Who are John and Katie?! I kept hearing their names on ET the other night while not watching. I do a lot of TV listening. I finally gathered that they're a couple on a reality show that I never watch or heard of. Oh well. I'm only one person, I can't be expected to know every "celebrity" out there. It's bad enough that there are thousands of celebrities, now we must contend with real-ebrities, those reality TV people. Give us a break!
On the other hand--if nothing else, I'm a queen of perspective--why shouldn't "ordinary" people be considered celebrities. Why should only actors or musicians or models or athletes or political figures or TV newspeople or authors or doctors or lawyers or or or....get to be rich and famous anyway? Honestly! There are a lot of wonderful people out there who are more deserving.
On this Memorial Day (ok, I'm a day late...see blog below for "Procrastinah, crastinah...")--of course I remember my Dad, but I remember him EVERY day--for some reason I remembered Mr. Tanga. He was one of my bosses at my first job when I was 17. Obviously being a lowly office clerk I had several bosses, but Richard Tanga was the "bossiest." I must acknowledge my granduncle (or is it great uncle?), Tadashi Kato, who got me the job (the first and last time I ever benefited from nepotism) and looking back, it was a terrific job to have as a first (invoice clerk at Davenroy Drycleaners). Uncle Kato was the accountant/office manager and a benevolent, competent boss who supervised me from two doors down and taught me my various tasks, but it was Mr. Tanga, a real "character", who supervised the department for which I made invoices and taught me more memorable lessons.
At first I was a bit taken aback by his gruff manner, but I quickly became used to his forthright style and sometimes unconventional antics. He would grab a metal wastebasket and straddle it as his chair, light a cigarette and start crooning a tune. He'd give me advice while making observations about the many laundry deliverymen such as "You have to watch out for the quiet ones, Colleen." Sure enough, one day out of the blue, the quietest one shocked me by asking me for a date. There were other bits of advice that stayed with me for the past 40 years such as "you don't need an alarm clock, just tell yourself to wake up at a certain time," or "Every morning when I wake up, I drink a glass of warm water, that's why I don't get sick." "Finish the job, finish the job!" he'd scold me if I did something "half-assed". I have mimicked Mr. T. to my hub on occasion, I admit.
Looking back, I see now that he was my first mentor and the first adult to speak frankly to me on an adult level and I wish I could've thanked him for that. I can't remember everything he told me over those 2-3 years, but yet his whole attitude influenced me in a positive way, most of all his sense of humor and his no-BS frankness. Although we never crossed paths after I quit Davenroy almost 40 years ago, I have always regarded him as a memorable character and an important influence in my life.
We should all hope that we, who are not even real-ebrities, can somehow make a positive and lasting impression on a young person and are remembered fondly for the rest of his or her life. Who knows, they might even blog about you 40 years from now.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Music Break
I should be looking through cookbooks for something to serve tomorrow at our "ladies' luncheon". Being a procrastinator, I'm instead writing on my blog. I'm in a happy mood because last week it finally occurred to me (about time!) that I can connect my PDA--which is filled with my favorite music--to the stereo amplifier. No more messing with changing CD's! Ah the small pleasures in my life.
For 5-6 hours I'm able to annoy the neighbors with my eclectic selection of favorites in crazy random order. Leona Lewis singing "Better With Time," followed by a Bollywood song or Cheb Mami, then Smokey Robinson's "Moody's Mood for Love," followed by the crazy wild UK bhangra hit "Baddest Ruffest", then some obscure old British 1960's pop like "Tell Him" by Billie Davis, "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto, then Bobby Caldwell, of course, and Keane, Coldplay, and John Ondrasik.
I'm not trying to annoy the neighbors, of course, but if they're like me, they'd probably not care to listen to other people's music. Music is best when you're sitting in the middle of it and you've chosen every song. The farther you get from the source, the less its appeal. It almost ceases to be "music" when it's across the street...and if it's in a foreign language that probably doubles the annoyance (with the exception of, perhaps, Hawaiian, which technically is NOT a foreign language). In the year following 9-11, I wondered if the neighbors would turn me in to the FBI when I played Middle Eastern music. Would they even know Arabic if they heard it? I had an explanation ready: the Taliban would never sanction such music and in fact has been known to execute musicians. So there.
I especially enjoy playing lesser-known (in Hawaii) and under-appreciated songs/artists. I have this vision of someone knocking on my door. I warily crack open the jalousies to peek out and it's a vaguely familiar looking man/woman saying, "I was just passing by and wanted to thank you for playing my song! Would you like my autograph?" *LOOOOOOL*
Well I did get some indirect appreciation a while ago. I put one of my crazy mixes on a CD for Jordan and she took it to PACE (now Fun Fitness), her exercise club. Bonnie, her aide, reported later that there's a lady they often see exercising there and she always looks very solemn. It was a rare occasion that Jordan was allowed to play her CD and suddenly the lady broke into a big smile and on her way out, told Bonnie that she was from Egypt and was so happy and surprised to hear Hisham Abbas singing "Nari Nareen." She should be my neighbor.
Uh oh, I was humming "Womanizer" and somehow I could hear Britney singing "Procrastinatah, 'crastinatah, you're a procrastinatah...Who you tryin to fool, I know exactly what you are, are are are..." Time to get back to work/cleaning/looking for recipes.
For 5-6 hours I'm able to annoy the neighbors with my eclectic selection of favorites in crazy random order. Leona Lewis singing "Better With Time," followed by a Bollywood song or Cheb Mami, then Smokey Robinson's "Moody's Mood for Love," followed by the crazy wild UK bhangra hit "Baddest Ruffest", then some obscure old British 1960's pop like "Tell Him" by Billie Davis, "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto, then Bobby Caldwell, of course, and Keane, Coldplay, and John Ondrasik.
I'm not trying to annoy the neighbors, of course, but if they're like me, they'd probably not care to listen to other people's music. Music is best when you're sitting in the middle of it and you've chosen every song. The farther you get from the source, the less its appeal. It almost ceases to be "music" when it's across the street...and if it's in a foreign language that probably doubles the annoyance (with the exception of, perhaps, Hawaiian, which technically is NOT a foreign language). In the year following 9-11, I wondered if the neighbors would turn me in to the FBI when I played Middle Eastern music. Would they even know Arabic if they heard it? I had an explanation ready: the Taliban would never sanction such music and in fact has been known to execute musicians. So there.
I especially enjoy playing lesser-known (in Hawaii) and under-appreciated songs/artists. I have this vision of someone knocking on my door. I warily crack open the jalousies to peek out and it's a vaguely familiar looking man/woman saying, "I was just passing by and wanted to thank you for playing my song! Would you like my autograph?" *LOOOOOOL*
Well I did get some indirect appreciation a while ago. I put one of my crazy mixes on a CD for Jordan and she took it to PACE (now Fun Fitness), her exercise club. Bonnie, her aide, reported later that there's a lady they often see exercising there and she always looks very solemn. It was a rare occasion that Jordan was allowed to play her CD and suddenly the lady broke into a big smile and on her way out, told Bonnie that she was from Egypt and was so happy and surprised to hear Hisham Abbas singing "Nari Nareen." She should be my neighbor.
Uh oh, I was humming "Womanizer" and somehow I could hear Britney singing "Procrastinatah, 'crastinatah, you're a procrastinatah...Who you tryin to fool, I know exactly what you are, are are are..." Time to get back to work/cleaning/looking for recipes.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Printer Kauai Sis
Although my life is basically boring, there are times I think it would make a great sitcom. Things happen that are often extremely amusing and/or ironic that I wonder if I'm a puppet of some wiseass screenwriter "up there".
Today I spent an hour composing a letter to a friend. She's one of a couple of friends I have who stubbornly refuse to email. She's also one of my closest friends-- although not physically since she lives on another island--so I'm determined to keep connected. As usual, at the end of the letter I begged her to start emailing since I KNOW she has email at work and has no restrictions against it. I wrote, and I quote: "....when are you going to let me email you? You have no idea how much effort this is to write this way...now I gotta go plug into the printer, get a piece of paper, print...find an envelope and stamp..go out to the mailbox. OMIGOD so much work!"
So I then unplug my laptop and resignedly trudge over to the printer in another room. Plug in the printer into the power strip, plug the printer into the laptop, and get out some paper. Brilliant me, I thought TO SAVE PAPER, I'll select "print on both sides." What a joke.
After it printed on one side, it stopped and I couldn't figure out how to get the second page to print. I'll save you the boredom of reading the play-by-play and just say that I ended up restarting the laptop 2 times, changing the ink cartridge, and using 4 sheets of paper instead of one. It took me over 30 minutes.
And I hadn't even looked for an envelope and stamp yet!!!
Today I spent an hour composing a letter to a friend. She's one of a couple of friends I have who stubbornly refuse to email. She's also one of my closest friends-- although not physically since she lives on another island--so I'm determined to keep connected. As usual, at the end of the letter I begged her to start emailing since I KNOW she has email at work and has no restrictions against it. I wrote, and I quote: "....when are you going to let me email you? You have no idea how much effort this is to write this way...now I gotta go plug into the printer, get a piece of paper, print...find an envelope and stamp..go out to the mailbox. OMIGOD so much work!"
So I then unplug my laptop and resignedly trudge over to the printer in another room. Plug in the printer into the power strip, plug the printer into the laptop, and get out some paper. Brilliant me, I thought TO SAVE PAPER, I'll select "print on both sides." What a joke.
After it printed on one side, it stopped and I couldn't figure out how to get the second page to print. I'll save you the boredom of reading the play-by-play and just say that I ended up restarting the laptop 2 times, changing the ink cartridge, and using 4 sheets of paper instead of one. It took me over 30 minutes.
And I hadn't even looked for an envelope and stamp yet!!!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mother's Day and Economy Kauai Sis
Uh oh, this blog is experiencing a KauaiSis of its own, being so badly neglected. Cousin Al warned me!!
Well while Leonardo sits watching the rather inane "Hulk" movie, I'm ordering photos online for my mom on this, my 21st Mother's Day. A mother's work is never done!!!! How come the father gets to sit in front of the TV and the mother has to work? Ok, I admit this morning I lay in bed reading and dozing until 11 a.m. while he was at work.
My Mother's Day celebration included a visit to Border's and a "tall" cup of Java Chip Frappucino from Starbucks. You see, here is yet another reason America is in a sorry state these days: they call that cup a "Tall"...like we the consumers are idiots and don't realize it's really small. Just like the way they put less tissue on the toilet paper rolls then make "Double Rolls" like we're such idiots we'll be impressed. OR putting less Vienna Sausages in the cans, or less tuna, shrunken ice cream cartons, etc. ad nauseum. So the question is, are the majority of American shoppers really idiots or are we becoming idiots because the marketers who come up with these sneaky "let's fool the consumers" ideas treat us this way?
Where was I? Oh yes, Borders. We hadn't been to Borders in a few months and perhaps because our shopping habits reflect the public's in general, Borders Music has definitely gone downhill. The selection of CD's is dangerously beginning to resemble WalMart's crappy selection. Not one Bobby Caldwell CD! Whoa! They totally lost some sales today. In the past, Leonard would always end up with some new Jazz CD in his clutches (which I would try to talk him out of saying "I can order that online for cheaper!). Today, to my surprise, he had NOTHING clutched. They've removed those listening stations and now you can listen at the "search" stations. This may be more efficient, but does not encourage impulse buying, IMHO. Ironically today we were armed with gift cards and I was prepared to make purchases rather than come home to order on Amazon Marketplace. Toooo bad for Borders, they lost out except for Jordan's one purchase of "Brazilian Groove".
After "helping" Borders with Jordan's $11 purchase ($14.99 less 30% off coupon), we proceeded to Long's, Costco, and WalMart to "help" their bottomlines too. And lest you think we're only helping the "big guys", we went to Hong Kong Cafe for my Mother's Day dinner. Ron and Laura Wiley were there, by the way. Which reminds me, I got a big thrill a couple of weeks ago while flipping through the Kauai People tabloid. There was Ron wearing my Koi Shirt, posing with Senator Dan Inouye and his wife. Way cool!!! This is the second time Ron's been in the newspaper with this same shirt. He owns several of my shirts, but I'm guessing this is his fave. (FYI Ron Wiley is Kauai's #1 radio personality.) (See below)
After dinner we visited Blockbuster to give them a hand (I hear they're near bankruptcy!). I rented "Religulous" (so sue me, I'm a Bill Maher fan), George Carlin (*sob* I can't believe he's gone), and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (I have this very strange attraction to Russell Brand!). Hubby rented "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Hulk". I'd say you can tell a lot about us from those two last sentences right there. *LOOOOOOOOL* (I think I hear Karen laughing!)
Well while Leonardo sits watching the rather inane "Hulk" movie, I'm ordering photos online for my mom on this, my 21st Mother's Day. A mother's work is never done!!!! How come the father gets to sit in front of the TV and the mother has to work? Ok, I admit this morning I lay in bed reading and dozing until 11 a.m. while he was at work.
My Mother's Day celebration included a visit to Border's and a "tall" cup of Java Chip Frappucino from Starbucks. You see, here is yet another reason America is in a sorry state these days: they call that cup a "Tall"...like we the consumers are idiots and don't realize it's really small. Just like the way they put less tissue on the toilet paper rolls then make "Double Rolls" like we're such idiots we'll be impressed. OR putting less Vienna Sausages in the cans, or less tuna, shrunken ice cream cartons, etc. ad nauseum. So the question is, are the majority of American shoppers really idiots or are we becoming idiots because the marketers who come up with these sneaky "let's fool the consumers" ideas treat us this way?
Where was I? Oh yes, Borders. We hadn't been to Borders in a few months and perhaps because our shopping habits reflect the public's in general, Borders Music has definitely gone downhill. The selection of CD's is dangerously beginning to resemble WalMart's crappy selection. Not one Bobby Caldwell CD! Whoa! They totally lost some sales today. In the past, Leonard would always end up with some new Jazz CD in his clutches (which I would try to talk him out of saying "I can order that online for cheaper!). Today, to my surprise, he had NOTHING clutched. They've removed those listening stations and now you can listen at the "search" stations. This may be more efficient, but does not encourage impulse buying, IMHO. Ironically today we were armed with gift cards and I was prepared to make purchases rather than come home to order on Amazon Marketplace. Toooo bad for Borders, they lost out except for Jordan's one purchase of "Brazilian Groove".
After "helping" Borders with Jordan's $11 purchase ($14.99 less 30% off coupon), we proceeded to Long's, Costco, and WalMart to "help" their bottomlines too. And lest you think we're only helping the "big guys", we went to Hong Kong Cafe for my Mother's Day dinner. Ron and Laura Wiley were there, by the way. Which reminds me, I got a big thrill a couple of weeks ago while flipping through the Kauai People tabloid. There was Ron wearing my Koi Shirt, posing with Senator Dan Inouye and his wife. Way cool!!! This is the second time Ron's been in the newspaper with this same shirt. He owns several of my shirts, but I'm guessing this is his fave. (FYI Ron Wiley is Kauai's #1 radio personality.) (See below)
After dinner we visited Blockbuster to give them a hand (I hear they're near bankruptcy!). I rented "Religulous" (so sue me, I'm a Bill Maher fan), George Carlin (*sob* I can't believe he's gone), and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (I have this very strange attraction to Russell Brand!). Hubby rented "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Hulk". I'd say you can tell a lot about us from those two last sentences right there. *LOOOOOOOOL* (I think I hear Karen laughing!)
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