The Quarter-Life Crisis

I think lots of people go through a quarter life crisis, though some try to hold it off until the "big" midlife crisis. I can feel it seeping farther and farther in my skin. It started when I was getting ready to graduate college. I hadn't achieved as much as other people thought I should to prove that I was worth moving forward directly to graduate school, and besides that I was too lazy and lost to know what I wanted to do anyway.

So what do I do? Go work at a job I already had, hoping for advancement. Then fly to a new country to be married and live in uncertainty for two years. I also found something I liked to do there; it was easy and I honestly didn't have to think much about it. Besides, I had a husband to take care of me. But you can't stay there forever. You have to move again.

Now I have bigger dreams. I'm ready to take life by the horns, get involved more and create a life I can be proud of. I'm only 25, how hard can it be? So the reality that no one tells you is that you have to work hard. Harder than you ever thought possible to do something worth doing. Some people are good with words, some people are good with sales. Some people are good at a variety of things. So if you're good at a variety of things, or if you have no clue what you can be good at, you have to try on a lot of different hats to figure out what will stick. High school didn't prepare me for what the real world is REALLY like. Trial and error, unless you have the ability, the resolve and the opportunity to make it happen the way you have always dreamed. Sometimes those dreams go through a detour in the mean time. Some dreams are altruistic in nature but require a lot of real world business know how to achieve. Then you have to ask yourself at the end of the day if you are getting a pay that you can live with and that you feel you deserve for the work you are doing.

I have always said that money never mattered much to me. But what if I could make a really good living while doing what I love most? (That would be helping people, which I had a small view of until just recently). Is it even possible? I think that like a lot of people my age who are wandering through life, through jobs, right now I have the opportunity to change my life drastically. No one knows if the changes we make to our lives will be worth it. No one knows if we start on a path if it will be fruitful. It takes more than thoughts, it takes dedication, commitment, and a hell of a lot of hard work.

I recently spoke to a girlfriend who is in almost the same boat. She has more education than I but she is considering three opportunities that are very different from each other. How does she decide which route to take? Does she look at her passions? Does she look at money? Does she look at which would giver her the most security? But the real issue is that she must make this decision as soon as possible. We all know that the sooner you make a decision the more information you can gather and the easier the transition will be.

Now what happens when opportunity rises up so swiftly that you have little time to dilly-dally and you must act as soon as possible? I have the same feeling every time I'm on a roller coaster, and I've never had a bad time on a roller coaster. 

Nature Lovers

We've been here almost 3 weeks and this hotel room is getting annoying. Luckily we have some friends who helped distract us and get us out of the hotel for an entire day.

We planned on taking a snorkeling trip to Hanauma Bay. Unfortunately it was low tide so there wasn't a whole lot of room to swim over the coral which is still trying to recover from human interaction. That meant lots of opportunity to get cut up. We came out pretty untouched though. The day was SUPER windy! Gale force winds. It did feel warm, but the breeze was so strong that the air felt cool. Driving to the bay was very neat because we drove through a very nice looking part of the island and then we had to drive along the coast up and around little mountains. The water reflected several shades of blue and all were so vibrant. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Sometimes when I see pictures or shows that have these kinds of scenes I think they are digitally enhanced to bring out impossible colors. This was the real deal.

When we entered the park we had to watch a video about how to be safe and protect the environment while we were at the park. Once we got to the beach and found a nice shady spot we ventured out into the water. You know how when you get in the water it feels a little cold until you get used to it? Well... the water was FREEZING! Teeth chattering, I sat down on a prickly rock in the shallow water to put on my flippers. My good friend, Laura, helped me fit the goggles and breathing tube, then it was time to test out the water for real. Because the water was so shallow we had to just crawl over the rocks and old coral. Some spots were deep enough to swim and that was awesome. Snorkeling was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. I had so much fun following the fish around and watching them do their thing. I didn't get to see any turtles, but I'll be back again! Amazingly we spent over an hour swimming and enjoying the sites. Then it was time to get out of the water. The current had a strong push and pull but it was so easy and there weren't any big waves to deal with which made it easy. You how when you get out of the water you feel cold for a while and then the sun kicks in and heats everything up? Yeah... It didn't. The stupid wind made everything so cold! My teeth were chattering until I could get to the bathroom and change.

Anthony and I went off on our own, after that, down the coast to see local attractions. We pulled up to a scenic view and saw the "Blow Hole" in full action. The way the rock formed in this area there is a pool under the rock and a hole in the rock over the pool. When the waves come in and go out the water sprays out of the hole like a whale's blow hole. Beside there is a place called the "Toilet Bowl" because of the suction effect of the undertow. We decided to look and not try it out. Finally we went looking for a light house that Laura said was nearby. We saw part of it from the high way, so we knew we were close. We saw a row of cars parked on a side road and decided this must be it.

I looked at the signs briefly and took some pictures. The one thing I did notice was that the sign said it would take 1.5hrs for a "leisurely hike." I'm thinking, this must be if people want to look around the park and if we're just here to see the light house we can go right on in.  So we start up hill on the only path we could see. Did I mention we were wearing flip-flops? Don't forget that the wind was blowing at hurricane speeds. Partially up the mountain we are now climbing I decide I might be blown away into the sea or over the mountain to the high way. I don't recommend bringing an umbrella. The views are spectacular though! The trail is just on the edge of everything and there is no railing making it a thrilling adventure especially for acrophiboc Anthony. He wouldn't walk near me because I was too close to the edge. After some time, I think a little less and an hour, we reach the top! Yes! We have been walking up this very steep mountain on uneven paved ground, through bursts of wind that would have surely blew me off the side if Anthony wasn't holding my hand; walking on the edge of this tall behemoth has been worth it! Here is where we will see the light house in all its glory, it must be just over... the fence. There is a fence. We can't get to the light house because there is a huge fence in the way. It isn't even a light house, by the way. It is a big ass gas lamp with the side of a mountain as its back.

Well let's get some pictures and start walking back. By the way, it's almost 4PM and we're supposed to meet Laura and her family for dinner. I haven't eaten since breakfast at 8AM. If you were feeling bad for us because we were in flip-flops, don't. It wasn't that bad. I just wanted you to feel bad for us ;)  It was a beautiful walk and if we knew we were going to have the time we did we might have walked a little more slowly. And we would have taken water. Don't forget to take water.

Dinner was AMAZING! Anthony ordered so much off the menu for himself that the waitress thought he was also ordering for me. HA! All in all it was a good day. Lots of fun.

SHHH! We're Going House Hunting

So for the past week and a half Anthony and I have been looking for a place to live. For military families there is usually a choice of living on base or off base, renting from a local. For some families living on base gives a feeling of safety and simplicity. In some areas living off base means you can get a really nice place.

We looked online with a government-backed website of houses and apartments in the area. Then we looked through Craig's List as well.

The first apartment complex that we looked at appeared nice, although the apartments were a little small. There was no laundry in the unit, but you had "close access" to most buildings. I really didn't want to have to carry my laundry up and down stairs again like I did in college. Not that it was a huge issue, but the units didn't have AC. They did have gas stoves, so that was a plus.

The second apartment that we looked at was down right nasty. There was a horrible smell, the window panes were nearly rotted out, and it really wasn't enough space for two people and a dog... and all of Anthony's ... um... "collectibles."

So I finally settled on the possibility of living on base in a 100% military community with a house and whatever else came with living there. But Sunday evening came around and we had one last place to look at. I know we should have looked around some more, but there were other things that we had to take into consideration like traffic and Mercy.

Right, this last place. We drove up and it looked nice from the outside. neither of us like the fact that its hard to see the apartment numbers on the doors. Find the right building, walk up to the second floor and we view this pretty awesome apartment.

Its just under the square footage we were hoping for, but large enough to be livable. The closets are all pretty big, not walk in, but I ain't complainin; they have shelves and things already put up. There was a linen closet and a small second room.
The kitchen is small so I don't think we'll be having lots of dinner parties. I have a plan to buy space-saving furniture to keep the space open. We're really jazzed about this place! I've already found an area rug and we'll have to go furniture shopping.

Aside from all that, the weather is nice but it has rained sporadically throughout the day for the past few days. Its cutting out time I could be working on my tan!
I'm trying to get myself into working out again. I have such a hard time motivating myself. I have to remember the first step is to show up. No wind of boxing gyms yet, but other kinds of gyms are around. Well, that's my life, how is yours?

16 Hours and Then Some

I hardly slept between Tuesday and Wednesday, but I wasn't tired. The seven O'clock sun woke me up and got me started. I finished packing and went to get Mercy from Katie's house. Mercy was calm, thank goodness. I was not. On the ride to the airport I realized I had forgot Mercy's baby. I said, oh well, Katie will have to mail it out. At the airport I was feeling crazy on the inside having to give my puppy over to the JAL/ Misawa Airport workers. I've never traveled with a pet before. I made sure she was drugged up and feeling easy going. I just wish I could have been drugged up as well. I was talking with Anthony about how Mercy doesn't have a concept of distance or time the way we think about it, so all she knows is that she was stuck in a box all alone for a really long time. She doesn't know she's in a new country.

Anyway, that short flight was okay and we picked Mercy up with the luggage. We got tickets for the bus from Haneda to Narita and only had to pay a little extra for Mercy, although she took up two seats. The ride took at least an hour, so I took a nap. When we got to Narita we still had a long layover at the airport. We had to take Mercy to the quarantine station so they could look at her paperwork and give us a sticker. I thought I heard people talk about a pet area, but I didn't find one. I had to take Mercy on walks just outside the airport. At 5:30 we decided to get in line and get Mercy loaded up. Well. The people at Delta's counter were not helping. I was about to have a fit because they weren't about to take Mercy because they said we needed a health certificate issued within 10 days but our was issued 14 days previous. I let Anthony handle it and I just hung out with Mercy. They had to call the supervisor who made a call to the Hawaii Quarantine station to "verify" that Mercy was safe to travel. Steven (the guy from the Quarantine station) talked to Anthony and said these Delta employees were crazy for calling. Like it shouldn't have been a big deal. But I know that the Japanese are very by the book when it comes to work.

On flight DL638 we switched seats because some girl didn't know how to read the seat lettering. Then we had to move again because #4 came along and her friends needed her on the corner nearest them. Then I got stuck with the screen that didn't work. Anthony had to call the attendant. Three times. The first lady told me I needed to hit it harder. The second one walked off and never came back. Thank goodness I brought an activity that didn't require anything but a light to see by. Finally Anthony called the attendant again. And no one came. When lady #1 walked by Anthony grabbed her and I started to get irate. Anthony tried to cut me off like, "I got this," But I was pissed! And I felt bad for the lady sitting in front of me because I kept trying to "push harder" and I'm pretty sure the lady could feel me pushing the seat. Anthony asked if she could reset it and after she did it worked. Finally I could turn on my reading light and listen to music.


After 7 hours on the plane, we landed in Honolulu, HI. It was like Ground Hog's day, Wednesday all over again, 6AM. We had to deal with more crazy delta ladies at the airport to figure out where we needed to go to pick up Mercy. Now, I have always had a good time with Delta, so I'm going to hope that this was just a fluke.

We had to wait until 8AM to get Mercy from the Quarantine station (which is practically attached to the airport). Getting Mercy to Hawaii was really my only concern and since I did my research it was pretty easy. I just wish I had investigated more about the airport procedures. The people at the quarantine office were really nice and helpful.

We met Anthony's sponsor (person who helps ease the transition to the new base) and another person in Anthony's new work center. They drove us to where we thought we were supposed to check in. The receptionist was an idiot and we had to go to a different place, then when we got there they weren't helpful either. Then we had to drive to a third building. Once again I walked out to hang out with Mercy outside. At the end of it all we had to go back to the start where we were able to get a room that Mercy could stay in with us. Of course we couldn't check in for 3 hours, so we went on a tour of the base.
 

Its hard to remember everything on the first drive around, but it all looks pretty cool. The weather is beautiful and the peak of the day is best spent in the shade as far as I'm concerned. It is so weird going from two feet of snow to warm and sunny over night. We all have a little jet lag, but I think I have it least. Mercy has been falling asleep at the drop of a hat. Things are going slow right now but I know they'll pick up quickly soon. The worst part is over and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.