aloha from hawai'i

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free
Run away, find you a lover
Go away somewhere all bright and new
I have seen no other
Who compares with you
Run away, go find a lover
Run away, let your heart be your guide
You deserve the deepest of coverYou belong in that home by and by
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong somewhere close to me
Far away from your trouble and worryYou belong somewhere you feel free

You belong somewhere you feel free
~Tom Petty "Wildflowers"

Carneval!

Juneau's having a Carneval parade & party tomorrow with dance performances and music representing different Latin styles. I've never celebrated Carneval before, or Mardi Gras, so I am really excited. Plus, the organizers asked me to emcee, which is puzzling because I'm not a local personality or even particularly culturally festive. And I was asked to dress up in a Carmen Miranda outfit. Yes, they even have a big hat of plastic fruit and a fake bird. And huge grape bunch earrings. If you were to glance really quickly at my wardrobe, the first impression a lot of people would get is, "does she wear anything other than red or black??" No, I really don't. This costume is electric blue, neon green, hot pink, and yellow. It has sequins, and it's poofy. It will be really nerve-wracking and scary to be wearing something that audacious in front of a couple hundred people while trying to verbally entertain them at the same time, so of course I said yes. Wish me luck. Ack!

i'm swimming in love

holy hawaii. every flower in here is exotic. when the delivery guy came, i asked if he was my strippergram and if there was a hidden boombox button in the bouquet. his face was as red as my roses. but i'm just spreadin the love. today. rocks.

birthday fun

fun with flowers
fun with emily

fun with squirrely and lisa*

*lisa & i dug out a super old polaroid which is why the photos look like they're from 1972.

i'm not making this up

the world & other places

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." -- St. Augustine

"War, it is said, is God's way of teaching Americans geography. As Iraq sinks into the mire, President Bush's attention is turning to Algeria. He is, we are told, reading Alistair Horne's "A Savage War of Peace," the definitive account of the French twentieth-century experience of fighting Muslim insurgents." ~The Independent

get dirty get clean get some new scene to wipe the dirt off everything that touches you and takes you far from faith ~voxtrot

in a much better mood :o) apparently, i was just craving coffee. and a good smack in the ass. coming up: book clubs, murder mystery dinner?, carneval, and a rabbit. and of course, the BIG (island) one! h to the a to the wa ee.

What Really Grinds My Gears

1. That applying to 6 cultural studies/law dual programs requires over $1000. This will buy you an entire undergrad degree in most EU universities, and it’s just the tip of the depressing iceberg that is grad school expenses. I would love to fuck that couch, but I also hope to sleep on it. Damnit.

2. Fakers. Not situational fakers but people who habitually walk around with an insincere veneer. This is lifetime overall #1 gear-grinder, but since I’m in the midst of exam prep hell, I am superficially relegating it to 2 for the time being. Americans have a bad international rep for being incredibly fake, like soap opera, oozing fake. A blanket generalization, sure, but I don’t think the degree of fakery - which I see many display, daily even - is an exaggeration. There are hyper fakers: for example, girls that squeal, “heyyy!!! How are you??? Oh my god!” Then there’s the really devious faker who shows nothing but sweetness to your face and then turn around to a different friend and say, “I can’t fucking stand that son of a bitch. Why do they even exist?” Some people consider this trait politeness. Like furtively stabbing someone in the back is more polite than shooting someone in the face. I’m a face shooter. Harsh, but you see it coming a mile away and affords you the opportunity to run.

3. When people buy into/put trust in fakers despite seeing them as fakers because they too would like to be polite and don’t want to upset the social balance or whatever. Part-time fakers - in the same category (but not necessarily the same thing) as cowardly liberals. Thank them for the policies of brash fundamentalists.

4. Brash fundamentalists.

5. The potentially negative transformative powers of couplehood. Either they are suddenly so much wiser now for having bagged a significant other and thus condescend upon lowly singles still so lost and unaware in their life direction. Or, they’re so ensconced in their love bubble that everything must be “we”, and any individual trait/interest/friend must either be adapted to become a mutual one or disposed.

6. People who have to constantly claim or remind you that they’re “something”, be it smart, older than you, charitable, artistic, cool, etc. if you really are something, just be it man. People will get it on their own.

If I’ve sounded bitter and foul lately, that’s because I am. I hope those sweet clear waters of Hawaii cleanses me. (i ordered this new tankini --> i hope it fits or that will also grind my gears.)