Happy Belated Thanksgiving American styles (Yesterday for me already)!

Yesterday, I made a sweet potato pie in celebration of this Yankee Thanksgiving and also in anticipation of what is to come… for me ATG has always been the last corner to turn before Christmas, yay! Less than 4 weeks! The pie turned out well, very sweet, just the way an American would like it. I didn’t pre-read the recipe very well and it ended up taking much longer then expected, but was worth the wait!
Since I last wrote a few things have happened. The first being that we had about 6 sunny days in a row! It was great! On Friday we spent most of the day at the beach. I surfed for a short while (the pre-surf Strongbow made me feel a little seasick, haha) and then we came home and Diva and I created a masterpiece veggie lasagna from the stuff we bought at the market the previous day. It was sooooo good and something we will def make again here and elsewhere. Friday night a couple of Elliot’s friends drove down from the Gold Coast and we had a few drinks here and then headed into town to check out a band that Kate and my Israeli Friends told us about (Our Israeli Friends are these 2 guys that we ended up getting a hitch home from two days in a row at around the same place and same time. Byron is a small town!). The band was Wild Marmalade, check out their Myspace, and they played at the Beachie. They were fucking awesome.
Saturday was pretty chill, the highlight being the joint purchase of a 1 litre vat of 30+ SPF sunscreen. I took note of when we started it in my datebook so that we can see how long it lasts.

On Sunday we headed up to the Gold Coast for the night. I drove and although it was a little nerve racking at first, the whole wrong side of the road and shifting gears was quickly no sweat. During the drive up the coast I became even more appreciative of being able to drive stick, it is a life skill I am very pleased to have obtained. Anyway, we stopped a few times to take some pictures of the ocean at different points as we took the coast roads instead of the Pacific Coast Motorway. When we arrived we started by walking along the beach in Surfer’s Paradise. Unfortunately it is Schoolies season (Grade 12 kids are done high school and flock to the coast in droves to party, party, party, and party some more. Never have I seen so many drunk 18 year olds. 17 year olds too) and the place was crawling with drunk kids. We then met up with Elliot’s friends again and they took us down to Burleigh Heads Beach for a little Sunday night drum circle and fire twirling. It was sweet. We had burgers, drank gin and tonic, and took in the beats and flames. Then we went back to their place and played Scategories! Haha

Surfer's Paradise

The next morning we got up early and headed back to Surfers to have breakfast at Pancakes in Paradise. They were pretty good, a little pricey, and Kerby is still the best, but really hit the spot. Then we hit Starbucks. I was thinking I might get a Eggnog latte to get into the holiday spirit a little early but they didn't have them! So I just got a regular coffee (I forgot what drip coffee tasted like and how freaking good it is!) and we found eggnog in the IGA here last week too so it's all good.

Yum.

Then we went to the mall! The giant mall- Pacific Fair. I finally got a cell phone, or a mobile phone I should say, and all is now right in the world. Although I still can’t get my international texts to send. After that is was back to the beach to drop off Diva (she and Elliot stayed an extra night) and Kate and I drove back to have the car back for our roommate (it was his car).

Fooling around in the mall... Photobucket censored this picture because of the nakedness.

That night, back in Byron, Kate and I finished off the bottle of gin and our kind of odd, computer science Phd roommate, Sean (the one whose car we borrow) came out and is like, 'oh, do you want some more?' and gives us his bottle of Bombay gin (we were drinking Gordon's, not as nice and only 37% vs 47%) and says just don’t drink it all. Very generous of him and we did not drink it all.
The rest of this week went by really fast. It rained for most of Wednesday but we had Sean’s car again and went into town to buy some craft supplies. We made dream catchers. Mine isn’t done yet because I ran out of string.
Today I biked into town and met up with Kate and we met up with Steve the Security Guard who gave us the keys to our new place. He is basically our landlord, will be collecting rent etc. We walked from town to survey the new place once more before the move and were surprised to find that the woman who lives in the converted garage owns a small child. We’re not sure if this small boy lives in the garage with her, as it was not aforementioned to us, or if he just visits her on weekends or just visits sometimes and lives somewhere else. It was confusing to say the least. But I guess we’ll see how it pans out. We’ll be moving in tomorrow and Sunday and are all very excited to explore the area. There are abandon train tracks that run near the street and we think they might be the fastest way to get to the beach and into town. An adventure is definitely on the horizon. The freedom to be able to bike into town on a bike path and not having to hitch is also something we’ve been looking forward to. There’s a public bus stop right next to our place too and even the walk to town isn’t too bad, around 3km, that’s hardly anything at 3am after a night out on the town ;)

PS You may have noticed a few format changes I’ve made to the old blog recently. The links to the pictures are all along the side now and will be updated regularly. Again, you’ll have to ask me for the passwords :)

And if you'd like to call me or send me mail I can give you my number and address upon your request if I like you. haha

All Rained Out

Last night we had a large-ish storm, (medium by Texas standards) and by morning the clouds were all rained out... finally! Today has been the most beautiful day in Byron for me yet, this may be because it had rained for 4 days straight with no end in sight and any sunlight is a welcome change.
Diva, Elliot (Diva's b/f who got here yesterday) and I got up early-ish and hitched into town for some Thursday morning market action and a big breakfast. The market is every Thursday from 8-11am and is a collection of local farmers and merchants selling everything from fruits and vegetables to fresh meat and eggs, coffee, baked goods, and awareness.
After we had picked up what we needed for a potentially epic veggie lasagna (tomorrow's project) we headed to a restaurant called Why Not!, which is owned by the same people that own the place where Diva works- The Figtree. They sure know how to make breakfast in this town.
The next few hours were spent getting some much needed beach time. It felt so good after all the rain we've had. Then I had a milkshake because I told myself it would be my prize after we found a new place to live. That's right, we have a new house, starting Nov 30th, that is closer to town (on the bike path!) and very close to one of the beaches. And it is shockingly, yes SHOCKINGLY, cheap.
This Sunday we plan to take a little roadie up to the Gold Coast- Surfer's Paradise and all that jazz- and I will finally get a phone and you all can call me whenever because apparently all incoming calls are free in this country!

Since the last blog entry I have had some Byron Bay Cookie Co cookies and they are magnificent!

Hello from the FUTURE

I put up my pictures from Australia so far. Just Byron Bay really, since it's the only place I've taken any pictures while here. Again, you'll have to ask me for the password... if you know the other passwords and are clever, you might be able to guess this one, hahaha.

Today Kate and I went to OzyMex, owned by The Byron Bay Chilli co. It was actually decent. They make their own salsas and hot sauces which are very good. I might not miss the Austin Tex-Mex as much as anticipated; although, I did have what they said was their hottest sauce and it was what I would classify as 'Nice Heat" in the Breakfast Taco Tour realm. So not really that hot, but an enjoyable heat.

Also, check this out- Byron Bay Cookie Company. It's between where I am now, in Ewingsdale, and town. I pass it everyday and have yet to go in. How's that for willpower? And Diva says they even have cheap factory seconds in there! If my ankel is well enough to run on this week maybe that will be my "back to running" reward. That or a milkshake. Extra thick.

P.S. Today I had red meat for the first time in over a week. Diva is turning me veggie. haha. And at the local BP (gas station) you can get a bag of 10 avocados for $6. Magical. MAGICAL.

Welcome to Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia!

So I’ve been in Byron a full week now, living in a share house with Kate and Diva and 3 others. We are actually in Ewingsdale, about 10mins drive from the town of Byron Bay. The lease for the place ends at the end of this month, so everyone will be moving out. The three of us have been looking for a new place, but haven’t had much luck. We would like to find a place in town or at least on the bike path (would make for a shorter and safer bike then now), as right now we do not have a car and hitch hiking has become our main form of transportation. It’s been okay so far, have met a few interesting people (like today a chicken and turkey farmer who also runs a social work type program for the people of Western Papua New Guinea), and I’m always fascinated at the variety of types of people who will pick us up. There have been a few somewhat troublesome rides- mainly the ones whose car floors are covered in beer cans and bottles and the ones who are actually drinking a beer as they drive… just have it in their cup holder like it's a dang diet coke or something. The main reason I don’t like the hitch hiking is that I don’t like having to rely on others to get places (public transportation excluded as an “other”), ideally I could walk or bike everywhere. It's also a little inconvenient as we some times have to wait upwards of 10mins and the ones who pullover aren’t always going all the way into town. Plus the thought of being picked up by an serial axe-murderer has more than once crossed my mind.

Hitchhiking to town

Back to the housing issue… sorta. Here’s a good story: We rented a car yesterday and today, for 24hours, to go see this concert down the coast in a town called Ballina (More on that below). But when we got the car yesterday afternoon, before the concert, Diva went for a surf and I went with her. We stopped at this one beach parking lot to check out the waves, and the guy in the car next to us starts chatting up Diva and since we're looking for a new home, with almost every stranger we meet the conversation leads to living situations, hoping that we might get a lead on a place or a suggestion on where to look. So this guy, Mark, probably mid-late 40s, long curly dark gray hair in a wild fro-ish style, tells us he just moved out of a place in Suffolk Park (a neighborhood here) and we are both thinking maybe he’s going to tell us that the place he just moved out of is now available! But no, Creepy Mark is also looking for a place now and maybe if either of us found a 4bedroom we could all go in together. That is when I go get back in the car because I was creeped the fuck out. He proceeds to give Diva his card and she’s too nice to say no so gave her his number too, hoping that she told him the wrong number as she hasn’t got it memorized just yet. Or maybe she does now. Turns out Creepy mark is a holistic chiropractor and he called Diva today! Yuck! Super Yuck! Diva is going to save his number as “Creepy do not answer” so that she never “hears” from him again.

Looking for a home/Practicing living on the streets

Yeah, so haven’t really been up to much. I’ve been surfing here twice now, the waves here are nothing like Waikiki. They are big and powerful and a little scary for the beginner that is me. I did see a shark today while surfing though, or at least I’m pretty sure I did, haha. There was a cross current at the main beach where we were surfing today, and I ended up drifting a good distance across the bay because of it. I was waiting to catch one more wave and then head in and walk back over to where I’d started originally. As I looked down I saw a shadow and it might have been just that, a shadow, but it could have been a rock or seaweed too, but it looked like a shark and I’m pretty sure it was moving faster than I was. At this point I suddenly recalled that the scab on my foot had fallen off like 30mins earlier and could be bleeding and maybe this shark was attracted by the blood, and ohmygawd I was going to be attacked my a shark! I kept my feet out of the water and headed for shore deciding to call it day because of the possible shark sighting and my discouraging progress in the big waves of Byron Bay on the smaller board I was overly ambitious about renting (7’9”).But I’ll keep trying. It would also be nice if a big board would fall out of the sky so I don’t have to keep renting. It would also be nice if the new place we move into has a hot tub, an avocado tree, and a live in chef. And free rent. Hahaha.
I’ve also been getting to know the town little by little. It’s reminding me of Austin a lot. There are many little cafes with awesome looking/sounding/smelling food and I want to try every one! I've already had some good eats- ice cream, falafel, organic doughnuts, aka A little piece of heaven! We went out on Sunday night to this place called ‘La La Land,’ they have $2 champagne flutes all night. First we went to “the bottle shop” for some wine, and split a bottle on the beach, where I got bitten by an ant and thought I was going to have to amputate it hurt so bad. Diva to the rescue with vinegar from the beachfront fish and chip joint to ease the pain and perhaps also prevent swelling. Then we had a drink at this cool place called Balcony. The place really is a big balcony along one of the main streets in town. Then we went to La La Land, where is smelt bad (think any dept store in Austin, that moldy, water damage smell), but the scene was pretty cool, and the price was right even after 6 rounds!! And then of course no night is complete without a visit to the 23hour bakery. I was dared to ask them what hour they were closed and they told me that they never close, it's just a trick to say they're open 23 hours. HA. HA. HA. We’re thinking of making Sunday night champagne and baked goods a weekly tradition.

Wine on the beach.. Diva is happy, haha

Last night we went to Ballina, about 30mins south along the coast from here, to see an Xavier Rudd concert. It was Diva’s 10th XR show, Kate’s 4th, and my first. Although Xavier was fucking awesome (he plays an intense percussion set-up and several didgeridoos), it was unfortunately a bad first impression of concerts in Australia. It was in a large multi-purpose room, with a cash bar in the back that the crowd took full advantage of, even after paying $50 for the concert. The crowd was almost louder than the music, you could hear chatter, LOUD ASS CHATTER, during the first half of the show. At one point, in the middle of a slower, quieter song, Xavier actually started shushing into the mic, but people in the back just kept on yakking. He looked pissed. I thought he was going to just walk off the stage. No respect! Another thing was the lack of personal space in the audience. It was a standing, dancing crowd, and apparently falling all over your neighbor is just fine and dandy here. Not pleasant. Diva encountered one woman that disgusted her so badly that she actually backed away from the stage she had been working so hard to get near the whole show. Then there were some older ladies, probably 40s, who worked their way to the front hoping to tell Xavier that his performance so far was not as good as they’d seen before or wasn’t what they had expected. These ladies were faaawked, like on drugs or drunk or most likely both. Kate told them to back off and they listened, but then the one lady grabbed on to this younger guy dressed like the Love Guru next to us and held on to him as he proceeded to spill redbull on our feet. We were told by many that the people of Ballina are not the highest class humans we will encounter in Australia. We had also planned to see the Big Prawn in Ballina, but Google gave us the wrong directions so that will have to wait for another day. Ballina is not the greatest place on earth.

In other news, I made an excellent purchase the other day: zinc, in three different colors… green, blue, and yellow. Today I wore green.
I also finished Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father.” It was very good. Be sure to read the forward. I am currently reading ‘The Beach.’ Yes, the one they based a Leo Dicrapio movie on. It’s really good so far though and making a possible trip up to Thailand in February or March that much more appealing!

Robot Devil birds on the Main Beach.

P.S. About the coffee in this country- it’s an espresso culture. No one serves drip coffee. Diva and I bought a camping style espresso perculator to make our own espresso that we mix with milk, which roughly works out to be like a coffee. We bought a locally grown blend and it sure beats buying flat whites or cappuccinos or long blacks at $3 a pop. Bam.

Hostel Folk

Where the magic happens

I’ve been in Australia for over a week and no one I met at the hostel in Hawaii has tried to contact me on Facebook so I figure it is safe to tell you about some of the people… and they'll never suspect a thing, muhahaha.
The first guy was from Chicago, Abe, 26, never learned what he did for work. He considered himself somewhat of a beer connoisseur in that he was always looking for new beers to try. This was good for me because he introduced me to the Chocolate Beer. We got to talking about relationships somehow, and he told me that he has only seen his girlfriend once in the past 4 months (he also considered the 30min drive to where she is long distance). He ended up revealing that his g/f was actually his high school English teacher and that they’d gotten together when he was done HS and were once engaged for a time, but her father would have none of it. She is 14 years older (40!). I was drinking when he told me this and I might’ve stared at him, mouth hanging open for a few minutes, can’t remember.
There was another guy, Ramon, from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was older, probably mid-late 30s, and worked as a mechanic for Delta, so he gets free flights anywhere. He also works nights, 4 on, 3 off. He was in Hawaii for his 3 off, flight freeeeee. He was a really nice guy and told me all about birds flying into plane engines and how it totally ruins them, both the bird and the engine. He said it usually happens during take-off and that domestic flights will turn around and get it taken care of, but international flights that can not afford that type of delay will just keep going. I guess it is possible to get from SLC to Heathrow with just one working engine. Fascinating.
I met another guy, from Switzerland, I never learned his name, but he was a pirate for Halloween (i.e. wore a pirate hat) so I just called him The Pirate. He was pretty funny, and like the German and Scandinavian hostel guests very intense.
There was a pair of girls from Iceland. They were underage but somehow got alcohol. The one girl liked talking about American politics when she drank.
I guess I found the whole hostel thing pretty interesting. Encountering the different types of travelers and watching them in their natural habitat. I liked to watch the people who were traveling alone. I would say, with my limited hostel and traveling experience (swim travel is NOT the same and therefore does not count), that there are 3 types of travelers, and this may just be at hostels or maybe just this particular hostel. There are travelers like myself, who prefer to go off on their own during the day and then come back at night and be social. There are the type that don’t ever want to be alone and want a companion to do things with during the day. But then there are the type who are sort of in-between: they are happy to do their own thing, but can also be talked into joining the needy type for the day. I guess there would be a fourth type too: The travelers who just want to experience the nightlife and go balls to the wall out every night, then sleep most of the day in bed or on the beach in preparation for the next night. I found these traveler-dynamics pretty interesting, new angle on people watching I suppose.

Hawaii Pics

I finally put up the rest of my Hawaii pictures.

This should be all of them... enjoy!

Flat White

So last night at the hostel I stayed in the girl at the front desk told me that this coffee shop, the very one I sit in right now and just spent $7.75 on a coffee- a “flat white” whatever the hell that is- and a muffin, has free wireless… But I just saw a sign that said internet access $4! There’s a computer over by the sign that says this business about $4 so I’m wondering if that means to use that computer it’s $4 and the wireless is still free? I’ll go ask once the line dies down. The muffin and coffee were pretty good though. Ugh. $2 an hour. That fucking hostel, I swear. I was wrong about it being clean… well it was for the most part. Each room has its own ‘ensuite’ bathroom. The toilet and sink were behind one door and the shower was behind another. When I was getting in the shower what do I see? Oh, a cockroach. Yay. Not big, but where theres one… so then when I go to brush my teeth there are bunch of baby roaches hanging out around the sink… not so clean in my eyes.
Anyway, I caved and bought the $2 internet. That’s only like $1.75 Canadian right? Haha I’ll hang out here for an hour and then head over to the train station to get over to the central transit center where I’ll then catch my bus to Byron! YAY!


P.S. I looked up what a ‘flat white’ was… I am buzzing from this shit, weeeeeeeee!

Aloha and Mahalo Hawaii... G'Day Australia!

I made it to Brisbane (Brissy) in almost one piece. In Sydney they took one my Hawaii scores at customs/quarantine, jerks! It was a kukui nut lei and that had honu painted on it... And I was really upset about it until I got on my flight to here and watched the inflight news and learned who won the US election! YAY Obama! And I just finished his book today too. Proud to be American today, or yesterday, haha.
Anyway, my day started this morning at like 4:30am Hawaii time. My Mom was right when she said I wouldn't be able to sleep if I worried about my alarm not going off, I was up every hour checking the time. I didn't need to get up til 5, but the worry of not getting to the airport with enough time etc woke me up. So I've been up for about 21hours, not too bad, I've done worse/better? And of course there were naps scattered throughout the 10.5 hour flight from Honolulu (strong head winds apparently).
I am also very sore from yesterdays surfing outting. I feel like I used to after our weightlifting program would change or get heavier, or after the days when we would test in the weightroom (max out). Feels good to know that I can still make myself sore!
So now I am at this hostel called BUNK, it's giant, can sleep like 285 or something sick like that? It's clean at least and cheap. They don't have wireless so I paid the $4 for an hour in their internet lounge.
I think I should shower and go to bed... I think I need to buy a real towel since all I have is the blood stained one from when I took the spill on the rocks and then trespassed a bunch. Good times, hahaha.

I Might Be a Natural

Day was/is my last full day in Hawaii. I fly out tomorrow at 8am and am getting up at 5am, yuck! So today was a day of last minute things. First I did a bunch of shopping and then mailed a little something something home and sent a few postcards. Then I had a plate lunch, which I guess is popular here. The basic plate lunch consists of a meat, two scoops boiled rice, and one scoop macaroni salad. I got mine with Teriyaki Pork and in the mini size (one scoop of rice, less meat). The mac salad is basically macaroni and mayo. It was just okay. Then I did something that I should of done a week ago... I rented a surfboard and went surfing on Waikiki! Why I didn't do this earlier I do now know. I was expecting it to be really difficult but it totally wasn't... I think I might be a natural?? I was standing up on the board in no time and by the end of the few hours I was out there my balance had improved and I was able to actually stear the board a little. The swimming background is a definate asset, paddling was the easiest part for me, while I noticed my fellow novice surfers barely went anywhere when they tried to paddle and catch a wave. My wakeboard experience didn't hurt either, as it helped me know how to stear the board when I was up. I had a little trouble judging whether an approaching wave was going to break or not and worth catching, but quickly caught on to that too. I think I was lucky to learn/teach myself/begin at Waikiki since the break isn't very big (I would guess they were 2-4ft from the front), there was no riptide or other ocean currenty things to deal with, and the bottom was all soft sand and deep enough that should you fall off (I definately did in the beginning) you don't hit bottom or anything. The only problem was that it was crowded. I collided with a paddle boarder at one point and thank gawd for the leash, otherwise I would've got a board in the face! haha

Well tonight is my last night. I still have to pack and do some other last minute things like drink the last of my two beer in the fridge. It is this awesome beer a fellow hostel guest discovered and shared. It's called "Pipeline Porter," has coffee in it and tastes like CHOCOLATE! Could there anything better than chocolate beer? Probably not! It's made by The Kona Brewing Company, let me know if they import to Canada!

Next time you hear from me I'll be Down Under!

Aloha!

No Coffee = No Good

I’m blaming today’s mess on the fact that the hostel ran out of coffee so I didn’t have any with my breakfast. I went to the North Shore again. I had all these plans on where I would go and what I would see. I was going to start out with trying to see some sea turtles. I ended up getting off the Bus at this place called Turtle Bay Resort. I wasn’t sure if it where I wanted to be but got off anyway. I followed the signs that said “Shoreline Public Access” and found the beach. It was roughly a bay but it was really rough, the biggest waves I would see all day. I began to walk down the beach with thoughts of going around the resort (which included a gold course) and back to the road to catch the bus again and go somewhere else. Meanwhile it was sort of raining a misty rain, on and off since halfway into the bus ride. So I was going down the beach, taking my time, stopping to take pictures and look into tide pools. I came to a patch of rock in my path and instead of going around in went over it. It was flat but had sea weed growing on. As soon as I stepped on this rock I was in the air and then on my ass. It was fucking slippery! On the way down in my fall I rolled, twisted or did something to my ankle, scrapped my knee real bad and also got a few nicks on my foot. My first thought after this was “Shit! I broke my ankle!” I scrambled to my feet and realized I could walk, nothing was broken, and my skinned knee was what hurt most. The cuts were not deep, really cutting through the skin enough to make it bleed pretty good. I sat down and cleaned my cuts out the best I could with drinking water and then got up wanting to find the road or a nice place on the beach where I could let my wounds dry out a little and possibly elevate my foot. Then it started to rain for real. I was miserable. I wanted to go home L I ended up heading into the jungle and following this path that I realized it was a horse trail (I saw hoof tracks and poop) and most likely property of the resort. Trespass offence #1. The trail opened up onto the beach again and I was now facing a quiet bay. It was beautiful. I also saw houses on the other side of the bay and figured I could get back to the road somewhere over there. I was wrong. I ended up going through someone’s yard, Trespass #2, and then finally found asphalt. Then I saw a woman in the street, she smiled, I smiled back. Then I went this street and realized I was in a gated community! And was locked in! and I turned around and saw the sign that said “No Trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted.” Trespass #3! I went down another street in this community that ran parallel to the main road. But there was an effing 6-foot chain link fence all the way down and around this place! Panic. I snuck behind some nears by the fence and decided I would have to climb. The only other choice was waiting for a car to come in or out of the gates and risk being caught or worse—arrested in Hawaii! AHHH! So I found a spot along the fence that had the chain at the top folded over, through my towel over (which I had been carrying to soak up running blood from my knee), stuck a foot in the chain link and then swung myself over. My shirt got caught at the top and I ended up losing my balance on the landing and then again falling on my ass. There’s a hole in my shirt now but no one saw me.
I found a bus spot right by the front gates of the stupid place and it came eventually and took me away.
I ended up spending the rest of the day in Hale’iwa (the town on the North Shore). My knee has scabbed over well already but my ankle is pretty messed up. It’s fine when I walk but if I don’t move it for a while it gets stiff and takes a while to warm up. Hopefully it will be okay to surf on tomorrow, my last full day here. Sad.
I’ll add some knee pics tomorrow if I have time.

Halloween Waikiki Style

Happy belated Halloween!

When I was booking my flights and such at the beginning of September I was really struggling with what to do about Halloween. It has been my 2nd favorite holiday (Christmas is #1) for a number of years now and the thought of not being able to go all out was kind of, no, it was very upsetting. It came down to 3 basic options: 1) Don't leave Canada until November, 2) Fly out of Hawaii on the morning of the 31st and totally skip Halloween, and 3) Spend the "holiday" in Hawaii and risk being disappointed. Option 1 was quickly out, as I knew too long in the Great White North might kill me and I also didn't have a fail-safe Halloween party/outing like Boo Bash to go to. So after much deliberation and the fact that the Nov 4th departure was in the neighborhood of $100 cheaper, I ended up going with option 3 and crossed my fingers.

Well let me tell you, I made the RIGHT decision. The evening began pretty early. The hostel was throwing a BBQ for a small fee that started at 7:30 but most people started drinking well before then. I tried to not start until 8, but I think it was more like 7:45 or so. After two drinks I decided I should paint on my costume before I would be unable to do so. I was a cat. Really boring and lame, but I didn't have much to work with as I was not into buying something here and did not want to pack a costume either. I did pack black lipstick and black liquid eyeliner (reminants of the Goth costume in 2006). I also made my 'ears' out of a museum postcard, some masking tape, and a piece of pre-wrap. Compromises.

Meow.

As more alcohol was consumed everyone started to loosen up, drinking games ensued at a few different tables, Ghostbusters was playing on the TV! and people were getting to know each other (as well as you can when you're a couple sheets to the wind. I don't remember most of the names I learned last night, oops). At around 10:30pm our guide (one of the hostel staff) told us it was time to go. We could hear that there was a fair number of people out in the streets but little did we know what awaited us beyond the walls of the courtyard.

The squid. Probably the most innovative costume at our hostel, he's Canadian obviously.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of people walking up and down the main drag of Waikiki, and a vast majority of them were dressed up!!! Heaven! There were lots of lame get-ups, but some of them were quite impressive as well, and the ones that really played the part of their costumes were the best, as always. I'm trying to remember some of the good costumes, but can't right now. The road was not closed to traffic so all these people were milling about and trying to get places on the sidewalks. It took us what felt like a long time to get to the club/bar we were heading to and at one point this Danish guy went into an ABC Store (there is one every block, not exaggerating) and got a sixer of Bud that we all shared (and tried not to get caught, there were lots of cops around). Needless to say, I was not so drunk anymore by the time we got to "The Red Lion," but drunk enough to shell out $10 cover! Luckily the drinks were reasonable. The rest of the night was spent dancing the night away with the Germans and the Danish guy showed me how they dance in Denmark, basically with reckless abandon ("You don't know these people; They'll never see you again." Great advice). By 2am I was done and me and buddy from Pheonix (Jason?) walked back to the hostel. He just could not get over the number of people still out at 2am and went on and on about it (Bars serve liquor until 4am here). I guess Pheonix is boring?

Insanity

He's wearing a real diaper... is the gun also real? I do not know.

Japanese Bananas!!

Anyways, the scene last night did not even compare and put to shame the most crowded nights that I've seen on 6th Street, and I was down there during ROT Rally this year! hahaha

This morning I slept kind of late and decided it wasn't worth going to the North Shore for only a few hours (the bus ride alone is close to 4hours), so I just wandered around Waikiki, sat on the beach for a few hours, and had a giant Hawaiin Shaved Ice aka a snow cone. It made me feel sick :)

I'll post the rest of the Halloween pictures tomorrow, the internet here is being hella slow right now.