Update Part 1: Pregnancy tests and four doctors

So I've been sick for a week straight. It makes absolutely no sense to be on the brink of vomit for that long unless you're pregnant and believe me,  after three pregnancy tests (all negative, thanks), I knew for sure that I wasn't. But the doctors weren't very helpful either. For whatever fluke of reason, I've been lucky enough to be covered under 2 of the islands major health insurance carriers. Taking full advantage of this, I first called the advice line a few days into my illness. The nurse had told me that it was no big deal and that I should only go to see a doctor if I was still sick after 2-3 days. 4 days later, I was still not having it.  In fact, Sunday seemed worse than Saturday and I started to really get scared that perhaps I cursed myself and really did end up pregnant. So I went to a Long's Drugstore and bought two boxes of pregnancy tests and decided that if the first one came up negative, I'd check a few days later and if it came out positive, I'd pee on them all just to triple check. So I went in yesterday to see a doctor and after looking over me, she concluded that I was either 1) pregnant or 2) she wasn't really sure but that it should go away. "It's probably just a stomach flu or virus," she told me, "and that lump you feel in your throat is caused by irritation after you've vomitted so many times. Don't worry it'll get better." She had me go to the lab and give a urine sample. The deal was, she'd call if it came up positive but if I got no calls then to not worry about it.  I found myself nervously staring at my phone for the rest of the day. My coworkers started making pregnant jokes about me while a few speculated in a serious tone that I probably was. Around 3 in the afternoon, I got a phone call from a local, unfamiliar number and the tension in my nerves rose five folds. I found myself thinking, "Ok, this is it...prepare yourself..." before answering it with slightly shaky hands. "Hello?" I asked tentatively.
 Ding! "This is an automated voice message for Sascha Lykes...you're phone bill payment is past due."
For some reason, I was so relieved that I forgot to feel annoyed that the phone company had not reminded my to pay before I was past due. I felt like God played a joke on me, haha, Sascha, serves you right for telling everyone there's no way that you're pregnant. Ironically, He decided to scare me with a collect call. For some reason, I knew then that I wasn't going to get a call, which meant that I wasn't pregnant after all but my main question remained unanswered--what's going on with me?? Unsatisfied with my doctor's visit, I opted to make another appointment with another doctor from my other insurance company (are you following?).

But when I woke up this morning, I wasn't as naseous as I had been all week. In fact, I debated on whether or not I should cancel my appointment until I started to feel carsick on the ride into work. When I got to the doctor's office, after telling the doctor my symptoms of nausea, slight fever and no appetite, she took out her stethescope, checked my breathing, felt my stomach and declared that I had, "Gastritis. I've been seeing more of it these days. It's caused by a Westernize diet such as food that is too hot, too cold, too spicy...you're stomach is weak so you need to be eating bland food for a while. I'm going to prescribe you medication. Take it for a month and if you still don't feel better, come back." I was a little more shocked after this second visit. How could three medical experts tell me three different things and prescribe accordingly? I was told twice on to worry about it and now I was overly Westernized? Even after I explained to the doctor that I ate mostly vegetarian, Japanese meals because of my mother and that I had always eaten spicy, my doctor insisted that my diet was overly Westernized and that I had gastritis. I asked if we could do a blood sample, just in case but she said only if the medication didn't work. I left even more confused and when I reported my doctor's conclusion to my mother, she was even more upset that I was. How can this be? Why would they not do a blood analysis? What if it's a serious ailment? Since her doctor friend was in town, my mom decided to consult her about my symptoms. However, she honestly, didn't know what to think of it. She did say, however, that had she had the meanns to, she would have done a blood analysis.

  So now what? Well, since I'm feeling better, I'm going to fore go the medication and just stick to bland food for now. If my symptoms get worse, I will go to urgent care and request for a blood analysis. If all goes well, I should be about 15lbs lighter in a month. Not a bad trade off for gastritis, in my opinion.

Day 3 of quarentine + bonus feature

...It's not that serious but I have been sick for the past three days now. I started on Tuesday night after I got home from Brent's home. I was about to go to sleep but my stomach had been bothering me since this morning (when I had thrown up but thought it wasn't anything...intense. Yeah, idk how throwing up is never intense but just go with my story, please). Anyway, needless to say, I got home and well, blehhhh-ed. Still convinced that it wasn't such an intense thing, I dismissed it as a "maybe my body felt like it needed to do that" sorta thing. I woke up the next day feeling....intense. and not in a good way. I let my boss know that I wasn't going to make it to work that day but I worked from home, occasionally checking emails. When I couldn't go to work yesterday either, I figured I should call the Advice line at the doctor's office. The nurse told me that it was probably a bug that would come to pass and that there was no point in me going to see the doctor that day. She said to make an appointment if this continued for two or three more days. So now it's Friday, I woke up with a slight fever and I'm convinced what I have is in fact a prolonged stomach flu. All the symptoms are there plus, this has happened to me before and everyone (including the doctor) was convinced that I was having morning sickness and that I was pregnant. They even made me do the test. This time, I knew better (even though some of my coworkers joked that I was at home throwing up because I had morning sickness). I'd like to think that I would know (gut instinct? intuition?) if I was pregnant and for some reason, I knew that I wasn't. I have the stomach flu. Even the nurse said it was more than likely so. If this doesn't go away by Saturday, I'm going in and no one can stop me.

But it sucks being bed-ridden when you didn't plan for it. I'd honestly rather be at work right now because this is cutting into my vacation time and it's only April. I have to make my vacation time last till December and already, I got three days stolen by fake morning sickness. Arrrghhh...

To past the time, I gathered all the pictures I meant to put in here (kids and pet-related) but had no point in adding until now...well, some are pretty recent (as in this week). This section is called "They do the darnest things":

 This obviously isn't my doing but I thought it had awesome factor.

Miao and I drove by this lady with a dog on her moped. If you look carefully, you can see that she built a platform for the dog to sit on.

I don't even know what to say about this...my sister is imaginative?

Harada's hiding because he can hear a vaccum cleaner (which he's ridiculously afraid of).

Haha, I just thought his face was funny.

 They look so comfortable...at least Papi does anyway.

Me watching TV and wanting to kill Brent at the same time for taking this picture. Papi and his Dumbo ears look cute though. Guess I can't complain.

 

This just in, Brent tweeted "apparently he likes the sun." Papi confirms.

つづく

I should be a food critic

  Hi, I know, I know....I'm terribly sorry. I haven't written because...well, I was lazy. It's not that I didn't have anything to talk about it's just that by the time I got around to it I had too much to talk about, you know? Anyway...How about I just do an awesome photo gallery of my past week and a half? Will you forgive me then? Ok? Ok. I love you, too. Enjoy:
  

So Chiri (pictured) is (was? when do you leave, Chiface?) in town...so according to our tradition, we went to an ethnic restaurant (last visit we went to a Himalayan restaurant in Kaimuki)--and by "we"  mean Chiri, Vicki (the other Asian girl pictured) and I. We orginially meant to go to Sake Street but the place was closed on Mondays so we checked out the spot called Cafe Duck Butt (apparently it's Karaoke + Korean?)...anyway, we didn't make it out of the car and ultimately ended up at Millions...one of our favorite yakinuku Korean food spots. It's cheap, it's delicious, it's tons of food plus the booths are huge and they're opened till forever in the morning (great place to hit up after drinking...or before). We dined like kings and ordered this soju (it's like Korean vodka) with a strawberry yogurt flavor. It sounds so strange yet tastes sooo good. We ordered a pitcher of it but it was watered down to the point where it couldn't do much damage between the three of us. Anyway, we had a blast catching up and grilling meats and chomping on kimchee everything.

  I think that was on a Monday because on Tuesday, I was a delinquent (again) and went out on a school night (I know!). Well, I felt like it was neccessary since it was a birthday party for a billionaire I've never met before and we got in free if we wore white and gold (I had to try the Miami Vice party once, ok--don't judge!). Chiri ended up going with Wes (her highschool sweetheart) and we all had a blast (although Chiri seemed to directly avoid the theme altogether in her predominantly black outfit). They hired 2 DJs, an emcee, a body-paint artist, models in swimsuits (I'm assuming these people were hired as well) to get their body painted, and a portable pole with strip-aerobics girls (I honestly don't know how else to explain this: they were in tank tops and micro shorts and barefoot but I don't think they were professional strippers...just girls who knew how to work the pole, sorta. I was a bit confused about them). They also hired belly dancers ( I saw one--the girl in the picture--getting ready to perform in the VIP room and she was balancing a knife on her head. She said it's so heavy that there's a dent in her scalp and that's where she places the knife...props to her commitment to the artform).

  On Wednsday, I went to eat at this awesome Okinaowan hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Sunrise. They're food is, like, totally unexplainably delicious. And cheap! And the sushi is, as Sey would say, "thebomb.com!"  If you haven't tried that place yet, you're missing out on life, seriously. Anyway, for some reason, Brent finished work super early on Thursday, so he came in to town to come get me...and instead we went to dinner with my mom and sister at this ramen spot in Waikiki (the name escapes me....but the food is great there too, pinky promise).  

  Friday, I coordinated a fashion shoot...*ahem* my fashion shoot, to go along with my first fashion article that will appear in a hotel near you (come July). I was super excited with the way it turned out and I go to feature my friends (both designers) along with Seychelle, who got to model the clothes. It was fabulous! Saturday doesn't deserve to get bolded because I did absolutely nothing on that day and then Sunday, I cleaned my room (pause for applause) and went to Brent's house. I watched Papi get a bath and I also caught up with American Idol and Dancing with the Stars for this season. Overall, I had a busy week...and it's only Monday...well, Tuesday now, I guess. But you get my point.

fin.

This is how I mess up my sleep cycle

I woke up at...the butt-crack of dawn this morning. Well, maybe it was more like 6:40-something but it was still way too early on a Saturday for me. What was I doing? Excellent question. I was helping my mom take a carload of stuff to sell at a garage sale at my aunty's house. I mean, I knew it was going to happen, I was just not mentally prepared for it (mainly because I was half asleep). Anyway, I came back home to sleep but my sister had other plans for us. She was ready to go to the garage sale and sell her wares (aka toys). I mean, she even had a bucket of change ready and she told me confidently, that it will be filled to the top by the end of the day. Kids...Anyway, much to her displeasure, I crawled in to bed and shooed her away from me, causing her to cry and eventually, I got so annoyed that the only thing to do was get up and go to the stupid garage sale. I cheered up once I got ready and left but when I got to my aunt's place, I curled up on her couch and dozed in and out watching Big Momma's House. I didn't, however, get to sleep because of all the hubbub going on around me. I don't know how, but my 15-year old cousin was sleeping on the chair next to me and I kept glancing over jealously contemplating if I felt like being nice and letting him continue to sleep or if I should be the mean kid and wake him up rudely. I decided that I'd be nice since I knew too well that feeling of annoyance of having your Saturday sleep shaken away from you. I finally got to sleep when I came back home at around 4pm. I woke up at around 7ish with my mom telling me that dinner was ready. After dinner, I played with what's got to be considered one of the world's tiniest puzzle sets (pictured). It was ridiculous. It even came with a pair of tweezers to pick up the pieces. My eyes started acting funny after staring at the puzzle for so long that I only got a portion of it done. Oh well, maybe I'll never work on it ever again and save myself the headache the next time Salena gives me the puppy-eyes to work on the puzzle with her. I could be strong enough...I think.

And that way my day.  Now I'll be up for a while, twiddling my thumbs, possibly watch a movie on my laptop...who knows. Oh, speaking of movies, here's a Brent moment of the day: did you know that Brent's going to be in that new movie Death at a Funeral? Haha, not really but we got a picture of him in the display...Anyway, that's all I wanted to show you. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

My point is that E.T. picked Ken's nose

I don't think there's anything to say about this picture expect that, you know...they were young, in Japan and well, the mood to take this particular picture struck them as a genius idea. I'm pretty sure Universal Studio's Japan still has this picture in their awesome visitor photo gallery.

How was my day? Eh, what can I say? It was Friday, Brent came to pick me up and then I took his car and tried to go shopping at Nordstrom Rack but tried on too many things and couldn't find anything I loved in particular so I left a little grouchy and was late picking up Brent after his class. But it's not my fault, I wouldn't have taken forever if Brent would just come shop with me but he refuses. He explained it this way: if he were to go watch a movie, eat dinner and then get a Coldstone ice cream before meeting up with me, I'd still be debating on which jeans I liked better or if I even wanted them at all. He called shopping bad and shopping with me "torture." Mmhmm....whatever, I think he secretly likes going shopping with me but just doesn't want to admit it.

  Anyway, I really don't have much to say. I just wanted to share this fantabulous picture of Ken and E.T. and then complain about how my own bf hates when I drag him to go shopping with me. But that's not really the point of this blog. If you want to know what the point was....stare at E.T.'s finger... (haha, excuse me, I made a funny).

My mom once partied with Obama, I think

Well, we're not 100% so don't call the press and it wasn't like they were bffs or anything, it was more like when she was 21ish, she was at a house party with her friend and her friend brought a friend from school, which happened to be Punahou. The only reason my mom said, "now that I think about it, he might have been Obama" was because she remembers being amazed at a guy who was half Black and half White in Hawaii. I'm, like, 99.999% sure it was him and so therefore, I get to say that my mom once partied with Obama--claim to fame. By the way, this picture is of my mom's first trip to Hawaii. She was 19.

 In other news, my adventures on Maui were adventuresome. I went to see the Ulalena show, which was pretty good, actually. I really wasn't sure what to expect but when I saw it, I thought, how cool. they also did a "behind-the-scenes" deal after the show (pictured; yes, that is an acrobat hanging upside down in circus ring-things) and turned it into a 20 minute-ish thing of showing the audience how the show comes to get through the tech crew, sound, light and the cast.  It was inciteful and answered questions that I might have to ask the two cast memebers that I later interviewed.  They were both very devoted to the show and they seemed to really enjoy their work and it was nice to be able to have a chat with them. After the show, I went back to my lonely hotel room and slept with all the lights on (just in case). At first I was a little mad at myself for forgetting to bring a movie or 3 to watch but I fell asleep pretty quickly anyway so I guess it didn't really matter.
  Today, I woke up around 7am to Brent's wake up call. He was worried that we both fell asleep and that I didn't get a chance to set my alarm and therefore would wake up late (I know, he's adorable). Luckily, I have an alarm that does go off every weekday morning at 6:53am (it's not too soon and not too late) so I was had just hit snooze and was debating on if I wanted to wake up or sleep in for a bit longer. After talking to a half-sleeping Brent, I decided it was time to wake up so as not to waste his thoughtful efforts in waking me. An hour later, I was packed, groomed, make up-ed and sunglassed to (hide the sleep in my eyes) as I marched to pack my big heavy, one-nighter bag in to the rental car.  After driving the car to the valet area (the parking garage was too far and I was too lazy to do any sort of excess walking) I checked out and synced Brent's GPS to the airport--er, car rental lot and proceeded to drive for about 45 minutes to the other side of the island. I topped off the gas, went in search of Krisy Kreme (I wanted a donut, ok), made a wrong turn and then finally made it to the rental lot in the nick of time. I had an hour before take-off when I got to the airport and panicked a little when I saw the mass amount of people lined up to leave. I had forgotten that most flights out of Maui were not direct flight and people needed to come to Oahu first before going their separate ways. Luckily, I got through the security check and arrived at my gate 20 minutes later. I the flight back was equally, unexpectedly quick and I found my self in my aunty's car, on my way to the office in no time. Although the total amount of time I spent on Maui was about 24 hours, the trip was sorta exhausting and went by in a blink. Over all, I learned that Maui has the same radio stations as here (sorta), has one road that goes all the way around the island and that unless you're 25 years and older, renting a car is almost not worth the effort. Almost. But they thing is, you NEED a car or there's no way to get around anywhere. Oh well, I'm home now so I guess in the end that's all that matters.

  I decided to take a few pictures of old pictures of my mom when she was my age and then just to be fair, a few of me when I was princess-brat status...well, a younger version at least.

Awesome bangs, v-neck and high-waisted shorts. The original American Apparel model.

 My mom, Aunty Hiroyo (my mom's bff since 7th grade) and...someone else

Uber tan momma

Rockin' the yukata (summer-time kimono)

Me, Ken and mommy

I can eat 100 eggs

Not really but that's what my sister said in her journal and I thought that it was so awesome that I felt like I should share that with you.  Speaking of eggs, how was your Easter? Mine was good. My sister was under the impression that the Easter Bunny is sorta like Santa Claus so she was expecting an Easter basket when she woke up on Sunday. I didn't mean to go along with it, but I ended up buying her a basket and filled it with goodies. She loved it.  Salena and I woke up at around 630 to get to the Easter Sunday service at the Blaisedell because Brent was featured as Jesus at the start of the show. It was pretty intense, I won't lie. Brent was on two large movie screens, he was front and center, he was...well, Jesus. But it was great, he did good and the service was inspirational. After the service, Brent, Salena and I met up with my mom and Junior (they were at a photo shoot) and we went to Sunday brunch at the Original Pancake House. We ate a ridiculous amount of food and that was alright with me.  Brent and I then went to spend the rest of the day with his family and ended up having dinner at his grandparent's house.  Although I wasn't expecting it at all, Brent got me a couple of things for Easter--a stuffed animal duckling that I named Carrot and a boxed of Frango chocolate mints.

I brought Carrot with me to my very first business trip. Yes, you heard right, I'm currenty on my first business trip to Maui. I'm here for research on a story that I'll be writing and for security purposes, I brought my blankie and Carrot with me (don't judge me...I was a little nervous about my first trip and wanted support, ok). Anyway, I should be getting ready to leave now since I have to leave for an interview and other fancy business-tripish things. I'll be sure to take pictures of the trip for you! Tah, dahling!

Oh, but before I go, I don't think I mentioned it before, but Brent got a new puppy a few weeks ago. It's about 4-5 months old and is a "Taco Terrier"--a cross between a chihuahua and a fox terrier (probably) and his name is Papi. He's adorable and loves me and is the cutest thing ever...ok, really going now, bye!

More Salenaisms. Translation: "Brent cannot take a picture." Don't ask me what that's supposed to mean, I've no clue.