Brett Favre and tshirts

I participated in the Koloa Plantations Days craft fair on Saturday, my first fair in six months. I had decided in 2007 to quit my handcrafted clothing business after 16 years. I still enjoy designing the shirts, receiving compliments, and meeting both new customers and loyal returning customers. I no longer enjoy the "back breaking" parts of the business: hours hunched over the sewing machine and the heavy lifting involved in setting up and breaking down craft fair booths.

In my excitement of making this life-altering decision I prematurely announced to everyone at my 2007 craft fairs my plans to quit. I did say at the time that I'll continue to do fairs to sell out my stock, but you know how people are, we tend to hear just the main part of an announcement. Unless you're a husband, of course...then you usually don't even hear the main part. Hehehe...

Annnnyway, everyone's reaction to seeing me at Koloa Days was "What?! You're here? I thought you said...." I was happy to see my fellow "crafters" (I'm not sure why , but I hate that term) and I suggested that I might be the Brett Favre of craft fairs. Well the reality is I have over 200 shirts in stock to sell and judging from the slow sales on Saturday, I'll be around for many more fairs. The lower tourist numbers and bad economical conditions impacted all of the vendors I spoke to at Saturday's fair.

We are certainly going through a transitional period no matter how you look at it. Our planet, our country, Hawaii, Kauai, my neighborhood, my household, and my own life are all experiencing major changes this year. It's a lit-tle scary, as though something "up there" has lined up. We can only hope that it's all 7's.

My Smokey Robinson Story

From what my readers have been telling me--hehe, "my readers" sounds pretty impressive, but for all you know it might be three very loyal friends-- many people start blogs and fail to maintain them. As Cousin Al said, "Make sure you take care of it and 'feed it' often."

Weeeelll I'm pretty busy this week, so I'll feed you a "re-broadcast" instead. I wrote this about 12 years ago, but it's pertinent because it's still a major story in my hermitesque life and also, we recently saw Smokey again after 12 years. So here's the story:

If you ever get a chance to see Smokey Robinson perform in person, don't miss it...you'll love him. And if you happen to sit up front in the first row, be forewarned...you'll FALL IN LOVE with him...anyway, that's what happened to me when I first saw him perform live in Las Vegas! Must be those green eyes??

Whatever it was, it turned me from a Smokey fan into a Smokey fanatic! I started buying every Smokey tape and CD I could find. I read Smokey's autobiography then other Motown biographies and books...they all fascinated me. In the 60's when Motown was at it's peak I was too busy being a Beatlemaniac to care much about Motown music, so this was all "new" to me...and fun!

I had two new purposes in life now:to see Smokey perform again and to MEET him. I decided to write to him to let him know how he touched my life and just as I finished the letter, I had this great idea. I bought one of those disposable cameras and sent it with the letter, a couple of goodies from Hawaii and a stamped self-addressed envelope. I asked him to please have someone snap a couple of pictures of him and mail me back the camera in the envelope (you have to make it convenient if you want a response!)

Well I didn't hear anything for almost two months so I figured that was that. Then one day while I was taking an afternoon nap the phone rang. It was Ivory Stone--Smokey's back-up singer for over 20 years now. I recognized her name immediately and wondered if I was dreaming. She told me they thought the camera was a great idea and she'd been snapping pics of him while on tour... but she'd lost the camera at O'Hare Airport! She promised to buy another one and send me the pics ASAP. After we hung up I was SO excited and wanted to tell someone about it. My dad, who was visiting me, had been outside in the yard and when he came into the house I blurted out the whole story. He told me "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" I said "Well, didn't you hear the phone ring?" He said no....ARRRGH! *LOL*

I waited very impatiently and finally THE PACKAGE arrived, full of goodies (tshirts, concert program, autographed 8X10, etc.) and THE PHOTOS!! Ivory explained that this had turned out to be a photo fiasco because after she had lost the first camera, the pictures she took with the second camera turned out badly and so she finally used a "real" camera and took a third roll. She sent me over a dozen pics of Smokey. Most of them showed him in different stage outfits, obviously she took a pic every night before he went onstage. It occurred to me that if she went through three rolls of film before she finally got a good set, then he had to pose about 30 times... OH MY GOD...he is a true prince to have put up with THAT!!! I had wanted him to remember me, but not as the fan that made him pose 30 times!! *LMAO*

I wrote back to Ivory to thank her for all her efforts and asked her to let me know when they'd be in Las Vegas again. A few months later she sent me a note saying they'd be there in March so my husband and I were able to plan another vacation to Vegas then. We ended up seeing Smokey's show 3 TIMES (I'm blessed with such a sweet, patient husband who puts up with my crazy whims *g*) and got to meet Smokey and Ivory backstage. My dream come true! He was exactly as I expected: gorgeous and unbelievably gracious--even when someone tried to "rescue" him from me because I was taking up too much of his time, he didn't rush off. He was very patient with me while I did my "Kathie Lee" bit, showing him a picture that my daughter drew, making him autograph it, etc. I will truly remember my Smokey Encounter for the rest of my life...but considering what I put him through, I think I'll give him a few years before I ever try meeting him again!!

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Well, I gave him 12 years and truth be told, when I found out he'd be performing at the Waikiki Shell, although I fully intended to attend the concert, I didn't feel it necessary to try to meet him again. Until...Jordan asked to meet him. As giving her as many unique experiences as we're able to is important to us, I felt obligated to make this happen for her. Luckily Ivory Stone had not moved and I was able to write her and again bribe her with dark chocolate mac nuts. Nah, she would've done it for nothing, she's such a nice person. She put me in touch with Smokey's manager and we were even offered free tickets (but I had already purchased them).

Smokey was even more amazing twelve years later. I urge you to see him perform if you get a chance. He is not a NARAS Living Legend for his past glories, he can still out-sing and out-entertain most young musicians popular today. What's more, he's a gracious prince of a man, not to mention gorgeous.

Unfortunately, we were at the end of the line to meet him at the Shell and his manager wanted to rush him off so although we got the photo clicked for Jordan's photo album, I didn't get a chance to remind him of how we met the first time. I'll never know if he had to pose 30 times for any other fan!

What do you think?

One day a couple of weeks ago I was looking at YouTube videos of different bon dances and came across a video taken at a bon dance in Kona. People were dancing to an Usher song (Usher is a popular contemporary R&B artist). One of my pet peeves is the Westernization of Bon Dance so I wrote a comment saying so. 

The other night while checking one of my many email boxes, I found that someone had replied to my comment explaining the origin and intent of having Usher played at a bon dance. Apparently it originated in a Honolulu temple and was created or supported by the temple's bishop: "Bishop Dean also received numerous complaint letters basically questioning why he would make a dance with 'that kind' of song. He basically shrugged them off saying if they don't like it, too bad because there were many deaths of young members of the church and he wanted to do something in their honor." 

 I appreciated that the emailer, a 23-year-old, took the time to explain this to me and it did make me feel a tiny bit more comfortable with the idea, but basically I'm still against Westernized music creeping into bon dance. This was my reply to him:  

Thanks for explaining the origin and intent of that dance. I feel slightly better knowing the motivation, but I still don't care for the precedent it may set. It's bad enough the way Western music is creeping into the mix, with "Beautiful Sunday", "Shiawase Samba," and the worst was "Elvira" which we saw in Honolulu. Ugh! It's very sad if this trend continues. Of course the first two are Japanese versions, but if each year brings another new Westernized song, when will it end? What's more, the dance choreography to these songs are also not traditional. On Kauai, where I am, the choreography to "Sunday" and "Samba" are mostly clapping, turning, and Western type footwork. It saddens me to see the older, traditional dances being replaced with what resembles Country Western line dancing. Maybe I'm reacting to bad, untraditional, and/or oversimplified choreography more than to the music itself. I'm not sure how the introduction of the Usher dance was handled, if people were still upset even knowing the purpose of it. It's unfortunate that controversy marred what should have been a happy occasion. Frankly I think someone should've anticipated what would happen and found some other way to honor the young who passed, rather than to choose that situation to "push the envelope" and annoy people. Being Buddhist, however, I try to see every perspective and understand there's no answer. I acknowledge that the Buddhist churches in Hawaii are facing a very uncertain future and I'm sure the leaders are struggling to find ways to get the youth involved and committed. IMHO, they should concentrate on attracting the 30 and 40-somethings because that's the age where people become more spiritually aware plus have the time and resources to support the church. Most younger people have too much living to do or they go off to college, etc. (That's how I first left my church and I never really returned until my 40's and only for bon dances and an occasional service). I'm sure that many church leaders are torn between mimicking the Christian methods of attracting the young and remaining true to their Buddhist principles. 

I'm a bit torn between wanting to cling to tradition and accepting inevitable change. On one hand I want to say, "Hey, did you see our generation introducing disco music into bon dance? Nope! Surely there was a year where several of our young peers passed away. Did we insist on bringing the BeeGees into the ring?" In Buddhism, life's transient nature is a core understanding as is acceptance, so it would be "un-Buddhist" of me to expect things not to change. I don't think, however, that it is "un-Buddhist" to be a bit bummed. To comment, click right below this entry where you see "comment". 

Tonight we went to see "Hancock." I went in knowing that this movie was rated low on RottenTomatoes.com In my experience a highly praised movie doesn't necessarily mean I'll like it. (And yet I always check out their tomato-meter before seeing a movie...duh!) I liked the movie, although I do agree with the critics that the movie took a weird turn. At my age, however, I appreciate unpredictable plots and dislike formula "I saw THAT coming!" movies. I forget those two days after seeing them. I'm off to bed!

I'm fighting a cold that Jordan gave me. She had her last day of school after 17 years of schooling (from age 3) on Friday and would you believe she came down with a cold that morning? She was all set to go out to wait for the bus when suddenly she said she was sick and had to run to throw up. I went out to the bus to tell them she was sick and wouldn't go to school. I wondered if it was psychosomatic, but she DID have a slight fever. Imagine, on her very last day! They had a little party planned for her too! I think I was more heartbroken than she was. I wasn't the only one, though. Luckily her personal aide, Bonnie, felt the same way and since Jordan wanted to go, we decided to let her attend class for the last hour. Jordan was happy, her teacher was happy. (Although she had to be careful not to spread her germs, let's face it, she probably got the cold germ from school in the first place!) At this time, I would like to thank the makers of ZICAM. Our family has been using this wonder drug for years and it works consistently. It often stops an oncoming cold in it's tracks (if you use it early enough) or at the very least, shortens the length/severity of a cold. Try it, you'll thank me! NOW I'm off to bed!

29th Wedding Anniversary

There are so many things I want to write about, but I'm selecting the topic of marriage today since we just had our 29th wedding anniversary a few days ago. You know, we got married on Ringo Starr's birthday. Just thought I'd throw that in. It could be loosely relevant because well, I consider him the funny Beatle and he's the oldest Beatle and the least controversial. I think our marriage is all that. Oh and another thing. We got married on 7-7-79. darn it's really too bad we didn't get married two years earlier! I'm sure we would've been much luckier in Vegas over the past 29 years.

When someone asked me what the secret was to our long marriage, I replied "We're two very tolerant people." I was joking, but now when I think about it, isn't it the truth? What two people are so perfect that tolerance is never necessary at some point? Love is not enough, sorry to tell you. Acceptance, a sense of humor, and commitment are mandatory. This is why I sometimes question the institution of marriage. It's NOT natural, it's man-made. Like everything man-made, there are advantages and disadvantages. Take shoes, for instance: they protect your feet and keep them warm, but can cause bunions, foot odor, and often are hard to dance in.

Marriage enables a partnership which promotes better upbringing of children and it provides love, comfort and friendship; but it can also cause financial problems, high blood pressure, and some husbands don't take you dancing. *LOL*

In my case, my husband has the high blood pressure and takes me dancing. Seriously, however, marriage can be restrictive if not handled carefully. I may bemoan his being unromantic and point to a guy on TV proposing to his girl on a moonlit balcony in Paris, but at least he never tries to suppress my creativity or public expression of unconventional views (such as those found in blogs) and he tolerates my overanalyticalitis. Any man who would take his wife to see Smokey Robinson on three consecutive nights in Las Vegas is marriage-worthy in my book.

Lastly, I would like to stress the importance of complementing each other. Too often we are given the impression that for a marriage to be successful, you must be soulmates with a singular mind. One of my favorite funny quotes is Woody Allen's "I would never want to belong to a club that would have me as a member." Not sure if that's totally relevant but I love that quote. Sometimes when two people are alike it can be disastrous. Imagine two vain people in a bathroom with one mirror! Or two people who love to eat the turkey neck...or butt? Surefire ingredients to a rocky marital road!

Years ago I was criticizing someone's childrearing methods. Unfortunately, "Supernanny" wasn't around or she'd have proven me right. That person said "Well, you're lucky. Jordan's an easy child!" It never occurred to them that maaaaybe, just maybe, their child was difficult BECAUSE they were spoiling him and that Jordan was "easy" because I was studiously following John Rosemond's advice. So some may say "Well you're lucky you found each other, that's why your marriage lasted." Maaaaybe, just maybe it's not only about luck but also that we are simply two people who are smart enough to understand that married life can be great if you're committed, learn to accept, have a sense of humor, and go dancing once in a while.

Everybody Have Fun Tonight...Everybody Bon Dance Tonight!

I just love attending and participating in bon dances (bon odori) every summer. In brief, bon dances are a Japanese Buddhist tradition and in Hawaii, take place at a different Buddhist church every weekend from June through early August. There are just enough churches on Kauai so that there is one bon dance going on twice each weekend (Friday and Saturday nights) for ten weekends, so a true bon-addict can attend them all if so inclined. I'm pretty sure there are people who attend 20 each summer because it seems that every time I go to a bon dance I see the same people. Either that or they're thinking the same thing: "That lady must go to EVERY bon dance because I see her at every one I go to!" *LOL* Actually, we attend maybe 10 nights per summer.

I can't think of anything like a bon dance, although I'm sure there must be similar traditions in other cultures that provide a comparable experience. The beauty of the bon dance tradition in Hawaii is not limited to the beauty of the tradition itself: dancers in colorful garb happily dancing around a wooden tower on a balmy moonlit night, paper lanterns swaying--ok let's not think of the occasional termite swarm. The beauty is also in the sharing and integration you're guaranteed to experience.

First of all, you'll notice that the dancers are not just Japanese. Bon dance has evolved into a Hawaiian tradition and consequently you'll see people of all ethnic backgrounds participating. Many of the non-Japanese know the dance routines well, but newbies are also welcomed to join in. No one needs to feel self-conscious. On Kauai, there's this one Japanese guy who dances like he's at a disco, never attempting to learn the routines and rarely even dancing with the flow of the circle. Ok, no one doubts he is probably mentally ill, but he is not ridiculed or asked to leave. Of course when I see him nearby it throws off my concentration and makes me miss a step or two, but it gives me a chuckle.

Another beauty of bon dance is that all ages are represented in the ring. Adorable toddlers decked out in teeny tiny yukatas follow their moms or dads, stopping occasionally to stare up at the lanterns, at the other dancers, or to watch the drummers. Groups of teens, male and female, jostle each other as they invariably head for the innermost circle (Why is that? My guess is typical of teens, they don't want to be seen too easily so they go to the inside to hide). Grandmas are well-represented, of course, and a few grandpas, too.

My very favorite people to watch at bon dances are the tourists and obvious newbies. I love that they're eager to participate, and it's fun watching them concentrate on imitating the movements of the seasoned dancers. When you look at someone willing to look silly to learn a "foreign" dance, you're looking at a person enthusiastically embracing cultural diversity. That's a beautiful sight.

One of my mottos is "It's all about energy," and at a bon dance, you get a healthy dose of good energy. I swear that the steady beat of the taiko drums is somehow in sync to my "bio" rhythm. You don't have to dance in the ring to get it. Dozens of people are playing carnival type games, buying food at the food booths, or shopping at the church's white elephant sale. Dozens more sit around the ring watching the dancers, "talking story" with friends, and enjoying the favorite bon dance fare: teriyaki meat on sticks, flying saucers (round toasted bread filled with sloppy joe style beef), shaved ice, andagi (doughnut balls), and saimin noodles. I said you get a "healthy dose of good energy", not a "good dose of healthy food." I tell myself the healthy energy makes up for the not-so-healthy food.

So if you get a chance to visit a bon dance, take your camera, a few dollars, your folding chair, and your smile. You'll be using them all and loving it.

Waaaaaaall E

We went to see Wall-E tonight. First of all there was a nice surprise from the very beginning because Jordan and I just love "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from "Hello Dolly"! And then a few minutes later they played "La Vie En Rose"....of course not Edith Piaf's version, but pretty cool also since Jordan loves EP.

The movie was fun and cute, but of course I had my usual questions afterwards to which my hubby replied, "It's a cartoon." Yeh but....

What were those fat people eating for 700 years?!?!
Why must they land in the CITY!?!?
How did Eva get separated from the plant in the first place!!?!
Where were the kids and teenagers?!?!
Why didn't I see any fat Asian people!!?!

Hmm, I would love to see a PREQUEL to Wall-E.


If you like to read murder mysteries, and want to laugh out loud, read the Monk books by Lee Goldberg. I haven't been able to watch "Monk" on TV regularly, but still, it's one of my favorite programs. I love just about every detective/lawyer program, especially the ones that don't waste time visiting the personal lives of the detectives and lawyers. If I cared about their personal lives I'd watch soap operas. Just solve the damned murder! Stop worrying about your beautiful hair and cleavage too (CSI Miami). Oh and please TURN ON THE LIGHTS (CSI Las Vegas). I love to watch the process and I want to be able to SEE it. What's funny is that on Law & Order, they don't seem to need CSI's to solve their cases, and on CSI, they don't need police to solve theirs. Gee whiz, don't they watch each others' shows?

Before I go to bed, I would like to say Aloha to our Mayor Bryan Baptiste. I really trusted and liked this man. I often marveled at how he seemed to be such a quiet and almost shy person for a mayor. He got elected without being a "politician" that campaigned aggressively and verbosely, but just worked hard and quietly. That's what it seemed like to me, anyway. I'd see him at every big craft fair I participated in on Kauai. He'd walk through the tent quietly and nod and say hi with such a humble air. I feel very sad and can't help feeling that the stresses our island put upon him was unhealthy for him: the homeless problem, Superferry fiasco, bike path issue, overdevelopment, slowing economy, on and on. Thank you, Bryan Baptiste, I don't doubt that you gave your life for our island.

Blogging for the first time...

Ok this is officially my blog. I'm thinking there must be a million or more blogs out there so why would anyone want to read this? I write long emails to my friends and I THINK they enjoy them and guess what.. I enjoy reading them myself! SO even if no one else reads this, I've got an audience of at least one..in a million!

So please, if you do read this, say hi in a comment so I'll know at least two of us are reading me.

Today's topic is ....ohhhh kind of negative. Maybe I should change topics because who wants to start out negatively? I wanted to vent about how we went to watch the fireworks in Lihue and parked in the Ace Hardware parking lot. On each side of us were annoying, inconsiderate people. What a pity because until these people arrived, everything was so pleasant. Each of these parties were young families. To our left, a young family with three little boys were playing fireworks. Not only is that illegal because the boys were underage (the oldest looked 8) and looked like an accident waiting to happen, but they were in a parking lot with cars passing by them, making rubbish, and taking advantage of Ace's hospitality. After all, Ace could've blocked their entrance and none of us (40 or more cars) would've been able to park there. I was very tempted to go and say my piece to the young dad, but didn't want to be the scolding old lady. I considered calling the police, but just then it started to rain and everyone got back into their cars.

The other young group on our right wasn't breaking any laws, but one young lady began taking flash pictures when the fireworks started... pointing the camera towards us viewers. She was taking photos of her friends watching the fireworks. Ok, I wouldn't have minded a few photos, no big deal. The flash was so distracting as we're trying to watch the fireworks and it's amazing that her friends didn't discourage her after she'd taken about twenty photos of six people. I am not exaggerating. Somewhere out there you might find 20 photos online of 6 people sitting on a blanket watching something.

One of my biggest pet peeves is inconsideration. It's so BASIC to be considerate of others, or so you would think. You know.. GOLDEN RULE? Hello, that's a Western concept so these two young groups should've heard of it. What's so difficult to understand? Maybe they don't know the word "UNTO". That IS a bit old-fashioned and knowing the illiteracy rate these days, we really should have it officially changed to something simpler like maybe plain old "TO". So people please, "Do TO others as you would have them do TO you."

So ok, getting back to the first topic of my blogging. It should be something positive and fun. Oh hey, did you know that Benji Schwimmer, who won So You Think You Can Dance, was on Kauai a few weeks ago? Awwww I wish I could've seen him. Now he is one fun and positive guy, from what I know of him. What a pleasure to see him dance! Thank goodness for YouTube, go and watch him there.

Well it's very late, 1:30 a.m. and according to Ayurvedic medicine, I again missed the optimum sleeping time of day (night), which is 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. That is when your body should be resting and healing itself. Instead this body is up typing a blog that possibly just one person will read.

Aloha for now!!