Got back from Hawaii to a rainy San Francisco morning before the sun came up. It’s cool how close SFO is to Honolulu, less cool when you have a red eye flight that you thought you might sleep for some of. Blah blah me and my sleep, at least today I have a decent reason for being tired.

The trip went well. Hawaii is lovely and yet lovely in that “I like it here but I don’t pine for it when I am not there” way. I pine for Vermont. I miss the coldness. I miss the darkness at night. I miss the absence of automobiles and the presence of my typewriter and my lumpy pillow and my twigs and soy milk breakfasts. I’ve got less than 24 hours here and then I head to Michigan, talk to some librarians about blogs, and then head back to Boston and eventually home. Once I get there, Ola will be leaving on her Peace Corps adventure (which begins with visting every kid and some family time down in Tennessee) within days and except for a family visit around Turkey Day, I’ll be staying at home and living alone for the first time in over five years. To say I’m excited about this would be an understatement.

But, back to Hawaii. I was lucky to have my colleague and friend Aaron to pal around with, so we actually did things like leave Waikiki, do a little snorkeling, go for walks in search of waffles and cadge wifi from 21 stories up, participating in what my friend Judith calls “laptopping.” Yesterday Dave Brier, the conference organizer, took me for a drive around to the less concrete-jungle parts of the island and I took a few pictures. I think the view out my windshield is pretty great in Vermont most days, but it’s rarely as striking as this.

I get home on Friday. Saturday is the Leonid Meteor shower. While I can’t recall seeing a single star dimmer than Orion’s Belt in Hawaii, I should be able to see the meteors from my backyard, or I might need to go across the street. If you can get outside and out to someplace dark on Saturday night, you should really try to check them out.

jessamyn, abada abada, hawaii

All I have to say is this: today I set foot on my 50th — that is to say LAST — US state when I got off the airplane in Honolulu Hawaii this evening. More from the Hawaii Library Association Conference &c. when I get some sleep. Fifty!

jessamyn, abada abada, hawaii

this is los angeles

I may not have mentioned, Wisconsin was great and I have a few notes about it over at librarian.net. My creeping insomnia is exacerbated by living in a city that is built on cars and air conditioners, but I’ve been having a good time anyhow. It’s hot here. Hot like too-hot-laptop-hot. Hot like the DSL modem is gasping for air. Hot like all the clothes I was wearing when I got here don’t fit back in my bag now that I’m just wearing a skirt, tank top and flip flops. I gave away some books to the library. I gave away some clothes to the thrift store (and to Lauren) and I think I’ll just make it on the plane tomorrow. I bought sunscreen in the 4 oz size and I just hope that I’ll get to LAX early enough to check my bag on my way to Hawaii, otherwise it’s bye bye sunscreen, hello Lobster Girl!

I’ve never really come to LA to visit friends before. I’ve come to visit a friend but not carried a list of numbers around in my pocket in that “if this is Tuesday this must be Michael” way. Lauren, my oldest friend who was in my tiny homeroom with me when we were eleven, has a delightful apartment full of great cats and good smells and tasty food and a peaceful guestroom. We went out and bought RAM and a wireless modem to help her technology attain the high quality of the rest of her accoutrements. Bryan, my old pal from Speakeasy, is settling in here and took one of the best recent pictures of me in existence. (hope you like swearing, there is some in that picture). And then last night I got to see my friend Michael who has also recently moved into a new place in Pasadena. We went to Cliff’s Books and wandered around for hours and I got a few books for my upcoming plane trips.

I also went to what is best described as a “titty bar” called Jumbo’s at the tail end of the MetaFilter meetup when I first arrived. It may surprise some people to know that this is my first foray into the world of pole dancing and two drink minimums, but since LA has the “if you are drinking alcohol, you can’t see naked people” law, it was actually pretty tame. Mostly it was a lot of tall attractive women in scary high heels and legwarmers (yes, legwarmers) wearing two pairs of underwear and then taking off one pair. And then our meetup newbie, code name hightechunderpants, deciding this was the best meetup ever. In short, LA has been what I’ve been expecting it to be, only better.

So Portland was really something. A very nice trip all around. I got to spend time with three friends I don’t see enough of: Lisa Degrace my pal from Hampshire, and Sara and Steve my friends from the library and PacNW world. The conference center was out in Corbett Oregon at a place called Menucha, a Presbyterian retreat center. It was a quickie 24 hour conference at one of those great rustic places with an incredible view, but I was torn because it was also chock full of smartie tech-savvy librarians who were fun to talk to and even more fun to play speed Scrabble with. If I ever consider a career change, I hope there is room for me in the world of academic librarianship. It seems fun there.

Once I got back to Portland I hung out with my friends (and their friends including one of my fave comic artists Sean Bieri), went to the Stumptown Comics Fest, ate Real Mexican Food, got the aforementioned haircut and went to a MetaFilter meetup. There I caught up with my friend and boss Matt Haughey and retreated to his spacious abode in McMinnville where we had Real Thai Food and hung out with his wife Kay and daughter Fiona. Then it was back to the airport and back home. All in all I guess it was five days but a lot of that was in the air.

I got home to a house without an extra roommate (long story which I may share later, suffice to say that it wasn’t working out for anyone) and so I slept in my own quiet house for the first time in six weeks. I like it here, and I have mixed feelings about Ola leaving which she’ll do soon after I get back from my next trip which starts tomorrow. I’m happy she’s going to hang out with her family and then join the Peace Corps, but it’s fun having someone here with a smart mouth and a quirky sense of humor. On the other hand, no more roommates waking up at 5 am will feel good for at least a little while. I now have at least one guestroom, soon to be two, so if you’ve been putting off a visit to the bucolic wonderland that is Vermont (quick before it freezes solid for three months) drop me a note, and come prepared to haul some firewood.

I’ll be gone for two weeks in this latest round of library talks. If you’re in or near The Dells, WI, Los Angeles, Waikiki, San Francisco or Lansing Michigan feel free to drop a note and maybe we can get a beer or coffee. Otherwise, you’ll always know where to find me.

jessamyn, abada abada, portland, travel

My barrette set of the metal detector at the airport and it was the last straw. I walked in to the barber shop in Portland and said “Do you cut women’s hair?” The man there who was finishing his dinner said “No.” I then asked if he knew anyone else who did, I just wanted a few inches off. He said “Eh, sit down….” I spent the next hour talking about Bulgaria and Romania and Ivan’s many grandchildren as he took a few inches off and gave me some short layered something or other that got rave reviews from the lady at the post office. All I know is that it dries quickly. I’d been dithering about getting a new haircut for a month or so and walking into a barber shop and pointing at a picture on the wall seemed easier than trying to pick the exact super-perfect cut and style for me. More about Portland as I catch up on sleep and email. It was a fun trip.

jessamyn, abada abada, haircut, portland

I was going to wait until my phone had arrived to tell this story, but I swear it’s never going to show up so I’ll just tell you this now. I got a phone. And when someone says “got a phone” you know they don’t mean “I had Verizon come to my house and install a new landline” because even here, people are not doing the landline thing. Anyhow, this was sort of a compromise birthday present where I was asked what I wanted by a certain family member (it’s not elegant, but it does work) and this was not exactly what I wanted, but it was something I could use and wouldn’t pay for. At the time I decided to get a phone (prepaid something or other with a lot of minutes, I don’t think it takes pictures) I was unsure whether my Mom was going to be in and out of the hospital for months while I was doing some heavy travelling, so it seemed like a good way to keep in touch. So, I got a phone.

Actually, I ordered a phone. From Amazon, who I normally don’t do business with, except when birthdays and holidays roll around. And I ordered some minutes, which you order separately. They just send you a card with a code that you enter and it gives you the minutes like magic. All the gifts in my future will be secret codes. Well, my order was delayed. Perhaps my phone is popular. So I got the usual email from Amazon telling me my order is delayed because they’ve been able to automate decent service to some degree. Then my order was delayed some more. Amazon, trying to keep me happy said “Hey you know what, we know you must be frustrated because your shiny new product hasn’t arrived at your doorstep.” I wasn’t really. “We’re going to go ahead and split your order so that you don’t have to wait for everything. Isn’t that decent of us?”

And a few days later a box showed up at my house, a phone sized box. Inside it was a card, for one thousand minutes. My phone, if it ever arrives, probably doesn’t work in Vermont anyhow.

tags: phone, jessamyn, abada abada, amazon