Gym Demographics

Demographics at the downtown gym has changed significantly this year. New people are joining daily at an alarming rate. In January, the onslaught of new members were the "New Year's resolution" crowd, that is, people who join the gym and quit in less than two months. However, the influx of new members has continued unabated.

There are a large number of homeless members, of course. Most of the new mainland empire homeless immediately join the gym in town as directed by "somebody" from their place of origin. Few of the homeless engage in workouts. The gym is merely a hygiene station paid for entirely by disability entitlements.

There are a large number of senior citizens amongst the ranks of the membership, mostly Chinese and Korean. They are in varying states of decrepitude and are most likely taking advantage of "free" sponsored memberships paid for by healthcare providers. There are non-strenuous "Silver Sneakers" classes available. Otherwise, the senior citizens wonder around the gym in bewilderment. Very few have any idea about structured workouts.

Most appalling of all are the myriad new members of the "millennials." Nearly all of them are severely overweight or obese. Even the thirty-something through fifty-something groups are in bad physical shape. Needless to say, any kind of rigorous gym workout is not going to help them. They need to invoke a diabetes-type diet in order to lose weight. There is no sense in building muscle under a thick layer of fat.

Hamster Wheel Revisited

Hamster Wheel

The failed "civilization" paradigm. Religious fanaticism. Materialism. Wage slavery. Debt slavery. Drug (prescription and illicit), cheap booze, and nicotine addiction. Stupidity and Ignorance. These are the many forms of the fake hamster wheel for humans (read: chimpo sapiens). Yet, only one hamster wheel is real -- mortality. Unfortunately, the real hamster wheel is ignored through denial as Earnest Becker described in his landmark treatise, "The Denial of Death."

Why else would humans stupidly continue to reproduce in exponential fashion? Like a rabid cancer, the human population is rapidly approaching 8 billion with little regard for the planet's carrying capacity. And, the true horror is that each individual will have to experience death, the extinguishing of an entire lifetime of consciousness. But, death is not the horror. Growing old slowly, growing more decrepit, and knowing that the day of nonexistence grows ever closer ... that's the true horror.

The answer to the previous question is religious fanaticism ... the belief in a fake deity, the god of the yahweh triad (i.e., Judaism, Pauline Christianity, and Islam). That leads to belief in the immortal soul. Never mind that, as science matures, it proves that all deities are fake.

And, science has shown that the solar system and this planet have about 5 billion years left before the sun goes "red star." The entire solar system will be destroyed. Science has also postulated that the expanding universe will eventually meet its demise through heat death. Temperatures will fall way below absolute zero and atoms will cease to function.

Of course, humans will never survive long enough to see the sun go "red star." The propensity for self-destruction is so great that human extinction is likely in less than one hundred years. So, why invent new fake hamster wheels?

Addendum: "Smartphone" addiction is a fake hamster wheel as well.

First Contact

First contact was made with a case worker from the Sand Island homeless shelter. E-mail correspondence continued until a phone conversation was consummated.

The case worker, Gracie, is apparently a new hire. Her predecessor resigned a couple of weeks ago. There is some discrepancy about how the initial submitted application ended up being discarded. Overall, there appears to be confusion and disorganization. Is there only one housing case worker for over 90 residents of the homeless shelter?

A tour of the facility is now a prerequisite before an applicant can be processed for residency. A tentative appointment for the tour has been set for April 6th. A TB test is also required. Unfortunately, no further information has been forthcoming.

A new application must be submitted, but there has been no information forwarded. Request for waiting list queue time has also been unanswered. In effect, will the homeless shelter gamble pay off with placement in affordable senior citizen housing?

The "Good Years"

Discussion about the "good years" originated in the "blog," which refers to the limited number of years left before an old codger degenerates into decrepitude. Unfortunately, there is no conclusive evidence to generate an accurate time frame.

Observation alone yields widely varying results. Many people "let themselves go" in their forties or fifties. They may find their "good years" terminating prematurely. Thus, the "good years" can only be defined on an individual basis.

For the most part, though, observation seems to indicate conclusively that the "good years" are essentially over by 70 years of age. The rapid decline seemingly occurs during age 65 and 69 years. Muscle atrophy and minor musculoskeletal deformations are common, along with other pedestrian physical aging attributes. More observations will be forthcoming in the near future.

Strategic Plan Revisited

There can only be one goal for a new strategic plan, that is, find affordable senior citizen rental housing immediately. All other issues are moot.

The 'Nalo rental studio is actually a decent place at a decent rental fee, but the time has come to move on. The location leaves a lot to desired amongst other concerns. And, the arrangement is obviously not very long-term.

Senior citizen rental housing presents another set of problems. The tenants are mostly old and decrepit. Emergency medical services are summoned at all hours of the day and night. And, many tenants hastily terminate their leases by "kicking the bucket." Overall, not a very cheerful scenario.

Yet, there's no other choice. Paying "top dollar" for decent regular rental housing makes no sense for a senior citizen. An old codger, for example, only needs a place to sleep.

Unfortunately, there seemingly is only one route to circumvent the eternal waiting list queue ... the homeless shelter. Housing coordinators and case workers at the homeless shelter can expedite the process as testimony from various people have shown. Will a (maximum) three-month stay at a homeless shelter be a worthwhile sacrifice?

Hamster Wheel

There's no way to exit the hamster wheel of life. The failed "civilization" paradigm has insured that all humans will be spinning around the hamster wheel for eternity, that is, until the harsh reality of mortality kicks in.

Hamster Wheel

The failed "civilization" paradigm was honed to suppress the "inner animal" by forcing humans to follow certain rules and laws. At first, imaginary deities were contrived to instill fear in the case of non-compliance. Later, the police state became the tool of enforcement.

Unfortunately, the "inner animal" strives to be free. Mortality forces the issue even further. The "inner animal" knows that death is the only conduit to freedom under the failed "civilization" paradigm. Going full circle, that is why the "civilization" paradigm failed.

Homeless News Blackout

There has been no local media coverage about the homeless for several weeks. Compare that to late last year ... news, usually bad, about the homeless appeared almost daily. What's going on?

A casual and astute observer would probably have been alarmed by the influx of new homeless from the mainland empire as well as new local homeless. The situation is totally out of control. So out of control that a media blackout was established to keep the general public "in the dark."

The authorities have run out of solutions, not that any current solution was viable. There's not enough homeless shelter space. The affordable housing placement program is a sad joke. Most affordable housing for the homeless will only be affordable during the one-year term of Aloha United Way subsidies. Then, back on the streets. Placement numbers are so low anyway, essentially producing no effect on the rising number of homeless.

The authorities have been left with only one option: sweeps. The semi-permanent homeless "camps" are the on-going target of the Draconian measure. The rationale is to force the homeless to become "invisible" by making them urban nomads. As long as the homeless are on the move during daylight hours and sleep in some bushes at night, the problem is solved. Or is it?

In town, there are so many homeless walking around or loitering that they cannot be considered inconspicuous or "invisible." The homeless are everywhere. Soon there be more homeless than anyone else. Then, what will the authorities do?

Addendum: New empire budget proposed by "Donald" will end up sacrificing homeless shelter and affordable housing funding along with other programs serving the poor, the destitute, and senior citizens.

No Strategic Plan

All on-going and tentative plans, as outlined in the old "blog," have been mummified. More and more new information has come to light, rendering obsolete nearly any kind of planning. What is left is basically a "seat of the pants" approach. Current issues include procurement of senior citizen housing, on-going medical insurance coverage, finances, etc. Any new details will be announced in the current Twitter® feed and detailed in these footnotes.

T-Mobile® Budget Plan

Switching to the basic $30 per month T-Mobile® plan was simple. Just a phone call to customer service. One stipulation, though. The SIM card starter kit had to be initially purchased at Wal-Mart®.

The basic plan is great for phone phobia suffers. "Talk" time is limited to 110 minutes per month. There will be no long phone conversations. However, there is unlimited text messaging and unlimited data (first 5GB at 4G LTE speed).

Addendum: $30/month plan no longer available.

Bad Homeless Plan

Actually, the affirmative homeless decision would have been optimal if exposed assets and net worth amounted to $3,000 and under. In other words, being impoverished with minimal income is ideal for obtaining affordable rental housing. Savvy individuals, like the formerly-homeless buddy (FHB), would have hidden all assets above the $3,000 threshold.

In the case of FHB, excess cash was skimmed and placed in a safe deposit box. Thus, FHB's exposed assets were always under the minimum threshold.

Anyone with a substantial amount of assets will not be able to hide the lump sum immediately without raising suspicion from the authorities. And, gradually drawing out small amounts (or selling off non-liquid assets in piecemeal fashion) could take years.

In any case, the decision to accept intake into a homeless shelter just to exploit the affordable rental housing "navigator" opportunities may be worth the risk. Disclosing all assets may not result in truly affordable rental housing, but the end result may still be more desirable than the waiting list option.

Illin'

The illin' situation is out of hand. So far, only about 14 days out of the current year was devoid of illin' symptoms. The culprit appears to be air conditioning, the worst experience being on board the city bus system.

The newest line of buses appear to have extremely healthy air conditioning units. The thermostat on those buses have been observed to be set at 65^o F. The internal fans are set at "full blast" and the vents are right above the passenger seats. The fans add a "wind chill" factor that brings the "feels like" temperature down to 60^o F.

The outside (ambient) temperature is usually 75^o F or higher. So, the temperature differential is a whopping 15^o or more. Little wonder why so many people are illin'. Constantly going in and out of hot and cold environments most likely contributes to the problem.

The air conditioning at the gym appears to functioning quite well as of late, too. Fortunately, there are only a few isolated pickets where the cold air from the vents can be directly felt. In addition, gym workouts will offset the cold temperature.

Asset Price Inflation

House prices in Honolulu rose significantly in less than a month. Median home price is now $755,000 for a standard "cookie cutter" home possibly in Waipio or Kapolei. Houses in Honolulu proper are more than $1million. Low inventory (finite supply on an island) is one cause. The other cause is asset price inflation spurred by "cheap" money created by global central banks.

Hawai'i also has the privilege of ranking as the second highest state in empire for consumer debt. Most of that debt is tied up in mortgages. No surprise.

Higher home prices equals higher property values and higher property taxes. Expect rental housing to respond in kind with higher rents. Then, expect to see another spike in homelessness.

Homeless Process Commences

Application for the Sand Island homeless shelter was submitted this morning to personnel at the Iwilei homeless shelter. The process, as defined by both Scotty and the formerly-homeless buddy, has commenced. There is no anticipation. Who really wants to be homeless?

However, the ends justify the means. If five-year waiting lists can be sidestepped, then all the better. Yet, is the sacrifice and inconvenience of homelessness worth it?

The entire area surrounding the Iwilei homeless shelter has become a huge homeless "camp." A few months ago, the "camp" was fairly small. Now, there are "campers" lined up on the sidewalk along all the adjacent streets. No photographs were taken. Homeless "campers" do not respond kindly to outsiders filming them.

Scotty pointed out that the Iwilei homeless "campers" are ruthless. Crime and violence amongst them is commonplace. They have essentially nothing, so they have nothing to lose.

Incidentally, the closure of Thomas Square Park in town for "renovations" has forced a large number of homeless back onto the streets. Thus, the number of visible homeless has increased dramatically. Homelessness is out of control.

The unsupervised paid parking facility across from A'ala Park is no longer. It is fenced off for some kind of construction. Thus, the only cheap unsupervised overnight parking venue is gone. Only the riskier street parking is available in town for homeless motorhomes.

By the way, there are now four full-time homeless motorhomes parked on the outskirts of 'Nalo, all of them older minivans, during morning and early evening observations. There's no telling how many are actually "camping" there at night.

Koko Marina in Hawai'i Kai is still the homeless hub of the area. The 70-ish homeless guy is a fixture there during the day. About four or five other motorhomeless have also been spotted. There also a number of conventional homeless milling about Koko Marina and the two other shopping plazas across Kuapa Pond.

Bodywork on Nissan® Quest Minivan

Nissan® Quest Minivan

An apparent sideswipe collision with a misplaced shopping cart left the Nissan® Quest minivan with an odd triangle-shape scratch. At first, it looked like vandalism, the kind of scratch made with a key. Then, the vague recollection of an odd thud while driving through a Hawai'i Kai parking lot provided a frustrated enlightenment.

The scratch appeared superficial at first. Using regular scratch remover did absolutely nothing. Rubbing compound was then purchased for a ripoff price of $5 at City Mill. The rubbing compound was able to remove most of the scratch, although it appeared that the sheet metal was creased.

Further applicator the rubbing compound was mummified because the damage probably penetrated the top clear coat. Scratch remover is now being deployed to smooth out the paint along the indentation. Not much else can be done.

At a casual glance, the paint surface now appears normal. Upon closer scrutiny at an angle, though, reveals the triangular creased sheet metal. Very minor, but noticeable. Very perturbing.

Survivor

Ann is a true survivor, no question about that. After years of on-again, off-again employment, Ann continues to strive to remain in the faux middle class. Some of Ann's anecdotes appear in the old "blog." Not much has changed.

Currently, Ann is employed in the Longs® pharmacy in the Hawai'i Kai store. She's earning about half of her usual salary (when she was employed). She still has two pet cats, stuff in storage (at $169 per month rent), and still residing in the $1,050 detached studio unit in Kalama Valley. And, of course, she now owns an automobile (older VW® Jetta).

Ann has decided to file for early retirement benefits next year to supplement her income. Aside from that, Ann has no savings or retirement accounts because every cent of the former and latter was depleted during periods of unemployment. At age 61 years, Ann is a true survivor. She will "soldier on" to maintain her life-style.

Body Fat

Body fat composition at 16.8% ... not bad for being 62 years of age. However, from the perspective of pre-diabetes, the options become even more limited. Exercise, weight control, and diet modifications are the only options. Everything has been covered, as proven by the body fat percentage.

Obviously, if there is no change in blood sugar after the next blood test, the path to diabetes may be unobstructed. Clearly, the culprit will simply be old age. Senior citizens are more likely to develop diabetes. Fate can be ugly.

The clients of the Hawai'i Kai dialysis clinic, as routinely observed, are primarily senior citizens. Most likely, they are diabetic. Most likely, the suffered kidney failure because of the disease. Many of them are bound to wheelchairs because of leg amputations as well, another curse of diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that must be feared. And, an aggressive proactive program must be implemented by pre-diabetes patients to prevent its further development.