Crazy, Crazy Weekend

So this week was pretty relaxed for the both of us.  Stephen has been subbing more and more regularly once he realized that he actually has to answer the phone when the automated sub system calls.  Because of that, he actually subbed for three days this week, and then he took Friday off because he had drill over the weekend.

Me, I'm not sure what I did all week.  I worked.  What else is new?

I think we went surfing on Wednesday after my karate class.  The seasons are changing, so there are slowly fewer and fewer good surf days on our side of the island.

We both had a crazy weekend, so I guess that's where all the excitement happens.

Saturday was the Merrie Monarch parade.  We get invited to go every year, but it's part of a Hawaiian festival started by King David Kalakaua honoring Hawaiian traditions, hula, song, and art.  Logistics were a nightmare, so I ended up waking up at 2am so I could make a 3:20am muster time.  We showed up at the airport before any of the terminals opened and wondered if the whole system would blow up, because at exactly 3:45am, all of Navy Band Pacific Fleet would put their cards in the terminals and try to log in to our flights.

No such disaster happened.  I think we were all disappointed that it went so smoothly.

I slept on the plane.  Scratch that, I went comatose on the plane.  I fell asleep so hard that I had one of those moments where my whole upper body fell forward.  Everybody else was asleep, too, so it's not like anyone noticed.

We got to Hilo around 6am and got picked up by our sponsor.  We went to Ken's House of Pancakes and got breakfast.  I'll say, a veggie omelet never tasted so good, and coffee was never more welcome.  We were done with breakfast by 7:30 and shuttled over to our changing area.  They wanted us changed by 9am.  Okay, so we had an hour and a half to kill, so a friend and I went for a walk around the premises (mostly because we were both bloated and gassy from the early wake-up and flight, but shhhhhhhh...)

We were changed by 9am, but the parade didn't start until 10:30am.  So we lounged around in our whites, practicing and sleeping on park benches.  Classy.

We did the parade.  I guess last year's was more hostile, because this year they have the Mauna Kea observatory to protest vehemently, but still... If ever I felt like we didn't belong, this was it.  I was never met both with so much aloha from some people and so much disdain from others.  We did get a debrief on what to do in case, oh, someone threw an egg at us.  It was that kind of atmosphere.

In the end, we did the parade incident-free (that Mauna Kea observatory...), and then we proceeded to get lunch and were treated to a little thank-you hula.  We got to the airport and took a 3pm flight home.  Then we got our bags, got picked up and taken back to the band room, and then I drove home.

When I got home, it was about 4:30pm, and Stephen told me he had just received a call from someone in one of the community bands.  A flute player was giving her masters recital that night, and the clarinet player who was supposed to play a piece with her had gotten food poisoning, so they were desperately looking for someone who could sightread the part on the recital.  Somehow, they got far enough down the list that they called Stephen to try and reach me.

I didn't even know I was on a list.

If they actually called looking for me, that means they were desperate, so suddenly all exhaustion went out the window and I was like, yes, I can do it.

I can sightread a piece on a masters recital, and I'll have been up for 18 straight hours when I do the performance.  I actually decided that I was too tired to be nervous, so it would be fine.

The flute player was going to be doing a sound check from 5:30 to 6:30, and the recital was at 7:30pm.  By the time i got this information, though, it was already 5:00pm.  Stephen cooked dinner while I took a 5 minute shower, threw on something resembling concert black, and made sure I had a clarinet and reeds all in the same case.  I ate while Stephen drove.

We got there at 6, and we did two run-throughs of the piece.  Then I had until about 7:15 to sit downstairs, woodshed the tricky parts, and listen to a YouTube video so I wouldn't miss that stupid transition at the end that threw me off in both runs.  Then the recital started, and all I could do was wait until after intermission.

My performance wasn't perfect, but I knocked a few socks off some of the audience, and I made a few important contacts.  As it turns out, the flute teacher was a graduate of North Texas, so we had that in common.  She hooked me up with a repair person on the island who only works from recommendations and word-of-mouth.  She also said they'd be calling me again.  Woo, connections!  I also connected with the director of bands at UH, and an appreciate audience member said that somebody needs to be kissing my a$$ right now.

I will play for food.  I'll also play for connections.

By the time we got home, it was 10pm.  What a long freaking day.

Stephen had to get up for drill again the next morning, and I have been on such a schedule that sleeping in didn't happen.  I just hit the gym because I needed to do SOMETHING (and I have my physical readiness test on Tuesday) and then took a nap.  When Stephen came home, we went surfing again.  Why not?

We went to Flat Island this time, because there were no waves at Castles.  The problem with Flat Island is that the paddling takes for-e-ver.  It's a good 10 minutes of swimming without using your feet.  It was also low tide, which meant that sometimes the water depth to the coral was only maybe knee-deep.  Careful how you fall!

The waves there were so much more difficult for us to ride.  I think it'll be a good stepping stone for us.

We don't have any pictures because apparently Stephen didn't charge the battery well, or because the camera got dirty and wasn't connecting.  Ah well.  You get the point.  You stand up on a board as waves come crashing.

Today was also relaxing.  We sanded down the pallet bench Stephen put together, and now it almost looks like a respectable piece of furniture.  We're going to get one more pack of fine grit sandpaper to really take the last kinks out, and then we'll paint it.  I'm pretty excited.

Then I got a facial in Kane'ohe from an awesome Thai lady.  I would go back to her again.  It was ridiculously relaxing.  Then Stephen suggested either going to Sharks Cove to snorkel, or seeing if maybe Castles had good waves for surfing.

I really wanted to go to Sharks Cove.

So....

COMMENCE FISHY PICTURES!!!

Ocotopuss aka Tako

Cool fish, never seen em 'efore

Turtle every time at Shark's Cove!

Mo' of honu

This is a different honu

The fishies 

Goat fish cleanin' the rocks

Oh so pretty fishy!

Stephen in a picture

School of convicts... tangs

Everyone looks like they are scowling when they
wear a snorkel.

See the family resemblance?

Picture of us at Shark's Cove.. sitting on a ledge..

Picture of Shark's Cove

Oh the rainbow!

Yeah, I knew you preferred the fishes, anyway.

The Surf Monster Attacks!

Learning something new can be fun and exciting. Sometimes it is so exciting that all you do is the new thing! Yes, basically we have done nothing but surf. Pretty much, nothing, but surf. (Ok, there have been a few things that we have done that is not surfing, but not much that is interesting).

For instance. Saturday afternoon Eric Miyashiro (crazy amazing jazz/everything trumpet player) was headlining a Jazz Festival at Kamehameha High School, which he performed with the PacFleet Jazz Band at the end, so we totally attended that. While I probably hit my limit for listening to high school jazz bands (so, I realized, that if I am running a rehearsal of high schoolers, I enjoy it, but listening to high school musicians for pleasure? Maybe not so much), Eric Miyashiro's virtuosity on the trumpet was truly an inspiration (like, I should go practice now.. but won't, cause it's late.. and well, Deanna is practicing)... 

Anyway...

So, I have started substitute teaching! This is great, and hopefully it leads to something full-time like. One can only hope. I definitely have been letting everyone know what I can do (music) while filling in for everything and anything else. Unfortunately, the Hawai'i substitute call system is weird, or rather, is different from what it was in Rhode Island. So, I have had a few mishaps in getting jobs that come available. Net result = I have only subbed 3 times in the past two weeks. However, I have the hang of it now and can make some of the monies, so that is nice.

Anyway, so, I have really enjoyed surfing on the new surfboard that I had got around New Year's. However, I think I never anticipated the surf monster that has been created through the combined forces of getting a surfboard for Deanna and reminding her that she is an incremental learner.

It's funny, we basically have completely opposite learning styles. I am a "sink or swim" kind of learner. Throw me in the water, show me how to do the stroke, and I will eventually figure it out. I will make lots of mistakes along the way, but I will learn how to do it... sometimes after a fairly long while.. but it will get figured out. Deanna on the other had learns progressively. Meaning, she needs to learn by slowly increasing the difficulty level. Kind of like a well paced RPG (it's a type of video game for those who don't speak dork)

Essentially, she learns best when she has a way to learn things through progressive increments. For surfing it basically boiled down to:

Step 1: learn which waves are good to catch. You can see here in this video Deanna chooses a pretty bad wave to catch. Baby steps. It's super hard when you are first starting to not get excited and try to catch all the waves. Patience is key. Wait for the good waves. They will come. Have faith.

Step 2: Learn what it feels like to catch a wave after having picked a proper wave. So, she caught a few waves, and just hugged the board, got a feel for it.

Step 3: Try to stand a little. Just a little. Actually, don't even bother standing at first, just low crouch and hold on to the rails of the board. Of course, sometimes, you may do it too fast. So, you end up crashing and burning. Even in incremental learning, sometimes you try to take a leap, when maybe you are only ready for a step. So, you try, try again.

Step 4: Now you are doing a good job catching the wave, you have also had a few good rides where you almost stand (near the end) Your confidence is through the roof. So you do this.

Ok, so you kind of get the idea. Basically she was making a lot of progress these past few weeks but then had that "breakthrough" moment this past weekend. We of course like to share our surfing adventures (turns out it's fun to do things with friends!) and invited Chris to come out. Chris's first surfing experience, was, well.. let's just say he didn't get a whole lot of help from his co-worker who went out with him.

So we gave him a few pointers and he did a pretty nice job. Unfortunately, I am not sharing a video of a successful attempt, because I am pretty much a mean friend. So, here he wipes out. You know, because, basically wiping out happens.

You know what else happens sometimes? Sometimes the cameraman (aka, me) tries to take a video while he is floating on his board.. and all goes great, until that wave that Deanna is surfing (or attempting to surf, depending on the wave, etc)... comes rolling in and the cameraman (once again, me) gets REKT!

Yea... that happens when you aren't paying attention to the ocean. ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO THE OCEAN. Oh well.

Happy Easter btw! Yea, so for Easter, we woke up early and went to church.. and by "church" I mean, we got our spiritual awareness going by heading down to our favorite (currently) local surf spot (Castles Beach in Kailua at the moment) and hit the waves. The conversation went something like this:

Deanna: "I have an itch"

Stephen: "Uh, so scratch it?" So, I then start scratching her randomly. On the leg, shoulder, ear.. etc.

Deanna: "no, I need to go surf"

Stephen: "oh...."

So, even though we surfed Friday for an hour plus. Surfed Saturday for more than an hour. What the heck? Let's go out again. So we went out at 830 in the AM and did some surfing. I didn't bother taking the camera, but we had a pretty good session. Only lasted for 45 minutes or so, maybe we were still fatigued from all the surfing the past two days, who knows?

Some Easter Brunch

We headed down to Chris's house for some Easter brunch. Fruity wine, mimosas, bloody marys, and lots of food were had. Some good conversations as well! Oh, and there was more food. Thank you Chris for successfully putting me in a food coma. I mean, I crashed.. 

Sometime after that Deanna and I decided, what the heck? Let's go down to the beach and just bop in the waves. Of course, since there is currently an east swell going for the island, the surf and shore break was as big as I have ever seen it at the beaches in Kailua (usually it's pretty small on this side).. after 15 minutes or so of bouncing in the waves we both just kind of decided, "nah, let's go grab our surfboards and take them down to Castles and surf more!

So, two hours more surfing (yes, two more hours)... and She's a surfing pro! I got lucky on a few shots.. I had a few really nice long rides that took me nearly to shore and just in case, I grabbed the camera out of my board short pocket and started paddling back to the waves.. and then I see Deanna surfing right at me, so I snap some great pics! Makes me almost seem like I know what I'm doing with a camera!

There is a lot of waiting for the waves when surfing.

Surf's up!

"Just one more she says" (actually ended up being more like
3 more.. but I don't really know how to count...

Looking all cool and stuff on her surfboard

Oh yea!

Just for proof that I was there.