"The past is all we know of the future." The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, p240.
If this is indeed true, how can we build new pathways of life? The possibility could be hinged to the Japanese proverb. "I tell you one thing and you will know 10 things." Adaptation based on a given
I am always amazed by the extents to which people will resort to to avoid change."I never travel beyong the bridge before the Panaewa stretch." heard by a woman who is now living in Volcano.
"What's that?" said an UH Manoa English professor who had lived in Hawai'i for 20 years when faced with onigiri sushi.
"The best thing about being a competitive swimmer is to feel like you are about to die and find out that you can survive the heart-pounding, oxygen-deprived body shock and live," said an all-around high school golden boy.
Live!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Ain't it the truth?
Just finished reading the novel, The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Thought I'd do some light reading to just let loose and it was a good fun read. In fact, I got up at 3:40 this morning and read until the alarm rang.
Samantha Sweeting, a high-powered lawyer, is working hard to become a partner. Her life was work, work, work!!! Not even time to look outside her window. Then disaster happens. She made a mistake and is fired!! In desperation, she madly escapes the city and finds herself in a small farming community in who knows where.
Her life takes a drastic change. Through a misunderstanding, she changes her occupation and poses to be something she is NOT. (Not competent, not knowledgeable, not capable!)
A handsome gardener (of course) helps her transition and she learns that money, status, and power are not all they are cracked up to be.
This is a really sweet beach read for those women who are working too hard, carrying too much responsibility, trying to do too much, being someone they really don't want to be!! When the book ends, the corners of your mouth will reach upward. Guaranteed.
Samantha Sweeting, a high-powered lawyer, is working hard to become a partner. Her life was work, work, work!!! Not even time to look outside her window. Then disaster happens. She made a mistake and is fired!! In desperation, she madly escapes the city and finds herself in a small farming community in who knows where.
Her life takes a drastic change. Through a misunderstanding, she changes her occupation and poses to be something she is NOT. (Not competent, not knowledgeable, not capable!)
A handsome gardener (of course) helps her transition and she learns that money, status, and power are not all they are cracked up to be.
This is a really sweet beach read for those women who are working too hard, carrying too much responsibility, trying to do too much, being someone they really don't want to be!! When the book ends, the corners of your mouth will reach upward. Guaranteed.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Power and Politics
Today is Election Day and the polls are full of people. The Mountain View Senior Citizens location was populated by a mixed bag of people. The Volcano polling site was filled with gray haired people, the proverbial Gray Panthers. Where are the young voters? Probably in Hilo watching their kids' sunrise to sunset series of soccer games.
I wonder why people want to get into politics. I don't think it is for the money. I don't think it is for the prestige as some politicians are plagued by naysayers, backstabbers, and stinging critics. It may be for the power if some of the politicians live long enough to survive the onslaught of crises.
I don't think I want to be a politician. I don't want people looking at my life through a microscope. I don't always want to be dressed up and on my best behavior for every minute of my life outside my home. I don't want to deal with crackpots. I don't want to live my life for others...I've already wasted my children's youth taking care of other people's children in school.
I do like to get things done. I do like to see positive change. Rather than entering politics, I can support people who have an honest and positive work ethic. Then I can read the paper, expound on the working of government to my heart's delight, write an email or two to get my candidate on the straight and narrow and have the best of both worlds.
With age comes wisdom.
I wonder why people want to get into politics. I don't think it is for the money. I don't think it is for the prestige as some politicians are plagued by naysayers, backstabbers, and stinging critics. It may be for the power if some of the politicians live long enough to survive the onslaught of crises.
I don't think I want to be a politician. I don't want people looking at my life through a microscope. I don't always want to be dressed up and on my best behavior for every minute of my life outside my home. I don't want to deal with crackpots. I don't want to live my life for others...I've already wasted my children's youth taking care of other people's children in school.
I do like to get things done. I do like to see positive change. Rather than entering politics, I can support people who have an honest and positive work ethic. Then I can read the paper, expound on the working of government to my heart's delight, write an email or two to get my candidate on the straight and narrow and have the best of both worlds.
With age comes wisdom.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Who's the Monster in Frankenstein
Our book club read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley this time around. Remember reading Frankenstein as a kid so revisiting the book after decades has been an interesting journey. Here are things that I learned in the revisitation.
1. Mary Shelley wrote the book when she was about 19 years old as part of a writing exercise with other writers. Another person in the group wrote a book, The Vampire. Judging by the current trend of vampires, werewolves and such on the movie screens these days, I'd say what they wrote has lasting appeal.
2. There are words in the book that I didn't know and will have to look up. Identifying the new words is okay but looking the words up...that will be a drudgery but I assigned it to kids for decades so I should just do it without whining!!
3. The question remains after all the decades: Who is the monster in the novel, Frankenstein? Is it the creator Victor Frankenstein or is it the nameless creature? My opinion is that Victor was pretty much of a jerk to have created the creature and then spurn him so completely. What was he thinking? Why didn't he start with a smaller creature to try his experiment on? He wanted to play God and yet he could not face up to his responsibility of bringing new life to the world. Sounds like some other irresponsible and immature jerks I have known in my life. What's up with that?
Really enjoyed and appreciated the book. There were revelations and understanding. Allusions abound in the novel...for a lit major, it is like finding gold in a dusty mine...Ah...Rime of the Ancient Mariner...Paradise Lost...Prometheus...and so on. It is great to read the old school novels to see character development, dialogue, and description painstakingly built.
Wonder what we will read for our next selection.
1. Mary Shelley wrote the book when she was about 19 years old as part of a writing exercise with other writers. Another person in the group wrote a book, The Vampire. Judging by the current trend of vampires, werewolves and such on the movie screens these days, I'd say what they wrote has lasting appeal.
2. There are words in the book that I didn't know and will have to look up. Identifying the new words is okay but looking the words up...that will be a drudgery but I assigned it to kids for decades so I should just do it without whining!!
3. The question remains after all the decades: Who is the monster in the novel, Frankenstein? Is it the creator Victor Frankenstein or is it the nameless creature? My opinion is that Victor was pretty much of a jerk to have created the creature and then spurn him so completely. What was he thinking? Why didn't he start with a smaller creature to try his experiment on? He wanted to play God and yet he could not face up to his responsibility of bringing new life to the world. Sounds like some other irresponsible and immature jerks I have known in my life. What's up with that?
Really enjoyed and appreciated the book. There were revelations and understanding. Allusions abound in the novel...for a lit major, it is like finding gold in a dusty mine...Ah...Rime of the Ancient Mariner...Paradise Lost...Prometheus...and so on. It is great to read the old school novels to see character development, dialogue, and description painstakingly built.
Wonder what we will read for our next selection.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Forbidden Luxuries
Have you ever had the feeling that your free moments were a luxury that was not to be? You are feeling carefree and invigorated by just being able to take a breath, perhaps sit in the sunshine and feel the breezes whisper past you? This is too good to be true, you think to yourself. Oh well, enjoy the moment!!
Then CRASH!!! BOOM!!! GAZOOM!!!! Hours later, you find out that the time you had luxuriating should have been spent at a meeting or doing something that was due? Bummer to the maximum!!
In my old age, I am finding that time is more valuable than money. Time spent with loved ones. Time spent just talking and perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee. Time to sleep in the sunshine. Time to sleep late. Time to enjoy a morning sunrise or an evening moonrise. Indeed, my mother's admonition, "Time waits for no man," may be true but what I am also finding out is that I don't need to fill my time with THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH, PLACES TO BE, OR PEOPLE TO SEE. There is a time for everything and I give myself permission to spend the time relaxing and enjoying the moment. Learn from me and I give YOU permission to sit around and do what others may perceive as just doing nothing but enjoying the moment!!
Enjoy!!
Then CRASH!!! BOOM!!! GAZOOM!!!! Hours later, you find out that the time you had luxuriating should have been spent at a meeting or doing something that was due? Bummer to the maximum!!
In my old age, I am finding that time is more valuable than money. Time spent with loved ones. Time spent just talking and perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee. Time to sleep in the sunshine. Time to sleep late. Time to enjoy a morning sunrise or an evening moonrise. Indeed, my mother's admonition, "Time waits for no man," may be true but what I am also finding out is that I don't need to fill my time with THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH, PLACES TO BE, OR PEOPLE TO SEE. There is a time for everything and I give myself permission to spend the time relaxing and enjoying the moment. Learn from me and I give YOU permission to sit around and do what others may perceive as just doing nothing but enjoying the moment!!
Enjoy!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
In the Miso Soup
Read a weird book, In the Miso Soup, by Ryu Murasaki. This Japanese writer writes about the sex tours in Japan. The tour guide named Kenji meets a strange American named Frank whom Kenji suspects as a serial murderer. Does Kenji do the prudent thing like avoid Frank? Nope, Kenji, the dope, keeps his promise to meet Frank for three nights with each night getting stranger and stranger by the moment.
Frank kills several people in an omiai club. Does Kenji do the proper thing like tell the police? Nope, Kenji, the dope, follows Frank to an abandoned warehouse where there are clues that violence took place in this location and sleeps over.
The craziest thing is that although the book was so weird and violent, I kept reading it until the very end. So who's the dope in the end? I guess I am but the last lines of the book were the most rewarding. I won't tell you...you'll have to find out for yourself. It will definitely make you scratch your head and say, "Hah?"
Frank kills several people in an omiai club. Does Kenji do the proper thing like tell the police? Nope, Kenji, the dope, follows Frank to an abandoned warehouse where there are clues that violence took place in this location and sleeps over.
The craziest thing is that although the book was so weird and violent, I kept reading it until the very end. So who's the dope in the end? I guess I am but the last lines of the book were the most rewarding. I won't tell you...you'll have to find out for yourself. It will definitely make you scratch your head and say, "Hah?"
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
End of Bookstore Browsing
Hilo is a nice little town with really nice people. It is trying to grow into a comprehensive city but we keep hitting obstacles. Today, the newspaper reported that the Borders Bookstore will be closing its doors soon. Since I have been going to the public library faithfully, it does not really affect me in terms of getting books but its absence will be felt on weekends when families would go to Borders, the kids would plop themselves down in the children's section and perhaps whine for a manga. The parents would go and get some coffee, check out the latest magazines and perhaps talk to their friends or even each other.
It is this loss of a place to socialize that would be sorely missed. As it is, it is difficult to find place to stage a party. If you want to do to a county or State park, you need to reserve the pavillion a year in advance! We live in paradise but the number of places that we can enjoy without being crowded out are limited. Granted we are not Pensacola Beach in Florida where the people number in the thousands to go to the beach. But still....we need more open spaces and parks for old fashioned networking and family building, otherwise known as picnics and family gatherings.
Building the community one family at a time.
It is this loss of a place to socialize that would be sorely missed. As it is, it is difficult to find place to stage a party. If you want to do to a county or State park, you need to reserve the pavillion a year in advance! We live in paradise but the number of places that we can enjoy without being crowded out are limited. Granted we are not Pensacola Beach in Florida where the people number in the thousands to go to the beach. But still....we need more open spaces and parks for old fashioned networking and family building, otherwise known as picnics and family gatherings.
Building the community one family at a time.
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