28 April 2017

Someone I met today is the owner of a school.

I was doing a presentation for teachers today, and this guy came in late. He asked a lot of questions, but I moved through the presentation like normal... Even if he was being a little disruptive. At one point he sidetracked a few teachers, but I was able to reel the room back in and continue what I was doing.

At the end of the session, he approached me and apologized for interrupting my session. I acknowledged that the questions are necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the presentation.

It was later revealed to me he's the new owner, and he does it to everyone. That made me feel better... Although to me, no matter who you are, it's rude to be late and then disruptive.

27 April 2017

Someone I met today... Was no one. I called out sick because I had the shingles. :| 

Instead, I stayed at home with my face on fire, and played video games. I'm a little ashamed because I spent 11 hours playing video games. That said, this is an appropriate time to talk about the people I met on Sunday.

The husband/boyfriend/guy was purchasing a Surface Book for himself. I asked him what he does. He used to draw monsters and creatures for card games and video games, but since moving back to Hawaii... He has been doing more independent work.

He said he likes the independence but misses the constant work. His wife/girlfriend/girl is a nurse, so I know they at least have some kind of steady income. Moving from a place of more to less, whether it's opportunities, friends, money, is a tough choice. Whatever his reason for moving home, he definitely seemed happy with himself and the people he's with.

That's the most important part.  

26 April 2017

Someone I met today was the new nurse at my gynecologist's office.

My gyno is a nice guy, and I highly recommend him to anyone who asks. Really, he's great. Super friendly and very mild-mannered. When his nurses are a little grumpy or gruff, it makes me wonder why he hired them. Then again, he does share his practice with 2 other doctors... So maybe one of the other ones are in charge of hiring.

Who knows, but A+ to the lady bits doctor. He gave me my follow-up hepatitis A shot. He's the real MVP. 

25 April 2017

Someone I met today designed sound systems.

I feel like this is an in-demand ability, but so oddly specific. One of my acquaintances from high school does this for Disneyland, or something like it. I understand you have to understand how sound moves in a space and what tools you can use to amplify/take away certain qualities in the room.

I wonder how people who does this get into it, or how do you decide that's a thing you want to do? There are a lot of really interesting occupations out in the world, but the people who end up in them sometimes didn't plan to be there at all. 

24 April 2017

Someone I met today... Well I didn't really meet anyone today. I had a lot of training to do and preparation, so I was kind of buried in the content.

The day before, I met a girl I went to school with in college. I asked if she went to UH and we talked about different subjects, and many of hers overlapped with mine. It turns out that instead of doing biology, like what she was studying originally, she ended up deciding to open her own Etsy shop for soap.

I thought that was really cool! I respect that people change their approach and pivot towards something that they maybe prefer more. Not everyone is as brave to be able to do so. 

23 April 2017

Someone I met today is a teacher.

He came into the store asking for something, and he was a little ruddy. His attire told me he wasn't from here, as he wore jeans and a collared shirt on a humid and rainy spring day. That's not a normal choice, for anyone. I'd be wearing slippers and as little clothing as possible. That is a fact.

"So what brings you to Hawaii."
"I'm here for a conference."
"What kind of conference?"
"The conference is about magnetic resonance imaging."

Pause.

"So you do MRIs?"

He gave me a pause and a quick blink, and replied, "Yes." We talked about it a little more, and he's been a teacher in Texas for 30 years. This conference is held around the world every year, from Singapore, to Kyoto, and Montreal. 

I mean he was nice, and that was all cool to hear. I just thought it how he said MRI was so interesting. I guess some laymen wouldn't understand the acronym, but making that assumption that all of them don't could make you look pretentious.  

22 April 2017

Someone I met today is an exercise instructor.

Jeanessa heavily recommended I come to her pure barre class, The Bar Method, so I did. The facilities there are super nice, and the instructor I met was very friendly! It's a very welcoming environment.

When I had mentioned Jeanessa and I have known each other for a long time, she was wondering about the stories I knew about her when we were younger. I told her Jeanessa wasn't that awkward, but it's always eye-opening to see how other people view your friends. It's not often you get to experience someone you already know through a new lens.

Unfortunately for me, I had been feeling a little sick that morning and had to leave early... But it was a good experience overall.

21 April 2017

Someone I met today told me what to do when I lose my receipt at Sam's Club.

We went to Sam's Club for my parents and had a snack in their foodcourt. As we were leaving, I realized I had misplaced the receipt. Like seriously misplaced it right after I very audibly said:

"I need to give this to my parents as a business expense."

Yeah. So I'm scanning my pockets and I see a couple near me share a small chuckle.

"Did you lose your receipt."
"... Yeah."
"Oh, you can go customer service and they'll reprint you one. We did it before too."

So of course I went and waited as they printed me a receipt. What they have to do is pull the digital journal and print it via computer. I felt really dumb. 

Me forgetting stuff happens once in a while. I completely misplaced a movie ticket like 5 minutes after receiving it, so it doesn't surprise me... It's just really unbelievable when it happens. 

20 April 2017

Someone I met today was very proud of his wife.

I noticed he strolled in and out of the store a couple of times and ended up talking with him. He was impressed about our products, but I turned the conversation to ask about what his wife did since she was the one buying the computer.

She's a software engineer for a company in Japan that's expanding here. The company is apparently doing so well now that they were buying their employees new computers.

It was just nice to hear a guy so proud of his wife and did not talk about himself at all, only when asked. I think having a supportive partner is important and it's cool that they do a good job at it.  

19 April 2017

Someone I met today is a shopkeeper.

I went to House of Aria today because I saw the following dress on sale. I wanted to try it on, so I headed over to their relocated spot in Ward Centre. It was cool and all, but the shopkeeper was just kind of disinterested and a little bland. Considering that it's kind of empty in Ward, I don't blame her... But wouldn't that make you excited to see people? 

I didn't even get recommendations or anything. The dress was alright, color wasn't that great on me. Didn't buy, may not be back.

A post shared by House of Aria (@houseofaria) on

18 April 2017

Someone I met today returned my keys to me.

I've probably written about this place before, but Kona Coffee Purveyors is really great! They have such good kouign amans, I don't know what else to say. 

What I do know is that Chinese tourists generally get a bad rap, but today was really nice. We went to get coffee and breakfast here. Keep in mind, I wear tight jeans, so my pockets are often small. After standing up to leave I hear a heavily accented, "HELLO, HELLO!"

The Chinese-speaking tourist who took my seat was returning my keys to me. To be fair, I noticed my pockets weren't as bulky so I did notice they were missing. It was just nice to see someone being kind.

But then it begs the question, what is the go to phrase by tourists to get someone's attention? If it's hello in English, and fairly easy to guess in European countries, what about Asian ones? What's it like in China, where it's super crowded and everyone is vying for attention?

 

NYC + Iceland: Airbnb

Since the Airbnbs are what started it all, I think it's appropriate to make a post solely about our Airbnbs. I'll link to their Airbnb listings with a little more in-depth reviews. I also thought some of our hosts were so interesting, so I linked to my Someone I Met blog in the paragraphs as well. 

16 March - 18 March: Midtown, NYC - Hilary

It was Tam's first time in NYC ever. Ever. For that reason, this Airbnb was really great. It is super close to a lot of the tourist stuff, like the Rockefeller, Times Square, Nintendo World, and 5th Avenue. It was super close to subway stations, which made it easier to get around to different neighborhoods. A lot of NYC is walkable from here, and we really enjoyed just strutting around.

The Airbnb itself is a little small, but it did have an elevator and rooftop access. The roof wasn't super amazing since it's an older and smaller building, and it happened to be covered in snow when we were there. Overall though, if it's your first time in NYC, this is the Airbnb you want to be at. 

Cold day in Midtown. 

Cold day in Midtown. 

19 March - 23 March: Akureyri, Iceland - Pétur

So this is the Airbnb that started it all. It's important to point out that our unit was one of 3 that were in the same property/house. The walls were mostly insulated and all those things are fine and dandy, but the view was beautiful. Because the home is outside of the main city of Akureyri, you're actually overlooking the town at night. It also made it amazing to watch the Northern Lights during dinner on our first night.

Akureyri isn't somewhere I would recommend staying very long during the winter. It's pretty remote considering you can fly there or drive 6 hours along Road 1. That aside, it was a super relaxing aspect of our vacation because we spent a lot of time just chilling out and driving. 

23 March - 24 March: Höfn, Iceland - Einar

This Airbnb was a last minute booking, as we originally were going to sleep in the car, like it was a camper... But that didn't pan out as the weather was shaping out to be much colder than it traditionally is each year. 

We stayed in Glacier Inn, and it was basically a house treated like a hostel. It was super clean and I appreciated that, but I definitely would say I'm not a fan of forced community interactions. The other guests were nice. If your'e looking for quiet time like we were, then you end up looking like a snob for not interacting. Most of the house is living room and kitchen, so it felt like the experience is centered around having a shared space.

24 March - 25 March: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland - Ármann

This Airbnb is cool because it's so close to all the really famous waterfalls on the southern half of Iceland. I think it can be off putting because you're literally on a cow farm, and it smells like it outside. The inside is very clean and the  rooms were really nice. The story of the host is even cooler. I detailed some of it on my other blog. Since the only common area is the kitchen, you can duck out whenever you're done and not feeling up to chatting with people. 

25 March - 28 March: Reykjavík, Iceland - Ólöf

This place was great! The Airbnb is an annex in the back of the property. There's a reasonable amount of street parking, and it was literally a 5 minute drive from downtown. The host was super nice and the Airbnb felt like it was just a super nice apartment. Since the travel time was so short to town, it was super easy to drop stuff off at home and head right back into town. 

28 March - 31 March: Williamsburg, NYC - Melanie

Time travel is a thing! We traveled back into time to get to Williamsburg. I don't know if you noticed, but I specifically pointed out elevator on the other NYC Airbnb. It's important because this one was a walk-up, so there were no stairs... And we (Tam) were carrying bags up 4 floors. Williamsburg is super trendy and really great to walk around, while pretty accessible to Manhattan. The roof was excellent here, and we had a beautiful view of the NYC skyline. According to our host, there's a lot of good food in the area as well.

williamsburgbnb

___

I'm a huge supporter of Airbnb, but I also understand the strain it can put on neighborhoods. While I know that many hotels are against Airbnb because it is a competitor, I can see that there is a market for both. It just depends on the experience you are looking for. 

That being said, I recommend looking into the laws of the places you're visiting before choosing to rent through Airbnbs. As with anything there's always a risk. I do want to say that I like how Iceland handles Airbnb regulations, which requires a level of communicating with your neighbors before doing it. Unfortunately, I can't find that article anymore... But, I know NYC is trying to become stricter with it due to high cost of rent and living.

Either way, do it at your risk, but also have fun looking! You can choose your experience through Airbnb, and it's all part of the fun.  

 

15 April 2017

Someone I met today was just weird.

I was leaving work and this guy approached me. He was close to my height, and was average looking. 

"Do you think I'm ugly?"
"Um..."

I looked behind him and saw that there were other people.

"I don't know these guys, they didn't put me up to this."
"You don't know these guys?"

The guys behind him shook their heads.

"Well, I don't really feel like answering that question."
"Is it because I'm ugly?"
"No, it's because it's an inappropriate question to ask a stranger. It's weird and it's awkward. Bye."