A day with the sea lions

I had quite the experience the other day. Now as interns we get to help with the sea lions just a bit. This is b/c they can be pretty dangerous, but also b/c the sea lions in our area are in training. These means we have two young sea lions, also two older sea lions that came have minimal training (or had good training years and years ago). The thing that made the day cool was that I got to help and interact with all of them. With Leona Kai (3yr old) they are working with her to be less skittish and nervous in different environments. I got to help do A to B's with here. This means the trainer sends her to me, I re-enforce the behavior, and then send her back. We did this outside of the enclosure so she was ooh soo cute running back and forth in front of me. The trainers then had Wyland (2yr old) out in the pool to practice him getting use to interactions, so I got to put my hands on his back and pet him. What a squeal of delight!!! Another experience I had was with Ma'alea (older near-blind sea lion once trained), working on her interacting with people. So Azu had her give me some kisses; the funny thing about this is I was on her blind side so when Azu said kiss she didn't know where to go. Which means she once necked with me (kinda scary for me) then kissed Azu's wetsuit, and then finally got it right and kissed me on the cheek. They are also working on bringing Kamani (large older sea lion) out of the enclosure. So I got to act as a spectator so she can get use to people around.

I also got to do a sea lion interaction yesterday, these pictures are from that. Ohhh Sooo Cute...


Maukele gives me a kiss, whats with the snarl?!?


Maukele still snarling

Discombobulated

I feel all out of sorts for the past two weeks or so. I haven't been updating my blog like I use to. I guess it has come down to me trying to get things in order for Christmas, although it really doesn't feel like Christmas. I have been working on Christmas cards, getting presents bought, packaged, and ready to ship, making my Christmas letter and photo, and wishing I had all the ingredients to make my holiday ginger spice cookies :( . I have also been spending a lot of time job hunting. It is soo hard to believe the internship is going to be done with in a month, and I need to be prepared if I don't stay on at the park. I.E. looking around the island for another job hopefully using my degree and not some standard job to "get me by". The house is pretty festive now, Kyle bought a tree, I decorated stockings for all eight of us in the house. And with the help of my family I have a nicely decorated felt tree hanging in my room with "picture" ornaments of things I love. Today I even got some wrapped presents to go underneath of it until Christmas morning :) At least this year I will have something to open on Christmas morning even though it is the second one I have spent without my family.

Other than that things have been clicking along at work, at home, and out and about. I have been keeping up on updating the yahoo photos, so check those out when you get a chance. The newest additions is from the Parks Christmas party. Tons of cute photos of the interns and trainers. I hope everyone enjoys.

PS I do miss you all back in the quah. Feel free to call me when you get some time :) xoxoxo

How cute is this!!

Me and Kermie!

Aloha

The proceedings of screaming like a girl

So you know how you come across those situations where you can't help but scream like a girl? Well one of those happened at our house the other night. A rat through who knows what kind of means seem to have taken up residents in a roommates room. I go up to see what the commotion was and of course they are screaming like a girl. I trying to be the "tough kid" in the situations tell them that I will get the rat out. I also told them that most times I can handle my own but may (small chance) scream like a girl as well. Well, of course they were screaming at the slightest move of the rat. At one point I will admit I did scream like a girl, but I do have a valid reason.. The rat ran across my foot. Now who knows why we do such things in some situations where you think you are going to Mr/Miss cool. And you think you can handle it no matter what, but something catches you off guard, maybe it is peer pressure and some ungodly way catches you off guard. So just remember next time you see a rat squeal like a girl for my just so I don't feel like such a pansy.

A turkey day like no other

Who says you must spend Thanksgiving with your family? Not if your Hawaiian internship dictates your activities, but that is quite alright, you see, we pretty much had the "family" there. You know who I am talking about. The drunk members--?? gee I wonder who that would be, the quiet antisocial, the ones who keep talking and talking--- ?? again I wonder who that could be, the ones who want to leave early, the ones who linger all night, and the ones who get in spousal issues sometime during the festivities. I think I hit every family member, but I may have forgotten a few. Turkey day was a lot better than I anticipated, as most of my last few major holidays have been foiled. We had lots of great food, good company, and remained relatively short!! Check out my msn space for some fun and cooky pictures from the evening. I will leave you with this, so where out there is floating a picture of me double fisting-- bud light in one hand, champagne in the other, and a plate of food on my lap. What was I thinking-- such class.

Watch out for the hat brigade

Oh what a fun night. It happened to be the typical Tuesday of hanging out with the roomies for most of the day and then making a trip into Waikiki for the evening. All of us girls get dressed up to be looking pretty hot and we are sporting some pretty damn cute hats as well. Well, there was much to celebrate b/c one of the guys that my roomies know passed his helicopter test. He is now a bonafide pilot (he still isn't able to have any passengers until he completes his safety course and 200 additional hours of flight time). Of course there were the typical issues, roomies running into old and not so old flings that cause some emotional drama, but we have all been there. I had a great time. No major incidences; I got to dance a lot which is always a good thing. Today was a pretty lacks day; we hit up the mall and did some fun shopping and had a grand dinner at the Macaroni Grille (I highly suggest it to anyone that is going to eat at the Ala Moana mall). Now I just am reflecting on the great "weekend" and dreading having to work tomorrow. I hope that ya'll have a great turkey day. I hopefully get to enjoy a feast after I get off work!

What kind of kisser are you?

That's right boi!

You're an Expert Kisser

You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantity You've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks off And you're adaptable, giving each partner what they crave When it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

What is your hawaiian name?

Thought this is fitting being my circumstances

Your Hawaiian Name is:

Okelani Ululani

What's your Hawaiian Name?

What kind of mixed drink are you

You Are an Appletini

Most of the time, you're a typical party girl / guy. But when you get super sauced, you really up your sex appeal.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Good and fun

It was a good and fun week this week. It started out with a nice day at the beach last Tuesday. It was a bit breezy, but we made the best of it. Played a little fisbee and bumped a volleyball around. After a long day in the sun, sand, and surf we crashed at the house for a movie night, which entailed watching comedy movies for about 7 hours (mind you we only watched 4 movies in that time). We spent a lot of time between movies chatting, talk story, and chillin with beers on the deck b/c it was a full moon out (absolutely gorgeous). It was pretty much a typical week at work. Saturday we (a few girls from Aloha) had a girls night at Azu's and Andrew's cabin right next to the facility. What a great night! We spent it chatting about work, life, problems, and other silly stuff. We also watched a movie, played catch phrase, and played some drinking games. It was really cool. The best part was when Chrissy and I left (I was going to crash there if she didn't come). I had started my laundry down in the training facility. So I went to get my clothes out of the dryer, so I could finish them at home. I was erie yet completely awestriking walking by the pools and the animals completely calm, sleeping on the surface. All I could do was look at them and be reminded just how small of a part we are to the world, yet the amount of influence we have over everything. It was a real eye opener. As for what this weekend has in store for me; I am not sure. All I can do is hope that it is as good as last week.