There were some helluva storms in Honolulu earlier this month. I found myself out and about in one of them, with a full cart of groceries. Not wanting to melt, I asked the cashier where their non-Barbie umbrellas were and he told me they had sold out. I was weighing my options when the woman in the next line gave me hers. "Take it," she said, "I have plenty."
I was speechless.
So I hugged her.
And then left, with my new aloha umbrella in hand.
You may not find this particularly touching, but it's not often that I stumble across a genuine act of kindness - especially directed toward me! I find myself reflecting upon this often when I help a friend, or a stranger, and think about giving in an entirely new light.
So Mahalo, my umbrella-giving friend, whoever you are.
This past year has been one for the recordbooks. I went from being 38 and content to never leave my house, to 39 and a little effin crazy. What better way to top off my bout of insanity than a tattoo!?
This photo was made just seconds after Doug @ Hawaiian Tattoo Company finished torturing me. Does it look painful? Because it freaking was! I don't think I'll be rushing out any time soon to do another (although I am kicking around re-piercing my belly button when I go back).
I've finally been inked, in true farewell to youth style.
It sounds funny saying that ... I haven't been an apartment dweller in well over a decade. But 10 years of maintaining a house, houseS if you include the rental property, has me very appreciative of the simple living an apartment provides.
Plus the apartment is in Waikiki - so there's that extra added bonus.
For those of you familiar with the area, I'm off of Kuhio, very close to Lewers St and the Wyland Hotel. For those of you not familiar, I'm in freaking Hawaii, in the heart of all the hustle and bustle of Waikiki.
Wanna see wanna see? I made a little video tour, with some very lame narrations. Just mute your machine and check it out:
I know it's a bit excessive, but I wanted a place to call my own on-island so I can leave my stuff and just bring my fabulous self when I travel back and forth. Since I don't pay mortgages any more (yay me!) I thought that paying rent somewhere wouldn't be the end of the world. Hopefully it will get me back here sooner rather than later too :)
This visit has been considerably kinder and gentler to my body. No crazy parties or hanging out with young boys (well, not a LOT of hanging with young boys) ... mostly I've been getting settled in, revisiting friends, and diving. Oh yeah, DIVING!
I've been working on my Advanced Open Water Scuba Certification since I got here. As of right now I'm about 4/6 of the way there - I need to log two more adventure dives to get my new card. So far we've completed: Night Dive, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Navigation, and Drift Diving. We were supposed to do the deep dive and something else (hopefully scooter!) today, but that charter got canceled. There's a hellofastorm on the island right now - I hope it passes soon!
So that's about all the news I've got. I go back to NM on Monday and need to get back to work and holiday stuff.
There were some helluva storms in Honolulu earlier this month. I found myself out and about in one of them, with a full cart of groceries. Not wanting to melt, I asked the cashier where their non-Barbie umbrellas were and he told me they had sold out. I was weighing my options when the woman in the next line gave me hers. "Take it," she said, "I have plenty."
