All Booked Up

Sunday, 16 July 2006

As my summer comes to a close, I have been busy "booking" my free time. Friday night, I met Michael, a carpenter/artist/photographer, at Vino's for some tasty tapas and wine, then we went to a Bon Dance. Although it rained a little, we were armed with umbrellas and still enjoyed the music and Japanese dancing.

Saturday was leg workout day for sure! First off, I went to drive down to yoga at 6:30 am, but discovered that my truck was blocked in the driveway by my cousin's car. So, I decided to walk down our steep hill. It was a quick 10 minute walk, but my shins were feeling it by the time I layed my mat and towel down for yoga. Had a great workout, and then prepared for my walk back up the mountain, easier said than done. I passed the time by talking on the phone and panting up the hills. Went to Miya's to visit baby Taiga, then walked to the Korean Festival being held at Kap'iolani Park a few blocks down from her house. Scarfed down a kalbi plate lunch and enjoyed watching a kim chee eating contest and traditional dancing. Carl called and met me there since he was in the neighborhood surfing. Introduced the native Canadian nurse to some barbeque chicken, kim chee, mandoo, and topped it off with some Waiola shaved ice with mochi balls. We watched an awesome Tae Kwon Do demonstration and more dancing. It was so much fun. Then, we went to Koko Head Crater, as we had originally planned, to hike up the mountain....What I realized was I was really about to hike up some really steep stairs...About half way through the steep hill, getting my stairmaster workout up hundreds of stairs which went along an old railroad track, I began thinking to myself, "What am I doing?!" I disagree with my friend Joel...That hill was much steeper than my hill! My quads were burning, and halfway up, we noticed a woman go down and then come back up and pass us each time. She's crazy! I started losing pace with Carl at that point, sweating like a pig, but he was a kind gentleman and said that perhaps he was just trying to impress me. But he was right about the top because the cool breeze was so rewarding!

We headed back down as the sun went down, and we had worked up an appetite. We ate dinner at a cute Indian restaurant, while having good conversation and learning more about each other, our pasts, our presents, and our passions.

Although my shins are killing me today, Sunday, I still managed to wake up for 7 am yoga and be domestic (and a bit lazy) the rest of the day. Went grocery shopping after an impromptu meeting with Grant at Jamba Juice. We chatted about my dad and window washing. Then, I must have been inspired or something because I washed four cars with my cousins Daryl and Geoff this afternoon (my truck, and my uncle's three cars, since they come back from Maui today..and it's "Wash Car Sunday".)