Hawai'i

Kailua-Kona

2009-05-19T05:43:00.016-10:00

With only a little time remaining in paradise, we have a few items to do here that we'd still like to check off of our list. One of them was visiting the leeward side of the Big Island. We've been to Hawai'i before, but not to the Kailua-Kona (fondly called "Kona," as there is a popular "Kailua" on windward Oahu) side of it. My husband made every last arrangement-- car, room, flight-- and even did a lot of the organizing for how we'd spend each day. Woohoo!

We took the 45-min flight into Kona and we stayed at a little cottage we found on VRBO, so that was a 45-min drive from the airport. On the way, we were both starving so we stopped at a mall food court for a quick bite. Unbeknownst to me ahead of time, there was a Marble Slab! Imagine my excitement! This is, by far, the most delicious ice cream-- the birthday cake flavor, that is, but most everything else I've tried is also unbeatable. The Marble Slab on Oahu closed more than a year ago, much to my chagrin. (When people suggest I try Cold Stone, I just shake my head. Cold Stone is gross-- it's gooey and tastes and looks as though it has been melted and refrozen. It isn't even in the same league!) I'd completely forgotten that there was one on the Big Island, and Sam found it when he went to throw his trash. So this trip was off to a great start!

We got to our little cottage, the owner showed us in and we pretty much crashed immediately. The next morning we decided to have breakfast at a local country inn (which served Louisiana hot links but, no surprise, they had nothing whatsoever to do with my home state. Tsk!!!) before visiting an organic coffee farm. People talk about wine and how smoothly it goes down, old whiskey or other aged alcohol and the ease through your mouth, but let me tell you what-- this coffee is definitely in for the running. I've had Kona coffee, but I don't think I've ever had one this smooth (usually because I don't want to pay the $30/lb it takes to get it!) Absolutely silky, a flavor I've never had in coffee, and as you feel the warmth going down into your stomach you realize how fortunate you are. This is one of those things that I'd say we should splurge on when we have extra money. I can't imagine drinking this and then going back to anything else. Unbelievable.

We went on down the road to drive through the waterfront section of Kona, which was certainly comparable to Lahaina, Maui, though a little newer. Kona is the resort side of the island, while Hilo is older and more quaint. There really isn't much to Kona itself, but every few miles there would be an entrance to yet another resort. We aren't really resort-type people, but I'm sure the spreads here were lovely, if only judging by the well-manicured gardens at the entrance. We stopped at a National Park and quickly learned that it was the cleanest one on the planet. Even at five years old, the paint was fresh, the bathrooms were immaculate, and the employees were full of cultural information. One of the ladies was making a lei for the younger woman graduating the local college that afternoon. What a lovely cultural tradition to witness!

She soaks the leaves she'll use, and sprays the ones already used,
as she takes about 4 hours to make one haku (head lei).

Next, we saw a harbor. I love harbors! I really can't explain why, but the calm of the water, the masses of masts, the beauty of the larger body of water out beyond is just one of the nicest views for me. So we stopped there so I could take a few photos and take it all in. The boats parked there were mostly fishing charters, and several had catchy (pun intended!) names.

We headed back on up to the northern part of the island so that we could get dinner at Merriman's, which came highly recommended by my co-worker. This restaurant tries to stay local when possible, uses fresh ingredients (which is often difficult out here in the most remote island chain in the world), and directs efforts toward local, non-profit, educational, agricultural, and native Hawaiian causes. We had a lamb spring roll appetizer, a strawberry, fennel, and goat cheese (one of my absolute favorites! You say, "goat cheese," I say, "Sold!") salad, and Sam had lamb and I had steak for dinner. We skipped dessert, as we had Marble Slab remaining in our freezer. We also rented "W." since we finished our senior citizen dinner at 7:30 and didn't want to drive anywhere else for more entertainment.

The next morning, we were up a little later and decided that we'd drive up to the coast for what was reported to be the best mochas on the island, as well as "scenic views." We got some breakfast, complete with live music (your favorite artist on CD is grand, but the experience of live music is really a wonderful sensation). The mochas were good, but I was still spoiled from the coffee the day before. We walked around the "town" of Hawi for a bit, and then headed on down the road. In Hawai'i, it's exceptionally easy to take these things for granted. You look at crystal blue water on a daily basis and you see palm trees swaying all over the place-- even right outside my office window. Well we were both a little bit taken aback when we came upon the Pololu Lookout. There were at least 40 cars stopped here, some people taking the 3-mile hike down to the water, others just returning, and plenty of us just taking it all in. The horses were within petting distance as they chewed on the greens, which I thought was found to be such a lovely change of pace.

The vog (volcanic fog) makes it appear as though it's raining, but
it's really just smoky. It's a shame the photos don't do this view more justice!

There are some hardcore surfers down there!

We looked at our guide magazine and decided that one more tour was in order: the Kona Brewing Company. We learned that the Kona Brew you find in bottles is made in Portland, Oregon, but the Kona Brew Pubs in Hawai'i are actually brewed right here on the Big Island. We went through a tour and then got a free tasting of four different beers. (That's a tasting, not a pint-- we still had to get back to the airport!) This liquid aloha was pretty good! My favorite was probably the longboard lager or the golden ale, which are two of the original three created.

More on the organic coffee and beer brewing tours later! For now, check your mailboxes soon for more photos from this excursion!

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Hawaiian flowers and greeting!

2009-05-10T11:56:00.004-10:00

Hau`oli Lâ Makuahine to some of my favorite mothers out there!

Grandmother, Aunties, MIL, SIL, and all those who perform maternal duties
just because they're caring and good at it!

Crafting

2009-04-28T19:17:00.006-10:00

Seems as though almost everyone I know blogs about all of the clever, homemade things they come up with all on their lonesome. I thought I was creative, and then I read about pants made for a toddler that were recycled from a bed sheet AND the elastic from the sheet corner. Are you kidding!?! That's pretty durn crafty-- rivaling Martha, even-- if you ask me.

Since I don't count my cooking classes as creative (I'm using someone else's recipes...) and my volunteer extra curricula don't require that much craft, I've decided to share one crafty thing I can do: make jewelry. It's no homemade stroller liner, but I've been at it for a few years and it has saved me on buying accessories because a lot of the stuff you see out there isn't very well made, and / or it's ridiculously easy to make and thus not worth the cost. I give most of my stuff away as gifts (earrings, bracelets, funky rings, a rosary, etc.), but here are a couple of the earrings I've made recently and kept. Now I'm wishing I'd taken more photos of some of the pieces I'm proudest of, though I do love these green earrings as they're my favorite color and a tad different! The blue ones I made to go with a cute summer dress I found, the purple ones I keep in the door of the car for when I've forgotten jewelry in the morning ;)

Three girlfriends and I periodically get together and share one of the crafts we're good at. April had us over to make soap (photos to come!), the three of us got together and made (and drank!) a delicious brunello, and Heather had a cross-stitching and knitting class at her house one afternoon. It's fun to be creative, and it's even more fun to do so with a great group of women (and yummy truffles, cheeses, etc.)!

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Religious Fruit?

2009-03-30T18:42:00.005-10:00

Liliko'i is the Hawaiian word for "passion fruit." Li is string that is used to tie something together, liko is the word meaning "to spring forth leaves." My friend Andy discovered lilikoi jelly when he visited Hawaii last, and has been obsessed ever since. It's a popular flavor with ice cream, "shave ice" (aka snowballs), drinks, desserts, and pretty much anything sweet and yummy. Now, what I just learned is the reason it's actually called passion fruit. Of course, I originally thought that it was probably some sort of aphrodisiac and had magical powers in early Hawaiian Kingdom days. But was I interested to learn that it's actually named so for the passion of Christ! Wikipedia gives the following break-down:

The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
The tendrils represent the whips used in the Flagellation of Christ.
The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the Crown of Thorns.
The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
The 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.
The flower has been given names related to this symbolism throughout Europe since that time. In Spain, it is known as espina de Cristo ("Christ's Thorn"). Old German names^[11] are Christus-Krone ("Christ's Crown"), Christus-Strauss ("Christ's Bouquet"^[12]), Dorn-Krone ("Crown of Thorns"), Jesus-Leiden ("Jesus' Passion"), Marter ("Passion"^[13]) or Muttergottes-Stern ("Mother of God's Star"^[14]).

And what a beautiful flower it is! I recently ate lilikoi with my friend Lillian for the first time. She was born and raised in Hawaii and had never had it straight from the fruit. It's full of seeds and thus a bit hard to separate from the pulp, and the ones we had were pretty tart. What work it must take for anyone to strain the good stuff and make anything from it! I would have to say, though, I do believe it's worth it.

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Sign of the Times

2009-03-13T20:04:00.019-10:00

Sam and I recently made Thursday evenings our weekly date night, and have been using it as an excuse to research and try out new venues together. The intent was to have a regular event for which we have to consider the other person and think about our relationship and what experiences would add to it. Sam watched one or two chick flicks with me recently, so last night, he chose for us to go to the $1 theater to see Valkyrie. He picked me up from work, we grabbed dinner nearby (and then a delicious passion fruit cupcake with lemon cream cheese frosting!), and watched ole Tom Cruise go after Hitler for a few hours. We got home around 9:30- a bit later than most other date nights. Our driveway is pretty steep-- so much so that we have to go in at juuuust the right angle so as not to scrape the bottom of our car. If there's luggage or anything heavy in the back, you're toast. For the past couple of weeks, the City & County has been doing road work, so they've scraped up the road, making the lip on our driveway too high for the car to even cross to get to the steep incline. Thus, we've been parking down the street about a hundred or so feet away. Not a huge inconvenience until this morning. I was walking up to my side of the car and I noticed glass underneath. My first thought was, "How did we park here and not notice glass?" but just as I started to bend down to inspect, my second thought was, "It had to comefrom our car!" My eyes darted up, and sure enough: the window was 98% gone. And by "gone" I mean splintered into small pieces all over the inside seat and floor, in place of the bright orange backpack I stupidly left there. SONOFA! We called our bosses to say we'd be late, then we called the police department. The officer arrived in less than 20 minutes and was exceptionally friendly and helpful. He said that we were the fifth report of a break-in this morning. He took note of the value of everything in the backpack (and thankfully nothing was of substantial value outside of the hassle of the situation: make-up, rain jacket, a book Sam gave me for Christmas, planner with tax documents-- so we had to put a fraud alert on our SSNs--okay so that's a bit of an ordeal; they didn't take Sam's Oakleys, CDs, books, a jacket or work clothes, jumper cables... I expect they were hoping for an iPod or a computer), gave us a report number, and was on his way. I swept up the glass outside of the car and vowed not to leave things in plain view again. It frustrates me because it isn't even like it's a lesson learned-- I already knew better! What's ironic is that if I am going to leave something of value in the car when I'm out shopping or anything of the sort, I would put it in the very back and pull the tonneau cover shut. But when I leave something in plain sight, I leave it unzipped and open so that it's clear that there's nothing worth breaking in over. However, my reasoning is not like that of a criminal, because they don't think that deeply about it in the wee hours of the morning when they see a potential cash cow glowing orange in the moonlight. Replacing the window was $302.44, only one window of the kind we needed on the entire island, and we got it installed this afternoon! This makes me think of all the reasons we have to be thankful in this situation: nothing more valuable (like jewelry, my camera, laptops or even my work laptop) was inside, we weren't around to see it or we could have been in harm's way, we can afford to get it fixed (not that we have hundreds to throw away, but we don't have to work an extra weekend to get that money or anything), it wasn't greater damage like keying the car or scratching the leather or slashing tires or rain before we got to it, we could still drive afterward, and so on.

Not sure what kind of tool was used, but glass made it from
the back passenger window to the front passenger seat.

The book sack was there on the floor mat.

The woman at the glass place told Sam that since the economy has gone down, they see this kind of thing every single day. Women especially like to put their purse in the trunk of the car thinking that no one is paying attention. They return to their car to find the driver's window broken, the trunk popped and their purse gone. It's also happening as quick as someone can run into 7-11 to get food and get back to their car.

The folks who replaced the glass were kind enough to also
vacuum all of the remnants, without scratching the
leather, and it smelled good, too!

So, our second bit of bad luck (with the ER visit just two weeks ago and all), I'm hoping that the old adage of it coming in threes isn't true, and we've just had some Friday the 13th freakiness to end it all.

Punks! ...[Sigh]

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Best of 2008

2009-03-10T19:43:00.003-10:00

The compilation you've all been waiting for! The top 5 (or fewer) of each category can be found in green. The rest are included because they're still hits!

Best new place explored (from an alley to a continent) and why

I discovered a little chocolaterie in Montreal called Juliet et Chocolat. I'm not an insane chocoholic, but the chocolate mousse, made at the store, was divine. I still think of it 5 months later.
Glacier National Park Montana. Most beautiful place I've ever been and the best flavor I've ever tasted in everything - huckleberry.
The island of Lana’i! It’s probably the least visited of the Hawaiian islands that can be visited, and we opted to stay in a home we rented through VRBO rather than at one of the resorts. Everything was cute, quaint, and old school—from the way we traveled in an itty puddle jumper to get there to the places we ate and local museum visited.
Tedeschi Vineyards on Maui. It’s definitely the islands best kept secret. Located in “up-country,” it isn’t as popular as Haleakala Crater or the Road to Hana, but the views were truly amazing, the wine was delicious and affordable, and the experience with a friend was one for the memory books.
Paris, reminded me so much of New Orleans.
Our own neighborhood, through the eyes of a child, but from the new perspective of a full time parent. You see a lot more around you when you have all day to spend with your child, than when you are in an office with a bunch of adults!
I would have to say Hong Kong was my favorite new place this year, with Singapore second... I always say travel refreshes the mind and quenches the Soul.
My neighborhood. I live in the historic area of Madrid. And I've spent many days wondering these streets that are filled with hundreds and hundreds of years of history. You can actually feel the history almost as a physical presence as you walk through the narrow, winding "calles." They kept me sane and have driven me insane at the same time. Perhaps I was not discovering the streets and alleys so much as discovering myself.
Belize--the island. The beach. Riding one speed bicycles in the dark along the tree-meets-water-line. The memory of riding a one speed. Thinking, by choosing to do so in the dark was clearly reverting back to a level of limited intelligence. Falling down a lot. Finding allegory in what some might consider pure stupidity.
Ohhh Canada! Montreal is in fact an appropriate substitute for Paris. The French Canadians or "Quebekers" are lovely people who have a soft spot for wine and cheese that warms my heart. And Canadian men are a FINE substitute for their stinky brethren across the sea. If the Americans are ever bummin you out....just look North my friends, just look North.
New Orleans: The inner sanctum of hell that is the game of finding the road with the least amount of potholes.
The Hills of Austin, Texas - absolutely beautiful. I honestly never knew rolling hills existed this far south.

Funniest observation-- can be a joke, animal habit, Sarah Palin debate remarks, etc.

This made me think of my students. One thing is that when I gave out candies to my Korean students, no one cared about strawberry or grape like Canadian kids would. It was all about the orange ones (which i always hated growing up!) Also, i have a student who has an involuntary action-she screams out "I love you Andrea" out of nowhere in the middle of class, OFTEN. It makes me feel like a rockstar- I love her! anything my students do delights me 95% of the time!
"Slunt" - best new word of 2008 especially when it comes out of the mouth of a prim and proper Southern lady!

Most memorable moment-- embarrassing or exciting

A new US president who is Christian with a Muslim name like me- yes, we can!
The ridiculous effect Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" still has on me (back story: I hadn't cried even once through all the goodbyes from NYC.....but on my way out the door to JFK (after many...many mimosas) Andy plays Journey and I lost it!!!!! Boo hooíng like a baby! Class....Jersey-style Class.
Sooo my boyfriend and I were creeping here in Iraq :) and all of a sudden someone came knocking on his door to his trailer. We remained quiet, figuring they would go away. They walked away and we started to get dressed when someone else came and knocked on the door. It looked like they were not going away, so he went and answered the door and it was an NCO from his office saying he needed to report in at 8pm because his boss had a question about a PowerPoint presentation. So my beau shut the door after he told the NCO to give him a minute while he put his shoes on. He finishes and rushes out the door just after he gives me a quick peck on the check goodbye and says "just wait a few minutes and sneak out." He shut the lights off and took off in the truck awaiting him. Soooo... here I am sitting in the dark on his bed when someone else comes by and knocks on the door again, but this time they call out his name. Then they turned the knob to the door and opened the door! I about had a heart attack when I realized the door wasn't locked! I just stayed quiet in the corner of the dark trailer sitting on the bed! I was afraid this NCO would hear my heart racing, because I sure did. Luckily, Iraq is sooo dark that he didn't see me or anyone in the dark trailer and he shut the door behind him, good thing he didn't turn on the light. I ran over and immediately locked the door with shaky fingers, of which was perfect timing because someone else came and knocked on the door and tried to turn the knob but to no avail, they gave up and walked away. I was about to go out of my mind; here I was sitting in a male's trailer while five different people were looking for him because of some stupid question on a PowerPoint presentation at 8pm! What if they had seen me? What would I say? What could I say? Agghhhh!!!!!!! I waited a couple of more minutes till I didn't hear any footsteps outside and I sneaked out. I am pretty sure they all suspected something anyway, because several weeks later one of the NCOs was joking about not being able to have sex and they curtly told my boyfriend that he was full of crap because the NCO had thought he heard my voice in the trailer the night he came looking. My beau only countered with "Don't you dare start that rumor!" If only they really knew ;)
Spending a week in Madrid with my "Argentinian lover" and realizing that I was experiencing one of those beautiful love affairs that only a few of us are lucky enough to experience in life.
Driving home with my two new puppies, apricot labradoodles, admiring their trust as they fell asleep in my lap.
Driving in Quebec on a road designed for the German Autobahn but with a speed limit of 60 mph, I (inevitably) get pulled over. Side note: why don't PT CRUISERS have CRUISE control? Ahh, Chrysler. Anyways, so the lights are flashing and I'm on the side of the road. Mr. PoPo French-Canadado walks over so I decide to impress him with my "French." I thought I'd make light of the situation and say that this was the first time I'd ever been pulled in Quebec EXCEPT what I ENDED UP saying was "This is my first time with a Quebec police officer." Translated directly it's even more awkward. The subtleties of "first time with" are not so subtle when directly translated from English to French...he turned red, I melted and the bastard still wrote me a ticket.
Voting for a winning president, for once. Being a part of the process. While I bitched and moaned about being forced to watch hours and hours a day, every day of the week of MSNBC from the beginning of the year with the start of the primaries to the final call... I am grateful for being part of such a historic and exciting time for our country.
Seeing Rufus Wainwright in concert on Valentine's day. Or maybe finding out two days prior that there was a Rufus concert on Valentine's day and then booking the tickets.
Giving my number (on a napkin) to a cute Auburn guy I met at a bar one night, and having him become my boyfriend a few weeks later.

Most interesting new trial-- food, sport, method of travel, whatever!

Does converting to a mac count? They rock! If not, I would say red bean ice cream.
Going to Dr. fish- a local lounge and putting my feet in a pond to have tiny fish eat away at my dead skin! Creepy!
Hurricane dodging and evacuation planning. When do you go, what do you pack, when should you come home and why is Ray Nagin such an absolute idiot of epic proportions. Getting the timing right is precise... you can't leave too early or everyone will think you're paranoid and being overzealous, but if you wait too long, you'll be stuck on I-10 for an eternity with every other New Orleanian who have quickly all become procrastinating idiots.
Pho is a winner food-wise along with other Vietnamese food.
The North End in Boston
While cruising the Western Caribbean after Thanksgiving, I learned how to play UNO! Sure, it's a child's game; but, I had never played. To tell the truth, I had never heard of it. Now, I am hooked on playing it. Does this mean that I have given up playing Poker? Fat chance - NEVER! Now going back to the learning experience of playing UNO - this proves that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
Grocery shopping at HEB. We don't have these in Louisiana. The specialty items are fantastic, the produce is always fresh, the shelves are always stocked, the staff are always friendly, AND it's super affordable! Wal-mart should take note...
Mochi ice cream and large boats on open ocean water...

Strangest conversation-- with a bum, a hard-of-hearing family member, someone clueless...

I had a first date with a dude who asked what my plans were. He interrupted me rudely after 5 minutes, saying that he didn't hear anything about him being included in my plans. I told him that since we knew each other 4 days and were on our first date, my plans would change FOR NO ONE.
Someone I know thinks Barack Obama should just say he's white to appease the white Americans. I was like... but he's not white, he's mixed, and he doesn't look white????
I visited my great grandmother right before I deployed to Iraq my second time, knowing it would be the last time I would likely see her, because her lung condition was worsening. I met her in the one stop-light town, Cecilton Beauty Shop, where I told her I wanted to see her before I took off on my Asia travels and then Iraq. She replied in a loud voice, as she is hard of hearing, "What are you going back to those ol' rag heads again?". I told her I was going to Hong Kong and a few other places first for vacation then heading to Iraq and my Grandmother's reply"Whatcha gonna do with those ol Chinamens?" I wouldn't go visit those ol'chinamens!.... I would just reply with a big smile on my face "Mom Mom, you can't say that!" Definitely a diferent generation. She passed away this November 30th at ripe old age of 91.
I was sitting on a bench in Retiro Park (Madrid's "Central Park") and reading a book and listening to my ipod...essentially saying to the world, "Don't bother me." Along came "Luis" a 70-something Madrileno. He sat down next to me and wanted to talk. So, I took the opportunity to practice my Spanish with him. We ended up taking a walk together and he asked me if he could hold my hand...I had to let the poor guy down...
The background is: I suffered second degree burns to the majority of my right thumb and to the top of my hand. I accidentally over-heated bikini wax which exploded onto my hand. I decided to be candid when people asked "what happened?" I love and continue to treasure the responses, verbal and non-verbal. Nervous glances followed by the abrupt change of topic to, "I can't believe you do it yourself!! Would you tell me more about that?" Good times.
OMG! I am a volunteer who helps families with all sorts of things they might need- from power turned on to hospital locations, etc. On one of my first days on the job, I got a phone call from a guy who told me more about his personal life than I’ve ever wanted to know about even my closes friends. Sure, it’s my job, but there’s still a boundary of what’s appropriate. From his and his wife’s sex life to his social disorders and financial woes, I was both confused and concerned!
I was picking up a woman at the airport as a favor to a friend. The woman insisted on taking me out to dinner as payment. So I went. I didn’t know her very well, but she had just come back from her grandmother’s funeral, so much of the topic centered on mortality. She told me that if her husband goes first, she wants him to be cremated. When she dies, she wants to be buried in a casket, but holding his urn, that way they can be buried together. FER-REAK!

Lessons learned-- big or small, good or bad

There is no destiny or fate-everything is a choice.
Forgive and let go of things when it hurts too much-life generates more joy that way. I'm going to live infinitely, with infinite possibilities. Money isn't everything, but love is everything. If all else fails, coffee generates happiness. Sugar is overrated. There's value in second chances...and always cover your face when you box- ouch! I learned that the hard way.
Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up. (Quoting Bruce Wayne's father)
That cancer doesn't discriminate.
Life is a series of gray areas: commitments, marriages, friendships, where you call home. There are no absolutes.
Marriage is picking someone you wouldn't mind going to hell (figuratively) and back with, to, or for. Know that through the time, you'll want to: leave this person in hell, stay in hell to get away from this person, get halfway in to the journey to hell (for this person) and be unable or unready to turn back, experience more than you'd ever thought, ignore the personal junk that comes up in the midst of whatever the promise means, sacrifice without losing anything, figure out what one of you changing means, etc. Welcome to the jungle.
Prepare for what you can and for the rest, remain loose, flexible and positive. What does not kill you will make you stronger - if you let it. Learn from everything. Trust and follow your gut. Stop and listen to what the universe is telling you. Let that influence what you do but use your head as well. What you think will kill you, won't. And you'll be one strong bad ass for it all. Keep your chin up. Someone else is always going through something worse.
Life is not defined by the job you hold. It is in fact defined by who you are and how you handle it... the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly. The exciting and the very devastating. The friends who stick by you and who you know you can count on when things aren't exactly how you planned.
There is a tremendous difference between compromising and settling. Do not confuse the two, and never, ever settle. Period.
It really is true what "they" say -- leave home at least once while you're young. You'll either love it or hate it, but you'll never look back and wonder if the opportunity passed you by. My favorite quote says, "When we walk to the ends of all the light we have, and take a step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe one of two things will happen: that we will land on something solid, or we will learn to fly." Home will always be there. Go back if you wish, but get away while you can.
Family is so, so, so important. Hold on to them, tell them you love them, forgive and forget when necessary, and be unconditionally supportive. They'll usually do the same in return.
Everyone has a story. You can learn from anyone. You never have any idea where they’re coming from, so maybe the guy you’re honking at just left family court, maybe the old lady in the grocery store is extra chatty because she has a new grand baby. Cut folks a little more slack, be a little more understanding and you‘ll be better understood. And they’ll be thankful for it.

High/Low points (can piggyback on the above):

High Points:

Jazz Fest baby!
When running the New Orleans Marathon, rounding a corner and seeing the ENORMOUS sign with my name on it posted in the ground and my entire family watching and yelling. It was so big all the other runners were telling me, "I wish my name were Megg!"
Realizing that I can live on my own. I'd rather not, but I can if I am ever in that place.
Going to the Grand Canyon with my family - particularly when my dad hiked up to the top of that rock with me.

Low points:

Having a stroke at 26
Realizing that I can't judge...anyone...for anything. Because as I get older, I find that I've done, or may do, many of those things that I used to judge others for. Not that it makes those actions "right."
Discovering my husband does not indeed sparkle... Edward Cullen has destroyed my notion of perfection and that unfortunately does not bode well for the males of the world.
Getting in a wreck with the biggest, most ignorant a**hole of all times. After having pulled out in front of me and totally demolished the entire passenger side of my new car, he proceeded to blame me for (1) running a yellow light, then (2) speeding, then (3) running a red light. Which is it? Make up your mind! To make matters worse, he provided a valid insurance card to police at the time of the accident, only to find out a week later that there was a lapse in coverage for non-payment. Shocker. A thousand dollar deductible and one month later, (all while driving a Kia Rondo rental), my car was finally fixed.

Favorite form of art you experienced, be it through books/movies/CDs/plays/concerts

Books:

Eat, pray, love.
Sophie's Choice
Atlas Shrugged
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Velvet Rage
The Art of Racing in the Rain. Wasn't sure if this would be my kind of book; it's narrated by a dog, which, let's be honest, is sort of cheesy. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't put this thing down. Anyone who loves dogs absolutely must read this book.

New magazines:

Budget Traveler
Bust
Rogue

Movies

Australia
Seven pounds
Sex and The City
Persepolis.c.r.a.z.y.

Theater:

Pina Bausch - Bamboo Blues
August: Osage County
O at the Bellagio
In the Heights
Cirque Du Soleil’s Saltimbanco! Everything about it is WOWing!

Music:

Mariah Carey's e=mc2 (I'm not a fan, so I was actually surprised at how much I loved this one!)
Bebot by Black-eyed peas (song)
Meu sonha by Kaleidoscopia (song)
Alicia Keys' As I Am album
anything Amel Larrieux.
Joe's greatest hits
Amy Winehouse!!!
Leona Lewis

Concerts:

Brazilian Girls in Prospect Park
Dolly Parton at the Greek
The Police. I went with friends of a friend and hadn’t spent much time with these folks before. We had a lovely dinner with some great Police song memories shared, and then they toked it up before we went in to watch the music. An interesting night!

Is it really conceited to say exploring my own photography has been a blast??!!! Who knew I'd love being behind a camera.
I still love the Red, Green and blue photograph collages displayed by a student in Hawaii University during one of the first nights in Chinatown Honolulu.
Indians warming themselves in tee pees in Montana. REAL TEE PEES!
I met a really amazing guy recently who restored my faith that there actually are smart, interesting, straight men in New Orleans. He read me a Grimm´s tale as I laid in his arms, and it was sexy!!:)
(being a counselor,) I've loved seeing my clients' artwork. Whether it is painting or drawing, or even making things out of play-dough, I see the meaning (as they explain it to me) and have gotten to know them better in the process. I believe, as art stimulates both sides of the brain, to be revealing, even to the resistant. Also, tattoos. I've seen quite a few this year. I have a new respect for them and the people who have them.
I had my wedding bouquet turned into a painting. Incredible artist in Lafayette: http://www.flowersintopaintings.com/

Most overrated trend (from Web site to restaurant or article of clothing-- anything new that just wasn't worth it!)

Crocs!!! They’re just that!
Gladiator shoes!
I know I'll be shot for this...but the Obama bandwagon annoyed the shit out of me... I'm talking worldwide, not just the US. People supported him and didn't even know what he stood for. Actual issues aside, I just hated how "cool" it was to vote for / support him.
Is '80s clothing really back in style? May the fashion police have mercy. Lots and lots of mercy.
Obama- Sorry I just think the News media has sensationalized this man too much to the fact that some ignorant American's actually believe he will single-handedly give them mortgage breaks, health care, bring home the Soldiers and keep gas prices low.
Those God-awful skinny jeans. You know, the ones that are all tight below the knee and bunch up around the ankle? They don’t make anyone’s hips look any smaller, they can’t possibly go with any pair of shoes ever made, and I mean, whose idea were they, anyway? It’s just a dumb thing.
The go-green movement. Don’t get me wrong, I love the environment and want to be loving towards it and everything, but it seems that it’s just so trendy to “be green.” We aren’t Kermit here, folks. Ever notice that people buy this organic, locally produced milk or make their own furniture or something, and then drive an SUV because they got a super great deal on it? Am I the only one who sees the contradictions here?

Internet winners and losers - sites, web applications, etc.

Winners:

iweb!
politico
huffington post
love www.nymag.com. The runway show pages are my happy place
Google Maps/Translation Tools save my life on a daily basis!!
Blogging, simply because it has made the world a little bit smaller in just the right kind of way. For now, at least.
wealthymen something or other dating website horrible trial, never click on the pop up ad!
thestreet.com stocks under 10$
Definitely, definitely, definitely someecards.com. (Editor's Note: Someecards got MANY votes!) Also, a favorite pastime during those “need a recharger” at work moments, overheardintheoffice.com.
LOLcats
Overheardinnewyork - when my quote about Cathyanne / Tom from Myspace got published
http://gc.kls2.com/ (great circle mapper)
bbc.co.uk. American online news is mostly crap.

Losers:

¨MySpace¨ I never had a ¨MySpace¨ account, but Facebook has apparently taken over the world.
Hotmail. I've finally made the switch after losing countless emails... expecting not to lose more.

Regrets?

That illness and death doesn't always bring people closer together.
I wish I'd read more challenging books.
Not taking a step back when I get angry, putting myself in another’s shoes, and calming the heck down quicker.

Best meals of 2008

The best peach pie in the world at Mountain View Bakery outside Volcano National Park on the big Island of Hawaii.
Almendra 13, one of my favourite restaurants in Madrid where you sit on tiny stools and old barrels at low tables and eat lovely ¨jamón¨ and olives and drink cañas and vino!
Caesar salad served in a shot glass. It was first pureed and then injected with CO2. So it was puffy/like whipped cream or merangue. Topped off with a crumb of Parmesan cheese and served with a teeny tiny spoon.
A toss up... returning to Houston for fajitas at lupe tortilla - there just is nothing like a good margarita and the perfection that is Mexican food- and a lucky dog on bourbon street... mustard, chili and onions. When the chili drips down your hand and all you can do is lick it off and hope that none has been wasted on the pavement. Yum.
Birthday dinner at Delicia Brasil - especially the part where the other birthday girl and I went into the bathroom together, came out to see everyone in wigs and masks with disco lights... and when the chef hugged me.
My old roommate’s wedding cake with peanut butter frosting
The Original Ninfa's - I honestly thought Ninfa's started in north Louisiana, but the true original restaurant is in Houston. The location and atmosphere weren't top notch, but the food was fabulous.
Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. The food was pretty good for everyone, but I distinctly remember my father-in-law getting a really good belly laugh out of a story I told him about a doctor visit. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him laugh so hard!
Those times my friends or I cooked for one another or a small group of friends, had wine, and just simply hung out with folks we enjoy.

Tuscan Bean Soup

2009-03-07T19:08:00.001-10:00

In my endeavor to add variety to my cooking, I signed up for cooking classes through the local culinary institute. The coordinator for this non-credit program is a Stanford grad with a degree in International Relations, who was working in market research for a consulting firm doing technical analysis, when he visited Hawai'i with a girlfriend. The two ate at Roy's and it was that experience that led him to think, "If I could learn how to do this, it's what I want to do!" With that, he gave up his career, moved from California to Hawai'i, spent his life savings to get educated in Culinary Arts, and here we are. Thanks to him, I now have far more interesting chefs as teachers, better foods to cook, and, my original goal is being fulfilled: adding more variety to my dishes.

A few months ago, I took a class called Mediterranean Christmas Dinner. The chef who taught us often focuses on colorful, healthy dishes with a European influence, and in this case, that can be used for the holidays. The holiday part is key, as most of the things we prepared allowed their maker to spend less time in the kitchen and more with family and friends.

The recipe I will share with you below is one I have made several times and never been disappointed. You can make it the easy way, with all canned or pre-prepped ingredients and it is delicious and amazingly quick. You can make it the long way and it has a fresher taste to it. You can change the greens, the meat, the beans-- whatever suits your needs is what I recommend, as all are yummy, filling, nutritious options!

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
29oz diced tomatoes
2 C low sodium chicken broth (can substitute with water, beef broth, etc.)
2 (19-oz) cans cannellini beans (or any white, firm beans. Navy beans are fine, too.)
1/2 lb ham, diced in 1/2-inch cubes (or whatever meat you prefer-- sausage, turkey leftovers, etc. I usually put in 1lb because I don't think a 1/2 lb is enough)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach

Drain and rinse beans, and defrost the spinach. If you like more broth, don't squeeze the excess water out of your spinach.

Over medium heat, cook garlic in oil until golden. Add tomatoes, broth, ham and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Stir in spinach, gently fold in beans, and heat through about 5 minutes more.

Serves 4 - 6.

I used Great Northern Beans. I soaked them for an hour, brought them to a boil, then simmered for 2.5 more hours. You want them tender, but not mushy.

I used fresh spinach, and chopped it into the size that's good for a bite once cooked. Gently fold in beans at the end so as not to mush them. Adjust broth or water additions to your tastes. Enjoy!

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Tripler Army Medical Center - Emergency Room Review

2009-03-02T07:57:00.000-10:00

The last time I think I was in the Emergency Room for myself was when I was three years old. I had attempted to run and jump-rope with the "big girls" in my neighborhood who were a little more coordinated. I tripped, got tangled, rolled, and somewhere in there broke my left arm. I remember riding around in my mom's old Monte Carlo with a bag of ice, from clinic, to doctor, to ER, it seems multiple times. From the ER, I remember someone in a wheel chair, another someone bleeding, and I kicked the doctor when he set my arm (reaction to the pain!) So, being that it has been more than two decades since I was in one of these (though I took a college roommate a time or two, and have visited folks in the hospital since then), I couldn't really know what to expect.

I was out and about with my girlfriend and her 22-month-old on Friday. We decided to grab dinner, and the first thing I said was, "Just not Macaroni Grill." CPK had a wait of 35 minutes, and nothing else really appealed, so we opted for Mac Grill and their wait of 15 minutes. Hrmph. It's a general rule of mine not to eat seafood or steak, or anything like that, at chain restaurants. But the lobster ravioli sounded delicious! (Though just thinking about it now makes me need the Zofran...) And it was pretty good, along with my caesar salad. My peach bellini was alright, until I saw a bug in it. So alright, I got what I expected at MG... Went home, and that was it.

Until about midnight. You know that feeling, when your stomach is sort of rumbley, and it just doesn't settle? I had that. And then I had the urge to run to the bathroom and relieve the rumbling. And this un-eating ensued for the next several hours, once to twice each hour, until my body decided that it hadn't had quite enough excitement for the wee hours of a Saturday. I'll let you use your imagination for that part of my illness, but I'll caveat that with assuming your imagination isn't quite creative enough for the talents of my gastrointestinal tract, because even I was surprised. I took a shower around 4am, continued to brush my teeth and gargle Listerine with each episode, and had Sam call the ER advice nurse. The on-call physician called us back and said that if I couldn't keep any fluids down, to come in. My wonderfully caring hubby went out to get gatorade, crackers, and ginger ale. I was absolutely parched! I started sipping the gatorade slowly, but it wasn't satisfying enough and I was too impatient, so I gulped down a big swig. No reaction-- cool. Later, I gulped another swig. About a minute later, I was un-drinking all the gatorade I'd had in the past hour. Guess that was evidence that I couldn't hold down any fluids, so we got an overnight bag ready complete with a change of clothes, blanket, books, mobile phone chargers, and a barf bowl for the car ride and ER wait, and off we went. (I say that as if it were easy-- but I was so weak that just going to the bathroom was taxing and I had to take a break afterwards.) Being that it was after the Friday night excitement had died down and the kids who would fall off their bikes on Saturday morning weren't in yet, 9am was a great time to go in. I was registered, triaged, back in my own room with an IV of fluids and had blood drawn for testing, all in about 40 minutes.

Total aside here that isn't particularly relevant, but I found somewhat comical: The first nurse came in and was just beautiful, with perfectly placed blonde hair, lovely skin, sparkling blue eyes. I knew Sam would pay attention to any instructions she gave because she was so cute! And then, enter the physician. My doctor was definitely McDreamy: tall, dark, handsome. And for an ER doctor, had a very gentle bedside manor, was thorough with explanations, and kind, and overall a winner. Later, a different nurse came in to check my vitals. The token Asian, she was also adorable, helpful, calming... I was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of joke that I felt as if I were on Grey's Anatomy. I mean, all ER folks can't possibly be this attractive!?! Later, there was the token older physician who disagrees with another, a few amusing techs and nurses, and the whole cast of any scrub-wearing crew. It was prime-time worthy.

With a diagnosis of gastro neuritis (no one ever said gastroenteritis, which seems similar, from the research I've found), I laid in that room for about four hours before they moved me to an observation room where they checked in more often. By this time, I was on my third bag of fluids, I had fever of 101.5, I was swelling (from all the salt in the fluids), my stomach cramps were worse, I was more achey, and certainly looked a lot worse. I was less nauseous, a bit stronger, somewhat more coherent, and a side-effect of the nausea medicine (Zofran) was drowsiness, so I felt a bit more rested. McDreamy periodically came in to check on me and was looking to release me soon. The newest nurse I had checked my orthostatics, which is your heart rate at rest and then standing. If your beat per minute increases by 20 or more, it's an indicator of dehydration, as your heart rate compensates for a lack of fluid in your body. (If your blood is mostly water, having less water in your system means that your heart has to push harder to get the blood where it's going... eventually, if there isn't enough fluid, your blood pressure drops because there's simply not enough material there for it to work properly, and you go into shock.) My beat increased by about 30, so they said I wasn't quite ready to go home. I got yet another bag of fluid, this time with some dextrose (sugar), and these bags had to be cold because I had fever, so perhaps that is why I never quite shook the tingling feeling from my extremities. Another hour or so later, my temperature was still over 100, my abdominal exams showed little change, I was definitely puffier (my wedding band left a mark on my hand when I finally got it off), and when they checked orthostatics again, my heart rate increased by nearly 40 beats. Shifts had just changed, and my new doctor was ready to admit me overnight for observation. He had been doing emergency medicine for 25 years and after all those liters of fluid, had never seen anyone's heart rate jump that much. The other doctor he pulled in for a second opinion preferred that I spend the night at home, as she thought I would get better rest without nurses periodically coming in to check my vitals, and would thus recover more quickly. We decided that going home would be preferable, and had two follow-up appointments for the following week.

Almost as soon as I got home, I had another mini episode of the excitement from earlier. Sam began his manual log of everything, the same way his brother does with everything important, and noted my temperature, pain reports, coloring, hydration amounts, etc. I sipped water slower than ever, taking about 10 minutes to finish a big glass of water! (The reason for this is that my stomach was irritated, so tricking it into letting a few drops go by was the best way to go. A big gulp, as I had done earlier with the Gatorade, sends it into shock and it just rejects everything). Going to the bathroom gave me a burning sensation, and a shooting pain in my back that was otherwise just a dull ache, much like what happens with UTIs. Nonetheless, I hydrated every two hours when I woke up, and the back pain increased severely to where it hurt to get in or out of bed. So around 7am, we called the ER again to get their recommendation, and they said to come back in. Exciting. But hey, at least we would be there earlier than on Saturday.

Off we went again! We were in even faster, gave another urine sample, had another abdominal exam, and the doctor had no explanation for why the back pain would go from a dull ache to a shooting sensation when using the bathroom. The tests came back mostly clean, and I was told to keep hydrating. If anything changed drastically, then I would need to return before my follow-up appointment. Otherwise, I had improved enough that they were comfortable sending me home. Thankfully, we were able to spend most of Sunday at home. I felt heaps better, had more energy, and was drinking like a fish! Sam was thankful to have a more comfortable chair to do his reading in, and didn't feel bad about leaving me so he could work out and get groceries. Looks as though we've tested and passed a simple sample of the "sickness" part of our vows!

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

Wining the Experience

2009-01-23T12:40:00.004-10:00

Three girlfriends and I have met over the past few months for afternoons of crafting. We all have a different talent that we've learned to express in lovely, artistic ways. One of these afternoons, April told us about her affinity for making her own wine-- not her own craft, but when a delicious red is involved, sign me up! There's a really neat little place in Honolulu in the middle of the triangle that is made by the University, Waikiki, and Downtown, called Wine The Experience. So, in November, the four of us met up there and tasted eight different bottles of red wine, agreeing on what Heather deemed a "drinkable"--not to be confused with a sip-able-- Brunello.

The guys at WTX put all the ingredients in your barrel and give you an estimate on when you can come back for bottling. We let ours ferment for about 7 weeks, and then we went back. We all took turns at actually putting the wine into the bottle, putting the cork in, sealing the cork, and putting the labels on (Sarah came up with those really cute labels!) One barrel made 29 bottles of wine! At the party Sam and I will have this summer, we need favors for our guests. I thought it would be neat to have different items representing the different places we're from and have been together. Ten lucky people will take home one of these lovely bottles as a token from Hawaii! And it was all created as we drank, ate, and were merry.

Fancy Pants

2009-01-20T19:08:00.011-10:00

Rather than get into the meaning of the inauguration, what I anticipate for the future of our country, and the historical value of it all as everyone else seems to be doing, I'm going to take one of the most possibly superficial routes and discuss wardrobe. That's right, the one who avoids trendy clothes like the plague (though has no trouble having lots and lots of classics ;) is doing a piece on fashion.

Okay, so Michelle Obama is getting a lot of props in the media for her sense of style, though the discussion boards I've read from a variety of political and fashion stances aren't quite as generous. Nonetheless, is it earned? Nancy Reagan might've stepped her designer shoes in a big puddle of mess when she decked out in overpriced duds, but these days, it's far more acceptable-- and expected-- for the Presidential red carpet to also be the runway. Shopping at J. Crew, Isabel Toledo, and Jimmy Choo for her inauguration day attire for Mrs. Obama is grand. A few grand. I realize she's first lady, has ivy league degrees and large salaries in her attache of years past that might generally go hand-in-hand with this type of clothing, but a part of me has to think about how few Americans shell out $700+ for a pair of heels and how that's supposed to be "of the people." (Of course, even had the entire get-up been donated-- not the point). I wouldn't expect her to roll in in Keds or anything, but I wonder what balance of sensible yet striking is appropriate. Her hair is generally the same, but her stylist is out there and vocal. I liked the gold brocade number she donned for the swearing in ceremonies; really lovely with her skin, some say of the color "representative of hope and optimism." The necklace, or plate-like collar, really, could've been left at home. Yours truly would be a fan of the green gloves and shoes, simply because of their color. The bam-bam shoulder, shredded-looking, bleached, death-to-peacocks ball gown she wore was nowhere near as flattering as she could have gone. Who told her that was okay?

I've read her called a "Wal-Mart mom" for outfits past, but also a "Socialist" for borrowing the $17k earrings she wore for a concert over the last weekend before the Big Day. She campaigned in Gap sundresses, and you can't blame a woman with arms like that for showing them off! Seriously-- people would pay for guns like that. She and SJP would be a fabulous ad campaign, no? If there's this much hype about the threads thus far, there is plenty for her to live up to. I expect she has more important issues on her brain, however, and that's what I'm looking forward to most: what the next four years will ~~bling~~ bring.

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

iStuff

2009-01-16T18:47:00.002-10:00

I told my husband that I am nearing the need for a new phone to replace this old brick I love but that's showing signs of age, and while I'm hunting around, I'll get him a plan and set it all up for his return. He was really disputing having this little piece of technology again and said that I should wait.

"Maybe I want to pick out my own phone. Maaaaaybe I want an iPhone!"
"You are NOT getting an iPhone."
"Why not? What are they, like fifty bucks now?"
"No, they're still $300 because I saw one the other day.
"What if that's what I want?"
"You're going to have to get over it. That screen won't hold up in an Army uniform out at a range. Then it'll be all that money down the drain, plus the cost of a new one. And in the mean time, no one can get in touch with you. $300 is ridiculous for a phone you use for two years, aaaand that doesn't include the whole media package you have to get to even make the phone worth all its features. You do not need to be connected all the time to your e-mail and chat and the internet. You hardly even check that stuff as it is anyway! You have to power down from all that crap and spend time disengaging and recharging yourself, especially since you've been disconnected from your family for all these months. Plus, if you wait, you have to use mine in the mean time and then I can't get in touch with you. And I don't want you giving my number out to every Soldier in your unit when you come back-- I'm not your secretary. You need your own phone, but no iPhones in this house. If you get an iPhone, I'm getting a big screen TV!"
"Olivia."
"Sam."
"You know I don't really want an iPhone."
"Yeah, so why're you pushing it?"
"Because I was looking forward to not having to carry a phone, but you bring up a good point and that's that you can't reach me. And 'ain't mama happy, ain't nobody happy', so just get me whatever. As long as it can make and receive calls and it rings-- I don't need all that camera, mp3 player stuff, I'm good."

Now, one of my girlfriends made an interesting point, "Girl, you realize that YOU getting a big screen TV benefits him, too. So he's getting the iPhone AND the big screen." I told her that that's not the case for us. "Yes it is. ANY guy would want a big screen. It's not a threat!" But nope, not this one. The thought of having something all-consuming in our livingroom just gets under that guy's skin like nobody's business. And so, we continue... no crackberry phones that have us "on" all the time and never powered down, no distractions from one another after an already long day at work leaving limited time together, and no wasted money on features we really don't need anyway. A successful choice for the individual, a successful choice for the marriage!

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King

15 minutes, more or less?

2008-12-20T12:44:00.000-10:00

So here we are, a nation with a new president on his way in. I recently read The Expatriate's story about how she would want to cook a meal for Mr. Obama. She would want him to travel with her to collect the ingredients, talk to the farmers, and whether or not it was the best meal he's ever had, hopefully the memory would stick with him.

Well, that got me to thinking, 1) Who would I want to meet and spend memorable, significant time with? and 2) What would I want to do with them? In my younger days (okay, maybe, last month or so), the answer would have been 1) Matthew McConaughey and 2) Anything! That's the teenager in me still, I guess. If I think a little deeper, I would say 1) My grandmother who passed away when I was 6 and 2) Anything that helped me get to know her better (every now and again, I'll tell my dad something that I prefer-- like reading non fiction over fiction because so often I find fiction a waste of my time and non fiction more applicable-- and he says, "Your Grannie was just like that!" and it's weird!) But if I thought even deeper, who would I pick? Would it be Teddy Roosevelt, Gandhi, Madonna, Steve Jobs, or Jane Goodall? And what would I want to do with them-- go salsa dancing, do charity fund raising, have drinks, take a surf lesson, or crochet a scarf?

So I think about this. Who would I want to meet, why would I want to meet them, what does me wanting to learn more about them teach me about myself? Additionally, the activity I pick must mean something about them as well as it does me.

Of course this is all a lot of hullabaloo that probably isn't going anywhere, but it's an imaginative thought process to take!

She works hard for the money so you better treat her right!

2008-12-07T20:09:00.000-10:00

Have you ever asked someone to do something, maybe something simple, you gave them plenty of notice, and it just didn't get done? And, in fairness, have you ever been the one to (not) do that for someone else? I have recently been noticing that people are quick to blow off things that aren't important to them without considering what it means to the other person. I have an article posted on our fridge related to this, because I am leery of losing sight of what's important to us as individuals on a team with common goals and, especially in the future, as a bigger team. Here's the article:
What do you think-- Is someone's career really worth the all-out, family-forgetting, late-night, holiday-meal-skipping routine? Even to people who think that career is worth it to them, in the end, is it really? All those hours spent traveling to work, skipping lunch, heading home through traffic, and whittling down those hours you spend with those who supposedly mean the most to you. How did we get here and who thought it was okay? How much different would this world be if those of us who regularly work more than eight hours a day would cut back, and instead spend more time with their family, socializing, eating well, on hobbies, sleeping enough? (You may or may not know about the movement to get an 8-hour work day when factory workers went from never seeing daylight, fighting for "eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for what we will," to the possible regression we have now) Could we afford, as a nation, to give up people who forsake everything else in order to be professionally successful? Consider that-- everyone would have to participate, yes, so of course this is hypothetical. And those who currently need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet would benefit, strictly for the sake of this hypothet, from economies of scale. But really, would we be in a better place based on family values (because we'd spend more time with them), education (because we'd have the time to help one another learn and discuss), nutrition (more time for better quality meals), exercise (a walk with the family after dinner or on the weekends), and so on? This seems particularly relevant with Christmas coming up. Tell me what you think about these lifestyles and the gains and losses of them, and our gains and losses as individuals and families.

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

More Pumpkin Uses!

2008-12-03T22:20:00.000-10:00

When I bought these Halloween pumpkins, I knew I probably wouldn't carve them all for outside creativity display. So after I made a puree, I saved the rest that was left from the pumpkin pie and decided to make the most out of this vegetable that I could! Last night was yet another delight: Pumpkin Bread! My friend Adrianne highly recommended the recipe. (I'm still longing for those Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins from Starbucks... I have the recipe but it takes so long that I haven't done it yet). Age has good taste-- literally! I made the treat and it came out deliciously! Not too strong on the sweet or pumpkin flavor, so consider mixing your puree with the canned stuff, or not using a carving pumpkin for the puree (Expat suggests a Cinderella pumpkin for flavor). Still, though, I took it to work and it was nearly gone by day's end. Here's how it's done:

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (or make it yourself and add some pumpkin spice!)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (I used less than 3/4c)
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar (I used 2c and about 1c applesauce)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I used fresh)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.(I used one big giant pan, probably 10x14 or bigger, and it filled the entire thing up!)
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Bon appetit! And I even froze about half of it-- plenty to go around for a while! All together, it took a little over an hour for prep work and cooking. And I wrapped Christmas presents and washed dishes while it was in the oven. Perfect!

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

The Eleventh Hour

2008-11-29T10:56:00.004-10:00

November was a bit of a crazy month! Each event has been fairly significant, and is overlapped with another comparable one. I'll mention a few today:

My friend Christine left for Baghdad. We had two farewell dinners and it was very, very sad to see her go. She's the commander for one of the Military Police units stationed here, so her work is definitely cut out for her for the next 12 months, though it's her second deployment to Iraq and the first time things were far, far less developed. She hails from Virginia, loves to party, adores her family, can't ever get enough travel in to satisfy her for long, and has two "minpin"s (miniature pinschers), Sarah and Rusty. Always a lot of fun to be around, be it for a simple after-work dinner, a Friday night in with a movie, or out in Waikiki until the wee hours of the next morning, I will miss her a whole lot. Her first e-mail from down range went like this:

Well I am in Iraq and the bandwith is limited so my emails will have to do until I can call and get my magic Jack set up to recieve calls. I miss you and wanted to let everyone know that I am safe and sound living in fortified trailer :) I have sheets and I can walk a short distance to the showers and "latrine" :) It flushes....yeah! Well have some elephant or turkey for me... Love, Christine

She's definitely a hardcore chick! We will leave the rock before she returns, so I don't know when or where I will see her next. Until then, though, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

I traveled to Kauai for work for 4 days. My manager and I were awake at 3:30am (in our respective homes, of course) to get ready for a 6am flight. We worked long hours every day, grabbed dinner after work, and went to bed. I was pretty tired by the end of the week both because there wasn't a gym at our hotel so I couldn't recharge, and there was no "me" time decompressing from work and spending every minute with the same people. And the way the audit was run was not the most efficient it could've been, so each issue we found was discussed (and disputed!) on the spot, which made for a lot of wasted time. I didn't comply with that technique because I think it's not only inefficient but more stressful (and no one else who does this work does it that way), which I think may have frustrated the folks we were auditing, but in the end, the results are the same (but less time wasted). Phew! I'm glad it's over. I've asked not to be put on any branch audits for about the first month my hubby is home. I'm not sure she understood that, but all that matters is that I don't have to travel for a little while after he gets back.

Next up was applications. Day in and day out, every non-work moment was spent composing or editing pieces written about my life, why they make me me, and how that fits in to a certain program, etc. I sent them to my husband to edit, he would send them back as soon as he could, and I edited again and returned to him. I was glad to be done with that collection of nine essays. My in-laws edited the next batch of seven, and I was grateful for their skill with words and structure. In both clusters of essays, I was really pleased with the final product. Now I just need to take the blasted test again... though the more I read about the economy, the more I learn that everyone seems to want to go back to school now, thus making it a tougher path at the moment. Hopefully some seeds I plant will return with lovely fruit in a few months! If not, I need to get a bit more detailed on Plan B.

Most recently, of course, was Thanksgiving. I was thankful for the day off to get some work done around the house. That evening, I went up to my old neighbor's and we had a great dinner! Nicole cooked turkey, green beans almondine, candied yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls, just the way her grandma makes their traditional holiday meal. I made a pumpkin pie (from scratch!) that turned out delicious-- I was pleasantly surprised! Here are the recipes I used:

CRUST (Super easy!)

1/2 cup shortening (I used less shortening, but added some warm butter)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water (add one spoon full at a time until it reaches desired consistency)

Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork.
Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half. Lift to pie plate, and unfold. Fit into pan. For a single-crust pie, trim with a small knife to about 1/2 inch beyond rim. Fold up, and pinch so edge of pie is raised from rim. For a two-crust pie, trim bottom crust to edge of rim, fill, and top with crust about 1/2 inch larger than rim. Tuck top crust under bottom along rim. Seal with floured fork.

I didn't have a rolling pin, so I laid out waxed paper and put flour on it and my hands, and went to town. Then, I just pressed it into the pan. It was a fairly thin crust after it cooked, which is how I like 'em. But it had a nice flavor when you ate it solo, too.

FILLING

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin (or you can make your own pumpkin puree from real pumpkins! Yum!)
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I just eyeball it because I like cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I used fresh!)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (Probably put in more than it called for)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

I baked it for about 35 minutes, and then put it on the bottom rack of the oven and turned the oven off to let the crust bake a little more and the filling get a little more brown.

Before dinner, we all went around to say what we were most thankful for, and my list included:

Good family
Good friends
Hard work
Good medicine for my niece
Our troops
All those little things we take for granted, especially as Americans

I know Oprah does that "Remembering your spirit" piece (or she used to-- I haven't watched her show in ages) and something they often touch on is being thankful. It really is a wonderful sentiment that often gets overlooked. What did your list include?

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

The Emerald City

2008-11-01T08:00:00.008-10:00

There will be a few recent observations in this post, however irrelevant they may be to one another, because they're aligned in my brain. I had an awful experience with Northwest Airlines at the end of '06 (think 27-hour delay on my way to be a bridesmaid), wrote a letter explaining my frustrations, and was granted a voucher. It had to be used by Oct '08, so I started planning early... like February early. A little too early for all of my girlfriends, with whom I wanted to take a girls' trip to Seattle, so I scrapped that idea and instead invited my dad who would need that kind of advance warning. I had a long weekend and thus didn't need to take any vacation, which was perfect. (Imagine my surprise when, the Wednesday before the weekend, my co-workers were surprised to learn of our long weekend. I'd planned for months!) I have several friends in the Seattle area, but didn't want to make this into a trip of attempting to meet and greet all sorts of pals there. We wound up having meals with many anyway, and without sacrificing things we wanted to see and do. I just looked at the photos I uploaded from dad's professional camera and realized we didn't take a single photo together! My dad has twin brothers, one of whom does videography and the other photography as a hobby at weddings and such on the weekends (because both have full time jobs). No family function ever goes uncaptured or unrecorded in multiple ways! Thus, it is said that we have the family gene any time someone sends pictures or makes presentations, etc. And judging by our lack of a photo together to commemorate our weekend, I guess we don't trust anyone else with our cameras!

I arrived on Saturday morning, met dad at his hotel, and took a nap. (The red-eye from HNL didn't allow much sleep!) Then off we ventured to find our hotel downtown and get to exploring! We meandered through downtown and Pike Place Market. The market has three different floors and most tourists are interested in seeing the fish being thrown, but we preferred not to feel like sardines, and thus found our way through the less crowded parts. At the suggestion of one of my husband's high school friends, we drove over to Theo Chocolate, the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar factory in the US, for a tour. We just missed it! But we sampled some of their really delicious variations and picked up some tasty souvenirs. Then we weren't quite sure where we were going next or how to get there, so we stopped at a really cute little harbor and took some photos. I'm a huge fan of harbors, and I love, love, love pictures with seas of masts. I don't know why, but I do, and so I repeatedly take pictures of them every chance I get. So we dillied around this floating little neighborhood and then went off to see the locks and fish ladder in Ballard. It may not sound that exciting, but it was pretty cool to watch some smaller boats come in and a large tug go out, even for a girl who grew up on the bayou! After chatting with a local for a while, we were off to meet some of my friends. I met Bryn and Tim when I took a Korean language class in Seoul, though they are originally from Mass and Connecticut, respectively. They live in Brooklyn now, but wanted to meet up while we were both visiting the northwest! So we went to the opening of their friends' gallery and then off to dinner at Thaiku, which was delicious! It was a lot of fun to spend time with them again after 2+ years. They both look the same and are still just really interesting people. Tim's job is "cool hunting" --he researches and writes about new and upcoming trends and tries to help companies develop their products based on this information. Bryn is seguing from her work with Digital Divide Data as a project manager into launching her own business based on her talent with words and art. We enjoyed discussing their work, life in New York, and future plans. After dinner, it was back to the hotel for a good night's rest. But not before stopping at- you guessed it!- the Space Needle. We took a ride to the top and I was pretty excited that the binoculars on the observation deck were free. The night was clear, so enjoying the city at 10pm was easy to do. Another thing I love: big cities at night and views of them all lit up. I was looking through the binoculars and noticed a bed and some curtains... when I scrolled around I realized that I was looking into a room of my hotel. Whoops! But wow-- those are some impressive lenses! I could see miles and miles into the distance: buildings, water and boats, roads with tail lights. With the cool weather and the wonderful scenery, it was unlike any other "big city" I've visited or lived in. It was as though the books I read as a child about urban sprawls came to life! I can't even really say why, but it was lovely.

Sunday began with awful news, and I have to take a minute out from the Seattle escapades to recognize one of my grandfather's closest friends, who passed away the night before. Hugh Thomasson would visit us every year for the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, along with about 10 other pals. He called me every single year when his alma mater played mine-- even when I was overseas-- and sang Hotty Toddy on my voicemail. I would call him back and let him give me grief about my school, and he never said peep after we'd smoke them on the field. We even made a bet one year about the game, and he, of course, lost, and mailed me a sweatshirt as an acknowledgment of defeat. This year, I mailed him an LSU polo. I am fairly certain that I will never be able to watch an Ole Miss game, much less one playing my school, without thinking of him and hearing his cheers and jeers. Reading the comments people left on his Clarion-Ledger obit, I really got to thinking about my next 55 years. If I can look back on my life the way so many do his, I will consider it a success. Though a simple remark, Mr. Hugh's successor, Brent Gray, said this about him and it really resounds to me, "He always put doing the right thing above money and truly believed that a man's word should be his bond." His daughter said that, "Fresh ideas and new challenges accompanied by dogged determination may be his secret to success." The way he spent his last day and the way he went were, in more ways than one, representative of the quality characteristics that make his memory that much stronger. He's already missed.

And so, dad and I both saddened by the news, had a small, quiet breakfast. We decided to go to Seattle Art Museum to check out all four floors of their latest exhibits before meeting my friends at the cafe' there for brunch. Jacob and Courtney moved from Hawaii this summer after teaching for two years in struggling leeward coast schools with Teach for America to recruit for them. Matt is an engineer for Boeing and has been there since graduation a few years ago. He is a project manager for implementation and deployment, which frequently brings him to China, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, etc. to work with local customers on understanding how to use, manage, fix the planes they buy. Needless to say, he and my dad got into some engineering talk, and the other three of us enjoyed the food! After this, we wrapped up the museum and decided we would take a bus tour of the city. We got insight from a local, got directions and a map, and off we went. But where? We never saw a single double decker bus! We finally chalked it up to being Sunday, and decided to walk a little further to the ferries and take one over to Bainbridge Island. The ride was about a half hour and the view was great! It was lovely to be out in the wind or inside the warmth enjoying the views of Seattle's skyline. (Dad really likes those cheesy tourist photos where you stand in front of the sign all by yourself. I usually just cock an eyebrow and request that we simply get the sign, or something without people standing around solo. Sometimes I win, sometimes he captures my cocked eyebrow.) Once we arrived at the quaint little community of Bainbridge, dad decided he would have some chowder. I opted to peruse the windows of local shops and take photos of a smaller harbor. I bought a souvenir for my landlord at a candy maker and headed back to the ferry. We promised to meet my husband's friend for dinner, so it was time to get on the way. While waiting for the boat to dock and then to load all the waiting passengers, we saw what seemed like an endless sea of blue with small specks of green and yellow: Seahawks vs Packers. Most of the 2500 people who filled this vessel left before the game was over, but those wearing Cheesehead hats were at least smiling. We finally made it back to the hotel and hopped in the car to head over to Duke's Chowder House for dinner. We met the Joneses at the Alki (pronounced al-kai) Beach location, which provided a lovely drive along the waterfront with another fabulous view of the city skyline. (I hope they excuse the funky photo, but it was the funniest of all the ones we took.) The food was good and the company was fun! We ended yet another day with friends, good food, great views, and tired bodies!

Instead of trying to cram in more attractions, we were slow-moving Monday morning and just had a simple local breakfast before heading to the airport. Dad's flight was about a half day earlier than mine, so I spent the extra time getting work done. It was a great way to spend a long weekend!

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Halloween Pumpkin

2008-10-26T17:12:00.009-10:00

I carved a pumpkin today! I was tired of looking at the computer and studying, so I gave my eyes a break to carve the pumpkin I bought last week. I found some cute designs online and decided to try my hand at them. Here's the result. (Squiggles and leaves, in case you can't tell ;)

The original pumpkin and after I took all the goop out of the inside:

I drew the pattern on with a washable marker and traced it with a pounce wheel to mark the lines where I would cut. With a blade, I followed the dots that the pounce wheel made and actually made cuts into the skin. I then carved that out with a super sharp knife and just removed the chunks from the face of the vegetable. Look at the mess that was left from the insides and the carving!

I haven't yet decided what to cook up with my remaining pumpkin. I have some really delicious options, though, recommended by friends who have made and swear by them: Soup, Pie, Bread, and maybe the most appealing-- mousse! The walls are still a bit thick so putting a candle in it to make it a jack-o-lantern doesn't look like I would want it to. But here are the patterns (two sides of the same pumpkin) that turned out!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Cajuns don't get out often enough

2008-10-05T16:00:00.010-10:00

What is the deal with "Cajun" food? And how about Cajun people? I have been to multiple restaurants in this past week alone (I had guests in and had three social parties to go to-- this isn't the norm but I think it's why I noticed what I did) that advertise some sort of Cajun dish, and believe me, they weren't Cajun restaurants. Being that my father's family is Cajun and all of his grandparents went to school to learn English, I wouldn't claim to be an expert but I sure know what the real deal is better than some of the folks who have it on their menus. Duke's, a popular tourist joint in Waikiki, had Cajun fish on the menu. I asked the waiter, "What kind of Cajun seasoning?" and he went to ask the cooks. He came back with, "Just Cajun." Right. No idea. I went to Dixie Grill and ordered fried shrimp. I have no idea what sort of lumpy nastiness they were battered in, but when I asked what they were seasoned with, I was told Old Bay. OLD BAY! It's made in MARYLAND! WHAT?!!! I get it, Maryland is (just barely) South of the Mason-Dixon line... but good grief, it isn't anywhere near Cajun. I've been to restaurants where they burn the heck out of the fish (or whatever the dish may be) until it has a layer of carbon on it, throw some red pepper on it, and claim that its Cajun. Who the hell ever thought something like that was any good?! One of these days, my husband tells me, I'm going to order something Cajun on the menu, and love it. I'd like to ask what Cajun seasoning they have and, one of these days, someone will say, "Mais cher, it's Tony's!" and I'm pretty sure I'll faint, if I don't beam with happiness first. Cajun food is known for its flavor, and yes, often its spice. But it isn't like eating a spoonful of horseradish or wasabi that has your nose running-- it's just a little kick. (For folks not accustomed to it, it may be fairly hot. But when folks outside of Cajun Country attempt to prepare it, they often make it far hotter than the original). There are "blackened" dishes, but they are nowhere near burnt. And there's a difference between Cajun dishes (which are primarily influenced by the French, are simple, and have ingredients easy to find in rural areas) versus Creole dishes (which are primarily influenced by New Orleans-area melting pot recipes of Italians, Spanish, African, and other urban ingredients and ways of cooking). Which also brings me to Cajun people. Just because you're from Louisiana does not make you Cajun. It is a specific region of the state; the dark red in the above map from Wikipedia shows the heart of Acadiana, which is Cajun country. The heart of Cajun Country, so it claims, is Lafayette Parish-- the one with a sort of triangular shape above the one that is shaped kind of like a key-- Iberia Parish, where I was born and raised. The lighter red includes with descendants of a specific people. True Acadians (from which the slang variation, "Cajun," is derived) were a people living in what is now Nova Scotia who left or were dispersed during and after the French and Indian War amid a skirmish between the French and British. Many went to what is now Louisiana, not knowing that the Spanish were already in control of the region. Cajun French, which is still spoken by a small group, including my grandfather's wife, is not the same as Parisian or Canadian or any other kind of French. The Catholic church, who then ran and still runs many schools in the area, prohibited it for years to the point of punishment when it was spoken in school. Attempts are being made at keeping it alive, but because more than one generation had it limited, it's a big struggle to revive it. I have a minor in (Parisian) French and cannot understand everything said in Cajun French, though I can pick up some words when I hear my grandfather's wife on the phone or with her friends. Nonetheless, I went to a restaurant here recently called "A taste of the bayou," run by a man who spent decades in the military but always had the dream of opening a Cajun restaurant. Where's he from? Starks! Starks is about 5 miles from the Texas border in Calcasieu Parish. And let me tell you what, the food did taste like the bayou! The gumbo was more like a stew, the roux wasn't cooked long enough, and-- can you believe!-- there was chicken etouffee. Chicken! I understand that you can't get crawfish out here all that easily (and Chinese crawfish don't taste the same), but chicken!?!! I guess I will just have to deal with it until I can open some sort of Cajun Culinary Institute that educates people on the food, language, origins, and cultures of my ancestors. Until then, I'll just be really annoyed when I see or hear it incorrectly advertised, cooked, and pronounced. Mais, laissez les bon temps rouler!

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Get Juiced!

2008-09-23T19:07:00.006-10:00

Often times, I just don't feel like doing something. It can be a part of a project at work, it can be dishes or putting away laundry, running errands, whatever. Usually, I have to suck it up and do it anyway. But sometimes, I just keep putting it off. (I'm really great at sorting, washing, folding laundry, and even putting it on hangers. For some reason, actually putting it into the drawers or into the closet is my weakness. It's the part I like the least and am most reluctant to do. Weird, isn't it? I've been this way for years! My closet is organized in sleeve-length and color order, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I just avoid the hanging up part...) So my most recent struggle to get motivated came with the GMAT. I started studying over the summer, knowing that I should really focus on the quantitative (read: high school math) part of it, as that's often my weakness. So I worked through a book on that and thought I was doing pretty well. I'm usually an above average test taker. My husband is phenomenal at being motivated, and he worked through just about every book ever written about GMAT prep, did countless drills, and then got online to take a course. I asked him how he gets going about stuff he hates doing, and he said, "I was raised with the knowledge that there's something intrinsically satisfying about just doing a good job." I was, too... but it doesn't always help me want to start the job. So anyway, I took the stupid test and didn't do as well as I would've liked. Then I was disappointed more in myself for not having prioritized studying more than I did. I wouldn't give up the volunteer work I do, or any of the letters I've written my husband or packages I've put together for people, evenings out (there weren't that many), or just other things that are important to me. I would've worked less, and that's about the only thing I would change as far as my study time. Well, where does that get me? Not a half-step closer to anything. And life is only going to get more complicated as we go along, so better to figure it out now than really get into a bind later. But what I've realized is that, often times, people are afraid to fail at something. They're so afraid to try and not succeed, that they just don't even bother trying. I'm certainly guilty of it, and I can think of several other examples with both my family and my friends where this is true. Why are we afraid to be the best we can be-- what's holding us back from ourselves? And really, what's the solution? Personally, the first step is recognizing what I'm doing and the harm I'm possibly causing to myself, my future, or whatever the case may be. Next, the step seems to be bucking up and attacking! Give it your all, go for it, don't shy away. "Get juiced!," I'm told. And lastly, after a job well done, is to be proud, learn the lesson, and don't repeat the behavior.

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Varieties of Consumption

2008-08-21T20:02:00.002-10:00

In preparation for my husband's brief return from Iraq, I've been menu shopping for items that are two-eater and leftover friendly. He specifically requested boudin, though he couldn't quite remember what it was called at first. I came up with lasagna, some healthy snacks to have around the house, and even this fruit dip that's delicious! I know it'll be all too easy to go out to dinner, but I'd prefer to save those evenings for friends. We'll be hopping to another island as well as spending our anniversary weekend at a resort on this island, so if I can save money elsewhere, I'm all over it!

My coworker got married on 08.08.08-- a lucky number for Chinese, hence lots of nuptials on that day. The ceremony was in the courtyard of a local all-girls' school, and the reception was on the Windward (i.e. East) side of this island. The most unique part of the reception was the one element my coworker did all by her lonesome: the cake!

For those of you who listen to country music, have you ever heard Brad Paisley's song called Online? It has been out for a while now, but I just rediscovered it recently and find it really quite funny. This artist must have quite a catchy sense of humor, judging by his other tunes as well-- I'm Still A Guy, Ticks, and one of my favorites that's just cute, Mud on the Tires.

My husband and I do not have a TV. There are several reasons for this, but I'd say the first and foremost is so that we spend time with one another rather than in front of the boob tube. We're fairly entertaining (at least to one another ;) and not having the automatic distraction means we're more likely to talk with one another. Of course, he's off in the Sandbox right now, so the build-our-relationship-instead-of-watch-Seinfeld part isn't as applicable. However, I regularly feel overwhelmed with all I have to keep up with. At the end of the day / weekend / week / whatever, I just look at what I've done and what I have left and rarely feel as though I've knocked enough of it out. It makes me wonder how on earth I'd feel even remotely accomplished if I spent much time being drugged by this opium of the masses. So all that said, I would like to have a TV in the kitchen for two reasons: 1) When you're in the kitchen, you're always doing something, so it wouldn't detract from productivity (much?!) and 2) When big events happen (9/11, Presidential debates, space shuttles, etc.), you want to be able to see what's happening rather than fighting everyone else online taking up the bandwidth. And now, a new reason, 3) THE OLYMPICS! I watched them last week when I took lunch at the off-site audit we were conducting (because it's not like I could run errands-- we were off in Kalamazoo!) and any time I see a clip as I'm passing a store or in my gym locker room, I stop to watch. This is one of those times where your "Proud to be an American!" spirit comes through pretty strongly, especially after Frenchman Alain Bernard made snarky remarks about "smashing" the USofA, just before Jason Lezak's fingertip win. That race was definitely one for several different recordbooks. But getting a TV for something every couple of years? Hmmm... Tempting, but I dunno...

Woe is me

2008-08-09T22:54:00.002-10:00

I am tired of deployment. I get tired of not having my favorite (gal) pals around for distractions and just general fun times. It's more difficult to call people on the Mainland now that we're 4-6 hours apart than when I was in Korea and we were 11-13 hours different. I am tired of attempting to cook for one person, or eating crap made for just one person (who must not value their health, judging by the nutrition facts). I am tired from keeping up the responsibilities for two people with the time of one who works full time, is a volunteer leader liaison between families of deployed Soldiers and the Army, and is studying to get into grad school. I am tired of not being able to sleep with my husband. I am tired of and confused by the response of, "He's safe though, right?" when it comes up that my husband is deployed. Is anyone in Iraq "safe" -what kind of question is that, anyway? I want to smack these people.

Is it any picnic for the Service Member, either? Of course not. Many work 12+ hour days, they miss birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, all sorts of other events, emergencies included, in the lives of family and friends. They don't always have good food and it isn't as though they can go out and get what they want. They can't wear civilian clothes- talk about us taking simple pleasures for granted! Not only is time limited on their vacations, but it often has to be spent making up for what they missed while gone. They see the same people, day in, day out. God forbid a Soldier doesn't get along well with a coworker-- working 6.5 days a week hardly allows an outlet to vent or escape the stress built up in such situations. It isn't cheap to call home, and scheduling it isn't a piece of cake, either. When they finally do get R&R or redployed, strangers ask things like, "So'd you kill anyone?" or, "What's that badge there on your uniform mean?" I've witnessed every single one of these things, and more, through both my husband's deployed unit and others I've known.

I was recently told by a Navy girlfriend, who had just asked for suggestions on what to send in a care package to her boyfriend who will head to Afghanistan later this year, that "You people have it made." "You people" refers to Army and their families. "Have it made" refers to the ability to call, email, and know where your Soldier is stationed (in most cases). I'd hardly consider sending my husband of 2 months off to war "having it made." Sure, for the most part we have perks like fairly regular communication. But you can balance that with things like mortars and IEDs, to say the least. Navy submariners may not have regular contact, but it isn't as though they face insurgents on a daily basis. A simple gander at statistics is pretty useful for the day-to-day danger on the job analysis. Every single person who is in the military should be commended for their sacrifice, regardless of branch or rank. But to compare apples to oranges and hurl in an insult is hardly what I would call supporting our troops.

All that said, there are positives to balance the cons of my and my husband's experience, and to being in the Army/military: I have made some good friends here whom I really, really like and anticipate being friends with for a long time after we leave this island. My friends stay up late or I try to sneak away from my desk early or during lunch so that we can arrange a phone call-- indications that they're good friends. Email is a beaut! I have been able to share some good meals with great people simply because I had extra food, due to cooking for one, and invited them over. I have a really, really cute stuffed puppy dog I snuggle with at night and somehow, I toss him or he gets tangled in the night, and he's in some funny place when I wake up that always makes me smile (wrapped up in the sheets looking at me-- sounds odd, but it's funny). I wouldn't give up my volunteer job for anything-- I love helping these people and I feel like I'm really doing some good. I'm usually a lot more organized when I have a lot to do. I have an opportunity to explain to people what the realities of long-distance, long-term separation are and I can educate them on the progress being made in Iraq, etc. We are fortunate in that this isn't a war situation like it has been in years past-- hubby and I can talk fairly regularly and write letters, emails, etc. so it's not as far apart-feeling as it could be. It's just that when hubby works long hours on big projects, by the time he gets a chance to call, he's exhausted. Not just that, but it's often during my work morning, when I'm just getting going with my day. It's hard. We're only just over halfway. His upcoming R&R will be a great reprieve, and hopefully the remaining months thereafter won't be too bad. My dad will be visiting for the holidays and that's pretty exciting. I've organized classes for everyone to take in preparation for "redeployment" (which means "return") in the hopes that we're all as educated and ready for reintegration as we can be. I'm moving through it, day by day, and in the end I'll probably look back and think, "That wasn't so bad!" It's just that right now, I'd like to be on the looking back part of it :)

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Gettin' goin'

2008-07-27T20:34:00.000-10:00

I finally had a day without an 8am meeting, so I was able to go to the gym for the first time in a couple of weeks! The girls there are great-- they're a lot of fun to be around (which is a rarity at 5am) and they're really encouraging. One of them especially gives me grief if I'm gone for a while, which I actually appreciate. One is older and maternal, so she's always got good, new tips of some sort. They put together groups for marathons, walks, what have you. Members of the gym come and go, but this core group is definitely a staple and a great reason to stick with it!

Anyone have good tips for getting motivated? I recently read an article about how to spice up your routine so that you're into your task at hand. I find that I'm not really good at doing things I don't want to do. Well, I'm far better than I used to be, but sometimes it backfires. For example, if I don't feel like studying, I'll plant my keester in the chair and I'll study. I do this until I've completed a unit, or some benchmark of sorts. And then I reeeeeally don't feel like studying again, so I won't, sometimes for days. Same thing at work, though. If I'm not interested in the ongoings, I'm really bad about sticking to it. I'll start, but then I'll find something else on another project that can be changed or updated or whatever. I'm typically productive with this ADD-type behavior, but I need a fix for it!

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Fill 'er up!

2008-07-05T19:34:00.006-10:00

I believe I've mentioned before the commonality of geckos in Hawaii. They eat bugs I don't like, though they do leave little poops all over the place. They are so cute, though, once you get accustomed to having a lizard-like thing crawling around (which took me a while in the last house). I used to have a full-grown one that I saw all the time, but I haven't seen her in a while. Just tonight, I noticed a baby one on my bedroom ceiling. Also very, very cute, and maybe explains mama's absence. I think I should name the baby. Any suggestions?

My poor husband has sure heard a lot about babies lately. A third of my department had babies within 7 months of one another, not to mention my cousin, sister-in-law, another cousin, a few friends, and all sorts of other people who seemed to be reproducing in droves! Hubby and I are making plans for our futures (school, work, locations, etc.) and when we talk about locations I remind him that if we do wind up in a place like Africa or Eastern Europe, we just need to be sure that there are good hospitals. I can almost hear his stomach jump to his throat! I don't want to have kids right now (I truly am mesmerized at how people keep up with everything-- we don't own a TV and I still don't feel like I get enough checked off of my To Do list. Throw a high-maintenance munchkin into the mix and I'm fairly certain I'd spontaneously combust!), but I'm a planner, and I do believe that we'll have little juniors running around in 3-4+ years. He is so nice about it and doesn't seem too wigged out, (even when people tell him that I'll be pregnant shortly after he's home-- aaah!) but I can tell that I'd better limit mentions of it for a while, until it really is decision-making time!

We drive Pali, the name we've given our silver, bubble-looking hybrid. My last car was a regular ole engine with a regular ole battery. Get into these high-tech automobiles and things change, right? Well, not all things! My old roommate and I went to the movies on Monday night (I recommend Wall-E if you haven't seen it yet-- very cute :) and I drove. I didn't need Pali again until Friday when I was going to run some errands. (Not only do we save gas money by driving a hybrid, but I ride the bus to work most days, so I drive even less. Woo!) I debated running them at lunchtime instead of later in the day when I needed to pick up a friend from the airport, but decided I needed to get out of the house. I wasn't getting out very quickly! Apparently, when I'd driven last and turned off the inside light of the car, I pushed it too far and it instead stayed on for four days. Um, whoops? Thankfully, my landlord was home. After about 30 minutes of reading the manual, fiddling around, and charging at 2000 RPMs, Pali was up and running again! I was amazed that a hybrid could be jumped by a "regular" ole roadfriend and not need a computer or something else. Now, it could've been uglier if we'd needed to reach the battery that's in the back of the car, as the back door won't open if your battery's depleted because even the doors are electric. But hey, now I'm gonna dig up the jumper cables from my last car and keep 'em in Pali because, God forbid we ever need 'em again, but they're useful!

Well, I subconsciously decided that that wasn't quite enough car drama for me. I'm an overachiever, so let's take it to the next level! On Sunday morning, I did some grocery shopping. When I got home and out of the car, a funny noise was coming from Pali. I put my ear down near the front of the driver's door where I thought I could hear it, and low-and-behold, there was a damn nail in my tire. Can you believe! I cursed the construction going on in my neighborhood, and then cursed myself because I saw a nail earlier in the week in our driveway, so I picked it up and threw it away... I should've continued looking for more that might, oh I dunno, decide to wind up in my tire! Who could help me fix this before the thing is actually flat? I called my dad (in Louisiana-- maybe he could teleport himself to my driveway?) to see if there was a quick fix, tried to hop on the 'net to find the number for a local service station, but it was moving like molasses in winter, so I threw my cold stuff into the fridge and jumped back in Pali and called my old roommate to get a suggestion for a place open on Sunday. No luck! Both of the suggested places were closed, but I drove like a jerkwad in-and-out of Sunday drivers --literally --to an intersection with three gas stations. Hallelujah! The first one I pulled into could repair a tire. I got out of the car and looked at myself. My grandmother would have been ashamed! I decided that if I was going to be stressed, I was going to do it all the way. I was so focused on getting somewhere before the tire went flat that I didn't turn on the radio or the a/c. Even my tummy was sweating through my t-shirt! Oh well, I thought, my concern right now is the tire-- I can rid myself of nastiness later. The folks at the Houghtailing 76 station didn't seem to notice. "It'll be ELEVEN dollars though, ma'am," the serviceman said with some doubt at my interest in footing such a bill. I laughed to myself and thought, "Cheap at twice the price!" when really, if you buy some Fix-A-Flat, it's probably a third of the cost. Whatever-- I was paying for convenience, so I happily signed the bill, and went on my merry way back home to put away the rest of my groceries and get on with Sunday's schedule. Phew!

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King

Mojitos while photographing for the Fourth

2008-07-02T19:46:00.013-10:00

So I always want to blog about work, and the manager I have who is as sharp as a bowling ball, to get my frustrations out in the open. But my friends hear enough of it after I've had an exhausting day, so the plan is to keep it absolutely minimal, if at all mentioned. Suffice it to say, one day last week, I really felt the need for a drink when I walked out of the office. My dad says never to drink when you think you need it, so I came home and had chocolate milk, several more tablespoons than is one serving of nutella, and instead of that being the final sweet, a few spoons of Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter ice cream. Then I played on Facebook, read my sister-in-law's blogs, and all the while I should have been studying... Apparently I'd forgotten the troubles from work for the moment, though! At least until tomorrow morning...

This weekend is, of course, the 4th of July. As wife of an Army Soldier (who recently received an award-- he's THE cutest Soldier in the entire military... which of course has nothing to do with the award, but I find the photo he sent me from the ceremony adorable-- see for yourself :) who is currently fighting for these freedoms we often take for granted, I feel like I should be having the neighborhood's biggest fireworks and American flags display. So many people view it as a day off from work and a reason to barbeque and forget that it's about being a free nation. Am I any different? Last weekend I organized a video teleconference for the families, as well as a party to mark our progress in this deployment. So I've already celebrated a bit, just early! I think I'll use the extra time to catch up on things I should be preparing for in the coming months. And perhaps lounge a bit, too-- does any of that count as celebrating independence?

I am looking forward to a second long-weekend after this one. I'll be hopping over to the Mainland to visit my in-laws, and taking a drive up to a nearby tourist trap for a day or so before returning to the islands. We plan to eat yummy food, take in the sights, lament that the rest of the family can't be with us, wish gas to get where we're going didn't cost as much as the flight, and just overall take it easy and enjoy ourselves and one another. It should be pretty low-key, which is just perfect! But speaking of taking in the sights, since sacrificing my digital hobby to the Pacific Ocean on my recent trip to Maui with a friend, I've been researching new cameras. I don't care if it isn't the size of a pack of gum-- I'd prefer good photos. The first one I found was a few hundred dollars, but after learning more about lenses, it makes more sense to get one that's a bit more. So much for being different from the rest of the country and saving our Stimulus check! But really, for me, a camera is an investment. It's not some new hobby I'm shelling out money on and hoping to get really into-- I have dozens of albums since owning even my first non-digital camera. It's fabulous for memories, home decor, gifts, free fun, learning and experimenting, sharing updates with friends and family, and on and on. Now I just need to be sure the one I want is the one I want. Anyone have a lens they want to send my way? ;)

Aaand we're back!

2008-06-24T21:06:00.005-10:00

There have been many topics about which to blog since I bailed out on this about 10 months ago. But for many reasons, I haven't. Those reasons are many, and include but not limited to: a girl I went to high school with sharing these blog discussions with someone who has no business knowing what I'm up to (yes, I realize this is public, but it's the principle of volunteering it to a total dirt bag in which I find an ultimate lack of class and self-esteem), my role within the Army system as a liaison between families and deployed Soldiers, as well as upcoming life changes that would likely involve a search of my writings, opinions, and general ongoing activities.

Here we are. I am now a wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, godmother (twice over!), former roommate, bridesmaid (multiple times!), and other official titles I'm possibly leaving out, all since my last blog. The wife part is fabulous, though somewhat suspended for the time being (explanation below), at least as far as typical roles go. The in-law part is good, though not especially active in day-to-day ongoings. The aunt and godmother parts are nice (especially since the girls are positively precious!), though a bit of sad news was had last week. I moved close by, so the former roommate part is more like "lost a roomie, gained a friend" kind of thing. Being a bridesmaid is absolutely an honor and a wonderful duty, I just wish it were cheaper!

Sam, my "Korean" boyfriend, and I were married last year, not long before he went on a field trip for work. Being that his work is the US Army, the field trip is to the Sandbox for 15 months. Not exactly the ideal way to begin our life together, but I like to joke that if you start your marriage out with a war, the only place you can go from there is up!

I am working in the same job, though my department has had a multitude of changes since I last wrote. We've gained people, and maybe even lost some brains. We've taken on several more challenging responsibilities and learned a good bit about our role and changes within the company. Next week, we'll lose one more body, and thereafter, who knows!

Stay tuned...

Copyright 2008 Olivia R. King