This moment

How I feel:
Relaxed, sore and a little sunburned from work, mildly homesick, warm

What I'm eating:
Granola and soy yogurt and dried papaya from Mana Health Food Store

What I'm doing:
Making collages of the Pacific NW and Hawaii, writing letters

What I'm listening to:
AIR, Bebel Gillberto, Be Good Tanyas

Lowest point of my day:
Trying to keep eight non-English speaking Japanese tourists from drowning in Molokini Crater

Highest point of my day:
Seeing those same eight survive and succeed at snorkeling and disembark the boat beaming

Other highest point of my day:
Finding out my girls on the mainland may actually make it out here afterall! Hooray!!!

What I'm reading these days:
Secret Life of Bees

My new favorite hobby:
Making photo albums
Watching geckos

Movies I've watched recently:
The Devil Wears Prada
Cars

Movies I'm eagerly awaiting their Maui release:
Prairie Home Companion
Little Miss Sunshine

Sport I want to try:
Windsurfing

Latest Life plan:
Winter '06 to Spring '07- Learn about eco-tourism and non-profits and whales in Maui. Be tan and happy. Take GREs.

Summer '07- Work on a wildlife watching boat in Juneau, Alaska. Hike glaciers. Smoke salmon.

Fall '07- Roadtrip around States visiting PT/WU/Maui friends and looking at grad schools. Drive bio diesel/electric car.

Winter '08 to Infinity- Travel with Mom to Cuba. Go back to Africa. Apply and attend grad school. Possibly try Peace Corps.

Start an environmental dance related non-profit. Drive a biodiesel car, smoke salmon, be happy.


xoxo

Love, KaiGirl

And the Days Go By

Well, it’s been awhile, how about an update? A week after I returned from my month in Thailand I got promoted to Team Leader/First Mate on my boat, Ocean Odyssey. Woo hoo! (WU who are you?) I am really excited about this, I trained all last month and today was my official first day. Let me just say it wasn’t kind to me- I got rocked. We ran out of breakfast, tied up to the wrong mooring, and I somehow managed to flip my kayak in a way that it knocked me upside the head. In front of all the passengers. Awesome. Needless to say I’m hoping for a smoother day tomorrow. In general the promotion doesn’t change much for me, just more responsibility and better pay. Once I get the hang of it, I’m sure it will be fun. I’m ready for a challenge.

Summer in Maui is suspiciously similar to winter in Maui. We have used the A/C twice on particularly warm days but other than that, it could be the middle of February. I have never lived anywhere in my short life where August could be mistaken for February, or visa versa. It’s very bizarre, I worry it’s altering me in some irreversible way rendering me unable to ever live in a cold place again. That better not be true! My next adventure after Maui is spending a few months in Alaska (starting May ‘07 I hope). My poor body is going to go through some real shock if that happens, no doubt.

We bought a second car (a tiny white Honda) for $300 that gets about 40 mi/gal. Sweet! I now drive that for my 30 minute commute to work. I think the Subaru is jealous. I have decorated my dashboard with shells and mini buddahs and I have to sing to myself as I drive since the radio doesn’t work and there’s no place to plug in the iPod.

A new family moved in next door and now we are serenaded every evening by the rock band that has taken over their basement. Band practice runs about an hour and consists of lots of guitar solos during songs like House of the Rising Sun. I’ve been tempted to lean out the window and yell “Free bird!” but Ryan doesn’t think it’s the best way to start our neighborly relations.

Monica just left after a wonderful two-week visit, I was really sad to see her go. Spending time with her made me miss the mainland a lot and everyone over there. But I swear, I’ll probably end up seeing more friends and family living here a year and a half than living anywhere else. Those who haven’t made the 5+ hour flight yet: I hope to see you this fall when I come home to the NW in October. It will be slow on the boats by then, summer snorkel season over and whale season not yet begun, so a good time to take off. I plan on making the rounds through WA, OR and possibly even CA. If any of those states correlate with your fall plans, give me a call. Let’s hang out.

Shout out to all the August babies! You know who you are.

Desserts of the month: Chocolate raspberry tofu pie and cinnamon pull apart bread

Love, AlohaThaiSummerKai

P.S. Homemade smoothies rock my world.

P.P.S. I went to African dance last night and we did so many booty drops I can barely walk.