like van gogh's starry night skies, my mind swirls

it's just after eleven p.m. here on the west coast. it was a crazy day. i slept, maybe, a little over an hour last night. which i am sure served to make today just that much crazier.
today, i...

1. sat for a spanish test--stayed up all night studying--that took me four minutes to finish. yeah, i'm bitter.
2. rushed to finish the last bits of french homework before eleven a.m. i didn't make the deadline. but there was grace. and the church said amen.
3. was accosted on the way to lunch, and forced to attend i cantori practice. it was pretty cool, albeit surreal, to be back in a choir setting again. i guess i am seriously considering joining.
4. had a voice check for the radio. apparently things are going swimmingly. i have a cool boss.
5. discovered, which left me rather dumbfounded, that my photo assignment this week was off-campus. so i bummed a ride from my roommate, and promptly got lost in WW looking for the silly holiday inn express (mutter/mumur). however, any annoyance with my abject lack of an internal compass was assuaged by the thought that i might have my first picture in the collegian tomorrow. woot woot.
6. worked. as a janitor. in the wec. sentence fragments. i know. it's for emphasis. on how much i love it. [sarcasm]
7. played in jazz ensemble. it is the highlight of my wednesday.
8. tried to practice, but i was tragically locked away from my trombone. too bad i have a lesson tomorrow. may the music gods smile on me. maybe i should burn a cd to garner blessings. [snicker]
9. was forced out of my state of indecisive complacency about this summer. at around ten o'clock in the evening. imagine that.
10. am sitting at my desk, blogging instead of sleeping.

i am realizing that there are a great many things that i must do before the end of the week. but my soul is not despondent; in fact, i feel a funny sense of contentment. is this what happens every time you successfully make a decision? well, snap. sign me up for a lifetime of decision making. (to self: relax, homey. idealism is soo overrated these days. you are an incorrigible indecisive. embrace it.)

wow. time for sleep. before any other strange blips from my brain escape through my fingertips.

one last thing:
from last thursday's bbc podcast. a discussion about cosmopolitan magazine and its fixation on sex, rather than its original purpose of content that would empower women. in a moment of verbal acuity, columnist caroll saala states, "it's like walking into a gynecologist conference, without the brain power." i laughed for a good two minutes. by the end of the segment, the editor representing the magazine was tending the wounds effected by the columnist's sharp wit. it was great.

oh yeah, the photos

the fellas.


the sweet pad.


a part of friday's beach.



the na pali coast, as seen from the trail.



the sunset on taro marshes in hanalei valley.

ode to cradle roll, or kauai (part 2)

instead of tackling the formidable list of things that i need to do before week's end, i am formulating a post, whilst giving the ears a good soak in some ellington. in reality i'm just medicating myself; i think its a combination of acute blue-sky withdrawal, stress over how i will get everything done, and preoccupations about this summer and the school year to follow.

it's not as bad as it sounds. on some subconscious level, i know that there are sunny days coming, that somehow i will get everything done in time, and that worrying about a future that is divinely taken care of is pure foolishness. but i am a grade a worrier and old habits die hard, as you may gather.

but enough banter. i should finish recounting the adventure.

friday:

the beach. almost enough said. deliciously warm water--the color blue rivaled only by the finest aquamarine. as a chaser to the briny marinade, a good soak in the sun accompanied by a good book*. who could ask for anything more?

*status anxiety, alain de botton; when i get a chance, more shall be written.

saturday (or whatever else you would like to name it) (as not to offend the pygmy jewish eskimos)

late morning. the soundtrack of the river behind our house providing the perfect accompaniment to a bowl of granola. we headed to church, only to find ourselves arriving just in time for sabbath school. it was one of those strange churches where sabbath school comes after church. what odd ducks! i mean honestly, it's the like the 4th law of inertia: for every sabbath school in motion, there is a greater service that must and does follow at precisely 11 o'clock.

after about five minutes of adult ss, i heard--with great envy--the invisible waves of fun emanating from the cradle roll room across the courtyard. oh for the days when all you needed to know about the christian walk could be summed up on a felt board with a few cheerful songs and great noisemakers. [sigh] there was a pretty spanking potluck. after which, we headed to the beach. all things considered, a very good day.


this wasn't meant to be a three-part series about kauai, but i must go to the stack of homework. before i leave, here's a small dose of alexander pope. [don't worry, i am not that well read; it's from a quality film i finished today]

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ...(207-209)

question of the day: sometimes it is tempting to want to forget, but is it really what we want?

a chllly 63 degrees, or the constitution of a man

it is good for the constitution of a man to walk a sun-mottled beach, in search of the perfect spot to plunk himself in the briny aquamarine and contemplate his priorities

i could sit under this skylight everyday and watch the world pass by in swaths of deep blue, dotted by puffy white. however, i think it is too cold. while i may skirt the danger of lynching for the following comment, it must be said; it's about 63 outside and i am sitting in my boxers, wrapped tightly in a blanket, all the while praying fervently that 100% wool hoodies will begin to rain from the sky. there is a good chance that upon returning to walla walla and its dirty mop water colored skies, i will simply shrivel up and die. i know that i exaggerate. but really.

i should start at the beginning of the hawaiian adventure.

wednesday:
after sleeping for a few hours, i woke up with that christmas day feeling in the pit of my stomach; i--we, by extension--was on the brink of starting an epic journey to hawaii. 4 hours to seattle--which, by the way, was a blue-skied, balmy 60 degrees--followed by 4 hours of painfully expectant waiting, and we were queued up to board the plane. i now know how a mixed drink feels; i would have gladly been stirred, not shaken for 2 hours. seriously, the turbulence was a little excessive.

due to the unpunctual arrival of our plane (and our characteristic frugality), we were forced to come up with a creative way to spend our seven hour layover in honolulu. the solution: luggage carts. the other four fellows (cody, alban, alan, and tommy) opted to stretch out across 3 carts. i, being the individual that i am, decided to try and fold my 6 foot frame onto the four-foot-long luggage cart. needless to say, i didn't sleep well. then again, nobody else did either.

thursday:
after an average of 2 hours of continuous sleep amongst us, we arose before the sun and boarded the plane to kaua'i. again with the turbulence. gosh. as it turns out, our luggage had managed to separate itself from our party, so we spent most of the day waiting in lihu'e. we picked up our rental, which they upgraded to an SUV for free, and began traipsing around the town.
stops:

1. random circles of disorientation
   
2. kaua'i bakery--amazing pastries, hot dang
3. jamba juice
4. costco--playing free arcade games...and picking up supplies
5. airport--luggage, finally
6. coldstone creamery--one pint later, i was a happy, happy man
7. some waterfall--pretty corny compared with the iguazu version
8. highway diner--who says no fish with breakfast, and who says it isn't tasty?
9. aloha sweet seclusion--home away from home

our lodging is amazing. it has real character, as opposed to the mass produced hotel room. i like it a lot.

i will continue later. dinner is ready. posting pictures for dessert.