Wednesday, December 31, 2008

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I moved to Hawaii. One year ago right now I was on a plane over the Pacific, not quite ready to come, not quite sure what Hawaii had in store. 

New Year's is always a time to reflect on the past year, so it's interesting it falls on exactly the day my life changed significantly from what it has been for the previous 4 years. I still miss my Woods Hole friends enormously, I still miss my Woods Hole life to be honest, that really was somewhere I could have stayed forever. The difference between now and a year ago is that Hawaii and I have come to an understanding, though trying to work through the Hawaii time all the time still frustrates, I now know what i'm up for, I "expect" that I will not get paid on time, to be reimbursed for a trip will take a month and the secretary will get it wrong at least 3 times first, to order a scalpel will take 2 months, to go camping I will have to trek downtown and wait for at least an hour. Expectation makes it all bearable, rather than tearing my hair out all the time. Not that I still don't tear my hair out now and then when it all converges to everything that I'm trying to do, but I now also enjoy the things Hawaii has to offer more, and Manoa is now "home". 

So what will the New Year bring? I'm not sure, a time of flux for me again, time to find that ever elusive permanent job, maybe even time for yet another move. This next year scares me, in a different way from this last year (this last year was an excited scary) as there are just so many unknowns. Where will I be a year from now? I do not know. All I know is there are going to be many big changes next year. 

I hope you all have a great New Years eve. We are one of the last places on earth to celebrate the New Year, so we'll catch up with you all eventually......

2 comments:

kyllimarjaana said...

Happy New Year !!

Nicola said...

happiest of new year's, R! you aren't missing anything. we plan to tuck the kids in early, drink some wine, contemplate life, watch a movie, and crash before midnight. gee, sound familiar?