Tired in Yogurtland

Currently, I am working on my Masters Degree in Education. It's 1:25am Monday October 27, 2008 and I've JUST finished the last research paper for this class. I am going to sleep and when I wake up... another class will have popped up on my home page and I'll have to start ALL over. Sniff, sniff. I don't know how much longer I can take it! I'm going kind of bananas here.

On a lighter note, Joseph, Grandma, and I went to Yogurtland today. Joseph got (big surprise) chocolate with "treats," grandma got chocolate with cookie dough, and I got taro, strawberry, and chocolate with mochi balls. I'm officially an addict. It is my second time in 2 days. $25 worth of Yogurtland (it was my treat both times) in two days! I know they won't be going out of business as long as I still have teeth! Heck, even if I don't I'll be sucking it through a straw! I should have spent the entire day working on my stinky paper buuuuuuuuuuut I took my mom and her dog (grrrr) to the vet for a post surgery check up. Then we went to Kahala Mall to check out Kahala Kids for a penguin Halloween Costume. Joseph decided, only recently, that he didn't want to be Thomas the Tank Engine. Now I'm freaking out because Halloween is only 4 days away! So we went to Kahala Kids to check out their selection because I had seen a television commercial advertising their wide selection of Hawaii-weather-friendly costumes. One short rack of 6 costumes, does NOT a wide selection, make! We tried to make the best of our situation by enjoying freshly popped popcorn from Carousel Candies. What a variety! I got the "local mix" and grandma got the buttered popcorn. I thought Joseph would want to share with me but he only at the plain popcorn. He doesn't care for the arare or furikake. He's his father's son, for sure!

When I go to Kahala I always experience an overwhelming wash of memories. That was where I went on my first date, where I watched my first movie without family (when it was $2.50), where we hung out after band concerts, on weekends, during the summer, after school. I saw Dances with Wolves, and Casper at Kahala Theater. I bought my first prom dress and did all my back to school shopping at Liberty House. We used to go to Pretzelmaker then sit at the tables doing our English homework, soft, buttery pretzels in hand. We shopped at Something Special every Mother's Day, ate at Burger King for lunch, snacked at Yami Yogurt, and shopped at Woolworth's. Now they're all gone! I can't believe how much has changed in the past 10 years. Then it makes me think how people and lives have changed in just 10 years. Then I wonder, naturally, what life will be like in the next 10 years. Will Hawaii be unrecognizable? Will I be unrecognizable? Different dreams, ambitions, fears, thoughts? Probably. Change is scary, sometimes.

On Friday, Joseph, Taryn, and I went to the Punahou game. Joseph looooooooooooooooooooved it!!! It was his FIRST football game. Initially, the marching band really scared him. After a few songs and some freshly popped popcorn, however, he was fine. He sat, content, munching and watching Punahou kill Pack 5. He said, "I don't want to play football." As soon as he learns how to write, I'm getting that statement on paper!

On Saturday, I took two of my students to Punahou to attend the 2008 Astronaut Lacy Veach Day of Discovery. It was awesome! There must have been thousands of students and parents walking around lower campus viewing the demonstrations and exhibits. I supported the Robotics Club (only because I saw Mr. Hu) by purchasing some mizu and musubi. The opening ceremony was interesting because the speaker was an Astronaut - Dr. Stanley Love. He was amazing! His message was clear: persistence and hope will get you to your dreams. He also showed a movie of his last voyage into space. It reminded me of Elison Onizuka and the effect his story had on my life when I studied him in the 6th grade. I was just in Kona and I didn't even stop by the space museum! We had some extra time so we went to the Bishop Museum. We spent most of our time in the Planetarium. I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep. It was neat because it was a great interdisciplinary lesson for the girls! There was a lot of science (physics and chemistry at the Lava center), geometry (shapes, coordinates, etc.) at the Planetarium, and of course, Hawaiian History. Overall, a great day!

In any case, it was a busy weekend. Now it's time to go to bed and dream of Taro yogurt with mochi balls.