Category: joanna irl
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The NoTsunami
This weekend was one of those rare events when the local weather personalities get to play at being TV stars and have most of the country hang on their every word. “What word is that?” you might be asking, if you had not turned on the news at all for the 48 hours that were…
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Maui Whale Tails
On Saturday, J and I flew to Maui to go whale watching. This sounds like a little bit crazy, especially since we didn’t spend the night, but Hawaiian Air offers reasonable prices for island hopping and it would’ve been expensive to stay somewhere on Maui, as it’s got a lot of resorts and things. Anyway,…
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Adventures on the AFB Part Two!
In which our Brave Heroine ventures once again onto Hickam Air Force Base in search of a Craft Store. Today I experienced the very best (I mean this both sarcastically and seriously) of military efficiency and helpfulness. Our story begins after lunch with J. We had to go by the ITT office to get aquarium…
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Rainy Zoosday
Today it is raining. Not the usual light drizzle for thirty minutes and then gone sort of rain, but the it’s going to pour all day long whether you like it or not sort of rain. This kind of rain is the kind that’s usually associated with a certain Irishman, whom I have yet to…
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The Cat Hat
The scene: Sunday evening, before dinner but after dark, and J and I are sitting on the couch, playing a game together on the xbox. We’ve been there a little while, maybe 45 minutes, and are having a good time with the (mostly) mindless game. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Leena jump to…
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Holiday Parties in January..?
Yesterday was the ship’s “holiday party.” I put that in quotes because the holiday is seems to be closest to is… well, maybe New Years, but then again, we’re getting awfully close to Valentine’s Day, and to Chinese New Year, as well as Groundhog Day and Presidents’ Day… but I think since tomorrow is MLK…
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The Not-so-threatened Java Sparrow
We refilled the bird feeders two days ago, and the birds came back within the hour. I enjoy them, and so do the cats (we watch “kitty TV” out the window) so I try to keep fresh seed out there. When I first put in the feeders, I attracted a lot of doves. I don’t…
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The Smell of Rain Forest
It is the rainy season. Clouds hang low on the mountains so that you can’t see all of the sharp peaks, and the odd sunbeam that makes it through the surface makes the treetops almost glow. It doesn’t rain incessantly in a rain forest, but mists a lot with some occasional drizzle. The ground has…
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A New Year: Resolved
Last night there was a cacophony starting around six in the evening of firecrackers, sparklers, rockets and full-blown fireworks. While fireworks started with the Chinese thousands of years ago, clearly the entire continent has picked up the tradition in the meantime, and even though the Chinese won’t celebrate the new year until the end of…
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A Whale Tale and other things
Yesterday I saw my first humpback whale. It was both very exciting and very anti-climatic at the same time. When you see photos, you’ll understand why. J had duty yesterday and I wanted to get out of the house, so I drove through downtown and past Diamond Head to where some of the really good…
Joanna Volavka 