Dubious Adventures

I wrote this email to a friend the other day, and since it basically vying for the title of “Best Thing I Have Written In At Least A Year,*” I will post it here, too.

I will fill you in on my RADICAL ADVENTURES here in Hawaii:

Just walked in the door and sat down with a bowl of tofu and a mug of pineapple tea. I was going to go to the gym at sunset and try to grab a few pictures down in Waikiki. BUT, sunset is not until after 19:00 today, plus I have to inject human-juice into my stomach in about 5 minutes, so it’s one of those days when I  just don’t feel like getting off the couch.

I saw a boar tied to the back of a truck. No one else saw it so I am probably crazy or I have a brain tumor. UH-OH.

I came VERY close to bricking my Wii, but several hours of effort later I have converted it to a fully-functional US version Wii. Now I can play many more games than I could before.

I didn’t think my GRE Biology score was very good, but I guess my percentile score was enough to make some schools take notice. I got a few emails today from graduate schools asking me if I was interested in their programs. I am not. If I got an email from Taco Bueno, that would be a different story.

Now I believe that I will play video games for 65 minutes, then study physics.

…And you know what folks? That’s exactly what I did.
THE END

*NOTE: This is not a statement about the high quality of this post, but rather on the sad state of my writing ability of late. I have ordered books about writing, though, so I expect to improve soon. Think good, then write good!

I used to be good at blogging. Apparently my skill have atrophied. I do still take pictures, though.
And the reason I don’t blog as much is that I am prepping applications for med school. (That’s also the reason I don’t sleep as much.)

I’ll keep you updated, probably.

Yeah, yeah. I was busy.

Anyway, I have a new job at the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. I work in the Plant Pathology Lab and it is my job to help protect our incredibly delicate ecosystem. Not a bad gig, if you can get it.

Sometimes I play with fungi.

I’ve also come to a decision: I will train for The Ironman. There is no better place in the world to train for it, and my goal is to finish at least one before I leave here. That may be in 5 years, it may be in 10, or it may be in 50. But my training starts on June 1. I know it won’t be easy, but since when have I ever taken the easy way? (Shut up.)

Sometimes I study for grad school, sometimes I study for med school, and on the weekends I volunteer at the Hawaiian Humane Society. In my free time I learn about plants and I plan island-hopping locals-only vacations.
I’ll try to make sure I squeeze this site in there somewhere, though.

We recently fought an epic struggle against the forces of bakery here in Honolulu. Despite our most valiant efforts, we were defeated.

And I don’t just mean a little defeated, either. We got the crap kicked out of us.

A little bit of backstory might be in order: We like pancakes. Also, we found a place that serves lots of pancakes 24 hours a day, just minutes from our front door. Having recently been voted one of the best restaurants in Honolulu, we couldn’t very well ignore it. So we went.
And we got these:

AND these:

The waiter tried to warn us, but we wouldn’t listen. (In case you can’t tell from the pictures, those are 14-inch pancakes. There are THREE layers. Plus toppings.)There is a challenge in which you can receive you pancakes for free if you finish them. Needless to say, we paid for our pancakes that day. It was a humbling experience, but one we needed to have. It’s important to keep yourself honest when it comes to how much breakfast pastry you can cram down your gullet.

In other news, we went to The Zoo:

…LOL. We’re thinking of doing one of the zoo’s overnight adventure things, but if that’s what the tortoises do during THE DAY, I’m a little scared of what we might see (or hear) during the Witching Hour. *shudder*

EDIT: I told this story a different way in an email. Here it is, slightly edited for content:

“We ordered some pancakes. The waiter warned us “Ummm…you know our pancakes are like super f*****g massive ginormous right?” And we were all “BRING IT ON! UGGHHHH!!!!!!”

And then they brought the pancakes out. And I was like “UGGHHHH!??!!!” And Harrison was all “S***.” And Heather hid under the table. Not even our table, that was too close to the pancakes. She hid under some Japanese tourists’ table. But then they got pancakes. The only thing we could do was to eat our way out.

No more pancakes. Ever.”

There really is very little to write about. I mean, I could write about how great life in Hawaii is, how the weather is perfect every day, how we sit around enjoying our unemployed status by watching HDTV and eating 4 steaks a day, and how much fun we’re having going to the Farmer’s Market .

But that might make you jealous.

We are mostly still sitting around waiting for jobs to fall into our laps. Right now it’s looking more and more like Heather is going to be doing something with drugs, Harrison is going to work on a submarine, and I’m going to keep my potential job a secret for now, but suffice to say that I did have to submit a current picture with my resume. Yeah, think about that.

I’ve been spending a lot of my free time studying for the MCAT and getting ready for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test…again. Soon we’re going to start cooking and swimming classes, too. Not at the same time, obviously. Our food would get soggy.

If you have any specific requests, post them in the comments. I have lots of free time to make things happen.

Hawaii is awesome.

We’re not going anywhere any time soon.

…except to the beach.

NO.

So, I live in Hawaii now.

Took that on the way home from the gym using my new iPhone. Not too bad, I think.

I’m settling in slowly but surely here. It’s been hard with no one I know in Hawaii yet and no car, but in much the same way that living in Japan taught me to shore up my weaknesses in the realm of driving, I have already begun my training for the 2016 Olympics in the field of Orienteering. As long as they let me use my iPhone with GPS, I should be a shoe-in for a “Finished” ribbon. Just like back in my school days….

I haven’t had much time to do any touristy-type stuff yet because I have had neccessities to handle, but Heather gets here tomorrow and so it will be time to pull out the old D70 and go to town. Or, “Town” as it is sometimes referred to here.

I have a book of trails to hike and beaches to snorkel, so as soon as I get a bike and some shoes (and a job) then this website will be filled to the brim with more information than anyone could ever possibly want because it will make them jealous unless they live here too which a lot of my friends do now. So keep an eye out for that, yeah?

I wrote this on 7/22.

Sitting, riding the train out of Tamba, never to return, a thought occurred to me: ‘What if I forgot something?’

The thought itself was not too original, sure. It’s one I’ve had often enough, given the semi-nomidic life I have lived up to this point. This stream-of-consciousness, though, led me to remember the last time I was struck the this particularly strong worry that I had left something important somewhere I would never see again: I wasa sitting on a plan, about to leave Chicago, bound for Tokyo.

Everything was so similar, sitting in my seat in my chosen mode of transport, traveling clothes on, bat at my feet, that there was a sudden and tremendously strong sense of deja vu. What pulled me out of it just as suddenly was the realization that there was one variable that was completely different this time: me. Much like seeing yourself in the mirror every day blinds you to the subtle physical changes in your appearance until you see old photographs, it wasn’t until I compared myself as I am to day to the person I was those years ago that I finally realized the depths of the changes that I have made.

I have, for the past six months or so, become increasingly tried and more than a little bitter at both the JET Program and life as a foreigner here in general. This as been exceedingly obvious to those who have had the misfortune to be around me on a day that, God forbid, someone stared at my white skin. The fact that I am now leaving, though, has given me some valuable, and much-needed perspective.

I am a different person than I was the day I got here. And I can say that is across-the-board, without exception. I LIKE all of the changes I have made, too. It is said that character is earned through the challenges we face. Don’t get me wrong, I am not pretending that I have spent the last 24 months dodging bullets in a war zone or anything, but two years in Japan does provide new and trying experiences that most Americans can’t or won’t even begin to conceptualize.

I could go on at length about the different specific things that I have done (and have had done to me) here, as well as the specific character changes that each experience has wrought, but I won’t. They are personal, and they are my own. Suffice to say that I have found a strength in myself that I can been convinced was there before, but was really just bluff and bluster. I speak here not only of physical strength, but also of mental character and a fortitude of character as well. I know now that there are very few things that I cannot do, and do well, as long as I set my mind to them completely. Seen in that light, being started at on the bus really isn’t so bad, is it?

So there it is, folks. My last blog from Japan. In 24 hours I will be on a plane to my new home in Honolulu, and in 72 hours I will have internet access again. See you on the other side.

Probably not my last post from Japan, but what better way to celebrate my last day of work than by posting on my blog?

Someone is taking me to the train station in 15 minutes, whereupon I will depart Kaibara forever. I have 8 more days in Japan, and since I have finished packing, they will be spent…sitting. I have a lot of American TV to watch, and a lot more Japanese to study before the JLPT in December. Also there is that whole “moving to Hawaii for the first time” thing that I should probably get ready for. I got us an apartment, though, which is a start.

Time to blow this popsicle stand.*

*It is too hot here to sustain the existence of popsicles. I was using a metaphor.

I went to a Let’s Gossip About Other Teachers/Oh, Yeah Dylan Is Leaving Too party tonight, and it was a lot of fun. Only 6 teachers showed up, mostly ones I liked, and they were drunk before the second course. Speaking of which, this was the menu for tonight:

*Note: all ingredients were found in/around Tamba and were VERY fresh.

First course: Tomato stuffed with wild rice, toped with olive oil and basil.

Second course: Fois gras served on kabocha with cantaloupe.

Third course: Tagiatelli with shrimp and mussels in a cream sauce.

Fourth course: Sea bream ceviche with Japan-famous Tamba beans.

Fifth course: Squid ink risotto.

Sixth course: Steak au poivre with a DELICIOUS latke-esque potato side.

Seventh course: Tiramisu with just-made vanilla ice cream and capuccino on the side.

(Sorry there are no pictures, I didn’t even think to take my camera.)

*The second through sixth courses were also all paired with wines recommended by the sommelier.

Now, while I may be underexposed to haute cuisine at this point in my life, I have been awfully busy studying it for the past year, and I enjoyed every last bite of what I ate this evening. High points were the fois gras/cantaloupe combination paired with a 2003 chardonnay and the squid ink risotto. The only thing I was even slightly disappointed with was that 2 of my 85 or so mussels were a little gritty. I 我慢ned, though, and really loved my food.

Just a few more months and I will be the one cooking meals like that! The very thought buoys my spirit. See you at the table.