December 02, 2005, 11:57 p.m.
It's official. I can tango.
I spent a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break in Hawai'i with my mom, second mom, and sister, and among other things, I was able to go to several tango events while there. And it was nice - ok, more than nice, more like astounding and thrilling - to discover that I was a big fish in a small pond there. I got many compliments on my first night out, including one from the teacher and founder of the Hawai'i tango scene, who told me I was going to be a fantastic tango dancer and that I was very talented. And I kid you not, another lead told me I was a goddess! Hah. Anyway the point of all of this is to say that more important than the compliments, this was the first time that I really showed up to a tango venue and really felt like I could do it, like I didn't suck. I am miles - MILES AND MILES - from where I want to be, but at least now I rarely get that frustrated, horrible, STUCK feeling when I don't know what to do. It happens much less now, and sometimes I even feel like I'm contributing to the dance and making it better. This is a very, very good feeling.
The rest of the break was, in a word, superb. And foody. Very, very foody. We made a big Thanksgiving dinner, including delicious faux creamed onions, special Kenda cranberry sauce, an ENTIRE TURKEY, phenomenal stuffing, ono Okinawan sweet potatoes, green beans, and two desserts: pumpkin custard and apple pie. Mind you, there were four of us, and it only took us 3 days to finish the food! Don't worry, though, we didn't have rolls.
Unfortunately, Mom was sick much of the time and wasn't able to participate in some of the festivities, but on the days she wasn't sick and didn't have dentist appointments (way to go with scheduling, Mom), we managed to have relaxing beach walks and talk about my possible future plans as a rock star in Japan. Those who think I'm kidding, I'm not. Perhaps more on this later. When I wasn't running off to do essays, we also got to have tea at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, which was loverly as Ken would say, and not hike at all. Hiking was conspicuously absent from this trip, as was surfing, because my board was stuck on the Leeward side ... *sigh* That's OK.
Other favorite memories include Mom's poem about the North shore, seeing Harry Potter on the big screen and seriously discussing plot points with Kenda including whether we will ever be privy to why Dumbledore trusts Snape, the Shrimp Shack and getting out of the house that day, dinner at Roy's with chocolate soufflé (it's chocolate soufflé, and I helped!), making and taking an undue amount of jello shots ... (p.s. just tried to spell it jellow), finally giving Kenda those earrings, watching Desperate Housewives and the Daily Show, going for a night hike and walking down from the Lanikai bunkers drunk on red wine, unrelentless Cindy comments, Cindy and Kenda arguing about who is pie queen, and staying up late with my sister while we both did work ... of course at least half the work Kenda does is writing on Facebook walls, but who's counting the hours ;)
So, break was great and I happily spent my time tucking in (that's British for "stuffing your face with") mango and mochi and shave ice and papaya and sushi (even brought sushi on the plane with me). It was great.
Getting back to SF yesterday, though, was a little rough ... to be honest I feel melancholy and a little lonely here now. I'm sure it's just an adjustment period, but it's hard to go from being surrounded by family in a warm, familiar atmosphere, to living by yourself in a rainy city. Although to be fair, I did get picked up at the airport; we've turned the heat on in our house and my room gets notoriously warm (so much so that the previous occupant covered the vent in the room with duct tape), which suits me JUST FINE; and the weather outside was lovely today. Still, I haven't been able to shake a shimmery veil of sadness. I don't want the following to be complain-y or whiny, but why does my family have to live so far away from me? Sometimes I just get so discouraged and sad that I can't have them all right around me, that we can't live in the same house, or at least the same neighborhood, or same city, or same state. I'd even settle for everyone on the same CONTINENT. Ugh. Of course, I admit that I don't help matters, running off every minute to a new country. But still, I wish it was easier for us all to get together. It was just so great, having so much of my family in one place.
In spite of my sadness, or maybe because of it, today I got back into my routine and was very productive. I called both my parents, open my mail, which included a very sweet note from Nami (thank you Nami!), washed my sheets (no small feat as our washer/dryer is utilized by the entire Victorian, meaning our strange bartender neighbors, and is located in the dark dank basement whose laundry room is currently flooded), went grocery shopping at two different stores, took an Ashtanga yoga class, a lifting class, and then a jazz class, and biked to a tango event which was cancelled so I came home to have hot chocolate and an oatcake for dinner, with Harry Potter for company. I recently had the brilliant idea to re-read the entire series, which has been working out swimmingly. I had completely forgotten practically everything that happened in most of the books, so it's a real treat. I've decided to re-read them every 5 years they're so good.
Tomorrow I'm working a 10-hour catering gig with Cindy, and then Sunday I'm going to see Cirque du Soleil. Life is good, even when you're melancholy. I am prone to bouts of melancholy. Mom says it's because I'm Irish.
Also, I just want to give a shout-out to my Grandma Ruthie, who is one of my role models and a very strong, resilient person. We're glad you're better, Ruthie. I love you.
Language spot, all courtesy of EssayEdge:
Words I am sure people just make up, but which sound so scientific that I am scared to delete them for fear it is just my ignorance:
nanobiofabrication <--- I mean really, just try saying this out loud
gelation
heterologous
recombinant
Saccharomyces <-- trying saying this one out loud, too, it's pretty funny
cerevisiae
Along with entire sentences like this:
"Along with Professor Baik-Lin Seong, we have developed a novel method for enhancing the efficiency of recombinant protein production in mammalian and microbial cells, using combinatorial libraries of zinc finger protein transcription factors."
Zinc finger proteins? Sounds like an appetizer from the catering company from hell.
A particularly charming sentence on language skills: (don't miss his job reference)
"Determining to postpone this project to my doctorial job, I concentrated on language training for future studying in America."
If anyone can determine what he means by "holds the rim building" they get a prize:
"UCB boasts many exceptional professors and students, express liberty style of study (initial of democracy movement), owns abundant facilities and holds the rim building such as botany garden and scientific museum, etc."
There is just nothing else to add about this one:
"In my daily life, consciously or unconsciously I practically refuse to think about poverty or justice problems which point still most people meet with misfortune. Grown up with the milk of capitalist society, I might be enlightened by sociology which based on an ethic principle of the well-educated. However, I really know my soul is far away from “conservation monk”. I am not sure that I will find the position in the spectrum between nature conservation and economic development in near future. The answer will be looking for all my life. I hope my further study would help me to find some way to fellow up and balance these conflicts and confuse in my mind."
And the entirety of an e-mail sent to me regarding what this person wanted from his edit. I think the second sentence is particularly perfect in its irony, complete with the misspelling of "grammar":
"I want to formal and conciseness expressions.
Please check grammer"
