car wash

With the hot sun, beaming down on face and back and feet, perpetuating , worsening slipper tans. Garden hose in hand, spraying thousands or millions of small water droplets, or continuous streams of water, with high speed and intensity at the bushes, and the garnenias in the planters, or more like the wall behind the gardenias because otherwise that would probably be too much impact for the fragile flowers. At the ground and the sky and the dirty car. all the while with a miniature rainbow shimmering on the spray as the sun shines through the water.
There is a certain peace attained from washing cars. Most times I don't want to wash anything, simply because it is a Chore that I am required to do if my mother says so. But this time was different. the water was mesmirizing to watch and felt good as the spray rebounded off the vehicle and onto my skin. the simple action and motion of scrubbing the entire surface was relaxing. And the feeling of completion on a day when I had otherwise done nothing was good.

prom

Aside from getting into college and academic related stresses, it seems that prom is a huge issue of senior year. there are so many different things that need to be considered, so many costs, issues, and things to keep track of.
first of all, before thinking about anything else pretty much, if you aren't in a relationship slash don't already have a date in mind, you need to get on that. getting a date is the first essential task of prom. this can be quite stressful, because you want to find a good date or be asked by someone who you'll actually enjoy being with - ok, you want to wait to be asked by someone good, not have to turn anyone down or be turned down by anyone, and not wait to long so that you basically either go alone or with .. hm. someone you don't want to.
next task is to get that wardrobe down. get a gown that #1, fits well and is pretty. #2, doesn't wreck your wallet completely, you have to save some of the wrecking for the rest of the prom expenses. #3, that no one else will have your dress. not that the dress will look as good on the other person as it does on you (at least that's what you hope/worry about if it'll look better on her than you). you also have to make sure that you buy the right shoes, accessories, etc. oh. and make sure that your date rents a tux with the tie and everything matching your dress.
next, limousine. these are quite expensive as are the bids, photos, and if you chose to and are planning to continue the fun even later into the night with all your friends at a hotel, getting a room as well.
in all honesty, i've grown quite tired of discussing prom details with everyone and figuring out hair and makeup and everything related and don't want to keep hyping it up so that everything wil seem fresh and great when the actual event finally comes. it seems like a huge amount of money and effort being spend on one night. i wonder if it is all worth the effort. we'll see...

IHS

Our visit to IHS was a very interesting experience for me. I had never been there before, and had generally avoided the type of situation where I would be in the presence of homeless people. First of all, it was quite an adventure for Patricia, Paige and I to try to get to the women’s shelter. Despite the directions given to us, all of our parents advised us to park at Kmart. So we drove to Kmart, saw the men’s center and wandered around thinking the women’s center would be very close by. While walking and trying to find the way, I saw maybe 15 – 20 men all just standing around outside, aimlessly. They were smoking cigarettes and had nothing to do. Further down, we passed two guys smoking pot in the middle of the road and I wondered how they got the pot, or how the other guys got the cigarettes. We finally got in the car and drove around to find it, and when we got there and got out of the car, a big scary dog jumped out of the bushes in attack mode, and some guy down the street started yelling at it. He was situated on the sidewalk w/ some other people, with shopping wagons, plastic bags and blankets.
Once we finally joined up w/ the rest of the group, we were assigned to pick up trash outside the shelter. I was surprised at some of the stuff we found. Besides the regular cans and food trash stuff, I found a used needle, a couple of little plastic bags w/ white powder residue, and Paige found a water bottle filled with feces. The next task was to clean the mattresses that the guests slept on. They were very heavy and didn’t seem all too comfortable, but I guess it’s probably better than sleeping on the sidewalk or a bench somewhere outside. Next job I did was help to clean up the family room. I actually went outside and picked up a ton of trash, but one thing that really caught my attention (besides how much trash was out there, I’m guessing from the guests simply not picking things up) was that above the sink inside was a laminated and illustrated paper with instructions on how to wash your hands.
Working at IHS and seeing people in worse situations and how they live was really eye opening to me. The idle time, lower standards of living and sanitation, living on someone elses’ watch and generosity, and sometimes even the drugs. And many of the people who I saw seemed like good decent people, and I wondered what must have happened in their life, what misfortune, to put them in this place. It is tough and dirty, although many of the homeless are not really dangerous or criminal, they have fallen on bad times or have been predisposed to have some disadvantage in life.

ipod = ihappy

i can honestly say that i love my ipod. i rarely leave home without it, i go running with it, i download new music nearly every week, i even have a roadtrip in the car so that i can play it while i'm driving (the roadtrip is way better than the itrip,by the way, b/c it actually has a holder for the ipod and charges it while you drive instead of draining the battery like the itrip did) . I think that part of this obsession with my idea of the greatest technology/ made available to consumers on a mass level since the cell phone is that i actually just really love music. But as I was thinking about how ridiculously successful Apple has been with the device and all its variations and accessories (and the sales of songs in itunes) and why this occured. What kind of society are we that Steve Jobs and all the people at Apple can create a small, cute little thing that just sells.
The ipod basically allows you to listen to whatever music you want, whenever and whereever you want. If you have the video ipod, you can even watch tv shows, movies and music videos too. it is quality entertainment in your pocket. And in our very individualized and high speed lives, it fits the spot perfectly.

college

Now it is mid april and everyone has heard back from all their colleges: the anxious wait is finally over, or at least for the admissions decision part of it. Some people are still waiting for financial aid packages, so there's a little anxiety there, since finances are often such a large part of the college decision. With this in mind and after reading Malcolm Gladwell's Getting In, I couldn't help but reflect on the college application process.
I don't know if I have ever gone through a more drawn out process than the college application process. Because in actuality, the process begins far before your senior year even begins. For me, my parents really wanted me to go to a good, private elementary school, I suppose because they thought I would have a much better education and more opportunites because of going there as opposed to a Hawaii public school. So there is step one. Near the end of my elementary school experience, getting into a good middle school was the important issue. Punahou, Iolani or Midpac. Punahou was a fantastic college prep school. so was Iolani. obviously i chose PUnahou, and then worked hard to get good grades in 7th and 8th grade to get on the honors track for high school. In high school, continue the hard work to maintain a good GPA and transcript which colleges will most certainly weigh heavily in their admissions decisions. You join clubs and do sports because you are interested, but also because people keep telling you how colleges want you to have those qualities. well rounded.
In junior year the actual college application bit finally came into play. we all got college counsellors and took the semester long college guide course, and figured out where we should look to apply. SATs, SAT IIs, retesting, AP exams, all in preparation for the day when the college admissions committee was to review your application. And actually preparing the app as a senior. HOUrs and hours of writing an essay to express who you are and why you belong at such and such a school. getting recs, requesting transcripts... all these things take time and organization, and while i do realize and appreciate how good the PUnahou system works for these kinds of things, it was still a stressor. And then finally, you make the deadline. all that work is behind and the waiting begins.
Well, now the wait is over, and it is the student's turn to evaluate and assess what each school has to offer. all that work for a few envelopes in the mail. from this perspective, it seems like a strange system