Apr 09, 2005 17:33
Let’s see… currently Gemini reports 2:15am, and Gemini’s been on PST, so I’ll assume that’s 2:15am PST Saturday morning. In fact, I’m currently on the plane so I really don’t know what time it is for me. :p Heh, this is sorta exciting. I’ve never used a laptop on a plane before - understandably, Gemini’s only been 3 weeks old ;) (Let’s see… if I recall correctly… Gemini’s Birthday was 3/19. Six days after my dad’s… I should try to remember that. :p) Anyhow, I really should be trying to catch some sleep now so my schedule is not completely messed up (I think it’s too late now? Poor body of mine… had to first adjust to the Daylight saving time last weekend, then to Hawaii time, then to Astronomer’s schedules.), but I’m having a hard time falling asleep. After all, just yesterday it’d be only 11pm HST and it’d be another 7-8 hours till I sleep. Who wants to bet that I’ll go completely insane and would take at least a week or two before things go back to normal, if at all? :P
Well, lemme do a quick recap of today and maybe (probably not) conclude my trip to Hawaii. Then I’ll plan out what I’ll do for the remaining um 3 hours(?) on the plane. Today… I woke up to my own alarm at 1:25pm HST, after catching 7 hours of sleep. After I showered and packed, I went into the Operation room to check and finish up some processes while waiting for Kevin. We left Keck at around 3; Kevin let me drive since I wanted to take the car to the shopping mall after we dropped him off at the beach. Not like there was a lot of time anyway - the plan was to meet up with Chris (who wanted to go find some monument) at a Thai restaurant called Sukhotthai by 6pm. Because of Kevin’s additional information, I got lost (clearly, it’s all his faults ;p) for a bit before finding the shopping center at around 4ish. I looked around and stayed there for a bit over 30 minutes before I went back to pick up Kevin. It was actually kinda fun driving at Hawaii - there were only one main road that goes around the Island, and traffic there was nothing compared to that in LA. On my way to pick up Kevin, it was kinda funny because I was driving in front of a police car. Since there was only one lane, and most people did not pass each other, I was driving in front of this police car on the highway for quite some time (from the mall to the beach). I’ve found that if there’s one thing that you can do to annoy the police, it is to drive in front of the police car in a one-lane highway at speed limit. :P The speed limit was 55, and I didn’t exceed it at all; I could see how impatient he was from the rear mirror. It was very entertaining, if you can imagine the situation. ;)
Anyhow, after I picked up Kevin, we started our journey in search of a Thai restaurant whose location was not certain. At the end of a desperate (not really) search, we gave up since we needed to catch our flight and settled on the restaurant Kevin wanted to bring me to on the first day of the trip. It was called Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. Ring any bell? How about the shrimp company that Forrest Gump started? ;) Yeah… I didn’t get the reference till after I went inside the restaurant and saw all the Forest Gump posters/pictures/signs. It was very cool and a good restaurant in general. We had some trouble contacting Chris, who, after some time, managed to find us but pretty much had to swallow his food in one bite. His day sounded less productive - and made me glad that I went with Kevin instead. ;) Last night, he talked of leaving Keck long before I planned to wake up, and Kevin told me that he saw Chris leaving when Kevin just finished his lunch right around 3. :P Chris drove down to Kona in search of this monument, and went through 2 hours of traffic due to rush hour at Kona. When he found the trail that led to the monument, he walked for 1.5 miles on it before realizing that he didn’t have water/flash light/time to finish the trip and come back in time. So that was it for his adventure. :p Anyway, all three of us have now gotten safely on the plane and are heading back to LA.
In the car, Kevin asked me what I thought of this trip, but I’m not gonna elaborate here because most of my thoughts have been communicated to you through the past few entries. Other than Earl’s set and the prospect of having to catch up on everything, I liked every bit about this trip: the scenery, the observatory, the company… even the bad seeing, which is part of an astronomer’s life. Kevin said that the atmosphere might not have been as relaxing as it had been for us if Richard had come with us though - you know, all the pressure that the students might experience when the professor is excited about the results :) And I feel like I’ve developed a closer bond to C&K, and have seen a side of them that I have not previously encountered in Robinson. I realize that good company is a crucial factor to having a good observing run, and I’m thankful for these guys.
Speaking of them, I want to mention that through them, I’ve seen (perhaps) a clearer path of my future. But I will not mention that right now. In any case, apparently Chris has been offered and will take on a lectureship at some university in England and will leave by fall. On the other hand, Kevin said he plans on graduating by the end of 2005 but will probably stick around until fall of 2006. Apparently Richard has offered him a salary like that of a postdoc’s after he graduates so Kevin thought it’s very nice that he gets paid more and will still get to stick around to use Caltech’s facilities and do the projects he’s been doing. (Personally I’m very glad that he’ll stick around until at least I graduate, hopefully :)) He’ll probably see if he can find a job by next Fall and probably go to France some times (that’s where his gf is). I’ll miss them… but now is too early to think about parting.
All right, something like 2.5 more hours on the plane. Should I try to sleep? If yes, will I be able to? Ideally, I’ll get some sleep now, and some sleep when I get back to LA, probably wake up no later than noon. Start my day of catchup work and… yeah. Oh, I should finish writing those postcards too - it’s a shame I didn’t get to mail them out from Hawaii but I blame it on the fact that I couldn’t find a post office. :) I think I regret a bit not having done as much work as I had hoped to while in Hawaii, but I can’t really blame myself… I still believe that this trip will be worth all the sleepless nights and stressful hours that are to come in the near future…
…hopefully? :)
Mahalo! (If I spelled it correctly, it means goodbye/thank you/...)