On Second Thought

So, I said "Employed husbands are happier husbands"... and while this statement seems true on the surface, I was reminded that a "happy wife equals a happy life" thus, if the husband's employment makes for less (almost ZERO) free days for that wife to spend with said husband, it makes for an unhappy wife, which transitively equals an unhappy husband.

Or at least, it makes for feeling like there is no time to do the things that make marriage, and Hawai'i in particular, fun!

So, while employment helps to make me feel like a contributing member of society, when it comes with having MANDATORY WEEKEND work, every single week, it kind of gets in the way with priorities. Let's be honest, priorities are important, because, you know, they are things that are important to me and I try to prioritize. They pretty much go in this order. 1. Racquetball 2. Wife 3. Whatever else it is that I would rather be doing than work 4. Work. So, basically, since this job was infringing on priorities 1 through 3, the marina job had to go. Just, had, to , go. Having said that, the job was cool for a few reasons. I did get to learn about boats and I can tie at least 2 knots now. Also, I have a great tan going. Lastly, I made friends with some fish named Barry, Bobbers, and Rocky.

There was the eel that we saw once. Just once

This is "Bobbers" he is a Porcupine fish who, along with "Rocky"
(named for a gash he/she had on his/her forehead) like to troll around
hunting for crabs to gobble up

By "made friends" I mean, sometimes when I was bored I would talk to the fish and sometimes play act scenes from imaginary situations and places I would rather be in. *SIGH*.. Also, saw some puffer fish the other day! It's a really cruddy picture but whatevs dude. Anyway, I have included a picture montage to remember my favorite times from the Marina job as a Recreation Assistant at the Marine Corps Base Hawai'i as a part of the Marine Corps Community Service! Phew! Say that 4,000 times fast!

Sometimes I would eat lunch on a kayak

The views from work were/are amazing

Barry. Barry the Barracuda. 

Hard to see, 3 puffer fish. Bad picture, sorry!

Sometimes, when she had time off, Deanna
would come and kayak with me on my lunch break

So, without getting into the details too much, I am going to try my hand at substitute teaching again. The pay is certainly worth it here in Hawai'i (I can work 3 days a week and make more than I made at the Marina).. just gotta get on some sub lists, etc. Also, there is a prospective position, which I won't go into the details of because I am superstitious enough that I do not want to jinx it... so.. cross dem fingers! KTHANX

Now, just because Deanna and I haven't had many days off together, does not mean we haven't done things. Or that I haven't done things. I have gone surfing a few times.. and by "surfing a few times" I mean, I took my board into the water and tried really really hard to surf, but mostly got thrashed around a lot, but at least once each trip was able to stand up a little longer than I had last time! So, basically, making progress, excruciatingly slow. Like, baby giraffe meets baby elephant meets Texas armadillo roadkill. Progress. Yes.

Also, we went out to a Japanese restaurant with a name. I will google that name right now. It's called Noboru Japanese Restaurant. It was quite tasty. I got some kind of Udon (soup) or something, but forget mostly. Either way, it was tasty (I'm clearly horrible and both remembering things and knowing things) and Deanna got a sashimi platter, which looked like this.

This is what it would look like if Audra got a sashimi platter

This is what it looks like when Deanna gets
a sashimi platter

Proof positive that these two are clearly kindred spirits. 

My case = rested

Wait, wut?

Sidetracked.

Hokay. Japanese food was great. The restaurant definitely disappointed a bit on decor and overall feel (it was kind of shabby looking and not as great a "date night" spot as I had hoped), but it nailed the tasty and super fresh Japanese food part and then knocked the whole "have a lot of different types of Sake you have never heard of to try" part out of the park.

Fast forward a week or something and we hiked the Lanikai Pillobx trail. You have already heard about this and seen pictures. However, what was not mentioned is when we were atop the trail I said to Deanna "I think I want to try snorkeling that more eastern section of Lanikai where it looks like there might be decent reefs to swim around and it's likely less populated with sun bathers, tourists and the like. So, the next day, I hopped on my bike and did just that (before and after running some errands and other stuff I won't bore you with). The snorkeling there was solid. Not the worst. Far from the best. Just solid. I'd rather take a boat on Kaneohe bay and snorkel, and certainly Hanauma Bay is better, but for, "just hop on your bike and go snorkel" it more than works. I ended up locking my bike up at "Beach Access #10" (pretty far down into the Lanikai area) and walked down. I realized there was pretty much zero beach here and it basically is just an access to the water. Away I went. Snapped these pictures.

The little purple and yellow guys are Hawai'ian Cleaner Wrasse
and are only found in Hawai'i waters. They set up little cleaning
stations where all the other fishes come by to get all cleaned up.
We have seen some before, but this was the first time I saw TWO!

I super like the way that it looks like this little guy is dancing in
this picture =)

Milletseed or Speckled Butterflyfish, not sure which.

Oh, thems not fishes, but thems is cute. =)


Bye bye for now!!