Floods, Phones, and a New Year

I wish that this picture was true...(that's my toes at Red Sand Beach)



Unfortunately, it just started raining as I write this...the rain has been insane since I returned from the mainland. There is a reason they call it "the rainy season" here in the jungle...it freakin' rains all the time. Hana averages about 200" of rain a year, and LaHaina (on the other side of the island) averages like single digits of rain...it's crazy here.


On New Year's Eve, I had been baking all day, and the rain had been so intense for the last three days that the dry creek bed on the property had become a raging stream. It also happens to go under the driveway, and it had flooded and was going over the driveway and was threatening to go down the drive and flood the area where the banana bread stand sits. For a while, they couldn't get the truck back up the hill, and I was literally stranded at the top of the hill. Just me and the dog, flooded out on New Years--nice.



Luckily, they were able to dig some trenches and clear away some debris to redirect the stream to it's bed, but the driveway is completely trashed. We have all pretty much given up on our flip-flops (or slippahs as we call them here) and have resorted to knee-high rubber boots, which is about the only thing that helps with the endless mud. It also prevents any kind of outdoor projects or gardening, so as soon as it clears up, there will be lots of outdoor work to be done. The only thing is, it probably won't "clear up" until the end of February!



The upside of all this rain is the regular occurence of some beautiful rainbows (which I can actually see from the window right now over the water...so amazing), but it's really not helping with my tan :)



I just lost my phone on Christmas Eve (see last blog), but luckily, I am getting my new one...TOMORROW! Yippee...my friend told me I was addicted to my phone and this was a good way for me to chill out for a while, but I disagree. First of all, people don't just have house phones anymore, and some don't even have that, so a cell phone becomes a necessary means of communication (oh, great, it just started raining really hard again...nice.) Secondly, I live on a tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific, which makes me feel isolated enough already, so a cell phone is a means of attachment to the rest of the world. Thirdly, it housed all my pictures (well, a lot of them anyway), and those also are used to share parts of my life with people...not that I am all that interesting, but it's nice to be able to show someone a crazy three-horned chameleon or a spider instead of just telling them about it. And lastly, that's just life...I don't just have the post office and a landline anymore...I have email, cell phones, video messaging, text messaging, picture messaging, a high-speed internet connection, AND a landline, all of which I use to keep in touch and the loss of one is...well, i'm not going to tell you how tragic it is because you are probably already sick of my excuses about how much I adore my cell phone--my phone can beat up your phone! Ha!

Just kidding.

I'm a big dork.

So, New Year's was fun, we went to a party at a friends house with food, a fire, some champagne, and surf movies outside on the big screen, and then we went over the the Hana-Maui Hotel to watch some fireworks and toast to the New Year...the subdivision near town looked like a war zone with all the kids lighting firecrackers in the street, and you heard loud pops all day and night long, into the next day, and I even heard some today! The hotel is the only thing in town open past 7:30pm, and it also employs most of the town, so any big holidays are sure to bring a crowd of locals there, so it was very festive and fun, and luckily I didn't have to work until 2 the next afternoon, so I got to sleep in...

Um, I think that's about it for now, I sent out some banana bread today to a few people, so some lucky bums should have yummy bread in a couple days :)

I performed an amazing trick of brains-over-brawn tonight when, going stir-crazy from the rain, I came up to the cabin to say hello to everyone and there was a shot glass stuck in a jam jar that looked permanently embedded in there (it supposedly got stuck in there during a rough washing machine experience). Marty said it had been there forever and was impossible to remove, and I had it out in about 30 seconds-woot! Ha ha, it was our diversion for the evening, and I got rewarded with the shot glass filled up with tequila...not a bad day's work :) I mean, I am a bartender after all, I had to uphold my rep :)...anyway, it was pretty funny...

Oh, I also cut my hair ridiculously short (actually my friend Mo, who is in some of the pictures on the bottom cut it--yeah, not a stylist, but it didn't turn out too bad), so I will try to put up some pics when I get my new phone tomorrow, yea!

Anyway, Hope you all had a fun New Year's celebration, I hope you told some people how much you love them, and I hope you are only making resolutions you can keep--Ha!

Write, call, email, or send me some cool stuff...or come visit...well, maybe after the rainy season :) Miss you and love you!