How to Drive in Hawaii

Many people come to Hawaii every year to visit the Island and capture it's beauty.  But if you are visiting Oahu, then you must be aware that Oahu just beat out LA for the worst traffic in the United States.  People are questioning how this could have happened.  Well, it's because it takes over an hour to drive 15 miles home from wherever you are going.  There are not many ways to get where you are going, and with so many people going to the same places at the same time of course  there is traffic.  I won't mention the controversial Rail project because people want to shoot me when I tell them it's a good idea, so instead I will give you tips on how to drive in Hawaii like a champ...

1. When getting on the highway make sure you are going about 20MPH so that way if you need to break immediately at the end of the ramp you are able to.

2. Blinkers...Pshhh you don't need those.

3.  When getting off the highway onto your ramp make sure you slow down to 40 MPH before you reach the ramp.  Preferably about a mile before hand.

4. Only drive in the left lane if you are going 5 miles under the speed limit.

5. A stop sign is exactly what it says.  Stop. Then you can go.  We don't alternate here, we just go into the intersection quicker than the other cars so they have to stop longer for me to go.

6.  Ride people's bumpers no matter what.  Even if they are going 10 miles over the speed limit.  You must not be further than a car length behind them.

7. Merge? Fuck that!  If you see your lane is closing up ahead make sure you speed up as fast as possible till you get to the very end and try to get in front of the entire line of cars that have already merged. Suckers.

8. Don't let cars coming onto the highway in front of you, no matter what.

9. Everyone hits parked cars, there is no need for a note stating you damaged their vehicle.

10. Compact spots are for every size vehicle.  If your truck bumper is sticking 6 feet out, thats the buildings problem for making their spaces so small.

11. No need to turn on your lights if it's raining, or even if its dark out.  You only need those on if it's past 8 PM.

12.  If it's raining, SLOW DOWN to 25 miles an hour on the highway.  Do this without your lights on, or flashers...because we don't do that here.

13.  Yield = Stop completely and wait for every car in sight to be off the road.

14.  Blocking the intersection is completely acceptable.



Hopefully these tips help you out on your wonderful stay to the islands.

Book Review- Mockingjay

So what did I do this week?  I spent my week reading The Hunger Games trilogy.  Was it worth it?  Heck yeah it was worth it.  This series is awesome.


The last book in this trilogy definitely did not disappoint me.  As I was waiting for the moment for Collin's to write a steamy exchange between Peeta and Katniss, I noticed that as a writer she is very masculine. By no means is that a bad thing.  I realized that the characters really struggle to reach the intricate level of intimacy and emotion- which I find really hard to comprehend because they are slaughtering everyone.  It seems as soon as an emotional moment is going to happen, Katniss is drugged with Morphling.  I found this to be an interesting observation while I was reading the last book.

I don't want to give much away, but I like the end of this novel because it basically wraps everything up, leaving the audience with a bitter happy ending.  Who doesn't like happy endings?

And the series as a whole was really great, mostly because of the political stand point of why a communist based nation never succeeds.  Democracy always wins, Hooray!

Favorite quotes from the last book:

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart." (Page 154)

"But in the end, who does it benefit?  No one.  The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen." (Page 375)

"But collective thinking is usually short-lived, we're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self destruction." (Page 377)

Book Review- Catching Fire

Like I promised, I am finishing the trilogy before I move onto the next book on my bucket list.  Catching Fire was surprisingly just as good as the first.  It's starts off a little slow and I would lie if I said I wasn't begging (in my mind) for Katniss and Peeta to do the dirty deed.  Really, I think they should and I am about a quarter way through the third book and still screaming at my kindle for them to get it over with!

I won't go into too much detail about Catching Fire because I feel like anything I can say would give away something.

But if you read the first one and loved it then I would suggest moving along to Catching Fire and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.

#184 Make a list of books I want to read and read them all

#16- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Ok folks, now that the semester is finished I can go back to the books I want to read on my bucket list.  I am not ashamed to admit that I read The Hunger Games in one day.  It was really good.  It's not overly poetic or filled with amazing examples of literacy, but it is definitely an enjoyable read.

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games, then I will assume that you are living under a rock because this book really reached it's height when "they" announced it was going to be a movie.  And of course when a book is about to become a movie there is a frantic line of book lovers at the cash register itching to  compare the book to the movie (hey now, it's ok I do this too).

The Hunger Games is about a young girl named Katniss (comment on this name below- I am still searching for baby names!) who volunteers to take her sisters place in this gladiator horror "reality show" for the superior land of their nation.

This story is basically a wicked twist on communism in the world after ours.

Entertaining, yes. And The Hunger Games is the first book I have read in a while that I actually shed tears (even multiple times) and I will not blame my crazy pregnant hormones!

I know I only listed the first book on my list of books I want to read, and I really want to move on but I have to say I am sucked into the series and will be continuing the next book later tonight.

Book Review: Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon will probably be the last of Morrison that I will review. It's not that I don't think Morrison is a good writer, she is a phenomenal writer actually. I just do not care for her particular writing style. I feel so let down when she interrupts action with a flashback of a character's history, then never goes back to the action. I believe this style shows her incredible amount of poetic writing, but it's almost torture for the reader.  I tend to be one of those readers who will skip through pages to get back to the action, and I don't believe that is fair to Morrison because every single page is filled with incredible poetry and prose. 


My favorite example of Morrison's writing that I love is the beginning of Chapter 10 "When Hansel and Gretel stood in the forest and saw the house in the clearing before them, the little hairs at the nape of their necks must have shivered.  Their knees must have felt so weak that blinding hunger alone could have propelled them forward...A grown man can also be energized by hunger, and any weakness in his knees or irregularity in his heartbeat will disappear if he thinks his hunger is about to be assuaged.  Especially if the object of his craving is not gingerbread or chewy gumdrops, but gold."  I just love the fact that Morrison takes such an innocent childhood tale and compares it to the danger of Milkman's adventure.
Song of Solomon is about a man named Milkman who has a pretty boring life for the first 200 pages of the novel. The reader is introduced to all the key characters in depth.  We see that Milkman is kind of a moocher with no real plans in life besides drinking and hanging out with his friend Guitar.  At "part two" the reader is shown Milkman's journey to be able to "fly away" to his destiny. Milkman takes a journey into his families past for a search for gold but ends up finding something better at the end- the sense of his identity.

Overall Song of Solomon is a great concept, just really drawn out (for me). And true to Morrison's style, a lot of the action will have a giant build up and lead to nothing but a short recounted tale later on in the book (which drives me nuts).


If you read any of Morrison's other books and enjoy her style of writing, I think you will love this one because its 337 pages of metaphors, similes, and folklore.  

Feeling left out

After being put on bed rest for a mandatory 2 weeks for contracting shingles, I have been suffering from the worst depression.  Being stuck in a house by yourself (ok I have the cat to keep me company) is really depressing.  And to make things worse no one really wants me around either.  Even though I have been on the island for almost two years I have failed miserably to make friends.
I think being pregnant is just making it even harder.  And people from my job hardly ever want to do anything.

I guess what is bringing this up is that people from my workplace uninvited me to a BBQ. I know, it doesn't sound like a big deal.  But what makes me feel bad is the way it was brought to my attention, like...no one wants me around.  I understand where my coworkers are coming from with the fear of me having shingles, but it has cleared up.  I guess I am just hurt because I go days without having a conversation with anyone, and that's pretty darn depressing.  Netflix has become my only friend.

What do you do when no one wants to be around you and you have nothing to do? I have tried to make the best of it and catch up on TV shows, I have read and cooked.  What cures depression for you?

Home made Sugar and Cinnamon Toasted Almonds

So after my epic food fail from Thursday night, I decided the next thing I was going to experiment and cook should be something I am more familiar with...sugar.

Since I have been pregnant, I have cut back on meat because the Alien Child inside of me will not let me stomach it.  In order to receive the same amount of protein I have been making sure to eat a handful of nuts.  Mostly almonds because they are my favorite.  I wanted something different and I thought about the carnival almonds I used to get all the time from the local fair and amusement parks back at home.  I did some research and came up with my own little recipe for the nuts...

What you need:

• 3 cups of almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 1/2 cups of white sugar
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon (add more if you want more of a cinnamon taste rather than sugar)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
• Lay down some waxed paper on a large baking dish (or just choose to grease it, but with the sugar caked on...trust me you want the paper)
• In a medium bowl mix the egg white and vanilla until frothy 
• Add Almonds in the bowl and make sure you coat all almonds
• Add sugar, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl and mix until mixture is even spread on Almonds
• Spread Almonds on the cooking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes taking almonds out of the oven every 20 minutes to "stir"
• Cool. And eat deliciousness. 

These came out amazing, and I will be making them again.  They are also good for around the holidays so make sure you mark this for future reference!

Food Fail

Ok so the other night I tried to do a chicken bake.

Here is what was in it...yukon gold potatoes, half an onion (bottom of the pan was covered in olive oil).  The chicken was marinated in Italian seasoning, flour and salt and pepper. I covered the dish with some parmesan.

Sounds like it would be good no?  It was OK- nothing I would recommend cooking.  I think I had the wrong cut of chicken and because I don't like rosemary I didn't add too much seasoning.  It was just kind of bland.

I want to try this again, does anyone have any suggestions?