A new life chapter, full of aloha!

I'm re-starting this blog in an effort to share occasional thoughts and life happenings with friends and family.

My recent move to Oahu has been absolutely wonderful. It's been quite a learning experience moving to a new place. The most stressful period was the week before we moved, and the week after we got here. Now it's smooth sailin'!

Michael and I miss all of our friends and family, and our third wheel and constant in our lives up until now, Olive (meow). But it's been fun to get to know new people and make new friends. I've been getting to know my neighborhood, Mo'ili'ili, and discovering new favorite places.

These are a few of my favorite things so far:
-- our local Co-Op down the street, Kokua Market (kokua, roughly translated, means cooperation).
--Swimming in the ocean
--Street cats everywhere, some looking sickly, but some not so much!
--Malasadas!!
--Mango trees! Banyan trees! Baobab trees!!
--fresh fruit! (papaya, pineapple, oranges, avocado...)
--Gas stove in our kitchen! We've been cooking lots of great meals.(Mac n cheese, slow cooked chicken tacos, potato veggie skillet, lots of bacon...)
--Dresses and skirts and sandals every day, no more pants or leggings or rain boots.
--Iced coffee instead of hot coffee
--Brewing a pitcher iced tea almost every evening
--Exploring the public library
--New birds surrounding me! Zebra doves, egrets, this cool bird with a red tuft on its head.

Aloha!

Sunny weekend

It officially feels like spring. It seems much warmer for this time of year than it usually is... And we just had snow nine days ago! Bizarre.
What a beautiful wonderful stretch of sunny days it was. Thursday after work, I planted my garden. Some starts of Forellenschluss ("trout's back") lettuce, Graffiti Cauliflower, some purple rapa asian greens, and then some radish, carrot, and poppy seeds.
Friday I had a good morning volunteering at Brainworks, spent the afternoon lounging around with Michael, and then biked through Ballard neighborhoods admiring gardens and had a wonderful evening with Josephine walking around the forest behind Golden Gardens. Went to a comedy show at the Neptune which wasn't that great, then biked home with Michael after he was done working.
Saturday we made some biscuits and gravy for breakfast which we shared with Richard and Jourdan--breakfast sausage and biscuits from the U district farmer's market! Delicious! Lounged around all afternoon, I biked with Michael for a while when he headed to work, then went on home and relaxed the rest of the night.
But yesterday was the best day of all... Got off work at 10am since it was so slow, made some bacon + toast, went to the Fremont market where I saw lots of cool art and nice people. Pickled Okra serenaded passerbys while an adorable old lady danced ever so slowly with her daughter to the lively bluegrass music. In the antique section, "rhinestone cowboy" came on and I swear, the whole place burst into song just like in a movie. After the market, I biked to hang out with Jaime and make matzoh brei. Thank God I arrived to get the girl outside in the sun and out of her dark dungeon bedroom. Drank a couple of my dad's beers, then biked on home through the sunset and warm air, where Michael, Sarah, and Emma were BBQ-ing hot dogs and had set out a delicious cheese plate! AND other Emma stopped by and brought us chocolate-covered matzah with cranberries and walnuts. Yum!!
Sunny days put me in such a great mood. Especially biking around the city and seeing all the spring-blooming trees. This one's a Tulip tree/Magnolia. All over Seattle right now!

Mountains. Freedom. Niece.

Each morning at the office, I get to see the sun rise. Some days, there's not much to see when the clouds hide all the colors and light and all I see is the darkness turning to lighter and lighter shades of gray. But then some days, the light hits the Olympic Mountain Range perfectly--pink, purple; sometimes the rising sun hits the snowy caps of the mountains in such a striking way that it takes my breath away. This morning, I am gazing at those mountains, and it makes me feel this strange mixture of sadness and happiness and awe; a strong yearning to just be there in those mountains, exploring, or just sitting, absorbing nature. This city life is tiresome. It was easy to take Bellingham for granted--the ease of accessing natural places. There are plenty of parks here in Seattle too, but it's different. The city vibe is still there, even in the quietest places.
I need to try harder to spend time in natural places. Walk in the arboretum, drive or bicycle over to the big park in Issaquah. Go on a bike overnight to Bainbridge, Mt. Vernon, Carnation. Go snowboarding or snowshoeing. Visit Mt. Rainier. Visit Eleanor and Kent.

Celebrated Passover with the family last night. It's good to remember my roots and be grateful for freedom. What am I doing to make the most of my freedom? This should be a question I ask myself for often. Am I living my free life to its fullest?

I wonder what my little niece will be like. I love her already and she doesn't even exist yet. I want to instill a love of growing things and an understanding of the interconnections in this world. I know this is a bit ambitious, but I'll have be more involved in this little one's life than I have been with Tyler's. I'll be a full-time auntie, instead of a part-time one. It seems so abstract that there will be a new person in my life. I am lucky enough to get to observe this little life from its conception on into the unknown future. Right now my future niece is about have her first plane ride. I wonder if a fetus can feel the changes in pressure and if it will feel Leah's anxiety about being trapped on the plane.

Annual post time? Funny how it worked out that way.

Why do I have a love/hate relationship with modern technology? Why the resentment towards Michael's use of his iphone? Is it that I'm jealous that he's paying more attention to his phone than to me? I do that to him when I'm reading, or texting someone, or when I'm on the internet. Maybe it's that I'm concerned about modern society's addiction to technology like this, and Michael and his iphone make this real for me, and make me see him as a microcosm of this problem... But, is this future? Won't "first world society" have iphones from now on--they're not going to just disappear. People won't willingly throw them out and started moving on backwards in time. The internet will continue to exist, and will continue to integrate itself into human society until now, just like a hammer or a fork or a shovel, the internet is simply an extension of our selves, something to extend the reach of our intellect and our skills, to make our lives more efficient and relevant, to make it so that the world really DOES revolve around ME!! How does it know my favorite food? How did it know I was thinking of trying that new restaurant out? How do MY friends like this bar? It makes sense. Advertising tailored completely to you, courtesy of your friend and family's knowledge of your preferences.
So what's so wrong with this? Why do I have so much resentment and fear about it? Am I standing the one blocking the doorway and the hall as the times they are a changin'?? Is this what Dylan meant? Am I just scared of change? Of "the future"? Of "kids these days and their technology?"
No, I'm not. It's not change itself I'm afraid of. In fact, it feels like it's some sort of drastic change that I crave. I come at this with an educated, thought out viewpoint. It's a not a knee jerk reaction to things I don't understand. After learning and discussing research that points to how our rapidly increasing use of the internet and iphone is affecting 1) how our neural structures in our brains operate, 2) our health and happiness, and 3) human's ability to concentrate and emphathize, and...think. This is still a disjointed thought process that isn't shedding any light on the issue. It feels like-- people my age, people younger than me, are integrating technology into their lives more and more. Why don't I like this? What can I do about it? I can go my own way and continue to not use an iphone and be conscious about my own time on the internet, and my own "technology addiction." But I have no right to judge others on their addiction to something that is so integrated into our society, and will only become more so.
Is it because I'm sad? I don't want Michael to be one of the them, one of the "sheep," one of the humans being brainwashed to think this is what my brain needs now--anything at the tip of fingers? The commercial says it perfectly-- "I have a right to be UNLIMITED!" A prediction of the dystopia! Freedom to be unlimited! Share as much information as I want and learn as much information as I want! Use as many resources as I want and do what I want! My right my freedoms! But what about my RESPONSIBILITIES? Responsibilities to raise healthy children and the responsibility to be a steward to the environment we live in? Because it's the right thing to do? Sure, if that motivates you. If it doesn't, fuck morals, these "responsibilities" should be seen as survival skills. If we want our species to continue; if we simply want our children to live without preventable health conditions and with the ability to eat fresh food and breathe clean air and drink water that came from a nearby lake or river; we need to be stewards. Stewards for each other, for our communities, for our planet. Because if we don't switch gears, we're going to DIE! The ecosystems around us will weaken until they can no longer support us and will become wholly artificial, all made of human-created technology. Anything to keep us living our comfortable lives!

The potential coal export situation is going to be a real turning point. Sure, if we keep it from happening in this region, it may just show up in Canada, or California, or Mexico, but still... It needs to at least be fought hard. It needs to be clear that exponentially increasing the coal trains running through the Pacific Northwest to get to China is NOT OKAY WITH US. Yes, it would please china. It would please the coal companies. It would please all those who stand to profit in any way from coal. It would create some temporary jobs (but not as many lives as would be destroyed by the consequences of coal trains). But it would hurt our health, it would hurt our forward progress towards healthier cleaner energy, it would hurt our fisherman's livelihoods, our marine ecosystems, our landscapes of all kinds all along the railroad tracks, our farmers near the tracks, their children's lungs, it would increase traffic and delay our emergency vehicles and send the wrong message to our children. We cannot let this happen.

So what's the solution? For now, I'll start simple with myself. Cook more. Teach others how to cook. Inspire a love for food in others. Eat less meat and more plants. Drive as little as possible. Use as little new material as possible (limit new products, clothes, limit packaging). Grow my own food as much as possible. Exercise regularly. Support businesses who support their communities, and don't lend their ear to corporate interests.

We can learn from and respect our past but we can't go back to it. We can only go forward, and the future will not be like the past, it will be different. I need to accept that but also feel empowered to control my own future.

gratitude

I've just finished a book about the science of human goodness, which covered all sorts of topics from how to build a more compassionate workplace to the importance of empathy in our relationships. Another topic was gratitude--its impacts to personal health and happiness and to society as a whole. As the essay suggested, cultivating gratitude tends to encourage good deeds, which in turn encourages more good deeds! Studies have shown that simply seeing one stranger help another stranger triggers positive emotions and a desire to do good deeds.

A list of things I'm grateful for at the moment:
1) a warm home for these cold rainy seattle days
2) being in good physical and mental health
3) owning a bicycle that allows me to get around for free, get exercise, and have fun
4) having a loving, considerate, and creative boyfriend
5) having a full-time job that i enjoy
6) changing shifts at work so that now i can cook dinner again and see my friends more!
7) wonderful friends who i can still remain close with even when weeks pass between us seeing each other
8) food trucks
9) finally being financially comfortable
10) getting to grow my own food! I have 14 seeds planted in tiny pots (and more to come!) that will turn into seedlings and then plants and then FOOD!
11) a supportive family who will always be a safety net for me
12) public libraries!

generosity

I've been thinking about: 

If one is a generous person by nature, and enjoys being generous, but one's generosity isn't appreciated and isn't reciprocated. In my opinion, this isn't fair. But what can be done about it? You can't ask someone to change who they are. It's not fair to you or anyone else to force yourself to be less generous so life will be fair. Are you just left to feel a bit ill-treated by your friends?

One solution is to start spending time with people who DO appreciate you and reciprocate your generosity. But what about when many of your close friends treat you this way? Hm. This isn't actually a personal problem I'm experiencing, but one I've discussed with others. Is there such thing as being too generous? Maybe, if you aren't satisfied with what you're receiving from others...?

elephants. water crisis.

Today I have been thinking about:

1. elephants. they can communicate across continents using infrared sound, below the level that a human could hear. the woman who first discovered this, Katie Payne, heard a "throbbing" or "thrill" in the air that she only heard while around the elephants in the zoo, and not in the rest of the zoo. she says she noticed it because she's always listening, and because she never grew up, thus is open to any possibility.

MORAL: listen with an open mind, always.

2. does this mean that all the technology out there that uses infrared sound in the general vicinity of elephants interferes with their communication? are we changing their conversations? are we making it harder for them to hear each other? 

3. the global water crisis. i think about this every day. one flush of the toilet is equal to the total amount used by a person in many parts of africa, for drinking, washing, cooking, and cleaning. i cannot flush a toilet without feeling a pang of guilt, but also gratitude that i have a toilet. 

MORAL: don't take water for granted.