humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Aloha! How wonderful and simplistic a state must be to have the same word for goodbye and hello! So, I'm off to Hawaii in T-minus 17 hours. Everyone's always talking about Hawaii, but I've never been. This will be my first time, and I'm glad it'll be with my parents and little sister. I wish my brother could go too, but alas, he's too good of a student to play hooky. Lord knows I would've left without even giving my teachers an excuse. Haha that's the difference between me and him.

I hate the sun, and I hate swimming. Why Hawaii? Oh, it's just another place to mark off my list of places-to-go. I do want to try snorkeling, though. We'll see how that goes. I think I'll need to purchase one of those underwater cameras. Yes, definitely need to do that.

Isn't it annoying whenever you tell people where you're going on vacation and then they start listing all kinds of places for you to go visit? Geez, I mean, I know people are just trying to help, but if I needed suggestions, I'll totally ask! I really will! It's just bothersome when people do that because then if I don't go to their favorite lookout or bay, I'll feel like I'm disappointing them when I get back. Or, if I don't go to all the places they've listed, I'll feel like I'm missing out on so many must-do things. What's worse is if you actually go to the place they recommend, and it ends up sucking. Now that would really piss me off.

When I went to Oregon last fall, I had opakapaka which is commonly referred to as a Hawaiian Pink Snapper. I'm looking forward to eating geographically-specific foods like that. I'm already thinking about gifts to bring back to people like family, friends, and coworkers. The only thing that comes to mind are macadamia nuts. When my cousin requested some from me, I asked her, "Doesn't HEB sell macadamia nuts?" She gasped and exclaimed, "Not these kinds!"

The description: Whole roasted macadamia nuts, coated with crispy toffee, then dipped in creamy, rich milk chocolate, followed by a dusting of confectioner's sugar.

Holy smokes. Sold. I may just live off of macadamia nuts for the next five days.

I'm packing one Adidas gym bag full of clothes/shoes/accessories. That's it. The rest I'm going to either buy there or just re-wear. I'm trying this new thing out called "packing like a boy."

I think it's about a 10 hour flight or so. I packed a couple books for me along the way. My ipod playlist consists of JT, Jason Mraz, and Norah Jones. She soothes me since I am still afraid to fly.

The hours are ticking away at work. I have lots to do to prepare for my leave. I believe this is the first real vacation I'm taking this year. The next and final one for the year will be New York in October. Don't worry, soulmate, I'm on it. I'll be there even if the ticket will cost me an arm, a leg, and a pint of type B- blood. Save me a seat in Central Park.

Aloha for a week, biatches!