Asadachi!

So a day after my last somewhat unsettling post, I got a job. In the words of my partner's parents, "A good balance between working towards your future and staying in the moment helps you to just be" and how true that is. After having one of the hardest, most emotionally and physically demanding jobs I think anyone could ever have (wilderness therapy with juvies), it's been hard for me to just let go, take some time for myself, and relax without feeling worthless.

Before coming out here, I was proud to tell people that I was looking forward to bagging groceries. I think my job is a step up from that. I've never worked retail before, but I am now the proud employee of Surf N Sea, the oldest surf shop on the North Shore AND the only one right on the beach. I get free rentals for myself and a friend (that goes for surfboards, stand up paddle boards, kayaks, dive equipment, etc). I am also required to take surf lessons some of the best to break some bad habits, as well as being required to swim with sharks (from a cage, of course). After 3 months I'll get PADI certification (which is super expensive otherwise).


Anyway, even though it's retail and I'm quite anti-capitalist, I love my job. At least half of our customers are Japanese, so I've been trying to pick up phrases here and there. I can say things ranging from "yes you are very very skinny, but this will shrink in the wash" to "hello, you have nice morning wood!" thanks to an initiation prank played on me by my co-workers. If I do end up studying Japanese Politics in graduate school, this may or may not be of some use...

Working towards the future but staying in the moment... one embarrassed Japanese customer at a time.

Cathedrals

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is

mp3: "Cathedrals"- Jump, Little Children

It's a funny thing to be homesick when I'm not sure what or where it is I'm missing.

And it's easy to forget to be thankful for things when I have so much to be thankful for.

Quotidian life of a fresh transplant

Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and now Hawaii.

We arrived in Hawaii just to catch the sunset and sleep in the car near Pipeline.

Monday
(-) woke up cranky from jet lag/sleeping in a car
slept in the car again that night

(+) woke up ON THE BEACH
Nick discovered that the beach in the morning is better than a shopping mall-- salvaged a rugby football and sand pail
set up several appointments to check out apartments


Tuesday
(+) we got our very first apartment. It's got wood floors, washer and dryer, dishwasher, a full kitchen, balcony, and it's ON THE NORTH SHORE

(-)Slept on hard wood floors
had to convince Nick not salvage the used sponge on the side of the road for our apartment

Wednesday
(+) we got our own bed- $100 with free delivery!
stocked up on taro at the Waialua farmers market
Met Larry *

(-) potentially destroyed phone-- no internet access or phone!
tired from walking 3 miles to the nearest town
no sheets on a used mattress... yick...

Thursday
(-) took the bus down to Honolulu/Waikiki to replace the phone at the apple store

(+) found out the phone was okay!
got to show Nick why we're so lucky to be on the North Shore (he hadn't seen Waikiki/Honolulu before)
made out like bandits at the goodwill store to stock our apt.

Friday
(+) we got a couple of beach cruisers- $80 a pop

(-) mine got a flat within 30 minutes of riding it
we found out that the surf spot behind our house is known as "Hammerheads" because it's a breeding ground for hammerheads, but also notorious for shark sightings (!) Not that that will stop me...


Saturday
(+) got a leather recliner from a garage sale for $15
rekindled my love for lilikoi lemonade at the Waimea farmers market
befriended Maui, a Native Hawaiian artist (who hooked me up with recycled blankets and towels)

(-) lost my boyfriend somewhere and had to talk to people at garage sales to track him down

Sunday
(+) Stocked up on produce and acai bowls at the Haleiwa Farmers Market
+began the process of pimping my ride- I've now got a milk crate on the back to carry my junk. next to come- streamers, big cushy seat, and a horn.

(-) I've been stuck in this coffee shop for a few hours trying to jailbreak my iphone so we can get internet access without having to haul the lappy 3 miles into town. Wah.


*Larry will likely be blogged about in the future due to his well-rounded awesomeness.

The Gadflies of Society

I've just finished my tour de grad schools. I traveled from Atlanta GA, through Texas, Arizona, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, and back down to San Diego visiting a total of 10 schools. That said, it was absolutely exhausting. Nick and I lived out of a car from couchsurfers to campsites for nearly two months on tortillas, peanut butter, and bananas. We invented "couples therapeutic boxing" during this time. Who says fighting doesn't solve anything?

I started my trip thinking I wanted to study Political Theory. When I was working in the woods, this is all I thought about and all I wanted to read. Everything just seemed so applicable-- living in a "state of nature" to forming a social contract brought me back to Locke and Rousseau. I didn't really give a crap about what was going on in China, North Korea, immigration, or even the oil spill, because those things didn't seem to affect my daily life whatsoever. Political Theory is applied everywhere-- in our everyday relationships that involve power and authority.

Political Philosophers are the gadflies of society. We're supposed to be those who reject conventional lives while stirring up public officials-- posing more questions than providing answers. When speaking with Political Theorists from various universities, I detected a trend that the job market is extremely tough for Theorists in particular. There are maybe 30 tenure-track positions across the country per year.

After I left the woods (unemployed, mind you), my head slowly began to descend from the clouds. Basic concepts of survival in a capitalist system became part of my reality.

I need money to eat==> I need food to survive. ==> I need my Whole Foods to survive well. ==> I need more money to be able to afford Whole Foods. ==> I need a job to make money. ==> I need a job.

Also, after leaving my small community in the woods, I've become more cognizant of my role as a citizen in the United States. When I came back from Samoa, I didn't feel comfortable jumping into corporate America, much less engaging in politics-- so life in the woods seemed fitting for me. But moving on has shown me how American politics affect my everyday life, and I've realized that hiding from American happenings doesn't mean my hands are clean from all American blunders. I'm learning responsibility.
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Now, I am in Conway, NH with Nick and his parents. After taking the GRE Wednesday, we'll go to a beach house for a week, and then we're flying to Hawaii where we will look for work/shelter, apply to schools, and there we will stay until we've got responses.




A photo taken of Nick after we dined in the parking lot of a Fredricksburg HEB. Milk and good protein are hard to come by when you're on a budget! We've eaten 320 cheesy cracker sandwiches since this day.

7-12-10

a sore back from driving too much plus sleeping on gravel
a peeling nose from too many hours in the sun
a couple-a 85 cent breakfast tacos
today meet with some profs @ UT and talk political theory
do the laundries
get the auto check
shower at a pit stop
drive to new mexico and wake up to the desert

on my way...