Midlife cris-ish

Feeling the love from FB comments to my posts. Thank you. I am not fishing for social media attention, just sharing as some asked. But does feel nice to know some are actually reading this stuff. I didn’t expect so many to do so tho. Maybe this is a good thing as my time away from home propagates into an uncertain void of social disconnect. There is also a sense of satisfaction that others find it entertaining and/or fun to read this blog. An indirect shared experience of sorts. However, I am now feeling a shred of performance anxiety as I write (jeez Nate!).

Glad to leave the hostel. Other than the bed bugs on room 6, the hostel is quite alright. Even tho I met mostly nice people of all ages, a few did make my brain meats hurt. I no longer have to deflect daily temptations or invites from other vacationers that go do fun vacation-y stuff. Gotta work here folks! Altho work does provide me a handy excuse to turn down some characters I’d rather not hang out with in the first place. Not that too many people are lining up to talk to the nerd behind the laptop. 🤓

I am somewhat surprised that there are relatively few Couchsurfing hosts in Hawaii and even less CS travelers using the hangouts section of the app. I would have imagined a more active CS community around here, but seems it is quite limited. Bummer.

Switched rental cars as I made two separate Priceline bookings (cost of uncertainty when planning) and they turned out to resolve onto two different rental car companies. This Spanish-speaking second agent was mildly amused of me traveling solo and upgraded my rental for free to a red convertible Camaro. Midlife crisis nomadic adventure has now been upgraded to full cliché. My hot new rap video will be dropping shortly. Maybe I’ll throw in a sex tape for good measure.

Ha! How appropriate is it that my new condo has a few acrylic pour paintings as decoration? I was meant to come here. It’s an adorable small unit that checks all the boxes for me. I don’t even have to squeegee the floor after taking a shower! Having a place to myself in Waikoloa village has offered quite a different vibe these days and a fresh change of scene than Kailua-Kona. It has been much calmer and pleasant, but also more isolated. Not gonna lie and say that meeting people and being around a bustling area isn’t fun, but I am quite more comfortable here with just myself and even able to work a bit more at ease, albeit less picturesquely.

Camaro top is down. Sun is shining. Sunscreen applied. Sunglasses on. Stevie’s Superstition pumping out of the speakers. I’m cruising down the road like in a movie scene. Now, interesting fact: Hawaii’s big island exhibits 8 of a possible 13 climate zones present in the world. I think I just crossed 3 of them on a 25 minute drive to Waimea. Top down. Yup. But that is actually a very cool feature of the big island. You can find dramatically different environments in close proximity. It’s enchanting really. If it weren’t so darn expensive, I could stay here for a while.

I played the windiest round of golf EVER in spite of the flash flood warnings (rains elsewhere can roll quite speedily in other places). Absolutely bonkers. Flags bent sideways, balls blown off tees, uphill putts that wouldn’t stop rolling, and even the golf cart got pushed backwards on flat ground. I don’t think the PGA guys had it this tough for the weekend in Oahu. Very nice course tho. Considering the conditions, I played surprising well despite the actual non-negligible fear of the ball potentially coming back to hit me in the face after striking it. It was THAT windy y’all. I could only let out chuckles often at the surreal results of golfing in this weather. Uniquely fun nevertheless.

As Hawaii insists in ruining me very quickly in spite of my best efforts, I think I will cut short my visit here and change my flight to Sydney to an earlier date to stop the debasement. It’s way too early in this adventure to burn through this much cash. Plus this also maximizes my summertime window in Oceania. Perhaps later on I’ll have a chance to splurge in luxury at a more affordable destination. Did not get to do as much as I was looking forward to do out here, but I gotta pace myself; this is for the long run. I will be back tho; that is for sure.

One more trip to Waimea and a few stops in some of the beaches I visited in the past. Sigh, its nice out here. Then again, a bit crowded for my taste this time around (also part of the reason finances are out of whack). Last time the island was way less populated by visitors and I was more one with the island spirit. Now feels more like an attraction park. Ew.

I try to work some here, but these places are not quite conducive for hiding behind the screen. I guess I’ll frolic for a while and make the hours in the evening. Gotta love the flexibility.

Let’s see what Waikiki has to offer for a few days before hoping over to the fiery Australia. Don’t worry folks, Sydney is in an ok/safe zone. I’ll likely jump to New Zealand for a while before making it back to Melbourne to give it change to air out. If not, then I’ll just skip around. We shall see…

PS: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is indeed a marvelous show.