Time flies when you're getting dirty...

There's so much going on, and I've totally fallen behind on the reporting of it. I don't really know where to start, so here are a few random things:

I learned how to drive a stick shift! Or I'm trying to learn, anyway. I practiced this weekend on acar that this guy was going to give me for free, but it turned out to be a little bit too much of a situation for me. First of all, the car hadn't been driven in a couple months. So every time I stalled, the car died. Also, this was in the JUNGLE, basically, so when the car died, the guy whose car it was had to go hike back to where his other car was so that we could jump it. The back seat couldn't stay up, so I had to either sit up really straight or Jessie had to hold up the chair with her knees from behind. All this while trying to figure out the shifting. Which brings me to a question: how many of you know how to drive manual? Just curious...

What else. Beach, snorkeling, blah blah blah. The water's so rough this time of year that I'm still getting pretty banged up on the way in and out of the water. When I got home from swimming on Sunday I had a couple bad cuts and a cartoon-ish bump on my knee. It's weird because when you get past the shorebreak, as the water gets deeper, its great: warm, calm, and clear. Anyway.

I saw an acupuncturist who performed Chinese Bone-setting on me. I was not pleased. They basically massage you and relax you as much as possible and then procede to crack every joint in your body. It hurt, and I screamed. I even had to bite down on a towel for some of it because there's a danger of biting down on your tongue. Hopefully, I won't have to do it again. It was interesting because it turned out that my sacrum is twisted, probably from the time I was hit by a car in high school, and I've had some sciatica-type pain on and off since then. About a week after the bone-setting, you can see that I seem to be re-aligned. We'll see what it does about the back pain.

Still reading a lot, but I got a new cell phone so playing with that has entertained me for the past few days. If any of you remember my "bitch-ass-rat-fink-phone" held together with tape, you'll know why I'm pleased.

I named the calf Mahe'alani, which means beautiful full moon, because she was born around the full moon and has a crescent shaped white mark on her forehead. She's very sweet, and Berneice is being a great mom. I'll post a new picture soon.

Liu Zhi is teaching me how to make Chinese dumplings. They're SO good and we're having them for dinner tonight.

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So, I've been here almost two months now, and am about a week away from when I would have come back to NYC if I hadn't changed my ticket. Time has really flown, and I'm so glad I'm here. I know I can be impulsive and make wild decisions, but this was a good one. I still have those moments every now and then where I'm like, "how is this my life?" but it's not always bad. Sometimes when I'm working hard and sweaty and sore I think about how I could be cruisin' at the JCC, checking my email all day and talking on the phone and I wish I was. But then other times, when I'm under water looking a fish in the eye or when I'm laying on the beach drinking pina coladas I think about all the times I would fantasize about doing just that (remember Iesha??) in the dead of a NYC winter. And those are the times I'm glad I'm a little crazy.