Yay! No disasters occured to stop us, and we made it to Maui!

HighPoints:

• scuba diving with the nosefishes (which we later learned were actually called unicornfish... but I think nosefish suits it better. Unicornfish suggest elegance... nosefish suggest...however you would describe this dude. Trust me... they're even funnier looking in real life.)

• scuba diving with the hawksbill sea turtle we found...I'd hazard a guess that he was about a meter and a half long. Mom actually got scared of it and swam off becausehe "looked at me." Dadnamed him Howard. (We didn't see any Starfish, but if we did, Dad would have named it Ringo... free cookie if you get that joke right away (unlike me. Ooh, parentheses within parentheses!))
• being thouroughly embarassed while my parents insisted on buying me a lei and taking a bajillion pictures.
• watching my brother gracefully barf over the side of the restaurant after we both ate the same meal (I felt no ill affects whatsoever.)
• Teaching abovementioned brother how to tell the difference between male and female sharks at the aquarium
• chocolate coconut pie, and endless alcohol-free pina coladas
• boogie boarding at the beach...if you learn how to do it right, those things will carry you about 30 meters and dump you right back on saidbeach.
• It was WARM! There was SUN! I had forgotten about the concept of "warm", what with the recent weather...

Not exactly high points, but still smile-inducing in retrospect (why? No idea.)

• trying to sleep on an overnight flight back. Airplane seats are not ideal in comfort in this respect... and is it just me, or do planes become several degrees colder at night?
• Finding room in a mild state of uncleanliness... except for the dirty diaper that got left in my bathroom, which was a bit more than "mild"...
• Seeing a hungry Dad go insane after two nights of "disappointing food"... I was sure he was going to punch the waiter near the end... but he did scare pedestrians by yelling warnings at them as he walked out. (Dad, like sharks, must be kept well fed if you are concerned for the health of the surrounding animal life.)

Fun? Yup.

As some of you from the pre-xroads days may remember, I was supposed go to Hawaii last year, until my grandma died. (See post from a while ago, and bemoan the horror that is my little brother.) Well, it's a year later... and we're trying again!

As it stands right now, I only have one grandparent left who could possibly die and make us cancel the trip, and that seems unlikely due to the fact that she's happy, healthy, and too busy partying with her boyfriend in Las Vegas every now and again to think about dying on us (unless she gets eaten by a rabid slot machine). If you don't hear from me for about a week, it means that the rain finally cleared up and we finally got out of here. (If not...ARRRRGGGGHHHH! There is an anti-Hawaiian conspiracy in the palace!)

Speaking of little brothers, my little brother has since become my big brother. My FREAKIN' HUGE brother, actually. It can give me piggyback rides now, and often does so enthusiastically, in order to show off to its friends.

Him: Hi, guys! This is my sister... she's older than me!

Me: Yay! It's useful now!

And happilyCotTing again now that the second season is out!

In approximately three hours, I will be exactly sixteen years old. (No way to code that in a way Internet stalkers won't figure it out...oh well.) Luckily, so long as it's your birthday, they don't care if you technically aren't quite sixteen. They'll still let you take the driver's test!

So, I took the above mentioned test. After showing them my I.D., having my photo taken, and taking a vision test, I had to write the knowledge test. You need at least 80% to pass this test. They throw in several misleading questions, and in several, they give two or three right answers, and you have to guess which is the most right. It was difficult and confusing, and I had the feeling that I was getting too many wrong...but I passed! On the way home, my mom pulled over on our street and let me drive home. After proudly pasting my L sign on the car's rear and making sure I had the piece of paper that now serves as my license until they mail me my real one, I did so, slowly and cautiously, and noting with interest that you need more gas to go up hills. When we were about to turn into the driveway, my mom said, "put on the turn signal." So I flipped the turn signal on-no lights blinked, but the windshield wipers came on!

Some tips for people who are about to get their class 7L license:

• study like mad. Read the book from cover to cover, then take an online practice test. Repeat until you'd rather gouge your eyes out than read the effing book again.
• Bring something to do. There will be other people doing various things having to do with their license, and you will have to wait in line.
• Make sure you look presentable. The photo on your license will be constantly at your side for a year (if you live in BC).
• Allow your eyes to adjust to the machine when taking the vision test. You aren't going blind out of panic or anything-this is normal, and it will be okay in a few moments.
• If you do flunk your test-don't worry. Only half of the people taking the knowledge test pass the first time. I read the book three times and took six practice tests, and I still just barely scraped by. It's the most difficult test I've ever seen. If you make it past the first ten questions, you're doing fantastic! It's just that they want you to study this stuff until it's burned into your subconscious neuropatterns (the things you see when you squeeze your eyes shut really tight), because you're about to start operating something that, in the wrong hands, is essentially a large speeding projectile of metallic death. And...
• If you are taking your test right on your birthday, like I did, don't eat too much chocolate beforehand. The massive caffeine headache makes it a little harder to concentrate.

EDIT: I wrote this, then ran off for a few hours to discuss tommorow's birthday yarn crawl with my mom (see previous post for a hint of what that might mean), so by the time this was actually posted, I'd been sixteen for ten minutes. Hee hee...

I finished the sweater I knitted for my cousin! Yes!

But now I have to give it up... I worked on it for two months... and it turned out so nicely, and pretty... I never should have tried it on. It fits beautifully, and it's comfy to boot. I'm staying up late just so I have an excuse not to take it off and trade it in for pjs.

It's made in a mostly purl stitch, with vertical knitted dashes, and raglan shaping. I had to teach myself how to crochet a bit, too, for the keyholes in the neck and cuffs. I also worked over the raglan seaming in crochet, and it looks SO GOOD, considering I've never crocheted before. The bottom, neckline and cuffs are made of cotton-ooh, cotton!

If you understood anything I just said, you're a fellow knitter. I'm glad you exist- I don't know anyone else who knits; not even my grandmother since she and her boyfriend went to Vegas. I'm glad she's having fun.

Oh well. I'll make myself a sweater someday. Until then, I have to make some baby things for another cousin's son/daughter, who should be arriving in March. Goodbye, comfy keyhole sweater...have a good life in Vancouver... learn lots in college...