Five Years to the Date (+2 days)

It's been far too long since I last wrote. Today marks 5 years (and 2 days) of the 2nd part of my life. The significance of November 3rd is what I jokingly refer to as my own personal holiday. On this day I nearly lost my life, and maybe on another entry I can properly illustrate the circumstances of this event, but for today, here is an update.

It's been many months since I've moved into my new home, the Garden Island guitarslinger's fortress of solitude, the H.I.B.R.I. training stables, the Ishiki-ryu dojo, Brian's Bistro, the decked out inherited hermit crab shell. I've managed to record some basic tracks having moved into my new place, being that that was a major complaint of living with strangers, among having to share a refrigerator, kitchen, bathroom, laundry as well. The privacy has been crucial for allowing me more creative freedom.

"A Gift of a Thistle" from the movie Braveheart

This relocation to Oahu has given me a critical shift for my view on income, money, and lifestyle. Now that I've been getting paid to play guitar and slice in some heavy metal guitar solos in a versatile entertainment band (which has been a secret goal of mine to hold in tandem with a heavy metal group, being that the average person would have little interest in hearing the loud and intense guitaring of Leviathan) I've been trying to find other ways to get paid to do stuff that I would do for free otherwise.

After leaving the restaurant with $2 after completing one of my shifts in April or so, I decided I needed to find another consistent source of employment. It's make it or break it out here on Oahu for me, and I can not subside on $2 a shift. So, with the intention in mind that I tend to get better at anything I get paid to do, I decided to scour craigslist for some jobs. I stumbled upon an ad for surf instructor based out of Waikiki with bonus pay to those who have Japanese language skills. I thought to myself, perfect! I'm a mediocre surfer, and a 2 year old when it comes to Japanese, I'm there! So I applied and now, today, after coming a long way from the training days, I find myself with 2 set surf days (mirroring my 2 set days with the pop band), having much improved in both surfing and Japanese language. Score. Getting paid for something I would do for free anyway.

I decided to strip myself of my three banquet jobs and put myself on on-call scheduling, which means I never get called. Now that this has stabilized and I've weened myself of the reliance of the restaurant for its [non-existent] income I've been empowered to pursue more creative enterprises. This allowed me to meet this older fellow, which I lovingly refer to as my Hawaiian Gandalf/Merlin, only because he's an older like-minded musician, and we've been working on developing a little acoustic duo act. It's been great for me because it's been a day time thing for me and great practice with recording to a click track and learning material I don't know. It's nice to have a running partner too when it comes to recording.

And now, fairly recently I've managed to have enrolled two guitar students for my own little side business of teaching guitar lessons. It's been nice. Still, the full-time/part-time job with benefits has eluded me, but, I hope that that will soon change and that my Leviathan enterprise can find a solid and stable drummer.

I've been critically busy at times, and at times not at all, but even when the soup isn't stirred it will still remain murky for some time before the bits and pieces settle to the bottom. Still, I hope to post more now that I'm getting a more consistent schedule.

Stay tuned!