K and I learned from the lady posted in front of Foodland that Hawaii needs blood! So we signed up to donate blood. It seems that they have a monthly blood drive at the Bloodmobile at Don Quijote Kailua. You can call 808-845-9966 to make an appointment.
Here are other people parked out in front of Foodland:
YOGA
When I got my hair cut at The Fix there were fliers for a yoga place in the same complex. I’m trying to find a good yoga school and as far as I’ve assessed Koa Yoga is as good as any of them. What it seems to have above the other schools is Sunrise Yoga with breakfast on Lanikai Beach.
KAILUA SHOPPING CENTER & GIFTS
Under the Hula Moon at Kailua Shopping Center in Kailua Rd. is a great place to find odd little gifts like hula mouse pads, turtle drawer pulls, handmade Kailua cards, and starfish.
Today we also bought a birthday present for my mom at Lanikai Bath and Body. I haven’t personally tried their products or even heard about them but they seem to be all natural products made in Hawaii. I particularly liked the Pikake lotion we got for my mom which is a combination of kukui, noni, and macadamia. As we were leaving a curious shopper came in to check the place out. I asked her to pose for a picture:
Finally we went to Lanikai Juice in the same strip of stores. Matthew Fox took Oprah and Gayle there as one of his favorite places in town which naturally gave the place a higher profile. It was fine. I’m not crazy about complicated juices. I like plain pineapple and kalamansi juice or sweet soy bean milk. I got the Ginger Snap which was perfectly fine. Maybe I’ll try the popular Monkey next time. K got Coco Champ and he said it was good enough for him to finish the whole thing.
At Lanikai Juice we ran into some Aloha overload:
Afterwards we went to Kailua Public Library. It was quite nice. Though I don’t know many libraries that aren’t.
I haven’t posted in what feels like a long time. But it must only have a been a couple of days. We tried the restaurant Baci the other day before we headed to a work party for K. Baci was alright though oddly filled with Haoles: the staff and the patrons. I ate veal which was weird. I never eat veal. I only ordered it because it was the waiter’s recommendation. Everything was perfectly nice but seems to exist in Kailua more like a novelty. I’m not opposed to going back again.
The party was in Waikiki in a lovely two story house. It was a moving party for one of K’s coworkers. It was fine. The most notable thing being how pretty the house was.
it's not a myth! Hawaiians loooooove Spam. This was the lady on line behind us at Foodland
Today was a Kailua-rich day. I finally got my haircut–thank goodness. The head of the hair dept where K works recommended this woman Dana at a Kailua hair salon called The Fix. I spent hours online trying to do my normal sleuthing separating the best from the rest to no avail. There’s very little editorial coverage of Hawaii services and talent that isn’t tourism based. It’s like looking for a good piece of Wagyu in a town that only advertises Outback Steakhouse. The ‘Wagyu’ exists but it’s not being written about online. As opposed to New York you’ve got people in Idaho writing blogs about a clothing store on a remote corner of Billyburg Brooklyn.
What I’ve come to understand is that this is a word of mouth town. You have to talk to people to navigate your way past the layer of generated for tourist services. I had had an appointment at Salon Blanc in Honolulu on the recommendation of Sarah from HIFF. She didn’t have personal experience with them but she had heard good things. Unfortunately she didn’t have a stylists name to recommend so I had an appointment with ‘Sam’. I felt wary of that so I asked Ken to ask his colleague and that’s how I found Dana. The Fix is a tiny salon in Kailua Square. It’s spacious, quiet and pretty busy for a small town salon. Caddy corner to it is the Kailua Paul Brown Salon, arguably the most distinguished hairstylist in Hawaii, though pretty franchised.
Dana was great. She’s technically skilled and a good listener. She took my comments seriously, made an assessment and basically delivered what I pictured. My hair looks 75% better and based on one visit I would go back to Dana again. But if I get another haircut in Hawaii I’ll try someone new for comparison. Dana’s very likeable and definitely skilled, but her style is a little 1st generation Asian for me- less curl more straight with a bit of flip, assymetrical bangs. I like hair stylists that are technically on point but more loose and poetic with their approach: shaggier, messier, imperfect. With all of that said my hair does look dorothy hamill-ish just as I wished for yesterday.
After the hair cut we FINALLY went for breakfast at Boots and Kimo’s. The macadamia nut pancakes are about the most pospular thing in Kailua second only to the beach. If you look it up it’s catgorically popular–people even claiming to drive from the leeward side of the island just for the pancakes. Well, they’re freakin’ right. Those pancakes are GOOD. K took a bite and said ‘is that ice cream?’ 😀 Sweet but not too sweet. rich buttery macadamia nut sauce over thick fluffy pancakes. We also had a portuguese sausage omelette which was delicious.
This morning I found a dead baby gecko under the table I work on. It was so tiny! On the opposite end yesterday while I was working on HIFF fliers I heard a lawnmower buzzing from far away. Then I realized that’s not a lawn mower! I walked to the back door and there it was a GIGANTIC bee that was as big as a gob stopper. I tried to take it’s picture and totally missed it.
I’m getting my haircut tomorrow. I’m nervous as hair is such an issue for me. Sarah at HIFF recommended 2 places beyond the two that I’d found from user reviews etc.
Hair Salons in Honolulu & Kailua
Paul Brown
J Salon
W Salon
Salon Blanc
Chop
The Fix
I’m going with Salon Blanc and we’ll see how it goes. I was talking to Sean at HIFF and he said that he’s getting his haircut on Saturday and he goes to the same person that Barack Obama’s sister goes to. Sean has great hair. It’s like Sean Cassidy circa Hardy Boys (sort of shorter). Which is coincidental because my hair is in an awkward growing out stage I was going to tell the person I’m going to that a Dorothy Hammil-ish style might work for me.
In Hawaii a calabash is a large serving bowl. It is usually made from a hardwood, rather than from the Calabash Gourd as in Maroon cultures. It is used on a buffet table or in the middle of the dining table. The use of the calabash in Hawaii has led to terms like “Calabash Family” or “Calabash Cousins”. It indicates that an extended family has grown up around shared meals and close friendships. Food is very important in modern Hawaiian culture. “Komo E Kaukau”, meaning “come and eat”, it is the most expected greeting in a Hawaiian home.
This morning I woke up missing New York and feeling a little blue. But we got ourselves together mid-morning pulled out our copy of Oahu Revealed and headed to Maunawili Falls for a hike. The trailhead starts at Maunawili Road and Kalewina Road only a handful of miles away from our home. I had a great time but it was definitely a little harder than the previous hikes we had done (Diamondhead and Manoa). The main obstacles are crossing streams on slippery boulders (4 each way) and inclines that are slippery (mud), and a bit steep at times. I said to K at one point ‘my heart is beating so fast I can hear it in my ears’. But I’m also out of shape.
Things I would make sure to have on our next hike:
a good walking stick
good hiking shoes
bug spray
water
knee brace (because I have bad knees)
At the end of the hour long hike is a seimming hole with a waterfall. There were a whole mess of local kids there. Alot of them ran past us up the mountain. Mostly boys with their shorts hanging down total indifferent to their butt cleavage. One of them was carrying a little knapsack with a radio playing inside. They were loud and rambunctious but totally fine. On the way up the mountain I would hear a large ‘boom’ like a bomb. and when we arrived at the water fall i realized it was the kids catapulting themselves off of a cliff and landing canon ball style in the water. it was impressive.
There were many pretty things to see on the way up but it was hard to see them because I was looking down all the time.
It was very satisfying. I wish it was possible to do things like that everyday. The only thing I would change is that I would bring a bathing suit and I wish the swimming hole wasn’t so exclusive. Oh and that I could swim.
Hawaiians are very into 'garden goddesses'. Not sure what that's about yet.
I woke up this morning and heard ‘tschicka-tschicka-tschika-tschicka’. I walked to the stairs and saw by the window a fluffy gray and black baby bird on the ledge of the window repeatedly flying against the glass as if to come into the house. It lasted for a long time. I even tried to walk past to get my camera and it left only to come back and tschicka-tschicka some more. It was surreal and cute. I was sort of still half asleep.
A local cat stalks rats on the roof. Crazy.
The creatures in this place are crazy. The other day we saw a rat CLIMBING A TREE. Sheesh. And as I reported earlier a gecko dropped on my head IN OUR HOUSE. And while K and I were benignly reading on the couch a gecko pooped on my arm. Crazy.
Despite this, I love our home. I love Kailua Beach. We drove to Ala Moana Beach to swim in more placid water and hone the swim strokes we’d been practicing at Kailua Beach. We hadn’t been to Ala Moana in weeks. I didn’t like it so much. I couldn’t swim for some reason even though the waters are 80 % calmer. We came back to swim at Kailua Beach a couple of days later and I realized the higher salt content of Kailua Beach water helps me float better and makes swimming a much nicer experience.
Practical issue note: K had to fax some papers today. I didn’t find anything on yelp but we found that The UPS Store on Hekili across from Foodland does copies and can send faxes.
Also as an Asian American looking for community here in essentially the most Asian American rich land in the whole country, I find this very interesting!
Favorite Hawaii made sweets available at Foodland:
Bubbys Homemade Ice Cream and Desserts (mochi ice cream)
Roselani Chocolate Macadamia Nut ice cream
Ted’s Chocolate haupia cake
Things I’m going to check out as soon as we get home for the holidays:
Permanent Brunch 95 First Ave., New York, NY 10003 post–Tasting Room Colin Alevras and Tillman’s Lesly Bernard open this project dedicated to the weekend meal all day every day, and introduce what must be New York’s first artisanal bacon bar.
Kurve 87 Second Ave. , New York, NY 10003
Priti Organic Spa 35 E. 1st St., New York, NY 10003
Followed by a pate bonanza at Marlow & Sons with Mary.
We went into Waikiki today and the day before. It’s very strange to find how living in Kailua has made me soft. The normal bustle of Ala Moana beach felt very exciting 🙂 I mean that’s hysterical. K and I live on a street in New York that is non-stop noise and activity. Meanwhile I felt like a bumpkin walking around Ala Moana Mall. I had to stop at every storefront and peer at the merchandise displays. Even the koi pond was more entertaining than usual.
We went to Ala Moana beach to practice our swimming. At Kailua Beach the surf has been a little more active and when we try to practice we get tossed around. K had alot of success with his swimming in Waikiki. I mean he basically swims well now. I, on the other hand, had a harder time swimming in calmer water. I still haven’t quite figured out what the deal with that is.
top rated swim goggles from slate.com
Speedo Speed Socket $24.99
Tyr Nest Pro Goggle $20.00
Swedish Goggles $5.00
Today K drove me into town for my first meeting at HIFF–which was great. I met some of the staff and went over some of the outreach process. I was telling K that the HIFF people are like New Yorkers just more gentle. That’s pretty much the speed I want to be at for now.
After HIFF, K and I went for lunch and a movie at the Dole Cannery. Recently there was a NY Times article reviewing and summarizing iPhone apps that were great for travel. I’ve been downloading apps like crazy this past week. Local Eats and iWant helped us find our lunch place which was delicious and our movie directly after.
my favorite iPhone apps:
Air Sharing
Feeds
White pages mobile
Yelp
Pageonce
I had macadamia nut encrusted Mahi Mahi at Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch and Crab. It looked like a very standard sort of lunch place but it turned out to really hit the spot. There was a luau plate that looked so delicious but definitely a ticket to the town Fattsville.
We went to see Tropic Thunder afterwards and I was so surprised at how much I liked it. I love Robert Downey Jr. but I heard all the bruhaha about the use of the word ‘retarded’ and was pretty indifferent to seeing it. It turned out to be oddly touching and I’m glad we went. I actually cried at the ending even though it’s basically a big spoof.
K noticed that their was a recurring snowflake theme at the Dole Cannery Theater. A bit random but I like snow flakes. I told K that maybe it had something to do with Dole and he said, ‘you mean pineapples?’ and I didn’t have anywhere to go after that. When we came out of the film it was raining so hard that there was a waterfall running through the elevator shaft and down the stairwells.
Another way my new iPhone came in handy was this morning. At 7:45AM I was jarred out of sleep by what sounded like a 20 piece brass band. The grade school by us was having an early assembly for the students. I looked up grade schools in my zip code through the white pages app and I found the school’s phone number. I didn’t call this morning but I got their number now. Brass bands beware.
I got to take the car out this morning! Kind of exciting because I don’t drive in New York and I’d resigned myself to being uncomfortable in the driver’s seat. But driving in Kailua is awesome, mainly because you only really have to make two turns to get anywhere. Today I had a meeting at Morning Brew so I woke up early, grabbed the GPS, jumped into the car and turned up the radio really loud to sing along… to drive half a mile.
It was pointed out to me by a friend that there are similarities between my arrival in Hawaii and scenes from Jerry Maguire. The scene where Tom Cruise secures Cush as a client and he’s trying to find a song to rock out to on the radio but he can’t? That was me this morning.
My meeting this morning was with a staff member of the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF). I was introduced to them by a friend and will likely be helping them out for the festival in October. It was really great to meet with him. They seem super nice and I’m looking forward to getting to know them and working the festival. Visit HIFF
The only other notable event today would be another episode in my ongoing drama with Hawaii creatures. I went to close a screen door and something soft but substantial landed on my head. Apparently I took the gecko by surprise when I slid the door closed, rousing him out of a mid-morning nap. He landed on my head, then my hand, and after I screamed he landed on the ground and seemed as shocked as I was as it took him a few minutes to scurry under the washing machine.
I risked my life to take the garbage out today. There was a pterodactyl-like monster guarding the door. I further risked my life to document this strange and rare monster that was as big as my face.
K said he saw a frog so big the other night that he thought it was a statue. When I asked him how he knew it wasn’t, he ominously said that you could just feel it wasn’t 😀
I was procrastinating my writing (as I am now) by randomly searching on google. I found a very interesting video and blog post on how to learn how to swim in 10 days.
from fourhourworkweek.com (excerpt):
My Top 8 Tips for Novices
Here are the principles that made the biggest difference for me:
1) To propel yourself forward with the least effort, focus on shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal (least resistance), not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs. This is counter-intuitive but important, as kicking harder is the most universal suggestion for fixing swimming issues.
2) Keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine — you should be looking straight down. Use the same head position as while walking and drive your arm underwater vs. swimming on the surface. See Shinj Takeuchi’s underwater shots at :49 seconds. Notice how little he uses his legs; the small flick serves only to help him turn his hips and drive his next arm forward. This is the technique that allows me to conserve so much energy.
3. In line with the above video of Shinji, think of swimming freestyle as swimming on alternating sides, not on your stomach. From the TI Wikipedia page:
“Actively streamline” the body throughout the stroke cycle through a focus on rhythmically alternating “streamlined right side” and “streamlined left side” positions and consciously keeping the bodyline longer and sleeker than is typical for human swimmers.
For those who have rock climbed or done bouldering, it’s just like moving your hip closer to a wall to get more extension. To test this: stand chest to a wall and reach as high as you can with your right arm. Then turn your right hip so it’s touching the wall and reach again with your right arm: you’ll gain 3-6″. Lengthen your vessel and you travel further on each stroke. It adds up fast.
4. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head. Extend it lower and further than you think you should. This downward water pressure on the arms will bring your legs up and decrease drag. It will almost feel like you’re swimming downhill.
5. Focus on increasing stroke length instead of stroke rate. Attempt to glide further on each downstroke and decrease the number of strokes per lap.
6. Forget about workouts and focus on “practice.” You are training your nervous system to perform counter-intuitive movements well, not training your aerobic system. If you feel strained, you’re not using the proper technique. Stop and review rather than persist through the pain and develop bad habits.
7. Stretch your extended arm and turn your body (not just head) to breathe. Some triathletes will even turn almost to their backs and face skyward to avoid short gasps and oxygen debt (tip from Dave Scott, 6-time Ironman world champion).
8. Experiment with hand swapping as a drill:
It’s difficult to remember all of the mechanical details while swimming. I short-circuited trying to follow half a dozen rules at once. The single drill that forced me to do most other things correctly is described on pg. 91-92 of the TI book: hand swapping. Coach Laughlin’s observations of the Russian Olympic team practice were a revelation to me.
This is the visualization I found most useful: focus on keeping your lead arm fully extended until your other arm comes over and penetrates the water around the extended arm’s forearm. This encourages you to swim on your sides, extends your stroke length, and forces you to engage in what is referred to as “front quadrant” swimming. All good things. This one exercise cut an additional 3-4 strokes off each lap of freestyle.
I’m not sure what it all means but all I can do is doggy paddle or swim without breathing. Some of the suggestions seem very intutitve. So I’m going to try these tips the next time I’m at the beach.
Three One Nine 
