I'm Aliiiiiive!!!!!!!

Yes folks, this blog has just been resurrected from the grave like a zombie out of (insert favorite zombie movie title here). Its been a long, long, looooooong, time in coming, but this blog is out retirement and back in action like Rocky Balboa and Michael Jordon (but hopefully a better comeback than the previously mentioned names). So enough with the analogies, what's been going on since the last time I wrote?!

So...I'll do this in as brief a manner as possible. Which may or may not be possible given that its really hard to put a whole year's worth of events into a single (hopefully concise) post. But here's my attempt:

Since my last uneventful post, quite a bit has happened. I've acquired a moped out here in Hawaii, which has been a very very good investment. I purchased the vehicle from a store only a few blocks toward Waikiki from our house for $650. Unfortunately, after purchasing the $120 lock (because moped theft is one of the highest crimes in Hawaii), the vehicle registration, etc, etc, the cost of the machine went to somewhere around $800. After a few early problems, its been great! Its great to have a means of getting around the island. It provides an unbelievable amount of freedom and independence, even if I can't go on the freeway or go faster than 33 mph. =P

As you can probably guess, I've also played a whole lot of taiko since my last post. I'm a teacher of the Beginning II class at the taiko school here, and I also assist the Beginning 1 class that Sensei teaches. As far as performances go, I've been to quite a few places now. I've actually now been to every island in Hawaii except for two, one which used to be a military bombing site (and thus no one lives there), and the other you can only go to by invitation (and they only speak Hawaiian on this island). So...where have I been? Let's see...Oahu (I live here, so...duh), Kauai (beautiful place, rainiest spot on earth is here), Maui (great Chocolate factory here called "Maui Specialty Chocolates" and also a great youth taiko group called Zenshin Daiko [whose leader runs the chocolate factory]), Molokai (there's only one stop light on the entire island, famous for "sweet bread"), Lanai (two very, very, very exclusive hotels here. Bill Gates "rented" the island for his wedding...yes, the whole island), and the Big Island (has every major climate zone in the world, yes...even snow). I was actually just on the Big Island for the much referred to Big Island Tour that I went on last year. I was also on Maui for a short corporate gig, and on Kauai for less than 8 hours for two school performances.

KETE (Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble) had a big concert in front of the Hawaii State Art Museum on Nov. 2, 2007, where we played a slew of 20 minute sets in a span of less than 3 hours. It was a great concert, and we even played one of my pieces, which you can view by clicking here .

We actually another big concert coming up on June 27th at the Hawaii Theater (big performance venue in Hawaii) that we'll be sharing with a group from LA called Taiko Project . It should be a great show with several new pieces, and a new arrangement of my 3 Sizzlin' Beets piece with...4 people!

I'll also be going on my first Mainland tour from April 20th - 28th in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan! I'm really looking forward to the experience, and preparing as much as much as possible for the concerts we'll be doing over there. I'll hopefully have the chance to actually perform "Symmetrical Soundscapes" (you can view Taiko Project performing the piece by clicking here ), one of my favorite of compositions of Sensei's since I was a child. Its always been my dream to perform this stage, and I will hopefully have the opportunity to do so on this tour.

Outside of taiko, I spent a lot of time with activities related to a non-profit called Volunteers in Asia (VIA) . I spent the past two summers involved in a program called American Language and Culture (ALC), a really great language and culture exchange program for students from Taiwan and Japan. These students spend a month at Stanford living in the Stanford dorms and taking English and American culture classes, while Stanford students (or ex-Stanford students like myself) plan activities for them and act as "hosts". I visited students from my ALC experience in Taiwan and Japan in June last year for two weeks, and I spent my July and August participating in the program again as a senior staff member with my good friend David Wells. I'll actually be participating in the program again (which most people can't believe) for my third and final time this summer as a senior staff member again.

As far as work related activities are concerned, (which aren't terribly exciting), I've actually started my own business as a freelance graphic and web designer (so let me know if you need web or graphic design work done). Its great working for myself- I get to wake up at noon and go to bed at 4am. =P I also get to do every taiko activity out here possible (which is the whole reason why I came out here). The only problem is that I have to spend most of my waking hours working on projects when I'm not playing taiko (which makes the experience feel a lot like school), and I'm not really making any sort of regular income.

To assist the regular income problem, I actually started working as a part-time after school teacher at a local high school in Hawaii through the Pacific Asian Affairs Council (PAAC). I never, EVER thought I'd be a teacher (especially when I was still in school), let alone a high school teacher. I've always had a great deal of respect for teachers, but after being a "real" teacher I must say that I have infinitely more respect than I already had for all teachers out there. It is NOT easy work. And its quite stressful (even though I only teach on Mondays and Wednesdays!). You have to constantly think about the material that you're going to teach your class, and worry about the effectiveness of your teaching, and if the students are actually learning or being receptive of what you're teaching. The experience was really stressful for me at the beginning, but now that I've been doing this, its starting to get a lot easier. The experience is definitely a great learning experience for me though, and I have sooooooo much respect for teachers. So, so, so much respect.

Still with me over there? So that's what I've been doing and have been up to in a very, very small nutshell. My apologies for the lack of pictures. My camera was unfortunately lost on my last Big Island Tour, but I'll try to make more "visual" posts in the future for those of you who (like me) don't have the attention-span to stare at a page full of letters and words.

So...I'm back in action now!! Look forward to my next post on the 2008 Cherry Blossom Festival pageant ball! Yay for pretty girls!