There is no microwave in our new kitchen. I recognized this right away when I toured the 2bd/2ba unit at the beginning of the month, but didn’t think much of it. I was awestruck by the view of the water and downtown Honolulu off the huge covered lanai. I signed on the dotted line, got the keys and moved in, me and all of my belongings in 4 suitcases.
It has a narrow galley kitchen with a huge window that looks out at the ocean. There is a stove with decorative tins covering the burners, the oven part underneath which is a great place to hide things that you later want your roommate to “accidentally” bake, a newer fridge, and a toaster oven. No microwave and no dishwasher.
I’m not too broke up about the dishwasher, they make single guys lazy, we use them as storage for clean and dirty dishes. Sometimes both at the same time. Besides, I only use 10 items everyday that require washing, fork, steak knife, spoon, big cereal bowl (doubles as small mixing bowl, plate, small sauce pot for oatmeal, small skillet for omelets, heat temp spatula, protein shaker cup, coffee mug.
If I had a dishwasher, those 10 things would always be dirty, and pretty soon I’d be mixing eggs in a dusty Christmas coffee mug with my fingers, and pouring milk directly into the cereal box. That doesn’t work by the way, the cereal bag always leaks milk, it is much easier to cut the top off a half-gallon of milk and pour in the cereal.
But no Microwave, now this is an issue. Walking into a kitchen with no microwave is like waking up without your left arm. It’s your left arm, the one you use for mindless tasks, it’s the ugly stepchild of your body’s 4 appendages. If we lived in most 3rd world countries your left hand would be relegated to the most demeaning of personal care issues. But you would instantly recognize its worth and value if you didn’t have it. Every task would remind you how cool the left arm really is. Squirting toothpaste, left hand; holding eye open for contact lens, left hand; the WHOLE left side of the keyboard, left hand!
Same with the microwave. True, I don’t NEED it. Somehow people made it thru to the ’70s without microwaves. But not having it interrupted my daily habits, my comfortable daily habits. I have had to change the way I do things because of something that ISN’T in my kitchen.
For example, I used to buy one-minute oatmeal packets, 60 seconds in the microwave and breakfast is served! Now I buy the whole oats, the ones that take 5 minutes on the stove to cook, and another 5 min to clean up the pot. Turns out the raw oats are better for you, no added sugar. Who knew?! Turns out raw oats NEED sugar if you hope to eat more than a spoonful. I promptly solved that problem with a squirt of honey, a handful of raisins, some finely chopped walnuts, and milk. I know, gourmet, right? It’s the chopped walnuts, thought of that myself.
Now normally, not having a microwave would be a problem for about an hour upon moving in to a new apartment. They cost what, $50 for a cheap one, $150 for a nice one? No sweat, just roll down to Costco in the Durango and pick one up. Right, the Durango, yeah, left that in Bellingham, WA with the parents. The absence of my truck here in Hawaii has forced another series of habit changes in my life.
Turns out, my truck was a giant man purse. I had everything in my truck. iPod dock on the dash, 3 car chargers for 3 cell phones, 2 of which were broken, A change of dress clothes and dress shoes, a backup gym bag with extra gym cloths and shoes incase I forgot my main gym bag, a small duffel sized first aid and trauma kit, all types of tools, never used, but there just in case, and a LARGE cooler loaded with water, sport drinks, protein bars and shakes JUST IN CASE I ever got trapped in a blizzard for several days… in Washington…
Come to think of it, a lot of the contents of my truck were classified “just in case”.
Now, I ride a moped. There is a compartment under the handlebars big enough for my cell phone, and storage under the seat big enough for my helmet and lock. Everything else goes in my backpack. When I first got it, I thought mine was special because it had a little hook under the handlebars for hanging a bag of groceries between your legs. Fortunately I observed that all mopeds have that hook, before I started bragging.
I named it “Hardly”. I really want a Harley, but for now all I can afford is a moped, and since it is HARDLY a HARLEY… I named it, ah, nevermind, you get it. After naming it I realized Hardly is a girl, she is temperamental, hard to get started, but once you learn what buttons to push in what order, and how to give her just enough gas, she starts right up and is an easy ride.
Hardly gets north of 50 MPG. Buying gas at $3.40 a gallon isn’t so bad when you are only buying one gallon. But Hardly has her drawbacks. She can take me to Costco or Wal-mart to get the Microwave, but there is no way we are getting home with that big box swinging between my legs from the little hook.
So for now, my life here in Hawaii consists of an air mattress for a bed, luggage for tables, an $8 plastic lawn chair for my “home office” out on my Lanai, max of 2 bags of groceries per trip, only packing what I absolutely need in my backpack when I head out on Hardly, putting sunscreen on everyday, and taking 10 minutes to cook my oatmeal every morning on the stove.
And I am grateful there is no microwave. I came to Hawaii to get out of my self imposed ruts, to shake up my life, to follow an adventure or create one along the way. No Microwave, no Plasma HDTV, no Durango, no closet full of clothes I never wore, no extras, just the basics.
Yep, just me out on an adventure, breaking free of the old habits that used to chain me down, free of all the “stuff” that used to be so important to me, just me with just the bare necessities in life…
…and my two laptop computers… and my 19″ LCD docked to both machines… and my iPod with 3 different sets of headphones and two different sets of speakers… and both my cell phones… and three pairs of running shoes… and 6 of the same Nike Drifit shirt in 6 different colors… and a duffle of supplements and vitamins… and 5 different kinds of chap stick…
Andrew Gustafson, New Moped, 50ccs of raw horsepower.. all 2 horses…
Mopeds get stolen here in Hawaii, make sure to always chain yours up to… ah… something…
Time for the weekly fill up! This tank holds a whopping .99 gallons. I’ve tried to get a gallon in, ended up with gas on my slipper.
$3.41 a gallon is completely reasonable… when you only buy a gallon a week!
Here’s what I need to get for my moped, a surf board rack!
