Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.
I’m guest blogging over at Rodney Lee’s Midlife Crisis Hawaii today! Go and see, as I talk about a long-ago time when I thought I was going to grow up to be a journalist.
If you’re of a certain age (as in old enough to vote and/or drink in the ’70s) and if you ever lived in Hawaii, go and check out Rodney’s blog. Even if you aren’t as old as dirt and never came closer to Hawaii than watching “Hawaii 5-0” – go and check it out!
Although I do find a few things annoying about the new Hawaii 5-0, in general I’m liking it enough to keep watching it. Tonight’s episode took place mostly on the North Shore, and I am really missing the Pacific Ocean. Once again, I ask myself how I could move away from a place with an ocean and mountains, because those are things that are sadly lacking in the vast midwestern wasteland.
This is somewhere on the North Shore, winter 2002. Can’t wait for this year’s visit.
(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 25 of 31)
I’ve mentioned more than once that I don’t like baseball. I make a major exception in my baseball dislike to enjoy and appreciate the Little League World Series when a team from Hawaii is playing (I would probably make an exception for a team from Illinois, but only if friends’ kids were on it or if it were from our sector). And even better, this year that team is representing the United States and playing against Japan in the big game tomorrow. Very happy and proud for the Waipio Little League team for one of the best comeback stories of the year!
However. I am truly offended by the crass comments coming across Twitter that insist on comparing the Hawaii-Japan matchup to Pearl Harbor. Yes, Pearl Harbor. How freaking inappropriate is that? I thought the Sugar Bowl revenge comments following the wins against Georgia were somewhat tasteless, but they pale in comparison to the Pearl Harbor comments.
I don’t think I’m particularly humor-impaired. But I’m sad to see there are quite a few people out there who are class-impaired.
(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 28 of 31)
My high school years were not the best years of my life. Oh, sure, I have a few good and even excellent memories from those three years (back in those days in my sector, intermediate school was grades 7-9 and high school was grades 10-12). Along with those few moments in time is a surprising amount of bitterness about stupid crap that I thought was long buried, until I start talking about it. So I’ll try not to go there, because that wasn’t the point of this post when I started typing.
I went to McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since I am easily amused, I get a big kick out of the fact that two favorite TV shows of mine, much like my young life, take place at a McKinley High School. And to add to the amusement, the fictional schools are both somewhere in the vast midwestern wasteland, where I am trapped for now.
The obvious and current one, of course, is Glee. The one that I relate to more because it was set closer in time to my own high school years, is Freaks and Geeks. Lindsay Weir in Freaks and Geeks is pretty much who I was in high school.
Back to my McKinley High School. If you do a Google search, we come up first. We are the Tigers. I spent an embarrassingly long time today researching the sports team nicknames of the fictional McKinley High Schools (thanks, @jenroack, for the help with Glee’s McKinley). Is that sad or what? What’s that? Vikings for Freaks and Geeks, and Titans for Glee. You’re welcome.
The school newspaper was still a daily when I was there. Yup, that’s right, we were one of five high school dailies in the nation. I’m not sure when the paper ceased daily publication. I wonder if there are any high school dailies left? With the creeping demise of print publications in general, I’m guessing the answer is “no.” Even though my aspirations for a career in journalism and any illusions that I can in fact write crumbled to dust long ago, I am still proud of being part of the Daily Pinion.
(NaBloPoMo | June ’10: 3 of 30)
We are in Honolulu for a week or two every winter, so we have had many opportunities to see the world-famous big waves of the North Shore of Oahu. Theoretically, that is. Despite the fact that Waimea Bay is internationally known for big waves, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gone by there during the 18 years I lived there, and during yearly trips ever after, and seen it looking as flat as a glass tabletop.
Dan and I have been married for 16 years, or 17 trips to Hawaii for him, and he can count the number of times he’s seen big surf on Waimea Bay on one hand, and still have fingers left over.
We once again missed the really big stuff during November’s trip, although it was out there. I had to laugh when I heard one of the news interviews with various surfers and surf watchers. A woman who had moved to Hawaii in 2004 said that it was the first time in the five years she’d lived there that she’d seen big waves on Waimea Bay. I heard her loud and clear!
The really big thing that we missed was “The Eddie” — the 2009/2010 Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau. This tournament is held in memory of legendary Hawaiian surfer and waterman Eddie Aikau, who was lost at sea in 1978 when the voyaging canoe Hokule’a capsized. Aikau was lost in the last rescue attempt of his life as he went to seek help for the rest of the crew. The tournament holding period runs from December 1 through the end of February, and wave face height must be 40 feet or more for the tournament to be held. It has been held only eight times since its inception in 1984, including this year’s exciting competition held on December 8, won by Greg Long.
You can see videos online at Quiksilver’s site, like this highlights video:
Watch the video for Heat 8 (actually Heat 4 of Round 2); you’ll see 100-point rides from winner Long and Ramon Navarro:
Also check out these highlights from Riff Raff Surfboards. We encountered some heavy traffic and crowded conditions on the one day we headed up to the North Shore, but nothing like what you’ll see in this video!
Although I grew up in Hawaii, I’ve never gone board surfing and certainly I’ve never surfed big waves! I was never a really strong swimmer and always nearsighted, so water sports weren’t a huge draw for me. I could sit and watch the ocean and surfers for hours, though. I love the Internet for making it possible for me to watch the entire tournament online on a frigid December day in Chicago.