Board games with Darren and then Basketball last night, which was fun, except I have played once since high school. So I wasn't really up to par with the LAians game, but being tall I had something to contribute, so they didn't beat me up. Then we went out with TJ's friend Andre who was really cool. We hit a couple places and Andre introduced me to kettle tonic, which was pretty good. Then breakfast at 2 in the morning. Mmmmm french toast. Hopefully I'll see more of Andre before I head out. Haha, TJ likes falling asleep to movies, and tonights selection was Misery. I fell asleep to it cause it was kinda quiet till this part where the lady is screaming "YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!" in a crazy angry voice that pretty much made me soil myself.

First day in LA. Haha, first off bad directions from TJ. Then I call the house to tell them I'll be late, and the only person there is the one that doesn't know I'm coming and it's a problem cause they live in an apartment complex with a locked front door and inside door. So Darren, TJ's mom's fiancee says, "I'm not gonna buzz just any stranger in." Yup. I say, "they didn't tell you I was coming?" I convince him, and he says "you're not very forthcoming Andy." I says, "Well, haha, I assumed you might now about me coming to visit." I'm just glad that conversation wasn't over the intercom out front. HAHAHA. So I hung out till TJ's mom (Naomi) got home with Ruthie, oh, excuse me, Destenee now. Haha, she was like 6 or 8 last I knew and now she is the artist formerly known as Ruthie. Haha, man I'm laughing a lot. Then we went out and ate fried chicken and waffles (soul food). Then I think me and TJ went out and I met a friend of his named Nick. HAHA!

Pretty flowers! More bike was ridden, more pictures were taken, of flora, and small fauna (insects).

Sushi yesterday! It was awesome, I've never had fresh sushi and it was great. Half off cause it was during the week too. I ate quite a bit of raw fish, let me tell you, and I enjoyed all of it. Then Hill took me to this weird new agey place next door cause she was looking for hooka stuff (she's a junkie now). There was some far out statues and stuff.

I rode a bike around quite a bit yesterday, and that was a lot of fun. I rode down some train tracks and then back on the beach. Best sighting of the day: dolphins, a whole school of them playing not more than 100ft out, jumping and everything. Worst sighting of the day: an old man in a g-string, not even a speedo, be thankful I didn't take any pictures of that.

A walk about Santa Barbara was the order of the day. Went to this craft fair/market thingy. Some pretty neato stuff, but a little heavy on the wallet if you know what I mean. Just like everything else here. These Santa Barbarians can really drop change on things (that means deep pockets). I am a cheapo...I would never fit in here. Anyways we also went to a museum place and walked halfway across the city. Then out to dinner with a couple of Melis' friends at some place called silvegreens. Seems like things are set for me to see TJ midweek till next midweek....sweeeeet.

Firestone vineyard, yes the same Firestone as the tires. It was a fun day. One of Melis' apartmentmates works there are gave us a tour. It was all very interesting. Wine tasting too! I think I tried close to twenty wines. Part of that Sideways movie was filmed here. Then we went to the Firestone and Walker brewery for dinner. Man I was stuffed, I ate a huge burger. They age their beers in barrels, only place in america aparently. I got a sampler and a free 20oz glass, wohoooo!

Yesterday we went to a couple pubs to see melis' piano teacher play. He played with a sax dude and then later in a jam band kinda. I had fish and chips and played darts at the first place, Bogart's I think. They played slower jazz like over the rainbow. Then we went to another place where he played with another sax dude, a drummer, a guitar, bass, and singer. They deffinately had a jam band feel. Anyways, I'm bored with this post.

First full day in Santa Barbara. Went out to breakfast at a nice spot right next to the beach. The Brown Pelican, as it was called, had really expensive breakfast. I am sure that at Steffey's near school, I could feed a whole family for what I paid for french toast, eggs, and bacon. Guess...if you said $12.50, you are correct! HAHAHA, I guess you pay for atmosphere, I saw some dolphins swimming about which was nice. Then Melis gave me a tour of the area, her favorite spots and such. A couple beaches, a rose garden, Westmont, and a burger place called The Habit(no idea). She has a weird work schedule (2:30 - 8:00 pm) so I have a bit of time to myself. This evening we watched the Red Violin, which is a great movie hindered by some gratuitous nudity. Those crazy foreigners have no sense of decency.

California! Here I am! Not a bad flight with a little bit of "Mr and Mrs Smith." It's late so the drive over was dark which is too bad, cause I hear this part of Cali is pretty. Tomorrow I guess. So I met the rest of Melis' apartmentmates, they seem pretty groovy. They set up a hooka and I joined them (don't worry ma it's tobacco and not as bad as a cigarette, haha). So we had a nice chat, even though it was a bit chilly. Sounds like there are at least a couple sweet things to do in the near future... i'll keep you posted. (Hey that picture from the plane is of the same crater I climbed on the Diamond Head hike)

Oho! I havn't told you folks about my crazy new island have I? I'm in Santa Barbara but I have to go back in time to tell you about another Hawaii experience. So I swam with my surfboard over to this island called Chinaman's Hat. I was all by myself and it was my island. It is roughly 600 yards from the coast and has a 206 foot peak. It was great...I really had a chance to get back to my tribal roots. Runningabout half-naked on your own island really does something for the soul...

Surfing, surfing, blah, blah, blah, you can ask me about it when I come back. I did have a nice big post but then after I previewed it I lost it somehow. Dangit. Well you will have to figure it out what I wrote by the pictures, which I didn't take. Haha...oh yeah I don't have pictures of shaved ice, the North Shore, or Crash (Very good movie).

DIAMOND HEAD...The most extreme, vicious, grueling, tortures hike in the pacific ocean! Not for the faint of heart folks. This baby winds it's way one and a half miles up a crater to the top of a volcano. Just because part of it is paved and handrails accompany you for most of the hike does not make it any less extreme!
Sarcasm aside, it was a nice little hike and there was a nice view from the top. Then on the way home we stopped at this spot near the ocean where there is a rock formation called the blowhole. It was pretty neat!

Surfing today again, which was fun. The wind was crazy and so was the waves. I think I am discovering that the beach I have been surfing at is really for more advanced surfers. I mean...I can do it, but it's not easy at all. It's also kinda dangerous because of the shorebreak, which is made up of rocks. I've managed to be careful so far, and I think I'll keep surfing there...so pray for me. Then bible study, which was fun. It was a pretty groovy group. The hosts had an insane house, in a good way. It was soooooooo awesome and the hostess made some awesome tacos...everything from scratch (fried tortillas and salsa and such). So that was nice.

Another relaxing day. Watched Constantine in the morning, which was a wierd movie. I couldn't decide how far up the movie ran the blasphometer. I think I'm done talking about that movie already. I ate a lot today, not sure why. Maybe because I wanted to emulate the patron of the place I visited this afternoon. Which is the Buddhist Byodo-In Temple. The place was pretty interesting, apparently it's a scale replica of a temple in Japan. By-the-by, I have seen those super-sized goldfish at three seperate locations, crazy huh?

Yay for Sunday! There was church in the morning and then back for a little bit of Tombstone (movie). Next was a trip to the swap meet...or swap meat, not quite sure but it was like a flea market. There were some hot cars there, oh and by the way, it was really hot. The kind of hot you get from playing basketball outside in the middle of summer, except we were just walking. Anyways, after that we went to a mall, it was kinda cool cause it didn't have a roof so it was like being outside. We ate at Jackie's Kitchen (Jackie Chan), which was choice. I got some kind of ginger garlic shrimp and scallops. Then some bread pudding which I dug. I mean I dig it, but in past tense cause I ate it already. Then on the way home we stopped at Pali lookout which was far out! Far out and far up, so it gave me a nice view of half of the island. Now is time to rest, I am a bit sore from the surfing.

Man o man, I took a lot of pictures today! Started off the morning with a bit of surfing (didn't bring the camera cause it'd be left alone on the beach). That was fun, though the board I'm borrowing is smaller that the other two I've used so I have to see if I can get used to a smaller board. Becky gave me a ride back (I walked there, it wasn't too much farther then a mile). Then on to Dole plantation. There were plenty of pretty things there...I don't think i will be able to post them all on yahoo and retain my sanity because I'm using a mac here and with mac's on yahoophotos you have to load photo's one by one (cause the easy load software doesn't work). Anyways I'll get as many as I can up, and they are gorgeous, let me tell you what. So there was a maze there and a garden and a pond and a train and pineapples. I had some pineapple ice cream...mmm. Now I am tired.

Woohoooo! surfing! God deffinately blessed me today... he has connections! Becky and Katie's youth pastor at their church let me borrow a surfboard and buy it after I try it out, if I want. He recommended a beach and told me about surf shops and looked at travel bags for it with me. He lent me straps to put it on Becky's pickup even. So I got to surf for a half hour today, which was great...the water is real warm, so no wetsuit required. Although, my nipples feel like Bob Vila tried to sand them off with one of his Craftsman beltsanders. Besides that I had a blast. We couldn't stay long cause we're going to see The Brothers Grimm. Which was a decent movie, fun and violent, it reminded me of Army of Darkness and Evil Dead (if you havn't seen 'em don't bother). Then we ate dinner and hung out with a friend named Bobby, we stopped by his house which had an incredible view of this mountain range called Ko'olau. You can see mountains from everywhere, and they are awesome to see...they are so sheer and have mixed greens all over them, quite a sight.

Rather than add to the last quite large post, I am making another one for the rest of today. So after getting back from the comissary I had lunch then Katie went to work and me and Becky went to the beach on base. The beach was incredible, soooooo beautiful...the pictures really don't do it justice. The color of the water and the mountains....ooooh man. Snorkeling was the order of the day...saw lots of cool fish and stuff. Groovy colors and such. There was this really swell eel, he was white with brown spots. I watched him for awhile move from one hiding spot to another. I wish I had an underwater camera.

Sooooooo, I'm in Hawaii. It is pretty darn pretty. I think I was up for 23 hours and 15 mins today. 6:15 in the morning to 5:30 in the morning eastern time. It was only 11:30 here and that movie with Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson was so riveting I had to watch the whole thing. Oh yeah, last night I had some ahi poke, which is some kind of raw fish salad. My yahoophoto site should have a pic of that. Don't say poke, say poke like you're saying pokemon, except no mon. So me and Katie went to the comissary this morning (I guess that's marine language for grocery store). It wasn't exciting, but there were folks that take your groceries out to the car, but you have to tip, so that was no good (and they slash your tires if you don't....maybe). Oh yeah...(this is like one of those going backwards type movies) yesterday we went to the beach for a bit (see pictures) and (backwards in time we go) on the plane yesterday I had three pals: Vince, Vince, and some short guy not named Vince. They were going to Hawaii to hit up the night life and hop islands apparently, very nice folks. A little foppish though and Vince had that lisp thing going...if you catch my drift. If you don't catch it ask your parents. It was fun, and long...9 hours from Cincinnati. Oh yeah, about that, I was supposed to fly out of boston at 8:10, I thought it was supposed to be 10:00 for some reason, I suppose in the future that I will check my flight times before I leave. On the plane there were 4 movies...Monster-in-law (girly), Robots, Hitch, and Upside of Anger. I wont talk about the movies, cause there is nothing to talk about and this first post is getting long and I'm sure you are tired of my run-ons and really long sentences, which I'm sure you think are weird because you think I don't talk much, but I do, if you care to listen, which means you have to ask, but this is a free service I am doing for friends and family, you don't have to ask.
HAVE FUN...i am!