Wachi's Travel Log: Hawaiian Getaway!

Aloha Readers on the Mainland,

I know I haven't been to constant on this blog so I thought I would make it up to you with a quick travel log of my trip to Hawaii, God has blessed me in giving me the opportunity to take such a wonderful trip during such a busy time in my life, so I thought you would all like to enjoy the memories with me.

As a quick prologue, this trip was basically a spur of the moment thing with an old buddy of mine Rhys, who was one of my life long friends who didn't get to accompany the rest of us on our LA adventures 4 years ago, so we were keen to wanting to hang out again and make up for lost time. Long story short he invited me to join him on a Hawaiian cruise, his mom had gotten a discount and it was very promising. So I used the 2 months I had to save up as much as I could and accompany him on this island adventure. (In fact I am still paying off some debts, but man was it worth it!)

Thursday August 27th, 2016

So we were scheduled to meet on Friday in Hawaii, as the Cruise left on Saturday evening and we didn't want to afford missing it, however I had to leave on Thursday, a day earlier, since it was a 14 hour flight from my end, and if there was any chance of a delay i couldn't afford to leave on Friday, so that began my groggy journey by air, that took me from Costa Rica to Houston to San Francisco, to eventually Hawaii.

On the first leg of this flight, I was graciously upgraded to economy plus, and you know what that means don't'cha readers? That's right!! Leg room for days!!! It was amazing to have so much space to actually stretch my legs in that first flight, and not only that I had a really dope airplane neighbor named Clara from Germany who was in Costa Rica the entire summer in part of an exchange program. It was really a treat to have such a social and bubbly airplane neighbor, normally that burden is placed upon my person and others just sleep or get up to use the bathroom every 9 seconds lol. Anyhow the first flight went fast due to this interaction.

<-- That's Clara on the left and I am the one with the beard just fyi. (Hope you had a safe flight back to Germany Clara!!)

The next Flight in Houston was my main sleeping the whole way kind of flight, which is always pleasant, and within an hour of arriving in San Fran I was already boarding for the Hawaiian flight of 6, almost 7 hours. By this point I was tired of watching the same Man vs Child challenge on United's  on screen entertainment, so I decided to slide my card to pay $5.00 for a movie (remember when movies were free? Wouldn't it be easier just to charge an extra $5.00 per plane ticket and just include the movie? No one would complain if that is how it was done.) and after I paid I started watching that new Jake Gyllenhaal flick, "Demolition Man" only to have the screen flicker within the first 15 minutes of the film. An announcement then came on the PA system letting us know that there are technical difficulties and they will be resetting everything, when they do it eventually asks me to pay again, so I call up the attendant and they just say "Oh well, go to United's website to ask for a refund." and left... so suffice to say I just tried to sleep again for the last leg of the trip.

Finally at 7pm Hawaii time I arrived and made my way to my hotel in Waikiki, I ordered a Pizza, which they took my $10 bill as tip, what the hell, so I paid almost $40 for a pizza, which is not what I was planning as I only had limited spending money for this trip, but anyways I ate that and called it a day.

Friday August 28th, 2016

Now, as there is around a 5-6 hour time difference between Hawaii and Costa Rica, I woke up extraordinarily early and ate some pizza for breakfast, during this time I watched some tv, explored the hotel and called my loved ones as I waited for Rhys to show up, eventually I just went to the small rooftop pool they had to see if I could melt away my tourist whiteness of skin hahaha. If I can say anything about Hawaii is that the weather was quite lovely for the vast majority of the time.

<-- In case you are all curious that was the view from my hotel room on the first morning.

Anyhow I did this til about 1 pm where I got the message from my good buddy Rhys that his flight had arrived, so I got my stuff and wait to wait for him at the lobby, it was glorious seeing my old friend again, and with the our Hawaiian adventure officially begun. We swim suited up and went exploring Honolulu for the day, first stop being lunch, of course.

We found this really snazzy burger joint simply called, "Waikiki Burgers". and believe it or not despite the simple name, the food was quite flavorful, they even had funky little umbrellas on the burgers. Classy.

Behold the colorful and delicious meal that was brought to us. -->

As all Hawaiian stereotypes have led us to believe, there is even a pineapple included on the side, simply magnificent, and quite sweet too! (Shout out to our amazingly friendly waiter Jason btw)

After lunch, we went off and began exploring Honolulu and catching pokemon, (This was when Pokemon Go was still playable and fun, though I hear Gen 2 is out now meh.) we continued this trend whilst also enjoying the local weather and flora to the fullest, as well as being the occasional tourist and blindly wandering into neat looking shops, this eventually led us to this beautiful beach in the middle of town, boy, I can honestly say I had never seen water so blue and clear, simply gorgeous!

As you can see with the tiny collage thingy over here -->

---AUG 2018 UPDATE---

HEY ALL, SO I KNOW I LEFT THIS BLOG HANGING FOR FAR TOO LONG AND DON'T KNOW WHEN I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO CONTINUE IT, LIFE IS JUST TOO HECTIC FOR ME RIGHT NOW. EVEN STILL I PROMISED THE HAWAII BLOG AND LEFT IT INCOMPLETE SO I WANT TO AT LEAST SHARE A FEW MORE PICS WITH YOU AND IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR EVEN CARE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT BELOW;

MUCH LOVE!

<-- Me with my boi Rhys, after getting "Lei'd". This was also the room where the boarding of the cruise began. Fun Fact: A few other passengers confused Rhys and myself as Cruise employees instead of fellow passengers, talk about racial stereotyping lol, we should've asked for some tips.

Over here is us on the cruise ship and moving on to the next island of Maui -->
















Down below I present you some quick pics of when we landed in Hilo, and the botanical beauties it possessed, mainly the vibrant flora and the illustrious gecko, Wallace Tefflesworth.

As the days passed we continued to go to the final, and arguably most beautiful island, the nature infused Kauai! Here is where, in my opinion the scenery was the most breath-taking;

 <-- Here we are approaching the beautiful Na Pali coastline, and it is truly a magnificent sight to behold. It is a moment where one truly does lose track of time and surroundings, with the sea breeze, the warm sun, and the gorgeous view.
















Followed by this next tropical vista on the island of Kauai, honestly, Costa Rica is a gorgeous country, but this beach in Kauai was just something else;

Simply luscious! We spent the rest of the date exploring the island's coast, without worry of the time as the boat was docked for the night. We were caught in the rain and sun, but our moods were ever relaxed and adventurous.

This is also the island where the bulk of our souvenirs were bought, specifically at this place called "Crazy Shirts" were they had shirts dyed in local alcohols and other natural dyes. It was very cool. Also this awesome store clerk, gave us some awesome tips on how to get pineapple Oreo pies. Rhys says it's because she was hitting on me, but I think it's just because she thought I was bomb in my aloha shirt and therefore felt compelled to share her pie secrets lolol. Unfortunately whatever the reason, we had reservations at one of the restaurants on the boat that night and couldn't partake of the pies.

Anyhow, fast forward to the next day, the final night of the cruise and this is where I got to meet comedian Michael Sommerfield, he was a very nice and chill dude, though that may have just been the Hawaii magic talking, and I mean the relaxed atmosphere not some Hawaiian drug. Anyways, he was very funny and even laughed at some of my lame jokes so he is super cool in my book (Rhys fell asleep so he wasn't able to meet him.);

<-- Also dang my skin looks orange in this pic, Hawaii really Trumpifies you, soon I will have the urge to build a wall haha.

After our time on the cruise was done, we spent our final day back in Honolulu, and just walked around the town, spoke with locals and enjoyed the culture. We even discovered some really dope pieces by a local artist named "Walfrido Garcia", honestly if I had the space in my home and the extra cash I would've bought some of his pieces for my home. I urge you to google his work, the man's lighting techniques on the canvas are mesmerizing!




And well that's it, we both arrived at the airport later that night and said our goodbyes, the adventure had come to an end, but it doesn't mean it is to be our last! Adios Hawaii! Aloha Costa Rica!

*Deep Breath* Readers, my apologies for this disjointed, ultra-delayed, nonsensical travel blog update, if you can even call it that. But I lost a lot of the pictures for the trip, and if I didn't finish what I started with what I did have I probably wouldn't upload anything. Again if you have any questions let me know and I can go into more detail on the trip. If I ever do another travel blog type deal I will make it more structured. Thanks for sticking with me despite all the mess.

Much Love and Mahalo,
Wachi

MS Paint Mondays 61

I'm back! Sooner than you all expected no doubt, though perhaps un-surprised by now how this again was not posted on a Monday lol, should I just call them MS Paint Fridays at this point? Nah, I would probably mess that up too, so let's just keep it as Mondays, rolls off the tongue better, like a crayon, which is used for art, which is what this is all about, so let's cough up our art supplies and MSPAINT MONDAYS!!!!

--Thoughts of the day--

* So work has been pretty chill this week, even still I have been chosen to help the new hires and they have truly made my job more of a hectic dilemma. Now don't get me wrong we are all new sometimes and need that helping hand. However in this case it is annoying, let me explain...

* Imagine this, you have a solid team and a new player joins to fill in the last possible position, there are no rooms for subs or anything else, and you help your coach in showing the newbie the ropes. All good so far! However one day, someone from another team sprints up to your team's coach and says they want in, there is no open position, and even the substitutes are filled, yet your coach says "Umm ok go train with the others until there is a new opening." (this includes me in the scenario, and there's no date for when a new opening could happen) 

* Here is where the art of patience and obedience comes in, you do as you are expected and you do it well, however after a couple of weeks when you realize this goes from being a task to being a random person taking up your time so that they can train to possibly replace you as there are no spots open, that just gets awkward... like does she have nothing else to do in her current team that she needs to constantly come to ours and take hours of our work week? Haha.. seriously though.

* In the end it helps me reflect on myself, how I have been whenever I join a new class or team. I want to use this current time wasting annoyance to remind myself how to act when I move on or begin to learn something new, I don't want to be a nuisance/fire that has to be calmed and put out, I want to be a bulb that takes note and energy from those willing to teach me that I may burn bright and help illuminate them further from the things I learn. I don't know if I am making sense or not, but I guess it goes along with the mindset to love what you learn, but learn to read the atmosphere and whether it is your time to join or not.

With all that said and done I don't know if this week's paint is super relatable to my thoughts as it is an old one, however let's see if I can make it work. This doodle titled; "Fiya Fighta Extraordinaire" was, like last week's, done in response to a friend and colleague from my early days in the company, so when I was a newbie. He was a lover not a fighter, unless it was fires, as he was a volunteer fireman, but even still he was very shy. Interestingly enough, last week's paint, represented my colleague Kat whom was very hard to really reach due to the phone wall she'd put up. Well Alex (the fireman) was able to break through that shell, and both of them continue to be great friends to this day. Goes to show, that sometimes your approach isn't the right one, but that doesn't mean there isn't value in it. As a student or a teacher, we can always help start or put out fires, it is how we learn to solve problems and teach others how to avoid them. Huh, not sure if I am making any sense, but it's honestly amazing how we can learn so much from all the individuals we meet in life, even those we don't want to give training to hahaha.

As always, I hope this exercise helps you ease that weekly case of the Mondays and inspires you to start creating new things, and really help expand the creative construct that is your brain! I encourage you to share/send me your own MS Paint Monday creations, if I get enough I plan to do an MS Paint showcase at the end of every week so we can enjoy each other's styles and imaginations.

Much Love, Wachi

MS Paint Mondays 60

Hey, since I have returned from the void, despite it not being Monday I thought I'd "bless" this dying medium with another MS Paint Monday! I have drawn several paints since this blog went into hiatus, but I will still go in chronological order. With that said, get in everyone, let's go together into this week's MS PAINT MONDAY!!!!

--Thoughts of the day--

* I have been in an extensive training for my job for the past 3 and a half months, and despite learning a lot of amazing things applicable to both my life and work, and by doing so, my patience and communication has improved! (That said I cannot wait for this course to end.)

* As I alluded to above, communication has improved, and more than anything in the non-verbal sense. Did you know when working on a life project, whether it be for work/life, communication is 90% of what drives it to success, 55% of said communication is not verbal? Well you do now!

* Non-Verbal communication is louder than anything these days. One common example is when you meet with friends, have you noticed how sometimes a friend or colleague will whip out their phone and lay it on a table in front of them. Subconsciously they are putting the phone first, and their attention on you second. Doesn't feel very good eh? Well too bad! (Anyhow that's one of many examples, I won't bore you with more.)

* Aside from that, I learned that when we are given education/training, we are now pressured to succeed for certificates and the best grade point averages. However when we do that we lose the "fun" of learning a new skill, and only focus on the stress of passing said course. With this mentality I realized we see learning as more of a chore, than a fun activity, it's sad and honestly something I wish to improve on personally.

As usual, I bring a semi relatable doodle to go along with my feelings for the week, and in a weird way this older paint matches my thoughts. Today's paint titled "Kat when she is in Troubole", super inspired I know lol. This paint is inspired by an ex-coworker, whom would always gush about her troubles and stresses to me, and whenever I tried to understand and offer solution she'd sub-consciously ignore me and delve into the world of her phone. The cow, her favorite animal, was a representation of the "bullish" spirit she'd leave behind for me to "talk to" whilst her actual mind and attention was lost in her texts... again, that non verbal communication we may give off. Clearly, I was not a fan of hearing about her issues for too much longer haha. 

As always, I hope this exercise helps you ease that weekly case of the Mondays and inspires you to start creating new things, and really help expand the creative construct that is your brain! I encourage you to share/send me your own MS Paint Monday creations, if I get enough I plan to do an MS Paint showcase at the end of every week so we can enjoy each other's styles and imaginations.

Much Love, Wachi

Wachi's Rants: "Step in Inequality" and how one sees art.

Hey my readers (if any of you remain), I have another hot take that no one asked for and many will probably misconstrue for being a hateful opinion!(Though believe it or not it isn't meant to be.) This rants was inspired by the new She-Ra reboot and a piece of public street art created by the illustrious Japanese artist, Kazunori Shiina, adequatelly titled "Steps in Inequality".

Despite mentioning She-Ra first I don't have too much to say so let's first hop in to the steps of inequality stairs that have become semi viral online;

As you can see the piece is large, in your face, and the message should be quite self explanatory. The message I believe the artist was trying to convey was that Men have an automatic easy way to success whereas women need to climb higher in the same job. Now this is indeed a real issue, but also very cultural and industry dependent in a lot of times, however here' how I interpret the same. Yes, both genders have different routes to the top, but the way it is illustrated here, the women's path is the better choice. Let me explain, let's look at how the path's differ physically (not just talking about the colors baby), as you can see the man's path is narrow and only for one at a time, whereas the woman's staircase is broad and spacious which allows for flexibility in their growth. The man's path is on a set speed, implying that they compete to see who hops on the darn thing first so that they can be first in line for that juicy promotion, always on the move, always expected to continue growing at a decent pace. The women's path on the other hand differs in that they can go at their own pace, and still reach the same plateaus as the men, they can stay at a certain level should they feel comfortable not being pressured to move up as there is still space for others to rise, and if the women so choose to dedicate more time and effort, unlike the set speed of the escalator, they can run up to the top and achieve their goals, it's more tiresome, sure, but it's possible. That said, the way I viewed this piece I became envious of the woman's path, and more stressed to know the path a man must ride. Both are strong, and empowering paths, just as both can seem daunting, I feel in the end attitude and hard work will overcome gender stereotypes, even if it doesn't seem like it at the start.

Anyhow, that was my impression of the piece; What are you're thoughts readers? 
--
My second to last topic is one that appears to be spamming my social media feeds as of late, and that is in regards to the She-Ra reboot that is apparently being made, behold;

Now,  I do not hate nor love the character so much for me to have any strong opinions on the reboot itself, however my irritation with it is the amount of people I see complaining about it online. To be more specific, people complaining about people complaining about the reboot. I see posts of people vilifying men for not loving this idea, or saying men are pervs as they only hate this due to the flat chested representation. Now, I can imagine there are some with those complaints as she is clearly not as sexy as the original design, however I doubt they are as explosively plentiful as the internet makes them out to be, at least through my personal experience I have seen more people defending this show than attacking it, which is why the constant defensive attitude is getting annoying. Listen, when you grab a beloved character, whomever they may be, you have one of 2 jobs. 1. Be true to the character that people know and love, expand on their existing traits to evolve them for future generations. 2. Don-t focus too much on silly things like "This is what REAL women look like!!" or "Big Boobs/Butt is not a real representation and exists solely for the male fantasy!!"; if you make a show, make it good and make it with respect, don't use a beloved character to virtue signal, as more often then not, you will get all the attacks you claim to be getting at this moment. Focus on making a good show, ignore the idiocy, please.

*Sigh* Anyhow, I know this is an odd take to come back with, and due to my life being so hectic I don't know if/when I'll upload again, but if you took the time to read this, I hope you are doing well and that you are having a beautiful day. Love what you love, and don't let people ruffle your feathers, we are all able to interpret art as we see fit. 

Much love,

Wachi