Post-Summer Post (Finally)

Oh man, 4 months later... yikes, I thought I was going to be better at this stuff? Honestly, I do have more pressing/novel things that I should/could be taking care of/doing right now -- and that's probably why I haven't updated in so long -- but, it's the principal! Well, at least in June [my next scheduled blog "deadline"] I kind of had an excuse; I went to Japan for two weeks, so the time leading up to and after was spent on that excursion. Japan was rad. I love that country and its people. I spent the first week with my lover, kind of being a tour guide to her, and then I spent the second week traveling alone in which I got to cover more ground and see more of my Japanese friends! Most importantly, traveling solo forced me more into immersion, which is half of the reason why I want to go to Japan to begin with. I came back feeling like my language skills had improved since I last visited Japan in 2012. Perhaps the college courses I had been taken since then had helped. I'm glad that it feels my work is paying off (don't know by how much though haha, but that's besides the point). I could write a whole bunch of stuff on Japan alone, but I am not a travel blogger, so... here are a bunch of pictures and things from that instead!

Other than that, what's happened since May?

Well, May went by pretty much business as usual. A few surf school shifts here and there, guitar lessons throughout most of the week, a rehearsal or two a week, and a pettily two gigs for the entire month. Just before I left for Japan, I auditioned for a "classic rock" group and got the gig. Still unsure where exactly that project is going, but... we'll see. Hopefully I'm not too patient with that. Also during this time, I called the D.L.N.R. quite regularly (some might call it badgering) to inquire about my "field test" results concerning the surf instruction certification, I eventually found out I passed. Yay! Now what? Apparently I needed a physical exam, more on that later...

Returning from Japan in mid June was a bit tough. I hit the ground running though, mainly because an unfortunate earthquake that hit the airport of which I was ticketed to return home from grounded me an extra day (and $$$), so many of my appointments got backed up / rescheduled to the remaining days of the week. The earthquake day itself was a fiasco in of itself, but in short, I got rerouted and stuck in a backwater town in the middle of nowhere for an entire day basically. Eventually the government came and rescued the stranded commuters by bus, and by then, I was too late for my flight. I stayed in an internet cafe overnight and bought a flight home the next day.

A couple days after returning for Japan, I had my medical examination appointment for the aforementioned surf certification. I got the desired results, and the required documentation, and left after paying a $12 co-pay. My experience there was mediocre already to begin with, and, upon taking my documents to the D.L.N.R., come to find out that the paperwork wasn't even dated correctly, so the administration there [at the D.L.N.R.] would not accept it. So I had this big back and forth with scanning and emailing and what not for about a month just to get another document stating the same shit with the correct dates, and getting that document to the D.L.N.R. A big waste of time... which, the older I get, the more psychotic I get about. More on this later...

I was also asked to rejoin I.C.C. [Intercultural Communications College] upon returning from Japan, and it just so happened that I was starting to free up a little bit so I happily agreed to rejoin for the second installment. I wasn't able to attend every class due to scheduling conflicts / priorities, but, nevertheless it was good to use the momentum that I had recently gained from being in Japan so recently.

And toward the end of July I auditioned as a bass player and got the gig for an original alternative band called Breaking Anchors. We have since had a few open mic performances and are slated to have a recording session next week.

By July, summer was in full swing. This was actually to be the first summer that I would not work "all-the-fucking-time" at the surf school. In response to the manic swings I dealt with last summer, I drew a figurative line in the sand and decided to no longer prioritize that place/company, especially if the owner would be on-sight. It actually worked out pretty well, although I did (& do) miss the paychecks. Floatilla [traditionally a booze party out in waters just off-shore of Waikiki on the Fourth of July] was.................................... lame, compared to years past. I guess in light of last years excessiveness (to say the least) the county decided to keep a tight seal on the potential debauchery. Such a shame, it was soooo much fun the few times that I had gone. I even had a stupid run in with a police officer for having an unopened beer in a plastic hand bag walking on the beach. Oh well, all things come to an end.

Also in July, it's the month Hawaii General Excises Taxes are due, so, I went ahead and paid those. Yay business owner achievements; paying taxes. #Adulting

During July I also auditioned for a reggae band called Da Swell, got the gig and started performing with them before the month was over. It's an 8 piece group so the pay is minuscule but it's gigging nonetheless.

There was some heavy shit that I went through that's too personal even for the blog, so this sentence is here for me whenever I read back on this entry for me to go "oh yeah...". It's here for you the reader because I was under a lot of stress during this month for various reasons, I felt like throwing a match on everything, and that put a lot of things in perspective again. Mainly on what to prioritize.

Sometimes being too patient is a bad thing, I sometimes have a tendency to hold out longer than other people on things that are seemingly fading into nothingness. I have repeatedly received praise for my patience, which I also think it's the hallmark trait of a skilled teacher, but, in some ways, I believe, it can be pretty bad in some scenarios. Anyway, in light of recent circumstance, I starting culling things that weren't getting anywhere in relation to how much time was being invested; basically things weren't adding up. Definition of insanity? I mentioned this earlier, but, hopefully many/any of the musical pursuits I'm actively investing time and energy, I hope I'm not just throwing away my time foolishly (because of the hyper-patience).

Anyway, Hitbox Music Ensemble invited me back for another performance, this time at the Comic Con in the beginning of August. I guess that means I didn't suck too bad at the last performance [Kawaii Kon]. This time, I had less time to prepare for this show though, but luckily I was getting better with the sheet music medium mainly because of the Aloha Karaoke Band. Being that it was comic convention, I dawned my Thor costume once again!

Unfortunately, by this time, the Aloha Karaoke Band lost it's drummer due to undisclosed reasons. It's the same old story just like all my other bands; back to the incomplete lineup stage. It's hard to survive set backs like that, but hopefully everyone is still on board. I know I am! It'll be a shame (but not a complete waste) with those dozens of songs I've digitally charted!

Other than that, August was cool. I really started implementing a "treat yourself" thing where I would be less stingy and actually buy myself something inexpensive and useful/needed for my day-to-day life. I've done it for July and August so far. I would of done it again for this month, but I am deep in the red... :'( I am very pleased with the previous months purchases, especially the long sleeve leggings and hoodie rearguards I'm using out on the water to protect me from the sun. I also have an emergency radio that I have been meaning to get since the missile scare!

Remember that DLNR surf instructor Blue Card I've been trying to get? Well, I finally physically got it in early August, yay!.............. But a short time after I also recieved a bill from the clinic where I had gotten my medical documentation from (yeah, the one that I had to go back-and-forth with because they got the dates messed up), and it was priced at.................................... $198 ($210 if you include the $12 "co-pay")! I thought I had insurance for this? I called and called, no one got back to me, so I finally went into the office and got patched through my insurance only to find out that a "pre-employment screening" doesn't get medical coverage. W.T.F.? Talk about price gouging. So... hours and hours later, and more than -$217, I am finally "legit" to do this job that I have been doing for over 5 years now. Sometimes, the government makes it hard to do the right thing.

My niece came and stayed with me for 4 nights, so that was a great experience, but expensive...

And then there was Hurricane Lane, what a scare! Google search that, but, by some miracle this category 5 hurricane just faded away by the time it neared Oahu. Phew. I was horrified with how little the people in my area did to prepare for 156+ mph winds. Projectiles people, projectiles! But, thankfully, we dodge the inevitable yet again. I was thinking the entire time, I really do not want to live through another Iniki. Was even like, if it turns to shit, how's Seattle looking? Haha.

Now back to 1st world problems where we're not dodging life-threatening hurricanes. I am now -$3000 in debt, the most in debt I have ever been in my entire life and it's killing me. How do people live with student loans? Holy cow. Anyway, I guess having $1000 teeth procedures every month and having to shell out $700 for a last minute ticket out of an earthquake ridden country might have been the cause but, still, it depresses me, and it goes against the very essence of the core of who I am. Lately, I've also been missing Leviathan, so, I'll be making moves towards resuscitating that. Well, that's it for now. I'll be wallowing in indebted despair until the next entry!

Oh, at some point during the last entry; I successfully got Console -- The VGM Band gigs at the nerd conventions for next year. Yay!

Taxes, Ensembles, Certificates and Spring Break Ups

Have you ever gotten to a point where you feel stagnant? Not trapped, but stuck. I guess that's the feeling I get whenever I start getting unexpected amounts of free time after being regularly busy (which I generally prefer). For a good period in April that's exactly what it was. Now, you may be asking, "hey wait a minute; with that 'large' amount of time, where have been the blog posts for March and April?" (assuming anyone actually notices) Well... an unexpected influx of free time which under usual circumstances I'd be excited about and well-prepared for, generally enables me to further pursue (or catch up on) certain endeavors -- like a blog -- you're right!

In fact -- this is how mental I am -- I have to-do lists for when these moments of time abundance unexpectedly occur. Like, for example, the "bed-ridden sickness recovery to-do list," which includes things like *menial data entry for various things like employment history or flashcards that I've been meaning to add to and/or do, or... *binge watching TV shows I've intentionally been avoiding to watch like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc. or... *playing a video game that I know will consume me for at least a week like Civilization, or Fallout. You get the idea.

But alas, the big obstruction in the past two months were 1) [obviously] business, and more caustically 2) my faithful laptop of 8 years finally died. So sometime between my last post and now, my means to achieve many tasks -- including blogs -- failed me and basically took the wind right out of my sails. Stuck in the doldrums with loads of time, and very little tools to get anything done. It's funny how that works, and I actually believe it to be a normal experience of the "time paradox." You either have the means ($$$), but not the time, OR, you have the means ($$$), but not the time.

So how am I blogging to you now? Well, upon realizing my laptop was beyond the brink I quickly went ahead and purchased a refurbished desktop computer off of Amazon.com. It was affordable [around $210] but it took two weeks to ship and finally arrive. The anticipation was incredible, and I was very excited when the computer arrived. I gutted my work desk to accommodate this new machine, plugged everything in, powered it up, booted through the windows set up, entered my name and region, got to the desktop screen, and just as I was began to start installing some initial programs to set my computer up, it froze. And not like ctrl+alt+delete froze, but like screen-cracked-with-random-colors-from-the-matrix-Windows-95, froze. Fuck! So I turn it off, and when I went to turn it back on, the tower did nothing except beep 5 times at me, meaning that there was a hardware malfunction. In my frustration I furiously pried open the tower to disconnect and reconnect all the various components. After doing so, I successfully managed to get the computer to begin to start up, only to have it crash/freeze in the middle of it's boot sequence. When I went to restart it from the subsequent crash, I was again greeted with 5 beeps. This persisted for a few more cycles of disconnect/reconnect/power-up/freeze, until I eventually gave up and decided the "refurbished" CPU was a lemon. I was fucking annoyed. Thankfully, my friend offered to hook me up with a computer for $75 and here I am, a month later, with a fully functional computer. I suppose I can't complain after it's all said and done really...

Anyway... day one of wisdom teeth removal was fine, day two through to day seven was BRUTAL. My jaw swelled up as the doctor had predicted and it was extremely difficult to eat or even hold down any food due to the pain meds I reluctantly took. But, that passed, and now I have wisdom-less jaw and a new/different taste of flem in my mouth from time to time (is that normal?). Yum.

I did my taxes, or rather, I had a trusted acquaintance hold my hand and pretty much do them for me. After making the conscious decision of moving from "poverty level," to "just-above poverty level," I decided to do the half self-employed, half company-employed route which paid itself back in dividends. As a result, I'm well prepared for next year and looking forward to next year's tax season.

I started and completed my six week Japanese language course at I.C.C. It was fun, and I would be continuing it again if it weren't for the new music projects I picked up that conflict with the scheduling. Musical pursuits take precedence over everything recreational.

As you may (or may not know) I am a frequent craigslist user. I use it to post ads for my guitar lesson business (which by the way, costs $5 a post now), and I also use it to network with other Honolulu based musicians to try and put bands together. During one of my routine patrols of the website, I witnessed a listing "seeking a guitar player... for a jazz ensemble performing in three weeks featuring video game music" in the gigs section. Video game music -- at this point -- was becoming something I was immersed in; guitaring in Console (VGM band), drumming in Mighty Sprites (VGM band). Naturally, I responded, and set up an audition.

Now this was a little different than what I was used to, because I was given lead sheets to audition with. And... I can not sight read music in real time at all, not even to save my life. Being that this was an "ensemble," with at least 30 musicians (Horns, Strings, etc.) everyone would be using sheet music to stay on target, and rehearsals were far and few between. Luckily at this point, I was already starting to implement some facets of music nomenclature and notation, so I wasn't completely lost. Using what I knew, I squeaked by through my audition -- confessing that I was a terrible sight reader -- and yet still got the gig. I was a late member to join the group, so I had a lot of catching up to do, and so for the last two weeks of February I crammed for the performance on the first weekend of March; Kawaii Kon 2018 with Hitbox: the VGM Ensemble.

It was a great experience, and I hope to do it (or something like it) again some time. Unfortunately my position in the group was a one-off addition for a specific re-imagination of the core group, which to my understanding Hitbox is a "classical ensemble" that was "doing a Jazz performance" (thus needing to hire a guitar player as well as other instruments) for this one special event. It was humbling in regards of my feeble understanding on written music, so it's inspired me to start using (and training myself to get better with) more conventional/traditional/"correct" ways of notating music. As a result, I've been diving into the world of Musescore (freeware music notation software) to get a better understanding of the sheet music life, and hopefully get some nice looking PDFs on my tablet!

A couple weeks after my stint with the Hitbox ensemble, I was patrolling craigslist yet again and I stumbled upon a bass player looking to put together a "live karaoke band." I immediately responded. I had always wanted to do/be in a karaoke band. I witnessed my first one when I lived in Seattle and thought it was fantastic, thinking it could be something I'd like to do, but just never knew how to go about doing it/putting it together, especially on Oahu. Fast-forward to now and we're chipping away at a 100 song roster. Got about 30 in the bag, tackling about 15 a rehearsal. We're looking at having a "rehearsal party" some time in July to test out the waters before it goes fully live. I'm pretty excited about it [the Aloha Karaoke Band] and believe it could lead to some pretty successful gigs if it all goes right. Also looking into doing some field research and data collection...

www.AlohaKaraokeBand.com

Mighty Sprites were doing well. Despite some [what-I-would-call] silly auxiliary hic-ups, we were beginning to rehearse regularly with the new guitar player. After 9 months, we were finally developing and growing together. We also agreed to officially set aside a regular day/time of the week and have a set [weekly] schedule (which for me is a huge step in band seriousness) and things were looking pretty good! (At least from my perspective) But... due to some newer circumstances (bull shit) beyond my control, the writing was on the wall, and I was positioned to quit the band. So, I am no longer drumming for a video game. :( I had a similar experience to this the last time I was drumming (maybe this is the drummers dilemma? Cause I've heard of this happening to others) in 2008 where I was basically in a position where my only viable option was to leave the band. Anyway, another project for the graveyard. I am by no means proud of this, but you should see my "former projects" folder riddled with hopes, dreams and wishful thinking. Another one bites the dust.

Console's situation went from bad to worse after having lost the gig at Hawaiian Brian's (refer to previous blog). The bass player went dark/radio-silent; wasn't responding to phone calls, texts, emails. As a friend I was (and still am -- still haven't heard from him) concerned for his well-being... As the defacto band director, I had to begin looking for a replacement. We went from having a full lineup with a gig lined up, to an incomplete start up band again. Fuck! Motivation/morale was at a low, the rehearsals were tough without the bass, and even so, we reluctantly decided to do an open mic to get some stage experience together. The open mic didn't quite go as I expected (which is good from a learning/experience stand point, but also pretty embarrassing) and we went about a month without playing together. Didn't really see a point in rehearsing without a bass player, so we were laying low til someone hit our craigslist post looking for a bass player. We eventually had two persons audition, the one who was an acquaintance/connection of the keyboard player's eventually got the gig, so now we are able to rock again. Coincidentally, not even a week after deciding on said bass player, I received two more very qualified applicants interested in the bass position (from an ad that had been posting for three months now mind you). I would have liked to have tried them all but... we had already hired a guy. Oh well. Snooze you lose? I guess?? Wait what...? Is this the kind of shit employers have to deal with on the regular? Hire a guy to fill a position, and hours later someone better qualified and eager to work for you and could be a much better candidate comes along, only to have you say, "oh sorry, we're not hiring anymore." WTF is that phenomenon. As soon as the doors closed, only then people start showing up? Anyway... things are looking sort of better for Console, but the coveted gig -- which for a long was obstructed by not having a full lineup -- still eludes us.

At some point between my last post and now, amidst all my computer drama, I managed to boot up my other broken laptop (2008-2011† R.i.P.), the one that I bought when I was first living in Seattle and moving back and forth between Honolulu and Seattle. The last time it was started was in November of 2011. It was a weird time-capsule kind of feeling. Put me in a weird mood for a couple days; but here are some pics!

In other news, I did my field test in Waikiki for obtaining my "surf instructor certification." After three years of waiting, I finally was given the call to show up for the test. Wasn't told if I passed or failed upon completion of the we-watch-you-catch-two-waves test, but was instead told that they'd "call." Last time they said that they'd contact me, it took three years? So... I'm going to bother them [the DLNR] in a couple weeks and see what the fuck.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll write again next month.

PS as a last note; I've thought about screen shooting craigslist listings as kind of like a scrap book kind of a thing, and being that those visuals would help with some of my story telling, I think I'm going to start making that standard procedure.

2018 Begins

I turned 30, and shortly thereafter my quaint dirty thirty, I began my annual "holiday work-a-thon". Typically during the holidays the gigs dry up, and the BRGA students stop showing up, so to make up for it, I volunteer myself to work many many days in a row at the much busier surf school in order to offset my loss of income from those other ventures. This year I clocked in at 26 days in a row, from December 13th through January 7th. This Christmas season wasn't as busy as past years, as far as my memory can remember. And, per usual post-holiday phenomenon, I lost a couple BRGA students through the new year, but that's okay! More will be on the way...? (I hope). New Year's Resolutions???

I re-re-acquired my drivers license (for the third time) on December 26th, and not even a week later I got conscripted to do some surf safaris. Been at this surf school for 4 and a half years and only then did my first surf safari(s), one of which was solo. Why is this important? Cause of Jackass! My teenage self was star struck.

One of my acoustic band/duo projects I've been building up during 2017 had its first official paying gig lined up at Jazz Minds on December 29th, but it wound up getting canceled. So, as it stands, we still haven't accomplished what I had originally set out to do with that enterprise... I think I need to start carving out a hole for ourselves.

This Christmas, I was not the scrooge, so I got everyone in my professional circle gifts. This included band t-shirts! I got t-shirts for Console - The VGM Band, and the Shar Carillo Band. Figure I'd get something useful for everyone, rather than something generic.

Oh, and how could I forget. Sadly, BRGA did not have a recital this year. Unfortunately the place that I was to have it (same place as last year), lost it's permits to have live music. SHIT! My personal synopsis for 2017 was that it was a pretty shitty year for me.

In other news, I've been trying to regularly attened the Anna O'Brien's open mic on the second and fourth Thursday of every month and enjoying myself quite a bit at it. My attendance conveniently kind of happened for various reasons; a couple of the projects I'm in need some stage experience, Thursday evenings are a time that I don't typically have things booked, and although the open mic is rather late (9pm-12midnight), I now have BRGA students Friday morning allowing me to sleep in a bit with the lateness from the night before. It probably doesn't hurt that Anna's is just down the street too. Regularly being there has even inspired me to do the unthinkable *GASP* solo-acoustic performances. I've been working on a couple favorite tunes to perform if I happen to be there. Stay tuned on that.

In light of the last podcast, I went ahead and upgraded my internet service. I looked at my billing statement, and I was being charged $130 for the piece of crap motorola modem that the technician left. I thought this was going to be cheaper! Not $100 more expensive. I guess it's my responsibility to return the modem? The whole process was a little bit slimy, but I eventually got credited back; after returning the modem, and then following up by calling them and asking them to credit me back. Guess everyone's got to at least try and make a buck.

Since November, I've had three gigs with Shar. It's been very, very quiet. This, in of itself is a contributing factor as to why 2017 sucked. With my newly acquired license, and normalized schedule, I've been hustling craigslist (and even bandmix to some degree) on trying to find something that either A) pays or B) satisfies. There's been some light blips on the internet radar, but I doubt anything will come of it. I did have an audition with a funk band a few nights ago however, but I don't think I'll be getting called back. Anyway, the Friday and Saturday nights keep rolling by without gigs and although I try to look at the bright side being that I have more free time, I feel like it's such a waste! It's a similar feeling as to being laid off from work, or not being able to find a date. Is there something wrong with me? Haha. Man...

January 13th missile false alarm, that was fun.

The Mighty Sprites have a new guitar player and he's great! Very glad to have him on board. We're planning on hitting one of the aforementioned Anna O'Brien open mics here in the near future. Stay tuned.

Finally got my hands on a tool chest that fits perfectly in the kitchen!

Started this year off with some BRGA firsts; after teaching guitar here on Oahu since 2014, someone [finally] backed into a nearby car when pulling out of the parking spot. I felt partially responsible, but then I reasoned with myself -- they got a license. Also, just today I had the cops called on me due to one of my younger students acting like a total spaz. The cops were responding to a "domestic abuse" claim "involving a child screaming." Guess there's a first for everything. Mega-embarrassing. Sorry neighborhood, I guess it sounds like I kill kids at guitar lessons haha.

So I wasn't able to go to college again for this spring. My goal is to take college courses every spring for fun and maybe eventually get a degree of some sort. Degree not really being a priority really. In lieu of that, I enrolled myself in some "Intermediate Japanese Conversation" classes at Intercultural Communications College that'll gobble up some of my free time and restlessness. Hopefully I come out the other end a little more versed, and ever more prepared for my trip to Japan in June.

Console - The VGM was slated to go live February 24th, 2018. I was extremely excited mainly because everyone's schedules FINALLY synced up. I printed my own flyers, and began posting them places, only to find out that the venue at which we were supposed to play at is no longer hosting any sort of "heavy rock" genres at their venue due to some events that transpired during the recent Municipal Waste concert. Fucking lame. Back to square one...

Yesterday I got my wisdom teeth pulled. Four in total, two had to get pulverized. I got a lot of mixed reviews of the whole experience. People were telling me to go under anesthesia, etc. But I wrote that off as being wimpy. The procedure itself isn't bad, the local anesthetic takes any sort of pain away from the operation. The post-op experience though is a totally different story. After the local anesthetic wore off, I found myself being pretty useless and needing to take the pain pills I was prescribed. I didn't think I'd need it, but I was totally wrong. Today I'm in a little bit of discomfort but I'm fine compared to yesterday. My face/jaw/mouth is still a little tender, but I'm functional, and able to type up a blog and work my way through a couple guitar lessons today as a result.

So in light of my current circumstances, I'm looking at trying to establish residency at either Hawaiian Brians or Anna O'Brien's. Maybe like a "seond Monday of every month" kind of a thing for my various acts. I gotta do something!

Still battling footwarts...

ICBM False Alarm Hawaii

I awoke to my rude alarm clock this morning just like any other day, but this time it was a bit earlier than usual, especially for a Saturday. It was 5:40 a.m. and it was the first of two waves of alarms [the next being at 5:50 a.m.] that woke myself and my partner who had been sleeping on the futon in the living room. We've been hosting some friends from out of town for the past week and were happy to give up our bedroom in order to lodge them comfortably. To catch a 7:30 a.m. flight bound for LIH from HON we needed to wake unusually early. As everyone woke and gathered themselves, I still had some things to prepare; a menial task of offloading an SD card to my computer before that same SD card would then be immediately repurposed to document their trip to Kauai. I did that as the girls got ready.

When we were all collected, I took the driver's seat with my newly minted drivers license, only to find out that I had sleepily grabbed the wrong set of keys! Inconvenienced and annoyed at myself, I returned to unlock the apartment for the right keys, only to again; fully lockdown the apartment for a second time. It was a crisp-cool cloudless morning, you could see the luminescent moon in the multi-color foreground of an impending dawn. A foggy/dew/vapor had collected on the inside of the car's windshield making it difficult to see through until the newly charged air conditioning system busted through it.

By 6:17 a.m. we were on the road. I remember looking at the clock as I drove the two travelers I was entrusted to deliver to the airport; ensuring that they we were to truly arrive in time. I can't really remember what we spoke about on the car ride, which is pretty typical for me when it's so early [for me] and I'm preoccupied with driving. Probably some shit about my lame bands or whatever, or some trivial conversation about loose travel plans. I do remember we spoke though, at least some bit about using Starbucks gift cards at the airport-based coffee establishments.

I assisted the girls with their belongings as they unloaded themselves from the vehicle. A cooler bag that had been lazily stuffed with trash from some previous beach adventure(s) released itself of all it's contained melted-ice, beer-bottle caps, half-empty sunscreen bottles and other various forms of beach-amusement paraphernalia. Embarrassed by the attention that the sound of scattering things and unsightly rubbishes had brought me, I quickly gathered up the second-hand mess that I unknowingly inherited assisting the two with their luggage. We said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways. They were headed for paradise, and I was headed to normalcy.

I rejoined the stream of traffic, and was cautious of the chaos that airport arrivals and departures typically brought, becoming a little more hypo-aware. As I began to return to the the freeway, I remember thinking "damn, this guy is close..." as I looked in my rear-view, triggering a brief memory of a similar scenario when my Uncle Tito was at the wheel taking me home after one of my neighbor island gigs. ...but perhaps it was only just because I fell for the "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR" misperception. This ride home was probably one of the only times I had driven the car by myself. Alone. Serenity. I listened to the radio as I looked over the downtown skyline, noticing that the moon had taken second stage to the glow of the rising sun. More importantly, I noticed that one of them left a canteen full of coffee. Looks like they will be going to Starbucks, and I won't have to now.

I returned home with the neighborhood seemingly still asleep. I was up unusually early for a work day. I remember being as delicate as possible earlier that morning, loading the luggage into the car, trying my best not to wake the neighborhood. For a third time, I unlocked the apartment, and still had some menial things I wanted to do/finish on the computer before I began my morning work commute. Strategically, I left the ancient computer of mine running during my taxi service in order to shave off precious minutes of reboot time that old devices like this one suffer from. I received a peculiar message from my coworker I was to see less-than an hour later, which was kind of out of the ordinary... guess she was bring a loved-one whom I had never met -- only heard about -- to work with her today. A little more unordinary. Time stamp: 7:07 a.m.

By 7:30 a.m., I had completed what I needed to do on the computer and was on my way to work just like any other day. I was already wide-awake, and was self-assured I'd make it with time to spare, which always takes the stress off the trek, making me a little less of a societal-asshole than if I were a stressed systemic-procrastinator and "behind schedule" like everyone else. It was still quite cool, and I remember shivering, hoping that the sun would show itself soon and give me some warmth that my body couldn't generate for itself, even during the bike ride.

I arrived to work, and docked my bike at the sidewalk bike-locking rack. Timestamp, 7:56 a.m. I was early! Leizurily, I went to the nearby convenience store I regular for my much anticipated cup of coffee and morsel of sustenance. Today was different though, being that I had already drunk the travelers' forgotten coffee, I wasn't fiending for coffee, and wasn't at all hungry. I opted for a can of V8 juice, which I never really do for breakfast. Today was different though. I chose the empty cashier nearest the exit, the one that I have always perceived as the primary checkout stand. There she was, "NAME TAG", a shop clerk whom I see almost every day. We never really exchange any more words than what is professionally required of the two of us. Seems kind of strange being that I've been working here for 5 years and have never really have had more than a few stand out conversations with this person. Seems a little dehumanizing, but, maybe she's not a morning person like me, or maybe I'm just not an interesting person to want to talk to, maybe I'm anti-social? Or perhaps it was because I was raised by women and don't feel like it's my responsibility to initiate and encourage conversations? She counts the change out to me and says her ritualistic "save your receipt for free gifts" once we've finished our transaction.

Finally arriving at work, it's 8:03 a.m., and the co-worker(s) still haven't arrived. No big deal, I began to sloppily do the opening duties/rituals. Unlock door here, turn light on there, clock in, put my things away, etc. etc. etc. in no particular order. It wasn't long, and my co-worker arrives with her partner and she tells me that we have no bookings this morning. I immediately think of what kind of personal work I could get done with the morning...

8:07 a.m.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
Emergency Alert

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

"Missile... coming?" "Is this for real?" "What do we do?" We look at eachother. I think to myself: where are the air sirens? We need a radio! And we don't have much time if this is for real. I attempt to use the company computer to find an online radio of some sort as the others buried their faces and frantically clawed at their phones searching for answers on their handheld answer boxes that we commonly call as cell phones now. Experiencing the grudgingly-slow pace of a computer boot screen for a second time already today, I think to ask the taxi men at the hotel to use their car radio to tune into the AM stations. Of course, as destiny would have it, two tourists enter the shop completely unaware of the impending nuclear ending, looks like they want to go surfing. I'll leave that up to the co-worker who was late and brought their partner.

I jog over to the taxi's who of course are all foreign and very poor with English. I explain to them to turn on their car radios. Some of them saying they have no radios. ? Did you not see the message? Are you guys not concerned? Listen to the AM radio!

"THIS IS AN ALARM. STAY TUNED FOR WHAT TO DO."

? that's weird... an alarm versus an immediate seek shelter order. Should I believe a cellphone, or a radio station?

I return to the shop to find the two tourists still there insisting to us that this is a false alarm. "If CNN isn't televising it, then it's not real." they argue. Gosh, I would hate to be wrong if I were you. "We have a bunch of methods of shooting those things down. We're safe." Really? Where's your PHD in rocket science? And when have we ever had fully documented instances of repelling an impending ICBM travelling at 5,000 meters per second that we were not already informed of being launched?

I think to myself, there is no way that a news channel halfway around the world could get it together in time to broadcast to a community halfway around the world again, that there is or is not a missile traveling our way, it would be immediate services that would be informed. Police, Air Sirens, Radio, etc. I don't have time to have discussions with fact-check-free people feeling impervious because they're on vacation and believe things that they don't really know much about; only repeating what they're told.

I called my girlfriend, a traveler whom I had said goodbye to that morning. I told her, "go straight to my mom's house." I knew she wouldn't know what to do... Growing up on Kaua'i, there is always a looming awareness of missile threats. To say I hadn't thought of what it would be like if a missile were to be headed our way would be a lie. "Just get to my mom's house. I'm going to see if I can make it home."

Home. Where I always have at any given time enough food and water to survive for at least a month. Home base. Where I know where all my survival tools are. The fortress. Where I know I am in control of my destiny, and ultimate safer because of it. The bunker. It was too far away and I would not have enough time to get there lest I wanted to be vaporized and memorialized as a shadow etched into the wall of a mangled building. I suppose immediate shelter would be the shop. The place I've been working at for 5 years. Wow.

My sister called, and told me she loved me. Maybe this was the end? So sweet, but I thought to myself, don't worry about me, worry about yourself and the kids! I know you love me, and I hope that everything I say and do reflects that I actually love you all.

I decided to get in touch with hotel security one last time to see if they had a radio. They informed me that they had spoken with HPD earlier -- it was a false alarm. Really? I hope so. I returned to the shop to tell my coworkers that it had been a false alarm. What a relief.

8:43am. Shortly thereafter the two tourists returned to the shop. I guess they had left the shop too to find out what was really going on, but now they were back. One was very proud to say "I told you so!" But again, I'd really hate to be wrong if I were him. I remember thinking about reading testimonials of people who witnessed Pearl Harbor, and even 9/11 who were also saying and feeling like "nah... this isn't real." Anyway, I guess it was time to give a 9am surf lesson.

I did the surf lesson, we were in the water paddling out by 9:02 a.m. and it went well in spite of it's sobering nuclear-armageddon overtones. It was an especially beautiful day, and probably even more so after having quite the scare. I uncharacteristically unprofessionally shared a personal morbid thought with my client, a thought I typically have whenever I watch propeller airplanes fly overhead thinking of what it must of looked and felt like seeing a bunch of aircraft like that dropping bombs over pearl harbor just a dozen miles away or so. A location that I can see fairly well from where I'm at when I'm working almost every day. My imagination puts two and two together sometimes when I'm out there.

I started collecting my thoughts throughout the day of some of the other things I thought about during that intense 45 minutes this morning. I thought about how all my loved ones are not physically near to me, but always in my thoughts. I thought about how tragic and violent a nuclear reality could be. I thought about how trivial the events and thoughts I had in the early morning before the scare were.

A couple months ago there was a false air siren alarm that went off which gave me personally quite the scare too mainly because I was out at sea, no AM radio in sight out there haha. I guess for that one everyone had access to the "false alarm" information, but being that I wasn't anywhere near a communication device, I was concerned the air sirens were sounding on a day other than the "first working day of the month."

A very sobering experience to say the least.

The main takeaway; I need an AM radio.

The Holidays are Upon Us

I turn 30 in a few days. What a trip. Definitely not where I thought I'd be at this point in my life, but totally content with where I'm at, so that's cool.

Mighty Sprites did their first [open mic] gig (with singer chick in tow). We didn't do too shabby, and (with some mediocre video editing) we also got a little promo video to aid us in booking a gig... however, the guitar player left the band shortly thereafter, and so now we're set back again... sometimes I feel like being in a band is like a board game, and this case after moving forward 10 spaces, some circumstance has pushed us back 8 spaces. It's demoralizing at times, but for some reason I keep signing myself up for this. Insanity or love I don't really know if there's a difference sometimes haha.

Went ahead and bought my BRGA students their gifts, as well as everyone else on my santa list. 15 BRGA packs in total. Makes the tree look cool. They are slowly finding their rightful persons as the weeks come closer to the holidays. All my Christmas shopping is pretty much finished, I just have three more items for three more individuals and it's through!!

All systems were for my driver's license road test (making it the 4th road test I'd be taking), and I had ambitious plans for December, assuming I'd have driver's license in hand... but, on the day of my test I decided to double check the paperwork (which I usually do days in advance for things like this) and I found out that the vehicle I'd be using had an expired registration. It always seems to be that when I start to spin an ambitious web of tasks that requires someone else to be on top of their shit; it always seems to fail. Oh well. One expensive registration payment (in lieu of road test) later, I am now slated for my next road test at the end of the month now, pushing my plans from December to January, which I suppose is all for the better with how busy I'll be for December anyway. Just makes me look like I'm full of shit... I hate that.

I've been using a pair or recently purchased Guitarleles as an extremely convenient tool to practice guitar when either I'm unbooked/downtiming at surf school, or when my lover drags me to the beach. This thing is a million times better than a "Shredneck" and almost at the same price. I've been able to chart music at work and practice various things. It's been a huge technological advance for me in conjunction with my new headphones and tablet. Now I don't feel like my domestic life is pushing me away from my guitar life. It's a great feeling.

The last podcast I hosted, we tried to implement a live video stream of our show with little success. My friend had deduced that it was most likely my internet connection, so I went to test my internet speed and it was indeed very slow. From that, I decided that it might be time to switch providers or find a better deal and it turned out that my provider was offering an internet speed that was 10 times faster, for 10 dollars cheaper than what I was already paying! I immediately requested to be switched to this alternative and my internet has indeed become much better, and streamable, hoping to re-try the live stream to success next time. Very excited about this, and already the videos that I upload for my guitar students finish in minutes, versus hours like before. It's kind of amazing. Now I just need to upgrade this dinosaur of a laptop...

I also plan on rebranding the podcast being that there's already another N3 podcast out there... once I have finally have a re-brandable product, that's when it'll happen. Till then, it'll be the N3 podcast.

Anyway, that's about it. Had a few gigs with Shar, just been charting like a mad man really. Can't promise that I'll have a blog next month being that I'll be in the tail end of the holidays work-a-thon. Definitely February. Stay tuned.