Girl's Day aka Hina Matsuri

Today's Daily Dish blog was about the Japanese tradition of Girl's Day, which is celebrated on the third of March. In Japanese, it's called Hina Matsuri or Doll's Festival.

Cat put together a pretty good list of why she loves being a girl. I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and make my own pro-girl list. And yes, some of my reasons will ring with anti-feminism, but I don't care. I'm enough of a feminist to admit when I'm being anti-feminist. Hahaha!

My Awesome List of the Perks of Being a Girl in 2009

• We'll always pull over to ask for directions because we're more verbal than visual. (Why waste time trying to figure out the map when someone can just as easily point you in the right direction?)
• The simple fact that we might like sports becomes a genuine plus in the dating game. If we actually do like sports, we become an instant winner.
• Guys are amazed when we can do simple things like drive a five-speed or change a tire. (It really doesn't take much to impress huh?)
• Most guys will hold a door open for us so we don't need to get germs on our hand. (Can you imagine how many people have touched that door handle before? Ick!)
• Most of the time we can get away with little to no heavy lifting of any kind.
• We don't sweat. We glisten. (LOL)
• No one will ever look at us weird when we baby talk to an infant or animal. (Except if we become a weird cat/dog lady who pushes her pet in a stroller. Now that is definitely weird.)
• Crying for no reason is acceptable behavior. So is yelling and screaming.
• No matter how much we advocate that women should go after what they want, we still love it when a guy tries to woo us.
• The gift of life (Ok, this is probably not for me but I'm sure it'd make other people's lists so I'm just putting it on here for the sake of putting it on here.)

Here's a vid - Mini Moni's "Hinamatsuri." Even this showcases one of the perks of being a girl. We can put out an idiotically cute vid like this and people will still walk away smiling.

Where You Wen Grad? (high school meme tag)

I read the Midlife Crisis blog on The Honolulu Advertiser today and caught another one of those memes. I'm several days too late to post a reply on their site, so I figured I'd do it on my own. Feel free to comment back.

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Nope, for some reason I just didn't think the guys were all that. Plus, it'd be weird like dating your brother almost.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
Nope, not married. Probably wouldn't anyway.

3. Did you car pool to school?
Nope, got dropped off or drove.

4. What kind of car did you have?
'98 Civic Coupe

5. What kind of car do you have now?
'07 Altima

6. Its Friday night.. where were you then?
Apparently not very interesting because I can't remember what we did. I think we just cruised or hung out at someone's house.

7. It's Saturday night, where were you then?
Probably go to the beach or Ala Moana

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
Receptionist at a Honda dealership

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Marketing for a financial institution

10. Were you a party animal?
Nah, too goody goody for that

11. Were you considered a flirt?
Nah, don't think so

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Nope. I took two years of band in intermediate school (it was either that or chorus and I can't sing), but gave it up for soccer come high school.

13. Were you a nerd, jock, prep, greaser, punk...etc.?
Hmmm . . . I guess a nerdy jock? Or an athletic nerd?

14. Did you get detentions, suspended or expelled, or, all of the above?
Nope, again too goody goody

15. Can you sing the fight song?
I don't know if we had one

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mrs. Itagaki for English and Mrs. Koval for biology

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
We had split lunches so it depended what friends were on the same lunch as me.

18. What was your school's full name?
Mililani High School

19. When did you graduate?
1999

20. What was your school mascot?
Trojans

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Yeah probably. I'd be more involved and care less about what people thought.

22. Did you have fun at your Prom?
Yup, most of it was pretty fun.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
Not really, although he's a friend on MySpace. Does that count? haha

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
The reunion is this year so no, probably not.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Only my best friend. I've lost touch with most of the other people.

Take Me Home Country Road

Yesterday I was flippin' through radio stations as I am wont to do every once in a while. I don't mean just the pre-saved stations though. I'm talking about every station that catches the slightest broadcast from this little island state of ours.

One of my new favorites is Salem's 97.5 KHCM-FM, Hawaii's Country Music. No, I'm definitely not a country music fan but I could be one real soon. I don't really have a history with this type of music having lived in Hawaii all my life, but that's not to say I don't appreciate the effort it takes to be a singer/songwriter, play an instrument and make it big on the radio. I've got much respect for artists and musicians.

I can't really say what draws me to country music, but I've been listening to it for two days now. I feel like it's able to bring me back to a place where a lot of Americans probably haven't been in a while - back to the beginning of America. The music seems to embody the simple pleasures of life like no other type of music out there. It's songs from the heart and the heartland. Pure Americana.

Here's one of the songs I heard this weekend and just loved. It's by Gretchen Wilson and it's called "Redneck Woman." Sorry, but I can't seem to find a video to embed. All of them are blocked. I've also been digging Taylor Swift's songs. This one's called "White Horse."