07-05-2005, 01:35 AM
Aloha Everyone!
Wow, what a diverse and exciting group of misfits we all are! What better place to be than here!
I am 29 yrs young, grew up in Vermont, spent the first eight years of my life in Detroit where my dad was a cop and my mom a Montessori teacher. My dad was injured in the line of duty, so we moved to Vermont for his recovery. There he built our house single-handedly and worked four jobs to help keep us kids fed. He also instilled in me at this time a healthy work ethic and I begrudingly admit... "a certain amount of character" taught through what i considered at the time an ungodly amount of chores. My childhood in Vermont instilled me with a love of nature and a certain off kilter cant (Kant?) towards life and politics.
In 95' i applied to college at Hilo and a few other schools, though i got a full ride at UH Hilo i decided to go to a more radical school in Sarasota, Florida (New College). There I really learned my way around the world and became much more widely educated. I dropped out twice and spent some time bartending and living in the Carribean. I majored in Marine Bio, with a focus on Aquarium Science. I lived in Tampa for a year working as a waiter, exposing myself to some more of city life and the many underground cultures of that nice city.
After a few years i decided i still wasn't ready for school, (besides i was learning so much more on my own!) and ended up travelling and working in Central America and the Carribean. I did two summers of research assistance in Roatan Honduras and further cemented my love of the ocean. Then I moved back to Florida and worked in a few aquariums for some time. Couldn't pay my rent without a degree so I went back to bartending.
On the drop of a hat one day I moved out to San Diego California. Thought it was a spontaneous romantic thing to do. Damn that Kerouac and his manifest destiny! Blew my wad looking for bartending jobs and after six monthes of mixed luck ended up working with my neighbor as a starting contractor. After five years of that I was pretty good at it.
I met my girlfriend of 4 years in Ensenada, Baja Mexico. We both hated the mentality of image-obsessed, money-crazy, conspicuously consumptive SoCal and started dreaming of somewhere with a real community. We love the environment in Cali and spent a lot of time travelling in Baja and to the many great wilder areas in southern california. After a few bad monthes, i just got really fed up with the grind and decided I would finally try to get out of the vacuum that is San Diego.
I had the chance to remodel some really high end homes in Hollywood so i moved there with the hope of getting enough of an egg together to escape. I bit the bullet and moved to LA. After completing one house I spent two weeks visiting the Hilo/Puna area. I was really taken by the atmosphere. I decided that I would rather take the good and the bad here than allow my soul to continue its slow doward descent in the mediocrity and soul-lessness of SoCal. I travelled all around the windward side of the Island, met some great people and really connected with the back to nature feel of Pahoa. After a spiritual experience in Waipio Valley and some not so profound, but enjoyable days at Kehena, i decided that I wanted to try it here. i spent a few nights sleeping in the woods, and hiked out to the lava a few times just to check with Pele that she would allow me to come. I survived, and felt even more convinced that this was to be my place. I guess that Pele left the door open for me.
I applied to UH Hilo, just to make sure i could get in, and started planning. A few monthes and many gory details later I arrived. I am worktrading with a nice family who own the Beach Dog internet cafe in Hilo and hope to remodel their home and turn my now humble living space (backoffice/garage) into a rental.
I have been working as a remodeller with a really neat Hawaiian locally for about three weeks now. Eventually, i would like to specialize in renovating delapidated Hawaiian-owned properties into rentals. I plan on working hard doing more profitable work for a few monthes first to rebuild my bank account. After that that I hope to apply for some grant money to subsidize the hawaiian remodels. Maybe do some long-term repayment/pro bono work, get local organizations and gov't money to pay for materials and permits. Maybe even work on offsetting the inflationary costs people like you and I are inflicting on the locals, by providing some sort of affordable housing.
Interstingly enough the one new construction job i plan on helping with will be for PSLamont, Pam here on PunaWeb. I also went and checked out some work for OceanDreamer50, Frank B..
SO, I'VE MET THEM BOTH, LIKE THEM BOTH AND CAN ASSURE EVERYONE THAT THEY ARE BOTH GOOD PEOPLE WORKING ON THEIR OWN NOT SO DIFFERENT AND EQUALLY ENVIABLE DREAMS!
BTW Frank doesn't have two heads, and Pam doesn't walk around telling people how great she is. They're both actully rather humble.
My girlfriend will be moving out here in two weeks and moving into the experiment that I am now inhabiting. She is an experienced Nanny/Au Pair and will be looking for work. She is creative and adorable. She'll probably go native about 13 seconds after her plane touches down. Anyone with some good work oppourtunities please contact me. She loves nature, kids, outdoor activities, gardening... her name is Abby.
She'll undoubtably read this post and groan at what a character i am.
So that's me.
I brew my own beer, love to cook, ride a motorcycle, read too much, and look forward to all of us working together in a respectfull way with the local population to help this community stay as wonderfull as it is and maybe even improve on some of its weaknesses.
Mahalo,
Hazen Komraus
Edited by - hazen on 08/11/2006 11:50:36
Wow, what a diverse and exciting group of misfits we all are! What better place to be than here!
I am 29 yrs young, grew up in Vermont, spent the first eight years of my life in Detroit where my dad was a cop and my mom a Montessori teacher. My dad was injured in the line of duty, so we moved to Vermont for his recovery. There he built our house single-handedly and worked four jobs to help keep us kids fed. He also instilled in me at this time a healthy work ethic and I begrudingly admit... "a certain amount of character" taught through what i considered at the time an ungodly amount of chores. My childhood in Vermont instilled me with a love of nature and a certain off kilter cant (Kant?) towards life and politics.
In 95' i applied to college at Hilo and a few other schools, though i got a full ride at UH Hilo i decided to go to a more radical school in Sarasota, Florida (New College). There I really learned my way around the world and became much more widely educated. I dropped out twice and spent some time bartending and living in the Carribean. I majored in Marine Bio, with a focus on Aquarium Science. I lived in Tampa for a year working as a waiter, exposing myself to some more of city life and the many underground cultures of that nice city.
After a few years i decided i still wasn't ready for school, (besides i was learning so much more on my own!) and ended up travelling and working in Central America and the Carribean. I did two summers of research assistance in Roatan Honduras and further cemented my love of the ocean. Then I moved back to Florida and worked in a few aquariums for some time. Couldn't pay my rent without a degree so I went back to bartending.
On the drop of a hat one day I moved out to San Diego California. Thought it was a spontaneous romantic thing to do. Damn that Kerouac and his manifest destiny! Blew my wad looking for bartending jobs and after six monthes of mixed luck ended up working with my neighbor as a starting contractor. After five years of that I was pretty good at it.
I met my girlfriend of 4 years in Ensenada, Baja Mexico. We both hated the mentality of image-obsessed, money-crazy, conspicuously consumptive SoCal and started dreaming of somewhere with a real community. We love the environment in Cali and spent a lot of time travelling in Baja and to the many great wilder areas in southern california. After a few bad monthes, i just got really fed up with the grind and decided I would finally try to get out of the vacuum that is San Diego.
I had the chance to remodel some really high end homes in Hollywood so i moved there with the hope of getting enough of an egg together to escape. I bit the bullet and moved to LA. After completing one house I spent two weeks visiting the Hilo/Puna area. I was really taken by the atmosphere. I decided that I would rather take the good and the bad here than allow my soul to continue its slow doward descent in the mediocrity and soul-lessness of SoCal. I travelled all around the windward side of the Island, met some great people and really connected with the back to nature feel of Pahoa. After a spiritual experience in Waipio Valley and some not so profound, but enjoyable days at Kehena, i decided that I wanted to try it here. i spent a few nights sleeping in the woods, and hiked out to the lava a few times just to check with Pele that she would allow me to come. I survived, and felt even more convinced that this was to be my place. I guess that Pele left the door open for me.
I applied to UH Hilo, just to make sure i could get in, and started planning. A few monthes and many gory details later I arrived. I am worktrading with a nice family who own the Beach Dog internet cafe in Hilo and hope to remodel their home and turn my now humble living space (backoffice/garage) into a rental.
I have been working as a remodeller with a really neat Hawaiian locally for about three weeks now. Eventually, i would like to specialize in renovating delapidated Hawaiian-owned properties into rentals. I plan on working hard doing more profitable work for a few monthes first to rebuild my bank account. After that that I hope to apply for some grant money to subsidize the hawaiian remodels. Maybe do some long-term repayment/pro bono work, get local organizations and gov't money to pay for materials and permits. Maybe even work on offsetting the inflationary costs people like you and I are inflicting on the locals, by providing some sort of affordable housing.
Interstingly enough the one new construction job i plan on helping with will be for PSLamont, Pam here on PunaWeb. I also went and checked out some work for OceanDreamer50, Frank B..
SO, I'VE MET THEM BOTH, LIKE THEM BOTH AND CAN ASSURE EVERYONE THAT THEY ARE BOTH GOOD PEOPLE WORKING ON THEIR OWN NOT SO DIFFERENT AND EQUALLY ENVIABLE DREAMS!
BTW Frank doesn't have two heads, and Pam doesn't walk around telling people how great she is. They're both actully rather humble.
My girlfriend will be moving out here in two weeks and moving into the experiment that I am now inhabiting. She is an experienced Nanny/Au Pair and will be looking for work. She is creative and adorable. She'll probably go native about 13 seconds after her plane touches down. Anyone with some good work oppourtunities please contact me. She loves nature, kids, outdoor activities, gardening... her name is Abby.
She'll undoubtably read this post and groan at what a character i am.
So that's me.
I brew my own beer, love to cook, ride a motorcycle, read too much, and look forward to all of us working together in a respectfull way with the local population to help this community stay as wonderfull as it is and maybe even improve on some of its weaknesses.
Mahalo,
Hazen Komraus
Edited by - hazen on 08/11/2006 11:50:36