Sunday, December 11, 2005

I woke up today at 4:39 AM—jetlag! Today Chris and Nate and I realized that with tourists and locals running about and the Honolulu Marathon happening today it was unlikely that we could get anywhere easily. The streets and freeways were likely to be clogged with traffic. Since we all had things we needed to work on, we stayed home, which was perfectly fine for me. When I left San Francisco, the daytime high was in the fifties. Here in Honolulu, it's about 80. Sooo nice! Chris has a term paper to write, Nate has an examination to prepare and is helping straggling students finishing final projects, and I have Lodestar works to code. I coded all the bios and started in on coding the fiction. The lodestar writer's works were finished before I left San Francisco. Today I got all the fiction coded except for the harder parts of Philip Huang's Lady. All this took most of the day. At lunch time, Chris and I took a break and he cooked us turkey burgers. We reheated last night's potatoes to go with it. I read more from The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger which Chris and Nate bought me for my birthday. I like the book, which I had started on my flight over. The romance in it isn't sappy (yet?) and the time travel described in it has not yet been introduced to my body of knowledge. Even at page 165, I can tell that I will likely agree with the Chicago Tribune which called it "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time." I haven't told you much yet of Chris and Nate's place. It's high on a hill overlooking Honolulu and perhaps the best things about their place are the view and the relatively low price they're paying for rent. A deck in the back of the house reveals a panoramic view of the landscape. To the south is the inactive volcanic cone called Diamond Head. To the west and southwest are the highrises of Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. The sky is larger than anywhere I've ever lived, and I imagine it's easy for most people to feel jealous of their home. On the deck are dozens of plants which Chris and Nate have collected in their 5 years of living here—ginger, bougainvillea, hibiscus, various herbs, orchids. Some things grow extremely well and others mysteriously die. The possibly-world's-largest screen door opens to the living room—a collection of mostly Asian or Asian-influenced furniture and boldly colored art. Nate has prepared several flower arrangements (anthuriums, birds of paradise) for my arrival. They've given me the spare room which includes a comfortable futon couch, a black and gold halogen lamp, a wicker chest, a paper shredder, a vacuum cleaner, a low filing unit, a bulletin board with dozens of buttons on it such as "Thank you for not picking your nose" and "I saw E.T." and "Bad dog, no biscuit." A television cabinet houses a large Panasonic TV, a TiVo unit, and a videogame unit (Playstation?). The room is given to media: CDs (RuPaul, Supermodel of the Year; Eurythmics Greatest Hits; Queen Greatest Hits I & II), DVDs (The Incredibles, Iron Giant, The Phantom of the Opera, The Birds, Blade Runner), books (Taschen's Tom of Finland The Art of Pleasure, Cosmos by Carl Sagan, Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet, Peter Haining's Doctor Who: A Celebration, Fodor's Australia, Mary K. Greer's Tarot for Yourself), and software from Adobe, Macromedia, Extensis, Bare Bones, Valve, Starwave, Sierra, Interplay, Microsoft, Jasc, Roxio, and more. Other things in the room: pencils of color, the box for a Holga camera, a flower arrangement, Chris and Nate's certificate of commitment from their pre-Gavin-Newson wedding day in 1997, a print of a blue moon and leaveless trees by Tamarack, a closet which I haven't needed to open, a ceiling fan. On one wall hangs a Nancy Pearl librarian action figure, still in the original packaging. I recognize a few things related to me—the Essential House book I gave them as a gift (xmas?), my signature on their commitment ceremony witness document which is framed on the wall, its ink fading. The room is very comfortable to me. Chris and Nate keep the doors and windows unlocked and always open (except for the front door). This is unusual to me, but I recognize it as island living. There's always a breeze blowing through, so the house doesn't get hot like the house I grew up in as a child. Although they've had ant and mouse problems in the past, their home is surprisingly free of pests during my stay. Their neighbor Valerie lent us a beautiful green chenille throw so I could have an extra blanket at night for my feet. The overnight low is 70 degrees, but I still miss the heating pad I have for my feet at home. For dinner, Nate made a perfect pizza crust from scratch and topped it with goat cheese, pan-seared pine nuts, and herbs. We have the pizza with a side salad with tomatoes. I learn today that Nate has never tried heirloom tomatoes before.