Wedding Day!! And it's still raining. In fact, it seems to be raining so hard that it's going sideways. That's not good.
Let's just hope that I don't fall and get all muddy. It's quite possible with the water soaked Kaneohe red dirt ground, my high heels that I never wear and the fact that I'm wearing a white dress . It's like the Bermuda Triangle.
My mom was being positive and said that overcast days means good pictures. Yay! My girlfriend Jenne said that, "if we have stormy weather then our marriage will be able to handle the 'stormy' parts of our marriage" (I'm paraphrasing) and my other girlfriend Jennifer said that "the rain is a blessing from God". Yes, everyone is trying their hardest to be positive for us. That is how horrible the weather here is. It is honestly like a mini storm.
Thank you to all for the well wishes and positive well wishes. Let's just cross our fingers no one falls in the mud.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
One More Day to Go
Tim and I are here in rainy Hawaii for our wedding tomorrow. Yes, for all of you who have not heard yet, we caved and decided to have a very small wedding. We planned it all in about two months with my mom, Lynne, doing most...all of the work since the wedding will be in Hawaii and I was out in San Francisco. God bless my mom. Planning a wedding even though it's only for twenty people is stressful.
Got the license yesterday and today we met with the person who will be officiating the wedding. This is for REAL! Wow! We're both surprisingly not stressed or anything yet.
The weather in Hawaii since we arrived on Monday sucks the big one. It looks like a mini storm and has not stopped raining the whole time we have been here. Tim even saw a tree fall when he was out running because it's so damn wet and windy. We were hoping for a garden wedding at Haiku Gardens but it's looking like a chapel wedding. Oh well at least we'll be dry and not muddy.
We'll put up pictures soon - hopefully we'll have some sun in there. Everybody pray for some sun for us.
Got the license yesterday and today we met with the person who will be officiating the wedding. This is for REAL! Wow! We're both surprisingly not stressed or anything yet.
The weather in Hawaii since we arrived on Monday sucks the big one. It looks like a mini storm and has not stopped raining the whole time we have been here. Tim even saw a tree fall when he was out running because it's so damn wet and windy. We were hoping for a garden wedding at Haiku Gardens but it's looking like a chapel wedding. Oh well at least we'll be dry and not muddy.
We'll put up pictures soon - hopefully we'll have some sun in there. Everybody pray for some sun for us.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Day in the Life
So the honeymoon is over - my honeymoon with riding the bus that is. I was so excited to be using public transportation when I got here. I remember telling everyone I was riding the bus and I LOVED IT. I'm sure my friends and family were rolling their eyes and thinking, yeah, she's green, that rosy attitude on the bus will end soon.
Well, I still love that I don't have to drive but the whole bus thing has lost its novelt
y. It may have been the day that the person in back of me was cutting their nails, or it might just be the smell of B.O. and at the end of the day in the Tenderloin where the streets smell of urine, the last thing I want to smell on a crowded bus is B.O.
Yesterday topped it off though and any sort of romanticism I had left in me about public transportation was obliterated forever. There was a man with a cat in a cage on the bus. Poor cat was so stressed out and the man just seemed to make it worse whistling at him and yelling at the cat to be quiet. This is going on for a while and then I smell the strongest smell. I think, "great, more B.O.", but this smell was like SUPER B.O. The cat was so freaked out, he apparently sprayed while he was in his cage...on the bus...two seats in back of me.
Being the good Japanese girl I am I kept my eyes forward and acted like nothing had happened. The poor people behind me and right next to him - they did not have the luxury of ignoring the situation. I can only imgagine that the smell was so much stronger back there. The cat owner started apologizing and saying his cat had a problem - uh, yeah. I don't remember much else because I have developed "bus sense" and I can turn off all senses and/or feelings and also memory. Being numb to the world and having the craziest things happen around you and not reacting is a skill that riding the bus and working in the Tenderloin has given me. I'm not putting that on my resume but it is a skill that is developed. Some might call this a lack of empathy - I call it - SURVIVAL.
Other survival skills I have developed is that I am now an obsessive compulsion hand washer. I'm working at a health center that serves those who are homeless and are diagnosed with HIV so there are Purell hand cleaning dispensers all around - it's like being on a cruise ship, but not. I am constantly using Purell throughout the day and/or going to the bathroom to wash my hands. Then I get to top my day off with riding the bus and being surrounded with more germs. The first thing I do when I get home is go straight to the sink and wash my hands. My hands are getting dry and gross - but I haven't gotten sick yet! And I now have the excuse to buy H2O hand soap and lotion - it's on sale for $15, regularly $25!!! Go to your nearest H2O before they sell out.
Well, I still love that I don't have to drive but the whole bus thing has lost its novelt
y. It may have been the day that the person in back of me was cutting their nails, or it might just be the smell of B.O. and at the end of the day in the Tenderloin where the streets smell of urine, the last thing I want to smell on a crowded bus is B.O.Yesterday topped it off though and any sort of romanticism I had left in me about public transportation was obliterated forever. There was a man with a cat in a cage on the bus. Poor cat was so stressed out and the man just seemed to make it worse whistling at him and yelling at the cat to be quiet. This is going on for a while and then I smell the strongest smell. I think, "great, more B.O.", but this smell was like SUPER B.O. The cat was so freaked out, he apparently sprayed while he was in his cage...on the bus...two seats in back of me.
Being the good Japanese girl I am I kept my eyes forward and acted like nothing had happened. The poor people behind me and right next to him - they did not have the luxury of ignoring the situation. I can only imgagine that the smell was so much stronger back there. The cat owner started apologizing and saying his cat had a problem - uh, yeah. I don't remember much else because I have developed "bus sense" and I can turn off all senses and/or feelings and also memory. Being numb to the world and having the craziest things happen around you and not reacting is a skill that riding the bus and working in the Tenderloin has given me. I'm not putting that on my resume but it is a skill that is developed. Some might call this a lack of empathy - I call it - SURVIVAL.
Other survival skills I have developed is that I am now an obsessive compulsion hand washer. I'm working at a health center that serves those who are homeless and are diagnosed with HIV so there are Purell hand cleaning dispensers all around - it's like being on a cruise ship, but not. I am constantly using Purell throughout the day and/or going to the bathroom to wash my hands. Then I get to top my day off with riding the bus and being surrounded with more germs. The first thing I do when I get home is go straight to the sink and wash my hands. My hands are getting dry and gross - but I haven't gotten sick yet! And I now have the excuse to buy H2O hand soap and lotion - it's on sale for $15, regularly $25!!! Go to your nearest H2O before they sell out.
Before I end my crazy rambling post I have to mention my BFF Francis just because. So when I first met Francis I noticed he was constantly using Purell, and I thought - weirdo. But now I see that that is what the Tenderloin does to you. It turns you into a crazy hand washing Purell using germ freak. Hey, it's the survival of the fittest and you gotta keep those hands clean or else. I got a wedding next week and I better not get sick.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
School's Out
Actually forever! I just got back from Seattle to present my final paper for my MPA. I'm done! After 3 1/2 years, I'm finally graduating. Tim has been so supportive. If it hadn't been for him, it would have taken me at LEAST another year.
I probably won't walk for graduation, we'll see what I'm up to in June to make the trip back to Seattle. Since I really just care about the pictures, I might go with my brother's plan of getting the cap and gown and just taking pictures with everyone. I'll just have to travel with my cap and gown and diploma. Sounds like a plan.
My final presentation was in true Seattle U style. It was as my professor's house and he and his wife made dinner for all of us. I love that school.
The trip to Seattle was busy but perfect. I actually started planning on that and arranging to see everyone before I started on my presentation for my final paper. See where my priorities lie or is it lay? After all that education my grammar still sucks. Got to see all of my friends and had the most amazing meal at Elemental. I highly recommend that to anyone going to Seattle.
I'm looking at getting a J-O-B now. Not sure exactly what I want to do - the non-profit health care field is absolutely crazy but I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Until I get a J-O-B I'll keep interning at Tenderloin Health. Now that's a crazy house. It's also in the worst part of San Francisco but what they are doing is incredible. They are serving those who are homeless and with HIV/AIDS. If it wasn't for my BFF Francis, going to work would be so dreary. Francis is the best girlfriend/boyfriend EVER and he protects me from the crazies in the Tenderloin.
The other day Francis and I were going out for coffee and we actually had someone leer at us and hiss. Maybe it was the fact that he had no front teeth, or maybe he was totally out of his mind but I have never ever ever had someone hiss at me. At least not a perfect stranger. I mean, he actually went out of his way to hiss in our faces. Ahhh, just another day in the Tenderloin.
In addition to the hisser, there are the various catcalls I get. I believe my confidence level is going up by having men daily yell out things like, "hey baby you look good", "nice", and "hey girl, you have a beautiful smile". I even had an invitation into a bar one evening when I stayed a little too long at work and it was dark out. The man almost pulled me in. I now do not stay in the Tenderloin past the daylight hours and if I do, my bodyguard Francis escorts me to my city limo - the bus.
I take it all as a compliment - the leers and jeers that is. The social rules in the Tenderloin are a little loose and if I ever need help I know that Francis will come to my rescue. That queen will scratch the eyeballs out of anyone putting me in harm's way. Actually he looks so butch that so long as he doesn't open that mouth of his no one is gonna bother me.
Next up - gettin' married. This has been a big year for us.
I probably won't walk for graduation, we'll see what I'm up to in June to make the trip back to Seattle. Since I really just care about the pictures, I might go with my brother's plan of getting the cap and gown and just taking pictures with everyone. I'll just have to travel with my cap and gown and diploma. Sounds like a plan.
My final presentation was in true Seattle U style. It was as my professor's house and he and his wife made dinner for all of us. I love that school.
The trip to Seattle was busy but perfect. I actually started planning on that and arranging to see everyone before I started on my presentation for my final paper. See where my priorities lie or is it lay? After all that education my grammar still sucks. Got to see all of my friends and had the most amazing meal at Elemental. I highly recommend that to anyone going to Seattle.
I'm looking at getting a J-O-B now. Not sure exactly what I want to do - the non-profit health care field is absolutely crazy but I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Until I get a J-O-B I'll keep interning at Tenderloin Health. Now that's a crazy house. It's also in the worst part of San Francisco but what they are doing is incredible. They are serving those who are homeless and with HIV/AIDS. If it wasn't for my BFF Francis, going to work would be so dreary. Francis is the best girlfriend/boyfriend EVER and he protects me from the crazies in the Tenderloin.
The other day Francis and I were going out for coffee and we actually had someone leer at us and hiss. Maybe it was the fact that he had no front teeth, or maybe he was totally out of his mind but I have never ever ever had someone hiss at me. At least not a perfect stranger. I mean, he actually went out of his way to hiss in our faces. Ahhh, just another day in the Tenderloin.
In addition to the hisser, there are the various catcalls I get. I believe my confidence level is going up by having men daily yell out things like, "hey baby you look good", "nice", and "hey girl, you have a beautiful smile". I even had an invitation into a bar one evening when I stayed a little too long at work and it was dark out. The man almost pulled me in. I now do not stay in the Tenderloin past the daylight hours and if I do, my bodyguard Francis escorts me to my city limo - the bus.
I take it all as a compliment - the leers and jeers that is. The social rules in the Tenderloin are a little loose and if I ever need help I know that Francis will come to my rescue. That queen will scratch the eyeballs out of anyone putting me in harm's way. Actually he looks so butch that so long as he doesn't open that mouth of his no one is gonna bother me.
Next up - gettin' married. This has been a big year for us.
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