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Squishy fuzzy yummy thoughts
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Friday, November 01, 2002
From talking to them, it seems as though my parents goals while raising me were to be better parents than their parents were. I wonder if it would be better to set different goals for raising my kids (if I ever have any). There would be mission and vision statements for my kid, and more intermediate goals based on that underlying vision and mission. Then, when the kid asked "why," I would have a more satisfying answer to me than "because I said so."
Raising a kid the same way you would run a company... Can there be any love in that?
posted by wtanaka at 11/01/2002 03:41:00 AM
Thursday, October 31, 2002
I found some "Skin Mechanics For Men Original Shave Cream" from The Body Shop here, which I like because it's a jar instead of a pressurized can.
The lid of the jar says:
Live on the edge,
but stay smooth.
It worked very well.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 12:20:00 PM
Scanning in my traveller's checks refund documents
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 12:05:00 PM
Four AAA batteries, two of them half used, that got mixed up in my bag. I wanted to figure out which of the two batteries I had used, so that I could put them into my palm pilot. I wandered into my dad's workshop, found his volt meter, and determined that two of the batteries were at 1.512 volts, and the other two were at 1.613 volts. I taped the two newer batteries together, and now I feel pleased with myself.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 12:01:00 PM
Imagine, no really, imagine the billions of people in the world that you don't meet. Imagine all of the people in the world that you won't meet because you don't speak their language well enough or at all.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 11:54:00 AM
This evening, my dad and I looked through some of the pictures that I took, and he gave me some tips on cropping them, as well as some general photography tips. I've learned a lot of things from my dad.
Last night, he and Neil and I were talking for a while. He expressed concern about my safety on this upcoming trip. I told him about the lonely planet guides that I had purchased, and how they had set my mind to ease about a lot of things by providing me with a lot of information. I gave him some pointers to the guides, so that he could look them up and read them later. I also tried to explain why I am going on this trip. When I mentioned that everybody in the United States is spoiled to some extent, Neil told the story of his family being split in half trying to escape Vietnam by boat, and how people in the United States can't understand what it's like to live a hard life.
I know my dad is trying his best to trust my judgement. I know he wants to have his mind put to ease about my trip, and I wish I knew what to say that would help him put himself at ease. He told me that it would help if I kept writing, and I am already planning to do that.
I wish I were better at putting people's minds to ease.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 03:57:00 AM
On October 28, we were at Diamond Head.
Pictures from Diamond Head
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 03:37:00 AM
On the way back from Hanauma Bay, I took Neil the "wrong" way back to my dad's place through Waimanalo and over Pali Highway. We stopped at several lookout points along the way, which slowed us down. The thick traffic on Moanalua highway also slowed us down. But after returning to Aiea, I picked up my Typhoid vaccine from Pali Momi and went with my dad to get some traveller's checks for my trip. I needed to get a short term loan from him off of his account, because there are no Wells Fargo branches in Hawaii, and out-of-state checks take a while to clear.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 03:30:00 AM
Neil seems to be much more willing to do things on his own now, but since I ditched him yesterday to scan pictures in, I took him to Hanauma Bay today. Neil must have said the word "beautiful" at least 70 times today. I'm glad that he's enjoying himself.
Pictures From Hanauma Bay
We ate our pre Hanauma lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Westridge shopping center near my dad's house. We got there at 11am, and the waiter looked like he was about to fall over from lack of sleep. Neil commented a few times on how this Vietnamese restaurant was better than the one on River street.
We went snorkeling for more than an hour using rented snorkels, masks, and fins. Wading in, backwards because of the fins, the water lapped up around me. I shivered enough to get my only japanese tourist smile of the day. I think the Japanese must vacation with a vengeance. I wonder if I will be that serious when everybody around me doesn't speak my language.
I spent my time in the water searching for a school of fish, size one thousand, I had previously photographed from above. After a few minutes, I decided that I might not find this school and decided to start following fish around. I graduated myself to ever larger fish quarry until I found some kind of colorful parrot fish who I stayed with for twenty or thirty minutes. I named him "Fred." Fred grudgingly took me on the grand tour of his part of the reef, making his normal rounds under the coral, around some rocks, eating or defecating every few minutes. After swimming around with Fred for a while, I realized a few things about fish. The water that they live in sloshes back and forth several times a minute. Sometimes, the water comes from behind, and pushes them forward towards their goals. Sometimes, the water comes from the front, and pushes them back where they already were. But Fred and his fish friends didn't mind -- they calmly continued swimming, eating, and defecating.
Actually, I think Fred was trying to run away from me, but it would make a pretty pathetic story to say that I was rejected by a fish.
posted by wtanaka at 10/31/2002 02:41:00 AM
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
I spent much of today scanning photos in. Looking at images of my parents dating just now was the first time I've ever seen them truly happy looking together. Imagining starting a relationship out bubbling and cheery and ending up fighting and unhappy, it's hard to feel optimistic about relationships working out. Yet, against all rational thought, I still have that feeling that I will somehow do a lot better because I am smarter or more capable or just better. I want to find out what my parents think went wrong, so that I can at least avoid those mistakes. Of course I will just end up making different ones.
posted by wtanaka at 10/30/2002 02:00:00 AM
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
After a lot of fooling around with drivers, software, and my USB card reader, I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera this morning.
Neil and I went to Aiea Shopping Center, where he bought some SPF 4 suntan lotion, I went to the Wells Fargo Financial office, where I found out there are no Wells Fargo Bank branches on the island, and we ate at L&L Drive In. While Neil was buying his suntan lotion at Times Supermarket, I asked at the pharmacy for the oral typhoid vaccine. I was referred to Aiea Medical Center and Pali Momi. We walked across the street to Aiea Medical Center, where the pharmacist didn't know where I could find the vaccine.
We then drove to Pali Momi. We parked nearby at Pearlridge Shopping center and walked around until we found the entrance to the building. I asked the first woman I passed by where I could find the pharmacy. She asked me if I wanted the inpatient or the outpatient pharmacy. I told her that I wasn't an outpatient, and that I was looking for oral typhoid vaccine. She said that maybe I wanted the inpatient pharmacy then, and that we could follow her because she worked there.
We went in the elevator and down the hall and into the back door of the inpatient pharmacy, where I met up with one of the pharmacists named Stacy, who said that she hadn't dispensed oral typhoid vaccine for more than 4 years. She called a few places and asked if they had it in, but told me that it was likely that they would need to have it dropshipped in from the mainland, which would take a few days. When I told her I was leaving on Friday, she said "whoa, you're cutting it close then," and said that I might try calling Queens POB. I got the phone number from someone else there.
I was about to leave when Stacy told me that she would try calling Christine to see if *she* had any in stock. Chris turned out to be in the outpatient pharmacy down the hall, and would call back once she found out whether or not they had any. While we were waiting, Stacy decided to just take me down the hall to the outpatient pharmacy. Apparently, Hawaii is the first place to run out of typhoid vaccine, because it all goes to the military when they ship troops out. Stacy wished me a good trip, introduced me to Chris, and left.
I chatted with Chris for a while about what I needed and when I was leaving. She said that she could order it and have it arrive by noon tomorrow.
"Are you Stacy's friend?"
"No, we just met today."
She took down my contact information and told me that she'd call if she had any problems.
I'm pretty appreciative, and I feel like I should write a letter to the hospital, thanking them for their help. Maybe a postcard from some typhoid risk country.
posted by wtanaka at 10/29/2002 01:42:00 PM
Well, Neil is sleeping. I think he's expecting me to show him around Hawaii. Hopefully I'll be able to do that and also have time for all of the other things that I still need to get done while I'm here. I tried to find a driver to get my USB card reader to work with my dad's computer, but have failed to find one so far.
I hadn't gotten much sleep the few nights before the flight. As soon as I found my seat on the plane, I sat down and passed out. I awoke to a flight attendant nervously announcing that we would be delayed by 45 minutes due to some problems that they were fixing with the plane. They were working on the engine, he said, but it really was not serious.
Of course, if they need to stop the plane 100 feet away from the gate for 45 minutes, it has to be serious.
The next time I woke up, the same flight attendant said that we would be delayed another 10 minutes so that they could finish filling out the forms necessary after fixing the engine. Those forms must be pretty important.
Neil rented a car. We went to eat Pho at some restaurant on River St. Later my mom told me that we should have gone to the one right next door, because it was better. We went to Diamond head and walked up to the summit, where I took a lot of photographs. And we walked around Waikiki tonight. I bought two mood rings for myself and some post cards for Liane. With the 2003 postcard calendar that I bought in San Francisco airport mere minutes before boarding the plane, these cards should make good viewing fodder for the kids in her class.
posted by wtanaka at 10/29/2002 01:55:00 AM
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Turning off my computer... I'm not going to see it again for four months!!! The next time I write will be from the pacific.
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