Maui: Day One

This morning I woke up at 5am after going to bed at 1:30am! OMG, so hating life. I had a restless sleep as Jay-Z's "Can I Get A...?" song was on repeat in my head and everytime I turned over I was sleep singing, "Do you need a balla? So you can shop and tear the mall up?Brag, tell your friends what I bought ya." Damn that Jay-Z!

Dragged myself out of bed and did all the last minute stuff I needed to do but in a total panic as I was trying to beat the Super Shuttle clock. I was expecting them at 6:30am. At 6am Misty called me and when I heard the ring I thought it was SS and freaked out. Misty called to wish me good luck!

You know how Super Shuttle picks you up like, 5 hours before you actually need to be at the airport? Well, that is the case unless you have some total fucking idiot who makes the entire van late. I was the first to be picked up, then a quick stop near Bernal, then down to Bayview then up to the Candlestick View Apartments. We approached this guys' house and the van driver calls and the guys is all, you have to come in the gate, here's the code etc. So the driver turns around, stops in front of the gate, gets out of the van, punches in the code, drives to the guys' door where we sit for like ten minutes. The guy finally comes out with a bag and the driver hopefully says, is that it? And the guy is like, no I have one more. Back to his house he goes and we sit another ten minutes or so. ARGHH! Don't you think that if you live in a gated community that you're going to be ready to go and standing OUTSIDE your gate!?!? I am supposed to be meeting my group at 7am and it's 7:02 but this gives me the opportunity to call Megan the point person and say, "Hi this is Hez from the San Francisco team. I'm running late but I am on my way!" Heh. Show off.

Sooo sleepy. I get on the plane and promptly pass out. I get woken up 15 minutes later by some announcement. I read one column of my New Yorker article on the use of medicinal leeches then I pass out again. I get woken up an hour later by some announcement. I read another column in my leech story and promptly pass out. I get woken up by ANOTHER announcement. They give us free food on the plane! (what an anomaly) Like real, hot food and not some overpriced box lunch. I eat. I pass out. I wake up and can't tear my eyes away from the forced tear jerker: Eight Below. Groaaan. We land at Honolulu Int'l and wait for our flight to Maui. We land two seconds after we take off because it's that close. We take a charter bus to our hotel.

June is waiting for me as I get off the bus and has a flower lai for me! Yay! Then the hotel lady gives me a lai made of shells. Yay! (June and her husband, Chris, got here on Wednesday) June is my hotel roommate but her and Chris are staying at another hotel so I get the room to myself...sneaky. Though she going to stay with me the night before the race. I check in and we head down to the ballroom to put our dismantled bikes together. Oy. Nightmare. Once that is done, June takes me back to her hotel where we meet up with Chris and we lounge by the pool, eat extra crispy chicken wings and drink $8 low carb margaritas.

After some souvenir shopping we head to Da Kitchen, a locals restaurant and get giants plates of MEAT. Yum! Now I am back in my room doing some last minute on line posting for my class and typing this blog! Yay!

Thanks to Misty for calling me this morning and wishing me luck. Thanks to Lynnie-Loo for calling me when I was at the airport in Honolulu to wish me luck! And thanks to Ali who just IM'd me semi-drunk to wish me luck too! I feel so supported!

Things that bugged me today: That stupid guy that made my Super Shuttle van late. Married hetero's who call their significant other their PARTNER. Dude, only the gays get to do that. It's like they want to seem hipper than their boring, married hetero self.

Things that were awesome today: Wireless in my room. Meeting Spencer on my team, who I have never seen before, who also can't stand the Marina Contingency. Humidity...yes. Humidity. Being warm at 8pm at night OUTSIDE. Putting my bike together all by myself and not being one of those stupid girls who say "I can't do this!!!"

Pictures here.