Room and board

I moved into my sweet room today. 

Here is the view from the window.

And note the killer surfboard.

All summer I've been trying to update my wardrobe (at Ross) to try and dress-up a little more. I was going to Japan, after all. So while unpacking today I found it funny that I brought a bunch of collared shirts that I'll probably never wear, because I ride my (awesome) bike everywhere and sweat like a roofer. So far I've only worn shorts and wife-beaters, which I didn't bring enough of. 

Week 1 in Honolulu

It's been a great week. So much has happened that I'll present everything in list form.

- Shannon's friends have been great (Shannon is my cousin, who just moved back home after a 3 year stint in Honolulu). I keep calling Shannon and telling her how much fun I'm having with her friends and I think she's going crazy. 

I've been staying with Bryce and he's been a wonderful host. I've been sleeping on the floor with a 4 foot papasan pad and a guitar case as a pillow. It's much more comfortable than it sounds ;)

- My second day I got a bike. It's totally awesome. It's a 10 speed trek from the 80's and it rides great. I also got really lucky (so I hear) to find a bike with an oversized frame. I've done a little work on it and now it's ready to rock.

- Finding an apartment was hard! This one hippy lady had a cool room in a GREAT location, but she couldn't make up her mind and strung me along for a few days. She even called up some of my friends to learn more about me. She didn't choose me, but at the same time I had an offer to live with a really cool young family originally from SF in a really nice house. So I'm moving to Palolo tomorrow!

- On my way home from my last apartment viewing today, I saw a hole-in-the-wall surf shop. I ducked in and asked if they had any used 7'2" boards. There was this cute little yellow and green board for $125. Sold. I'm picking it up tomorrow!

I guess that's about it. I was going to wait for a few weeks to post "tutee wanted" flyers, but I'll probably get bored this week and do it then. 

Oh, and I've developed a bad addiction. I LOVE these iced coffee drinks.

Episode IV

Everything up until now has been fairly nice. I grew up in Livermore, CA (Episode I), moved to San Francisco for 8 years of school (Episodes II and III), and now I get to take a little break before going back to school next year (Episode V... coming soon). 

I had some really nice plans for Episode IV. I was going to move to Japan to immerse myself in a different culture, eat lots of great food and support myself as an English teacher for 6 months. Then I was going to travel around Asia... or maybe even the world... starting in Korea, then to China, SE Asia and then wherever else I could afford.

So for 6 months I'd been saving, learning Japanese and filling out paperwork (oh, and writing my Master's thesis). Things were going great. Then, the day after I finished writing my thesis, 4 days before my thesis defense, 6 days before I had to move out of my room, and 8 days before my flight to Japan, I got some BAAAAAD news. Due to some accidental inconsistencies in my paperwork, my case needed to be reviewed and reprocessed. A week later, I had to cancel my flight and I didn't know when or if I'd get my VISA. My bags were packed and there was nowhere to go. 

I was full of anxiety and a little bit bitter. I didn't take long to decide that I was going to move to Hawaii, find a room, get a part time job, and surf while Japan figured out what it wanted to do with me. Besides, I couldn't waste all of the awesome going-away dinners/parties that were thrown for me (Everyone had a lot of fun at those parties. They must've been really happy to see me go, haha).

Anyway, while not surfing poor+ conditions and Ocean Beach and drinking PBR, I spent last week preparing for Hawaii. Today I (re)packed my bags and tomorrow I'm flying out of Oakland. My priorities this week (in order of importance) are to find a room, a bike, a surfboard, and a job.