May 1st, 2017

After work last night I drove into town and met up with Jeremy the lead bartender, and Sean, one of our regulars. I got to the restaurant right as Jeremy was finishing up and we went to his house for cigars. I got home around 4 and fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up at 11 and started getting ready for my bar shift. I realized I have only worked behind the bar 6 times since the beginning of the year. 

The shift went well, but I’m glad I only have to work there when I want to. I spent the night entertaining tourists and showing ultrasound pictures of the baby to anyone who would look at them.

I am excited and terrified to become a father. Someone is going to depend on me to survive. I realize as an EMT, most of my patients depend on me to keep them alive, but having a baby seems like so much more than transporting sick or injured people.

We finished around 02:00 and I drove home and spent a few hours pacing around the condo. My feet, legs, knees, and back are killing me  from running around for 9 hours, but I’m still not tired. 

June 29th, 2015

I woke up around 9 and had something for breakfast… oh yeah, Rebecca scrambled some eggs and I covered them with salsa and wrapped it up in a tortilla. I bummed around the apartment for a couple hours, called my doctor to ask him to refill my blood pressure and sleeping medications.

At 1:30 I headed into town on my moped to attend a CPR class which is a prerequisite for the EMT program. Most CPR classes are 4-6 hours of practice, watching videos and listening to questions from students who have defied the laws of natural selection and in spite of their lack of common sense, they are still walking around amongst us and making new generations of human door-stops. This class was advertised as being fast, and that was the biggest selling point. I had pre-registered and paid the $75 fee last night. When I had arrived for class, I was told that I needed the class today, as well as a second class which they would happily set me up with at the end of the first class. This was no fault of the company, but mostly the American Heart Association for making so many different levels of CPR cards, and the school for requiring me to have two separate cards. The first class was basic CPR and first aid, it was over in 2 hours. The second class, which was just the instructor and myself was much quicker than the 4-6 hours I was anticipating. Since I have had CPR cards in the past, and I have actually performed CPR on real people more times than I care to remember, and since I didn’t have to waste time asking stupid questions, I was home by 5. Sure I had to pay for 2 classes, but not having to sit in a classroom for 8-12 hors was defiantly worth it.

On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up tortillas, and all of the food Rebecca doesn’t let me buy when I go shopping with her. I watched a movie about two guys who crash weddings to pick up girls while we had dinner and then I started watching Top Gun. I used to love the soundtrack for that movie when I was little, I don’t think I have actually seen the movie in 15 years or so. Once the movie finished, I headed to the pharmacy to see if my doctor had sent in the refill authorizations for my prescriptions. Ha had not. This is not the first time I have had to wait for him to authorize a refill. Last time my inhaler was out, and I called 7 or 8 times within a few days to see when they were going to let me get anew inhaler. I had one of his secretaries yell at me saying they would call me when they authorized the prescription, and to stop calling. I think its time for a new doctor.

I went home after a little drive to clear my head, and then I settled in to watch a documentary on Netflix.

In the middle of Top Gun, for no apparent reason, I thought about making a cooking show. Each week I could make a different recipe of corn products. One week it would be corn on the cob, the next week it would be about popcorn, and significance of popcorn at the movies, the next week would be corn tortillas, or corn bread. Each episode would be about corn, and the title of the show would be called CORNography. The logo for the show could be a piece of corn, with the stalk coming off reveling a bikini top of some sort… I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but my hope is to make a show and sell it to one of the cooking networks, or one of those other networks who have run out of ideas, and are just buying up reality shows.

May 11th, 2015

My day started really early, at 9:30 and consisted of making breakfast and watching world war 1 documentaries.

I got to work at 3 and ordered lunch off the kids menu to save a few bucks and was told that I would be bartending instead of serving tonight. I was making drinks tonight and it was slow enough for me to not make myself look bad, but busy enough to keep me occupied the entire night. Rebecca texted me around 4 when she got home because I had a parcel from the college. She asked if she could open it and I was overly curious as well. About 30 seconded later she sent me another text telling me that I had been accepted into the EMT program. There is an informational meeting sometime in July, and classes start on August 24th. I have been trying to get into this program ever since we moved here, and have been hit with road block after road block but I finally made it. Now I can re-take the class which will allow me to work in an industry in which I have almost 6 years of experience. For the rest of the night, I was in a great mood. Nothing could bring my spirits down. Not even the lady at the bar who kept yelling my name just to see ho fast I would run over and see what she needed. This means I will be done with school by December, and hopefully working as an EMT by January or February and done with the restaurant industry forever. Although I have said that before back in 2003, and again in when we moved here in 2013.

We finished cleaning up the bar and we were out of there around 11:45. I went home to wash off the stink of beer, fruit juice and liquor and then I stayed up to watch more documentaries.

April 29th, 2015

I woke up at 9 and spent the morning nervously getting ready. I shaved, ironed my shirt and trousers, showered and did my hair just right, only have it ruined by my helmet later.

I rode to Starbucks and got a 20 ounce black coffee and headed to the college for my EMT school interview. I had the interview last October, but was not accepted into the class, so this was my make-it-or-break-it moment.

I arrived an hour early, while the interview panel was taking their lunch break, and they all saw me sitting there patiently waiting. One of the department heads came out and thanked me for showing up early as it showed eagerness. She told me that the first person they had interviewed this morning showed up 30 minutes late.

When I was called in, I sat at a table while 4 people from different ambulance companies and the school’s EMT department sat across from me. They each asked me two questions and they all wrote down their opinions of how I had answered them. I still remembered most of the questions from last time, and I had looked up sample interview questions while I was waiting. The questions were mostly “What does being an EMT mean to you?” “How do you handle stress?” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I was so nervous that my hands were shaking. I felt more confident after the first interview, but I think my answers this time were closer to what they wanted to hear as I opened up and was more personable.

I went home, changed and then headed out for the day. My first stop was to exchange the faulty video game for one that would work, I then returned the red box from Monday night and went to the bank and then to 3 different stores looking for a specific sun block for my tattoos.

I went home and played Halo for a while until Rebecca came home and then I made dinner for us. Rebecca watched survivor and I played Halo until around 9 when I went to the pharmacy to pickup my medication.

March 25th, 2015

I realized I have 6 days to turn in my application for the fall semester EMT program. I filled out the application and then went to Kinko’s to print everything I needed, as well as laminate my flash cards of all the bar drinks we make.

After over an hour at Kinko’s, I rode to the courthouse to get a copy of my driving record and then to the college to turn everything in. I was fortunate people were there because of spring break. I was recently made inactive on the college website because I have not been enrolled in a class for over a year. I had to go home and quickly reapply for admission before my application could be submitted.

Rebecca came home and we went to Buca de Beppos for happy hour snacks before going to see a movie about factions of people fighting a totalitarian government. After the movie we went to Dave and Busters to play some games. The entire state has tomorrow off to celebrate Kuhio Day. Prince Kuhio was a guy who did some stuff, I’m not really sure about the details, I do know that there is a street named after him. We played a few games, and I redeemed myself after losing to her at skeeball the last time we were there. As we were leaving, we were stuck behind a wheezing mastodon of a woman and her crying toddler. I kept trying to get around her, but it would have taken all night, so I impatiently waited for her to get on the escalator while I darted to the side and took the stairs. I had just been stuck behind some lady and her screaming offspring so I needed to move fast. I decided the best course of action would be to slide down the handrail. I hopped upon the rail and began my descent into awesomeness. I was picking up speed much faster than I had anticipated but there was no way to abort my slide without doing damage to myself. I heard Rebecca yell out “I don’t like this” a split second before the railing stopped going down at a 45 degree angle and started going horizontal to the floor. I was expecting to slide off, hit the straight part and land like an Olympic gymnast. Instead my 245lb mass of cheeseburgers and body hair hit the straight part of the railing at max velocity smacking me right in the middle of the outside of my thigh. I had the world’s biggest Charlie horse and nothing could help me. I limped to the car unable to feel my right foot. I drove home and rolled up my pant leg expecting to see a massive bruise, but all I saw was leg hair and half of a goldfish cracker stuck to my leg. I spent the rest of the evening trying to massage out the pain.

Dec 1st, 2014

I woke up around 9 and headed straight to the college to find out why I was not selected for the spring EMT program. I met with the director of the program and he explained that they only accept 12-15 applicants out of the 75 that applied. He went through my application and said that my experience was great, but my math scores were what held me back. He told me that had I tested at college algebra or higher, I would have been accepted right away. He also went through the notes from my interview and gave me some pointers for next time and suggested that I schedule a meeting with him first so he could coach me. I have a ton of respect for this guy. He could have told me to hit the bricks, but he took the time to explain what I needed to fix, and then offered to help me fix them. I decided to find a math tutor so I can take a placement test and score higher next time.

I rode to the bank to deposit my tips from the weekend and then stopped at a pizza place for lunch. I got a slice of the special of the week and the owner gave me two slices. It was a good day. I went home and changed and then rode to the store to buy food so I could make dinner. I got home and hung the Christmas lights and then started making dinner, chicken enchiladas with an apple salsa that I made upon the spot. The salsa wasn’t great, but I think I figured out a way to make it better. After dinner we watched the newest episode of The Walking Dead and then went to bed.

May 29th, 2014

I awoke promptly at 9am and made eggs for breakfast. I am starting to get pretty sick of eggs, there are only so many ways to cook and season eggs before the monotony kicks in.

I found an online resource to help with my math scores which I need to improve to apply for EMT school in January. My problem isn’t adding or subtracting, but fractions. I have never understood how they work, or why anyone would ever need to know what 3 4/5 + 2 9/7 equals. I was diligently studying when the plumbers finally came to replace the broken water heater. They tinkered around outside for about twenty minutes before giving me the go ahead to turn the electricity back on for the lanai. They told me that the water should be hot within two hours, I was in the shower within twenty minutes.

 

I got to work and as I was riding the escalator up to the fourth floor and humming the Jaws theme song in my head, when I saw what appeared to be the regional director for the company standing at the top. As I crested the top of the escalator, there was no one there. My suspicions were later confirmed when I saw him talking to the general manager. Apparently this guy can vanish like the wind.

 

I was in a busy section tonight, I was pretty happy about that. I feel like I have been stressing out  lately abut how much I am bringing in every night. I keep feeling like it is never enough. I can’t wait for EMT school to finish so I will be ale to male a steady income, and not have to worry about bad tippers. I had a family sit in my section who rubbed  me the wrong way from the very beginning. I couldn’t pin point it, but I knew right away I was not going to like the end result. A few minutes after that, I was sat a table that had come in previously and had a bad experience so my manager told them he would take care of their next meal. I walked up to them and said ‘Hi, my name is Trav…..” the lady waved me away with her hand and told me to come back in a minute. My other table had asked me for a cup of coffee, which I fetched and no sooner had I returned with said coffee, did someone else at the table ask for a coffee. I said I would go get the second cup, turned to ask how another table was doing and answer some questions about the menu. As I turned around, the guy waved me down, and in a thick German accent asked if the second cup of coffee was going to be arriving soon. I told him I was on my way to get it for him, and he did not seem pleased that I had the nerve to take care of another table before he got a second cup of coffee that he had ordered 30 seconds prior to asking where it was. They ended up tipping $5 on a $175 bill. The lady that waved me away, tipped $4 on an $87 bill. The third table that I was helping at the time, walked over to my manager to tell him that I provided amazing service and that when they return, they will ask to sin in my section. I gave the exact same service to all three tables.

 

I finished out the night wit a slew of bad tippers, mostly foreigners. I left around 11 and rode home to put this day behind me

May 1st, 2014

I woke up around 9 and got ready for my day off. I started my day of fun by going to the college to take an exam. I stopped by the office to see what I still need to do before I can start the EMT program next spring. It turns out that I need to take a math placement test to see if I can math.

I took my medical terminology exam first, I was allowed 2 1/2 hours but I finished in 20 minutes. I then took the math placement test. It was pre-algebra. I was given a piece if scratch paper and a calculator and sent to the wolves.

I haven’t seen a fraction in 15 years. I had no idea what to do. One question was “what is 10% of 30% of 2,800?” I’m pretty sure I got that one correct. Another one was “| 3-4 | +2 =?” I had no idea what the brackets were for. I have made a life for myself where I don’t have to math on a regular basis. I can remember my 3rd grade teacher telling us that we will never carry a calculator in our pockets as adults so we should learn how to math. She was such a liar. Not only do I carry a calculator, I also have a camera, a video recorder, a currency converter, a music player, a flashlight, and a phone in my pocket.

I finished the math test and there was a counselor waiting for me. My scores were sent to the test administrator seconds after I finished. He told me that pre-algebra was the lowest level math, and I has scored 34%, the lowest out of most functional adults. I was sent to a guidance counselor who seemed pleasant at first. I introduced myself, showed her my score and said “I can’t math good.” She looked at me like I was retarded. She obviously didn’t get my joke. She told me about a math brush-up class that meets 4 times a week for the next 4 months. She then went on to tell me that my university English classes might not transfer to the community college because the university I attended might not have as strict of a curriculum as the community college. She suggested taking a basic English class just to be safe. I see this as a ploy to get me to take more classes, and give the college more money. I have a meeting with a counselor to go over my transcripts later next week.

I left the college annoyed at all the hoops I have to jump through just to take a corse to do a job that I’ve already done for 6 years.

I rode to the bank and deposited my tips and was heading to best buy to look at tablets when I saw a burrito shop. I made an illegal u-turn and went in for lunch. The burrito was ok, not great.

I had an epiphany while eating and headed into town to buy Rebecca’s anniversary present. It’s hard to believe that we have been married for almost 2 years.

I started my journey home with the burrito kicking and trying to force its way out.

Rebecca came home around 5:30 and I went to the store to buy something for dinner. I made pulled pork and BBQ chicken sandwiches and then Rebecca settled in to watch survivor while I watched another show on my iPod.

Feb 21, 2014

Day 5 of the whole 30 diet. Everything annoys me, I have a headache, and I don’t want to eat another egg.

I woke up promptly at 8 when the painters started clang-clang-clanging the scaffolding outside my window. I decided I should get up and make breakfast. I made some turkey sausage and and bell peppers and then finished off most of the grapes.

After an hour or so of studying, I got bored so I rode my moped up to Manoa Falls. It is a beautiful hike through a thick jungle canopy. It’s about one mile through dense bamboo forests and past ancient looking banyan trees. At the end of the trail, there is a 70 foot waterfall that cascades down the sheer cliff into a waist deep pool of refreshing cool water. I usually hike with my head down looking to where I’m going to step next, today I took my time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It took me 25 minutes to get to the top, and even longer to go back. It is a very easy hike, but I was doing it more to be lost in nature.

I rode home and made some pineapple salsa. I have yet to completely work out the recipe, but I’m enjoying the attempts. While my salsa was simmering, I peeled and juiced about 20 mandarins and made a marinade. I put the juice in a Pyrex cooking dish, added chili powder, jalapeños, and a little sea salt and then added 3 chicken breasts and let it sit for about 3 hours. Later on I grilled the chicken. I tired using lime juice yesterday. I liked the lime juice more, but Rebecca doesn’t care for limes so I wanted to try something new.

I didn’t go job hunting today because it’s Friday. Most restaurants are gearing up for the busy weekend and they won’t remember that you came in, or worse, loose your application. I figure I’ll go at it again Monday.

I didn’t have lunch, but I did drink a cup of black coffee for the first and last time. It tasted like roofing tar. When I was in Costa Rica, I had 3 cups of local, fresh brewed coffee. I am not a coffee drinker and I was telling someone how the coffee was giving me the jitters. I coyly said “I don’t know if this coffee is really strong, or if I’m not used to coffee, but I’ve only had 3 cups and I’m feeling it.” My companion pointed out that I had added 6 packs of sugar to each cup, and that was the reason my hands were shaking and I could feel my heart thumping.

Back when I lived in California, I worked as an EMT. I worked a lot of night shifts so I would occasionally bring a 12 pack of Mountain Dew with me. Midway through one shift, I had slurped down all 12 of the sugar and caffeine packed treats when the paramedic I was working with decided to test my blood sugar. Just to see. My blood sugar was normal to both of our amazement.

Or there is the time I ate nothing but giant pixi stix (flavored sugar) for an entire day. My body has gotten used to being a garbage disposal, and I am paying for it now. As my insides violently struggle to flush out 32 years of awful eating habits, I realize this 30 day whole foods diet is a good idea. I still loathe it, but I know it’s good for me.

After dinner I studied for school and then applied for jobs on the online while Rebecca relaxed after a stressful week at school.

Dec 31st, 2013

I woke up at 9 and against every desire inside of me, I went running. I started out slow as my joints were cracking and aching, but I got through it and went for about a mile.

I got home, made top ramen for breakfast and showered and got ready for work. I was supposed to call at 12 to find out when I started but I called at 11. They told me to call back at noon. By 11:56 I was on the bus headed to work and I called right at noon. They told me to be there at 2. I was there at 1:25 so they started me half hour early.

Around 8 they had me track down a bag that a customer had left on the curb when they got picked up. I rushed it to the airport to deliver it before their plane left. That was the highlight of my day.

3 separate times, while stopped at a red light, the engine died. I wasn’t driving a jalopy, I was driving a 2013 Mercedes van with 2600 miles on it. I played it off like my foot had slipped off the clutch as to not worry the customers. The van is an automatic with no clutch.

As I was driving to the yard, someone lit off a huge firework on the side of the freeway that I could feel in my chest as it exploded. Had I been a less experienced driver I might have crashed. I didn’t pee my pants though, I just happened to have a lot of thigh sweat right at that moment.

I had my last call at 10 and I was off and at the bus stop at 11:30. I was hoping to be off in time to go to Waikiki to watch the fireworks. A few years back, when I was an EMT in Seattle, I picked up a drunk guy just after midnight on new years. He had fallen and vomited all over himself. He drunkenly told me that what you are doing at midnight on New Years is what you’ll be doing all year. I commented that he was going to spend 2006 drunk and stupid. His words kept echoing through my ears as I sat in the bus staring ahead blankly at the stroke of midnight. I rang in the new year bored and angry that I wasn’t at home or doing something more fun.

2013 was a big year for me. I moved to Hawaii, um, I uh…. Well I guess that’s about it. I saw the new Thor movie, that was kinda cool.