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.