Living In Laie...

Richard: So, Donna, do you miss Rome?
Donna: Oh, no. All that traffic and noise and pollution, and rude people.
Richard: Oh, I can see why you moved to New York.
- Caroline In the City (1995)

I live in a place that is constantly under some form of construction by loud apathetic people. Morning, noon and night!

Last December they put up the Christmas tree like usual, but this time it was off to the side instead of the center of the Little Circle. This is because they wanted to start construction on it. It was only a small bit of work on the small circle and a new smaller circle leading into the small circle that leads also into the big circle (I'm confused too). It's still under construction.

Last year every morning about 15 minutes before my alarm was to go off, the dump truck would bang into dumpster loudly and repetitively. And the amazing thing is that I had a different schedule every day of the week, but they still knew when. This year, if and or when I ever have a nap, they mow the lawn about 6 laps each day for the small 3 foot run of grass.

It's odd that for some reason someone on campus finds a need to have some sort of gas powered something running at any given hour.

Another frustration I have with living here is the power supply. It seems that for some reason I can't go for a whole week without the power going out at least once. I have gotten to the point where I can set my clocks in :30 secs flat in the dark and while half asleep. When I went home last year after a semester here, my clocks were still set there!

This morning I woke up to find my computer forcibly shut off and my clocks blinking noon. What woke me up was the wood chipper outside my window. I come to find out that some employees are outside the Hale randomly shutting off different circuits to find out which ones affect which places. Why trust the labels they mad LAST WEEK when they did it for a few days? Did they even realize that people have finals today? I could have had a final at 8am that I could have missed because my alarm didn't go off. I'm sure others did.

I go to the Caf just before they close and see the work they are doing outside my room They have this big diesel truck idling loudly with a wood chipper attached. They are in a cherry picker trimming a palm tree that is only 5 feet tall. They have to duck a bit to keep their heads from being swallowed in the leaves. Rather than just standing on the ground, they stay in the cherry picker just off the ground (it makes them feel big). Also, it makes more noise and uses more gas. When I get back, they (yes, it takes 2 in the picker) are still in there and the diesel truck is still in park, but running in hopes of draining our supply of gasoline.

I swear, if there is any shortage of gas in the islands, 95% of the usage will be traced back to BYU-Hawaii.

You want to know why Hawaii is always 75 degrees, even in the winter? No, it' s not the equator, its the greenhouse effect! This place was once a winter wonderland.

So, I guess my dad was right about shutting the door when the air conditioner was on. We wasted so much energy that we turned Arizona into a sweltering desert...