I love the night life, I love to boggie...

Shame on me. Only two posts in all of September.

So, the night life in Honolulu is not quite like the night life in New York. I still don't have a favorite place to hang out, but I have discovered a few fun things to do when the sun goes down.

1) Indigo's- This is a great restaurant, great food, funky interior, but a little too expensive to make it a regular outing. Then I discovered they have the best happy hour in the state, maybe even in the country. Three dollar martinis and free pupus (appetizers, and I feel like I am a twelve year old sometimes when someone says- "Let's go get some pupus". Me- "(giggle, giggle)"
Now we are not talking mixed nuts and chicken wings, they are serving fresh and healthy things here. Fresh broccoli, wide flat noodles with zucchini, cucumber salad, ribs, shrimp and rice, mixed green salad, and something else I can't really remember right now. And the martinis are delicious. My favorite at the moment is the Lychee martini. Yum. I definately had seconds on both the food and drink.

2) Art after dark- On the last Friday of every month, the Art Academy, convienently located down the street from my apartment, opens up its doors at night for a party. Each month there is a differenty theme. September's was "Hula Couture". Basically they just had a few models dressed in crazy takes on the traditional Hula garb. Apparantly since not much goes on in this town, this was the place to be. The place is gorgeous. Being in a nice climate, there were many outdoor quads to hang out in along with different indoor exhibit rooms and an independent film theater. I had a really fun time and even had my first D-list celebrity citing. One of "the bachelors" was pointed out to me. Who in case you were wondering is about 5'5" and looked like he had just gotten off work on Wall Street with his blue dress shirt and black dress pants. None the less, he had a bevy of ladies around him the entire night. I gave him a winking nod every time he looked my way, but I didn't get a rose.

3) First Friday- This also happens to be tonight. This is when the art galleries downtown stay open late and serve drinks and food. But which ones to go to? I was lucky enough to get a call from my new friend Shanah (pronounced Shawna), to say that she was at a really good party. The theme was "all things small". There was a door in the door that you had to almost crawl into and everything being served was, you guessed it, small. Mini oreos and fig neutons (I may have eaten most of them), mini pizzas, small kegs, etc. I was going to be really upset if they served me my wine in a mini cup, but much to my relief, it was a normal sized cup. We are going to the same party tonight but I don't know what the theme is yet.

So that is all for today. Just three of my favorite things from this week:

1) Seeing a man run past me in Waikiki holding a cement block on one shoulder with his left hand and in his right, pumping a very large weight.

2) A guy coming up to me on the beach trying to sell me two cans of tuna fish for three dollars (Light tuna packed in oil, are you kidding me?????)

3) Tutu calling the receptionist at the doctor's office a "dumb ass" because she asked for picture ID.

Time flies

Hello. Time sure flies when you're not blogging. I am obviously not a good work from home candidate. Since I am so far away I feel as though I have to write a short story full of details and tales of hilarity. I was very busy for the past two weeks with the film makers here following Maya around for the documentary. I don't think that I will make on screen in but I am going to get a film credit since I helped out so much.

Other than that I have basically been going hiking and going to the beach. There are some really grest hiking spots out here and a good variety of length and difficulty. I just ate my lunch and I am going to head out after I am done writing this.

Things I'm not used to yet:

Calling flip-flops slippers (I don't know what they call actual slippers, I need to find someone that wears them)

Saying Aloha instead of Hello (don't think I'm going to convert on that one)

Being called ma'am instead of miss by youths (this phenonenom started in New York and I think it has less to do with my moving out here than it does with getting older, but I am still not used to it)

The time difference (I never know when a good time to call the east coast is)

People telling me that some place is soooo far away and I couldn't possibly walk (we're talking 20-30 minutes on foot)

It's raining outside when I leave my apartment, but by the time I get to the lobby it's stopped


Things I am loving:

Everyday is a beach day

Tank tops

Being able to exercise outdoors 7 days a week

Surfing

Open toe shoe season is every season

Finally

Yes, after much procrastination and relaxation, I sit down to blog. I thought that I wouldn't be able to figure it out by myself but it really is as easy as Jeff says it is. I have yet to figure out how to post a picture, so that will have to come later. So far I still feel like I am on an extended vacation, but without the "gotta get it all in" feeling. No need to go to the beach when it is not great out, I live here so I can wait until tomorrow.

I get along well with my 84 year old roommate Tutu (Hawaiian for grandmother) and I am adjusting to her quirks and like she says, "I've lived longer than I thought I would, so I earned it". This is for smoking in bed, cursing, drinking wine or scotch, or really anything else she damned well pleases to do. She's a pistol.

For those of you who were unaware of my move, I am in Honolulu for the year and just seeing how things go. So far I have basically just been hanging out with my friend Maya (Tutu's granddaughter), her husband Konrad, and their three year old daughter Suhalia. I have made some frieinds through some parties and events and now can count the people I know on two hands instead of one.

I had a job at a vintage clothing store for about five minutes before I got fired. The owner called me up to see if I could come in for some training one day and I already had my friend Maya's car and I told her wouln't be able to get there until about 3:30 since I had to pick her up from work. Maya was late getting out of work because a reporter there for her. I then was about 15 minutes late to my "training". I entered appologizing stating that my friend got tied up with a reporter and was late getting out from work. She didn't seem to believe me and just said "It is not good to be late for your first day of work".

Me: "I know, but I told you this morning when you called that I already had my friend's car and I had to pick her up from work or else she would have no way to get home."

Her eyes rolling: "It's not good (looking up at the clock)"

Me: "Yes, I appologize. I was at the mercy of my friend's schedule because I had borrowed her car like I told you this morning. In the future I will be walking from my apartment three blocks away so it won't happen again."

Her: "You legally have to be here for three hours of work and I can't keep the store open later than 6:30"

Me: "You were going to pay me off the books, what is so legal about that?"

Her: "I just don't feel comfortable about this."

So I went around the corner to get something to drink and call Maya to come and get me since I was fired. Maya then went into the store to talk to the woman to tell her that I was telling the truth and why the reporters were there. She then appolozied profusely to Maya telling her "Just have Cynthia call me tomorrow morning to set up a time to work and we can start over fresh"

Bullshit. I called her the next morning after my hike to tell her that I wasn't comfortable working for her. Done and done.

I still have yet to find another job and I think that it has something to do with the fact that I haven't looked for one. My savings will run out soon so I will be getting to that in the very near future.

Well more to come later. Not sure if I can do this everyday. Maybe every other.

Miss you all!!!!!!