things I've been up to

Helped out with an event all day today. It went down excellently, and I'm really happy about that. The theme was Hawaii, and yesterday I had a flash of inspiration for some decorations. The tables we'd set up were looking awfully spartan or industrial, so during my lunch break I zoomed off in my car to pick up some artificial stalks of hibiscus and leis at the nearest DAISO. Add some colorful plastic table"cloths", some jars for vases (I've been saving them for the next time I need to mix up egg dye), paper placemats and some confetti, and boom~! Instant mini-makeover. I felt like I wouldn't mind decorating for events as a living, while I was prettying the place up.

Alas, I was too busy and took no photos. Perhaps I'll get some from someone else later.

We made locomoco (rice + hamburger + fried egg and gravy), ahipoke (raw tuna and onion salad with sesame seeds and garlic soy sauce), and mac salad (macaroni, peas, carrots, cucumbers, mayo, salt, and pepper); and we watched the lovely intern's demonstration of how to make haupia (coconut pudding). She also brought some delectable fudge. Everybody was ravenously hungry by the time we sat down to eat (about 1:30), but likewise everyone's stomachs were then filled enough to satisfy, I dare say, even a hobbit.

I'm re-reading the Lord of the Rings these days, and am about 3/4 of the way through The Two Towers. What a fantastic writer Tolkien was!

It's hard to be patient. I think I used to be a fairly patient child, but since graduating high school I seem to be in a greater and greater hurry to do everything. Do you know any good tips, exercises, or prayers for patience?

the open road

I got a car.

YAY!!!!!!

It's a used car, and not the newest model, but it gets me where I need to go with tunes and air conditioning (if I use it, which I do only sparingly). I enjoy this newfound independence so much, I've been getting a bit carried away. I drive everywhere. Whereas I used to get stressed out if I didn't leave the house by a certain time, now I think, 'ah, I can drive and I'll be there in two minutes!'

Yes, yes, it's not terribly responsible and I'm sure everyone around here has noticed. But I've noted people who live closer to work than I do driving there and back again. Our streets, you see, are constructed without much consideration for the fact that pedestrians, shopkeepers, delivery trucks, bicyclists, bikers, cars, and buses must all use the same narrow space. I imagine that the people who drive from a short distance do so because they want to avoid blocking traffic or getting sideswiped. Those are my reasons. ;)

I'll have to start walking again soon, though, for health and wellness and because the rainy season appears to be over, thus eliminating my biggest excuse for driving. By the way, we had some quite torrential rains here last week. The culverts and river were gushing with all the muddied water that had flowed down from the mountaintops.

Yet I must say, having a getaway car can be quite important. I once forgot my keys at work, and spent my whole lunch hour walking home, then back to work to fetch the keys, back to my place to get some lunch (wolfed down in five minutes, if I remember correctly), and back to work again. And a few hours later I walked back home. Too much time spent walking.

But it's a small town, and people will talk about the ostentation and frivolity of my driving everywhere...

What do we live for, but to make sport for our neighbors, and to laugh at them in our turn? :)