| Tuesday, August 29, 2006 |
|
| Bodyboarding is fun. But surfing tops the list. In two years I will become the next Kelly Slater. Now to end this short thought. |
posted by DarrenGene @ 5:02 AM  |
|
|
| Thursday, August 10, 2006 |
| not everything's paradise |
despite the great sights and the chilllen times, not everything's paradise up in here. I got caught in some bureacractic redtape the past week and the result is now I have to fly back to Vancouver to get things straightened out. Here's the full story:
When crossing thru customs in vancouver, with student papers and visa information in hand, the customs agent waived me through before I had a chance to show him my papers. Because I was travelling with my folks, he assumed that we were all tourists (neglected to check that one of the boarding passes had no return flight). I'm like, ok that's fine. If I don't have to show my papers then I guess I'm okay. Upon arrival into Honolulu I paid a visit to the International Student Center to let them no I was in town but apparently I was missing a crucial document: a 3 by 5 little cuecard with my name on it stamped in redink that I should have received at the border, but because the customs agent thought I was a tourist and not a student, I received no such cuecard. After pleading my case with the director, with the immigrations officer, Homeland security, and the Canadian embassy, I now have to return to Vancouver just to walk thru the gate one more time.
Because of shoddy instructions, an unwatchful customs agent, and a history of everyone telling me to say as little as possible and be cool when crossing borders, I have to fly back, on my parents' dime, so i can fly back in...just with a little 3 by 5 index card. But if anything, i worked it out so that i'm going to spend a couple nights in vancity with my bro so i can at least make the trip somewhat worthwhile, but dayum. Homeland security is tight, unforgiving, and unapologetic. This is my rant for the day. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 4:27 PM |
|
|
| Sunday, August 06, 2006 |
| son of a beach |
Past few days I've finally had the opportunity to have some fun. Got a chance to hit up the beaches (waikiki which is the ash bridges bay equivalent in the downtown core and waimea bay which is where the waves get purty large during the winter season). Did up some snorkelling with one of my new new moms and her fam at waimea yesterday which was pretty crazy. Eyeballed some pretty colourful...oops my bad..I'm in the US now... I mean "colorful" fish as well as some big mother scary ones hiding in the underwater caves. One of the guys that I was with swam out a little too far and was carried out to sea by the current but because hes got a healthy voicebox, he managed to get the attention of a couple of guys from the Navy who swam out and pulled him back into shore. Poor kid was the butt of everyone's jokes for the day. But yea, trying to getting as much beach time before school starts in a few weeks. Doing up some boogie boarding later on in the afternoon so that should be goodtimes (slowly workng myself up the difficulty ladder of watersports). hmmm other things i saw: I hiked to the top of the Diamondhead crater which is a huge mountain overlooking oahu, visited kualoa ranch which was the movie site for jurassic park, godzila, mighty joe young, Hurley's golf course from Lost and some other flicks, and yah a whole bunch of other touristry things
But yeah, sides from the funtimes, according to US customs, I don't exist cause i neglected to show them my student visa when I was crossing the border (because they didn't ask for it) and because of my stupidness I might have to fly back to vancouver and do it all over again but here's hoping that i won't have to. But it's the waiting game for now. So here's some more random pictures of the past few days. Peaaaas!
along the ala wai blvd
looking out from the diamondhead. I gotta stop making that stoopid face
from the top of diamonhead
on the godzilla set and again with the stoopid face |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 3:37 PM |
|
|
| Wednesday, August 02, 2006 |
| i'm home! |
Four days in everything’s pretty much been all work and no play signing leases, opening accounts, and stopping pedestrian traffic with camera in hand (along with the thousands of other foreigners from Japan). Cell phone’s been ringing off the hook but they’re all my mom’s old HK school friends (cause everybody that went to HK apparently went to the same school) and UH alumni-mates checking up on us taking us out for dinner, lunch, and everything in between. Cell phone directory’s filling up pretty fast but all the entries begin with "auntie", which might be a good thing that I have a bunch of my mom’s friends watching out for me or a really bad thing that I have a bunch of my mom’s friends watching out for me. I haven’t decided yet. But most of the bureaucratic bidness is taken care of so I’m going to have some time in the weeks to come to hit the beaches and the malls. But anyways, here’s a quick update:
I’ve secured my apartment and it’s a beaut: block and a half away from campus, in a real quiet residential neighbourhood in the manoa valley. There’s a real nice breeze that comes over the mountains which make for cool nights and breezy days. Have 3 mango trees growing around me and although they’re a bit stringy, they’re real sweet. There’s wild blossoms everywhere as well as parrots that visit my neighbourhood. Frequent but short downpours make for lots of rainbows. And lots of rainbows make for lots of pots of gold which is probably why the cost of living is high. Downside is that it might be a little too quiet and there’s no room for noise in this community (no love for the tak =().
But yeah everything here is stone cold stunning. From the trees to the view to the peeps. I’ve heard that Toronto has a little bit of a reputation for some real burners but mang you just don’t know tdot, you just don’t know! If anything there’s a higher frequency for burners and many of the mixed, dark skinned, breed. Mix that with what we call here the “aloha spirit” which means out with the snobiness and in with the hospitality and we’ve got ourselves a lil love potion number 5 or combo number 5 or mambo number 5, depending on the appetitie. Guarantee you I’m going to have neck problems after a week.
Miss yall still tho! Next time we all meet I might be more Samoan than chinky, yah? Yaaaahhhh. Aloha nui loa (much love). |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 3:01 PM |
|
|
|
| about me |
|
|
|
| Archives |
|
|
|
| Affiliates |
|
|
