have a relaxing summer. Well, I'll have to see.

Geography class was interesting as we got to see a short video. Also started studying about weathering process and such. After the class, I asked my teacher for a letter of recommendation that I have to send in along with my application form for the Phi Theta Kappa Society. Thankful she was all up for writing it up for me! ^_^ I just need one more teacher recommendation which I'm hoping Mr. Cassity will do for me.

Went home then quickly went to go pick Erin up from her internship. Got home and relaxed some before dinner. Tonight was cream stew and taco salad, compliments of Naomi. MMMmmMmMmm! :P

Watched tonight's American Idol which is down to the Top 12! Tonight was 'Stevie Wonder' night which was everyone had to sing a Stevie Wonder song. The cool thing was, Stevie Wonder actually went to the studio to help each of the contestants with their song! Each of the contestants seemed to still have been in awe from having been able to meet and sing for Stevie Wonder. How cool is that? ^_^ Anyway, great show and we all had the hardest time deciding who to vote for. There are a few who are just so, so, SO good! I finally decided on Elliot Yamin though I also voted or Taylor Hicks who was simply fabulous. Sigh, so hard to choose! And it's going to definitely get harder over the weeks. I wonder who's going to get kicked off this week...

Tomorrow I have one class in the morning then I'll probably stay until around noon for a presentation at the International Cafe. Then... a free afternoon! Well, not completely. I'll be working on my two-page Japanese paper. :P G'night!

Midterms Are Over!!

Hurray, I finished my laste midterm! ^_^ Woke up and got ready very fast and went to campus early so that I could study in the halls. Was able to help out some of my classmates who were having some trouble finding some historical information on the terms from our study guide. I think I did fairly well on the test; the only problem was that the time went by too quickly and I didn't have enough time to write down in the essay all that I wanted to write. Seriously, I did a lot of writing and my hand/arm was starting to cramp by the time Mr. Cassity had to kick the last people out of the classroom so the next class could come in. :P

Ah, well, soooo glad that that's over and done with. ^_^ Went home and wrote up my short essay for my History chapter quiz due tomorrow. Picked Naomi up and ate lunch while finishing up The Moonstone. Overall I thought it was a pretty good adaption of the book. However, I would still have to say that the book was better than the movie, just because the movie could not possibly contain everything that happened in the book. My recommendation is to read the book fifrst before watching the movie so that it won't ruin the mystery and the suspense.

Naomi and I then went out in the afternoon to go watch Ultraviolet at the movie theater. It was a bit disappointing since it wasn't as good as I was hoping it to be. Milla Jovovich was inredibly cool and the fight choreography was stunning; however, the storyline was hard to follow and by the end of the movie, I still didn't understand most of what had happened in the story. :P But still, the fight scenes were still VERY impressive. Gun kata... very cool. :P The only complaint is that certain fight scenes were too much like 'comic strips' and not 'realistic'.

Stopped by Nordtrom Rack for a little while then went home. Made mixed-Japanese-rice for dinner along with lots of leftovers. Helped out with the sign dance practice for the KCIS kids. It's coming along though it's hard to 'see' and know what's actually going on through a vidcam. Also, they still have to decide the order of the song so until that's done, I'm just putting out ideas here and there. Looking forward to seeing the 'finished dance'! ^_^

Watched Sahara while doing some things on the computer. Now I'm off to bed; last night I stayed up pretty late studying. :P Tomorrow is another day of school; Maki's going to do her theater monologue so I'm looking forward to seeing that! ^_^

Head Now Filled With the Most Random Historical Facts and Dates

We had decided to go to New Hope Church this morning so we had to get up earlier than usual and have our own, slightly shorter service at 8:00. Erin led worship and gave a very good talk based on James chapter 2 about 'showing our faith.' I've always loved that chapter in James as it's very encouraging and challenging to all Christians on how to walk in faith.

On the way to New Hope, stopped by McDonald's to pick up some breakfast and ate in the car. Got there just as the service was starting. Pastor Wayne Cordero wasn't there and there was a special guest speaker; a pastor from California. He talked about 'Taking Courage" like Joshua was told to in the Old Testament.

Also, I knew that my classmate, Aimee, from Theater class went to New Hope; but imagine my surprise to see her there... as the ASL translator! It was really cool to see her doing simultaneous translations! She's only been doing ASL for about a year and a half, but she is so extremely fluent it's hard to believe that she's only been doing ASL for a relatively short time! Very impressive indeed!

So after the service we went to talk to her and she was so surprised and happy to see us there! She introduced us to many of her friends, both 'speaking' and deaf. We were all a bit 'rusty' with our ASL but as we conversed, I could feel myself getting back into the 'rhythm' of signing. I definitely need to find opportunities to practice more. ^_^

Went home and got started on the next book which I have to write a paper on for History 152. It's called "The River Between" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o who is an African writer. The story is not very interesting since I'm not much into the history of Africa. Much of the culture written into the story is a bit hard to read.

At around noon, to start making the poster for the International Festival, my project members (Maki, Yumiko, and Misato) came by. Naomi was kind enough to make lunch or all of us; tacos!!! ^_^ After a delicious lunch, we all got started. I was mostly on the computer, typing up titles, subtitles, pictures, and etc. to paste onto our poster. We worked on it, along with just 'talking story', until around 5:00 or so. It's almost complete except for a few places here and there. But overall, the main parts are completed. So happy to get that all done!

After they left, watched Cellular then after eating a light dinner, watched Pride and Prejudice while writing my study guide for my History midterm which is tomorrow. Yest, I know I just watched P&P the other day... but it's SUCH a good movie! *sigh* Ok, I might be a 'slightly' hopeless romantic. lol!

Studied for my midterm exam; I think I'll do 'ok'. I'm not overly confident, but I don't think I'm going to do terrible or anything like that. At least, I hope so... ^_^

Off to bed now; just one class (the midterm) tomorrow morning then free for the rest of the day! Except I need to finish my history take home quiz and try to start on my Japanese paper. Hmph. :P

~Oh Wheeeere is My Hairbrush!~

Woke up a bit early this morning and Naomi dropped me off at Heather's house so I could babysit Malia and Bella from around 8:15. We watched the Veggietales An Easter Carol then watched The Ultimate Silly Songs Countdown. The Silly Songs was so much fun to watch since I haven't seen it in quite a while. I especially love "Love My Lips", "Barbra Manatee", and "Dance of the Cucumber." I was cracking up and laughing so hard at the part where Larry sings 'He dances smoothly like butter on a bald monkey'. LOLOLOL! SOOO FUNNY!

And then, I had to watch the Easter Veggietale again... and watched the Silly Songs one again, too. By then it was boring. :P I can't belive how Malia can watch the same episodes one right after the other! I kinda 'napped' a bit with Bella during the second time round. :P

Naomi traded off and watched the kids for the afternoon while Erin took Maki and me to Magic Island for a college picnic. The picnic started from noon and there were quite a people coming and going all the time. This event was hosted mostly by HIC (Honda International Center) so I didn't know very many people at all (most of the International Cafe members had gone to another event which was a bit far for me to go join).

After eating a quick lunch, I was mostly involved in helping to set up the volleyball nets (took VERY long to get it set up) and played volleyball until around 3:00 or so. :P I got REALLY tanned during the whole picnic; I'm very dark right now and a bit red. :P Hopefully it's not a burn though so far it doesn't hurt at all.

It was around 3:00 that two friends from Theater class, Klunx and Marie (pronounced Mari-'e'; she's Japanese), arrived so got to spend time with them. More relaxing to be with someone I know compared to lots of new people. :P But it was good to get to know all kinds of different, new people. ^_^All in all, it was lots of fun and I enjoyed myself. (In the group pics, Klunx is the guy standing right behind Maki while looking quite serious and in the threesome pic, Marie is the one in the middle).

Erin picked Maki and I up at around 4:20 or so and took us up. Took a cold shower to cool down and try to make sure my 'tan' isn't really a burn. :P Erin and Naomi made dinner of salmon then afterwards, we watched halfway through The Moonstone, a wonderful present that I got for my birthday. :D:D:D I wanted to be able to finish watching it but it was getting late. I was able to talk to my parents on the phone which was really nice; got to 'catch up' on all the news. ^_^

Gotta be up again tomorrow. This weekend I've been waking up early than I have to get up for classes! Very strange... Hopefully next weekend is going to be a LOT more relaxing. :P I promised pictures so here are pictures taken from my birthday dinner's' and the Honolulu Festival. (Naomi got me the drumset t-shirt for my birthday and the last picture is of me and my two friends from Japanese class, Yumiko and Misato).

I Love Having My Birthday Celebrated for At Least a Couple of Days... LOL!

Grr... it's quite annoying that I'm one day behind in updating my blog and soooo much has happened! Plus the fact that it's getting late and I need to be up early tomorrow makes me not want to write too much. :P Ok, I'll try to get through this quickly.

Yesterday (my birthday) I had history class in the morning. Turned in my midterm paper which I'm very relieved about. ^_^ I also got my quiz back: 39 out of 40 yet again. :P Hmph, I keep getting minus one point! Maybe next time I'll finally get a 40 out of 40.

For theater class, during our beginning breathing/relaxing exercises, my friend Marie blurted out that it was my birthday. This caused quite the 'uproar' and everyone sang a raucous, loud 'Happy Birthday' complete with lots of floor thumping and shouting. lol! The teacher came in just as they finished and it was nice she didn't get mad at us for being noisy though she's usually very strict about silence during the beginning of class. :P

Good, fun class as usual and went down to the cafeteria for lunch. I studied with Nichelle and another classmate, Naoko, for about 45 minutes for out History midterm coming up next Monday. I hope I'll do well though I don't like having to study for it over the weekend. Ah well; can't be helped.

Tea ceremony class went well, too and I'm getting the hang of serving tea and Japanese sweets. ^_^ Off to Geography class next and I got my midterm results... 103 out of 100! Yes, you read correctly. What is was is that though I got two points off, I got five extra points for answering the bonus question. So... YAYAYAYAYAYAY! *big smile*

Went home and got to have a nice video chat with my mother. Then the four of us went to the Japanese yakinuki restaurant called Toraji. And it was the most out of the blue thing... our server was a classmate of mine from Japanese class! He's actually been not coming to class hardly at all (:P) but we still remembered each other since we had sat next to each on the first day of class. He was really nice to us and made the dinner very enjoyable. Aunt Jean and Reed were a little late but they were also able to come celebrate my birthday.

Naomi had brought a cake over so the staff lit the candles for us and sang 'Happy Birthday' as well as taking pictures with their polaroid camera (my birthday picture is on the restaurant wall somewhere!). We all had such a great time and were laughing sooo much. ^_^ GREAT birthday dinner!

Got home and I finally got to open all my presents. ^_^ Thanks so much again to everyone for the gifts and cards (e-cards)! I loved everything!

Went to bed very happy I must tell you. *wink!* I had to wake up earlier than usual the next morning (today, Friday) to get to the Hawaii Convention Center by 8:45. I went for my Japanese class to be involved in the Honolulu Festival. Maki also came along, too, which was really nice. ^_^ My class was separated into groups and we toured the Center with groups from Aiea Middle School. It was a BIG surprise for me to see that Henry, Jay's son, was there! We both just stared at each other and was like 'I didn't know you were goiing to be here!' Small world... or shall I say small island, huh? :P

There were many exhibits including Japanese calligraphy section, Thai dance group, Aborigine group who danced and played native instruments, Japanese 'taiko', and much, much more. I took pictures but I'll have to put them up tomorrow as I need to be getting to bed. :P Remind me to put them up if I forget!

After the 'class' finished, which was around 11:30, Maki and I walked to Ala Moana shopping center and we had lunch in the food court. Ordered ramen which turned out to be 'ok'; I ate some mint ice cream afterwards. Yum! Stopped by a 'dog' store where they sell all sorts of accessories with dog pictures on them. They also had a wonderful selection of stuff animals and I got the most ADORABLE border collie stuffed animal! It's sooo cute and it looks exactly like Bianca! Of coures I had to get it! :P

Naomi picked us up around 12:45 and as soon as I got home I collapsed on the bed for a short while. Had to get up very soon though for my afternoon Geography Lab class. It wasn't too difficult; everything was pretty straightforward and I just had to concentrate to get it done quickly.

Got home, relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, then to celebrate my birthday (again, yes, I know), we decided to go eat at Macaroni Grill. Unfortunately, the strangest thing happened... the car wouldn't start! :S So we decided to go to Ala Moana by bus. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long for the bus.

When we arrived, however, Macaroni Grill was very crowded so as soon as Tiffany joined us, we ate instead at the 'next door' Island Grill. Their supposed to have the best hamburgers in the world and I must say... I think I kind of agree! The food was excellent and in the end, I got a free Mocha Kona Pie for my birthday! It was really, REALLY delicious. ^_^

Tiffany drover us home afterwards and the strange thing was, the car was able to start! It 'coughed' once and then it was fine. Hmmm... definitely having the car checked as soon as possible. Tiffany came in and we watched Pride and Prejudice which Maki had bought as a birthday gift to me. ^_^ SUCH an excellent movie... all the other girls are against me saying that they don't think Mr. Darcy is particularly handsome. :P Well, I agree he isn't the most handsome of men (of course, he certainly ISN'T the ugliest) but I love his portrayal of Mr. Darcy. It's exactly like the character in the book as he is darker and more 'broodier' and 'moodier'. :P Of course, I could go on and on about the merits of the movie Pride and Prejudice but I won't get into that. And for anyone who tries to make me compare this version with the Colin Firth version... don't. It's just that they had two very different approaches that I honestly cannot even think of comparing the two. Neither is superior or inferior to the other; both are REALLY good in their own ways. And I shall leave it at that. :P

Off to bed now; tomorrow I'm babysitting Malia and Bella in the morning then I'm going to go the college sponsored picnic at Magic Island. Woohoo! ^_^

~Happy Birthday to Moi~

Hellooooo everybody! It has been a wonderful birthday for me today! Want to say many, many, many thanks to everyone for the beautiful cards (and e-cards) and presents! Sorry that I'm going to have to keep this short because I need to go off to bed soon. Tomorrow I have to get up early to go help out with the Honolulu Festival for my Japanese class. Again, thanks so much for making this such a memorable birthday for me! I'm 19!!!

"The Role of the Government During the Gilded and Progressive Ages..." yadda yadda yadda... :P

Woke up the usual time, got ready faster than usual, and walked to class. Today was an especially hot day though my classroom was SOOOO COLD! I won't be surprised if I have cold from the extreme temperature differences I had to endure in class. :P Today was a considerably 'intense' class compared to most times; Mr. Cassity was completely focused on finishing up the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte's story. Well, we are having the midterm on Monday and those topics will be included on the test. :P So it was good we were able to get through it all. Mr. Cassity's lectures are sooo fun. He's a really good storyteller and makes learning and remembering everything easy (at least for me). ^_^

Went home and started working a bit on my midterm paper due tomorrow. I've written six pages for the rough draft but Mr. Cassity gave me sooo many ideas to make the paper better so I know it's going to go way over six pages...

Picked up Naomi at noon and brought back some sushi for lunch. Soon afterwards, the two of us went to Ala Moana shopping mall because Naomi wanted to get me my birthday present. ^_^ Went straight to Old Navy where she got me some clothes I really, really liked. Not going to tell you what until tomorrow when I get to 'officially' get them. lol! I'll make sure to take pictures.

Stopped by Kahala Mall so I could get a dvd at Tower Records then went home. The rest of the day was spent working on my paper. I think I know too much about the Gilded and Progressive Ages now; more than needs to be known. :P lol!

Naomi made dinner (omuraisu and leftovers) then we watched American Idol. The guys are REALLY good! I'm definitely thinking that a guy is going to be the next idol. It's just... who?! There are three definite favorites for me and it's hard choosing who to vote for. :P

And now I've finally finished the paper! Nine pages total! Pretty good, huh? At least I have assurance from Mr. Cassity that it's ok if it's long; as long as it's no less than six. :P I really hope I get a good score for it.

Off to bed now... tomorrow's my birthday! Can you believe it? I'm going to be 19... ^_^

Can't Wait Till the Midterms are ALL Over and Done With

History class today was loads of fun; we didn't go over our textbooks at all but instead just talked about current events and discussed the American and global economy. ^_^ I know, boring stuff for many but it's actually very fascinating.

In theater class, for the first time we got to 'go on stage' (so far we've been acting and doing everything on the floor where the audience would be. Began with some fun 'exercises' up on the stage like practicing blocking and covering as well as body positions. We also had two people do their monologue 'beats'; the first time to have anybody do the monologues. I was in the first monologue and though I didn't have any lines (of course, it's called a monologue for a reason... :P), I still had to react to what the other person was saying. It was a good practice for me to act without words. We also did one improv scene where the 'unexpected' can happen, as in anyone can just go in and get involved in the scene. I was pretty honored when my teacher whispered for me to go on stage to 'change' the scene a bit. :P So I went into the restaurant scene as a prissy waitress with a lot of attitude. LOTS of fun being kind of a side character though as the waitress I had to keep the respectable customers happy, get the cook to get rid of some of the riff-raff, make sure nothing got broken during the 'fights', and still be a flirt. lol! Very fun, a different character for me to play.

Went to the cafeteria with my classmates afterwards though I didn't eat lunch. Why? Because I was going to have lunch with my tea ceremony club later on. ^_^ So after hanging out with my group for a bit, I went to the International Cafe a little early then first talked about the poster presentation for my JPN 298 class. Then the tea ceremony group had a nice lunch together. Sumi-san (the tea ceremony teacher) made chirashizushi, nikomi (daikon, sato-imo, chicken, and carrots), and some other vegetable dish. SOOOO GOOD! It was nice to eat a real Japanese meal. ^_^ Tea ceremony practice went well as I learned more of the techniques of serving tea and also Japanese sweets.

Geography class was more interesting than some of the previous classes as we're starting to learn about more of the 'Dynamic Earth', as in about Earth itself, plate tectonics, volcanoes, and the Earth's layers. Much more interesting than... the atmosphere. :P Didn't get our midterm results back yet; hopefully will get it on Thursday.

Stopped by the International Cafe to pick up a poster board then after a quick stop at home, went to pick Erin up from her internship. Naomi and Erin went to some sort of Bible study so we had a late dinner around 7:15 or so. Was watching American Idol from 7:00 (good show) then watched a new episode of House which was right after.

Worked a bit on the final draft for my midterm History paper. :S It's going ok though there's a lot of 'tweaking' to be done before I'll be completely satisfied to hand it in on Thursday. I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow I have one class in the morning then I need to complete my final draft, then perhaps I might go shopping with Naomi. Oh, yes, my birthday's coming up on the 9th!! ^_^ Very exciting indeed... *wink!*

~It's Just Another Manic Monday~

Didn't have to walk to school today which was nice. ^_^ Naomi was able to drop me off to class and since I got there a bit early, Mr. Cassity, a few others, and I talked about last night's Academy Awards. :P Mr. Cassity actually watches a lot of movies so it's something common we have between us. ^_^

Finished up on the American Revolution so we're now learning about the French Revolution. VERY interesting stuff... I just LOVE history! So much fun. ^_^

Went home and discovered that they've put out the class schedules for the upcoming Summer and Fall semesters. Decided to start planning ahead about what kind of schedule I'll have. Lots of major decisions to make since I'm thinking about trying to graduate this Fall. It's actually coming together though I've discovered I actually need to take 7, not 6, more classes to graduate. But it might work out with my taking a summer internet course.

Picked Naomi and Maki up from their classes then they dropped me off at Nick and Heather's house because I was going to babysit the kids. Malia and Bella ate their lunch as soon as their mom left and went right to bed so I had a couple of hours to myself before Malia woke up. :P Heather came home around 3:00 and Naomi came to pick me up.

Did some homework then Naomi, Maki, and I left for Kahala Mall to watch a movie. However, I did a mistake with the showtimes... :P So what we did was we did a bit of clothes shopping them drove to Ward Theaters to catch the 5:30 showing of... 16 Blocks! ^_^ I've been very excited about seeing it; it has Bruce Willis! It was I guess in a way your 'average blockbuster' but still, it kept giving the audience little 'surprises' which made it very interesting. And enough can't be said about how GOOD Bruce Willis was! He wasn't his usual 'I'm-buff-and-witty-and-sarcastic-and-can-beat-up-any-bad-guy-who-gets-in-my-way" type of character. Instead he was an old guy with gray hair, kind of a pot belly, a limp, fairly quiet, and acts like a cop who actually looks like he's thinking and sorting things out... IN HIS HEAD! Pretty amazing, huh? A 'movie' cop who has depth. LOL!

Anyway, good movie. ^_^ Went home and made maboudoufu for dinner and watched an old B&W movie which was playing on tv: Rose Marie. It's about this girl and a Canadian Mountie who fall in love and guess what... they sing ~When I'm calling youuuuuuu~!! Just like in Dudley Do-Right! NOW I finally know what exactly Dudley Do-Right is making fun of. *snicker* I couldn't help laughing when I was watching the movie though the actor and actress were being so romantic and serious. :P

Finished answering up all the multiple choice questions for my History take home quiz; now I have to finish up the short essay which looks tough. :S I get to choose whether to talk about the stock market crash or how Herbert Hoover tried to get the country back on its feet. Hmmm... Off to bed now; tomorrow's another school day! Wonder if my Geography midterm results will be given... *wide-eyed look*

"And the Oscar Goes To..."

Sunday has come around again! I can't believe that my father was just here a week ago! It seems like weeks since he's been here. :P I guess he (with my mother this time) needs to come back again soon. *wink!*

For our Sunday service, we listened to my father's sermon of Our Creed. It was a good sermon to here, and that faith is the assurance of things hoped for. ^_^

After the service, we went over to the Kaimuki area and ate at a small cafe for lunch. I got this delicious chicken-mayonnaise sandwhich; (soooo good!). I also got their minestrone soup which was pretty good; not the best I've had but still pretty good. Before going home we also stopped by a beads/craft store where they have MILLIONS of beads. :P I didn't get anything but it was fun looking at all the assorted designs of beads.

Got home and started watching Pirates of the Caribbean but I fell asleep somewhere in the middle. :P Got to chat with some people on the computer and did some writing (though I'm not really getting far in anything). Oops... :P lol!

Later in the afternoon we all had a 'dessert party' to share some desserts we had bought and brought home from the cafe. Double chocolate cake, a HUGE puffy cream puff, a peach sponge cake, and a strawberry pie. Mmmmm... words can't describe how yummy it all was. ^_^

From 6:00 for about an hour we had a type of Sunday 'evening' service to talk about some things about our church. Mostly about what we need to work on to become even closer together as a family and a church.

After that, watched the 78th Annual Academy Award Ceremony. ^_^ I must say, I was pleasantly surprised how funny Jon Stewart was... of course there was a Dick Cheney joke but, hey *shrug*, everyone knew that was coming. lol! There were some surprises and some not-so-surprising-surprises. :P I was so happy that King Kong got three awards! PLUS the shocking winner of the Best Motion Picture.... Crash!! NO ONE saw that coming I can tell you. :P Long show, 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Ah, tomorrow starts another week of school. The semester is half-way done!

Bushido: Way of the Warrior

I'll try to keep this short since it's getting late. This morning relaxed just a little bit before starting the weekly chores. Both Naomi and Erin were out so Maki and I were 'in charge' for the morning. :P Very clean house if I may say so. lol!

After lunch, I was on the computer until my Japanese project group came over around 1:45. It was altogether the four of us: Misato, Maki (a different Maki), Yumiko, and I. We didn't get started for a bit as we just talked a little while. Then we had to start planning on how to prepare our poster presentation of "Samurai: The Japanese Warrior Class". Pretty cool, huh? ^_^ Had a lot to decide.

They stayed quite a bit until around 5:00 but it was nice to have some Japanese people over and show them around the house. Naomi and Erin had come home before they left so my friends got to meet 'all of us'. ^_^ They were very impressed of our house and how we seem like such great roommates (as in we get along well). lol!

Naomi and I watched a movie then we went to Kahala Mall to pick up some dinner (Panda Express!!!). Haven't eaten their food for so long...

Took home dinner and while eating watched something 'light and fluffy': Father of the Bride II. ^_^ Was a good movie to relax and watch. Sooo hilarious! "Could you please pass the rolls?" LOL!

Now am off to bed. It's already Sunday tomorrow! So fast!

No School Today!!!

Today was definitely a nice, NICE lazy day. ^_^ Woke up late and basically didn't do much in the morning. lol! For lunch I made myself fried rice and watched... After the Thin Man! As you may guess, it's the sequel to The Thin Man. I've been meaning to watch the rest of the series but never got around to it. But I finally borrowed it through Netflix so... yay!

It was really good, better than I thought though it still wouldn't measure up to the first movie. Oh, and I was surprised to see that Jimmy Stewart was in it! Overall, it kept the essence of the first movie including a very, VERY surprising ending. It wasn't something easy to see coming, came as a surprise. We all had NO idea who the murderer was. Well, I actually did have my suspicions but still, it was definitely a surprise. It once again ended with Nick and Nora getting on a sleeper train with something unexpected being announced that the great Nick, though a detective, hadn't seen coming! Very cute... ^_^

Did some computer, writing my fanfiction, for a little while before leaving with Naomi to drop her off downtown. But BOY was it CROWDED today! We left around 3:30 and with just a quick stop to the printers to pick up some stuff, it was not until 4:45 that we got even close to where Naomi needed to be! So I actually had to drop her off a few blocks away and she walked the last bit. :P Drove back and got home a little before 5:30. Long time in the car. :P

Erin and Maki went out to see a play, Cats, so it was just me, all by myself, the house all to myself, from 6:00 to around 10:30. ^_^ Nice and quiet though I'm such a 'social' person I guess that it's hard to go by more than a few hours without speaking a word or holding any conversation. lol! Oh, well, the tv kept me company. *wink!* Watched some random tv shows, watched a movie, and caught a new episode of Monk which was really nice since I hadn't seen it in a while.

It's getting late now and I'm ready for bed. ^_^ It was really such a nice day to be able to relax. Tomorrow afternoon I'm having my classmates from Japanese class come over so we can work on our poster presentation together for the International Festival (end of this month). I hope it all goes well and smoothly since we haven't had time to really plan out what we're going to do. :S Wish us luck!

One Midterm Completed!

History class in the morning; actually had a very fair, open, and interesting conversation and discussion. Lately it's been a bit dry but we got to talk about some new subjects which was cool. I also got my first draft back. LOTS of comments but they're all really helpful and hopefully I can do a really good job for the final one. ^_^

In theater class we learned the difference between 'blocking' and 'covering' as well as learning all the stage positions. Good to learn so I'm glad we had more of a lecture time in the class.

At the cafeteria today, there was a threesome group playing some really good music. They were all Hawaiian with one guy on the keyboard, one guy on the bass, and a woman on an acoustic guitar. They all had really great voices and took lots of requests. The 'theater' table was right in front of the group and at one point, Aimee from my class stood up and after requesting a song, danced hula! THEN another guy from our group got out his ukelele and joined the music group in one song (he also sang lead vocals)! All-in-all, my table was really into the songs and especially Marie and I were dancing in our seats. ^_^ Very fun.

The Geography midterm was going to be in the afternoon so after spotting a classmate of mine from the Geography class (Kaori, who's from Japan), we formed a little study group to get ready for the midterm. A funny thing happened during our study time when Kaori looked up and had the weirdest expression on her face. She suddenly asked, "Your sister?" and when I turned around, Naomi was walking up to our table. :P I was pretty surprised to see her there (she came by to say hello and meet my friends) and of course, because we seem to 'look alike' Kaori had been really surprised to see someone look just like me. :P I left the study group a bit to introduce Naomi to my theater group who were sitting a few tables away. So Naomi can place some faces to the names I give out when telling about my classes. ^_^

More studying then before the midterm, I took the time to go to my teacher's office to confirm some of the questions I had about the study guide. She was nice enough to go over them with me and we walked to class together. I took about 45 minutes on the test and I think I did pretty well though i won't know until it gets checked. :P But I think I did... ok.

Naomi picked us up and dropped us off at home. Relaxed in front of the tv, not really watching anything and playing mindless games on my laptop. LOL! I was kind of 'brain-dead' from the test so wasn't really 'thinking' much until dinner time. Naomi made dinner (curry) which was really yummy as you can imagine. Mmmmmmm!

Watched American Idol where four more contestants were dropped. Simon had made a couple of predictions a few days ago and sure enough, they all became true! I guess if you're a music producer and talent scout you have to know and have a feel about these kinds of things I guess.

The rest of the evening was spent in my room, relaxing and having some fun chatting with friends and family. Tomorrow I have no classes because it's a non-instruction day!! ^_^ Yay, I get to sleep in! So I'm off to bed now; hurray for a long weekend!

Midterms!!!!

I'm going to keep this short because I need to go to bed and get a good night's sleep (tomorrow I have a midterm; more later...) History class was soooo much fun as usual. I think I'm enjoying the World Civilizations history classes better than the Modern American history class I'm taking right now. Both are interesting, but there's so much more to learn in World Civ.

Took Maki home (one of her classes was canceled) then went back to campus to attend a presentation at the International Cafe. Kalani, the head of the Cafe, gave a presentation about his one month trip traveling from the southern most tip to the northern most tip of Japan! Very interesting though I was getting really hungry because he talked a lot about the different Japanese foods you HAVE to eat when you are in certain parts of Japan. *sigh* Missing Japanese food...

So when I got home, I made myself ramen. ^_^ Watched tv a bit then for the rest of the afternoon I was concentrating very, very hard on studying the study guide for my Geography midterm which I'll be taking tomorrow. EEP! :P It's just really, really tough... I am not very scientifically minded (that's how I explain it...) so it's hard for me to remember all the special 'terms' to actually explain all the concepts. I truly do understand the concepts but for some reason I'm having a hard time 'expressing' them.

Took a break just before dinner. Very good dinner (Naomi prepared tonight's dinner); cooked salmon with miso sauce, pork spring rolls, and a potato-cheese cheese. Aftewards, Naomi and I watched tonight's American Idol in which the guys did a really good job. It was hard to decide who to vote for but I decided to be loyal and stick to this one guy I've been cheering on from the very beginning. ^_^

The rest of the night was of course spent... studying. :P It's funny, the most studying I do is only for midterms and finals so when I actually do have to study, I get all stressed out. :P Imagine how I'd be like if I had to, like, study all the time! lol! That's college for you I guess. ^_^ (for those who are wondering, I'm exaggerating a bit on not studying; don't worry, I do occasionally study). *wink!*

Going to try to study a bit tomorrow morning then going to spend my lunch break studying some more. And then I'm meeting with my teacher before the test to go over some concepts from the study guide that I don't exactly understand. Wish me luck but most of all, pray that I won't be all stressed out and that I'll have a clear head!