Monday, July 27, 2009

FInal Preperation

This weekend as a final preparation before the big event I went to Kauai with some friends and hiked the Na Pali coast. It was a 22 mile expedition that took two days. It was a wonderful trip it is a beautiful hike and was just so much fun. Tomorrow I am going to get some pictures of other people's cameras and I will then post some and tell more about the trip. The basic story is that we hiked alot made friends with some nice people camped on the beach and I wish I did not have to leave and was still there.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Here is the Story



So it has been a long time since I wrote anything on the blog and I decided that I will take sometime like I promised I would this week and tell a little story. This story comes about because of the request for a picture but I feel that we should start at the beginning many months ago. So here is the story behind my car and why the picture turned out this way.

A number of months ago I was looking at my financial situation and I realized that come September I was going to be in a tight spot to pay my tuition. Seeing I was running into a shortage of money I started to look for ways I could make some extra money to pay the bills since I knew that the minimum wage job I had was not going to help me save much. After doing some research me and a few other poor students signed up and were accepted to participate in a study at a place called Covance. This is a clinic that tests new medicines and pays really good to do it. After being approved to be a healthy member in a trail of a new herpes medicine I realized that we were going to need a way to get to honolulu for the check ups they needed to do. With this situation and my roommate selling a car I decided I could use some of the 2150 that I would get to buy the car and still save enough to pay tuition. All worked out wonderfully and with four others in the car the gas prices were split kept low.

Everything was just going wonderful and got even better. After just 4 days of taking the medicine we got a call that we had to stop because someone on the mainland participating in the same study got sick. I am glad I was taking a placebo, or so I tell myself, and had no problems. So after two more visits to make sure that the health was fine they paid us in full for about a fifth of what we were supposed to do. At this point everything was wonderful. I had the money I needed and a car and was living in Hawaii.

Then there was an unexpected change in the plans for the summer and some extra time opened up. When this happened it was announced the opportunity to do an internship in Waikiki. Knowing I would need something to keep me busy and from going crazy I decided I would look into it. After thinking about it and talking with those in charge I decided that it would be beneficial in a plethora of ways to be an intern. Not sure how long the car would survive the 60 mile round trip a few days I week I decided to test it out. As it happened we made many wonderful drives and I had a wonderful time and learned lots of things and I also discovered that I have found something that I really enjoy doing because despite the lack of sleep, long drive, working for free and lost time I could have spent on the beach I was happy every minute I spent in the restaurant and looked forward to it everyday.

As life goes the bad things come along and this finally happened. It was another beautiful day in Hawaii, a Friday, July 17 to be exact. Well stopped at the light just before I turned into the parking garage of the hotel the car decided that it had had enough and died on me. I tried to start it up again but it would not. So after a few tries some nice men off the street gave me a push out of the way where seconds later a police officer came to help. He called a tow truck for me and stayed there waiting behind my car with his lights on so cars would know to go around. I imagined what people must have been thinking as I stood on the street and sat on the curb talking to the officer I amused by the thoughts. I got the car towed just down the road to a mechanic that I would be able to talk to another day. After that I got the bus and rode back home to rest before another adventure Saturday.

Saturday morning I was up and out early to figure out what to do about the situation. After the bus ride and a two mile walk or so to where the car was I was told it would cost about 4 or 5 times what I paid for the car to have it fixed. Since I did not find that worth it or have the money to pay for it I told him no and that I would find a way to dispose of it. I then walked across Waikiki to where I was interning and told the lady in charge that I would no longer be able to make it and would be ending my internship a week earlier than planned which she understood, more on that in a minute.

Finally after many phone calls I found a place that would take the car and so on Tuesday I once again jumped on the bus and took the 2 mile walk to where the car was and waited for the tow truck. As I waited I loaded up the stuff in the car into my backpack and took out my camera to take a picture. I had been planning to take a picture long before but with everything that was going on in life and all I was doing I never remembered at the right time. Well taking the picture was another surprise As I pushed the button I looked at the screen and all that came up was white. I tried once more and the same thing happened. Just wonderful it seems my camera has broken as well. I check some things and see what I can do and try some more pictures but the batteries die. To be sure I take a picture on my phone which won't let me send pictures and continue my wait. Finally the tow truck comes and I say my farewell and start on my 2 mile walk to the bus stop, which was quite a sight to see. I had left some things from costco in the car and so I was walking down the street with a full backpack and on top serving like a head rest was a box of trash bags. So as I walk I just smiled the whole way wondering what people were thinking and laughing at the big surprise life threw my way. A car and a camera down at the same time what else do you do but laugh.

Though it was sad and I miss the internship this event has caused me to do something I have not done all summer and that is take sometime to slow down and relax. this last week of relaxing has been wonderful and well worth the ordeal I had to go through. Sorry about the picture some day you all can see it on my phone and remember when life threws surprises your way just smile and find the good part of it.