Sick as a Dog

I've been losing a battle with a no-good, rotten, could-possibly-be-a-flu kind of cold.

Last week I had felt a little over-tired, but wasn't concerned since I thought I was just getting used to more serious workouts (ie: walking/running up the hill of death also-known-as Lahainaluna Street) and not following up those serious workouts with serious sleep.

But when I woke up on Monday morning to go to work, I instantly knew that something was wrong. I biked into work for my lunch shift, but bowed out before even hitting the floor. I took myself home and rested up. Then rested up through my "weekend" from Tuesday to Wednesday.

I woke up Thursday morning and knew that there was no way I was going to be able to work dinner that night as my body could not decide if it was freezing cold or burning hot. I took many showers that day which alternated between being briskly cold or piping hot.

After four days of doing nothing, combined with two days of not working, I knew I had no choice but to go into work--regardless if I was coughing up little pieces of my lungs.

I pounded down some chicken noodle soup for breakfast, carefully applied makeup to my face so I looked less like the undead in my favorite zombie movies, and slowly biked into work.

I worked from 10:30 until 2...I managed to hang in there until I was able to serve and say goodbye to a group of family friends that I haven't seen for over ten years. But after they were gone, I was too.

The lunch shift is regularly from 10:30 am until 4 pm, so I figure that going in on time and leaving 2 hours short isn't a bad way to reintroduce myself to work.

After a successful doctor's appointment at Kaiser today, I feel much more optimistic that I can power through my work day tomorrow with antibiotics and codeine under my belt.

Here is a list of a few things that brightened my week of illness:

1. My roommate who is a chef extraordinaire made some amazing homemade lasagna yesterday. It was still good even as I was sweating through my fever.

2. Instant Netflix. I watched a documentary on Pixar (highly recommended) and a Katherine Heigl movie (highly disliked). You know I'm on the verge of death if I'm voluntarily watching anything with her in it. I'm not a fan.

3. Books. Many, many books. I've gone a little insane with the book buying and borrowing lately, and now I'm not quite sure where to begin, so I'm now reading little pieces here and there of several books at once. I've got:

• Infinite Jest and Consider the Lobster from David Foster Wallace. Jest is a very challenging novel so far, and it feels best to take mini breaks from it with other books and writers, but I highly recommend Wallace's Lobster, which is a collection of original and rather zany essays. I've just started reading it myself, but I read the title essay first since it came so highly recommended by B. The essay was written for Gourmet magazine, and Wallace was supposed to cover a lobster festival that takes place annually in Maine. Wallace goes a little off topic and begins to explore the moral dilemma of eating lobster since lobster is something that most home cooks have to kill themselves. It makes for very interesting reading.
• The complete collection of short stories by John Cheever.
• Shopgirl from Steve Martin (yes, the white-haired comedian who also strums a banjo) that was given to me by a friend.
• A collection of 40 retellings of classic fairy tales called My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me.
• Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. I just re-read Gaiman's American Gods, and really enjoyed the story, although I think some of my favorite writing he's done is for children along with all of his short fictions.

My stack of books is a little overwhelming, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

4. An amazing roommate who worked my shift last night at the restaurant when I was burning and freezing my way through fever. Buying her a gallon of white grapefruit juice seemed like a fantastic trade-off, and I'm well aware that I owe her much more than that for stepping in for me on my day of death.

5. Another amazing roommate who drove me to Taco Bell tonight when I was craving something that wasn't soup or anything else that was healthy. I haven't had Taco Bell since Halloween, but it's been sounding so good ever since I got sick, that I decided if this cold was really going to be the end of me, I was going to get my fast food fix! The Fresco Chicken Burrito (advertised as a healthy fast food choice); however, was gravely disappointing--which makes sense since nothing healthy from a fast food joint is ever going to be especially delicious, but I was saddened all the same, but greatly pleased with myself that I had paired it with my favorite Crunchwrap Supreme, which is really just the best bad thing for you.

6. Redbox movie machines: I rented the amazingly wonderful Never Let Me Go. I've been excited to see it ever since I heard they were adapting the Ishiguro novel of the same name. It's a very faithful adaptation, and I highly recommend it. It's best not knowing anything about the story, I think, but to be honest, I only ever picked up the novel after someone told me it was about clones because the summary "Ruth, Kathy and Tommy spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing for the haunting reality that awaits them" is not really going to put butts into seats or books into hands. Clones is going to be a high selling point. And I feel that me telling you about the whole clone bit doesn't really ruin any surprises. At least, I hope not. If so, feel free to shamelessly blame me after you view the movie or read the book.

I now feel that you are sufficiently caught up on my mundane goings-on, and I certainly feel sufficiently tired to pass out and hopefully sleep through the whole night without any serious coughing. I think it would be nice to not lose any more lung.

Wish me luck and a speedy recovery, because being sick in Maui is really, truly depressing. It's hard to stay inside and be ill when it's so beautiful outside!

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People Are Crazy

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Sunset

Another great one from work.

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Perspective

This is a view of the big L I hiked up to seen from my house. It may be hard to see up on the big hill...and that's because it is ridiculously far away!

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Missing

Guess I am not the only one missing in action!

I snapped this photo back a few weeks ago, but it is too cute not to share.

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Missing in Action

Sorry for the lack of updates! I haven't been doing anything in particular, but I've been keeping busy with work and new friends.

I will do much better keeping everyone in the loop.

Until then,

a new beautiful song with an equally beautiful music video. This one was shown to me a long time ago, but I stumbled back upon it again, and it's worth sharing with all of you:

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Monster Hike

If you've been keeping up with the blog, then you know that I have a huge fascination with the giant L that's been painted on the side of the hill above the Lahainaluna High School.

I've always wanted to hike up there and check out the L for myself as well as take in the view. If I thought the view from the high school was breathtaking, then I could only imagine how awesome the view from the top of the mountain would be like.

I enlisted my friend Bam, a Lahainaluna graduate from a few years back to take me up there. Bam picked me up and we drove to the high school and parked behind the track. We strapped on our backpacks and started hiking up.

A view from halfway up

The trails are all red dirt and pretty soon my socks and shoes were stained through.

Bam told me that all the fields that we were cutting through used to be sugar cane before they stopped manufacturing it in Lahaina.

Most of the hike leading up to the L was steep, but it was as we were nearing the top that became truly taxing. My calves felt like they were made of heavy ropes that were slowly being tightened into knots. There were points when I put my hands out in front of me to help me climb up the mountain. I felt like I was panting like a steam train while Bam ran up in front of my like a mountain goat.

As we were climbing up this ridiculous mountain face, I stopped midway and asked Bam's back: "Is this the way we're coming down?" If he had said yes, I was going to start sliding my way down the hill on my butt, Big L be damned!

Bam said that once we hit the top of this peak we would actually be above David Malo's grave which is above the big L, and then we would climb down the L and descend less steep switchbacks.

Perfect.

Bam continued to trot up the mountain like a billy goat and I huffed and puffed and clambered up to the top. Once I came over the peak, I was greeted by David Malo's gravesite.

Lahainaluna High School, "the first high school west of the Rockies," was established September 5, 1831 as a teacher-training center. The school opened with 25 students, including David Malo who was 38 at the time. David Malo went on to serve as school master at Lahainaluna.

At his request, David Malo was buried on Mount Ball, the hill above Lahainaluna High School.

Mount Ball is at an elevation of 2,254 feet.

Read it and weep. I did some serious hiking today.

Bam, my fearless leader

David Malo's gravesite.

The big blocks of stone on the left side of the photo are memorabilia left by graduating students, much of them from Lahainaluna boarding students.

A view from the tippy top

My hero pose. Yes, my eyes are totally closed. Typical.

Muddy and tore up! I got tons of tiny scratches all up and down my shins from mischievous plants.

The resorts look so tiny from up here

I loved how misty it was during our hike. We were very lucky that it wasn't a blazing sunny day, otherwise the hike would have ended with Bam carrying my dead body back down the mountain. As we continued hiking up, the cloud cover deepened, the breeze picked up and then it began to rain down on us lightly. It was amazing. It's probably the coldest I have felt my entire time being in Maui (minus the few instances when I encounter air conditioning in the great indoors).

After resting and snacking it up at David Malo's grave, we began to climb down until we landed on top of the giant L.

The L looks a little beat up from so close up. There are ruts that run all up and down the L from run off from the mountain. The white horizontal bars inside the borders of the L indicate the number of athletic accomplishments of the school that year (like paddling, football, baseball, etc.).

The Lahainaluna high school seniors climb up to the L carrying 40 pounds bags of lime to define the letter, and on graduation night, the L is lit up with flares to celebrate the graduating class.

And lastly, one amazing panoramic shot from the top:

The trek down was a much smoother adventure. I was mainly relieved that I wasn't panting like a dog the entire time. And it wasn't the panting that was the most difficult aspect of the hike, it was that I attempted to hide the fact that I was panting in front of my much fitter hiking partner. Let me tell you now: it's much easier to pant and breathe heavily rather than stifle the natural urge.

When we made it back down to the car, Bam pulled out more snacks: spam musubi that he had made at home. Spam musubi is a popular snack and lunch food here in Hawaii made from a block of rice, topped with a slice of Span and wrapped in nori to keep it all together. Delicious!

My red, dusty and beat up sneakers after a long, hard Monster Hike!

It was a great but brutal hike. I'm glad that I powered through and made it to the top in what I feel is record time for someone who doesn't do a lot of elevation workouts. It's a great hike, but it's not one I'll be revisiting anytime soon, so enjoy these photos. There won't be more like it for awhile...

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