Furlough Fridays

I mentioned earlier that I would write about Furlough Fridays. What, you may ask, is Furlough Friday? Well, to put it in terms everyone can understand: The Hawaii State Budget is so messed up that the Department of Education (DOE) is facing "unprecedented budget cuts totally $468 million over two years". Their solution to this ridiculousity is "Furlough Fridays" - or 17 Fridays throughout the rest of this school year in which there will now be no school. That's more than 3 weeks less of school! Hawaii already boasts one of the worst public school systems in the country.

(visualize Ange getting up on a soapbox now)

I understand that we are in a global economic crisis, and that with these budget cuts it might require job cuts, but this is asinine. In order to save jobs, which I do not disparage by the way, they have opted to take a pay cut by working fewer days throughout the year. From my perspective, which I recognize might be skewed, it seems that the DOE is opting for more time off resulting in less pay. (Who wouldn't want more time off?) Hawaii's keiki (children) are the biggest losers in all this. Not only do they have the worst (okay, California was pretty bad too) education system to begin with, now they have less time to learn the stuff they are supposed to learn, which they aren't learning anyway. The Elementary schools already have half-day Wednesdays; so now, B & D will have 3 1/2 days of school most weeks left of school. I've just re-looked at the new school calendar, and determined that there is only one full, five-day week of school in February, April and May. Count 'em... 3 full weeks of school for the rest of the school year. UNBELIEVABLE!

But wait... there's more! Believe it or not... it's buy one get one free! That's right. This will affect the next school year too!

Obviously there is a positive here. The kids will have more play time... more time at the beach, more time to enjoy this beautiful place we live. However, give them enough time here and they won't know how to read the signs at any of the places we visit.

Moving?

(sigh) Sighing seems to have become a regular part of my life lately. A sign of my discontent?.. maybe. Or maybe it is just an indication that I have accepted the fact that I am not in control of my life.

We've been in Hawaii a little over two months now, and last week attended a housing demolition meeting. Our little section of Ghetto-dise is slated to be demolished and must be empty no later than October 2010. At this meeting, we were told that there are 78 new homes nearing completion on Ft. Shafter, just up the way a little bit, with the first of the new homes being available for occupancy as early as November (next month). These 78 homes should be occupied by the first few weeks/months of next year. In determining priority, the housing office has decided (wisely) that it is important to keep continuity for kids in the Middle Schools and High Schools, so families with children in Moanalua Middle, and Moanalua High, will have priority for these new homes. We have one in each school. (sigh) There is another meeting on Monday with more details and possibly a more specific timeline. Here's my understanding so far...

We will be moving sometime in the next 3 months.

Cons:

• leave fantastic neighbors
• we live in a great location with proximity to swim team, schools, Target, base shopping, etc. Moving will put us farther away
• car-pooling will be way messed up!
• change wards
• B & little D will have to change schools
• I HAVE TO MOVE AGAIN!

Pros:

• brand new, bigger house with a garage
• if all MS and HS kids are priority, then A & Z will have lots of friends in the neighborhood
• did I mention new, and bigger house?
• the sooner we move, the longer we get to stay in the new house before we have to move again.

Well, there you have it... at least for now. I'll update again after Monday's meeting. (sigh)

Waxing & Waning

No, this isn't about the cycles of the moon, more like my mood. It's been a wild ride the past few months emotionally, physically, mentally, etc. And you can blame (or thank) blogger for the lack of descriptive details of the whole crazy ride. I really can't stand the interface, especially adding pictures. I sure miss the old website. (sigh) It's still there, just in need of serious life support in order to continuing posting to it. Obviously a project for another day, frame of mind.

So, now for those casual readers that's the end of the post, but if you really want to glimpse the warped inner workings of my mind then, by all means, read on.

I would first like to acknowledge that I am aware that I live in paradise. Yes, the weather is perfect every day. Yes, the skies are blue and clear. Yes, the ocean is more beautiful than the pictures I post, the water temperature is ideal, and snorkeling, boogie boarding & surfing are really that fun. Yes, I could do any or all of these things every day if I wanted to. Yes, there are gorgeous waterfalls, prehistoric looking mountains, and fantastic flowers everywhere you look. yes, LOST is filmed here (no, I haven't seen anyone yet). And Yes! I am very grateful to be living here.

However...

Just like many who haven't been to India thought I was super-spoiled by having a cook, housekeeper, gardener, sweeper, tailor and driver; so also is there the perception that I live on the beach, sipping fruity umbrella drinks, served by 'Sawyer' in a 'bond' bathing suit. Let me assure you all... that is not the case. Don't get me wrong, we are all bound and determined to enjoy our 'beach living' as much as possible; but, life is life, and requires that we actually DO stuff to survive (laundry, cooking, shopping, chauffeuring, school, etc). And, at the risk of having one of the few readers still here conclude that I 'need help,' I will delve a little deeper.

Adjusting back to 'normal' life has proven more challenging that I anticipated - and not because I'm cooking and cleaning for myself again. It's remotely possible that these challenges could be linked to the 10 lbs I've gained from having Maui Caramacs (chocolate & caramel macademia nuts) for breakfast everyday, but I'm thinking not. We all go though life trying to deal with the 'issues' of our past, our personality quirks, character flaws and haughty hubris. We contend with these things usually as a part of life, little by little, overcoming and improving. Sometimes we choose not deal, instead we avoid. We mask these issues with coping mechanisms we develop over time. For some it's retail therapy (gosh, India was SO great for that). For others, entertainment, food, facebook. (hee hee) Some may even escape into a good book (if Jean Valjean can do it... so can I!). However, from my observation, this is like putting a band-aid on a person suffering from skin cancer. Band-aids do little but mask the wound, hide it from sight. In many cases, painful surgery is needed to remove the disease, and then chemotherapy and radiation.

This move, for me, has been one of those moments in life where I can choose to put another band-aid on, or elect to have surgery. After 3 years of 'oh my gosh, I'm going to live in India', 'oh my gosh, I live in India', 'oh my gosh, I lived in India'... now it's over and we're back to 'who the blazes am I?' and 'now that all my kids are in school, what the heck am I going to do with myself?', 'what is my purpose?' This, and more (stay tuned for an update on housing and schooling), has been running around what is left of my brain causing all kinds of unpleasantries. However, I have elected for surgery. (big sigh) And while the process is proving quite painful, I am hopeful it will prove most beneficial in the long run. 'Slow & steady wins the race...'

Enough blogging... now I'm back to lazing about the beach in my modest bikini, sipping virgin Daiquiris, reading trashy novels.

Upcoming blogs... Our upcoming move & Furlough Fridays

Under the Sea...

Diamondhead

While Joan was here, we decided to try something new. Dave, Joan & I booked passage on a submarine for some fish-seeing adventure. It was a 15 minute boat ride out to the sub with gorgeous views of Waikiki and Diamondhead, followed by a 45-60 minute underwater tour of sunken planes and ships and artificial reefs all placed for the purpose of the tour. It did not disappoint. We saw many, many fish, and even a reef shark and 4 hono (sea turtles).

The Atlantis XII (our submarine) surfacing to pick us up

Sunken plane

Reef shark resting under the wing

Joan & Dave in the sub

Large fish

My favorite - the hono