Unfortunately, I don't even remember the exact date of moving in, but I do know it was in July 2003.
Also, this was before I started blogging, and before I started the habit of writing my "personal daily journal" which is actually a daily listing of what happened that day. As you can see, my record-keeping habits has improved since I moved in to my new home.
But yes, I am so happy to be able to live in the same apartment for so long.
1) First, a little background information
To truly understand my joy of my 1 decade anniversary in my apartment, you would know a few details of my life before I moved in.For the first 14 years of my life, my family was living in a public housing complex. That complex is officially called "Puahala Homes" but it is commonly known as "Lanakila Housing". It's near a school, park and avenue all named Lanakila, so you might as well call the hood "Lanakila Housing". That's in Kalihi, an area of Honolulu with a reputation for public housing complexes and old run-down houses.
Well, by the time I was 14 years old, my parent's income was too high to continue staying in a housing complex built for low-income families.
What to do, what to do?
My parent's income too high to stick around, and they felt it was to time to "buy a house" (really, it's the bank loaning them the house on the condition they make monthly payments. It's just an ego-boost, not a statement-of-fact to call it "buying a house")
Well, they "bought a house" in some suburb in some other part of the island.
Also, 14 just happen to be the same age as when a person goes from middle school to high school.
Shall I go to some school where in my parent's new community, a school where I dont even know anyone? Or shall I just go to the same school where my friends are going, where at least I know who the "bad guys to avoid" are?
There's absolutely zero guarantee to being in a "safer school" if you move to a small suburb area in Hawaii. Remember, most Hawaii public schools are in mixed income districts. Most Hawaii schools have at least a suburb-type area and a ghetto within its district.
Yeah, my solution was use my grandma's address (in the same community my parent's just left for "having too much income") and go to the same high school my friends were going -- McKinley High School! And use that address without getting caught. Not as easy as you think!
And during that time, I was spending some days in my grandma's home (back in the "hood") and spending other days in my parent's house (in the suburbs). I thought it would just be simpler if I just stayed in my grandma's home all day every day.
My father didn't like that idea probably because he felt he was being personally rejected by the idea of me not living with him. My mother sympathized with me, but was a bit too deferential to my father. We went back & forth on this issue.
(there's more to the story to this, which you can read at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html and go to part 5 of that blog post)
After 4 years of all this arguing with my parents, my grandma finally said "just let the boy stay in my home already".
My father still didn't like it, but he was outnumbered by myself, my mom (who FINALLY showed some back-bone after years of excessive submissiveness), and my grandma.
But by the time it happened, I was almost finished with high school (with only a select few classmates who had any idea all this was going on in my life).
After high school ended (c/o99), I was an undergraduate student at UH-Manoa. During the semester, I was living in the dorms. During breaks, I was either living my grandma (still in the hood) or with my uncle's apartment in Makiki. So yeah, a lot of moving in and out for a few years. I was still too angry to move in with my parents way out in the other side of the island.
I was tired of moving in & out, and tired of not having much privacy either.
Well, my mom came to the rescue. She knew someone leasing apartments near UH-Manoa with a good, credible deal! Also, my father finally accepted that I just wasn't going to live with him, and he helped out too. Yeah, it was to make up for all those years. But healings got to start at some time.
2) Moving in!
So on July 2003, I moved in to my own apartment. It was walking distance from UH-Manoa where at the time, I was still an undergraduate student. It is a studio apartment with basic neccessities. I dont need extra luxuries.
And I get to live by myself . I can play my stereo when I want and I can have silence when I want. I dont have to worry about niele room-mates asking stupid questions. I do what I like when I like. That's the life :)
I continued to stay there, even after I was done with my under-grad years at UHM. The area has easy to many bus routes. It's easy to get to my workplaces and easy to get to all the important places in Honolulu. Close enough to Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kahala Mall, and downtown Honolulu. That's the life :)
3) Home Maintenance.
Having my own space, means I can store more stuff!
Problem was, I collected too much stuff, and I was too distracted to do much maintenance. As far as I'm concern, home was a place for sleep and storage.
But last year, I finally started to get rid of useless obsolete crap in my apartment. I wrote about the experience in the following blog posts.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-war-against-clutter.html
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and
I admit, I have been becoming a packrat!
I do like to keep stuff, though I'm definitely NOT one of those who keep old food wrappers for "sentimental value". I'm NOT that crazy!
I kept telling myself, one of these days, you'll have time to organize those piles!
Time to face reality --- I'll NEVER have time to organize those piles!
So last night, I started throwing a whole bunch of paper piles in the big trash can outside!
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and this one, a month later
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-apartment-gets-make-over.html
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It's just about 3 weeks later, and I'm feeling like I'm living in a brand new place, even though it's the same studio apartment I've been living in for 9 years.
A lot of old outdated papers? Thrown out!
Big grey containers with piles of articles? Thrown out!
Old stuff that I haven't used in years? Thrown out!
Some stuff, I kept! Especially stuff I've been looking for that was hidden in a pile of useless papers!
But yeah, you'd be surprised what stuff is still in your house if you haven't had time to clean-out your stuff in YEARS!
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and this one
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/10/32-years-of-living.html
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Since, then I have gotten a new refrigerator!
The old one was leaking! But I didn't have enough to get a new one! Though I tried to rely on my pride and am striving for more self-reliance, I couldn't take the waiting anymore. I just mentioned the issue to my parents, and they got a good deal for the refrigerator.
This also means my mother won't be able to buy additional birthday or Christmas gifts. That's fine! The new refrigerator is more important than anything else I could've gotten as birthday/Christmas gifts.
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and one more
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-years-resolution.html
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And my new year started with my father coming in do repairs on the bathtub face plate, as well as replacing some filters in my toilet. :)
So yep, my new year's started with focus on home maintenance.
4) My Life Today
This year, I returned to UH-Manoa as a graduate student. And living where I'm at means I can just walk to school again :)And I can still have easy access to many important places in Honolulu.
I'm more serious about home maintenance, and collection management these days. My apartment is much cleaner than it was 1 year ago. But the work is never over!
I'm living on my own. No roommates, no one to tell me what to do, no one to get nosy about my private life!
That's the life :)
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Overall, I like living where I'm at. :)
I hope to stick around for a few more decades!
