Untitled.

I don't have any subject matter planned out so this post isn't looking so promising right now. It's been one of those days though, so I'd imagine that this is going to be the high point of the post.

Erik has made the switch to his new base and pretty much LOVES it there. He has a bed, with sheets AND a pillow (along with various other things). For this, I am grateful.

My mom is moving out of the house I grew up in (well, lived in since 9th grade) to move to Oklahoma City. I understand her rationale, and I support it, but I'm still a little homesick for that house and it's hard to know I'll never go back. So I guess *this* is home now but it doesn't feel like it. We've lived here for almost a year, but it just doesn't feel like we're any more than tourists. Enid is home, but I don't have a "home" to go to there anymore. I'll get over it, I just don't deviate so well.

So anyway, I'm a downer tonight because I watched a sappy love story on my Netflix and now I'm weepy. So instead of rubbing my poor mood off on you, I'll leave you with a quote from my sappy movie:

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
-Captain Corelli's Mandolin

I'm Cold

It's cold here. Scoff if you want, but it is. When we first moved here I couldn't figure out why some houses had fireplaces. I thought that was so silly. "Why do you need a fireplace in paradise" I asked myself (and others, might I add) "It's silly".

Want to know what I think is silly now? That I don't have a fireplace.

PS - It's windier right now than it was the day they called off work for wind. Nice one, Hawaii.

What Do They Know That I Don't?

The weather forecast says that we are in for 40-50MPH winds with gusts possibly up to 60MPH - this is for the whole state, which is strage. Most northfacing beaches are closed because of possible 35 foot swells. I "shore" would like to see that! (Get the pun? C'mon!). Anyway, the wind is blowing and aparently that has signaled the end of the world. Schools are closed, state offices are closed, and most importantly I was forced into a day off. OH DANG! The pisser is that they didn't say "Oh we aren't opening the GW offices tomorrow, have the day off - on us!" they said "We aren't opening the GW offices tomorrow and this has to come out of your personal leave"! Ridiculous. When I questioned my supervisor on this, she said she'd give me unpaid time off when Erik is home on R&R (since I had my PL counted to the hour for our island hopping adventure) to make up for the day of travels we might have lost if she didn't approve it (actually she said she'd give me as much as I wanted). Which did make me feel better, but this is not a day off of my choosing - and I would just as soon choose to get paid and not penalized. I know it's not her fault though, so I didn't go into it further.

And what the heck anyway, Hawaii? The wind blows 40MPH and you close up shop? You don't even KNOW wind until you've trekked across the SWOSU campus, into the wind, when it's blowing 40MPH IN YOUR FACE - which I'm pretty sure was about every other day, by the way. I'm pretty sure you're just disappointed that most of the mainland is on snow day every other day and you wanted a piece of that pie! And fine, I'll take my slice too! Being off Friday for weather and Monday for MLK day gives me a 4 day weekend! Whoo!!

And speaking of pie, I have started watching my carbs. I'm following the South Beach plan for the first 2 weeks so that I can break my "addiction" (because thats what it is, supporting evidence to follow) to carbs and then we'll see where it goes. It's not really for the sake of loosing weight (although I am, and that's exciting) it's because every one I know that is low-carb has SO much energy and always feels great. I want to be like that! So I'm trying it. So in the first two weeks you can basically have no bread, pasta, sugar, or anything delicious whatsoever. But you can have cheese and eggs (and a few other, less sucky things). Whooo.... Anyway, I told you all that to tell you about this - I had a dream the other night that I was eating a roll. A roll that I stole from a bake sale because I couldn't take the low carbing any more. Now I don't know why I didn't just go buy the roll, it's not like the entire universe knows I'm low-carbing (well, until I press "Publish Blog" anyway) but I distinctly remember stealthily stealing the roll and then buttering it and thinking "You're going to be delicious!". If that's not evidence of an addiction to carbs, I don't know what is. Of course, it doesn't help that in the book I'm reading the guy works part time at a bakery and they talk about all his delicious confections.

Okay, that's all I've got for now.

Still Alive

Well I know I haven't been blogging as much as I should lately but the truth is - I'm rather boring lately! I go to work, I go to the gym, I come home and I go to bed.

Also, I have a very VERY favorite author, Wally Lamb, and he put a new book out in November. I got my hands on it about a week and a half ago and I've been spending most of my spare time reading it (luckily it's almost 1,000 pages, so I have lots to look forward to) and watching West Wing reruns.

Anyway, Baxter and I are doing okay here, and Erik is too. We plan to start planning our R&R trip(s) in a few days (5, actually) - how exciting! We're going to go island hopping, and we can't wait! Hey, when in Rome, right? Now maybe you're laughing at the countdown to just starting to plan our extravaganza, but we are both people who like to work against deadlines, so setting a specific date to start planning gives us something to look forward to. We might be weird, but but we're weird together.

I have an entire list of things to count down to before he gets home, that way I don't get bogged down thinking I still have x months until I get to see him again. I've already finished a quarter of my list - because almost a quarter of the deployment is over! Next on the list is to start planning for R&R, then Scott and Andrea come, then Valentines day, the 10k (you read that right, I've lost my mind and signed up for a 10k), my birthday and before I know it we're halfway there! Meanwhile, I'm kind of dreading the month of March (the 10k and my birthday). I fear both of which are going to remind me how old I'm getting. Yeah, yeah, 25 might not be old to *some* of you, but good Lord I remember turning 10! Fifteen freakin' years ago!! Where the heck has the time gone? I need a drink...

"Neon Green"

Last Tuesday at work we had a "coffee hour" to send off one of the girls who is moving to another office. Since we have had 2 other coffee hours in the span of 2 weeks, it was decided that it would be a potluck instead of someone just picking up some muffins. Well I've noticed here that you don't have to bring breakfast food to a breakfast time potluck, which I kind of like. At this one there were Vienna Sausages (they're a big deal here, you prepare them with some kind of icky sauce), noodles (take out noodles! What does it say to you that you can get take out noodles here at 7:30AM?), cake, cookies, cream cheese pinwheels, sushi, and this rice dish with dicon (which I now know is neon green colored pickled turnup, or is it radish?) , seaweed and SPAM.

Well, I was running late because I had a phone call and when I got downstairs to the meeting area, everyone had already gotten their plates and was digging in. Lynn, the secretary offered me some of her rice (and SPAM) dish, and I said "Sure... but, whats the neon green business on the top?". Everyone laughs, and it's brought up that for our Christmas celebration we went to a sushi bar/fish market and I thought this particular sushi roll had a slice of Velveeta on it but really it was pressed eggs (it looked like Velveeta!). Everyone laughs again and talk about how gross Velveeta is. HELLO! You're eating Vienna Sausages! But I digress. Anyway, the rice with the neon green stuff (dicon) was tasty! I even had a second scoop! (We laugh about it, but I really do enjoy trying out all their different dishes. I need to think of things to take for them to try. Calf fries, anyone?)

So I told you all that to tell you this: At 4PM that afternoon I get a call from Lynn. (Backstory: English is a second language for many folks in my office, including Lynn). She says "Sheena, I have some extra..." (long pause) "....neon green. Would you like it?" HAHA!

Food = Love here in Hawaii (much like at home). And they say if you're offered food, you're in. I guess I'm in. That or everyone likes to have a laugh at the crazy girl from Oklahoma.

PS - The "neon green" was delicious on my California Roll for dinner!

Today I HATE Hawaii

I left work at 4PM today and as I was walking out I noticed 2 kids setting off fireworks in the ball field across the way. It's 10:33PM and the fireworks have not stopped.. And we're not talking an every once in awhile crackle, I am refering to near constant booms and bangs. Some of the "shows" these people are putting on are better than the ones my hometown city goverment would do for 4th of July! And the best part is that they set them off RIGHT next to their cars... Way to go, Einstein. I get that its a new year and all, but oh my Lord, enough! My house is filled with smoke (we leave the windows open), my dog is about to have a panic attack, car alarms are going off all over the place and I feel like I'm living in the middle of an airstrike. People here take it SO FAR that the health officials warned Obama that it was "potentially hazardous" to be here during the holiday - what abou the rest of us?! Over 100 people were treated for burns in Honolulu alone on New Years eve last year. 153,000 citizens with lung problems are at risk.

It's starting to rain, so maybe that will keep my house from catching fire. Oh, brilliant. I just looked out side and the ass hat next door is setting his fireworks off under the canopy he erected over his driveway. Earlier I saw more than one person setting off fireworks in the street - no more than a foot in front of their cars. I figured out later they were using the cars as windbreaks.

I'm going double check that our renters insurance is paid up, then I'm going to bed. Hopefully I'll be less scrooge-y in 2009. In the mean time, start thinking of places that we can spend New Years Eve next year.