Franu phobia #10

This post is dedicated to one of my top 10 phobias- Falling out of an amusement park ride. I have a huge fear of roller coaster rides mostly because I always feel like I'm about to fall out. I know that's one of the points of rides, you feel like you're going to fall but honestly I feel that I'm always falling more than anyone else. I found this clip of a fat kid slipping out of his harness and then his face gets stuck in it...it could happen to me, I know it.
Enjoy

day 3 hilo holiday- our anniversary!

December 28th, Hilo Hawaii

hilo vacation day 3- tidepools & volcano

Today is our 3rd anniversary & we managed to get a little car from Enterprise! We picked up the rental at 8am and drove straight to Champagne pond. If you ever get a chance, I strongly recommend heading out to the Puna district on the Big Island and making your way over to Champagne Pond. The drive out to Puna is beautiful.

Champagne pond is a geothermally heated lagoon filled with fish and turtles. The trick is getting there. You'll need a 4 x 4 vehicle and head towards the pond from the lighthouse in Puna or you can choose to walk the hike which is beautiful, but its a long hike over lava boulders. The other option is to park at the gated community and pretend you're staying in the area. The community is built all around the pond and some people have their own private pool. Its still a couple blocks to walk from the gate, and if you get lost you can't count of the people staying there to help or give directions. The photo looks a little dark but under the water it looks like this:
We also made our way to the Kapoho Tidepools which are close by. The tidepools are amazing and you can swim in most of them. They are filled with sea life! Here's a picture Anson took of a slate pencil urchin:
The wildlife varies from pool to pool. Sometimes you'll find yourself in a sea cucumber pool or a sea urchin pool. I don't know how they segregate themselves. Its probably coincidental. Here's what the tidepools look like:
Its neat because there's so many rocks to climb on and explore.
Next we hit the volcano and drove down the Chain of Craters road to get to the lava. Every trip to the Big Island we vow to make our way to the lava. But we always get to the hike too late and after about 1 and a half hours of hiking in the dark, volcano madness sets in and we decide to turn back. We did get farther this time and made it out to the second ledge and viewing area.

Let me show you some pictures

Happy Holidays 2006

Hilo Holiday day 2

December 27th, Hilo Hawaii

Today was Wednesday, which in Hilo to my mom only means one thing: Farmers Market. The Hilo Farmer's Market is a combo of swap meet & produce. You can get funky sarongs and fresh strawberry papaya here and it all seems pretty cheap. We still haven't been able to get a car rental which is a bummer. My folks' car isn't reliable enough to take us out to see turtles, champagne pond, or the volcano...

Day 1 of Hilo Vacation 2006

We made it to the Big Island for Christmas to visit my mom & dad & baxter. We love the Big Island because there is so much to do. The beaches here feel cleaner (and sometimes colder) than on Oahu but it is always worth it. This trip we hope to 1) make it to the Volcano and this time walk all the way to view the lave 2)spend some time at Champagne pond 3)swim with some sea turtles 4) eat at Ken's House of pancakes.

Christmas 2006

Christmas time in Hawaii is beautiful. This Christmas was extra special because Anson's sister came down with her new baby. We had breakfast at the house before opening up some presents.

We spent the rest of the day getting ready for our family trip to the Big Island to see my mom & dad (and baxter). The cats came with us again.The only thing under my seat was Turkey, who by the way, was a good little fuzzy traveler with no complaints. Rosie on the other hand crapped in her carrier and had in short, a very horrible christmas day.

Here is Turkey showing me love once we got to Hilo:
But most of the time he was scratching me like this:

It’s not porn, its English class

Another reason Japanese culture intrigues me. Here's a sample of the aerobics series from Japan (aired 1992) that teaches people aerobics & english. If you can fast forward the clip, or stand to watch it, it gets crazy about a minute into the excersize and then again at 1:50min. It makes you realize that there's enough Japanese people visiting English speaking countries that phrases like "Spare me my life" is an important phrase to learn.

Christmas Eve 2006

Grandma with Delana & Diana (Ans' sister)

Ans with Achilles

and we made it to the North Shore today to see the turtles. There were a lot swimming but none were resting on the beach like the last time. Still it was a very beautiful Christmas Eve.

White & Nerdy

Okay so this video has been out for awhile but it never ceases to amaze me...Wierd Al can rap! Also the video cracks me up because I think its about my brother in law.

Check out Daniel Tammet, who can recite pi to its 22,514th digit (see White & Nerdy lyrics). He says we sees the numbers as visual landscapes...very interesting fellow.

gratuitous cat picture

thanks e...got this from your links ;)

Holiday Shopping leads to bull riding

The best part of this holiday season was watching Ado try out a mechanical bull at a store.
Here's the clip:


What you're watching is my nephew ride what Brookstone calls a mechanical fitness machine. It's a iGallop and its supposed to be work out your abs. This is from their website:

Looking good and feeling great just got a whole lot easier.
The OSIM® iGallop™ is the revolutionary exerciser that can help you shape and tone your tummy, hips, seat and thighs. The secret is in its zero-impact, tri-axial riding action. Your body automatically responds to its multidirectional movement, and this balancing engages certain muscle groups and may help improve coordination and posture.

Too bad the video quality is so poor- it was hysterical watching this guy ride the iGallop, especially with the live music in the background. It was perfect.

Welcome baby D!!

Today our niece was born at 1pm! We are so excited to have enter this world! I was thinking all week she'd come early and it is really funny how things turn out. She made it just in time for Hanukkah!! Congrats L. & S on your first baby!

and just for fun...

Your Birthdate: December 7

You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy. And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you. Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights. You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice! Your strength: Your self sufficiency Your weakness: You despise authority Your power color: Maroon Your power symbol: Hammer Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Growing up Foreign

This is what they do to buses in Pakistan

While much of America is getting ready for the holiday season, I’ve found myself thinking of friends and families but also of the places I’ve lived. It’s hard to really put into words how growing up expatriate has affected me. I do believe that riding on the buses in Kenya and Pakistan for 2 hours a day, 7 days a week are to blame for my hard of hearing. And I am extremely jealous of the younger generation’s access to the internet...what I would have given for underwear that fit while living in Africa, or a bra in Pakistan! Yes, we did have mail order from JC Penny’s and Sears and the highly anticipated once a year trip to America (when you were young and grew up overseas, you would say “America” not the “U.S”), aslo I might add that JCPenny and Sears for all their guarantees, were not reliable in their APO shipments during the 80’s and early 90’s- you were lucky to receive anything within 3 months, which was usually just another catalog

My parents for what ever reason, maybe it was due to stress, had left out thoughts like proper fitting clothing and pads for their children...Please take a moment to imagine what it would be like for a half Okinawan, half German girl to buy “sanitary napkins” in a store in Islamabad in the late 80’s...see that’s me wanting to die. Did you know that pads in foreign countries are 100 times larger than the ones here in the US? It’s true. Believe me.

This is a photo of Jinnah Supermarket. You could buy pirated music here for, if I remember correctly, for 25 rupees (?) I could be wrong. Thanks to Pakistan, I was able to grow up listening to Guns and Roses, Metallica, Tone-Loc (can you believe I got Funky Cold Medina in Islamabad?!), Madonna, and Mr. Big (there’s more, don’t worry). The best thing about pirated music in Pakistan is that the dude recorded the tapes would substitute whatever he felt like or maybe while sitting in his room with hundreds of music tapes, he would get confused to which tape was what. So sometimes you got what you paid for, sometimes it would be a Michael Bolton album in a Skid Row (handwritten or photocopied) cover. Other times if there was space left on the tape after the album, you could also sample some other random music that wouldn't be listed on the tape cover. But most of the time you really did get the right album. Those were good times.