we are gonna be friends

Friday, went shopping in Waikiki (by bus! I take the bus everywhere. No car... it's been life changing) and ran into a friend from one of my classes on the bus. It turns out I have a shopping tolerance rate of about forty minutes, so I ended up meeting up with this friend at her cute little two-room apartment in Waikiki.  Houses are so expensive here; her apartment has only one big, open room that is her kitchen, dining area, living room, and bedroom, all in one!  ...With a little lanai (porch) and bathroom attached. I absolutely love it! I borrowed one of her swimsuits, we walked two blocks to the beach in only our suits (no shoes, turns out I'm not the only one who hates wearing shoes) and bailed into the ocean. She swam for a solid 40 minutes, while I swam for about 15 and slept on the beach the rest of the time. The whole day I'd been stressed and constantly on the go, and as soon as I was in the ocean it all washed away. Literally. If I were to worship anything, it would be the ocean.

After, we walked back, showered, and ate tofu, rice, and veggies with tea and dark chocolate. In complete hippie fashion, we ate it all while sitting on her rug at the coffee table (she doesn't have a table & chairs, or couches, for that matter). Just a bed and mermaid pictures hung up all over, oh, and the beach about two minutes from her house.We talked all about astrological signs, her surfer boyfriend who believes in past lives, yada yada. To say the least, I absolutely loved hearing about her perspective, and I would really like to live in a studio like hers, please and thank you.

After dinner, I grabbed the bus back to my dorms, got ready in literally five minutes and met up with my other friend for ice cream from a local place called Bubbies. Their flavors are hilarious: "orgasm in your mouth" & "up all night" are some examples. Making fun of jersey shore, my favorite movie surf's up and what I would call a really good night were involved too.

This morning, woke up bright and early to go turn a bus into a home for 8 homeless people. This is one of the coolest projects I have ever heard of. I met the guy who started the business, and he told me he started the bus project and a nearby homeless shelter about ten years ago. Since then, it's helped foster about 2000 different people. This guy was by no means rich, a business man or anything along those lines. He was just a guy, who one night gave a homeless man the blanket from his car trunk, and was then completely inspired to do something about the homeless problem in Hawaii (This problem also exists in Utah and everywhere else too, for the record).

I've never been to homeless shelter in my life- I mean, actually walked through it to see the rows and rows of little cubicles covered in sheets that people actually call home. What shocked me more than anything is how many children are homeless. Almost every little cubicle in that homeless shelter, which fits about 200 people at one time, had little baby slippers (flip-flops) and toys lined up outside too. It's just incredible, and really put things into perspective. If you do anything for yourself this month, treat yourself to a visit to the homeless shelter, I'm not kidding. The humility it made me feel is just indescribable, so seriously, my challenge to you is to go and experience it yourself.

Work from 4-10 tonight, I can't even wait. Luckily surfing in the morning with my friend and my latest favorite dog. Hallelujah.

gone going

I'm sorry. This is a rant. I warned you, it was only a matter of time before this happened, you should have known... I can't help it, I have so much to say and such a big audience now. Five followers! I know, I know, if everyone could please stop following me, it's getting a little annoying having so many of you.

Okay, so, here's the thing. I really wish we could erase clothing from that list of "things we spend money on". I'm not saying I'm a saint and that I only own five shirts and one pair of jeans. No,  this is coming from the perspective of someone addicted to buying purses, shirts, earrings; you get the point. I buy my clothes semi-cheap, but I can't justify having five swimsuits and all the other things I bought because I thought I needed them. Wait, can we first stop and talk about what that word need  really means?

"A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death."

Blah blah blah, a need: something you have to have in order to be happy? Something you have to have to survive?

Sometimes, I think I need clothing to make myself feel confident. If I like my outfit, I'm about 69 times more outgoing then if I don't. We are all in this constant, look-good-and-notice-who-else-looks-good daily struggle. And if you aren't, you're lying to yourself, you're over 50, or you need to enlighten me- right now. I'm confident I'm not alone because I've stepped into friends' closets, filled with more shirts then I've ever owned in my entire life, doting more shoes than a department store... and don't even get me started on those $130 buckle jeans everyone owns. Some of my friends come to class consistently dressed up like they are fresh out of a Cosmogirl magazine, never repeating an outfit, always have a new accessory, and looking absolutely perfect.

AND I am in no way saying this is wrong. I absolutely love seeing everyone's cute clothes! I think maybe I focus on it more than the average being, honestly. I just love clothes. Billabong, Roxy, Forever 21, love it, love it, love it. I wish I could dress like you, you perfect, beautifully dressed models, you. The thing is though, I like all of you for you, not just because you have good style-- not just because you look attractive. If you acted the same way dressed in a Wal-mart t-shirt and ten dollar jeans, I would appreciate you just the same. And if I didn't, the error would be in my own thinking, and not yours.

I'm not saying that you should let yourself go, never shower, never do your hair again, etc., because I am a huge fan of hygiene, seriously. I will appreciate you the same if you don't spend 50 dollars on your next shirt, but if you skip deodorant it might be a little harder.

The point of all of this is, if we all quit buying so much into the fashion industry, maybe everyone would stop making such an effort to spend money on clothing and other things we don't really need. I have met plenty of  people in my life who own very little and are genuinely, divinely, happy. My family members in Peru live in a two bedroom concrete house with no hot water, cement flooring, no heater, and yes, about five shirts to their name. And they don't care. They wear the same shirt twice a week, own only one nice suit or dress, and they are some of the happiest people I've met.

When you die, the only things you will truly take with you are your memories and life experiences. You can leave behind mountains of clothing and possessions, but the things people are really going to remember about you are the memories you made with them, how you made them feel, and how you influenced their lives.

inaudible melodies

I love it here. I have about four months left in paradise, and I hope this can help everyone feel some aloha when they are cold, sad, or feeling down. This place is my dream, and I am gonna do my best to share it. The theme is anything life and Hawaii related, with a little bit of Jack Johnson and humor mixed in. 

I moved here in August last year, without friends or family-- alone. Ciao Utah! Oh how I miss your inversion, gray skies, and 20 degree weather. Just kidding, I'm sorry for the sarcasm. I love you, take me back. In four months.

Life here is, sure, as glamorous as it seems. School in the day and then to the ocean, via bike or bus. I came alone and have met people of every variety. I have hitch hiked around north shore, snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, surfed with friends (and their dog), kayaked through manoa river, jumped off cliffs into the ocean, played guitar on the beach, and watched more beautiful sunrises and sunsets then I could ever begin to explain. Buuuuut it doesn't come easy. I work at a greasy place known as the Fat Greek (yes, the FAT greek, I know), and have about forty hours of homework a week. It's calling to me from inside the crevice of a chemistry book as I type, I promise I'm coming back now. 

So marks the beginning of my blahhhg.