sjamesho.v3

this morning i woke up again sleep deprived but that was sort of okay since i figured i would sleep on the flight to New York. as this journey would take up most of my day i picked up a hearty breakfast burrito a block from my house at Burrito Express. i finished eating it and was completely stuffed as soon as my mom dropped me at the airport. this is a good thing due to the continued skimpage of in-flight meals and/or snacks. so after checking in, then boarding, i settled into my seat and got comfortable for sleep was demanding attention and i was not about to ignore it. there was another thing that i couldn’t ignore. about 20 minutes into the flight, there was this little girl who just wouldn’t shut up. she was either crying, talking loud, or just making intermittant noises. as hard as i tried to sleep, there was none to be had. if there’s an unwritten courtesy rule of tipping your restaurant server, then i think there should also be an rule of tipping the parents for letting their child be so disruptive on a flight (or a movie theater, what have you) by having all the passengers give a firm but gentle slap that doesn’t leave a mark. anyways, i arrived at Chicago MDW airport and found that my connecting flight has been delayed for about an hour, give or take. but in no time i was once again boarding and once again trying to settle in. if i were to get any sleep it would be on this shorter 2 hour flight. but ~nooooo~. did i just happen to pick the lucky flights that had disruptive children on each of them? i closed my eyes and i believe that i slipped into some level of unconsciousness but not the restful kind unfortunately. i had just come around to entertain the possibility of having kids of my own. how quickly these two kids almost drove me to the brink of anti-offspring resolution.

tired from lack of sleep the previous night and the struggle to find the slightest taste of rest on the flight, i disembarked the plane and stepped foot in New York. My uncle James, aunty Mag, and two cousins Jessica and Justin picked me up and we all went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner after which we went to their home in Port Washington where i must say its good to finally stop. i’m here visiting for the week as well as taking advantage of a free ticket from the Southwest Airlines rewards program.

1:00p. my dad and i arrive in Old Koloa Town at Da Life Outdoor Gear to check in for the Kauai ATV Tours. after we checked in we had about 20 minutes to kill before the staff gives us an overview and directions to the ATV staging area. so my dad and i just browsed the store checking out the gear and what not.

1:20p. we head outside of the store where we exchanged pleasantries with a few of the tour participants. shortly thereafter a staff member comes out and gives us the lowdown of what to expect which is basically don’t bring anything with you because everything will get ruined. they will provide clothes, socks, boots, helmets, and goggles. no cameras unless you have one of those water-proof cases. they have two guides that conduct the tour. the lead guide and support guide/photographer. of course there’s the added cost of the photo CD at the end but nice thing about that is that you don’t have to worry about taking pictures of the scenary as well as action-shots of you driving the vehicle. Continue reading

for the last couple of days the rain mocked our attempts to enjoy activities outdoors. today we mocked the rain right back by going out for some kayaking-action even though for about 66% of the time it would rain on us during the whole trip. packing sushi for lunch on-the-go, we eventually got to the Shell gas station where we met our guide who then took us to a launching dock off the Wailua River. my dad and i were in one kayak and uncle Charles and Carissa were in the other. this was only my second time kayaking however my dad and i were quick studies. uncle Charles and Carissa didn’t fair as well so about 75% to our destination my dad and Carissa switched places at a small docking area. the last 25% of the way took us to a off-shoot, narrower branch of the river which was more rapid thus having us put more shoulder force and paddle strokes in. we beached the kayaks on a small pebbled cove and was greated by many mosquitoes. we walked about 200 feet and noticed that one of the two crossings that we need to take to the waterfall awaiting us was high and its current fast. there was a line that spanned the crossing, so the guide, my dad, and i got waist high and crossed over. it was only about 50 feet or so till the next crossing which the guide determined that the risk factor was too great for us to continue. so the three of us headed back to get uncle Charles and Carissa on the way to the beached kayaks. heading back to the dock seemed more leisurely than coming. by the time we neared the dock the rain finally stopped. it was quite a fun experience. maybe next time we’ll have more accommodating weather so that we could reach the waterfall destination. Continue reading

the rain greeted us this morning and it looked like the rest of the day was going to be just as wet. however around 10:00a or so the rain stopped but it was still overcast. it was a good thing that it stopped because the vacation club that we’re staying at offers free picture-taking for timeshare owners and this morning at 10:50a was our scheduled time on the beachfront. after that we went into the management office for some free coffee and pastries. i poured some coffee into a cup and then realized that there was ice for the sodas so i got another cup and poured half of my coffee into it, added cream and sugar to both of them, and filled both with ice. i would have just made one cup of ice coffee for myself but i had already poured enough for one cup and no one else in my family wanted ice coffee. on the way back to the villas we decided to take more pictures around the property since we were already dressed up. when we eventually got back to the villas it was time to prepare lunch. while my mom and aunts got lunch ready, i changed into shorts and headed back out to take more pictures. lunch was ready by the time i got back… fried-leftover rice and vegetables from the night before. nice! another nice thing was that the sun finally came out though it was still pretty cloudy. Continue reading

i woke up abruptly at 5:00a this morning trying to find where the alarm was coming from. i don’t remember setting any alarm the night before and when i eventually found it, it turned out to be the alarm from my cellphone which i had forgotten to turn off. i usually leave my cellphone on 24/7 but not when i’m on vacation. i cancelled the alarm but before i could power off my phone i get a text message from my friend Ruben about this Google-trick with text-messaging. so i did the trick, got the bounceback from Google, and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Continue reading