Apologies for the hiatus!

Yikes, time is flying by so fast.   On the 19th I flew back to Sacramento, CA for my Papa's birthday. I wanted to surprise him but he found out I was coming from our neighbor. Anyhow, it turned out to be a great event.  Dad was really happy and that's all that matters. :)

Me and my sisters

Anyhow, on the 27th I returned to a very quiet, empty apartment.  My roommate Nina is now in Maui for a 3-month project.  Since returning I've had 2 interviews that were completely opposite of each other. Meaning, the first was nearly a dream job. I'd be working in the legal department of a small and growing local company. It would be a great position that would keep me in my field yet working for company that's making a positive impact in the community. The interview was Weds morning.. I won't know if I landed the job till Friday afternoon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  The second interview was through a friend of a friend who mentioned the friend was hiring. I submitted my resume without any idea of the job/company.

When I got there after an hour and 28 min bus ride, I found the position was for a maid. Yes, house maid. :/  Not that the job is beneath me, its just that it is not how I want to utilize my time which is a valuable resource at the moment. If I am to make it here in Hawaii, I'm going to have to leverage my time and find a job where I have a good earning potential using the least amount of time, (versus working 2 jobs and never seeing Hawaii).

Anyhow, the most important thing on my mind all day today and this week was to get a car.  I was thinking of renting a car while my roommate is gone because when she comes back, so does her car and I won't have a place to park.. so a rental would be perfect, right? Yeah, only problem is they run over $1k a month! :(

So, next option was Craigslist. I looked at several cars unfortunately none of them were right.  I need a car that I can use the next few months without any breakdown/issues that would be re-sellable in a few months. What to do??

Anyhow.. for now I'm just watching bollywood movies :)  If you enjoy bollywood movies - I suggest Hera Pheri - it is by far one of the funniest movies out of Bollywood. The songs are absolutely horrible, don't say I didn't warn you. :)

Tasting the Good Life

Tasting the good life.   Mmmmm.. delicious goodness of tea, ok, maybe the Lili'koi cake is what I'm thinking of since I didn't exactly have any tea at the Wai'oli Tea Room. :)

Yes, we're off exploring the town again - this time we headed off to the Wai'oli Historic Tea Room and Bakery in the Manoa Valley.  I had been to a tea room only once before, a bridal shower for my good friend Lindsey and it was quite an event.  

This tea room was open and welcoming - the food was delicious.  We were surrounded by beautiful flowering plants and green luscious trees and birds came and went all around us. Not like Hitchcock's "The Birds" or anything, it was nice is all I'm saying. :)

The building and interior were in great condition. The only things that gave away the age is the plaque here that says it was opened in 1922 and the menu's we received at our table - clearly from 1922 as they were tattered and dirty. :/

I ordered the Chicken curry over rice with strawberry lemonade. Nina enjoyed the English breakfast tea with quiche and salad.

Me with the beautiful trees on the left and long tea room on the right. 

This Lili'koi (passion fruit) cake was the highlight of our afternoon.  The cake wasn't rich, it was fresh and moist, just divine.  On the side there is pineapple and passion fruit syrup. Yum.

Valentines with Nature and the Descendants

Nina and I were driving past the Honolulu Academy of Arts the other night when Nina pointed out the structure that was being built out in front of the museum.  She thought it was a Patrick Dougherty project so we went home and looked it up and sure enough it was.  She was very excited because Patrick has built one of these near her home town and she just loves it.  We learned on the Museum's website that Patrick needs volunteers to help strip the twigs and help organize, we signed up right away. :)

Yesterday we went over from 1-4 to help in any way that we can.  We were sorting, stripping leaves, bundling, clipping off edges (on the actual structure), raking and cleaning up.  We had a great time and got to meet the artist himself. Something Nina and I both loved about him was that he was right there working along with us, including the clean up.  He's a humble man and that's cool.

Afterwards we walked home, up hill. We were exhausted so we decided it was about time we dove into the pool at our apt. complex. :) We're glad we did - it took us so long to get in there (we've been here 6 weeks) because its in a shaded area but to our pleasant surprise the pool was heated so it was perfect.

Afterwards we went off to see the Descendants.  My roommate had seen the movie and loved it.  We wanted to see if we recognized the sights and sure enough, we've been in some of the restaurants, we recognized the buildings from his office, when he's driving around town - we knew a lot of it.  :)

An inspiring quote...

A full 18 years ago on Valentine's Day seventy-four-year-old Dr. V inscribed this quote from Sri Aurobindo in his journal: "In me the spirit of immortal love stretches out its arms to embrace mankind. Imperfect is the joy not shared by all."

Where is everybody?

Its Saturday night and Nina and I are itching to go out dancing.   We've been here more than a month and its about time. :)

I had a late evening so I stayed in while Nina went to go check out a blues band at Wards Rafters tonight. There she met a few wonderful/colorful people who suggested Addiction Nightclub and Dukes.

I looked it up and found Addiction was a bar on the first level of the Modern Honolulu Hotel.  We arrived around 1030 and luckily found our way in via the lounge by following hotel patrons in through the back which helped us avoid paying the $20 cover/each. :)  We weren't planning on it - it just happened. :)

I wanted to take a pic of our first night out dancing but every time the flash would make Nina blink - it looks like we're having a great time though, no? :) Honestly we weren't, but we're good at taking happy pictures. :)

Turns out Addiction wasn't our type of crowd.  Young kids, electronic music and the artwork that kept circling on the screens were various artistic shots of naked women.  Its a man's world indeed. :/

At 1130 we decide its time to hightail it out of here and head to Dukes, further down in Waikiki.  Its a Saturday night and its nearly midnight, you would think the streets/bars would be busy, yeah? Wrong again. It was deserted as if it was cleared out for a movie. No cars on the streets and no people on the sidewalk.  A stark contrast from the day time hustle and bustle of hundreds of tourists walking all over.

By the time we got into Dukes (just about midnight) it was empty and dead. Literally, music had stopped, people were leaving and everyone was mellow - this was SATURDAY NIGHT in a major tourist town. Where are all the people???

Trip to the North Shore! :)

The north shore is just under an hour drive from our apartment in Honolulu. We decided to go check it out today. :)

On the way we decided to stop at the Dole Plantation and take the Pineapple Express :)

Only $8 for the ride, but $7 for us as showed our local id. :)
Now I need to go see the movie, "Pineapple Express"

On the tour we learned that the pineapples are handpicked and each plant is hand planted. A worker can plant up to 10000 in a day!

Stopped off for lunch at Jameson's and off to Sunset Beach to catch the awesome waves! :)

If you could only hear the sounds of the waves crashing.. music to my ears!

I can NOT imagine what may have been going through his head at that moment.

Another gorgeous day in Hawaii. :)

To see all the pics from today, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150575543897017.379916.749997016&type=1&l=1d4a0f048a


PS.  I'm going to do it. I'm going to start the catering biz. :)

An exciting day, indeed! :)

This morning started off in a rush. I had a job interview! Yay! Problem, it was 930, interview was at 10, all I needed to do was catch the bus because the interview was just down the street. Wrong! The street was yeah, just down the street from me, but the address to the location was all the way at the airport! Oh no! The closest bus will take nearly an hour to get me there. :( I called the potential employer, explained my mistake and apologized for the tardiness. They said it was no issue, they understand the bus and were ok with me arriving at 1020. Thank goodness.

I got in to the dealership (oh yes, forgot to mention, I was interviewing for the position of a warranty administrator - nothing fancy but hopefully pays well) and filled out my app and sat down with the op director.  Great interview, he was impressed with my work history and was eager for me to meet my potential supervisor. She was in one of their other offices, he had one of his employees drive me down to meet her - how awesome was that? I met with her and it went great - hopefully they extend an offer. First thing I did when I reached home was write out thank you cards for her and the director.

Next, I check my email and see that I received a response from the ad company who was looking for a voice over. They had placed an ad on craigslist looking for someone to read for a commercial. They gave a link to a youtube video of a sample of what they're looking for. I checked it out, called them up and left a vmail with a 30 second read from the back of "Infinite Vision" a book I'm currently reading. Apparently the liked it because the email today asked me to read the official script and give them 3 different readings. I recorded on my iphone and sent them off - I hope they like it. If I get the gig I would be beside myself - how cool to hear my voice on a commercial! :) (Just a tid bit - when I was younger, I wanted to be an airport announcer so I can hear my voice on the loudspeaker) :)

Anyhow.. it was a beautiful day so my roommate Nina and I decided to head out for a quick drive to Hawaii Kai. Its the ritzy part of Oahu. :)  We ended up at Miguelz - a new bar right on the harbor - the VIEW was amazing and I had to take a pic so I stepped out and took this shot:

Gorgeous, isn't it? *sigh* it never gets old. Its just wonderful. I mean, there are some views like this in California, but its cold/windy. Not here, the weather is just perfect.

Anyhow, after taking the pic I was headed back in when a few folks off to the left (who I assumed were also tourists and were probably thinking I was a dork for being so excited about the view and taking the pic and getting locked out of the bar and having to now walk ALL the way around the building to get back in :)) stopped me and asked if I was Indian.  It was so unexpected that it took a moment to process and I realized the 3 of them were also Indian. I was so excited, shaking hands with all of them and getting their names, I remember Mayank (or Maynak or Manyak or something like this) and Priya, but the tall one, I didn't quite catch his name as Priya was mentioning that he was a wrestler visiting from India who was here in the states to participate in the OLYMPIC TRIALS. What are the odds of that.. wow.. we talked for a bit, exchanged contact info, talked about Hawaii and the AMAZING weather and had to say goodbye. I didn't want to leave my roommie alone inside for too long. Anyhow, I was able to take a pic with the *will be famous someday* wrestler. :)