Far Away Days

Seventeen years is a long time. A lifetime for some.

Today, I'm thinking of things in the past, mostly, but also the present and future.

It's not all sadness now, there are smiles hidden here and there too. Unless I think too much and recall the last time.

Days of elephants and little devilish smiles.
Trips to the park.
Listening to stories from "before I knew you".
Angelic and wise in so many ways.
Older than need be.
Logical and illogical.
Independent and stubborn.
Looks so much like you.

Never, Always, Some Day...

Regret, hope, shaking of heads. Laughter, tears, acceptance. Wondering why things are. What was, what could have been, what is. What happened, what's been said...what hasn't.

It's life, I guess, but not as I'd have it, if given choices.

There are meetings destined in the future. I know this and embrace it with hope and concern and... soft remembered shared days.

Inevitable, I suppose.

But for today...I am drifting...

seventeen years away...

be happy and safe, Angel.

Dark Green Pants at the Beach

Just say no!

It's not a good idea to put them back on when your suit isn't all the way dry.

It scares small children in the ladies room into total shocked silence...

It's a good conversation starter at the bar, tho ;)

OK...so this didn't make sense as it is, so I'm adding some clarity (I think...lol)

When you pull on your shorts over a wet suit, often the color of the shorts darkens a bit. I'd been wearing my sand colored shorts to the beach most days, so even when they were damp here and there, it didn't show much.

However, when you wear dark colors (olive green, for example ;) it just gets REALLY DARK when it's damp or wet from your suit underneath.

Then, when you walk into a restaurant, or bar, or ladies room...you get some really strange looks! Frankly, said small child in the ladies room looked at me with miserable understanding...not believing that it was my swimsuit that made my shorts look like that...and I got the same response (although with much more laughter) coming out of the restaurant's bar later on that evening after dinner...

Bottom line...hehe...no dark shorts to the beach when leaving before suit is dry...

My EYES!

OK...I have resisted relating this story, as it was just too horrific to retell...let alone recall...but I've been having nightmares and I suspect my therapist (if I had one) would say that getting it out of my head will help set me free....I'm not usually one to tell this kind of story. I like all kinds of people, and really applaud those that go out in public in some strange forms of dress. Especially when it's entertaining...but I just have to get this out of my mind, so here goes...

We were at Ulua Beach on Maui. It's a great little beach...nice facilities nearby, and lovely sand...and the reef is shallow enough that even snorkelers can see a lot of cool stuff - even turtles most of the time are visible sitting on the sand or the reef. It's only about 30 feet deep there, and with the visibility...well...it's great.

I'm digressing (or is it stalling?) from my original point :)

So...here we are, our last full day on Maui, out to enjoy the beach and the surf and the sights. It was great. 85 degrees, a bit breezy, but nice...and we managed to "obtain" some lovely beach chairs from the resort down the beach (they shouldn't leave them on their own).

Minding our own business...swimming, snorkeling, chillin'...when all of the sudden...

MY EYES!

There is this woman, of about sixty eight, I'd say (I'm trying to be nice here)...and she's standing on the edge of the sea. In her two piece suit, with leopard print. This isn't bad (in and of itself), it's the WAY she was wearing it (and wore it later on - that's the real bleeding/put out my eyes part, but more on that later).

The lovely top of this ensemble was more or less a t-back style. But she wasn't wearing it that way. Nope, not at all. She had actually pulled the straps down along her middle, kind of in a bandeau style - except it was like, two stripes. Not a good look, nope...not good at all.

This is especially true when you take into consideration that she was tanned - like really, really tanned - you know, like the way they tan leather? Like that. And very wrinkly. Very.

very

Oh, and bleached blond...

And...standing with one hand on her hip and one hand to her brow, looking out to sea...I just hoped the top stayed up, and turned and headed back out to sea myself.

I'd been able to forget this first encounter by the time I returned to shore. I'd been distracted quite nicely by the shiny fish on the reef..and watching Sandy try to free dive to get better pics of same (it's hard to laugh under water without sucking in salt water).

Back to shore we went, laughing and talking about the fish, and how Sandy really wanted to free dive for pictures, and how funny it was (and harder than she thought it would be). She actually did get a few really good pics, even with the trouble breathing and staying under long enough to get a shot. Got as far as my lounge chair, when...

MY EYES!

Same woman - except, and you really have to picture this...I'm trying not to, but it's burned into my retinas I think - she's lying face down on a towel in the sand. Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? But, wait! It gets better...

She's now got on no top at all...this isn't the scary part...wait for it....wait for it...wait....

(Did I mention the leopard print bikini bottoms? It's important to remember this part...so...)

Not only is she topless (face down, thankfully), but she's decided she wants a nearly "all over" tan, so shes...here it comes are you ready?...she's...made a thong out of her bikini bottoms. Pulled those puppies right on up as far as she could. I know it had to hurt, or maybe, the leather like skin didn't have any nerve endings left...hmmmm...

It was hideous...kinda like a wreck on the side of the freeway...I couldn't believe that an ass could be that wrinkled AND, I couldn't look away. It was, it was...horrible.

"MY EYES!" I literally shouted before I knew what I was doing (although her hearing aid musta been turned off, 'cause she didn't so much as flinch). Goofy and sis nearly both fell off their chairs, and I think they peed their pants too...they looked and then they both closed their eyes...

We all had to look away...it was really that traumatic. We had to leave the beach...really...leave.

I should have taken a picture, dammit!

Where's the sun?

OK..so..where'd the sun go the last few days?

I _know_ it's Seattle, but geez...from 80+ degrees on Monday to whatever the dripping temp is now (around 65, I'd say).

And the grey, blah. This feels more like October than July...I want my convertible weather back! Argh!

At the Car Wash...

I love the car wash.

I remember from when I was a kid...it was fun, and magical, and well...FUN! We'd go on a Saturday morning then. Sometimes you could ride in the car, but at other places you had to get out and kinda walk along watching your car automatically go through the wash. It was kinda neat seeing the car do all that by itself...magical to a kid, I guess. Now, in these automated washes, you generally get to ride through, watching as the brushes and the foam and the water and who knows what else engulf your car...it's like Disneyland!

I don't often go through a car wash. Don't take the Z through (the horror of the thought, even!). I do take the truck through from time to time, though. YAY!

I usually go to the one down at the SoDo Costco. It does an adequate job. They "improved" it a while back, and actually do a worse job now, but that's progress I guess. They used to have the colored foam...you know, like on that commercial with the kid and the dad riding through, the Satchmo version of "Over the Rainbow" playing...blue, pink, yellow...now it's just white. A disappointment to me, but it must be progress. It also does a fine job of putting tire dressing on...that always looks good anyway. Now, if they could just figure out how to get the back end of the X, I'd be all set...it's not like it's the only SUV in Seattle running through there, so...progress, anyone?

People

Have you ever wondered just how it is that people come in to your life? How some stay, some leave (quietly or painfully), and some that should be there, never were?

I have been seriously thinking lately about how very fortunate we've been in life, Goofy and I - especially where friends and family are concerned. I won't be spending too much blog time on these type of things, but it's been in my brain, screaming to get out, so here it is :)

I was thinking about this just the other day when I had a couple of v-mails from my really good friend (and honorary big brother - my honor, not so sure about him :), Jim. I'll get to that later...

Basically, we are all born into some kind of family - good, bad or indifferent - and then things progress from there. At first, we meet the folks our parents know...then, we start meeting people at school and stuff as we grow up. You all get that, it's not any kind of secret.

But I really think that it's the folks we take into our hearts as we go along that are our true family.

I am lucky enough to have several people in my life that are family to me - not of blood, but of choice. It's amazing to me how random some of those meetings were. The "what if I'd never been in that place at the moment" of much of it is enormous and overwhelming when I think of it.

Take Jim and Dewana, for instance. We met them through Jim & Judy Hopper, who we met when we were driving around one day looking at houses. We actually happened to be early to meet with a different real estate agent (not a good one, btw), and make an offer on another house - when we wandered into an open house that Judy was at. Fate, master plan, what? That relatively small decision to drive down the road to have a look at something while we waited, turned out to get us four very good friends. Scary that we may have missed that, and at the same time...was it meant to be? I could go all "kismet" on y'all, but you know what I'm talking about I think.

(We never did get back to that other house, either :)

Now, back to Jim. On the face of it, politically, Jim and I are about as unlikely as Rosie and Elizabeth to be friends (LOL, couldn't resist). He's a proud American Republican - and he's somewhat rare in my experience - a thinking Republican. I suspect that, for the most part, we don't agree on much politically. We both love our country, we just have different opinions on how things are going and the people that have been running the show of late (dem or rep).

Despite our political differences, he's one of our closest friends...someone (along with D :) that we can always rely on, and who we are always happy to see. He likes a cold (icy) beer on occasion, and a good BBQ. He and D awarded Goofy the honor of naming their youngest (dachshund), Opie. We all like the Seahawks, and sports memorabilia and that red velvet cake that D makes (that is SOOOO good!). I am still amazed at how seemingly random it was that he and D came into our lives. Amazed and grateful really.

I made a post a while back in this blog from Keith Olbermann. (I've since removed as I've decided that this blog is not about politics - it's on my MySpace now...lol). My good friend Jim had called to ask a question, and while he was at it, he commented on the post. Jim did not agree with some of the political message in Keith's op/ed piece. Here's the point, though. He called back to leave another message shortly thereafter. He was worried about hurting my feelings by what he'd said.....I was TOUCHED by that simple concern…… We both agree that that everyone has a right to their own opinions….and that means so much to me. I guess that's why he's my big brother. We agree to disagree...but we still like one another. I'm a REALLY lucky person.

Goofy and I have a fairly large circle of people that we consider good friends. Extremely fortunate, we are. Some are even family to us now (for good or for bad, it's up to interpretation I guess :), just as if we'd shared the same blood. You all - friends & family - should know who you are....but if not, send me an email and I'll tell you ;)

So, at the risk of being extremely sappy...thanks to all of you for being there...we are very fortunate to have each and every one of you in our lives, and we hope that we are being the kind of friends to you, that you have all been to us.

Enough, already...I see something shiney over there that I need to check out...

Love ya!

Magic in the Second Cathedral

So...here's a pic Goofy took of me in the water off of Lana'i.

Apparently, it was one of the few times I turned around to see where Goofy was, so there were limited photo ops on that dive. LOL

You can see (kinda) that I'm in a cave, with the opening behind and above me - the color change from dark to the amazing blue reflected on the reef to the lighter tone of the open water is the cue there.

Also, I gotta say my hair looks fantastic (haha). I wonder how I got it to mimic the shape of the reef?

Goofy insisted on breathing while taking this pic (first rule of diving - don't hold your breath...EVER), so there are some exhaust bubbles that obscure things a bit. I like the pic A LOT though...I'm underwater...woohoo!

Loved this dive, and hope to be going out there again the next time we have a trip over to Maui.

By the way...love the wetsuit. It's only a 3mm (from Harvey's) but the darn thing is sooooo comfortable :)

Lahaina Divers

Here are a few pics from Lahaina Harbor, the Dive group we went with, etc.

Lahaina Divers (http://www.lahainadivers.com/index.html) are an excellent group - professional, knowledgeable and FUN! We spent all our dive trips aboard the "Dauntless" with Captain Dan, Diver Dan (also a captain), Mike, John, Tim (also an EMT), and a couple of other folks in the crew. We liked them so much, we drove to Lahaina to take a diving trip to Molokini (which is actually much closer to Kihei - by about 45 mins).

We would highly recommend them to any of y'all for diving (or learning to dive).

The pics are Captain Dan (also an Anthropolgy Prof in the UC system), Dan our favorite Dive Master, the guys at the dock, and a few pics of the Harbor.

Lana'i

Friday (7/6/07)

Today, we went diving at Lana'i. A totally different experience than either of the four dives we'd had before. First off...the swell is pretty big off the boat (which makes getting back on the boat a lot more difficult, and also provides quite a bit of help in turning many a diver from a healthy pink to somewhat green. It's amazing how many fish come around to the boat after a few seasick divers are back on board ;)

Our first stop was the Second Cathedral. It's called that because, well, it's second down the coast.

Basically, these caves and tubes were formed when lava went into the sea. In some cases, huge amounts of air were trapped, and over time, the cathedrals were formed. There is even an albino black coral that hangs like a chandelier from the roof - white as snow 'cause it's never been exposed to the sunlight.

Anyway...lots to see there...as well as some fun diving through caves. I was surprised at how easily I was able to get through these dives...not any problems at all following the DM into the black caves. They open up pretty quickly, though, so I'm sure that helped a lot. And the views when you could look up through the lava and see the surface were spectacular (we were about 60' down, but the deep turquoise blue of the ocean was clear as could be that day).

Goofy got a small diving injury in one of the caves when coral scraped ungloved hand. You should ask Goofy what she was doing to get said injury :)

The pic is from inside the cathedral looking up and out.

The second dive was to an site known as Shark Fin - presumably because the lava formation there looked like a shark fin :D

Lots of stuff to see there as well, but not as dramatic as the cathedral. Beautiful reef, coral, eels (a big one looked like it was going to chase Goofy - so the pic taken was a bit blurred from fast motion in the opposite direction), star fish (boo, these eat the coral), and lots of fish again. The pic is of a Banded Urchin - it's about 8" in diameter.

The viz was amazing...at least 125' here too...and the sea was a bit more calm in the little bay we moored in, no 10' swells, so no seasick divers this time :)

On the ride back to Lahaina, we saw a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins - the Captain figured there were at least 1000 of them around and beneath us. They gave a really jubilant show of jumping, spinning and flipping before they tired of us and moved on.

All in all, a GREAT day of Diving!

Lava Flow

For Carol R...just because you said so! LOL!

CHEERS AND ALOHA from Wailea!

Goofy's Dive Computer

I promised somewhere to tell more about Goofy's dive computer...so here it is (at last! at last!).

OK...so...how come it takes A LOT of spit and effort to turn on these "SmartCOM's", but apparently, the airplane can do it by "magic"?

On our first day of diving, Goofy's dive computer happily (or perhaps alarmingly? ;) let everyone within hearing range know where she was every 3 seconds. Although it's good to know where Goofy is, it's not good to know where she is every 3 seconds for more than an hour (of diving). I also suspect that sparky chased away a fish or three :) Sound travels pretty far underwater....

It was convinced (CONVINCED) that she was dead or dying and needed to get her behind back to the surface. PRONTO!

See...according to the computer, Goofy had CNS O2 percentage of 199%. She was probably dead. Quite.

(I for one, am not quite sure how you can have more than 100% Oxygen toxicity in your blood/tissue, but what do I know? I'm not a computer).

And said computer wanted us all to know - every 3 seconds - that we should go retrieve her body, or answer her cell phone, it sounds kinda like that, so who knows?

Once back to dry land, we had time to figure out what sparky was doing, and it seems that the most logical answer was that it somehow got turned on in flight. Thinking that Goofy had done a long dive at 30000+ feet, made sparky sad and very concerned. I must tell someone, I must, i MUST. So...beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...

beep, beep, beep
beep, beep, beep
beep, beep, beep
beep, beep, beep

beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

We all had a look at sparky. Wondering if we could tell it that it was a mistake...she hadn't been diving at 30000 feet. Goofy was really OK. No nitrogen to speak of, no deco necessary.

But NO. Sparky knows best, and so now sits (thankfully) on a shelf in the condo, while Goofy dives with Rob's computer (thanks Rob), and a brand new SPG we had to get.

beep, beep, beep, beep
beep, beep, beep, beep
beep, beep, beep, beep


I sincerely believe that sparky will soon be living elsewhere soon...perhaps at the bottom of the ocean near Lana'i?

And so it goes...

Stalking Paris

OK...why does anyone really care where the heck Paris Hilton is at any given moment?

We were down at Wailea, shopping and looking to get a nice Lava Flow over at Tommy's when the call went out!

OMG!!!

Paris Hilton is at Guess! PARIS HILTON!

Goofy and sis were beside themselves with excitement. I was waiting outside yet another shop doing some serious people watching, when all of the sudden...

"Come here! Quick!" they said in unison "Paris Hilton is at Guess!!!"

I'm like "OK...who cares?"

"Who cares? Who cares? It's Paris Hilton! We gotta go quick so we can try to see her". They say this as if I'm not of sound mind for even asking...

So up the mall we go. It is not hard to see where she is, because, of the several hundred people that are shopping at this mall this fine evening, only about 4 aren't gawking at the Guess store. They must not speak English or something.

Both from below and at store level (Guess, my friends is on the second floor).

Paparazzi, security guards...the gawkers. All there...all excited by the prospect of "her".

They've closed the store to mere mortals so that Princess P does not have to deal with the riff raff of everyday life. So they jostle and move to get better views from the store windows.

"I saw her" I hear someone shout excitedly "that was soooo cool."

I am wondering why...

At this point I say (apparently in a tone misunderstood by my favorite stalkers) that I'm going to go get a drink at the other end of the mall as far from this circus as I can get. I was just going to go wait while they stalked happily for glimpses, but they thought I was mad (which I wasn't at all), so they stalked me to the bar instead. I turned around, and they were there, quietly following. They are very good stalkers. LOL.

We had our requisite Lava Flow (there you go Carol R :), and then left (me hoping that the princess had departed, but my companions secretly (I think) hoping for another chance).

As it happened, they got their wish...said PP (Princess P, is now and forevermore PP for me, lol) was at that odd shop on the LOWER LEVEL now. If you've been to Wailea, you know which one I mean...if not, it's too hard to describe...kinda goth, meets cupie dolls. Of course they closed it as well, and even put paper up over the windows to protect PP's privacy (like that was why she was out to begin with).

My little stalkers got a lovely pick through the window of a t-shirt (which I've posted, think it's prophetic? lol), which made them somewhat happy. Then we heard she'd left by a back door.

Since it was time to leave, and I wanted to make up for them leaving the first stalking opportunity, we drove around to the other side of the mall and found (hushed tones here) more security lurking about. We parked and were "looked at sternly" by some guy pretending to blend in to the riff and/or raff. My stalkers believe they saw the window darkened SUV that took PP back to her new palace by the sea (Hilton purchased the Grand Wailea just for PP...isn't that Sweeeeet?).

And that was that...or maybe not. Perhaps we'll "see" her again.

Maui, Computers, and Diving

So, here we are in Maui (ok, here we are AGAIN), and it's a fantastic day (as usual), and the girls are out shopping (which is fun for them, but less so for me). Frankly, I hate shopping for the most part - unless it's for toys (definition of toys to me may be different than for you, but my friends know what I mean).

I am here at the condo, trying to gain enlightenment into the secret workings of my dive computer. Here's the thing about this particular computer...it's a pain in the butt. It tells you everything you need to know about your dive, and about the weather, the state of the tea market in china and the worldwide occurances of nuclear proliferation (I swear! It's all in there somewhere, I just can't dig it out).

Those of you familiar with the ScubaPro Smart Com will know that there is never enough spit in your mouth to actually bridge the contacts on the surface when you are trying to check your dive logs. Those of you not familiar, well, you need a lot of spit.

If you see some poor diver constantly going between their mouth and their dive computer with their spit laden fingers (or not, as the case may be), you know that they are using a Smart Com. And about that name, how smart can it be if I need to look at the manual to use it? I mean, honestly, I'm not the stupidest person in the world, and I've had to actually read the damn manual (which - if you know me - I never do unless I'm forced to :)

But, I digress...

I believe that I have finally become somewhat enlightened as to the workings of my way too over the top dive computer. It looked neat at the store, and sounded good, but dammit, it's a pain in the water. I believe that Goofy (aka Sandy) is likely to chuck hers overboard the next time we dive (but that's another story :)

I have finally figured out what all the beeps, blips, and dings are for (which frankly, I could do without). I figured out how to turn off the friendly "warning" beeps (needed to get a irda cable and a PC to do that though - a PC for crying out loud). And now, I am looking forward to the next days dives beep, blip and ding free.

As for the diving here...AMAZING! So far, Goofy and I have done 4 boat dives. We did two dives at "turtle reef" (which is basically anything along the shoreline around here, so many sites to choose from, and two dives at the Molokini crater.

For the turtle reef dives, we went up past Ka'anapali to a site near Kapalua called "Cliff House". Interestingly enough, the site gets this name due to the fact that there is a house on the cliff in the cove there. Who'da thunk? ;) Haha. The viz was only about 30 feet or so - and a bit murky - mostly because there are some awesome sets of waves breaking around here. Dude...great for surfers, not so much for diving near the shore, which is why we went so far up the island.

We did - indeed - see turtles. (That is Goofy there hanging loose with the turtle - I'm in the background looking the other way...why won't that camera work? LOL) We also saw a good deal of fishies, and eels, and, a good sized octopus that the dive master coaxed out of his hiding space long enough to be thoroughly inked and glommed onto. That was cool to see...lots of ink, and the DM covered in Octopus. It was amazing though, when the octopus decided to run again. He found an impossibly small hole in the reef, and within seconds had changed color/texture to blend right in. Very cool.
Depth here was around 40', but the murkiness made seeing the boat a bit more difficult even at that depth.

Molokini was something else entirely! We also did two dives here - one to the "Aquarium" and one to "Reef's End". Viz was AMAZING! 100 feet plus...clear as could be...it was just, well, amazing. In the aquarium dive, we saw tons (literally) of fish. Yellow fish, blue fish, black fish, white fish...striped fish, solid fish...fish. Eels as well, coral...so cool. If you've ever snorkeled at Molokini, it's so much better to dive there. You can see so much. At reef's end (which is along one edge of the crater), we saw much of the same, plus (tada) a white tipped reef shark. Wasn't as scarey as I thought it'd be, and he was busy doing his thing, so didn't really care too much about us. We were hoping for rays, but they didn't run in while we were there (maybe next time :) Also, at reef's end, we experienced more current that I've done before. It was interesting in how different it felt. You could just drift along a bit and enjoy the scenery, but it made it harder to catch up to the DM if you got distracted :) On both dives we got down below 75'...which is still a shock to me as it looked about 30' deep in the clear water. Could see the boat the whole time...and the water was the most amazing shade of cobalt blue.

If you are ever of a mind to boat dive in Maui, I highly recommend Lahaina Divers. It's a bit longer boat ride down to Molokini from Lahaina (than it would be from, say, Kihei), but those folks do a great trip and are awesome to work with. I don't think I'd go boat diving with any other group around here.

On Friday, we are going over to Lanai to visit the Cathedrals and stuff. Goofy has been there (on the last trip), but I haven't and so off we go. I'll post more on that after it happens.

Until then...Happy 4th of July All! Let's hope that next year at this time we are living in Peace (I know, but I have to hope).

Aloha!

New Blog for Magic and Goofy

So...good day! I'm Magic, and that's Goofy over there, and we just wanted to say...Good Day, eh? LOL...this may be too obscure for some of you, but those that get it....hello!

This is our new blog. We had another one, but I like this one better. Simple as that. We've decided to put some of our ramblings out into the ether...take it or leave it, but for goodness sake, if you don't like it, just leave.

So, come on over and check us out every now and then...we'll be out here...will you?