The Pond

It looks beautiful, doesn't it? It was beautiful on a warm morning, after a run, a light trade-wind blowing. Or a chilly morning, light rain, the hot water delicious on my skin. That shower's outdoors, and whatever mother nature was serving up on a particular day in Hanalei, I got to experience first hand. See the fresh water through the wood slats? That's another thing I got to experience, very personally. That koi pond was the source of all the water to the cabin. Washed my dishes, brushed my teeth, and bathed all my bits in that pond water. It was wonderful at first, fortifying to my city ways. I felt goddess-y standing naked outside, not really caring if the homeless man in the jungle was watching or how big the spider in the web above the shower head was growing.

Well... deep down I cared, but when you're paying $1200 a month to camp, you must be suppressing a bit of reality anyway. Five months of showering in that pond water, festering with frogs, pig shit, and various fowl, this happened:


Around the same time, my landlord developed a yeast infection in his mouth, a neighbor up the way, an eye infection, and Renee, sores on her legs that refused to heal. Doctor's orders on all three? No more pond water.

I used to be very judgmental in regard to people not taking proper care of themselves. A lot of it has to be with the fact that I'm paid to touch people, clean or not, and seriously, some folks should be ashamed. How hard is to to exfoliate and make sure your feet don't reek? But after showering in that pond water for five months, I developed eczema that I'm still battling. It flares up when I'm stressed, but keeping my skin clean and well-hydrated keeps it under control. It completely went away in Tokyo and got so bad upon my return, my boss debated letting me see clients.

In other news, I got fantastic news on the career front and celebrated by purchasing these boots:

These boots are the opposite of a dirty, pig-shit, pond shower.

Aloha.