i went to see na leo and keali’i reichel last night at villa montalvo. i have never seen na leo before, but they were really incredible. i really liked them a lot. i have seen keali’i reichel before and i really enjoyed his performance, but i felt it was really all too short.

i have never been a fan of hawaiian music before the first time i saw keali’i reichel. part of it is because he is a great storyteller and he really lends a better understanding of the music with his story about where the song came from. part of it is also because of the hula dancers who are so expressive. i never really had much of a appreciation for hula dancing until i understood the words and i could see how the words were being expressed through hula. it was all rather amazing.

i went to a coffee shop this morning, groggy, and not in the best of moods. this was mostly attributed to the fact that i had to wake up at 6:15AM this morning to move my car.

i went to a local coffee shop and ordered a drink. my total came out to $4.06. i produced four dollars out of my pocket and, seemingly in vain, i checked my pockets to see if i had any loose change. the prospect of carrying ninety four cents in change didn’t really appeal to me.

as i was searching my pockets (i didn’t think that i had any change, but checked anyway…you know, “just in case”) and i felt some change.

“no way. i have change on me? well, it doesn’t matter, it’s probably two pennies or something useless like that,” i thought to myself.

when i removed the change from my pocket and looked at it, i saw a shiny nickel and dull penny. six cents. i stood there in disbelief.

“wow, looks like it’s going to be a good day!” exclaimed the cashier.

“maybe it is,” i thought to myself, “maybe it is.”

my apartment complex is currently going through a paving project which basically entails half of the parking to be closed off. this means that half of the residents are displaced and need to find parking OR they need to move their cars by 7AM before getting towed.

i couldn’t find a space last night, so i had to move my car before 7AM this morning. it was rather unbearable to wake up so early and i am currently sitting at an internet cafe sipping on some coffee and trying to feel rested even though i haven’t gotten enough sleep.

the first idea was that i would get up, get in my car, and drive around the lot hoping to find a space. as i was driving around the complex this morning, i noticed several other people driving around the complex (some still in pajamas) doing the same thing. looks like none of us had any luck. i gave up and left the complex. kind of sad, but i guess that’s the way it’s going to be for the next couple of days.

on monday morning, when i tried to get out of bed, i collapsed because the pain in my leg was so excrutiating that i couldn’t bear any weight on it. eventually, i was able to limp over to the bathroom to start getting ready.

on tuesday morning, when i tried to get out of bed, there was a great deal of discomfort, but i did not fall to the ground. i may have yelped in pain, but was able to get to the bathroom with some labored effort.

on wednesday morning, when i tried to get out of bed, there was noticeable pain, but i hobbled off to the bathroom without incident.

this morning, when i tried to get out of bed, there was pain, but nothing horrid. i got to the bathroom and as i was brushing my teeth, a sudden sharp pain exploded in my leg. i guess it needed some time to wake up and feel the pain.

overall, the pain has lessened with each day. today, i’m going to try and walk around without a noticeable limp. there may still be some wincing, but we’ll see.

this was a busy weekend for me. on saturday, i went to the begonia festival in capitola where there was a sand sculpture making contest. that was pretty cool to check out the various designs.

sunday was a day trip to northstar. i have been pretty excited about this trip to northstar, but the aftermath of the trip makes me really reconsider how wise it is to go on such a trip again.

i took a pretty bad fall off one of the trails and was thrown off my bike. i landed on my leg and skidded down a while on the rocky path. i cut up my leg pretty bad. luckily it doesn’t look like i’ll need any stitches and nothing was broken, so it could have been worse.

while i was down at the bottom getting checked out by the EMT she looks at my wound and says, “ooooh, interesting!”

i was like, “what?! no, i don’t want to hear that from you!”

she says, “you usually don’t see fatty tissue coming out of a wound that doesn’t look like it will require stitches, but if you look here, you can definitely see the fatty tissue coming out of your wound. it’s pretty interesting.”

“that’s…just…lovely.”

“do you have any other questions?”

“yeah, what’s your name?

“oh, my name is erin,” she smiles surprisedly.

i like to know the name of people who squeal at how interesting an injury is. yeah…thanks, a lot, erin!

i went to check out vito’s famous pizza in sunnyvale last night with paul and leeya. i’m always a little leery when the name of the restaurant has the word “famous”, “best”, or “greatest” in it because it’s almost like they are trying to convince you that that is the case.

paul and i were originally going to split a large pizza, but we then saw the daily special, which on thursday was two large two topping pizzas for $22. we couldn’t resist. leeya ordered a philly cheesesteak and paul and i indulged in our two large pizzas. in the end we could only each eat half a large pizza so we had to take the rest to go. the pizzas were ok, not fabulous, but it wasn’t awful, either.

after pizza we went to mountain view and hit tapioca express. this was my second pearl tea drink for the day. earlier in the day, leeya and i went out to have ramen in milpitas. maru ichi was pretty good, but crowded and busy. it was fun to hang out with them again. sort of reminded me of the old days when we would just hang out, shoot the breeze, and just chill out, yo. seems like there just aren’t enough of those days anymore.

one of the things that people have been commenting on now that i don’t have a 1+ hour commute each way to work is how i will be able to watch all the tv that i used to watch. it’s true, i will have a lot of tv to watch and i’m a little scared that the new tv season is about to start. i can’t believe that september is already nearly here. where did the summer go?

i didn’t get to go mountain biking nearly as much as i wanted to tihs summer. i think that i’ll have to make an effort to go more while i can. it turns out that i tihnk i will be going to northstar this weekend, though. we’ll have to see! it’ll be the first time that i’ve gone there and i’ve got some anxiety going, but i think it will be okay. this reminds me that i need to buy some good gloves for the trip.

my commute to work has not been good lately. i am sure that there has got to be a way to get to and from work in under 30 minutes, but i have yet to find it. it’s a little discouraging, but i’ll have to keep trying out other routes to see what works best. i think the thing that frustrates me is that it is only a 10 mile drive! all of these cars are getting in the way. it took me nearly an hour to get home last night. i think that i found a new route though that should dramatically cut down my travel time.

i think that i am going to try out some new lunch places, the goal is to not repeat until i’ve exhausted everything in the area. i eventually want to venture into japantown for lunch. i haven’t eaten there in ages!

i have been hunting around town for lunch and it seems that my taste in food has dramatically changed. maybe it’s because there weren’t many fast food options at my old job location, but i’ve become a total snob when it comes to lunch food. i don’t like eating fast food and i’ve actually lost my appetite when i do try and eat quick food.

i went to the ranch 99 market to eat from their lunch deli and i couldn’t finish the meal. this has never happened before. i used to LOVE their food. man, i hope this isn’t an indication for bad things to come! i would be sad if i can’t eat fast food anymore.

today was the worst commute i’ve had to work so far. it took me nearly 45 minutes to travel nearly 10 miles. =P i think that i really need to start exploring backroad options more, but everytime i’ve tried to take a backroad, it has taken me a ridiculously long time to get to my destination.

i’m currently contemplating what to do for lunch, i’m starving. i know that i have some errands to run at lunch time so i think that i may have to pick up a quick lunch somewhere. i’ve been trying to get out and meet people for lunch, but it just doesn’t look like the timing has been working out properly for me yet. maybe after i settle in better, i’ll have more opportunities.