Aloha world!

Hello world and welcome to my little slice of the interwebs.

I admit I am here selfishly to help fill the hours of my unemployed life with something constructive and interesting, but I am eternally grateful for any readership. Before I get ahead of myself, I would like to introduce you to your loyal and sincere writer.

My name is Kim and I am an aloha-minded girl living on the Jersey Shore (no, please do not insert fist pumping, orange tans, or jager bombs here). I love to learn, read, write, travel, create, cook, and live! I am quite curious about all topics and plan to exhaust my mind though researching it all.

I am the only child of a multi-racial family and find that my multi-cultural upbringing has positively engaged my mind with questions of place, home, race, etc. What I am trying to say is that being a little different from my classmates, friends, and colleagues all of my life has made me appreciate and celebrate the differences in all people and enticed my craving for knowledge on a global basis.

I have a liberal arts education with a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. I find Hawaiian Literature and culture fascinating and argued why Hawaiian Literature should be included in the American Literature classroom in my master’s thesis.

I presented my working thesis at the 2012 Hawaiian International Conference on Arts and Humanities

I presented my working thesis at the 2012 Hawaiian International Conference on Arts and Humanities. I know the picture is a little blurry, but it’s my only claim to fame! [for now :)]


I finished my M.A. in the spring of 2012 and have been a bit adrift since then. I spent more than 20 years of my life as a student and now that I’ve severed the umbilical cord of academia, I feel lost. Academia, to me, is just as my metaphor suggests – a warm comforting womb that cannot nurture you forever. Survival in the “real world” has proven to be more difficult than I had anticipated; and since Hurricane Sandy factored into the loss of my last job, I have felt more lost than ever.

So here I am, a twenty-something with degrees under my belt, a man on my arm, a family to die for, and all the time in the world to experience life. I suppose that’s where this blog comes into play. I have had all this time on my hands and I have felt more limited than ever.

Having lots of introspective moments while sitting at home alone (with my kitties) has led me to the following conclusions about myself:
– I have defined myself as a student for all my life
– I look for the approval of others to value myself
– I limit my career opportunities because of my refusal to move away from my family
– I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up

I know these things seem silly, but they are truths that I have a difficult time vocalizing about myself. The most biting of those conclusions is that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Because of my inability to decide, I wondered what others thought about this. Do my parents feel that way? What about my peers? Are they living their dreams? What are their aspirations and where are they now? I hope to follow these questions through a number of interviews with people, both strangers and friends, about what they want(ed) to be when they grow/grew up. Hopefully, with their input I can come to understand my lack of decisiveness.

To properly conclude my welcome message to those of you who are still reading, I want to say thanks for taking the time to stop by. I look forward to embarking on this editorial journey and can’t wait to share it with you! Don’t forget to live ALOHA!

My little slice of aloha on the Jersey shore. All I ever need is a little bit of sun, sand, and saltwater.

My little slice of aloha on the Jersey shore. All I ever need is a little bit of sun, sand, and saltwater.

2 thoughts on “Aloha world!

  1. This is such a powerful read and I enjoyed it from beginning to end! I can certainly identify with the “what do I want to be when I grow up.” You are destined for something great and it will happen when you least expect it. In the meantime…keep writing Kim!!! 🙂

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