The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

I AM INWINCIBLE!

GAH.

I go for my usual half-hour walk around 5:30 p.m. It is my first time this week without any head covering, so of course I get hit by a raincloud about eight minutes in. I run most of the way back home. The rain stops. Frustrated but determined to do something with my now pumped-up heart energy, I yank our shovel out of the ground, where it has been propping up a new sapling purchased at last week's Plant It Hawaii sale; the young potted tree is prone to falling over until I can get it in the ground.

I start digging into the lava cinder soil in the corner of our front lawn, a hole I have been digging for the last several days. Eight inches down, I have hit solid rock, as with everywhere here, so I decide to go for width rather than depth. Something tells me that if I persist within this particular spot, I will be rewarded.

In frustration, I start banging the metal shovel head against the rock floor, chipping away at an angle. The floor starts to give, breaking up a bit to yield several chunks small enough to fit within my palm. I excavate the chunks, along with the copious lava cinder generated by my widening. Then I sense a larger, looser chunk of rock at the base of this hole -- the true mother lode here. By digging on all sides, and widening out the hole even further, I determine that this boulder is nearly a foot across and quite deep. If only I could get Madam Pele to give it up.

So I get a small trowel to prop this giant, loosening chunk on one side while I attempt to pry it out with the shovel. It is growing dark, and so far I have a few small rocks, several shovelfuls' worth of cinder, and one mosquito bite to show for my efforts. Yet I persist; this is no longer about a hole in the ground; it is about my frustration with the Hawaiian elements, and my fierce determination to move on with my life. I am tired of digging holes. I want this bounteous Hawaiian earth to sustain us, and I especially want to enjoy someday a tall glass of lemonade taken from the tree that I am resolved to plant within this niche.

Five minutes more, and I feel a small blister forming beneath these garden gloves. I dig into the earth with my fingers and yank at the boulder. It yields. The hole is now a good six inches deeper, enough at last to plant this lemon tree. It is dark now. Tomorrow I will return to put this tree into the hole and nurture it within Pele's stubborn yet fecund earth.

--BB ... Angry White Male?

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.05.08, 8:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $200.00 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars and my annual goal of $200. Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.05.01, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

A LITTLE GREEN BIRD FLEW BY THIS MORNING.

Anyone care to I.D. this elusive one? He usually shows up around 8 a.m. Very fast, flies around the yard, and then disappears. It took me many months to get pictures this good. Not a lot bigger than a hummingbird. He is quite iridescent. Sometimes I see one or two of his kin flitting through the woods here and there late in the day.

UPDATE: This bird is a JAPANESE WHITE EYE. Thanks to Gary and Jacqui who both identified it quickly. Here are links to more pictures and info:

PICS

INFO

The last picture has no bird in it; this is just some kind of non-native tiny evergreen tree that was planted in a row outside this window. It is barely six feet tall, yet it looks huge when taken at such close range. It's funny how everything here looks enormous and Hawaiian when you have no context. And that's just the front lawn behind it.

By the way, I still owe pics from last month's Merrie Monarch Festival. I'll get back to those when I can; they're a lot of work and I've been trying to avoid aggravating my repetitive stress injury, so my blog time on the computer is catch-as-catch-can.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.05.05, 10:09 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Not quite blogging about the weather.

Checkout time is, um, yesterday.

No golf today, either.

So far we've been spared; generally, the winds blow away from here. Likewise, this area is rated as the highest risk zone on the island for lava flow, but the lava ain't flowing this way, either.

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Wishing you a beautiful [koff, koff] day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.24, 11:10 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Link to Engineer's Guide to Cats

While we're still on this week's ever-popular themes of satire and cute cats, here's another video for you to enjoy -- roughly seven minutes on Man's Best Casual Acquaintance.

glumbert - Engineer's Guide to Cats

Aside from the overall execution of the core concept (outstanding), I love the 1960s Farfisa combo organ outro music over the closing credits. Nothing sounds quite like that. Well, unless it's a REALLY good simulation. (And now you know what kind of nerd *I* am. Well, one of several kinds, at least.)

And thus I pose to you a musical challenge: Can you name the heroic music that the producers of this video use to establish the mood, starting at 3:14 and ending at 3:40?

The first reader to post the correct answer (composer and title) to "Comments" below has the option of buying any item via the new link in the left sidebar, titled:

Please Shop At My Amazon Store.

...and receiving a $5 rebate from me on any purchase. I'll keep the contest open through April 20 and post the answer on April 21 if need be.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.17, 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

But why bother with the coins...

...when they could just build the pawn shops right into the gas stations?

It's so much more efficient.

To view this video, you must: CLICK HERE.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.16, 8:50 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Presenting Snoopy, The Amazing Lifeless Cat!

ALOHA! We haven't done the clichéd but ever popular cute-cat-pic post in a while. So, with the cat being so cooperative and all, why not? Here. And no, he's not really dead.

Sleepy cats … coming soon, to a highly uncomfortable spot near you.

What's with that, anyway? 

You can view more pictures of teh krazy kat by clicking on the "cat" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.13, 6:15 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.10, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

CARDINALS, FINIS.

ALOHA! We've all seen a picture of a red male American Cardinal at rest, I'm supposing, so here is one that I photographed in flight, from my window this morning. That's his beak peeking out between the plumeria tree's branches, and those are banana leaves in the background. Enjoy!

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.10, 6:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.09, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

CARDINALS, ENCORE.

ALOHA! Well, I had a new bird visitor outside my window this morning, and since yesterday's cardinals evoked such positive responses, here you go! I'll get back to posting my favorite pics from last week's Merrie Monarch Festival soon enough. Here is a different kind of cardinal, one we've probably all seen before (perhaps on this very blog, even! ;-) — a female American Cardinal.

Thanks to Doug's frequent and generous feeding of the local bird population, we are blessed with a near-constant display of beautiful males and females flying through our yard. Plus, they are lovely to listen to, with a surprisingly large repertoire of sounds.

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.09, 6:05 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.07, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

TWO YELLOW-BILLED CARDINALS!

ALOHA! I am taking a brief break from posting last week's pictures of the 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, to share this lovely image of two birds who happened to be in our yard this afternoon. (Thanks to Gary, who commented below, with a positive ID as to this type of bird.)

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.09, 9:35 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.06, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

MERRIE MONARCH HULA FESTIVAL, 2008

ALOHA! These are pictures of the April 2 ho'ike (in essence, a show or exhibition) from the 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, March 30 to April 7, 2008. I have many lovely ho'ike pictures here for you to enjoy, from both 2008 and 2007 — to see them all, just click the "hula" category tab in the sidebar to the left.

This is my second set of photos of the evening's events. Here are more pictures of the traditional hula kahiko, performed by Halau O Kekuhi:

The kahiko is the ancient hula with mele, or chant, which are records of cultural information. By contrast, the 'auana (not pictured here) is the modern, song-accompanied hula. Kahiko portrays the raw life force. Highly primordial, kahiko conveys power, sensuality, sexual prowess, and a deep reverence for natural balance. It is a worship of the gods.

Above and below, we see the 'olapa, who execute the dance movements. They are accompanied by the ho'opa'a, who chant the text and provide the percussive accompaniment for the dancers.

This group is Halau O Kekuhi, who also opened the ho'ike at the 2007 Merrie Monarch Festival; my pictures of that ceremony (with better lighting!) are HERE.

The kumu hula (source, origin, teacher of hula) of Halau O Kekuhi are Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka’ole. You can learn more by clicking HERE — it's a lovely site.

I have also found a summary of the evening's show, which you can read HERE. (You may have to register to view the summary. But the pictures are right here!)

This continues my series of photos from this year's Merrie Monarch Festival. If you enjoy this blog, please check back, or sign up for email updates (using the sidebar element beneath my picture and bio) to see what's new.

[PLEASE NOTE: I respect the cultural traditions of indigenous dance forms and strive to provide accurate information and context regarding those traditions whenever possible. If you feel I have made any errors of fact, or wish to supplement my posts with additional information, feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions, corrections, or enhancements. MAHALO NUI LOA!]

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.05, 3:35 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.