It seems quite awkward to celebrate the same holiday only 364 days from the previous celebration.  Being a day ahead of the United States has been extremely difficult to get used to.  The time difference is a major headache in communication.  I have projects I am trying to work on, such as Insourced Security’s new website and various other applications I’m working on, and time messes with me.  When it is midnight here, it is 10am the previous day there, its weird! 

Today was July 4th, a day of celebration, extravaganza and fireworks.  We spent the latter part of our afternoon at the park where the Airforce was putting on an enormous fireworks display.  I have been practicing for this evening for months, attempting to get every night shot I possibly can in so I can definitely come out with some good fireworks photographs.  Some of the variables I didn’t imagine affecting my photographs were:  headlights from cars not turning them off, spectators jumping up and down and reflections from streetlamps.  I had so many things to think about during the initial framing of my photos.

I stayed up until about four am last night, early this morning, and decided that I was going to sleep the majority of my morning away — in fact I slept the entire morning away, waking up at 1pm.  Upon my slumber dissappearing, Shan, Flea and myself left for CocoK’s.  Cocok is a salon and spa type environment here on the island that is packed and booked up for months.  Shannon was smart and had an appointment ready for us before we got here I guess, cause we went today.

I have been looking forward to one of these marvelous pedicures from a Japanese girl for quite some time.  Shannon is always raving about them when she visits us in the states and I could only imagine my anxiety rising as the days grew closer.  When we arrived we had a slight wait; 15 minutes.  The pedicure lasted exactly 90 minutes and conisted of your typical pedicure with cuticle treatment, foot bath, et cetra.  The difference however is the knee high massage that lasts thirty minutes on your feet and legs.  The fact that they rap your feet in hot towels after the massage.  The ability to drink beer or coffee as you desire during your massage.  Oh, and the wonderful fact that I was able to stare out at the ocean for the entire duration of my pedicure.

Felicia and Shannon both had some elaborate designs painted onto their nails after the pedicure.  These designs and toe art come free of charge and are definitely a sight to see!  I actually had my nails painted to, with a protective coat, clear coat and then my left big toe has a bar code.  The lady kept calling me cute, it was hilarious.  She was actually pretty gosh darn cute herself.  The barcode spans the entire nail and is freaking accurate as heck to the example I showed her.  If you’re ever on the island of Okinawa, visit Cocok and ask for Makia.

I have uploaded several photographs of the fireworks as well as my nail shot to my flickr account.  I hope you check it out!