I've been waking up early over the last few days, not because I need to, but because I wake up a little after seven and can't fall back asleep. I don't mind because I tend to get more things done in the morning. It's not even 10 O'clock yet and I've already been to the grocery store, been to the post office, refilled our water jugs at the water store, and done some cleaning. Today promises to be a long day. I have a nanny job from 12 O'clock to 4 O'clock and another from 7:45 until 10:45 or so.



A friend and I went up north to Shoots and Ladders yesterday morning. It's a hike that I'd heard about and always wanted to go on, but never knew how to get to. It ended up being up past Honokohau and further north than I think I've ever been on Maui. The hike is fairly short, but requires scaling the side of a small cliff with the help of some ropes and ladders (hence the name Shoots and Ladders). At the bottom of the cliff is a set of three pools that are separated from the ocean by some very menacing looking jagged rocks. We came prepared to swim, but after watching a few large waves sweep through the pools and turn them into what looked like washing machines we decided against it. He said that as summer gets closer they'll be less of a north swell (or south swell?) and the pools will be safer to swim in. Jordan didn't get a chance to go because of work, but I'm sure we'll go soon. It's absolutely gorgeous up there and I can't wait to go back.

Happy UnValentines Day

Technically it's no longer Valentine's day since it's just after midnight. I'm not sure if this happens every Valentine's day (because I've never noticed it until now), or if this one was an exception, but so many people seemed downright miserable today. It made me sad, mainly because negative energy (or any energy for that matter) is very contagious.
My nanny job for the evening was canceled because one of the children fell ill, so once Jordan got off work we decided to celebrate our UnValentine's day together. I'd just received VickyChristinaBarcelona via the mail from Netflix, but after the first half hour of watching them parade around Spain drinking wine I wanted to get a glass for myself. We walked down the street to Lahaina Coolers where we both got a glass and talked for a while.
If it weren't for the fact that some of my friends have birthdays that fall on Valentine's day, I would probably end up forgetting the holiday altogether... probably because I've never really been in a position to really celebrate it. I just hope that all of the grumpy people today werent grumpy because they felt unloved.

A Nanny and a Flower Girl

My roommate and I have now been happily removed from the unemployment list. As I read an article in Maui Time last night on unemployment I couldn't help but be a little discouraged. The economy out here relies almost entirely on tourism, and with people trying to pinching their pennies in the face of the slumping economy, fewer and fewer people have been visiting the island. Over the course of the last year the unemployment rate on Maui has gone up by 20%.

I got in with the Nanny Connection within my first two weeks of moving home, but because of all of the red tape surrounding child care work I wasn't able to start working until this week. Now that I've taken CPR and First Aid classes, had a criminal background check, and had three reference checks I'm able to start going on childcare jobs. My first gig was yesterday and I'm booked to watch two children tomorrow at the Sheraton. I'm still amazed that I'm getting paid so much to hang out with kids... something that I would often be willing to do for free. If it weren't for the occasional set of high maintenance parents, this would absolutely be my dream job.

I'm also planning on going into BJ's later to see if they'll still be needing a hostess when March rolls around. My first job, when I was 16 years old and brand new to the island, was as a hostess at BJ's and I believe that's it's raised my expectations for any future job that I may have. I've never had so much fun at any of my jobs since. My best friends and I would go to Lahainaluna during the day and run the front desk at BJ's at night with an amazing bunch of people. The job was always more fun than it was work.

Jordan's been hired by a friend of a friend to work as a flower girl selling leis up and down the Westside. Her job is to carry a basket of fresh leis around Lahaina, Ka'anapali, and Kapalua, and she gets paid based on the number of leis she's able to sell, but so long as she smiles and says aloha the leis will basically sell themselves. She's not one of those salespeople that pester you as you walk by... you know the ones I'm talking about that want to smear seasalt on your hand or straighten your hair with their fabulous hot iron. It seems like a good fit for her and I have a feeling that she's going to do really well at it.

I'd like a job now please...

I've been keeping tabs on Craigslist daily looking out for job opportunities. Unfortunately, Maui is slow and few places are hiring. It looks as though I'll probably wait out the next couple of weeks and hope to get my old job back at BJ's when the hostess position opens up in March.

So it's said that beggars can't be choosers, but when I checked the job postings today and saw that Bubba Gump's was hiring I couldn't help but laugh. I've worked there twice before (once as a hostess and once as a server) and am fairly certain that I could get obtain a job there, but I just can't bring myself to go down and apply. Never before, or after, have I worked at a place that is so corporate. Everyday that I put on my Bubba Gump visor I couldn't help but feel that I was simply a cog in a greedy money mongering corporation that reeked of fried shrimp.

Jordan and I are suppose to start our diving lessons within the next week or so. The hope is that we will be certified to dive by mid-march when her family comes out to visit. That reminds me- March is going to be amazing. During the month of March my sister Ashley, Jordan's mom, dad, brother, and two of the girls from high school (Jess and Jaime) will be coming to the island to visit. I'm excited to see everyone, but I'm downright giddy that Ashley is coming to stay for a full month and a half. I haven't seen her since she stayed with me in San Francisco over a year ago, and that is faaar too long. March is going to be amazing.

Back in Maui...

I've been back in Maui for almost a month now and the change from San Diego back to Hawaii was smooth, like I expected it would be. It's difficult to ever be too sad about moving back to a place like this. I made the decision to move back when I was out here over summer. I'd spent most of it visiting old friends and spending time at the beach. While surfing one day with my dad we got to talking about how much he'd like me to move back and how much I'd like to move back, and by the time we'd paddled out of the water I'd all but made up my mind to move back.

In my situation it's actually far less expensive for me to live in Lahaina than it is for me to live in San Diego. I'm not sure how he managed it, but out here he my pops pays the same amount to rent a two bedroom duplex as I was paying to rent a single room in a house in San Diego.

The only catch is that now that I'm here I'll have to spend a year acquiring residency before I can go back to school. Non-resident tuition at the community college out here is astronomically high (more expensive than in-state tuition for a university). I know that what I'm about to say will sound extremely nerdy, but I love school. For the past two years I have taken 15 or more units each semester and attended summer school. Many of the classes I've taken have had little or nothing to do with my major of choice (nursing)... I just love school. I think it's useful to know a second language or be knowledgeable about our political processes. When I'm going to school, learning, and working towards my major I feel productive.

I've been back for nearly a month now. Although I've been making an effort to find work, the sad state of our economy has drastically slowed down business in the islands, and very few places are hiring. I'm hoping to get my old job back as a hostess at the pizzeria down the street, but that wouldn't be until March.

Luckily my friend Jordan made the move out here with me, so we've been filling our free time together by going to the beach and visiting friends. I've been spending the last month trying to readjust to the slow lifestyle out here, which is a complete 180* from how I've been living in California.

I've been missing a lot of people from California. I managed to find an amazing bunch of friends over the past few years. My final two weeks really showed me just how amazing and tight knit our group was. New years in Huntington, Snowboarding in Big Bear, mine and Kyle's trip up to Ventura... I already can't wait to go back and visit.

I haven't talked to Kyle since I moved except for a few text messages every now and then. I expected that that's how things would go. Neither of us like to talk on the phone, and it's easier to make a clean break in a situation like ours. I really think that it would make me too sad to talk to him knowing that we're so far apart. More than anything I miss having him around when I could use a hug on the days that I'm feeling down.

I feel extremely grateful that I've been able to live in so many places over the past few years. I think I always knew that I would end up back in Maui... it was really only a question of when.

It's a blustery day...

I'm sitting in the Miracosta College computer waiting for my Health Lab orientation to start in and hour. I had big plans to do my online Spanish homework while I waited.... but I've forgotten the password and am stuck internet surfing instead.

Classes started this week. So far I've had Spanish (Como te llamo?) and Health. Tomorrow I have Guitar and American Political Institutions. I'm nervous for the guitar class, but glad that I'm finally getting a chance to take it. I've been telling myself for ages that I'd learn to play and eventually be able to strum a folk song or two. I just hope the teacher is patient...

The idea of growing up has been very off-putting to me lately. There's still so many things I'd like to do before I finish with school and enter the real world of adult jobs and responsibilities. I'm pretty sure that's what I love about Maui... it seems to be filled with so many twenty and thirty something that somehow managed to avoid the stressful process of growing up. Good for them.

The job hunt is still in full swing... or half swing anyways. I've personally handed in one application, and emailed my resume to two postings for servers that I found on craigslist. My bank account has seen better days, that's for sure. Regardless of how broke I am, I don't see how anything that horrible can come of it...

I'm determined to stop consuming things made with refined sugar. Missy brought home some homemade chocolate chip cookies from her mom's the other day I'd managed to eat about ten of them before the evening was through. Those were appetizers... Rocky Road ice cream was the main course.

I am hungry though, so I'm going to go hit up the food court before the orientation.

I'm a little tired, given it's still before noon, so forgive me if some of this turns out to be nonsense. I gave up my caffeine fix a while back, and it's still catching up with me.

I've been back on Maui for just over three weeks now, and am sad knowing I'll be leaving as soon as this upcoming Wednesday. Flying out, I wasn't entirely sure how this part of my summer would go. So many of my good friends are gone now and have taken up roots on the mainland where they're going to college. Despite having moved out to the mainland, I certainly haven't taken up roots anywhere, which explains why MiraCosta College in Oceanside will be college #4. Maybe I keep moving around because I haven't found anyplace on the mainland that's quite as nice as Maui, or maybe I keep moving just to keep from being bored.

I think there's been a total of two days when I haven't made it out to the ocean, and they were both due to bad sunburns (which have now turned into a nice tan, thank you very much). I've made it out surfing a couple of times, and am going out again later today. I wasn't sure how much I'd end up paddling out. Since I'm not the greatest surfer I usually try to take my dad (or any guy friend who is big and intimidating) out in the water with me. I've witnessed enough riffs in the water between surfers to know better than to piss some of them off. I'll be honest... I'm no Laird Hamilton (ok, my name and Laird Hamilton's don't even belong in the same sentence), and I know that I'm more than capable of pissing some local guys off. Despite that, I have been catching waves. Right now my goal is to catch one wave per session... and sometimes even that is setting the bar high. It's just nice to be out in the water having fun.

Melissa and Janine are both still here, which is nice. Janine introduced me to Lahaina night life last week when we went to the Oyster Bar, and I have to be honest and say that I wasn't that impressed. I think I'd take a laid back place like Blue Lagoon over the bumping, grinding, and loud music of the Oyster Bar any day. It was still fun since it's pretty difficult to ever hang out with Janine and not have a good time.

Edward attempted to teach me how to hit some golf balls down at the Ka'anapali driving range the other day, and while I'm not necessarily bad, I am certainly not good. It's a little bit harder than Tiger Woods makes it looks. (is Tiger his real name?)

A couple of weeks ago I ran into Petey, an old friend and coworker. He was getting ready to leave for Hana in a couple of days time, and their group needed one more person to go. Any time I have free time and a chance to go to Hana, I'll take it. They'd rented a a van, and a 3BR house in Hana for two nights. I wish I'd had a camera with me because the house was amazing. Considering I've only ever camped in Hana, a one bedroom shanty would have been nice, so this house was extremely comfortable. I would have stayed there for months if I could have.

After being away for a year and a half, it's more than just nice to be home. I felt like as soon as I got off of the plane and stepped into the airport in Kahului, I immediately got back all of the positive energy back that's slowly been drained out of me by California's fast paced, consumer-driven lifestyle. I love California, and I always will, I've just come to the realization that I don't want to live there. Ok, well if I were choosing between California and, oh say Nebraska... then I would choose California. When it's between Maui and California, I think I'll take Maui.

So I made an appointment and met with a counselor over at MCC the other day about their nursing program. I'm glad that I did because it turns out that the nursing program on island looks much more enticing than any of the ones I'd checked out in California. When you take into the into account the wait lists in the California programs, along with the prerequisites, it usually takes upwards from six years to become an RN. At the school I'm at it would take about eight. In Maui, from the time I begin my prerequisites to the time I graduate with my Registered Nursing Degree would only be four years.

The new plan is to finish up my associates in California over the next semester, and then head back out here in December. I might even take a semester off since I'll have a year of non-residency once I get back.

I'm going to head down to the Harbor and get my tea at the world cafe. Whoever you are, I hope you are having a wonderful day... and I also hope that immediately after you finish reading this that you will turn off your computer and go enjoy the day outside. I promise it'll be way better than anything you will find on your TV set (...unless your TV happens to be hooked up to a Nintendo Wii. Then I might stay in too.).