it hurts, guys.

so first i want to start this post with pictures that will guaranteed gross you out. yesterday i worked a really long shift (6am-130pm) and i was dead tired afterwards. i rode my bike home begrudgingly and when i got home i had less than an hour to nap. i figured that it wouldn't be worth it, because i'd wake up more tired. i decided, then, that i should go jogging to boost my energy. this is what happened.




i. fucking. tripped. and. ate. shit. UGH. sorry for the bandaid photo but when i took it off this morning i was thoroughly grossed out with myself. i hate the sight of blood especially when it's my own. but now i have this crater thing in my knee. no skirts or shorts for a while. in addition to that knee, i have a scrape on the other side, scrapes on my right elbow and on both of my hands, and a bruise because i hit a rock on my right thigh. I AM IN PAIN. :((((

anyway onto the less gross stuff! my last day at satura photos:

miho and i. she's leaving, too!

actual last day. andy bought me a lei. i had to wear it all day.

blurry, but this is a picture of the soda josie bought me as a good bye gift in addition to the waste cupcake that cody gifted me. thanks, guys!



miho and kyoka made me a goodbye cake. amazing!! i miss you guys already.

then to go back in time, here are photos from my birthday dinner at CPK with my mom. my brother didn't show up. but that's okay, i guess. i was so tired this day.

asparagus and arugula salad! and the hummus and pita bread thing!

see, i told you this is my mom's signature pose.

clam linguine

me and my sam adams, margherita pizza, and diet coke! the pizza was mediocre.

it's so weird how into greek food my mom has been lately. it started when she wanted to eat lunch with me one afternoon and we couldn't decide where to eat. "how about greek?" i asked. she made the nastiest face ever, "yadda. daikirai." really? i asked. turns out she was basing her disgust on that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and how the food didn't look super delicious. "niku bakkari janai ka?" no, mom, it's not completely meat filled cuisine. after a bit more talking i convinced her to try eating at the greek corner with me over on university and king. she was amazed! she kept saying that their food seemed so healthy, not bad oily, vegetable filled. she also loves feta cheese.



here's a photo of her at the greek cafe. i went there with her a few weeks ago and it was pretty amazing considering the price, but definitely not the best greek food on island.

i'm really bad at ending posts with the whole tying this whole blog together thing. i feel like all my posts are just some stream of consciousness bullshit that never gets anywhere and no point is ever made. but meh, i think it's a good idea to record my thoughts regardless of how scattered they are, right?

with friends like these

so it was (as i've mentioned) my birthday this past weekend. dana and diane, two of the kitchen staff, made me a (belated) birthday cake!

it ended up being creme fraiche cheesecake! my favorite cake from the store! i can only hope that at my new job i'll meet people as great/fun/thoughtful as them.

me doing my mom's signature "thumbs up? or not?" pose with my new work apron on. i kind of missed wearing full length aprons so this is a nice change. my first day on monday was fantastic! i shadowed/did a booklet thing/watched a guy make 107 frappuccinos in roughly two hour period single-handedly. sure, i may have washed a few blenders to assist, but it was really all him.

i'm kind of looking forward to actually starting to work there, which won't be for a while. i'm still "training." heh.

updates + it's my birthday

1. i'm turning 22 this year. i suppose this past year has been sort of a giant disappointment. this same time last year i thought i was moving to new york with my then boyfriend. i thought i might have graduated by this time the following year. i thought i'd be making enough $$ to move away (or at least out of my house). but here i am in 2010, none of these goals accomplished, everything different and still oddly the same. same because i'm still in hawaii. still going to school. still making barely enough. still. there's plenty to be happy about.

i've made a lot of new friends this year. i've got the best friends i could have ever asked for. prior to this, you see, i didn't really enjoy being social. i didn't enjoy maintaining my friendships because (not to dog any of you guys) i just didn't enjoy their company as much as i enjoy the company of the people i've met lately. or maybe i'm just more open or something who knows.

2. i quit my job today. i don't really want to get into the nitty gritty but a few weeks ago a man came into the store and started shouting about how did i feel knowing that the store might close soon. it really got under my skin and i've been panicked lately. there have been signs that this might be true, and these things have left me with an overwhelming stress. i mean, going to work every day worried that this might be my last day is not something i want in my life. plus, i've been planning to go back to school and the schedule there isn't that flexible, i don't make enough money to start moving out like i want to, and i don't really see any real ability to grow in the company. even if they won't close (which i sincerely hope they do not), it was just not a good fit for me for the long term.

today i accepted a job at starbucks. i'm kind of excited, mostly sad because i really love my coworkers at satura. but it's back to corporate america for me, i suppose. i don't mind the free coffee or tea every week, the larger variety of waste to choose from for meals the next day, or the fact that i have a zillion locations to choose from if i want to pick up shifts. it's a slight pay cut from satura initially, but i know that since i'm pretty driven that i'll get an assistant manager position as soon as my three month probation is over. i'm hopeful, and that's all that matters.

3. the weather has been so hot lately that all i can think of is frozen beverages. mostly orange julius, which used to be my absolute favorite summer time fix when i was still working in ala moana. i could also really go for a POG (passion orange guava) ice blended from coffee bean right now, but i don't think they offer the flavor anymore.

today i think i'll be attending the palolo honwanji bon dance. i was supposed to go last week with my mom, but it turns out it's the last weekend in july. i've never been a fan of bon dances, mostly because the food is too greasy, the people are too fat and loud, and mostly because it's just way too hot to be outside this time of year. but i get the tradition, i get the whole sense of community yadda yadda. i guess it's just not a cultural practice i like to partake in.

i know that complaining about it just before going is probably not a good idea. so i'll try and be positive about it. i'll wave at all the familiar faces, the nisei and sansei, some of which i've gone to school with or grown up around. and i'll partake in the ritualistic dance around the center thing-a-ma-jig. whatever. tonight will be fun.

and even if it isn't, at least there's alcohol later, right?

regularly updating? really?

yeah, really. but mostly because i developed that roll of film and am just posting all those images.

so if you didn't know already... i work at satura cakes. my family in japan wanted to see what the cakes look like... so i took a very grainy shot. i should probably get a flash of some kind for my LC-A.

these are just some really cute mini-cupcakes the chefs made. to be honest, they look better than they tasted. so azn. all about the presentation. oh well, free none the less.

the other day i stopped by coffee talk to visit my friend, brittnie. i always forget how empty it is there on sunday afternoons. makes me want to make it a ritual. too bad jewel or juice isn't opened on the weekends... then i could get my acai fix as well.

kaimuki is such a lazy area on the weekends. i wonder why it's always so busy during the weekdays? so much traffic, congestion, people at all hours. what is there even to do there besides eat? and even then, most of those restaurants operate on such strange hours. i guess now that the burning tree is open i guess i have something to occupy myself between eateries.