Red Cat-eye Glasses

“Cute glasses, LN! Are those real diamonds?”

“hahahahahahahahahahaha. No…. But the story of them is epic.”

(She didn’t want to hear the story. She just wanted to make more passive comments about my lack of taste and design choices in life… But I like this story. It’s a day/place where my life changed drastically.

So I’ll share it here.)

 

*cue soundtrack*

Oct/Nov 2013: 

A long time ago, according to facebook memories, I was laying on a beach in Boracay, Philippines. I was, of course, in a bikini, and, of course, drinking the best rum on the planet, and, of course, watching the surf come in on the best beach known to man.

Compared to shit-hole India (where none of the above was possible- especially as a single white female traveler) – this was just about as close to heaven as I could get.

A few days later, I packed up, went to Cebu (to a small fishing village/scuba place named Moalboal, and spent my days doing pretty much the same…

-Bikini/beach,
-Scuba for 17$ an hour (see huge clouds of sardines!)
-drink rum
-play card games with Israelis,
-rinse/repeat.

Ok, Ok. I was also writing all my travel stories, too. (Most of them are here in this blog, so you got them for free! Lucky you!)

A few days later I was supposed to leave to go to Malapascua. It was a small island on the tip of Cebu and they had, apparently, KILLER scuba diving spots up there (thresher sharks!). Also, tent hostels for 7$ a night and amazing seafood caught/cooked on the beach.

Hell yes.

But…. I drank too much rum and missed the bus… So I canceled my reservation up north and slept the whole day on the beach in Moalboal.

The next day, the whole “town” (village? street?) was a buzz from something. Apparently there was a storm coming in? But, also, there was this killer new song called “What does the fox say?” and that just amped everyone up.

We danced… and danced…. and “yip yip yip” to the stupid fox song. Then we drank and smoked and danced and swam in the ocean and and and……

The next morning, there wasn’t electricity. It’s ok. We still have cell tower power!

But that went out too.

(spoiler – this was Typhoon Haiyan. You can read my part 1, part 2 and part 3 here.

(spoiler: Malapascua was leveled. Yet another time where spontaneous decisions saved my life)

TL;dr: – that event changed me. It was some of the best feelings I had during my travels. I was hooked.

—-

Jan 2016

I return to the island with my Fathead brother who has never been and we decided to go to Bohol (off the coast of Cebu) to check out the chocolate mounds.

(Fun fact: Bohol used to have 32098432098432 Roman Catholic churches- but then, on Oct 15 (17 days before the typhoon) Bohol had a huge (7.2) earthquake that MOVED THE ISLAND 3 meters and demolished all the churches.

(All the cock-fighting rings and best food places were spared, so not all was lost).

While touristing around with my brother, riding on the top of buses (as you do) and seeing cool shit (as you do), I was having a great time.

But I was also going through some deep soul-searching. I had been traveling for a really long time at this point. (4 years?). Kinda aimlessly. Trying to “find myself” or whatever. Sometime during this trip/day, I had a realization with myself:

“Self? You really loved the Philippines. You loved all that chaos. You thrived in it! Maybe you should do that again?”

“hmmmm. You’re so smart, LN.”

“I know.”

I pushed this thought to the backburner to let it simmer a little while Fathead and I went to a mall (read: aircon) to get out of the exhausting heat.

It was at this mall where I found the red cat-eye glasses. (Remember? What this story was all about?)

A super attractive lady-boy (named Mari) was selling them for 100 pesos ($1.85USD). No questions were asked. I threw down the money like I was melting my hands and snatched up the adorably tacky glasses.

No- I didn’t care if I ever put prescriptions in them.

This was totally a “random-ass-purchase” moment…..

A “I finally figured out my life” moment…

A “I know what I’m going to do” moment….

 

(They also cost a whole 1.85$- and while I didn’t really have a job or anything, I could totally swing that.)

 

Later that night we met an ex-pat friend who suggested I check out this disaster response group. I signed up that night on my phone. Drank the kool-aid then and there.

 

A few months later, I deployed with this group and met some amazing people. Among them is a guy who, later, will become my business partner.

 

Oct 25, 2018

I got lenses put into those glasses. (read: awesome)

I registered my car to Wisconsin today. (read: settling)

Formed a tiny-house company. Tomorrow we are pitching to investors. (read: scary, exciting, new adventures).

 

——-

“Cute glasses, LN! Are those real diamonds?”

“No. these are not real diamonds- but they are incredibly special. These are the glasses I bought for 1.85$ in the Philippines during a pivotable time in my life. A time that has lead me to this moment here… The story and journey is worth more than any diamonds.”