It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, maybe not "look" as much as "feel."

Exams last week Friday ended with an enormous sigh of relief, with Chemistry being my last, major hurdle to get my first semester of college over and done with! I can't say that I feel that I aced the exam (I know I got a few portions of the predicting reaction products portion wrong), but I did feel so much better than I felt after the math exam. What's great is looking at a problem, assessing it as one that will take long to solve, working at it for a while, and having everything suddenly click into clarity as if the whole map was unfurled ahead of you. Maybe that's what I love about Chemistry; I have such a fun time seeing how one thing turns into the next, and how it all makes sense. I'm pretty relieved that I did find solutions for the two synthesis problems for this exam.

Afterwards it was FREEDOM, and so began my adventures with Annie and Megan, before they left on Saturday. I had katsu curry for lunch (oh, that meal is just irresistible to me), and sadly had to use my debit card for the first time to pay because I foolishly forgot my UH ID, with all the meal blocks and points I needed to spend. I eventually went back to campus center with Megan and bought a ton of Naked bottled fruit smoothies, which effectively drained all of my meals left for the week and practically all of the points I had for the semester. We walked back to the dorms to drop off our purchases, and then we headed out again to go to Ala Moana for some Christmas shopping (and some waiting until Annie finished her final exam). When Annie appeared, we unsuccessfully attempted to get her to try on a pink dress at PacSun. Oh well.

For some reason, that reminds me, on Thursday I purchased little green men magnets that have joined the yellow fish and clear star magnets from Waikiki Aquarium upon our dorm room fridge. A bunch of us had been in the bookstore buying gifts. I also had rehearsal that night (after the stocking adventure recorded in an earlier post), which lasted pretty long and had me antsy for studying chemistry, haha.

Anyway. We had dinner in the food court (Annie ineffectively trying to dip skewers of chicken into a plastic cup of peanut sauce), and then walked our way to Ward Theaters where we watched Tangled! I cried once, when the king cried. And slapped Annie a bunch because she was not being serious at that part, haha. She shared her Kahala Nuts (I think it was?) with us. No popcorn at this movie experience, surprisingly. I loved Rapunzel's character, and the chameleon. The songs did not catch me as much... except "Mother Knows Best" is probably the only lyric I remember. Enjoyable, though.

We waited quite a while until the 6 arrived, seeing fireworks go off in the meantime. We got off and went to Walmart, passing by this woman who had a kitten on a leash. ;_; It was so adorable, but also so strange! I mean, kittens outside on leashes?! Preposterous. I also accidentally kept making Annie lose her slippers in mid-step as I kept poking the awesome dinosaurs on the back of her pink jacket, haha. Silly nights.

Annie and Megan got their chocolate souvenirs, plus a bottle of apple cider for our CELEBRATION OF COMPLETION of the fall semester! Yay! They packed more when we got back; I tried to stay awake (finals week really drained me of sleep).

Then it was time. We had our small fractions of Red Bull, and raised our cups of apple cider to the end! Yay!

We had our fun with Blokus, with the slight effects of the Red Bull showing through in time. Suffice to say, it was a good night.

Saturday meant goodbyes, defrosting of refrigerators, and another rehearsal for the Christmas concert. I turned off the refrigerator, emptied it of some contents (including the smoothies purchased on Thursday), and unplugged the refrigerator before I left for rehearsal at 7:45am. I got back and the water from the defrosting had leaked onto the table, and the ice tray underneath the "ice box" in the fridge was filled with water. I guess I should have put a larger towel in there in the first place, rather than just the small kitchen towel. I spent much time cleaning up the mess and drying everything up, finally putting the multitude of Shamwows that my mother had given me to use. After seeing Annie and Megan off, I ended up walking to campus to see if I could pick up my math exam, and to retrieve my second Ochem lab notebook. I successfully achieved the second task, but due to lack of the presence of Professor Csordas, the former wasn't.

I got back and the part under the "ice box" of the freezer was like this:

That entire section of ice had detached itself, making it incredibly handy to clean up. I just put the thing in the sink to melt (rather than have it melt all over the inside of the fridge. Yay, successful defrosting!

Fall commencement was also on Saturday, and this is what all the people looked like from our room:

Before concert time, all the stuff I was planning on bringing home for break got put into the car. However, I only finished closing up the dorm room on Sunday, and had to go back to get my phone charger on that day as well because I am a forgetful child, haha. They gave us dinner before Saturday's concert (spaghetti and salad and a roll and a chocolate dipped gingerbread man cookie), and I spent some time talking with Monica and Renee from Punahou, and met Jamie from Kamehameha. It was nice, and they were nice. I felt relieved. The concert involved a lot of rough areas, but it still went well and felt amazing. I couldn't help but smile at the youth choir's version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." Sooooooo adorable. The soloist for Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was pretty good, too. Very smiley and enthusiastic as well. Encouraging.

Sunday involved sleeping, lunch in the dorm room while my mother slept, reading of Deathnote vol. 1, the finishing of Back to the Future part III, and Christmas concert number two. It was a lot of fun the second time around, though I still didn't really talk to my stand partner and though everyone was tense trying to keep things together. The sudden changing of bows didn't cease from the previous night, however. My mother and father were there was well, which made me smile. We also saw Mufi Hanneman enter, wow.

The rain on Sunday was so relentless that when we were at the dorms, part of the road leading there was flooded, and the area in front of the lobby entrance was a giant pond that blocked part of the walkway. I was amazed at how close it was to the doorway, and was glad that it hadn't been designed so that the doorway would have been in that pond.

Also, R.I.P Zachary Manago. I did not know him well. I did not know his family well. I did not know his friends well. I cannot fathom his death, just the absence of a name and a body. However, this event keeps crossing my mind because it has only been 6 months since grad. It was a hit and run. It is thinking about how his parents must feel which hurts me, or keeps my mind looping around this knowledge. With Christmas coming up, this might lead to "Be thankful for what you have." rather than asking for more and more gifts. But I think it would also lead to, make the most of what you do have. Treasure it. And realize that we exist in fragile bodies and that the world is full of danger that we create.

Today was an amazing shopping adventure with Grace, in part due to the fact that it was over five hours long. We spent time in Starbucks planning our attack and sipping our hot lattes (Peppermint Mocha for Grace, Caramel Brulee for me). Excitement! I bought Christmas gifts and resisted buying items for myself. I spent money with my debit card and sobbed and felt guilty. I walked and spoke strangely and let Grace put things in my head as I was horrified and scared of the mirrors. Teehee.

It was interesting, and I ended up staying at Pearlridge until about 7. Very, very interesting.

I came home and cleaned. Or, more of like, I sorted music on top of the piano, and made things neat in the living room. I also ate my mother's chicken and papaya soup. Yum. Fine on another rainy day.

I have recorded these events in too much detail, but it has been a while. The days to Christmas are filled with urgency and people as my planning and cleaning and practicing are being crammed together due to time constraints.

Thumbs up for making the most out of seven hours at the mall. Well, maybe I could have done better. But it was fun. It also provided exercise, yay!

Goodnight!