Okinawa Hikers & Space A

This is NOT an unusual sight here. As many friends can attest.

This photo was taken on the rocks at Cape Manzamo:



Let's zoom in for the footwear, shall we? (Not that the guy's flip-flops are the best choice, and not that they were in for a day of hiking or anything - but REALLY? THESE!?)I remember seeing many pairs of spiked heels on the Japanese women at Shuri Castle and other attractions here in Okinawa; attractions where a lot of walking, climbing of stairs, and hiking are happening. And comfortable shoes are a must for me on those types of days. Well - whatever. Bless their little vertically-challenged hearts. I guess they want to make their legs look longer.

In other news. I should be gone right now. Yesterday our family of three sat at the space A terminal for a while, hoping to hop to Hawaii. I have to admit - the terminal is nice (tvs, a snack bar with good unhealthy foods, a kids' room with cartoons playing...) and the wait wasn't torturous, we met nice people and such.

For those who don't know the space A game - a quick lesson. You get on a list via paperwork from hubby's (or spouse's) command when you want to take a space-available flight somewhere. For example, we want to go to Hawaii. There are categories of priority (a basic list, there are other people in these categories - full list here):
Category 1: emergency leave/medical or active duty on orders
Category 2: active duty or DoDDS teachers on leave flying alone or with family members (in our case, he is coming WITH us so we're all there together and we're higher priority to fly because he's coming along)
Category 3: family members of an active duty member who is deployed, or active duty people going to house hunt, etc.
Category 4: family members flying without active duty member (would be Mia & me if Craig wasn't joining us)
Category 5: retirees & family members

We were in great shape. Another factor is that Craig has to be on leave to get on the list, the longer you're on the list, the higher priority you get (so if we showed up and some other active duty member just got on leave on July 5th - the fact that we've been on leave since the 28th bodes very well for us - we'd go first if there were enough seats).

So - seats are a factor, priority/category, and flights. The reason you go through this little dance and play the waiting game and potentially not get on? IT IS FREE. A free flight to Hawaii is totally worth a little dancing.

For all of us it's our first time doing this space A thing. SO...we show up, check in, and they announce there's a big plane leaving soon with 35 available seats. WOO HOO! That's a lot of seats. We were hopeful.

They called up an emergency leave family and a family who was ahead of us via category 2, and then they called us! WOW - amazing. We got boarding passes. We ordered meals. We checked our bags. And we went to the gate. This is awesome! Mia was jumping up and down, and I was right there with her! Then it happened. As they were checking in the family in front of us, we hear, "They're not going to Hawaii anymore." WHAT? In the next few minutes we heard everything from "it's flying to Iwakuni [mainland Japan] and on to Elmendorf, Alaska" to "they just don't feel like going to Hawaii" to "it's landing in Iwakuni as the final destination", but the point was... we got our meal money back and our bags off the plane,and realized we just had the biggest tease of our lives.

I've heard of people getting stuck in places, having a crazy circuitous trip around the world to try to get home, or just not getting to fly out at all - but HAVING BOARDING PASSES IN HAND, BAGS ON PLANE AND THEN - POOF - NADA!? That was a first. We went back to the terminal and another flight was called with very few seats and that category two family in front of us got to go. That was pretty heart-breaking too. Then Mia started to cry when I explained we wouldn't be leaving today. I wanted to cry with her, but I didn't. I just explained we'd try again next time. I sure hope it happens for us because we have a great trip planned. It's going to be really hard not to be disappointed if it doesn't.

But by the evening we were watching So You Think You Can Dance (HOORAY, best show ever!) and enjoying dinner with wonderful friends. As Mia kissed me goodnight she said, "Let's hope we get on the next plane, ok, Mama?" Yes, let's.

Bear With Me - I Must Confess...

What a night. You get to read the story. Because I feel like it will somehow help (yep, selfish).

Last month at the OIWC meeting, the Japanese side board President invited the group to a concert being held in October. A Russian Orchestra. I was intrigued and interested. I really wanted to take Mia and Craig and also thought of my friend Annya since she is Russian, but it ended up that didn't work out (not really part of the story). Point is - YES YES I WANT TO GO! I signed up for 5 tickets. Besides - they were FREE!

Yesterday was the OIWC monthly luncheon, and a woman came and found me with an envelope with my 5 blue tickets. But Annya and her family had hopped a flight to mainland and I needed to give away two tickets. So I called my friend Elizabeth. She and her hubby are kidless, and that way we could all go without needing another ticket. She & her hubby were into it! YAY! Going to a concert, how fun. So this morning I gave her the tickets, and we talked about what to wear and when to be there - it was down in Naha at 7, so we were going to leave early. As it turns out, it was a really windy & rainy night - so it was a good thing we had that plan.

I gave her directions and we said we'd call when we were close. We left our house a little bit before 6. As we were about to get on the expressway, Ebeth called me. "We passed the exit on the expressway and now we're lost." They had a map, I had a map, and we tried to figure out the situation. But she hadn't eaten and was thinking they might need to stop for food. But they didn't want to be late. At about 6:30 we had gotten off the expressway at our exit and were in parking lot traffic. UGH.

So now Ebeth is calling me with her tales of woe about being lost. And just a little side note folks... being lost in Okinawa at night in the rain is horrendous. You don't know what direction you're going, ALL THE SIGNS ARE IN JAPANESE, and the routes aren't marked and you can't really stop and ask for directions. I took pity on her and held my map as Craig sat in the driver's seat - butt aching from sitting in traffic. Mia had a book and a new book light (thanks, Grandma!) so she was set thank goodness, but now it's 6:45 and she's getting antsy (aren't we all).

Finally things were looking up. I could tell from our map & where we were driving that we were close. Ebeth & Dean had finally FOUND 330 and were headed in almost the right direction - they'd passed their destination but they were going to turn around. We were both STILL in awful traffic, I might add. Now Mia's whining, Craig is squirming and saying things like, "This had better be awesome..." and we FINALLY see what we're looking for! The Naha Civic Hall! Like a beacon in the night.

"TURN HERE, Babe! This is IT!" I'm on the phone with Ebeth when we find it and as we can't see where to go to park, I tell her, "I'll call you back - just turn around and make a left on 222!"

Suddenly I realize. It's dark. NOBODY is driving around the hall. There's lots of traffic, but there are no people at all by this thing... what gives? Then Craig asks, "Are you sure it's tonight?" I pull my tickets from my purse.

"Yeah - tonight's the 6th!"

"It's the 7th."

Wow. I've never been quite so sorry that my daughter was in the car. Maybe it was a blessing because I would've woven a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know would still be hanging in space over Lake Michigan. I picked up my cell phone.

"Yeesssssssss?"
"Ebeth. You're gonna hate me."
"Oh no...what?!?!"
"It was last night."
"No! You're lying! No it wasn't!"
Then Dean starts saying, no, screaming exactly what I wanted to say in the background. They have skipped dinner and spent the last hour and a half LOST for heaven's sake!

I felt awful. Still do. I am filling out an I'm Sorry ecard in addition to the mea culpa here in print. I suck. And the worst part is - besides having to drive HOME in that same traffic - that my husband and kid, dressed nicely and dealing with the forever ride for the payoff and I - we didn't get to see the show. And it's not like it's tomorrow- it's over.

So - don't shed a tear. Go ahead and laugh at me. But I am definitely bummed and sorry. And very happy that this is NOT typical of Aviva. Never ever again!

Reminiscing

My 20-year-reunion will be next year. I graduated in June of 1989. That is insane. I look in the mirror and SEE that girl, that 18-year-old wanna-be artist or interior designer girl who sang in a band and was voted "Most Musical" and had signatures in her yearbook that said, "Sign your album for me when you're famous!" Seriously. What a long way I've come.

Instead, my artistic side has taken on something different, 20 years later. Photography. It's actually a quite excellent marriage of my techie skills and my artistic skills due to the fact that the camera and all this web stuff requires (or at least benefits from) some geekdom, which I possess.

Anyway, my upcoming reunion has fostered a frenzy of finding the over 700 people I graduated with. That's a lot of people to locate 20 years later in a world where - well, one could be in Okinawa, Japan instead of East Brunswick, NJ! A friend of mine from high school, Kim, has spearheaded the efforts to find our classmates via Facebook. I wasn't a HUGE fan of Facebook until I started finding people. People I really was missing, people I couldn't find in other ways - and it let me find them, message them, share photos with them and see theirs, and despite the silly features where you "poke" or send "flair", it has been REALLY fun! Word games, messages, photos, videos, and friends helping you find other friends - it's GOOD!

So. I have found and stayed in touch with friends I worked with in Georgetown at Sequoia restaurant. I have found college friends galore and lots of other sorority sisters I hadn't contacted in ages. And now, with my 20-year reunion approaching, I've begun to find the OLD friends. The people who I've known since high school, or junior high, or elementary - or before elementary school. Wow.

Now some of you know, I'm a Jersey Girl (well that's not hard to tell). But I'm a Jersey Girl who grew up in the 80's. The hair... oh the hair. Example? Well, MY photos are in storage (ahem) for 3 years or so ... but that girl, Kim - who's organizing our reunion?
(Sorry, Kim... I had to.) This is representative of the day. Oh my, the hair. The sequins. THE MULLET on that guy... poor guy. The fabulous music, "We've Got Tonight" being our prom song. (UGH. Who picked a 1977 song for our prom theme? I liked my semi formal's song from 7th grade, "Forever Young" by Alphaville much better.)

Well, though my photos of this wonderful time are in storage, my mother has class photos from elementary school. And apparently from BEFORE elementary school:
What's crazy is... I can actually NAME some of those people. (whenever anyone thinks our parents are horrible people for dressing us that way, I remind them that it WAS the 70's, and that my mom would say these were my favorite outfits - and my daughter is JUST as stubborn about her very... um, quirky sense of fashion) I've apparently known those people for - gulp - 32 of my 37 years of existence. And I'm now regularly emailing with them, and marveling at THEIR kids. My own is about to start first grade. Oh yes - be afraid. Be very afraid. It happens in a BLINK, people. And before you know it you're staring at the almost-shorty-year-old in the mirror wondering why you still see the college-bound girl who can't fit through the doorway because of her bangs and Aqua-Net nest on her head. And someone puts a picture of it on the INTERNET because isn't it just so nice that we can all find each other again after all these years?

SO this morning, I'm up extra early because my phone rang at 5am. (you can tell because LOOK at the size of this post! I haven't given the blog this much attention since jet lag) I went on Facebook and got a message from Carey, this sweet guy who lived near me and who had the most lovely eyes and was sweet and I'm sure made some girl very happy. He had checked out the blog here and complimented my photography and saw Mia's photo and said how beautiful she was (I get that a lot - Mia will NEVER know.) - so I responded to him because he said, "What have you been up to all these years?" Since, you know, I haven't seen him since 1989. I figured I'd share the better part of the synopsis, for those who care. If you don't - move along. Nothing to see here.

"Hi, Carey! Whew - wow - 20 years almost. Unreal, isn't it? Your kids are adorable, you should put up some more pictures. Thanks so much for the compliment, I finally got back to something artistic when I moved to Okinawa and had the time.

Let's see - quick recap. Went to University of Maryland and lived in the DC area for 9 years. After school did some web development stuff and waited tables (which proved more lucrative at the time). A few friends from college had moved to San Diego and after visiting them I made the decision to move there after falling in love with the area and realizing there wasn't much in Maryland for me besides my friends. (no boyfriend anyway)

In March of 1998 I moved to San Diego and in June I was in a car accident - broke a vertebrae and had 30 staples in my head (yikes).... but my little Honda Del Sol and a seat belt saved my life. I did some work from home for my friend's web development biz and was in chat rooms to stay in touch with long distance friends (the Internet was pretty new in 98, thanks Al, and I didn't have to pay a phone bill that way). In September of 98 I was in a Grateful Dead chat room (yup, went to 25 shows while in college) and met my husband there. Who'd have thought he was a career Marine!? I had found myself the best one. And he had great taste in music too, essential. My friends certainly couldn't believe it, but once they met him they understood.

We were married in May of 2000, had Mia on 10/4/01 (3 weeks after 9/11), I worked in marketing and web development for a credit union for 7 years, and toward the end of his 3rd Iraq deployment (13 months that last time), we were given orders to Okinawa, Japan! You can imagine we didn't think THAT would happen after he'd been in the USMC for 20 years! As soon as I found out he wouldn't deploy to Iraq from here (deal breaker), I thought it'd be an amazing opportunity.

Life sure has changed. I dive, we snorkel together with Mia, I'm starting a photography business, and we have the opportunity to vacation in Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and so many more places it seems 3 years won't be enough (and 1 is gone already!).

So - I've written a novel now. I think I'll put this in my profile somewhere or something! haha.... Tell me about you? What have the past 20 years brought for you? I am truly going to try to make it home for the reunion, but it's very expensive to fly and I like to save the money for the local trips while we're here in Japan (Cambodia might be a bit more exotic than EB... sue me). Will you go?"

So... that's the big question. The reunion will either be July 4th weekend or Thanksgiving Saturday. Both HORRIBLE times to travel, so no - I probably won't do it. But oh my GOSH I do want to. I wish it weren't so far and so expensive and during holiday time, etc. I will stay in touch with many of these folks and maybe have a reunion of our own one day. 25 years? Anyone?

Thanks for listening today. I missed writing here. Hope you enjoyed my LONG ramblings.