Kaulapi World

Got read the riot act so to speak at a bar prep meeting on Friday. Pretty much ruined my looking forward to the weekend, but I guess I needed it with a few months left of the semester, and pre-pre-bar activities coming up around the corner. In some sense it seems like its the usual scare speech for the sleep deprived evening students in the room, but then again it was very necessary to hear the level of work and time commitments that we’ll be embarking on very shortly. My one comment is that I think a lot of this information probably would’ve been helpful like 1, 2, 3 years ago. I guess in some respect many of us would’ve just brushed it off, but still it might’ve been helpful to hear this with some advanced notice instead of all at once on a Friday evening.

Oh well, back to the books. And back to work tomorrow morning. And on to class in the evening.

Reading up on pictures and reports from the aftermath of the hurricane that hit SE Texas this past weekend. It’s amazing at how much damage the storm surge did to taking out entire towns along the coast. One section of Galveston looked like a bomb went off, with just vertical wooden planks standing up, everything else is pretty much swept away.

Events like these serve as a reminder to my own preparations for a natural or man-made disaster. Call it the old scout in me, but I’ve made it a point to make some kind of preparation, although its a modest effort overall. Over the years I’ve accumulated a small cache of supplies, a good supply of canned goods here and there, cooking oil, non-perishable grains (rice, beans, lentils) a butane stove and extra fuel, freeze dried camping food, candles, batteries, a few MREs, and a handful of stack-able water cans. Most recently I’ve added a KAIO shortwave radio equipped with 4 sources of power (AC, batteries, hand-crank, solar). Depending on the prognosis of the disaster when it hit, at least these supplies could last a couple of weeks, maybe longer with rationing.

Its 2AM and Hurricane Ike is battling down on Houston, Galveston, Texas – hope everyone that chose to shelter in place is riding things out ok. Growing up in Hawaii I’ve been conditioned to have a deep respect and fear for mother nature and all of its fury. I’ve had my fair share of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis (well no actual tsunamis, but warnings, anyway), and flash flooding. I’ve also spent my fair share of time in the ocean, riding out riptides, and occasionally eating it on the bigger wave that came out of nowhere. It’s lickings like these that bring a pretty quick slap to the head at how weak and insignificant humans are compared to the elements. This all explains in part why I get a twisted kick at watching all those foolish reporters on TV getting whipped around by the wind and rain. Go inside already you idiots before something heavy and sharp comes flying into your face.

So a few weeks ago I mentioned some blood tests from my trip back home as being kind of a wake-up call. Despite feeling fine and in good shape overall, I found out that some of my blood chemistry was off quite a bit from the normal ranges. They were off enough to cause my folks to sit me down the evening before I was heading back to DC to tell me that I need to slow down a bit with everything and take better care of my health. I think the stress, lack of sleep, (and oh did I mention stress?) of work and night school for the past 3 years has been taking its toll. The fact of the matter is that I’ve been pretty much running on empty since August, 2005 and in some sense I’m amazed that I haven’t lost my mind with all the side adventures and challenges that have come up along the way. The test results were really a second warning. The first warning was earlier this summer when I got my teeth checked out. After not having a single cavity my entire life, my first real cavities ended up being pretty bad requiring some drilling and more drilling, and more filling than I had ever imagined.

All the while I’ve been coming across sobering reports on the state of public health back home, talking about the rise of type 2 (adult onset) diabetes being rampant in Hawaii, especially among Native Hawaiians. Researchers and Doctors are baffled by the fact that the Hawaiians used to be a very lean and fit population, that is, until the overthrow of the monarchy, and the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. Kind of another wake-up nudge to me to keep up with my new health and diet plan.

Honolulu, Moili’ili (X2), Waikiki, Iwalei (X2), Kaneohe and some piece of mind being back home for a bit. Some things change, other things don’t at all.

Few more days and I’ll have a break from school, a few more weeks then I’ll be able take some real annual leave. It seems like the the busy spring went right into a busy summer, almost pau already and my summer course final is knocking on the door coming up next week. Looks like it’ll be late nights at the local coffee shop for me for here on out, looking forward to being finished with what has become a very busy year as a 3E. Looking forward to being a 4E, but more importantly to being almost done with this degree program. It’s been a challenging yet awarding experience.

My Commercial Transactions course this summer has been an example of a challenging course, given the depth of the material and the condensed course schedule down to 8 weeks. This has become another class in an area of law that I seem to have held a interest in that was previously unknown to me when I started school, similar to Corporations and Trust and Estates. I think it helps having a capable professor who can bring it all together quickly and in a way that both challenges you and provokes thought beyond the text and the cases.

Taking more sick leave this week, been a sobering reminder this summer as to how fortunate I am to be gainfully employed and covered by insurance. I’ve been joking with Hana that I should be bringing in lunch for the rest of the year to offset the costs, even after taking into account the insurance coverage. All these appointments have also been a reminder to me on the importance on getting enough sleep on a regular basis and pacing myself for this marathon life schedule I’ve been running for the past few years.

On a side note, I’ve noticed that Meyer’s Brigg temperament has been shifting again, from what was once becoming a solid ENTP to a moderately ENTJ. It has been the P/J split that has been fluctuating throughout my life. If I’m now a J, then it might explain some thoughts and realizations I’ve been having recently, or maybe more. There is something to be said about the temperaments of individuals as well as organizations as to how they can interact. Not sure where my agency would fall under, talking to one of my more experienced co-workers, it could be either an ISTP or INTP. Food for thought.

4th of July weekend, supposed to thunderstorm for most of the evening. Looking to duck the rain and the crowds, get some reading done, probably watch the fireworks on TV. Found a seafood market in the area, picked up some jumbo shrimp and littleneck clams, might cook up a pot with bay seasoning or something east coast style.

Otherwise its just a mellow break before the finals push comes again. Can’t believe the summer session is wrapping up already.

June again and I’m already knee deep in another summer session, I seem to have reverted to the almost back to back semester schedule that dominated the first 2 years of my adventures as an evening student. Took a little while, but I’m starting to feel my second wind to get back to studying this stuff. I’m taking a course in Commercial Transactions this summer, and once again I’m finding myself surprisingly interested in a course that I never really thought I’d be interested in before getting into the material. Never fully appreciated all of the federal statutes and anti-fraud provisions that are built into the simple action of writing a check, or swiping a credit card.

Taking some sick leave tomorrow and later this week for some appointments and checkups. Kind of a reminder that it’s a good idea to slow down and take a break once in a while from the busy life and get more sleep. I’ve been in constant work mode for day and night for so long now that it has become second nature, but has started to take a toll on my health. Nothing too serious, but definitely a reminder that I’m not as young as I used to be. By now I’ve accumulated a ton of sick leave I might as well use some of it.

June has been kind of an annual month of reflection for me in more ways than one, first off I started this journal many years ago this month, mostly because it marked the end of the academic school year. Looking back, June is also the month that I completed grad school and relocated to the district. Things to reflect on at this point might be that in my life there is always something around the corner to look forward to – for the longest time I thought it was because I was still young and sometimes overly idealistic, but lately I’ve been realizing that it may be because by nature I refuse, occasionally to my detriment, to be complacent in either mind or spirit. I’m never quite willing to settle for the problematic status quo if it can be improved.

After paying close attention to the races in 2000 and 2004 I’ve been I’ve been watching from the wings at both party’s primary process with a guarded level of optimism balanced with a healthy dose of cynicism. I come from what is considered a Democratic state, so every Presidential election has less meaning in the sense that I know where my electoral college votes are headed. Adding to the layer of pointlessness is that two party system hasn’t been effective at putting forward a candidate from either party that I can stand behind without too much reservations. Every election cycle its more often the lesser of two evils, with some cycles better than others.

For 2008 it is unfortunately more of the same, although I have to admit that it is a neat idea to share a home state and high school with someone who might very well be the next president of the US. At the very least this time around there is a big contrast in campaign styles, and overall charisma between the two nominees that might make things more interesting. If enthusiasm of supporters and the ability of a candidate to get people to pack auditoriums and get off their asses and do something is any gauge of success, I can’t see how the Democrats can lose this November.

Decided to take a mental break from studying, clean up around the house, run some errands, I have a few days more for my 3rd final than I had for the first two. Plan to get back in the grind later this afternoon, maybe try a different coffee shop for a change of scenery.

Went up to Maryland to pick up another earth box, potting soil and some starter plants. Starting earlier this year to take advantage o the good weather and maybe get some more veggies and herbs this summer than last. So far its looking like grape tomatoes, thai basil, italian basil, japanese eggplant, chinese squash, beans two types of goya. Last year I think I started it up too late in the season by the time the plants started producing it was getting too cold and they died off.

In driving up there I noticed that the only zipcar available was a civic hybrid, something that I had been meaning to test-drive, but never got around to. It pretty much drives like a regular automatic car, with the exception that there’s this battery gauge that swings from “assist” to “charge” depending on if you’re climbing up hill, or breaking. Also the engine cuts out when you’re sitting at a stop light. I suppose it takes some getting used to, I remember talking to someone a few years back when these cars first came out and she was concerned about not having the power or control over the car. I figure as long as the thing doesn’t die on you who cares about power.

Driving up to Maryland I passed a couple of signs at $4.01 a a gallon. Thats a big chunk of change for transportation. When prices of a good or service doubles and triples in a short time frame of months or years, you either adjust your consumption behaviors or continue to throw money down a hole. It seems to be the big story in the news lately, although a lot of media time is being spent on people bitching about oil company profits when they really should be talking about the inflation caused by monetary money supply games. The scary thing about the energy costs going up is that you really can’t hide from it entirely. Even if you cut down on your driving, take the train or carpool, you end up paying for it at the grocery store since most of everything Americans consume is trucked in. While gas was $4.00 a gallon, diesel fuel was $4.22 at that same gas station.

I’m a big fan of zipcar after being a member for close to 2 years now. Being that I don’t have a parking space, and pretty much take the train to work and school, it makes a lot more sense to just rent a car when I need it rather than have to car payments, and insurance and worry about street parking permits. But the biggest benefit especially late is that the gas is free with the rental fees. I remember talking to someone at a party once who scoffed at the idea of even using car sharing programs, something to the effect of how she would never date someone that showed up in a zipcar. This was right before she started complaining about finding parking that night and how the price of gas which was then about $2.00. Lucky for me I was already happily attached at the time, but it kind of got me thinking about how ironic the statement is.

I suppose this is a girl who would appreciate a guy with the big bucks who could afford to blow money on her on top of having money to spend on a nice set of wheels. Then again when you really think about it, if the girl was really smart, she would realize that a guy who was economically aware to discern from good and bod choices would have even more money to spend on her. Then again, this type of guy probably would want nothing to do with such a money grubbing date.

At a certain price, paying for a certain good or service becomes impractical, and consumers seek more affordable alternatives.

2 Finals down, 2 to go. Well, one more final, and a paper, same smell more or less. The nature of the study of law has blurred the intensity of test prep and papers that I don’t know which one I prefer anymore. Once upon a time I used to enjoy writing papers, even the more challenging and academic ones. Now it seems like its such a labor intensive and detail oriented process that seems like a mountain of work before you start and it just keeps piling on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy doing all this research, I find it very insightful and enlightening, its just that with a full 8-6 work schedule, after three or so years now I actually have begun to value sleep and downtime as a valuable commodity as well as education.

This exam was definitely a tough one. I could tell partly by the questions and the format itself, have to give props to my prof for designing a challenging final exam. Also I noticed that only 1 or 2 of my classmates left before the 3.5 hours time was up, that is out of at least 60 of us in the class. Also hardly anyone decided to take a piss break. This may seem like a trivial point, but when you’re really hunkered down in cranking out some legal IRAC analysis you just hold that shi-shi for the love of god, your grade depends on it. Unfortunately for me I was drinking Pepsi max the whole time so about 3.1 hours in I had to give in and take a whiz break. The look on some of my classmates as I was walking out the door was a mixture of irritation to sheer panic, maybe because they thought for a moment, I’m sure, that I was done already.

Without sounding like a broken record from a few days ago, I have no idea how I did, other than I was able to make what I think was a good hard effort and it more or less reflected that I went to just about every class and was pretty good about keeping up with the reading, which believe me is a feat in itself, going at night. I can also say that I enjoyed the class overall, and learned quite a bit. That means I’ll probably get a C or a B. Oh well. Again the curve seems to maybe be in my favor, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a tough exam. Oh well, that all pau, on to the next exam.

Strange/insightful dream again last night, it seems like during my finals prep my subconscious is especially active nocturnally. This dream I was visiting Madison, Wisconsin, on either some kind of fellowship or sabbatical. I had become some kind of academic professor of law or something like that and I was visiting my old alma mater. I went to the union and noticed a bunch of changes to the layout and the old haunts I used to frequent many years ago. Out of sheer coincidence, I learned that Akiko was in town as well, visiting from Japan, and I was in touch with her over phone and blackberry to meet up later that evening. To kill time in the meantime, I went walking along lake mendota, which now had become a rough lake, with waves crashing on the shoreline. I thought to myself that it reminded me a lot like Hawaii, and noticed the amount of sand that had accumulated on what used to be the Union terrace. The water was green and dirty looking, churning with microbiotic life, yet there were a lot of people jumping in, playing in the water.