[20 hours later] i can't believe i'm back in asia. and safely too. everything is in chinese!! *gah!* i'm sooo not used to having my brain process in that language anymore.. haha whoops. and gosh darnit, it's soo humid. so so humid. it's not really the heat that is getting to me, it's just the humidity. but otherwise...

it's great to be home. the house has changed a little-- it definitely looks like a place where the family's two kids are off at college. my mom has made the guest room into a study, and moved my old sofa bed couch in here.. so i guess it's still sort of a guest room =) the bigger bedroom-- once mine, then dru's -- is now a second guest room, with both our single beds in there, and some of my old furniture (the tv cabinet i loved and my dressing table! oh so girlie!) the house looks great though. still a place of love =D

[please put on your seatbelts] the flight was good =) thank goodness i managed to sleep through most of the longer leg.. 8 hours baby. yay! it definitely made the trip a little shorter.. =) i started watching "Serving Sara" and that turned out to be a complete waste of time, so i watched "Lilo & Stitch" and the end of "The Family Man", both very entertaining movies in my opinion =) Both sort of emphasized the meaning of family, appropriately enough, and i made me think a little about what i wanted my future to be like? anyhoo, on another note, static electricity sucks. i know it's a wonderful phenomenon, and the Van de Graff geneator is super cool if you're grounded, but when i want to use the bathroom and the handle happens to be metal, i am not a happy girl. anytime i wanted to venture somewhere on the plane, i had to dip my fingers in my glass of water and rub my hands together. strange, but true. i also realized that, after travelling with other people this entire year, it's pretty lonely travelling by yourself, and straaange people talk to you about the oddest things when they're alone too. one dude asked me "so why is your accent American?" when i was flying out of SFO *shakes head*. beats me man.

[ohana] means family. and family means no one gets left behind. Lilo is so cute =) keke. so yes, it's wonderful to have the family together again, and my mom is busy in the kitchen baking gingerbread cookies and concocting all kinds of lovely things for christmas eve dinner tonight. i hope the jetlag doesn't kick in too early. i've already had 3 cups of coffee today-- a record for di! dah! in any case, i'm *really* looking forward to the dinner party.. we have about 8 people coming over, and though it doesn't quite feel like christmas yet -- with the rain, the hot weather, and the fact that i just landed -- i'm sure it will real soon.

[last thought?] what is the best thing you could get for christmas this year?