Rain and thunder!!

Today, Erin went on her intern again, so Priscilla and I were the only ones at home. When we woke up, the weather seemed to be simply cloudy, but before long it started pouring outside. Soon, it was accompanied by lightning and roaring thunder. Some of it was pretty close, and we heard it strike the ground with a "pang!" a few times.
Well I'll stop writing about the weather now.. It's like I've been doing this in every post.

I ended up staying at home all day. Seriously, I don't feel like going outside on days like this. We had fun at home though... during lunchtime, we watched the Legend of Zorro. Of course we made fun of its cheesy scenes, but I still think Zorro is so cool! 8)

During late afternoon and early morning, I made some wallpapers for my auntie.. I think she likes them, because she's now asking if I can make more! I'm starting to really enjoy making wallpapers.

Erin came back after 5:00pm. Priscilla had to leave for her drum practice about an hour later, so Erin and I ate dinner first. At night, I watched "Veggietales: Sheeluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler", which is a lesson about friendship. As always, it was very cute. There's a short story in it called "Asparagus of La Mancha", which I found amusing... I think its jokes are hard to get, though, unless you know the original Don Quixote musical "Man of La Mancha".



This spring break feels pretty long.. I'm starting to find it hard to imagine going back to school when it's over!

Shopping at Waikele~

Today was a lot of fun!! We went to Waikele, a big outlet mall which is a little far from our house. It's really big and contains shops like Guess, Old Navy, Coach, Nine West, and Borders, among so many others.
We left at around 11:00am and arrived there at lunchtime. We decided to eat lunch at Genki Sushi. Of course their stuff is nothing compred to authentic Japanese sushi, but I like all kinds of sushi anyway so I still enjoyed it. :) Also, their chawanmushi is delicious!

The entire mall was surprisingly empty today. There were still many people, including Japanese tourists, but we were able to find parking without problem and shop with ease. Our first stop was Old Navy, where I ended up buying some clothes. Next, we went to Everblue, where we looked at some more clothes, then finally ended up at Borders bookstore. I like Borders because of the coupons they frequently send in our email accounts. We can almost always get 25% off for an item with the coupon. I wish that bookstores in Japan had sales and other cool stuff.


We got home late in the afternoon... I spent some time chatting with my parents, and also practiced (or played with) some more Photoshop. After dinner, which consisted of Erin's meatballs, we watched American Idols... Lisa Tucker left the show this time. I felt a bit sorry for her, but she is still very young (16) and has lots of chances to make it big.

No definite plans for tomorrow.. gotta think of something!

A "crafts" day!

This morning, Erin left for her intern long before Priscilla and I woke up. We had most of the day to ourselves, so we decided to walk down to a nearby crafts shop called "Ben Franklin Crafts", despite the dreary rain. It was an interesting place, with lots of different kinds of crafts to make. I liked the art supplies and random odds and ends of objects that can be used for creative things.

I bought fake English ivys, a bird nest, and two mushroom chickadees made of clay and wood. They were so cute I couldn't resist buying them. I've put them together after I came home. Aren't they cute?? :D I wonder where in the room I should put them.


After coming back from the store, we had lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at home. Priscilla watched a movie while I started making my Japanese paper shelf... after about 3 hours, I finished!


At around 5:00pm, Priscilla and I went to pick up Erin at Ala Moana. We had some difficulty getting there, and it took about an hour before we were able to pick her up. lol!

For dinner, Priscilla made "Om-rice", and Tina came to our house and ate together. :) We also watched this week's American Idol, which actually wasn't as good as usual. For the rest of the night, I chatted with people and played with Photoshop.

Tomorrow we are planning to go shopping at Waikele. Should be fun!

Mmmm nothing is better than good ramen for lunch!!

This morning I woke up late in the morning again. Well at least there was nothing going on in the morning until Erin treated the two of us to a ramen shop called Gomaichi. It was the first time for all of us to go there, and the ramen was so good! I had the shoyu ramen because shoyu is always my favorite.. I think the best was the spicy tantan ramen though. Thanks Erin for taking us there!

Before going back, we stopped by at Walmart to buy some necessary things.. including DVDs! lol Walmart is so big I would probably get lost if I went there by myself.

In the afternoon, Erin went out to do some stuff. I got to watch the Veggietales DVD "An Easter Carol", which is like the Easter version of "A Christmas Carol". I liked the angel character whose voice was done by Rebecca St. James.

For dinner, we ate leftovers and watched "You've Got Mail". In the middle of the movie, though, we went down to Waikiki's Cold Stone to get ice cream! Thanks Priscilla for treating us! I love Cold Stone icecream because of the things you can mix into it, like snickers, oreo and gummi bears.

Now we've finished the movie and I'm back in my room. Before I knew it, it's past 12:00am!! Better go to bed...

Happy Days~~♪♪ (^o^)

Today was yet another rainy day, but at least it did not shower like crazy. :)

This morning, we had Costco's huge muffins breakfast.. mmm I love those things but they're so filling!
Today's service was led by Erin. For the sermon, we listened to the CD of Pastor's English sermon called "Become a Fool for Christ".


Afterwards, we went to eat lunch at Happy Days, that Chinese restaurant with dim sum. :P Five people from church including Tina, Christi and Brandon came to join us for lunch. The food was gooood, as always!!

Soon after departing, we went to Ward Theatre to watch the romantic comedy "Failure to Launch" with Tina. There was Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Justin Bartha. It was an interesting, cute movie, I guess, but definitely not among my favorite romantic comedies. Also, too much humor that involves animals.. it just isn't normal (or very funny) for one guy to be bitten by a chipmunk, dolphin, and a lizard in one film.


We stayed at home after returning from the theatre. Erin cooked stuffed salmon for us, and we ate while watching the first Harry Potter movie on TV.. wow they were so young and cute back then... not to mention their high voices!


It's so strange to think that there's nothing going on this week at all. Must use my time wisely and not be too lazy!

Off to Costco we go!

This morning, the three of us went to Costco after cleaning up the house. Costco is always fun to go to! :) We ate lunch there, bought a lot of food and also looked at the DVD/CD section, as usual. I ended up buying a 2-DVD set of the latest Veggietales. I haven't watched them yet but I hope they're good... one is called "Sheerluck Holmes". LOL!


Not much went on in the afternoon, except when Priscilla and I watched the White Christmas. I know it's not Christmas season, but what a classic! Erin went shopping in the afternoon and evening, but I decided to stay at home.

Oh, and for dinner we had sashimi from Costco. Mmmmmm!! Love that salmon!


Wow this has got to be one of my shortest posts. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are holding our own service. :)

The mystery of Edwin DROOOOOOOOOOOOD!!

Yay for Spring Break! We got to sleep until late in the morning. Not much went on in the morning, but for lunch Priscilla made fried rice and hot&sour soup for all of us. :P Priscilla also reserved tickets for tonight's opening night performance of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".

Then, in the afternoon, I somehow felt like painting and took up my brush. I happen to like boat sceneries, so I chose this one from Ireland. It took a few hours because I was chatting with people while painting, but I think it was worth it.
Oops... I forgot to sign it.. again!



After dinner (which Erin cooked), we went to Diamond Head Theatre for the Edwin Drood musical, which started from 8:00pm. It was really a great show that originally won a Tony award on Broadway, and all (or most) of the performers today were really good for amateurs. Certainly better than most performers I saw on "Cats"!

This musical is based on a murder mystery novel that Charles Dickens never finished because he died before he could. So for the conclusion, the audience gets to pick any one of the seven possible culprits by voting. Today, the highest vote went to Rosa Bud, the lady in pink in the picture. The whole thing was highly interactive and involved the audience a lot.

Over half of them were great singers, but I just fell in love with the magnificent voice of the lead villain guy.. he was definitely professional, and classically trained. A strong operatic voice and beautiful falsetto! I think I liked him partly because he reminded me of Anthony Warlow (though no one can equal Anthony). :P

All in all, it was a very enjoyable musical, and I would mind seeing it again. It's a little late now, though, so I shall now prepare to go to bed.




To the kids: I hope that your sign dance performance went well!!

Last day of Int. Festival: Spanish Flamenco!

This morning I had to take my music quiz. It was harder than I thought, but as usual Mrs. Doo gave us 5 bonus questions, so I think I'm still safe.


Today's theatre class went a bit crazy at first during warmup, but the monologues were really great.

We went to the cafeteria for lunch, and it was so crowded there! Students were everywhere, some of them eating and others watching the Flamenco dance of Spain. The dances were pretty cool to watch. There was "okonomiyaki" at a booth, but I didn't eat it because I heard the other Japanese students saying that it wasn't so good.


Priscilla's tea ceremony did not start until 1:30pm, so I went off to the library. Strangely, Sean decided to keep me company by following me to the library then to the International Cafe, where the tea ceremony took place.

Tea ceremony was really nice. Priscilla was the one to serve us, and she gave us cute little flower-shaped sweets before the tea. I liked that powdery green tea a lot.. I will probably end up going to the tea group's practice sessions as a guest, just for the tea! :P However, it made me feel caffeinated the rest of the day.

For geography class, many of the students did not show up. The teacher seemed none too pleased by this and decided to give extra points to the students who DID come. We learned a lot about oceans and tsunamis today.


This seemed like a long day at campus.. after getting home, I cooked chicken karaage and miso soup for dinner. The three of us decided to celebrate the beginning of Spring Break by watching "Wallace & Gromit: the Curse of the Wererabbit". It was fun but scary because there was a raging thunderstorm outside as we watched... and when the creepy title of the movie came up on the screen with a thunderclash, we all jumped because we thought it was a real thunder from outside! One of the lightnings actually struck somewhere pretty nearby.. and once took out the electricity for a brief moment. (O_o)

Yay for Spring Break.. and there's nothing going on tomorrow!! Finally, I can sleep till late in the morning. :D Hehe!

Photoshop project result is here!

This morning, the art students got the results for our symbolic self portrait. I opened my manila envelope that contained all the artwork papers and looked inside... and it was 100/100!! :D :D :D I am soooo happy!

Class finished a little early, so I went to the cafeteria, where these African music people were playing their percussion instruments. They were so cool and reminded me of the show "Blast!" which I've seen in Japan before. There were female dancers, and they were really good too. As I stood there behind the seats enjoying the music, I suddenly felt a tap at my shoulders and turned.. and it was my music teacher standing next to me! lol That was a surprise! She seemed pleased that I am enjoying all the music events at the International Festival. I got to talk with her a little about the African music before going down to my English class.


English class wasn't really a class, because there was a special literature reading by two famous Hawaiian authors. Students of serveral English classes flocked together at the auditorium to hear this. Among these students was Marie from theatre class; we got to sit together and listen to the writers talk away.


Priscilla picked me up at 12:00pm, and we went home and had lunch. For the rest of the day, I stayed at home and did some homework including a concert report on Native American music. It took a long time because I was chatting with a few people as I wrote it.

For dinner, Erin cooked curry.. real Japanese curry! :D While eating we watched Everybody Loves Raymond, then later from 8:00pm watched the American Idol in which Barry Manilow sang a song I like. Kevin, the guy who looks like Chicken Little, was the one to leave the show this week!

I really should go to bed now.. I'm the last one awake. Good night!

Int. Festival day 2: Mongolians and voice students

During my music class, we were supposed to have a quiz today, but we didn't. To make the long story short, the plan that the teacher made fell through, and not everyone knew that there was going to be a quiz. So we put off the quiz till next Thursday and started learning about African music. I love the African rhythmic structure.. so complicated.


During theatre class came Priscilla's monologue! I think that she did a great job.. she thought out the scene much more thoroughly than did mine.
The other girl who did the monologue today, Marie, played a blind old man and it was hilarious!


During lunchtime, we went to the cafeteria with about 3 other theatre students. We stopped by on the way to see some people from a medieval Mongolian group who were dueling. It was really cool to see them fight. It also reminded me a bit of that movie with Alec Baldwin, "The Shadow"!


Here the two armored guys are getting ready to fight. One is seen taking off his flip-flops. LOL The building behind them is the cafeteria.






We then went into the cafeteria for lunch, and there was a performance by the voice students, taught by the same teacher as my music class. Some were not that great at singing, but a few were pretty good. Priscilla and her Japanese group also had a presentation at the corner of the cafeteria. That beautiful Samurai poster was finally put to use!





Our geography class was, as usual, fast-paced but not very long. We learned about deserts and how to survive through it.


After we got home, we went to pick up dinner at Panda Express. Mmm.. love their orange-flavored chicken! Then we watched the 2-hour-long American Idol.

Naomi is leaving early in the morning tomorrow. We'll miss her while she's gone!

First day of international festival: Native American dance

This morning, I failed to wake up at the sound of my alarm clock.. again. I think I'm going to have to go to bed earlier as I feel kind of bad making Erin wake me up all the time. I hope that I won't have an 8:00am class next semester.

Today we turned in our art project to the teacher and put the finished work on the board for all to see. We wrote our critiques on pieces of paper for each person's work (14 in all) and gave them to each other. Ailed, my art teacher, is always fun... she's from Mexico, and when some students started a random conversation about Pidjin English being a language (and not a dialect or slang), she said that she should make Mexican accent an English too.. that accent is really funny to listen to!

After the English class, Naomi and I were picked up by Priscilla and got home, but stayed there for less than an hour because Priscilla had to go to the blood drive at 1:15pm, and I wanted to see the International Festival.
So I left Priscilla at the "bloodmobile" and went to the cafeteria to see what was going on there. As it turned out, there was a Native American event going on. There was one huge guy fully dressed in traditional attire.. there were also a few other men, women and children, not all of them clothed like Indians.

There was also a medicine man who played the flute for us... the sound of the flute was really beautiful!! I later saw that he was selling some real Native American flutes, and I so wanted to get one! They were at a very good price ($90~100), but alas, still too much for a college student on a budget. :(



I met Priscilla outside the cafeteria after her blood drive was done.. she looked pale and not too good, so we called Naomi to pick us up and went home.


For the rest of the day, we stayed at home: Priscilla took a nap, and I studied for my music quiz for tomorrow. I am also trying to come up with ideas for the next art project... I'm supposed to do a Photoshop work on a social/political issue, so I chose underage drinking. It's just hard to come up with three different ideas until Wednesday!

Tomorrow is Priscilla's monologue day, and I'm looking forward to seeing her on stage! ;)

///////// still raining... /////////////////

Early this morning, there was a really loud thunderstorm which woke me up temporarily. The rainfall was so heavy that it probably caused floods in some places. The street in front of our house was like a stream!
In the morning, we had our church service; it was Naomi's turn to lead today. Since it was 3rd Sunday, we had communion as well, just like back in Japan! :D

For lunch, we ate out at the California Pizza Kitchen of Kahala Mall. I love some of their food... as usual, we couldn't finish everything and took the leftovers home for dinner. Afterwards, we looked around some shops at Kahala Mall then went home.


In the afternoon, I prepared my finished Photoshop image for tomorrow's critique. This involves printing out the picture and mounting it onto a whitel board. The thing is, I don't think that this "symbolic self-portrait" really describes me. I simply put in lots of random objects that I like... and things that I just simply wanted to put in. It ended up looking very.. red. Can't wait to see what the other students have made!

For dinner, we ate what we brought home from CPK: jambalaya, pizza, salad, and ravioli.

I hope that the weather will be better tomorrow... I do not want to get soaked again on campus!

Oh, and it seems like I am going to be able to get back to Japan very soon after this semester is finished.. and will stay there about 3 whole months! :D

Surprise, surprise!!

Today was a nice day.. it was sunny outside for a change! I woke up rather late in the morning, then helped clean up the house. I also did some homework that's due next Monday. For lunch, we had ramen at home. :D

In the afternoon, Erin, Priscilla and I went to Kahala Mall to look for some gifts for people.. I didn't get anything but the others did. :) I love Tower Records, Hallmark, Claire's, Jeans Warehouse, Barnes & Noble, and Borders! Of course there's never time to look through every shop though.

Throughout the evening, I read a book, chatted with some people, and spent a pretty relaxing time. Erin made a nice dinner for us, but Naomi didn't eat because she was to go out with Tina tonight and later watch a movie together with her. But then she didn't know that Tina and the rest of us were planning for her a...

SURPRISE PARTY!!!
Here's how it worked: while Tina took Naomi out to dinner, we contacted the others (6 other church friends including Ericson) to gather at Big City Diners at 9:00pm. Erin, Priscilla, Ericson, and I got there first and waited. Because this diner was really close to the movie theatre which Tina and Naomi were going to go to. Instead of going to the movie theatre, Tina led Naomi to the Big City Diners, where we were waiting to give her the surprise! Heehee!! It was so fun!

Okay the picture upload thing isn't working.. again. Just on the day when I finally have pictures to put up!! *fumes* I promise I'll do it tomorrow. ;) Good night everyone!

Edit: and here is one picture. The rest are still refusing to be uploaded.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Today was the St. Patrick's Day, which is an Irish holiday that honors St. Patrick, who became a kind of missionary to the Irish at around the 4th century AD. The clover is important because St. Patrick supposedly used its unique shape to teach the Irish about the Holy Trinity. (see, I did some research!) Today it's mostly just about the color green... whoever doesn't wear green gets pinched! lol It was funny because the majority of people we saw in class did not wear green, and a few of them gave an excuse saying "I have green in my eyes!"


In the morning today, I accompanied Naomi and Priscilla to the Kahala Mall and looked at the Barnes & Noble (bookstore) and Tower Records. 8) I love those two places... could stay there all day!

We went home in time to leave again for the geography lab class. Today's lab was pretty easy.. it was basically measuring the relative humidity and dew point of the atmosphere using thermometers. We got to get back home by 3:30pm.

I spent the rest of the day reading and working on the Photoshop project, which is due on Monday. Priscilla and I watched the new episode of Monk after dinner.. it's the last episode of this season, so we won't be getting any new ones for a while. :(
Today passed by fairly quickly.. it's nice to know that tomorrow is Saturday and there's no school nor plans! :D

10th week of school is almost over!

Time seems to be flying faster than last semester! Already in some classes we are preparing for our finals. I can't wait till the semester is over and I get to go home!

This morning, Nichelle picked me and Priscilla up and took us to school. Unfortunately, it was raining very hard at the time, and we got wet getting to our classes! I definitely don't like this season of Hawaii..

Music class was very interesting.. I like Latin American music as they have the most interesting instruments. We also started on Irish music as well.
Theatre class was another day of monologues, and of course it was a lot of fun to watch the other students! I can now watch and relax because I've already finished mine!
Nothing out of the ordinary in the afternoon, except that I found the script of the play I was looking for at the library. I hope I can memorize a whole scene from it! For my partner I chose a Micronesian guy whose English is 3rd language! He's shy but he can actually act.. besides, he seems right for the part.

Back at home we had dinner, then prayer meeting from 8:00pm. I also finished the final part of Priscilla's Samurai poster; it will be taken to her Japanese class tomorrow!

Another rainy, cloudy day

It's been raining on and off so much lately.. there has been floods in some parts, and I hear that a dam broke somewhere! (O.o) It rained a lot today just before lunchtime, but it was mostly just cloudy or a little sprinkly the rest of the day.

Art class was just a work day, but the head person of the New Media Arts came to give us a presentation.. that was nice! I think my project is already almost done, but it's hard to know when to stop and decide that it's complete and finished.

I had been dreading the English class because I knew we were going to discuss that book I can't read because of its content. Well, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected, because we didn't go into it that much. I hope it will stay that way.


After being picked up by Priscilla and getting home, I spent a couple of hours looking for a play to perform as the final exam of my theatre class. I am thinking of doing the "Diary of Anne Frank", which is based on the true story of a Jewish girl in Holland during WWII. I think that it would be so cool if I could use that play, but I don't know if I can find the book or get it in time.

Here is the charcoal drawing of the samurai that Priscilla and her fellow Japanese classmates are going to use for their poster. I hope you don't mind me putting it up before the poster's done, Priscilla. ;) I think that this will look much nicer when it goes on the big poster.





We watched a 30-minute-long American Idol after dinner, which was Erin's chicken-katsu! Stevie Wonder came up and sang live (well, not really live since we're in Hawaii).. but it was cool to watch!

Tomorrow, I go hand in the application for Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society. Hopefully it will help me find scholarships and things.

"Well, I must say, Algernon... "

Today I woke up a little nervous.. I think I'd been nervous since last night, because I didn't sleep very well. I was nervous because I was not sure if I was ready for my monologue. Of course, I already had the "costume" which I'd borrowed from Erin and Naomi, and the script had been memorized. Still, performing in front of a teacher is different from doing it with friends.

First came the music class, during which we learned about Latin American music. I forgot to ask my music teacher about next semester's musical theatre class, which Priscilla and I are planning to take.


Then came the theatre class! There were four people in all doing monologues today, and I was the second one. I put on the costume and the fake British accent and did it. My part was the "Lady Bracknell" from the Importance of Being Earnest... it was the scene where she is talking about her lack of sympathy for invalids. LOL Strange thing was, I wasn't that nervous when I actually was on stage. This is the same scene from the movie adaptation of the play.
Everyone seemed to like my monologue, so I was very happy! :D


We had lunch at the cafeteria... then I went to the library to look for any information available on a Japanese instrument called Taisho-Goto. It was pretty hard to find anything on that certain instrument.. hmm, I hope I'll be able to find enough for my music presentation.

Geography class was all about types of weathering and erosion. Zzzz.... No, actually it was quite interesting, though nothing that I did not learn in KCIS! :)

We got home after 4:00pm. After eating Naomi's taco salad and stew for dinner, we watched the 2-hour-long American Idol. This week, all 12 contestants had to sing Stevie Wonder songs (which we all love). Some of those people are so good!!

Off to bed now... I'm looking forward to tomorrow's art class!

Just a quickie...

This is a quick post because I forgot all about the blog... I was so excited about the costume for tomorrow's monologue during theatre class! And maybe even a bit hyper. Naomi lent us the coolest shawl, and we were playing with it. :P

Today's art class went really well. During the critique, the teacher told me that I catch on pretty quickly and that my composition is pretty good overall. The English class, on the other hand... was utterly monotonous. There was a guest speaker who is one of the leading writers of Hawaii. He read exerpts from his poetry for the whole time!! I must admit, I as tempted to yawn in his face a couple times.

I later had a Phi Theta Kappa orientation in the afternoon. It's an honor society of 2-year colleges, and I am going to upply to become a member. :)


For the rest of the day, I couldn't bring myself to do much because of my headache. However, I did finish drawing the picture of a Samurai.
During and after dinner, we watched Sahara. fun movie!


Now i really gotta get to bed! I'm probably too excited (and nervous!) about the monologue to sleep though.

Lunch with the Japanese girls

This morning, we had a mini service at home during which we had worship and a short sermon by Erin. After that, we went to the New Hope church, a big church that gathers at a large school's stage. It was my first time to go, so I was wowed by all their equipments (like cameras) and the full stage with lighting effects. I wish I'd taken a picture of it.
The pastor of that church wasn't there, so there was a guest speaker who talked about being courageous and overcoming fear. After the service was over, we saw Aimee, our friend from theatre class fluent in ASL. We spent some time conversing with other ASL people... and I realized that I'd forgotten a lot of ASL already! Gotta practice more!


After we got back home, the Japanese girls (from Priscilla's class) whom we had invited over for lunch came. We all had a great lunch... the girls were impressed with Naomi's cooking. :) Priscilla and the girls stayed until after 5:00pm, working hard on their poster project. Meanwhile, I had my own project to work on!

The afternoon was mostly spent doing my Photoshop project. It is so fun that time passes by all too quickly. I think I progressed a lot today, so I can show it to my instructor for tomorrow's critique. After the girls went home, we watched Cellular. Jason Statham makes such a cool bad guy!

For dinner we ate leftovers, which we had a plenty of. I worked with Photoshop some more after dinner, then chatted with some people.

Tomorrow I am happy about the art class, but not about the English class... I am going to have a discussion with my teacher concerning a certain assigned book. I pray that it will go well. Good night!

Picnic at Magic Island!

The highlight of the day was going to Magic Island for the KCC beach party. This picnic was supposed to have taken place last month, but it had to be postponed to today because of bad weather. Priscilla and I arrived at the "island" at around 12:00pm with some food to share with everyone else.

As it turned out, most of the people were Japanese, because this was an event for international students. We didn't know most of them, but got along pretty well. Everyone brought food, so we had a buffet style lunch.

It took about an hour to set up the volleyball net because no one knew how to do it! :S We finally got it up, though, and started playing. Since I was not used to the hard, real volleyball, I was awful at it. On the other hand, some of the guys were really good!

Being with lots of Japanese people was really fun! Later in the afternoon, Klunx and Marie (from our theatre class) came to join us, so suddenly the whole place became a lot crazier! LOL




This is Magic Island's beach.. it's not the cleanest of beaches, but it is a popular place for water baptisms and weddings (we saw both today).


After 4:00pm, we were picked up by Erin and finally got home. It was fun but tiring... also, we got a nice tan (and a little sunburn) during volleyball. I still need more tan though, especially on my legs.


After dinner, we watched half of the movie Moonstone, which is supposedly the first mystery novel to ever be written. I hope we can finish it tomorrow! :D


For tomorrow's Sunday service, we are going to go to the New Hope church.. it will be the first time for me to go there, so I'm looking forward to it!

Honolulu Festival!!

Normally, I would sleep in till after 8:00am in the morning on Fridays. However, Priscilla and I woke up early today and went to the Hawaii Cultural Center, where the Honolulu Festival is taking place today and the next few days. It was actually an event for Priscilla's Japanese class, but I tagged along.

There were several events, all from the West Pacific (Japan, Taiwan, Australia), going on in the huge hall. At around 9:30am, we Japanese students went into the hall with middle school students who came for something like a field trip. We were there to help guide them and teach them a little. I think I ended up learning a few things myself!





Here is one of the few Japanese mikoshi for women. For those who don't know, mikoshi is a kind of "portable temple". LOL





This one totally didn't make any sense, but I just thought it was funny!



There was a section where we could write shodo. I was surprised that the middle school students could all write their names in katakana. Can you see my messy name up there?

This is what I personally enjoyed the most: the Australian Aborigines! It was funny because they all wore traditional attire, but spoke in perfect Australian English and later went out for a smoke outside on the streets (still in traditional attire)!

They did some dances, and one guy played the didgeridoo... what an interesting instrument!





We finally finished just before 12:00pm.. it was tiring but fun! Priscilla and I went to Ala Moana food court to eat lunch, then was picked up and brought home by Naomi.

There wasn't any time to rest though.. very soon it was time for our geography lab class! Fortunately, it wasn't too hard, so we got home at around 3:30pm.


For dinner, we went out to dinner again to celebrate Priscilla's birthday, this time at a place called "Islands"!Tiffany also came to join us, and we had a great time! Thank you Pastor & Mrs. Stafford for treating all of us!

Finally, we all came back to our house and watched "Pride and Prejudice". A very nice movie to watch at night!

We're going to a KCC beach party tomorrow.. yay!!

"Happy birthday dear Priscilla(a.k.a. Michelle)~!! Happy Birthday to you~!"

Today, it rained a lot. And I mean A LOT!! A storm hit suddenly in the morning during our first classes, and the ceiling leaked a little in my music classroom! I can't believe I forgot to bring my umbrella with me... I got soaked while running to the theatre class.

Well, aside from the rain, the day was great. During music class, the students did a lottery to decide who does his or her music presentation on which day in April. Only when it was my turn to pick a paper with someone's name on it, the name happened to be my own! Oh well...

After arriving for the theatre class all wet, we had a fun class with many monologues and one improvised beat scene. As usual, a very fun class! And while we were doing our quiet breathing exercise, everyone started singing the happy birthday song to Priscilla (though it was like an excuse for making a lot of noise!).
The coolest moment in the monologue scene was when Klunx, one of our classmates, was doing a dramatic scene in which he was giving a touching speech in a courtroom. The very moment he shouted to Max, who was playing "his son's killer", that "I want to see you die!", a great, clashing thunder roared overhead, creating a very cool effect! I think that monologue made several people cry.

After lunch at the cafeteria and an hour at the library researching musical instruments (did you know there are such instruments as "nose pipes"? ew..), Priscilla and I met again for our geography class, during which we learned more about volcanoes and earthquakes.


We got home after 4:00pm, then left at around 6:30pm to celebrate Priscilla's birthday at Toraji, a yakiniku restaurant. Aunt Jean and Reed also joined us. It was a surprise when our waiter turned out to be Priscilla's classmate from he Japanese class! The funny thing was that he did not remember Priscilla's name and called her "Michelle"! He was very nice though, and made our time at the table pleasant and enjoyable. Happy birthday, Priscilla! :D

Tomorrow we'll wake up early to go to the Honolulu Festival.. I hope it's fun!

An easy schoolday

I had only one class (Art class) again today, because my English instructor lost her wallet and went to get a new one this morning. Art class was mostly individual work day, during which we can work on our own project and listen to our own music. :) I like working on the Photoshop project in class, but I get a little nervous every time the teacher walks up behind me!! \(O.o)/

I went home with Priscilla after class finished at 10:30am. At home, I spent a couple hours writing a concert response for last week's Cats performance. I have 2 more concerts to go to in the semester (actually there are 3, but I don't know if I can find a Native American concert in the next couple months).

In the afternoon, I chatted with some people and started a charcoal drawing which I have not yet finished... charcoal takes so much getting used to! Or maybe it's proper training that I need.

Naomi prepared dinner for us, and we ate that before watching American Idol. I like the guys on AI better than the girls. I also happen to like guys who can sing (well).
I saw the latest X-men 3 trailer tonight! *is excited* I so want to see this, and it's nice that it will be released worldwide at the same time. In case I'm in Japan at the time, I won't have to wait!

Tomorrow is Priscilla's birthday!! :D

It's not easy being an Indian tribe!

This morning's music class was pretty funny. Our class got into about 6 different groups, and each of them represented different Indian tribes with different things to do. My group had to "ask permission to travel through other tribes' lands", but wasn't allowed to use any known language to ask! Since no one else in my group seemed enthusiastic about it and instead seemed to rely on me (because of theatre class), I had to do the gestures and ask for permissions. It was fun to do, but I don't think I want to be in a real Indian tribe hundreds of years ago!

During theatre class, we learned more about acting on the stage. A few people actually did their monologues today, and they were really good! I'm getting nervous about doing my monologue.. probably next week!

I ate at the cafeteria with the theatre friends and stayed with them until I got tired of their company.. then I went to the library and spent some time reading (which didn't prove to be a very good time either).

Finally, it was time for the geography class! I don't mind this class, but I get sleepy at around this time (3:15~4:30pm) and it's sometimes hard to concentrate. We didn't get the results of our midterm exam, but started learning about the lithosphere, which includes studies of volcanoes and earthquakes.

We got home at last! Priscilla and I started watching American Idol while Naomi and Erin were out.. by the end of this week there will be only 12 contestants left! At night, I worked on my Photoshop a little to prepare for tomorrow's art class... which will be my only class tomorrow. Hurray!

A Feast during Class

I had a fun day at school in the morning. The art class was normal, but we got to learn some new tools which are fun to use! However, there is so much that can be done with Photoshop that we can't possibly cover everything in class.. so it is up to me to practice at home.

Next came the fun part: English midterm class! Normally, midterm wouldn't be fun, but this was an exception! Everyone brought food: there was poke, cooked soy beans (edamame), noodles, Subway sandwiches, doughnuts, cookies, chips, and various other goodies. Mmmm I love poke! I donated some Pringles and Cheetos. Well, we did do short presentations of our anthologies, but according to the instructor, "it's just an excuse to throw a party"! There was a plenty of leftovers, which everyone took home (of course, we donated a goodly amount to the teacher for allowing us to do this). :P


I went home with Naomi after class finished at 12:00pm. By then I was too full to have a "proper" lunch. Naomi and I went to Longs to do a little shopping.
In the evening, after Priscilla had returned from her babysitting job, Naomi, Priscilla and I went to see the movie "16 Blocks", with Bruce Willis! It had been so long since I had last been to a movie theatre, so it was great!

I got to play with Photoshop some more after getting home.
Now I gotta get ready and prepare for another long day at school tomorrow!

Fun with Photoshop! (yay Oscar Awards!)

This morning, we had a great morning service.. Erin and I played the instruments during worship. For the sermon, we listened to one of Pastor's sermons from February, titled "Our Creed".

At around noon, e all went to a nice little beads shop that Naomi wanted to go to. However, we found it temporarily closed for about an hour, so we stopped gy at a nearby restaurant to eat lunch. Mmm the sandwich was good, and we got to take home cakes for dessert to eat later! The beads shop itself was really interesting.. made me want to try making stuff with beads too. It's a really nice and productive hobby to pick up. I've played with plastic beads a very long time ago, and remember being frustrated every time the little beads went flying everywhere!

After we got back, I started playing around with Photoshop a little and managed to edit the pictures to use for my anthology. I'm so glad I finally completed the anthology of Hawaiian literature.. it is 12 pages long!

Then I made 3 simple photo collages using Photoshop. Thanks Naomi for showing me how to use the layer mask! :D I enjoyed using the Illustrator for my previous project, but I think I like Photoshop better.. there is much more creativity involved.

From 6:00pm, the four of us gathered and had an evening service/prayer meeting/discussion time during which I received both encouragement and conviction. Reminded me once again that I must continue to work on my social skills.. it has always been one of my chiefest problems.

During and after dinner, we watched the Oscar Awards! :) It was fun to see who or which movie would win the various awards. I'm happy that King Kong won a few, including best visual effects (it certainly deserved that one!). Narnia also won one award for best makeup.


Tomorrow should be an interesting day at school.. we will have our midterm during English class, which means we'll "eat, drink and be merry" while listening to other students give presentations of their anthology! I wonder what food everyone's going to bring! :P

Jellicle Cats come out tonight ~~

Today there was no school!! However, I did do my studies for a few hours (with a plenty of breaks in between, of course!).

Not much to say about the afternoon, except that Priscilla, Naomi and I watched the sequel to the "Thin Man". After that, I continued writing my anthology for the English class. All I can say about it is that it's not very fun to do.


At 6:00pm, Erin and I left for the Army Community Theatre to see "Cats"! This was my first experience to go to a community theatre here, so it was fun. We had some trouble getting to the place, because it is a place for military people, and the directions were confusing. However, we somehow made it to the theatre in time!

I'll list the good things about the performance first: some of the cast members (some, not all) were great singers, and performed very energetically. The stunts like cartwheels and backflips were impressive as well. A few of the cast also did a great job of looking like cats.


The bad things about the performance: Some of the people were not very good singers, esp. Munkustrap (a big disappointment as he's one of my favorites!). The dances were not very synchronized.. they probably didn't have enough practice or something. Then there were the technical problems with the microphones and speakers... argh!! Those were so annoying! The funniest part of the whole thing took place during what was supposed to be the best trumpet solo near the end, when the trumpet sound totally broke up and couldn't reach the top notes.. Erin and I just couldn't stop laughing! I'll bet the poor trumpet guy must be so embarrassed!

Well, here are a few of my favorite cats (these pics are from the professional show):



Munkustrap, the narrator and the leader.

Mr. Mistoffelees, the magical cat

Skimbleshanks the railway cat.

Victoria, the white ballerina kitten.

I ordered a DVD of the broadway version, and I can't wait to see it so I can compare this production to the professional one. :) It was an amateur show, but I still enjoyed it. Writing a music report on this experience is going to be fun!

One Midterm done! Lots more to go...

This morning's music class was very interesting.. we listed literally dozens of names of American Indian tribes and described their lifestyle depending upon the region. The funny thing is that next Tuesday, we have to get into about 7 different groups, representing different tribes. Each tribe is supposed to speak different languages (or gibberish), and do what it is assigned to do. My tribe has to "travel around, asking permission from other tribes to travel through their lands". Only this is probably going to cause trouble as we can't speak the same language! I have a feeling that there is going to be a hostile tribe somewhere. It's going to be funny to do all of this in class!

During theatre class, we learned about positions on stage, which was very interesting. The last half of the class, which was a scene done by some other students, were totally weird, and I did not like it!

After having lunch with the other students at the cafeteria as usual, Priscilla and I moved over to another table in the cafeteria to study for our geography midterm with another Japanese student, called Kaori. She's a very nice girl, and I think she was very happy that we could help her study. We studied fervently (?) for about 2 hours, then went to class!

The actual exam was not so bad: 25 multiple choice questions, 3 essay questions. There was one bonus question as well, and I got it correct! I don't think I did that bad, though there are most likely a few mistakes.

Naomi cooked curry for dinner! :D Mmm.. I didn't think I missed Japanese curry so much! In the evening and at night, I worked on my Anthology homework a little more and did other random things.

There is no school tomorrow! There's some kind of "No Instruction Day" or something. I'm sure that students and teachers alike are happy... I certainly am!

Woah, it's raining very heavily outside.. hope the weather won't be so bad tomorrow.

Geography: "to write earth"
yup, it literally means that!

This morning, I woke up with a headache! A little unexpected, because I hadn't had it the night before. I went to the art class, which was the only class I had today. I can't remember much from class though, and looking at the computer screen in a dark room (the projector was on) did not help my headache. I know we worked on some Photoshop tools though.

Priscilla drove me home after that, so I spent some time at home trying to sleep (which I couldn't), then started my homework. There is a plenty to do, because there is a midterm coming up this week, and also a couple of projects due next week. Progress was very slow, though, because I found it hard to concentrate on any one thing.

Through combined effort, Priscilla and I made a 9-page-long study guide for Geography midterm that includes all the questions and their answers! It took hours to make, so I am hoping it will be worth it.
I remember having a dream about volcanoes and floods last week, after studying a lot of geography the night before. I spent most of the evening and night studying for tomorrow's geography midterm, and I hope I won't have any dream about it tonight!

Wish us luck for tomorrow's test! ;)