Down the "lāpaki" Hole

Hello everyone, it's the weekend!

I actually went to the swap meet and 9th Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival today, but I'm going to pin my focus on the latter. (I will cover the swap meet on another day.)

I nearly forgot this festival was going on until I spotted another sign for a craft fair happening on Hickam. So after shopping the swap meet today, I met up with a friend of mine to check out the books and tunes.

The event was 'presented' by what I assume was the chief sponsor, the Bank of Hawaii, for Saturday and Sunday this weekend at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds near the Honolulu Hale. I was particularly eager since the event and parking were free. After emerging from the underground fight for parking, I saw a sprawl of tents with the information booth smartly placed closest to the parking structure.

I strode past the stage where Hawaiian dancers and singers performed on a stage and headed for the Book Swap booth, where my buddy Christine was waiting for me. There were a bunch of folks already perusing the book aisles looking for the next riveting read to trade their old tomes with and I was so sad I could not participate. If I had known to bring some old books I've already read, I would have eagerly traded for some new reading material.

I spy a Hobbit in the lineup. 

Christine and I found each other and agreed it was extremely hot and iced beverages were in order. We wandered to the end of the lawn where 'I'iwi Kona Coffee Co. had set up shop. (The i'iwi is that red honeycreeper with the probing beak in the background--so named for its "ee-ee-vee" call.) Our appraisal of the heat was confirmed when the shop keep said they were out of ice.

Their iced hazelnut latte was refreshing!

We waited out the ice by swinging by the Barnes & Noble stand, one of the only major book store chains left on the island, and chatted over the titles. Christine recognized one of her mentors on the front cover of one which I thought was really neat and beside it I found Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"--IN Hawaiian! Titled Na Hana Kupanaha a 'Aleka ma ka 'Aina Kamaha'o, which I believe roughly translates to 'Amazing Work of Alice in the Land of Wonder.' Taken with a grain of salt.

Alice's adventures blow my mind in an entirely new way.

Alice in Wonderland--IN HAWAIIAN! AHHHH!

So that was really neat to see. I notice there was this "Wonderland" theme with a number of the new books at the Barnes & Noble table. Alice surviving zombies. Another AIW spin off titled "Splintered." While I think it's great people enjoy Carroll's work so much, I would rather see what sort of wonderlands other people can create. You can't top a masterpiece, so craft your own that you're master of. Or translate an existing one into an obscure language. That works too in a lateral sense.

Still hot, Christine and I made our way back to the 'I'iwi and they had their ice! We each ordered their chilled hazelnut latte concoction and sat to sip and catch up on one of the many umbrella-ed tables scattered across the lawn. (Thank you for treating Christine!)

Afterward, we checked out the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and Hawaii State Public Library booths where I picked up a new [old] Celtic CD of the Narada collection and a number of brochures/flyers from the public library. I read a sign that if I flashed my library card I would get a goodie! So I did! Turns out they were out of goodies, but I was given a Hawaiian-decorated plastic bag to store my things. It actually came in quite handy.

We headed toward the publishing side of the 'house' and I got us sucked into the Mensa table loaded with books for $.50 - 2 and my eyes caught on the red and black spine of "Raptor Red" by Robert T. Bakker. The slug pulled a key word ploy on me in the form of Jurassic Park--and the book is told from a velociraptor's perspective. Moreover the cover has a holographic image of a raptor on it. Too interesting not to buy. Sold. SOLD!

I'll let you know how the book is.

After chatting up Mensa proctor, diver, and Dungeons and Dragons master Bryan, who encouraged us to get tested for Mensa admission (having to roughly score over 130 points), Christine and I finally made our rounds of the publishing tables. It's neat to note that a number of authors I saw on the Barnes & Noble table will actually appear for signings tomorrow.

I wanted to ask the local publishing houses like Bishop and Bamboo publishing how they choose their authors, but we were nearing closing time and I wanted to see what the other tables had on display. One table, I believe it was Watermark Publishing, challenged us to do that six-word memoir thing. So Christine and I did! Think you can pick mine out of the others?

I'm on here somewhere!

Christine pinned hers here. I particularly like the "Rage quit" one.

And so, with every booth closing up shop a little after 5 p.m., Christine and I tucked into a vanilla- and chocolate-flavored creme brulee each and a couple of madeleines while listening to music ala Christine as the sun set. It was a lovely afternoon.

Tomorrow? Hiking.

Happy Saturday!

Poetic Justice

Or riding Poe's coattails and being rewarded for it.

Hello everyone, it's the weekend!

Edgar Allen Poe and I have never really gotten along. His short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," depicts a narrator who murders an old man and hides the body under the floorboards. The narrator, perhaps somewhere deep down feeling guilty of the crime, slips into insanity as he 'hears' the deceased old man's heartbeat. It was the beating heart that always got to me. The story gave me nightmares. It was a case of tomato tastes bad--never partake of tomatoes or their ilk again.

But avoidance doesn't work with Poe.

This dark American literary writer seems to circle back into my life every so many years--a cold, blazing comet in its orbit that lights the heaven's over my head briefly before vanishing as quickly as it came. There are numerous parodies on him from such shows as the Simpsons and Tiny Toons and Rocky Bullwinkle. Yes Rocky Bullwinkle. And they center around one poem in particular.


(Woodpecker, raven. Birds of a feather.)

Now, I've been working on a story about ravens and I've researched all I could to depict them correctly. The half that did not come up as the Baltimore Ravens, spat out Poe's famous piece "The Raven." Poe has chased me these last two years as I labored on this story and the combination of his haunting work and this song by Xandria; "Forevermore":



I got the idea to write an uplifting ballad that would comprise Poe's unusual meter and rhyme scheme but be light and cheery--a sharp contrast to his Raven work.

It wasn't.

I spent a good three hours penning a poem I started as "The Dove," which became "Forevermore" and Poe's ubiquitous character seeped in even there. Here is the first stanza of my poem:

Once upon a sunlit clearing, as I wandered light and cheery,

Through the grasses tall and golden waving by the glassy shore,

As I skipped, neatly hopping, o’er the meadow without stopping,

Came a twitter softly calling, calling from the verdant boughs fore,

“It is some songbird,” I murmured, “trilling from the trees offshore –

 A sooty or common moor.”

So yes very similar to Poe's particular style. The call was from my title character, the dove. I started off so happy and gentle. This would be an inspiring piece about human values and timeless love--things that last forevermore!

It wasn't.

I burrowed dark and deep quickly and managed to complete my poem on the ticking deadline of our local library's creative writing contest, naturally, two days before it was due. Two weeks passed and I forgot about it until yesterday when I was expecting to hear a call for the contest winners. No call came.

It was too close to Poe, that had to be it. I pulled an Icarus and dared to fly too close to genius that I had no business paying homage to. I made a few references to Poe in the piece itself in as clever and subtle a means as I could. But it clearly was not enough. 'The judges hated it! I'm a terrible writer! A loser!' You know, the usual beat down. But Saturday came and I decided, what the hell, let's just attend the contest award ceremony and see. If nothing else there would be refreshments and I'm not one to turn down free food.

Already bracing for defeat, I pawed through the library's old archives of annual contests looking for a previous year where I had taken both adult categories in poetry and short story. 

"The Last Tree" took first place for short story in 2010.

A childish reassurance, I'll admit, but there it is. Then I overheard my mother speaking with the librarian, outright asking if I had won. I froze, listening. "Oh Rochelle! I remember Rochelle! Yes, I think she did win something this year."

I shelved the binder in my hands and went to say hello. We took our seats in the crowd and I sweated as the librarian awarded honorable mention for all ages in poetry and short story, third place, second--my name still had not been called. I was tense as she paused to read the name for the "First place prize for Adult Poetry is..." You're set on scarring me, aren't you Poe? --and the librarian read off my name.

This year's prizes for first place!

I went up to claim my prize, a $20 gift card for the Air Force exchange and certificate, and was eager to sit back down again, but the librarian who really did remember me announced to the audience that I've been a long-time participant and winner of this particular contest. And me, being super sensitive to the feelings of others, felt so embarrassed! Sure, I'm proud of my work, but not at the expense of others feeling bad about themselves for it. I was happy to quietly claim my prize and sit right back down again.

I wish I'd had the time to put together the short story idea I had, but it's so big. I find that happening a lot these days; one scene blows up into this huge, all-encompassing story. I just didn't have time for this contest. In any case, I'm very glad I shook off the dregs I was feeling yesterday and showed up. It made for a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Happy Saturday, all! 

The trend begins

It's a new year. Well, rather late into a new year to get started, but I'm starting now anyway.

You know how dogs pick up a scent and run with their noses to the ground? I feel like a lot of people run through life this way; we pursue this goal with our heads down and forget to look up to see what's surrounding us. That was me last year until I took this trip. Blindly charging forward, not even knowing what I was chasing, probably following this scent in circles and not really going anywhere.

The game changer.

Until I stopped. And looked up.

I can't be the only one who feels like 2014 is a breath of fresh air. Maybe its the nice seven "2014" makes or because the Magic Eight Ball told me so--but this year has got some mojo to it.

And you know the Magic Eight Ball don't lie.

But change is on the horizon. A good change. Here are some resolutions I wrote on a 3x5 card for this year verbatim--feel free to steal a few for yourself:

-12 months, 12 books, no excuses! (5/12)
-200+ minutes of exercise/week (I already biffed on this one, but every week is a new week)
-Get into grad school  
-Get a book published (or at least secure an agent, come on)
-Write an original piano piece  (And it was terrible! More on this later...)
-Online writing, peddle your craft, be serious! 
-Sing more, get out more, LET IT GO (Yes, Elsa left a profound impression on me)
-Learn a new skill
-NaNoWriMo 2014, you know which one (No, I don't.)

I came to the realization a lot of successful people already know and that's 'Life is what you make of it.' I never really grasped this concept so fully until I actually stuffed my inhibitions and really put myself out there. I made new friends and we went places and did things I never would have done otherwise. What you're willing to put in is exactly what you will get out of it. So I've resolved to be a producer this year. Hence the spine for this blog.

I've had this trend for the last month at least where I was doing something every weekend; hiking, writing group sharing, convention-ing and I figure, heck, why not share a bit about the experience? You've talked about maintaining a blog and you want to be a producer? Post something every week!

So that's what I'm going to do.

Tomorrow I'm hanging out with friends and finally hiking the Pillboxes in Lanikai.

While I won't carpe diem every diem, I will make a sincere effort to keep my nose off the ground and look up. Come with me--it's the weekend!