What I Dream About: Part 2

So this sleep business is not getting any better. I wake up every morning exhausted because I sabotage myself in the middle of the night. My week in brief:

Monday: Joyce hears me from another room talking loudly. My subconscious thoughts? "Fish?!? I LOVE IT!!!"
Note: I hate fish.

Tuesday: I (sleep) walk into the front room and then kitchen on my house making sure that my roommates, myself, and another person who doesn't actually live at my house have a place to sleep comfortably. I sit on the couch for a while; I only know because that's where I woke up. SITTING UP on the living room couch.

Wednesday: I again wake up somewhere other than in bed. In fact I am STANDING UP in the corner of my kitchen and am freaked when I jolt awake.

Thursday: I remember standing up and walking to the closet in my bedroom. After that, no idea. I wake up with most of my clothes taken off of their hangers and distributed into two piles on my bedroom floor. And they aren't even color coordinated, the shame.

I guess this really isn't about the dreams I had this week, but clearly something off. This is getting ridiculous.

It Began at 9:00 AM

We left on Wednesday morning with literally no plans as to what we were going to do or where we were going to sleep once we landed in Honolulu. Our three-hour layover in San Francisco went like this:

• It is boring to sit in the airport for any amount of time so we left and jumped on the BART for a quick ride into the city where we had a lunch and then turned around to go back to the airport.


• After boarding the plane, the pilot announced over the loudspeaker that everyone was going to have to deboard so that he could perform some maintenance before taking off. Naturally, this does not support feelings of safety or wellbeing. Within two minutes of leaving our very-last-row seats on the plane we were able to board again.
  
• The highlight of this experience is when a woman began running through the connecting terminal-hallway towards the plane and upon skipping down the declined area, tripped over her husband, fell, and headed downhill a few feet before coming to a stop. She looked like a Yankee coming into third base, unnecessary slide and all. It sounds worse than it actually but rest assured that she jumped up quickly and was laughing as hard as we were. I have high hopes that that particular scene will end up on Youtube at some point, it was just that good.
  

We arrived in Oahu at 5:30 in the evening. Luckily, Tamara and Hannah are finishing up school at BYU Hawaii and were cool enough to grab us from the airport and transport us the hour or so drive to the North Shore where we planned on spending the most time. And even though they don’t read this, there must be a major shout-out to both of these girls; they are some of the best people I’ve met and were so much fun to hang out with, even when it required them, uh, falling ill and not being able to make it into school/internship/work for a few days. Truly this is a testament to the awesomeness that is hanging out at the beach on a Monday afternoon.

When we arrived in Laie that first night we decided to stay at the Laie Inn where the motto is surely “Screw the condition of the rooms – you’re in Hawaii.” After I checked the walls to make sure there was no visible blood or hidden camera peepholes, I went to sleep for a few hours until the 4 hour time difference caught up with me at 4:30 am. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad – I’ve definitely had worse experiences in hostels and once in an Econo-Lodge in South Dakota.

The next morning was great - Corey and I crossed paths as he was coming back from a walk to the beach and I was heading out and when we met back at the room, it was discovered that the door wouldn’t open to either of our magnetic key-cards. After a few trips to the front desk, it was determined that the (hung over) maintenance guy was going to need to take a look at the door and try to get it open. It had, of course, a bigger problem than he was able to fix so after prying the screen off of one of the windows, our newfound pal Dave from South Carolina was able to break into the room and unlock the door from the inside out. It feels good to know just how easy it is to break into those rooms.

Shortly after, we checked out and said goodbye to Laie Inn in hopes that we would find someone a little more hospitable. A highlight of cold-calling rental signs was when I talked to a guy who was renting an apartment of his house long term, not just as a vacation rental. I think that he must have been pretty hard up for some extra cash this month because after learning that we were only looking for something for a few days, he told me that he would be willing to prorate the monthly rental amount and would probably be able to “find an air mattress or something” for us to sleep on in the unfurnished house. I have reasonable fears that his final offer to seal the deal would have been for us to sleep on his couch for $20 a night as well as a shared bathroom with himself as a temporary roommate. Luckily for us, after taking a drive along the Kam highway calling signs we found a decent studio that had a beautiful beach access and the right price. It was tiny, rocked a kitchenette, that looked like this:



But it looked like this outside:

The small reef on the beach really was pretty and I loved waking up every morning and heading down just to watch the water for a while. This proved to be a good place to stay and I’m happy that we ended up there for the rest of the week.

After having settled on a place to dump our stuff, we headed to the first beach of the week, Waimea. We ended coming back to this same beach at least once a day because it is such a great beach and has good waves. I won’t be putting up any pictures from these first days because I can’t guarantee that all of you are wearing sunglasses and I would hate for my glaring whiteness to cause any permanent damage to your vision. Rest easy though; the white only lasted a few hours before it turned to a nice glowing sunburn. It is just so good to be pale and freckled, you don’t even know.

A highlight of the first day at the beach was happened while I was trying to get back into the swing of the waves; anyone in my family can attest to the fact that I am hands-down the best wave boarder, it’s a skill of little use that I generally take a lot of pride in. Unfortunately, I was caught off guard by a massive double-break wave that not only knocked me over, but also pulled me back and did it twice in a row. I have never had the breath knocked out of me before and it was a weird experience to have it happen under water for the first time. While I was working on being able to breathe all I could think about were the warnings that the lifeguards had been announcing that morning about dangerous surf and the high volume of back and spinal injuries that had occurred on this particular beach. Luckily, everything seemed all right by the next morning and I didn’t have to continually wiggle my fingers and toes to make sure I could feel them.

I know that even if I had successfully paralyzed myself I would have received no sympathy from the fishermen that randomly relocated themselves along the beach – Corey was quick to point out that as haole’s we would be smart not to make the old men mad and so we did our best to stay out their way, going as far as to leave the beach when I walked right into a line. Oops.

It was a good day ended by having dinner with Tamara and Hannah and followed by the consumption of the biggest shaved ice I have ever seen – it took all four of us to even come close to finishing it. Since we were still unused to the time difference and the girls both had school and work the next day, we all went home pretty early and I appreciated sleeping on a decent bed that allowed for my neck to miraculously heal itself after my attempt to bend myself in half earlier in the day.

So I Went To Hawaii

After a wonderful week, I arrived back at Salt Lake International first thing on Thursday morning. And then went straight to work. And then cried at my desk a little because I was back in Utah (Note: I do so wish I were kidding). Although it was a rough day, it speaks volumes about the good time I had on vacation this past week in Laie. I’m going to have to break up my stories by day because it just seems like there is a lot to tell and I am no good at being brief in the first place. The story of me going to Hawaii is this: after very little planning and a few changes in dates, Corey and I bought tickets to Oahu in hopes to stave off some of the winter depression that hits right about this time of year. And yes, I know it isn’t winter yet, but fall is simply a precursor to the worst 5 months of the year and that is just something that is unacceptable thankyouverymuch.

What I Dream About

I have had a series of really unfortunate dreams lately. Not the kind that leave me shaken or unnerved throughout the day, but the kind that make me wonder what in the hell my subconscious is worried about.

For example, after watching pieces of the presidential debate on Tuesday, I woke the next morning with the distinct feeling that I had really made Obama mad while I mediated an economic agreement between McCain and Bernacke. Now bear in mind, I don't really fully understand the ramifications of economic policy on strongholding, but in my mind I was opinionated enough to alienate a candidate. Never fear though, I spent the remainder of my sleeping hours trying to make it up to Barack by telling him about the screenplay I had written.

Worse that this, though, is the dream I had last night in which I spent a full night and day running around Manhattan trying to find Sara so that I could give her a road bike to take on her honeymoon. Because, you know, she had found someone she wanted to marry and was going to elope without actually telling me about it. Now Sara, don't get mad - I just really wanted you to know that I would bring you a bike before your wedding.

So here's the problem with these stupid little dreams that I remember so vividly every morning: I have a hard time determining what has actually happened in the real-person world and what I have only summoned in my head. Post-debate, I spent the day on edge with the feeling that I was going to have to explain my ill-conceived stimulus package to the American public because the current leaders of the country had been hurt by my non-partisan leanings. Similarly, I woke this morning wondering if I had missed what was sure to have been a good wedding and if I had hurt Sara's feelings by not providing a bike (it could have been new, borrowed, and blue!) on a really important day.

In short, I have no grasp on reality. But I might be able to write a screenplay.

More Pretty

I seem to be on a kick lately - like I have a party to plan or something... Eeks! Halloween!

Anyway, this portfolio by Amy Atlas Events is wonderful. Check it out.

I Like This

Came across this while interneting today. The Paris-based artists have created scenes using tiny figurines and daily household food/items. The website reads:

"The husband and wife team present a manufactured micro universe, part Toy Story, part Candy Land, populated with diminutive humanoid characters engaged in a range of ordinary and extraordinary activities. Since the project inception in 2002, the series has grown to over 60 images."

This is so clever, I wish I had thought of it first. I couldn't narrow down all of my favorites, but here are a few:

It's True:

No One Cares What You Had For Lunch. But here's the thing - I do what I want. So WATCH ME write about the mundane bits of my life. I work with what I have folks, judge all you want.

Back to the matter at hand though, it is no longer summer. Now, I get that Utah has these "four seasons" and that the temperature can't "feasibly stay" in the 90's. Sure, science triumphs again. Whatever. Fact of the matter is, I officially made the switch to hibernation mode last night due to frigid temperatures and a frosty demeanor (on my part, naturally.) Gone are the days of only one blanket on my bed, pajamas consisting of shorts and summery tee's. Instead, I write this from a bed that boasts the addition of two extra blankets and the reinstatement of the much-lauded heated mattress pad. I'm wearing a long sleeved thermal and damned flannel pants that scream "Yukon, Ho!"

Also - who did it best?!? I can't decide wheter Elvin Bishop or Rod Stewart made the superior version of "Fooled Around and Fell in Love." It's troubling.

And another thing - during a bike ride tonight I found that Provo has an Amtrak station. Pretty rad. I need to decide where I am going to ride it - east or west?

Ashley sent the text I love to get: the reminder of the 2008, 48 hour, Disneyland extravaganza that went down 6 months ago. I never remarked, but it was so choice. These are my favorite bits to remember:

• Ashley and I not sleeping the first night in Vegas - we just stared at each other in the dark for 3 hours


• Sporadically getting up to investigate the noises outside of where we were (not) sleeping. It was a basketball smackdown in the wee hours...


• Getting lost in Disneyland while the kindness of my friends allowed them to not leave me for dead


• All of Disneyland, really


• Getting turned around on the drive home and making a 1.5 hour detour in the middle of the Nevada desert. I am still in debt to Jessica and Heather for not leaving me right then and there. They are good girls.