2017: reflections

It's the 1st day of 2018 and I will do my usual reflections on the old year of 2017!

I wrote much of my reflections on the blog post I wrote last week titled "Need more success in my life"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2017/12/need-more-success-in-my-life.html


I encourage you to read that blog post, before reading the rest of this blog post.

Now on some more interesting stuff

1.) Temp jobs

As I noted several times before, sub teaching doesn't come with paid vacations, so I did some temp jobs on the side.

For the previous winter vacation (2016-2017), I called a temp worker agency that I worked with before to see if they had work within the winter vacation. They had nothing for that time frame, but they had something for the last 2 weeks of January.

OK, I'm listening.

It was a temporary position at a local hospital for which I tested their mobile communication devices.  Basically, it was like the famous Verizon commercials where the characters said "can you hear me now?"

Of course, we did more than that! We walked various areas of the hospital to hear if our conversations can be heard in that area of the hospital.   Then we noted if there were any problems hearing the other person. We also noted various variables that might be contributing to how well we can hear.

Then we also inputted the data onto a spreadsheet so that the IT department can analyze and figure what & how things can be changed.

Being that it was for the IT department, other staff members in the hospital thought I was to have expertise in other IT matters. Sorry, but I will notify the IT staff! 

I loved doing the mobile communication device testing and data collection so much that I was willing to do it again later in 2017, one week in September, one week in October.  We were originally planned to try again in December but that was cancelled.

Those weeks during school weeks, but I blocked out any calls for sub jobs for those weeks.

I never thought I would ever work in a hospital, but now I can say I did.

I don't think I'll ever want the pressure and stress levels that doctors and nurses have to go through.  Life & death decisions on an daily basis. No thanks!

But I did appreciate the works of the whole hospital staff, ranging from the medical, administrative, security, custodial, cafeteria, and off course, the IT team!

---------
Another thing about hospitals, TV shows always show the staff running in the ER hallways.

But in real life, you really have to slow your pace in the hallways.

One time, I was walking my usual pace, when I turned a corner when I almost bumped in to a couple who just gave birth. Needless to say, it was in the section of the hospital were birth is given.

I also noticed the doors opened very slowly. The first few times I experienced that, my mind was thinking "hurry up, I got places to go".

But one time, when the doors were opening slow, I saw a child walking with IV tubes attached.  Now I understood why the doors opened slowly. Had I just walked out the door at my usual pace, I would've bumped into that child by accident, a child who happened to have extra vulnerabilities.

===========

I did have another temp job in the summer with a different temp agency.  It was a one-day temp job putting up fixtures at the new Ross Store in Ala Moana. Then we had to dispose all the boxes and bubbles wraps. We had to pull those pallet jacks from one side of the mall to the other. I could feel the strain on my quadriceps that lasted the next few days. 


------------

I also had a few-day temp job working with foreign exchange students visiting Hawaii. It was just going to the beach parks, or staying at the program's headquarters to play games. Fun times, but it only lasted a few days. 

2.) Music

In early 2017,  Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior has released "Sounds Like a Video Game: an instrumental album"

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2017/01/sounds-like-video-game.html

The songs got some attention on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services.  Some individual track got downloaded on iTunes.

I did a few music videos for those tracks, for which you can view on Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior   YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTp3x3norNTYDksJKCSfhXg

Unfortunately, I haven't done videos for all the tracks from that album due to time constraints.

I plan to work on them when time permits.

Also, if time permits, I would like to release a metal-oriented instrumental album before the end of 2018.  I made a few tracks on Music Maker software so far!  Still experimenting with various software options to make the songs unique and great.

3.) Parties

I only been to a few this year/ 

There was my friend's birthday party at Sky Nightclub, my birthday part at Rumours.

I went to Halloween party at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Waikiki. I wore my orange shirt and pumpkin hat, just like 2015! Fun times :)


  I also want to talk about the one that really counts  ................   New Years.

In the past few years, I went to the New Year's parties at Aloha Towers. 

This time, I wanted to do something different. I also wanted to do something less expensive.

Tiki's Grill & Bar had cheap tickets so I went.  Great place, great vibes, great times!


Now the announcement was made late in 2017 that Rumours will close late January 2018.  I'll plan to go before it closes. It will be an end of a great era! 

coming soon: reflections on 2017

I usually do a reflection blog post at the end of the year!

But the last few weeks have been busy.

So those blog posts will be delayed by a few days.


Happy New Year :)

Need more success in my life

End of the year is supposed to be a time of reflection!

On my Christmas cards, I printed some updates on my life (ie. still a sub teacher, working at a fashion retail store, volunteering with Friends of the Library, making and selling digital instrumental tracks)

An auntie called me a "success".


That's nice to hear!

But I know there's more to be achieved!

I want to ride this sub teaching thing as far as I can, but what I really want to do with my life is either work at a library and making more music.

As for the fashion retail job, it might be days or weeks when a decision would be made on how much longer I'll be there! While I respect giving people a chance to solve problems internally, tomorrow I'll find out if we're closer to a real solution. Otherwise, some info is about to go public on this blog! 


------------

I love helping out the Friends of the Library of Hawaii(FLH). I volunteer with their major booksales (next one is on Martin Luther King weekend at Washington Middle School) as well as their mini-bookstore (Books@Marks)  in downtown Honolulu for every First Friday.


FLH is a mostly volunteer thing, with only a few paid staff members. But if FLH has an open paid position, I want in!

Anything library-related is where I belong!

=============

As far as my music, Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior has some downloads sold on iTunes, some licensing royalties from YouTube content ID, and streaming revenue from various sources.

But it's not enough to make big-budget music videos.

I need more time to even finish making music videos for the songs from the "Sounds Like a Video Game: an instrumental album".

I also need more time to work on songs from my next album! 

I think I'll do that right now

brief thoughts on my current life

I  have so much thoughts on latest controversies and more, but I've been super-busy the last few weeks. Didn't have time to blog! 


I'm still a sub teacher, but I also got hired to work at a fashion retail store in August.   That was because during the summer, schools weren't in session, so I got a 2nd job.   I did have past experience at Macy's, but this time, I'm at a competitor.

At the new fashion retail store, I'm a rover (I rotate among different departments). To get hired for that position, I agreed to work some early morning shifts (ie. start at 2am) on the condition I'm notified 3 weeks ahead of time. The store does announce the weekly schedule 3 weeks in advance, so I was in. We also agreed to those 2am-6am weekday shifts. For weekends, I agreed to "anything goes".

Well, last week, I did 3 days in a row of early markdown shifts (where we change price tickets before the store open).  3 days of 2am-6am, while still commuting to the sub teaching job afterwards. (no car, just bus or bike) This mess with my sleep schedule, and I lose hours I could be doing basic things outside of work. I told my manager I'm done with doing those early markdown shifts on weekdays. I'm still willing to do those early markdown shifts on the weekends, but I'm done doing them on weekdays. 

My foot is already in the door, so I'll probably be traded to another position in the store.


====================


Meanwhile I am looking for a permanent position in........................


............... well, anytime I actually announce that I'm about to get a job interview at a certain place, I never get the job.

But if I don't tell anyone about an upcoming job interview, I actually did get the job!  I sure didn't tell anyone that I was interviewing for the fashion retail job that I'm currently working at!  Same was true for other temp jobs and internships I had in the past! 

I'm superstitious like that!

You can be messed with

A lot of people talk as if they're so tough and so vigilant that nobody can hurt them! There's always sometime tougher than you, someone that can overpower you (even if takes sneaking a drug in your drink to do so). You can claim to be eternally vigilant all you want, you can preach precautions all you want, but EVERYONE eventually lets their guard down, and someone will strike at that moment, causing you eternal pain magnified because you are shocked that your tough/vigilant image couldn't protect you at all times!

Facts are that YOU can be messed with, and YOU can be violated! 

YOU are more vulnerable than you're willing to admit to anyone! That doesn't make you less of a person, in fact, that makes you like every other person!

Recently, there's been a social media campaign against sexual assault, with the hashtag #MeToo, to let people know that sexual assault has affected real people that they know, not just some hypothetical unknown person in a news report!

While much of the activism surrounding the fight against sexual assault has come from left-leaning feminists, the issue has affected people of all political leanings (conservative, libertarians, you name it).

One conservative woman thought that her tough-girl, street-smart image was going to prevent her from being raped. She learned the hard way that nobody is "too tough" or "too street smart" to get victimized in a really traumatic way!

Amy Swearer, “I’m a Conservative Who Was Roofied by a Stranger. Here’s What I Think of the ‘Me Too’ Hashtag.,” The Daily Signal, October 20, 2017

http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/20/im-a-conservative-who-was-roofied-by-a-stranger-heres-what-i-think-of-me-too-hashtag/

When someone confides in you that they were roofied, assaulted, molested, raped, or harassed, they have rendered themselves the most vulnerable they will likely ever be to you. Do not presume to sit in judgment of a person’s reaction to a horror you can never understand until you have lived it. And no, I promise you, you do not understand. I did not understand, either.

I have sat in quiet judgment of so many women who did not respond to victimization in the precise way I imagined “angry, no-holds-barred, take-names-but-not-prisoners” Amy would respond. I have sworn to anyone who would listen that many victims are partially to blame, that my handguns and I could take care of myself, and that I would always be vigilant enough and smart enough and prepared enough.

And then there I was, waking up on a gurney at 4 in the morning. In an emergency room. By myself. Surrounded by strangers, asked the most intimate of questions by people who did not know my name five minutes ago, still hazy from a drug-induced stupor, bruised and hurting and afraid and wanting desperately to disappear into a hole until it all went away … and I promise you, you do not understand.

You don’t understand the sickening internal debate over whether and how and when and to what extent you should tell your parents. You don’t understand the utter humiliation of being unable to recall any interactions you’ve had in the past 12 hours. You don’t know how incredibly small you feel when your first real memory is of a doctor you’ve never seen before accusing you of smoking crystal meth because your ADD medication showed up as amphetamine on a toxicology screen, and you can barely find words to ask where you are, much less to explain you’ve never done drugs.

And the flood of questions. You cannot comprehend the flood of questions. What if the detective thinks I was just drunk? What if I WAS just drunk? What if the urine analysis can’t detect any substances because the four IVs and 13 hours of delay diluted the sample? Will anyone believe me then, if there’s no proof? What if there are pictures or video I don’t remember? Do I even want to see any evidence that could point to a suspect? Would I rather just never know if it protects me from knowing something awful? How I am going to pay these medical bills? Why can’t I move my wrist? Where is my wallet? Has anyone fed my cats? Was I raped? What if I’m pregnant? How I am going to get home?

You. Don’t. Understand.

You can’t.

It’s not your fault. Honestly, I envy your lack of understanding, and hope you never, ever have to understand. But until then, stop demeaning the actions of those who do. The #MeToo hashtag may be a cop out for some, but others—myself included—it is a way to tell other women they are not alone. It is a way to process our own stories and salve our very real pain. It is a way to reclaim the voices we lost.

Some men might read this and think "I'm a man, nobody going to rape me" and "I'm not going to jail, so I don't have to worry about getting raped".

But if the same man talks and acts so tough that he gets into a fight, where will he end up? In jail!

And even men who claim to be vigilant could be hanging out with new friends (could be new co-workers, could be a "friend of a friend"), which places anyone in a vulnerable position. Who knows, that "new friend" might be on drugs, might be the next target for a police raid, might have other enemies you may not know about!  That "new friends" might even have "feeling for you" and can roofie you too! Your toughness will not save you when you are caught off guard in those situations!

Even someone like Terry Crews, a former NFL player (meaning he's physically tougher and psychologically braver than the average man) was so caught off-guard when another man grabbed his privates that his mind froze when it happened.  That's what happens to ANYONE who is caught-off guard like that! Even to the tough guys!

Let's also put it this way, even the losers of a boxing/MMA match spent hours/weeks/months/years practicing self-defense skills. They still lost!

If that happens to them, what makes you think it can't happen to you? 

What makes you think you can whoop everyone who messes with you?

What makes you think you're not vulnerable?

Talk all the about being "street smart" all you, even the most savvy of street criminals and police investigators get outsmarted! And these are people who spend hours planning to outsmart their opponents (who carry guns and more), spend hours figuring out how to commit sneak attacks on their enemies (who carry guns and more), and they still get outsmarted!

The same can apply to the Navy SEALS and the terrorists they're fighting! So much planning on sneak attacks and avoiding sneak attacks, and they still get outsmarted on the battlefield!

If the street criminals, police, Navy SEALS and terrorists all get outsmarted (and captured and killed)  even though they're experts in outsmarting dangerous people, what makes you think your street-smartness and precautions will immunize you from being violated?

So instead of demonizing rape victims for "not putting up a fight", "not taking precautions", "letting their guards down", why don't YOU recognize that YOU TOO can be very vulnerable in many situations, and that it can happen to YOU TOO! 

Tough Talk and Street Smarts will NOT save you all the time!

37-year weekend

Today was my birthday.

But my celebration started yesterday (Saturday)!

I had the whole weekend off my from my part-time job for the celebration


Saturday morning was mostly doing laundry!


Saturday evening, I attended the UH football game vs San Jose State!

It's been a few years since I last been to a UH football game. Luckily, I got a free ticket to attend the game!  And even more luckily, UH won: 37-26


Then it was party time at Rumours Nightclub for their old-school night! I saw one of my high school friend's there! 

Afterwards a short sleep!

Sunday morning, I had breakfast with my dad at Asahi Grill for their famous fried rice and scrambled egg!    

We talked about yesterday's game, our jobs, and the USA men's soccer team not qualifying for the World Cup

My dad also fixed the handle for the screen door at my apartment!

I took a nap and read the Sunday paper!

Then I got a few phone calls from mom & grandma!


Then my brother called, asking if I was home. Yes! He came to visit for about 20 minutes. We talked about his kid's participation in their school's activities. 

About an hour later, I spent some of my birthday money going grocery shopping. Necessities before luxuries.

Then I came home, checked my emails, facebook and of course, wrote this blog post. 


Now, it's back to work for Monday! 

Kakaako Waterfront Park

A classic photo of me at Kakaako Waterfront Park.

 As you can see, it has beautiful green hills. 

On the other side of the hills is the ocean.

It was meant to be a great place to ride a bike, walk, fish and relax. 

To top it all off, it is in the urban center, just a short distance from downtown, Ala Moana and Waikiki.  

Sadly, it has been shut down indefinitely due to the city's inability to protect its facilities from vandalism.

The homeless have been blamed because many put up settlements within the park.

Most of the homeless don't really bother anyone, but a few incidents can scare people away.

The city  government is now banning everyone from going inside the park to repair vandalized facilities.

Meanwhile, some of the homeless refuse to move to a shelter, and they'll go wherever they can occupy.

As noted in a recent article, the park itself was supposed to be a relaxing place for everyone. A place for residents & tourists, the rich & poor. 

The city  government needs to put 24-7 security at the park to secure property as well as the park users.

When I say "24-7", I'm NOT asking for storm troopers out to harass & profile, just some friendly guards who are ready to intervene when there is real trouble.

The park also need 24-7 maintenance personnel. Some of the homeless can be hired as part of the maintenance personnel. Train them to fix any broken sinks, toilets and fixtures.  Have them replace the toilet paper, paper towels and soap immediately!

Let's make this park a magical place to be again :)