Trip Like I Do

New Year’s Eve

I’ve been pretty busy these last couple of days.

My Mom and I went to Marukai on Friday to get some mochi for New Year’s. Marukai is a Japanese wholesale grocery market with all kinds of goodies from Japan. I love that store. They always have a lot of fresh fish and fresh sashimi, even though I don’t eat sashimi.

We have some mochi at home, but we wanted to get some more for New Year’s for our traditional good luck display. We haven’t put it up yet, but I will take some pictures of it when we do. It’s basically a little shrine that is set up with some decorated paper, mochi, ferns and a tangerine. It’s something that we Japanese people like to do for New Year’s. I tried keeping the tradition up while I was on the mainland, but I could usually only find the mochi for it. Doh.

Easting mochi is supposed to bring you good luck in the new year, so we are going to be making some of that tonight too.

After that we headed to Queen’s Supermarket which is a Korean grocery store to get some kalbi for dinner tonight. Short definition – short ribs. I was just excited to go to the Korean store since there is just so much stuff there made with red chili paste – which I completely love. Mmmmm, picante! One thing I really love are the kimchi ramen bowls. I have a whole photo set of them that I will post about later on. I’m on my Mom’s computer right now, so I can’t access them. But, oh those are yummy. The broth is dark red from all of the chili powder. I am also stoked because my Mom got me a whole case of that stuff the last time she went to Sam’s Club. Yay Mom!

Fred and I went for coffee Friday night and then our friend Arlina met us and we headed to a bar. I didn’t drink though since I really am not much of a drinker anymore. The only annoying thing though was that the bar had karaoke and there were a couple of really drunk guys who sang the night away. I guess it wouldn’t have been that bad if the speaker wasn’t right above us, but it was and I started getting a mild anxiety attack after awhile.

Yesterday, Fred, Arlina and I went to go see the Borat movie at the $1 theater. OMFG, it has got to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Tonight should be interesting.  I am going to head off to my friend Arlene’s house.  She lives close enough so I can walk there and get stinking drunk tonight.  I suppose it’ll be like a reunion for me since a lot of people there are going to be old friends from elementary and middle school!  Yup, we still hang out together.  My friend Rodney is going to be there and I’ve known him since kindergarten!  I think a couple of her neighbors are also old elementary school classmates of mine, so that should be interesting.

New Year’s in Hawaii is something that everyone who doesn’t have asthma should experience at least once in their life.  People here go absolutely bonkers.  Fireworks and firecrackers are legal here, well, maybe not the aerial fireworks, but people seem to be able to get them anyway.  People started shooting off the aerials right after Christmas actually.

It’s a tradition here to set off firecrackers at midnight to ward off the evil for the new year.  I still remember this one year I went over to Rodney’s place for a party and they literally set off 1,000,000 firecrackers!  It was awesome!

Well, it’s time for me to start cleaning up for tonight and start getting things in order around here.  I hope everyone has a good new year.  I certainly hope I do.

1 comment December 31st, 2006

Last Workout of 2006

I did Get Ripped! by Jari Love as my last official workout of 2006.  I really heavied up the weights on the chest presses and used 17 pounds on the barbell.  Oooh.  I think I felt it more in my arms than my chest though.  Doh.  While I was doing it, I actually wished I could have used more weight though.

I am happy that I got through the rest of the workout okay.  I could even do most of the shoulder work with 3 pound dumbbells!  I think I only skipped a couple of reps during that section.  Man, my shoulders are really weak and I really need to work on my strength there.

I am really, really, really hoping that Danskin starts to put those weights out again.  I mean if they were, this would be the time to release them since a lot of people make those resolutions to get fit and lose weight this time of year.

Right after New Year’s really is the best time to get a lot of fitness bargains since a lot of stores put that stuff on sale because of all the people buying fitness equipment this  time of year.  Although I do pretty much have all the equipment I need right now.  Then again, I could probably go for some heavier dumbbells.  I suppose I will go check to see what Sport’s Authority will have on sale after the New Year.

I have also been thinking about getting a bike, but I am not sure about that yet.  If I did, I would definitely get a really cheap bike either from K-Mart or WalMart.  But whether I get one or not mostly depends on whether I get a job at the State Capitol or at a hospital about a mile away from the house.  A bike would certainly make more sense economically since the Bus is $2 one way here!  $2! – that’s just crazy.

December 31st, 2006

Happy New Year’s Eve!

Well, well, well.  Another year is coming to an end.  I don’t have much to write about right now as I am pretty tired and would rather recap stuff when I am more fully awake.

I am also kind of distracted by cleaning too – which is a good thing.  Now that my Grandma is gone, I just find it so much easier to clean stuff up and most importantly – it’s just so much easier to throw stuff out or donate crap to Goodwill.  I think I am finally back to being able to visualize the closet/room into actually being a room and workspace for me.

I am also getting some good tips on some awesome job prospects working at the State Capitol during the legislative session.  Right now, I just want to be able to earn enough money to take a trip to Europe either right before or right after my birthday – preferably before.

December 31st, 2006