SPRING!!!
Mood:  caffeinated
At last, winter term is basically over. Finals are this coming week, and the only one I'm freaking out about is biochemistry. In fact, my update of this site is just one of the things I've been doing to procrastinate studying for it. It's been somewhat of a rough term, what with taking what could be the hardest class of my undergraduate career (and not being as ambitious about it as I should have been), unexpectedly working more than usual, and the winter weather (which is finally behind us!).

The payoff for all this crap is that B and I are getting the hell outta Portland! For spring break, we're road tripping through California, which will be f-ing awesome, even if it's short and we're poor. It'll be good to see family that I haven't seen in a while and to rest my mind for a week before having to think about school again. I need audio to download to my iPod for all the driving we're doing, so let me know if you have any suggestions.

It is unofficially spring in Portland, and the weather has been beautiful. I recently acquired a bicycle, and it's been nice to enjoy it in the recent pleasant weather. Watch out, B! You may have created a monster.

One of my best friends is moving into my building! It'll be fun and convenient not to have to commute to hang out.

I recently realized that between the last time I saw Trinity (Christmas) and the next time I see her (earliest this summer), will be the longest time I won't see her. She's already starting to talk. Eep, I wish I could watch her grow up!

Merry Christmas!
I've been hoping to get some pictures to post of me and Trinity outside with all of the decorations, but my dad hasn't e-mailed them to me yet.

Today I watched the Packer game on TV - it was almost as exciting as last year's matchup with the Vikings. My dad is pretty surprised by how much I've gotten into watching football - it used to be something I totally abhored and made fun of. I guess it takes a little education and a team to root for to get one into it.

The rest of the day was pretty ho-hum and relaxed. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and so my dad made a special, but simple dinner, and Wilma, Trinity and I watched Home Alone 3. When it came time to open presents, it was pretty funny to see Trinity get frustrated with the wrapping paper. She still doesn't quite understand the gist of Christmas, yet, and will probably be very disappointed once the outdoor decorations in the neighborhood are taken down. Next year, if she's able to talk, she'll have a blast. She's really a cute, happy kid.

Tomorrow I plan on surprising my grandmother and spending the day with her since I only have a few days left on the island. Later this week my older sister and her family are arriving and I'm also going to spend a day with them before heading home. Then it's one night of partying and then back to school. What a short vacation!

I ended up not going to the farmer's market with the family yesterday. Instead, I lounged on the beach while listening to David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day with the sound of the surf in the background. Later we went to K-Mart to see if anything good was on sale.

Yesterday was Krystine's 21st birthday! Yay, Krystine!

Not much is new here in Hawaii. It's pleasant, and the sun is milder than it was in September. That means I can go tan for an hour in midday without getting burnt to a crisp. Also, the nights are pleasant. I like being outside at night, and in Hawaii, it's really nice in the evening this time of year. I think winter is my favorite time to visit, maybe because the climate isn't quite so extreme then.

I'm also leaving a couple days earlier than expected. Thanks, Brian, for the surprise! New Year's Eve will be fun.

Trinity has been a little feverish the past couple days, so yesterday we had to cancel our big plans for the day - a trip to Wal-Mart. Great tourist attraction, I know! That's ok, I caught up on my tanning. Today we went to the beach for the first time this trip and Trinity played in the sand. While I was tanning and listening to the surf, Trinity would put shells in my outstretched hand. If my hand wasn't open, she'd turn it over for me. It was pretty cute. The beach was more of a surfing beach, so I went in the water for a total of about three seconds. Dad and Wilma didn't go in because "water is wet," and Trinity is still scared of the waves.

At home, Trinity likes to drag us outside to see the holographic Santas and reindeer made of Christmas lights, which she'll "oooh" at, at least once an evening. Or she will make me come outside with her to draw with sidewalk chalk. Every day she changes our games of peek-a-boo and shakes her head, waves her hands, and says "alles alles" (her expression for no) when I'm not hiding in the right place. Then she'll point to me, or poke me, and walk me to where I'm supposed to hide. She's very cute. When we got our fake Christmas tree (Hawaii has a Christmas tree shortage this year) she helped me decorate it by putting candy canes on the tree. So now you can see the little area at the bottom which is dense with half-broken candy canes, since she can't reach any higher. We're also trying to teach her to only touch the glass ball ornaments with one finger. This works for a while, before she starts to get frustrated and starts swatting at them, and we have to take her away.

I think we're going to the farmer's market tomorrow.

So I'm in Hawaii, and somewhat adjusted to the jet lag. I'm mostly bored out of my mind here, but have found time to work out and tan a little. I've been listening to "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and it's really funny. We went to the library today and I tried to look for some pretty well known books but I guess there's not much funding, because I couldn't find any of them and the selection of books, in general, was pretty small.

Trinity is really cute. She's smart even though she can't talk. She can point to her body parts if you ask her, and has her own signs for "no" and "come here." She loves playing different versions of peek-a-boo and is a really happy kid. Good for her.

I know I should be more enthusiastic since I am in Hawaii, but my dad isn't much of a social person, so we don't really go out and do touristy stuff. Plus, it's not really fun to travel by yourself. My bigger sister and her family aren't showing up until after Christmas, which is pretty much right before I am coming home. I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

Back in Hawaii
I guess I never posted anything about my last trip to Hawaii, which was in September. Woops... School has taken up all of my time.

Speaking of school, I finished finals last week - it was probably the most caffeinated week of my life. Then I had to rush, rush, rush to get everything done before my trip back to Hawaii for Christmas. I'm amazed I accomplished it all.

I left yesterday morning - early - for the airport and slept for the first hour of six in the air. I read and slept, read and slept and finally got here safely.

My little sister Trinity has grown a lot in the last couple of months. She's very cute how she commands people around. She pokes you and then points or walks to what she wants.

Today we got a fake Christmas tree because Oahu is completely sold out of them. There's a shortage because last year they shipped in too many, but now it's too late to buy more because they would be way too expensive. So now it's up, and we're trying to show Trinity how to touch the ornaments gently. It works for a little while before she gets frustrated and starts swatting at them and we have to take her away. She's also fascinated by the lawn decorations here in the neighborhood. She makes us go outside with her and she gapes at all of the bright lights and Santas. She even says "ho ho ho."

We'll see how she is when Christmas finally rolls around...

Camping Trip/Birthday Weekend
Now Playing: That 70's Show
Thursday Brian and I finally got on the road for our camping trip at 5 PM. After getting slightly lost in Hood River (a quaint little town), we managed to get to the campground about 7:45 and got wood (a necessity!) and realized that the campground was almost full. The only available sites were walk-ins, so we had to truck several trips of our stuff from the car to our site at dusk. By the time we were settled it was dark, so we built a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner.

Friday we woke up and went down to the lake to go canoeing. We spent a couple hours there, floating and drinking beer; it was fun. We ended up just relaxing that afternoon; reading and making dinner. We ended up trying this freeze-dried food that B's friend had given us, and to our surprise it was actually pretty tasty. It was interesting trying to walk to the biffy in the dark. I was wearing a head lamp and it felt oddly like I was in the movie The Blair Witch Project. It was pretty funny.

On Saturday (my birthday) we went for a hike around the lake. There were some cool spots right near the edge of the lake and some great views of Mt. Hood. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to take pictures. We tried to take this one shortcut to our campsite, but it ended up being not very short. We had some lunch, then went back to the lake to go swimming, which was much warmer than we had expected. It was sweet that Brian spent so much effort on cooking my birthday dinner in the woods. We ended up having chicken soup, mashed potatoes and steak. It was really yummy. Then we had Hostess cupcakes (complete with candles) for dessert and just as we cracked open a bottle of wine, it started to drizzle. At first it wasn't so bad, but once the campfire was rained out, we decided to have a cribbage game inside the tent before trying to sleep (and hoping the rain would stop soon). During the last hand of the game, I only needed a few points to win, which I had in my hand. But my crib was awesome - it was 21 points. But anyway....

Sunday morning - it had rained allllll night and was still raining. It rained 2 inches in 10 hours and no wonder there was actually water seeping up from underneath the tent. We tried to pack things up as quickly as possible, even in the rain (which took 3 hours anyway). It was nice to be back in civilization. We rented Hidalgo and The Blair Witch Project and ordered pizza and holed up inside, away from the rain.

It truly was a great weekend....

Now it's only 9 days until I'm off to Hawaii!

Yesterday Brian and I tanned on the roof, but it was so hot (100 degrees!) that we couldn't handle it for too long.

I ended up going to Tigard to visit Krys. We watched Bend it Like Beckham (which was very cute) and made dinner for us and her mom. For dessert, we met Kasey at Sharis and had ice cream and were bad influences on each other.

Sounds like Friday night we'll be a drinking/pizza night, but I'm not sure what kind of drinks to make. Hmmm...

Bumped into Lizzie while on campus today. Her hair is a very cute pink. I'm glad she had a good time in Japan.

Went to the DMV to renew my license today and thank goodness, because I like my picture so much better. I can't believe I used to have such short hair! I screwed up my signature on the back, though, but who cares.

Tomorrow's my aunt's birthday. Here's where I sound like an old lady: I should catch up on my correspondence. Maybe I should buy some stationery and write to my relatives that I never see.

I'm almost anxious for school to get started again. OK, so maybe not really, but I would like to get my things in order, like textbooks and shit. It sucks that the booklists and syllabi aren't posted sooner than they are.

I need some suggestions on music to download, so if anyone has any good ideas, let me know!

I finally found a swimsuit that fits! It's very exciting. It's blue and white and flowery. And Brian was a very good sport about me being picky.

Yesterday, Brian and I saw The Village which I still thought was good despite its mixed reviews. I didn't see the twist coming at all. We also rented The Whole Ten Yards which was pretty good.

I think turning twenty is making me anxious about things which I totally wasn't expecting, but, eh, oh well.

This summer is going by really fast. There are only fifty days left, and about a quarter of that will be spent in Hawaii. I'm very excited about the trip. I should start planning things to do while Krys and I are there...

Hmmm...