2020: A do-over is in order

I thought 2020 was going to be a fresh start for me. The start of a new decade. No more college tuition. Plans to buy my dream car and maybe a trip to Japan. But no such luck. Coronovirus, or officially COVID-19, decided the world needed a kick in the ass.

Our federal government failed to recognize the swift cruelty of this virus and now its knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic is woefully lacking with thousands of Americans dying daily. Even here, in our beautiful Hawaii, the virus has quickly taken root in paradise. Our local government has put our island state under a “stay at home, work at home” order. It’s been two weeks now and while there are a few “covidiots” out there, Hawaii peeps seem to be listening.

I’ve been working remotely now for nearly a month. I was really happy to be working from home but I’m starting to miss a lot of things. Like seeing my colleagues and working from a real desk. And while I enjoy not having to wear makeup or flat iron my hair, I’m starting to feel like a slob. I kind of miss dressing up and wearing heels!

That said, I am grateful for so many things in my life. I still have a job. My family is healthy. We have food in the house and the basics to sustain us at least through the end of April. I’m taking evening strolls with my husband and learning to love leftovers. I even sewed face masks this past weekend. We may be stuck at home, but we have everything we need.

I’m not going to lie. I have cabin fever. Big time. This virus is no joke and I’m pretty sure this is the universe’s way of telling us to get our sh*$ together so we better listen. Be well, everyone.

Letting go again – part 2

Well, we cut the apron strings tonight with Micah. Amazingly enough, I did not cry but I feel the tears welling up as I write. Perhaps this glass of Merlot will help me.

Micah seems to have adjusted well to campus life. He made friends quickly and is getting along with his roommate. I think he realized that he’s not that far away from home when he found poke bowls and Hawaiian Sun juice at Uwajimaya (it’s like Marukai) and POG juice at Fred Meyer! And let’s not forget that he has family about 20 minutes away from campus. 

I’m amazed at how many students he already knows, but that’s to be expected when 25% of the school’s population is from Hawaii. The class of 2019 has 117 freshmen from Hawaii, a record for Pacific University. 

Getting on the plane tomorrow without Micah is going to feel so weird. I already started missing him a few days ago when I realized he was going to be fine on his own. 

I am so proud of him. He’s worked hard to get to this point and it makes me happy to see him embracing this new chapter of his life. Like any mom, I worry about a lot of things – like will he manage to get up for his 8 am class or change his sheets frequently. Or will he fall in with the party crowd (I hope not)? 

But I have to believe that he will make good decisions about his future. I think Pacific is a good fit for him and will allow him to grow and succeed. He’s leaning toward a degree in elementary education but who knows? It might be something else next month. 

It’s going to be a long plane ride home tomorrow without my “baby.” Time for another glass of wine! 

   

A Chinese mythological creature: part dragon, part dog.

  

Incoming freshmen sign the enrollment book and ring the old bell.

 

Letting go again

In approximately 20 minutes, I’ll be leaving for the airport to board a flight to Oregon. We’re taking our youngest son Micah to college this week. You’d think this would be a walk in the park for me since I’ve already sent one son to college, but it’s not. In fact, I think it will be harder this time around.

Micah is six years younger than his brother Matt so he was basically raised as an only child for much of his life. He’s not one of those kids who shudders at the thought of hanging out with his parents. He happily goes to dinner with us, shopping with me (he has an Imelda problem) and generally likes to hang out at home.

To say I was surprised he wanted to leave the nest is putting it mildly. There was a point in his first year of high school when he wasn’t considering higher education. Thankfully, the “light” turned on for him and he graduated this past May and was accepted to many great universities. Of course, he chose Pacific University, the most expensive school with the smallest financial aid offer. But according to Micah, he didn’t go to private school like his brother so he saved us a lot of money over the years. Okay, point taken.

Unlike my husband who is thrilled to have a partially empty nest, I am not so happy. I’m really going to miss Micah. In many ways, he’s like me. You know, neat, germaphobe, particular about clothes, classic  Type A with OCD tendencies. I’m really quite sad. Mainly because the other two adults in my house are the exact opposite! 

I’m sure I’ll keep it together this week but the real challenge will be when we get home. I might have to find a hobby or get my husband to take me on more trips. Yeah, that might be the cure. More traveling sans children!

Photos coming soon! 

  

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 710 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 12 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

In late January, my husband and I took a 12-day cruise to Australia and New Zealand. It was the trip of a lifetime and we had a wonderful time.

Some observations from our two-week adventure:

• We survived each other 24/7 for two entire weeks! I think we’ll be okay during our retirement years.
• Dining in Australia and New Zealand is very expensive. More than what you would spend in Hawaii. For example, a simple breakfast at a cafe in Sydney cost us $35, not including gratuity.
• The sun down under is really hot. We had the worst sunburn of our lives while we were tooling around Sydney.
• New Zealand is absolutely beautiful. It’s what Hawaii probably looked like before development. Most of the ports we visited reminded us of Waimea on the Big Island. Pristine coastlines and cute little towns.
• There are lots of Chinese people living in Australia. And by the way, Chinese tourists are the rudest people on the planet. I’m not kidding. No respect for personal space. Pushing and shoving their way in a crowd is their normal. China is so not on our bucket list.

Here’s a link to our photo album. Enjoy!

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Taking charge of your health: it’s that important.

I’m a little annoyed at the big deal the media is making about Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she had a double mastectomy. For the record, there have been other celebrities that made the same choice but it didn’t generate the level of media coverage that has occurred in the last 24 hours. For what it’s worth, I applaud her courage to talk about her high risk for breast and ovarian cancer and her decision to have surgery. It may not be the right choice for every woman, but that’s my point. It’s her choice and we should respect it. I don’t understand why people who know nothing about her, and even less about breast cancer, BRAC and treatment options, find it necessary to criticize or question her decision.

I’m considered high risk for breast cancer and while it’s unlikely that I have the genetic marker, I would make that same choice if I did have it because I know I couldn’t live with those odds. In fact, I would take it to another level by not only having the double mastectomy but also opting for a complete hysterectomy.

Yes that’s drastic but let’s be honest here. I’m way past my child-bearing years and I don’t have to breastfeed anymore (small blessings). Besides, I’m not the kind of woman who defines herself by her “rack” (or lack thereof in my case) and if I suffer from any form of vanity, it’s my ridiculous fear of losing my hair even if it drives me crazy on a daily basis.

People should applaud the actress for taking charge of her health, something that all of us should be doing instead of waiting until chronic or terminal illness takes over our lives. Think about — and I’m as guilty as the next person of not doing this — if we all took better care of ourselves by eating right, exercising and educating ourselves about health and wellness, our nation might not be in the health crisis that we’re currently in.

Like Angelina, I want to be around to see my kids get married and to spoil my grandchildren so I will do what’s necessary to keep myself healthy. Life is short and I have yet to tackle my bucket list. Get your mammogram, ladies!

No Resolutions, Just Aspirations

New Year’s resolutions are so yesterday.  I’m not making any for 2011 but I do have a list of aspirations, meaning “whoo hoo” for me if I make it, but no biggie if I don’t!

I aspire to (in no particular order):

• File all the paperwork in my home office, eventually.  Perhaps before the end of 2011.
• Bake my mom’s red velvet cake.
• Go to the gym at least twice a week versus twice a month.
• Lose 10 pounds before my next doctor appointment.  Hmm, maybe I should make that five pounds since that appointment is in February.
• Blog more often.
• Read more books.
• Play more golf.

So what do you aspire to in 2011?  Whatever it is, I wish you success!

It’s Summer All Right

You know it’s summer when the kids are still sound asleep as you leave for work in the morning.  This makes me insanely jealous because as a working professional, I don’t have summer vacation.  It makes even more envious when I come home and monkey #2 is sitting on the couch, snacks in hand, watching Netflix movies on the Wii.

I also know it’s summer time because prime time TV totally sucks.  All my favorite shows are reruns and what few new shows are on are either about aliens or it’s another God-awful reality series.  As I blog tonight, I’m watching “America’s Got Talent” which by the way, is not really true if you actually watch the show.  You know, I’m all for raising confident children but c’mon people, have you no shame???  It never ceases to amaze me the levels that people will stoop to get their 15 minutes of fame.  With all due respect to the show, there are a few contestants that are actually quite talented.  I just wish they would raise the bar a tad so we can dispense with the no-talent bozos.

Oh great, Jillian Michaels has her own motivational show.  Yikes.  Just what I wanted to watch.  A super fit chick espousing the virtues of exercise and nutrition while the couch potatoes of the world (me included) munch on popcorn and ice cream!

New car!

Bit the bullet last week and bought myself a new car.  Happy Mother’s Day to me!  I bought a 2010 Toyota Venza.  It’s marketed as a crossover type vehicle but I think it looks like a medium-size SUV.  The Venza has all kinds of gadgets and features most of which are supposed to make for safer driving.  Personally, I find these things a tad distracting but I’m sure in time I’ll get over my nervousness.  Here are some of the features of my new car:

Back up camera: A neat feature but I still find myself rotating my head in “Exorcist” fashion when I reverse the car.  What would really be helpful if there were a camera on the front end of the car.  The front piece (notice I don’t know what this part is called) is kind of low and I know it’s just a matter of time before I scrape it on a cement parking block.  Plus, I think the back up camera should have voice cues like, “Eh, stop!  Really, stop NOW!”

Bluetooth: This was a must-have on my list of options for my new car but I must admit that when someone calls, I momentarily panic because I can’t remember how to answer the call. I programmed some essential phone numbers as well but it’s kind of frustrating when you can’t recall what name you attached to the phone number.  I tried to call my mom today and was yelling “Mom” to the microphone and the Bluetooth lady’s voice kept saying “Pardon?”  Finally I remembered that my mom has two listings:  “Mom Home” and “Mom’s Cell.”  Hmm…may need to rethink those directory names.  I hope no one saw me yelling at the dashboard today.  How shame.

Smart Key/Push Button Start & Stop:  This is a really neat feature but it’s causing me a lot of stress.  I have a smart key which means I don’t need a key to unlock the car.  You also don’t need a key to start the engine or turn it off.  You just press the button.  So why is this causing me stress?  When I leave the car — because there’s no key in my hand — I think I’ve locked it in the car.  Or when I lock the car, I sometimes unlock it inadvertently because of the smart key technology.

I’m definitely enjoying the new car honeymoon.  The new car smell is intoxicating and I find myself driving extra careful so as not to ding my Venza.  My husband says I should just get the first ding over with so I can move on.  Trust me, the honeymoon will end shortly when I make my first loan payment in June.  Ding or no ding.

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What the heck happened to Christmas?

It’s hard to believe that Christmas 2009 is pretty much a distance memory.  I’ve been working non-stop since Thanksgiving to get ready for Christmas and just like that, it’s over and done!  The tree is gone along with most of the needles.  All that’s left is the Christmas lights on the deck and bushes and a wreath that is starting to look pretty ugly.

Now we’re on to New Year’s preparations.  On my list of things to do:

1. Mochi pounding tomorrow with my Uesugi ‘ohana in Wahiawa.
2. Buy a Farmer John ham for the imu at the Wong’s house.
3. Clean my house before 2010 is ushered in.
4. Return a few Christmas gifts.
5. Clean my office.

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope all of you did too.  Here are some pictures of our holiday and the aftermath.  Wishing all of you a Happy New Year and may 2010 bring all of us good health and prosperity.  Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!

p.s.  Just for the record, I was not the last person to get her Christmas cards out.  I received at least four cards in today’s mail!  Hah!

Micah checking out his stocking loot.

Matt opening his presents. Look a little more excited dude! At least you got presents this year.

My beautiful decorated but extremely petrified Christmas tree.

This year’s Christmas card photo.

What’s left of Christmas 2009 at the Nakamoto residence.