happy belated birthday jeremy!
happy belated birthday bert!
happy belated birthday brad!

friday night:
jon came back into hilo earlier than usual, friday night, so that we could go to miyo's for dinner. one of these days, i have to get a picture of the shabu shabu, our all-time favorite.

we ended up not going out that night, instead deciding on spending time together and watching a movie. we rented "signs" and a jet li movie, but we never got around to watching the jet li one.

saturday:
hoping to visit mr. shimizu at autos, we woke up somewhat early saturday morning. unfortunately, no one was there, so we ended up going to ken's for our usual there, crab cakes and eggs with hash browns and pancakes for me and the two eggs specialty, overeasy, with bacon and rice for jon.

afterwards, jon and i visited the pana'ewa zoo. it's definitely not much if you compare it to the san diego zoo or even the honolulu zoo, but it's definitely worth an hour or two of your time. the animals range from being exotic like the squirrel monkeys, the pygmy hippo, and the king vulture, to being native, like the feral pigs, the chickens, and the nene goose. the zoo's main feature is namaste, the white tiger.

after our time at the zoo we drove to shipman's so that i could have another driving session. ha ha! i did really well this time. i stalled a few times, but i'm getting a lot better at pulling out in first gear. i kind of know where the clutch grabs now.

right now, i'm really working on how to downshift smoothly into a turn. jon is trying to teach me how to ease off the gas, start pressing the brake, and then downshift, let the clutch out, downshift again, and then take the turn in second. but somehow i'm not getting it. i end up easing off the gas, pressing the clutch in, then pressing the brake, downshifting, and then i'll just keep the clutch in until i'm done downshifting into second and then let it out right before i have to make the turn. it wouldn't be so bad if, when i let the clutch out, the car wouldn't make a slight jerk. :b

after that, i helped iris bake a cake for jeremy's birthday and brownies for her coworker's birthday. we tried to make jeremy's cake into the shape of a sperm, his nickname, but we had trouble with making the tail since the pieces kept breaking and we ran out of frosting. we also got him a card and a shot glass from spencer's gifts.

not wanting to drive out all the way out to red roads, jon and i decided to hang out with the bahoof gang that night. it ended up being bert's birthday, so we drove out to a park in ninole (which is about a twenty minute drive north of hilo, so we ended up driving far anyway). it was good to see the whole group again.

jon and i stayed until 1:30 and then we decided to head back into town. because he had drunk a few beers, we decided that i should drive. yep! that's right! keri was on the road! i wouldn't have if it had been during the daytime or during evening, but at 1:30 in the morning, there's a good chance that no one was going to be on the road, and we were right.

i did okay. i stalled at almost every intersection i came to. i was really nervous and my leg wouldn't stop shaking, so it was hard to keep the clutch at the grab point. overall, it was a great experience and i think i did well besides my being nervous and the fact that jon threw up as soon as we got home because i made him carsick. my poor baby. *pat pat*

sunday:
we slept in on sunday morning. well, it was more like *i* slept in, i woke up at 12:00 noon. we decided to have a picnic at liliuokalani park, so we drove around town looking for bentos to buy but the places we went to were either closed or had sold out already, so we settled on korean food from kalbi express.

combination c from kalbi express

we ordered "combination c" which comes with meat jun and barbecue chicken. yum! for our selection of vegetables we chose moyashi (bean sprouts), watercress, and cucumbers. jon loves his moyashi so we doubled up on that.

the chashitsu (tea room) at liliuokalani park.

jon.

afterwards, we met up with dustin at his house so that brent could take pictures of jon's car for the bahoof site. the pictures didn't come out well, though. the reflection of the flash turned the car white. then again, maybe it was the layer of dust that did it. but here's a picture that i took of jon's car that day.

jon's civic.

and that was the end to my really great weekend. i hope yours was just as good.

owari.