Things I've learned about Hawaii this week

I remembered the other annoying (and also surprising) thing. There is no Target here. Wal-Mart? Yes. K-Mart? Check. Sam's? Yep. Costco? Uh-huh. Alas, no Target. And I still have a gift card I need you use...

On a related note, I learned something interesting (this is not the only interesting thing I've learned, however, more HI tidbits to follow): some of the stores here, like Apple and Nike, are the highest grossing locations anywhere. At first, I was like, nah, how can that be? But it's all the insane-rich, mostly Japanese, tourists. Interesting. [note: I am taking this on the word of the person who told me, I have not actually confirmed this]

Other factoids:

The Hawaiian language only consists of twelve letters.

The Hawaiian word for "tiny fish" is: humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Big word for little fish.

Michelle Wie's (probably old) dentist's office is(was) in my building. She is also apparently very, very tall, which I never knew.

Meat Jun is, from my understanding, the Hawaiian/Korean version of steak fingers. I plan on trying it on Monday and will report back.


In other news, I got two spam emails today that I was really, really tempted to open. Their subject lines read:

John McCain eats a bug.

and

Children admit to being little shits - Video

I'm not sure which I wanted to see more. But I fought the urge after realizing infecting the company's computer after less than a week there in hopes of seeing a politician imbibe insects or kids denigrating themselves would not be the best decision. Probably.

k

Pictures, Tangents, and Rants

As promised, here is a picture of my car (a week after the fact, I know). It is too cute! Every morning when I'm leaving for work I have to smile. It is a very happy car. All it needs is a few accessories and a surf board on top. Even if it turns out I suck at surfing.

Here is a picture of a gecko that got stuck under the dish rack in my kitchen sink. I couldn't catch him, so I laid a towel along the counter and into the sink and herded him over to it so he would have something to get traction on to make his way out.


And, I'm (almost) official at work! I have my own extension and I'm on everyone's little phone cards. Now all I need are my own keys and personalized company business cards.


Now, I know pretty much all I've talked about so far is how great things are here. A few of you have asked me if there's anything I don't like. The answer is yes. More specifically:

1. Sudden downpours with zero warning. I learned this the hard way on my very first day of work walking to my building. Without an umbrella. It made me very unhappy.

2. National commercials for chains we do not have here. Sonic, your banana split shake looks delicious. Your website informs me there is no sonic location within 1000 miles of me. So thank you for that.

3. Valid only at participating locations. This means NOT valid in Hawaii. We do not have $5 foot long subs at Subway or Quiznos. We do not have 79 cent tacos at TBell. It's pretty lame.

4. Not so much a complaint, but something that I've had to adjust to and is also fast food related: almost NO drive thrus. I've seen two: Arby's and McDonald's. Jack in th Box might be, I haven't really looked that closely. But most places, even if it is a big chain and it is free standing and there is room for one, do not have drive thrus. I realize now how much driving thru I did in Austin: food, banking, coffee, prescriptions, dry cleaning. None o that here.

5. Mainlanders calling me at 5-6 AM. Sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucks. Sucks.

Hm, seems like there was something else, but I can't think of it.

Oh, I was very proud of myself this morning: A Japanese tourist asked me for directions to Wal-Mart and I was actually able to tell her! I was happy not only that I now know the area well enough to direct her, but also that I give off the appearance of someone who looks like they know where they are.

Work is going well. It is pretty crazy because we have a big pitch for a big bank coming up, as well as a "secret" client that only like four people in the office know about. I am not one of those people. I do feel a little out of place sometimes, partly because I'm still new, also because the next youngest person there is thirty-one. But everyone in the office is really nice and--based on the fact that "F*** It Friday" is this week--fun.

k

Now for the other things...

So this will be kind of a potpourri of pictures and stories that have happened since my last post.

I drove around somewhat aimlessly on Wednesday; I feel like that's one of the best ways to learn a new city, just kind of venture out and see where everything is first hand. Anyhow, I ended up driving downtown, then up through Hawaii Kai, by Hanauma Bay, and Waimanalo Bay, all on th east side of the island. And it's a good thing I am writing this, because I butcher the pronunciation of the Hawaiian language and am getting increasingly frustrated about it. People at work will ask me stuff like where something is and I'll try to pronounce a street name with like eight vowels and a k and an l and three of the vowels are u and they're all in a row, and when I can't say it they laugh at the haole (how-lee, white person. I know that one...). Ugh. It's embarrassing. I'm trying to learn though.

Anyhow, here are some of the pictures I took on my drive:
This is one of my favorite things about Hawaii: you'll be stopped at an intersection, and a breeze comes through, and all of these beautifully colored petals come blowing down from the trees onto the street. It's a nice moment in the middle of the crazy-ass driving that happens in Honolulu.

I love, love, love these trees. Mom, I'm sure you can tell me what they are. They are so vivid and vibrant and they just pop against the backdrop of the city.

Diamondhead. Kind of a lame picture, but it's there.

North of Hanauma Bay. The road I was on is breathtaking to drive, which makes it really dangerous. Tourists (and me) are trying to look out at the ocean and take pictures, while the locals become irate that they're driving so slow, and all of this is happening on a winding two-lane road on the edge of cliff above the ocean. Bad combination.


This is near Waimanalo Bay. I'm pretty sure I saw this place on an episode of Intervention, and I'm guessing Dog has probably filmed in the area as well. I know this kind of situation isn't unique to Hawaii, but it is startling to see the juxtaposition of a hellhole in the middle of paradise. One minute you are looking at some of the most picturesque beach in the world, and then you come around the corner to see this. It catches you off guard.

Now, back to the house:
This is the best picture I've been able to get of Osito. I have learned he's a little bit camera shy. I've also learned he's not just Pomeranian, but also Papillon, which I can totally see now.

Here is Chiquita, formerly known as Lani. She and Osito were in my place when I took these pictures, because they've learned that when they get kicked out of the main house into the backyard, they can come to my back door, which connects to the backyard, and whine until I buckle and let them in. Anyway, I folded up my boxes and bubble wrap that I had my stuff shipped in and slid them under the bed since I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying. Chiquita crawled under the four inch gap between my bed and the floor and made herself a bubble wrap nest. She is awfully cute.

Here is one of the outdoor geckos. He is missing part of his tail, so he must have had a run-in with something. They are much bigger and braver than the indoor geckos, and not nearly as pretty. But the indoor geckos are very quick and skittish, so I haven't been able to get any pictures of them yet.

One last wildlife story: Y'all remember that cockroach from my very first post? Well, I was washing my face when out of the corner of my eye, I saw his big bad brother cockroach. I squealed. This was the biggest freaking bug I have ever seen in my life. It was right next to my brand new bar of Dove, and I swear to you, he was every bit as long. I was freaking out trying to find something in the bathroom BIG enough to smash him with. It turns out that was the toilet paper stand. I smashed him several times with it and haven't moved it since. I'm scared to now, in case he's under there playing possum.

k

First things first....

My internet connection has been out, so I wasn't able to update and let y'all know that I actually started work yesterday, not Wednesday. Things were crazy around the agency and my boss called me to tell me to wait a couple of days to come in. That said, let me tell you about my first day:

Everyone at the office is super sweet. There are about 13 other people working in the office. They gave me a beautiful lei and were all very warm and welcoming. After filling out tax, legal, and health insurance papers, I got a tour of the office and a rundown of how things work. Then I got my first assignment, which is to create a template ad for AIG Hawaii when they do charitable sponsorships. I worked on that for an hour or so, and then I went with an Account Executive to an editing session for an AIG Hawaii TV spot. That was pretty interesting, because I have never worked on TV before. Then the clients came in, made a couple of suggestions, and approved it. Then we headed back to the office for a little while. All in all, it was a pretty good first day.

This is my little workspace. I think it's pretty nice. It makes me feel legit and grown up (in kind of a weird way).

This is the view from the creative side of the office. Not bad.

Today has been awesome.

Really. I'm looking at my clock and thinking, wow, it's only 4:44, but today really cannot get much better. I should probably just go to bed. But in reality, I plan on grilling burgers later for dinner and maybe going to the beach for a bit. Life is rough.

But back to why today is so great:

1. I accepted the job at HMS advertising. They are paying me pretty darn well, giving me really good benefits, providing me with my own iMac to work on there, and best of all, in a few months, they are going to give me my own accounts to start working on. As in I will be in charge of them. That's ridiculous. I am a little nervous but also excited. It's a bit like the first day of school.

2. I am getting my Element tomorrow. I realize that doesn't have a lot to do with today, but it contributes to my excitement factor, so I am counting it.

3. I spent a good portion of the afternoon playing with Lani. The electricity was turned off in Kailua because they were doing some sort of construction work (apparently turning off the entire town's electricity for DOT maintenance is only odd to me. But after the initial WTF?, you kind of think, I'm in Hawaii, what do I need to be inside using electricity for anyway?) So Lani and I played in my little garden area. She entertained me more than I entertained her. She was getting tired of me harassing her after a while, I think.

She figured out she could lick the condensation off of my cup, and then seemed to think, wow, if the outside is this good, the inside must be great!

So she kept trying to knock my cup over. But it was cute. How can you get mad at something that looks like that?! She is really smart for being only seven weeks old.

4. I had a delicious Lanikai Juice this afternoon. I ate it before I remembered I was going to take a picture of it to post. They're just that good. Oh well, it will give me an excuse to go get another one sometime soon.

That's all for now. I start work on Wednesday, by the way. Love to everyone.

k

Aloha!

Yes, I moved to Hawaii. Yes, I know it's crazy. But it's done, so get over it and be happy. :)

I figured this would be the easiest way to stay in touch with everyone, given the logistical challenges of timezones and such. And you can check in when you feel like it as opposed to me blindsiding you with jealousy-inducing pictures and stories. Ha ha. And for those of you who know Nirja, I totally copied this idea from her, so I've got to give credit where it's due.

I am living in a little studio attached to the most wonderful family's house. Liliani, my landlady, feels like a second mom. She is so sweet and accommodating. Her sons have also been very helpful, carrying my boxes in for me, offering to teach me to surf, setting up my internet, etc. I am definitely feeling the Ohana spirit. Oh, and there are two little dogs: Osito, a 3 year old Pom who knows all sorts of tricks, and Lani, a 6 week old Chihuahua who just arrived TODAY! They are certainly no replacement for Fergie and Eevee, but they are fun to have around. I will have to get pictures of them sometime soon. Speaking of pictures, here are pictures from the beach, just a couple of blocks from where I live, taken after I arrived Monday afternoon.



This little boy was so cute watching his two older sisters learn how to "surf" on their boogie boards. He ran around naked in the water later. Also cute.

This is taken facing back towards where I live. The house you can see is not the one I'm living in. My house is the third house in from the beach (ugh, SO terrible... ;) ).

Here's a picture of a rainbow I took with my phone on Tuesday--I don't know if you can see it or not, but it was the first rainbow I had seen in a long time and I wanted to capture it.

Speaking of capturing, I have yet to capture a picture of what Lilian refers to as "my roommates." By that she means geckos. They are everywhere! I have only seen two in my place, but they are really cool looking and all different colors. They hang around everywhere in the garden outside my door. I kinda wanna catch one, but I don't want to scare them away. After all, they are the main bug patrol for the place.

Speaking of bugs (this is all flowing together so nicely--I didn't even plan it), everyone has warned me about how huge the bugs get here, but I started to think they were all putting me on because I hadn't seen ANY bugs--until tonight. Let me tell you, what they lack in numbers, they make up for in size. Check out this guy:

Don't freak--the place I am living is very nice and super clean, but leaving the doors and windows open most of the day invites in some unwelcome guests. But I had to get a picture of the first Hawaii-sized bug I'd seen (also the first one I killed).

As far as practical matters go, I had an interview with an ad agency on Wednesday for a junior copywriting position. The creative director called me back this afternoon and said they're interested, and we are meeting again on Monday to discuss "the nuts and bolts." I am undecided as to whether or not I will take it. It doesn't seem like the place where I could do work I would want to add to my portfolio. But they are pitching me their stuff on Monday, so I will keep an open mind until then. I'm working on finding a car and some back-up employment options, so y'all try not to worry about me too much--it's all under control!

That's all for now. I hope all of you are well! I love and miss you all. Mahalo for all of the warm wishes I received before I left and for those that have been relayed to me by my mom.

k