Thursday, June 22, 2006

Kailua waterfall

Jeff's underway again this week. I've kept myself pretty busy, considering I still don't have a job or any real prospects!

Tuesday, Annie and I hiked to a waterfall in Kailua where you can climb up on the rock and jump off into this freshwater river. The hike was relatively easy, and it was a very popular spot for high schoolers to hang out. She took the picture to the left when I was about to jump off (I was wearing Jeff's shorts, teehee)!

Other than that, I've mostly been doing school-related stuff, that and staying on hold for an hour only to find out my stuff from Columbia has actually been on the island since June 16th and the earliest they'll deliver it is July 5th (the day before I leave for Indianapolis), which means it will have taken more than two months to get here. I guess I can't complain too much about July 5th; at least Jeff will have the stuff while I am gone and I can busy myself with organizing when I get back and he's gone, so maybe it'll go by quickly. I am just glad I had the foresight to pack my immunization record in my suitcase (it seemed weird at the time, but I knew it would come in handy!) because otherwise I would be waiting until all my stuff gets here to send in all my health paperwork - and I wouldn't be able to register for classes until everything was turned in to the university. Right now there are plenty of seats in the classes I need, but it looks like the biology lecture is going to be an 8:30am Monday/Wednesday/Friday, which is going to be particularly nasty since I have to drive or take a bus across the island to get to class! Sounds like I will be waking up around the same time as Jeff!!!

I'm finding it is difficult to get financial aid as a non-degree-seeking student; if anyone has any experience or advice, let me know!

--jess

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Jess does a little dance of elation...

I just got my acceptance letter to the University of Hawaii at Manoa!!! I will be starting class in the fall! So now I have University email, too, if you would rather email me there: jmday@hawaii.edu. I have no idea how to check it yet, and I can't register for classes until I get a health form filled out that I can't print yet...I think I might have to get creative here!

--jess

Monday, June 19, 2006

Sunday driving

Jeff and I revisited the drive around the island Sunday. It was a lot different this time - first of all, when I drove it, I was in his car and had just gotten the windows tinted, so I couldn't roll down the windows! It was nice to be able to smell things and enjoy the weather. We stopped off in Laie (left) for a picnic and to walk around on the rocky cliff (it is a short cliff, but a cliff nonetheless! Jeff and I were speculating whether people jump off of it, but we figured they probably don't because the waves would smack them right into the rock unless the jump were timed perfectly). We were, of course, doing this in flip flops, and I stubbed my toe on the rock. So Jeff helped me back down to the water so that I could wash the blood and sand out of my flip flop, and I was thinking the whole time that I would attract a shark and become the indirect cause of some unsuspecting boogey boarder being devoured.

Two of the landmarks along the road in Laie are Brigham Young University and the Polynesian Cultural Center. You can tell where the turns are by the enormous tikis (right). Across the street from the tikis was a bus stop where a rooster was strutting around like he owned the place - if you want to see him, check out the photo site here. I think I got desensitized to the idea of chickens running around in the wild being weird after going to Key West!

We stopped at a couple of other places on the way to Kaneohe, including a beach where Jeff relelentlessly chased this bird until he could get a picture of it!


Incidentally, this is the beach where Jeff chased the bird, and we were told by Dan and Annie that the island in the background is Chinaman's Hat.

After that, we decided to continue on 83 instead of hitting the H3 and coming home like I did - I thought maybe that way would take us through Waimanalo, but needless to say our efforts were thwarted by a dead end in the Marine barracks! Instead, we turned around and visited Dan and Annie (Dan was in ROTC with Jeff in college) and their dog, Buster in Kaneohe. We hung out at the beach in Kaneohe a bit before making the trek back home in time for dinner - it seems like a lot to see in one afternoon!

--jess

Sunday, June 18, 2006

New phones

We have switched our service to Cingular - our new numbers are Jess 808-351-0894 and Jeff 808-351-1069.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Online wedding photo album

It is a work in progress, but click here to see our wedding photos! I hope to be done this morning.

--jess

Honu!


In yet more animal news, I saw honu today on spontaneous drive around around the northern side of the island. Basically, I took Jeff's car in for maintenance and decided I should test it to make sure they did a good job, so I took a lovely little drive from Waipahu up the H2 until it ended, then to the North shore and on 83 all the way until I hit Kaneohe, where I came back down the H3, hit the H1 for a little way, and got back home on the H2. So basically a big circle around the island, only missing the southern leeward side where we looked at condos for my parents and the very eastern parts like Waimanalo, Honolulu and Waikiki. I didn't really feel like dealing with the traffic around Honolulu, and the drive back on the H3 from Kaneohe is interesting because the mountains almost enclose Kaneohe like a fort - you drive on this crazy high bridge (just don't look down) through a tunnel through the mountains to get out. It's pretty gorgeous.

Along the way, I stopped at another place we hadn't been on the North Shore, a little farther up (I forget what it was called), which is where I saw the honu. Also along the way I saw lots of neat things - fresh shrimp shacks, flower stores, little surf shops, streetside fruit vendors, Brigham Young University, the Polynesian Cultural Center (which really looks interesting for when people visit...), and lots of neat little beaches. I am not sure what the name of it was because the signs weren't great - maybe Kahana Bay? - but it was similar to Waimanalo with the white wide beaches and turquoise water, only you can see several islands off the coast instead of just one. I definitely got a few ideas of things for Jeff and me to do for fourth of July weekend!

I need to start taking the camera along with me on these spontaneous walks and road trips, jeez. But it's a good excuse to do it all again when Jeff is here. We had a pretty great weekend before he got underway Monday (he'll be back tomorrow); he took me Cirque Hawaii! I love watching Cirque du Soleil shows on Bravo sometimes, so I was very excited about seeing it in person. Neither of us were disappointed; there were so many incredible performers - magicians, ribbon dancers, jump ropers, etc. We went to a very delicious Caribbean/Mexican place before that, too, but we were in a bit of a hurry because the show started early. Afterward, Jeff took me to what he claims is the best-smelling store ever, and I tend to agree. They sold macademia nuts, coffee, chocolates, and cookies...
Our wedding photos came in today, if you couldn't tell by the random senseless placement throughout this post. I had a good chuckle because after all the debate over the Captain Morgan picture of Jeff - after I finally gave in and sent it back to the company - they returned ALL of the pictures and digital copies to us, which was very, very nice of them. As you can see, I am one snarky woman because I posted it rather large at the beginning of this entry (Jeff's gonna kill me, but I just did it because it was funny...). Actually, that would be more because I still think it's a pretty awesome picture of him and I think the people who read this will also enjoy it. There will be more to come, especially if Jeff or I have your address and we know you want a CD (I will probably work on copying and mailing those out next week, actually). I am also working on an online album and will link to it from here, but the images will be less than 1MB, so they'd print out okay for smaller shots, but enlargements would be fuzzy. I hope you enjoyed the previews!

--jess

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Safari!

Today I was taking a strenuous walk up the big hill on our street, when just a little past our house, I heard some rustling in the woods near the stream. I stopped and looked, and there were two feral pigs and a chicken! Ever since Jeff told me that feral pigs like to hang out on this side of the island, I have been hoping I'd spot one, and there they were, looking just like normal pigs except for black, and they weren't in the typical farmhouse pen and wallowing around in the mud, rather, they were rooting around in the bushes! I had to wonder if the chicken was their tour guide; is there one chicken for every set of feral pigs, or were the pigs chasing the chicken or vise versa? Are they in cahoots? Are they planning a Animal Farm style uprising on our lanai while we're sleeping?

But, yes, I am thrilled that I have spotted the ellusive feral pig, so now all I have left on my Oahu scavenger hunt are waterfalls, whales, and sharks. Not the normal sharks you can see in the aquarium - the big, scary man-eating kind - but hopefully not when we're swimming.

--jess