I need to figure out what to do with this blog. I am sick in general of blogs, regardless of whether they are good or not. There are just too many of them. It is all part of the informational overload we are burdened with. I have loads of pictures from trips, as well as my artwork, that I could post. My artwork (including the cob, which is a form of sculpture) really needs a site unto itself, simply as a career tool, but I have little inclination to do more than one website or blog. Then there's my music and song lyrics too. That is another thing unto itself, potentially. I understand, moreso than I did in the past, that it is fine and in fact almost necessary, to use whatever devices are most current to enhance and market one's product. That is to say, I have no problem with the idea of art or music (or anything else) being a product (in fact they simply, literally, are) and with using contemporary methods to get them into the hands of an audience. But I have never had the patience to buckle down and do that stuff. I guess I need more patience. The irony is that if I HAD had the patience over, say, the past several years, I would be a completely self-supporting artisan/musician/writer/etc (intuitive reader), by now. My thing to transcend is a self-defeating combination of self-deprecation and impatience/laziness. But becoming conscious of these patterns is half the battle. And in truth, building the cob house was my actual self-employed "job" for several months, for which I am being paid "in kind" by the landowner with a 2007 calendar-year of free rent.
Oh look, I'm doing just what bores me in blogs, blathering on about my own internal process to an audience of everyone and no one. Well, anyway, the general point, I need some clarity in what I'm doing both materially and electronically. The act and its electronic re-presentation. The latter is properly a marketing tool, a way of getting people to interface with the real product.
Well, I'm back from Hawaii. I got back a day later than expected because the flight on Northwest tuesday night was cancelled because of mechanical problems. The airline put everyone up in a Best Western hotel and booked them onto other flights. I flew the same flight but one day later. They also gave me 200 dollars worth of vouchers and discounts on a future Northwest flight. I can deal. Big Island in February maybe?
There's so much I could write about Hawaii that I just won't. It is definitely worth getting into the warmth (and somewhat longer daylight) for a couple weeks in the misdst of a northwest winter. I spent 3 days in Honolulu and 10 days on Kaua'i. On Kaua'i I spent 5 days hiking and camping on the fabled Kalalau Trail/Na Pali coast, which was awesome beyond compare but harassed by a constant stream of sightseeing helicopters. After that I stayed with Kathy and Sue for a couple days (they happened to be there at the same time) and snorkeled (amazing, like being in a tropical fish tank) and boogie boarded. That is basically body surfing with a small board. I never quite got the hang of catching the waves at the right moment, but did get dangerously tossed and spun like a cork quite a bit. Some of the waves were probably too big for a beginner. That was at Poi'Pu on the south shore, where in winter the surf is not too high. On the north shore though (Kalalau beach on my trek and other beaches after it) the surf was enormous, the biggest waves I've ever seen, 20 to 30 feet high. Storms way north of Hawaii in winter send these pulses of wave energy that manifest on the beaches as huge waves.
I also hiked and camped at Waimea Canyon, which looks a lot like the Grand Canyon, and did a bunch of sketching.
Hawaii is a weird place. At first it seems like any other Amercican state, in the superficial commercial aspects. But it is not America. It is waaay way out in the middle of the Pacific, and its history and cultural/racial makeup make it unlike any other place. It really is like a foreigh country. I can't really explain it all. Just to give a small example: I met a native Hawaiian guy in Ka'Paa, Kauai, who explained to me (among many other stories) that not only would Hawaii become a sovereign nation again, but that it would have a literal Sovereign (King) who would be known by his ability to lift a certain sacred black stone on the Big Island. This is not an isolated belief. The community radio station on Kaua'i had a weekly 2 hour show of Hawaiian sovereignty music, Hawaiian music that is specifically about reclaiming Hawaii's independence. However these days neither native (Polynesian) Hawaiians nor any other single racial/ethnic group are a majority. Asians as a general group probably are though, meaning Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino. These nationalities were brought in as agricultural labor in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and now the Japanese in particular constitute an economic and political ruling class in the islands. White people are called Haole (a term that basically means a person with no story, no history) no matter how long they or their parentage has been in Hawaii.
Honolulu has terrible traffic. So does Kauai because there is basically one 2 lane road, and everyone drives on it.
I would never live long term in Hawaii but I do plan to go back. I want to see the lava flowing on the Big Island. And sitting on a tropical beach when back home is endless grim cold rain? There's something to be said for such a cure.