Under A Capricorn Sun...

Happy New Year! I've got a good feeling about 2009. As you may have guessed from my previous post, I think that any year that starts with spectacular fireworks above Honolulu and a New Year's Day stroll along the white sands of Waikiki Beach is bound to be auspicious.

Can I tell you how awesome it is to swim under a Capricorn sun? Just like the Humpback whales! Apparently, like us, the whales winter in the waters around Hawaii, meaning that between about December and April, it's not uncommon to get good sightings of these majestic creatures...and we did!

It's still a bit unreal that one week ago, I was swimming and snorkeling in the turquoise waters off of Maui. And now, I'm back home, trying to stay warm. I have a deep gash on my knee from a coral reef (the wound is finally healing nicely). I'm back, and am full of things I want to tell you. I have a rapidly fading tan, a dried orchid leftover from the lei they gave me at a luau, a lingering craving for fresh pineapple, a newfound desire to get a ukulele and learn how to play it. And I've got a suitcase full of Macadamia nuts and souvenirs (along with Christmas gifts and probably a few grains of sand from my swimsuit) to unpack. School started today, and I'm still jetlagged from flying back to the US mainland on a red-eye. I think most flights out of Honolulu to the US continent leave really late at night.

By sheer luck, we somehow got upgraded to 1st class for the flight home. Flying 1st class seems to translate into "wider seat" plus "bottomless glass of wine". (Remember how I got a bottomless glass of wine on a flight to Seattle about six years ago?). Well, this time I ordered a glass of white wine to help me sleep, dozed off some, but every time I opened my eyes, I noticed that the flight attendant had refilled it. Needless to say, I did sleep some on the plane...and I woke up incredibly parched and....red-eyed....and had to pee about four times during the flight.

We were actually delayed in taking off from Honolulu b/c someone on our flight went into cardiac arrest just as he was boarding the plane. Like Tim Russert. So scary! Ironically, I think it saved the guy's life that it happened as he was boarding the plane, and also at the airport b/c that's one public place where they are almost guaranteed to have defibrillators handy. And he's lucky it didn't happen during flight. Whoever that person is, I was glad he was able to survive and get the care and medical attention he needed. And I hope he's okay.

I've got more to say, but I'm tired. And maybe I've got just a touch of the post-vacation/post-holiday blues and some sentimentality. I know this sounds kind of cheesy but this well-known Hawaiian ukulele song is kind of making me tear up, for some silly (or not so silly reasons):