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Colorado in the Springtime

27 Apr

As usual, I am neglecting my blogging duties (to myself, really), and I haven’t really posted anything interesting for awhile. I am now sitting in the United Club at DIA, waiting for my flight back to Honolulu and I’m realizing that this blog of mine is dying a slow and lonely death. It needs reviving.

Side note: When I signed up for the elite United credit card and received two complimentary passes to the exclusive United Club area in the airport, I expected posh, sixties-style decor with mod waitresses in white thigh high boots, serving fancy food and giving foot massages. I’m not saying I’m disappointed with the quiet room and complimentary mini bagels, but I feel like this experience could be slightly improved with a little bit of Mad-Men-izing. Just saying.

Now, back to my ongoing struggle to document something interesting here.

I’ve spent the last week in Denver, sick and cold, but so happy to see family and friends. I’ve eaten at Watercourse (vegan eatery extraordinaire) and it’s sister establishment too many times, Indian food too many times, and food, in general, too many times, considering the customary tradition of only eating food three times per day. I’ve tried to catch up with everyone (although not enough), lasted longer than expected in two chess games with my dad, and eaten matzo ball soup made with vegan margarine and eggs from a happy chicken. I’ve been to Boulder and remembered why Colorado is amazing. I’ve ridden my bike in the snow and in the sun within 24 hours of each other. I’ve also been grocery shopping and remembered that juice and spices don’t cost $15 a bottle everywhere.

Now, I’m excited to get back to tropical paradise. I’m definitely hitting the beach tomorrow to warm up my bones and hopefully, I’ll be over this damn cold by Monday.

And I realize this is not terribly exciting but I’m just reminding the world that I’m still alive. Once again, I am making a serious attempt to write more when I get home…

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Posted in Hawaii, Life

Hello!

19 Feb

I’m alive.

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Posted in Life

2012 in a Nutshell

24 Dec

My life has not been bad up to this year. I was not born in a third world country. I have never seen war. I have never been homeless. On a less dramatic level, I grew up in a happy household. I have always been healthy. I got a good education. I got some ridiculous and hilarious partying in. (I know- you’ve heard all before.) My life from 1984 to 2011 was pretty damn good.

But then 2012 happened. Wow.

I have had such a fantastic year. More so, because it feels like it’s just getting started. This is just the beginning and it’s about to get really good. You have all been reading about my adventures. They have included moving to paradise, exploring paradise, getting an amazing job with a brilliant company, hanging out with my best friend (who is kind of a wonderful person), swimming, learning, practicing yoga, becoming a better speaker, reading mind-altering books, learning, learning, learning, saying thank you, being creative, volunteering, meeting great people, painting pictures, eating well, eating deliciously poorly, and you know, everything else I keep gushing about. Besides that, before I even left Denver, I was happy with my life and my friends and my work. Things have obviously been really good this year.

All those good things are not really the core of the goodness though. Those things are just factors or symptoms of the positive energy I’ve been infected with. I acknowledge that I living in a wonderful place makes life a little better- the same way that while money doesn’t buy happiness, it makes pursuing it a little less stressful (in most situations). So, yes, I’m having a good time because of external factors, but none of these things would matter one damn bit without the mental peace I’ve been developing. I’m not really sure what catalyzed that development. I’ll take some credit in terms of thinking, analyzing life and maturing. I’ll give Shad some credit in terms of the same thing. I give the world and all of its beauty and downright evil for giving me some perspective on the situation at hand. Essentially, I’m saying that I cannot pinpoint the root or the starting point of Project Have a Great Life.

I can, however, confidently say that it has been a slow and iterative process and I’m still early on the path to personal awesomeness. (I almost used the word enlightenment or actualization but those words make me gag a little- not to mention I’m not quite sure what either of them mean. Awesomeness will serve just fine.) Now, being pretty young, this fact may seem obvious to anyone older than me, but I felt that it needed to be stated because we shouldn’t assume that anything is inherently understood. Long story, short: I’m starting to get awesome but I’ll ripen with age.

Really long story, short (or TL;DR for those of you from the internet), 2012 in a nutshell is my attitude and my attitude is this:

I lucked out with initial conditions in my life experiment. Those catalyzed continuously optimal conditions.
The only important things are the health and happiness of people you love (including yourself).
Kindness is critical.
Logic is critical.
When things don’t go according to my plan, I always learn something new, obtain some other benefit, or it’s so minor I don’t think twice about it.

That’s all I can really think of at the moment. This isn’t necessarily a thought out philosophy, but I think it gets my point across. I have a couple more days to go on my gratitude project. I see trends in the things I focused on, but I plan to run the numbers and share my analysis early next year. Thanks for participating with my positive silliness this year. I’ll try to incorporate more personal drama and angst in 2013.

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Posted in Appreciation, Hawaii, Learning, Life

I am Grateful for…

02 Dec

316. Having the opportunity to see the Na Pali Coast.

317. Staying in the forest in Kauai (pictures to come).

318. Common Grounds in Kauai- with the best vegan breakfast burrito in Hawaii.

319. Four consecutive days to spend with my friend in paradise (deluxe… as opposed to regular paradise).

320. Thanksgiving dinner: a loaf of french bread with Tofurkey slices (sammiches), a 20oz Blue Moon to split, and some crackers with hummus. All, while sitting on Kapa’a beach (beautiful and quiet), watching the crabs dig their holes and the big waves break.

321. A new and challenging career opportunity.

322. A bright, busy office with bright, busy people.

323. Working walking distance from home.

324. Working seven blocks away from Shad so we can walk to and from work together.

325. Buying a good car from a trustworthy person so we have no excuse to not go exploring.

326. My sister coming to visit in one week for one month.

327. Spending some serious quality time with my sister.

328. Every little thing working out. (I’m sure some things don’t, but I can’t seem to remember what they are.)

329. Friends that continue to make an effort to hang out, even when I slack on being outgoing and friendly (I eventually return the effort), but I really appreciate you pushing me.

330. Finally buying a futon. Futons are awesome.

331. A two bedroom apartment. Two bedroom apartments are awesome.

332. The monk seal that we saw swimming on the south shore of Kauai.

333. Our new plant- she is seriously happy here.

334. Owning snorkel gear.

335. The successful SharePoint team I left behind at the last job. I’m seriously excited that they’re excited about SharePoint.

336. The fact that the car we bought was driven to us for a showing… it was incredibly nice of them.

337. Kindness, in general.

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Posted in Animals, Appreciation, Food, Hawaii, Life, Nature & Animals, Travel

I No Longer Need to Think for Myself

10 Nov

I couldn’t decide on a pair of glasses, so I asked Facebook.

Which Pair Should I Get?

Here are the results:

The Choice is Clear (hehe)

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Posted in Life

I am so Damn Lucky

10 Nov

As I progress through the year and the long list of things that I appreciate about life and the things/people I am surrounded with, it sometimes feels like I’m bragging. It’s like “Haha! I have two legs and apple pie and I live in Hawaii…” when many living things actually have it really hard. There are so many existences that offer very little hope of optimism. I can’t imagine saying, “Yeah, I’m a slave, but at least the sun is shining!”

Still, it has never been my intention to rub my good luck in anyone’s face. I’m just so damn grateful for all the good things that went right and my list, in some ways, is a response to people who also have it good, but can’t see it. It’s a response to people who would say, “Yeah, I’m free and healthy, but I don’t even have iPad!”

With that, I am grateful for the following things:

304. Overlapping optical insurance that allows me to get glasses in addition to contacts this year!

305. Not Romney.

306. Simple Joy (vegan restaurant) in my hood.

307. The fact that the scariest things in the forest here are mosquitoes.

308. Having fun with NaNoWriMo (even though I’m currently about 5000 words behind!)

309. Shad – I’ve mentioned him in various ways before (pancake maker, fixer of things, etc.), but I’m just grateful because he is who he is.

310. Having resources through social media to help with major life decisions (which glasses to buy).

311. Even though I was working in the city, spending a day in Maui last week was nice. It’s a different vibe there.

312. Flying Hawaiian Air. It’s never a long flight, the view is always beautiful, and they give you POG.

313. Pogs in my childhood. So ridiculous. Kids are weird.

314. $0.99/lb apples at Safeway today!! They are usually like, $60/lb here! We are going to buy all of them.

315. Goggles in the ocean (to see all the fishes).

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Posted in Appreciation, Life, Lists

Ahimsa

30 Oct

I began writing this post a practical explanation of how Shad and I are transitioning to a vegan diet, but I realize that the ‘why’ part must come first. It is not necessary as a justification or an excuse. Yet, while I don’t feel obligated to explain myself, I am making this choice for the second (and last time) in my life and I want to verbalize my purpose.

Beginning at age fourteen, I was vegan for a year, vegetarian for about ten years, and a pescatarian for the last few years. In every case, I was deliberately diverging from standard eating practices in my environment where most people eat lots and lots of meat and other animal products. It wasn’t the easiest route to take for a number of reasons. One, was that I was raised eating meat. I was used to it and I thought I liked it. I distinctly remember how much I was craving some Applebee’s chicken egg rolls shortly after made the leap into veganhood.

Another, is that the associations and presumptions many people make when they find out about this personal choice are remarkably annoying. You are immediately associated with a hippie on some level. That line of thought adds other connotations like bleeding-heart liberal, flaky, emotional, or unrealistic. While these associations are not necessarily verbalized or across the board, they are absolutely present on a large scale.

Now, why would I make such an uncomfortable and annoying choice? Again, there are a number of reasons, but in this list there is really only one important one.

The way we collect animal products is horribly and disgustingly cruel, inflicting astonishing torture on living, breathing, thinking creatures that feel pain and terror.

That was my original motivation for choosing a vegan diet. It was that simple and as a young, semi-idealistic teenager (I was never totally starry eyed) , I also had this inkling of belief that I could make a difference on a grander scale. Unfortunately, I think the dissipation if that inkling into the reality, that we eat eat more and more meat every year and the general treatment of animals gets anything but better, is what caused my gradual relaxation over the next decade and a half. As I got older, it became easier to say, that while I believe in kindness, practicing it is a meaningless gesture. I remain in the habit of abstaining from meat, but it’s not a political issue so I’m not really going to follow through.

But I get older and I keep thinking.

With the help of Shad making it easier for me (by choosing to change his own diet), and some good conversations, I’ve come back to the point where I don’t want to draw imaginary lines permitting myself an arbitrary level of involvement in things that I do not believe in doing. As an adult, with a relatively wiser perspective, it is still not a political issue for me. I won’t be throwing paint on fur (mostly because I believe that tactic is ineffective) and I won’t even be a jerk at your dinner table. I will, however, do what I believe is right, and on my vehicle of free speech, I will occasionally talk about it (probably in the form of great vegan recipes). I hope that I will affect one person who will affect one more person to make similar choices in their own lives, but I don’t plan on preaching. The internet is full of information for each person to decide for himself.

Finally, allow me to borrow from an ethical principle called Ahimsa. This is the idea of not causing harm to other living things. Essentially, while I live in the modern world and by existing and using modern products and services, I will indirectly cause harm, I am going to take conscientious steps to lead a life that cause the least amount of harm as possible.

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Posted in Animals, Food, Life, Nature & Animals

Another Ketchup Post

28 Oct

This- this post- is just the dressing, not the actual dish. The substance will follow shortly, but I wanted to make sure that that the main course was seasoned with an overview of what I’ve been up to for the past couple weeks. On that note- before I even get to the catching-up part, I want to comment on this pattern of mine- this almost regular burst of intense bloggery every couple of weeks with nothing in between.

It’s interesting. We all have patterns, but never before have they been so damn public and measurable. On the one hand, I don’t like it. It destroys the facade that I am a perfect and consistent human being. It counters me when I tell you that I can take on twenty independent and personal projects outside of my day job and be one hundred percent committed to all of them. You begin to doubt that I don’t sleep; I don’t need to; that I am productive and creative all. the. time.

Okay, no. The truth is that I do a lot of things and while this blog is probably interesting for someone (though, how would I know, no ever comments?! Just kidding. I really don’t mind.), it’s really just an exercise for me to build a writing voice, organize my thoughts and share the random things that I do make in bursts of creativity. So, on that other hand, that I alluded to earlier, I like the fact this is publicizing my present inconsistency. This isn’t a life-threatening or career-breaking venue, but it’s public enough that it reflects on me. Inconsistency is bad and I should feel bad. Making it public makes me accountable. Long story short, I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more often.

Now, as far as the update goes…

Life hasn’t been a crazy party for the past couple weeks and you’ll hear no complaints from me. I’m still settling into the rhythm of a 9-5 again, and appreciating really chill weekends. We’re not totally boring- we still wander the city every day, swim and hike regularly. Aside from that, I (and sometimes ‘we’ where specified) have been keeping busy with a few other things which will get their very own posts right after this one. They are…

Getting ready for National Novel Writing Month. I’m sure I’ve alluded to it earlier, but I’m nerding out about it so hard about it this year! I have spent the last month dreaming about a sci-fi story about a dystopian future, controlled by an inept monarch and a corrupt congress… yes, I know, how original, but ‘character is king’ and I promise you’ll like it when I’m done.
I have a professional blogging gig, writing for a new Hawaii themed blog, Hawaii Homes and Living. Check it out, leave some comments, share some links to it. Please/thanks!
Shad and I have decided that being “lacto-ovo-pescatarian” draws a fairly arbitrary line about how much harm we choose to inflict upon animals. That, and saying “lacto-ovo-pescatarian” sounds silly, while not identifying yourself as such makes people insist that you try some of their homemade beef enchiladas, and calling yourself a simple “vegetarian,” makes you a liar if you eat sushi. Long story short, we’ve decided that a vegan diet is not such a big deal and I’ll write more about that in it’s own little post.
I’m volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii – you might be thinking that’s odd, considering my brazen lack of interest in children, but I signed up for various reasons and I will talk all about within the next few posts.
We experienced our first tsunami! It was two whole inches high on our side of the island! I know, I know! It’s crazy. Still, I’ll share some thoughts on tsunamis. Why not?
Finally, I want to start talking about the technical things that I learn because teaching what you’ve just learned is the best way to really learn and maybe my thoughts as a novice will help another novice in need. First up – JavaScript.

If you’re here, reading this, thanks for remembering about me. I will do my best to keep you entertained!

1 Comment

Posted in Life

Hey!

23 Sep

I’m still here… just a bit overextended (it’s not bad though). I have a job, I can swim, and I am not eating sweets/candy/cake/cookies/pancakes for one month. I’ll be back with some details later. K, bye.

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Posted in Life

Our First Hike in Makiki

02 Sep

Yesterday, Shad and I checked out the Makiki Forest Recreation Area. The reserve is about a 40 minute walk from our front door. We walked through Makiki Heights and saw this excellent tree on the way.

Giant Tree in the Park

As we were just just on an exploratory visit and we didn’t leave our house until the middle of the day, we decided to hike around a relatively short loop.

We walked along the blue line.

I don’t have a whole lot of explaining to go along with these pictures, except to say that these pictures don’t do it justice (they almost never do). It was green and encompassing and amazing. There are pictures from the beginning of the trail where it looks a little manicured (which it is), but that path fell away quickly and we had a wonderful day hiking up and down a variety of steep grades. There were clean streams, chirping birds, and endless canopies of banyan trees and vines.

Welcome to Makiki Forest Recreation Area

Please enjoy the gallery of mostly green stuff and an occasional Shad (the person, not the fish) here or there. Also note that I’ve used the NextGen Gallery instead of the (stupid) built-in WordPress Gallery, so now you can scroll through images instead of having to continuously hit the ‘back’ button.

[Show as slideshow]