Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Did you hear the one about… (17 of 30/83 of 274)

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I’ve already told you about my perfectly legitimate somewhat unnatural aversion to tilapia (insert choking noise as usual) because of their lowly place in the food chain during my formative years in Hawaii.

I have tried not to mention something else which is also clearly the fault of my Hawaii upbringing: Potagee (Portuguese) jokes. These are pretty much the same as Polish jokes where I live now, poking fun at the…. ermmm…. less intellectual nature… of the ethnic group. Not saying I agree with that characterization; that is just what I grew up with.

The fact that our also-Hawaiian-born President has picked a Portuguese Water Dog for a pet has got to be fodder for the biggest and best Potagee joke of all. I just can’t think what it would be, though. I am just not funny enough. A local breeder of Portuguese Water Dogs was interviewed for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s story about the Obama puppy:

She said if you own one in Hawaii, expect a lot of ribbing.
“You should hear the jokes I got. People would just make fun,” she said.

I just wonder what the jokes were, since I’m not funny enough to come up with one on my own!

Growing older (4 of 30/70 of 274)

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My family grows old gracefully. Or at least, they live a long time. With very few exceptions, my relatives who have passed on were well into their 80s or even 90s when they left us.

I was born in 1958. My mom was 35 and my dad was 40 when I was born. That would be pretty normal now, but back then it was rather ancient to be having a first child. I do not have children myself. That is mostly by choice, and partly because I didn’t meet my husband until I was well into my 30s. I just did not see myself having a first child at the same age my mom did. My parents gave me a good childhood and it’s not because of any real or imagined traumatic experience making me say “well, I’ll never do that.”

The only unfortunate side effect of delaying their family is that now that they are getting up there in years (my parents are both still alive and very healthy and independent at 85 and 90), I’m still nowhere near enough to retirement age to easily pick up and go back to Hawaii where I can be close enough to be more helpful to them. Yes, I know, priorities and all of that. If they need me, I will find a way to get back there.

My dad has been part of a longevity study researching healthy Japanese-American men in Hawaii since 1965. I had no idea he was participating in this study until a couple of years ago. The study ran from 1965 to 2005, and the results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2006. Dad was in a video segment produced to accompany the article, which aired during the health segment of many local news programs in the fall of 2006. The segment described the findings of the Hawaii Lifespan Study, identifying mid-life risk factors that would predict longevity. The findings: avoid smoking, avoid excessive drinking, maintain healthy blood pressure, and maintain a healthy weight. Having a good education and being married appeared to also contribute to longevity.

The press release accompanying the video was printed in the health briefs of many newspapers as well, including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. You can still see it in their archives:

Showing men how to survive and thrive

The “88-year-old participant” mentioned in the article is my dad. The video is still live online in at least one place:

http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Aging/6-11-14-ResearchersLearn.htm

But somehow I missed another interesting piece of news related to the longevity study. Here is one of the many articles that I missed back in September 2008:

“Longevity Gene” Extends Human Life Span

Seems that they’ve identified a longevity gene. I wonder if my dad has this gene. I wonder if he knows whether or not he has it: did they let the study participants know? I wonder if my mom has it, too? Her side of the family has had some good long lifespans as well. If Dad has it, I might have it. I’m looking forward to following the developments on this.

A Tale of Tilapia (30 of 31/65 of 274)

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If I’ve ever puzzled or offended you by the choking-back-a-laugh noise I usually make whenever someone mentions eating tilapia, please let me explain. I am generally a pretty logical person, but tilapia is one thing for which logic cannot prevail for me. I know that the tilapia sold at the warehouse store and supermarket, and served at fine restaurants (insert that choking noise here), is farm-raised. I know that its (reportedly) mild flavor is a perfect backdrop for some creative and sophisticated sauces. I also know that despite my general love of seafood, I will never eat tilapia (choking noise again).

When I was growing up in Honolulu, no one I know would ever have thought about eating tilapia. Tilapia lived in dirty canals like the Ala Moana Canals and Ala Wai Canal. They supposedly eat algae, but being bottom-feeders, that means they also sucked up the other disgusting stuff at the bottom of the canal. If you fished for tilapia, it was solely for fun, and you would throw them back in the filthy water from whence they came. In other words, not something that anyone would willingly put in their mouth.

I don’t remember exactly when tilapia made the move from the canals to the fish farms, but I do remember the great amount of amusement it gave me every time I heard of some upscale restaurant serving tilapia. The fancier the restaurant, the bigger the laugh for me, as I was of course picturing fancy schmancy people catching canal tilapia.

The height of my illogical amusement came when I saw an article in the Norridge/Harwood Heights local newspaper about an aquaculture project at my husband’s high school. Just a few miles from where we live now, the students there were raising… yes, you guessed it… tilapia! I got way too much pleasure at asking him whether he was disappointed that he had never been able to participate in a tilapia farming project during his years there.

So, yes. I know it’s totally illogical. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat tilapia, unless someone tricks me into trying it. Umm. Do not get any ideas, please and thank you. And thank you for ignoring that little choking noise I make when you mention how tasty your tilapia was at lunch!

Soundtrack of my life (23 of 31/58 of 274)

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Because I am old now, I don’t keep up with music the way I used to. In particular, I don’t keep up with music videos because I really don’t know when and where to watch them any more (except online, of course, which is sometimes difficult depending on the state of my connection and age of my computer at any given location). Sometimes I actually get nostalgic for a time when MTV played music videos most of the time and I could have it on as background noise instead of the radio.

So I had no idea that Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” video was filmed in Hawaii, or for that matter, anything at all about the video, until I saw the latest issue of Hawaii Magazine.

I love that song. The first time I heard it, I wondered which Hawaiian singer had something new out. It has the same feel as a lot of the contemporary Hawaiian music I like. I didn’t know of Mraz’s connection to Hawaii as a frequent visitor, but I would say he definitely “gets” what life there is about. Even though I’m not personally familiar with every one of the locations in the video (I haven’t visited Kauai since I was very young), it still feels like home to me.

Anyway. Read the article and watch the video!

Giving a sign (2 of 31/37 of 274)

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I don’t believe in Heaven or Hell, but I do believe in an afterlife of some kind. Whether it takes place as reincarnation or moving to another level of existence, I do believe we go on from here. I’ve always hoped for some communication from my dear departed family members (human or otherwise), but I don’t believe they’ve ever contacted me. Other than one very real-seeming dream in which dearly missed Oscar appeared to let me know he was fine on the other side, wherever that is, I’ve never seen a sign from beyond.

This year I took some photos at and around the gravesite of my maternal grandmother and some other family members who died long before I was born. I’ve seen some ghost photos that were obvious fakes, and others that really made me wonder, so I thought I’d see what might show up in any photos that I took. Nothing unusual showed up, either upon viewing the photos right after taking them, or upon viewing them at full size on the computer later that evening.

But something rather strange did happen at the next gravesite I visited.

After spotting my uncle’s gravestone from the roadway, I happened to glance down as I walked towards it. The gravestone I saw was a smaller one with a photo: a high school graduation photo of someone I’d been friends with so very long ago. This was not someone I’d ever dated, or been extremely close to, but we had been pretty good friends all through my high school years. I knew he had passed away very young. I had already moved to Chicago and lost touch with a lot of people, including him, a couple of years before that.

Someone I hadn’t thought of in many years. Until earlier that week, when I saw an advertisement for the 70s Nightclub Reunion, which took place just this past weekend. I had a lot of friends who played in bands during the 70s, and his would have been one from that time. I knew quite a few of the members in the bands that were playing at this event, and I was just thinking about other friends from that time. Including him. And then to stumble upon his gravesite, with a forever young photo.

I am not sure if that was a sign from beyond. My friend has been gone for almost 30 years, and my uncle for about 6 years. It is very strange that I never happened upon my friend’s gravestone until that day. I visit my uncle’s gravesite every year. What are the odds that I would have always gone up the other path?