Note to self...remember to always clean out the rice cooker of all the leftover rice after each meal.
So not everything is perfect in paradise, and here's one. In order to get all of those lovely palm trees and lush green mountains everywhere, there has to be a lot of rain here. And it rains quite often in Hawaii. And of course, lots of rain means lots of humidity. Lots of humidity means more moisture for fun little buddies like mold, mildew, etc, etc. (you may see where this is going).
So we forgot to empty out the rice cooker after one meal, and before dinner the other day, we decided to make some rice. Yoko put me in charge of making the rice, so like any other person would do, the first thing I did was open the rice cooker...
..big problem...
Instead of being greeted by a clean stainless steel surface, I was met with a monstrosity so horrible not even the contents of Pandora's Box (for those of you familiar with your Greek Mythology) could compete. As soon as I opened the lid, a poisonous fume exploded into the air like I was in the movie Backdraft. I quickly clammed the lid shut on the Mr. Hyde of leftover rice, a sight that looked like a concoction of broccoli, mashed potatoes, blue cheese, and Fido's fur- ingredients I don't recall being in our last pot of rice. The monster had nearly quadrupled it's original leftover rice size, and I swear if I had left the lid off long enough, the moldy corpse of our once scrumptious starch would've been alive enough to jump out of the pot and assimilate me into it's rotting mass. In short, it was disgusting.
So...not all is perfect in paradise. For those of you in much drier parts of the world, be thankful that your leftovers won't turn into monsters breathing poisonous gas. =P
(Note: I didn't take any pictures because the sight of the beast would've turned you into stone or cracked the lens of my camera. Believe me, it is for the better, and for your own safety)
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Post to Make you Jealous
So, as the title says, this post is here to make you jealous. I'll let the pictures do the talking rather than my words (cause my words aren't gonna make you jealous). Anyway, these were taken this past weekend on a trip to Diamond Head Beach (near where we practice taiko), and just east of Waikiki. Me, Yoko, and Grover (Yoko's boyfriend who was in town for the weekend), spent the afternoon relaxing, playing in the water, and doing all manner of beach-related fun things. Enjoy and be envious. =P
I'm just gonna say, wish you were here.
I don't think this one needs any words
You enjoying paradise Yoko? Yeah I am too
No paradise would be complete without these
Exposed reef at low tide
Close look at the reef
Water running through a reef
Water draining out of a reef after a wave
Nature's Fury
Man and his best friend
I've got my thumbs up for a reason
The happy couple, can't you tell?
Awww
Paradise wouldn't be complete without the obligatory jumping picture
Obligatory jumping picture #2 (Um...Grover, why aren't you jumping?)
Yoko looking pensive
Fishing at Sunset
Leaving the Surf
Talkin' bout the big one
Jealous yet?
I'm just gonna say, wish you were here.
Cherry Blossom Girls
So, paradise just keeps getting better and better. I found out very recently that myself, Kelsey, and Yoko (the three fellowship recipients) will be leading taiko workshops for Hawaii's Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Now...the important thing is who these workshops are for...they're for the Cherry Blossom Festival pageant contestants!! Yes, that means I get to be with a group of fine young ladies (if you'd like to see them, click here ) in a series of workshops teaching them how to play taiko for a performance they are doing at the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival Ball, where one of them will be crowned queen of the event. We'll be composing a simple song for them, and be teaching them the song and the basics of playing taiko over a series of 9 workshops (the first of which was this evening) up until the event at the end of March. Normally Endo Sensei leads these practices, but the responsibility was given to us. Believe me, I'm not complaining in the least bit. :)
So, the first workshop was tonight (each is an hour and a half long), and it was fun getting to teach them. I definitely enjoy teaching and seeing other people have fun doing what I enjoy doing so much (especially if they're cute girls. =P ). Most of them seem to be enjoying themselves, and although they feel and look a little awkward now, they'll hopefully all be comfortable with what they're doing by the end of these workshops. I'm definitely eager to see how this all turns out, and to see what we can accomplish until their performance.
And NO, I'm not allowed to date any of them until after the Cherry Blossom Ball. =\ And NO, that's not the reason why I volunteered to lead these workshops anyway. =P
A short post, but if this isn't making you jealous, my next post will...
So, the first workshop was tonight (each is an hour and a half long), and it was fun getting to teach them. I definitely enjoy teaching and seeing other people have fun doing what I enjoy doing so much (especially if they're cute girls. =P ). Most of them seem to be enjoying themselves, and although they feel and look a little awkward now, they'll hopefully all be comfortable with what they're doing by the end of these workshops. I'm definitely eager to see how this all turns out, and to see what we can accomplish until their performance.
And NO, I'm not allowed to date any of them until after the Cherry Blossom Ball. =\ And NO, that's not the reason why I volunteered to lead these workshops anyway. =P
A short post, but if this isn't making you jealous, my next post will...
Thursday, January 18, 2007
On (brief) Tour in Kauai
So it's only been a week since I got here, and I've already been in 6 performances, one of which was a full-length concert!!! I've learned so much since coming here- including a whole slew of new pieces and arrangements to pieces I've played before. And, certainly the biggest highlight of my time here thus far has been going on tour (even though I just got here) in Kauai!!!
I mentioned in my last post that I received confirmation that I'd be going on the brief performance tour on Kauai...Well one thing that I failed to mention was that I'd be leaving two days after writing that post. So, that meant I had a lot of learning to do so I could participate in the concert (yes a full-length concert) that would be taking place there. The two day tour would start on Wednesday morning, and there was one...ONE practice before then on Tuesday evening.
I spent most of Tuesday afternoon studying notes on the possible pieces that I'd play in on the tour, and I was actually able to "learn" two new parts before practice Tuesday night. I put learn in quotes because I didn't really learn the parts per se, which was evidenced by the practice later that evening where I botched up all of the new parts in the one chance I had to play them. In a way, I feel like I'm just cramming for an exam (a fun exam mind you) where I don't really know the material at all and about to fake my way through the entire thing. It's pretty crazy, and quite stressful in many ways, but I am learning a lot and I definitely want to do my best in everything taiko-related.
So after my one practice session, we went to Sensei's house (Kenny Endo's house) to pack up the equipment for the trip. Practice ran late, and packing ran even later. I didn't get home until after 1 am, and after that I still had to work on putting together instructions for the lighting for a full-length concert that we were having on Kauai. Interestingly enough, I got put in charge of the lighting earlier that evening at practice. So, I was up until 4 am working on the lighting details and I had to get up the next morning at 7. Believe me, when I got up the next morning...I definitely was not a happy camper.
The flight to Kauai was really short, only 23 minutes. Ai-chan, another member in the group told me the good side of the plane to sit on to get a good view of Kauai as we began landing, and I was able to take some pretty nice pictures of the island on our approach to the airport.
We got in to the (very small) airport, and got rental vans to haul around some of our equipment and the group. Carol (don't know her last name), who was our main contact on Kauai and the person who setup the main concert we were putting later that evening (which I found out was only set in stone a month prior to our arrival), met us at the airport and helped load some of the larger equipment (including a very large Odaiko and stand) in her van. She also recommended a place for us to get lunch near the airport. (We got lunch, but I was so tired that my stomach wasn't awake yet, so I barely was able to eat, and my lunch ended becoming part of my dinner).
At the airport, we split up into two groups, one which went to check-in at our hotel (the Kauai Inn), and other went to go pick up some drums that we would be borrowing from Taiko Kauai, a local taiko group on the island. Kelsey, myself, and Sensei went to pick up the taiko on the west side of the island at a Buddhist Church where the group practices.
I'm gonna tell you right now that they don't call Kauai the Garden Island for nothing. It's green and it's really beautiful.
Coming from LA, green is a really foreign color. Brown is more of an LA color- it's color the landscape, the buildings, the sky... Kauai was so green and very jungle-like at times. The mountains, like those on Oahu, are also very green, and in some respects even more so (if that's even possible). Kauai actually has the rainiest place on earth, which I could spot because it was a mountain top that was continuously covered by gray clouds my entire time on Kauai. =P
We arrived at the Buddhist church and selected the drums that we would use, all of which were made by members of the group, and thus had their own personalized looks to them. Some of the drums had little carvings in them, such as a gold gecko on one, a family crest on another, and some of the stands even had hibiscus flowers painted on them. Very Hawaiian. We met the group's leader, Ray (I don't remember his last name either), who actually is very accomplished carpenter. He built many of the groups drums, and even built his own house and 90% of the furniture in it!!!
We spend most of the afternoon prepping for the concert, including doing sound checks, spiking (marking where the drums would be for each set with small pieces of tape), and running through some of the songs. Yeah...there's not a whole lot to tell about that.
The concert itself actually went pretty well despite my serious lack of preparation. I didn't have any huge screw-ups in pieces I was in, and the solo I performed in Yodan Uchi (a piece where you hit two different drums simultaneously) was well received by the crowd (I got applause during my solo =) . Carol even commented that I was like Spiderman during my solo....which I'm not sure is necessarily a good thing. I wasn't exactly sure how to receive that comment.
There were a lot of people that talked with me after the concert, and the wife of one couple I met said that her maiden name was Toda! She said that she had never met another Toda before and was wondering if we were distant relatives. She took a picture with me because she said that I looked a lot like her grandfather. Hmmm...I may have relatives in Hawaii.
After packing up most of the equipment, we headed out to our hotel for some well-deserved rest. The hotel was actually in a strange area because you had to go past a very large recycling center to get there. I was a little worried about what this hotel would be like, but it actually turned out to be not too shabby. Large rooms, pool (which I didn't get to enjoy), nice landscaping with coconut trees all over... Definitely felt good to shower and sleep after a very long day.
...But, my rest didn't last long. After about 5 hours of sleep, I had to get up at 6:00 am (I actually woke up at 6:35) to make a 6:45 meeting time to prep for our next two performances the next day. The performances were just me, Kelsey, Yoko, and Sensei, and they were lecture demonstrations at two schools on Kauai. Even though our itinerary said that we were supposed to be at the school at 7:30, Sensei wanted to eat breakfast beforehand, and we actually were eating breakfast at the time we were supposed to be at the school! That definitely made for an interesting experience because we arrived at the school 25 minutes before the show started- which meant that we only had 25 minutes to unload the drums, setup the drums, and change.
Now, coming from LA, I definitely haven't experienced what it's like to live in a small town. I definitely discovered the small town syndrome while in Hawaii at the place we ate breakfast at because our waitress had gone to the concert! Even other random people in the restaurant would come up to us and say they went to the concert. It was pretty amazing, and in a way it makes you feel kinda famous because people know about what you and what you did. Kinda weird...
As a performing artist, I really thought I would be a starving artist, however, it's been anything but that thus far. Before and after both school shows that day, I had some kind of meal. by the time it was 2:00, I had already eaten 3 meals!! All I can say is...that's pretty awesome. =P
The performances themselves went well, although Sensei was getting sick and so he lost his voice. So, we actually gave the lecture parts and he did more of the demonstration. It was pretty amusing to hear him try to tell us what we would talk about because he was so limited on words. He would say things like, "Yoko....Kabuki. Adam...audience participation." At times his voice was so inaudible that I just didn't understand what he was saying, and he would have to repeat himself. Of course, that didn't help his voice any.
Our brief Hawaii tour came to an end with our 4:00 flight back to Oahu. Despite being exhausted from waking up really early that day and performing twice, we still had to go taiko practice in the evening....and then after that, I had to get up early today to go to another performance. *phew*
As you can see, my schedule has been hectic; and that really is the best way to describe it. I've played taiko almost everyday I've been here. If it's not practice, it's a performance- lecture demonstrations at various schools, kick-off events, commemorative events...the list goes on and on. In a way, I really am beginning to experience what it's like to live the "professional" taiko lifestyle. It's busy and it's tiring. Gigs meet early in the morning, and many times, and you really have to rely more on your ability as a performer to take over during a performance because you may not be comfortably prepared for what you're about to do, but you have to do your best to (at the very least) pretend that you are comfortable with what you're doing and that you do know what's going on...even if you have no clue what you're playing (which has already happened to me on more than one occasion). I remember at my second performance, which was for the University of Hawaii's Centennial Celebration, another performer in the event was talking to me as I was getting dressed. I told her that I was nervous about my parts because I wasn't well-aquainted with them and they were in songs I hadn't really learned yet. In response, she told me, "When you go out there, everything will be okay. You're a performer, and when you get on stage, your performer instincts will just take over. You won't even have to think about anything. You'll be fine." I'm really beginning to realize the truth behind those words with so many performances and learning so many new parts. I have to rely on my instincts as a performer, and although preparation is important, being a performer is as important, if not more so.
This has been another novel-esque post, but I assure you that these things will start getting shorter during my stay (mainly because I'll start getting lazy). I just want to leave you with a little taste of paradise with my last picture. I took this on my outing to Waikiki this evening. Enjoy, and much Aloha!
I mentioned in my last post that I received confirmation that I'd be going on the brief performance tour on Kauai...Well one thing that I failed to mention was that I'd be leaving two days after writing that post. So, that meant I had a lot of learning to do so I could participate in the concert (yes a full-length concert) that would be taking place there. The two day tour would start on Wednesday morning, and there was one...ONE practice before then on Tuesday evening.
I spent most of Tuesday afternoon studying notes on the possible pieces that I'd play in on the tour, and I was actually able to "learn" two new parts before practice Tuesday night. I put learn in quotes because I didn't really learn the parts per se, which was evidenced by the practice later that evening where I botched up all of the new parts in the one chance I had to play them. In a way, I feel like I'm just cramming for an exam (a fun exam mind you) where I don't really know the material at all and about to fake my way through the entire thing. It's pretty crazy, and quite stressful in many ways, but I am learning a lot and I definitely want to do my best in everything taiko-related.
So after my one practice session, we went to Sensei's house (Kenny Endo's house) to pack up the equipment for the trip. Practice ran late, and packing ran even later. I didn't get home until after 1 am, and after that I still had to work on putting together instructions for the lighting for a full-length concert that we were having on Kauai. Interestingly enough, I got put in charge of the lighting earlier that evening at practice. So, I was up until 4 am working on the lighting details and I had to get up the next morning at 7. Believe me, when I got up the next morning...I definitely was not a happy camper.
The flight to Kauai was really short, only 23 minutes. Ai-chan, another member in the group told me the good side of the plane to sit on to get a good view of Kauai as we began landing, and I was able to take some pretty nice pictures of the island on our approach to the airport.
Hello Kauai!
Indeed lots of green on this little island
We got in to the (very small) airport, and got rental vans to haul around some of our equipment and the group. Carol (don't know her last name), who was our main contact on Kauai and the person who setup the main concert we were putting later that evening (which I found out was only set in stone a month prior to our arrival), met us at the airport and helped load some of the larger equipment (including a very large Odaiko and stand) in her van. She also recommended a place for us to get lunch near the airport. (We got lunch, but I was so tired that my stomach wasn't awake yet, so I barely was able to eat, and my lunch ended becoming part of my dinner).
At the airport, we split up into two groups, one which went to check-in at our hotel (the Kauai Inn), and other went to go pick up some drums that we would be borrowing from Taiko Kauai, a local taiko group on the island. Kelsey, myself, and Sensei went to pick up the taiko on the west side of the island at a Buddhist Church where the group practices.
I'm gonna tell you right now that they don't call Kauai the Garden Island for nothing. It's green and it's really beautiful.
Coming from LA, green is a really foreign color. Brown is more of an LA color- it's color the landscape, the buildings, the sky... Kauai was so green and very jungle-like at times. The mountains, like those on Oahu, are also very green, and in some respects even more so (if that's even possible). Kauai actually has the rainiest place on earth, which I could spot because it was a mountain top that was continuously covered by gray clouds my entire time on Kauai. =P
greeeen!
Paradise Baby!
We arrived at the Buddhist church and selected the drums that we would use, all of which were made by members of the group, and thus had their own personalized looks to them. Some of the drums had little carvings in them, such as a gold gecko on one, a family crest on another, and some of the stands even had hibiscus flowers painted on them. Very Hawaiian. We met the group's leader, Ray (I don't remember his last name either), who actually is very accomplished carpenter. He built many of the groups drums, and even built his own house and 90% of the furniture in it!!!
Picking up some drums with Sensei
We spend most of the afternoon prepping for the concert, including doing sound checks, spiking (marking where the drums would be for each set with small pieces of tape), and running through some of the songs. Yeah...there's not a whole lot to tell about that.
Deciding which drums to use
Unpacking the equipment
Figuring out how to transition between pieces
Discussing the nuances of a piece
Sensei taking a moment to rest
The concert itself actually went pretty well despite my serious lack of preparation. I didn't have any huge screw-ups in pieces I was in, and the solo I performed in Yodan Uchi (a piece where you hit two different drums simultaneously) was well received by the crowd (I got applause during my solo =) . Carol even commented that I was like Spiderman during my solo....which I'm not sure is necessarily a good thing. I wasn't exactly sure how to receive that comment.
There were a lot of people that talked with me after the concert, and the wife of one couple I met said that her maiden name was Toda! She said that she had never met another Toda before and was wondering if we were distant relatives. She took a picture with me because she said that I looked a lot like her grandfather. Hmmm...I may have relatives in Hawaii.
After packing up most of the equipment, we headed out to our hotel for some well-deserved rest. The hotel was actually in a strange area because you had to go past a very large recycling center to get there. I was a little worried about what this hotel would be like, but it actually turned out to be not too shabby. Large rooms, pool (which I didn't get to enjoy), nice landscaping with coconut trees all over... Definitely felt good to shower and sleep after a very long day.
...But, my rest didn't last long. After about 5 hours of sleep, I had to get up at 6:00 am (I actually woke up at 6:35) to make a 6:45 meeting time to prep for our next two performances the next day. The performances were just me, Kelsey, Yoko, and Sensei, and they were lecture demonstrations at two schools on Kauai. Even though our itinerary said that we were supposed to be at the school at 7:30, Sensei wanted to eat breakfast beforehand, and we actually were eating breakfast at the time we were supposed to be at the school! That definitely made for an interesting experience because we arrived at the school 25 minutes before the show started- which meant that we only had 25 minutes to unload the drums, setup the drums, and change.
Now, coming from LA, I definitely haven't experienced what it's like to live in a small town. I definitely discovered the small town syndrome while in Hawaii at the place we ate breakfast at because our waitress had gone to the concert! Even other random people in the restaurant would come up to us and say they went to the concert. It was pretty amazing, and in a way it makes you feel kinda famous because people know about what you and what you did. Kinda weird...
As a performing artist, I really thought I would be a starving artist, however, it's been anything but that thus far. Before and after both school shows that day, I had some kind of meal. by the time it was 2:00, I had already eaten 3 meals!! All I can say is...that's pretty awesome. =P
The performances themselves went well, although Sensei was getting sick and so he lost his voice. So, we actually gave the lecture parts and he did more of the demonstration. It was pretty amusing to hear him try to tell us what we would talk about because he was so limited on words. He would say things like, "Yoko....Kabuki. Adam...audience participation." At times his voice was so inaudible that I just didn't understand what he was saying, and he would have to repeat himself. Of course, that didn't help his voice any.
A little gift from one of our school shows
Our brief Hawaii tour came to an end with our 4:00 flight back to Oahu. Despite being exhausted from waking up really early that day and performing twice, we still had to go taiko practice in the evening....and then after that, I had to get up early today to go to another performance. *phew*
As you can see, my schedule has been hectic; and that really is the best way to describe it. I've played taiko almost everyday I've been here. If it's not practice, it's a performance- lecture demonstrations at various schools, kick-off events, commemorative events...the list goes on and on. In a way, I really am beginning to experience what it's like to live the "professional" taiko lifestyle. It's busy and it's tiring. Gigs meet early in the morning, and many times, and you really have to rely more on your ability as a performer to take over during a performance because you may not be comfortably prepared for what you're about to do, but you have to do your best to (at the very least) pretend that you are comfortable with what you're doing and that you do know what's going on...even if you have no clue what you're playing (which has already happened to me on more than one occasion). I remember at my second performance, which was for the University of Hawaii's Centennial Celebration, another performer in the event was talking to me as I was getting dressed. I told her that I was nervous about my parts because I wasn't well-aquainted with them and they were in songs I hadn't really learned yet. In response, she told me, "When you go out there, everything will be okay. You're a performer, and when you get on stage, your performer instincts will just take over. You won't even have to think about anything. You'll be fine." I'm really beginning to realize the truth behind those words with so many performances and learning so many new parts. I have to rely on my instincts as a performer, and although preparation is important, being a performer is as important, if not more so.
This has been another novel-esque post, but I assure you that these things will start getting shorter during my stay (mainly because I'll start getting lazy). I just want to leave you with a little taste of paradise with my last picture. I took this on my outing to Waikiki this evening. Enjoy, and much Aloha!
Don't you wish you were here?
Monday, January 15, 2007
And So it Begins...
Hawaii. Some call it paradise, some call it a vacation spot... for me, it is all of these things, and in addition to that, it is now home. Now that I've officially graduated from Stanford University (receiving confirmation of my degree conferral through email), packed up my things in my room, moved out of my room, and purchased a one-way ticket to Hawaii, I've now moved to beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii- a place which I'll be calling home for at least the next year or so.
And so it begins...
Now in case you don't already know, I've decided to pursue taiko as my career. Not exactly a money-making career, which comes as a shock to many who know I come from Stanford and with a degree in Symbolic Systems- one of the highest paid majors right out of Stanford (and also one of the least known majors). Believe me, it's not easy to pursue a performance art as your career, and it's definitely not easy to tell your parents that you want to do something that's gonna make you broke, especially after graduating from Stanford. My reason for pursuing taiko is really quite simple. I love it. I love it more than you could possibly imagine, and the joy I receive from other people loving taiko after one of my performances, especially if they've never seen taiko before, is really quite unimaginable. So, Hawaii is the beginning of my taiko career. I applied for a year-long fellowship with a group called the Taiko Center of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii under the direction of Kenny Endo, one of the most renowned taiko artists in the United States, and guess what? I got it! (Cause if I didn't get it, I wouldn't have a story to tell). So, back to the story...
The journey to Hawaii on my $130 one-way flight on Hawaiian Airlines began with a rough start. I brought three successively smaller rolling suitcases with me, one of which ended up being 10 pounds over the allowable weight limit. I ended up stuffing a bunch of books from that suitcase into my carry-on, and paying the $25 oversize fee for my (after removing the books) 70 pound bag. After saying goodbye to my parents and heading to the gates, I made the mistake of putting my boarding pass in with the rest of my stuff through the conveyer belt at the the security check. So...when the guard at the metal detector asked to see my boarding pass, all I could tell him was that I had sent it through with my carry-on items. He subsequently made a face, and told me to stand aside, where I stood for the next 10 minutes until another security guard happened to see my boarding pass on the other end and asked who it belonged to. Waiting at the gate wasn't much better. There were so many people swarmed around the entrance that there weren't enough seats. So, people were sitting and sleeping all over the floor with luggage everywhere, and everything in general chaos. I felt like I was in the airport of a third-world country. I took a seat on the floor near the boarding entrance thinking that I could get a head-start on everyone else when they called my section of people, but instead, they called my section of people and by the time I got my things together, the line already stretched beyond where I was standing. So...instead of being the first person to get on, I was the last.
So far so bad...and I'm not even on the plane yet. The ride over wasn't terrible...but wasn't great. I luckily had reserved the window seat, but unluckily sat next to a rather large man who took his space and most of mine. As a result, I was confined to a single pose the entire 5 and half hour flight over, else I'd be rubbing elbows with him. However, we did talk during our one meager meal on the flight, and we was a really nice man...just...rather large.
With all of these events happening, going to paradise doesn't seem very pleasant....and it wasn't it. But, I eventually did make it to Hawaii with all of my baggage (thankfully), and I got picked up at the airport by Chizuko Endo, the wife of the Sensei (teacher) I will be training with for the next year. Chizuko took me to the practice space, an old chapel on the backside of Diamond Head (for those of you from Honolulu, this should mean something to you), and I watched the Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Candidates having a workshop with my teacher, Kenny Endo. I am indeed in paradise.
Afterwards, Chizuko gave me a short tour of the area, and took me to my new home in Honolulu- Yoko and Kelsey's apartment. Both Yoko and Kelsey are fellow fellowship recipients (what a mouthful) and were nice enough to let me stay with them, at least for now. I'm living in the living room (how fitting), and on that first night we completely rearranged the furniture to give me a private space and separate the "living room" and "kitchen" portions of the room from my "room".
The apartment is not too bad. There are 2 bedrooms, one rather narrow bathroom, and a large living room. The living room contains the kitchen area as well as my "room". The landlord actually lives upstairs (his name is Andy), and he's a really nice guy (he gave us champagne on my second evening in the house). We have WiFi internet which Andy pays for and free utilities (Andy pays for that as well). There's also a washing machine downstairs in the house, as well as a cute little BBQ outside with chairs and a table.
There are...however...some unwanted guests (the occasional roach and gecko), which get caught in the "Trap-A-Roach" traps we have scattered about the house. Other than these buggers, things aren't bad in my new home.
As far as the rest of paradise is concerned...the weather is warm. It's consistently 80 degrees here and only goes down to about 70 at night. It rains at some point almost everyday, not in downpours like in California, but for a few minutes or even just a couple of seconds in light showers. Often times the sun will be completely out when it rains, and it makes for almost daily rainbow sightings.
I've been to the beach once so far, and they are just as I remembered them being from my trip several years back with Stanford Taiko- white sand, clear water, and big waves. It's beautiful. There's always a nice breeze at the beach, and there are postcard-esque scenes everywhere- light breezes causing the palm trees to gently sway and waves of white foam crashing against the sand. I've been fortunate enough to go snorkeling and kayaking on my second day here with my roommate Kelsey and her father (who is visiting the area). Just simply awesome experiences all around.
I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to show you, but I will get some up when I get a chance. I want to get them up as quickly as I can so I can make all of you jealous. hehe.
But of course I didn't come here for the beach (believe it or not), or the waves, or the ocean, or the island breeze, I came here for taiko. As far as the taiko side of things are concerned, I've already performed twice (small parts, but still twice), and in my second performance I played auxiliary instruments for pieces I don't even know. =P I've actually only had one practice so far which I didn't really participate in because the practice was for a concert that the group will have on Kauai later this week (Which I just found out moments ago that I'm participating in). We have practices on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and no practice is more than 2 and half hours, making it a little shorter than practices with Stanford Taiko. It definitely isn't less of a time commitment than Stanford Taiko, however, because there are more performances as well as classes to teach and equipment to upkeep. Although I haven't been to a real practice yet, I hear that pieces need to be learned on one's own time. So...I need to start studying up so I can be ready to perform.
Sensei (Kenny Endo) is a nice and funny guy. He's so famous and respected in the taiko community that (for taiko players at least) it creates this amazingly intimidating aura around him. However, he's very down-to-earth, and downright quirky at times. Yesterday, we were performing a yearly cleaning of the practice space and somehow he got his feet trapped in one of the super sticky rat traps lying around the space. I saw him in the doorway shaking his legs to no success trying to get off the rat traps that were stuck on each of his feet. Sensei also puts you into parts of songs he thinks you'll be capable of doing, regardless of you having even heard the song before or not. So, at the second performance, I was thrown into 3 parts about 10 minutes before the performance. Yes...I have lots of work to do.
It's scary to be just thrown into parts you've never played before or pieces you've never heard before, but in the end, it's these things that make you stronger. If I ever want to get better, I need to put myself in the position where I'm not the strongest...where I'm least comfortable. In the end, that's what will make me a better taiko player. So...even though it's pretty darn scary to be thrown into something you've never done before, it's really a challenge you should take. I'm hoping to embrace those challenges in the coming year with an open mind, a beginner's mind...
And so it begins...
Now in case you don't already know, I've decided to pursue taiko as my career. Not exactly a money-making career, which comes as a shock to many who know I come from Stanford and with a degree in Symbolic Systems- one of the highest paid majors right out of Stanford (and also one of the least known majors). Believe me, it's not easy to pursue a performance art as your career, and it's definitely not easy to tell your parents that you want to do something that's gonna make you broke, especially after graduating from Stanford. My reason for pursuing taiko is really quite simple. I love it. I love it more than you could possibly imagine, and the joy I receive from other people loving taiko after one of my performances, especially if they've never seen taiko before, is really quite unimaginable. So, Hawaii is the beginning of my taiko career. I applied for a year-long fellowship with a group called the Taiko Center of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii under the direction of Kenny Endo, one of the most renowned taiko artists in the United States, and guess what? I got it! (Cause if I didn't get it, I wouldn't have a story to tell). So, back to the story...
The journey to Hawaii on my $130 one-way flight on Hawaiian Airlines began with a rough start. I brought three successively smaller rolling suitcases with me, one of which ended up being 10 pounds over the allowable weight limit. I ended up stuffing a bunch of books from that suitcase into my carry-on, and paying the $25 oversize fee for my (after removing the books) 70 pound bag. After saying goodbye to my parents and heading to the gates, I made the mistake of putting my boarding pass in with the rest of my stuff through the conveyer belt at the the security check. So...when the guard at the metal detector asked to see my boarding pass, all I could tell him was that I had sent it through with my carry-on items. He subsequently made a face, and told me to stand aside, where I stood for the next 10 minutes until another security guard happened to see my boarding pass on the other end and asked who it belonged to. Waiting at the gate wasn't much better. There were so many people swarmed around the entrance that there weren't enough seats. So, people were sitting and sleeping all over the floor with luggage everywhere, and everything in general chaos. I felt like I was in the airport of a third-world country. I took a seat on the floor near the boarding entrance thinking that I could get a head-start on everyone else when they called my section of people, but instead, they called my section of people and by the time I got my things together, the line already stretched beyond where I was standing. So...instead of being the first person to get on, I was the last.
Yep...lots and lots of people.
there are people sleeping behind me. I took this picture from the floor.
So far so bad...and I'm not even on the plane yet. The ride over wasn't terrible...but wasn't great. I luckily had reserved the window seat, but unluckily sat next to a rather large man who took his space and most of mine. As a result, I was confined to a single pose the entire 5 and half hour flight over, else I'd be rubbing elbows with him. However, we did talk during our one meager meal on the flight, and we was a really nice man...just...rather large.
Beautiful sunset over my final glimpses of the mainland. Goodbye Mainland!!
With all of these events happening, going to paradise doesn't seem very pleasant....and it wasn't it. But, I eventually did make it to Hawaii with all of my baggage (thankfully), and I got picked up at the airport by Chizuko Endo, the wife of the Sensei (teacher) I will be training with for the next year. Chizuko took me to the practice space, an old chapel on the backside of Diamond Head (for those of you from Honolulu, this should mean something to you), and I watched the Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Candidates having a workshop with my teacher, Kenny Endo. I am indeed in paradise.
Afterwards, Chizuko gave me a short tour of the area, and took me to my new home in Honolulu- Yoko and Kelsey's apartment. Both Yoko and Kelsey are fellow fellowship recipients (what a mouthful) and were nice enough to let me stay with them, at least for now. I'm living in the living room (how fitting), and on that first night we completely rearranged the furniture to give me a private space and separate the "living room" and "kitchen" portions of the room from my "room".
The apartment is not too bad. There are 2 bedrooms, one rather narrow bathroom, and a large living room. The living room contains the kitchen area as well as my "room". The landlord actually lives upstairs (his name is Andy), and he's a really nice guy (he gave us champagne on my second evening in the house). We have WiFi internet which Andy pays for and free utilities (Andy pays for that as well). There's also a washing machine downstairs in the house, as well as a cute little BBQ outside with chairs and a table.
There are...however...some unwanted guests (the occasional roach and gecko), which get caught in the "Trap-A-Roach" traps we have scattered about the house. Other than these buggers, things aren't bad in my new home.
As far as the rest of paradise is concerned...the weather is warm. It's consistently 80 degrees here and only goes down to about 70 at night. It rains at some point almost everyday, not in downpours like in California, but for a few minutes or even just a couple of seconds in light showers. Often times the sun will be completely out when it rains, and it makes for almost daily rainbow sightings.
I've been to the beach once so far, and they are just as I remembered them being from my trip several years back with Stanford Taiko- white sand, clear water, and big waves. It's beautiful. There's always a nice breeze at the beach, and there are postcard-esque scenes everywhere- light breezes causing the palm trees to gently sway and waves of white foam crashing against the sand. I've been fortunate enough to go snorkeling and kayaking on my second day here with my roommate Kelsey and her father (who is visiting the area). Just simply awesome experiences all around.
I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to show you, but I will get some up when I get a chance. I want to get them up as quickly as I can so I can make all of you jealous. hehe.
But of course I didn't come here for the beach (believe it or not), or the waves, or the ocean, or the island breeze, I came here for taiko. As far as the taiko side of things are concerned, I've already performed twice (small parts, but still twice), and in my second performance I played auxiliary instruments for pieces I don't even know. =P I've actually only had one practice so far which I didn't really participate in because the practice was for a concert that the group will have on Kauai later this week (Which I just found out moments ago that I'm participating in). We have practices on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and no practice is more than 2 and half hours, making it a little shorter than practices with Stanford Taiko. It definitely isn't less of a time commitment than Stanford Taiko, however, because there are more performances as well as classes to teach and equipment to upkeep. Although I haven't been to a real practice yet, I hear that pieces need to be learned on one's own time. So...I need to start studying up so I can be ready to perform.
Sensei (Kenny Endo) is a nice and funny guy. He's so famous and respected in the taiko community that (for taiko players at least) it creates this amazingly intimidating aura around him. However, he's very down-to-earth, and downright quirky at times. Yesterday, we were performing a yearly cleaning of the practice space and somehow he got his feet trapped in one of the super sticky rat traps lying around the space. I saw him in the doorway shaking his legs to no success trying to get off the rat traps that were stuck on each of his feet. Sensei also puts you into parts of songs he thinks you'll be capable of doing, regardless of you having even heard the song before or not. So, at the second performance, I was thrown into 3 parts about 10 minutes before the performance. Yes...I have lots of work to do.
It's scary to be just thrown into parts you've never played before or pieces you've never heard before, but in the end, it's these things that make you stronger. If I ever want to get better, I need to put myself in the position where I'm not the strongest...where I'm least comfortable. In the end, that's what will make me a better taiko player. So...even though it's pretty darn scary to be thrown into something you've never done before, it's really a challenge you should take. I'm hoping to embrace those challenges in the coming year with an open mind, a beginner's mind...
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