yay for LAVA!

i'll try to make this blurb slightly more coherent...

one of the coolest things about living on a volcanic island (other than the SUPERB forests and beaches) is seeing all the fascinating lava formations

one time i went hiking down a lava flow around the southern part of the big island

the aim was to make it to this isolated beach called Halape - it was a protected as a Hawksbill Turtle nesting site (nifty!)

anyways, we lost the trail about 50 meters down

this lent to a unique opportunity to explore the cooled lava formations (since we had nothing else to observe as we spent the next 3 hours searching for the path)

here are some mind-warping pics:

here's an ohia tree (Metrosiderous polymorpha - i got to know these trees REALLY well in biology classes) growing out of a miniscule crack in the lava - a perfect example of primary succession at work!

here you can see the new lava flow that has run over the old one

i dont even know what to call this... a chasm?

here's my girl (hiuyan) next to an old tree
notice the path of the new lava flow in the distance

here's some nice scenery pics for you!
there's the blue blue hawai'ian ocean off in the distance
this last one is my favorite

i like to call these formations 'lava dragons'
these mysterious troughs look like dragons sleeping in the lava

most of the lava was trecherous to scramble over
it crunched and cracked under your feet
occassionally, the skin of a sturdy-looking boulder would shed itself as you trod on it, sending your foot off with it, as if you were sliding on something slippery instead of rough and brittle

here's a final scenic shot
just to make you JEALOUS ^______^

that's all for now!
sometime ill get back to this journey over the wild lava lands~
it sure was memorable...

sittin by the window on a rainy day...

god my feet hurt today
it was another long day at the warehouse
luckily, my mood was not soured by the end of the day
and i killed nobody driving home
(im a new, inexperienced driver - when have i ever had the need until now?)
THEY were lucky my mood was good (the pedestrians)
dinner is soon...
i better stop scarfing these chocolate-covered, toffee-coated macadamia nuts...
god... just describing that destroyed my feeble efforts at self-restraint
another handfull!!
sickness...
darkness...
neurosis......
...oh, wait; that one's normal
i should think about an early bedtime
more post later.

a day in the life of a bicycle repairman

hmm... i have a feeling this will become as much 'journal' as 'blog'
oh well, i know you'll bear with me :)

lemme start by giving you a rundown of my lifestyle these days

in the wee hours of the early morn' i awaken to begin my big day
i arrive before the sun at a small warehouse next to some railroad tracks
they are nice tracks
many-a-smoke-break i enjoy their comforting presence
i then proceed to spend approx. 50% of my waking hours utilizing 99.5% of my daily allotment of energy
and it's COLD inside the warehouse
my job description consists basically of:
- printing orders made over the internet (we call them 'pick lists')
- collecting all of the product purchased on the order ('picking')
- packing the orders into boxes ('packing'^^)
- restocking product onto the shelves when it runs low
- other odd jobs on the warehouse floor
on occasion i work upstairs in the 'call office' where warehouse management takes place, where calls are received, and where orders are approved and processed in the system (the most significant feature to the call office is that its heated) - sometime, i'll DEFINATELY have to go into more detail on this; did you know that high school golf coaches are idiots?
really, i can't complain about the job much - it's satisfying and the pay is GOOD (especially for part time, temp work)

the rest of my day is comprised of a generous ration of leisure activity
although i have been known to be productive from time to time
my higher-order-intelligence activities consist of the following:

• reading
  (mostly fiction - i simply love it; someone once told me that "great fiction is like great art; sometimes it's the attention to detail that makes it good; sometimes it's just real and beautiful")
  (nonfiction too - biology material - i read textbooks, yes, textbooks and published articles when i really have some extra mental energy - and stuff on asia pretty often - now im reading China: A Macrohistory)
  (more on this later)


• ARTing (i did recently finish a comic for my friend chris's publication entitled Chaotique which i will post up here SOON)
  (i also enjoy sketchin' and watercolorin')


• writing (fiction, mostly, but also academic stuff, when my determination and diligence are strong enough - i'll put up some fiction too, when i have it; unfortunately, i have nothing completed - because im neurotic i have to work on several stories at once)
  (more about this coming soon)


• language study
  (japanese cuz it's SO MUCH FUN - ive been studying for 4.5 years and have very piddly skills to show for it, so i keep at it; plus, i love the language - right now im reading a children's book that's a storybook version of 千と千尋の神隠し - Spirited Away)
  (korean cuz im planning to move to seoul, south korea THIS FALL to teach english and hang with all my wonderful friends)
  (if you're not in seoul, dont worry, you're still wonderful - probably)


• keeping in touch with my wonderful girl
  (she's in hong kong now, in school)
  (much more about her coming soon)

less productive activities include:

- movie watching (probably lots on this later)
- playing with my cat, cocoa (she's about as insane as cats come - adorable and ferocious simultaneously)
- emotion-juggling (this eats up more time than i'd like, often enough, but it's an important part of being 'me')
- writing this blog

yup, that's about it these days
not so bad, right?
it doesn't sound too difficult when it's all laid out like this
things tend to run pretty smoothly, i guess
...until something slips in my juggling and everything flies in all directions

bear with me
i foresee a disorienting and random array of subsequent postings
FUN!

next stop: past & future

im at this point in my life where it's like im standing on a small raft at the shore of a vast body of water that stretches beyond the horizon.
my eyes turn back to the land that is familiar to me
i am standing at its edge, the pole to push off its banks in my hand
for so long i have had my eyes directed toward that far off horizon
more than once, i have ventured for a time into those unfamiliar waters
but now i have reached a point where i must embark with no plan of return
in search of dreams so unfocused, i have only blind hope to cling to as waves crash down on the flimsy vessel which my closest support and which i have been crafting over the course of my entire life
turning back and abandoning this vessel on the shores would be unthinkable, for what would remain of me?
no, even dearest memories would blister and flake away into ashes if forced to remain ever in the light
i know i must, at last, face the unknown alone
water sloshes against my ankles as i shift my weight for the final push
and wait for the wind to fill my sail...

this is the first entry on this blog
it is my hope that through it i can keep those who are too far away to communicate with easily up to date on my current doings
as my good friends are spread across the globe, i anticipate no need to ever terminate this blog
my second reason for starting this up is to eliminate the need to keep two personal websites up to date - facebook and cyworld (cyworld, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a korean personal homepage system, similar to facebook)
i do plan to keep posting things on those sites from time to time and communicating through them of course
just for reference, my cyworld homepage is:
http://www.cyworld.co.kr/petepl
(you may have to allow pop-ups, or include cyworld in your trusted sites)
and for my facebook you just have to search for my name on www.facebook.com (unfortunately you have to be a member first and then request to add someone as a friend to see their page)

we'll see how well this goes...