OakMonster’s Den

We have been busting out our credit cards a little bit too often these few months.  But all for the things we do need and we’re willing to eat Top Ramen for a while for.

First was my commuter comfort purchases.  My lovely red briefcase got here today.  I’m going to adore its candy red shell for a few more weeks before slapping on one of my Emily the Strange stickers.  Hehee.

Then was the birthday party.  Instead of me cooking, we ordered a party pack from Naples Rib Company.  To our surprise, for $100 from Naples can feed about 15 people easy.  While a visit to the restaurant with 3 other friends might have cost just about the same.  Next time we crave barbecue, we’ll have to get a group together to be worth it.

Brandon’s birthday present is also an online steal.  He desperately needs a new office chair.  His back pain alone is worth every dollar I was to plunk down to get him the chair.  We found one at Staples and I came home to comparison shop.  I managed to find the same chair on Staples website with $50 off and no delivery charge, plus an online coupon that roped me 10 Arbor Day canvas bags for zero dollar.  That’s right.  10 bags for free.  I have enough to supply everyone I know back home with a “Gift of the U.S.”!  (And it’ll be made in China…I’m sure.)

And speaking of Thailand, the big daddy of them all are the prices of our tickets home.  Brandon and I will be in Bangkok the week of Thanksgiving with Brandon returning the Saturday after Thanksgiving and me the Friday after that.  With his bad knee, we have to get bigger seat of Economy Deluxe on EVA.  But then again, regular Economy on Thai already costs more than that even if it’s a real direct flight.

Oh, and good job on Thai Airways in luring people in.  On their website, it lists the flight I want at $903, but miraculously there are fees that makes the ticket in the $1600 at the end of check out.

Flight costs are going to be crazy, people.  It is already unpretty out there when even China Airlines hits the $900s to go to Bangkok when it’s all said and done.  And I thought I was clever for buying the tickets now.  Should’ve bought them in March or something.

I’m blogging from Olaina’s lovely pink Dell in their lovely apartment in the lovely San Diego.  :)  That up there was from the train on my way down, somewhere around Solana Beach.

This is the beginning of the 3-night, 3-day trip of fun and learning.  My CSS training starts here at their apartment tomorrow at 9.  At about that same time, Justin and Olaina will be finding out about where he’s going for residency.  Friday, I repeat the drill with the class and then Saturday Brandon comes down to get me.  Yey.

I escaped the Early Meeting unscathed for the most part.  Almost missed the early bus coming in because I left my cell phone at home. Thank goodness I WAS early when I originally got to the bus stop.  The rest of the day took on the same tone of starting out chaotic but turned out alright in the end.

My train buddy was a nice gentleman named Mark who commuted once a week from SD to Semi Valley.  He offered me a seat and helped me put my luggage up overhead.  He also chat with me and gave me pointers on the ride all the way through SD county…when I emerged from a nap.

Anyhoo.  Justin is calling us to go eat/booze after he reads Olaina’s blog.  So…we’ll report back later.

I should have known things were never going to be the same again after Hawaii. (Oh, and the photos are up. I haven’t organized them with tags or caption yet though.)

This was our first REAL vacation together since we got married. The fact that we could (kind of) afford it and that we decided to leave town on somewhat of a whim was new.

I think that decision might have sent out the disturbance into the universe and therefore screwing things up for everyone.

Why did I say that? Here are some proofs:

1. A few days before we left, Celeste woke up in the morning and stretched. Then her neck got stuck. That simple, routine wake up stretch severely sprained her neck so much so that her friend had to take her to the hospital. Celeste was out all week and returned just yesterday in a neck brace.
2. Our first day in Hawaii, there was this.
3. Also starting on my first day on O’ahu, a weird zit inside my nose turned into, well, an alien egg. Let’s just say that I went through 4 days of breathing mostly out of one nostril, I could barely touch the right side of my face and nose, and I was in constant pain…until the alien, well, to put it delicately, started to hatch, you guessed it, on my last night in Honolulu.
4. We arrived at the hotel on Thursday to find a note from my dad who was supposed to arrive on Friday who already arrived earlier that morning. There was a confusion between dad’s travel agency. They thought you’d gain a day coming to the US from Bangkok when the truth is the opposite. So, if dad would’ve left on time, he would’ve been in Honolulu a day early by himself!
5. To add to the injury, I called to move dad’s reservation to Friday. The hotel got it wrong and had him arriving on Saturday. Isn’t trip planning fun?
6. And one more to add to the theme. I booked the luau at Paradise Cove for Sunday night. We showed up to find not only they filed us under the the wrong last name of “Bourne,” but, wait for it, they booked us for Monday night. *sigh* Needless to say, that prompted me to call our shuttle service late that night to confirm our return ride to the airport.
7. Since the moment we arrived back at LAX on Monday night, there was not even a trace of the sunny Southern California. It felt like I got off the plane at Heathrow!
8. This morning, our new employee, on the way to our monthly meeting, wheeling a dolley and juggling a basket, pulled a muscle in her back so badly she had to call a cab to get her to the hospital.
9. And in the afternoon, it rained. Like crazy monsoon rain. But a LOT colder. I left Downtown at 3:30 which usually would put me home by 4-ish. Today, I got home at almost 5:30.
10. ETA: Federer got beaten at Australia Open in the semifinal. What the…?!?!

And finally, the reason why I believe that there is something wrong with the universe these days…

RIP Heath Ledger. Starting out in a teen movie (heck, still one of my favorites) and ended in the dark side of the pool as The Joker with an Oscar nomination in his pocket.

And on a side note, look at the outpour of emotions we have for Heath and the news coverage of his death. Then look again at another life cut short, Brad Renfro’s, a troubled former child actor and teen heartthrob with a promising career, untimely death was a mere blip on the radar.

That’s just one of many ways how weird our universe works…

Aloha, gang. We’re back on the mainland. And today, we took a vacation from our vacation. We slept in, stayed in, and went out for our massages. Hmm…hot stone therapy.

We had an overall great time. I wish I didn’t have to play the tour director the entire trip, but that is what you have when we have one really out of towner in the midst. Dad had a great time too, I hope. The Couch Monkey Adventures album is up and running. That alone should give you an idea from our trip.

As I am still giving myself a break, instead of posting pictures and more recap, you’ll have 2 pieces of memorable conversations we had over the trip.

#1 - The conversation you’d have when you’ve been married for 6 years…

Me: You know I love you, right?

Him: [Looked up from his book alarmingly] Why?

Me: [Confused — the usual reply is “Yes”] What do you mean ‘why?’?

Him: Oh. I thought may be Brad Pitt was standing right here or something.

#2

Me: Is it so wrong to want something fruity and alcoholic right about now?

Him: I’m sure Waikiki has a few gay bars you can go on a hunt…

Hawaii Day One was quite an eventful day. Party at Ray’s was quite fun. His house ROCKS my socks off. Up in the hills of Waialae area. The view, even at night, was just amazing.

Hawaii Day Two started off slow as everyone needed the sleep. I was the first one up. After an hour or putzing around the room, I decided to just go to the beach on my own. Upon waking up to tell Brandon where I was going, he decided to roll out of bed and join me.

We strolled across the park to the Ala Moana Regional Park beach. It’s beautiful even out here. The water is clear and the temperature is just right. Little kids play. Young people jog. Old folks swim. It was awesome.

We strolled through the mall on the way back to grab breakfast and some snacks for dad. A few hours later, dad was ready to roll and we went on a walking excursion.

Nan recommended Yama’s Seafood Market as a local food favorite. It was only 1.2 miles away according to Google Maps and the gang agreed on walking there. And there we went. The route, though, took us through the part of Hawaii tourists don’t usually get to see. Cheap apartments. Industrial warehouses. Not so glitzy and posh. The backbone of the city.

Oh, and there was no place to sit down at Yama’s. It was a pick up and go kind of place. Since we walked there, we weren’t about to walk back to eat. There were some chairs outside but we had to sit in the bright afternoon tropical sun to eat. Brandon finished first and assumed the sun-blocking duty, standing up and providing shades for my dad so he could finish his lunch. LOL. On our way back, we found that just a mere block down from Yama’s is a park…where we could’ve had a picnic…in the shades.

Now we’re back to the hotel for a few more hours, waiting for the next hunger pang to drive us to the mall. Dad still needs an aloha shirt for the wedding tomorrow.

We are becoming quite a bunch of mall rats staying at this place. LOL.

The Couch Monkey has had a fun day out today. You should see the pictures.

We are here!

And as it turned out, so is dad.

Dad’s flight actually landed this morning, not tomorrow. Imagine if he didn’t take one day delay! He would have been here yesterday by himself! And then when he arrived, we found out that when I changed his reservation to FRIDAY, they scheduled him in for Saturday. Pfffssshh…

Anyways. Brandon and I got here in one piece. Although we have had probably the most fucked up Hawaiian welcome ever.

Not 10 minutes into our shuttle ride from the airport, the driver turned up the radio to hear traffic report and we found out that they closed a portion of the westbound freeway because baby sitter/neighbor ran off with the 23-month-old toddler and tossed the poor kid off the overpass into the traffic below. We were already cringing when we heard this.

And then our bus came up on the scene. At first we could only see the ambulance, but just past it we saw a bundle of white cloth on the concrete…

…with bits and pieces of flesh scattered outside what the cloth couldn’t cover.

Aloha, indeed.

Because of the H-1 closure, the entire Waikiki was…actually…is in a dead gridlock. I mean, Bangkok on a rainy day bad. People couldn’t get to the highway so they side-street it. Even with dropping off passengers all over Waikiki, it still took 2 hours for us to get to our hotel.

We walked to the mall, ate (dad hasn’t eaten since breakfast and we haven’t since lunch) and now we have to run downstairs to the cab and then off to Ray’s place for dinner.

Dad left Bangkok without a hitch and we’ll be on our way in the morning.   We are now done packing.

Tomorrow, it’s off to O’ahu.

I may or may not have access to the internet, so there may or may not be a Captain’s Log from Honolulu.  But rest assured, there will be PLENTY of moblogging.

Keep your clicker on my Flickr and you shall get updates.

Aloha!

In 8 hours, my dad will leave Bangkok for Tokyo, then from there to Honolulu.
ETA: Like daughter, like father, dad suffered that fever-body and head ache-exhaustion bug that I get when I have a down time from a stressful period.  Now I know where I get THAT from!  So, dad, fearing that it might have been something worse, postponed his flight to the next one on Thursday.  He will now arrive in Honolulu one day after us.

In 48 hours, Brandon and I will be on the plane heading out to Honolulu.

Gotta love the fact that dad’s roughly 15-hour flight across the world equals to 2 days from our time zone.

And I have 2 days to do laundry, do some mainland shopping and hunt down some CDs for my brother.

Eek!

Just got a confirmation from my dad. He’ll meet us in Honolulu in January for Emily’s wedding.

Oh, I didn’t tell you?

We. Are. Going. To.

HAWAII!!!!!!

Emily is the youngest daughter of my dad’s best friend Ray who lives in Hawaii. Ray’s been bugging my dad for years for us to come visit.

When I told Brandon about it, he looked at me and said, “Okay. Let’s go.” Surprised the hell out of me. Really?

“Well, that’ll take care of what we’re getting each other for our anniversary, right?”

Damn skippy, baby. Damn skippy.

It’s good to be back.  And yet, it’s so strange.

My body thinks it’s almost midnight.  Obviously, the sun’s up.

All is quiet but the hums of the multiple fans in the house.  No city noises.  Although I am already missing the morning doves and the sound of the bottle man sing-songy, “Sell your bottles!”  (Kuad ma kai!)  Everyday, you’ll hear the bottle man, pedaling his cart down every nooks and crannies of our street, yelling for customers to come out and sell their empty bottles the same way his professions have done for longer than I have lived.  It’s amazing and refreshing to still hear that in the bustling metropolis Bangkok has become.

My brain also thinks I was still back in Thailand as I woke up startled a few times last night a) not knowing where I was and b) because I have Brandon in my bed.

Brandon in my bed.  Now THAT is a good change. 

I came back to an immaculate home.  Someone has been nesting!  Brandon even filed my papers for me!  Now I just have to do my part in unpacking my stuff and sort out the rest of the place.

And my god, did I bring back the heat with me?!  Nah.  Apparently SoCal has been this hot since I left.  It’s weird being back in the oven instead of the sauna.

The flight back was very pleasant.  Apparently, even though my ticket purchase said “Economy”, I indeed bought Premium Economy tickets for both directions.  I ain’t complaining as everything was just perfect.  And as the best option for all of the last minute tickets I could find at the time at $1,700 while the rest was $2,000+?  Oh yeah, it’s worth every penny.

I also ran into my friend Maylanie at the airport.  Maylanie’s mom was in the ICU last time I was home 2 months ago, remember?  Well, she’s still in the hospital and they’re footing half of the bill.  You see, Maylanie’s mom has intestinal cancer and she has got sepsis after the surgery which at one point, while I was there that was, she had 10% chance of survival.  Now she’s recovering also from a pneumonia that came while she was fighting the sepsis,  and still has a drainage tube for her stomach.

Maylanie’s sister Meena, as it turned out, was on my flight!  We met up before boarding and ended up just a little bit away from each other.  The funnier thing is that she was spending the night with her friend before heading back to Arizona from Long Beach airport.  Pretty much, if Maylanie and I had known about each other’s plans, Meena might have ended up staying with us last night!

I also got word that another one of our friend’s mom is also battling cancer.  It’s the weirdest thing!  Suddenly, all the moms of my generations are battling cancer all about the same time.  Gotta be something in the water.

Not to sound totally pessimistic but my Mater Dei group has gotten the drill for a funeral visit down to the tee now.  Everyone seems to have a stock of black clothing handy.  They all know what to do and who’s in charge of sending the wreath alternative.  Too many funerals in the past 6 months, they said.  Too many, indeed.

Anyways.  I’m trying to stay awake.  I have to unpack still and also have to get out for some sun.  Last time, the sunshine therapy TOTALLY helped me back on my feet faster than anything else.

Off I go.  Thanks for sticking with me this entire time.  You guys rock!