happy new year 2004

it is 2004. pretty scary. nah, it's cool, and i'm psyched for all the things to come.

anywho, another successful new year's party happened at the nakamura house last night. and we finally went to sleep around 3:30 this morning. lucky me, i stayed up an extra 90 minutes to work on some really random things that were on my mind. family and friends of the family came over to eat really really 'ono food, to set off fireworks, and to ring in the new year.

this year's party was one of the wettest ones in recent memory. over the past few days, rain has poured on hawai'i and making up for the serious drought they had here during the summer. unfortunately for me, that means no sun, and no tan....yet. but there's lots of rain everywhere, and a couple of rockslides have occurred as a result. so, we have to be cautious while traveling in the wet weather.

it is japanese tradition that houses are cleaned from top to bottom to prepare for the new year. the new year is (i think) the most important holiday in japan, and it is celebrated very quietly. my family holds true to the cleaning, but not to the noise. we bring in the new year as the chinese do: by setting off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits and to bring good luck to the family for the year. so, while lori, brad, and miki were up at school for the morning, traci and i cleaned up the house and setup for the party. and that took a good three hours. by the time we finished, everyone was home, and there were a few minor chores left to do. so, the party was ready to go at....2:30 in the afternoon. this is the one holiday of the year that my dad really cares about, so he wants to make sure everything is ready to go so he can have fun when all of his friends arrive.

so, after we finished setting up, i went over to kahala mall to pick up a few things that we needed for the party. i also treated myself to a venti chocolate brownie frappucino from starbucks....because i found a $3 coupon for starbucks as i was cleaning. hooray for me. i also picked up a pair of brown corduroy pants from gap for $20. it's really cute. and a 1000-piece puzzle from k.b. toys for $5. i couldn't pass up the opportunity.

the mall was a lot of fun, and a good way to break away from the stress of cleaning and arguing that goes on in my house. when i returned, i decided to start a puzzle. it's a really cool puzzle, but a bit crazy when i'm trying to do it without looking at the picture. i'd like to finish it before i leave on tuesday, so i'll get back to it as soon as i'm done with this blog. by the way, it's going to be a long one.

so, i worked on the puzzle for about three hours before people started to arrive at the house. i talked with my aunts and cousin about my situation in boston and at home (since they asked about my love life), and it also allowed me to hear myself for the first time and hear what i've been thinking about for the past two weeks. come to think of it, i've been home for two weeks as of tomorrow afternoon. wow, time flies when i'm enjoying myself. okay, back to last night....so, i talked about my situation and my thoughts about it. and how i really need to just speak my mind....calmly. breathe.

so, i had to stop talking about the boston situation because kala'e showed up, and i'm not really sure he wants to know what i've been doing in boston for the past two years. so we hung out and talked. last night's topic of conversation was the weirdest one i've had with him....ever. we talked about preference of alcohol, and how he was going home to get trashed with his cousins after he left my place. personally, i don't care to do those kinds of things, but it was even weirder to hear him talk about how often he's done that since he's been home. it doesn't sound like he's having a good time, but what can i do about it? i wasn't a complete prick: i listened to him, commented about my likes and dislikes of alcohol, and was civil with him. he said that he's going to call me so we can go out and do something before he leaves. hopefully that will lead us to settle things that have been unsettled for two years. i don't know. i'm not holding my breath.

when kala'e left, i talked with my aunts and cousins a bit more about kala'e's visit, and then went outside to play fireworks and ring in the new year. the one thing we didn't do this year was play our annual boys vs. girls basketball game. the ground was wet and had a couple of puddles, so we decided to cancel it and play it at the next new year's eve party. we also didn't have any illegal aerial fireworks this year because the police are cracking down on those trying to smuggle in the goods. but we made a decent amount of noise with the strings of firecrackers we lit at midnight. we, the kids, put on a light show at midnight and set off two dozen fountains. a simple and calmer party than those in the past. our post-celebration cleanup was quick since we didn't make a huge mess, and we had the driveway and road, and the house cleaned up by 1:30. we were lighting strands of firecrackers until 12:30, so that was pretty good for us. lindsey and noah hung around until 2:15 or so, and then we retreated, exhausted and dirty into the house. showers followed, and then sleep for everyone except me.

i stayed up until 5:00 doing random things that weren't in need of urgent care. but i was worried for a bit, and did them anyway. i also thought about 2003 and the things i've done with my life and where i'm going this year. it's pretty cool. i've definitely changed a lot over the year, and it's going to help me get where i want to be in a couple of years. i think my heart also kept me awake and thinking about the things to come when i return to boston on wednesday. it ached for someone, but it also reminded me that i have a lot of issues of the heart to resolve before anything can happen. it'll be an interesting year in boston; i'm sure of it.

then i went to sleep. yay for sleep.

i woke up to my alarm on my phone at 9:30 this morning; no one was awake yet, so i went back to sleep. my brother woke me up at 11:50 a.m. so we could go to my grandparents' house for the first meal of the year: ozoni. ozoni is a traditional japanese soup that families consume as the first meal of the year. it can be prepared in different ways, depending on which prefecture the family is from. my grandma makes her ozoni with chicken, char siu, kamaboko, mizuna, and soba noodles in a chicken broth soup. little mochi patties are boiled and softened, and added to the soup (it's the main part of the soup because, according to tradition, you're supposed to eat one for every year that you've been alive....i'm supposed to eat 20. i ate 5.), and we each choose what we like to have in our soup. i have everything but the kamaboko (i'm not a huge fan of fishcake). we watched the rose bowl, and i had a good conversation with my grandpa about my plans after graduation. dad, brad, and lori fell asleep on the couches, so when they finally woke up, usc won, the rose bowl was over, and it was 3:30 p.m. we still had a bunch of cleaning to do at home, so we came back and cleaned and argued (as we always do). it was good, we got everything done, and my dad was happy.

once we were done cleaning, it was time to leave the house again. we picked up my grandparents on our way to mililani to my dad's cousin's house. another family tradition: we have dinner at their house on new year's night. we see my dad's cousins every year at this time, and we eat really good food (my uncle's wife owned a lunchwagon and is a very good cook) and catch up on the family happenings during the past year. we watched the end of the orange bowl, ate dinner and dessert, talked with the family, and then returned back to town. we dropped my grandparents off and returned home.

okay, so i've been writing for an hour and 40 minutes. but that's the recap of my new year's eve and new year's day celebrations. hooray for celebrating the new year at home. i really wouldn't want to spend it anywhere else. it would be awesome to have a friend around to celebrate it with me, but family is even better.

time to rest my eyes. before i have to wake up early to take my dad to work so i can use the van to take brad and miki to soccer practice.

jack johnson live at kualoa on saturday.

-me : )