VexVox

Before I went on vacation, I received a letter from my apartment office informing me of how much my rent would be raised when I renewed my lease. The damage? $72. Of course, my rent hasn't been raised in two years, which was nice. At the same time, the increase was something of a sticker shock.

My first reaction was to jump onto Craigslist and find new digs. I was brought back down to earth when I discovered my rent raise was actually reasonable.

Well, if I'm going to be paying more, why not go for broke? And that's exactly what I'm going to be for the next 12 months.

I went to the leasing office today to see how much it would cost to move into a larger one-bedroom apartment. The two which would be available when my lease expires easily broke the $700 threshold. Then the leasing manager looked up two-bedroom apartments. She found one going for less than $700. In essence, my rent raise would be $93. But I would increase my square footage by 273 feet.

So yes, I'm going to be broke, but now I'm going to have an entire room dedicated to my studio. For the next 12 months, I won't have to play spatial relations games just to squeeze one more piece of furniture (or equipment) into my 10×10 bedroom.

Of course, that means I have to pack. The weather is now getting hotter, and I am moving. Somethings are timed quite nicely. Other things are not.

What I've liked about the trip this past week:

• Eating local food
• Buying Japanese CDs
• Seeing cute local haole boys
• Spending time with Ryan and Jen
• Scattered showers, to a point
• Maui
• Wireless Internet access at home
• Birthday money from relatives

What I've disliked about the trip this past week:

• No circulation through my parents' house. Trade winds do not make their way through the house, making it hotter than it should be.
• The rock-hard bed my mom considers soft.
• Roosters crowing at four in the goddamn morning.
• The layer of gunk and sweat accumulated over the course of an entire day.
• Scattered shows, in excess
• Charged wireless network access at airports
• Heavy bags

Well, I went done gone did it. I drove up Haleakala Crater by my little lonesome.

I arrived in Maui at 3:30 p.m., got my rental car and checked into the hotel by 4 p.m. I considered going tomorrow, using the rest of the day to unwind, but since I was staying only overnight, I had a pretty narrow window to get to the crater and back before check out. The main reason for the trip was to see Haleakala anyway, so what was the point in delaying?

I reread my guide book, oriented myself with the maps, grabbed my digital camera and CDs and headed out. Because it was my first time on Maui, I missed a turn on the way over and on the way back. For the most part, getting there wasn't difficult. It helped to follow the signs.

My mom was all freaking out because I wanted to drive up the crater. She had gone with my dad a number of years before, and she was intimidated by the roads. As it turned out, it wasn't much different than driving along Makapu`u point, or the east side of Moloka`i. As the elevation got higher and higher, I was humbled by the winding curves of the road. One misstep, and it was a long, long fall.

I was warned about the cattle, and I saw them. They stayed out of the road on the way up.

My rental car has a thermometer indicating the temperature outside. I saw it drop from 74 to 63 to 54. At one of the lookout points, I got out to take some pictures and decided to take out the green jacket I had packed. The guidebook had also warned about the cold, and the temperature was appropriate for the green jacket. I was so glad I brought it with me.

Reading about what to expect doesn't really prepare for when you encounter it. I drove through clouds. THROUGH clouds. I felt the sun get more intense the higher I got. It got colder and colder. And yes, the thin air can make it hard to breathe.

After two hours of winding, winding road, I reached the summit. There are pictures. I'll let them describe.

As instructed, I drove down the crater with the lowest gear on the car. It really did make the trip down safer.

The sun had set as I made my way back down, so it was dark. Of course, that means the cattle which had stayed out of the way on the trip up would become a nuisance on the way down. One cow wandered into the middle of the road, and I didn't see her until I had made a hairpin curve. I stopped in time, and the cow just stared at me blankly. Nobody was behind me, thank diety, and no one was oncoming. So I drover around the heiffer, grateful I didn't have to involve my insurance in a bovine accident.

I didn't switch to second gear till I reached Kula, and I didn't switch to regular gear till I was at the junction between Highway 377 and Highway 37.

From there it was a straight shot to the hotel. And dinner. (Mall food court. It was late, and I was hungry.)

Even with my own laptop and wireless Internet access at the house, I'm still hesitant to post updates. I guess I'm now too accustomed to having privacy when I write these entries. Come to think of it, I don't really update from work much either.

So I'm here at the Honolulu International Airport Interisland terminal, waiting for my flight to Maui to board in an hour. I don't have much of a plan for Maui. I'm going to see Haleakala. I'll probably see Lahaina. I think maybe even a drive around the island is order. I don't have enough time for the Hana Highway. But I'm leaving this trip incredibly wide open.

What have I done so far since arriving in Honolulu?

Well, I shopped for Japanese CDs on Wednesday morning. I bought new shoes from the Navy Exchange (discounted, no tax.)

On Thursday,I bought some very expensive coffee for Double-A from a shop all the way in Haleiwa. I had some really good Thai food, and I found out my teeth are in really bad shape.

This morning, I bought some more CDs — two Super Junky Monkey titles! — failed to find a gay travel guide at Barnes & Noble, showed up way too early for Nippon Video to open and got some malasadas.

Now I'm heading to Maui to a hotel with no wireless Internet connection. Man, am I cheap.

I think I'll pass the time with some UNO now.

I hated just about every moment of my flight from Austin to Honolulu. It wasn't just the flights themselves but the time in between, waiting at gates and rushing to gates.

The first incident …

At the security checkpoint, I was trying to get my bins of stuff in order, but this bitch behind me kept shoving the bins forward, making me lose my place. She did this three times, and when I finally reached the conveyor belt, I shoved all the bins back toward the line and got my things in order before putting them in the scanner. I turned back to the cunt, who looked up when she noticed I was looking at her. She had an "oops" smile on her face, which promptly melted when she saw the undisguised scowl on mine. I think I may have uttered, "God fucking damn it!" when I shoved the bins back. Oh, I so wanted to fucking kick her ass. As we both left the security checkpoint with our items, I murmured audible enough that I hoped she could hear, "Fucking bitch."

The second incident …

The weather reports all day warned of thunderstorms in the evening. In Austin, conditions had not really worsened but they weren't ideal either. Flights had been already diverted from Dallas, and other flights to Dallas were delayed. A few minutes before my flight to Los Angeles was scheduled to board, an announcement was made over the PA declaring all flights to Dallas canceled due to tornado activity in the area. That led to a mad scramble to reassign gates. My 6:30 p.m. flight was pushed back to 7 p.m., and we didn't actually take off till 7:15 p.m. After we were airborne, the captain introduced himself and said we would land in LA at 8:30 p.m. What? My flight to Honolulu was supposed to leave at 8:25 p.m. Fuck me. I was going to miss my connecting flight. I could only hope the flight would be delayed.

The third incident …

We landed in LA as scheduled, and when I left the gate, I went to the monitors with the departure times. My flight was pushed back to 8:40. It was 8:39 by the time I managed to get off the plane. The gate was visible from where I was, so I walked quickly. Then I heard the final boarding call for my flight, and I ran. By the time I reached my seat, I was parched. I hate having to run between gates.

The fourth incident …

I didn't really need to worry about missing my flight, as it turned out. We were delayed by a full hour as passengers from other connecting flights were also delayed. It was 9:25 by the time we left the gate. A Filipino guy was seated next to me, and the motherfucker could not keep the fuck still. He kept hogging the armrest, getting into my personal space and fidgeted all five fucking hours of the flight. I wanted to turn to him and say, "Asshole, take a fucking Dramamine!" I had already intimated one person that day, and I'm pretty sure this guy's English wouldn't have been good enough to understand what I was saying. Buying a laptop and burning some DVDs of Battlestar Galacatica Season 3 was the only thing that kept me insane.

So that was my flight from Austin to Honolulu. I don't understand people who say they love to travel.

Things I keep forgetting whenever I come home for a visit:

• The neighborhood is full of roosters. And yes, they start crowing at 4 a.m.
• Central air conditioning is optional around these parts.
• Although not as bad as in Texas during July and August, cars can get hot very fast when parked out in the sun.
• The speed limit on the freeways is 55. That means I can't go 70 or 75 as I'm accustomed.

I would like to write about my hell-ish flight, but I don't have the energy to call that much anger.

It's not so much that I've been busy so much as my attention hasn't been focused on blogging. It's not as if proper time management couldn't have helped me post now and then while getting things done. But who ever practices effective time management? Perhaps a lot of people, one of whom does not include me.

So where I at?

• I got into a car accident. No, don't panic. It's just a paint scratch, but even a tiny little brush is enough to be "involved in the accident". I was waiting at an intersection for the light to turn green. A driver was turning left to my side of the intersection when the other driver came barreling down the road and plowed right into car turning left. The force of the impact was hard enough to force both cars to head in my direction. I watched it unfold and, as they say in TV and film, was powerless to stop it. Oncoming train, that kind of analogy. I could only mutter, "Oh God, not again." I came out of it all right, but I was still kind of shell-shocked while we all waited for the police to arrive.
• I fucking hate UPS. I called UPS on Thursday to ask whether a package headed my way could be held at the main office instead of put on a truck. The package arrives on the day I'm supposed to leave for my trip. UPS usually delivers stuff around 2 p.m., and my flight is around 6 p.m. I would have to leave my apartment sometime around 4 p.m. It's a close call. And it's a package I want to bring with me on the plane. UPS tells me I can't do anything on my end — I would need to call the vendor to request what I want. Oh, fuck. I can already see how it's going to end. I thought I could give it a shot, and I called Bed, Bath and Beyond, who sent me the package in question. I explained my situation, and the incredibly friendly customer service woman did her best to accommodate me. The result: the package was reschedule for delivery after I return from my trip. God fucking damn it! All I wanted was for UPS to not put the damn package on a truck. But could they do that? No. As helpful as the Bed, Bath and Beyond customer service clerk was, I had a feeling something would lost in translation with my request, and a package intended to go with me to Honolulu is instead not even reaching Austin till after I get back. Fuck you, United Parcel Service!
• Seeing how disastrous that encounter went, I decided not to tempt fate with other packages arriving on the same day. To all the businesses out there using UPS for your shipping: Please, please switch to another provider. I don't get the same crap from FedEx, and some packages sent through DHL arrived without incident. Hell, I get better service from the United States Post Office, and those guys deliver on Saturday.
• Those other packages heading to me? They're various orders from Mixonic. I mentioned elsewhere that I've been experimenting with designing cover art and ordering short-run printed CDs. In fact, I was burning a bunch of enigmatics CDs while I was writing this post. That's why I haven't really updated. I've been immersed in QuarkXpress, Photoshop and Illustrator for the past two weeks. Huh. I wonder if I should go all old-school and try to start up a zine again.
• I'm heading home to Honolulu in three days. I probably should start packing now.

• Burn copies of enigmatics with blanks printed by Mixonic
• Author and burn Battlestar Galactica and Friday Night Lights DVDs from TiVo files
• Get as much of my synthesis final project done (although I can continue to work on it with the laptop)
• Figure out what to do on Maui
• If the other blanks from Mixonic arrive as expected, burn new Eponymous 4 masters.
• Hope my mom's Bed, Bath & Beyond order gets here before I leave. Don't get me started on UPS
• If the last Mixonic order is expected to arrive when I'm gone, reroute the shipment to Honolulu. Evidently impossible
• Get travelers checks

Don't forget to pack:

• Electric razor
• Headphones for audio interface (to work on the laptop)
• Digital camera, battery pack and USB cable
• Cellphone recharger
• RCA phono cord, just in case I can plug the audio interface into a stereo system

I blew $584 in the past three days. It's the cascading spending that accompanies the acquisition of a new laptop.

The first $216 was spent on a USB audio/MIDI interface. The whole point of getting the laptop was to make the home studio more portable. One of things I want to do when I visit home in April is to show how all that stuff has moved to the computer, and the sound card chip on the laptop motherboard isn't sufficient for the applications I run. So I bought an M-Audio Fast Track Pro. A weird driver installation had me thinking I bought a dud, but once I got the driver installed properly, my recording applications ran as smoothly as on my desktop.

The next $238 was spent on a license for Sibelius. At first I thought I could wait because notating all the songs I've done so far is low on the list of priorities. But a new license for Sibelius costs at least $500. I could have gone for a competitive cross upgrade, but I would have to send my Finale installation discs to Sibelius as proof of ownership. As much as I despise Finale, I'm not comfortable with giving up something I own, and who knows if I'd need to fire up Finale for something or other? It's a powerful piece of software, despite the interface's best efforts to spread its hate and lies. I also don't know how much longer I'm going to be riding the academic discount gravy train … I want to take a break from continuing education for a bit. So I went to the online shop from where I bought Sony Soundforge and QuarkXpress (which I haven't even installed yet) and placed an order.

The last $130 was spent on a wireless access point and a wireless card for my desktop. My laptop came with a wireless card, and having to be tethered to a cable for Internet access seemed counterintuitive to the convenience of a laptop. That's a purchase that could have waited as well, but I'm on a spree. Also, I'm sick to death of tripping on the cable that runs from my bedroom to the dining area, where the cable modem router is located. I'm not sure how I went under the assumption I had to get a service upgrade to become wireless, but after actually, you know, doing research, I discovered going wireless meant a relatively mild investment in some hardware. Screw you, Time Warner — I'm not paying a rental fee for equipment I can get at Fry's. So I finally joined the 21st Century and became wireless.

My tax return and my company bonus is pretty much shot now. I paid the first two transactions off immediately. I think I can wait on the last till the savings account recovers some of what it's lost in the past few days.

Huh. My mind just went to a really dark place. Now that I've blown all this cash, I bet my car will need something fixed soon.

I wanted to get some cash from the bank machine before this final night of SXSW music. (Technically, it's not, but I'm not going to any of the Sunday shows.) Imagine my surprise when I discovered I was overdrawn by $900!

I called the 1-800 number on the back of my card to figure out the errant transaction, but I had an idea of what it was. Sure enough, a withdrawal of $1,726 was taken from my account. That $1,700 should have been drawn from my credit union savings. When I set up an electronic payment from my credit card account, I selected the wrong back from which to draw the funds.

So come Monday morning, I have to scramble to my credit union, withdraw the money in question, then scramble to my bank to deposit it.

I'm so smart.

The good news is my laptop has already been shipped. I should get it next week Tuesday.