Old dog-new tricks.

Ooooooooooo I’ve been having fun the last few days. Between my big floaty board and the gentle super freak sails I’ve actually had moments of “I’m really sailing”. Trust me that's nothing short of a miracle given the number of tantrums and amount of frustration I've created along the way. To prove it here I am SMILING!
For those in the know…..this would have been a great ‘shove it’ if only the wind was blowing in the opposite direction!
Ha.....still SMILING! I’m just so bloody flabbergasted I can sail :-)
Lest I get too cocky, there is nothing like this sport to humble my lily white English ass. Yesterday as I sailed out on my first reach and hooked in, I watched the hook oh so casually keep on sliding out as I hadn't tightened the harness correctly! Mudafaka….I'm assuming there are a finite number of errors to experience and I can now happily cross off #23 “Be sure you've put your harness correctly”. Jesus, that’s kinda like “Be sure to remove the lens cap before taking a photo”! Anyway, I’m counting on not having to revisit error #23 again. Can’t wait to see what #24 is…………….

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Finally as this is my first historic windsurf post; let me bore the pants of you with this little vid.....proving (I think conclusively) that people from Leeds ought to stick to the land!

A recent mass exodus from Mokuahi Street.

All credit goes to my friend Floyd……he knows me well!

To blog or not to blog....?

I'm not much for things like '101 things you don't know about me' because honestly, unless you have a huge woody for that person, who really cares?! So, if you're of the same ilk you have been warned, this post kinda falls into the same catagory. Nonetheless I was checking Mediation Photography and came across his post about blogging burn-out (which I don't have) that asked some interesting questions that for some reason I wanted to answer. So I ‘borrowed them'……..

Q: Do you check your blog often just to see traffic and comments continuously? Why do you do that?
SP: But of course! Why- because if I’m at work it’s fun to skive off for a few minutes and the comments are like getting little surprise gifts.
Q: What happens if no-one reads your blog? Will you still write?
SP: Absolutely-it’s instant gratification creativity. Sometimes I just check my own blog to re-read what I’ve written because I like it so much!
Q: How much has blog affected your life?
SP: Well if you call waking up in the morning cozying up in bed with my lap top “affecting” my life…..then yes I guess it’s seeping in.
Q: Do you feel a subtle tension to go update, check blog and respond?
SP: The tension is there but its subtle like a roller coaster, climbing, climbing and then it peaks and it’s over and I don’t care anymore. With regard to responding to comments it’s like a mini conversation and if I feel so moved, I spout up.
Q: Can you say blogging is one of the positive influences in your life?
SP: Well I can say it’s become quickly habitual …is that positive? It’s entertaining-but sometimes I’m late for work and a few days ago we were later than I'd have liked for dinner because GP was posting, so that’s not so positive!
Q: How do you handle negativity on your blog? Do bad comments keep bothering you even after you walk away from your computer?
SP: I pretend it doesn’t matter, make all my friends read the miserable bastards scathing words then rehash my quippy off hand reply in 'word' for hours on end!
Q: What creative energy has been enhanced after you started blogging? Have you felt uplifted or does it feel like an obligation after sometime?
SP:My creative juices have a more constant flow due to the blog. I used to paint a lot more but that requires additional time. This is more on the fly, I see an image capture it with my camera & coupled with a remark-I’m done. Plus the public display aspect gives exposure with anonymity which is appealing. Also, I won’t post if I feel obliged-it takes all the fun out of it.
Q: Is blogging your way to tell the world how angry you feel about issues? Then do you not stay angry about the same thing after you write- or let it go?
SP:Nope-anger rarely shows up in my posts, it’s just my way of getting people to look (with me) at all the little oddities in the world-that’s all.
Q: Do you feel you have been disconnected from your world just because you are not updating blogs and making comments?
SP: Not even remotely.

Fame!

My friend Cheyenne & I were talking this morning about how miserable it must be to be well known. So, as luck would have it I walked in to Simmer Style this afternoon the dude behind the counter says “hey I know you, you’re…(slight pause) Sharon”! As I’d never met him before I got it right away….."from Giampaolo’s blog" ? I say. Ahhhh how the ego is seduced by recognition-I loved it and wasn’t miserable for one moment! Ok-Ok appease me it's only my second public recognition sighting, I'm sure I'll be over it by the third and not dedicate a whole post to it!

It turns our Mark sneaks over to my blog here and there as he’s thirsty for more windsurfing photo’s (bloody hell he must be parched by now)! So, as I was already on my way to H’oo to take pici’s, Mark these are for you so you can compare them with your morning sesh!

I'd say this one was a kite & a bit high......

BOOOOM!
PS: As if one “it’s you” wasn’t enough as I was finishing this post, GP walked in with a bag of goodies from another fan! I kid you not-gifts from Alcatraz! Thanks Eileen, I’ll wear the hat, drink the beer & play the tape (it will probably sound better if I drink a bit of GP’s beer)! Cheers.

Parents behaving badly.

Elena Kielelani Chamberlain was born to my friends Paul & Kacky yesterday. As a handy coincidence my bother sent me this pici earlier in the week. Duct tape wins again, and again and again, she has so much to look forward to!

Blog Burgler

From Kerry to Paul to me, coz funny just is funny :-)

No Self- No Problem.

Between my house and garden I have a total of four Buddha statues together with prayer flags on my back deck. I’m far from Buddhist but I’ve meditated for years and have even grown to like the smell of incense. I took lessons in Tibetan thangka (pronounced tonka) drawing with the lovely Terris Temple and am so proud of my achievements one exhibit even resides on my fridge! I have tickets to see the Dali Lama on April 25th and have just finished a four evening meditation class taught by the only Buddhist I know! If one reflected on these facts it may appear that the person in question was a closet case!
For me however, the statues are simply symbols of serenity and peace, while the flags come in vibrant lively colors that make me smile. I like to paint & draw & loved learning to use a piece of bamboo to perform the sacred measurements that allowed Buddha’s image to arise from my white page. As for the DL……well I have to confess I’m simply curious to see if His Holiness has any affect on the non Buddhist me at all. And the evening class, well that came about to help a friend and I received heaps of amazing new information that I will be chewing over for quite a while.

I think there are about eleven ‘I’s in this story – I'm (twelve) not sure if I (thirteen) protesteth too much or rest my case! I keep forgetting no self-no problem.

What are you reading?

When ever I think of the term ‘book club’ it conjures up images of blue hairs drinking tea and discussing the latest harlequin romance novel they've devoured (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!

And while I’m sure we’ll get there, six years into the evolution of our book club we’re dressing up like our heroines and discussing if we lost our virginity the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way, all (of course) in the context of the book! How freakin’ cool & intellectual is that?!

I'm now just getting into our next book which is about the cultural, medical & spiritual clashes between Hmong & American cultures in 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' by Anne Fadiman.
What are you reading?

Has anyone seen this man?!

Anyone who’s spent a considerable amount of time on Maui will recognize this character. We all seem to have our own name for him, Beardo, Cat In The Hat etc. though actually his real name is Dave!

While he has an air of homelessness about him, amusingly he & I seem to frequent the same places like Starbucks, concerts at the MACC and this morning Baldwin Beach where we were both enjoying a morning stroll. What the hell, perhaps he thinks I have an air of homelessness about me....which reminds me yet again to never judge a book by it's cover.

These are my people!

At dinner last night, while inflating Ely’s ego things got a bit carried away!

In contrast after dinner (and taking in to account 30 minutes of digestion) things settled down!

A quickie on Oahu.

This past weekend I popped over to Oahu to see my wonderful friends Floyd, Michael & Lehua. Sunrise crab catching is easy when your front door is just a minute from the beach. Leaving Floyd to sleep in, Michael, Lehua & I snuck out to catch the sunrise and it was a beautiful change as I am such a sunset girl at home. My chums rented a killer pad in Lanikai and this was our base camp for fun, relaxation and some long over due catch up.

Kailua is just minutes away and the water is a mesmerizing blue that just invites you to play in it.
Spot the imposter!

I don’t have many little people in my world so it was a treat to reconnect with Lehua. She’s a great kid, inquisitive, daring, smart, competitive and (refreshingly) feels like an eight year old. Not an 8 year old going on 15. I thought more than once this trip that it would be helpful if families had more than two parents, as always being the effective & conscious grown up is bloody hard work!
This was our football, volleyball, water polo ball, pool belly ball and egg that we hatched from our bums ball!
We packed a lot into a few days, Chef Mavro’s, speed, boogie boarding, night time and morning beach walks, Wynonna & the Honolulu Symphony, Chef Miller-Moynihans (killer grinds gents) Dim Sum, balloon art, cheating scrabble, and lots of great chat and laughs. It was great be back in the family bosom again and as always my sincere thanks for the abundance of experiences received. Until July........