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08.20.02 >2311 Our rental car was a white Cadillac Seville that I hope resembles the sort of car my dad drives after he retires (we traded it in for a Venture van later, I can't remember the manufacturer, but this is all besides the point). Anyways - Friday morning we're waiting in the open lobby of our hotel for Dad to pick us up in the Caddy, and three older gentlemen are just coming up the steps, decked out in shorts, t-shirts and shades as Dad pulls up to the curb. The back windows are tinted, and my dad is in the driver's seat wearing a nice, pressed and collared shirt, dark shorts, and the earpiece for his cellphone. We clamber into the car and these three older gentlemen are watching us closely. Just before Murm closes the door, she hears one of them say, "But you have to pay money for that." We were laughing all the way to the freeway entrance. I love tourists. >1530 Over the past several days I didn't have much time to write or read anything, but whilst on the plane I managed to finish The Power of One [(Bryce Courtenay) - and thanks again, sis, for the early B-Day present! Love ya muchly] and Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein). Wonderful reads, both of 'em. Now I want to get this book. Someone had bought it for my uncle and I'd started to flip through it one evening while at the hospice. The poem that opened Chapter One pretty much clinched it for me: If you are able,I'm sorta on a military fiction/documentary bent right now, if you can't tell already. I don' think it's gonna let up anytime soon, either... >1228 I'm baaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaack. Hawaii was nice, but the humidity is somethin' fearsome and took a bit to get used to. And they say California's too fast-paced and hectic? Sheesh, stay on the Waikiki Strip for several days and you'll find out what hectic means. Not to mention EXPENSIVE! (Okay, okay, so we were in Tourist Country - so yeah, expensive is to be expected.) Anyways - this was definitely not a vacation. (Wellll, maybe it was, to a certain degree.) We spent a few hours everyday except yesterday visiting my uncle at the hospice they'd moved him to, holding his hand while he slept, talking a little bit with him when he was awake, and watching TV or a DVD movie with him. When we weren't at the hospital, we were strolling down the Strip, trying t' bear with the heat whilst looking at all the souvenir shops. Saturday we went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, and most of the money I'd brought disappeared within a few hours. Lots of great stuff on the cheap. I am glad to be home, though. Now it's Recover From Jet Lag and Catch-Up Time. Yay. 08.12.02 >2138 Work, reading, writing, church, sleep - that's the order of things nowadays. And, oh yeah - apartment hunting, though I've done more looking than actual hunting. Murm found two potential places that she liked, so I'm taking tomorrow off from work to go check 'em out. When I let my boss know, she was only too glad to let me take off for the day - funny, my boss is actually happy about something like that. Considering the state of mind she was in this morning after all her admins walked in late, that's very strange. |