Grammy lost her keys while I was abroad and had to have my 10 lb bike lock cut from my bike (she had my key in case anything went awry and she needed to move the bike). She has called me multiple times to tell me that she now has found the keys, months after replacing them.
I'm sitting in the living room because my deadbeat brother is crashing in my room, and Grammy just came in to tell me, "Hey Hillary, I found my keys!" I'm starting to think a full time job and my own place wouldn't be the worst thing. It would make evicting my brother much easier. Every time I mention his going back to Chico, Grammy just stares off into space and says "Oh, I liiiiike him."
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Grammy
I'm back in Petaluma for the first day and I already have some awesome Grammy quotes for you:
Grammy: "Well, yesterday I ran down to Grocery Outlet, and then ran all the way back. Well, walked and ran."
Me: "Wait, you actually RAN, like on a run?"
Grammy: "Yeah, I bought ice cream and it would have melted if I walked all the way back."
Me: "Sorry, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this visual of you and Daisy carrying a bunch of ice cream and running back from Grocery Outlet."
Grammy: "And today this homeless man was walking by and he was admiring Daisy and I ended up talking to him for like thirty minutes about his life and what he does"
Me: "And how was that? Boring?"
Grammy: "No, he's homeless. Like, he doesn't have a home. Well, he has a home down in San Jose, but he's homeless up here. He's like homeless here, and he really liked Daisy. And I, just, I found it interesting that he was hoooomeless, he looked homeless, he had this big dangling earring, and scraggly hair and a plastic bag on his back, and he was obviously homeless. (Laughs) Yeah, and he admired my buddha that I had out front. The homeless always admire my buddha. The one someone tried to steal and dropped and the head fell off?"
(long pause)
Grammy: "I'm gonna go in my room and pray, so she can't come in either." (points at Daisy, closes door)
Stay tuned.
Grammy: "Well, yesterday I ran down to Grocery Outlet, and then ran all the way back. Well, walked and ran."
Me: "Wait, you actually RAN, like on a run?"
Grammy: "Yeah, I bought ice cream and it would have melted if I walked all the way back."
Me: "Sorry, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this visual of you and Daisy carrying a bunch of ice cream and running back from Grocery Outlet."
Grammy: "And today this homeless man was walking by and he was admiring Daisy and I ended up talking to him for like thirty minutes about his life and what he does"
Me: "And how was that? Boring?"
Grammy: "No, he's homeless. Like, he doesn't have a home. Well, he has a home down in San Jose, but he's homeless up here. He's like homeless here, and he really liked Daisy. And I, just, I found it interesting that he was hoooomeless, he looked homeless, he had this big dangling earring, and scraggly hair and a plastic bag on his back, and he was obviously homeless. (Laughs) Yeah, and he admired my buddha that I had out front. The homeless always admire my buddha. The one someone tried to steal and dropped and the head fell off?"
(long pause)
Grammy: "I'm gonna go in my room and pray, so she can't come in either." (points at Daisy, closes door)
Stay tuned.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Even more video magic!!
Because Courtney and I are super generous bloggers, here is yet another video we edited today of our time in Bangkok and on the islands in Thailand. Note how smart we are about IDing Kimodo Dragons (they're actually Monitor Lizards and are harmless, but we were terrified). Yep, we both went to college.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The end of Bali
Some things I forgot to mention in my previous Bali blog about why I like it so much:
- Instead of believing that gods are simply good, they have good and evil gods and strive to achieve a level of harmony. They accept that you cannot have joy without sorrow and acknowledge that many things in life aren't black and white but a balance between the two. It seems so optimistic to me to embrace even the negative aspects of your day-to-day life.
- The bike ride I went on was ALL downhill. I literally just sat on a bike for an afternoon and rode downhill. Maybe it doesn't qualify as exercise, but it definitely qualifies as awesome.
- Our cab drivers were consistently super nice and interesting and remarkably well self-educated (except for the guy who asked us if black people's hair grew in dreadlocks).
So, now that I'm back at my grandpa's house in Chiang Mai and reunited with my laptop, I was able to upload the video I took on our trip. Here are some Balinese highlights:
- Instead of believing that gods are simply good, they have good and evil gods and strive to achieve a level of harmony. They accept that you cannot have joy without sorrow and acknowledge that many things in life aren't black and white but a balance between the two. It seems so optimistic to me to embrace even the negative aspects of your day-to-day life.
- The bike ride I went on was ALL downhill. I literally just sat on a bike for an afternoon and rode downhill. Maybe it doesn't qualify as exercise, but it definitely qualifies as awesome.
- Our cab drivers were consistently super nice and interesting and remarkably well self-educated (except for the guy who asked us if black people's hair grew in dreadlocks).
So, now that I'm back at my grandpa's house in Chiang Mai and reunited with my laptop, I was able to upload the video I took on our trip. Here are some Balinese highlights:
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
More Travels
Courtney and I went out to Koh Phi Phi from Phuket (where they filmed "The Beach"), in search of semi-deserted beaches. Unfortunately, Phi Phi was completely overrun with filthy backpackers, but it ended up working out in our favor because we were there for Canada Day and spent most of the evening drinking with really excited Canadians. Then, we wandered over to a beach-front bar where we met some boys from South Carolina, played pool with them, and danced on the beach at this really fun bar. One of them was a Cotillian (sp?) dancer and knew how to do all these crazy spins and dips. Lots of fun.
A few days ago, we left Thailand and are now in Bali, which is AMAZING. Arguably my favorite vacation spot ever. The food is amazing and the people are so adorable. Today, we went on a bike ride through the country-side and all these small children ran into the street to say Hello and high-five us as we rode by. It's currently a festival week here ("good-beats-evil day"), and people are making these giant bamboo poles with flowers and leaves all over them and it's beautiful. Two nights ago we went and saw a Kechak dance (featured in "Baraka"), which was unreal. I'm doing a terrible job of describing all things Balinese, so I'm going to stop there. We have tons of photos and videos, which I'll post once we get back to Thailand to my computer. I miss all you Americans and hope you had a wonderful 4th of July.
A few days ago, we left Thailand and are now in Bali, which is AMAZING. Arguably my favorite vacation spot ever. The food is amazing and the people are so adorable. Today, we went on a bike ride through the country-side and all these small children ran into the street to say Hello and high-five us as we rode by. It's currently a festival week here ("good-beats-evil day"), and people are making these giant bamboo poles with flowers and leaves all over them and it's beautiful. Two nights ago we went and saw a Kechak dance (featured in "Baraka"), which was unreal. I'm doing a terrible job of describing all things Balinese, so I'm going to stop there. We have tons of photos and videos, which I'll post once we get back to Thailand to my computer. I miss all you Americans and hope you had a wonderful 4th of July.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Some Island Action
Courtney and I spent three days in Bangkok, saw lots of temples (I got yelled at for showing my calves while a bunch of girls in miniskirts pranced by the guards sans problem), ate lots of street food, met some drunk Brits, and then hopped on a plane down to southern Thailand to enjoy beaches.
We spent a night in Koh Samui, then took the ferry to Koh Pha-ngan to make the half moon party: a huge rave scene with lots of people on ecstasy (undoubtedly my least favorite demographic). Watching ravers I feel like the world is DEFINITELY going to end in 2012, I can't believe that music has devolved to just basic repetitive sounds and beats and that members of our generation spend as much money as they do getting to these places to see these mediocre DJs "spin." Anyway, it was interesting to see - not what I would have predicted on a remote island in the gulf of Thailand.
Before the half moon party, we met a couple kiwis at a free pool bar (from Blenheim - small world) which was lots of fun. One of them gave us a ride on his Vespa to the half moon party, which entailed lots of taxi chasing to figure out where this party even was. The Vespa ride was fun, though, and inspired us to rent our own Vespa the following day. The Thai man in charge of "mortorbike" rentals seemed concerned with our driving skills but we figured it out quickly enough (after failing to turn a few times an ending up briefly off-roading through the jungle). We spent the next couple days exploring beaches, snorkling (lots of disgusting sea cucumbers and some really pretty fish), and eating more Thai food.
Yesterday, we took a fishing boat to a more private part of the island (saw lots of honeymooners) to read and nap in hammocks on the beach. It rained for about 30 seconds at one point but we were protected enough by our tree from which our hammocks were hanging to stay completely dry. It's been incredibly relaxing all-around.
Today we're headed back to Koh Samui to meet up with Courtney's parents who are also vacationing in Thailand. Hopefully, updates to come soon, photos to come in a few weeks (no means of uploading at the moment). I'm definitely enjoying vacation and still can't believe that I'm going to be back in the states within the month...
We spent a night in Koh Samui, then took the ferry to Koh Pha-ngan to make the half moon party: a huge rave scene with lots of people on ecstasy (undoubtedly my least favorite demographic). Watching ravers I feel like the world is DEFINITELY going to end in 2012, I can't believe that music has devolved to just basic repetitive sounds and beats and that members of our generation spend as much money as they do getting to these places to see these mediocre DJs "spin." Anyway, it was interesting to see - not what I would have predicted on a remote island in the gulf of Thailand.
Before the half moon party, we met a couple kiwis at a free pool bar (from Blenheim - small world) which was lots of fun. One of them gave us a ride on his Vespa to the half moon party, which entailed lots of taxi chasing to figure out where this party even was. The Vespa ride was fun, though, and inspired us to rent our own Vespa the following day. The Thai man in charge of "mortorbike" rentals seemed concerned with our driving skills but we figured it out quickly enough (after failing to turn a few times an ending up briefly off-roading through the jungle). We spent the next couple days exploring beaches, snorkling (lots of disgusting sea cucumbers and some really pretty fish), and eating more Thai food.
Yesterday, we took a fishing boat to a more private part of the island (saw lots of honeymooners) to read and nap in hammocks on the beach. It rained for about 30 seconds at one point but we were protected enough by our tree from which our hammocks were hanging to stay completely dry. It's been incredibly relaxing all-around.
Today we're headed back to Koh Samui to meet up with Courtney's parents who are also vacationing in Thailand. Hopefully, updates to come soon, photos to come in a few weeks (no means of uploading at the moment). I'm definitely enjoying vacation and still can't believe that I'm going to be back in the states within the month...
Friday, June 17, 2011
Successful Escape
I managed to sell the car, meet the buyers at the airport, get my luggage on the plane (after buying another bag to distribute the weight and still paying a TON for going over 25kg total), and make it to Kuala Lampur for my layover before heading up to Thailand.
The guy sitting next to me wanted an aisle instead of a window (we were in a pair of seats where one was an aisle and one was a window) and I was assigned the aisle seat. Instead of asking me to swap, he spoke with the flight attendants and sat somewhere else all together so I got my own little two seats to curl up in and sleep. It was awesome. Then the in-flight meals were things I had never heard of before and were super spicy and tasted awesome. So far, the trip is going great. I'm so happy to be back in the northern hemisphere.
What I've seen of southeast Asia so far (from the plane window) is SO pretty and it isn't raining right now even though it's supposedly going to be raining off and on the entire time we're here. Another added bonus: FREE INTERNET at the airport. It's nice to be out of New Zealand where you are nickel and dimed for every little thing, I'm definitely happy about starting my vacation.
The guy sitting next to me wanted an aisle instead of a window (we were in a pair of seats where one was an aisle and one was a window) and I was assigned the aisle seat. Instead of asking me to swap, he spoke with the flight attendants and sat somewhere else all together so I got my own little two seats to curl up in and sleep. It was awesome. Then the in-flight meals were things I had never heard of before and were super spicy and tasted awesome. So far, the trip is going great. I'm so happy to be back in the northern hemisphere.
What I've seen of southeast Asia so far (from the plane window) is SO pretty and it isn't raining right now even though it's supposedly going to be raining off and on the entire time we're here. Another added bonus: FREE INTERNET at the airport. It's nice to be out of New Zealand where you are nickel and dimed for every little thing, I'm definitely happy about starting my vacation.
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