(no subject)

"American Idol": America has spoken... and my prediction from last night has come true.

Aloha Camile Velasco.

I definitely think she tried and she did far better than she -- or her family -- must have hoped or expected, but I have to agree that she was the weakest performer last night and really didn't have what it took to advance. However, as the discussion boards have said, it's unlikely it'll be the last we hear from her. And if the trend from the past few weeks is continuing, with recently voted-off guests appearing in future shows, Camile could make a cameo appearance in next week's show.

In other news.... checked out a couple of swap meets today, then drove around the island, checking out a few beaches along the way. At one of the swap meets I dropped by a booth where hair flowers (artificial flowers that you can put in your hair) were being sold. The flowers have apparently been selling very well since Jasmine Trias (who's still in the running for "American Idol," btw) began appearing -- and advancing -- on the show. Hopefully they'll still continue to sell.

Not much to write on the around-the-island tour other than that we checked out several beaches, including the north and west shores, where we saw surf of up to 15 feet. That's if you measure the surf by the height of the front (face) of the waves. Previously, we used to measure surf from the back of the wave, meaning that the surf height reported was half as big as that reported elsewhere. That got a lot of tourists into trouble because they'd be hearing about "20-foot surf" and come over only to discover 40 foot surf.

For more, see krag_carbine's LJ....

Extended!

Okay, I don't know if this is a dream come true, but... my tour here has been extended. I'm now leaving in September, not June as I originally projected.

My losing squadron commander coordinated with the commander of my gaining unit and because of potential logistical nightmares (several key officers are moving around at different times), I've been extended so as to allow enough overlap with my replacement, who isn't due in until the end of August. This way gives me enough overlap to make sure I get the new guy trained and inprocessed properly.

This is great for me in that I get to spend more time with my family and some friends here, including technocollie and ionotter, the latter of whom is leaving at the end of the year. I don't think I'll be travelling this summer, though... can't really afford it, or rather, I can afford it but would prefer to let my finances build up instead.

I've also been interested in volunteering to help out at New Hope, the church I go to. I initially said I could only help out until the end of June, but now it looks like I can help out until at least September.

Not sure what else is gonna be impacted, but I guess I'll have to wait and see for that.....