Well How Do You Do, I'm the Language Police

I know that I use parenthesis and run on sentences far too often so I'm probably not in the best position to judge other's writing, grammar, punctuation, or pronunciation, but Come On! You guys are killing me! I've heard two different people at work say "pacifically" or "pacifics"....they aren't talking about someone doing something calmly and they aren't talking about two parts of the Pacific Ocean; what they are trying to say is Specifically and Specifics. Whenever I hear it, my hackles rise and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from correcting them. The worse part is, they won't say it once. They will get on a role and use the word/s in their conversation in every other sentence. That's how I've been able to ascertain I didn't just mishear the word to begin with. They really like to remind me/the customer that they are using the word incorrectly!

Alright, take out your pens and proofread my posting now. Hahaha, oh man, you all must hate me at this point-no new entries to read for nearly a month and then I come on with a quick rant about pronunciation.

My apologies!

I guess I could leave you with a quick run down of what has been going on with me since my houseboat trip:

-My Christmas was not bad. We had a busy day going to different family members' houses and baking, but it didn't feel like Christmas so Nae texted me at 4:15 on real Christmas morning and I got to watch on the webcam as everyone opened their presents back home. My family sent us two different packages filled with some basic necessities we were running low on like Mexican food stuff and underwear (hahaha, we are spoiled! MOTH only wears Old Navy ones now and I only wear American Eagle...tmi??)

-We went nuts at the Boxing Day sale, but with our engagement present gift cards, we ended up getting a lot of stuff without being out of pocket (except for the bed and dryer we bought!)

-I got told my last week of annual leave got rejected so it's kind of thrown a spanner in the works for our trip to CA to wedding plan and visit family and friends, but I'm working on some solutions.

-Nae is leaving at the end of the month for her 2 year trip to South Africa to study sharks and I won't get to see her before she goes...pretty devastated! She has made up for it a little by sending us an 18 month calendar that is all about her that is pretty hilarious though.

-I got tentatively diagnosed with not full blown Celiac Disease but a "sensitivity" to gluten that the doctor thinks is causing all my stomach problems and headaches so I've started a gluten free diet (as of Tuesday) to see if a month of being gluten free cures me.

-We spent New Years with the majority of our friends at a pretty town called Forster about 3 hours north of where we live. We fished, we swam off of sand bars, MOTH Dude caught and then lost a fish, we tooled around on the boat, we watched fireworks, we walked...good times and very, very strange to be sweating on New Year's Eve!

-We've decided to start our trip back to the States with a stop over to Kauai with my parents (MOTH's can't make it due to MOTH Dad needing some intense shoulder surgery that he is hoping will be scheduled finally in April) and I just booked the flights from Kauai to Oakland tonight!

I'm On a Boat, I'm On a Boat, Everybody Look at Me 'Cause I'm Sailing On a Boat

This past weekend was incredible! I'd say it ranks in my top 5 weekends of all time. I don't know exactly what to say so you know why I think that, it just was. It felt awesome to go on a mini vacation to a place I knew nothing about and on a trip I hadn't planned and to be doing it with MOTH Dude, Croc, and the Teacher. I liked that I just had to pack my stuff and show up and we'd figure out exactly where we were going when we got there.

We did so much cool stuff- fished, took the little boat out, knee boarded, innertubed, wake boarded, traveled up and down the river system, and hung out in the water off a sandy beach.

We also saw so much cool stuff- a baby hammerhead shark (which we threw back in the water alive but it came back and actually pulled one of the rods off the boat and got tangled around the anchor line and drowned and we didn't realize it until the next morning when we went to pull up the anchor), tons of jellyfish, and a few times a day we'd have sea eagles fly over and screech at us.

Houseboats are rad because you go out on the little boat for awhile while people were wakeboaring or kneeboarding and then when everyone's tired you just head back to your floating house to do whatever you want. It was also rad that when we got tired of where we were "living" we could say, "Next!" and find a new place to "live". If you get the chance to go houseboating, especially on the Hawkesbury River, I'd highly recommend doing it. I loved it even more than I thought I would!

Yeah, Never Thought I'd Be On A (House)Boat

I was able to get my shift changed tomorrow so I'm done at 2:30 rather than 6 and you know what that means? It means I get to go houseboating for the weekend! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see what it's like and the area we are going to is supposed to be beautiful. Rain is forecasted for tomorrow but the rest of the weekend should be sunny and warm. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures and have some stories to tell when I get back.

Cause I Can Picture all the Pictures of You and Me on Your Walls

Here is another big batch of pictures of what Nae has been up to in South Africa. She leaves in a few days time and I'm sure she is starting to get sad about it, but it seems like she has had such an amazing time down there and I know she'll make it back again if she sets her heart and mind to it.

The bridge Nae jumped off of. It is supposed to be the highest bungee jump spot in the world.

She walked off rather than jumped off.

View from the top of Table Mountain looking towards Lion Head.

Cable car up.

Nae called this a Daussie, which must be it's South African name. I know it as a Rock Hyrax. Can you believe these guys are the closest living relative to elephants? From what I remember of seeing them in Kenya, they are about the size of a rabbit.

Rock Hyrax contemplating a swim.

I messaged Nae and said something along the lines of "Wow, now I know why they didn't put pictures of the rooms on the youth hostel website" before I realized that this was actually the prison at Robben Island, where the great Nelson Mandela was kept for many years.

Nae always finds a way to get her bronze on.

Nae said this was the best day of her life because she got to see 2 different breaches and got to tag a shark herself.

Coastline along Mossel Bay.

Near Cape Town.

Penguins in Cape Town.

A cheetah cub licking Nae's hand, or as my parents said was probably more likely, "A cheetah cub tasting Nae"

Lemurs sunning themselves at Cango Wildlife Ranch

Nae getting to pet cheetah cubs

Nae with white tiger cubs

Nae with adult cheetahs, she said they were purring the whole time

Feeding day at Cango, it's a donkey head!

African Rain Spider...looks like a bigger version of the Australian Huntsmen