Saturday, July 06, 2002
Reporting LIVE from Punalu`u. What a day. All I can say is that this has been the most active day in my entire life. Here's a list of today's activities:
1) Hike in Kahana Valley
2) Kayaking
3) Pseudo-Swimming (I can't swim yet, remember?)
4) Recovery nap to restore energy
5) Dinner
6) Board game called "Orcs at the Gate"
7) Sand crabbing on the beach
The hike pretty much wiped me out. The hike was "supposed to be" (operative words there) 2.5 miles -- however, it takes special skills to make a simple 2.5 loop trail into a treacherous 5-mile adventure. Armed with lots of water, cabohydrates, a first aid kit and copious amounts of bug spray, we were prepared.This hike consisted of crossing streams, backtracking, and blazing through uncharted paths (not recommended). Okay, so we also got lost twice, but we always found our way back to the trail thanks to Mahea and Fernando's navigational abilities. The quest was to find the elusive waterfall and swimming hole that Mahealani remembers swimming in, but needless to say, it wasn't to be found today.
We started at 10:30 am and ended promptly at 4:09 pm. That's right, 5 hours and 39 minutes. If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is.
I have turned from a Desk Jock to an Outdoor Maven in one day. Unfortunately, I didn't come out of the experience unscathed... I returned with a headache and knots in my neck and shoulders. Amazingly enough though, my legs are fine.
There are more stories to tell, but right now I need to get some rest. Tomorrow's another day -- the last day at the beach house. When I return tomorrow, there will be lots of photos to enjoy. Until then... oyasumi!
posted by Donna, 7/6/2002 11:20:21 PM
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Thursday, July 04, 2002
Happy 4th. Celebrating Independence Day with a new look for my "real entries" featuring a commentary and photos of a day at the beach with good friends. [more]
NOTE: For those of you who don't know what "dakine" means, here's Peppo's Pidgin to da Max's definition:
DA KINE (da KINE) Da kine is the keystone of pidgin. You can use it anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Very convenient. What would we do without DA KINE? "Ey, I no can da kine if you no like da kine, too!"
Dakine can take the place of almost every part of speech. It's a noun, verb, adjective... It's almost as versatile as the f-word. Needless to say, the f-word isn't in my vocabulary anyway, so dakine works nicely for me, when it's needed.
I incorporated "dakine" into the layout, since dakine can mean any number of things... and basically, that's how my entries are, too -- and it lends a bit of the "local" Hawaii flavor to my site. Anyway, give me your feedback and tell me what you think about it. By the way, this is what it looks like on my screen:
I'm running at 800x600, although I know most of you are at 1024x768. (My eyes are already getting bad, so I stay with 8x6 so that I don't strain them further.) It should still look okay at higher resolutions, too... although there will be more white space. White space isn't necessary a bad thing, is it?
posted by Donna, 7/4/2002 11:25:56 PM
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Tuesday, July 02, 2002
*splash splash gurgle gurgle* Gee, here it is Tuesday night already and I didn't even tell you about how my Saturday morning swimming class went.
It's actually class #3, but only the 2nd one that I've attended thus far. (The morning of Class #2 did not fare well for me, so I opted to play hookey.) Apparently, I really should have attended Class #2, because I had a very difficult time on Saturday. We focused on breathing and in the latter part of the class he had us swimming across the pool freestyle without the aid of the kickboard. Of course, the instructor didn't force us to forsake our kickboard, but encouraged us to try it. Earlier, he had us swimming across the pool, stroking, kicking and breathing with the kickboard and it seemed to be more of a hindrance to me as I fumbled to take hold of it after every clumsy stroke. So what the heck, I tried it without the kickboard. After all, it was highly unlikely that even I would be able to drown in 4' of water.
The results were nothing short of humorous for anyone observing. Sputtering and flailing about in the water, I attempted to get across the pool but ended up having to stand up after every 2 strokes. The instructor tried to coach me and said, "You're like really tense." Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one.
Actually, my biggest problem is breathing and stroking at the same time. Done independently, I'm sorta okay... but when you put those two together -- and ask me to kick at the same time, aye carumba, it isn't pretty. And here I thought that I was multi-tasking...
I will definitely need practice before the next class, although I'm not sure that I'll be able to before Saturday morning. I felt so good about how comfortable I felt in the water on my first class, but left feeling somewhat discouraged after my second. But then again, that is somewhat of a big jump from what we did on Day #1 to what I tried to do on my second class.
"Patience, grasshopper."
posted by Donna, 7/2/2002 10:41:28 PM
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A must see link courtesy of Terry. Ahhh, the wonders of Flash...
posted by Donna, 7/2/2002 09:16:26 AM
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Monday, July 01, 2002
Bon Dance. "It's just something about being out in the warm summer nights, eating shaved ice and saimin and watching all the people dancing." -A Quote from an e-mail that I received from Rodney today regarding photos that were posted on eyeCANDY.
He brought up a good question: What do I think about the issue of being a Christian and attending bon dances?
This question was also posed by Mahealani, who was asked this by a mutual friend of ours who recently became a Christian.
Candidly, I had questions about this very issue as well. If I were a web page, you could do a Google search on these keywords to find me: Christian, Okinawan, wife, geek, dancer, Asian culture, Hawaii, photography. Of course, there are a lot more that could be listed, but that would simply belabor the point.
My belief in God is everything to me. Additionally, my Okinawan identity helps to define me as well. I am Uchinanchu to the core, the music, dancing and culture of my homeland runs through my veins. Having grown up in a household that honored God as well as our ethnic heritage, the issue of attending Bon Dances certainly has come up.
If you notice in my Google keyword list above, "Christian" comes before "Okinawan." I cherish my faith over my culture, so it was very important for me to know that my actions would not dishonor my Lord. I was so concerned about this, I actually called my pastor (at the time) and asked him the question about whether or not I could/should attend Bon Dances as a Christian.
"I've gone to Bon Dances, too," he answered. "You're not going there with the intent to worship, but with the intent to participate and perpetuate your cultural heritage. I don't see anything wrong with that."
I dance with great gusto, celebrating my rich and unique culture and enjoying those warm summer nights under the vast starry canopy that the Lord my God has created.
posted by Donna, 7/1/2002 10:07:36 PM
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So...very...tired. I reset my alarm clock 3 times this morning in hopes of catching a few more precious moments of sleep. I don't know why I've been feeling so lethargic recently. Of course, this among other things, is causing my hypochondriac radar to go off. Any time there seems to be something awry with my body, I begin to think the worst. Maybe it's just a sign of aging... Who knows. Let's see if some multi-vitamins and a good dose of vitamin C will help me.
Oh yeah, happy Monday, folks.
posted by Donna, 7/1/2002 07:06:39 AM
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