Foot meat, the Strug and Death's Hills

It's been too long since I updated, especially since I'm back in Hawaii now!! First, here's a little recap just before I left:



This is the world's sweetest kitty, Calli. She's giving her daddy lots of loves. I wish I could've told her that I was leaving! She's probably taking it so hard, poor cat!




I showed Jaden my new iPod Nano. I told him it has photo capabilities but it really just does video. I was hoping he'd hold the pose a little longer. Oh well, maybe someone here in Hawaii will fall for it!




Angel's kids had so much fun on the moving sidewalk at the airport! I'm so glad I was able to see you guys before I left, it was good to see the cute little guys running around. It's a comfort to know that even if I'm 10,000 miles away, I'm still so close to my family





Now--onto the current stuff.

I live off campus, about 2.5 miles. I've been wanting to find a moped or a bike, anything to get around, because at $2.50 a ride, the bus was getting too pricey too fast. I experimented around a bit. I decided one day to see if I could just trudge the long trek to school if I got up early enough. So at about 6:30 the next day, I donned my chacos and walked through the muggy Hawaii marshes. This is what happened to my feet:






Ultimately I decided that if I didn't want to be walking on meat stumps for the rest of the semester, I'd do well for myself to buy a bike or something. So I found my way to Craigslist, and the outrageous demands for prices of mopeds. $800 for a used moped when a brand new one costs $850. I didn't want to spend that much though, so I kept looking. Occasionally the diamond-in-the-rough $500 bike came along, and I'd e-mail, text, call and wait only to have them either A) not respond or B) inform me they've already sold it.

Luckily, my landlady's husband is a super sweet guy and always wants to be helpful. Too helpful. To the point that it makes you cringe at his idea of what's good. Rather than let you take something which is less than perfect, he'll willingly send back a fantastic specimen because of minor flaws that aren't even a problem. Twice this happened--he calls me and says in his broken Tongan-English "Bruddah, I find great moped, get youself home it real cheap, $400 2008 Yamaha!". So I hurry home and then he says "It no good. The reverse light broken." Seriously? I don't care if it's broken! I just want something to get around on! Then he'd always inform me of these phantom mopeds he found, claiming there was a great deal, '09 mopeds for $500 in Honolulu, free delivery. Yet each time he found one of these amazing bargains, he somehow managed to neglect taking down ANY information. No link to the ad, no phone number of the buyer, no e-mail, not even a title of the ad.

If I was going to get one, it was up to me.

I kept looking, feigning interest in Tali's offers, because I honestly didn't expect them to come through, I knew that if we checked it out, he'd find some nitpicky problem with it and refuse to let me buy it. He had actually talked two other people out of buying quality machines. He has this weird obsession with the year the model was made too...first question he'd always ask when I told him I found one is "what year?". Don't care, brother Finau. If it runs, I want it. Maybe this is terrible and stereotypical of me to say, but I didn't imagine someone from Tonga would be so particular about his moped.

Regardless, I found this guy with a Razz in Honolulu for $520. I haggled with him, then today I took a dive. I offered $400. He denied. BUT--wonder of wonders, I check Craigslist one last time, find a great reliable moped of the same kind for $425. I throw $400 in my pocket and take off with sister Finau to Sunset Beach to meet the guy. When I saw it, when I tested it, when I rode it I knew it was a great idea, but I also knew that sister Finau was watching me like a hawk. I drive back into the parking lot of the Chevron and tell the guy I love it. Sister Finau's waiting in the suburban with her window rolled down.

"Alex, come heah!"

No.

"Yeah, what's up?"
"That moped look no good"

I don't care.

"It rides just fine."
"What year?"

Irrelevant

"'97, but the Yahama Razzes are known for being pretty durable. Guy says he's used it for 5 years and he just put new parts in it."
"How much?"

Time to lie if I don't want hear about it every day for the rest of the semester

"$300. It's great, I think I'll buy it."
"But--"
"Thanks so much for bringing me down here, I'll meet you at the house!"
"That moped--"
"Oh yeah, here's $15 for the gas money, almost forgot. See you at home!"
"I have question--"
"Don't worry, I cleared everything up with him, we're just going to finish out some details, but it seems good and I'm probably gonna get it."

I don't know why she was so bent on me not getting that thing. But I did! Unluckily, on the way home, I got a flat. Luckly, Heavenly Father is a loving Father and He blessed me in several ways this evening. On the way to Kaneohe to get the tire changed, a friend of mine from the ward pulled up and rolls down his window, "Your tire's flat,". I explained my situation, and miraculously the moped fit in the back of his rental car. Even more miraculously, he still had his rental car! His motorcycle had just come in the day before and he was supposed to have picked it up at the shop, but he held onto the car one day more than necessary, which was a huge blessing for me.

I got it to the shop, and another big blessing occurred. Because the moped was on its side in the back of the car, it got flooded. Had I taken it anywhere else to get the tire fixed, I probably would've ended up paying and then they'd ignore me. But these two guys who were working on my moped stayed 20 minutes after closing to help me start the thing back up after they saw the engine was flooded--a task I know for a fact I couldn't do on my own.

Finally, it started and I made my way back home. On almost every hill, the life was drained almost completely out of my poor moped, but luckily it stayed alive to get me home. After seeing how many issues that beater had in just one short day, I decided on a name for it.

The Strug.

Short for The Big Struggle. Anyway, it's about time you see this bad boy!!

Only one rear view mirror (with no mirror in it!)
That's the moped equivalent of an eye patch

Tops off at 30mph, now THAT'S class.

It's been a fun week =) i miss you all!! I love you!