Here we go again

I am so unbearingly bad at this blogging thing. It's embarrassing. I have an interesting life, some decent thoughts, and good friends who would read this thing if I put any effort into it. But, alas, I choose to spend my spare evening time in other ways... googling useless crap, picking my pimples, and watching meaningless TV to name a few. Well, to give myself credit, I do read the New York Times and also whatever book I'm currently working my way through. But still-- I am shamed by my friends' bigger, better, shinier blogs time and time again. I just checked out Ann and Kelly's, and of course, they rock. I should link them on mine, but I don't even know how to do that. How sad am I? Anyway, in an attempt to be cool like them and record at least a little of this funny life of mine, I'll try again.

So. Last time I wrote, I was a happy chappy English teacher in J-pan. Those were the days. My last five months there were the best of all, and they happened only a little too late for me to get my head out of my butt and realize that it would have been a good idea to stay a second year. Ah well, at this point all I can do is bemoan my past self's shortsightedness... Bemoan bemoan bemoan. Anyway, the reason those last months were so good was because I was finally settled, in a happy routine with good friends and good weekends and good students, and, from May onward, even a good boyfriend. Not to mention, I made a ton of money doing hardly anything, was exempt from dual taxation, and paid lint picked from my belly button for rent. Life was really, really good.

Now, I find myself in Honolulu. Which is also good, and I expect it only to get better. However, it's still hard for me to accept that Japan is now in my past. Sure, it's in my present in the fact that my boyfriend is Japanese, and I plan on going back to Toyama before June of next year. But, I don't LIVE there anymore. I don't get to ride my bike, or waste time and money at Aeon, or teach my students the difference between "neighborhood" and "neighborfood", or spend gloriously spontaneous and crazy weekend nights with Ann&Kelly and company and my (or should I say "our"?) purple velour pajama pants. I suppose I'm still mourning the loss of such a fantastic time in my life. At what point, though, does the mourning end? I suppose when my new life here in Honolulu gets a jumpstart and gets going. I'm waiting anxiously for that to happen...

I realize I'm making my life here in Honolulu sound bad. It's really not; in fact, it's pretty awesome so far. (I've been here three days). Let me share the positives: I live in a kick-ass brand new condo smack dab in the middle of downtown Honolulu. The grocery store, drug store, Ross (my fave discount department store), the post office, the library, my place of work, Chinatown, and about a million restaurants are all (and I repeat ALL) within walking distance of where I live. How great is that? Plus, if I can't walk somewhere, there's the nation's best bus system ready to take me anywhere I fancy to go. (I'm actually going to give TheBus a try tomorrow-- is it weird that at this point I'd feel more comfortable taking the bus in Japan than taking the bus here?) Heck, aside from all the great stuff around me, there are countless things to do just in this condo itself. I used the fitness center for the first time today, and I plan to make use of the pool this weekend or the next. There are also music rooms, a yoga room, a media room (think leather lazyboys and a movie theatre-style screen), and even a dry cleaning service. Also, I live with a Chinese couple and their daughter, who are all very friendly, although they like to watch about 3 different TV stations at once (I'm not kidding-- three different stations on three different TVs).

Honolulu itself is amazing to me. It's huge, but it's small too. Does that make sense? I don't think I'll ever get bored here. Now all I need are some friends! Haha. I'm looking forward to exploring the city more, and taking lots of pictures.

My job starts on Monday. I'll be working as an Admissions Representative for a small career college. I'm hoping it's an enjoyable pursuit. Mostly, though, I'm just looking forward to having a daily routine. I function best on an organized schedule-- much like a small child.

Well let's see here, anyone wanna take bets on when my next post will be?