Blather, rinse, repeat

Today was my first Hula show with my new name given to me by Auntie: 'Ilikeanani (The whole meaning.)

It was also the first show I did since last year, when I did that one right after Dad died. I hardly remember that show at all, TBH. It was miserable and awful and if I hadn't needed the money I wouldn't have done it. I vaguely remember dancing with an ancient, I mean ancient, tiny, adorable kupuna. She was 100+, wore her hair in 'dreads, and I gave her a flower to wear in her hair. That was the only really nice part I can remember. I danced for a bunch of kupuna. I love love love dancing for old people. They remember Hawai'i the way it used to be, and they get it. The understand what the Hula is.

Today I was dancing for keiki, little kids. That's always a little harder because they require different kinds of entertainment. Plus it was a holiday show, so I had to adjust the theme and throw some holiday songs in there. Drummer Boy and Hawaiian Santa (the latter one I taught to them.) I always get a little nervous around kids to begin with.

And I'm jittery before any show. My dumb Garmin sent me down the wrong street and I was almost late, but made it just as everyone was filing in. They gave me a nice dressing room and a really big place to dance. I like dancing on the floor much better than a stage. Hula traditionally doesn't go on a stage; you do it eye-level. You'd have done it on the beach, or plain old on land, originally. So this stage thing is a relatively new development for Hula and Tahitian.

Sorry for the tangent. Anyway, I got there on time and met the guy who was doing the music for me. I already had my playlist all cued up and ready to go; he just had to follow my signals (stop, go, louder, lower,) and we were all set. Actually, he did such a great job with that, that I'd have to say he was the best sound-guy I've ever worked with.

It started off a little slow, with no one in the audience really sure what to do with me etc. Drummer Boy didn't go across as well as I'd thought it would. I think that particular Hula is maybe for a bit more of an intimate setting, less festive. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Then I called the keiki up to teach them Hawaiian Santa, and I was surprised at how much they loved it. They were having a great time. When it was their turn to dance, then the parents all got involved and started becoming a part of the show / audience. It got some reactions, finally.

I also included poi spinning in this show, too. I only ever do that when there are either keiki or kupuna, and when the show is casual. The reason for this is that I suck—abysmally--at spinning poi. I know only two or three good poi-spinning tricks and the rest is really just me hitting myself in the back of the head, the ass, the eye, the boob, everywhere. But if it's an informal show, you can joke about that. So I taught them how to swing poi balls around, I gave them each one (there were so many keiki at this point!) and I spun my two. Actually I didn't do so badly; I was pleasantly surprised that it came back to me. We did this through Hoki Hoki and then I ran off to get changed into my Tahitian 'otea garb.

The keiki lovedlovedloved the Tahitian. I told them they could come up and shout with me (because I do that ridiculously loud Tahitian scream, the "tssyaaaaa!" that gets everyone's ears bleeding,) and because I wasn't using my i'i's I let two of the girls shake have them to dance with. (The i'i's are the 'otea pom-poms, I guess you would call them. They're made out of bark though, like the costume itself.)

So I finally performed La Toere and, holy crap, so much harder to perform than to practice. My fa'arapu (the Tahitian fast hip circles) were PAU by the end of the song. I haven't practiced this dance since the summer and it really showed. All the kids were like "How do you do that!" and I was like, "you need a motor in your hips, haha!" meanwhile I was dying. By the time "Tahiti, Tahiti" came on, I was like, "Wow, we're gonna have to just do this like an 'aparima!" Well, not really. That's one of my favorite songs. I've never performed it before, either. It's so much freaking longer when I'm dancing to it than when I play it in the car, DAMN.

But, if my fa'arapu was starting to die, no one noticed it and everyone had a great time.

I finished up singing and dancing Aloha 'Oe, and then we took a couple of pics and I was out of there in about an hour and fifteen minutes all told. A pretty easy and really fun way to make a hundred bucks. I wish I could do this every Sunday, because I seriously would.

Here are some pics, anyway.

( Hawaiian Santa )

( Keiki spinning poi! )

( After the show )

( That's me, in my dressing room. )

(I have a similar pic of me from years ago, same costume, same angle. The file name just reads "Kapunua" and this one just reads "'Ilikeanani" because in a weird way, I draw a line between 'Ilikeanani and "Jules" the way I did with "Kapunua" and "Jules." Is that strange?)

Well, anyway. This was a really nice way of getting back into Hula. For all that I have these many other interests and lifestyles, this is one that I always hope will be with me forever, and I always rejoice when I'm thrown a chance to be that person again. Sometimes it's a few times a month and sometimes it's just once a year. But I take it any time I can get it. :D

Hau'oli makahiki hou!

Last night was The Big Show, the one I like to have every year where we get to do all the dances; the entire set, audience participation, and a huge sound system. My friend and old training sister Merrie Laugh got the job for us. Even better, she asked if the Gold Dragon could come down and demo some Kung Fu between our Hula sets, which he did.

Originally they wanted us to light the fire pit, and I was more than willing. I was even going to do a live chant with my ipu, just make something up in Hawaiian, something about lighting the fire in the pit, asking Pele to be present or something like that. After all, Pele is ka wahina o ka lua o ke ahi: the woman of the fire pit. I thought it would be appropriate. But in the end, they decided to light it later at night after we had already finished dancing.

So I got there with my flowers in my hair and my red lava-lava and I saw Merrie Laugh, and at first she didn't seem to recognize me. Then she found the perfect place for Kamila and I to set up our gear and stuff: in the apparatus room in the fire house. We were able to hang all of our huge costumes up among the fireman coats and stuff; our implements were on the back of a fire truck. Bear in mind that fire trucks are my first phobia. They scare me just a little bit more than zombies.) But it was an awesome set up because there was a door from there that went right to where we were dancing on the grass. (Oddly, neither Gold Dragon nor Kamila seemed to recognize me right away last night either. In both of them, as in Merrie Laugh, I saw that fleeting moment of "Who is that girl and why is she walking towards me?" Weird.)

The sound system ROCKED. I brought my iPod and was able to hook it up to their speakers which were massive. They had a mic set up so I could introduce each song and read the translation.

The Hula itself went off without a hitch. Well, with one minor hitch as I called out the wrong kahea during Waikiki Hula, but that was about it.

We did a fantastic show. Too bad that most people there didn't really want to see it. I get that; seriously I do. When people go to a hula show, they want to see Hula. That's why they're there. When they go to a party, they want to party, and if a show is going on, sometimes that's neat, but most of the time they'd just rather go about their business. This is why it's so hard to do parties, especially where drunk people are involved.

Interspersed among our set, the Gold Dragon came on and did three forms. At the end, he did broad sword, but he didn't have his sword; luckily I had mine in my car and he used that one.

The whole show was over by around 6:45.

Afterwards, I gave out the leis that I had made for people. I only had nine of them so I gave one to the Gold Dragon, one to Merrie Laugh, a few to the kids (who enjoyed it more than the adults,) and some to the older people in the audience who seemed really into it. But most of the folks there seemed uninterested. They didn't even really watch the sword form and even though they'd been asked to hang onto their kids, because it is, you know, a real sword? There were still kids and even adults wandering around close to him, as if he wasn't even there. As Gold Dragon put it as he was helping me put my stuff in the car, "God...tough crowd."

Kamila had to leave directly after dancing, but they invited Gold Dragon and I to stay and eat. The food was yummy so we both took them up on it. We took seats by the now-lit firepit and ate and talked probably until around 9. The music was terrible (mostly country and some crappy old 80's metal, liek the worst they could find,) and we were right under the speakers, but that's where we ended up so that's where we stayed. It was goddamn cold last night--as it has been this entire summer--and the fire was really nice.

A few people came up to us and said, "you guys did a wonderful job," and one lady apologized for some of the other people there. I told her, "Look, it's a party; people are here to party, not to watch a show that they don't really get. This happens a lot so we're kind of used to it. And at any rate, it's so much better than a handful of shows where people are too into it and get inappropriate."

Another woman came up to me and said, "I know it looked like no one was paying attention, but a few of us were and I have to tell you: Girl, you can move." Then, like I said, there were some older people there who seemed really involved in it. And there was this one little chick around 13 or so who followed us around chatting to us. She asked me to tie her lava-lava on her the way I was wearing mine (as a dress instead of a pareu) and I did, and after that we were like besties. It was really cute.

If even a few people get it, then it's worth it.

But even more than that, last night I got it. I was right down in it with Real Hula; not backyard party Hula, but really doing my thing like I know how to do it. Performance-wise, I think it was one of my best. I did it for Pele and Laka, and I was really happy with it. I think maybe it even shows in the photos. It's weird to me how I look like a totally different person when I'm dancing; like even my face looks different to me. I don't look at those pictures and cringe.

Gold Dragon made a comment too. We were talking about confidence for some reason and he said to me, "The girl you are tonight, when you're out there dancing? That's how you should always feel about yourself."

Anyway, so those pictures!

( These are the leis that I made. )

( The Gold Dragon does his thing. )


( The Gold Dragon does my thing. )
LOL, okay!

( Na Wahine O Ka Mokupuni Lo'ihi do their thing. )


( This is my favorite picture! )
That's one of my favorite sections to that Hula, which is my absolute favorite Hula. It's called O Keahi A Lonomakua and tells the story of Kamapua'a's reaction to the destruction that Pele caused after he insulted her. It's a very feminist chant (Pele is a massively feminist icon,) and I get so much out of performing it. I even chanted it last night too. Anyway, this is the part that says, "Kei ki'i mai nei Hawai'i," or, "Hawai'i is summoning me."

( These are all after the show. )

( When I came home, I still wanted to feel like I was Pele. I wasn't ready to give that person up yet. )

( It is traditional, after Hula, to dispose of live flowers at the beach, or by burying them. )
So I took Sano on a walk to the beach today and threw my haku lei, a maile, and my flowers into the bay.

And that was that!

More, locked!

It was pretty decent! It wasn't actually even a show; it was a Hula lesson at a bridal shower. We were outside and it rained lightly the whole time, but it wasn't so bad. Camille and I taught Beautiful Kaua'i. The kids were more into it than the adults were, surprisingly. But there were a few ladies there who seemed to get the hang of it, and they all seemed to have a good time. We were there for I guess an hour, maybe a little more, and we made some decent money and a nice tip.

I still really, really want to teach. Not just as parties or for a season, but to teach a halau. I think it would also be nice to have steady work. Like at a hotel or something, like Auntie Kau'i does. Even at a Hawaiian themed restaurant or something like that. Something close to home.

I'm asking the universe for that. A weekly lu'au at a hotel or a restaurant.

I shouldn't just ask though; I should seek too. I wonder if I jsut put "hawaiian" in the local yellow pages and see what happens?

Hmm.

Anyway, that was today! The rest of the night, I dunno, maybe look around the internet for something like what I just wrote. Maybe watch a movie. Maybe play Twilight Princess. I don't have school tomorrow so I can sleep late. ^_^

Aloha e! Tomorrow is the first Hula show of the season so far. It's a small deal. Just a birthday party, 45 minutes, and I think 80 bucks each or something. It's way the hell in frigging Commack but eh, I drive an hour and a half to school two days a week so I really shouldn't complain much. I still need directions, which I haaaaaaate, but hey.

The real big show, the one I'm really excited for, is on July 11th. That's one for a local fire department and we're gonna do a big production on that one. They want us to do a fire entrance and light some torches or something like that. I'm halfway almost kinda semi considering writing my own chant for that and doing it live. Maybe? O Pele ku'u akuahine, mahalo e ka wahine kapu o ka lua e, ha'ahea ka lei lehua o ka wahine o Puna, O Pele ke Akua o ke ahi e, e o mai, e ala e, e o mai! or something like that. I dunno, I just made that up. OTOH, maybe an actual invocation to Pele while lighting fires isn't the best idea? O_o Maybe something to Laka at the end instead or something.

So I got my (FREE!) shiny new iPod Touch in the mail and a program to load into my new computer that will let me run Windows programs (hurray,) but still as of yet no shiny new computer. Next week, I guess. But until then I can't: burn any music, rip any music, sync my iPod, paint, draw, make any business cards, and all of the other things that I pretend I'm going to do any day now but then keep putting off anyway. Still, it's good to have the option, you know?

Today I went out shopping for Father's Day gifts and I got the most fantastic thing for my cousin Timmy, and I couldn't find anything really fabulous for my own Dad. He asked for a DVD and I got him that, as well as some cards, and OMG Jo-chan's birthday is around the corner and I got her a card and her gifts are all sitting here, she is going to be 17, WTMFF?

I also took Sano down for his follow up blood test, like we do every week now to the tune of 60 bucks each time. Last week his platelets had dropped again and my Wonderful Friend Kim said, "But you can't really trust the machine, because platelets clump and the machine can't read them like that. You have to look at a slide." So the platelets looked low again today and the Dr. was like, "WTH?" and so she looked at them on a slide instead and found, hurray, that the dropping platelets was machine-error and his platelets are, in fact, back to normal! (*KNOCK ON WOOOOOD*) Which means I can start to wean him off the pred, thank god because I HATE stupid pred. It's turning him into such a pain in the ass, with the constant food-seeking. Also it has totally wasted his muscles down to nothing--he even looks about three inches shorter in his shoulders--and he's a drinking and pissing machine. Seriously, the dog pees for like a minute at a time, looking at me like, "OMG, I cannot stop." He's like me, when I see movies with Ewan McGregor, or Joaquin Phoenix or Le Jared or something, except he doesn't squee.

Denzeru the baby crow continues to heal (the belly wound is almost all closed!) and eat and grow and be generally nauseatingly adorable.

Let's see, what else? Oh, I remember. I had my myo practical mid-term yesterday and it went really well. I'm pretty sure I got them all right. Next week I have the Myo written, Eastern Nutrition written, and Swedish tech practical which should go fairly well, at least I hope. Then the following week I have Swed Tech written and that's going to be harder. Why? Because the professor "borrowed" by supplemental text on the second day, then lost it and never replaced it. I ask her about it every week. "Do you have a text for me?" And she seems to remember it only when I mention it, and tells me, "No! And it's really pissing me off!" Yeah? It's pissing YOU off? I paid for the goddamn thing, it's got answers to questions that we don't go over in class (because, hi, it's a tech class,) I no longer have it in my possession, you can never seem to remember having "borrowed" it from me and it's pissing you off? Okay!

Tch! Whatever. I should really start to get into my Hula Zone. Although I think that every year, and I'm never really in it until the show, and by then it will be fine anyway. ^_^ No worries, brah!

How to even sum up the lat two days> Impossible to tell everything! Yesterday, I met up with some good friends from a blog I go to. Our meeting was a long time coming and it was really great, aside from one of the girls getting sick and having to leave early. We walked around Epcot, drank sake, and toasted to the guy on whose blog we all met. The two girls who stayed--let's just call them S&S--stayed over and we had a great time, like a slumber party. We went to Downtown and had ice cream, then came back here, went on said blog and yammered all about it. It was great. :)

Today, we had breakfast and watched this really good-looking boy eat. It was sort of creepy of us. Then my Mom came over and we all chatted about said blog.

When they left, we headed off to the Polynesian so I could say hi and bye to Kawehi, and bye to Auntie Kau'i. They were all putting on another show, and it was awesome. And once again Auintie put me up on stage. SURPRISE! She let me borrow a pa'u, and Kanani thankfully had Ipo Lei Momi on hand, so I did that. I totally redeemed myself from sucking the other night, because I did those one really well. :D I was so glad.

Off to Epcot, where I saved about five dragonflies today. Boychild found one that looked like it was dead in a low windowsill indoors. It ended up being barely alive. I took it outside where it washed its little bug face with its little bug hands and then it died. Back inside, my cousin Chrissie and I found a bunch more dragonflies, all just lying there, stil in the window well. I picked them up one by one, and they weren't dead. They seemed to have just given up! They were stuck in the window well and had nothing to eat or drink. So one by one I took them outside where they all (except for the first one, a beautiful green,) flew away. I really love those insects.

Dinner at Alfredo's with a really beautiful waiter, then back to the Kingdom so Boychild could see the light parade. He loved it! And they sell really cool things there, one of which is this light up skull that's aboit seven inches long. You can hang it in a window or wear it as a necklace, and I wore it. The jaw lights up alternately on top and bottom so it looks like it's chomping. I showed it to the Boychild and said, "Nom nom nom!" So now he thinks Halloween skulls are "nom noms." He kept grabbing it while I was carrying him and going, "Nom nom?" Hilarious. Also, a few days ago I bought him a plastic pirate sword. He must have seen me pick it up and go, "ARRR!" Because now swords are "args." And pirates are "yo hos" except for Jack Sparrow, who is "Dack."

Boychild cracks me up.

Well, tomorrow is the last full day, and I'm cool with it. I miss my dogs, my crow and my birds. I miss my house, and when I go back I can start decorating for Halloween. It was 115 degrees here yesterday, and it's about 60 at home. That actually sounds kind of nice. ^_^

I started today checking up on all my animals. The dogs are fine and my wonderful friend Kim had just gone in to check on them at the dog hotel when I called. At Laura's, Lohi'au is lonely, bored, depressed and he misses me a lot. She released a starling and a robin (yay!) but my two grackles started to crash for some reason after I left. That SUCKS. They were perfect. But this happens sometimes.

We went to Epcot and no matter how many times I tell people, "I'm going to take about two hours in Mitsukoshi; I can only go here once a year so I need some time; go on without me," and no matter how many times everyone says, "We'll go on, you catch up. Take your time," everyone still waits, and my Dad still gets impatient. I spent about 70 bucks at Mitsukoshi and I did a really geeky thing. One of the Japanese girls at the kiosk was writing names in Japanese on little 4 dollar fans that you can buy there. I asked her if she could write a phrase instead and she said she could. After much messing about with mixed up translations, tone and hidden meanings, I am now the owner of a fan which has written in Japanese, "Floating woman's fan." See, one of my favorite poets Komachi, (and a contemporary of Sei Shonagaon, who is my favorite,) attended a party about a thousand years ago. She was known for floating from man to mad. At the party, Emporer Michigana (nasty dude, stole the throne from Sei's empress Teishi,) stole Komachi's fan and wrote that phrase on it to insult her then he gave it back to her. (I had to assure the girl that, yes, it was meant to make fun, to be a little rude.) In response, Komachi wrote back to him, "Some cross the pass of love, others do not. But unless you are the watchman there, you cannot pass judgment."

SWEET!

Then, Timmy bought me a glass of plum wine. And then in Italy, when I was good and tispy (on a measly 4 ounces; it doesn't take much to begin with and I drank it fast,) he bought me some gelato and I said, "Timmy, why are you buying me stuff?" and he said, "Because you take care of my boy and I appreciate that."

And speaking of, I got beautiful pictures of the Boychild today.

In the China pavilion, I went equally crazy and spent about another 50.

Tonight was dinner at the 'Ohana, and first I saw the lovely Brian downstairs doing poi balls, and Auntie making leis. She told me I was dancing tonight and I said, "With your group?" She said, "No baby, we're doing all new stuff. You're doing a solo." No pressure!

Well, while we were waiting on line to check in at the restaurant, Kaleo was singing in the lounge and I waved to him. He stopped the show a few times to shout us out. Then between songs he said, "Hey, where's Jimmy Dee?" (Obviously Jimmy Dee is my Dad.) My Mom pointed him out and Kaleo said, I forgot to tell Jimmy Dee that I love his CDs, they're the best! I keep them right by my CD player!" Well, my Dad loves Kaleo and has gerat respect for him, and he just stood there blushing and being all, "pshaw," but he was so happy about that."

Dinner was great and Kaleo came to sit with us. He met Chris and Tim and Gavin too. It was so nice, as it always is.

After dinner we waited for him to come back on, and he dedicated a bunch of songs to us. The audience kept getting bigger! Before Auntie and her group came up I went up to Kaleo and told him that I was totally blanking on a Hula to do, and did he know Island of Love, because I was pretty sure I could bust that out. He said he hadn't learned that one, and I was hoping he would forget what I did last year so maybe I could do it again--even though I couldn't even remember the name of the song! but he did remember: Beautiful Kaui'i, and I asked him if I could just do that one again.

Finally Aunti's group came on and they were awesome. They did pu'ilu, 'uli'uli and three more hulas too. Brian was dancing with them, as well as one girl from Japan named Momi. It was her last day with them, and at the end of her solo she started to cry. That got Mom Chrissie and I crying, too.

Then Kaleo said, "We have a girl who comes down once a year or so and always dances for us, as well as being a true follower of the Hula, and attends seminars and learns about the Hawaiian culture." I didn't even know at the time he was talking about me so I sat there going, "I wonder who it is?" Then he called my name. I took off my shoes, but not my stupid striped socks. Then on stage I leaned over and told him that I hadn't realized he'd been talking about he, and he cracked up. Anyway, he went on to say that I had been dancing and studying for many years and such and I said, "And yet somehow I can only come up with THIS ONE HULA to perform!" which he repeated into the mic. Which was cool, because I wasn't trying to be self-effacing, but really to quantify that I knew it wasn't the best Hula and by far not MY best, and I wished I had something better to offer.

Well, I totally screwed up the beginning of the song. I forgot the vamp and I was just trying to pick out the tempo, wondering when I should start. I dance this song really fast, and he played it slow. So for the whole first few lines I was all over the damn place. It really sucked! Eventually I figured out that he was playing it at half the tempo I usually do it, and then I finished it with ease, but the beginning was really rough.

At the end I leaned over to Kaleo and I said, "The socks really made this Hula, didn't they?" and he laughed and made a joke about them being "Where's Waldo" socks.

People came up to me afterwards and said that I had done a good job, etc. but I knew that I hadn't and it really bummed me out. >_<

Well, we watched the end of the show, which rocked, and then Brian, Momi, and Auntie gave maile leis to Chrissie, Timmy and my Mom. (Auntie gave me a carnation lei when I went on stage; forgot to mention that.)

Boychild really loved the Hula and the music. Before we left, he pointed to Kaleo, then to Kaleo's chair on stage and said, "MORE!" it was too cute.

Then we went to the village for a bit.

Well, that was today. I am so mad that I screwed up a really easy Hula, but so happy that I own a fan that reads "Floating woman's fan" in Japanese. :D

Hey look guys, I'm dancing on IslipTV! ^_^

Today Camille and I did a Hula show for Bossman's little daughter's birthday party. Aside from me messing up the ending of my favorite 'otea, I think it went really well. The kids had a blast, they screamed throughout the entire Tahitian set. We taught them a mini Hula class and they did really well. The weather was a nice 85-ish. All in all it was pretty lovely.

We have another show on July 17th in Greenport, and that one's going to be very, uhh, loose I think, in terms of knowing when the hell we go on and what we're going to do. The good thing is that I get to see an old pal of mine, Jamie, who I used to do street theater with. I might work up the nerve to ask him to play a sorta big role in Ghost Of You, if he's into it. And he says he's got a whole new crew of actors, which is good because I was pretty much dating my way through the old crew (which made it awkward and part of why I left the group--not in a sluttly way, I was just a serial dater, like, one date and it was over.) Even better, if there are all new people, I can definitely scope out for the male lead, which I still don't have. I still have one person in mind, but I posted the trailer just about everywhere I could today and I'm surprised at the interest it's already getting. So I want to get started, and I'm so excited about it.

Oh, updates on that: The role of the devil goes to my awesome friend Casse, who's going to nail it to the wall, I can already tell. She does this thing with her eyes that's pure evil (which I weird, because she's actually got a very gentle heart.) It's going to be so creepy. I can't wait to film her scenes.

Quick bird update: Looks like Lohi'au has avian pox. I knew there was a reason I had him; baby crows don't just show up randomly like that, they're kind of rare. He might STILL be releasable. But he is getting very comfortable, very tame. I'll know when I come back from Florida. In the aviary: Tim, Truffles and a nameless young grackle that got hit by a car. His wing isn't broken and he looks to be holding it right again, but he still isn't flying. In cages indoors: Lohi'au (HUGE cage); Jared, Adam and Gerard (Gerard's wings feathered badly, I had to pull the feathers today, which I HATE doing) together; Ray, Bryer, Brian and Mikey (no Frank? Because I want to give the name "Iero" to a grackle or jay or something ^_~) together in a cage (Mikey has a twisted leg, so I'm hoping he'll be releasable); and then a yet-unnamed nestling starling. That's about all for now. Oh, Truffles also broke all his tail feathers and I had to pull them out. GAH!

This is short, and I'm sorry about that, but that's what's up for this week. ^_^

Again with the fandom writing and making sloppy, improbable and ridiculous stories that are taking up all my free time! What little of it there is these days, anyway. We've had a Hula show ever weekend for the past month, which is a GOOD thing I assure you, just a little hectic.

Yesterday was our annual guest appearance at the Commack dance recital thingie. We only ever do one section there and this year we chose Tahitian. I wanted to bring the house down. I couldn't. I was so far out of my zone it was just awful. I don't know what it is about this place, but I'm always depressed when I get there, and depressed the whole time I'm there. It got to the point where I wanted to put my headpiece over my face, or just plain go home. Recall last year at the same thing, I was hating on how I looked in the same exact way when that dance teacher came up to me and said "you guys are beautiful." Oddly enough, she did and said the exact same thing this year. Maybe it alarms me how little things change year to year. (Also recall that I started writing some "Unnamed Vampire Story", holy crap, I had no frigging idea that story was a year old! HOLY!!!! Errr, I just read that recap of that story, wherein the lead character was an animator turned rock musician; keep in mind first that I haven't even looked at that story in about seven months, and also and most importantly, I hadn't even heard the words "My Chemical Romance" back then, okay? Totally accidental.)

Anyway, moving backwards. Before the show yesterday my little starling Bert died. I understand he just wasn't meant to be, because he was runty and weird and just not right, but it's still sad when I lose them. He was a cute little bird and I miss him.

And before that was Friday, and Friday was kind of cool. I got three more birds Friday, a baby robin who I named Adam, a teeny finch only a few days old (I didn't name him because I'm going to give him to Laura,) and a BABY BLUEJAY! His name is Jared. He's kind of an older baby, about a month perhaps, and he was a cat toy. He's badly chewed up, with busted air sacs and what looks like an abcess on his back. So I have him on Baytril and my fingers are crossed.

Olso on Friday, this really good-looking guy came in with his monitor, the lizard, I mean. I think I stared openly at him for a few seconds before realizing what I was doing. Even the other girls up at the desk thought he was hot. Then he started kind o looking at me, so I bailed out, you know I hate to be looked at too closely. I eventually had to go back up front anyway, I can't remember why that was, and we started talking about lizards and stuff. He was really passionate about how people treat exotic pets, he hates the way people keep them and then just let them die like they're disposable. We started talking about how they give away "baby dragons" at fairs (which are baby iguanas, actually,) in tiny little plastic carriers, and those "baby dragons" are usually dead within a few months. The guy said, "That's why I never go to those fairs. I'd kill someone." Then as he was leaving I asked him if he needed help getting to his car (he kind of had his hands full) and he said, "No, I don't want you to see how dirty it is." Then he said, "You should come by to (the place where I work) and see me somtime. But come by quick, because I won't be there much longer." And then he winked at me. I was struck totally WTF. Hot boy. Asking me to come see him. Nancy asked me if I was actually going to go see him and I told her, "Hells, no! I don't want that level of commitment!" ;D Also, he just looked at me way too much, and I hate that. Rob was like, "It's a sign! It's meant to be!" Which got me laughing, because seriously.

People talk about finding "The One" and meeting "The One" and "Oh my god, s/he's The One!" and all I can ever think about when people say that is this: Falling in love is like falling down a ladder, where every rung is another moment you're getting older and the bottom is your fear of dying alone, and whoever is at the bottom of the ladder when you reach it, well, that's The One.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Welp! Back to writing this year's version of nonsense! ^_^

First let me say that I only hope to post this tonight, because my internet connection is almost non-existant. It's the kinda thing where I'll get online for about 1 second ("Hey YR CONNECTD DO SOMETHING QUICK!!!") and in the next I'm chucked off again. ("HAHA U GOT PWNED!!!") ANd even though my connection has been dodgy since I got it (yeah it's cheaper, but you get what you pay for as they say,) it's never been as bad as it has been this week. Linksys Wireless, people. They suck all the pole in China.

Anyway, so the Solarfest show today (and I've got a ton of pics and even videos, so as I write this I'm only hoping I'm able to post them. Well, post anything, really.) I was told to get there early, and I gave myself about 20 minutes getting lost time, because it was a long, unfamiliar drive. (And I did get lost, briefly. You know what would be a great idea to let you know which exit out of the 80000 on exit 53 is Sagtakos Parkway? ROADSIGNS. I'm just saying.) So I got lost but I still got there way earlier than I had to and no one was there. I spent a goodly amount of time walking around and being bored, and it was overcast and about to rain and pretty much no one was coming out to this thing today. I chatted for a while with some guy about his really cool solar-water power invention, he had a little shack with the entire setup and he made the whole thing with stuff he got from Home Depot. It was neat, and it was also pretty cool to be talking to an inventor. Then I talked for a while with a guy who was all into shamanism and spiritual stuff. I get that a lot, random people coming up to me to talk about that kind of thing. He asked me which island I was from and I said, "This one." Then he asked me what my heritage was and I thought, Oh, that's what we're talking about. So I told him, and we chatted, then Olivia pulled up with Eric (another of her dancers) and she was followed shortly by Maria.

We roamed around for about 45 minutes while the sound guys set everything up, and I started to get worried because there were like five people on the grass in front of the stage. So I went out into the street and started calling random people in, telling them there was going to be a Hula show. A few people came in, but most of them just kind of waited outside the faire grounds where they could still see the stage. (Not that it mattered, admittance was free.)

We went on at around 1:30 I think. Olivia and Maria started the show with three of their numbers. Then I was up for Kahiko, and I had decided on doing O Keahi A Lonomakua, you guys all know that is my favorite Hula. I took a moment to explain to the audience (after some sound problems and feedback and the sound guy realizing that I am 5'9" and he had to adjust the mic etc.) what the Hula was about, how mainlanders tend to romanticize Hawaiian culture and water it down, and sell the entire Aloha thing as if there was nothing else to it. I told them there was so much more to the culture than just "Spirit of Aloha" and I explained that this was a song about Fire Goddess Pele, and her battle with her rejected suitor Kamapua'a, that the chant was told from his point of view as he witnessed the destruction caused by her anger. Some of you might remember that the last time I performed it I completely blanked on it and got vers 2 and 3 mixed up. No one in the audience that night knew, but I knew and it bothered me. So I promised myself I would just nail it this time and I wouldn't do anything wrong. So, not only did I totally nail it and not miss any steps or anything, but I chanted the second verse like I was supposed to. Which I hardly ever do because I'm usually out of breath after the first verse. But this time I had the ha for it so I did it. So I was really happy with how that turned out. Then Olivia went up to do her Tahitian, while I got ready for mine. (I have to wonder why she didn't ask me to do 'auana instead, as there wasn't a single 'auana represented there.) As I was getting ready, I realized that holy crap I did not have the music for the 'otea I wanted to do! In fact, I didn't have the music for any 'Otea that I knew. But, panic? Me? Why, never. There are two Tahitian songs that I have always very badly wanted to choreograph, and so I told myself, what better way to see if I can do it other than to just do it?

So I plugged my iPod to the sound system (which, by the way, was HUGE,) lined up "Tiare" and "Tahiti Tahiti," climbed onto the stage, O my brothers and only friends, and I completely made crap up. What you must realize when I get to the pics is that this is totally not the right costume for that kind of dance. The first one is an aparima, you would wear a pareu for that, and I think you would also wear a pareu for the second one, too. That's an 'otea costume, and neither one of those are 'otea dances. But, I didn't have anything else to wear, and I already had that on, so.... So there it was!

The other thing about that was that, for as often as I'd made up Hulas for each of these in my head, actually doing them on the spot was a little different. While I do understand the lyrics to both (Tahiti, Tahiti is pretty basic, I just understand it, but I did have to look up a few lines of Tiare for translation,) doing it live without anything really planned was, errr, a challenge. I also never realized how long Tahiti, Tahiti really is. I felt like I was up there forever.

Still, the audience liked it and there was clapping and yelling and junk like that, which is always nice to hear. And then we were done!

Or at least I thought we were. It ends up that some guy wanted to interview us for IslipTV.com. I've been in a few (and I stress, a few) interviews before so I figured that would be pretty easy. But the lens of the camera was right in my face and I was getting all self conscious, you know I hate people looking at my face close up. As I was talking, I realized I was kind of flailing my hands around like I tend to do when I get self conscious, and looking anywhere but in the camera. So when this goes up on IslipTV (on Tuesday, I think,) it's just going to look so spazzy. Oh, and he also taped the show to put up there, too. So that's all going ot be on IslipTV, which is online, but I'm not sure if I'm going to link to it or not. It depends on how spazzy and stupid I look.

Then it was around 2:30 and even though a reggea band was about to go on, I was starving and I had to get back to feed the birds. As I was going to my car, a lesbian drug addict came up to me and started talking to me. She was so wasted that I had a hard time understanding her, and indeed she had a hard time standing up. She was nice though, she was trying to be nice, but it's hard for me to talk to people who are so far gone that I can't even tell if they're speaking the same language anymore, so I had to excuse myself and leave (I had to go say goodbye to Olivia and Maria before I went.) Before I did, she asked me my name and she told me hers. And there was something so random and unusual about her name that I will just have to put in a locked post. I believe in signs, let's just say that and leave it there for now.

So I said goodbye and was walking to my car once again, when this completely drunken fool of a guy started dancing at me in the street. Playing along with him because I was still in my Aloha Girl mode, I had no idea (though I should have) that he would take this as in invitation to accost me on the street with more slurred words and randomness. So he came walking over and started talking to me in a heavily accented, falling-over-drunk voice. He had to be closing in on 50 or so but he obviously thought he was about 19. It got to a point where I honestly couldn't understand a word he was saying and it got very awkward. I told him that I had to go and he said, "You married or single?!" I told him, "Married." He says, "Yeah, to who?" And I said--get this, now--"I don't know, some guy." And I started to walk away, because you know, please take no for an answer and move on. But he didn't, he actually followed me down the street going, "beautiful mamacita, kiss kiss!" with the kiss noises and the typical hand gesture that goes with the fake kiss noises. I was totally flabbergasted, all I could think was, Dude, this is 2007, not 1974.

Then as I was driving away, he and a bunch of his drunken friends started walking after my car (it was one of those crowded, narrow roads) and telling me to Come back, Hey dancing girl come back and dance, hey mamacita don't leave etc. UGH. It wasn't anything threatening, it was just too stupid for me to believe. Times like that I always think, Really, where do you honestly think this is going to lead? I'm 34, gainfully employed and clearly not drunk. You're 50 something, walking around on the street with the biggest can of beer I've ever seen, hardly able to stand up straight and you're missing your two front teeth. Do you really think this is going to get you anywhere? I'm not saying that to put myself above people, even if it sounds like that, but honestly, does the phrase "not my type" ring any bells at all?

Well, that was pretty much how it went. A good show, all in all, though really kind of random and chaotic. Now I'm going to try to set up my old internet connection so I can upload some pics and videos (those ones you see up there; at the time of this writing I haven't even uploaded them yet, still offline you see,) and then if that works, I'll post this and then continue with a locked post about the name of that girl and its significance.


Here are some pics:

( Me with Dance Aloha troupe. )

( MySpacing it, Hula style! )

( Olivia and Maria doing their Kahiko: )

( O&M doing Nani Vale with pu'ili: )

( This is my favorite pic of me doing Tahitian. You can't see my face! ^_^ )

( Me doing Tahitian again: )

( Interesting place for 30 Seconds to Mars glyphics... ^_^ )

That's pretty much it! Now I've got a pint of Hawaiian Lehua Blossom and Sweet Cream ice cream in the freezer and it's calling me, along with maybe a movie. Doesn't that sound nice?

Peace out, yo.