Sanctuary

The beginning of June was a very emotionally wacky time for me (for good reason!), and during that time I spent a lot of time writing in a journal as an outlet for my emotional wackiness.  Here's an excerpt from 13 June 2012:

It's strange that this room won't be mine anymore.  With the exception of my parents' house, this is the longest that I've ever lived anywhere.  This tiny room has been a sanctuary for so long.  I'll just have to find a new one in Hawaii.  It seems that Hawaii should be full of sanctuaries.

I scoffed at this so much after I moved here.  I was not (and still am not) the type to find solace in the beach. There's the Temple, to be sure, but four hours on a bus is a little much to seek sanctuary there more than once a month.  I had given up hope until I found this place.

The Old Mission House caught my eye when I was waiting for the bus one day.  What struck me was that apart from the palm trees on the grounds, it did not look like it belonged in Hawaii.  It looked like it could have been in New England, or even Virginia.

Look at that steep roof to keep the snow off.

It turned out that the House was built in the 1820s by missionaries from Boston.  As a matter of fact, the materials to build the house were shipped from there.  It made me wonder, did these Boston bricks feel out of place?  Like they didn't belong and would never fit in?  Like the way I feel all of the time?

I went inside today on a free tour courtesy of the Smithsonian.*  It was nice to be inside; it reminded me of all of the old houses and museums in Boston (and the Northeast in general).  The grounds are lovely and there's a very nice church with a (sadly) rather dilapidated cemetery nearby.  I can't say for certain that I've found a sanctuary yet, but it is comforting to have found a kindred spirit in another Boston transplant in Hawaii, even if it is made of stones.


*It was a free pass for two people, so of course, I went alone. 

   

Twelve Reasons This Week Was Kinda Groovy

Many of which might have to do with shopping, getting the mail, and the general presence of Laura Taylor in my life.

1.  I bought new shoes at Nine West for (wait for it) $9.99!

2.  I made my first Banana Republic purchase ever:  This sweater that was also on super sale (it looks way better on me than on the manne-model).  

3.  If you haven't already guessed, I went shopping with Laura Taylor, who convinces me to try on and buy things, and who helps me not be intimidated by Banana Republic, and who is working on getting me over my fear of Toms.

4.  I bought drawers!  No more living out of a suitcase for me (yes, I've had half of my clothes in a suitcase for the past three months).

5.  We ate Puka (or Hula?) Dogs in Waikiki on Tuesday night for dinner.  Polish Dog in a Taro-Bacon Roll (yeah) with mango relish and all sorts of other sauces.

6.  The orange pants that I "bought" (gift card plus free shipping promotion) came in the mail on Monday and they fit and they're awesome.

With these and the shoes I have a very colorful bottom two-thirds of a date outfit...if I ever go on a date.

7.  My GRE scores also came in the mail on Monday and even though I only met my goal on one section, I still did much better than I did the last time percentile-wise!

8.  We were leaving to go to the mall on Monday and I was like, "I'd better get the mail, because what if my pants come?  Or my GRE scores?"  BOTH THINGS CAME!  I also got a postcard (from Laura Taylor--so freaky) from Europe and a wedding announcement from my old home teacher.  All the mail was for me that day.

9.  New TV started this week!  I have a reason to stay in the house at night again!

10.  I gave my first tour of the CIL this week to a group of Senior Military Wives (i.e. really cute older ladies) and it was awesome.They laughed at all of the jokes I didn't make (seriously, what is it about my delivery?) and they had really good questions.  I now want to give more tours.  Granted, it would have been more awesome if there hadn't been a photographer on the tour and/or if I'd attempted to make my hair look decent, but nevertheless...

11.  Laura was here.  We tore it up.  Enough said.

12.  We got 59-minute-ruled at work today (that means we got to leave early).

Happy weekend, everyone.

Another GIF Moment

When I found out I would be peer-reviewing a report by a guy who tore me apart during peer-review:

Revenge will be swift.  And also terrible.

Disclaimer:  I don't actually use the peer review process to air out my own personal vendettas (not that I have vendettas anyway).  But I did use my pen rather unabashedly.

Pearl at Half-Price

Laura and I went to Waikiki for the first time yesterday.  Well, I went for the first time; Laura had been twice already.  (I know, I lived here for three months before going to Waikiki, sue me.)

Waikiki is definitely full of rich tourists.  And by "full of" I mean "overrun with."  Crazy crowded, it was.  It was also full of kiosks with overpriced souvenirs and salespeople pushing these souvenirs on the tourists.  Laura and I got snagged by a bald-headed man who handed us a flier, and on this flier we could pick a pearl for half the price of a normal pearl.  It was a neat concept--you pick the oyster, pry it open, and get to keep whatever's inside for the "low" price of $14 (or $7, if you got the half-price flier)--but not neat enough for me to drop $7 on a pearl that's just going to get lost in the bottom of my purse.

Trying to be clever, I was like, "no thanks, I read that Steinbeck book and I pretty much want to avoid pearls."

The guy didn't know what I was talking about, so I continued, "you know, The Pearl?  Basically the guy gets a pearl and it pretty much ruins his life."

And the guy responds, "well, anything written by a Jew would be pretty over-dramatic."

Well, on that slightly anti-Semitic note...I was turning to leave, but the guy wouldn't give up.  He asked us our names, and Laura of course told him our real names.  Then he asked, "are you guys Mormons?"

How did he know?  I guess we were wearing the most clothes out of all the Hawaii tourists, and we had that not-drunk look about us.  He said it was because we were "closed off" (um, you mean because we backed away when you got way too close to our faces?) and because we were "frugal" (or maybe too sensible to buy some pearl from a kiosk?).

Laura thought he was awesome, though, but I'm not surprised.  She thinks everything in Hawaii is awesome.

John Steinbeck was Episcopalian, by the way.

(Joint) Restaurant Review: Downbeat Diner and Lounge

There are perks to having a friend in town, one of which is a second perspective on dining establishments.  So, for the first (and maybe only) time, I bring you a joint restaurant review!

My part:  we decided to be hipsters today.  We went to Chinatown which is pretty sketchy but definitely "hip" and ate at the Downbeat Diner and Lounge on Hotel Street.  The online reviews stated that the atmosphere was "hipster," so we put on our sock-less flat shoes and cross-body purses and headed over to this place.  So exclusive it was.*  Check out the booths:  there are faces of random people on them!  It's also kind of a bar, and of course, they serve lots of PBR.**

Of course, I am continuing my quest, so I ordered the burger.  It was the "American Burger" ($8), which is the basic beef cheeseburger.  (A cool thing about this place is that everything comes in a vegan option, if you're into that sort of thing.)  One thing that I didn't love was that the burger didn't automatically come with fries; you had to pay $2 extra for them.  You could pick different seasonings, however.  Our waitress told us that the Cajun fries were "where it's at," so I ordered them.  The burger was good!  I liked the fact that there was more than one tomato slice and that the onions had a presence, but they weren't overwhelming.  The burger-to-bun ratio was stellar, and the bun had a very good, substantial texture.  The fries were good:  fluffy and non-greasy, and the spices weren't super salty nor were they super spicy.  There were a heck of a lot of fries, however, so the waitress packed them up for me in the biggest box I've ever seen a small amount of fries to go in.

We had dessert, as well, but I'll let Laura tackle that part much more poetically than I ever could.

She's pointing to Tom Selleck's face.

The Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae was the most delicious moment of my day, well, maybe the second most delicious moment of my day because I had chocolate hazelnut frozen yogurt in Waikiki, and I love chocolate hazelnuts. But seriously, the SCCCS was incredible. The (two) salted chocolate chip cookies were just salty enough to balance out the sweet of the ice cream without being TOO salty. The chocolate and caramel sauce drenching the cookies and ice cream were, again, just present enough to present beautiful flavor without making the cookies soggy or overpowering them. And whipped cream on the top? What more could you ask for????***

The French toast with ham and cheese sandwich (the Monte Cristo) was INSPIRED. Again, the perfect salty-sweet combination was present here. However, I would have liked a lot more powdered sugar on the french toast, but that could just be because I really really really like sugar (in college my track coach told me I was addicted to sugar [I wasn't] and that I needed to break my addiction via a strange diet that involved not eating bread or fruit for 3 months, and in an effort to really stick it to him I decided to become addicted to sugar). If I was making this at home, I would put on more sugar and perhaps have some maple syrup to dip in. 

Wrap-up:  This place is good.  If you're ever in Honolulu's Chinatown and are like, I really don't want Asian food, or rather, if you're like, Chinese food is far too mainstream for me, go to the Downbeat Diner and Lounge.  Service is really good; prices are decent; and food is fantastic!

*Exclusive is the hipster word.
**aka Hipster Beer.
***When we were actually in the restaurant, Laura said that this sundae restored her faith in a Higher Power.

Short Women

From Tague (2000).

Disadvantage, hmm?  I wonder if there's a height requirement on the Ford Foundation Grant application.

A Post for Laura Taylor

She's really excited that she got lei'd today.

Laura Taylor is probably one of my favorite humans ever, and she's in Hawaii sleeping on my floor!  She is awesome, and I am awesome, but together, our combined awesomeness exceeds the sum of our individual awesomenesses.  Here are some examples:

What happened after we exchanged over a hundred emails in less than a month:

Laura Taylor	Sep 18 (1 day ago)
to me

seriously. What is up with that? Also I'm pretty sure we broke gmail...I've been trying to send emails but it doesn't work. Clearly it's the 100+ email chain that is responsible...

The conversation following my first kiss with then-beau:

11:46 AM me: Guess what?

 Laura: ???????

  no more VL?

 me: Yep.

 Laura: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

  and you survived????????

 me: I know

11:47 AM and more importantly, he survived.

 Laura: hahahahaha

  Alex I am so proud of you.

  It's like, you're the experimental group and I'm the control group of Boston girls who don't like to be touched.

  And you have proved that this experiment WORKS.

Prepping me for my first viewing of "Star Wars" and also ranting about boys:

me: I'd better get to bed

 Laura: tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.

 me: That's tru

 Laura: your new life with STAR WARS.

 me: Yep!

5:25 PM I'm excited...except for the part that I might cut off XXXXX's hand with a light saber

  Because he totally deserves it

 Laura: I think his...ahem...man parts might be more effective.

  that would solve that problem once and for all.

 me: Oh gosh

 Laura: just saying.

 me: Yep

5:26 PM But, he should date other people...so he can keep his man parts

Okay, maybe we're pretty wicked, but in this case, wickedness = happiness.  Be prepared for more blog updates about our great Hawaiian adventure.