conor + live = yay!

I saw Bright Eyes! This is not my video, but easily the best, most appropriate closing song.

 

THIS IS WHAT I WANT RIGHT NOW

or this (Thanksgiving dinner)



or this! (Christmas dinner)

post finals blues

I wreaked havoc on my body this year. In fact, the last shift I worked before my nine day staycation was easily the worst shift of my life. Every part of me was screaming in pain, and the atopic eczema had spread all down both my legs leaving me tired and itchy and grumpy.

Needless to say, since taking a bunch of days off work, I've finally had time to go see a doctor and get the medication I needed to make it go away. And I had time to actually sleep. I don't remember the last time I consistently slept eight hours a night. I still don't feel right, body wise, but I'm working on it. The rain is just keeping me from getting my fitness in, which is probably all I need at this point.

But after all that, all the exhaustion and work this semester was, all the overnights and meetings and study sheets, I think I did really really well. So far, I know that I have an A, B+, and a B. I'm still waiting on two more classes that I think I did relatively well in, too. I'm excited. It's the first semester I feel that I've really invested in-- where I actually really loved all my professors and the books they were teaching. And it's the first semester where I feel like I've actually improved on my writing. I've learned so much more Japanese, too!

もうすぐクリスマスなので、まだまだプレゼントの買い物やってないさ。。最近時間がないし、そしてあまりアルバイトに働いてないからし、お金があまりない。たぶんクリスマスの後に家族と彼氏のプレゼントを買うことになったんな。。！

:3

Anyway, will hopefully have photos and stuff to post soon.

//edit!
I PASSED ALL CLASSES! With a 3.5GPA! WOOOO!

man man + bouncing souls

Saw Man Man at Hallowballoo. They headlined. It was a great show. I'm kind of eager to hear more from them, but the internet isn't too kind.



Then I saw the Bouncing Souls at Hawaiian Brians. I guess they come here all the time



They played their cover of The Kinks, "Better Things," that they did for that one movie, but I don't remember what it's called. I like the original better, anyway. (But now I can't stop listening to The Kinks!)

what was i thinking?

avoiding homework

Skyrim is awesome.

 

I'm totally a cat!! I have sweet sneak ability and am robbing old ladies like nothin'.

Trying to do homework right now instead of playing buuuuuut it calls me! The dragon, that is!

realization

everything is meaningless.

for a moment, consider this: is there a real sense of what is good and what is evil? this idea of morality is completely socially constructed, imbedded into our minds from the moment we are born. as an example, consider death. while on one hand we perceive death as being cruel and mysterious, if it's at the hands of God on a person that has committed some kind of egregious act like murder then it's suddenly justified. why do we think this way? why do we live this way? the rules of nature do not abide by such rules because they are not true. nothing is true except this.

there are actions. things that are done. things that we do. even passive resistance is an action. and there are actions as a result of other actions. there is no good or bad. there is only it-- the act itself.

so to even ask if there is a meaning is simply absurd because it doesn't matter. actions will follow after death. the cycle continues. it does not end. and even at our own perceived end it still continues. forever and ever and ever.

da tings in rife

Today I found out that Naked Juice is owned by Pepsi. And Odwalla is owned by Coca Cola.

And then I went to class and fully realized that I cannot write kanji but I can read it pretty well. Which would be fine if most of our quizzes weren't dependent on our ability to write AND read. I'm going to fail and I'm beginning to worry.

Then I finished Fox Girl, which was incredibly sad until the end, where I just sat and said "hrmph. What the fuck." Pretty disappointed. No spoilers here though.

Then I came home! And watched X-Files. Then Dan came over with chijimi he made. And we watched a little bit of this movie.



He had to leave before we finished it and I'm almost done watching it now. Disappointed because it was listed on Hulu as "Horror/Suspense" but it's really neither. Just a story about a crazy dude that does a pretty horrible thing just to see if he can. Reminded me of this movie: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer



(probably one of my favorite movies of all time).

overdue

Dad and Atsuyo celebrated their anniversary the other night. I asked them to go to dinner with me without realizing that it was a special occasion. And while I felt awkward playing third wheel with my parents, it was still a really nice night out. Thanks again, Dad.

We went to House Without a Key at the Halekulani and played tourist for a few hours. It's amazing how much I took being in Hawaii for granted-- I can totally see why people spend thousands of dollars to travel here. It really is breathtaking.

I had this drink called "Island Itch" and it came with a back scratcher (hah!). It was I think two kinds of rum and lilikoi juice. Really strong, but really good.

I have no idea what this band was called but they played a lot of classic slack key songs and even had a few dancers. The sunset behind them was gorgeous, and the shading of the kiawe tree made it really surreal.

mom's birthday

God, sometimes I feel I'm the epitome of an Asian-American. A food blog. Fascination with phone charms. Almost a hundred photos of my cat ON MY PHONE.

Fuck it. I like food. I ate at Cafe Sistina for mom's birthday and even though she had a bit of a cry because they ran out of vanilla ice cream it was still a pretty nice night. These photos are awful because I didn't want to use the flash and I didn't really want to spend 99% of dinner photographing it.

We were greeted by a dog. And bizzare menus. Then my brother complained that the cola tasted funny and we traded drinks. He took my iced tea and added five sugars to it. Escargot with polenta, a little too buttery but still tasty. Caprese. Holy crap was this dressing amazing. Perfect olive oil/balsamic vinigarette combo. My mom and some bread. My mom got some kind of spinach fettucini seafood spectacular. I couldn't eat it but it looked and smelled amazing. She said it was slightly spicy, just right. Craig got lasagna. Craig always gets lasagna. And me? Well I got some chicken penne something something in a creamy tomato sauce. It was a little dry and bland. I was pretty disappointed. After her teary-eyed bit, mom said really loudly that she should be able to get some kind of dessert for her birthday. So the waiter brought a slice of cheesecake. She didn't even eat it! Anyway, this is the only decent group photo the waiter could take. He was a really nice guy, but didn't speak English super well and wasn't familiar with cameras.

Anyway, Cafe Sistina is really affordable considering the atmosphere and service and food. While I was a little disappointed with my entree, the appetizers made me more than happy and my mom and brother seemed really satisfied with their food. I'll just be sure to order something without chicken next time.

reminiscing summer

It's the middle of September and I just want to go back to eating shave ice and drinking bubble tea and laying around reading what I want when I want. Bon dances, hiking, passing out on the beach for hours-- I miss everything! Except that this weather is still lingering-- it needs to go. I don't know if I'll be able to survive under this kind of humidity for much longer.

But back to reality. It's week four of the fall semester and I'm overwhelmed with books. We've finished roughly two per class (that's six total) and I'm getting confused with characters and plot lines. Everything is blurring together and I'm having trouble keeping up. So far, Whitman is probably my favorite author I've read this semester. But we're moving on to Jack London and his short stories are great. Glad that it isn't like Spring 2011 where I was stuck reading Medieval lyrical poetry day in and day out.

I went shopping at Revolution Books today to pick up the rest of my reading for the semester. What's-her-face and I watched news clips on Al Jazeera while she told me that Libya and Egypt are in dire need of communism. Which turned into a ploy to invite me to join the communist party. Nonetheless, the books are surprisingly cheap here. I bought roughly 16 books for only $100. You have no idea how happy I am!

I'd post photos of the food I've been eating but... well... they're really embarrassing. 75% of the photos are loco mocos, the other 25% is just poor quality photos anyway.

it's still august!

I've been having a good week! The work load has become intense and I'm constantly doing homework. Between classes, during classes, while eating, while bathing, while riding my bike (only once! regretted it immediately), not to mention work at Starbucks, too. I feel like there isn't enough time in the day and yet I somehow get it all done. The only exception being my laundry; I've been neglecting that completely.



I have trouble studying at home unless I have a ton of background noise. It's pretty much the reason I opted to sign up for Hulu Plus. It's the first month free with a .edu email address, and the selection of films and TV shows are undeniable. It's cheaper than Netflix, too. Finally got around to watching 400 Blows and I really liked it! Never watched a French New Wave film before and kind of excited since Hulu hosts the Criterion collection. I have an assortment of titles to choose from!

Anyway I only wrote this to get away from reading more but I guess I'll get back to it. 157 pages down, 173 more to go.

backlog

Dinner with my dad and step mom. Banana splits to follow!



Dinner with my mom (impromptu) at Cafe Laufer. Salmon + Rye and their Chinese Chicken Salad. Won ton overload. I love that it's such a quaint cafe!

todaaaaay!

Dan and I hiked Diamond Head. He's a hiking newbie so seemed fitting to do the easiest hike on Oahu.





It was pretty hazy but still really nice! Maybe a sunset hike in the near future. Note to self: buy some legit shoes. Keds just don't cut it.

Before that we ate at J&J Bistro which is a pretty awesome French-Laotian place that is relatively reasonable in price. I got the "De Afternoon Tea" set which was about $15. It came with a pot of tea (English Breakfast!) and a entree set that included a mini turkey croissant sandwich, ham and corn quiche, crab ragoon, scone with orange marmalade, and a smoked salmon with avocado spread on a slice of french baguette bread! Oh, and dessert, which was a chocolate coffee mouse cake, red velvet cake, and a small orange tart. Dan got a pizza!! It was super good.






I gotta work on updating with greater frequency. I promise, a backlog of photos will be coming up real quick!

birthday weekend

Chicken, bleu cheese, roasted pepper, and olive pizza.


Dinner at Imanas Tei with my mom and brother



Gobo Fry

Shabu shabu salad

Assorted sushi set B

Saba, salmon, and uni.

Hamachi