Careful With That Axe, Eugene

This summer's been incredible so far, and keeps getting better. The entirety of my stay in Okinawa was as much as I could ask for, then I got to explore two cities that breach my top 5 city listings. I'd put them in order starting with best as following: Barcelona, New Orleans, Portland, Sydney, then Rio. Seattle was great, but Portland was full of rock babes, hippies, degenerates and collegiates. (My kind of place!) Not that Seattle didn't have it's share of these fun-loving party people, it's just that Portland shows it's colors with fervor. Walking down the street in Portland to meet up with a couple friends provided the opportunity for some eco-loving GreenPeace dudes to blast me with information about global warming. I got to talk about alternative energies, watch a double decked bike fly down the road with a top-hatted teen atop it, and the tattoos and gauges alone were enough to gawk at. In the pub our bartender had 2 inch gauges, and the waitresses were all good-looking and trendy. After drinking some of the best beer I'd had in months, (Rope Walker ale methinks...) We departed.
The drive down was beautiful, but jet lag got the best of Matt and I.

We showed up at this gorgeous lake home in the woods later that day, it had to be one of the coolest houses I've ever seen. After a quick meet-and-greet, dad, Christy and I went hiking. We saw some hawks and deer along the trail, and were supposed to keep an eye out for bears. The trees here are huge, and I'm not even in the redwoods yet. I've gone ATV-ing, and myriad other cool outdoor activities in the last 2 days. Among them, light up bocce ball and Great Dane-frisbee tug-of-war were probably my favorite. There's six dogs here total, with three huge Great Danes, (Nalu, Carter, Harvey) a cute labradoodle, (Josie), the tiny bulldog (Harley) and the patriarch mutt that has cancer, (Bill). Carter's the biggest, and competes with Josie for most loving. Bill reminds me a lot of my dog, Oso. Smart, obedient, just all around an amazing mutt. If you know me, you know how much having dogs here means to me. Anyone that would say cats are better, or dogs aren't worth having, really hasn't hung out with a dog before. The whole family out here is amazing too, as they basically are the family I never had. There's a biologist working on genetics, Tyler makes mandolins, Addie Lou was a body builder, some of them made kayaks, some make cabinetry, a bunch actually used the barter system for a long time. It's just different; refreshing, too. Everyone's from the West Coast, Cali brahs and Patagonia/Columbia/North Face-wearing hippies. With kid-names like Piper and Varona, you know they hug trees. (Which I love.) Kenny is a 30-year old guitarist that blows most string-twangers out of the water, and Matt lives off of the money he makes from BAGPIPE. Comfortably. Ever heard of the Kildares? That's him. Addie Lou's friend does the logistics for the big beer festival in California every year, and has impeccable taste. We've been drinking everything from Pacifica and Hop Czar to Corona and local brews. Everyone's got some eccentric niche, it's awesome. Today we took a couple of the off-road ready trucks on some paths. The owner of the cabin has a beefed up Suburban from the eighties, a couple of ATVs, dirtbikes, and a '90 Jeep Cherokee. My daily driver and moshmobile in high school was an '88, and it was amazing off the asphault. His was better. I had a sweet setup, but his had all the amenities plus the things I'd always wanted on mine. Needless to say, the backdrop provided for some of the most fun offroading I've ever seen. Tonight we got more beer, and most likely will attempt to play mountain top beer pong. That is, of course, only after face-painting and more fire-side stories.
Lovin' life in the backcountry.

Stoked In Seattle

My last day in Okinawa was (as usual) magnificent. I packed, finished messing with the Ipod playlists, and bought many last-minute gifts. The day was spent lazing around the seawall and eating sushi, and the night was Oki-typical. We searched for izakayas and eventually found one, drank strange brews and laughed at the craziness that was this summer. The usuals showed up at our house as Ryan was finishing tattoos before people left the island, and we started drinking. We continued drinking as we had an intoxicated romp to the nearest Familymart, grabbed true Oki-goodies and guffawed the whole way back. Somehow I cut my toe open on a piece of sheet metal in a parking garage trying to climb up a cement pole.. yeahh.. no comment. Everyone left and Matt and I sat up talking about how much we'll miss the damn place.

The next morning, we all gathered into the van and launched toward the airport. Ryan sent us off, and I basically passed back out again. This time on an airplane. Woke up in Osaka's airport, which is by the way built on recycled trash! Very cool. We had a long layover in which we got bomb-ass massages. The little Japanese girl that massaged me kept asking if it was hard enough, but I think she could've put her body weight into it to no avail. It was extremely pleasurable nonetheless, no innuendo neccessary. The next plane ride was the long one, the unmistakably crappy one. It was nice that this one went to Seattle instead of Atlanta. We left our stuff at the hotel and shot off into the city, which is gorgeous. Every twenty feet was a different odor: fresh Pacific seafood, incense, smoke from a restaurant, gnarly hippies, dogs, sharp cheeses, fresh-cut flowers, saltwater, gutterstank, French fries and fresh fruits/veggies... It was the best-smelling city I've ever been in. The locals were a strange breed too; as the majority have either piercings and black on, tie-dye and dreads, or marathon shirts and running shoes. I think I'd fit in with any of those crowds! I could totally picture myself wearing running clothes but learning some guitar riffs from a sensei hippy under a tree. (And thinking about what I want pierced, heh) We shopped around and visited a microbrewery, with some decent beer. It was better than any beer in Okinawa, I'll give them that. We ate at a fancy-shmancy French restaurant overlooking the water. It's been a hot minute since I've eaten escargot, and my salmon was fantastic! I'm fairly sure I'll live in Seattle for some part of my life in the future.
We got back to the hotel to reset our batteries, then woke up the next morning and took off again.
Today we actually met up with some of Holly's family at their home in hilly suburbia. We checked a waterfall out in the morning, then ate at a tasty Mexican place on the other side of the city. The waterfall was huge, I don't think I've ever been above a waterfall and felt the mist hit me. Meeting new stepfamily was great, and everyone seemed very interesting. Apparently I've only met the Republican side, and the people I'll meet in the redwoods are the 'liberal' side. It's a bit more difficult to understand than that, as several of them bartered for a long time instead of using money. One guy makes mandolins, another makes kayaks, and still another makes cabinets. It'll be strange to me, but I'm very excited.

KanPAI!!!

I woke up to the sound of the East China Sea pushing up against sea jacks again. It's the most soothing sound in the world to me. It was almost immediately destroyed by the sharp, high-pitched sound of Razz, the dog we're babysitting. I would say dogsitting, but Razz is like a child. A loud, shrieking child. The mama-san's back from her week-long departure of tending to other people's unfinished chores. She boggles my mind. It's this tiny Uchinanchu woman that takes care of laundry, mopping, sweeping, dusting, dishes, cleaning generally everything from the shoe-clad Japanese entranceway to the fountain-esque toilets in every bathroom. Her job would kill me, and I have tremendous respect for the Okinawans. I say Okinawans because they're entire history is centered around taking care of other invading countries. It's a kind of metaphor I suppose. She does all the dirty work around the house, and we all go out and enjoy the land we took from them. We force our language, our ideals, religion, and culture on them and they just take it. With a smile. The kicker, and it's sad to point out, is that if we didn't, Japan or China or some other big country would move in and do our "job". A link for unbelievers...:
http://www.okinawan-shorinryu.com/okinawa/history.html
The last couple days have shown me just how diverse this island is. Last night I went to a Persian-owned hookah bar, saw legitamite Arabian metal hookahs, and ate at a Nepalese restaurant where the owner cooked everything for us in what looked to me like traditional recipes and cookware. The kicker is that I went to a firmly Japanese ka-ra-o-ke bar afterwards. I used the hyphens to show that it fits into Hiragana (Japanese simple form alphabet) and to emphasize the Japanese culture that persisted there. This island has so much soul. How the locals are nice at all I cannot explain, as they get the short end of the stick in every draw. I love the Rock, AKA Okinawa. I've got myself excited and now must go skate the island.
Peace-U, ne?

Oppressive Winds

It's been really windy lately. It's been the kind of wind that just pushes you back no matter what direction you face, and makes for sloooow board rides. The date's closing in on when I leave this rocky paradise, and I am not too excited. In fact, I'm just plain stressed. There are so many places and things I didn't get to see this summer that I've gotta start cramming them all in this last week or so. Gyoukosendo Cave, Shuri Castle, one day of north island board riding, and shopping for the state-side friends all need to get done still. It probably doesn't help that I've been feverishly sorting my music library. One thing many of you know about me is that I'm obsessive compulsive to the max, and another you might not know is that I have around 20k songs in my library. Most people don't understand the need to have everything under the sun, but when you're on a long plane ride or half-hour break at work it just makes sense. My continual excuse for not updating the beastly 160GB Ipod in the last year is that it's just a pain in the patoots, but due to a large amount of time spent above twenty thousand feet it's a necessity in my book. The crazy wind hasn't been able to keep me from pushing my longboard around Oki. I had planned to just go out for an hour long skate around the seawall yesterday, but it turned into a horse of a different color with the updated Ipod. I switched between my heavy rock playlist and the "Robbie, Go Surf" playlist I had prepared, and the music took me far.
I started up the big hill to Kadena's Gate 1, and before I could even get any hills in I saw a group of Japanese guys playing soccer at Baba Park! I could hardly hop off the board fast enough! I asked to jump in and they roughly briefed me on goal posts, teams, and boundaries. (There were no boundaries, that is.) Within probably twenty minutes I had scored four goals on the little soccer field and gotten kicked off due to the other team's frustration. Never in my life have I seen such angry little Japanese dudes. They proclaimed, "Ookisugiru!" Which Kaito told me meant I was too big to play with them. Kaito was the only "English" speaking guy out there. He also apologized for the other team then bowed and said in broken English, "Stanky you for the goals." It made me feel great. Just to ease my mind I asked him what grade they were in, and he said something to the effect of Ryukyu College. (I didn't want to feel good about whooping up on some high schoolers, but thank goodness they were around my age! Hah. Crybabies.)
I got the board back to the pavement and headed to Gate One. Near the top of that hill there was a sweet little skateboard shop, but they didn't understand the word,"Bearings." Damn language barrier. The wind practically shot me down Highway 58, and I was jamming, so I just continued past Mihama into American Village. Nobody can argue with Audioslave and Bad Company. I did get into trouble with a police officer for the first time in Okinawa yesterday. American Village is a crowded place, usually. It wasn't today so I just skated through, and this mallcop-esque JP popped out and asked me for my ID. I gave it to him and asked why he needed it. Apparently it's not cool to be shirtless outside? I walked just out of sight and hopped back on. The journey continued to change scenery, Foster, Shipwreck Park, slummy ghetto apartment buildings, Uniqlo, Familymart, Lawson, Familymart, Lawson, Lawson. It got to the point where I was simply counting the number of FamilyMarts I passed to judge the distance I went. When I finally decided I'd need to turn around, I had just gotten to this huge entranceway.

Being in an exploratory mood, I conceded to the wanderlust. There were a bunch of flag drills going on in a field and croquet. Croquet was a bit foreign to me so I watched a game while enjoying Pocari Sweat. (Gross right? Wrong. Delicious.) After the old Japanese guys stared at me staring at them, one guy made a gesture as if he wanted me to take his next swing. I was delighted, and obviously partook. I did my best and like to think I was on par with the other croquet players. After my one swing I bowed as elegantly as I could and handed him the club back. Domo arigatou gozaimasu! The locals yet again have made me feel at home. I love that about Okinawan culture. The trip back was a bit arduous, I had forgotten how far I skated, but it was totally worth it.
Right when I decided it was naptime, the family was gearing up for the concert I had forgotten about. Irresponsible? Maybe. Either way, I got lucky and made it back with thirty minutes to shower, shave, and suit up. The main attraction was Dave Ralston Band. Well, that was what we went to see anyway. My main attraction was the all-you-can-eat BBQ food! Wowser. I probably ate several animals. When the food was mostly eaten, Dave Ralston and company marched on-stage. He's a drug and alcohol counselor that doesn't drink; despite this, he is still somewhat raunchy and in my stepmother's opinion, sexy. He hit on every Japanese girl in the place, and invited everyone to an after-party. Pretty cool guy. He also played: (ironically) Cocaine by Clapton, and Crazed Country Rebel by Hank Williams III, and a sweet rendition of No Woman, No Cry. He also, for some reason, had this hilarious, overjoyed woman onstage called Midori. She played the pineapple and the wooden shells and whistle...? It was kinda weird. She had great stage presence though, and energized the whole crowd. Oh and there was a belly dancer? Their original songs were mostly bluesy, but had an incredible range of influences. We returned to the house and I was out cold. I woke up around eight and joined a strange collection of friends to journey to the north end of the island. The plan was to go bathe, swim and whatnot at a mountain waterfall near Okuma. We got to Aja first, and figured we might as well go grab a couple of pictures there as it's the last time we might be here for years. We hopped around the falls and swam with some big German Shepards. A large group of Americans with kids had shown up right after us. We craved a bit more space so we left for an attempt at the original goal. Oku was a bit further down the road, but has a fun waterfall and jumping rock. We brought along dive masks for the rock bottomed clear water. We must've been there for 4 hours before we got hungry. Matt and I had gone to this soba restaurant near Oku last time we were at Okuma, and we knew it was the only option. It was genuinely the best soba I'd had this trip. It was the kind of meal that makes you satisfied enough to laugh at silly things and fall asleep, which is precisely what I did. We also checked out Hedo Point, which scares the crap outta me every time we're up there. It's sheer cliff walls with nothing to hold you back, with a breathtaking view. I passed out in the car again, and this time listening to something mellower than Dave Ralston, Dave Matthews. Big-Eyed Fish rang in my head the whole way home. Tomorrow we have planned a Father's Day around the missed landmarks: Shuri, Gyokousendo, and perhaps Fabb's Curry for dinner. Perfect day, in my opinion.

Drained by Doldrums

Making the most out of this trip has been one of many goals I've set this summer. The lazy islander culture has definitely set in, but with so many activities to dig into nobody should be bored here. The only days I've let the sunlight go to waste are the ones I've spent hungover, or sore and healing. This weekend was supposed to be the best one we've spent here, but things fell apart a bit. It happens to everyone, and with all the fun I've been having lately it's really only fair that a couple days float drearily off into the China Sea. I did get to party with some old friends, and get a window into their lives. They took me to the new Globe & Anchor building. One is making 70K a year and refused to let me buy pitchers of beer until he couldn't walk, and the other is trying to get married to this excessively voluptuous woman. It was hard to not gawk, and I'll leave it at that. I'm not exactly the 'clubbing' sort, but after a few drinks the music just speaks to you. I got asked several times why I had long hair, (as everyone and their mother in the club were military) and found out I have some superhuman drunken billiards skills. I cannot make five balls in a row in that game, but that Friday I definitely finished a game in four or five turns. Coco's was delicious, and completely decimates Waffle House or Whataburger. Curry and rice with whatever you want in it; add to that a piece of Nan bread and some potato curls... Genius.


Another great installment is FamilyMart. Think 7/11 on steroids, flipped Japanese style. That means cheap sushi for breakfast. A vital stop before surfing or on car trips, FamilyMart's are amazing. This Saturday was supposed to be the 'big party' that everyone shows up at, but it was a bit weak in comparison to my hopes. Beer pong persisted on the first level, along with appetizers, pizza, and Super Smash. The second story was for the 'adults', which I am one of now apparently, and gossip while watching the beer pong through the glass patio floor. The makings of a true party? Almost. People showed up slowly and stayed late, it was fun for a nerd (Ie:me) but probably not the majority of people that came. The last thought of the night for me was, "uh oh, I have to get sleep according to the surf report!" I ended up sleeping in late, past my alarm clock. The depressing mood of this post may stem from the fact that I didn't see any surf today, although I heard it was supposed to be excellent. I spent the day skating instead, and scoping out the low-tide snorkel crowd. Low tide meant no surfable waves, but people-watching wasn't a bad alternative. Once I grew tired of that, I hit the gym. Risner to be exact. I am a firm non-believer in crowded gym atmosphere, so I got in, did shoulders and abs, and got out. (The logic there is that I need bigger paddling muscles to keep up with the better guys!) The rain left the track wide open for Robbie Reign, and I got my full 3 miles in. I figured that as long as I exercise hard, I can rest hard tooWe also watched Robin Hood this weekend, which was always my favorite Disney movie. I love the idea of a virtuous thief, even though the movie was more geared towards revenge and corruption. Russell Crowe is super badass, just for the record. The more lazy days like this that I have, the more eager I am to leave island and make way with my plan for the semester in college. It's not exactly an exciting one, but putting my face to the grindstone would help me forget all about the lack of woman in my life at the moment. Not that I want to get into the vast, dangerous realm of love and emotion again, but loneliness does take it's toll. It's a good thing tomorrow is Monday, and I can go into school tomorrow with something to do. Each following day holds soccer, basketball, soccer again, and God-willing, surf on every day! A guy can wish right?

Concrete, Reef and Joga Bonito

Today was simply fantastic. I am so content because somehow I skated, snorkeled, and played soccer in one day.
I get to skate pretty regularly in Okinawa, but Ryan took me on a route from the top of Kadena's Gate One down around Hwy. 58 and through the sidestreets. A smooth, safe route is always good, but this had obstacles and organic feeling concrete that just took my breath away. We need more longboards in this house. The snorkel was brief, just to spy on fish while the sun was high. It's nice to just dip into the water and see some crazy tropical wildlife, perhaps even National Geographic-esque. The soccer was, well, it's my favorite thing. My dad and Razz the Pipsqueak accompanied me to the soccer field that Sgt. Cuellar had invited me to. They're supposed to play every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm. Today I accidentally got there a bit early. We waited from the car to see if anyone would show up. On the three fields, there were rugby players, la crosse players, and a guy juggling a soccer ball. A small group of Marines passed by with a ball, and I kinda invited myself over. I saw another, smaller group and also kinda forced a game to ensue. Once we collected, moved some la crosse goals (haha suckers) and warmed up we went at it. Eventually three other guys I had previously invited showed up too. I was very excited to get to play the beautiful game with some old buddies. As Brendan Stanford played with me in, ohhh... sixth grade? Brant and I never got a proper game going in the states. It's like rounding up cats trying to get a game going over there.
Razz got a couple of legs that got too close to his bench. An hour of playing and people started leaving, but it was the most fun I've had in a long while. I love futbol.

Whitewash at Ewok Village

Everybody knows what Fridays mean: partytime. Matt and I wheeled over to Jeremy's yesterday for a sweet beerpong/Smash party that tops most of the parties I've been to this year. There was a great deal of imbibery and raunch. Normal Okibum-hosted madness amplified by the amount of people that showed up. Even a guy I knew from fourth grade, Chris Jenkins showed up! Sometime around midnight I overheard Jordan and Brant talking about surfing in the morning, and invited me. Expletive deleted, yeah I wanted to go. I almost immediately left, and packed everything that night, wetsuit, boardshorts, contacts, towel, hydrogen peroxide and some food... got picked up at 5:30am, Mexi-vanned it with all the boards and 4 people in one car and were severely dissappointed. We drove along the west side of the island for 2 hours and saw no waves. They break going east, and the forecast predicted double overhead! We were pretty upset, Brant the most as it was his first surf back. We started the descent of a island mountain, and arrived at a wall of trees that shot straight up with the rocky cliff. Still a bit hazy from the night before, we dubbed the mountain Ewok Village in accordance with the lovable, fuzzy inhabitants of Star Wars. We continue driving and see this epic little opening that just screamed paradise. Wailed it with some Homeric fervor, like a freakin' mythological beast. We had to dub the spot Ewok Village now. We did our best to drive down there, but the car was no Delica.


A quarter mile hoof up the rock beach we left our sandals and the keys. Brant and I had to pee so we were first in the water. He took off like a rocket, well, it felt like it because everyone was faster in the water than me. Alex passes me too. Jordan sticks with me and gives me pointers about paddling, which is nice because I look like a Viking on the teeny board I was using. No offense, teeny board riders. Once we got past the island, a weird rip current dragged us into a sharp rocky shallow area. The waves were picking up, so we got psyched. We charged them head on, and took a lot of punishment, me the most. (I'm not as fast of a paddler as them, remember?) I actually got sucked into the whitewash and was force fed about a gallon of Okireefwater. Delicious. I gave up the fight and paddled around the whitewash out past the breakers and joined the crew. We were all smiles, happy that everyone made it and was okay. At this point the waves have picked up and are agreeing with the surf report- overhead to doubleoverhead. Right when I got comfortable with the incoming waves, conversation of wave attack strategy and shallow reef underheel, one of the more magnificent of the wave-beasts shot up out of nowhere. Also remember that the reef is 2-3 feet underheel, and a big wave dries the area it's about to hit. This wave was angry. I was unprepared. It kicked my booty. I did a backward somersault, and landed backfirst on the coral/rockface. I tried to gather myself, sitting on the reef, underwater. It didn't make sense. Everywhere I looked I saw waves. I'm glad my head didn't get smashed, nor did I choke for breath or anything dire like that. I did, however, manage to have the leash pulled straight from my foot, and rip open my fingers, ankle, back and some knee. Board gone, I pathetically avoided waves as well as I could. No such luck. When I finally did make it to the afterparty out in glorious past-breaker smooth-water splendor, I was pumped. Everyone was cool, Jordan said don't worry about the board, and we discussed the game plan for me heading in. I basically just started swimming. It's not like in Pensacola Beach where you paddle out in five minutes and can get pushed the 45 feet back to the soft sand. We paddled maybe a third mile to the island, then past it and the waves. I was bleeding, bruised and exhausted. I had to swim the opposite way back, and halfway there I saw Jordan's board just kinda bobbing along. It was completely fine! This is amazing considering the huge waves that really should have pushed the board and me onto the jagged rocks of the island, but the board was in one piece! Dented a little, maybe. I slipped the crappy leash back on and headed for the nearest land without whitewash and sharp rock. I cannot describe how awesome it felt to be back on dry land. It was like there was an oasis with a waterfall and a huge hot rock to lie on. Oh wait that was a bit further down the beach back to the car. I'm getting ahead of myself. Heh. As I'm walking back, I saw that and passed out for a half hour. (Thereabouts, considering time is all goofy after surfing. It's kind of like when you can't smell underwater when you're SCUBA diving, then you get out and everything smells potent and wonderful.) I woke up with the waterfall rushing next to me, showered off, said a little prayer to a couple of gods including the white one. (Joke, people, joke.) The whole way back I was stoked about the beautiful day, and then this fine mist edged over the entire panorama of landscape. Gorgeous. Unbelievable. Other surfers started showing up, and I used the mirror of the window to see my back, which was in a little pain. (It's funny, the more you tear your flesh, the less it hurts. I'm not saying go cut yourself, but totally go live.)
The other surfers were laughing, but it's cool. I had just had a religious experience, a life or death experience, and climbed a sweet rock wall with a surf board in hand. Not my intentions to let some jerks rain on my parade. Then I noticed, my butt was hurting too, as I got tossed like Hercules' salad against that island. There was a rip in my board shorts, right on my left butt cheek. I couldn't help but laugh too. Alex made it back first, then Brant and Jordan. I gathered some river rock for my dad's footpath and we packed up. Trading wave stories on the way back, Jordan said he saw just a foot at the top of the wave that thrashed me. Everyone thought I wasn't going to make it out, but I did. And it feels great even now,with the hydrogen peroxide on the battle wounds. Actually, I think I'm going to go longboard the sea wall after the picture posting. Okinawa is paradise.

Paddling Out

Ohiogozaimasu! Decided to write this one without getting outta bed today. The mama-san's cleaning the stairs and I swear she descended from a long line of ninja ancestry. Okinawa has a proud tradition of hand to hand martial arts.... Tae Kwon Do practically started here. It's a shame I didn't get past green belt. I have a bit more dedication to sports nowadays. Wednesday night was basketball night with the pops, and they had me guard Tom. Tom is black, and freakin' gigantic. Six five-ish, with a mean lay-up. I'm telling you this so you understand the current condition my body's in. Le Tired. For some reason, yesterday after guitar lessons I skated past Mihama. A couple miles on my longboard is no biggie, it's a top-of-the-line cruiser, plus, the smoother asphault is that-a-way. Also, I played soccer with the marines again on Foster. Field One if anyone's interested, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6pm. (We only had ten last time, I'd like a couple more.) I got back, helped my dad with a couple of chores, and passed out. I woke up this morning, but my body didn't. It's one of those days where you have to really want something to get up and walk to it. My legs haven't had this much punishment since my last (well, only) breakup. (I run when I get my panties in a twirl--Stress Relief.) There will be no running anytime soon. Tonight's entertainment includes a barbecue where the basketball guys will most likely be talking about 40 to 50 year old things, considering that's how old most of them are. Also a younger crowd party at Matt's friend's house; however, this includes beer, and alcohol is the enemy. I was hungover for soccer and if I'm ever unable to play the glorious sport because of booze again I will be very upset. It was frustrating.
I'm looking forward to seeing Dave Ralston live.. he's pretty good and I'll get to sit real close. Also looking forward to taking care of Razziematazz! (Tiny, loud Jack Russell terrier that is sweeter than mochii) Now back to grading papers... okibum, out.

Under The Sea

As we left Okuma, I couldn't help but feel the relief that comes with leaving the Marine Corps folks behind. They're 96 hour leave on Memorial Day weekend is my family outing, and let me tell you, they are rowdy as leatherbacks on-vacation-on-an-island-paradise can be. Lots of beer pong. Everybody was having fun, even the staff. We did have a cajun cookout with some of the best corn I've ever had. Random? yes, but damned good.
On the way back from the North end of the island, we decided to double back and hit Oku. Okuma Resort is different from Oku, just to inform the populous. Oku is further north, more beautiful, and full of skating hills and climbing rocks. As depicted below, I like climbing, and this is my playground:


After we got our fill of gorgeous scenery and river rocks for my dad's walkway (tough work, carrying rocks) we departed. The fam left for the city, listening to our playlists, enjoying the breeze. We ate at good ol' Mickey D's, where I had my Tatsuya burger and Qoo juice. The drive back never lasts long enough.


After the neccessary unpacking and grumpiness, we passed out like babies.
The next day we randomly decided SCUBA diving was the flavor of the day. I should've brought the underwater camera, but then again visibility was only okay because of the recent rains... I got to take advantage of my prescription goggles and some yummy clams. It's always zenlike, getting to drift underwater, but over coral. The lionfish I saw was the only one against our interloper ways. Holly and I finished our tanks, then met my dad at the surface. All we could think about was food, so later that night we went out to Tex Mex. It's a Okinawan restaurant that serves Mexican food. Gross right? WRONG. Dead Wrong. Effing delicious. Then, to add insult to injury, we went to Yogurtland too! It's this frozen yogurt parlor that gives you 16 flavors and you pay by weight. Add brownies, gummi bears, sprinkles, horseradish(JK)or anything you want. Today is my first day of R & R in several weeks. With Matt and Jon on their way to Aja falls, I took the liberty of taking the day off for chores. Chores, healing and bills. Lots of fun right?
Today is the day I post pictures too. So hopefully this blog gets way brighter very soon....