Welcome back, amenities of my modern world

You’d think that, with the end of the semester and all of this free time on my hands, I would be bloggin’ like a fool, but, obviously, that hasn’t been the case. Truth is that I have been away from this modern world, on vacation with my extended family in Kona, Hawaii. I would like to say that my distance from everything from phones to TV to computers was an easy one and, for the most part, I can. Still, there were moments that I really wanted to do some blogging from the beach (can you believe that there isn’t worldwide oceanfront wireless yet?), I had this whole alliteration thing planned, and there was the time when the concierge scoffed at me for asking where the in-room DSL connection was. It’s unfair to bitch about such a minor lack of amenities when you’ve managed to escape the major Wisconsin winter for 75-80 degree days spent swimming with the sea turtles, drinking mojitos, and catching up on your pleasure reading while lying in the sun. One thing that I discovered while there is that shuffleboard is awesome and that I am pretty awesome at it. Hawaii is beautiful, the volcanoes are hulking and smoking, the Pacific Ocean is intimidating, I ate at Allen Wong’s restaurant at the Four Seasons, and my grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary. The last three days were full of rain and my hair erupted into spiral curls, I spent less than $100 in all 10 days, saw the movie Walk Hard (you can wait until it comes out on video), played with my little cousins, was embarrassed by the tokenism of the resort’s luau, and got to know my grandma a little better. Now I am home and it is cold, but I’m happy to see my friends and family again. There. We’re all caught up.