T Minus 54: Survival

I feel like I barely survived today. Exhausted. Absolutely spent. Today went about the same as every other day so I blame the emergency dosing of allergy meds I crawled out of bed for some time in the middle of the night. It seems the dusting that I did at the Ka'anapali location yesterday affected me more than I realized, or else there was a big release of pollen during the night. I felt like clawing my eyes out and cutting off my nose!

Another beautiful day of clear skies
over Whalers Village at Ka'anapali

Allergy meds that make me drowsy and the fact that I woke up to an alarm clock - I hate alarm clocks - get the blame for me being so tired all day.

I threw on some clothes, unlocked the Pink Cruiser, and pedaled my way down Front St to the Banyan Tree Park. Any time I work at the Lahaina gallery, I prefer the bike as my mode of transportation. I found a different spot to lock her up today, which proved far easier to get the U-lock into position than the spot I used the other day.

I arrived in town early enough to be able to grab an iced coffee from Bad Ass. I may be finished with hot drinks for a while. Tea, like I was drinking every morning, sounds unappealing for some reason. I know I'll likely come back around to my tea habit but, for now anyway, cool and refreshing will be the way to go! Bad Ass makes an awesome iced coffee. I'd prefer to make my own - cheaper - but the majority of my life sits stacked in boxes in a 10x10 storage unit over 2,000 miles away. Maybe I can find a super cheapo coffee maker...

Today, I worked with Sandra. Retired, silver-grey hair with a neon pink stripe dyed on one side, and matching neon pink rimmed glasses - me in 20 years! Business seemed slow, relatively speaking. Slow for Lahaina, the same amount of business could be considered a gold rush day at the Ka'anapali location. I sometimes wonder how the Ka'anapali location makes sense to keep open but I'm sure the owner knows what she is doing.

The day moved along great until lunch. Out of hot pockets, I needed to find another option. I opted for BK where I picked up a new item off the menu - buffalo chicken strips. They weren't bad, considering they were fast food. I almost decided not to eat at all after what happened while I was waiting for my food to come up.

I decided to use the restroom. BK offers only a small, single stall, unisex option at the Lahaina location. The door stood ajar, and thus unlocked, as I approached. I pushed open the door to find some guy sitting on the toilet taking care of business. WTF, over?!? Who the hell uses a public bathroom without at least shutting the door, let alone leaving it unlocked? Like I needed that image burned into my retinas right before eating lunch. What did I do to deserve that?

My Rastafarian harp playing friend

I spent the rest of my day trying to scrub that image from my memory. After work, I decided to walk through Banyan Tree Park and take a few pictures. I came across the harp playing Rastafarian I first encountered at a Second Friday event. That night, I failed to get a decent shot of him due to the low light conditions. Tonight, though, I had enough light to get a decent, although grainy, shot of him. After getting a few shots, I made my way to the Pink Cruiser for the ride home.

As soon as I started pedaling, I wished I had taken a Meloxicam before work. These 9-hour shifts on my feet kill my knees. Riding proved strenuous, and I considered hopping off to walk the bike home, but I pushed on and made it back to the apartment complex. Earlier in the day, I planned out a trip to Foodland on my way home from work. That plan fell apart as a I struggled to make it home.

The wonderful aromas wafting over from the BBQ area at the condo made me remember why I had wanted to go to Foodland. I knew there wasn't much waiting for me upstairs. I stared at the kabobs arranged on the grill as I walked past where my neighbor was cooking. They smelled awesome.

The Banyan Tree in Lahaina

After dragging my tired legs upstairs, I settled for Ramen tossed with some frozen broccoli and tuna. I remembered some left over edamame from my lunch yesterday so I ate those while the noodles cooked. Not a bad dinner, all things considered.

Tomorrow, I hope to go check out a mall in Kahului. As The Hubby says whenever I mention going to Kahului, I'll be going to the "Big City" tomorrow! Or maybe Wednesday. Arriving home this evening, I found a note on the door that said the property owners were having the bug guy spray on Tuesday. I've seen no bugs other than hundreds of teeny tiny little ants but I hope the bug guy makes them go away. They've been creeping me out! I even bought poison of my own to try and get rid of them. They ignore the poison. Anyway, if the bug guy comes early enough that I can make a bus trip across the island, I go tomorrow. Otherwise, I go Wednesday.

In the meantime, I hope to recover from my day of survival while watching a few episodes of The Riches. I finished up Weeds so now I'm trying to find another show to get involved in.

Aloha!