2.16.2015

Week 47 - NDMO, Nandiutu plan, and more.

FEB (16) Monday

Slow start to the day because my counterpart is in Vila. I said I would go to College de Luganville to help them fix a computer... which means they just walk away and expect me to fix it and continue to learn nothing. Not very exciting to dig in the sand and watch it fall back in.

But I can hope they actually sit and watch for the first time ever.

I hear that Angie is back in Michelle Wong's old site. and the new Vols G27 are on the island viewing their site. I might have to check out Saracata for a minute. That's the only location in town that had a new vol the rest are a long ways away.

Guess its time to eat some breakfast. It won't be as nice as the Ratua food...  I sat with near the kitchen. A nivan lady was showing us a music video that she loved on her phone... she showed us twice she was so proud of it.


So I went to ultimate frisbee and ran around and sweat and had a little fun. Met some of the new baby docs, one is very cute. But they are gone before you even get a chance to know them.

(17) Tuesday

All last night I tried patching my bike tired I put one on tested if it had any leaks... found another and then another and another 6 leaks... I am working on the 7th patch now. It has more patch material than original tire almost. Ten patches. And I bet there is another. After I get it back on my the rim and ride it for a day I bet it springs a few new leaks in a matter of days. They have the worst tires and replacement parts for these tires in the world. They should just sell solid rubber tires with no air just to save is the grief of trying to fill them, it's hopeless.

After walking down to the office and working on a design doc, I noticed my counterpart is not back from Vila. He said he'd be back today. He is not. I went home and continued to patch my tire.

5:00pm

Ten patches later I finally have a tire that holds air. Woohoo Victory. I hope it holds over night. We shall see.

(18) Wednesday

Working on disaster program again today. Making some progress section by section. Designing an application from start to finish mostly by myself is a strange experience. Usually I have a group of programmers, DB folks, testers, UI designers, business people and an architect or two.

Omelette potatoes and onion sausage and garlic with pepper and salt and hot seasoning... plus a sprite. that is lunch, that is breakfast, that is dinner until get paid. Next week probably.

Rained. Tire went flat... patch 11 will go on tonight. Maybe that will fix it. If not patch 12 and 13 and 14 and how ever million more I need to put on before it hold air.

Guess there will be ultimate Frisbee hmm. Don't really feel like running around.


(19) Thursday

Late start but I am at the office alone working. Patched my tire again but it became hopeless. I had to swap it out with the less ideal tire because the air stem is short barely fits in the rim for me to inflate with... but it held air. Makes everything more difficult get to and from without a bike. So I am lucky this one is working for now. Fingers crossed.

Tonight we are eating at Attar cafe. I have no money. So I will go on credit with them. They seem to lend me during my last week of brokenness.

Probably will go swimming with Mr. Thomas this weekend. He is a quite animated and funny. Should be interesting.

(20) Friday

Went to work and saw Kensley for the first time in a week. He told me he is going back to Vila next Monday and won't be back for two months. So basically I am on my own for a while. With the Nandiutu project kicking in next week it is fine I will be basically busy building a computer lab/library and that will keep me busy.

Later today the PC's in town are meeting up at Harbor Master a kava bar and chilling for a while.

Tomorrow I think we might go to a blue hole, Mr. Thomas offered his truck and that is excellent because it will save us money and he is fun. Looking forward to RiRi again. A blue hole to swim.

(21) Saturday

Skyped with my parents a bit. My brother is visiting my fam, wish I was there too. They made plans to have a summer in DC with my brother, parents and Mila. I hope she can go visit DC for 3 months to get away from my brother crazy ex-wife and their insane way of treating her.

Today I might get a chance to go to a blue hole with the peace corps vols. We shall see.

couple photos from yesterday at Riri blue hole with the new vols:


Left to right: Myself, Hannah, Gabrielle, Bryan, Kate, Caroline, Cole, Jeffrey



(22) Sunday

Its hard to believe another week is ending. Well next week the Malo project begins. I am excited to be building something.

I went to the beach with Thomas at Million Dollar point and swam for a bit way better than sitting around at my house...

Couple photos...


Then I went to Daria's and had some great food excellent company and met the new VSA vol.

2.09.2015

Week 46 - Back to work in Lunganville

(09) Monday

I did not think my counterpart would be back until the 11th but he came back early. The good news I got my computer back the one I should have been allocated from the start, he received a laptop in Vila. This is good news.

Managed to get some groceries and cook another amazing steak for lunch. The internet is super slow at work so slow I cannot make a connection to gliffy.com, which is where I put all my design documents. First 5 are free then you need pay a membership of either 5 bucks a month or 7.

here is something I made a while back a little art.




(10) Tuesday

Back at work, freshly shaved and showered... oh yeah good start to the day. I just skipped breakfast but besides that I am feeling ok.

Working on designs again and I found a backlog program online at https://agilebench.com/ which offers a 30 trail to use their product. I am hoping the NDMO will pay for the license and that way if we find a programmer I will have all the artifacts logged described with images and point values into each iteration for beginning our sprints to code up the program.



(11) Wednesday

I forgot to write yesterday. Not much to tell really worked and ate and slept. Oh i forgot I went into town and had a chicken wrap sandwich... so good. I skipped frisbee night again but I was fine I am learning you don't need much when you have nothing but yourself.

(12) Thursday

So today I made some more progress on the software design layout the database section but before that I ran into town and paid my electric bill and water bill twenty bucks I don't have but so it goes.

Bryan and kate came by and we went to check out a market for banana's and sorry we have no bananas today. So now its back to doing what I do best just reading a book and sleeping.

The sunset was so golden, lighting up the the tall blanket of erratic clouds like a messed up untidy bed. I watched it turn purple and red and then fade into grey and black like a punched up bruised boxer ready to retire forever into the darkness. I watched this on and off while a read kurt vonnegut uplifting tale of slaughterhouse five. Uplifting because his story of that miserable soldier Billy Pilgrim, in WWII, he is more pathetic than anything I have heard before. I laugh at it because you know... so it goes.

Then I thought about the strange request I received my landlord, George Vira. He asked me to turn off my internet to test his satellite TV.. he believed oddly enough that my signal was interfering with his. I can't believe it.. but they use the same frequency and one can cancel out the other. It seem to be the case. So he will have to move his dish to a different location. I said the only thing I could Aw Wo... Sory. One of the few bislama phases that makes me laugh.

Then some random stranger requested a friendship on skype only to discover that it was someone that wanted to know if I would like to see their Whooty... all i could say was hooty hoo. She appearently wants to show me her butt. I could care less... hooty hoo. And then there was a series of even odder questions that repeating her same scripted lines, like I did not register them the first time. I think she cannot speak a word of english she only has phrases to copy and paste into the chatline. I asked her if she ever read kurt vonnegut and she could only again plead for me to click on her porn website. I said no thanks I am reading a good book. You should try reading it. Then we could have a conversation. Hooty hoo.

 I guess a whooty is a White Girl with a big BOOTY!  and she says, i wanna show u mine.  I will Pass. Thanks. and so it goes.

The heat is penetrating. It blasts into every pore of my skin, and even if I shower three or four times a day I stink like an animal. I don't even smell it anymore but I feel like others do so bought some cologne to cover it up a little. I hope that it works. I can't smell that either. so it goes.

I wonder if time is like the rocky mountains all laid out to see at the same time all at once, that's how it is for the alien race in the book, for the tralfamadorians, they see all time at once. I wonder if that means we are forever because they believe life never ends because you can just leap back in time. I like that idea because it means my best friend David Potosky who died of brain cancer in February 2012 is still alive in time. He was was the kindest more interesting man I ever met. I can't hardly believe I will never get to make him laugh at my adventures again.

We were going to do things together. Make all kinds of money building a new unthought of web application, built on my once upon a time, inventive genius. I had an idea of a web concept recently. It came to me in a dream. Something about it faded a bit so what I recall is less glorious than the dream was. But it was about a program that could collect stats about everything and put them into reality. Those stats were thing such as polls or news feed about how much money is spent on the arts or foreign aid or where our money goes from taxes and such because in reality we are pounded to death by supposed facts when most of the time they are just invented to support someones ideological truth. It would be nice to have an actual source of truth to be able to call upon to know what is really going on. But of course such a web app would be corrupted by powerful forces and then it would be destroyed by advertisement. so it goes.

I miss the twin cities like mad. I miss seeing bands like Dessa play and the way she came over to my table during their brief break and she talked with me saying something like I was the most sincere fan she met and she then insisted on autographing my small poetry book that i used to scribble in when at a concert. I read her books of poems she published and brought one with me here to read, and her signature in that book is right next to the page where joe biden signed his name when I met him at a rally in the railroad station by the third avenue bridge. he has the worst hair plugs you could ever wish to see. Why did he do that. Just just bald man. But you know... I should have been on the road with Dessa after their van was raided by thieves and his camera was stolen... I could have taking photos of her concerts better than that dude I bet and helping them set up for a show. so it goes.

Tomorrow I am going to have dinner with bryan and kate, tacos or pizza something amazing for sure. I would be lost without them. They are the kindest most glorious Minnesotans you could ever hope to meet. They just give without thought, thats amazing. I try to do the same. They have no idea how important they are. They're just nice. If you read this you two... thanks a million billion.

Oh I just recalled another idea I had... some kind of program that would require an implant in your  brain... it would capture all your thoughts and record them all and put them into text or some media we don't yet have to allow you see and understand the person it recorded. Then after you become someone important or perceived of as important, later generations of fans could look at your mind history up, and really know who you were as a person, know what you felt and thought so they could have a clear picture of your person. I dated a girl once a greek princess  who studied historical figures like jane austin and wanted to know wierd facts like, what did she dress like or what books she read and or how she navigated life in a time when women could not be famous writers...  I would record my mom and dads minds because there is so much to know that time does not allow to know and the use of oral communication cannot possibly capture with words. Then I would know what my somewhat slowly speaking, dad was thinking or what he experienced in life, the same of my mom except she is like me, a talker, which is nice. I ask questions all the time but it comes to slowly. You ever wish you knew what people were really experiencing? I do.

(13) Friday

Work was sort of challenging. The internet was down. I needed to do some research and that was not possible. I wrote a bit on the design docs but had to wait to get progress done until another day because I could not get a page to load. We need the government internet which it like 10 times faster than what we have now.

The good news is that I am going to get to work on the Malo project... which means I will get to build again. I have approval from the director and the SG and my counterpart. This is  HUGE plus because at my last site the principal said I was his property. Yeah freedom to work. Thank you NDMO.

After a long day of internet frustration I went to bryan and kate's and has some freaking great tacos and we watched a weird ass movie called BIRD MAN. Pretty ok.

I sat on my stepout outside my oven, I mean house, and looked at the stars because it was a clear night and I saw orions belt and a bunch of other formations... the stars are incredible. They just burst in their brightness letting me know there is something so much more amazing out there to see than gecko's and cockroach bodies laying on the floor that I should sweep in the trash but I like them on the floor. They are like a open cemetery... beware jerks... if you enter you will get killed. They are big as boxcar's lumbering around slowly crashing into your leg or the under of foot. They don't even try to hide the shame of their existence.

I spoke with my Mormon neighbors. They ask me so many questions. I never ask them anything. I don't care. They want to know what America is like. They are from Samoa. The Mormons I knew in America annoyed me but these guys are more interesting... they seem sincere. Not trying to get me to join their nonsense religion they just want to know why I don't date a nivan. I said I don't have anything in common or to talk to with them about. I would not want to hurt their feelings. I just try my best to say they are nice... but I am going back to America. So they say "America has everything" I say yeah but we have problems, we have poverty we have more poor than rich... 1% with the money and 99% with enough to make it to the next paycheck. It's because our rulers are just as corrupt and selfish as the ones here or in any corrupt system of rulership... I think thats why we cannot get it more equal. It s only in the last few decades that we became ruled by evil. If only we could have more investment in doing good things instead of killing people in foreign wars. But things might change. There was once apon a time that people could make changes. When time comes and it will one day there will something new.

(14) Saturday

...Just returned from town got some more of that amazing meat they call it high Filet. We call it Filet Mignon. I love this shit. With some potatoes onions garlic and olive oil some red hot chili pepper, salt and lemon pepper cooked medium with a tender red middle bloody and juicy. It is so good. I have a cast iron pan too that is KEY. Without that you can't even call it cooking. I pity those who don't know what I am talking about.

At LCM there was a new group of baby docs... I never asked if they were such but they screamed it with their thick accents mostly ozzies the brits are way cooler sorry. They are. Oh well. They come and they go in three weeks usually. Not much point in trying to make an effort because they are in the throes of being here like a pack of animal herded with linked arms, together skipping around yeah. Who cares. I have awesome steaks. And Kurt V. to keep me company.

(15) Sunday

I was a out at Nandiutu village on Malo to do a site visit and see what the new plan was for the computer lab and library. It was chaotic. We marched up and down down all over the campus looking at this building debating its merits. We seemingly settling on one being used as the lab, even though the tin roof on it could not possibly last more than a few year then trying to find a place to store the 3000+ books for the new library.

Would we use the middle section of the big building, and have no tables and quiet areas for the kids to study? Just check out a book and go with it... no, yes, no. Would we use the big classroom and build a partition and have both computer and library in that, yes, no, yes, no. And after being confused and turned around for an hour or two I think they made their decisions. I mostly listened. They mostly spoke French.

After all that was done I went back to Ratua and had 3 tender juicy sirloin steaks, a huge plate of perfect crisp fries and a white russian. All free and part of the kindness of Isabelle. 

Next week I will go back and start building the lab, smashing in walls and gutting one room, painting it and then put together tables and hanging bookshelves. I can't wait to start building again. The Rauta Bar is great.





2.02.2015

Week 45 - To Vila and back

(02) Monday

It been a nice day relaxing reading... tomorrow Kensley arrives and we can try and figure out this laptop/PC problem we are having with work.

Time to go find some lunch and or watch the superbowl.

2:45pm
I sat and watched the super bowl at the brewery with a few peace corps people and this kiwi guy. The kiwi guy sat and talked to me for like an hour which was nice. He was a Seahawks fan. I personally could care less which team won. I would like it if it was a draw.

I enjoyed watching this woman across the street hauling a large suitcase on wheels up the staircase pulling it up each step one by one as it locked in place. There was something satisfying about how it clicked into each step.

After the point hit where I was too low in money  to continue with the group I went to jungle cafe and had a burger/fries and a thick chocolate shake. It was perfect I just wish it was not twelve bucks. Oh well.

Sunset on Efate inside Chill restaurant:


(03) Tuesday

Added a little more details to the basic design of the app I am making for NDMO.



(04) Wednesday

I made it back to Luganville Santo today. Met up with Byran and Kate and his brother. They are playing ultimate frisbee I am vegging out playing FTL. Not much else going on.

The heat at this house is so bad I can barely think. I forgot how terrible the summer is here.

(05) Thursday

I went to riri with Bryan and Kate and Bryan's and Brandon, Bryan's brother. His bike (Rich's old one) had a nasty blowout flat tire, so we decided to take a taxi. He paid for it the whole thing... man that was nice. Thanks man. I took some photos:




I feel like I did in high school where most of my friends were giants. I was always teased for being a midgit and I am 6 feet tall.

After swimming in the blue hole we had small movie night. Watch hmm... nightcrawler. Creepy show.

(06) Friday

Today  get my laundry back from Deco stop, I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I am looking forward to clothes that don't stink. Downloaded a new album by Haim.

Time to make some food. Omelette time.

(07) Saturday

I live in an oven... it's 95 degrees near 100 percent humidity it feel like 110 and i cannot move without being drenched in sweat. I can barely think. It is so shocking to my Minnesota body temp I don't know what to do. I shower every few hours to get the stink off my body and to cool off. This house man... it's like a death camp.

I made some food few times today but that added extra heat... almost regret eating.

I look forward to the night when the sun goes down and the concrete walls start to cool off, they are the evil that bakes me all day and the tin roof. Whoever made this house should have seen the results by living in it. No shade, all concrete and the sun hits it all day long. I am praying for rain to knock the temps down. But its been dry for days.

(08) Sunday

It is just so hot I can sleep its not 4:30am and when the mob of annoying dogs barked for two hours straight I decided it was best to read the news and analyze stocks and such. Go Pro stocks and Amazon... hm. There are lots of cool advances in robots too.

A storm is starting to light up the sky now if only it would rain non stop for like all of February it might knock the temp down a degree. It is nice listening to the thunder booming and being ominous...
it took 2 more hours before it finally resulted in a short burst of rain. The temperature dropped to 85 degrees, a 20-25 degree change from a few hours before. Now its 8:23am and the temp is rising again back to 88 degrees 72% humidity. I am happy I have this digital temperature gauge.

11:30am

Then something weird happened and unexpected call and before I know it I am on my way out to RIRI blue hole. It was a good thing to be getting out of the oven and to a place that has cold water to sit in forever.

There was so much analysis of what had occurred that I am not sure I can recall half of the possibilities. Was the man confused about the identity of my friend or was he just trying to make a new friend? But then why invite someone to go swimming but then never end up bringing their family to join us at the blue hole... was he trying to make a new friend or a new "friend"? Then why tell her about the wife and kids... but also why pick her up first and not the family? Wouldn't the wife be suspicious of who this unknown woman in the car is... of course they would.

So it was like that for a while... we are not sure of what the answer is actually. Well we can to a conclusion (he was confused) as we starting walking home and then we were wrong as his car pulled up 45 minutes late and then... he drove me into town to get money, then to the Daming store to get steaks... then to drop off the friend... back up to my house where i slept for a bit. He did not charge us a dime for all the driving. That would have normally ran 5,000vt or 50 bucks.

After all the head spinning mini drama ended, I made the best steaks and french fries with cheese and spices and such... that even skeptics (who now have tried said dish) said oh my, "god that is delicious! I had no idea." All that is true. And the reason for all the actions that came to be may have been of ill motivation but can to completely beautiful fruition in the end. Sometimes
bad * bad = good like -1 *-1 = 1.




Then the clouds changed and it hard to hard for about an hour but these kids man they don't care they continued running and jumping into the water it wouldn't matter if it was a solid state of rain or not.


1.26.2015

Week 44 - So now what?

(26) Monday

So lets see today...  I woke up 6am, ate went to NDMO, forgot my adaptor for the internet. That means I  had to bike home... and my tired is draining the air so fast now that every bike trip at the end I have to reinflate the tire. So I brought my tire pump with me so I can inflate it.

Not much going on at that office.

Maybe this week I will go to Vila and get my tooth problem fixed.

5:00pm
One of my friends here was hurt badly by a local, I just found out about it. It affected me.


(27) Tuesday

I hope there is a glimmer of justice being made this morning, his court date was early today.

Hard to think about anything else at the moment.

Just playing around with a flow chart... and some business logic diagrams.


(28) WEDNESDAY

Made it to Vila... there was this great Swiss tourist I spoke with for a bit. Man I wish she was staying for like a few months. She was great.

I have a nice room all to myself, no noise, not sweating my brains out and a HOT SHOWER... woohoo.

Thanks again Mr. Thomas for the ride to the airport.

(29) THURSDAY

I love the food in Vila, I hate the price tag. But Who cares I ate chicken nuggets, chocolate shakes, real pizza... It was heaven. Tomorrow I have to try and visit Hawking favorite place to eat "Spice"... I wish I could remember what his crazy lunch special was called maybe they will remember it.

(30) FRIDAY

Well there is no pressure to get up, no one making me sit in a conference room its just me doing what I want to do. This is perfect. I feel good about this visit. The dentist fixed a filling and now I can take that off my mind so I will seek out a few items in town meet up with Tim over the weekend and then my counterpart will arrive on Tuesday. A short but needed trip to get some stuff done and relax a minute.

Posted a new short story... part one of my Twin Peaks inspired short story... Each section/part is 10 small paragraphs.

Noon
Sitting under and tin roof/awning outside an au bon marche, hiding from a deluge, was me and twenty others Ni-vanuatu's. The mostly soaked locals were walking up to each other giving their forever long handshakes even though they were soaked to the bone. I sat with a VB wrapped in plastic watching the million raindrops form exploding into individual water crowns on the uneven road. There where unless streams of nearly identical Toyota vans that trudged up the hill past the police station, the bank, toward Chew store. After 15 minutes I made a dash for the office during a break in the rain, having finished my business of changing the fight back to Santo to Wednesday at 11 so I could spend a few more days in town. After getting past five stores half way there I had to take a second pitstop as the rain picked back up. I sat and spoke with a local kid, who was in town to buy a new uniform for school. His favorite subject Physics and all Science. I was happy to hear that he enjoyed those subjects. Finally I made it to the office and promptly posted my little memory before I forgot it. I think reading of The Door of Perception by Aldous Huxley made me want to write about nothing and make it sounds like something. He is a master of that.

Took a photo outside the office.

(31) Saturday

Today was mostly a day of sitting at the Peace Corps office and reading the news, playing around with part two of my murder mystery story and trying to just be quiet and calm. So far it's working.

I plan to go eat some pizza again at Chill because I can use my credit card and not spend peace corps vatu because I always run out by the end of the month.


I have a few new albums (Bjork's new one Vulnicura and Charli XCX - Sucker) and some new episodes of Broad city season 2.

Re-reading brave new world and book of five rings about this sword fighter from japan that killed 60 people in close combat. Thats it.

After doing next to nothing for hours I went to Chill to eat a pizza. It is generally laughed at my way of wasting money on expensive food but I don't like and cabbage. So I went for it and the sunset and Air conditioning was so nice. This nice couple came in and sat by me and asked me a bunch of questions. They were tourist from Australia... David and Pam Dear. Well as anyone that knows me, if you ask me a question i.e. put a quarter in you'll get your money's worth. I just told about the experiences I had and what I think of the islands and people and such. It was a fun conversation and then they surprised me buying me my dinner and drink. It was so rad. I felt very thankful that someone is looking out for me.

(01) Sunday

I can't recall everything that transpired but one of the coolest things that happened on this day was I went to Tim work and we watched a ton of weird movies. but before we went we had the best veal T-Bone pork steak I have had. I made the steaks and frieds. They were rad.

1.19.2015

Week 43 - Start of new things

(19) Monday

I started my new job at the NDMO (National Disaster Management Org) today. We moved downstairs in a really hot mostly empty room. Kensley took Mike's old computer leaving me without one until February, probably longer. This will have an impact doing research and dev on a software system that we can use to handle disaster data.

We have also lost our fast connection hopefully we can get that fixed and a whiteboard and a desk for me or I am sitting on the floor without a workstation. Here is to hoping for some office furniture and hardware to make working possible.

1pm
I just finished lunch and it is pouring outside and I am not sure what we can do at the office the way it is at the moment. Kensley is sick as well I really hope I don't catch his cold.

(20) Tuesday

Met with my school admin/tech people and the folks in Portland to do a Alma walk through for them to learn and see how the system works at a first glance. I gave them logins and they should try looking around the system. We don't have full system data loaded i.e. teacher email address, classes and students... so the system is not really to be used as is... but soon will be.

9:30am
Lucky me they let me pay them tomorrow for a chicken wrap today... hoping we get paid on the 21st so I can eat in town from time to time. Miss being able to have a pizza or a chicken wrap.

1pm
Going back to the NDMO and hopefully make some more design ideas work. No email from Peace Corps about the login to the small grants program.

4pm
I took Nik's and Fredlyn's advice Setup an account and now I can access the small grant forms.
Met up with Sam at Sakele and then went home and played FTL (faster than light) and crashed.

(21) Wednesday

5am
I really need to get a tooth fixed. Was trying to wait a bit but I think the time is fast approaching to get it dealt with before it starts hurting bad.

Maybe I will arrange to go next monday and it might be interesting to see if the NDMO has/had a conference in Vila. They said I was going to attend something there but nothing has happened yet.

Well I thought my counterpart about google drive, he seemed to like it. You can share files in one spot, not worry about losing it from a dying hard drive, auto saves, you can see who is working on it as the work on it, control privacy on the file. It is a great tool if you have internet that can support its use. Upload word docs though and converting them to google docs is a bit of work but worth it.

(22) Thursday

9am
Slow start today... just working on a design doc for the Disaster Management System that maybe one day coded by someone... not sure who yet. Using an app called gliffy and made some mock ups and a couple design docs. Fun tool for how much I enjoy drawing bubbles and lines connecting them and shading them, filling them with text and make it into a working model of an app.

2pm
Back to work... first half of the day I worked on designing some software using gliffy. Made a couple mockup screens and a UML diagram of some objects for the code. Second half of the day more diagrams and then play with some database designs.




(23) Friday

8:30am
Ready to continue building my designs and wireframes. I should make a DB design and then start mapping the business logic of each page and function.

Hopefully today we get paid I have 2vt to my PC name. 

5:00pm
Finished with work and made a lot of new pages on my design. Now it is time to see if we got paid so I can eat some besides eggs.

(24-25) Saturday & Sunday

I basically nothing but stay at my house and watch movies, eat and sleep. Life can hardly get any more exciting.

1.13.2015

Week 42 - End of days

(12) Monday

Not much happened except I turned in my resignation for the school I was assigned. He took the news well.

Tried to get my internet moved but failed.

(13) Tueday

Working at the college trying to get ALMA to work... a SIS softare. I hate french UI of windows it is such a  pain in the ass to switch to english.

I hate N-computer systems as well... they suck. Which is what I am using right now.

... they suck. Which is what I am using right now.

    • International Parcels
DATE & TIME
STATUS OF ITEM
LOCATION
January 12, 2015 , 3:19 pm
Payment of charges - Item being held, addressee being notified
VANUATU
Your item could not be delivered on January 12, 2015 at 3:19 pm in VANUATU due to payment of charges. It is being held while the addressee is notified.
January 12, 2015 , 2:43 pm
Arrival at Post Office
VANUATU
January 12, 2015 , 10:05 am
Customs clearance processing complete
VANUATU
January 12, 2015 , 9:19 am
Processed Through Sort Facility
VANUATU
November 17, 2014 , 3:55 pm
Item wrongly directed - Item forwarded / redirected
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Oh look at this: What ... I owe more money. 

(14) Wednesday

Wow what a day... got my box from america that I have been waiting for for 4 months.
Fixed problems with internet at house... put up second book shelf...
and I worked at my old school setting up Alma SIS... good day.

Now time for some pasta.

(15) Thursday

Thursday was a busy day. I setup more on Alma the Student information system for the school. And then went home and installed two more shelves in my house.

Then I ate with my last 1000vt a small hot and spicy pizza from Nemo's. After that I took a nice long sleep. Woke up again about 4pm and Met Kelsey and her friend watch a episode of Broad City and then met up with Sam at Sakale and then went home. Decently productive day.

(16) Friday

I just returned from town... I hate that big hill, I can never bike all the way up it, just pushing a bike up that steep climb with a back full of stuff ugh it is so exhausting. I worked on Alma/SIS again... Had a online meeting with Karen Maeda... she is a Ozzy that moved to MN to study at Macalester and graduated in 2012. Then she moved to Portland to work at this Alma software company. I know some people she knows... it was funny talking to person that knows my home town and local places we hang out. The Minnesota connection is everywhere heh.

Now I am going to try and work on kelsey's dead netbook... then go back into town when the rain goes down and get some groceries for the weekend. I hope we get paid asap. I hate using my credit card for daily living expenses.

One of my neighbors noticed my internet antenna on the roof and he asked me, "Yu got internet?"
 And I am like yeah... and duck inside my door before the next logical question comes, "Yu sharem out witem me?" No way man... if I share my super slow internet with you, 30 other Nivans will ask the same and I will have zero bytes of data forever.

I should work on my twin peaks part two story for the Van Am... I am forgetting how I was going to end it.

(17) Saturday

It does not feel like a Saturday.

What to do... check internet (facebook, blog, gmail) done. Write in blog, almost done, eat some food except nothing I have is appealing... then go into town and wander around until I get bored and go home.

Maybe I will work on my short stories. And now that I have a few small canvases from the USA (thanks mom) I can paint for the first time in ages.

The double fan system I have in my living room is the one thing keeping me sane and happy or else it is so hot I melt into a puddle.

I went to the beach though here are some photos:





(18) Sunday

I just stayed home most of the day. Watched movies and killing time.

But I played some ping pong in wally's gym I think it was. Fun time.

1.05.2015

Week 41 - The last days of Rat House.

(05) Monday

Well this is it... packing up after one final night and Mike Staffords going away party.

Then it will be NO more Rats. And Running water Oh yes... except mike's house is like 90 degrees all the time because it has Zero shade and metal house and all concrete construction... so I will turn into a raisin shrivel up and melt away as all my sweat pools up in my bed to drown me. So to counteract that horror... I might have to get AC installed and drop even more money on something just so I can endure the heat.

I wonder if my principal ever received the final notice ending my contract with them. The admins said the would take care of it so I hope they do. If not, they read my blog so I am guessing this will act as a reminder. Hi admins!

Well going into town to try and transfer my internet to the new house... that I am guessing will be a nightmare too, like 200 bucks to move it. yeah Poverty. And I need a fridge woohoo another 200-300 bucks. I will be broke until the end of time. I might need to grow a garden to eat.

6:00pm
We had a great going away party for Stafford and crew. I am going to miss Mr. Mike.

(06) Tuesday

Another day and another shipping update: What does this mean?

Product & Tracking Information

Postal Product:

Features:

    • International Parcels
DATE & TIME
STATUS OF ITEM
LOCATION
November 17, 2014 , 3:55 pm
Item wrongly directed - Item forwarded / redirected
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Your item could not be delivered on November 17, 2014 at 3:55 pm in SOLOMON ISLANDS due to it being wrongly directed. It is being redirected.

The fact that I managed to find some emails address and inquire might either help find the box or just be a futile attempt at finding a long lost box. Who knows.

Today was Mike Staffords last night in Santo. We hung out for a  bit at beach front his family and I then Sam showed up... I had to leave to get the keys to his house and move some furniture.

Only one last round of things to clear out and I am moved out of this place to the new home on the hill.

For while there it looked like Mike's plan was going to be cancelled and delay him one more night... But I think he is actually leaving.

9:30pm
I heard it from the kitchen, slight scratch noise that is out of place even though I am half asleep, so i grabbed by my kill clubs and snuck up attacked. I hit him once, big (8 inches on the body) with a long nasty long tail, faster than imaginable RAT. I hate him!!! I wish I had nails jammed into the end on my clubs I would have speared it for sure. I chased from the kitchen to the living room hitting it twice, tough bastard, then blasted down my hall made a zig zag into bedroom and vashished. I think it hiding behind the metal cabinet. I will keep vigil and be ready to kill again.

(07) Wednesday

7:00am
Packing packing packing boxes, and hopeful that I can get internet moved, and then find out how much nicer it feels to have a shower again.

Chicken Wrap sammy time... I LOVE those.

10:00am
I was able to talk with one of my best best friends from MPLS for an hour today Miss Mary.

1:30pm
I just had some decent Pizza at Nemo's and ate with Mike's friend Jerry... and Saw Bryan and Kate and family walk by.

Well, ok back to packing and moving.

5:00pm
No truck luck today... and I dont want to pay for one since I am poor. Tomorrow.

5:45pm
Went to my place and met up with Sam for a bit at a kava bar then stayed at Mike's old house for the first time... way nicer since there is no Rats and there is running water.

(08) Thursday

I went back to rat house. I was trying to move out the last bit of stuff on the way I had a Chicken Wrap Sammy... I love them but they are starting to fade. Have to find a new thing to mix it up.

Wish I had a ladder. Then I could removed the internet connection from my houses roof. Hmm who to beg for help from today.

15 more days left till we are paid and I am almost flat broke again... so that means I have to ration money. 10 bucks a day tops. Need to buy a fridge next paycheck. Then I will starve a bit next month... then I can exist normal again.

===============
(09) Friday---> I Moved internet out of house and now I am unable to keep up with my blog entries.
(10) Saturday    So... Sorry about the gaps in my timeline but will
(11) Sunday      Be up and writing again soon.
===============