Part 2: COVID (January 2020- August 2020)

COVID really fucked up a lot of things. I had started working at Whole Foods in the later part of 2019 so when covid popped up in Jan/Feb of 2020, I vividly remember thinking that I was experiencing history as it was happening. Working as an "essential" grocery store employee while the whole world was trying to keep socially distanced was an interesting time. Where Rinko and I got fucked the most was due to the effect that covid had on international travel. I don't exactly remember why Rinko decided to go back to Japan but when she left she didn't come back for 6 months. We didn't know it was going to be 6 months. It was like every month we thought it was just going to be one more month but the flights would just keep extending their limited flight schedules. There were flights from Japan to Hawai'i but none were direct. Only Tokyo to LA and then LA to Hawai'i. Rinko is kind of immunocompromised so I didn't want to risk taking 2 flights and a layover, so we waited until they started the direct flights again. And ya, we didn't know that we wouldn't see each other for 6 months. Up until then, that was the longest that we had been apart. But because it was sudden and unpredictable and we couldn't really do anything about it, it was a little bit easier to deal with. 

You might be wondering, "Umm, are you still doing the original prompt or are you just talking about stuff that happened before?" IT'S ALL RELATED.

One good thing about covid was that Rinko and I got automatic A's from a low level online history class that we were both taking together. With that last A, I was ready to apply for the rad tech program. All I had to do was take this test called the A2 Test. This test was the main thing that decides if you get into the program or not so it was a fucking big deal. I needed to get as close to 100% as I could so I was studying a lot after and before work. I think I planned to take it around the end of June but what I really remember about this time was that I thought that Rinko was going to be back right after I took the test. Remember when I said that we didn't know how long Rinko was going to be gone and that we just kept rebooking flights? This was one of those times where I felt the impact of dealing with school things while being away from Rinko. I don't remember if it was either telling her I got a good grade on the test or if it was actually getting admitted into the program (I even checked my emails but those two things happened very closely to each other) but I remember telling Rinko one of those things and thinking that I would be able to see her the next week and then she told me that her flight got cancelled again. She had known prior but didn't want it to distract me from studying. I think only once or twice before in my life did I ever sink down that quickly. Like I was chained to a gigantic boulder that had just been thrown overboard a cruise ship. I was studying so much and I had wanted to see her so badly. I cried like a baby. 

Rinko would end up coming back to Hawai'i in August. I remember only having one week before I started school so we did a little staycation in Waikiki and tried to act like a normal married couple that hadn't just spent the last 6 months apart. 

We didn't know that we were going to be apart for 6 months. We tried to see each other but people weren't even driving to school or work let alone traveling internationally. It was the first year of covid so we knew there were millions of other people around the world that got fucked too. Our problem seemed minor when put into perspective. But the thing about this time in my life that I feel connects it to my experience in rad tech school was that before I even started the program I had to deal with something sudden and uncomfortable and unfair and sad and lonely and frustrating and all these other negative emotions. I thought that that would be a one time thing. Like, "Okay, Rinko was gone for a long time and there were some hard moments but we got over it." 

Knowing what I know now, I feel like that time before I actually started the program was probably the most obvious foreshadowing that I have ever experienced in my life lol. And I'll explain that in the next post. 

9 Years Later: Still Serious

SO, Rinko has suggested that I start weblogging, aka blogging, again. I thought would be a not so bad idea so here I am. I also just got a new GAMING keyboard with RGB lighting and very clickity-clackity keys so this should be a good test. I think that last time I regularly used a normal style keyboard like this was from our old family PC before going away to college. After that it was mainly laptop keyboards. Just a noticeable thing that I noticed. 

My first writing prompt is about my experience in rad tech school. My experience in rad tech school. My experience in rad tech school. I repeated it because it sounds so light as that phrase but I have attached so much weight to that word "experience" that I can never just talk about it lightly. I feel like it was more than an experience. I'm starting to think like Rinko where she always thinks that the words I'm using seem to limit the ideas that I'm trying to express. I felt like rad tech school was a whole nother life. I don't know I'm basically trying to say that rad tech school felt bigger to me that the word "experience" holds. 

 

Ahh, fuck. I feel like I'm already going too big with my goals of this post. I'm just going off the top of my head too so maybe trying to talk about it in a more confined way will help me to stay on track. I like time so I'll organize it in different phases. 

Moving to Hawai'i, LCC, and Sadie's/Whole Foods (late 2018 - early 2020) 

This was the first part. Moving right after Kevin's wedding, we arrived in Hawai'i in the later part of 2018. The transition was hard to say the least. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be but I feel like anytime I look back on the past, I'm usually more negative so, ya it was still hard. We tried to make the best of it though. The thing that I sometimes forget about our time in LA was that Rinko and I barely saw each other. I had a normal 9-5 weekday schedules and Rinko had a more evening weekends schedule. I can't remember exactly but I don't think we had a full day off together before we moved to Hawai'i. So ya, even though the transitioning aspect was hard, like living in a tiny bedroom with my almost ENTIRE family or trying to find jobs, we got to spend a lot of time together. 

In very Jacob style, I worked as a server at Sadie's. And in very Jacob style, I hated it. I just thought it would be more convenient to stay close to home and school. I don't know why I thought that was a god idea. The money was good enough though and I met some cool people. After I realized that I would have to wait almost one full year before I could apply to the rad tech program at KCC, I quit Sadie's and got a job at Whole Foods in the Speciality Department. This was a cool experience because it got me to like fancy foods like cheese, olives, and craft beers. I would stay working there until I started full time school. 

In terms of my rad tech school experience, each semester I was just taking 2 prerequisite classes at a time but this was the first time in my academic career that I can say that I actually tried as hard as I could to get the best grades possible. Now that I've finished my rad tech school journey, I can honestly say that during this period of taking classes at LCC, I was the best student that I've ever been in my life. I wouldn't say that I take that much pride in that statement because I think anyone can do what I did. It was more so a feeling of like this thought of "Hmm, I always thought that I had this ability to be smart or be a good student but never put any effort into doing it well so I'm glad that I finally tried and showed myself that I could actually do it."

I just looked through my google photos to double check if I missed anything but besides Rinko going to Japan after she dropped the tray full of dishes for the second time, this was one of the longest times that I stayed with Rinko I think. So even though this beginning part of this rad tech school journey was basically the transition, I would describe it as a more simple time where I was a good student and I was with Rinko often which is always a plus.  

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M83, Wait

The last music video of a trilogy by M83.  Watching the previous 2 videos will kind of make this one make more sense but even without it, it's a good one.