Rhymes With Orange

No Sheryl Crow, change will not do me some good.

I'm having mixed feelings about moving in December. When it comes to moving, I don't deal with the change. At all. I deal with moving about as well as a cat dangling over a tub full of water. It's not that I'm not excited about moving back to the States, because I really, really am excited about going home to US soil, it's just that the anticipation of going to a new place makes me anxious (Did I ever mention I'm just slightly OCD? Just a little. A teeny little bit.) If I could wrap my entire apartment in brown paper and take it with me, I would.

My neighbor of two years is leaving the island forever on Saturday (Did I mention that I don't deal well with other people moving away too? No? Because I don't.) I've tried to talk her out of it, "No Kali! You can't leave! Who will play cards with me at odd hours of the night while Mike is working? Who will have coffee with me in the mornings? How will Caspian survive without your toes? I don't wanna break in a new neighbor!" but she just won't listen. Something about needing to be with her family. Bleh.

I'm gonna miss Kali. I know we'll still be friends long distance, but it doesn't make the sad stop. We've been neighbors for a long time, and she's been there for me through a lot of crazy stuff, and I'll miss not having her next door to me.

I'll miss you Kali. I hope that Maine treats you very well, or I will hafta kick it's butt (Also come visit me!)

Flutterbys

Yesterday, we went to the Southeast Botanical Gardens not far from Kadena. It was nice (and really mosquito-y.) Not quite as nice as some of the other places we've been, but it was on our list o' stuff-to-do-before-we-leave, so I'm glad we went. I did take some pictures of these gorgeous butterflies they had living in a green house. The only thing that was very disturbing was the wall covered in picture frames of mounted butterflies. That would be like walking down the street and seeing your neighbors pinned under glass. Very macabre.

soon, I promise

kate will post again soon, i promise.

Until then, enjoy some pictures she updated in the albums... and enjoy me messing around with this post... WEEEE!!!! partay time!

What to talk about.. well.. I need to mention everything in the tags I added so...

Anger: I'm not angry right now

Annie: Hi Annie, i'm sure you'll read this

Bethy: Howdi Beth

Blondness: i'm not blonde...

Books: read any good ones lately? Share them in a reply. I'm fond of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, chronicals of narnia and dave berry books

caspian: he's doing much better now, we had a major scare with him, but he's recovering nicely.

Chloe: I never noticed both of their names started with C... and here we thought C was for cookie... NO COOKIE FOR JOO

Daily: Hello.. at the tone the time will be 11:40pm on Sunday August 26th.. BEEP

Depression: sucks, nuff said

Family: hi everyone! I dont steal her blog often enough... love ya'll.

Goodbyes: Not yet, still have many tags to go...

Google search: search for my name... youll find some CEO's of coporations and stuff.. interesting.... What are some of the cool stuff that people the share your names have done?

happiness: opposite of depression. Much better and happier for all!

House: it's still standing. We need to repaint it soon...

Japan: it's a country.. we live here. hi Japan! and Hi Yoko Ono!

MSN Search: Did she ever post about google and msn searches? one has to wonder.. reply below.

Mike: Thats me!

Music: Itunes is great...

PMS: Never had it. explian below if you're a male and have had PMS.

Pictures: Weee... kate likes pictures

Piper: God bless her...

Quotes: I wonder what quotes will come from this post...

Random Stuff: i think this post covers this topic itself.

Romeo: poor guy, he was very cute and loveable.. if only he wouldn't have been so scared =/

Sadness: I'm kinda sad after talking about the pippa and romeo... meh..

Television: We'll be glad to watch actual TV... not AFN.. AFn is ok, but i'll be nice to pick whatever we want to watch, not what they want!

travel: Louisiana is next on the travel list

Worries: I worry about many things. Post what you worry about. We can talk about it...

yarn Stuff: I dont have any yarn stuff except the sweater she made me. She should make more stuff for me! I want toe warmers!

permalink: I dont think this is actually a topic, but I dont feel done with this post quite yet...

comments: I expect alot of comments! Now post! Comment away!!!!!

Oh, and thanks for all the birthday comments and replies! If anyone sent me anything personally, i'll get back to you soon! I promise. been busy, very very busy....

I hope ya'll enjoy the post!

-Mike

About a Girl

Sometimes at night, I start thinking too hard. I think about our future. I think about my past. I think about the could have, the should have, and the would have. Eventually, I wind up on the subject of college. All of my classmates are starting the second half of their junior year, and I am stuck at terminal freshman. I've let my schooling slack since I moved here. Which is totally my fault. I've had plenty of opportunities and support from everyone. This is just what I chose.

After thinking about this for a while, I start to panic. My chest gets tight, my heart races and think about how they're all preparing for their futures and here I am buying produce at Jusco and watching bad Japanese soap operas. Last night though, for the first time, I thought of something else that made me really happy. My classmates may have all conquered algebra, but I can bid the local gate guards good morning in their native language. I can do Yen to Dollar calculations fairly accurately when I'm shopping. I have used a squatty potty. I have seen the world's biggest tug of war game, eaten some of the craziest foods, learned the hard way about the strength of Okinawa liquor, seen traditional Japanese dances and ceremonies, walked where great kings of old ruled Okinawa, have seen Sukura blossoms up close and not just in pictures, felt the sting of anti American protesters and have bought coffee in a can. I can say Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening in Japanese. As well as Thank you, Yes, No and Excuse me.

I have lived more than many people twice my age. Who am I to whine? =)

Indiana Kate

We're having a ton of fun with my dad here =) On Saturday, we went on the 'Extreme Tunnel Rats' tour. They told you to wear old clothes, bring gloves and flashlights. I was thinking, "We'll walk around in some clean caves, oooo and ahhh and some WWII relics and that will be the extent of it." Not so much actually. I rode home wrapped up to my waist in a black trash bag to keep from dripping mud in the car if that tells you anything.

The first cave we went to was exactly what I had been expecting. Clean, dry, very open and all in all a really cool cave. It had been the Japanese army's command central, and it was very professional (if one can call a cave professional). The second cave was one I was not ready for. We wandered through the jungle for a while in the pouring rain (So not kidding. It made me feel so Indian Jones. I'm such nerd =) till we reached a four by four hole in the ground. To get into it, you sat on the ground and lowered yourself about six feet down into this hole, then you carefully sat down and wiggled your way down till you were on your belly facing into the cave and then crawled your way in till the opening widened, and you could crawl on your knees. The ceiling of the cave was about three and half feet above the floor and the whole cave was a maze of tunnels and larger rooms. There were a few little bats that were really cute and some super scary centipede/spider hybrids that were not so cute. Other than that though, it wasn't bad at all. I like caves.

The last cave was the best though. When you first approached, it had a nice, wide mouth and a flat, well packed floor. A quick step down, and you were in the cave. Then we followed our guide up a steep, muddy, clay slope, and it was all over from there. The next hour was spent scrambling up and down huge rocks, free climbing cave walls to avoid ten foot drops and fighting the mud. It was awesome. At one point, I slide down a giant mud hill on my side and nearly took out my dad. I climbed out of the cave with squishy, wet shoes, mud smeared across my face, in my hair, all over my arms and caked on my pants and shirt. I whacked my head on the cave ceiling three times, and I have small bruises all over my body and knees. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Twitchy as she goes

This weekend has been interesting. I ran out of my antidepressants on Friday and was unable to contact my doc to get them refilled, so I've been rather...twitchy. Did I mention that was one of the with drawl symptoms? Yes, twitchiness. It's annoying and makes me look just a little bit crazy. (But then again when have I ever looked sane?)

I cut Caspian off from his wet food because he had been giving everything I fed him back on the bedroom carpet. He hasn't thrown up this weekend, but he's also been an absolute terror giving only a few moments of peace. This morning I woke up with him JUMPING on my stomach. It's a good thing he's cute.

Piper has been doing her best to keep him in line. Mostly by pinning him to the ground and bathing him whenever she gets the chance.

I also learned a lesson the hard way this weekend. When in Japan do not drink the Awamori. You can barely taste it in coke, but even a tiny bit hits you hard a few hours afterwords. They may be small, but the Japanese like their liquor strong.

I do have some more interesting things to post about, but for now I'm going to go finish my coffee and call my doc. The twitchiness must stop.

Photo Post: The world outside these walls

Procrastination is fun

And now for the post that all the world has been waiting for with baited breath.

About two weeks ago, Mike and I decided to be adventurous and take on the trek to Hiji Falls. It took us over two hours of driving to reach the greeting center, so once we got there we were really antsy to get going. We bought our tickets to the park, and started down the path (which seemed totally benign). The first thing we came to was a loverly man-made dam.

I guess it much more homely a few years ago, and it didn't really fit in with it's breath-taking surroundings, so they fixed it up to look a little more natural. We continued down the path all the while noting how well manicured the whole park was. Wood planks lined the pathway, there were lots of wooden walk ways and the stairs were pretty decent. It was all a piece of cake till we came to this:

THE STAIRWAY FROM H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS. After reaching the top, there was a small landing (from which I took this picture), and then another set of stairs. Those stairs weren't quite so nice though. No railings.

After huffing and puffing our way up and down many flights of stairs (Okay, so Mike was fine. I huffed and puffed though), we arrived at something that had scared the crap outta me when I had first heard about it from a friend of mine. A rather large suspension bridge. They way she had described it had made me think that it was something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. It actually wasn't bad though. Very high up, but well made.

This is what the bridge looked like once we had crossed it and climbed back down a few very tall stairways (I was standing on a rock in the middle of a river when I took this picture. It was way cool). After the bridge, there were a lot more up and down stairways:

And a few odd obstacles:

And just as I was convinced I was going to die, and Mike would have to bury me off to the side of the path, we reached the waterfall.

It was really beautiful & peaceful there, and totally worth the 1.5 mile hike in. After we hiked back to the car, we headed over to Ocuma Point.

It was a really great day =)

Curcuma

Saturday afternoon we went with a bunch of my friends from The Loan Closet, and their husbands to this beautiful Thai restaurant. It took more than an hour to get there, and we had to drive part way up a small mountain, but it was worth it.

After we left it occurred to me that I never actually took any pictures of the restaurant. I just kept taking pictures of the breath taking view and local plant life.

Oh, and also the pleasant company (He's so cute! Even if he was totally cheating on me with the waiter dude ;)

It's 4:30am, and...

...I'm off to see the airport! The wonderful airport of...umm...Naha. Yes, that's right. I'm driving to the airport at 4:30am to take some friend there. Why, oh why couldn't they have made reservations for a LATER flight? I just wanna say right now that if we crash and die, it's not my fault.