I Tried, But I Couldn't Do It - The Saga of Educating jalna

"One of the greatest works of literature EVER TO BE WRITTEN"  and I just can't get it.  If the following from Book I of Homer's Odyssey makes any sense to you, let me know and you can have this audio CD.

In a Council of the Gods, Poseidon absent, Pallas procureth an order for the restitution of Odysseus; and appearing to his son Telemachus, in human shape, adviseth him to complain of the Wooers before the Council of the people, and then go to Pylos and Sparta to inquire about his father.

Tell me, Muse, of that man, so ready at need, who wandered far and wide, after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy, and many were the men whose towns he saw and whose mind he learnt, yea, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the deep, striving to win his own life and the return of his company. Nay, but even so he saved not his company, though he desired it sore. For through the blindness of their own hearts they perished, fools, who devoured the oxen of Helios Hyperion: but the god took from them their day of returning. Of these things, goddess, daughter of Zeus, whencesoever thou hast heard thereof, declare thou even unto us.

Now all the rest, as many as fled from sheer destruction, were at home, and had escaped both war and sea, but Odysseus only, craving for his wife and for his homeward path, the lady nymph Calypso held, that fair goddess, in her hollow caves, longing to have him for her lord. But when now the year had come in the courses of the seasons, wherein the gods had ordained that he should return home to Ithaca, not even there was he quit of labours, not even among his own; but all the gods had pity on him save Poseidon, who raged continually against godlike Odysseus, till be came to his own country. Howbeit Poseidon had now departed for the distant Ethiopians, the Ethiopians that are sundered in twain, the uttermost of men, abiding some where Hyperion sinks and some where he rises. There he looked to receive his hecatomb of bulls and rams, there he made merry sitting at the feast, but the other gods were gathered in the halls of Olympian Zeus. Then among them the father of gods and men began to speak, for he bethought him in his heart of noble Aegisthus, whom the son of Agamemnon, far-famed Orestes, slew.

"heart upon the deep", "sundered in twain", "uttermost of men" . . . who talks like that?

CQ's iPad

I gotta go into work early today, and I haven't really prepared anything for today's post.  So quickly here, I wanna tell you about what's been on my mind lately.

CQ kinda lives from paycheck to paycheck. She is an extremely hard worker, and lives as frugally as she can. 

CQ got an iPad for her birthday last month.  I was so happy for her.  She really deserved it. 

A few weeks ago, her iPad and her cell phone got stolen.  She was in WalMart and had put them down for a second. That's all it took.  Somebody swiped um.

I've been feeling very unChristian and unBuddhist towards the thief.  How can they not feel bad for what they've done?  I know . . . I'm supposed to pray for people like that to make them see their ways . . . and probably even feel sorry for them.  But I don't.  I hate um.  I want him/her to somehow suffer. 

I can't help it.  That's how I feel. 

K, gotta go.

Kona and Diet Updates

By special request I took pictures of Kona in the yard this morning.  He's doing great . . . back to his old self.  I've been adding boiled chicken bits and sometimes fish to his dry dog food.  Now he licks his platter clean . . . and that makes me so happy.











As far as my weight loss goes, this morning according to the scale, I've lost 13 pounds.  I feel like it's a precarious 13 pounds though.  Like one bite of that coffee cake and BAM . . . poundage.  I think it's an OCD thing. I know for sure that I get it from my mom.  But no worry folks, after November 21 . . . BAM . . .  poundage. Mochi . . . saimin . . . potato chips . . . my list keeps getting longer.  LOL!

360 Degree Zoomable Panorama of Tokyo by Jeffrey Martin

I'm actually kinda motion sick right now having just played around with this.

Tokyo Panorama


You can find out more about it here.  Was gonna explain myself, but I feel dizzy.

Swap Meet Finds

Me, Geri and Aunty went to the swap meet this past Sunday.  I was lazy and didn't even take pictures while there.  Sweetie asked what we found so I took these pictures to show her.  I didn't really buy much stuff, mostly glass and beads.

These vintage beads were around 25 cents each.   Geri bought me the cute blue/clear ones.  I bought the flat pink ones from the same seller. They're so cute.  The plate that they're in is small, only about 3 x 3 inches.  The plate was about $2.



This glass container was $8.  I couldn't imagine what it'd normally be used for.  I put some of my marbles in um.


We found a lot of beaded stuff.  The most expensive strand was $3, the least was 25 cents.  This whole bunch was around $10. I'm gonna take them apart to make bracelets.


These are my latest.  I just realized that I shoulda taken pictures of the other ones that I made before I gave them away. The bottom one is actually for me.  I took apart earrings that Sweetie gave to me many, many years ago and added to them. I guess we were already into glass from that long ago.  I'm gonna give the green and blue ones to Susan at work. She's da bomb coworker.  I love her to death. I hope she likes um. 


I also got these two avocados. They were $1.50 each.


This audio CD was $1. The girl selling it said that it was her favorite, favorite story. She said that she had read the book, but never did listen to the CD, so essentially it was new.  K, I admit I was never a good student.  I don't remember if this was required reading for us in public school or not.  I never did read anything that was required of us.  I don't even know how I graduated from high school.  I barely did anything that we were supposed to do.  I faked my way through all of it. So, I decided to try this CD out being that the story was the girl's "favorite, favorite".  The first minute was interesting, where the speaker gives a synopsis of what's happening.  It seems that King "O" goes off to war.  He wins the war but doesn't return home even after some years. Many suitors are hanging around Queen Penelope (HER name I remember) 'cause they wanna marry her.  Prince "T" decides to go search for his dad and meets up with some dude "M" who tells "T" his story. I listened to it twice.  I have no clue what he's trying to say. I don't know if King "O" is dead or alive. Who talks like that? How do normal(?) people like me figure out what's going on?  I wanna know what's gonna happen in the story, but can't even untangle the words.  Is there a secret to understanding it? 

Katch 1 Tattoo

I've shared several posts on artist Katch 1's work before.  You can check them out here.  Here's a tattoo that he did recently. It's a small humuhumu.  So cute, yah!  I love the look of the eye, and the smirky smile, and the blending of the colors, and the small size, and the detail. I think Katch is at Banzai Tattoo in Pearl City, but I'm not sure.

Dean

My friend Dean had a heart attack earlier this week.  Click here to check out his blog post describing his experience, and see why I think he is one absolutely amazing guy.

Leslie's Tofu Dressing

Leslie got the recipe for this dressing from Dr. Weil's Optimum Health Plan.  I just loved the garlic flavor, and isn't it great that it's made with tofu!



Here's the salad that I had for lunch yesterday. She even brought the spinach for me.



Combine the following ingredients in a blender and mix well.

6 ounces soft tofu, drained
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tbs. canola oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tbs. cider vinegar

Leslie said that she felt that the flavor was lacking a bit so she added a little paprika too.

Update:  Leslie said she added cayenne pepper, not paprika.  Cayenne pepper . . . paprika . . . what's the difference . . . same color, right?  Okay, okay . . . what do I know.

Anne's Baby Shower

Coworker Anne is having her fourth child.  Uhuh, fourth!!  Whoo hoo!!  Her baby shower was held at Krazy Karaoke.

Didi's Bus Ride

Didi sent me this e-mail describing one of her bus rides:

Yesterday I got on my bus to work, I usually never sit on the seat on the accordion area of the bus, coz when the bus turns, my motion sickness tummy no can handle…so, I sat two rows back. As I sat down, I watched this middle aged Hawaiian guy pull ti leaves out of the bag on the seat next to him…wasn’t sure what he was doing, wasn’t sure what he was making, the ti leaves looked oiled perhaps ?? maybe not, but surely, they were wet as they were shiny.

I watched in amazement as he rolled, rolled and rolled his halved ti leaves, when he came to the end, he stripped the stalk in half with his teeth and pulled pulled tight and tied a knot securing the end of the leaf, tieing a knot with the now two stems and tossed them back into his bag. He did this in rapid motion, very quickly, but very precisely.  I was curious as anything and wanted to sit across from him to ask the question.

Everytime the seat across from him opened up and I was getting the urge to obviously move over there…someone else came on the bus and sat right down. I kept waiting, I kept waiting.  He kept rolloing and rolling.

Oh no, my stop is coming up….please someone get up so that I can move over there……my stop is coming …very close….

I get up the nerve to just walk over there….yes yes…on the accordion moving area…I lean up against the pole..making sure my feet are planted to the ground and that my back is secure leaning up against that also moving pole….

And I ask….”bruddah…what you making??”

“Rosettes”

“Oh, now I can see that, they are so cute”

“Its for a Christmas tree for Martha Stewart”

“Are you kidding me,  MARTHA STEWART?”

“Sistah, actually its for Martha Stewart Living Magazine, they are doing a Continental Holiday feature and approached me about my trees and wreaths, so I am making this one for her staff, so that they can re-create it for the photo shoot.”

“Wowee, congratulations !! what an honor”

“I agreed to do it, because it will be good exposure for our Hawaii”

“Well, what if they cannot re-create it, they gonna send you up to the mainland to teach them?”

“No, sistah, I told them I no fly”

All the while, this kind, warm and sensitive man with the hugest smile ever…….he never stopped rolling and rolling….our conversation went on, all he spoke about was of the opportunity for HAWAII and our people.

I wished I stayed on the bus to chat with him some more……

Joe's Last Day

Joe is moving to the mainland, and we're so sad.

Daniel and Kenna

My nephew Daniel and his fiancee Kenna are gonna be married next year!  I am so happy for Daniel 'cause Kenna is da bomb match for him, and they are just perfect together. They are both attending the College of Pharmacy at UH Hilo and will be leaving on Friday to head back to school. 

I was so relieved that the weather held up yesterday after having had to cancel our shoot last weekend due to rain.  Congrats D and K.  I love you choke.  I had good fun yesterday.  Let's do more pictures when you guys come back again, k?

Weight Loss

I started this diet for our Biggest Loser Competition on July 11th.  It's been around a month and a week.  I've lost 11 pounds.  I totally can't believe it.  Somehow, I've stumbled upon a method that works for me . . . my mantra being "No Carbs, No Cheating".  What's starting to baffle me is that it seems that when I eat more protein, the weight loss is accelerated.  Yesterday we had an office meeting where a bento was provided for each of us.  I ate two mochiko chicken, one spam, half a hot dog and a slice of egg omelet . . . more food than I normally been eating . . . and the scale showed a one-pound weight loss this morning.  The same thing happened after my Kikuya meal.  How izdat?

At the risk of giving away my "secret" to my competitors, here's what I've been eating.

Tofu
Fishcake (the one from Hilo)
Boiled egg (one a day)
Salad (already-made lettuce kine 'cause I'm lazy)
Soup (even canned kine like Campbell's)
Good carbs - banana, broccoli, cucumber, apples, strawberries

I adhere to "No Cheating" very strictly . . . not even "just one bite".  It makes things easier for me.  There is no ifs, ands or buts . . . and so no hesitation.

I miss eating mochi A LOT.  But it's not forever.  Weigh-in is on November 21st.  I will eat a mochi on November 21st.

Kikuya in Kaneohe

Kikuya is one of my mom's favorite Japanese restaurants, but it's in Kaneohe so we rarely go there.  I just found out that there's a Kikuya in Kalihi too.  Does anyone know if they're the same?



I've just been reading reviews on the restaurant and a lot of people say that there's usually a wait.  Whenever we've been there, though, we've never had to wait.  In fact this time, there was only one other guy already eating when we got there.  It was on a Sunday at lunch time.


I love, love, love their miso soup.  No fancy ingredients; it's really plain, but it is soooo oishiiiii.


Let me explain how I ended up with this combination plate even though I'm on a diet.  I was gonna order the Chicken Tofu.  Good choice, right?  But my mom says that for a few dollars more I can get the lunch special Chicken Tofu and Shrimp Tempura combination plate which is a far better deal. Since I always listen to my mom *ahem*, I said okay, but she could have my tempura and I would just eat the chicken tofu.  She ordered the same thing as me.  When our food came and we saw that it wasn't just one shrimp tempura but a whole bunch of tempuras, my mom totally bailed on me and said that she couldn't possibly eat all that. And so I was "forced" to eat the tempura too. But you know what . . . was sooo ono!!  I took a bite of the potato salad too, and even though it just killed me 'cause it was good too, I didn't eat any more of it. 


The next morning as I got on the scale, I closed my eyes and cringed.  When I opened them, I was surprised to see that I had actually lost weight.  Hoo hoo.  I think that me and my mom might just have to go back to Kikuya again!

Jaguar Hog

I hate it when inconsiderate drivers take up two parking stalls, so I just loved this video.

My Easy Miso Soup

For those of you who might not know . . . I don't really cook.  And when I do cook, it's lazy-man style.  I don't work hard at it . . . I just throw stuff together.  This miso soup was no exception.

Look at all these ingredients! 



I put around 8 cups of water into a pot and added 2 packets of this.


I added 1/2 cup of this sake.


I bought the following ingredients at Nijiya Market.  I added around 1/2 cup of this miso. BTW, Nijiya Market had choke mochi of all different varieties on a table right by the door.   I picked several of them up and said to them, "Awww . . . I miss you." and put them back down. There were some more in the refrigerated section, and I did the same thing. I think I might've even stroked some of the containers.


I thought this was cool so I bought it. It says, "miso something wakame".  I ended up putting too much into my soup.  It expanded a lot.


This is hasu.  Was kinda not too crunchy, but it's frozen that's why. Cannot help if you lazy like me.


Lastly, I added in some of this tofu.


My miso soup came out okay . . . not as oishiii as Kikuya Restaurant's, but not bad.  Me and my mom went to Kikuya a few weeks back after we visited her sister's grave.  She forced me to eat a huge combination plate there.  I'll show you a picture later.