The next journey: brain farts

Sorry for the ridiculous title, but I recently came across a new phrase that I think should be part of the NZ vocab. It may already be, and I may have just never heard it, but it is one worth repeating!

A brain fart.

More commonly used in a sentence: "Oh man, I am so tired. I had the worst brain farts all day."

Referring to when you can't get your words out, keep making mistakes, or have been saying things that make you sound like a complete idiot.

This has been me the last few days! I think I need to sleep more...

Today I slept from 11am until 3pm, after a late night and a 7:30am class. Not because I was tired, which I really was, but because I started to get a stupid migraine. This was my first case of sickness (besides the dreaded homesickness) away from NZ, and it SUCKED! My head was pounding. I missed a zoology lab, and although I emailed the lecturer, I need a doctors note. I haven't been to the doctor here yet but I am a little scared to. I have a feeling the bureaucracy here is going to be a little more intense then back home. But hey, might as well take advantage of all that money I spent on health insurance, right?!

This weekend was the first weekend of the first surf comp in the triple crown series. A big group of us ventured North and camped at a cute spot called Malaekahana..

Awesome yurts available to hire

This is one of the yurts you can hire. Very cute, just like Em's place but a little smaller and without the wonders of what Em's place holds inside...
However, we had too many people so they upgraded us to a cabin.
I love it that, instead of making a big deal out of the fact that there are a few more of you then originally planned, they accommodate for this and don't even charge extra! Hawaiian people are lovely, especially when you are kama'aina. So we were not sent packing, but sent down the path to this...

Erin outside our weekend cabin

... a cute little cabin where we could all fit in just right! It was an excellent place to stay. We cooked on the open fire each night and Ignacio, our tocan real local, told us some wicked stories. There was no actual comp held due to condition on the Saturday but the weekend was seamless and carried us to what felt like a dream state.

Saturday kicked off with an early start a drive around the top of the North Shore of O'ahu. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Hardly a cloud in the sky! Our packed out rental with 5 cute chicks set off for Waimea Valley to drop Marissa at her community service day (she was recently caught smuggling little children into the dorm rooms...Weird Aussie....joking...). Marissa had a class trip here to help re-plant the area, which she said was really hard work but definitely rewarding! The rest of us then went to find the others at the beach cleanup that was going on (http://www.dahui.com/club/6th-annual-beach-cleanup/) at Velzyland Park. This was choice. A whole bunch of keen community members gathered with big black bags ready to pick up 'trash'. We were assigned to the group doing Sunset Beach and set off immediately. We also got free t'shirts which was sweet and they even had a nice memorial on the front for the late Andy Irons.
It was extremely hot, and I spent most of the time snapping away on my camera instead of actually getting trash, but hey thats what I was asked to do for the day! Erin and I also had a very cute pro-surfer encounter with two hotties from California. They walked with us and used their pro-surfer charm, but we brushed it off and acted like their profession was no big deal. I think they found it rather refreshing. After the cleanup, we were served a free feed of burgers, drinks and m&m biscuits. We spent the rest of the avo on the beach, toasting in the sun and falling more deeply in love with life in Hawaii. This very cute little girl was our entertainment as she learnt to surf with her gorgeous dad..

That night, we had a few more friends up for the campfire for drinks and kai, but most of us were so tired we opted for an early-ish night.

Sunday morning came all too soon and we struggled to 'rise up'. We searched for coffee and breakfast and ended up at Ted's Bakery. Great choice! It was kind of rainy so we thought we'd just quickly check out Pipe, but maybe head home. Glad we didn't go home cause it was one of the best surf watching days I have ever had! The surfers were incredible. Kids were ripping up, an old man stole the show many times and all the other surfers were just as wicked. We stood on the shoreline watching for a good 5 hours. I was completely transfixed, snap happy and couldn't tear myself away from my spot. Once we get a car here I will be up there every weekend without fail.

I will finish up with a few photos of Sunday, and a small video I made (thanks to my great friend Jerry for the evenings use of his Mac Book Pro! Chur!).

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlRZUzWrdk&feature=player_embedded
Check it, first one I ever made. It was so fun.