Kaulapi World

Pretty chill weekend following an eventful work trip. Went salsa dancing in Adams Morgan on Friday, had a mojito and got to listen to some live music. The place was pretty busy, it reminded me a lot of state street on the weekends. Saturday was pretty mellow, went to this street block party that my neighborhood put on, and saw the movie Crash. Sunday I went to Eastern Market to look around, picked up a lot of veggies and some homemade hotsauce. Picked up some mussels from Whole Foods and made a pot of them italian style, following aunty Lidia’s directions.

Have to say that I enjoyed the movie Crash, it was along the lines of do the right thing, although not nearly as good. Part of me thinks that race relations in America has a long way to go still, I’m beginning to wonder if there are aspects of American culture that both helps and hurts multiculturalism at the same time. The metahpor works well, being that all of the characters at one point or time are moving in cars, bound to crash into each other in their prospective courses of life. Before they collide in a shattering of steel glass and flesh, they are completely obvlivious to the other person’s dreams, culture, story, existance, really. I think the metaphor works especially being set in LA, which echos in the American mind of a city so multi-ethnic, tense, sratified, and misunderstood, not to mention completely dependant on automobiles for transportation.

Of course I had to notice the absence of any significant API role in the movie, aside from being an old guy getting run over, or a bunch of silent human trafficking victims. Maybe in the eyes of hollywood people who look like that don’t count as much on the bigger story of race relations, or of America maybe. Not too surprised, given the track record of movies like this in the past.

My own personal observations of living in a large metropolitan city on the mainland is that people in general need to take a moment to chill out, and think about their surroundings and how they fit into them. I think this literally means they need to step out of their cars and put their feet on the ground. I read an essay once on car psychology, how for typical drivers the car is an extension of themselves. How people spend so much money on a car as a status statement or how they are so upset when they get cut off, or worse yet get into an accident. The literal example I remember was how drivers use “I” or “Me” instead of the “car” or even “my car”. This partially explains the irritation or rage that people feel while driving, and how they are more likely to use their cars as weapons on the highway. That is something that this city needs to work on, typically when you’re crossing the street people in cars speed up instead of slowing down, even to a stop sign. Theres also a lot of places in my neighborhood were motorists will floor the gas to a red light. I was disturbed to hear about an intersection in NW where they have these orange flags for pedestrians to hold crossing the street IN THE CROSSWALK, and where recently somebody got hit.

Maybe there should be a law restricting licences of people who commit road rage. They do it for people who inflict injury while under the influence of alcohol, why not extend it so include those under the influence of self-entitlement?

Sitting in traffic as to waiting in a long line waiting for an ATM or the post office, someplace where you have no choice in going, where you’re already looking around at other people seeing if they are cutting in line or making a lot of noise. This and all except that everyone is sitting in a 2000 pound box of metal and glass. Walking or riding public transportation is a great equalizer as that we are all reduced to where our two feet can take us. I guess in the end people tend to self-segregate if given the opportunity. Or maybe thats part of it, despite all of our talk of democracy and equal opportunity, we are all really striving to outdo the person next to us in anyway we can, even if it is something as simple and mundane as going to and from someplace.

This is just one of many reasons driving my decision to put off buying a car for a bit longer. I think of it as a choice for peace of mind and to avoid the stress that comes with it. Typically I’m wondering if I’ve found an effective coping mechanism for a lot of life’s stress: decide not to play the game.

While saying this I’ll also say that Honolulu is a very car-centric city in general, largely because of its post-war zoning, which makes for a big contrast in going from there to here. I used to ride the bus a lot growing up, and in High School I bummed rides off of my friends. It wasn’t until coming home for summer during college when I really drove a lot, my first observations revolved around fighting traffic just going downtown, and getting around in general has gotten worse over the past couple of years. Culturally it was different as there isn’t nearly as much road rage back at home, and just in general people aren’t nearly as pissed off. You simply do not see the type of hostile behavior on the road, and people actually let you on and off the freeway.

On travel down south for the week, writing from hotel, using the LAN connection. Had some troubleshooting problems a little while in order to get in working. Had a long day today, got up around 5:30 for an early train and a drive down here. Stayed at the agency pretty late tonight I think we got some work done, but then again its hard to say until later.

I guess being on travel provides a good time to catch up on things, like reading, catching up with friends, what not, reading the newspapers. Also gives you some time to reflect on the perks of the job and where it might be taking you.

Been about a month in my new division, still busy, learning a lot. Going on another travel for work on Monday, back down south. Hopefully one of my other assignments will take me to other parts of the country that I haven’t had a chance to go yet. Still crossing my fingers for a trip that might justify me going back home or out west.

Got positive results back from my ratings, I ended up doing pretty well. Not sure yet how it’ll translate in monetary terms, but either way I’ll be seeing a bump. Meanwhile I got into a conversation with a classmate of mine on the pay system we’re under, some observations are due there too in weighing the pluses and minuses of working for the agency. I’m happy with what I got, the perks and benefits meet and often exceed my expectations for what I am looking for in a career at this point in time.

Work is going well, busy as usual, I’m developing a lot of know-how and experience in using some database and spreadsheet programs, it looks like the work I did with B paid off very well, I’ll be usuing a lot of the NT functions of my personality to pull of some of the tasks in the near and present future.

Went to the Kamehameha statue lei draping ceremony this past weekend, got to hear some speeches and listen to Hawaiian music, see a lot of local people at the capitol. Later on they had a reception at the National conservatory with some local kine grinds and more live music. It was in the indoor conservatory which had cooler humid air, and some native Hawaiian plants. It was kind of strange, almost felt like being back at home.

Another year tacked onto this online journal, part of me is wondering if I should go and transfer this stuff onto a blog format of sorts, which I most likely will not do for various reasons. I think a year living in DC has treated me well, a number of good experiences and personal growth. Spent the year mark on vacation in LA, have some observations about the city and then some, all reaffirming some of the reasons why I’m not too fond of that city in general. Either that or maybe I’m just becoming a snobby east coaster. who knows.

Stayed downtown, which was pretty cool, but kinda dead in general. After riding the train I was reminded as to what a communter city LA is, just from demographic and ethnic observations on the train in general. It seems like in LA only minorities and a few token haoles take the train, and no katonks whatsoever. I say this because it seems like everyone on the train had a staring problem, although maybe it was because I was with a couple of cute girls, but who knows. Plust to boot was this honor system on the train with tickets, there’s no automation or gate to receive and punch tickets, honestly people could just ride for free. It seemed like I was the only one buying a ticket at every station.

Walking gives you a different perception of the city, you notice that a lot of places smell like shishi, not only downtown, but along hollywood blvd, just about everywhere really. And the panhandlers on the street were more psychotic, and hyperagressive, especially to the haoles who didn’t have a quarter to spare. This one guy by Union station chased this haole guy across the street, cussing and swearing the whole way. I don’t know what he said to him in the first place, but I guess this is another reason why everyone drives in LA.

On a flipside, Chinatown/Koreatown/Little Saigon/Little Tokyo were all interesting. I got a couple of pake suits from chinatown, and got to eat some good food while I was there as well. The Japanese American Memorial Museum was well done, I was impressed by their exhibits and I got to talk to a Tule Lake internee who was stopping by for a visit. The visit inspired some side research topics and readings that I haven’t considered since undergrad.

Come to appreciate this city that I’ve called home for about a year now, little things, nuances, and quirks. I think in general its the environment, and the bubble of existance that I seem to dig about metropolitan areas. In this case, DC is a wonk’s paradise, saturated with people so focused on politics and specific areas of study that it makes then eccentric and out of touch with the rest of the country and the world, perhaps. I guess as a consolation I say that they’re at least passionate about something, and willing to work to achieve a greater understanding. Sometimes I think that the majority of the population inthe US is asleep, or just going through the motions. Oh what a rat race.

As far as work is concerned, I’m coming up on my second assessment, and hopefully will be up for another raise. I’m really digging my new assingment at work so far, 10-fold at least, everyday I actually look forward to going to work. I’m liking the pace and the topic area overall, I also think the types of people I’m working with I click with better in general. Minimal bullshit and straight to the point in general so far, which I like.

Saw Madagascar, it was pretty good, although the Ali G character stole the show by far, in my opinion.