Svefn-G-Englar

December 25th... otherwise known as christ mas.


Stayed on the other side of the island last night after a full day in service and a big Hapa-style dinner. I spend Christmans morning eating pancakes and editing my talk.


Then walking around what appeared to be a ghost-town, harassed an employee of the 'Crocs' store. Then fell asleep face down in the sand on the beach. Pretty good chrismus i say.


ALSO!!! I must have been good this year because I got the best present I could have imagined today.... I got to witness one of my most favorite and coveted meteorological sights today.... a full on water spout right off the Pali. I NEARLY WET MYSELF IN JOY. (and for those of you who dont share my enthusiasm in spinning columns of rising moist air and dont have a clue what a water spout is.... it looks a little something like this....)

I seriously could have cried i was so happy. I will never forget this day.

Later this evening I had to give my talk. Which is fine. But i realised something interesting about giving talks... it warps your sense of time. Yes. thats right. Allow me to explain: During the first portion of the school while you are anxiously awaiting your turn- your bladder miraculously fills to the brim and creates a very sudden and unexpected urge to pee. Call it nervous physical response or whatever you like, but..... it never fails. Problem is, at least for myself... I have this horrible fear that if I decide to take a chance and make a run for it, that the 25 min. I have before my part with disappear and I will re-emerge from the restroom to hear 'Sister Paquet?? Has anyone seen sister Paquet??' and see my householder sitting on stage nervously waiting for my appearance. Its as though the bathroom is some sort of time warping vacuum that distorts your sense of reality, so that you enter with 25 min. to do your business, thinking you've got plenty of time, and exit the bathroom to find out its like... next tuesday and everyone else left hours ago. days even. Does anyone else have this phobia?!

Anyway, in other news. Im still sick. I feel a bit like a 12 yr. old girl in an arm wrestling match against hulk hogan. And hulk Hogan is my sinus infection. Im getting my butt kicked. And consuming nearly a gallon of orange juice a day is doing other unpleasant things to me. I think its a lot to do with working too much, and sleeping too little. The pattern tends to be this: 3 or 4 days of no sleep is enough to make you cranky and tired, but after about day 5 or 6 it starts to feel like 'normal'. The fun kicks in after day 8 or so because at this point you're probably sick so you've consumed a number of cold medicines and sleeping pills. The end result being you now have a VERY hard time determining what has actually happened in real life, and what was a dream, or something you saw on TV. Delirium- Its very confusing but makes daily life much more interesting.

Oh, and I celebrated the sale of my car by purchasing myself some new sweatpants.

So life's pretty good.

the office

Step into my office.

Its Saturday night. And after slaving away at my 'day job', I decided to spend some time in the home office.
Description:
Location: 2nd floor apartment balcany
Furnishings: Lawn chairs, beach towel (to prevent any pinching), and pillow.
Secretary: The gecko hanging out above my head, recording everything i do in its tiny mental files. (Not very good at taking calls)
Cup of joe: NewCastle Brown Ale
Reading Material: Idoru
Dress Code: P.Js and mr.rogers sweater
Duties: Downloading all CD's to computer

Its a tough job. But I'm a dilligent employee.

fish platter

Here we go.... again

I am back on the island. The trip home went very well. I accomplished some very important things... namely bowling, visiting some rather nice cats, and eating a lot of pie. So much so, that i was forced to join a gym upon my return. The rest of the trip was just tedious details.

..... nooo. im kidding. im reallly glad i got to see everyone that i did. It went by entirely too fast. I wish I could have spent more time just lounging. Hopefully the next visit will be in warmer weather. wouldnt that be novel?

But back to reality as they say. (As if Washington is some parallel universe in my mind where reality does not exist.) Its hard to come home from vacation... even if it is a sunny island place. Its kind of like being pushed into a revolving door when your not quite ready. You just fly inbetween doors, pause to try to figure out why you were so forcibly pushed into this spot, and in an instant get hit from behind with an oncoming glass door panel. If you're not already moving at the pace of life.... its a harsh mistress.

I got to come back to 6 days in a row of work. With no breaks. But I suppose it will end up for my benefit because I am inevitably going to be broke from missing 3 weeks of work.

OOH! and for those who I havent told... yes.... my car FINALLY sold. Only took a year and 4 months. I think thats a new record. So thats a big relief. Also, I now have a computer. So yay for that. I can check email and whatnot. As my first duty on this new machine... I will grace you all with some photos from my trip. You may or may not recognize these events....

Until next time... im out.

limey

greetings! well the standard coons age has passed so time to update. plus i got an upgraded phone so now i can access the ol' intrenet. yahoo. so now i can get your emails in a timely manner. the story goes that i will be arriving on the mainland in one week. So im very excited to see all of you. Not so sure how i will handle the fridged temperatures but i figure if i consume and wear enough cayane pepper i might do ok. This ought to be an eventful trip. Lets see, in other new news ive changed my name to Kagness and now only eat potatos. [Thats a lie] But i DID get 3rd Degree Yam Burns the other day. That was a first. Anyhow, i wont spoil ALL the fun right now. I can fill you all in on the exciting details of my non-eventful life when i arrive. In the mean time think warm thoughts & eat your vegetables. And i will see you all very soon!

i bet the toxic gold fish epidemic is the problem

Im not going to continue to appologize for the delays in between updates anymore because clearly... Im not that sorry. hehe. Well in any case, I just havent had the means lately... or any thoughts to publish. However, I have a whopping 5 min. left before my purchased internet time is up. I hope all is well back on the 'main' land. I will be there soon enough.. November to be precise. and im looking forward to it. The sister was here for a week so that was a nice diversion. We camped... boy did we camp. And she got to see sharks in their natural habitat... the beach. Well, not much new to note here... at least not that comes to mind. but i miss everyone and look forward to seeing your bright beaming faces again soon. (after all i hear some of you have been tanning.... yikes)

till next time.
the katy

...better than the cement mixer i was living in

Good morning. What a strange couple of days it has been.



I received the sad news that our dear sister Millie Kihlmier has passed away after a long faithful life to Jehovah. She will be missed dearly.



Also, some concerning news was relayed about my grandpa- whom i hope recovers quickly.



I went to work yesterday morning and had a typical day, things were going fine. My boss just the day before had assured me I was going to be able to get my full schedule back after weeks of cut backs.
After I got home I received a phone call from my boss letting me know that I have been laid off. Tomorrow is my last day...



So I am currently on Brooke's computer looking for a new job. So far the options are slim. Next stop- unemployment office. The timing couldnt be worse.
But I thought since I have the opportunity to get online, I would post an update. Also the warden is asleep... and after an egg sandwich for breakfast- she is unknowingly beating my senses with foul eggy emissions. Im surprised it doesnt wake her up.

In an unusual but nice turn of events after some very lame occurrences.... after I left work yesterday I got to my car and found a note on my windshield- a vacationer had left a nice sized scratch on the back panel of my car. However he took responsibility and called the police and even left his number to contact him. Not many of you have seen my car, but it isn't exactly a Rolls-Royce. In fact the scratch only complemented the other abrasions to my paint job. So I figured since I was so impressed by his honesty and owning up to it- i'd let him off the hook. I left a message telling him I appreciated his honesty but not to worry about it. He called back about an hour later to say how thankful he was and sorry and wanted to send me a couple of bucks to at least buy myself a nice dinner. After receiving the news that I had just lost my job- it was a relief. That man's kind gesture will probably buy my groceries for a few days. I guess there are still some kind hearted people in this world.

Anyhow, I'm trying to look at this as a fresh start. Maybe even a better job. And if I pray hard enough maybe a better job that will allow me to pioneer. Here's hoping.

Our C.O. visit and Dist. convention are coming up in a couple weeks so that should be a good boost. Also in the waiting process- I might actually get the time to go lay at the beach for a bit.

Signing out....

captain paquet

napoleon bonaparte did not drive a buick

I can hardly believe it.... but i finally have a chance to update! Boy ... gobs of things have happened since my last entry. As most of you know by now- i have since made a trip back up to 'the mainland' (as we isolated island types like to affectionately refer to it). Also, i have had visitors- 83% of the knudtson family was here, accompanied by jessica. a grandiose time was had. and no one left with staph infection. we also had our circuit assembly a few weeks ago which was wonderful. More recently, in the past few days actually, Brooke and I have made the decision to move. All the way down to apartment 206. Its a short move... 5 doors down to be precise, but it will afford us much more space and privacy. Not to mention the biggest lanai in the building. woot! Anyhow we're looking forward to it, and should be getting ourselves moved in by the end of the month. We've been plenty busy lately. Also my birthday was yesterday, and an alarming number of you somehow remembered that it was. (and were sure to point out that i was just a little closer to slipping down the geriatric slope.) so thank you for that...
The atmosphere here on maui has become rather unpleasant lately. First there was the cane burning which made the air rich with ash and soot. In addition, the VOG has enveloped the island. (the smog produced from the lava flowing into the ocean on the big island, rich with sulphurdioxide) To make the situation worse it has gotten very hot lately and we havent had any wind for several days. So the air is humid, sticky, stinky, and still. In fact there is a constant haze which prevents you from being able to see above the tree line. The bugs are in heaven- no wind to blow them out. So everyone is dealing with infestations and respiratory discomfort. But to add a strange twist, I read in the paper today that a new concern has developed: an alarming mass of sea turtle doodoo has washed into Maalaea harbor, coating the area in smelly turtle sludge. Environmentalists claim that it cannot harm humans..... hmm. i beg to differ. Also they recommend that people with respiratory illnesses should try to remain indoors at all times with air conditioning to avoid breathing the air outside. Something tells me the authorities in this field havent given much thought to their advice. Hopefully all of this will all pass on soon, it doesnt make for very paradisaic conditions.
ALso in the mean time i am going to be conducting research studies in an attempt to figure out why it is that women in the teens to late twenties have such difficulty keeping plants alive. I will call the dissorder 'black thumb' for now.
well thats all the time i have for today... goodnight and good gravy to you.