ry-blog

Dylan

2006-10-22T14:38:00.000-10:00

Life Update

2005-08-25T21:50:00.000-10:00

Last post was about nine months ago... so how have you all been?

Many, many changes on this end.

Starting a new job in radio this coming Monday after clocking in some fulfilling, yet exhausting, time at a local television station. Everybody there was as nice as could be -- professionals and good people through and through; it was a fun and enjoyable ride.

Still working on a local cable television show as co-producer and editor, but along with my new job in radio (and its attendant normal daytime hours), my duties as a videographer will have to be reduced. I'll be concentrating more on editing the show instead of shooting it (I think my forté is editing anyway).

But I'm really excited to start working at this new radio station group; the people there are really nice from what I've gathered. I'll be doing more creative stuff (as in coming up with commercial ideas and writing commerical copy), some production work and -- hold on to your hats -- an on-air gig.

Me, on the radio? I guess that's no sweat since I've been on the air in the past at my college radio station and as a Jazz DJ at our public radio station. I've voiced and produced countless commercials that've aired on state-wide radio in the past eight years or so but I still wouldn't consider myself an "on-air personality." But commercial radio? A first for me and I'm terrified. But I've never been more up for the challenge.

What's been gestating for a few months...

2004-11-27T15:30:00.000-10:00

...and why I haven't been around here as much...

The Scratchy Vinyl Productions website will soon be live.

And Scratchy Vinyl's first televised production will air on Oceanic Cable Channel 16 starting next Saturday! Check back for more info!

2004-11-21T15:39:00.000-10:00

Click the image above to see a larger pict of the wifey's latest project, and click here for the back of the invite.

So can you spot her name?

It's the Shat!

2004-10-05T22:02:00.000-10:00

You hear about a new William Shatner album and immediately you think: kitschy, loungy, campy, and 'why?'

Well, the new Shatner album (only his second) called Has Been is out, and while it may indeed have moments of kitsch, lounge, and camp, you can add to that list: touching, haunting, funny, and 'well done.'

Think of the album as beautiful musical backdrops infused with beat poetry and able backup from such artists as Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, the electronic group Lemon Jelly, and Ben Folds.

As a matter of fact, Folds is the driving musical force on this outing: producing, arranging, and writing most of the music behind Shatner's musings. The whole enterprise (pardon the pun) is sincere yet funny, and wholly entertaining. Besides the standout cover of Pulp's Common People, there's the haunting and mesmerizing collaboration with UK group Lemon Jelly, Together. And Folds' strong melodic sense is abundant throughout the album, from the heartbreaking That's Me Trying to the comedic, faux-western title track.

I'm still here

2004-10-02T21:13:00.000-10:00

Well, aside from my last couple of posts, it's been a while since I've posted anything new here. For almost two months, I've managed to write a little bit on a daily basis (and post here almost as often) about what's been going on in my life.

So here I am with an "I'm still around" post, and if I had a nickel for every kind of "It's been a while since I last checked in"-type blog post that I've read in the past, I wouldn't have...

...to be my own boss.

Yup,that's what I've been up to: Jessica and I are starting our own business. We got our GE tax license number, our business registered with the state, and our business account set up at our financial institution. I'll be buying equipment for our business sometime in the next three weeks, and hope to be in "full-on" mode by the end of October.

I'll make a more formal announcement when things get rolling (website, logos & business cards, etc.), but it's a really exciting time in our lives. Since I'm between regular jobs and I just can't sit on my ass waiting for that next opportunity, I figured this might as well be the time to have our own business, to see what it's like to work for yourself for a change, and to see if we can make a good living out of it.

A Punk Rock Opera

2004-10-01T10:38:00.000-10:00

You wouldn't think the guys from Green Day would mature into a nicely-rounded, sensitive, and (shhh...political) punk rock band. But yes they have, with their new concept album American Idiot.

It's their most fully realized musical statement to date, filled with hooks and melody aplenty. Each song is instantly hummable. And while the whole idea of a concept album reeks of 70's-era excess (think middle eastern mountain ranges and navel-gazing psychedelic cheese), Green Day manage to pack a story about a disaffected schizophrenic youth with religious and authority issues coming to age in the media-overload world of today. Or something like that.

But you can just ignore the backstory and enjoy the music, man. There's the drop-dead gorgeous ballad, Wake Me Up When September Ends, about growing old, dealing with the passing of a loved one, and maybe - indirectly - dealing with the whole tragedy that befell the U.S. in a cold September day three years ago.

The only misstep is the pretentious (and there has to be some of that with any concept album) nine-minute Homecoming. While the other nine-minute opus on the album, Jesus Of Suburbia, succeeds musically and lyrically, Homecoming tries to tie up all the plot's loose ends but ultimately winds up sounding like a mess of half-finished ideas.

Anyway, it's an album I can't get enough of. Check it out. I'll end with my favorite lyric:

"Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the Alienation."

Tomorrow (and next Monday) on Foreword

2004-09-30T21:11:00.000-10:00

I'll be filling in for the vacationing host of "Foreword," a 1-hour morning show on Hawaii Public Radio, tomorrow and next Monday. So if anybody is interested (and live on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island where the signal can reach), listen in from 8am - 9am on KIPO 89.3 FM.

A New Hope

2004-09-20T20:14:00.000-10:00

Nothing to post today, except that tomorrow, there's this:

Star Wars Trilogy.

Quilts

2004-09-19T19:11:00.000-10:00

Well, here it is: the world broadcast premiere of my "Hawaiian Quilts" news story that never aired on Hawaii Public Radio. It was a spec, or audition, piece that was going to be used to try and get me a part-time (once a week) news gig at the local public radio station.

Read the opening intro paragraph below aloud (it's the part the on-air news announcer would read before playing my report), then click on the link that follows to hear my report. After it's done, read the closing line aloud as well (and voila, your very own news show!). Enjoy!

A Hawaiian Quilt exhibit is celebrating the traditional relationship between flowers and quilters, while also raising environmental awareness. Hawaii Public Radio's Ryan Campuspos reports.

Quilts 2:14 (mp3, 2mb)

'The Nature of Hawaiian Quilts' exhibit will be on display at the Mission Houses Museum through September 18.

Election Day & the Orinoco Flow

2004-09-18T19:48:00.000-10:00

Hard to believe it, but after 13 years of being an adult (or of voting age), today was the first time I've ever voted in an election. Aren't you proud of me? And it looks like I'll be voting as well in the General come November.

Anyway, enough politics: after lunch today, I had to take a crap. So we were at the mall getting some shopping done and I went to one of the mall's public restrooms and while I did my business, the piped in mall-wide muzak blared Enya's Orinoco Flow.

How fitting.

Average customer rating

2004-09-18T04:59:00.000-10:00

Hilarious: My Beard, Reviewed by Chris Bachelder.

Art scene

2004-09-17T19:38:00.000-10:00

Jessica and I went to an art exhibit opening earlier this afternoon at Windward Community College; we went because our good friend is a part of the show, with some of her artwork on display.

One of the highlights of the evening (besides the free pupus) was a Butoh dance performance by one of the exhibit's contributors. I've never seen a Butoh dance performance before (and from the looks of others at the gallery that night, I wasn't the only one) and it was, to say the least, intense.

Tattoo You

2004-09-16T15:38:00.000-10:00

Can't wait to design one of my own:

HP iPod Tattoos.

They have a bunch of pre-made "artist-driven" tattoos, but I'll kindly pass on the Vanessa Carlton design. Just give me the template and blank "tattoo sheets" and I'll do fine thank you very much (I might even get my wife to design something, or maybe even use one of her existing pieces or art).

In any case, I hear HP will be selling the "print your own iPod tattoo" package later this month. And for those who still read Rolling Stone, apparently you can get a sample.

Update: Okay, maybe I can wait...

Onward

2004-09-15T23:19:00.000-10:00

I've decided to pass on an opportunity to do a once-a-week news story on Hawaii Public Radio. I talked to the news director about my decision earlier this afternoon, and after I gave my reasons, it seemed her manner and tone of voice (we spoke on the phone) indicated that she really wanted to have me on the news staff (albeit on a very, very small part-time basis).

I'll still be around the station doing my once-a-week overnight gig and helping out on a few shifts when needed, so I'll still have the gas money coming in. In fact, the host of Foreword (a morning show on KHPR's sister station KIPO) gave me a call and asked if I could fill in for him two days in October. Too bad they stopped streaming, so those of you who may have had an inkling of interest can tune in.

But to those who can catch the station (either through traditional radio waves and digital cable) and do have an interest, I'll post more info later!

Now the question is: why have I really decided to pass on this opportunity? Hmmm... I'm not quite ready to share that information just yet.

Manifesto

2004-09-14T20:00:00.000-10:00

Do you know what feature I want (besides crossfading on the iPod) in a future version of iTunes?

Well, it's more like a revision of an existing feature. Forgive me if you're not familiar with iTunes or don't know what the hell I'm talking about (if that's the case, I'm sorry, you'll find the following totally boring. You may continue watching Father of the Pride or Hawaii now).

Anyway, you play a song in iTunes (or on your iPod) and one cool thing it does is it keeps track of when that song has played.

The problem is that iTunes doesn't count the song as "played" until the whole song has played. Now that's all fine and dandy, but take this scenario for example: you're listening to your iPod (or again, iTunes on your computer) in Shuffle Mode, and some random song pops up. But you don't really feel like listening to Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing right at the moment, so after a few seconds, you skip to the next track, Charlene's I've Never Been To Me.

What this means: iTunes doesn't consider the song you just skipped as "played" because you didn't play Shadow Dancing all the way through.

This messes up my system of hearing new and fresh songs on my iPod. I created a playlist on my iPod called Haven't Heards. It's a smart playlist feature in iTunes that chooses all the songs on my iPod that haven't been played in over a month (this time amount is programmable). Can you see where this is going? Let's get back to Andy...

While the Haven't Heards smart playlist picks all the songs that I haven't played on my iPod in over a month, along comes Shadow Dancing so I skip the song 'cause like I said, I didn't feel in the mood. So I skip it to the next random track but get this: to the iTunes brain, the song isn't considered "played" because it didn't play all the way through 'till the end. What that means is that the song (as well as others that I've skipped along the way) would more than likely pop up again due to the randomness of the "Shuffle Mode" and the universe. Shadow Dancing will, dammit, WILL, somehow show up again in Shuffle Mode.

So what I propose is a slight modification in the "song played" parameter within the iTunes program, say maybe mark a song as "played" after its first 5-10 seconds instead of having it play all the way through until the end.

Okay. Alright. Now that I got that out of my system, back to Father of the Pride.

In "Motion"

2004-09-13T22:22:00.000-10:00

So I'm learning how to use Apple's new Motion program and it looks pretty cool. There aren't any books out yet, so I'll still have to feel my way around its interface more.

It's basically a motion graphics program that helps you produce openings, closings, and interstitials (or bumpers) for television shows. Of course, that's just a basic scenario -- you can use the program for any type of motion-related graphics for audio-visual media.

Speaking of motion, some plans are in motion for that dream I mentioned a few posts ago.

Getting closer everyday.

"Did you ever know that you're my..."

2004-09-12T21:02:00.000-10:00

Hero is an enjoyable martial arts drama that sometimes tries too hard to be different than other martial arts dramas. But the twists and turns in its plot (as well as the strong acting) does indeed raise Hero to near-Crouching Tiger status, but not quite.

I have a dream...

2004-09-11T16:47:00.000-10:00

...actually, I've had it for a while now, ever since high school when my buddies and I made music videos and short films. Now, coupled with me being between jobs and a few other opportunities popping up, I might just realize that dream in the next few months.

I just might.

Holding Pattern

2004-09-10T15:06:00.000-10:00

Nothing much happening on the news front at the public radio station. My first spec story on a Hawaiian quilt exhibit hasn't run yet (and I don't know if it will considering the exhibit ends on the 18th of this month), and after explaining my predicament to the news director, she understood my problem and asked me what I wanted to do about it. I told her I guessed there was still a story, but nothing as interesting as one with some actual ambient sound from the last lunchtime concert in question. On top of that, the contact who first informed the station of the story still hasn't returned my calls. In any case, I told the news director I was still holding out for some word from another job opportunity (another news organization, this time in television) and that doing a news story once a week for public radio might not be worth the time and effort.

Today's schedule

2004-09-09T21:24:00.000-10:00

6:45am - woke up & took a shower.

7:45am - left the house to take Jessica to work.

8:20am - dropped Jessica off at work.

8:30am - dropped the truck off for regular servicing.

8:40am - walked over to a nearby Starbucks, got a cup of coffee and read the morning paper.

9:30am - walked over to a nearby Borders, sat in the cafe section and used their Wi-Fi hotspot (alas, not free) to do various things: send/receive emails, surf the net, do some writing, etc.

11:30am - walked over to Kua`aina and had a burger for lunch.

12:30pm - walked back to the service center to pick up my truck. Headed to my parents' house to hang out and wait for Jessica to pick up. She had an appointment near my parents' neighborhood.

2:45pm - picked up Jessica. We go back to my parents' house. Feeling a little Star Wars-y (in anticipation of the upcoming release of the original trilogy on DVD), I pop in Phantom Menace into my parents' DVD player. We both fall asleep about 45 minutes in.

4:45pm - my mother comes home from work early.

5:15pm - the three of us drive to Kapolei and have dinner at Jurison's Restaurant.

7:00pm - we get back to my parents' house and watch the season premiere of Joey. Most of it is funny.

8:15pm - we drive home.

9:24pm - I finish writing this.

Snake Plisken or the guy from Riptide as Han Solo?

2004-09-09T10:56:00.000-10:00

Some food for thought to munch on until September 21 when the original Star Wars trilogy bows on DVD:

Time magazine talks about the upcoming DVD box.

USA Today talks about a new cameo at the end of Return of the Jedi.

Me? I can't wait to watch these films again. I caught each of the three special editions when they were re-released in theaters sequentially back in 1997, and that was the last time I sat through them all the way through.

Hangin' Out

2004-09-08T21:15:00.000-10:00

My friend Eugene and I hung out earlier this afternoon. We both hadn't eaten pizza in while (as opposed to our friend Eddy, who usually likes to partake in a couple slices of pizza before he has dinner, what we all affectionately call "pre-eating"), so we went to Pizza Hut and had their lunch buffet.

After lunch, Eugene had some bills to pay, so we went to Sears Ala Moana. Then we went to Toys N Joys in Waialae to snoop and browse.

After Toys N Joys we went to Kahala Mall. There at K-B Toys, Eugene found a limited edition "Phoenix" for $9. He was happy.

We went home after that.

Cousin Day

2004-09-07T19:17:00.000-10:00

For the Labor Day holiday yesterday, Jessica and I picked up my three kid cousins and went over to Jessica's cousin's place in Mililani to hang out at the nearby pool.

While we're totally looking forward to having kids of our own someday soon, taking care of my cousins for about six hours (at the pool, natch) can really take a lot out of you. The sun, the water, the kids, the food; by the time we got home, we were exhausted.

But seriously, it turned out that we were exhausted from all the fun we had. It was a hot day, and while the saltwater pool was warm, it still felt refreshing just wading in the water. All of the kids just loved going to the pool as well (even my 12-month-old cousin!) and to top it off, there was hot dogs and hamburgers galore.

Goodbye Summer...

Happy Labor Day!

2004-09-06T08:04:00.000-10:00

Playlist magazine and the attitude behind buying songs off of iTunes

2004-09-05T20:33:00.000-10:00

The publishers of Macworld (U.S.) just printed up a new rag focusing on the whole iPod/iTunes phenomena. Most of it is actually a good read, with some good music reviews, musician features and iPod accessory write-ups.

While reading through some of the articles on how to do certain functions in iTunes, what struck me is my attitude towards buying music from the iTunes Music Store. Since it reminds me of buying 45 rpm singles in the 70s & 80s, I don't mind the concept of buying songs for $0.99. I even find myself buying stuff there once in a while (it's especially a good place to get exclusive content and pre-release material). But if given the option, I'd just as well get up off my ass and book it on down to the nearest music store to casually browse all the wonderful music at my fingertips and actually buy the CD I want to get. Then I'd take it home, pop the CD into a player and listen to it while leafing through the CD case and inner booklet. Maybe I'll read along with the lyrics. Or maybe I'll just stare at the CD's artwork as the music plays. I guess what I'm saying is that there's no comparison to actually browsing through a music shop's wares and actually buying and taking home a living, breathing, CD. Okay, the disc isn't alive in the usual terms, but at least it'll make you feel alive, scooting your chair away from the computer, taking a hit of that cold (or warm) air, interacting with other human beings in a public place and validating that with some music to play, part of the ongoing soundtrack to your life.

Happy B-day...

2004-09-05T07:00:00.000-10:00

...to ol' buddy ol' pal Eugene. Thirty-one years have never looked so good on a person. May you get ever so closer to completing your G.I. Joe collection. Or your Star Wars Lego collection. Or your Marvel and DC action figure collection. Or your Transformers...

Garden State

2004-09-04T19:57:00.000-10:00

Do yourself a favor and go see Zach "Scrubs" Braff's Garden State. It's a deliriously funny and touching movie that's one of the best I've seen in a long time. I loved every minute of it, and while some critics are calling it "a modern-day 'The Graduate,'" it's more than that. Trust me, if you're a fan of Woody Allen, Wes Anderson and, of course, Mike Nichols' The Graduate, then check out Garden.

So...yeah.

2004-09-03T18:09:00.000-10:00

Got my haircut yesterday.

Got my overnight shift tonight at the radio station, so I'll be catching up on a lot of reading.

And if you're in the mood for some good ramen, check out Tai Sei Ramen in downtown Honolulu. They've got this killer crispy gyoza.

That is all.

Predicament

2004-09-02T20:11:00.000-10:00

The basic gist of my second "spec" story for Hawaii Public Radio is "Why did the city and county of Honolulu stop the music?"

The Mayor's office of Culture and the Arts has decided to stop putting on these "Aloha Lunchtime Concerts" at Tamarind Square in downtown Honolulu. I got the assignment last Thursday after completing my first news spec piece (on Hawaiian quilts). I was given two contacts: the first was a spokesman from the Mayor's office and the second was a concerned citizen who called the radio station to complain about the city and county ending these lunchtime concerts. So why did the city and county stop these concerts?

My first roadblock was that after two attempts, the concerned citizen hadn't returned my phone calls. The second –and I feel most important –roadblock was that the last lunchtime concert at Tamarind Park already took place the day before I got the assignment. I was supposed to go down and record some ambient sound and maybe get some interviews with business folk who were enjoying the free entertainment at the park, but now I won't be able to do that.

On top of that, I'm realizing that maybe doing these news stories aren't feasible for me in the long run. I'd only be doing one piece a week and my compensation wouldn't really justify all of the effort I'd be putting into it. Maybe if I was a freelancer who had a bunch of things on the side could I see myself doing these arts and cultural news pieces once a week, but I'm leaning towards getting some full-time work with either a local newspaper or television station, which wouldn't leave that much time to research, interview, write, voice, edit, and produce a news story once a week.

Oh, I did manage to talk to someone at the Mayor's office and I pretty much got a bureaucratic and diplomatic answer: budget cuts.

"Hawaii" questions

2004-09-01T20:07:00.000-10:00

For those of you who saw tonight's premiere of Hawaii, tell me: is it true that to become a detective, one thing you'd have to do is date and possibly even sleep with one?

Another question: why are there hardly any sympathetic characters in the show? Not that you can't make something good with unsympathetic characters (see: Taxi Driver, it's a character piece and the story is enthralling) but most, if not all, of Hawaii's characters are loathsome. And don't get me started on the so-called "story."

Finally, yes, the cops here in Hawaii really do call Kalanianaole Highway "Kalani Highway" for short.

Mahalo to our friend "J" who's going back to work after a week-long Hawaii vacation. He'll be back anyway in a couple of months for the film festival, so we won't be too sad.

Pikmin 2

2004-08-31T21:13:00.000-10:00

Pikmin 2 came out today for the Nintendo Gamecube, and I think I won't be seeing my wife for about a month or so... ;-)

We're both huge fans of the original game, her more so, and initial reactions range from "they're so cute!!" to "I don't care much for the Pikmin humming as they walk." As for me, they game looks great, and I can't wait to take a crack at it sometime tomorrow. I do think the music isn't as good as the first.

Airtime

2004-08-30T22:38:00.000-10:00

It aired!

That is, a wrestling event I shot, edited and produced was broadcast on local cable TV. The 3-1/2 minute segment aired on my friend's cable-tv show last night, and from the looks of things, I guess it turned out fine!

Earlier today I helped shoot some intros & outros for a "best-of" compilation show since it's rerun time for my friend's show on OC16. I was once again "boom operator" on the shoot, and also recorded some voiceover parts for a few promo spots. Tune in this Sunday @ 7:30pm on OC16 for the "Season 1 Recap" show (which might include bits and pieces of my aforementioned wrestling video segment).

Hawaiian D**k and Wrassling!

2004-08-29T14:39:00.000-10:00

Went with some friends to a few comic book shops a couple of days ago and saw that the new Hawaiian Dick comic is out. I read the comic's first story arc last year, and thought it was a well written and beautifully drawn comic. The new story arc, "The Last Resort," kind of starts off with a whimper instead of a bang, and while the artwork is still gorgeous, something's lacking in the story department this time around. Guess I'll have to wait and see how the second part goes.

Since Hawaii seems to be on the nation's brain these days (what with a bunch of network dramas currently or soon-to-be on TV, Hawaii 5-0 reruns airing on the Hallmark channel, and the release of Magnum PI's first season on DVD next week), I figure I'd add more info and jump along for the ride: just click on the Hawaiian Dick website above and find out about New Line Cinema optioning the comic with Johnny Knoxville tentatively set to star as the titular character (that's street talk for "private investigator" pal).

Anyway, a friendly reminder that tonight, my wrestling video segment airs! OC16 @ 7:30pm. See you there.

Stick to what you know

2004-08-28T22:05:00.000-10:00

Yesterday we had lunch at one of my favorite plate lunch places, Spot's Inn. It's on Dillingham Blvd. where an old Diner's restaurant used to be. One of the things Spot's is famous for is their Teriyaki Garlic Chicken, probably my favorite dish there. But I felt adventurous and ordered something different. Another friend suggested I try the broasted chicken, so I got the Mega Plate, a combination of broasted chicken, teriyaki pork, and hamburger steak. While it all tasted good (and made me full beyond belief), I think I'll be sticking to my usual next time.

Also, on Thursday I produced my first of two spec news pieces for Hawaii Public Radio, and it turned out pretty good. I'm a bit rusty on the whole voice thing (it's been a couple of months since I did any actual voicework), so I have to work more on my "public radio" delivery. Let me tell you that it's vastly different than that of commercial radio.

Anyway, the news director isn't sure when she's going to run the story, considering I'm not actually on the news staff and such. But she thinks it's good enough to run and good for the community (my story talks about a Hawaiian quilt exhibit that's currently on display at the Mission Houses Museum). So I'm hoping it'll run sometime next week. Maybe I'll even find the time to post it here for your listening pleasure.

It's a go!

2004-08-27T21:50:00.000-10:00

Well, I'm excited to share with you my first broadcast video production piece. It's that wrestling thing I shot about a month ago, and it'll finally air on my friend's OC16 cable show this Sunday at 7:30pm. So tune in, videotape it, TiVo it, whatever, and enjoy!

A little more background on the segment: I used my own consumer camcorder, an almost 4-year-old Sony Digital-8 model with its own on-board mic so... let's just say I'm not proud of the overall "technical" aspects of the piece (if I had my druthers - and the money - it'd be shot with the Panasonic AG-DVX-100A and an external microphone). What I am proud of is the actual "production" of the thing: I shot all of the footage, edited the whole segment, drew up all of the graphics, and composed the bits of music throughout. I'm pretty happy with, especially considering this was the first time I jumped into Apple's Final Cut Pro program whole hog after a few years using iMovie.

After this Sunday, my friend's show will go into reruns, so my next project is to re-jigger some of the commercials of the past season (about 13 shows). I won't be doing any actual videotaping, but along with the aforementioned re-editing and re-ordering of the commercial breaks (due to sponsor changes and the like), I might edit and produce a few brand-new :30 promos.

Random stuff

2004-08-26T13:55:00.000-10:00

On the right, you have a nice, fuzzy picture of me and my wife Jessica (well, at least the upper part of her face). The picture behind the "ry-blog" title bar above is of the S.King & Bishop Street intersection taken with my Lomo camera on a random morning this past April.

And I hope to add some links and stuff on the navigation bar on the right when I figure out the code and such.

"He failed the snatch, so he's on to the clean and jerk."

2004-08-25T23:50:00.000-10:00

I dropped off Jessica at work, then read the morning paper and had the morning coffee at a Starbucks.

Come 11am, I picked up my friend from the airport who's in town for a nice relaxing vacation, and we head into the downtown area to run some errands. He was feeling a wee bit nostalgic (he used to work less than a block where I used to work downtown) and ate at a supposedly famous (in downtown circles at least) eatery, Mr. Frypan, on Alakea St. I've probably passed the place a million times during lunch time in the past, and somehow I've never gathered enough courage to actually go in there. But my friend said he used to eat there more times than he cared to admit, so in we went. I had the chicken katsu curry plate with rice and it was delicious.

My out-of-town friend was going to stay with another friend of ours, so after dropping him off at my other friend's place, I headed over to Hawaii Public Radio to meet with the news director so we could go over my news piece (a draft of which I had finished just last night).

I spent a good three hours there at the station as the news director helped ply my gibberish into something remotely listenable, and her immense help and expertise yielded what I thought was a halfway decent story. It's about 90% done, so the next step is to voice my parts sometime tomorrow morning and put the piece together and have an actual radio news story complete for broadcast (hopefully).

I got done at public radio just in time to pick Jessica up from work, and we ended up hanging out at my friend's house (where my out-of-town friend is staying) until a few of our other friends converged there a little later so we could all grab a bite to eat. We ended up eating at a nearby Zippy's, got some foodstuffs and desert at a Safeway afterwards, and went back to my friend's house to watch some of the Olympics on TV. At some point I dozed off, only to be rudely awaken to one of my friends yelling, "Wow! It's a 200-pound snatch!" Of course, something that loud and outrageous will catch anybody's attention (even one in my napping state) so as I awoke, I wondered "What the heck is he talking about?"

I realized my friends were still watching the Olympics. It turned out that the heavyweight weightlifting competition was on and that there are two different techniques in the event: the "snatch" and the "clean and jerk." My friend was simply remarking at the weight of a certain weightlifter's "snatch" as he revelled in the statement's double meaning. And I swear, one of the announcers actually said the title of this post. To which another friend slyly remarked: "That explains my college years."

Finally, here's something fun: try typing in "snatch" in the search field found atop the nbcolympics.com website. The result? A page that starts off with: "You've entered a search item that is likely to contain adult content..."

Burning the midnight oil

2004-08-24T02:56:00.000-10:00

I'm writing/posting this while doing the second of two overnight shifts filling in for a vacationing co-worker.

Along with doing three overnight shifts at public radio (my usual Friday overnight at the end of the week and the aforementioned two extra Monday and Tuesday shifts), I have an interview in the news department at one of the local tv stations in town later today. Actually, it'll be my second interview with them, so hopefully they'll have something for me this time around.

Speaking of news, I'm still at work on my public radio news piece. I had gathered three on-mic interviews last week, and I'm about 1/3 done listening to my raw tape. I haven't done this kind of thing (that is, news reporting/writing) in about eight years when I was a news intern here at Hawaii Public Radio, and I'm having a little trouble getting the "through line" or the "hook" of telling this story, one concerning a museum exhibit. I don't know, maybe I'm thinking way too hard on this piece. Oh well. I've got some time until the end of the shift to continue working on it some more.

And then I have a friend coming in from out of town on Wednesday. He'll be in for about a week for some vacation time, so there's more fun in store...

Fun in the sun

2004-08-23T14:53:00.000-10:00

Well, we're back from some relaxing family time at a north shore resort courtesy of Jessica's generous parents. Managed to get some sun (and that's saying a lot since I'm not a beach person and the last time I sunbathed was about a couple of years ago at Hanauma Bay) and some water time (again, see above).

Jessica, her parents and I even got to go on a 3-4 mile hike around the resort grounds, which wound its way around a surrounding golf course and the beach. The day was hot and we were still kind of full from the breakfast buffet, but the hike was very enjoyable with some breathtaking views of the north shore. Plus, the exercise was good.

On Saturday night, we ate at Cholo's in the North Shore Marketplace, an excellent Mexican restaurant with great atmosphere. Jessica had a chile relleno and a tamale while I had an enchilada and a tamale. Very tasty.

Other notes: Jessica, her younger sister and I played a single game of Scrabble. Jessica won. Then later, me, Jessica, her older sister and older sister's husband played two rounds of the card game "Hearts." I won the first and Jessica's brother-in-law won the second. And finally, our 5-month-old niece was, for the most part, all smiles and giggles.

Until next week...

2004-08-19T17:43:00.000-10:00

I interviewed the curator of the Mission Houses Museum earlier this morning and it went well. This will be for the news piece I'm working on at Hawaii Public Radio. I listened to the playback and while most of the stuff I got is good, I might need to set a follow-up interview to fill in some of the gaps or help clarify some points that were brought up in our talk. Later on tonight I'll be interviewing a guest lecturer at the museum and maybe get some other experts on tape as well.

Then right after the lecture I'm off to the north shore! I'll be joining Jessica's family for a weekend getaway of fun and relaxation.

While I haven't been exactly posting everyday here, I have been writing and starting a post daily since this blog's new incarnation. It's my form of mental exercise and creative release in these last few months since quitting my job, and it's actually sort of fun to just... write. So it's going to be a little odd in the next few days since I'm leaving the laptop at home: there'll be no new posts until Monday (or maybe Sunday night). The daily chain has been broken!

Then upon our return come Sunday afternoon/evening I'm right back in the fray at Hawaii Public Radio where I'll be filling in for the overnight guy who's going on vacation. I'm set to do two overnight shifts Monday and Tuesday morning for him. Whew!

Anyway, have a good weekend...

Cook your own Japanese food, dagnambit!

2004-08-18T10:19:00.000-10:00

Had lunch with a former co-worker today and managed to catch up with him and get the scoops on stuff at the old workplace.

Ran some errands after lunch and then later in the afternoon had dinner at Gyu-kaku with Jessica, her sisters, her cousin, and a friend. It's this cool Japanese restaurant on Kapiolani Boulevard where you basically gather around a table with a built-in grill and cook your own food. I guess gyu-kaku is to Japanese as yakiniku is to Korean. Or not? I don't know. But the only other place I know where you cook your own food is the Yakiniku Camelia restaurants in McCully and University, and their cuisine is Korean.

But yeah, everything at Gyu-kaku was excellent, especially the Japanese ice cream pancake desert. Yum!

Tomorrow's pretty busy: an interview to conduct tomorrow morning at the Mission Houses Museum, then lunch with a co-worker at public radio. Then back home to clean things up and get ready for our weekend getaway with Jessica and her family. At 7pm, there's a guest lecturer I'll also need to interview for my news piece at the Mission Houses Museum, then it's a nice long drive up to the north shore to start the weekend.

Gearing Up

2004-08-17T22:56:00.000-10:00

It's gearing up to be pretty busy in the next few days and extending on to next week. I was having a bit of trouble getting started with my first news story over at Hawaii Public Radio (this will be the first of two spec stories that'll hopefully land me a regular gig on the station's Arts & Cultural Events beat), so I briefly met with the news director shortly after lunch today. She gave me a couple of leads, so I'm now set on getting my initial interviews lined up the next few days and attending an event this Thursday night at the Mission Houses Museum in downtown.

Also earlier today I met with my friend who has the cable-tv show. I got my next assignment from him: editing a short segment on a local musician (currently living on the mainland because he's going to school there) who apparently shot his own video footage himself. The tape came earlier this week, so my job now is to review the footage and see if there's a do-able piece that's entertaining and worth telling a story. As for my wrestling segment, don't worry! It's going to air either this weekend or next. You'll know when I know.

But apart from those two things keeping me busy (but alas, not yet making me money), me, Jessica and her family will be taking a nice little getaway to a nice resort up in the north shore area this weekend. I was supposed to go up with the family Thursday afternoon, but the event at the Mission Houses Museum that I'll be covering starts at 7pm. So my getaway weekend will start just a little later than planned as I head on up to the north shore after the museum event gets done.

KPOI is dead... long live KPOI

2004-08-16T21:33:00.000-10:00

Bill O'Reilly felled "The Rock."

Well, not exactly.

According to this morning's Advertiser, Salem Media of Hawaii bought two FM frequencies (97.5, formerly KPOI – The Rock You Live On, and 99.5, formerly Bob-FM) from Visionary Related Entertainment of Maui. The most drastic change Visionary will make is to turn KPOI into KHNR, an all-talk/news FM station, a first for Hawaii. And controversial talk show host O'Reilly is on KHNR.

KPOI has been a fixture in the islands, ever since the infamous "Poi Boys" from the late 50's to the "98 Rock" days and so forth. This all could be temporary: the Advertiser says Visionary still owns the KPOI call letters, so someday soon, the rock shall rise from its ashes.

But I have to admit I didn't like the "modern rock" direction KPOI has been taking in the last few years. You can only take so much Creed-lite crap and whiny emo shit for so long before wanting to smash the radio buttons and bring on the oldies.

This morning, I listened a little to KHNR. Like I said, Hawaii has never had an FM talk radio-formatted station, and admittedly, it was odd hearing all those mainland talk radio commercials on the FM dial. I used to work at KGU AM760 about eight years ago, and I heard a lot of the same advertisers on KHNR that I remembered from the KGU days.

One thing I'd like to comment regarding the KHNR morning show: is it me or is the ratio of commercials to actual news something like 2-1?

Update: Okay, so KPOI is back, this time at 105.9 FM, formerly The Big Kahuna. Now it's "KPOI – The Big Kahuna" on 105.9 FM. But the new KPOI will not have a modern rock format, it'll be a classic rock one. At least that's what the Advertiser says here. Confused yet?

Swap Meet, Pearlridge, and Waikele

2004-08-15T20:23:00.000-10:00

You know you're old school when you call the two different parts of Pearlridge Mall "Phase I & Phase II" instead of "Uptown & Downtown." For me, I prefer the old school way because "up and downtown" sounds so, I don't know... elitist or something. Plus, "Downtown" kinda sounds too ghetto.

Anyway, Jessica, her sister Jacks, and her cousin Ann, and I went to the old Kam Drive-In Super Swap Meet in Aiea this morning. Since we're talking about distinctions, you could say the Kam Super Swap Meet is the "Downtown" to Aloha Stadium Swap Meet's "Uptown." One is definitely more run-down than the other, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. Matter of fact, I find the stuff at the Kam Super Swap Meet more funky, more cool and hip; there are also a lot of good deals to be had. It's like a huge, glorified outdoor community garage sale, and everything is up for grabs, even Coach knock-off "Goach" bags (which the girls did not buy, thank you very much).

After the Swap Meet, we went to Anna Miller's to eat breakfast. Then off we went to Pearlridge Mall (the Uptown side, if you will), and before heading to the Downtown side, some tough unseen force prevented us from entering the downtown mall doors. For some reason, the words "Waikele Factory Outlet" crossed all of the girls' mouths, and I was dragged along on a whirlwind shopping frenzy that landed us way out west in Waikele.

While it seemed from the above that I was cast as the miserable doomed male in the gaggle of shopping-hungry gals, that's not true dear reader. I totally didn't mind tagging along with them as they shopped; I liked their company. I just managed to do my own thing as well: I picked up a few magazines and hooked up with the girls mid-way through the mall. As they continued to shop, I sat outside on one of the numerous benches made for patient males such as I, watched their bags and read my magazines. And at Waikele, I left them to their own devices entirely. I simply went to the nearby Borders and browsed the books and music to my heart's content. Then I shlepped on over to the Starbucks right next to the Borders and had a cup of coffee, reading more of my magazines until the girls were done.

The shopping day ended when we all converged for some sushi at the newly-opened Genki Sushi at Waikele. We intended to have a simple snack, but I guess we were all worn out from all of the shopping: we ate pretty much a full meal.

Ala Moana & hangin' with the parentals

2004-08-14T22:38:00.000-10:00

Last night I did my once a week overnight shift at the public radio station, and got home around 9am. Slept till about 12:30 in the afternoon.

Then Jessica and I went to Ala Moana to get some lunch at the food court, do some snoopin' around, and get Jessica some new glasses. She said it's been years since she last got a new pair, and I have to say this new pair I helped her pick out were pretty sweet. They'll be ready for pickup tomorrow.

After Ala Moana, we headed to my parents' house and hung out there to eat dinner and watch the Olympics on my parents' insanely big-screen tv.

Tomorrow we're going to check out the Kam Super Swap Meet at the old Kam Drive-In and have breakfast at Anna Millers.

Busy Day

2004-08-13T23:47:00.000-10:00

I was out of the house the whole day yesterday; I left at about 8:30 to take Jessica to a doctor's appointment. While waiting for her to get done, I hung around the hospital's cafeteria where I had some coffee and a pastry, and read the paper and some magazines.

After Jessica's appointment, I dropped her off at work and went over to Mel Cabang's house as part of the crew shooting a segment for my friend's cable-tv show. The shoot went well; Mel is a very funny and demanding guy, but as it turns out, he and his girlfriend are one of the nicest people around. I was "boom guy" for the shoot, that is, holding the microphone attached to a long, telescopic pole in order to get the subject's voices clearly without handheld or lavalier mics.

Then after a short after-shoot break, I grabbed a quick late lunch and did a shift at the public radio station until midnight. The guy who normally does the shift had a family emergency, so since I'm still trying to get myself familiar with all of the station's equipment, I figured this would be a good opportunity to get some extra money and get up to speed.

In any case, it was a long day yesterday: I didn't set foot in the house at all until I got home after 12:30am (the shift was from 6pm - midnight).

The places that stay with you

2004-08-12T16:56:00.000-10:00

Filling in for someone at Hawaii Public Radio tonight. Boy, the place has changed a bit since I had my Jazz show there about two years ago.

It's funny how people and places drift in and out of a person's life. Take for example HPR: I was first hired there in early 1995. Since then, I've been a board operator/engineer for every possible shift in the operations department, a news reporter, a producer of live and canned on-air programming, and an on-air host of a jazz show. All in the space of about nine years - of course spread out within that time. There was a period, between mid-'97 to early-2000, when I didn't even set foot in the station because I was working full-time at another radio station (which I recently left).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are certain places you never get out of your system, for good and bad. And HPR is one of those good places that, for the past decade, has lingered supportively in the background of my life. Who knows - maybe my time back at HPR may not last long if I find another full-time gig in the near future, but it's comforting to know there'll always be something for me at that place.

Various random thoughts...

2004-08-11T23:53:00.000-10:00

Got a video shoot tomorrow: it's an interview with local comedian Mel Cabang. Ever since I was a kid, I liked him, and after seeing him perform at the Hawaiian 105 KINE Luau a few years ago, I still like him. He comes across as a loose cannon, like you don't know what little thing will set him off on some random funny tangent. He's unpredictable and edgy.

Moving on... I have a friend named Eddy, but what about A Girl Called Eddy? It's a new album from British singer Erin Moran. Yeah, she shares the same name as the actress who loves Chachi – that's probably why she performs under the name "A Girl Called Eddy" to save on the Happy Days cracks. Anyway, imagine Aimee Mann and Dusty Springfield co-writing songs with Burt Bacharach and releasing that collaboration in the winter of 1968 and you pretty much get an idea of what Ms. Moran's full-length debut sounds like. Highly recommended.

(Here's a link to the album at the iTunes Music Store).

Opportunities

2004-08-10T23:09:00.000-10:00

Both interviews went pretty well today. If I'm fortunate enough and the timing's right, in about a month I'll have a full-time news-related gig on TV, a part-time/fill-in position at the local public radio station's operations department, a once a week news feature on the aforementioned public radio station, and finally some video camerawork/editing for a local cable-tv show.

Whew!

Of course, the majority of the above might also not happen. But that's just the pessimist in me talking out loud.

Yeah, it seems like a lot, but I have to keep my options open. Maybe I'm spreading myself too thin... I don't know. Like I said, some of those opportunities may not work out but at least I'm trying to keep busy, and all of the above have something to do with things that interest me, whether it be something journalism or video-related.

Approvals, more job interviews, and another birthday.

2004-08-09T21:17:00.000-10:00

Got the video sequence I've been editing for the past week approved. It's a 3-minute segment on the wrestling event I helped shoot at the Blaisdell Center that'll air on my friend's cable-tv show in the next week or two, so hopefully I'll get to do more editing for his show. Working with Final Cut Pro is very, very cool, and the more I work with it, the more I enjoy cutting things together and seeing the results.

Busy day tomorrow: got two job interviews (both news related, one in radio and one in TV), a bunch of errands to do, and dinner to help cook.

And last but not least: a hearty "Happy Birthday" to my little cousin Jaenel who turned 1 today. Along with my baby niece Lilinoe, these two little girls are the most adorable babies on the face of the Earth, I kid you not.

B-day Party

2004-08-08T21:14:00.000-10:00

Went to a former co-worker's party last night; it was his daughter's first birthday. The sad thing is that she suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and the lifespan of one afflicted with the disease is pretty low. But she looked radiant, happy, and beautiful at her party, managing some nice pretty smiles and even a few hand waves.

Baby Ava: here's to more happy birthdays.

iPod Song Ratings & iMix

2004-08-07T21:53:00.000-10:00

I'm currently on this ratings kick with my iPod, where I use the ratings feature to rate the 2100+ songs directly from my iPod (and the 900+ songs on my iPod mini as well).

One-star songs are songs I want to delete from the iPod upon its next connection to iTunes. Two-star songs are guilty pleasures and also are songs Jessica doesn't care for (however, they're songs I want to keep on the iPod for myself, like Steely Dan, Lenny Kravitz, and other non-Jessica-friendly artists). The 3-5 starred songs are self-explanatory, with 5 stars being all-time favorites.

Speaking of iTunes, if you use the program often and are acquainted with the iTunes Music Store, check out the first iMix I compiled. It's an iMix version of an "r&jmj," or "Ryan & Jessica's Music Journal," a compilation of songs we both dig that we share with friends every once in a while. Enjoy!

The Editing, P.A., and Public Radio gigs... oh, and Stitches too

2004-08-06T21:33:00.000-10:00

Looks like my first video editing assignment is almost done, a 2-3 minute bit on the wrestling footage I helped my friend videotape a couple of weeks ago. It's still pending approval, but I'm happy with it. Hopefully it'll run in my friend's show next week, so I'll keep you all posted on showtimes and whatnot.

I got a call earlier this morning from the television people and I didn't get the P.A. gig. The gal doing the hiring said that it was a tough choice; she said the interview went very well, but I didn't make the cut. She did say that she'll keep me in the "active" list, so if anything changes in the next few weeks, I'll be up for a spot in the production.

As for the other opportunities at the public radio station: it looks like I'll be doing an overnight shift once a week in the operations department, making sure the stations are running in tip-top shape. As for the other opportunity in a different department at the public radio station, I have a meeting set up next week Tuesday concerning that. Who knows, maybe you'll hear me on the air again, and this time, not on commercials!

Finally, I got my stitches out. I was expecting some minor pain, but I didn't feel a thing when the doc removed the three stitches from my foot. He said everything looked fine, but advised that I should tape my two small toes together to prevent any accidental opening of the wound. Yummy!

When It Rains...

2004-08-05T20:55:00.000-10:00

Earlier this afternoon I was interviewed for a production assistant position on one of the network television shows that's shooting in town. I went to the Hawaii Film Studio and met with a couple of nice production associates, and they said they'd call me early next week to see if I get one of the two currently open P.A. positions on the show.

After the interview, while having a cup of coffee at a nearby Starbucks, I got a call from a friend I used to work with who's now over at Hawaii Public Radio. I was actually going to call him either next week or the following week to see if there were any openings there, a place I used to work at off and on over the last 10 years. Coincidentally, he had something part time if I was interested, and after catching up with each other, he told me to think about it and give him an answer tomorrow morning.

We said our goodbyes, and about fifteen minutes later, he called back again telling me there might be another opportunity – in a different department and in addition to the one he just called me about – for me over there. He told me to call him tomorrow with my answer to the first opportunity, and he'll tell me more info about the second one.

Supremacy

2004-08-04T18:03:00.000-10:00

Caught The Bourne Supremacy Monday night and enjoyed it. Very lean and mean with an amazing car chase at the end. Excellent direction by Paul Greengrass kept the story moving at a tight clip, with striking photography, gritty handheld camera work, and snappy editing.

On the job front, applied for a bunch of them earlier in the day; hopefully I'll get a bite later this week.

More Editing Tools With Blogger

2004-08-03T20:44:00.000-10:00

Safari isn't showing the WYSIWYG palettes that Blogger had recently implemented a few weeks ago, so last week I downloaded the latest version of Firefox since Blogger's documentation says Firefox supports the new blogging functions.

Now I'm currently using Firefox to post to this blog, and my initial impression is that it's nice and speedy with a clean interface. I'm still using Safari for regular web surfing though.

Watching The Village

2004-08-02T19:29:00.000-10:00

The Village isn't as bad as some critics say it is. Yeah, there's the patented Shyamalan twist somewhere in there. Yeah, there's a lot of palpable atmospheric tension trying to figure out what kind of monsters lie beyond the said village's boundaries. And yeah, there are a lot of refreshingly long takes of hushed conversations about "the things we do not speak of..."

Don't worry, I'm not going to reveal anything. But people: you shouldn't go into a movie such as The Village and concentrate solely on the film's "twist."

As a matter of fact, the point isn't just the "twist." It's the story and the storytelling that matter. What's the punchline without the setup? The spike without the set?

Of course, one kind of goes into a Shyamalan movie to get entertained by some kind of con game, so maybe he should get a different shtick and tell a "normal" story. But I thought The Village was a well-acted and well-crafted drama, not horror movie or thriller per se (although there are a few thrills thrown in). And yes, I'll admit that Shyamalan's "punchline" or "spike" in this case is a little weak, but it's certainly not a deal breaker.

Underneath its surface twists and improbabilities lie a haunting and riveting allegory on love and fear, and how both are perceived by different people. If you like Shyamalan's movies, you'll probably like The Village. It's certainly not one of his best, but is unique among this summer's blockbusters.

Godfather

2004-08-01T13:29:00.000-10:00

I've been watching The Godfather Trilogy on and off over the last week. I just finished Part II this morning, and I must say that few, if any, filmmakers can top Francis Ford Coppola's mastery of pace, editing, and storytelling evident in the first two volumes of his gangster saga.

Sadly, not even Coppola himself can match his peak career year of 1974 when he released both Part II and The Conversation, starring Gene Hackman. Apocalypse Now is okay but kind of overrated (instead, check out the riveting documentary on the making of Coppola's war drama, Hearts of Darkness) and the less we say about Jack, the better.

No Village

2004-07-31T12:16:00.000-10:00

We were thinking of catching "The Village," but stayed home instead and helped babysit our little niece for a few hours.

Afterwards, we did watch a movie, "The Bourne Identity" on DVD. Jessica and I wanted to get ourselves prepped for the sequel currently in theatres. Hopefully we'll catch it sometime after we see The Village this weekend.

Yeah, The Village is getting slammed by critics, but I don't care; Jessica and I are big fans of director Shyamalan. We're both curious to see what he's trying to pull this time around (and if he really needs to find a new shtick with the whole"twist at the end" thing).

Recuperating

2004-07-30T15:00:00.000-10:00

Last night Jessica and I had dinner with Eugene at Sekiya's. Eugene is helping us get an album of our wedding photos done at the photo place he gets his prints developed, and the samples the place had looked real nice, and at a good price too.

I got my foot looked at today to see if it was healing alright, and the doc said everything looked fine. So far, so good. The next step will be to take out the stitches in about a week if no further complications arise.

Needle And The Damage Done

2004-07-29T09:02:00.000-10:00

Well, last night I got into a silly minor accident at home, cumulating in three stitches to my right foot, particularly the space between the "little toe" and the "ring toe."

After my very own lovely "Florence Nightingale" (Jessica, that is) helped me assess the damage (she calmly said, "Whoa...I think we should take you to the ER") and cleaned and bandaged my foot up, she took me to the ER and patiently waited while I got the three stitches and a tetanus shot.

It's been I don't know how long since I got stitches, and on top of that, who knows how long ago since I got a tetanus shot?

Anyway what happened was there was one of Jessica's artwork leaning against a wall. The artwork in question was a large (over 5 feet by 5 feet) wood canvas with a painting of a red fish. I smashed my right foot into one side of the painting, leaving a deep gash in the webbing of my right foot, between the baby toe and ring toe. There was blood, but not anything remotely geyser-like. And the pain was a dull, throbbing one that proved to be more uncomfortable than unbearable. As I said to the nurse when he asked me on a scale of 0 to 10 how I would rate the pain (0 being no pain and 10 being intense pain) I said it was a 4 or 5.

The real pain came when the doc had to inject some local anesthesia in/around the gash in my foot. Don't worry, I won't gross you out with anymore details (and I'm sorry if I have already), but I guess in the end the pain from the needle filled with anesthesia is much more preferable than the pain of having yourself stiched up without it.

After a nurse cleaned me up, the doc prescribed me some Vicodin in case the pain gets really bad, but thankfully so far it hasn't.

So for about a week I'll be walking gingerly with a slight limp, looking out for any protruding edges.

And It Has A Boat Too!

2004-07-28T09:30:00.000-10:00

Yesterday I helped out on a video shoot, and the subject was Avex Honolulu Studios in Hawaii Kai.

It's a drop-dead gorgeous multi-million dollar recording facility – $12 million to be near-exact.

And it has a boat too!

Well, yes and no. The previous owner of the studio, a Japanese recording artist known as TK (part of the group Globe), had the studios built to his specs, and the property actually came with two boats as part of the deal. According to the studio manager, TK didn't even set foot in either of the boats, and when he eventually sold the studios a few years ago, the current owners said to get rid of the boats.

In any case, I got to go on the last boat (one got sold recently) since I was part of the crew, and damn if it wasn't a nice boat. I think it was a 40-footer, with AC in the bedroom down below. Sadly, we didn't get to take the thing out for a ride in the harbor since it needed two experienced drivers.

Curry & Zelda

2004-07-27T11:31:00.000-10:00

Jessica made this delicious Chicken and Tofu Curry last night for dinner.

Afterwards, we picked up The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and continued our 2-player cooperative game after being away from it for a few weeks. Good fun.

Ukulele Festival

2004-07-26T13:36:00.000-10:00

Helped shoot some footage and was sound man for a video shoot yesterday at the 2004 Ukulele Festival at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.

It was an all day shoot culminating with James Ingram's performance. Known for "One Hundred Ways," "Just Once," and writing Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," Ingram sang three songs (one, "Somewhere Out There" with local singer Rocky Brown) and wowed the 1000+ strong audience at the Bandstand.

(Just reading over that last sentence and I'm thinking, don't you find it ironic that there really is a Jacko song indeed titled: "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)?" End of aside).

Hangin' With Friends

2004-07-25T22:03:00.000-10:00

Yesterday when Jessica and I were at the Collector's Show at the Blaisdell, my friend Kevin called me up and asked what we were up to later in the evening. I told him we didn't have any plans, to which he said, "I feel like cooking. Cooking for friends," to be precise.

Both Jessica and I have no problem having someone cook for us, so who's to spoil the party? "Come on over!" we told him, and we invited a few other friends as well.

Turns out not only Kevin did the cooking/food preparation since Jessica made delicious homemade hummus and marinated some shrimp and veggies, and I did most of the grilling (with pointers from both Kevin and Jessica of course).

All the hard work was worth it, so thanks to Kevin for setting the evening in motion; turns out we had a great night of food (a roast, rack of lamb, the aforementioned hummus and grilled veggies), drink (12-year-old scotch and a fine bottle of Pinot Noir & Champagne), and merriment. A few other friends made the trek to Hawaii to join us and we stayed up way past our collective bedtimes.

Collector's Show

2004-07-24T14:54:00.000-10:00

About twice a year there's a collectors show at the Blaisdell Center (there's that place again – I was there earlier in the week for some wrestling event – see previous posts for more info) that I like to call "a classier Kam Super Swap Meet," and usually there's some amazing finds.

Jessica loves wind-up toys (especially robots and other cute moving toy vehicles) and one of the things she got was this cool wind-up tin boy on a bicycle. She also got this nice frosted-glass box/container that she plans on putting some of her jewelry in.

As for me, I saw a cool vendor with some interesting-looking lighters. I'm not a pyro or anything, but I have a soft spot for lighters, and as I was browsing this certain vendor's selection, Jessica noticed this one particular old Zippo with a "Stolen from Hattie's Whorehouse" design on it. I thought it was pretty cool, and on top of that, the reason why Jessica pointed it out was because she remembered her mother having a towel similarly labeled.

The only other thing I got was another thing I'm fond of: pens. One of the best fountain pens money can buy aren't made anymore: the Parker 51. Made from 1941 to sometime in the early 80's, these fountain pens are like the Holy Grail to some, albeit more easily obtainable. The one I got writes beautifully, and I managed to get it at a really good price.

Mall

2004-07-23T11:44:00.000-10:00

There are a lot of people who frequent the mall fairly early in the morning.

To get out of the house, I figured on having a cup of coffee, surfing the net, and catching up on my reading at Kahala Mall. They have a Starbucks there as well as a Wi-Fi hotspot, so after I dropped off the Mrs. at work, I trekked on down.

Lots of people I say. Not only was there a Tai Chi class going on near the center stage area (with about 50-100 people, mostly seniors) there were a lot of business types with their laptops out sitting at the tables having a cup of coffee.

Also, a lot of out-of-school teens and twentysomethings added to the mix of various tourists, families and currently-out-of-work nerds.

Wrassling Night

2004-07-22T20:21:00.000-10:00

Well, last night was... interesting.

I was cameraman for my friend's cable-tv show, and it was an informal thing since I didn't have professional-grade equipment to use (more like I had my 3-year-old Sony camcorder using its crappy on-board mic).

Anyway, I'm not a fan of wrestling, but I managed to have a good time. Lots of that had to do with being a wallflower backstage and observing the various wrestlers' personalities, seen apart from their wildly exaggerated on-stage alter egos.

There were also some "dramas": a couple of wrestlers weren't particularly happy with the "outcome" of a match. With press badge in hand, I witnessed a seemingly minor, yet important argument, centering around the lack of signatures on a contract. Seems like the aforementioned wrestlers who weren't happy with who "won" their match had yet to sign a contract signifying they were going to follow the contract's "stipulations."

Nobody knew if there was any resolution to the whole contract thingy, but the truth was revealed to all (to those who at least were privy to the earlier argument) when the match in question was underway, and the two disgruntled wrestlers partook in a "shoot."

A "shoot," what I'm told, is when a wrestler gets roughed up for real. So in essence when there's a "shoot" taking place, a certain wrestler who, for the sake of definition, is the shootee, gets the guacamole kicked out of him.

So the two disgruntled wrestlers were beating the crap out of this one wrestler on the opposing team (it was a 4-man tag team match). All the other wrestlers on either side (even the beaten-up-dude's own team) were kicking back ringside, watching. When all involved thought the one poor guy had enough, one of the beat-up wrestler's teammates tagged in.

Now, the beat-up wrestler wasn't seriously hurt. Just roughed-up enough to show the other two wrestlers' dissatisfaction of the match's "outcome." Apparently the beat-up wrestler's team was to win the match, and the other two guys weren't happy about it.

But in the end, it looked like the two disgruntled wrestlers signed the contract because, well, the other team eventually did win.

But you didn't hear all of this from me.

Laundry

2004-07-22T13:50:00.000-10:00

This one's for Jay, since he wanted me to write a post the next time I did laundry:

I did two loads earlier today before lunch.

More later: my night last night at "Battle Hawaii 2004."

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of laundry in the last week or so. What do you expect since we've been cleaning out the bedroom?

Stinkface Tonight

2004-07-21T15:01:00.000-10:00

Busy day today. Took the wife to work, then went to the doctor's for a follow up appointment regarding my physical. Let me tell you that it's been almost a decade since I've been to a doctor for a regular checkup. I'm not kidding. Thankfully, I've never been sick enough to warrant seeing a doctor within that time.

So what made me want to all of a sudden go? First, there's the matter of my health insurance running out at the end of the month. Might as well get the most of my previous employers' benefits while I still have them.

Then there's Jessica, who wants to make sure her life investment (that is, me) is running in tip top shape. Plus, I guess I am kind of curious to see if I'm healthy (even though I know I'm overweight).

In any case, all the tests were normal, thank you very much. Cholesterol is a little high, but nothing alarming, something a little exercise wouldn't help lower.

So after a big sigh of relief, I went home and did a little more tidying up around the house and did some online stuff. Jessica had an out-of-office appointment at 1 o'clock, so I picked her up from work, dropped her off at her appointment and hung out and read at the nearby mall.

Now we're back at home. Jessica took the rest of the day off and I'm set to go meet my friend at the Blaisdell Arena to help videotape a segment for his OC-16 cable show.

It's a wrestling event. Some guy named "Rikishi" will be there. He has a huge butt, and his special move is the "Stinkface."

So... yeah.

Almost Sort-of Famous

2004-07-20T20:57:00.000-10:00

There aren't enough hours in the day.

With that said, the wrestling thing I was going to help shoot for my friend's show is tomorrow night, not tonight. Guess I was excited in getting the assignment (I'm certainly not excited about the wrestling).

Keep an eye out for this magazine's September issue because Jessica gave a short interview to one of the editors! Turns out that someone from the publication knows our wedding photographer and loved one of our pictures.

Week 2

2004-07-19T21:15:00.000-10:00

Looks like I'm keeping up at least a post a day here on this version of ry-blog; thanks for tuning in.

To recap: when we last checked in with our friendly neighborhood's gainfully unemployed thirtysomething dude, he was wrassling with household dust, a router that wouldn't cooperate and bad service at the local tech store. Read the previous posts below to get up to speed.

Speaking of wrassling, tomorrow night I'm off to help shoot some backstage footage for my friend's cable-access TV show. He called me up earlier this afternoon and asked if I was interested in being cameraman for him at a wrestling event tomorrow night at the Blaisdell Center. He figured it would be good practice for me to shoot and possibly edit a small segment on the wrestling event for a future episode of his show.

So yeah, it'll be cool to take part in the shoot. It'll be kind of informal since I'll be using my own camcorder without an external mic (we'll be using the on-board one), but at least it'll give me some practice.

Today: more cleaning in the bedroom and living room areas. I hung up some framed wedding photos (thanks Eugene), as well as a framed wedding invitation some friends gave us as a wedding gift. Plus, a bunch of phone calls and emails for some prospective jobs, and finally, laundry.

Router Woes

2004-07-18T22:43:00.000-10:00

I'm helping my father-in-law hook up two computers, one fairly new and another fairly ancient, to share an internet connection using a regular ethernet router plugged into a cable modem. I thought it'd be fairly simple (and maybe it is) but I shouldn't have been so confident, especially if you're working with PC's.

Besides, I'm an Apple person.

In any case, after about an hour I managed to get the router working with the newer PC (for a while there nothing worked) but I'm having problems with the older PC. My brain was about to explode so I resigned myself to work on the matter sometime this week.

A Final Cut Pro?

2004-07-18T15:29:00.000-10:00

I just started getting my feet wet with Final Cut Pro 4. I'll be helping a couple of friends edit & shoot a local cable-access TV show. I love working with iMovie, but if you want to play in the big leagues, you have to... play with bigger and more complex toys?

So currently I'm going to practice on some older raw footage that I shot with my camcorder from a few years ago as well as my ongoing baby niece Lilinoe video project.

Damn, it's hard though, since I'm so used to editing with iMovie's streamlined interface. I don't think I'll ever stop using it for simple slideshows and videos, but I hear FCP is pretty much an all-in-one solution to video editing and post-production.

Sedaris in Hawaii

2004-07-17T21:49:00.000-10:00

Jessica got us tickets to go see David Sedaris at the Hawaii Theatre in November (scroll down the page to see more info). His latest book is "Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim," and it's a great summer read.

Boring you?

2004-07-17T13:01:00.000-10:00

So you all find the stuff that's been happening here at ry-blog a little... on the boring side? Maybe it's my writing style or what have you, but aside from some of the guilt I carry because of my lack of a job, I feel great. As a matter of fact I feel pretty invigorated, and I hope to parlay that enthusiasm into helping me find a job I wouldn't mind devoting the next five to ten years to.

Anyway, tonight's "Italian Night," with me and Jessica's family getting together at another family friends' place. We'll be partaking in authentic Italian cuisine (or a hearty approximation of it at least). There'll be risotto, cioppino, frittata, antipasto, and of course, pasta.

Anniversary!

2004-07-17T09:53:00.000-10:00

Today's our 3-month wedding anniversary!

Shelves, Casios, and Love, Actually

2004-07-16T23:03:00.000-10:00

This morning I planned on assembling the metal shelf we got yesterday at Home Depot, but online business (job searching, regular daily web surfing) got the better of me. Plus I had a follow-up eye doctor appointment at 11:45, effectively cutting my morning short.

At least everything's okay with the eyes (still blind as a bat but with my new and comfy contacts, it's all good) and after paying a few bills at Pearlridge Mall, I headed over to see my dad at my parents place.

Along with picking up my mail and a few errant CDs lying around in my old room, I found my 15-year-old Casio keyboard in a far, dark corner of my old closet. I had wanted to hook it up to my new computer through GarageBand so I could fiddle with the program and attempt to make music.

I wanted to get back home and maybe put together the metal shelving, but traffic was such a bitch that I decided to wait it out at Borders. I figured that by the time I got home, I would have to leave again within an hour to pick up Jessica from work. Might as well stay in town so I don't have to sit through traffic, and plus I had to take a friggin' piss real bad.

I talked to my wife earlier in the day and she said she was in the mood for Chinese food tonight, as well as the movie "Love Actually." Don't know where that last one came from, but that's cool; we had both wanted to catch it at the theaters, so we rented it at Blockbuster. Overall it was okay; some parts were overly sappy, but most of it was enjoyable.

Maybe I'll post a snippet of one of the many half-finished GarageBand songs I've been working on. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that my ratty old Casio worked as a MIDI controller (with the cheap addition of a MIDI interface cable) and it brought back memories of when I was a budding piano/keyboard player/producer helping a couple of college buddies make a demo using a 4-track 1/2" Otari tape deck at the college radio station I worked at. Ah, those were the days.

Oh, and yeah: I did manage to put together the metal shelves with Jessica's help after watching the movie. It looks nice.

Babysitting

2004-07-15T21:04:00.000-10:00

I did more cleaning in the morning and managed to get a resume and cover letter out before picking up Jessica from work. She took a half day since she came into work early the past few days, and it was perfect because we both decided that we were gonna get a bookcase for our bedroom.

We had a delicious lunch at the Contemporary Museum cafe: she had an Asian Pasta Salad with vegetables and I had a Mozerella Prosciutto sandwich with tapenade, bell peppers and arrugula.

After lunch we went to Home Depot and found a nice cheap metal bookshelf to store stuff in our bedroom; it'll go a long way to getting things off of the floor.

Yesterday, Jessica's sister had asked us to babysit little Lilinoe because she and her husband were going to a special screening of "DeLovely." We both said yes excitedly since we were gonna get some quality baby time (I myself was probably more excited because baby Lilinoe gets enough attention from her grandparents and other relatives that I hardly get to hold her!).

Let's just say that both Jessica and I got some quality baby time during our babysitting session: overall Lilinoe was fine unless you count the few times she was downright uncomfortable for some reason (and that's after making sure she wasn't hungry or wet in the diaper). But we calmed her down okay and she managed to sleep a long while on my chest.

Babies are hard work, but they sure are worth it.

Re-Arranging & Among Friends

2004-07-14T18:44:00.000-10:00

After having my blood drawn for some regular tests, I went home, read a bit, checked my email and surfed the net.

Before my lunch meeting with friends, I proceeded to clean, dust, and vacuum our bedroom. My intention is to get our place in order while on break from a "normal job-faring society," or whatever. The first bit of business is to throw away two junky dresser-drawers in our bedroom and move in another dresser from a different part of the house. My friend Eugene was due to help me in the afternoon, so I wanted to "prep" the bedroom so the actual moving would be relatively painless.

By the time I left the house at about 11:30, I managed to work up quite a sweat cleaning the bedroom. I cleaned myself up, changed, and hooked up with school chums Alex, Manny, and Eugene at this place called "Volcano Joe's" on the University of Hawaii campus. The place used to be a Burger King when we all were going to school there (which was ancient history) and we caught up by talking story and trading/exchanging CDs/DVDs and whatnot.

I got home about a couple of hours later and did more cleaning in the bedroom before Eugene stopped by to help me move the dressers. Less than an hour later and the mission was accomplished. Now I had more space in the bedroom and Eugene suggested we get another bookshelf to store more stuff.

Circuit Shitty

2004-07-13T12:35:00.000-10:00

A transaction that should have lasted less than 10 minutes took a staggering 45 minutes: my father-in-law asked me to pick up a Palm Pilot for him. At Circuit City. Need I say more?

The whole "customer service" model they have, while meant to be efficient, can sometimes drive one insane. Get this:

I go to my friendly neighborhood Circuit City (okay, so there's only one and it's about a 1/2-hour drive but that's beside the point. Normally, I like going to the place, regardless of the drive) about ten minutes after the store opens. Apparently a lot of people are hip to the "Super Tuesday" thing, when most new releases are dropped. My first thought when I see the above-average number of people milling around the store is: "Don't these people have jobs?" But then I think of my own situation, bite my lip, and boogie on to the PDA section.

I see the PDA my father-in-law asked me to get, and I check to see that they're in stock (and I notice that they are since I see about four of them locked away in a cage cabinet right below the various display models). Of course when you know exactly what you want to buy, there's no salespeople around. There's a whole bunch of them by the camcorders and digital cameras as well as some in the television department, but none in the near vicinity.

Figuring the PDA department, which, paired along with the cellular phones, would have at least one salesperson nearby, I decide to wait. And wait I did. After five minutes, I get tired of waiting and decide to go upstairs to the computer department and pick up an ethernet cable that I needed to hook up the in-laws' home network.

I find the cable I need and head back down to the PDA department and there's still no salesperson around. So I go to the camera department and interrupt a salesperson in the middle of selling a family a camcorder and ask -- nicely -- if I could pick up a PDA. The salesperson says that there should be someone in that department. I tell him no, there isn't. He then finishes by saying he'll send someone there as soon as he can because he's with a customer.

So I mill around the PDA department for another five minutes. Still nobody comes by. I approach one of the guys at the cash register and ask him to help. He says that there should be someone there in the PDA department. I tell him no, there isn't. He tells me he can't leave the register, and that there should be someone to help me shortly. I go back and wait in the department.

Five minutes later, a salesperson finally comes by and asks if I need help. I tell him I know which model PDA I want to get and if I could get it please. He then bends down to look at the cage cabinet below the PDA display models, and proceeds to look aimlessly for the model PDA I want, which of course happens to be right in front of him. I finally point out the PDA that I want, and he says he sees it.

But instead of procuring the magical key that would unlock the PDA prison, he goes over to a cash register in the department, prints out a sales ticket, and gives it to me. "Can't you just give me one of those over there in the cabinet?" I ask him. He says he doesn't have the key, and it might be faster to have the PDA sent out from the stockroom. All I need to do is just pay for it at the cash register (a different one, near the exit) and go to the Customer Pick-Up desk to pick up the PDA.

So I do all of this, and give my claim receipt to the customer service person. They take my ticket, and for the next 15 minutes, I am left waiting at the counter for my PDA.

I pass the time by flipping through the store's current ad, and notice that the PDA I just got for my father-in-law comes with a free carrying case. I mention this to the customer service person and she looks at the ad as if I had just written the words "free case" right next to the PDA's picture in red ink. Finally she says "I'll be right back" and she goes off into the PDA department. She comes back a few minutes later with the free case in question and then has trouble ringing up the free case. She calls over another customer service person to ask how she should ring up the free case without looking like they (or I) didn't simply shove the thing in my shopping bag without paying for it.

While the one customer service gal is trying to ring up my free case, the other customer service person, with seemingly nothing else to do, sees an Xbox game nearby with a note on it. He then exclaims, "Is this game really only $4.99?"

In my head I say: "Why yes, sir. In your store's current advertisement, one which I have been browsing through for the fifteenth time while waiting an inexplicably long time for my merchandise to arrive, I noticed there was a clearance sale for selected Xbox games, going for a mere $4.99. On top of that, kind sir, the font on the text touting the $4.99 clearance sale took up nearly a quarter of the page."

So the unbelieving customer service guy rings up the game (I guess he really didn't believe the note that was attached to it) and says to his astonishment, "Wow! This game really is $4.99!"

Shouldn't an employee know what the hell's on sale in their own store?!?

All of this and I'm still waiting for the PDA to be brought up from the stockroom and the customer service gal still trying to ring up my free case.

Then a stockroom guy walks buy and the customer service gal helping me asks him to personally look for my PDA in the back stockroom. Another ten minutes passes by, he comes back and says "This isn't back there."

Sheepishly, the customer service gal says, "I'll be right back," and heads off into the PDA department. She comes back with the PDA, scans it through the computer, shoves it in a bag and gives me a receipt with $0.87 in change.

"What's this for?" I ask. She says it's the change from the free case. "Why do I get money back for the free case?" I ask. She says that according to the computer, for some reason I was due a bit of change.

At least I got $0.87 for my time spent there.

Experiment

2004-07-12T21:10:00.000-10:00

I've decided to keep this incarnation of my blog going (and leave this version on standby for now) until I'm gainfully employed or something. Maybe this site could reflect my mindset during this transitional time in my life, with the underlying "drama" of: "Will he get a job? Doing what? And how long will it take?"

I guess I'll have to let things flow, let things emerge at their own pace. But I hope to God I have something no later than mid-August. That'll be the one-month mark of my "extended vacation without pay," and I'm likely to go work at a Taco Bell or something (at least they brought back an old discontinued favorite: the "Beef Burrito," albeit considerably heavier with beans added and re-christened the "1/2 lb. Combo Burrito"). Yum.

Independence Day

2004-07-12T15:54:00.000-10:00

Via IM earlier today, my good friend Mike asked:

"I thought July 4 was Independence Day?"

I didn't know what the heck he was talking about.

"Just a reference to your new-found freedom," he replied.

Ah, yes, my new-found freedom. Today marks my first day of unemployment since high school. I've basically held a full or part-time gig since the ninth grade, and it feels weird to not have a "job" to go to.

In short, I had quit my job of the past seven years to find something new to do, something that'll both challenge and enable me to start a family and buy a house. Luckily I have a loving and supportive wife who's patient enough to let me do the above. And I don't intend to let her -- or myself -- down.

Oh well, they say "It takes a job to find a job," and thems is the truth.

Anyway, after dropping off Jessica at work and reading the morning paper at the nearby Starbucks, I headed off to the gas station to: 1) fill 'er up, 2) use the gas station's industrial-powered vacuum to clean up the interior of our truck, and 3) go through the car wash to finish the job.

Too bad it started raining on the way home.

Then it was off to the grocery store for tonight's dinner. After arriving home, I ate lunch, cleaned up the bedroom a bit (it'll be a multi-part process), then went online to hit the job sites.

Tomorrow: follow-up phone calls to prospective employers, checking in with the parentals, and a visit to the doctor.

Back On Blogger

2004-07-11T22:45:00.000-10:00

I never thought I'd be back to using Blogger, but... here I am.

The reasons that made me want to look elsewhere for my blogging needs:

1. Back in the day, Blogger didn't have a "comments" feature. Now they do.
2. The look of the blog, or "blog skins," left much to be desired (especially considering I'm a lazy ass and didn't want to design one on my own). Now it looks like they have some decent ones, including the one you see here.
3. Adding links to a post was kind of archaic (what, me do some HTML coding? Again, I can be lazy). While adding links can still be a pain (especially since I cannot use the easy "Link" button feature on the latest version of Safari), my coding skills have somewhat progressed. To prove it, here's a link to "my other blog."

So I figure I'll give this new incarnation of my blog a trial run, considering: a) I have a new computer, and b) I just quit my job and am looking for the next window to open.

So to recap, you are now, dear reader, looking at Mach IV of my blog.

Click here for Mach III (using iBlog).
Over here for Mach II (using Radio UserLand).
And finally over here, where it all started (and using the same, current look).

Thanks for sticking with me.